#SootinClaimon.Com : ขอบคุณแหล่งข้อมูล : หนังสือพิมพ์ The Nation.

https://www.nationthailand.com/international/40009225

Singapore and Malaysia have agreed to reopen a causeway linking the two countries from Monday, allowing cross-border land travel for the first time since March last year.

Vaccinated passengers will be allowed on designated buses between Singapore and Johor Bahru, the southernmost city on the Malaysian Peninsula, the two governments said in statements Wednesday.

“The causeway was one of the busiest land borders in the world before the Covid-19 pandemic disrupted our cross-border activities,” Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said in the statement. The reopening is “a big step towards reconnecting our people and economies.”

Prior to Covid, some 300,000 people streamed across the land border each day. Malaysians would typically travel south for manual labor in factories or to work as gardeners and security guards, while Singaporeans flocked the other way for bargain shopping trips, cheap fuel and cultural tours.

As many as 2,880 people a day will be allowed to travel between the countries in the initial phase of the causeway reopening. The quota will be reviewed weekly and the countries are exploring train journeys as an additional option, the Straits Times reported, citing Gan Kim Yong, Singapore’s minister for trade and industry.

Initial priority will go to people who have been working in either country to visit their families, the Singapore government said. Travelers must be citizens, permanent residents or long-term pass holders of the nation they are entering. Eligibility will be expanded in time to include general travelers, depending on the Covid situation.

“Many workers from both Singapore and Malaysia have not been able to see their families for many months,” Gan said. “We seek the understanding of workers who may not be able to purchase a bus ticket to travel home immediately due to limited capacity.”

Both sides will work to restore travel on the Tuas Second Link, another land connection, Singapore said. The moves come as new Covid cases in Singapore decline to under 2,000 a day, while Malaysia is reporting 5,000 to 6,000.

The land links are key for the supply of goods. The Singapore government maintained the flow of essential products during the border shutdown via air and limited shipments over the causeways.

Singapore and Malaysia agreed earlier this month to open an air-travel lane between Changi Airport and Kuala Lumpur on Nov. 29 for vaccinated passengers. Singapore is allowing quarantine-free visits from almost two dozen countries and Malaysia is gradually following suit after placing strict limits on movement early in the pandemic.

Singapore was Malaysia’s biggest source of visitors in 2019 with some 10 million arrivals, according to the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture Malaysia. That number fell to 1.5 million in 2020, primarily made up of visitors in the first couple of months of the year before lockdowns. Singaporean tourists also bring in the most money, spending about 20.5 billion ringgit ($4.9 billion) in 2019.

In addition to trips by workers to Singapore, about 1.2 million Malaysian tourists traveled there in 2019, a figure that dropped to 153,650 last year, according to the Singapore Tourism Board. Singapore-Kuala Lumpur was the world’s second-busiest international route in 2019, data from flight-tracking firm OAG show.

Bus operator Transtar Travel will operate 32 daily designated trips (16 trips from Malaysia to Singapore, and 16 trips from Singapore to Malaysia) between the Woodlands Temporary Bus Interchange in Singapore and Larkin Sentral Bus Terminal in Johor Bahru, according to Wednesday’s announcement.

Handal Indah will similarly operate 32 daily trips between Larkin Sentral Bus Terminal in Johor Bahru and Queen Street Terminal in Singapore. The maximum capacity for each designated bus will be 45 fully seated passengers per trip.

Published : November 25, 2021

By : Bloomberg

#SootinClaimon.Com : ขอบคุณแหล่งข้อมูล : หนังสือพิมพ์ The Nation.

https://www.nationthailand.com/international/40009224

South Africa asked Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer to suspend delivery of Covid-19 vaccines as it now has enough stock, an illustration of how plunging demand is undermining the countrys rollout ahead of a potential fourth wave of infections.

Africa’s most developed economy has fully protected just 35% of adults, more than six months after doses were first made available to the public. About 120,000 people received shots on Tuesday, less than half the daily peak.

“We have over 16 million doses in country, or more than 150 days at present consumption,” Nicholas Crisp, deputy director-general of the Department of Health, said by text message Wednesday. “It makes no sense to stockpile and risk expiry when others are desperate for supplies.”

The move contrasts with the country’s position earlier in the year, when the government was heavily criticized for being slow to secure vaccines ahead of a devastating mid-year surge. It also comes as most of Africa remains chronically short of doses, partly because richer countries rushed to tie up vast quantities of stock.

