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China attempted to send $1 billion worth of drones disguised as COVID-19 aid to a Libyan warlord through the assistance of corrupt U.N. officials, according to a Canadian government investigator. 

New court documents accuse Chinese state officials of conspiring to hide the $1 billion deal to offer 42 drones to Libyan General Khalifa Haftar through U.N. officials, who would mark the arms shipments as COVID-19 aid. 

Through FBI intercepts, Canada’s Royal Mounted Police found alleged plots to sell Libyan oil to China and to buy drones from 2018 to 2021. 

‘The Chinese government seems to have approved a strategy to aid Libya in the procurement and delivery of military equipment through designated and approved companies to obscure the direct involvement of government agencies,’ the investigator stated.

Two Libyan nationals working in Canada at the International Civil Aviation Organization, a U.N. agency, were charged with conspiracy for the scheme in April. A preliminary hearing is expected in the spring.  

The accusations, first reported by Defense News, are part of documents submitted in court in Montreal to obtain warrants to access the phones of the men involved. 

‘This scheme appears to be a deliberate attempt to circumvent U.N. sanctions that were in effect at the time,’ the report said. 

Haftar, who received the drones, is a Russia-backed strongman who controls eastern Libya. He unsuccessfully tried to seize control of western Libya in 2020. The aim of the drones’ shipment was ‘‘using war to end war quickly’ without attracting the attention of the international community,’ said the investigator, adding ‘the fight against the Coronavirus’ was used as cover. 

One of the Libyan nationals involved in the scheme – Fathi Ben Ahmed Mhaouek – was arrested while the other, Mahmud Mohamed Elsuwaye Sayeh, is still at large. 

The court documents also accuse a U.S. citizen, who has not been charged, of involvement.

‘My client will plead not guilty – he denies all wrongdoing,’ said Mhaouek’s lawyer in Canada, Andrew Barbacki.

Investigators uncovered a May 2020 message from Sayeh to an official at the Chinese ministry of foreign affairs requesting a meeting in Egypt between the Chinese ambassador and a Libyan military official close to Haftar, Major General Aoun Al-Ferjani.

In the messages, the drones are ‘clearly described with weaponry, attack and lethal strike capabilities.’

Investigators are unsure if the deal went through or if talks failed. 

Italian authorities in July said they seized Chinese military drones that were headed for Benghazi, Libya, in violation of a U.N. embargo. 

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS

The former director of Project 2025 did not step down in July, as was initially reported, but was fired due to ‘dismissive and unprofessional’ workplace behavior, the conservative think tank revealed Friday. The man at the center of the controversy says he’s being made a ‘scapegoat.’

Project 2025 is only the latest iteration of a longstanding Heritage Foundation initiative to establish a conservative governing blueprint. But incessant attacks by Democrats focusing on Project 2025 have led to intense scrutiny and frequent misrepresentations of the plan’s details.

Still, Paul Dans’ departure from the institution had little to do with that firestorm, according to Heritage.

‘Paul Dans was terminated from the Heritage Foundation due to a number of related issues, including his dismissive and unprofessional approach to interacting with a number of his colleagues,’ Kelly Adams, director of people operations at Heritage, told Fox News Digital. 

‘After some specific disconcerting interactions were brought to the attention of senior management, an internal review was conducted, and a decision was made to separate Mr. Dans’ employment as amicably as possible.’

At the time, Dans was said to be stepping down as the Project 2025 head.

But Heritage soon reportedly received multiple communications from Dans that accused the think tank of terminating him on false grounds.

‘I was made a scapegoat by The Heritage Foundation to cover up for their own mishandling of the public relations fiasco over Project 2025,’ Dans told Real Clear Politics. ‘It appears that the Heritage Foundation continues to trash my good name and professional reputation for their benefit.’

The Heritage Foundation defended its decision and said it was Dans’ workplace behavior that led to his firing.

‘The Heritage Foundation deeply values all of our staff and is committed in both practice and principle to maintaining a positive work environment where abusive or demeaning behavior is not welcome,’ Adams said.

‘We are deeply disappointed that Mr. Dans is using the liberal media to attack Heritage’s decision to terminate him, thereby making the rationale behind his dismissal public. We will not allow him to falsely attack Heritage and its people, without defending the difficult decision to terminate Paul’s employment based on facts. We will continue to defend our staff and our institution from false narratives and disgruntled former employees.’

New reports have surfaced detailing Dans’ behavior leading up to the termination, specifically allegations about his conduct at the Republican National Convention in July, when he reportedly cursed at colleagues while critiquing their performance and was issued a warning by Heritage President Kevin Roberts. 

