Happy Friday! It’s almost the weekend, and we’re tracking today’s top stories: OFAC sanctions Iran's Arvan Cloud, Russia accuses U.S. of hacking thousands of iPhones, Taliban fights Iran with American weapons, climate change dollars vanish, and much more…

Falling behind the news curve?  Catch up any time in our Newsletter Archive!

Featured Story

🎯Treasury Sanctions Iranian Company Aiding in Internet Censorship. Arvan Cloud is a key partner of Iran’s Information and Communications Technology Ministry in the development of the National Information Network (NIN), a countrywide intranet that is being used to disconnect the Iranian people from the global Internet. [more]

Top Stories

🔸Russia says U.S. hacked thousands of iPhones in iOS zero-click attacks. Russia's FSB claims that Apple deliberately provided the NSA with a backdoor to infect iPhones in the country with spyware. [more]

🔸The Taliban Is Fighting Iran With American Weapons. Tensions are escalating between Tehran and Kabul, and the Taliban has a lot of Western equipment ready for the fight. [more]

🔸Rich nations say they're spending billions to fight climate change. Some money is going to strange places. More than $65 billion was reported so vaguely it is impossible to tell what the money paid for. [more]

🔸Mexican police find 45 bags of human remains in search for missing call center workers. Crimes of disappearance are common in Mexico, especially in cities rife with drug cartel activity, such as Guadalajara which is considered a stronghold of the Jalisco Nueva Generacion (CJNG). [more]

🔸Illicit Edge Insights: These are Mexico’s Most Powerful Drug Cartels [more]

🔸U.S. States Are Flying Thousands Of Chinese Drones Across The East Coast. FOIA records show state governments and local police are buying thousands of Chinese drones made by DJI and Autel. [more]

🔸BRICS Nations Say New Currency May Offer Shield From Sanctions. The foreign ministers of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa convened in Cape Town to discuss how the bloc can win greater global influence and to challenge the U.S. [more]

🔸De-Dollarization: Russia amasses $1B of Indian Rupees Each Month. Russia's now having issues with trading in the rupee because there's more Indian demand for Russian goods than the other way around. [more]

🔸Top macOS Malware Threats: Here Are 6 to Watch. Apple's growing market share and the growing use of Golang for malware development is pushing a gradual increase in malicious tools targeting macOS. [more]

🔸A Confession Exposes India’s Secret Hacking Industry. The country has developed a lucrative speciality: cyberattacks for hire. [more]

🔸U.S., South Korea issue warning about North Korean hacker group linked to satellite launch. Kimusky targets experts in the foreign policy, security and defense fields for intelligence gathering, according to the ministry. [more]

IN THE NEWS

Sanctions & Enforcement Brief

🌎 U.S. sanctions Iranian officials accused of plotting assassinations abroad. [more]

🌎 U.S. Sanctions Sudan Truce Violators [more]

🌎 U.S. Countermeasures in Response to Russia’s Violations of the New START Treaty. [more]

🌎 South Korea Slaps Sanctions on North's Hacking Group After Failed Satellite Launch. [more]

🌎 Europe’s 11th Russian Sanctions Package Could Be Coming Soon. [more]

Russia

🔸Abandoned Russian Superyacht to Be Auctioned After Sanctions Lifted. The U.S. Treasury removed an abandoned $120 million Russian superyacht from its sanctions list, clearing the way for the vessel to be auctioned to the highest bidder. [more]

🔸Two Russia-related controversies are gripping South Africa: U.S. accusations that weapons were shipped from Cape Town to Russia, and Vladimir Putin's invitation for an upcoming summit despite an international arrest warrant. [more]

🔸Russian mercenaries exploit a war-torn African nation as they lead Putin’s fight in Ukraine. While Russia received approval from the U.N. Security Council to deploy military trainers to assist the central African country’s government, Moscow sent in the infamous Wagner Group. [more]

China

🔸US ramps up China semiconductor restrictions. The U.S. has been trying to restrict development of high-tech equipment in China over fears it could lead to military use of U.S. technology. [more]

🔸EU Raises Alarm Over Chinese Demands for Cosmetics Trade Secrets. The European Union has raised concerns with China about the detailed product information that cosmetics companies like L’Oreal and LVMH have to provide. [more]

🔸Is indicted Chinese billionaire tycoon Guo Wengui secretly bankrolling George Santos's bail? Speaking to members of the media outside the federal court in Central Islip after he entered his not-guilty plea, the congressman said we would "never" find out the identities of the three sureties. [more]

Corruption & Financial Crime

🔸UN anti-drug agency warns there is no let-up in methamphetamine trade from Asia’s Golden Triangle. The lion’s share of methamphetamine comes from Myanmar, Laos and Thailand. [more]

🔸Andrew Tate Partnered in Casinos with Alleged Romanian Organized Crime Figures. New documents show that Andrew and Tristan Tate were involved in a profit-sharing agreement with a casino company whose owners are now under investigation for creating a violent organized crime group. [more]

🔸Brazilian Amazon at risk of being taken over by mafia. The rapid advance of organized crime groups in the Brazilian Amazon risks turning the region into a vast, conflict-stricken hinterland plagued by heavily armed “criminal insurgents”. [more]

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