MARICOPA COUNTY: Ozone High Pollution Advisory issued for Thursday, June 30 and Friday, July 1

Human activity is behind most of our top air pollution causes.

Health Impacts

People most vulnerable to the impacts of air pollution include children, older adults, adults exercising outdoors and people with heart or lung disease and those suffering from asthma and bronchitis. Exposure can increase the number and severity of asthma attacks, cause or aggravate bronchitis or other lung disease and reduce the body’s ability to fight infection. Symptoms may include itchy eyes, nose, and throat, wheezing, coughing, shortness of breath, chest pain and upper respiratory issues. Long-term exposure is linked to premature death in people with heart or lung disease, nonfatal heart attacks, irregular heartbeat and decreased lung function.

The Maricopa County Air Quality Department operates nearly 25 ambient air monitoring stations within the county.  Data is taken from those sites and used with current and forecast weather conditions to determine the daily air quality forecast.

Air Quality Monitoring Locations & Cameras

• Statewide Monitors | View >
• Current Visibility in Phoenix Metro via ADEQ Webcams | View >

Phoenix Visibility Web Cameras

Map points are for location identification purposes only.

PhoenixVis.net brings you live pictures and corresponding air quality conditions from scenic urban and rural vistas in the Phoenix, Arizona region.

This page provides an overview of all Phoenix Visibility Web Cameras. In addition, near real-time air quality data provide visibility information to the public.

Digital images from Web-based cameras are updated every 5 minutes. Images will appear black during the nighttime hours for obvious reasons. If the image is missing, please be patient and try again later.

For more air quality information contact us at Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ).

Current Views

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  South Mountain

  South Mountain is a rugged mountain south of metropolitan Phoenix. The view is from North Mountain looking toward the Phoenix downtown skyline and the South Mountains in the distance.
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  Estrella Mountains

  The Sierra Estrellas form a jagged skyline southwest of metropolitan Phoenix. The camera view looks southwest from North Mountain.
• 

  White Tank Mountains

  The White Tank Mountains lie to the west of metropolitan Phoenix. The camera view looks west from Avondale.
• 

  Camelback Mountain

  The distinctive profile of this inner city mountain gives it its name. It is bordered by the cities of Phoenix, Scottsdale and Paradise Valley. The view is from the Capital Mall area of downtown Phoenix looking northeast toward Camelback Mountain.
• 

  Superstition Mountains

  The Superstition Mountains are part of the designated Superstition Wilderness Area. The view is looking east from downtown Mesa with the community of Apache Junction between the camera and the mountain vista.

Exhaust from cars is a significant contributor to the particulate pollution problem. Being the single occupant in a vehicle on a regular basis adds pollution to the air.

Regulated Industry Many of the man-made sources of particulate matter are dust from construction activities, vacant lots, dirt roads, off-road areas where people have destabilized soil

Media Contacts

Ari Halpert
Communications Department Officer
Maricopa County Air Quality Department
Ari.Halpert@maricopa.gov
602-506-6713
3800 N. Central Avenue, Suite 1400
Phoenix, AZ 85012

Maria Bonilla
Spanish Outreach Coordinator
Maricopa County Air Quality Department
Maria.Bonilla@maricopa.gov
602-396-0527
3800 N. Central Avenue, Suite 1400
Phoenix, AZ 85012

Air Forecasting

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Updated On: 6/30/2022 - 9:53 AM

ADEQ meteorologists provide Air Quality Index (AQI) and Air Quality Risk-Based (AQR) forecasts to serve and assist the public, industry and agricultural operations in Arizona.

Current Air Quality Alerts

Ozone High Pollution Advisory in effect for Phoenix on 6/30/2022. Forecast >

Ozone High Pollution Advisory in effect for Phoenix on 7/1/2022. Forecast >

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What Are the Effects of Air Pollution?

Maricopa County and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency have designated six criteria pollutants that are monitored for, but particulate matter (PM) and ozone are the Valley’s toughest to battle.

1. Ozone
2. Particulate Matter (PM)

Ozone Effects

Ground-level ozone is the most widespread air quality problem in the United States. What are the effects of air pollution from ozone? Approximately one out of every three people in the United States is susceptible to ozone-related health problems, including shortness of breath, coughing, wheezing, headaches, nausea, and throat and lung irritation. Ozone irritates the respiratory system and can inflame or damage the lining of the lungs, much like experiencing a sunburn. If this happens repeatedly over months or years, studies suggest lung tissue may become scarred, resulting in less lung elasticity/capacity, reduced or permanent loss of lung function and a lower quality of life because of respiratory difficulties. Ozone also aggravates asthma and other respiratory diseases and reduces the immune system’s ability to fight off respiratory infections. Some people experience ozone exposure symptoms with just moderate levels of outdoor exertion or even when there are low ozone levels.