‘He was being so demeaning,’ a source told Real Clear Politics. ‘It was constant, and he refused to listen.’ 

After he was fired, Dans, through his legal counsel, reportedly sought $3.1 million from Heritage and wanted the funds delivered in two days, according to documents reviewed by RCP. Heritage rejected the request.

Soon after he was fired, Dans became a vocal critic of the Trump campaign, telling The New York Times in September the former president should replace two of his senior advisers, Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita. Dans claimed their mismanagement had prevented Trump from surging ahead of Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris.

Trump has repeatedly denied any involvement in Project 2025’s formation, saying, ‘I disagree with some of the things they’re saying, and some of the things they’re saying are absolutely ridiculous and abysmal.’

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is downplaying past disagreements with former President Donald Trump following a meeting in New York City.

Zelenskyy visited Trump Tower on Friday to meet with the Republican presidential nominee, then sat down with Fox News’ Griff Jenkins to discuss what seems to have been a good-spirited conversation.

‘We understand that even in any kind of future negotiations, Ukraine has to be strong. That’s what it’s about,’ Zelenskyy told Jenkins when asked why he met with Trump. ‘We spoke with Biden, Kamala Harris, Donald Trump and the Congress of the United States.’

Jenkins pressed Zelenskyy about his comments that appeared in a New Yorker article earlier this week — in which he was quoted saying that he believes Trump ‘doesn’t really know how to stop the war even if he might think he knows how’ — and whether Trump had said anything to change Zelenskyy’s mind.

‘No, I said that I think that we understand much more better than everybody, really, including Donald Trump, what’s going on in Ukraine and how to stop him. It’s difficult to understand,’ Zelenskyy responded.

The Ukrainian president said his country is now a completely different nation from the one that was first invaded in 2022.

‘Ukraine, during the war in Ukraine before the full-scale invasion — two different countries. So without this experience, you can’t really understand how to stop [Russian President Vladimir Putin],’ Zelenskyy continued. ‘And that’s what I wanted to share to president . . . and the price of this tragedy of bloody invasion of Putin.’

At one point during their meeting, Trump told the press that he had a ‘good relationship’ with both Zelenskyy and Putin. Zelenskyy then interjected to say he hopes the U.S. has a better relationship with Ukraine than Russia.

Jenkins asked the Ukrainian president whether Trump’s comment about maintaining a good relationship with Putin concerned him.

Zelenskyy said he was not necessarily concerned, acknowledging that ‘Trump has relations and had relations when he was the president, during his term’ and maintains ‘relations with a lot of countries and a lot of UN leaders.’

During the exclusive interview, Zelenskyy lamented the lack of response Putin received from the rest of the world when Russia began its invasion of Ukraine in 2014 with the taking of Crimea.

‘Nobody kicked him, and that meant he understood that he can occupy it and go further. He can occupy new territories of Ukraine,’ Zelenskyy said. ‘He began to prepare to do this — his plan — and he did it.’

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Trailing Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 cash dash, former President Trump heads next week to Texas, a state that’s long served as an ATM for Republican White House candidates.

Aiming to narrow the fundraising gap with Harris, the former president will headline a luncheon Oct. 2 in Midland, Texas, as he courts donors in oil country. That luncheon will be followed by a cocktail reception in Houston, sources in Trump’s political orbit confirmed to Fox News Digital.

Trump will also headline a fundraiser in Dallas during his Texas swing.

According to the latest figures available from the Federal Election Commission, Harris hauled in nearly $190 million in fundraising for her 2024 campaign in August, more than quadrupling the $44.5 million that Trump’s team reported bringing into his principal campaign account last month.

And the vice president’s campaign entered September with $235 million cash on hand, well ahead of the $135 million in Trump’s coffers, according to the FEC filings.

The latest cash figures are another sign of the vice president’s surge in fundraising since replacing President Biden atop the Democrats’ 2024 ticket over two months ago.

This isn’t the first time Trump’s faced a fundraising deficit. He raised less than 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton in his White House victory and by President Biden four years ago in his re-election defeat.

‘The Democrats’ small-dollar fundraising machine is just better,’ acknowledged Dan Eberhart, an oil drilling CEO and prominent Republican donor and bundler who raised big bucks for Trump in the 2020 and 2024 cycles.

Eberhart pointed to Trump’s surge in grassroots fundraising earlier this year, after he made history as the first former or current president convicted in a criminal trial, and noted that ‘Trump is the best small-dollar fundraiser the Republicans have ever had. But I still think, just overall, the Democrats’ small-dollar fundraising machine is just better.’

