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S. Korea, US, Japan Meet on N. Korea’s Cyber Threats

During Thursday’s meeting, the three sides discussed ways to counter North Korea’s cryptocurrency theft, and other illegal cyber activities aimed at financing its nuclear and missile development programs…reports Asian Lite News

South Korea, the US and Japan held their first trilateral working-level talks on Thursday on ways to boost cooperation against North Korea’s growing cyber threats, in a follow-up to the summit among their leaders in August, Seoul’s Foreign Ministry said on Thursday.

The talks in Tokyo were led by Lee Jun-il, the Ministry’s director-general for North Korean nuclear affairs, US Deputy Special Representative for North Korea Jung Pak and Ishizuki Hideo, Japan’s ambassador in charge of cyber policy.

The dialogue was launched as part of a follow-up to an agreement reached among President Yoon Suk Yeol, US President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida during their Camp David summit to beef up tripartite cooperation in security and establish a working group tasked with combating North Korea’s cyber threats, Yonhap news agency reported.

During Thursday’s meeting, the three sides discussed ways to counter North Korea’s cryptocurrency theft, and other illegal cyber activities aimed at financing its nuclear and missile development programs.

They also agreed to boost cooperation with the international community and the private sector to block illegal North Korean workers in the IT sector, the Ministry said in a press statement.

Meanwhile, South Korea is pushing to host a trilateral summit with the US and Japan next year, a senior presidential official said on Thursday.

US President Joe Biden was the host of the first standalone trilateral summit involving South Korea President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida at Camp David in August, Yonhap news agency reported.

Speaking to reporters at the presidential office, the senior official noted the three leaders agreed at the time to try to meet around once a year on whatever occasion.

“We are sounding out their thoughts with the aim of inviting the leaders of Japan and the US to South Korea for a South Korea-US-Japan summit,” the official said.

The three countries have been looking to strengthen their bilateral and trilateral partnerships in the face of growing regional and global challenges, including North Korea’s nuclear programme and China’s rising assertiveness.

On Friday and Saturday, the three countries’ national security advisers will meet in Seoul to discuss follow-up measures to agreements produced at the Camp David summit and other meetings between their leaders.

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Piyush Goyal Touts India’s Investment Appeal in US Tour

Goyal held bilateral meetings with Ambassador Katherine Tai, United States Trade Representative…reports Asian Lite News

Union commerce minister Piyush Goyal, who is on a four-day visit to the US, participated in the Investors Round Table organized in collaboration with the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum and Indiaspora.

The event was attended by venture capitalists and entrepreneurs from a wide spectrum of industries in the US, including from the domains of energy, manufacturing, logistics, technology, among others.

In an interactive session held in San Francisco as part of the first leg of the tour in the US, the Minister held wide-ranging discussions with the participants and highlighted the various steps taken by the government of India to improve the ease of doing business. “…highlighted how the country offers promising opportunities for investors, thanks to the unique combination of our demographic dividend, manufacturing capabilities & conducive business environment,” Goyal posted on X, contending India is an attractive investment destination for the world.

During the US visit till November 16, the Commerce and Industry Minister will participate in the third in-person IPEF Ministerial meeting and the engagements of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC). India has been invited to the 30th APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting 2023 as a ‘Guest Economy’.

He will also interact with eminent business persons, US officials and industry leaders during the visit to fortify the partnership between the two nations and strengthen trade and economic ties.
Piyush Goyal arrived in San Francisco on November 13. Kicking off the official tour, the Commerce and Industry Minister visited the Tesla Factory Unit in Fremont and interacted with the senior executives of the Tesla group.

Later in the day, Goyal held bilateral meetings with Ambassador Katherine Tai, United States Trade Representative. The Union Commerce Minister held a bilateral meeting with the Minister of Trade, Republic of Korea, Dukgeun Ahn:

Piyush Goyal also held another bilateral meeting with the Minister of Trade and Industry, Singapore, Gan Kim Yong:During these ministerial meetings, Piyush Goyal discussed potential collaboration under the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF), ways and means of further enhancing bilateral trade and commerce linkages, matters related to WTO, and other issues of mutual interest. During the interaction with his Singaporean and South Korean counterparts, Goyal suggested an expedited conclusion of the review of AITIGA and CEPA respectively. (ANI)

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Ivanka Trump Takes Stand in Trump Family Tax Fraud Trial

Ivanka claimed she has no recollection of that email. She was also shown an email from Steve Harvey that same year about Doral…reports Asian Lite News

Former US President Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka Trump took the witness stand on Wednesday morning to testify in the $250 million civil tax frauds trial brought forth by Attorney General Letitia James, which seeks to cancel Trump business licences to do business in Manhattan and fine him for tax fraud.