Ozone damage can occur without warning. People who live in high ozone areas may find initial symptoms go away over time, but lung damage remains even when the symptoms have disappeared. To check current ozone levels, visit the Air Quality Index (AQI) online:

Who is Affected?

People most affected by ozone include children, senior citizens, people who work or exercise outdoors, people with pre-existing respiratory disease and people who react aversely to ozone.

Children make up about 25 percent of the population but account for 40 percent of all asthma cases. Their lungs breathe faster and inhale more air (and air pollution) per pound of body weight than adults. On high-pollution days, these factors put kids at risk. Recent studies indicate that children active in high ozone environments have diminished lung capacity and more easily develop asthma and other respiratory illnesses or aggravating pre-existing respiratory problems.

Particulate Matter Effects

Elevated levels of particulate matter in the air affect all Arizonans. What are the effects of air pollution from particulate matter? Both PM-10 and PM-2.5 are so small they can pass through your throat and nose, enter the lungs, and may even get into the bloodstream. PM-2.5 is believed to pose the greatest health risk because these tiny particles can get stuck deep in the lungs. What is noteworthy is everyone can suffer from temporary symptoms due to high amounts of particulate matter in the air. Children, the elderly, people exercising outdoors and those with heart or lung disease or asthma are at an especially high risk to ill effects. Consider these health facts according to the Arizona Department of Health Services and the Maricopa County Department of Public Health:

1. 600,000: Number of Arizonans affected by asthma, of which 100,000 are children.
2. 161,912: Number of 2013 Arizona emergency room visits with asthma mentioned.
3. 3 days: Average length of hospital stays for Maricopa County residents with asthma in 2014.
4. 46 percent of Maricopa County asthma-related inpatient discharges in 2014 were between the ages of 20 and 64.
5. 58 percent of Maricopa County asthma-related inpatient discharges in 2014 were females.

Scientists have observed higher rates of hospitalizations, ER visits and doctor appointments for respiratory illnesses or heart disease during times of high particulate matter concentrations. Scientists also have observed the worsening of both asthma symptoms and acute and chronic bronchitis during these times. Further, relationships have been discovered between high particulate matter levels and reductions in the health of various aspects of the lungs.

Ozone: Ground level ozone is formed by a chemical reaction that needs heat from sunlight, nitrogen oxides and VOCs to form. The months of April through September make up our Valley’s longer-than-normal "ozone season."

 

 

"High Pollution Advisory" or "HPA" means the highest concentration of pollution may exceed the federal health standard. Active children, adults and people with lung disease such as asthma should reduce prolonged or heavy outdoor exertion. Maricopa County employers enlisted in the Travel Reduction Program are asked to activate their HPA plans on high pollution advisory days.

WHO COULD NOT BE MORE THRILLED? New Industrial Park in Southeast Mesa

What is Greystar?

The company that forked over $43.7M for what they bought into - Unbound spent the last year and a half acquiring the 154 acres located near the northeast corner of Pecos and Sossaman roads and obtaining approval from Mesa’s planning and zoning board for a development named Unbound Gateway.

Unbound purchased 18 acres in September 2021 and remaining 136 acres in January 2022 for a combined total of $27.1 million.

Two-Million-Square-Foot Gateway Grand Breaks Ground in Southeast Mesa

June 28, 2022 at 10:25 am

Greystar, an international development and management company, broke ground today on Gateway Grand, a more than two-million-square-foot, three-building industrial park at the northeast corner of Sossaman and Pecos Roads in Mesa.

"Mesa is experiencing substantial economic growth, especially in this area of our city," said Mesa Mayor John Giles. "This industrial park will offer another great option for manufacturing businesses looking to locate in Mesa, with the benefits of solid infrastructure and easy access to the airport, freeways and planned railroad extension."

Gateway Grand is located in the City of Mesa's Pecos Advanced Manufacturing Zone, which is just south of Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport, and within minutes of both State Route 24 and the Loop 202. Building A will be 1,095,961 square feet, with buildings B and C being 537,429 square feet each. All three buildings will feature 40-foot ceiling heights.