The Biden campaign and the Democratic National Committee enjoyed a fundraising lead over Trump and the Republican National Committee earlier this year. But Trump and the RNC topped Biden and the DNC by $331 million to $264 million during the second quarter of 2024 fundraising.

Biden enjoyed a brief fundraising surge after his disastrous performance in his late June debate with Trump as donors briefly shelled out big bucks in a sign of support for the 81-year-old president.

But Biden’s halting and shaky debate delivery also instantly fueled questions about his physical and mental ability to serve another four years in the White House and spurred a rising chorus of calls from within his own party for the president to end his bid for a second term. The brief surge in fundraising didn’t last and, by early July, began to significantly slow down. 

Biden bowed out of the 2024 race July 21, and the party quickly consolidated around Harris, who instantly saw her fundraising soar, spurred by small-dollar donations.

And the Harris campaign spotlighted that the vice president hauled in $47 million in the 24 hours after her first and likely only debate with Trump earlier this month.

‘We’ve been playing catch-up ever since Act Blue first started, figuring out an effective way to mine the low-dollar, small-dollar fundraising,’ Republican Jewish Coalition CEO Matt Brooks told Fox News, pointing to the Democrats’ on-line fundraising platform.

Brooks, who has close ties to the GOP’s donor class, said while ‘there’s no question that the Democrats have perfected’ their small-dollar fundraising, ‘I think we’re doing better and better. I like the trajectory we’re on.’

But a source in Trump’s political orbit said ‘the max-out donors have already given. There’s not a lot of juice left from that. Any juice left would be in the small-dollar on-line fundraising, and the moments for that are kind of passed in terms of debates, making the running mate pick, the conventions. All that stuff is past.’

Fundraising, along with polling, is a key metric in campaign politics and a measure of a candidate’s popularity and a campaign’s strength. The money raised can be used — among other things — to hire staff, expand grassroots outreach and get-out-the-vote efforts, pay to produce and run ads on TV, radio, digital and mailers and for candidate travel.

‘We’re going to be outspent, and that’s going to lead to a better ground game for Harris,’ a veteran Republican operative who asked to remain anonymous to speak more freely, told Fox News.

But Brooks emphasized that ‘the saving grace is that we have strong support among major donors and big dollar donors going into the super PACs, which you have to take into consideration.’

‘I think you have to look at the totality of the pro-Trump money out there, and I think the super PACs help level the playing field significantly,’ he added.

When asked about the fundraising deficit, Republican National Committee Chair Michael Whatley told Fox News Digital earlier this month ‘the Democrats have a ton of money. The Democrats always have a ton of money.’

However, he emphasized that ‘we absolutely have the resources that we need to get our message out to all the voters that we’re talking to and feel very comfortable that we’re going to be able to see this campaign through, and we’re going to win on Nov. 5.’

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Jamaal Sanford received a disturbing email in May of last year. The message, whose sender claimed to be part of a “Russian shadow team,” contained Sanford’s home address, social security number and his daughter’s college. It came with a very specific threat.

The sender said Sanford, who lives in Springfield, Missouri, would only only be safe if he removed a negative online review.

“Do not play tough guy,” the email said. “You have nothing to gain by keeping the reviews and EVERYTHING to lose by not cooperating.”

Months earlier, Sanford had left a scathing review for an e-commerce “automation” company called Ascend Ecom on the rating site Trustpilot. Ascend’s purported business was the launching and managing of Amazon storefronts on behalf of clients, who would pay money for the service and the promise of earning thousands of dollars in “passive income.”

Sanford had invested $35,000 in such a scheme. He never recouped the money and is now in debt, according to a Federal Trade Commission lawsuit unsealed on Friday.

His experience is a key piece of the FTC’s suit, which accuses Ascend of breaking federal laws by making false claims related to earnings and business performance, and threatening or penalizing customers for posting honest reviews, among other violations. The FTC is seeking monetary relief for Ascend customers and to prevent Ascend from doing business permanently.

It’s the latest sign of the FTC’s crackdown on e-commerce money-making schemes on top of some of the internet’s leading marketplaces, like Amazon and Airbnb. Since mid-2023, the agency has sued at least four automation companies, alleging deceptive marketing practices and falsely telling customers that they could generate passive income.

