https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/18/politics/israeli-spyware-phone-list-hack-investigation/index.html Washington Post: Investigation finds Israeli-designed spyware was used to hack journalists and activists around the world Washington (CNN)Thirty-seven smartphones owned by journalists, human rights activists, business executives and two women connected to the slain Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi were targeted by "military-grade spyware" licensed by an Israeli company to governments, according to an investigation by a consortium of media organizations, including The Washington Post, published Sunday. The Post reported Sunday that the phones were "on a list of more than 50,000 numbers that are concentrated in countries known to engage in surveillance of their citizens" and are known to be clients of the company, NSO Group, whose Pegasus spyware is ostensibly licensed to track terrorists and major criminals. <<<LOL The newspaper reported that through the investigation, which was also conducted with the help of Amnesty International and Forbidden Stories, a Paris-based journalism nonprofit, the outlets "were able to identify more than 1,000 people spanning more than 50 countries through research and interviews on four continents: several Arab royal family members, at least 65 business executives, 85 human rights activists, 189 journalists, and more than 600 politicians and government officials -- including cabinet ministers, diplomats, and military and security officers. The numbers of several heads of state and prime ministers also appeared on the list." The phone numbers of reporters working overseas for CNN, The Associated Press, Voice of America, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg News, France's Le Monde, the UK's Financial Times and Qatar's Al Jazeera are among the numbers that appear on the list, which dates to 2016, according to the Post. The newspaper did not name the reporters in its story. The Post reported that "the list does not identify who put the numbers on it, or why, and it is unknown how many of the phones were targeted or surveilled." CNN has not independently verified the findings of the Pegasus Project investigation, which was organized by Forbidden Stories. In a lengthy statement to CNN on Sunday, NSO Group strongly denied the investigation's findings, saying in part that it sells its "technologies solely to law enforcement and intelligence agencies of vetted governments for the sole purpose of saving lives through preventing crime and terror acts." <<LOL "NSO does not operate the system and has no visibility to the data," the company said, saying it will continue to investigate "all credible claims of misuse and take appropriate action based on the results" of such investigations. NSO also said its systems "are being used every day to break up pedophilia rings, sex and drug-trafficking rings, locate missing and kidnapped children, locate survivors trapped under collapsed buildings, and protect airspace against disruptive penetration by dangerous drones." The Post reported that while many of the numbers on the list were in the Middle East, including Qatar and the UAE, "the greatest number was in Mexico, where more than 15,000 numbers, including those belonging to politicians, union representatives, journalists and other government critics, were on the list." Other countries, including India, Pakistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, France and Hungary, are also represented on the list, according to the newspaper. The investigation found that the "numbers of about a dozen Americans working overseas were discovered on the list, in all but one case while using phones registered to foreign cellular networks," the Post said. "The consortium could not perform forensic analysis on most of these phones." The newspaper noted that NSO "has said for years that its product cannot be used to surveil American phones" and added that the probe "did not find evidence of successful spyware penetration on phones with the US country code." The spyware, which was developed a decade ago with the help of Israeli ex-cyberspies, is designed to easily circumvent typical smartphone privacy measures, "like strong passwords and encryption," according to the Post, which said it can "attack phones without any warning to users" and "read anything on a device that a user can, while also stealing photos, recordings, location records, communications, passwords, call logs and social media posts." The Post also noted that "spyware also can activate cameras and microphones for real-time surveillance." The Pegasus spyware can initiate the attack in a number of different ways, the newspaper said, including through "a malicious link in an SMS text message or an iMessage." Some spyware companies use "zero-click" attacks, according to the Post, which deliver spyware simply by sending a message to a user's phone that produces no notification." "Users," the Post reported of such attacks, "do not even need to touch their phones for infections to begin." In the case of Khashoggi, the newspaper said the spyware had targeted the two women closest to the late Washington Post journalist, who was killed in October 2018. "The phone of his fiancée, Hatice Cengiz, was successfully infected during the days after his murder ... and (his) wife, Hanan Elatr, whose phone was targeted by someone using Pegasus in the months before his killing. Amnesty was unable to determine whether the hack was successful," the Post said. NSO denied in its statement that its technology was used in connection with Khashoggi's murder, saying "our technology was not used to listen, monitor, track, or collect information regarding him or his family members mentioned in the inquiry."
