Egyik 19

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Europe

Hungary
(Friday), 20.09.2024  Photos on social media and Hungarian media show that bridges and the banks of Danube, where the parliament building is also located in central Budapest, were flooded. The Danube level reached 780 cm high yesterday evening, and is expected to reach 850 cm at peak level on Saturday. Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán told today that the population seemed calmer than in the 2013 floods and called for them to avoid mobility over the weekend. PM Orbán says preparations to counter floods will stay in place until next Thursday. Eastern and Central Europe are grappling with Storm Boris. After hitting Austria, the Czech Republic, Poland, and Romania, flooding was expected to affect Slovakia and Hungary next as a result of a low-pressure system from northern Italy that has been dumping record rainfall in the region. Tens of thousands of people have been evacuated from their homes across a swathe of Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, and Slovakia. (Source: aa *)
* Anadolu Agency

European Commission
20/09/2024 - 13:04  A loan was announced by der Leyen today during her visit to Kyiv, promising 'maximum flexibility' in how the money will be spent. 'The European Union will raise a €35 billion loan' to support the Ukrainian economy and military as the war-torn country battles to resist a renewed Russian offensive that has badly damaged the power systems and made territorial advances in the East. (Source: euronews)

European Parliament
September 20, 2024  'In a resolution, adopted yesterday with 425 votes in favour, 131 against and 63 abstentions, members of the European Parliament (MEPs) demand that EU countries lift current restrictions hindering Ukraine from using Western weapons systems against legitimate military targets in Russia'. (Source: euneighbourseast)

United Kingdom
(20 September 2024 11:56 AM)  King Charles expresses his profound shock and sadness after floods across Europe caused by Storm Boris forced thousands to evacuate their homes. Fatalities have been recorded in Romania, Austria, Czech Republic, Poland, with fears growing about the impact on Italy. Five people were killed in Austria, five in Czechia, seven in Poland and seven in Romania. In Hungary, flood waters continued to rise on Friday as authorities closed roads and rail stations. In Budapest water spilled over the city’s lower quays and threatened to reach tram and metro lines. Floods have threatened new areas and heavy rains have forced around 1,000 people in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna to evacuate. The latest evacuations come as King Charles said he and his wife were “profoundly shocked and saddened to see the destruction and devastation caused by the catastrophic flooding in central Europe”. He said he sent their heartfelt condolences to those who have lost loved ones. King Charles said in a statement: “Many people in the United Kingdom have strong, enduring and personal ties to the region and, together with them, my wife and I send our deepest and most heartfelt condolences to all those who have so tragically lost their loved ones, their homes and their livelihoods. “We have immense admiration for the sheer courage and dedication of the emergency services across the region who have clearly worked relentlessly to provide desperately needed support, relief and assistance to the countless people whose lives and properties have been dreadfully disrupted". Storm Boris was triggered by a low-pressure system, where cold Arctic air collided with warm air from the south, further intensified by record-high sea-surface temperatures in the Mediterranean. The atmospheric pressure pattern caused the storm to remain stationary for an extended period. (Source: independent *)
* United Kingdom

Africa

Nigeria
(Friday,) September 20, 2024  Torrential rains sweep through West and Central Africa. While Africa is responsible for a small fraction of global greenhouse gas emissions, it is among the most vulnerable to extreme weather events, the World Meteorological Organization said earlier this month. Over 4 million people have been affected by flooding so far this year in West Africa,, according to the U.N. Torrential rains across Central and West Africa have unleashed the most catastrophic floods in decades. The floods have killed more than 1,000 people and displaced hundreds of thousands across the region this year. The countries which have been impacted the most: Chad, Mali, Niger and Nigeria. So far, at least 487 were reported dead in Chad, 55 in Mali, 265 in Niger, 230 in Nigeria in the most catastrophic flooding since the 1960s. Residents of Maiduguri, the capital of the fragile Nigerian state of Borno - which has been at the center of an Islamic extremists’ insurgency - said they have seen it all. Last week, floods killed about 80% of the animals at the Borno State Museum Park and an unspecified number of reptiles escaped. Houses were swept away to the very last brick, hundreds of inmates frantically were fleeing the city’s main prison as its walls got washed away by water rising from an overflowing dam. Corpses of crocodiles and snakes were floating among human bodies on what used to be main streets. Older people and people with disabilities did not know what was going on, and some were left behind. Those who did not wake up on time drowned right away. Over the last decade, Borno has been hit by a constant string of attacks from Boko Haram militants, who want to install an islamic state in Nigeria and have killed more than 35,000 people in the last decade. The World Food Program has set up kitchens providing food to the displaced in Maiduguri. USAID said Wednesday it has provided more than $3 million in humanitarian assistance to West and Central Africa. In Maiduguri, 15% of the city remains underwater, according to local authorities. As forecasts predicted more rains across the region, Nigerian authorities warned earlier this week that more floods are expected.
(washingtontimes)

