Latest news with #JamesPearson
Yahoo
25-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Signal head defends messaging app's security after US war plan leak
By James Pearson LONDON (Reuters) -The president of Signal defended the messaging app's security on Wednesday after top Trump administration officials mistakenly included a journalist in an encrypted chatroom they used to discuss looming U.S. military action against Yemen's Houthis. Signal's Meredith Whittaker did not directly address the blunder, which Democratic lawmakers have said was a breach of U.S. national security. But she described the app as the "gold standard in private comms" in a post on X, which outlined Signal's security advantages over Meta's WhatsApp messaging app. "We're open source, nonprofit, and we develop and apply (end-to-end encryption) and privacy-preserving tech across our system to protect metadata and message contents," she said. Signal has been growing in popularity in Europe and the United States as an alternative to WhatsApp because it collects very little data about its users. According to data from Sensor Tower, a market intelligence firm, U.S. downloads of Signal in the first three months of 2025 were up 16% compared to the prior quarter, and 25% compared to the same period in 2024. In a February interview with De Telegraaf, a Dutch newspaper, Whittaker said Signal was a safer alternative because WhatsApp collects metadata which can be used to see who messages whom, and how often. "When compelled, like all companies that collect the data to begin with, they turn this important, revealing data over," Whittaker said in her post on X. In a statement, a WhatsApp spokesperson said it relies on metadata to prevent spam and "keep the service safe from abuse". "We do not keep logs of who everyone is messaging or calling and do not track the personal messages people are sending one another for ads," the statement said.
Yahoo
04-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Exclusive-Russian missile experts flew to Iran amid clashes with Israel
By James Pearson, Polina Nikolskaya, Anton Zverev and Parisa Hafezi LONDON (Reuters) - Several senior Russian missile specialists have visited Iran over the past year as the Islamic Republic has deepened its defence cooperation with Moscow, a Reuters review of travel records and employment data indicates. The seven weapons experts were booked to travel from Moscow to Tehran aboard two flights on April 24 and September 17 last year, according to documents detailing the two group bookings as well as the passenger manifest for the second flight. See for yourself — The Yodel is the go-to source for daily news, entertainment and feel-good stories. By signing up, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy. The booking records include the men's passport numbers, with six of the seven having the prefix "20". That denotes a passport used for official state business, issued to government officials on foreign work trips and military personnel stationed abroad, according to an edict published by the Russian government and a document on the Russian foreign ministry's website. Reuters was unable to determine what the seven were doing in Iran. A senior Iranian defence ministry official said Russian missile experts had made multiple visits to Iranian missile production sites last year, including two underground facilities, with some of the visits taking place in September. The official, who requested anonymity to discuss security matters, didn't identify the sites. A Western defence official, who monitors Iran's defence cooperation with Russia and also requested anonymity, said an unspecified number of Russian missile experts visited an Iranian missile base, about 15 km (9 miles) west of the port of Amirabad on Iran's Caspian Sea coast, in September. Reuters couldn't establish if the visitors referred to by the officials included the Russians on the two flights. The seven Russians identified by Reuters all have senior military backgrounds, with two ranked colonel and two lieutenant-colonel, according to a review of Russian databases containing information about citizens' jobs or places of work, including tax, phone and vehicle records. Two are experts in air-defence missile systems, three specialize in artillery and rocketry, while one has a background in advanced weapons development and another has worked at a missile-testing range, the records showed. Reuters was unable to establish whether all are still working in those roles as the employment data ranged from 2021 to 2024. Their flights to Tehran came at a precarious time for Iran, which found itself drawn into a tit-for-tat battle with arch-foe Israel that saw both sides mount military strikes on each other in April and October. Reuters contacted all the men by phone: five of them denied they had been to Iran, denied they worked for the military or both, while one declined to comment and one hung up. Iran's defence and foreign ministries declined to comment for this article, as did the public relations