Latest news with #JohnFleming
Irish Independent
26-05-2025
- Business
- Irish Independent
Uisce Éireann described as ‘biggest mistake' to ever happen in Ireland as Wexford council seeks ways to build in rural areas
With large swathes of the county unsuitable for new housing developments due to a lack of water services, Councillors John Fleming and Michael Sheehan cited potential changes to the County Development Plan (2022-2028) which would allow the council to rezone land for new housing projects. 'The County Development Plan is now open for review and there's an opportunity for this municipal district to have a say in the direction the town and villages will take over the next 15 years,' said Cllr Sheehan. 'There's vast tracts of land in this town that need to be rezoned for housing.' With regards to providing water services for housing developments which wouldn't have access to the Uisce Éireann (UE) mains, Cllr Marty Murphy said Wexford County Council (WCC) should simply proceed without the national utility company. 'My understanding is small developments in rural areas will be allowed to build their own treatment plants which is fantastic news, because our villages are dying due to planning laws,' he said. 'Do we have villages which will be targeted under that? We need to move on from UE because, as far as I'm concerned, it is the biggest mistake to ever happen in this country.' In response, a member of WCC planning team said they had not been informed of which villages had been targeted but they would find out and revert back to Cllr Murphy.
Yahoo
02-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
State Treasurer delivers more than $16K in unclaimed funds to Caddo native
CADDO PARISH, La. (KTAL/KMSS)—This week, a Caddo Parish native received a pleasant surprise: a check for $16,417.81, hand delivered by Louisiana State Treasurer John Fleming, M.D. On April 29, Dr. Flemming delivered the unclaimed property check to Ashley Turner after speaking to members of the Morehouse-Bastrop Chamber at the Visitor Center in Bastrop. According to a press release on Dr. Fleming's visit, he spoke on the importance of returning unclaimed property to Louisiana residents, and Turner is the latest example. School transparency tool rolled out as Louisiana prepares for school choice pivot 'One in six individuals in Louisiana has unclaimed property, with claims averaging $900. It is your money; we want you to claim it,' said Dr. Fleming, According to the State Treasurer's office, $1.2 billion in unclaimed property needs to be returned to Louisiana citizens. The money comes from businesses turning over millions in unclaimed cash, stocks, bonds, securities, and insurance proceeds to the Louisiana State Treasurer's Office. To see if you have money waiting for you, visit or call the State of Louisiana's Unclaimed Property Division at (888) 925-4127. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
03-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Louisiana unveils new transparency site for public, charter schools
BATON ROUGE, La. (Louisiana First) — State officials have unveiled a new transparency website that shows financial information for Louisiana public and charter schools. The new tool, which gives people access to information about K-12 schools, is part of the state treasury department's website. State Treasurer John Fleming said the net will benefit teachers, parents and students. 'What you're going to see today is a little sample of what we believe is the nation's finest website in regards to education transparency,' State Sen. Rick Edmonds said during a Wednesday press conference. The website provides information on schools' performance scores, contracts, salaries, budgets, and more. The project was created through Act 370, legislation authored by Edmonds during the 2023 legislative session. 'This one took three times to get it passed. It was vetoed once, and then it was stacked in a committee to where I couldn't get it out,' Edmonds said. Edmonds hopes the transparency website holds not only education systems accountable about where funds go but also helps school systems when there's a need. 'I hope that what that does is brings confidence to some of those systems and then when they ask for their millage increase or tax increases that they're doing, they're more apt to think, well, our people are really doing a great job with the dollars that they spend,' he said. As the website launches, Fleming said the project is not perfect, and mistakes are bound to happen. 'If you see something, please let us know if you think there's an inaccuracy there. We want to correct any mistake we made or the inputs from the schools as well,' he said. 'We will continue to work and cure the data till we get to get it to be perfect or near perfect.' Tariffs hit tiny coral islands in the South Pacific and Arctic outposts Augusta makes historic comeback from 2024 storm damage Some Republicans vote to reject President Trump's Canada tariffs Man killed in Wednesday Baton Rouge shooting Louisiana unveils new transparency site for public, charter schools Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The Guardian
20-03-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
Australian government agencies could be customers of Israeli spyware, research suggests
Australian government agencies could be customers of military-grade spyware from Israeli firm Paragon Solutions, a new report suggests. In January, Meta revealed more than 90 people, including journalists, had their WhatsApp compromised by the software, although it is unknown if any Australians were targeted. In a report published by the Citizen Lab on Wednesday, the group identified two IP addresses located in Australia among countries where the company's Graphite spyware tool was suspected to have been used. Citizen Lab had received a tip which they believe allowed Paragon's server infrastructure to be mapped. The software can provide full access to the instant messaging apps on a user's device. The service is only sold to governments around the world. It is not sold to private enterprises. Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email Neither of the Australian domains listed in the report show any records of having being owned before, according to a who-is domain search conducted on the two sites listed. The domains could have been used by any federal or state agency. Sources have told Guardian Australia that the Department of Home Affairs and Australian Signals Directorate have no links to Paragon Solutions. When asked if Paragon had Australian customers, or if the software had been used to target Australians, the company did not directly respond to the question. 