Arson attacks on French railways

Welcome back to World Brief, where we present a coordinated attack on Frances railways before the Olympic Games, a US Victory of law enforcement against MexicoSinaloa cartel and a North Korean global cyber espionage campaign.

Arson vs. Olympic Torch

On Friday, just hours before the scheduled start of the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, coordinated arson attacks targeted France’s high-speed rail network. Local authorities reported no injuries, but the fires damaged signaling and cables along at least three key routes connecting to the capital. Authorities foiled another attack on the Paris-Marseille line, and a bomb scare temporarily suspended operations at Basel-Mulhouse airport near the French-Swiss border.

“This attack is not a coincidence,” said Valérie Pécresse, president of the Île-de-France regional council. “It is an attempt to destabilize France.” Around 800,000 commuters, including some Olympic athletes, were stranded at train stations and thousands of workers were deployed to repair the damage.

“What we know and see is that this operation was prepared and coordinated and that nerve centers were targeted. This shows that they know the network well and know where to strike,” said French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal. The Paris anti-terrorism sub-directorate will lead a nationwide investigation into the incident together with the organized crime office.

France is facing a whole host of security problems in the run-up to the Games. On Tuesday, the French Interior Ministry announced that around 1,000 people suspected of interfering in the Games on behalf of foreign powers had been barred from participating in the Olympics. Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin did not specify which countries were involved, but suggested that Russia was likely just one of the perpetrators.

The attacks also exposed security gaps in Paris, despite the fact that the Élysée Palace had launched a massive security operation ahead of the Games. France deployed around 45,000 police officers, 10,000 soldiers and 2,000 private security guards to secure the opening ceremony on the Seine and at other locations in the Paris region. Snipers were stationed on rooftops and drones in the air. Around 1,900 police officers from more than 40 countries are also supporting the security measures.

The ongoing war between Israel and Hamas has also prompted Paris to deploy its elite police unit, the GIGN, around the clock to protect Israeli athletes. At the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, a Palestinian terrorist organization killed 11 Israeli athletes and a West German policeman. Friday’s incident also brought to mind previous terror attacks in France. In 2015, Islamic State militants killed 130 people in and around Paris. The following year, an attacker drove a truck through Bastille Day celebrations in Nice, killing 86 people and injuring hundreds more.

Still, many in Paris hope the Olympics will mark a turning point for France – both in terms of security and political confidence. French politics have been hampered by intra-party infighting for weeks after new elections earlier this month led to a deadlock in the National Assembly, with no bloc gaining an absolute majority. Attal is expected to resign as prime minister once a new cabinet is appointed.

International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach reiterated on Friday that he had full confidence in the French authorities, and Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo said the attacks would have “no impact” on the opening ceremony.

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What we pursue

Raids in the Sinaloa region. U.S. authorities arrested two suspected leaders of Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel on Thursday, one of U.S. law enforcement’s biggest victories against the organization considered the largest supplier of fentanyl to the United States. Federal agents reportedly tricked Sinaloa co-founder Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada into boarding a private plane carrying Joaquín Guzmán López, a son of co-founder and former Sinaloa boss Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzmán. Zambada thought the plane was taking them to an inspection of properties in Mexico near the U.S. border. But Guzmán López actually helped U.S. authorities arrest Zambada, according to a U.S. law enforcement official briefed on the investigation.

The U.S.-bound plane landed Thursday at Santa Teresa International Airport in Texas, where Guzmán López and Zambada were arrested. Mexican Security Minister Rosa Icela Rodríguez said the Mexican government “did not participate” in Thursday’s operation. U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said both suspects face multiple charges, including involvement in the cartel’s “deadly fentanyl manufacturing and smuggling networks.” On Friday, Zambada pleaded not guilty. He is being held without bail, and a detention hearing is scheduled for July 31.

Guzmán López is scheduled to appear in federal district court in Chicago in the next few days. It’s unclear what benefits he or his family might receive for their cooperation with law enforcement — if any. His father, El Chapo, is serving a life sentence in a maximum security prison in Colorado for drug trafficking, money laundering and other weapons offenses. His brother, Ovidio Guzmán López, was arrested in Mexico and extradited to Chicago last September, where he is expected to stand trial.

Cyber ​​​​espionage. The United States, Britain and South Korea on Thursday accused a group of North Korean hackers of conducting a global cyber-espionage campaign for years. The group – dubbed Andariel, APT45 or Onyx Sleet by cybersecurity researchers – is said to have targeted computer systems in India, Japan, South Korea, Britain and the United States, and possibly other countries, to collect classified military intelligence designed to support North Korea’s banned nuclear weapons program. At least one suspect was named, although he is believed to be in North Korea.

The computer systems attacked belonged to the respective countries’ defense and engineering sectors, including those used to manufacture tanks, submarines, warships, fighter aircraft, and missile and radar systems. The US targets included NASA, Randolph Air Force Base in Texas, and Robins Air Force Base in Georgia. The hackers funded their efforts by using ransomware that targeted US hospitals and healthcare facilities, US authorities claim.

presidential election. Venezuelans go to the polls on Sunday in one of the country’s toughest electoral challenges in decades. Incumbent President Nicolás Maduro is running against former diplomat Edmundo González Urrutia after Maduro blocked the candidacy of opposition leader María Corina Machado. Venezuela’s otherwise divided opposition has since rallied around González.

The opposition is campaigning on economic reforms. Falling oil prices, corruption, government mismanagement and high emigration rates have plagued Maduro’s 11-year rule. In 2018, Maduro won re-election in a vote widely seen as a farce, and in recent years there have been renewed efforts to ban political dissidents, activists and journalists, leading to widespread allegations of human rights abuses against Maduro’s government.

At the same time, people continue to suffer from high living costs and medicine shortages. According to Gallup, 68 percent of Venezuelans have difficulty affording food – the highest percentage in all of Latin America. Freedom House classified Venezuela as “not free” in its 2023 global index.

What on earth?

Approximately how many citizens did Malaysia evacuate from Bangladesh on Tuesday in response to ongoing violent protests in the country?

A.75
B. 120
C.210
D.290

bits and pieces

While all eyes in Paris are on the Olympic sprinters who will attempt to break Usain Bolt’s world record, another major race has been causing a stir in Europe. Earlier this month, dozens of garden snails gathered in the rural village of Congham in England for the World Snail Championships. Instead of Bolt’s 9.69 seconds for the 100-meter dash at the 2008 Olympics, a record he beat the following year, the snails competed to break the two-minute record for the 13.5-inch dash. At that speed, it would take a snail nine hours and 43 minutes to complete the shortest Olympic race.

And the answer is …

B. 120

The protests that began last month in response to the government’s job quota policy have developed into a nationwide uprising against Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s 15-year rule, writes Salil Tripathi.

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