She claimed she had no memory of the emails reportedly sent by her to banks such as Deutsche bank and others on the plea for loans.

She became the fourth member of the Trump family to testify after her father and two brothers testified earlier. 

Ivanka was questioned about the Doral golf club near Miami, which she said was the family’s goal to “reposition it as a luxury golf resort in south Florida,” media reports said.

She was shown an email about Doral to Andrew Beal, founder of Beal Bank, from 2011.

“My father will also send you his most recent financial statements by hard mail,” she had written. 

Ivanka claimed she has no recollection of that email. She was also shown an email from Steve Harvey that same year about Doral. 

“I don’t recall this email,” she said.

Ivanka also claimed she did not recall the interest rate in the attached term sheet or any other terms of the deal. 

Ivanka is fairly soft-spoken. Judge Engoron asked her twice to move closer to the microphone. She was smiling through most of her responses, answering deliberately and in full sentences in stark contrast to her father’s meandering half-finished thoughts, UK’s Independent reported.

Ivanka was on the witness stand today inside a lower Manhattan courtroom after exhausting all her attempts to avoid testifying in a trial that threatens her family’s business and vast real-estate empire. 

Donald Trump’s eldest daughter walked briskly into New York Supreme Court on Wednesday morning in a dark suit and smiled as she entered a third-floor courtroom. She is the final witness summoned by New York Attorney General Letitia James in the sixth week of a trial that could last through Christmas.

Her appearance comes a week after testimony from her brothers and two days after testimony from her father, who was scheduled to be the headlining final act for the Attorney General’s case, CNN reported. 

Taking to Truth Social on Tuesday night, Trump fumed about Ivanka having to testify.

“Tomorrow my wonderful and beautiful daughter, Ivanka, is going to the Lower Manhattan Courthouse, at the direction of Letitia Peekaboo James, the corrupt and racist New York Attorney General, who has allowed murder and violent crime in New York to flourish, and a Trump hating, out of control Clubhouse-appointed Judge, Arthur Engoron,” he ranted, before adding that it was “sad”, Independent reported.

This comes after Trump’s testimony on Monday, in which he lashed out at both Judge Arthur Engoron and New York Attorney General Letitia James, calling her a “political hack”. The judge warned Trump to stop using the courtroom as a “political rally” and urged his attorney “to control him”. He had also fined him $10,000 twice cumulatively for defying his gag orders and intimidating his court staff in social media. 

The trial threatens to topple the family’s business empire — the Trump Organisation.

In another email shown to the court from December 2011, Ivanka writes to Deutsche Bank executives and CCs Jared Kushner, her husband and partner in the business. It includes an “investment memo” for Doral. 

“My father and I are very much looking forward to meeting with you to discuss Doral,” Ivanka wrote.

The email also included “some basic information on our golf and hotel properties”. 

She said she doesn’t remember the meeting.

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US House Passes $14.3 Billion Aid Bill for Israel

Photo taken on March 6, 2021 shows the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C., the United States. (Photo by Ting Shen/Xinhua)

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has called the Republican legislation a “deeply flawed proposal” which the Senate will not consider…reports Asian Lite News

The Republican-majority US House of Representatives has passed a bill to provide $14.3 billion in aid to Israel amid the Jewish nation’s ongoing war with the Hamas militant group in Gaza.

The bill was passed on Thursday by a 226 to 196 vote, with two Republicans opposing the legislations and 12 Democrats supporting it, reports CNN.

The passage of the bill will however, put the two chambers of Congress at odds as there is bipartisan support for aid to Israel and further aid to Ukraine in the Democrat-led Senate, but in the House, many Republicans have opposed sending more aid to Kiev.

Democrats have raised objections to the House bill as it does not include aid to Ukraine and would enact funding cuts to the Internal Revenue Service.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has called the Republican legislation a “deeply flawed proposal” which the Senate will not consider.

“The hypocrisy here is that by cutting funding to go after tax cheats, (it) will actually explode the deficit by billions and billions of dollars. What a joke,” CNN quoted Schumer as saying to the media on Thursday night.