“It is entirely owing to hesitancy,” Crisp said. “We have plenty vaccine and capacity but hesitancy is a challenge. Unfortunately it means that many unvaccinated people may have an unhappy festive season and will possibly result in hospitals being congested.”

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has accused developed countries of hoarding shots, and been a lead figure in a campaign to force pharmaceutical companies to share vaccine recipes with poorer nations. Yet the government will not be redistributing excess doses around the continent, said Foster Mohale, a spokesman for the Department of Health.

“If other countries require vaccines they go directly to the manufacturer — they won’t come to us,” he said. “There is currently no discussion on donating or selling stock to elsewhere.”

The government originally had a target of inoculating about two-thirds of adults by year-end, but will fall a long way short. Ramaphosa has also said he envisaged 300,000 vaccines being consistently administered a day, another goal that hasn’t been met.

The number of weekly vaccinations fell to 609,180 in the week ended Nov. 21 from a peak of 1.09 million in the week ended Oct. 17, according to government data

It “would be wise” to use the excess shots as boosters, tweeted Shabir Madhi, Professor of Vaccinology at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. “Let those who willing to be vaccinated benefit.”

The story was first reported by News24.

Published : November 25, 2021

By : Bloomberg

#SootinClaimon.Com : ขอบคุณแหล่งข้อมูล : หนังสือพิมพ์ The Nation.

https://www.nationthailand.com/international/40009222

The number of Covid-19 cases crossed 13.9 million across Southeast Asia, with 28,912 new cases reported on Wednesday (November 24), higher than Tuesday’s tally at 27,254. New deaths are at 465, decreasing from Tuesday’s number of 505. Total Covid-19 deaths in Asean are now at 289,185.

Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Sen is set to open the 13th Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) on Thursday, with Cambodia hosting the biennial event. The two-day meeting will be held virtually this year under the theme ‘Strengthening Multilateralism for Shared Growth’. The plenary session will discuss ASEM’s role in the rehabilitation of global peace and stability, strengthening of trade agreements, and handling of Covid-19 outbreak.

Indonesia has administered at least one vaccine dose to half its population, reaching that benchmark after nearly a year of starting the program. Health Ministry reported that more than 135.4 million people have gotten at least one shot, while 90.2 million are fully vaccinated. The population stood at 270.2 million as of the 2020 national census. 

The government plans to expand booster shots to all adults once more than half of Indonesians are fully vaccinated. About 1.2 million booster doses have been administered so far.
 

Published : November 25, 2021

By : THE NATION

#SootinClaimon.Com : ขอบคุณแหล่งข้อมูล : หนังสือพิมพ์ The Nation.

https://www.nationthailand.com/international/40009221

PARIS – At least 27 migrants died while trying to cross the English Channel from France to Britain on Wednesday, making it one of the deadliest incidents on a dangerous route.

French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin said in a news conference that 31 bodies had been recovered, including five women and a small girl, while two people survived. But his ministry told French media outlets later that the number of dead had been revised to 27.

One person was thought to be unaccounted for when a search-and-rescue operation involving ships and helicopters was called off late Wednesday night.

“Today is a [day of] great national mourning for France, and for Europe, and humanity,” Darmanin said.

Both French and British officials focused the blame on human traffickers, though migrant crossings are also a point of contention in the post-Brexit tussle between Paris and London. Four suspects who might be connected to the incident had been apprehended, Darmanin said.

The Organization for Migration said Wednesday’s drowning amounted to the largest known loss of life in the Channel since the U.N.-affiliated group started recording data in 2014. At least 15 more people have died at other points in 2021, as attempts to cross have increased.

Wednesday’s incident occurred off the coast of Calais, France, in the Dover Strait, where the Channel narrows to 21 miles across. That’s one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes. It can also be dangerous for people in small flimsy boats when hammered by strong currents and high winds.

Wednesday’s weather forecast, though, was for fairly calm seas and light and variable winds. Local fishermen told Reuters that more migrants than usual had tried to set out, to take advantage of the conditions, though the water remained extremely cold.

Officials on Wednesday did not release any information about the nationality of those who drowned. Lille Prosecutor Carole Etienne told the Associated Press that officials were still working to identify the victims and that the investigation may involve multiple countries.

