🇮🇷❌🇺🇸🇺🇸 — The Islamic Republic of Iran is Targeting 2024 US Election to manipulate public opinion against Donald Trump, says Microsoft Threat Analysis Center (MTAC)

In Their report, MTAC says:

➡️ Today we’re sharing intelligence about activity we’ve been tracking that increasingly points to Iran’s intent to influence this year’s US presidential election. In recent weeks, groups connected with the Iranian government have upped two kinds of activity.

➡️ First, they’ve laid the groundwork for influence campaigns on trending election-related topics and begun to activate these campaigns in an apparent effort to stir up controversy or sway voters – especially in swing states. Second, they’ve launched operations that Microsoft assesses are designed to gain intelligence on political campaigns and help enable them to influence the elections in the future.

➡️ We discuss this activity in a new report we released today, which details this activity, and four examples illuminate what we can increasingly expect from Iran as we near November.

One Iranian group has been launching covert news sites targeting US voter groups on opposing ends of the political spectrum. One of the sites, called Nio Thinker, caters to left-leaning audiences and insults former president Donald Trump, calling him an “opioid-pilled elephant in the MAGA china shop” and a “raving mad litigiosaur.”

➡️ Another, called Savannah Time, claims to be a “trusted source for conservative news in the vibrant city of Savannah” and focuses on topics including LGBTQ+ issues and gender reassignment. The evidence we found suggests the sites are using AI-enabled services to plagiarize at least some of their content from US publications.

➡️ A separate Iranian group has been setting the groundwork for US-focused influence operations since March.

➡️ We believe this group may be setting itself up for activities that are even more extreme, including intimidation or inciting violence against political figures or groups, with the ultimate goals of inciting chaos, undermining authorities, and sowing doubt about election integrity.

🔗 Link
https://archive.is/RVzm7
🔗 Microsoft Threat Intelligence (@MsftSecIntel)

🇧🇷✈️⚠️ — ☠ In a statement, the City Hall of Valinhos, in the Brazilian state of São Paulo, reported that there are no survivors from the plane crash. 68 people lost their lives in the accident.

🇲🇽🇷🇺🇺🇦 Mexico rejects Ukraine's request to arrest Russia's Putin during visit

The Mexican president on Thursday rejected a request from Ukraine's government to arrest Vladimir Putin if the Russian leader defies an international arrest warrant and attends the inauguration of Mexico's next president in October.

🗣"We can't do that," President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador told reporters at a regular government press conference. "It's not up to us."

Ukraine asked Mexico to arrest Putin if he attends the Oct. 1 swearing-in ceremony of President-elect Claudia Sheinbaum. Sheinbaum's team has invited the Russian president to attend the inauguration, noting earlier this week that it sent a "diplomatic notice" to all countries with which Mexico maintains diplomatic relations.

https://news.1rj.ru/str/meriblood/3441

@FelipeChannel

🇵🇦🇺🇸 Panama asks the US to expedite resources for repatriating migrants

Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino asked the U.S. to accelerate aid deliveries for repatriating migrants who cross into Panama through the Darien Gap.

Mulino took office in early July vowing to crack down on the record number of migrants crossing the Darien and announced an agreement with the U.S. under which Washington would foot the bill for sending back migrants who enter Panama without authorization.

In a press conference on Thursday, Mulino called on the U.S. to deliver the money quickly, saying he needed it for repatriation flights.

🗣"The ball is in their court, we have done everything we can do," he said, referring to the Americans.

🔎 Source
#Panama #US #DarienGap

☠️ Blood Meridian

🇦🇷📰❌🇻🇪 — Leandro Lutzky, former Argentine news presenter at teleSUR, has announced his resignation due to the electoral scandal in Venezuela and the news network's support for Nicolás Maduro's regime:

"I resigned from my job as a news presenter at Telesur because of the electoral scandal in Venezuela. On the return flight, a Venezuelan migrant made me promise that I would make a video explaining it."

Leandro Lutzky (@LeanLutzky) 🖇

🇻🇪🇻🇪 💥 — In the Supreme Court of Justice, controlled by the regime, Maduro attacks María Corina Machado once again, calling her a "terrorist" and a "fugitive from justice."

💰🇪🇺🌍💶☝️💶💲 MiCA regulation poses ‘systemic risk’ to banking system, says Tether CEO

According to Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino, recently approved MiCA regulations threaten both banks and stablecoin issuers.

He raised concerns that the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation poses a systemic risk not only to stablecoins but also to the broader banking system.

“The problem that I have with MiCA is that instead of making the system more secure, it’s actually creating an incredibly big systemic risk,” Ardoino told Cointelegraph in an exclusive interview.