Asia

Taiwan
(Friday), 20.09.24, 02:09 PM  How or when the pagers were weaponised and remotely detonated remains a public mystery and the hunt for answers has involved Taiwan, Bulgaria, Norway 'and Romania'. Authorities in Taiwan and Bulgaria today denied involvement in the supply chain of thousands of pagers that detonated on Tuesday in Lebanon in a deadly blow to Hezbollah. Tuesday's attack, and another on Wednesday involving exploding hand-held radios used by Hezbollah, together killed 37 people and wounded about 3,000 in Lebanon. Security sources said Israel was responsible for the pager explosions that raised the stakes in a growing conflict between the two sides. Taiwan-based Gold Apollo said this week it did not manufacture the devices used in the attack, and that Budapest-based company BAC to which the pagers were traced has a license to use its brand. "The components are (mainly) low-end IC (integrated circuits) and batteries," Taiwan's Economy Minister Kuo told adding, regarding the pagers: "I can say with certainty they were not made in Taiwan". Taiwan's Foreign Minister Lin, also speaking to reporters at parliament, answered "no" when asked if he had met with the de facto Israeli ambassador to express concern about the case. "We are asking our missions abroad to raise their security awareness and will exchange relevant information with other countries", he said. Taiwanese authorities look into any potential link between its sprawling global tech supply chains and the devices used in the attacks in Lebanon. The Shilin District Prosecutors Office in Taipei said it had questioned two people as witnesses and was given consent to conduct searches of their firms' four locations in Taiwan as part of its investigation. "We'll seek to determine if there was any possible involvement of these Taiwanese companies as soon as possible, to ensure the safety of the country and its people," the spokesperson said. Gold Apollo's president and founder, Hsu, was questioned by prosecutors late into the night yesterday, then released. Another person also at the prosecutors office was Wu, the sole employee of a company called Apollo System. Teresa did not speak to reporters as she left late yesterday. Hsu said this week a person called Teresa had been one of his contacts for the deal with BAC. Bulgaria also became a focal point for investigations yesterday, after local media reported that Sofia-based Norta Global Ltd was involved in selling the pagers. But Bulgaria's state security agency DANS said on today it had "indisputably established" that no pagers used in the Lebanon attack were imported to, exported from, or made in Bulgaria. It also said that neither Norta nor its Norwegian owner had traded, sold or bought the pagers within Bulgaria's jurisdiction. Iran-aligned Hezbollah has vowed to retaliate against Israel, which has not claimed responsibility for the detonations. The two sides have been engaged in cross-border warfare since conflict in Gaza erupted last October.
(telegraphindia / Reuters)

