How North Korea infiltrates its IT experts into Western companies
Iqlusion, like hundreds of other companies before it, unknowingly hired remote coders tasked with infiltrating businesses under a fake name and nationality, so they could earn salaries that were then almost entirely paid to the North Korean state.
While this phenomenon is not new – the United Nations Security Council first mentioned it in 2019 – until recently, it primarily affected American companies. But over recent months, experts have observed "an increase in operations in Europe," according to a report from Mandiant published in April. Developers have recently been hired for French projects, John Hultquist, chief analyst at this Google subsidiary, told Le Monde in late 2024.
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LeMonde
21 minutes ago
- LeMonde
'In New Caledonia, the French state is signing a check for reconstruction and securing a lasting attachment with France'
"Betting on trust" is the title of the agreement reached on July 12 in Bougival, on the outskirts of Paris, between the French state and political partners from New Caledonia. Eighteen New Caledonian representatives from across the political spectrum signed a document with Manuel Valls, the minister for overseas territories, that is riddled with ambiguities and unspoken elements. The text is designed to succeed the [1998] Nouméa Accord. It redefines relations between the French state and the archipelago, which becomes the "State of New Caledonia," a human and geographic entity that remains under French oversight. Still at the draft stage, the effective implementation of the agreement will require not only the approval of New Caledonian citizens, but also of French lawmakers, who, starting in the autumn, will be called on to legislate to postpone the provincial elections and integrate this contractual agreement into the institutional legal framework. The text is a bold bet on the malleability of French law and the flexibility of elected officials. It is a gamble that could prove risky, especially for [Indigenous] Kanak youth, for whom it offers little more than a substitute for statehood as their future horizon. After outlining the key principles driving it, the agreement rests on two pillars: the future institutional framework and economic support. The latter was certainly decisive in reaching consensus. The rescue plan for the nickel mining industry, cleaning up public finances, the gradual and conditional easing of debt, and restoring the social welfare system's accounts all played a significant role in the negotiations. Although all these areas fall under the exclusive authority of New Caledonia, the French state is signing a check for the country's reconstruction and, in return, securing New Caledonia's long-term attachment to France. Russian doll model This will require unprecedented adjustments. Until now, the exceptions to the principles of a unified and indivisible French Republic imposed by the Nouméa Accord were tolerated, if not accepted, due to the "transitional" nature of Title XIII of the French Constitution, which is dedicated to New Caledonia. By contrast, permanently enshrining the "State of New Caledonia" in the Constitution could create real legal challenges. The constitutional authorities will need to address this.
Euronews
7 hours ago
- Euronews
Trump threatens Aeromexico, sparks air conflict with Sheinbaum
The Trump administration imposed new restrictions Saturday on flights from Mexico and threatened to end a longstanding partnership between Delta Air Lines and Aeromexico in response to limits the Mexican government placed on passenger and cargo flights into Mexico City several years ago. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said Mexico's actions to force arilines to move out of the main Benito Juarez International Airport to the newer Felipe Angeles International Airport 50 kilometers away violated a trade agreement between the two countries and gave domestic airlines an unfair advantage. "Joe Biden and Pete Buttigieg deliberately allowed Mexico to break our bilateral aviation agreement,' Duffy said, referring to the previous president and his transportation secretary. 'That ends today. Let these actions serve as a warning to any country who thinks it can take advantage of the US, our carriers, and our market. America First means fighting for the fundamental principle of fairness.' Mexico is the top foreign destination for Americans with more than 40 million passengers flying there last year. All Mexican passenger, cargo and charter airlines will now be required to submit their schedules to the Transportation Department and seek government approval of their flights until Duffy is satisfied with the way Mexico is treating US airlines. It's not immediately clear how Duffy's actions might affect the broader trade war with Mexico and negotiations over tariffs. A spokesperson for Mexico's President Claudia Sheinbaum didn't reply immediately to a request for comment. Sheinbaum didn't mention the new restrictions during either of her two speaking events on Saturday. Airlines likely to fight for continued partnership Delta and Aeromexico have been fighting the Transportation Department's efforts to end their partnership that began in 2016 since early last year. The airlines have argued that it's not fair to punish them for the Mexican government's actions, and they said ending their agreement would jeopardize nearly two dozen routes and $800 million in benefits to both countries' economies that come from tourism spending and jobs. 'The US Department of Transportation's tentative proposal to terminate its approval of the strategic and pro-competitive partnership between Delta and Aeromexico would cause significant harm to consumers traveling between the US and Mexico, as well as US jobs, communities, and transborder competition," Delta said in a statement. Aeromexico's press office said it was reviewing the order and intended to present a joint response with Delta in the coming days. But the order terminating approval of the agreement between the airlines wouldn't take effect until October, and the airlines are likely to continue fighting that decision. The airlines said in a previous filing fighting the order that it believes the loss of direct flights would prompt over 140,000 American tourists and nearly 90,000 Mexican tourists not to visit the other country and hurt the economies of both countries with the loss of their spending.
LeMonde
12 hours ago
- LeMonde
French hostages in Iran are at mercy of regime's bargaining
It was close to noon in Tehran on June 23 when Cécile Kohler heard the first explosion. The sound of a second, then a third, soon followed. The walls of the tiny cell in Evin prison, where the literature teacher has been locked up for three years, shook. Just a few meters away, in the men's section, Jacques Paris, her 72-year-old partner who was arrested with her in May 2022, grew frantic as fellow inmates were wounded by shrapnel and shards of glass. Chaos and panic ensued. The guards gathered the political prisoners from Section 209, tied them together in pairs, and transferred them to Tehran-Bozorg penitentiary in the south of the capital, as Israeli bombs continued to rain down on the city. "I thought I was going to die," Kohler later told the chargé d'affaires at the French embassy in Iran during a consular visit granted a week later on July 1. Since the Israeli strikes, their actual place of detention is unknown. Terrified by the attacks, the 40-year-old woman was barely sleeping. "Every night, she hears explosions," her sister Noémie Kohler said by phone. Are they phantom noises or real gunfire? The family lives in anxiety and uncertainty. After three years in detention, Kohler and Paris were indicted in late June by a revolutionary court for "espionage on behalf of Mossad [Israeli intelligence services]," "plotting to overthrow the government" and "corruption on earth" – charges that carry the death penalty. Is there any hope for release? "We no longer believe in it," sighed Noémie Kohler. The couple has now been joined by Lennart Monterlos, an 18-year-old French-German cyclist, arrested "for an offense," according to Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghtchi in an interview with Le Monde on July 10, without providing further details. A fourth French citizen has recently been arrested in Iran, Le Monde has learned, though neither the Iranian authorities nor Paris has disclosed any information