The industrial park is expected to be completed by May 2023 and will be adjacent to the forthcoming Pecos Industrial Rail and Train Extension planned by Union Pacific Railroad, which will provide significant rail freight access to companies in the area.

"This area continues to grow into a hub for economic growth, making it one of the most critical areas in the East Valley," said District 6 Councilmember Kevin Thompson. "Greystar understands its importance, and I could not be more thrilled that they chose Mesa to open their new industrial park, Gateway Grand."

Qualified companies locating at Gateway Grand may take advantage of the City of Mesa's Foreign Trade Zone providing reduced or deferred tariffs and duties, and reduced property taxes.

"Greystar Logistics is pleased to break ground on our first Class-A industrial project in Arizona. The immediate access to intermodal transportation, an educated workforce, and high population growth has created the ideal ecosystem for advanced manufacturing and logistics companies expanding their operations. Our corporate neighbors are on the forefront of progression, and we're excited to attract likeminded employers to the area," said Billy Cundiff, Greystar Managing Director. "It's been a pleasure working with the City of Mesa, and we look forward to delivering this successful project."

The builder for this project is Derek Builders. For leasing opportunities, contact CBRE representative Jackie Orcutt at 602-735-1978; Kevin Cosca, 602-735-5672; Pete Wentis, 602-735-5636; or Jonathan Teeter, 602-735-1929.

RELATED CONTENT

05 March 2019

Spec Industrial Investment in One of Mesa's OZones

The news in a press release: 20 acres sold for $2.25M
The City of Mesa has 11 census tracts that have been designated Opportunity Zones by the U.S. Department of Treasury. Last year on 12 Dec 2018 the City of Mesa released
Mesa Opportunity Zone Investment Prospectus  
http://www.mesanow.org/news/public/article/2227

"Our Opportunity Zones provide a boost in returns for private, tax-free investment in low-income areas with economic need," Mayor John Giles said. "Investment in these areas will bring great benefit to our residents and private investors alike."
_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

Readers might want to take note that water is a precious resource here in the desert and the East Valley.
On top of the $150,000,000 for SBWTP and the $200,000,000 for the GWTP, take a look>
As you can see in the infographic to the right, the taxpayer burden for costs in the City of Mesa's FY17/18 Wastewater Treatment Bond Projects in this fiscal year's budget amount to $45,3000,000 > 23.9%.
Together with the costs of water at $80,9000,000 (42.5%) they consume 2/3 or 66.3% of the entire Budget Pie.
Wastewater costs more than 2X as much as the total amount spent on Parks and 5x as much as money spent on Electric.
________________________________________________________________________
Abundant Water and Waste Water Capacity – The City of Mesa maintains a substantial water and wastewater infrastructure network in the Zone, and is continuing to expand to accommodate for future industry growth.
The City is investing over $150 million to construct the Signal Butte Water Treatment Plant, which will add an additional 24 million gallons per day (MGD) of pumping capacity to the area by Summer 2018.
In addition, a $200 million expansion of the existing Greenfield Water Reclamation Plant will also enhance wastewater capacity in the area by 14 MGD, bringing the total plant capacity to 30 MGD.
http://www.mesaaz.gov/business/economic-development/business-districts-maps/mesa-gateway-area/pecos-advanced-manufacturing-zone

Major Employers

• Bridgestone Americas – R&D facility conducting research and developing manufacturing process to produce rubber from the Guayule plant
• CMC Steel – Micro steel mill producing rebar from recycled steel
• CRM Rubber – Producer and supplier of crumb rubber to the asphalt industry. Largest crumb rubber producer in the western U.S.
• FUJIFILM – Manufacturer of chemicals for the semiconductor industry
• Matheson TriGas – Producer and supplier of industrial gasses used in manufacturing industries such as steel, fabrication, medical, water treatment, semiconductors, chemicals and food freezing
• Metso – Provider of industrial equipment repair and field services for the mining, aggregates, and process industries
• Mitsubishi Gas Chemical – manufacturer of chemicals for the semiconductor industry
• TRW Vehicle Safety Systems – Manufacturer of airbag components

The two companies that are mentioned in response to Councilmember Freeman's question are included in the map image here:

......................................................................................................................................................

Now that we have President Biden really focusing on that, how will that translate into Arizona? 

Chris responded, there are couple of things that are going to happen. 

