Twitter Refuses To Explain Why It Promoted a Chinese Company That Allegedly Tracks Minorities

Twitter refused to explain to the Daily Caller News Foundation why it is promoting a Chinese tech group that allegedly tracks Uigher Muslims.

The DCNF reached out to Twitter multiple times on Tuesday asking why Twitter promoted a Huawei Christmas tweet. A confidential Huawei “interoperability report” obtained by IPVM allegedly found that the Chinese technology companies Huawei and Megvii worked together to test software that would recognize Uigher Muslims and then alert the police.

The report was formerly public on Huawei’s website, though it was marked confidential, and the company deleted it after IPVM reached out for comment, according to IPVM.

Twitter declined to explain to the DCNF why it allowed the promotion of the Huawei tweet. (Read more from “Twitter Refuses To Explain Why It Promoted a Chinese Company That Allegedly Tracks Minorities” HERE)

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South Korea Scrambles Jets as Chinese, Russian Aircraft Enter Air Defense Zone

South Korea said it scrambled fighter jets in response to an intrusion into its air defence identification zone by 19 Russian and Chinese military aircraft on Tuesday.

Four Chinese warplanes entered the Korea Air Defence Identification Zone (KADIZ) followed by 15 Russian aircraft, according to South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS).

The South Korean military dispatched air force fighters to take tactical measures.

The South Korean military said the Chinese military had informed South Korea that its planes were carrying out routine training before the Chinese aircraft entered the KADIZ. (Read more from “South Korea Scrambles Jets as Chinese, Russian Aircraft Enter Air Defense Zone” HERE)

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Brazilian President Fears a Horrible Side Effect From COVID Vaccine… It’s Not What You Think

. . .In the film, “I Am Legend,” scientists re-engineered the measles vaccine to cure cancer. It instead wipes out most of humanity. Most of those who didn’t die in the aftermath mutated into vampire-like albino creatures. The rest, a small sliver, to say the least, were immune but consumed by the vampires. Will Smith, who plays Dr. Robert Neville, explains it better in the movie. That’s what Brazil’s president thinks will happen with the COVID vaccine…sort of.

President Jair Bolsonaro thinks the shot could turn people into alligators (editor’s note: he was joking, see below). Now, from the transcript, he sounds like he’s just trying to give an example of a side effect before hitting on his main point, which is that Pfizer could have legal immunity if anything goes terribly wrong from some people who take it. (via NY Post):

Brazil’s president Jair Bolsonaro shocked even his staunchest supporters this week with an expletive-filled tirade against the COVID-19 vaccine, despite 7.1 million cases of the virus in the country and over 185,000 deaths.

“I’m not going to get [the vaccine]. Some say I’m setting a bad example. Hey a–hole, oh idiot, what are you saying about the bad example, I already had the virus, I already have antibodies. Why should I get the vaccine again?” Bolsonaro said in a speech captured by the news service UOL to a crowd in Porto Seguro. Bolsonaro contracted COVID-19 earlier this year. . .

“And another thing that has to be made very clear,” Bolsonaro charged. “There in the Pfizer contract, it is very clear that we (Pfizer) are not responsible for any side effect. If you become an alligator, it is your problem. … And what is worse, tampering with people’s immune systems.”

(Read more from “Brazilian President Fears a Horrible Side Effect From COVID Vaccine… It’s Not What You Think” HERE)

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Zoom Executive Exposed as Chinese Communist Spy

A former executive at Zoom, who shut down video conferences that were not flattering to China, was exposed as a spy for the Chinese Communist Party, according to the Department of Justice.

Xinjiang Jin, aka Julien Jin, was an employee of the American video conferencing company. The 39-year-old, who was based in China’s Zhejiang Province, worked as a “security technical leader” for tech company headquartered in San Jose, California. Jin served as a liaison between Zoom and the Chinese government after Beijing blocked the company’s service in China in September 2019.

Jin provided the Chinese Communist Party with information about users and meetings, even supplying the CCP with IP addresses from anyone who held anti-China sentiments, say federal prosecutors in Brooklyn, New York.

According to the complaint filed in United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York, Jin reportedly participated in a plot to disrupt a series of meetings in May and June that commemorated the Tiananmen Square massacre, where at least 280 pro-democracy demonstrators were shot dead.

In the CCP’s bidding, it is reported that at least four video meetings commemorating the 31st anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre were infiltrated and terminated. Jin and his co-conspirators reportedly contrived false accusations, including child porn and terrorism, against Zoom users in the United States. (Read more from “Zoom Executive Exposed as Chinese Communist Spy ” HERE)

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Rockets Targeted U.S. Embassy in Baghdad in Third Attack Since Truce

Iraqi security officials say at least three rockets landed in Baghdad’s Green Zone in an attack reported to be targeting the U.S. Embassy.

The rockets hit a residential complex inside the heavily fortified area, damaging buildings and cars but left no casualties, according to Reuters. The Iraqi military said an “outlaw group” fired the rockets on Sunday, causing sirens to blare from the embassy compound. One official, whose office is inside the Green Zone, said an anti-rocket system diverted one of the rockets.

The attack is the third on U.S. military and diplomatic infrastructure since an October truce that put an end to a year of roadside bomb attacks and rocket launches on foreign installations, according to Arab News, an English newspaper published in Saudi Arabia. (Read more from “Rockets Targeted U.S. Embassy in Baghdad in Third Attack Since Truce” HERE)

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U.S. Sanctions Electoral Hardware Company Over Role in ‘Fraudulent’ Venezuelan Elections

The U.S. Department of State and Treasury Department on Friday took action against a Venezuelan election systems company for supporting socialist dictator Nicolás Maduro’s allegedly fraudulent Dec. 6 legislative elections.