office of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, an elite force that oversees Iran's ballistic missile program. The Russian defence ministry didn't respond to a request for comment. Cooperation between the two countries, whose leaders signed a 20-year military pact in Moscow in January, has already influenced Russia's war on Ukraine, with large numbers of Iranian-designed Shahed drones deployed on the battlefield. ROCKETS AND ARTILLERY The flight booking information for the seven travellers was shown to Reuters by Hooshyaran-e Vatan, a group of activist hackers opposed to the Iranian government. The hackers said the seven were travelling with VIP status. Reuters corroborated the information with the Russian passenger manifest for the September flight, which was provided by a source with access to Russian state databases. The news agency was unable to access a manifest for the earlier flight, so couldn't verify that the five Russian specialists booked on it actually made the trip. Denis Kalko, 48, and 46-year-old Vadim Malov were among the five Russian weapons experts whose seats were booked as a group on the April flight, the records showed. Kalko worked at the defence ministry's Academy for Military Anti-Aircraft Defence, tax records for 2021 show. Malov worked for a military unit that trains anti-aircraft missile forces, according to car ownership records for 2024. Andrei Gusev, 45, Alexander Antonov, 43, and Marat Khusainov, 54, were also booked on the April flight. Gusev is a lieutenant-colonel who works as deputy head of the faculty of General Purpose Rockets and Artillery Munitions at the defence ministry's Penza Artillery Engineering Institute, according to a 2021 news item on the institute's website. Antonov has worked at the Main Rocket and Artillery Directorate of the Defence Ministry, according to car registration records from 2024, while bank data shows Khusainov, a colonel, has worked at the Kapustin Yar missile-testing range. One of the two passengers onboard the second flight to Tehran in September was Sergei Yurchenko, 46, who has also worked at the Rocket and Artillery Directorate, according to undated mobile phone records. His passport number had the prefix "22"; Reuters was unable to determine what that signified though, according to the government edict on passports, it isn't used for private citizens or diplomats. The other passenger on the September flight was 46-year-old Oleg Fedosov. Residence records give his address as the office of the Directorate of Advanced Inter-Service Research and Special Projects. That is a branch of the defence ministry tasked with developing weapons systems of the future. Fedosov had previously flown from Tehran to Moscow in October 2023, according to Russian border crossing records viewed by Reuters. On that occasion, as he did for the September 2024 flight, Fedosov used his passport reserved for official state business, the records showed.
Euronews
27-02-2025
- Business
- Euronews
Greenland's big tourism push: Why the world's largest island wants more visitors
Whale watching, iceberg treks and almost guaranteed Northern Lights - why wouldn't you want to visit Greenland? Yet tourism in the country is a relatively young business, and one that the world's largest island is keen to grow. Greenland is seeking to diversify its economy. About 90 per cent of its exports currently come from fishing, but relying so heavily on a single industry is seen as potentially risky. The government is aiming for tourism to reach 40 per cent of its export value by 2035. Although tourism isn't 'exported' as such, it brings foreign money into the country, so is classified as an economic export. To put that into context, the tourism revenue generated in 2023 (€250 million) would need to triple in the next decade to come close to 40 per cent of Greenland's export value. So the island is hoping to attract many more intrepid travellers to its shores in 2025, with a unique offering of remote seclusion and bucket-list Arctic activities. One big reason it will be easier to visit Greenland In October 2024, the capital of Greenland, Nuuk, officially opened its new international airport. Although there has been an airport in Nuuk since 1979, its runway was too short for large airliners to use, and flights were limited to small turboprop and regional jet aircraft. Now, the runway has more than doubled in length to 2,200 metres and a new terminal has been built. Major airlines with large passenger jets are able to fly in and connect the island's capital directly to destinations around the world. 'Previously, Nuuk did not have a sufficiently long runway or suitable terminal for non-stop flights to Europe or beyond,' notes airline route analyst James Pearson. 'This meant that Air Greenland's A330s had to fly from Kangerlussuaq, with most passengers connecting on to Nuuk,' he says. 