Aid workers say many of the people who try to make the journey are fleeing conflict – in Afghanistan, Iran, Syria, Iraq, Sudan, Eritrea, Yemen and elsewhere. Some want to get to Britain to reunite with family, or because they speak English and hope that will help them find work.

Since 1999, at least 300 people have died attempting to cross, according to the Institute of Race Relations, a British think tank.

French Prime Minister Jean Castex called Wednesday’s incident a “tragedy” and condemned human traffickers who “exploit the distress and misery” of migrants.

The regional prosecutor opened an investigation into aggravated manslaughter, organized illegal migration and other potential charges.

French President Emmanuel Macron said in a statement that “France will not let the Channel become a cemetery.” He called for more action at the European level, including an emergency meeting of European ministers and an “immediate reinforcement” of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency’s resources.

From Downing Street, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson called the drownings “appalling.”

“What this shows is that the gangs who are sending people to sea in these dangerous crafts will literally stop at nothing,” Johnson said.

He added that efforts to slow the human smuggling by France, with $70 million in new funding from Britain to help patrol the beaches, “haven’t been enough.”

“Our offer is to increase our support, but also to work together with our partners on the beaches concerned, on the launching grounds for these boats,” Johnson said.

“Because there is no doubt at all that the gangs concerned, unless they are shown that their business model won’t work, that they can’t simply get people over the Channel from France to the U.K., they will continue to deceive people, to put people’s lives at risk and, as I say, to get away with murder,” he continued.

France’s interior minister called the British government’s spending on stopping Channel smugglers “minimal.” He also recently complained the British government was using Franch as a “punchbag,” while failing to address its unregulated labor market.

Macron, in his statement on Wednesday, defended French efforts, saying that more than 1,500 traffickers had been caught in the region since the beginning of the year.

French police also regularly clear – in a way that draws complaints from migrants and human rights groups – the makeshift camps on the northern coast, where people gather before attempting to cross the Channel.

Still, nearly three times as many migrants have crossed by sea this year compared with last year. Earlier this month, 1,185 people ventured across in a new daily record that the British Home Office described as “unacceptable.”

Conservative Party lawmakers have urged the British government to “take back control” of the Channel. Critics have compared the scene to the U.S.-Mexico border, decrying what they see as a too-soft approach to illegal immigration.

In response, Home Secretary Priti Patel recently authorized tough new tactics to push boats back toward France. That policy, however, has not been implemented. Such aggressive moves could violate maritime law and endanger lives, if migrant vessels were unseaworthy and in distress.

Natalie Elphicke, a Conservative lawmaker for Dover, called Wednesday’s incident an “absolute tragedy” and said it highlighted why “saving lives at sea starts by stopping the boats entering the water in the first place.”

“As winter is approaching the seas will get rougher, the water colder, the risk of even more lives tragically being lost greater,” she said.

Pro-Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage, now a host on GB News, has warned that Johnson’s government is ignoring the crossings and opening England’s beaches to illegal immigration.

In a column in the Daily Telegraph on Monday, Farage warned, “the migrant crisis is out of control, and the Prime Minister doesn’t seem to care.”

As it turns out, Farage himself was out in a boat in the English Channel on Wednesday, filming migrant vessels and tweeting, as he prepared for an evening broadcast.

Responding to the increase in recent crossing attempts, a sporting goods company last week stopped selling kayaks in its shops in northern France.

But drowning at sea is not the only way that migrants have died trying to reach Britain. Others have been killed trying to board trucks, containers and trains, traveling either via ship or through the Channel Tunnel.

In 2019, 39 Vietnamese migrants were found dead in a shipping container, having suffocated on their journey by sea ferry and truck hauler, from Zeebrugge in Belgium to Purfleet in south east England. Two of the smugglers were convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 20 and 27 years.

Pham Thi Tra My, 26, was among the victims. She sent a heartbreaking text message to her mother when she was in the container, en route to England. “Mom, I love you. I’m dying, I can’t breathe,” she wrote.

Published : November 25, 2021

By : The Washington Post

#SootinClaimon.Com : ขอบคุณแหล่งข้อมูล : หนังสือพิมพ์ The Nation.

https://www.nationthailand.com/international/40009181

Albert Einstein typically threw out drafts of his paradigm-shifting work.

But thanks to the Nobel Prize-winning scientist’s friend and collaborator, a rare, working manuscript “almost miraculously” survived to the present – and it sold for a hammer price of nearly $11.5 million at an auction in Paris on Tuesday, to an anonymous private individual.

