19/09/2024

THURSDAY | SEP 19, 2024

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through the night from Tuesday to fortify the Polish city of Wroclaw against approaching flood waters, while Hungary opened a dam as the prime minister warned a “crucial period” was approaching. The worst floods to hit central Europe in at least two decades have left a trail of destruction from Romania to Poland, spreading mud and debris in towns, destroying bridges, submerging cars and leaving authorities and householders with a bill for damages that will run into billions of dollars. “A lot happened tonight. We will Trump rides sympathy wave to garner more votes FLINT: Donald Trump resumed campaigning on Tuesday for the first time since a second apparent attempt on his life, boasting “only consequential presidents get shot at” while praising Kamala Harris for making a phone call to check on him. Trump spoke at a town hall meeting before fervent supporters in Flint, a beleaguered industrial city that was once a jewel of the US car industry in swing state Michigan, before factories closed due to foreign competition. Trump drew a link between what the FBI called a foiled assassination bid against him on Sunday at his golf course in Florida and his pledge to slap heavy tariffs on imports of cars from Mexico and China. “And then you wonder why I get shot at, right? You know, only consequential presidents get shot at,” Trump said. Trump’s rival Harris, campaigning in another swing state, Pennsylvania, said on Tuesday she had reached out to the former president after the thwarted attack. “I checked on him to see if he was OK. And I told him what I have said publicly – there’s no place for political violence in our country,” Harris said in an interview with the National Association of Black Journalists. The White House described it as a “cordial and brief conversation”. Trump said Harris “could not have been nicer”. Trump has said the would-be shooter was a follower of what he called President Joe Biden’s and Harris’ rhetoric insisting that he is a threat to US democracy. At the town hall meeting, Trump supporters said the foiled attack made them support him even more. “I believe that they want to kill Trump so that Trump cannot try to make his second term in office,” said retiree Donald Owen, 71. Trump depicted himself at the event as the saviour of the US car industry as it competes with foreign companies. He said: “If a tragedy happens, and we don’t win, there will be zero car jobs, manufacturing jobs, it will all be out of here.” Trump defended his convoluted, rambling way of speaking, and then in a tangent on fossil fuel drilling he said, “We have Bagram in Alaska. They say it might be as big, might be bigger than all of Saudi Arabia.” But Bagram is an air base in Afghanistan. Trump may have confused it with a place in Alaska called the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. – AFP

Global police sting targets users of Ghost crime app

o Developer arrested in Australia

For two years, authorities watched as Ghost became more popular and criminals exchanged messages, including 50 death threats which Australian police said they were able to thwart. There were 376 phones with the Ghost app installed in Australia alone. In one case, police intercepted an image of a gun to someone’s head and were able to save that person within the hour, Federal Police assistant commissioner Kirsty Schofield said. Deputy commissioner Ian McCartney said it was “a particularly serious challenge” for law enforcement to get access to encrypted messages. Hacking into encrypted apps on cell phones has become increasingly challenging for authorities, but not impossible. Three years ago, a similar network called ANOM led to 800 people arrested worldwide. Little did they know, ANOM was produced and distributed by the FBI, allowing US and other nations’ law enforcement to decrypt 27

Europol director Catherine De Bolle said law enforcement from nine countries had been involved in the international sting. “Today we have made it clear that no matter how hidden criminal networks think they are, they can’t evade our collective effort,” she said. The policing agency is expected to provide an update on the matter. The Ghost app – a kind of WhatsApp for criminals – was created nine years ago and could only be accessed via modified smartphones that sold for about A$2,350 (RM6,743). The hefty price tag included a six-month subscription to the Ghost app and tech support, Australian police said, and users were required to buy a subscription. French police traced the creator’s location to Australia and joined forces with local police to target the platform. The app’s creator regularly pushed out software updates but in 2022, Australian police were able to hijack those updates to access encrypted content. executive