• First of all, the Rescue Act monies coming into the state at both state level and county level total $870 million dollars in two increments starting May 11 and then many localities will see dollars. 
  

Treasury hasn’t released yet how those dollars can be spent so we have been working with the country and other partners on different options at this juncture to ensure that these dollars can be spent wisely and in a sustainable way over time. 

 

 

 Economic Development Advisory Board Meeting Minutes May 4, 2021 Page 5 of 8 

• In relation to infrastructure and the debate in Washington around the dollar amounts. 
  

We have been talking to the Department of Transportation as well as Commerce to grasp if this will be more like the readiness programming under Obama when projects were ready, they were submitted, and it was like they will fund everything they can predicated on those projects that were shovel ready or if it will be done in a different kind of manner. 

That has not been made clear yet. 

> We could see $6 trillion dollars out on the market in 18 months between PPP, Rescue Act and now if the infrastructure bill goes as planned, a massive amount of capital. 

 

> We have looked at whether GPEC should hire a consultant group to help our communities navigate that process. There will be so much capital and questions of if we will get our fair share of those resources. 

We are evaluating whether we should be diving in deeper, we just don’t know yet. 

We have work to do on that if it passes. 

Chair Kasselmann thanked Chris for joining us, his enlightening updates and context and perspective on what we should be paying attention to moving forward. 

You mentioned the City of Mesa’s development competitiveness and Mesa’s responsiveness has been noteworthy and that speaks highly of the City, Mayor, Council, Bill, and his staff. 

That was great to hear. 

The growth over the past two to three years has really been remarkable, continue to push that path forward.

 =======================================================================================

5. Hear an Update on the Pecos Industrial Rail Access and Train Extension (PIRATE) 

JD Beatty provided an update on the Pecos Industrial Rail Access and Train Extension project, better known as the PIRATE project. 

We have made a lot of progress since the last update. 

PIRATE is located just south of the Phoenix Mesa Gateway Airport and extends from the existing Union Pacific main line along Rittenhouse Road all the way to our eastern border near CMC Steel, Fuji Film, Mitsubishi Gas Chemical, and others. 

It is a six-to-seven-mile rail spur off the main rail line to serve industrial customers. 

This has been a very strong public/private partnership since the beginning. 

Sally Harrison with the Mesa Chamber of Commerce has been a key part of the process as well as the City, Union Pacific, CMC Steel, Fuji Film, Pinal County, Queen Creek, SRP, and MAG. 

We have really had a lot of public support. 

The latest route has emerged from a lot of negation with public and private owners of the area and is not 100% final. The line comes up from Rittenhouse and crosses over Pecos and Sossaman, follows the fence line of Phoenix Mesa Gateway Airport and crosses over properties owned by several large property owners. 

Negotiations are ongoing between Union Pacific and the property owners, which is not an easy process and the bulk of the efforts over the last year. 

Moving east crossing Ellsworth it is a straight line from Ellsworth through Crimson over to Signal Butte to CMC Steel. In August of last year CMC Steel announced a huge expansion. 

The PIRATE project will not only serve existing industry but would also open several thousand acres of land for rail served development. 

Why rail and why here? 

Mesa has existing heavy industry at the end of this line to serve, but it is also the 2,000 plus acres of land this will unlock to be rail served. 

There aren’t any rail served sites in the East Valley that any industry would be able to find and only a few in the west valley and Phoenix. We have started to see a huge influx of rail interest in the last six to eight months. While we had a lot before, we are seeing even more now. 

A lot of that interest, I believe, is due to the TSMC project. 

Some large projects that are looking in that area are only looking because there is a chance that rail could be there. 

When you combine roads, runway, rail, and rivers – we have three of the four multi-modal capabilities. 

 

Public safety would be improved as well. 

Right now, CMC Steel is loading 4,000 trucks a month with rebar and steel from their facility. 

About 1,000 of those truckloads currently go to downtown Phoenix and are transloaded, shipping product throughout the southwest. These are heavy trucks that damage roads and are public safety issues. 

With this rail spur, those 1,000 truckloads would no longer be on the roadways. 

Local industries would be able to take chemicals off the roads as well. 

It is statically accurate that rail is a safer way to transport those goods than roadways and decreases traffic in the long run. 

