Day: December 15, 2020

A US telecoms expert believes China is snooping on Americans’ mobile phones in a number of Caribbean countries. Gary Miller’s claims are either proof of Beijing’s malfeasance, or drumbeats in the US’ march toward a new Cold War.

China allegedly used its second-largest telecoms operator – China Unicom – to send “tens of thousands” of so-called signaling messages to Americans in the Caribbean. These messages are usually used by operators to track phones and assess roaming charges, but Miller, a telecoms security consultant, told the Guardian on Tuesday that in some cases, they can be used for “tracking, monitoring, or intercepting communications.”

https://www.rt.com/usa/509752-china-spying-phones-biden-caribbean/

Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell has acknowledged president-elect Joe Biden’s and vice-president-elect Kamala Harris’ victory – despite hoping for a “different result” – following the electoral college vote.

McConnell, a Republican, noted that “as of this morning, our country has a president-elect and a vice president-elect” in a public address on Tuesday, admitting “our system of government has processes to determine who will be sworn in” even though “many millions of us had hoped the presidential election would yield a different result.”

Watch Mitch McConnell finally acknowledge Biden's win: pic.twitter.com/zBHNOxATRH

— The Recount (@therecount) December 15, 2020

With just over two weeks before Britain completes its departure from the bloc, both sides are calling on the other to shift negotiating position to secure a deal governing around $1 trillion worth of trade at the beginning of next year.

The talks have missed several deadlines, and while both sides acknowledge that time is running out, there has been no clear suggestion that either side is willing yet to move far enough to open the way for a breakthrough.

Updating for his cabinet team of top ministers, Johnson “re-emphasised the desire to reach a free trade agreement, but not at any cost, and reiterated any agreement must respect the independence and sovereignty of the UK”, his spokesman said.

https://www.reuters.com/article/britain-eu-johnson-cabinet/trade-progress-no-deal-still-most-likely-brexit-scenario-britain-says-idUSKBN28P1MO?il=0

Defectors and other campaigners in South Korea have for decades sent anti-North Korean leaflets over the tightly guarded border, usually by balloon or in bottles on border rivers. They also send food, medicine, money, mini radios and USB sticks containing South Korean news and dramas.

Isolated North Korea has long denounced the practice and recently stepped up its condemnation of it, to the alarm of a South Korean government intent on improving ties on the divided peninsula.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-northkorea-southkorea/south-korea-bans-anti-north-leaflets-defector-says-he-wont-stop-idUSKBN28O1OI

The World Health Organization’s head should be probed over genocide, a claim filed with the ICC by a US Nobel Peace Prize nominee says, adding that the Ethiopian may be involved in many crimes at home.

The current World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus “was a crucial decision maker in relation to security service actions that included killing, arbitrarily detaining and torturing Ethiopians,” a complaint filed with the International Criminal Court (ICC) says.

https://www.rt.com/news/509659-who-chief-investigated-genocide-hague/

Russia has dismissed allegations that hackers working for the Kremlin have broken into computer systems at the US Treasury and Commerce Departments, saying Moscow had nothing to do with the suspected snooping. 

“Once again, I can reject these accusations and once again I want to remind you that it was President [Vladimir] Putin who proposed that the American side agree and conclude agreements (with Russia) on cyber security,”  Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday, adding that Washington had not responded to the offer.

“As for the rest, if there have been attacks for many months, and the Americans could not do anything about it, it is probably not worth immediately groundlessly blaming the Russians. We didn’t have anything to do with it.”

https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/12/14/640730/Russia-US-hacking-attack-email-systems-allegations

The mutations include changes to the important “spike” protein that the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus uses to infect human cells, a group of scientists tracking the genetics of the virus said, but it is not yet clear whether these are making it more infectious.

“Efforts are under way to confirm whether or not any of these mutations are contributing to increased transmission,” the scientists, from the COVID-19 Genomics UK (COG-UK) Consortium, said in a statement.

https://www.reuters.com/article/health-coronavirus-britain-variant/new-coronavirus-strain-spreading-in-uk-has-key-mutations-scientists-say-idUSKBN28P158

LONDON (Reuters) – The European Union will need to move in negotiations but it is in the interests of both Britain and the bloc to get a trade deal, British minister Steve Barclay said on Tuesday.

“The fundamentals remain the same, it is in both sides interest to have a deal,” Barclay, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, told Sky News.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-britain-eu/britain-needs-eu-to-move-for-mutually-beneficial-trade-deal-minister-says-idUSKBN28P0P6?il=0