Hi Global Recap readers,
Being highly skeptical by nature, I honestly think it’s incompetence rather than malice, though some people disagree.
As Hanlon’s razor says:
"Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity."
🇪🇺 EUROPEAN UNION
EU Age App “Hacked”
President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen.
On Wednesday, the EU announced its "privacy-first" age check app.
Almost immediately after, Paul Moore, a security consultant bypassed its security measures (although it’s embarrassing to even call this a “hack,” some people are calling it that.)
Note: Moore was able to test the app out since it is open source online.
The bypass was basic:
Create a PIN during setup
The PIN gets saved in a
shared_prefsdirectoryAn attacker can remove the recorded PIN values from this directory
They now have access to credentials
On top of that, there are other dumb design decisions that let anyone with local access to skip biometric authentication and reset the rate limit on password attempts.
Critics are calling this just a “demo,” but anyone who knows even a little about programming can tell you no sane programmer would do any of that just to “test it out,” let alone post it online.
Telegram CEO Durov thinks this was by design.
🇭🇺 HUNGARY
Magyar Keeps the Fence
Hungarian Prime Minister-elect, Péter Magyar.
Despite conservatives’ concerns, Hungary’s PM-elect, Péter Magyar, has vowed to tighten immigration controls.
On top of rejecting the EU’s asylum pact, he is also expected to stop issuance of new work permits to non-EU migrant workers, starting June.
Plus, the southern border fence is staying, and he wants the holes fixed.
🇮🇱 ISRAEL
Trump Drops Lebanon Truce
Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.
In a surprise announcement, Trump said that Israel and Lebanon reached a 10-day ceasefire deal.
Netanyahu reportedly gave ministers just 5 minutes notice and no Security Cabinet vote.
This reportedly “outraged” officials.
Many believe that Trump was trying to jam this through so he could get some kind of Iran deal done before the April 22 ceasefire deadline.
Note: One of Iran’s asks was for Israel to stop hitting Hezbollah.
But there’s a growing online backlash to Trump’s Iran play:
Criticism: A lot of critics are saying that even if he gets a “nuclear deal,” it still boils down to taking Iran at its word—which, to them, looks basically like the 2015 Obama deal Trump tore up in 2018, if not worse.
That leads to the obvious question: if the goal was always some kind of nuclear agreement with some form of sanctions relief, why scrap the old deal and start attacking Iran in the first place?
That’s why more people are leaning into two interpretations: either Trump is looking for an off-ramp because he knows he can’t militarily decapitate the regime, or he’s using diplomacy to buy time for a ground invasion.
"I feel like the government lied to us. They promised that this time it would end differently, but it seems like we're once again heading toward a ceasefire agreement that solves nothing."
🇪🇺 EUROPE
Europe's Jet Fuel Clock
International Energy Agency Executive DIrector, Fatih Birol, during an interview with The Associated Press.
Europe has about six weeks of jet fuel left.
International Energy Agency (IEA) chief Fatih Birol says flight cuts could start soon.
The whole problem runs through the Strait of Hormuz.
Airlines say there's no shortage yet, but costs are climbing.
KLM is already cutting 160 flights next month.
🇮🇷🇺🇸 IRAN & USA
Trump Claims Uranium Handover
Trump says Iran will hand over "nuclear dust" that was buried by the B2 bombers.
This "dust" is being described as highly enriched uranium that was left buried after the US airstrikes on three Iranian nuclear sites last June.
But Iran still hasn't confirmed that.
If it's real, that's a much bigger concession than just saying it won't build a bomb.