The FTC isn’t just focused on e-commerce automation businesses. On Wednesday, the agency said it’s stepping up enforcement against companies that use artificial intelligence “as a way to supercharge deceptive or unfair conduct that harms consumers.” The agency pointed to Ascend as a company that it took action against in part because of its claims that it used AI “to maximize clients’ business success.”

The FTC has also pledged to go after companies that try to suppress negative reviews online as part of new rules issued this year targeting fake reviews.

Automation businesses like Ascend promote their easy money opportunities on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube. But their promises go mostly unfulfilled, and often the storefronts get shut down for violating policies around dropshipping — the selling of products to customers without ever stocking inventory — or counterfeits.

The FTC’s complaint against Ascend accused co-founders Will Basta and Jeremy Leung of defrauding consumers of at least $25 million through their scheme. Formed in 2021, Ascend has done business under several entity names with operations registered in states including Texas, Wyoming and California.

The filing shows that the threats against Sanford grew more menacing. Two days after the initial email, Sanford’s wife’s phone lit up with a text message containing an image of a severed head that again urged the removal of the unflattering review.

“Your husband has angered some people with his ignorance,” the text message said. “The type he does not wish to anger.”

Sanford soon purchased a security system for his home.

Sanford said in an interview that Ascend had promised his Amazon storefront would generate enough revenue to cover the cost of inventory the company bought each month on his behalf. Months went by and his store amassed a “smorgasbord” of items, from LED lights to vitamins, which Ascend purchased from other retailers like Macy’s and Home Depot and then sold on Amazon, Sanford said. The company used the dropshipping model, Sanford said, which often led to the stores getting suspended on Amazon.

Amazon prohibits merchants from dropshipping unless they identify themselves as the seller of record, meaning their name is listed on the invoice, packing slip and other materials.

As Sanford’s sales sputtered and his debts swelled, he made a series of complaints to Basta and Leung. When they went unanswered, he left the negative reviews. Sanford said Ascend eventually offered to refund him $20,000 if he would take down the review, but he declined.

“I think I’m resigned to the fact that I won’t be getting my money back and now I just want accountability,” he said.

Karl Kronenberger, a lawyer for Ascend, said in a statement that the company denies ever threatening customers and it attempted to resolve any disputes “in good faith.”

“We are investigating whether a competitor of Ascend may be the driving force behind some of the allegations in the case,” Kronenberger said.

Ascend’s marketing pitch claimed customers could quickly earn thousands of dollars from sales generated on Amazon, Walmart and other platforms. The company said it had developed proprietary artificial intelligence tools that it used to identify top-selling products.

E-commerce automation companies are increasingly exploiting Amazon’s third-party marketplace, which now hosts millions of merchants and accounts for more than half of all goods sold on the site.

Amazon didn’t provide a comment for this story.

Ascend promoted the scheme as “risk free,” the FTC said, because of its buyback guarantee, which effectively committed to make clients whole if they didn’t recoup their investment within 36 months.

“After consumers invest, the promised gains never materialize, and consumers are left with depleted bank accounts and hefty credit card bills,” the regulator wrote in its complaint.

To add an air of legitimacy, Ascend falsely claimed it had been featured in media outlets like Forbes, Yahoo! Finance and Business Insider, the FTC said. It primarily advertised its business on social media platforms TikTok, X, YouTube and Instagram.

Ascend faces two lawsuits in California that allege breach of contract and other claims, according to the FTC. In January, an arbitration action was filed against Ascend in Florida on behalf of 30 customers. Nima Tahmassebi, an attorney representing the Ascend customers, told CNBC that the clients chose to withdraw the claim once they learned of the FTC case.

Tahmassebi said he has been contacted by more than 100 individuals who “all but begged for legal assistance” because they lost money after paying for Ascend’s automation services.

“I’m talking to people who said I can’t get Christmas gifts this year because of my situation with them,” Tahmassebi said. “People took money they could have applied to their kid’s college tuition. Now it’s gone, and they’re left bewildered.”

This post appeared first on NBC NEWS

Towns along Mexico’s southwestern coast are dealing with torrential rain, flooding and landslides after tropical storm John strengthened back into a Category 1 hurricane on Thursday, according to the National Hurricane Center.

John is considered a “zombie” storm – a term referring to systems that dissipate before strengthening back into a storm. After slamming into Mexico as a deadly Category 3 hurricane on Monday night, it dissipated before returning as a hurricane, battering Mexico’s Pacific coast. Even after initially dissipating, remnants of the storm continued to move along the coast, bringing continuous rainfall.

