Argus Geopolitical Intel

TECHNOLOGY: Twitter CEO announces bans on all political advertising By: Newsdesk Team City of London Newsroom While Facebook recently ruled out a ban on political ads, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey has announced that his network is to ban ALL political advertising worldwide from the 22nd November saying that such "reach" "should be earned not bought" Full details of the blanket veto are expected to be announced by the 15th November. News of the ban divided US political camps for the 2020 election. Reacting to the move, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg defended his company's policy, as of course he would. Mr Dorsey explained his position in a thread of tweets. Internet political ads, he said, presented "entirely new challenges to civic discourse". "While internet advertising is incredibly powerful and very effective for commercial advertisers, that power brings significant risks to politics" company CEO Jack Dorsey tweeted. "In a democracy, I d...

Cybersecurity firm exposes huge security breach across the medical industry. By NewsDdesk Team City of London Newsroom Technology is moving at a fast pace and the security systems don’t seem like they can keep up. This is especially troubling when dealing with a company that is supposed to protect sensitive user data. The health industry is no exception, as companies share data with third-party providers around the world. This can be especially troubling since medical data should be kept private. However, Cybersecurity sepcialists WizCase have found several leaks that seriously raise questions regarding how our medical data is handled and secured in this technological era. Cybersecurity company WizCase recently found database leaks from several different medical websites from around the world. The unsecured data includes prescriptions, medical observations, lab visits, Social Security Numbers, and in many cases, full names and addresses. The following databases were found in the conte...

SYRIA: Russia and Turkey agree mutual forward action on  Kurdish forces By: Newsdesk Team City of London Newsroom Russian president Vladimir Putin and Turkeys president Erdogan have agrred what is being hailed as an "historic" deal to keep Kurish forces from Turkey´s border with Syria with the aim of creating a "safe zone" in the area The deal sets out plans for joint Turkish-Russian patrols along the border next week in a deal that was seen as impossible just a few weeks ago with both sides supporting opposite sides in the Syrian civil war. It comes during a lull in Turkey's offensive to drive Kurdish forces out who Turkey have always regarded as terrorists. The deal will see Syrian and Russian forces immediately oversee a withdrawal of Kurdish forces. The agreement was announced after six hours of talks on Tuesday between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Russian host, Vladimir Putin, in the Black Sea resort of Sochi. A ceasefire brokered by the U...

CYBERSECURITY: Iranian hackers counter-hacked by notorious group. By: Newsdesk Team City of London Newsroom An Iranian hacking group has been hacked itself by a notorious Russian hacking group UK Security Services have revealed.The Iranian group known to sources as "OilRig" has had its own operations counter-hacked by the Russian-based "Turla" group. The UK National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) a division of GCHQ, the UK spy and listening headquarters uncovered the "counter hack" as long ago as 2017 but only now have revealed the information. The notorious Cyber actors Turla group acquired Iranian tools and infrastructure to conduct attacks on dozens of countries. The UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) and US National Security Agency (NSA) have shown that the group targeted victims and adopted techniques used by suspected Iran-based hacking groups. Victims, the majority of whom were based in the Middle East, saw documents extracted from various sec...

Brexit: Johnson returns to London to begin charm offensive By: Newsdesk Team City of London News Centre UK Prime Minister, Boris Johnson has returned to London from the EU 27 Summit with a deal but now the hard work really begins as he and his team of sycopohants begin a charm offensive in an attempt to persuade MPs to back his Brexit deal today ahead of the so called "Super Saturday" in what could be one of the most important Commons sessions of the entire Brexit process and if, as seems increasingly likely a deal is not agreed, he will be sent sent packing. Mr Johnson has insisted he is "very confident" MPs will back his deal but this is "A" typical of his "bluff and bluster" approach to everything political and personal. However, there seems to be little support for the deal with DUP leader Arlene Foster saying that "as things stand" they will be supporting the new deal. This negativity has also been echoed by the opposition Labour P...

Brexit Latest Update: Talks enter last day before crunch EU summit By: Geo´ Newsdesk Team City of London Newsroom  Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to update the cabinet later today on the progress of the negotiations, which continued through the night. Meanwhile UK and EU grandees will resume Brexit talks this morning in the hope of reaching a deal that can be agreed by leaders at the next key summit of EU27 leaders tomorrow. [Thursday, 17th October] Reports that a deal was imminent, amid suggestions that the UK had made concessions over the Irish border, however, Number 10 said there was "more work still to do" although it said that "constructive" progress was being made. The EU's chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, will update the bloc on the state of the negotiations later when he briefs EU commissioners and ambassadors.

BREXIT: 'Long way to go' as UK edges ever closer to crashing out of EU   By: Newsdesk Team City of London Newsroom UK Prime Minister, Boris Johnson has thrown down the gauntlet to MPs, telling them to either back any deal he brings back from Brussels or admit they are trying to stop Brexit. At the start of a pivotal week, maybe the most pivotal ever, ‌in UK Politics, the Prime Minister told his in Cabinet in a conference call there was still a 'long way to go' to hammer out an agreement. Mr Johnson is hoping to put the agreement to a vote of MPs this weekend as the Commons sits on a Saturday for the first time since the Falklands War. But he faces the threat of a rebel plot to hijack legislation so that any deal is subject to approval in a second referendum. In a briefing to his Cabinet colleagues, yesterday, Mr Johnson said if MPs who are against No Deal now oppose his new deal they will be 'exposing their true aim of wanting to stop Brexit altogether'. Meanwh...