“We will work together on our own bipartisan emergency aid package that includes aid to Israel, Ukraine, competition with the Chinese government and humanitarian aid to Gaza.”

Meanwhile, the newly-appointed House Speaker, Republican Mike Johnson committed to passing a Ukraine aid package after they deal with Israel.

“Ukraine will come in short order, it will come next… And you’ve heard me say that we want to pair border security with Ukraine… If we’re going to take care of a border in Ukraine, we need to take care of America’s border as well,” he said in reference to the need of stricter border security provisions in the US.

Thursday’s development comes amid the looming November 17 deadline when the government funding is set to expire.

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US Aims to Tackle Islamophobia

The initiative comes amid a spike in antisemitism incidents and increased fears of Islamophobia across the US in the wake of the ongoing Israel-Hamas war…reports Asian Lite News

The White House has announced that US President Joe Biden’s administration is set to establish the country’s first-ever national strategy to counter Islamophobia.

At a press briefing on Wednesday, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said: “President Biden ran for office to restore the soul of our nation. He is unequivocal: there is no place for hate in America against anyone. Period.”

“We look forward to continuing our work with community leaders, advocates, members of Congress, and more to develop the strategy — which will be a joint effort led by the Domestic Policy Council and the National Security Council — and counter the scourge of Islamophobia and hate in all its forms.”

She went on to say that ” for too long, Muslims in the US, and those perceived to be Muslim, such as Arabs and Sikhs, have endured a disproportionate number of hate-fueled attacks and other discriminatory incidents”. 

This is the “latest step as part of President Biden’s directive last year to establish an interagency group to increase and better coordinate US government efforts to counter Islamophobia, antisemitism, and related forms of bias and discrimination within the US”, Jean-Pierre was quoted as saying in a White House statement.

The initiative comes amid a spike in antisemitism incidents and increased fears of Islamophobia across the US in the wake of the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.

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Vietnam-based hackers target India, US, UK

hack.

DarkGate is a Remote Access Trojan (RAT) that first emerged in cyberspace in 2018. It is usually offered as a Malware-as-a-Service tool to cybercriminals…reports Asian Lite News

Vietnam-based cybercrime groups are targeting digital marketing firms based in India, the US and the UK by hijacking Facebook business accounts in a malicious campaign, a new report has found.

According to the cybersecurity company WithSecure, the popular malware ‘Darkgate’ has been combined with a Malware as a Service (MaaS) toolkit to infect victims with rival remote access trojans (RATs) and additional information-stealing malware like Ducktail, Lobshot, and Redline.

Multiple infection attempts with DarkGate malware were identified by researchers, targeting these countries on August 4. The lure documents, target patterns, themes, delivery methods, and overall attack tactics are similar to those seen in recent DuckTail infostealer campaigns, the report said.

DarkGate is a Remote Access Trojan (RAT) that first emerged in cyberspace in 2018. It is usually offered as a Malware-as-a-Service tool to cybercriminals.

The researchers examined open-source data associated with the DarkGate malware campaign and discovered connections to multiple infostealers. This pattern indicates that these attacks are being carried out by the same group or threat actor.

“By identifying characteristics of DarkGate malware lures and campaigns, we have been able to find multiple pivot points which lead to other information stealers and malware being used in very similar if not identical campaigns, and it is assessed as likely that the same threat actor group performs these campaigns,” the researchers said.

According to the report, the attack began with a file called ‘Salary and new products.8.4.zip.’ When unwitting users downloaded and extracted it, a VBS script was activated.

This script renamed and duplicated the original Windows binary (Curl.exe) to a new location before connecting to an external server to retrieve two additional files: autoit3.exe and an Autoit3 script compiled.

Following that, the script executed the executable, de-obfuscated, and assembled the DarkGate RAT with the help of strings from the script.

“Based on what we’ve observed, it is very likely that a single actor is behind several of the campaigns we’ve been tracking that target Meta Business accounts,” said senior threat intelligence analyst Stephen Robinson.

After gaining control of an account, the attackers can engage in a variety of malicious activities such as malware distribution and fraud, the report warned.

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UK, US, Germany tell citizens to leave Lebanon

Separately, the US Department of State issued a global alert warning its citizens that tensions in the Middle East could increase the potential for violent attacks against Americans…reports Asian Lite News

The governments of the United States, United Kingdom, and Germany have advised their citizens to leave Lebanon, amid growing concerns that the Israeli assault on the beseiged Gaza Strip could trigger a wider conflict in the region.

