to so catch back randy a so many elements and so much you need to practice. it's a complex sport. it isn't as popular in europe and not many team setting part and diesel, and i hope it will be back to the games. if baseball does capture any more countries, the still a chance these young players will one day get their own shot at an elim pick metal and be richardson al jazeera, tokyo ah, this is al jazeera and these are the headlines. the u. s. has condemned an attack that killed at least 4 people in the african capital campbell thing it bears . the hallmark fills the taliban car. bombing was followed by a gun attack near the home of the defense minister, another blast, the defense facility is injured. several people i said for months kept sir james bass striking very close to cheese these last we've got to the point where there

was a junction to go past the defense ministers house and we started to turn to go in that direction. we were between 2 and 300 meters away. when there was a very loud explosion, quite a jolt to the car. then we saw sparks in the air and a big plume of spoke. and what we now know is that that was a car bomb attack, part of what appears to have been a complex attack in the, in the words of those who study these things, which is an initial explosion. and then gunman taking their places and trying to to, to, to, to then carry out a further attack. and it took many hours for the afghan security forces to secure the see not only happened in the early hours of the morning. and then the faith of af canister and civilians have been ordered to leave the city of laska, god, security forces fight back against the taliban. at least 200000 people live there.

b u. n says that these 40 people have been killed in the past 24 hours. and some of the heaviest combats in the center of the city. an oil tanker is thought to have been hijacked off the coast of the united arab emirates and several other ships signaling that they were in trouble. the british navy says hijackers we boarded the vessel, have left to tar because it ship wildfires of aging and violence of greece and italy. he, thousands of people on the outskirts of athens have been forced to flee their homes . and foreign cruise tackled more than half a dozen new foreigners and sicily. i'm puleo in italy. in this house, ministry says the current of ours pandemic there is still raging and is far from over. a wednesday cases rules by more than 42000 a 40 percent increase in the previous day. almost half of all new infections are in the southern states of carillon. and that short stayed stay. stay with us here and i'll 0. the listen post is up next

to fuel the dry change. following the removal of robert mcguffey, been bob way with the country, bringing with it one journalist set out to record the voice of the people. instead of telling people what to think. i'd rather give them a chance to speak for themselves and capture the haunted, not sure of the power and fragility of hope. borne free witness on al jazeera israeli government has encouraged the development of cyber fiber went in. and it's only like testing allegations, the balance miss. peggy got technology journalists and even high profile politicians alarm to gives birth and you're at the listening post where we dig into the coverage and look at how news is reported. here are the stories we're examining this week. a global cyber surveillance scandal, spyware, developed in israel,

has put the government there under the media microscope. and it story doesn't data to nicea is one week into a state of emergency. journalist fair are feeling the he handling public relations for governments is lucrative work for western p. r. firms. africa has emerged as a new hunting ground. and despite being banned from the olympics, we will walk in this foreign ministry spokeswoman in moscow, deserves a metal for her spin on the story. it's been a bad couple of weeks for the israeli cyber espionage firm. and so, and for the israeli government, the revelation about and i, so spyware, known as pegasus, the way it's been used on diffidence and journalists have made international headlines, particularly in the countries affected, leaving israeli political leaders with some explaining to do surveillance tools such as texas our modern day weapons of war,

since the israeli government has to sign off on any export deals that n as so makes, it can play the role of gatekeeper effectively controlling which countries and so can or cannot sell it spyware, to both the israeli government and the company claim that pegasus is exported only if the client state uses it to fight crime or terrorism follows the terms and conditions. but the list of n s o is clients features a number of authoritarian governments and the timing of their deals within our. so tell us a different damning story that the criteria is not solely about keeping people safe . it's also about his railey interest, and it's putting people perhaps even democracies endangered. our starting point, this is telling me usually reporters like the ones digging into and are so pegasus and phone surveillance are

taught, follow the money. this time was different. they followed the photo they are the smoking guns that tell the story wherever former israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu went. whichever leader he was meeting with, that government would often end up with the israeli made spyware. that it could then use against whoever had like, including journalists looking at yahoo went it's actually really good for me at the potential pegasus customers we saw. and now who visit india or wanda hungry reservation visited soon afterwards for identified as having pegasus infection. for example, under the 1st numbers are into entered into the database of potential targets. only after that, then the visit with one target actually being asked and met the head of the security rwanda gap. it is a bit longer. it takes like a year or 2,