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Europe

Hungary
19 September 2024  European Union (EU) ministers debated the development of a European degree system at an informal meeting of higher education and research ministers in Budapest, Hungary, on 16 and 17 September. The meeting was overshadowed by an ongoing row about Hungary’s access to EU education and research programmes. Hankó, Hungary’s culture and innovation minister, complained that Lemaître, the European Commission’s research and innovation director general, had been blocked by Brussels from speaking at a post-meeting press conference. Instead, Hankó, whose country holds the rotating six-monthly presidency of the EU Council of Ministers until 31 December, spoke alone. “Unfortunately, I was informed one hour ago that he was not allowed to join me after we had a good discussion during the day. It's not easy to have cooperation and dialogue with the commission,” said Hankó. Much of Hungary’s higher education system has been locked out of the EU’s student exchange programme Erasmus+ and its Horizon Europe research cooperation scheme since January 2023, over concerns about Hungary's operation of universities and higher education institutions by “public interest trusts”. The commission claims that these bodies give excessive control over higher education institutions to Hungary's ’right-wing’ government of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. Hankó said the commission had yet to respond to a document sent by the Hungarian government nine months ago that sought to allay EU concerns about academic independence in Hungary. “We do hope that Brussels will take the necessary measures,” said the minister, adding: “Nor can we ignore that for more than nine months Hungarian students have not received an answer as to why they are excluded from the Erasmus programme and Hungarian researchers from the Horizon programme. If you want a competitive Europe, international cooperation is absolutely essential.” The minister said the Hungarian government would table reforms to its higher education governance system to its parliament anyway and hoped this would force progress on the impasse. As for the EU-wide issues under discussion, the proposed European degree system was a key topic, given the idea had been proposed by the European Commission in a policy paper – communication - issued in February 2024. This kind of EU degree would be awarded after transnational bachelor, masters, or doctoral programmes, delivered by national, regional, or EU HE institutions. Its validity would be automatically recognised across the EU and awarded jointly and on a voluntary basis by groups of universities across Europe, following a common set of criteria agreed at an EU level. Proponents of the European Degree say it would simplify collaboration and mobility between universities by harmonising national regulations – and would also offer students more opportunities for study across Europe, enhancing their employability, while simplifying processes for universities. But there are challenges to overcome, including the diversity of national education systems, mutual recognition of qualifications, and financial sustainability. Delegations also exchanged views on how to prevent institutions unable to issue joint degrees from facing competitive disadvantages. Hankó told the press conference the meeting had had “quite a heated debate about the European degree”. He claimed the commission’s proposal had run into opposition, but progress could be made via consensus. The minister said there had been criticism of suggestions of a Brussels-based body deciding ’what universities and degrees can be awarded in Europe, [as] many countries believed this goes against national systems’. Hankó, whose Eurosceptic government has defended national government powers in Brussels, argued a European degree system “should take into account national characteristics”, and build on the existing Bologna Process mutual recognition and standards system. Ministers also discussed how EU higher education can further deepen and reform the EU single market, following the April report on the topic by former Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta. They also assessed how higher education can boost EU competitiveness, following the report by former Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi on the future of the EU's competitiveness, released on 9 September. In this regard, a meeting note from the Hungarian government said it was “convinced that improving the effectiveness of the European research and innovation ecosystems is a key instrument to strengthen the EU's competitiveness”. A key concern is the “fragmentation” of the European Research Area (ERA), which tries to integrate EU innovation and research policies through an array of policy instruments, such as the ERA Forum, the European Research and Innovation Area Committee (ERAC) and the Pact for Research and Innovation in Europe. Hankó told the press conference: “Europe is lagging behind in the global race ... in education [and] lagging behind in research compared to both North America and Asian countries. There is consensus in the EU that we need to take steps to improve our competitiveness.” He said the Draghi report “provided an excellent basis for the Hungarian presidency to work on this issue” – national presidencies run meetings of the EU Council of Ministers during their terms of office. “We need a competitive turnaround. If we look at the last decade alone, we see that the European Union scientific performance has declined by eight percentage points. Europe reached 95% of US productivity by 1995 but has since fallen to 80%,” said Hankó. He touted the so-called “Hungarian model” of how Europe's competitiveness can be improved – orienting academia towards business and industry. “That is why we are proposing to restore the so-called strategic partnership that is about cooperation between universities, vocational training centres and, of course, the business sector,” he said. Raising concerns about a “two-speed Europe” – a common Hungarian government refrain – he highlighted the steep regional contrasts in scientific performance, with only 8% of applicants in Central and Eastern European countries (which countries account for 24% of the population in Europe) accessing EU scientific research funding; a proportion Hankó said was far higher in Western Europe. “Strong nations; strong research cooperation – that’s how we will have strong Europe,” he told. “That's what we recommend to member states of the European Union and the European Commission to make Europe great again,” Hankó said. (Source: universityworldnews *)
* University World News, published in United Kingdom as a free weekly emailed newsletter and website, that reports on higher education news and developments from a global perspective.

Thursday 19 September 2024 11:37  Head of alleged pager manufacturer said to be 'highly educated' Italian. Twenty minutes outside the centre of Budapest, in Ujpest, is an apartment belonging to the family of Barsony, the woman listed as the chief executive of BAC Consulting - the firm linked to the pagers which exploded in Lebanon. Neighbours say Cristiana was actually born and raised in Sicily, Italy - her Hungarian mother having met her father there. A man who lives next door told that he hasn't seen her for several years, the last time being when she came for the funeral of her grandmother who owned the flat. Cristiana's mother still owns the flat but only comes over from Italy for Easter. (Source: news.sky)
by Whitehead

Thursday 19 September 2024 07:50  'European pager manufacturer was Israeli shell company - report'. Yesterday the Hungary-based firm BAC Consulting was under scrutiny after a Taiwanese firm, Gold Apollo, 'accused' it of manufacturing the pagers that exploded in Lebanon on Tuesday. 'BAC's chief executive denied the allegations", but now 'the New York Times reports' it was an Israeli shell company. It was one of at least three shell companies created to mask the identities of Israeli intelligence officers creating the pagers, the news outlet said, citing three intelligence officers briefed on the operation. 'BAC took ordinary clients as well as Hezbollah but the group's pagers were produced separately, containing batteries laced with the explosive PETN, the officers said. Israel would then trigger the pagers with a message in Arabic that looked as if it had come from Hezbollah's senior leadership. Production was ramped up after Hezbollah got rid of its mobile phones, when its leader warned Israel was using them to gather intelligence on the group. The three intelligence officials told the NYT that Israel had invested millions in developing technology to hack them'. (Source: news.sky)