The MiCA regulation, which took effect on June 30, imposes stringent limitations on stablecoin operations across the European Economic Area. Notably, it mandates that at least 60% of reserves backing stablecoins must be held in EU bank accounts.

Ardoino highlighted that financial institutions operate under fractional reserve banking, where only a fraction of deposits are available for withdrawal at any given moment, leaving them vulnerable to bank runs.

He further pointed out that EU cash deposits are insured for only up to $100,000 — an amount he argues is inadequate for large stablecoin issuers like Tether.

https://cointelegraph.com/news/mica-regulation-systemic-risk-banking-system-tether-ceo

@FelipeChannel

🏹 🚢 🏴‍☠️ Container shipping costs from China have spiked to their highest levels since 2022.

🔶️ Since the beginning of 2024, shipping rates have more than TRIPLED.

🔶️ It now costs ~$9,000 to ship a 40-foot container from Shanghai to New York and ~$8,000 to Los Angeles.

🔶️ This has been driven by a sharp drop in Suez Canal transit volume, disruptions at some ports in Asia, and demand increase due to inventory restocking.

🔶️ Rising shipping costs are fueling inflation.

📎 Kobeissi Letter

🇪🇹📈💵 — New BRICS member Ethiopia to launch a securities exchange by October

➡️ Ethiopia's securities exchange is expected to begin operations in October, according to its chief executive, as reported by state-affiliated media on Thursday

➡️ Despite being East Africa's largest economy, with a GDP of around $205 billion according to the IMF, Ethiopia has lacked a stock exchange

➡️ The government is actively seeking private investors to purchase up to 75% of the ESX's shares. Ethiopian Investment Holdings, the state-controlled sovereign wealth fund, along with its subsidiaries, will retain the remaining 25% shareholding.

➡️ In February, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed revealed that the government is considering selling a 10% stake in the state-owned telecoms company, Ethio Telecom, through the upcoming securities exchange

➡️ Ethio Telecom maintained a monopoly in the market until 2022 when a consortium led by Kenya's Safaricom won the country's first private telecoms license and began commercial operations, according to Reuters.

➡️ While Ethiopia's economy is still facing the legacy of being a command economy for decades, Abiy's push since 2018 towards more private sector involvement has been notable for being more ambitious than previous attempts at liberalization.

🔗 Link

🇧🇷🇧🇷❌🇻🇪🤝🌎 — 📰 Metrópoles: Celso Amorim does not want Venezuela to join BRICS
Venezuela will only join BRICS with Brazil's approval; Celso Amorim does not want the country governed by dictator Nicolás Maduro to join

Celso Amorim does not want Venezuela to join the BRICS, the group of emerging economies formed by Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Ethiopia and Egypt.

Celso has told interlocutors that Venezuela would “negatively complicate” the actions of the BRICS.

Nicolás Maduro has been toying with the prospect of joining the BRICS as a way to counter pressure from the United States. The dictator recently threatened to hand over the blocs operated by the United States or other countries of the global North to his BRICS allies — a reference to China and Russia.

Source 🖇 | ⚡️ Instant View in Portuguese:

🚀 🇨🇳 🛰 Chinese rocket's breakup puts over 1,000 satellites and other objects at risk

🔶️ A Chinese rocket stage that broke apart in space this week created more than 700 pieces of debris, putting over 1,000 satellites and other objects in a high-traffic region of Earth's orbit at risk of hazardous collisions, analysts said on Friday.

🔶️ China's state-owned Shanghai Spacecom Satellite Technology (SSST) launched 18 internet satellites into orbit on Tuesday as the inaugural batch of a communications network that will challenge SpaceX's vast Starlink constellation.

🔶️ The upper rocket stage that carried those satellites into orbit appeared to explode soon after deploying its payloads, creating a growing field of debris that U.S. space-tracking firms estimate to be at least 700 pieces so far.
SSST did not respond to a request for comment.

🔶️ U.S. space-tracking firm LeoLabs said it was likely the number of debris pieces exceeds 900, making the event one of the largest ever. The debris cloud, created at roughly 800 kilometres (497 miles) in altitude, will last several years, several analysts said.

🔶️ Over 1,100 satellites and other objects in space are at risk of colliding with the Chinese debris, Audrey Schaffer, vice president of strategy at space-tracking firm Slingshot Aerospace, told Reuters.

https://www.reuters.com/technology/space/chinese-rockets-breakup-puts-over-1000-satellites-other-objects-risk-2024-08-09

https://archive.ph/Bdc2W