In the resort city of Acapulco, which still hasn’t fully recovered from the destruction of Hurricane Otis last year, several neighborhoods were flooded and residents in at-risk areas were told to evacuate to temporary shelters. Parts of the city have received over 500mm of rain this week, and 431mm over just the past 24 hours.

A video posted on social media shows a taxi being carried away by the raging floodwaters with people still inside. The car eventually came to a stop and the passengers were carried away to safety by authorities nearby.

Emergency workers have been deployed to the city with rafts and boats to rescue those trapped by the rising waters, Guerrero Governor Evelyn Salgado Pineda said.

Officials have suspended operations at the Acapulco airport and schools across the state have been ordered to close until further notice.

In rural towns around Acapulco, residents have reported temporary power outages from the rain. Some markets have closed, preventing people from buying critical supplies to deal with the storm.

The renewed hurricane is still expected to bring “very heavy to extraordinary” amounts of rain, strong winds and high waves in the southwestern part of the country, the Mexican National Water Commission said in a statement on Thursday.

Along Guerrero’s Benito Juárez municipality, a river has started overflowing from a section of its bank, with water levels almost reaching the height of a bridge overhead. Residents fear it could flood parts of the town of San Jerónimo. Officials there are urging people to avoid approaching the riverbank and bridge.

Hurricane John was located about 120 km west of Zihuatanejo, Guerrero at noon ET on Thursday, with maximum sustained winds of 120 km per hour.

The storm is expected to drop 10 to 20 inches of rain across the states of Guerrero and Michoacán through Friday, and up to six inches across Colima and western Oaxaca.

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Japan’s ruling party will elect its new leader Friday, and the winner will become the country’s next prime minister.

Out of a record nine candidates, three frontrunners are fighting a very close race that will likely end in a runoff vote.

The winner will take the helm of the world’s fourth-largest economy at a time of rising living costs, exacerbated by the weak yen and high inflation, as Japan faces growing security challenges in the region and friction with neighbors including China.

Among the favorites vying to lead the long-ruling, scandal-plagued Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) is Sanae Takaichi, the conservative economic security minister who could become the nation’s first woman prime minister; Shinjiro Koizumi, a charismatic young surfer who hails from a popular political dynasty; and former defense minister Shigeru Ishiba, who is on his fifth and final bid for the top job.

The conservative LDP has ruled Japan almost continuously since the party’s founding in 1955. Owing to its majority in the lower house, the LDP’s chosen candidate will be approved by Japan’s parliament, the Diet, when it convenes in October.

General elections are scheduled for next year, but the winning candidate could choose to call a snap election before then. Some reports suggest this could happen even before the US presidential election in November.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is not in the running after his surprise announcement last month that he would step down following a series of political scandals that fueled calls for him to resign.

The winner will be tasked with improving the LDP’s image ahead of those general elections.

The ruling party has in recent months been embroiled in one of Japan’s biggest political scandals in decades.

Two of the most influential factions in the LDP have been accused of failing to properly declare their income and expenditure and, in some instances, allegedly rerouting political funds to lawmakers as kickbacks.

Scandals surrounding several high-ranking officials haven’t helped, with some accused of involvement with election law violations or of offensive past comments against minorities.

Kishida had tried to contain the damage, replacing several cabinet ministers last year and abolishing his own party faction.

With the upcoming US presidential election, the new prime minister will navigate Japan’s relations with a new American leader at a time of growing security challenges in Asia, including an increasingly assertive China and a belligerent North Korea.

Partnership with Japan has long been central to US strategy in the Asia-Pacific region, and Kishida this year expanded Tokyo’s defense cooperation with its key ally.

“It’s safe to assume that Ishiba, Takaichi, and Koizumi will do quite well, but I really cannot say who out of those three will win the race,” Yu Uchiyama, a professor of politics at Tokyo University, told Reuters. “I don’t think we’ll know until the very last moment.”

The candidates

If Takaichi, 63, wins it would be a significant moment for Japan, where men continue to dominate politics and boardrooms.

But such a victory would not necessarily herald a new progressive era. The political veteran is a staunch conservative from the party’s right wing and has promised to prioritize economic growth. She has also opposed legislation that could allow married women to keep their maiden names, and has described Margaret Thatcher, the conservative late former British leader, as a role model.

She is a protégé of the late former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and a supporter of his eponymous economic policies, and is similarly hawkish on security issues, favoring a revision of the country’s pacifist constitution.

Takaichi’s visits to Tokyo’s Yasukuni Shrine – which honors 2.4 million of Japan’s war dead, including convicted war criminals – have triggered protests from South Korea and China, victims of the country’s expansionist aggression during the first half of the 20th century.