19 September 2024  The European Commission says it will take the money out of European funds meant for Budapest after the deadline for the payment of a migration-related fine expired. Due to the court decision on its migration policies, it was determined Hungary had to pay a fine of €200 million and a penalty payment of €1 million per day for non-compliance. Budapest refused, claiming this would force them to have open border policies. On September 17, the deadline to adhere to the court decision and pay this fine expired. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán did not immediately publicly react, as the country is struggling with the passage of cyclone Boris. Earlier he labelled the decision as “outrageous and unacceptable”.Hungary and the European Commission have been colliding over migration for a long time. Reacting to the court decision, the Hungarian Government said it plans to confront the capital and send buses filled with migrants to Brussels. “If Brussels wants illegal migrants, they can have them”, Parliamentary Secretary of State 'of the Human Resources Ministry' ((Ministry of the Interior)) Rétvári said on September 6. “If the European Union forces Hungary to let in illegal immigrants, it will offer migrants to be transported to Brussels free of charge,” Rétvári said at a press conference. He reiterated that Hungary was protecting not only its own borders but also Europe’s external ones with its policies. He claimed that, since 2015, the Hungarian southern border fence and the country’s border guards have prevented around 1 million people from entering the EU. “Yet the Court of Justice of the European Union has imposed a ‘disproportionate, unjust’ and ‘gigantic’ fine on Hungary, with which they want to force the country to let illegal immigrants in en masse and to give up its migration policy so far,” Rétvári said. (Source: brusselssignal)

Germany
September 19, 2024, 12:05 PM  Violence left Germany shaken and pushed immigration back to the top of the country’s political agenda. An Aug. 23 attack in Solingen left three dead and eight wounded. A 26-year-old Syrian suspect, an asylum-seeker who was supposed to be deported to Bulgaria last year but reportedly disappeared for a time and avoided deportation was arrested. The islamic state militant group has claimed responsibility for the violence. In response, the Interior Ministry extended temporary border controls to all nine of its frontiers this week. The closures are set to last six months and are threatening to test European unity. The effects of the Solingen attack - and other recent violence across Germany - will also be felt at Oktoberfest. In addition to some 600 police officers and 2,000 security staff, more than 50 cameras will be spread across the grounds of the festival - which will be fenced off as well. (Source: abcnews)

European Commission
Thursday, 19 Sep 2024 08:56  European Commission President von der Leyen is due to meet leaders of several flood-hit nations in the Polish city of Wrocław. High winds and unusually heavy rainfall have hit swathes of Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia since last week. She would hold talks in the western city with Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer, Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico. Brussels said the visit was at the invitation of Mr Tusk. In Hungary, authorities opened a dam in the country's northwest to channel water from the Leitha River into an emergency reservoir in a bid to protect the city of Mosonmagyaróvár. The water was allowed to flow onto agricultural land. In the capital Budapest, the Danube is still expected to peak around or slightly above 8.5 metres tomorrow or Saturday. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán visited the village of Kismaros, north of Budapest on the banks of the Danube, to see how preparations for rising waters were taking shape. In Kismaros, 70% of the defences were in place, with nearly 100,000 sandbags already used, government spokesperson Kovács wrote on X. "We are waiting for the peak in Kismaros on Friday," Mr Orbán wrote in a post on Facebook. "It will be difficult, but our soldiers will stand their ground. We will do it!" (Source: rté *)
* Raidió Teilifís Éireann (Radio and Television of Ireland)

European Union
19 Sep 2024  While "each European country has the right to secure its national borders", those that are part of the Schengen Area are supposed to be committed to freedom of movement for people and goods. "The Schengen Area was born out of the 1985 Schengen Agreement, named for the town in Luxembourg where it was signed, which aimed to eliminate internal borders among participating European countries". The original treaty covered five countries – France, Germany, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Belgium – and has since expanded to 27. Observers have raised concerns that tightening border security harms a core value of the European Union. The Schengen Borders Code defines when and how member states can reintroduce temporary internal border controls. These controls are permitted only under exceptional circumstances, such as threats to national security. Each Schengen country has the right to temporarily reinstate border checks in emergencies, but such decisions must be justified and communicated to the European Commission. They need to be well anchored in the best evidence justifying their necessity, proportionality, legitimacy and assessing very carefully their impacts on free movement and fundamental rights. Police checks in border areas 'cannot be systematic' or target 'specific groups'. 'The European Commission tends to apply a light touch to its members', "preferring diplomatic follow up, but not formally launching enforcement infringement proceedings'. The European Parliament can also step in, filing a judicial complaint against the Commission if it fails to enforce EU law. As in the current German case, border control measures are intended to last no longer than six months. In practice, they can be extended indefinitely until they rather become quasi-permanent. That opens the door to border controls becoming increasingly the rule rather than the exception. Ireland – which operates its own travel area with the United Kingdom – is an EU member that does not participate in Schengen. That means those arriving to the country from other EU member states can expect to have to show identification and provide a valid reason to enter. There are other Schengen hopefuls. Romania and Bulgaria have applied for full Schengen participation, but 'were blocked by Austria and the Netherlands, which expressed migration concerns". While it may seem to the casual observer that 'people can come and go as they please', the Schengen Information System (SIS) serves as a database that tracks visa data, arrest warrants, and information on criminals and missing persons. Joining the Schengen Area requires countries to meet strict conditions, including "assuming responsibility for external EU borders", issuing Schengen-compatible visas and aligning their law enforcement with Schengen security protocols. (Source: theparliamentmagazine)
by Döll, Editorial Assistant at The Parliament Magazine