'Paragon's mission is to support national security and law enforcement agencies, in full accordance with applicable laws and regulations, in their fight against serious crime and terrorism while minimising the impact on privacy,' the company's executive chairman, John Fleming, said. 'Paragon maintains a robust due diligence framework to vet customers, ensuring they operate within democratic systems and that their law enforcement and intelligence agencies have the proper legal framework to use our tools. We have a zero-tolerance policy for customers who violate our terms of service, and a proven track record of enforcing those rules.' If the Australian government is a customer there is no suggestion by Citizen Lab in their report that they have misused it or violated Paragon's terms of service. The Citizen Lab report came after WhatsApp owner, Meta announced in January it had 'high confidence' that 90 journalists and other members of civil society had been compromised on the messaging platform, after being targeted by spyware owned by Paragon Solutions. WhatsApp had sent Paragon a cease and desist letter and said it was exploring its legal options. The company alerted those who had been targeted at the time. Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks after newsletter promotion When asked whether Australians were targeted, Meta declined to comment further. An Italian investigative journalist, Francesco Cancellato, who is known for exposing young fascists within prime minister Giogia Meloni's far-right party, came forward after receiving a notification from WhatsApp about the attack. Paragon Solutions terminated its contract with Italy after the revelations. Meloni's office denied that domestic intelligence services or the government were behind the alleged breaches against the journalist and activists. Citizen Lab, based at the University of Toronto, are specialists at researching cyber and surveillance techniques.
Yahoo
19-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Paragon Spyware Tool Linked to Canadian Police, Watchdog Says
(Bloomberg) -- A Canadian law enforcement agency is suspected to have used spyware designed to hack into mobile phones and eavesdrop on messages, according to cybersecurity researchers from the University of Toronto. NYC Plans for Flood Protection Without Federal Funds Despite Cost-Cutting Moves, Trump Plans to Remake DC in His Style A Malibu Model for Residents on the Fire Frontlines The Scary Thing About the Wildfire That Was Stopped Tel Aviv-based Paragon sells the spyware to governments and law enforcement agencies for the purposes of fighting serious crime. However, Meta Platforms Inc.'s WhatsApp said in February it had identified Paragon's technology being used against activists and journalists in Europe. Researchers at the watchdog group Citizen Lab in a report published Wednesday said they found evidence linking Paragon's spyware to countries including Australia, Canada, Cyprus, Denmark, Israel, and Singapore. Paragon's spyware, known as 'Graphite,' breaks into a device and covertly records messages sent using WhatsApp and other encrypted chat apps, such as Signal. Citizen Lab found that spyware victims, who were using Android phones, had been added to a WhatsApp group and then sent a malicious PDF file, which silently compromised the devices without them clicking on the PDF or otherwise engaging in the group. Citing a detailed analysis of digital records, the research organization said it suspected that computers under the control of Ontario Provincial Police had deployed the spyware. John Fleming, executive chairman of Paragon's US division and a former assistant director of the Central Intelligence Agency, said in a statement that some of Citizen Lab's research 'appears to be inaccurate,' but declined to offer specifics. He said Paragon's technology was designed to support counterterrorism, counter-narcotics, and counterintelligence. 'We require all users of our technology to adhere to terms and conditions that preclude the illicit targeting of journalists and other civil society leaders,' Fleming said. 'While we are not able to discuss individual customers, we have a zero-tolerance policy for violations of our terms of service.' Ontario Provincial Police didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. Paragon's spyware enables what are known as 'zero click' intrusions, because they require no user interaction for the phone to be compromised. Once it had gained a foothold on the device, the spyware appeared to hide itself within other legitimate apps on the phone, making it difficult to discover, according to Citizen Lab's report. John Scott-Railton, senior researcher at Citizen Lab, said the findings amounted to the first-ever public forensic analysis of Paragon's spyware. He called on governments to be more transparent about how they are using the technology. 'We just know, even in democracies, states have an appetite for abusing secret surveillance powers, and the more secret this stuff is, the more likely it is to be abused,' said Scott-Railton. Paragon has previously said it would only sell its technology to democratic governments, positioning itself as an alternative to Israel's notorious spyware seller NSO Group, which was persistently dogged by allegations of helping autocratic governments target journalists and activists. WhatsApp announced in February that it discovered Paragon's spyware had been used in a hacking campaign that had targeted nearly 100 people across Europe, including activists and journalists. A WhatsApp spokesperson said commercial spyware had been 'weaponized' to target civil society and added companies selling it 'must be held accountable.' Paragon didn't respond to requests for comment on WhatsApp's allegations. In December, Paragon was acquired by US private equity firm AE Industrial Partners in a deal worth up to $900 million. A representative for AE declined to comment. Tesla's Gamble on MAGA Customers Won't Work The Real Reason Trump Is Pushing 'Buy American' How TD Became America's Most Convenient Bank for Money Launderers The Future of Higher Ed Is in Austin A US Drone Maker Tries to Take Back the Country's Skies ©2025 Bloomberg L.P.