With fees, the total price adds up to more than $13 million, Sofia Hame, a spokeswoman for Christie’s, said. Christie’s held the sale for the Aguttes auction house.

The 54-page document, handwritten jointly by Einstein and Swiss engineer Michele Besso – his lifelong friend and only acknowledged collaborator – documents preparatory work for Einstein’s general theory of relativity, an idea that changed human understandings of the universe and has been described as the most beautiful theory in physics.

“As one of only two surviving manuscripts documenting the genesis of general relativity, it provides a remarkable insight into Einstein’s work and a fascinating glimpse into the mind of the greatest scientist of the 20th century,” Christie’s said on its website.

Valued at between $2.4 million and $3.5 million before the auction, it was the most valuable Einstein manuscript to be sold. Christie’s described it in a news release as “one of the most important scientific autographs ever to come to auction.”

Most of the document was composed in June 1913, when Einstein was living in Zurich. It consists of calculations etched largely in ink on yellowed leaves of foolscap and squared paper, with 26 pages in Einstein’s handwriting, 25 pages in Besso’s and three containing entries from both scientists.

The famous German scientist was working with Besso to test his theory of the relationship between gravitation and the space-time curvature by examining the anomaly of the planet Mercury’s orbit.

Replete with errors, crossed-out equations and corrected calculations, the pages slated for the auction block Tuesday showcase what Christie’s called a “crucial stage” in the relativity theory’s development.

The scientists’ calculations in the manuscript were incorrect, and Einstein and Besso paused their work in June 1913 when Besso had to return home to present-day Italy. Besso tried to continue on his own in early 1914 but ultimately gave up on the project.

Einstein later reworked the calculations and published the theory of general relativity under only his name in November 1915. The contribution upended understandings of gravity, space and time, opening up explorations of gravitational time dilation, light deflection and gravitational waves. It was one of the breakthroughs that helped make Einstein’s name synonymous with genius in popular culture.

Einstein was awarded the Nobel Prize in physics for 1921. He died in 1955 at age 76.

Diana Kormos Buchwald, a historian of science and director of the Einstein Papers Project, described the manuscript as a “foundational document” that sheds light on the painstaking – and collaborative – process that led to one of the field’s most significant discoveries.

“Doing the archaeology of what he knew and when he knew it has been very important for our understanding of the development of modern physics,” Kormos Buchwald said. “What this does for us is it removes to a certain extent a halo around a scholar in the attic having ‘Aha!’ moments and presents a much more realistic image of the hard working, calculating physicist… who ploughs many furrows before reaching the goal.”

It is thanks to Besso that the document survived, Christie’s said, because Einstein was known for discarding his working drafts. Besso held onto the pages throughout his life and passed them down to his son, Vero, who later gave them to Pierre Speziali, the editor of correspondence between Michele and Einstein. Speziali shared a photocopy with the Einstein Papers Project, which published it in a volume of Einstein’s collected papers.

The original was eventually sold at auction in 1996 before being acquired along with other Einstein papers in 2002 for roughly half a million dollars by French company Aristophil.

Aristophil sold shares in a large collection of rare manuscripts appraised at high prices – including the Einstein-Besso document – to some 18,000 people. In 2015, French authorities arrested Gérard Lhéritier, the company’s founder, accusing him of defrauding investors and essentially running a literary Ponzi scheme.

Tuesday’s sale was part of a series of judicial auctions to find new homes for Lhéritier’s collection.

Kormos Buchwald said Einstein was aware of the growing value of his papers during his lifetime and “would have liked a manuscript sale to go to a good cause.”

Published : November 24, 2021

By : The Washington Post

#SootinClaimon.Com : ขอบคุณแหล่งข้อมูล : หนังสือพิมพ์ The Nation.

https://www.nationthailand.com/international/40009180

Tens of thousands of European Union citizens are still applying to remain in the U.K. months after the governments post-Brexit deadline, a sign that many businesses may be employing people without so-called settled status.

Last month alone, the British Home Office received almost 65,000 applications from EU citizens to stay in the country, according to Bloomberg calculations from official data. That brings the total received since the June 30 deadline to more than 236,000.

People are only discovering that they don’t have the right papers as they start traveling again or when they try to change jobs, according to immigration lawyers. The government so far appears to be taking a flexible approach to the late applications. Still, mixed messaging and a lack of clarity around how such workers may be dealt with in the future is creating uncertainty for industries like hospitality that rely on EU talent.