 

 Economic Development Advisory Board Meeting Minutes May 4, 2021 Page 6 of 8 

 

A timeline of the project was shared: 

2016 to 2019 – Stakeholder & property owner outreach, coordination & fact finding; 

May to December 2019 – RFP for consulting issued, Rounds Consulting, MODE Public Affairs & ECONorthwest engaged and funded by SRP, Pinal County and CMC Steel; 

March 2020 – Economic Impact Analysis completed; 

June 2020 – Submitted for 2020 BUILD Grant & CRISI Grant; 

October 2020 – Notified by USDoT of unsuccessful bids, received “recommended” rating; 

April to July 2021 – Refine project narrative and grant submittal for Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) Grant. 

The cost of the project has increased to approximately $88 million, which is up from last year’s $59 million, some of which includes an increase in land prices. 

The construction timeline is estimated to be 12 to 16 months, target Q3 - Q4 of 2023 for project completion. 

This timeline is on track for expansions and new large projects that have a need for rail in this area. 

Where are we going and what are the immediate next steps? 

• Union Pacific is currently working on securing property/options for the physical path and route with assistance from the City and partners. 
  
• By and large we have most of the route and property owners on board with the location. 
  
• Union Pacific continues to work on the engineering and design to present to the Surface Transportation Board, the Federal oversight that provides guidance on the project. 
  
• Gathering further support and buy-in from stakeholders to strengthen RAISE Grant application. 
  

The Board members thanked JD for the presentation and update. 

=========================================================================

March 2022

Greystar Buys 154-Acre Industrial Development Site Near Phoenix Mesa Gateway Airport for $43.7M

Amy Works 22 March 2022

REBusinessOnline |

MESA, ARIZ. — Greystar has acquired a 154-acre industrial development near Phoenix Mesa Gateway Airport from Phoenix-based Unbound Development. The acreage sold for $43.7 million.

Located in Phoenix, the asset consists of six different parcels and provides Greystar with a Class A industrial development opportunity.

Unbound spent the last year and a half acquiring the 154 acres located near the northeast corner of Pecos and Sossaman roads and obtaining approval from Mesa’s planning and zoning board for a development named Unbound Gateway. Unbound purchased 18 acres in September 2021 and remaining 136 acres in January 2022 for a combined total of $27.1 million.

Greystar will utilize the development team that Unbound had assembled, with Derek Builders as general contractor, Deutsch Architecture Group as designer and Hunter Engineering as civil engineer. The development will feature approximately 2.2 million square feet in three buildings, including a 1.2 million-square-foot building, a 517,029-square-foot building and a 476,229-square-foot building.

Nation's largest apartment management company looks to build huge industrial development in Mesa

Brandon Brown

Phoenix Business Journal | 2022-03-22T17:05:00-04:00

Greystar Real Estate Partners, the largest apartment management company in the United States, has acquired 154 acres for a future industrial development near the Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport.

The company plans on building three industrial buildings — totalling 2.2 million square feet — directly south of the airport near the northeast corner of Pecos and Sossaman roads, according to documents filed with the city of Mesa. One of the buildings will be nearly 1.2 million square feet, making it one of the largest freestanding buildings in the area. The other two will be 517,029 and 476,229 square feet.

Greystar, which historically has owned, managed and developed multifamily complexes in Phoenix and around the world, has recently started getting into the lucrative industrial development sector.

Expanding the portfolio

The Mesa project is part of a string of acquisitions and industrial developments Greystar is working on. . .

Railroad issues

Greystar acquired the land from Phoenix-based Unbound Development. Unbound, which is a real estate development company founded by industry veteran Andy Ogan in 2020, obtained the 154 acres through multiple acquisitions in 2021 and 2022.

Ogan paid a total of $27.1 million for the properties.

Unbound started the development process for the land in 2021, coming up with a site plan, assembling a development team and submitting zoning change requests to the city of Mesa. It called the project Unbound Gateway. . .

Initial plans called for 2.5 million square feet, but they were objected to by Union Pacific Railroad. The railroad company has plans to build a rail spur connecting several large industrial developments in southeast Mesa, and it would have to cross part of Unbound’s property.

Unbound’s initial plans didn’t feature the rail spur, so after concerns were raised in October 2021, Unbound’s team went back to the drawing board and redesigned the site to accommodate Union Pacific with the rail spur running along the west and north property lines. This process reduced the size of the project to 2.2 million leasable square feet.

An attractive and unsolicited offer

Unbound’s Ogan said his goal was to always go through with the development plans, but Greystar came knocking and made an offer he couldn’t refuse.