'Nuuk's enhanced facilities will be vital for tourism and economic development.' Several airlines have already made a move to begin serving Nuuk in 2025. United Airlines will launch a nonstop flight from Newark, just outside New York on the East Coast of the US. The route starts from 14 June, initially scheduled to operate seasonally until 25 September. Joining United is Scandinavian airline SAS, which will begin flights from Copenhagen in June. SAS has served Greenland on and off for decades but can now connect to the capital with a larger aircraft. SAS noted its Danish roots and historic links to Greenland, saying it is "with a special humility and pride that we now fully resume this role.' It added, 'We hope that with our new route to Nuuk, we can help support this development and increase growth and employment in Greenlandic society.' Also operating out of the new airport are Icelandair, connecting the island to Keflavik, and home flag carrier Air Greenland. As well as its long-established route to Copenhagen, Air Greenland is adding connections to Aalborg and Billund for summer 2025. While it's still early days for the new airport, hopes are high that more international airlines will begin service. And it's not just Nuuk that's getting an aviation upgrade. Ilulissat in the north and Qaqortoq in the south both plan to open an international airport by 2026 with equally long and capable runways. Discussions are ongoing about modernising other airports in Greenland in a bid to make the country more accessible. Why is Greenland keen to attract tourists? Targeting more tourists is seen as a key economic enabler for Greenland. The remote, sparsely populated island is keen to diversify away from its reliance on the fishing industry, and sees tourism's potential as an additional revenue source. Tourism is already beginning to grow, with a record number of foreign visitors in 2023. Almost 40,000 arrived by air, 9 per cent higher than in 2022, while over 76,000 arrived on cruise ships - almost twice as many as pre-pandemic in 2019. Statistics from Visit Greenland show that in 2023, foreign tourism contributed revenue to Greenland of almost DKK 1.9 billion (€250 million). Not only that, but tourist arrivals directly accounted for over 1,000 jobs. While the new airport and Greenland's unique environment have the right recipe for tourism success, organisations are cautious about overstimulating the market. A pledge for sustainable tourism, signed in 2023, aligns increased tourism with direct benefits to local residents while maintaining important cultural connections. 'Among the tourism companies and organisations, there is a strong desire for a common and sustainable direction for tourism development,' says Visit Greenland's CEO, Anne Nivíka Grødem. 'That's why I am so encouraged that the tourism industry itself is setting clear direction with this pledge for sustainable tourism development that benefits all of Greenland.' In Nuuk, the municipality is collaborating with the tourism industry on increasing the number of hotel rooms by 50 per cent by the end of 2030, which will add 500 more beds. However, that won't happen quickly, and analysis by Visit Greenland suggests both Nuuk and Ilulissat could face a shortage of accommodation in the short term. What are the best things to do in Greenland? Greenland's wow factor comes from its untouched natural surroundings and uncrowded spaces. Like Iceland, its Arctic Circle location means there are vast opportunities for experiences that are hard to find elsewhere in the world. Greenland is marketing itself as an adventure tourism hotspot, and it's easy to see why. Icebergs the size of skyscrapers and ancient glaciers can be explored by boat or kayak. The Ilulissat Icefjord, a UNESCO World Heritage site, is one of Greenland's most iconic attractions, with massive icebergs calving off the Sermeq Kujalleq glacier. Greenland has perhaps the best 'dark sky' environment of anywhere, due to its minimal light pollution, vast, untouched landscapes, and clear skies. Its northerly location and long, dark winters make it one of the best places in the world to view the Aurora Borealis. Winter fun is year-round here, with dog sledding a popular pastime for visitors and locals alike. Sisimiut and Kangerlussuaq offer long, snow-covered trails ideal for sledding, while Tasiilaq in the east offers an authentic Innuit dog sled experience. Skiing and snowboarding are popular too, with heli-skiing an option for thrill seekers. There are opportunities to spot some of Greenland's diverse wildlife throughout the island, but the most popular excursions take visitors out to sea to view the giant whales in their natural environment. From Disko Bay and Nuuk, tourists can take a boat tour to view humpback whales, fin whales and even minke whales in the Arctic waters. Alongside this, there are numerous cultural and historical experiences to be found in Nuuk and other towns across the island, as well as infinite opportunities for hiking, wildlife watching, and simply relaxing. The unspoilt riches of Greenland are beginning to be discovered, and with easier connections than ever, it's sure to make its way onto many travellers' bucket lists in 2025.