The current climate is “nerve-racking” for firms helping EU citizens who missed the deadline, said Kim Vowden, senior associate at Kingsley Napley LLP in London. “At the moment the Home Office is being flexible about people applying late, but they can change the policy whenever they like.”

EU nationals enjoyed the right to live and work in the country before Brexit took effect in January. Following Britain’s exit from the bloc, those already living in the U.K. had to apply to the EU Settlement Scheme to secure their residence rights. Those that don’t have that settled status now require a visa to work, live or study in Britain.

The confusion around settled status adds further complications to an already tight labor market across Britain’s supply chains. Over 200,000 EU citizens left the U.K. in 2020, driven away by Brexit and the worst recession in three centuries. Sectors like construction and retail have struggled to fill vacancies.

Vowden said a client of his firm who is awaiting approval of a late application was questioned by the Border Force while trying to board the Eurostar in Rotterdam in October. The person was handed a letter saying that they could return to the U.K., but should then avoid traveling again until receiving settled status.

Around 5.5 million EU nationals applied to continue living in the U.K. by June 30. The Home Office made a U-turn in August when it said it would support late submissions for those with “reasonable grounds” for missing the deadline. Those can range from medical conditions and mental health issues, to Covid-19 restrictions and a simple lack of knowledge of the process.

There is currently a backlog of almost 400,000 applications waiting to be processed, according to the Home Office website.

“We look for reasons to grant status rather than refuse and we encourage anyone eligible who is yet to apply to get in touch and join the millions who have already secured their rights,” a Home Office spokesperson said in an email.

The light-touch approach also applies to British employers. According to official guidance, businesses only have to check the right-to-work status for new hires, not for those who were already on their payroll as of July 1. If they happen to discover existing EU employees didn’t apply for settled status, they should advise them to submit an application within 28 days.

Lawyers expect that many firms will continue to be unaware that they have workers without settled status unless they carry out their own internal audits.

Meanwhile, the Home Office has said it will continue to accept late applications indefinitely. It is now also sending letters to EU nationals who haven’t applied yet urging them to do so in 28 days.

Published : November 24, 2021

By : Bloomberg

#SootinClaimon.Com : ขอบคุณแหล่งข้อมูล : หนังสือพิมพ์ The Nation.

https://www.nationthailand.com/international/40009179

TORONTO – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, deprived again of the majority he sought in an unpopular snap pandemic election in September, pledged Tuesday to get the pandemic under control and go “further, faster” to fight climate change.

His plan, presented in the Speech from the Throne for a new session of Parliament, was mostly a rehash of promises he has made in past addresses, budgets and campaign platforms, such as building affordable housing, working with the provinces to create a national child-care system, increasing immigration and advancing reconciliation with Indigenous people.

The address was delivered in a ceremony filled with ancient traditions, pomp and pageantry by the governor general, who represents Queen Elizabeth in Canada, but it was written by the prime minister and his aides.

It came more than two months after a federal election that produced a Parliament that looks virtually unchanged from the last one. Trudeau called the election betting voters would reward him for his response to the pandemic with a majority government.

Instead, they left his party 11 seats short of the 170 needed for a majority in the House of Commons, and dependent again on the backing of opposition parties to pass his agenda.

The speech said voters gave Parliament “clear” direction.

“Not only do they want parliamentarians to work together to put this pandemic behind us,” said Gov. General Mary Simon, reading the address. “They also want bold, concrete solutions to meet the other challenges we face.”

The speech was the first delivered by Simon, Canada’s first Indigenous governor general. The former diplomat, who is bilingual in English and Inuktitut, delivered parts of the address in both of those languages, as well as French, a language she has pledged to learn.

In a preface to the speech written by Simon herself, she noted the discoveries this year of unmarked graves near the sites of former residential schools for Indigenous children and urged Canadians to turn their “guilt” into action on reconciliation. She also delivered a stark warning about the planet.

“Our Earth is in danger,” Simon said. “From a warming Arctic to the increasing devastation of natural disasters, our land and our people need help. We must move talk into action and adapt where we must. We cannot afford to wait.”

Much as in the old Parliament, Trudeau is expected to rely on the left-leaning New Democratic Party and the separatist Bloc Québécois for support. Those parties are aligned with him on several key policy areas, including combating climate change.