Her plans to boost Japan’s economy include lowering interest rates, after the Bank of Japan hiked rates this year, and she has called for “strategic” fiscal spending to increase jobs and household incomes, according to Reuters.

Koizumi, 43, is the US-educated, charismatic son of popular former prime minister Junichiro Koizumi, and could be Japan’s youngest prime minister of the post-war period.

Koizumi has presented himself as a reformer – much like his father – and has promised to call a snap general election. He said he would continue the economic policies of outgoing leader Kishida.

Critics have pointed to his lack of experience in domestic politics and international relations, and an economic plan considered thin on details.

But Koizumi’s star power has made him popular with the public, especially among young voters and women.

He has supported legislation that could allow married women to keep their maiden names, and is in favor of women acceding to the imperial throne, something currently not permitted in Japan. Koizumi made headlines when he became the first cabinet member in the country to take paternity leave – only two weeks, but a significant move as Japan’s work culture means many new fathers don’t take any.

Ishiba, 67, is a veteran politician and serious about security issues. He has said Japan should reduce its dependence on nuclear energy in favor of renewables, and has called for an Asian version of the NATO security bloc to counter threats from China and North Korea.

In a political culture that prizes conformity, Ishiba has long been something of an outlier, willing to criticize and go against his own party. That willingness to speak out made him powerful enemies within the LDP but endeared him to more grassroots members and the public.

He sits on the more progressive wing of the conservative party.

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Multan, Pakistan — Pakistan’s government said Thursday that police had orchestrated the killing of a doctor who was in custody after he was accused of blasphemy. Officers then lied about the circumstances of his death, claiming he was killed in a shootout between police and armed men, a provincial minister said.

The statement marks the first time the government has accused security forces of what the doctor’s family and rights groups have said amounted to an extrajudicial killing carried out by police.

The doctor, Shah Nawaz, from the southern Sindh province, had given himself up to police last week in the district of Mirpur Khas, following assurances that he would be given a chance to prove his innocence.

Days earlier in the city of Umerkot, a mob claimed he insulted Islam’s Prophet Muhammad and shared blasphemous content on social media, and demanded his arrest. The mob also burned Nawaz’s clinic.

According to the provincial Interior Minister, Ziaul Hassan, a government probe concluded that Nawaz was killed shortly after he gave himself up to authorities in what was a staged “fake encounter” engineered by the security forces.

There was no shootout with armed men as police had claimed, Hassan told reporters at a news conference in the southern port city of Karachi, and added that Nawaz’s family will be able to file murder charges against police officers who killed him.

Hours after Nawaz was fatally shot and his body handed over to his family, a mob snatched it from Nawaz’s father and burned it.

Hassan’s statement backed up Nawaz’s family allegations earlier this week.

Accusations of blasphemy, sometimes even just rumors, can spark riots and mob rampages in Pakistan. Although killings of blasphemy suspects by mobs are common, extrajudicial killings by police are rare.

‘Eye for an eye’

Under Pakistan’s controversial blasphemy laws, anyone found guilty of insulting Islam or Islamic religious figures can be sentenced to death, though authorities have yet to carry out a death sentence for blasphemy.

Nawaz’s father thanked the government for backing the family and demanded that his son’s killers face justice under the eye-for-an-eye concept under Sharia, or Islamic law.

“We have only one demand: Those police officers who staged the killing of my son … must also be killed in the same manner,” said Nawaz’s father, Mohammad Saleh.

Saleh told The Associated Press over the phone that he was grateful for all the support the family was given and to all those who condemned extremist clerics who had enraged the mob with calls for his son to be killed.

“Those who killed my son should be punished quickly so that others learn a lesson and not indulge in extrajudicial killings in the future,” said Nawaz’s mother, Rehmat Kunbar.

She added her son can no longer come back to her but that she wants to save the children of other parents from the hands of extremists.

Nawaz’s killing was the second case of an extrajudicial killing by police this month in Pakistan.

A week before, an officer opened fire inside a police station in the southwestern city of Quetta, fatally wounding Syed Khan, a suspect held on accusations of blasphemy.

Khan was arrested after officers rescued him from an enraged mob that claimed he had insulted Islam’s prophet. But he was killed by a police officer, Mohammad Khurram, who was quickly arrested. However, the tribe and the family of the slain man later said they had pardoned the officer.

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Israel carried out part of its device attack targeting Hezbollah by concealing explosives inside the batteries of pagers brought into Lebanon, according to two high-ranking Lebanese security officials, who said the technology was so advanced that it was virtually undetectable.