The firm, Ex-Cle Soluciones Biometricas C.A. (Ex-Cle C.A.), is accused of materially supporting Maduro’s regime by “providing goods and services that the Maduro regime used to carry out the fraudulent December 6, 2020 parliamentary elections,” said the Department of the Treasury in a news release, while also announcing sanctions against the company and two of its executives.

Ex-Cle C.A. is a biometric technology company that operates in Venezuela as the subsidiary of Argentine-registered Ex-Cle S.A. According to the company’s website, it designs systems that use biometrics to identify and verify citizens when they vote, while the Treasury Department said the firm “has been doing business as the electoral hardware and software vendor with Maduro regime-aligned government agencies and officials.”

The Department of State, meanwhile, asserted that Ex-Cle C.A. “was aware of and involved in the regime’s efforts to rig the fraudulent December 6 elections, thereby undermining democracy and suppressing the voices of the Venezuelan people.” The company aided the regime in buying “thousands of voting machines from China, routing payments thru the Russian financial system,” the State Department added.

“They shipped the voting machines through Iran using rogue airlines Mahan Air and Conviasa, both previously targeted by the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control,” according to a press release. (Read more from “U.S. Sanctions Electoral Hardware Company Over Role in ‘Fraudulent’ Venezuelan Elections” HERE)

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China Spied on Americans Traveling Abroad, Expert Finds

China allegedly used telecommunications networks in the Caribbean to spy on Americans traveling abroad, according to a network security expert’s findings reported by the Guardian.

Using a state-controlled tech giant, Chinese officials allegedly conducted surveillance attacks to track and intercept communications of mobile phone users without their knowledge. China has engaged in the practice since at least 2018, targeting 3G and 4G phone users, a former telecommunications security executive told the Guardian.

The surveillance attacks largely occurred in countries such as Barbados and the Bahamas, affecting potentially tens of thousands of users, including U.S. citizens abroad.

The majority of the attacks on mobile phones were routed through the state-owned telecommunications company China Unicom, according to the security expert. Simultaneous surveillance intrusions were traced to Caribbean-based companies, though the expert suggested they may not have knowingly participated in malicious data theft but simply leased a network address to a Chinese entity carrying out surveillance. (Read more from “China Spied on Americans Traveling Abroad, Expert Finds” HERE)

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U.S. Blames Iran in Abduction, Death of Ex-FBI Agent Levinson

The Trump administration for the first time on Monday formally blamed Iran for the presumed death of retired FBI agent Robert Levinson, publicly identifying two Iranian intelligence officers believed responsible for his abduction and imposing sanctions against them.

Levinson disappeared in Iran under mysterious circumstances more than a decade ago, and though U.S. diplomats and investigators have long said they thought he was taken by Iranian government agents, Monday’s announcement in the final weeks of the Trump administration was the most definitive assignment of blame to date.

Besides blaming two high-ranking intelligence officers by name, U.S. officials also said the Iranian regime sanctioned the plot that led to Levinson’s abduction and lied for years about its involvement in his disappearance through disinformation campaigns aimed at deflecting responsibility and covering up the government’s role.

“The abduction of Mr. Levinson in Iran is an outrageous example of the Iranian regime’s willingness to commit unjust acts,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement. “The United States will always prioritize the safety and security of the American people and will continue to aggressively pursue those who played a role in Mr. Levinson’s detention and probable death.” (Read more from “U.S. Blames Iran in Abduction, Death of Ex-FBI Agent Levinson” HERE)

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Judge Gives Residency to Migrant Who Set Village on Fire, Killing Multiple People

A judge has granted humanitarian residency to a Gambian migrant who admitted to having started fires in his native village, killing several people.

The migrant arrived in Italy in 2016 but was initially denied asylum by the Bologna Territorial Commission in September of 2018. He then appealed the decision to the Bologna court, which granted him a residency permit on humanitarian grounds late last month.

According to a report from newspaper Il Giornale, the migrant admitted to setting a large part of his village on fire.

He told judges that he had worked in the fields of his village after two years at an Islamic school, and one day he set dry grass on fire which spread to nearby houses due to heavy winds. The fire ultimately killed several people and put others in the hospital.

(Read more from “Judge Gives Residency to Migrant Who Set Village on Fire, Killing Multiple People” HERE)

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Police Fatally Shoot Man Breaking COVID-19 Regulations, Protests Erupt

Hundreds of protesters set a Christmas tree on fire and knocked over other seasonal decorations in demonstrations Wednesday night after police fatally shot a man for not adhering to a COVID-19 curfew in Albania, Politico reported Thursday.

Protests started in Tirana, Albania, on Wednesday where protesters reportedly threw rocks at government buildings and flares at law enforcement officials before they were teargassed, according to Politico. Two protesters and 16 officers sustained injuries, and one officer was in serious condition.

Protesters demanded Prime Minister Edi Rama and Interior Minister Sandër Lleshaj’s resignations, Politico reported. The officer who shot the man has been arrested. . .

Police shot a 25-year-old man when he didn’t stop after officers approached him for breaking curfew on Tuesday, Politico reported. Police claimed the man would not follow orders and that he was carrying a weapon they later referred to as an unidentified object. (Read more from “Police Fatally Shoot Man Breaking COVID-19 Regulations, Protests Erupt” HERE)

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