I know ppl are bitching at the pump, but c'mon Brandon also, is Omar being her anti-Semitic self here? Inquiring minds need to know... Omar offers joint resolution to block $650M weapons sale to Saudis Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) on Friday introduced a joint resolution aimed at blocking a $650 million U.S. weapons contract to Saudi Arabia authorized by the Biden administration. The Minnesota lawmaker said she introduced the resolution in opposition to Riyadh’s offensive operations in Yemen’s civil war and crackdown on dissidents at home and abroad. “It is simply unconscionable to sell weapons to Saudi Arabia while they continue to slaughter innocent people and starve millions in Yemen, kill and torture dissidents, and support modern-day slavery,” Omar said in a statement. “We should never be selling human rights abusers weapons, but we certainly should not be doing so in the midst of a humanitarian crisis they are responsible for. Congress has the authority to stop these sales, and we must exercise that power.” President Biden ended U.S. support for Saudi-led operations in Yemen's civil war but has come under criticism from Democrats and human rights advocates for failing to impose more costs on Riyadh for human rights abuses in the kingdom, including holding back on actions against the kingdom’s day-to-day leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, over the October 2018 killing of U.S.-based Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The resolution would require approval by a two-thirds majority in both the House and Senate. The resolution was welcomed by the group Democracy for the Arab World Now, the organization founded by Khashoggi before he was killed. "The United States should not sell any weapons to Saudi Arabia or other abusive governments, period. Congress should block this and similar deals in the future,“ Raed Jarrar, DAWN’S advocacy director, said in a statement. The Biden administration, which has imposed sanctions on key Saudi officials related to the Khashoggi killing and has instituted visa bans, has described relations between Washington and Riyadh as vital. The $650 million weapons sale approved last week is expected to include 280 missiles and 596 LAU-128 Missile Rail Launchers, along with containers and support equipment, spare parts, U.S. government and contractor engineering, and a variety of support services, according to a statement released by the State Department at the time. Omar, a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, responded to the weapons sale announcement last week by reintroducing the Arms Sale Oversight Act, an effort to exercise more control from the House over proposed arms sales. The bill was reintroduced with support from Reps. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) and Sara Jacobs (D-Calif.).
Saudi Arabia seems to be deliberately targeting the United States while trying to assist Russia. Note that they don't really have a choice to slash or maintain prices for the Asian market since Russia is selling oil for $30 or more under the market price to China and India. Note the lowering of European oil prices seem to be for only countries in Moscow's camp or countries Moscow is trying to tilt towards not supporting Ukraine. Saudi Arabia lowers oil prices for Europe but raises them again for the US as White House says OPEC+ is siding with Russia https://markets.businessinsider.com...-us-europe-russia-opec-production-cut-2022-10 Saudi Arabia is raising oil prices for US buyers, following a similar move a month ago. Meanwhile, state-run Saudi Aramco lowered prices in Europe and left them largely unchanged for the Asian market. The price moves come after OPEC+ slashed production quotas, which the White House said aligns the oil group with Russia. Saudi Arabia is raising oil prices for the US market again, while lowering them for Europe and leaving them largely unchanged for Asia. November shipments of Arab Light crude to Asia from state-run producer Saudi Aramco will remain steady at $5.85 per barrel above benchmark prices. A Bloomberg survey estimated prices in Asia, the kingdom's top market, would rise by $0.40 per barrel. Elsewhere, Saudi Aramco hiked prices by $0.20 a barrel for all US grades, while northwest Europe and the Mediterranean saw declines. While Asian prices for the company's light oil was flat, its medium and heavy-grade crude prices ticked up in Asia by $0.25. Last month, Saudi Aramco also lowered prices in Europe and raised them in the US. The latest shakeup in prices comes a day after OPEC+ slashed its production quota by 2 million barrels per day, or roughly 2% of global oil supply. The cut was seen as a defeat for President Joe Biden, who has been pressing OPEC's de facto leader Saudi Arabia for an output boost that would ease fuel prices. On Wednesday, the White House accused OPEC+ of "aligning with Russia" by lowering its quota, which comes at a time when "maintaining a global supply of energy is of paramount importance." Analysts are noting the heightened political environment of OPEC's moves, as fresh European sanctions on Russian oil loom later this year as well as a price cap on Moscow's crude. "This is hugely political and a very clear signal of OPEC's discontent regarding the price cap," Amrita Sen, chief oil analyst at Energy Aspects, told the Financial Times. "Regardless of whether the price cap is actually effective, they see this as a dangerous precedent."
Saudi needs to form a collation to protect the middle east from Iran and the bomb. The USA is allowing Iran to build after a set amount of time The USA has decided to team with Russia and Iran and not Saudi