but we don't see any so targets, or potential people select as being targets of edison spyware, before they're tied to. now, what we can deduct from this is that a lot of these trips, a key aspect of the discussion of things like, quote unquote security and stability. when israel ingratiate itself to governments by offering very advanced spyware. israel has the tools to conduct what's come to be known as by tech diplomacy, the sporting of surveillance equipment that other governments want to get their hands on. it has a power house of a high tech sector and likes to call itself start up nation more than $3000000000.00 a year and us financial aid, much of its spent on defense, certainly help. the israeli government can also choose which countries companies like and so can deal with through the selective issuing of export license,

which means the pegasus story isn't just about surveillance. the spyware is a form of diplomatic currency. the israeli government spends to make new friends and forge new alliances through technology whose roots traced back to israel's military and it's surveillance of palestinians. what's the israeli tech sector? it is based quite a lot on the alumni of the elite israeli technological. these people were trained by the best and use during their military service to surveil palestinian. a lot of times they used to be that they gathered in order to explore it or to use against palestinians in order to come out with additional information. it's no coincidence that israel has the highest surveillance companies per capita in the world. it's also not a coincidence,

but 80 percent of founders of israel cybersecurity companies come from the israeli military establishment. and particularly from the i d, f intelligence, the palestinian territories, and the palestinian people have been effectively a testing ground for israeli technologies. and then we see the disastrous outcome of handing these tools to oppressive regimes around the world to do the same, targeting their own people and their own citizens. and journalists, what israel are basically saying is, hey, we're for friends of creating this cyber surveying capability. you won't really get products as good as this anywhere else, nor will you necessarily find regimes who acts as amenable to selling this product . so please buy them. and that's what spite it, its ability as well in hardware to form relationships with other regimes. and crucially, the ability to expand and influence and foreign policy through this diplomacy.

ah, we contacted the israeli government with questions about texas, his clients, using the spyware to crush democratic forms of descent and target journalists. we received no reply. the defense ministries line on this echoes, and as owes that the government only gives the exporting of pegasus the green light . when the country's buying it used the spyware for security purposes. tried telling that to the family of jamal her, shoghi the journalist, whose murder at the hands of saudi operatives came shortly after pegasus had infiltrated the phones of people close to the victim. which are ridiculous arguments and a ridiculous claim. the israeli ministry of defense has to prove every export of the surveillance technology and has systematically ignored mounting evidence that

those technologies are being used to facilitate egregious human rights violations. in the case of saudi arabia, there was a pause in the relation between dana so and thought maybe after the murder of degenerative back in 2018 at the consulate. and there's some bull. and according to report, the relationship resumed after a direct intervention from from the israeli government. and if you think about, you know, regional politics, israeli can show up in saudi arabia very, can show up, you know, the reverie certainly cannot tell. high end technology that, you know, may have some security ramifications. we can't sell that in our country unless someone's cleared it. knowledge has revealed, but israel actually pushed and so to sell to the saudis and push the sell to the u . h. so we can see that there's a certain diplomatic alignment between the client and israel. we've lawmakers,

they know what's going on. they're not really shock. they're just bombed that, you know, they're reading about in the newspaper, the prime minister who featured in all those photo ops, benjamin netanyahu is no longer in the job. his successor is nestali bennett. bennett's coalition government has said it's creating a task force to determine if changes are need to israel is exporting of cyber where task forces take months if not years. plenty of time for the story to blow over. and investigators are unlikely to tell bennett who got rich in the tech sector. anything that he and the world doesn't already know, that israel has peddled spyware to oppressive regime at the expense of activists journalists, democratic move, all while branding itself, start our nation, and the middle east. only democracy, israel corporates,

was oppressive regimes worldwide and allows the export of technology is mostly in the secret. the thing is that those tools are no different than when it's also helicopters playing guns. it's just another 2 which is being sold and you don't want the burden the being associated with this industry. and a lot of people want to return to the great startup nation and not be an offensive cyber nation who addresses other when it's not only about the amazon group. there's many other companies that export their technology to democratic in london craddick countries. and therefore, the best solution would be an immediate, more terrorism on the federal transfer, unused to rayleigh technologies, until there is a human right. the global human rights mechanism in place that would regulate this

industry, the companies and government, accountable to human rights abuses related to the use of spyware. this pegasus gamble and things like that. we would never had the end of the you know, this is a threat to privacy, democracy and all that kind of thing. because of course, because the music but i can chris lee the most detrimental aspect, which isn't how it will have a chilling effect from civil society in the middle east. because people are worried about being watched. they'll behave in a way that the same with them actually being watched and discouraged, janice, actors, etc, from being critical if they're a gene and doing journalism to, to nicea now, which has been in political turmoil ever since. the president declared