million messages, many of which related to criminal activity. McCartney said after the ANOM network unravelled, Ghost started to “fill that space”. He said law enforcement was aware of other similar apps and said he hoped some of these would be shut down within 12 months. McCartney said the Ghost app creator from New South Wales lived at home with his parents and did not have a criminal history. The “computer geek” was driven by profit and was “slightly surprised” when police arrested him on Tuesday, McCartney said. Schofield said police had to act quickly given the man had the ability to “wipe the communications on the system”. “Our tactical teams were able to secure him and the devices within 30 seconds of entry,” she said. The man was charged with five offences, including supporting a criminal organisation, which carries a sentence of up to three years imprisonment. Another 38 people have been arrested across Australia. – AFP TOKYO: Japan’s new prime minister will be elected by parliament on Oct 1 following next week’s party contest. Three candidates have emerged to succeed Fumio Kishida as head of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in the Sept 27 party vote. They are economic security minister Sanae Takaichi, 63, former LDP secretary-general Shigeru Ishiba, 67, and Shinjiro Koizumi, 43. The LDP holds a majority in parliament, meaning the winner of the party election is guaranteed to become premier. Yasukazu Hamada, an LDP lawmaker in charge of parliament affairs, said the party “plans to convene a parliament session on Oct 1” to elect the prime minister. – AFP CHINESE CARRIER SAILS NEAR TAIWAN TAIPEI: A Chinese naval formation led by the Liaoning aircraft carrier sailed through waters northeast of Taiwan yesterday and continued towards Japan’s Yonaguni Island. “Armed forces have monitored the situation and responded accordingly,” Taiwan’s Defence Ministry said. The voyage came after the Chinese military tailed a US aircraft that flew through the politically sensitive Taiwan Strait on Tuesday, Beijing’s military said, vowing to “defend national sovereignty”. The aircraft carriers Liaoning and Shandong have sailed through the Taiwan Strait several times in recent years as Beijing stepped up military and political pressure on the island. – AFP JAPAN TO ELECT PREMIER ON OCT 1

SYDNEY: A 32-year-old Australian “computer geek” has been arrested on suspicion of building an encrypted messaging app used by hundreds of criminals worldwide to arrange drug deals and order killings, police said yesterday. Australian Federal Police said the app, known as Ghost, was marketed to underworld figures as “unhackable” and was used by hundreds of criminals from Europe, the Middle East and Asia. But, unbeknownst to users, global policing authorities had hacked the network and were watching as the criminals discussed drug trafficking, money laundering, homicides and serious violence. Authorities finally made their move on Tuesday and yesterday, arresting criminals from Italy, Ireland, Sweden, Canada and Australia – including the 32-year old developer of the app.

TIMELY RESCUE ... French activists helping 17 dolphins beached in the Fier d’Ars bay on Re Island, off France’s western Atlantic coast return to the sea on Tuesday. – AFPPIC

BR I E F S

Central Europe reels from floods WARSAW: Volunteers and emergency personnel worked

still peaking in some parts of southern Bohemia. In the worst-hit areas residents and emergency services were cleaning up part of the railway line form Prague to Ostrava, which is also on the Vienna-Warsaw route, and was still out of operation, as well as some secondary rail lines and roads. Finance Minister Zbynek Stanjura said on Tuesday he would like parliament to approve an amendment to the budget to make room for flood relief, even though the cost of the damage is still not known. Stanjura said it could perhaps be in the order of US$4 billion (RM17 billion). – Reuters

In the capital Budapest, the Danube is still expected to peak slightly above 8.5m. “Due to heavy rains and floods, the situation is critical all across Central Europe,” Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said. Drone footage from Tuesday showed the Hungarian village of Venek, near Gyor in the north of the country, submerged under water. “It was raining for four days in the area, especially around Vienna in Austria. So that’s why we have this high water level now,” said 51-year old local resident Georg Bercsanyi. In the Czech Republic, water levels were mostly receding, but rivers were

need urgent information ... from those places that received high water,” Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk told a crisis meeting in Wroclaw.” Towns to the south of Wroclaw, such as Lewin Brzeski, have already felt the full force of the floods, forcing residents to wade through the streets in waist-high water or seek refuge on the roofs of the entrances to blocks of flats. In Hungary, authorities opened a dam in the country’s northwest to channel water from the Lajta river into an emergency reservoir, to protect the city of Mosonmagyarovar. The water was allowed to flow onto agricultural land.