“Since Unbound opened escrow on the 154 acres in December of 2020, the Mesa Gateway submarket has become one of the hottest industrial submarkets in the country in terms of user demand and developers trying to acquire land sites for industrial development,” Ogan said in a statement. “Unbound’s intention was to develop the site, but unsolicited offers to buy it during the entitlement process were abundant and attractive.”

Greystar paid Unbound more than $43.7 million for the site and is expected to execute Unbound’s development plans.

Unbound’s development team — consisting of general contractor Derek Builders and Deutsch Architecture Group and Hunter Engineering — will stay on the project. Unbound had already secured building materials contracts and Greystar has agreed to further compensate Unbound for signing over those contracts to Greystar, Ogan said.

Earlier this month, Mesa City Council gave the Unbound Gateway approval on zoning changes and Greystar could start construction in April. The project is expected to be finished during the first quarter of 2023."

 

 

 

Greystar Real Estate Partners

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

(This page was last edited on 9 January 2022, at 21:15 (UTC)

HISTORY: Founded in 1993 by chairman and CEO Bob Faith, and headquartered in Charleston, South Carolina, Greystar has over 14,000 employees,^[5] and 51 offices in the US, Europe, Latin America and Asia-Pacific region.

The company began operating in the UK in 2013.^[6] In July 2017, Greystar announced it would acquire Monogram Residential Trust's 14,000-unit portfolio of 49 rental communities in ten states, for $3 billion.^[7]

In June 2018, Greystar announced that it would acquire EdR, a manager of college housing communities in the US, for $4.6 billion.^[8]

In 2019, the company was sued for violating consumer protection laws. In an Los Angeles County Superior Court filing, Greystar was charged with gathering extensive personal identifying information about its tenants without their knowledge or consent. At five Greystar-owned apartment buildings, the company collected information about its tenants' "character" and "general reputation."^[9]

In 2022, Greystar operated in nine countries: China, France, Germany, Ireland, Mexico, the Netherlands, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States.^[2]

Greystar was the largest apartment management company in the United States in 2021, with over 669,000 units of apartment infrastructure.^[3] The firm's business model is alleged to be adding to Ireland's housing crisis.^[4]

 

 

Huh? A machine-learning system that could make automated recommendations

Part of the whole promise of the internet is that platforms and services would take the web’s infinite supply of everything — the stuff to watch, read, look at, play with, buy, eat, invest in, comment on, listen to, or have feelings about — combine it with a deep understanding of who you are and what you like, and feed back to you an endless supply of all your favorite stuff.

The internet is a constant recommendations machine — but it needs you to make it work

Why can’t the internet tell you what to read, watch, and eat? Because you’re complicated

By David Pierce Jun 29, 2022, 10:29am EDT

The Verge

 

". . . It’s based on a desire for a totally frictionless user experience, but from Facebook to YouTube to TikTok, we’ve seen what that can lead to: misinformation, rabbit holes, echo chambers, problems of all kinds. It also requires collecting astonishing amounts of data, grabbing every possible bit of information about you and your habits in case some of it is useful.

 

[. ] The One True Recommendation isn’t just impossible — it’s not even really worth pursuing. But that doesn’t mean things can’t get better. As the services we use get better at knowing us — and, just as important, get better at asking us about ourselves — they might be able to narrow the world down to a handful of options instead of an endlessly scrolling list. All you’ll have to do is pick your favorite and go. Because, really, there is no right answer. There’s just the one you picked."

 

 

FROM THE NATION: EuroZone Inflation

How fighting inflation could imperil the euro zone

Relying on the ECB to backstop the currency union is dangerous

Jun 23rd 2022 (Updated Jun 24th 2022)

Is the euro area entering another sovereign-debt crisis? Indebted Italy must pay 1.9 percentage points more than Germany to borrow for ten years, nearly double the spread at the start of 2021. The borrowing costs of Spain, Portugal and even France are up sharply, too—and spreads were even higher before the European Central Bank promised on June 15th and 16th to turn the tide. As in the nightmares of 2012, the central bank is working on a plan for bond-buying to prevent weak countries from spiralling towards default. Echoing Mario Draghi’s promise to do “whatever it takes” to save the euro area, Christine Lagarde, president of the ecb, warned on June 20th that anyone doubting the central bank’s resolve would be “making a big mistake”.

Continue >> https://www.economist.com/leaders/2022/06/23/how-fighting-inflation-could-imperil-the-euro-zone

Listen to this story.