Asia

Japan
(Thursday), 19.09.2024  A Japanese firm says no longer is making the model of walkie-talkies used in Lebanon blasts. Icom exported its radio to foreign countries including in the Middle East from 2004 to 2014. "The production of the batteries needed to operate the main unit has also been discontinued, and a hologram seal to distinguish counterfeit products was not attached, so it is not possible to confirm whether the product shipped from our company," the firm added. "All of our radios are manufactured at our production subsidiary, Wakayama Icom Inc., in (Japan’s) Wakayama Prefecture, under a strict management system based on ISO 9001/14001/27001, so no parts other than those specified by our company are used in a product," it said. At least 32 people were killed and more than 3 250 injured on Tuesday and Wednesday in wireless device explosions that targeted thousands of pagers and Icom wireless units used by members of the Lebanese resistance group Hamas and medics across Lebanon, according to the Health Ministry. The blasts came amid mounting border escalation between Israel and Hezbollah, which have been engaged in cross-border warfare since the start of Tel Aviv’s deadly onslaught against the Gaza Strip, which has killed more than 41,000 people, mostly women and children, following a Hamas attack last Oct. 7. (Source: aa *)
* Anadolu Agency, Turkey

Lebanon
September 19, 2024 | 10:37 AM  The death toll in Lebanon from the explosions of ICOM wireless communication devices Wednesday has risen to 20, with more than 450 injured, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Health. (Source: gulf-times *)
* Qatar

Thursday 19 September 2024 08:51, UK  Israeli warplanes have attacked southern Lebanon after 32 people were killed and more than 3,000 injured by exploding pagers and walkie-talkies across the country. Meanwhile, a Hungary-based firm have been accused of being an Israeli shell company that manufactured the pagers. (Source: news.sky)

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Europe

Hungary
18.09.2024  The Hungarian government today said that the pager devices that exploded in Lebanon "have never been in Hungary." The remarks came from government spokesperson Kovács. "Authorities have confirmed that the company in question is a trading intermediary, with no manufacturing or operational site in Hungary," Kovács said. “It has one manager registered at its declared address, and the referenced devices have never been in Hungary," he said. "During further investigations, Hungarian national security services are cooperating with all relevant international partner agencies and organizations," he added. Kovács said that the case poses no national security risk to Hungary. (Source: aa *)
* Anadolu Agency (Turkey)

September 18, 2024 10:27 pm CET Hungary 'piggybacks' on Dutch EU migration opt-out request. Hungarian minister for EU Affairs Bóka, Writing on X, said: “Drastic action is needed to stem illegal migration, the Hungarian government will join the Netherlands in asking for an opt-out from EU asylum and migration rules, if a Treaty amendment allows it.” It is another sign of fracturing EU consensus around immigration. The new Dutch government last week announced it was aiming to implement the “strictest asylum policy ever,” and submitted a request for an opt-out on some EU migration policies today. Changes to EU treaties are a long and complicated process requiring unanimity of all member countries. The Commission said today that it does not expect to embark on such a change any time soon. While Germany, responding to anti-immigrant sentiment, last week instituted checks at its borders, Hungary hasn’t announced plans to do so. It remains “a committed member of the Schengen area,” Bóka said. (Source: politico)
by Stanley-Smith

Germany
(September 18, 2024) Scholz’s decision to deploy border patrols to all of Germany’s frontiers this week in response to a knife attack in the town of Solingen by a Syrian asylum-seeker on Aug. 27 - as well as the CDU’s strident calls to put the measure in place - symbolized how both parties are still in thrall to flawed policy responses toward migration that have repeatedly ended in failure over the past 30 years. The move by the SPD-led coalition government - which includes the market-friendly Free Democratic Party, or FDP, and the left-leaning Greens -  expanded already existing patrols that run contrary to the spirit and possibly the letter of treaties such as the Schengen Agreement, which were designed to remove barriers to the movement of goods and people between European Union member states. These checks are simply the latest iteration in a long line of security measures that German governments have introduced over the past three decades in response to frustration among some voters over migration, as well as anxiety over electoral gains by the populist 'far right'. (Source: worldpoliticsreview *)
* a quarterly journal (U.S.)