The throne speech is typically put to a vote that the government must win to stay in power. The Bloc Québécois appeared to indicate that it would not bring the government down over the speech.

“Supporting might not be the best word,” Bloc leader Yves-François Blanchet said. “We will live with this empty piece of paper gently read in three languages.”

Other party leaders panned the speech.

“It really looked really empty,” said New Democratic Party leader Jagmeet Singh. “It was a government that’s run out of ideas and run out of steam. We see a throne speech that does not respond to the urgency of the crises that we’re up against.”

Still, he declined to say whether he would vote against it.

Conservative Party leader Erin O’Toole said that the throne speech lacked “a plan for the economy” and “a plan to tackle the cost of living crisis.”

“The reality facing Canadian families seem to be something that the Liberal government [is] all too happy to blissfully ignore,” he said.

The address contained one reference to inflation, which it described as “a challenge that countries around the world are facing,” and said the government would “prudently” manage spending and move toward “more targeted” economic aid for sectors still affected by the pandemic.

The speech came as the government responds to the aftermath of a once-in-a-century storm in British Columbia last week that caused flooding and landslides that have been blamed for at least four deaths, led to fuel rationing and destroyed key highways, effectively choking Vancouver off from much of the rest of Canada.

It pledged to cap and cut oil and gas sector emissions and to “strengthen action to prevent and prepare for floods, wildfires, droughts, coastline erosion and other extreme weather worsened by climate change.”

“The government is taking real action to fight climate change,” the government said. “Now, we must go further, faster.”

The speech, which is read in the Senate, usually provides a broad overview of a government’s agenda, but rarely provides nitty-gritty details on how programs might work or what they will cost. This one was no different.

It foreshadowed potential flash points, including a plan to revive a controversial bill from the last session of Parliament that would ensure streaming services “pay their fair share for the creation and promotion of Canadian content.”

With the pandemic not yet over, it remained unclear what format the new session of Parliament would take. The Liberals favor a hybrid Parliament with some lawmakers physically present in the House of Commons and others joining remotely. The Conservatives and the Bloc want all lawmakers to attend in-person.

“We want to see Parliament return to proper function,” O’Toole said.

Published : November 24, 2021

By : The Washington Post

#SootinClaimon.Com : ขอบคุณแหล่งข้อมูล : หนังสือพิมพ์ The Nation.

https://www.nationthailand.com/international/40009173

The number of Covid-19 cases crossed 13.87 million across Southeast Asia, with 27,245 new cases reported on Tuesday (November 23), higher than Monday’s tally at 25,889. New deaths are at 505, decreasing from Monday’s number of 506. Total Covid-19 deaths in Asean are now at 288,570.

Malaysia’s government is prepared to face the eventuality of the fourth wave of Covid-19 infection in the country following the Melaka state election last Saturday. Taking a lesson from the Sabah election last year, a very strict standard operating procedure (SOP) was set for the Melaka state election by not allowing large-scale campaigns to be held. The strict SOPs would also be used for the coming Sarawak state election to curb the spread of Covid-19.

Meanwhile, Malaysian budget airline AirAsia Group reported a net loss of 887 million ringgit on Monday, 4.1 per cent increase compared with a loss of 851.8 million ringgit a year earlier. It said enhanced lockdowns and travel restrictions in Malaysia and Indonesia impacted its aviation revenue, although its Philippines unit had a strong quarter.
 

Published : November 24, 2021

By : THE NATION

#SootinClaimon.Com : ขอบคุณแหล่งข้อมูล : หนังสือพิมพ์ The Nation.

https://www.nationthailand.com/international/40009171

Apple announced Tuesday that it has sued Israel-based NSO Group over the use of its Pegasus spyware to attack Apple devices, the latest move in an escalating global campaign to curb surveillance abuses against smartphone users.

The suit, which seeks an injunction against NSO to stop it from using any Apple software, service or device, comes after the July publication of The Pegasus Project by The Washington Post and 16 other news organizations that detailed the use of Pegasus in dozens of attacks against journalists, human rights workers and political activists in countries across the world.

The NSO Group has repeatedly denied the conclusions of The Pegasus Project but also has been buffeted by a series of government and other actions fueled by the consortium’s findings, including a U.S. government decision earlier this month to blacklist the company.

NSO’s “notorious hackers” are “amoral 21st century mercenaries who have created highly sophisticated cyber-surveillance machinery that invites routine and flagrant abuse,” Apple claims in the lawsuit, which was filed in federal court in the Northern District of California.