Lebanese security officials watched a series of controlled explosions of some of the weaponized pagers, as investigations into who manufactured the wireless communication devices and how they made their way into Hezbollah’s pockets continued.

The pagers used in the controlled explosions were switched off at the time of the attack on September 17, which meant they did not receive the message that caused the compromised devices to detonate. The officials had a front-row seat to see just how catastrophic the blasts would have been to those carrying the devices and others around them.

Thousands of explosions struck Hezbollah members last week, targeting their pagers on Tuesday, and then walkie-talkies a day later. In all, the blasts killed at least 37 people, including some children, and injured nearly 3,000, according to Lebanese health authorities, many of them civilian bystanders. The attack blindsided the group, which had opted for analogue technologies after forgoing cell phones to avoid Israeli infiltration.

An improvised explosive device has five key components: A power source, an initiator, a detonator, an explosive charge and a case to put it all in. Sean Moorhouse, a former British Army officer and explosive ordinance disposal expert, said that only a detonator and explosive charge would have been needed to weaponize the pagers, which already have the other three components.

“It had to be done in such a way to make it invisible,” Moorhouse said, adding that one way to do that could have been modifying the battery itself – implanting an electronic detonator and small explosive charge inside of its metal casing, which would have made it impossible to detect with imaging, for example X-rays.

Other experts who reviewed footage of the blasts also said that explosive devices appeared to have been hidden in the pagers, suggesting a sophisticated supply chain attack involving a state actor.

That tallied with initial assessments by Lebanese authorities. Lebanon’s mission to the United Nations said in a letter sent to the UN Security Council last Friday that a preliminary investigation found that the communications devices were implanted with explosives before arriving in the country, tampered with “in a professional way” by “foreign entities.”

Mysterious supply chain stretches from Taiwan to Hungary

Multiple photos from the aftermath of last week’s attacks in Lebanon show remnants of the exploded pagers – also known as beepers – that were consistent with a model made by a Taiwanese firm, Gold Apollo, and fragments of walkie-talkies identified as the make of a Japanese firm, ICOM.

Lebanese authorities have said that the devices used in the attacks were Gold Apollo Rugged Pager AR-924 pagers and ICOM IC-V82 walkie-talkies. Both Gold Apollo and ICOM have distanced themselves from the compromised devices.

ICOM said that the IC-V82 model was discontinued a decade ago, and it could not determine whether the devices targeted in Lebanon were counterfeit or shipped from its company. Counterfeit versions are widely available for purchase on e-commerce websites, like Alibaba. Lebanon’s communications ministry said the IC-V82 radios used in the attacks were not supplied by a recognized agent, were not officially licensed and had not been vetted by the security services.

International investigative efforts have largely zeroed in on the Gold Apollo AR-924 pagers – tracing the model’s licensing and manufacturing from Taiwan to apparent shell companies to try to establish how the Israeli operation may have been carried out. The New York Times reported, citing three intelligence officers briefed on the operation, that Israel had set up at least three shell companies to disguise the identities of those making the pagers – Israeli intelligence officers.

The chairman and founder of Taiwan-based Gold Apollo, Hsu Ching-kuang, was questioned by Taiwanese prosecutors last Thursday before being released.

Wu set up a company called Apollo Systems Ltd in April of this year, listed under a Taipei address that appears to be a co-working space, according to corporate records. It is not clear if Wu was operating for BAC Consulting in Taipei under her new company name, Apollo Systems Ltd.

In December 2022 and February 2023, a YouTube channel for Apollo Systems HK uploaded two videos of the Gold Apollo AR-924 pager touting its “high-capacity lithium rechargeable battery” and other features. On its YouTube channel and website, Apollo Systems HK said that it had acquired the “sole distribution rights” to Gold Apollo pager systems. It also listed the AR-924 model as a product available for purchase.

Customs records in Taiwan, cited by the officials, showed that Gold Apollo shipped more than 20,000 pagers from Taiwan to the United States in the first eight months of 2024. More than 5,000 pagers were shipped to Hong Kong, while more than 3,000 pagers were shipped to Australia.

The Taiwanese officials said they had also checked the order history and the source of raw components for Gold Apollo pagers, adding that pager manufacturing was tightly controlled in Taiwan and that devices undergo regular inspections.

The Taiwanese prosecutors’ office is reviewing documents it obtained from Gold Apollo’s office. In a statement last Thursday, the prosecutors’ office said that there had “been no evidence found so far to suggest any involvements (sic) of Taiwanese nationals in the explosive terror attack.”