European Commission
(Thursday, 18.9.2024 21:00)  The EU Commission says that it planned to withhold €200 million ($222 million) in funds earmarked for Hungary after Budapest 'failed' to pay a fine for violating asylum rules. It said that Budapest had 'failed' to pay an equivalent fine for violating international asylum rules. In December 2020, the European Court of Justice found that Hungary had not allowed asylum-seekers to leave detention while their cases were being considered. The ruling said that Hungary also did not offer special protections for children and other vulnerable people. In March, the ECJ said it would investigate an EU Comission decision to unfreeze funds that had been withheld from Hungary over alleged rule of law breaches. In June, the ECJ fined Hungary for failing to comply with a 2020 ruling on upholding international procedures for asylum-seekers. The court said in June that Budapest has continued to restrict migrants' ability to request asylum and has not upheld their right to stay while their cases are processed. A deadline to settle the penalty expired on Tuesday. Since the 2015 refugee crisis Budapest has frequently but heads with the EU over the rule of law and the war in Ukraine. (Source: dw / AFP, dpa, AP)

European Parliament
September 18, 2024  On 8th July, Orbán's government extended the Hungarian "National Card" scheme to new nationalities, including Russian and Belarus citizens. The scheme allows Hungarian authorities to invite an unlimited number of guest workers in all sectors. The Card, valid for two years, can be extended multiple times and enables family reunification for any holder. The guest workers will have access to all the Schengen countries without a thorough security check. In today's plenary debate in Strasbourg, initiated at the request of Renew Europe, on the Hungarian government's decision to extend the "National Card" scheme to Russian and Belarus citizens, Renew Europe's MEPs will raise 'the serious security risk it will cause for the whole EU'. "Orbán's 'National Card' scheme risks 'temporary suspension of Hungary's Schengen status.' (Source: reneweuropegroup)

Russia
September 18, 20247:54 PM GMT+2  Ukrainian drone attack triggered earthquake-sized blast in the area of Toropets, a 1,000-year-old town, with a population of just over 11,000, at arsenal storing missiles, guided bombs and artillery ammunition in Russia's Tver region in the early hours today, forcing the evacuation of the nearby town about 380 km west of Moscow. Russian state media have in the past reported that a major arsenal for conventional weapons was located at the site of the blasts. According to an RIA state news agency report from 2018, Russia was building an arsenal for the storage of missiles, ammunition and explosives in Toropets. Bulgakov, then a deputy defence minister, told RIA in 2018 that the facility could defend weapons from missiles and even a small nuclear attack. Bulgakov was arrested earlier this year on corruption charges, which he denies. NASA satellites picked up intense heat sources emanating from an area of about 14 square kilometres at the site. The size of the main blast shown in the unverified social media video was consistent with 200-240 tons of high explosives detonating, said Herbert of the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey in California. Russia reported that its air defence units had destroyed 54 drones launched against five Russian regions overnight, without mentioning Tver. Rudenya, governor of the Tver region said the situation in Toropets was stable as of midday local time (0900 GMT) and that evacuated residents could return. The fire had been put out and there were no recorded fatalities, he said. President Zelenskiy thanked the SBU state security service, the HUR intelligence service and the Special Operations Forces. Russia and Ukraine each reported dozens of enemy drone attacks on their territory overnight, with Russian forces advancing in eastern Ukraine. (Source: reuters)

Asia

Israel
September 18, 2024 5:43 PM GMT+2 The mass pager attack against Hezbollah in Lebanon has turned the spotlight on Israel's secretive Unit 8200, the Israel Defense Forces' intelligence unit, which a Western security source said was involved in planning the operation. A senior Lebanese security source and another source told Reuters that Israel's Mossad spy agency was responsible for a sophisticated operation to plant a small quantity of explosives inside 5,000 pagers ordered by Hezbollah. One Western security source told Reuters that Unit 8200, a military unit that is not part of the spy agency, was involved in the development stage of the operation against Hezbollah which was over a year in the making. The source said Unit 8200 was involved in the technical side of testing how they could insert explosive material within the manufacturing process. Kuperwasser, a former military intelligence official and now research director at the Israel Defense and Security Forum, said there was no confirmation that the military intelligence unit was involved in the attack. But he said 8200's members were some of the best and brightest personnel in the Israeli military, serving in a unit at the centre of Israel's defence capabilities. The unit - and its legion of young, hand-picked soldiers - develops and operates intelligence gathering tools and is often likened to the U.S. National Security Agency. In a rare public statement about the unit's activities, the IDF said in 2018 that it had helped to thwart an air attack by islamic state on a Western country. At the time, it said the unit's operations ran from intelligence gathering and cyber defence to "technological attacks and strikes.' While Israel has never confirmed its involvement, Unit 8200 was reported to have been involved in the Stuxnet attack that disabled Iranian nuclear centrifuges as well as a series of other high profile operations outside Israel. The unit is effectively Israel's early warning system, and like much of the rest of the defence and security establishment, shouldered some of the blame for failing to detect Hamas' Oct. 7 assault on southern Israel. Its commander last week said he was stepping down. In his resignation letter carried by Israeli media he said he hadn't fulfilled his mission. The unit is famous for a work culture that emphasizes out-of-the-box thinking to tackle issues previously not encountered or imagined. This helped some graduates build Israel's high-tech sector and some of its biggest companies. The unit has a high turnover rate of young recruits replacing veterans, said Samboursky, another former 8200 member and Managing Partner at Glilot Capital Partners, an early stage fund investing in cybersecurity and artificial intelligence. Israeli officials have remained silent on the audacious intelligence operation that killed 12 people yesterday and wounded thousands of Hezbollah operatives. At least one person was killed today when hand-held radios used by Hezbollah detonated. (Source: reuters)