NSO long has defended itself by saying that spyware is essential to combatting crime and terrorism in a world in which most communications are encrypted, making traditional wiretapping all but impossible. Breaking into a particular device, by contrast, allows police and spies to monitor the activities of individuals it is targeting – even when they use WhatsApp, Signal or other encrypted communications tools. The company has said it licenses Pegasus to dozens of military, intelligence and law enforcement agencies around the world but not before vetting its clients.

“Thousands of lives were saved around the world thanks to NSO Group’s technologies used by its customers,” NSO spokesman Oded Hershkovitz in a statement Tuesday. “Pedophiles and terrorists can freely operate in technological safe-havens, and we provide governments the lawful tools to fight it. NSO group will continue to advocate for the truth.”

Apple’s legal move follows a similar lawsuit by the Facebook-owned messaging service WhatsApp in 2019 that accused NSO of targeting 1,400 of its users with spyware. A U.S. appeals court ruled this month that the suit can proceed.

Those seeking to curb the use of spyware praised the growing use of lawsuits and other legal tools to combat NSO and similar companies, calling such moves key to challenging an industry capable of developing a seemingly endless number of new ways to attack phones and other computerized devices. It’s a cat-and-mouse game defenders – even at giant technology companies – are doomed to lose given the sprawling and ever-changing nature of software, experts say.

“You’re never going to get rid of all of the exploits,” said Johns Hopkins security researcher Matthew D. Green, using a common term for the software weaknesses exploited by hackers. He said lawsuits make it harder for companies like NSO Group to make big profits. “When companies like Apple turn on NSO and make it so that [surveillance] is not a profitable activity any more, that’s a good thing.”

In announcing its lawsuit, Apple singled out a particular attack on iPhones called FORCEDENTRY that had been discovered by researchers for Citizen Lab, a technology research group at the University of Toronto that has long worked to detail abuses of Pegasus. Apple released a patch for the vulnerability shortly after Citizen Lab reported it to the company in September.

“State-sponsored actors like the NSO Group spend millions of dollars on sophisticated surveillance technologies without effective accountability. That needs to change,” said Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of Software Engineering, in a blog post announcing the lawsuit.

“Apple devices are the most secure consumer hardware on the market – but private companies developing state-sponsored spyware have become even more dangerous,” he wrote. “While these cybersecurity threats only impact a very small number of our customers, we take any attack on our users very seriously, and we’re constantly working to strengthen the security and privacy protections in iOS to keep all our users safe.”

Among the findings of The Pegasus Project was that iPhones, despite their reputation for strong security compared to some other smartphones, had weaknesses that the NSO Group had learned to exploit to deliver spyware to the phones of targets.

In some cases NSO customers delivered Pegasus in such a stealthy way that users got no alert and needed to take no action in order for an infection to begin on their devices. Such “zero-click attacks” were an advance over previous generations that relied on users clicking on malicious links in text messages or other communication on their devices.

Once inside, Pegasus turned smartphones into sophisticated spying devices, revealing their locations, communications, pictures and other information. Pegasus, which also can be used to target Android devices, can activate microphones and cameras without users knowing.

The lawsuit accuses NSO of enabling customers to target U.S. citizens, despite the company’s pledge that its spyware “cannot be used to conduct cybersurveillance within the United States.”

Apple also said it was donating $10 million to support cybersecurity researchers and advocates against spyware. The company also said in its blog post that it had made recent improvements in its latest mobile operating system, iOS 15, and in particular to its Blast Door feature that’s intended to defend against malware, including Pegasus. It also is notifying users successfully attacked using the FORCEDENTRY exploit.

But by taking the fight to federal court, Apple has signaled that it is moving beyond technical approaches to combatting spyware to challenging the companies that make such hacking easy to execute, even for governments without advanced technological abilities.

“What Apple has done … is putting NSO’s business model into the toxic category for all but the most unscrupulous investors,” said said John Scott-Railton, a senior researcher at Citizen Lab.

Apple is suing under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, which was enacted in 1986, long before anyone imagined the interconnected world of mobile computing that now dominates everything from commerce to pop culture.

Legal experts say it’s still unclear whether the law, which prohibits anyone from “intentionally accessing a computer without authorization,” applies to companies like NSO Group. The company has argued in other lawsuits, including the one filed by WhatsApp, that it does not.