Investigations into the supply chain are also ongoing in Europe, where authorities are probing the Hungarian company, BAC Consulting, and another firm linked to Bulgaria and Norway, for any connections to the pager attack targeting Hezbollah.

There is no record of Gold Apollo exporting any pagers to Hungary in 2023 or 2024, the two Taiwanese officials said, citing custom records in Taiwan. In 2022, the company exported about 200 pagers to Hungary, they added.

Hungarian intelligence services have interviewed Bársony-Arcidiacono several times as part of their investigation into BAC Consulting but have not found any evidence that the pagers used in the attack were manufactured in the country, the government’s press office said in a statement. “The results have clearly established that the so-called ‘beepers’ were never present on Hungarian soil, and no Hungarian company or expert was involved in their production or modification,” it said.

Bulgarian authorities said they were investigating Norta Global Ltd after Hungarian media reported last week that the Sofia-based company was involved in the sale of the pagers to Hezbollah. Bulgaria’s national security agency DANS said that no pagers used in the attack were “imported, exported or manufactured in Bulgaria,” and that Norta Global Ltd had not carried out terrorist financing, or traded with anyone subject to sanctions. Bulgaria’s caretaker Prime Minister Dimitar Glavchev told reporters last Friday that the company under investigation was “a cash flow, mailbox-type of firm,” and that its director “acted by proxy.”

Hezbollah digs into devices’ supply chain

Hezbollah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah, in an address last Thursday, said that the militant group had formed multiple internal investigative committees to get to the bottom of what happened, vowing a “reckoning” for those responsible.

“Regarding the explosions, we have reached an almost certain conclusion, but we still need some time to confirm it,” Nasrallah said. “This entire matter is under thorough investigation and review, from the company that sold the devices, to manufacturing, transportation, arrival in Lebanon, and distribution, all the way to the moment of the explosion.”

He added that while the apparent goal of the attack was to kill as many senior Hezbollah officials as possible, much of the leadership had been unaffected because they were carrying older pager models, suggesting that the form of communication has been used by the group for some time.

“These attacks represent a new development in warfare, where communication tools become weapons, simultaneously exploding across marketplaces, on street corners, and in homes as daily life unfolds,” UN human rights chief Volker Türk told the Security Council last Friday. “Authorities have reportedly dismantled unexploded devices in universities, banks, and hospitals.”

He added that simultaneously targeting thousands of people – whether civilians or armed forces – without the knowledge of who is in possession of the targeted devices and their surroundings at the time of the attack, violates international human rights law.

Iran’s delegate to the UN said that Israel had intended to kill at least 5,000 civilians, but some devices were deactivated or not distributed. The delegate said that Israel had again “crossed a red line,” noting that Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon was among those injured.

Senior UN officials warned that the devices attack marked a turning point, calling for de-escalation and a ceasefire in Gaza before a war consumes the whole of the Middle East. Others said that the technology apparently used marked “dangerous new territory” in the world of warfare.

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South Korean lawmakers on Thursday passed a bill that criminalizes possessing or watching sexually explicit deepfake images and videos, with penalties set to include prison terms and fines.

There has been an outcry in South Korea over Telegram group chats where sexually explicit and illegal deepfakes were created and widely shared, prompting calls for tougher punishment.

Anyone purchasing, saving or watching such material could face up to three years in jail or be fined up to 30 million won ($22,600), according to the bill.

Currently, making sexually explicit deepfakes with the intention of distributing them is punishable by five years in prison or a fine of 50 million won ($37,900) under the Sexual Violence Prevention and Victims Protection Act.

When the new law takes effect, the maximum sentence for such crimes will also increase to seven years regardless of the intention.

The bill will now need the approval of President Yoon Suk Yeol in order to be enacted.

South Korean police have so far handled more than 800 deepfake sex crime cases this year, the Yonhap news agency reported on Thursday.

That compares with 156 for all of 2021, when data was first collated. Most victims and perpetrators are teenagers, police say.

Earlier this month, police launched an investigation into Telegram that will look at whether the encrypted messaging app has been complicit in the distribution of sexually explicit deepfake content.

Countries around the world are grappling with how to respond to the proliferation of deepfake material.

The US congress is debating several pieces of legislation including one that would allow victims of nonconsensual sexual deepfakes to sue, and one that would criminalize the publication of such imagery and make tech companies remove it.

Earlier this year, social media platform X blocked users from searching for Taylor Swift after fake sexually explicit images of the pop singer proliferated on social media.

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