Lebanon
September 18, 2024 at 3:59 p.m. EDT  Israel’s defense minister declares a new phase of war as Hezbollah officials and Lebanon’s state media say explosions went off in Beirut and multiple parts of Lebanon in an apparent second wave of detonations of electronic devices. Yesterday’s pager bombings killed at least 12 people, including two children, and wounded some 2,800 others. Walkie-talkies and solar equipment exploded in Beirut and other parts of Lebanon today in an apparent second wave of attacks targeting devices a day after pagers used by Hezbollah blew up. Several blasts were heard at a funeral in Beirut for three Hezbollah members and a child killed by exploding pagers the day before. In the southern coastal city of Sidon a car and a mobile phone shop was damaged after devices exploded inside of them. A girl was hurt in the south when a home solar energy system blew up. At least 14 people were killed and more than 450 wounded in the second wave, the Health Ministry said. The second wave also deepens concern over the potentially indiscriminate casualties caused in the attacks, in which hundreds of blasts went off wherever the holder of the pager happened to be - in homes, cars, at grocery stores and in cafes, often with family or bystanders nearby. The attacks - which were widely believed to be carried out by Israel targeting Hezbollah but have also killed civilians - have hiked fears that the two sides’ simmering conflict could escalate into all-out war. At least two health workers were among those killed yesterday. Doctors, nurses, paramedics, charity workers, teachers and office administrators work for Hezbollah-linked organizations, and an unknown number had pagers. Gold Apollo, a Taiwanese firm, said it authorized a Hungary-based company, BAC Consulting KFT, to use its name ’on devices delivered to Hezbollah’. But a Hungarian government spokesman said today the pagers delivered to Hezbollah were never in Hungary and that BAC Consultants merely acted as an intermediary. Hungarian national security services were cooperating with international partners, the Hungarian spokesman, Kovács, posted Wednesday on X. O’Connell, a professor of law and international peace studies at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, said booby-traps are banned under international law. 'Weaponizing an object used by civilians is strictly prohibited,” she said. Speaking to Israeli troops today, Israeli Defense Minister Gallant made no mention of the exploding devices but praised the work of Israel’s army and security agencies, saying ’the results are very impressive.’ Israeli leaders have issued a series of warnings in recent weeks that they might increase operations against Hezbollah in Lebanon, saying they must stop the exchange of fire to allow people to return to homes near the border. Israel began moving more troops to its border with Lebanon today as a precautionary measure. Gallant said that after months of fighting Hamas in Gaza, the center of gravity is shifting to the north by diverting resources and forces. The pager bombings appeared to be a complex operation months in the making, with many experts believing Israel infiltrated the supply chain and rigged hundreds of pagers with explosives before they were imported to Lebanon. But little evidence has emerged so far. (Source: washingtonpost)
Lai and AP journalist Mistreanu reported from Taipei, Taiwan