a state of emergency there. what critics are calling a flo. phillips has been tracking the impact on the news media, including this network al jazeera. it started last sunday, richard when the president came said fire the prime minister unsuspended parliament . after weeks of protests over the government handling of the economy, and cobit 19 the next day plainclothes offices entered algae. there is bureau and tunis without warrants or did everybody out on confiscates at the keys. so the office has been shut down. but i'm just here with reporters, have continue to cover the story, going live from the country journalist union headquarters, the s and j t. the union has condemned the shutting down of algae. there is office as have media, freedom groups, light reporters without borders, and the committee to protect journalists. why would the authorities go after auditor? it's not clear. the bureau chief lot v hagey told us that they hadn't received any official explanation from the authorities. central to this political crisis is the

sidelining of the moderate islamist party at not that which control to holler. and the leader of the party has denounced the emergency measures put in place by the president, cooling his supporters on the 3 ounces. there is one prominent news outlet that tennesseans can hear those kind of criticisms from. but it isn't the only one that's been effected. this past wednesday, the president dismissed the head of state television. what omnia, no reason was given for this, but the channel had grown increasingly editorially independent of the government. since trinity a transition to democracy 10 years ago, you are alluding to the arab spring to new year is often held up as the only long term success story in terms of governance, democracy, media, freedom is all of that. now in jeopardy, while to this year was why the uprisings got their start back in 2010. and once protesters had toppled the former dictator ben lee, it was the only country that really managed for many kind of stable multi party

democracy. and over the past 10 years, tennessee and journalists have enjoyed unprecedented freedom to speak truth to power. all of that and a good deal more engineer is now at risk. thanks. depending on what country you live in, some of the messaging coming out of your government today may have been brought to you by a p. r company. public relations firms. many of them based in the u. s. and the u. k. make a lot of money trying to make governments look even authoritarian wise clients of those firms can be found in washington, d. c. re odd. tel aviv bay j among others. but one region where the industry is on the rise is africa. we've seen its shadow, we saw exposed in rwanda, cameroon, zimbabwe, south africa. and those are just the stories that we know about. since p r operatives ply their trade behind the scenes out of camera range. usually that is the

listening posts. ryan, cause now pulls back the curtain on the secret of world of p. r. headliner valley the wind injustice minister jack february 2021. rwanda's. justice minister johnson b. c. a is in the hot seat on al jazeera upfront. he's there to address the ongoing trial of a well known rwandan dissident who claims he was kidnapped and forced back to the country pop up again, a got on a plane and he was going to burn the what ended up in wanda. instead, how to get there more than enough right in can galli bron daily and blame me interview with standard news fair. a minister deflecting tough question, looking to avoid any negative headline. however, the next day, johnson, the senior, was back on the show. majestic ministers team mistakenly sent upfront a one and a half hour long recording, including

a practice interview. the minister did with the p. r team on how to answer questions about was at the beginning of case we gave the minister the opportunity to come back on our program. and the video that had been accidentally sent out era provided a rare glimpse behind the curtain of a very secret of industry. the p r firms, in this case, the london base tailgate that work with high profile clients to help shape their public image is the of the of the plane i've seen, it suggested i haven't seen it. i haven't covered that. so, you know, i have no idea of any 2nd interview. the minister was asked the question again, you know, pay for the plane, they transported mr. recess, looking at to one to the conversation with your advisor was what was written. i just want to tell me who did the government is very revealing that there was this preparation session and that the talking points were fine

grained and specific. and this person was being prepared to advance a particular message, bits of hard information that you've been. listen to say i be cautious about that because his show and the difficult work can journalists have in getting straight answers from public figures. it's a global phenomenon, but it does reveal that these p r firms are very, in many cases, very good at what they do. it also shows us the role of pierre offends, and the reliance that, you know, these politicians in africa have on, on these fans, which they are paying huge amount of money. he's looking for something that they could put out a press release about the interview. they were looking for nuggets of hard stuff, a horrifying to see the way that we see our families manipulate and try and create a foes message. so actually encouraging him to lie. we show

these exchanges between child gate and there are wandering government to the public relations and communications association. the p r. the aid, the biggest p r oversight already in the world. basically, they do p r for the p r industry. we ask that shall get violated their ethical standards. the answer was yes. it is completely immoral and unethical for public relations professionals to play any part in deceiving the media. i cannot think of any possible way in which advising a dictatorship on how they might spin the kidnap of a political rival would meet those requirements. despite the existence of organizations like the p, r, ca, the industry functions without any meaningful regulation in the countries where they operate, child a is just one of many western p r firms taking on contracts with african government . others include mercury, public affairs, and b t p advisors. their staff often include former government officials and