The three nations issued advisories on Thursday, as Israeli forces continued to exchange fire with armed groups in southern Lebanon, where the Iran-backed Hezbollah group is the dominant force.

“We recommend that US citizens in Lebanon make appropriate arrangements to leave the country; commercial options currently remain available,” a statement from the US Embassy in Beirut said.

Separately, the US Department of State issued a global alert warning its citizens that tensions in the Middle East could increase the potential for violent attacks against Americans.

The move comes as Israel prepares for an anticipated ground invasion of Gaza, and rising fears that a ground incursion would heighten the risk of a wider regional war.

Iran and some groups that it backs throughout the region, including the formidable Hezbollah in Lebanon, have suggested that they may not sit on the sidelines if fighting between Hamas and Israel continues to spiral.

An explosion at a hospital in Gaza on Tuesday, for which Israel and the armed group Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) have traded blame, sparked a wave of protests in cities across the region against Israel’s continuing bombardment of the Gaza Strip.

Israel launched its campaign of air raids on October 7 after Hamas fighters attacked southern Israel, killing at least 1,400 people, according to Israeli officials. More than 3,700 people have been killed in the Israeli assault on Gaza, according to Palestinian officials.

The US State Department raised its travel advisory for Lebanon to the highest level on Tuesday, and countries including France, Canada, Australia and Spain have also warned citizens against travelling there.

Analysts say the cross-border exchanges between Israel and armed groups in southern Lebanon have remained relatively contained, but Hezbollah has said it was fully ready to contribute to the conflict with Israel.

Israel’s defence minister said on October 15 that Israel had no interest in waging war on its northern front, and that if Hezbollah restrained itself then Israel would also keep the situation along the border as it was.

The US has sought to deter other armed groups in the region, including groups with ties to Iran in Lebanon, Iraq, and Syria, from joining Hamas to fight Israel. Washington has dispatched two aircraft carriers to the region and is preparing 2,000 military service members for potential deployment to assist Israel.

While a wider confrontation would likely be costly for any parties involved, it remains unclear if the precarious balance will hold. The Reuters news agency reported on Thursday that Ain al-Asad air base in Iraq, which hosts US troops, had been attacked by missiles and drones. Separately, the Pentagon confirmed that a US warship shot down a series of missiles and drones over the Red Sea, saying that they were launched from Yemen. The warship was in the vicinity, but not the target of the attack, it said.

It is not immediately clear who carried out the attacks and whether they are related to the fighting in Israel-Palestine.

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‘US, India Putting Together a Different Vision of Tech’

Imagine a future without that disease, hospitalizing and taking the lives of people around the world,” Garcetti said…reports Asian Lite News

Ambassador Eric Garcetti has said that the US and India are putting together a different vision of technology that connects us, protects us, detects for us some of the biggest challenges, and addresses them.

Speaking at the “TechSurge: India’s Deep Tech Transformation” conference, organised by Celesta Capital and US-India Business Council, Garcetti cited an example of how the US is funding a company in India through its USAID agency. The company, Garcetti said, is developing an application that can detect tuberculosis (TB).

“…as an Indian, you can cough into the phone and send a recording of that cough – and, with 85 per cent (and growing) accuracy, detect whether you have TB – from any of village, any town, anywhere in India,” he said.

“Something that will help us reach the goal of the Prime Minister here to get rid of TB by 2025. And something that’s in America’s interest, selfishly, as well, because 25 per cent of the world’s TB cases are here in India. And if we don’t work with India to eradicate tuberculosis here, we will never have an America without tuberculosis as well,” Ambassador Garcetti said.

He cited another collaboration between the two countries in the healthcare sector.

“Recently I was at an Indian company. A technological breakthrough in healthcare: we were able to develop a vaccine for dengue fever, all four strains! In the past, we could get a vaccine for one strain, but it doesn’t protect you from the other three; very difficult to commercialize. We had the innovation, but we knew that the America probably couldn’t do the delivery. And so, given the three different Indian companies, one which is now about to start its third-phase clinical trials within a year or two – maybe three – we can have a vaccine that deals with all four strains of dengue fever. Imagine a future without that disease, hospitalizing and taking the lives of people around the world,” Garcetti said.