“It’s something that is sort of cutting edge when it comes to computer law,” said Tor Ekeland, a defense attorney who often represents clients accused of hacking offenses.

Apple also attempts to thread a legal needle, acknowledging that Apple itself wasn’t the target of the hacks, but that it was still victimized because NSO abused “Apple services and servers to perpetrate attacks on Apple’s users and data stored on users’ devices.”

The legal complaint argues that the federal court in Northern California has has jurisdiction in the case because NSO allegedly “created more than one hundred Apple IDs to carry out their attacks and also agreed to Apple’s iCloud Terms and Conditions (‘iCloud Terms’), including a mandatory and enforceable forum selection and exclusive jurisdiction clause that constitutes express consent to the jurisdiction of this Court.” Apple is based in Cupertino, Calif.

NSO has suffered a series of devastating blows in the months since the Pegasus Project investigation. This month, after the Commerce Department added the company to its red-flagged “entity list,” NSO’s new chief executive announced his resignation after only two weeks in the role. The U.S. government action has been seen as a Biden administration rebuke to the Israeli government, which approves all NSO Group exports – essentially dictating which countries can use Pegasus – but failed to prevent the abuses detailed in The Pegasus Project.

The company also faces significant financial peril. The credit rating agency Moody’s downgraded the company on Monday, saying it faced an “increased risk” of default on hundreds of millions of dollars in debt.

In recent months, an internal investigation discovered traces of Pegasus spyware in the phones of five French cabinet ministers. And in the U.K., a High Court judgment last month confirmed that the phones of Princess Haya, the ex-wife of Dubai’s ruler, as well as those of her legal and security advisers had been targeted with a Pegasus hack.

The White House raised concerns about NSO’s spyware to the Israeli government in July. Beyond the Commerce Department’s blacklist, members of Congress have also pushed for more severe financial sanctions and other measures to combat the spyware’s abuse.

Published : November 24, 2021

By : The Washington Post

#SootinClaimon.Com : ขอบคุณแหล่งข้อมูล : หนังสือพิมพ์ The Nation.

https://www.nationthailand.com/international/40009155

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha attended the Asean-China special summit marking 30 years of the region’s ties with China via a video link at Government House on Monday.

“PM Prayut told the meeting that the establishment of a comprehensive strategic partnership between Asean and China will enhance cooperation in all dimensions,” government spokesman Thanakorn Wangboonkongchana said.

He also told the meeting that Thailand is committed to improving people’s quality of life and boosting human potential in the 21st century under three key strategies:

• Reducing socio-economic disparity and improving the quality of life for people along the sufficiency economy philosophy.

• Promoting a grassroots society and economy through modern technology and innovation to boost the potential of people in all age groups, ensuring no one is left behind.

• Ensuring that all development projects are sustainable and eco-friendly, with a renewed focus on promoting the BCG (bio, circular and green) economy and achieving carbon neutrality by 2050 and zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2065.

Chinese president Xi Jinping, who chaired the meeting, offered a five-point proposal for the two sides to jointly build a “peaceful, safe, secure, prosperous, beautiful and amicable home together”.

“We need to pursue dialogue instead of confrontation, build partnerships instead of alliances, and make a concerted effort to address the various negative factors that might threaten or undermine peace,” Xi said at the meeting.

Xi said China would never seek to dominate or bully smaller countries, adding that his country supports Asean’s efforts to build a nuclear-weapons-free zone.

The president also unveiled a China-Asean health shield initiative, which, in addition to vaccine donations, includes an additional US$5 million donation to the Covid-19 Asean Response Fund, joint vaccine production and technology transfer to help the bloc build a primary-level public health system.

Last year, Asean and China became top trading partners as they jointly battled the Covid-19 pandemic and global economic downturn. Prayut highlighted these developments as fundamental for forging closer ties in the future.

“China and Asean nations must continue to maintain peace and stability under the 3M principles, namely mutual trust, mutual respect and mutual benefits,” Prayut said in his closing remarks.

He also praised Xi’s vision for “building a community with a shared future for mankind”, saying it demonstrates China’s commitment to addressing common challenges and creating a liveable world.

With inputs from Xinhua and China Daily

Related News

China, ASEAN in comprehensive strategic partnership, says X

AEC prepares for 20th Asean Summit to be held next week

Post-pandemic recovery, security high on ASEAN summit agenda

Published : November 23, 2021

By : THE NATION