Enjoy more audio and podcasts on iOS or Android.

 

 

 

ZuoRAT Malware Found Infecting Home Routers

Thanks to Dan Goodin - the Security Editor at Ars Technica, which he joined in 2012 after working for The Register, the Associated Press, Bloomberg News, and other publications

When one post attracts 140 comments, it's TIME TO PAY ATTENTION: The discovery of this ongoing campaign is the most important one affecting SOHO routers since VPNFilter, the router malware created and deployed by the Russian government that was discovered in 2018.

Routers are often overlooked, particularly in the work-from-home era. While organizations often have strict requirements for what devices are allowed to connect, few mandate patching or other safeguards for the devices' routers.

Like most router malware, ZuoRAT can't survive a reboot. Simply restarting an infected device will remove the initial ZuoRAT exploit, consisting of files stored in a temporary directory. To fully recover, however, infected devices should be factory reset. Unfortunately, in the event connected devices have been infected with the other malware, they can't be disinfected so easily. . .

The researchers wrote:

"Black Lotus Labs visibility indicates ZuoRAT and the correlated activity represent a highly targeted campaign against US and Western European organizations that blends in with typical internet traffic through obfuscated, multistage C2 infrastructure, likely aligned with multiple phases of the malware infection. The extent to which the actors take pains to hide the C2 infrastructure cannot be overstated. First, to avoid suspicion, they handed off the initial exploit from a dedicated virtual private server (VPS) that hosted benign content. Next, they leveraged routers as proxy C2s that hid in plain sight through router-to-router communication to further avoid detection. And finally, they rotated proxy routers periodically to avoid detection."

A wide range of routers are under attack by new, unusually sophisticated malware

Router-stalking ZuoRAT is likely the work of a sophisticated nation-state, researchers say.

Dan Goodin -

Ars Technica | 6/28/2022, 5:01 PM

An unusually advanced hacking group has spent almost two years infecting a wide range of routers in North America and Europe with malware that takes full control of connected devices running Windows, macOS, and Linux, researchers reported on Tuesday.

So far, researchers from Lumen Technologies' Black Lotus Labs say they've identified at least 80 targets infected by the stealthy malware, infecting routers made by Cisco, Netgear, Asus, and DrayTek. Dubbed ZuoRAT, the remote access Trojan is part of a broader hacking campaign that has existed since at least the fourth quarter of 2020 and continues to operate.

A high level of sophistication

The discovery of custom-built malware written for the MIPS architecture and compiled for small office and home office routers is significant, particularly given its range of capabilities. Its ability to enumerate all devices connected to an infected router and collect the DNS lookups and network traffic they send and receive and remain undetected is the hallmark of a highly sophisticated threat actor.

"While compromising SOHO routers as an access vector to gain access to an adjacent LAN is not a novel technique, it has seldom been reported," Black Lotus Labs researchers wrote. "Similarly, reports of person-in-the-middle style attacks, such as DNS and HTTP hijacking, are even rarer and a mark of a complex and targeted operation. The use of these two techniques congruently demonstrated a high level of sophistication by a threat actor, indicating that this campaign was possibly performed by a state-sponsored organization."

> ZuoRAT can pivot infections to connected devices using one of two methods:

• DNS hijacking, which replaces the valid IP addresses corresponding to a domain such as Google or Facebook with a malicious one operated by the attacker.
• HTTP hijacking, in which the malware inserts itself into the connection to generate a 302 error that redirects the user to a different IP address.

Intentionally complex

Black Lotus Labs said the command and control infrastructure used in the campaign is intentionally complex in an attempt to conceal what's happening. One set of infrastructure is used to control infected routers, and another is reserved for the connected devices if they're later infected.

The researchers observed routers from 23 IP addresses with a persistent connection to a control server that they believe was performing an initial survey to determine if the targets were of interest. A subset of those 23 routers later interacted with a Taiwan-based proxy server for three months. A further subset of routers rotated to a Canada-based proxy server to obfuscate the attacker's infrastructure.

This graphic illustrates the steps listed involved.

The threat actors also disguised the landing page of a control server to look like this:

>

Russian Leader Responds to BoJo Comments: "In order for everything to be harmonious, one has to abandon excessive drinking and break other bad habits, start exercising, take up a sport.”