Later in his address, Garcetti equated the relationship between the two countries as multiplicative, and not additive or arithmetic.

“An exponential relationship. It’s not U.S. plus India, it’s U.S. times India. And when it comes to technology, I really do believe in my heart that, as we showed during the G20, with India’s leadership and empowering the voice of the Global South, and America’s leadership among our allies and the developed world that, when we speak each other’s languages, we can actually translate to the world our ambitions, our ambitions for peace, prosperity, for our planet and our people,” he said. (ANI)

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US Embassy Warns Gaza Residents of Limited Opening at Rafah Crossing

The Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt is the only remaining outlet to get people out of the enclave and supplies into it…reports Asian Lite News

The US Embassy in Israel on Monday warned Gaza residents who were hoping to evacuate using the Rafah Crossing Point — the Hamas-controlled enclave’s border crossing with Egypt — that if the crossing opens, then it might be only for a “limited time”.

In an advisory, the embassy said that the Rafah crossing will open at 9 a.m. on Monday, citing media reports.

“We anticipate that the situation at the Rafah crossing will remain fluid and unpredictable and it is unclear whether, or for how long, travelers will be permitted to transit the crossing. 

“If you assess it to be safe, you may wish to move closer to the Rafah border crossing — there may be very little notice if the crossing opens and it may only open for a limited time,” the advisory added.

On Sunday after his talks with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken had said that “Rafah will be open”.

The Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt is the only remaining outlet to get people out of the enclave and supplies into it.

But it remained closed for much of the past week.

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US, Qatar deny Iran access to $6 billion from prisoner deal

Last month, the United States and Iran swapped prisoners. Iran released five US nationals held in the country and the United States also released five Iranians….reports Asian Lite News

Following the attack by Hamas on Israel that killed at least 1,300, the United States and Qatar have agreed to deny Iran access to $6 billion that were unfrozen as part of a prisoner swap deal, according to reports.

Last month, the United States and Iran swapped prisoners. Iran released five US nationals held in the country and the United States also released five Iranians. As part of the deal, the United States also released $6 billion-worth of Iranian funds kept in South Korean banks. The deal involved transfer of that amount to a bank in Qatar from where Iran could access those funds for humanitarian purposes.

The decision as part of the prisoner swap to make the funds accessible to Iran has come under criticism, particularly from the Republican Party, after the Hamas attack on Israel. Hamas has long been backed by Iran and it has been argued that once these funds became accessible to Iran, it was bolstered as its other funds were freed to be used against its adversaries like Israel.

The New York Times reported that there was no formal agreement as such on blocking the funds but there was a “quiet understanding” between the United States and Qatar to disallow Iran from accessing the funds for now.

“Wally Adeyemo, the deputy Treasury secretary, told House Democrats on Thursday that Iran would no longer have access to the funds, according to a person familiar with the matter…U.S. officials did not describe the money as frozen permanently but said that case-by-case applications to spend it under the current arrangement will be denied for the foreseeable future,” reported NYT.

As per the terms of the deal, these funds could only be used after furnishing bills for humanitarian purchases, such as of food and medicine. Even in such cases, however, critics have said that it would mean that the funds that would have gone for food or medicine purchases previously have now been freed up for nefarious purposes, such as to be used against Israel.

So far, however, the entire sum of $6 billion sits untouched in a bank in Qatar. It has also been pointed that the Joe Biden administration did not ‘give’ this money to Iran as it was Iranian money which was sitting in a South Korean bank and Iran was not able to access it because of sanctions. It is not US money.

Explaining the transfer of these funds, Jennifer Griffen of Fox News wrote that the US Department of Treasury would need to approve any Iranian request to access those funds after it is provided with verifiable bills for humanitarian purchases. In a series of tweets, she wrote that the Biden administration’s action was an extension of decision taken during former President Donald Trump’s term.

She said, “This was Iranian money that even the Trump administration had agreed could be used by Iran for humanitarian reasons as long as those purchases for food and medicine were verified. The release of this money as part of the recent Biden admin hostage deal was not to Iran. So politicians who are saying this $6 billion somehow may have been transferred to Iran for use in this Hamas invasion are wrong. There is no evidence any of that $6 billion has left the Qatari account as of yet, according to US officials who served both administrations.”

The New York Times reported that the action, even if temporary, would certainly “infuriate Iran’s leadership after a painstaking prisoner swap that took many months to construct and weeks more to complete”.

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