18 Sep 2024 - 10:15 am  At about 3:30 p.m. yesterday, as people shopped for groceries, sat in cafes or drove cars and motorcycles, the pagers in their hands or pockets started heating up and then exploding - leaving blood-splattered scenes and panicking bystanders. It appeared that many of those hit were members of Hezbollah, but it was not immediately clear if non-Hezbollah members also carried any of the exploding pagers. The blasts were mainly in areas where the group has a strong presence, particularly a southern Beirut suburb and in the Beqaa region of eastern Lebanon, as well as in Damascus. Experts believe explosive material was put into the pagers prior to their delivery and use in a sophisticated supply chain infiltration. The AR-924 pager, advertised as being "rugged,” contains a rechargeable lithium battery, according to specifications once advertised on Gold Apollo’s website before it was apparently taken down yesterday after the sabotage attack. It could receive texts of up to 100 characters. It also claimed to have up to 85 days of battery life. That would be crucial in Lebanon, where electricity outages have been common after years of economic collapse. Pagers also run on a different wireless network than mobile phones, making them more resilient in emergencies - one of the reasons why many hospitals worldwide still rely on them. For Hezbollah, the militants also looked at the pagers as a means to sidestep what’s believed to be intensive Israeli electronic surveillance on mobile phone networks in Lebanon. Taiwan's Ministry of Economic Affairs said from the beginning of 2022 until August 2024, Gold Apollo has exported 260,000 sets of pagers, including more than 40,000 sets between January and August of this year. The ministry said the pagers were exported mainly to European and American countries and that it had no records of direct exports of Gold Apollo pagers to Lebanon. Taiwanese company Gold Apollo said today that it authorized its brand on the pagers that exploded in Lebanon and Syria but that another company based in Budapest manufactured them. The AR-924 pagers were manufactured by BAC Consulting KFT, based in Hungary’s capital, according to a statement released today by Gold Apollo. ’According to the cooperation agreement, we authorize BAC to use our brand trademark for product sales in designated regions, but the design and manufacturing of the products are solely the responsibility of BAC,’ the statement read. Gold Apollo chair Hsu told journalists today that his company has had a licensing agreement with BAC for the past three years, but did not provide evidence of the contract. Hezbollah and the Lebanese government blamed Israel for what appeared to be a sophisticated remote attack. "I do not have a phone in my hand - is a listening device,” warned Hezbollah chief Nasrallah in a February speech. He later added: "I tell you that the phone in your hands, in your wife’s hands, and in your children’s hands is the agent. It is a deadly agent, not a simple one. It is a deadly agent that provides specific and accurate information. Therefore, this requires great seriousness when confronting it.” (Source: thepeninsulaqatar / AP)

2024-09-18 07:37  Taiwanese pager manufacturer reveals new details following a coordinated cyberattack against Lebanon's Hezbollah. Pagers used by the armed group were reportedly manufactured by a European distributor called BAC of the Taiwanese company Gold Apollo, according to the company's founder and president, Hsu in a statement made today. At least 11 people were killed and nearly 4,000 wounded when the pagers detonated simultaneously across Lebanon yesterday. Hezbollah had instructed its members to avoid using mobile phones since the beginning of the Gaza conflict, instead relying on a proprietary telecommunications network to avoid potential Israeli surveillance. "The product was not ours. It was only that it had our brand on it," Hsu told today. Hsu said Gold Apollo was also a victim of the incident. The company said in a statement that the AR-924 model was produced and sold by BAC. "We only provide brand trademark authorization and have no involvement in the design or manufacturing of this product," the statement said. Hsu earlier said that the firm with the license was based in Europe but later declined to comment on BAC's location. While Hsu was meeting with reporters, police officials arrived at the company. Hsu said that he did not know how the pagers could have been rigged to explode. Iran-backed Hezbollah said it was carrying out a security and scientific investigation into the causes of the blasts. Israel's Mossad spy agency planted explosives inside 5,000 pagers imported by Lebanese group Hezbollah months before yesterday's detonations, according to a senior Lebanese security source and another source. (Source: shafaq)

18 September 2024 7:15 GMT  In a devastating and unprecedented attack, thousands of pagers simultaneously detonated across Lebanon. The explosions killed nine people, including a young girl, and injured 2750 others - including Iran's ambassador - with about 200 critically wounded, according to the Lebanese health ministry. An additional 10 injured were reported in Syria. This attack has raised questions about the use of personal technology as a weapon, sparking accusations of terrorism and a dangerous escalation in the region. Pagers are used by doctors, nurses, and emergency services because they operate in areas where mobile phone signals are weak and are crucial for transmitting critical information. In a series of tweets, media narratives were criticized - that attempt to justify the attack by labeling all victims as members of Hezbollah. The mass detonation of pagers, devices commonly used by Hezbollah as well as by medical professionals and emergency services, is suspected to be a highly sophisticated operation. Hezbollah has accused Israel of being behind the attack. The communication devices contained lithium batteries that appeared to have exploded due to overheating, while other reports have claimed that a shipment of pagers imported five months ago was rigged to include a small explosive charge, one official said. The Lebanese government also held Israel responsible. According to SMEX, a Beirut-based digital rights organization, there are three possible explanations for how the attack was carried out: Tampered devices: The pagers may have been rigged with small explosive devices during transit and remotely detonated; Overheated batteries: Israeli intelligence could have exploited a vulnerability in the pagers, causing the batteries to overheat and explode; Radio wave activation: A supply chain attack may have allowed the pagers to be tampered with and later activated via radio waves, potentially from a ground station or an Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS). The apparent Israeli mass cyber attack in Lebanon is a grave violation of international law and opens a dangerous pandoras box. Almost every human is a walking ticking bomb and it won't be long before this tech will be used by many actors. This attack signals a new frontier in the use of everyday technology for mass harm. The pager attacks come at a time when Israeli officials have recently increased their threats to escalate on their northern front. (Source: globalvoices *)
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