corporate insiders who bring death communication skills to manage the message for their client. one of the things that children with attains to deny when we put this to them. the minister at no point to see the media and show gate offered no advice that he should do. so that statement would appear to be at odds with their own interview preparation. you don't always need to answer the question because you can actually change the good, like it's been a topic was raised by the interviewer and you can leave it to rhonda isn't. ready the only african country taking advice business is booming across the region, while p. r work for african governments is often well intentioned. improving messaging on health tourism and public safety collaborations with authoritarian leaders are widespread, very well paid, and often take place in the shadows. take cameroon,

the west african nation is run by the continent all this liter amanew cares about his image. all the african morse comb death spots for 38. he has ruled a country whose maris even the west is the bus, you know, peace. it is important for us to showcase an image that is a country where foreign direct investment can call me a concrete where we cannot trust our allies and ensure that we don't get in some nation about some common room. a lot have spent $3600000.00 between 200620171 western p r firm. so the western p, r from the attracted by money on the present by the relationship that they can build with these governments to be able to continue to mind interest in those

countries all be as government has relied heavily on us base p r. firms to manage here then is countries international reputation. one firm, quote, public affairs was paid $660000.00 between 20192020 the objective. promoting a positive and favorable image of the government. trisha teja, media work including op eds, in conservative outlet. we contacted cloud public affairs and asked about their work with the be a government. we received no response. it's a similar story ins and bob way, which recently transitioned out of nearly 40 years under robert mcgarvey. its current president. emerson meaning doug le has hired firms like the u. k. bass p. t . p advisors and mercury public affairs headquarters in the united states to re brand the government's tattered image and not of its long standing ruling party is

an u. p. f. in pierre offend, watching turn, or london, they're working very hard to try and paint that good picture isn't. but despite the realities on the ground, we've also seen is in, in, in, in a respectable temple which look like here it is to be honest because they paint a very unrealistic pico, these about the situation. remodel is not open for business wins. have known them as well for 41 years. he was the chief in for solved and got a resume so they can be food by what the p machine is trying to do. me. hiring p r firms to control narratives is standard practice. but the reliance on a western p, r firm's by some african states to furnish their profiles, is confounding. when you realize they're often partnering with former colonizers,

africa was, will continue to honda to the west, the respective of the fact that most of the time, they do complete western goldman in south fearing come room for the night by the french. i'm the english for there is that along which i've been also friends has a lot of interest income, especially in the utilities corporation. i'm so that continue or interest is something that fin the government to work. these are now my stuff though possibly helping p. our contracts are multiplying across the continent. but so to is public scrutiny time, shareholders and investors a dessert thing, p r. john bel, passenger in 2017, one of the world's largest p. r. firm spell,

passenger found itself in the middle of a major south african political scandal, accused the stoking racial hatred on behalf of its client. a prominent business family with close connection to the government. partners was exposed when bank cropped and was forced to shut down. however, these moments of accountability are rare, because this is an industry that's been incredibly successful in keeping its work under wraps. not every day you get to see a video that exposes the inner workings, the p. r, industry. and finally, to the olympic games where thousands of athletes are competing for metal. and there's not a russian flag to be c. that's because russia is still banned from the olympics after it was found to be running a huge doping program, which it's always denied. a limited number of russian athletes are allowed to compete in tokyo, not a seam, russia, but as the r o c, the russian olympic committee. and they're not allowed to play the russian national

. the p. r. oper rochester, at the kremlin, are not taking this lying down the woman you're about to see. beating up on the international media almost literally is maria zach out over. she's a spokeswoman for the russian foreign ministry. and what she delivers is like a counter narrative on steroids. was the next time here at the listen pass the region was i'm a colleague in the red semester supposed to last night. and then when you do need to random stuff to start the new store summer glumly. so book were national sports . me and use media with that. i mean a concept sky. i could have pillows, so i do show eager them a glitch that daniel, such as a you know, that, that was just way by the other,

those pieces notice give hiking of october until the period. that's national sports, man, i'm initials for men of thought. you're, you're going to bid that any better my let them move. what's the v m merger lamb one by the it it which the books it's, you know, it's a little bit, but you know, if you missed this because it's, we will walk. you is it? i see. i know you and andrew is on my to my job, my plan of view to brand, to that point you can usually just grab it and i've only got mine on mine idea on the

teaching you can watch or english streaming live on. i get your channels plus thousands of our programs award winning documentaries, and you get to choose to scribe. you choose dot com forward slash al jazeera english. ah, i'm how am i he did. and so how, what the headlines on al jazeera, the afghan capital has been shaken by another explosion just the day after an attack, killed at least 4 people. the latest blast went off the defense facility, injuring 3 the well to say a carnival, ming was followed by a gun attack through the home of the defense minister. it's close to the cities heavily fortified green zone, where government buildings and embassies are.