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29 Jun, 2022 23:22

Naked G7 leaders would be 'disgusting' sight – Putin

Russian leader was responding to comments from UK PM Boris Johnson

"Speaking to journalists in Turkmenistan on Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin responded to questions about several recent remarks from British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. During the latest G7 summit, the UK leader joked that his allies should take their clothes off for the photoshoot – to show that they are “tougher than Putin.”

“I don't know how they wanted to undress, waist-high or not, but I think it would be a disgusting sight either way,” the Russian president quipped. “Everything should be harmoniously developed in a person, both the body and the soul. However, in order for everything to be harmonious, one has to abandon excessive drinking and break other bad habits, start exercising, take up a sport.”

READ MORE: ‘Shall we take our clothes off?’ UK PM asks G7 leaders (VIDEO)    

                                                                                                     

Johnson also suggested that what he described as a “macho war of invasion” in Ukraine would not happen “if Putin was a woman, which he obviously isn’t.”

The Russian leader responded: “I just want to remind you about the events of modern history, when Margaret Thatcher made a decision to launch military action against Argentina over the Falkland Islands. Here’s a woman, deciding to launch military action. Where are the Falkland Islands and where is Britain? And this was dictated by nothing but imperial ambitions.”

“So coming from a current British Prime Minister, this is not exactly a correct remark in regards to what is happening today.”

Vladimir Putin visited Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, on Wednesday, during his first foreign trip since the start of Russia’s military operation in Ukraine. He attended the sixth Caspian summit, meeting with the leaders of Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan. The day before that, he visited Tajikistan and met with President Emomali Rahmon. 

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MULTI-POLAR WORLD ORDER EVOLVING GLOBALLY . . .The Process is Irreversible

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Multipolar world order evolving globally, process irreversible — Putin

"The position of Russia and many other countries is that this democratic, more just world order should be built on the basis of mutual respect and trust, and, of course, on the generally accepted principles of international law and the UN Charter," the President emphasized

[Image © Mikhail Metzel/POOL/TASS]

MOSCOW, June 30. /TASS/. A multipolar world order is evolving globally now, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday.

"A multipolar system of international relations has been actively evolving. The process is irreversible, it has been unfolding in front of our eyes and it is objective in its nature," Putin said, addressing the 10th St. Petersburg International Legal Forum (SPBILF).

"The position of Russia and many other countries is that this democratic, more just world order should be built on the basis of mutual respect and trust, and, of course, on the generally accepted principles of international law and the UN Charter," he emphasized.

Putin’s video address "was recently recorded during his working trip to St. Petersburg," the Kremlin said on its website.

Putin lauded the in-person forum, saying that "even the most advanced communication technologies cannot replace a direct dialogue and face-to-face meetings".

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4 YEARS AGO:

Reassessing Realities of a Multi-Polar World Order

Zaeem Hassan Mehmood

Modern Diplomacy |

Multi-polarity has become prominent feature in the day to day vocabulary of diplomats, statesmen and policymakers. Former United States (US) Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton at her state visit to New Zealand was one of the first to observe “a shifting balance of power to a more multi-polar world as opposed to the Cold War model of a bipolar world”. The preceding United Nations (UN) Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon stated at Stanford University in 2013 that we have begun to “move increasingly and irreversibly to a multi-polar world”. Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, declared at the Russia-China Conference 2016 that “international relations have entered into a conceptually new historical stage that consists in the emergence of a multi-polar world order and reflects the strengthening of new centers of economic development and power”.

These manifestations have since then revealed a general acceptance of the multi-polar notion as a concept that is unavoidable in the contemporary international dynamics. However, when it comes to the transitions and inevitability of the power structures, there is little agreement among the international states. 

The former Secretary of State, choice of words “more multi-polar world” reflected a reluctance to acknowledge the complete disappearance of unipolarity. . .

[    ] Conclusion

The most original feature of the new configuration of power in the 21^st century, is the fact that a non-Western power will assume after the many centuries, the leading position at helm of world economy. China’s economic growth is anticipated to translate into increased diplomatic influence and power. A resurgent Russia is also expected to wield considerable military might. European Union in the wake of Brexit, to survive needs a renewed sense of cohesion with Germany and France taking the lead role

Amid an unprecedented spike in global geopolitical risks, the world is becoming increasingly aware of the fact that the architecture that underpins the old world order is giving way to a new configuration of international relations and regional blocs.

> The countries of the Global South are establishing their own institutions, alliances of regional integration, and payment systems, with them turning into a crucial force in the transforming global economy.

> The largest developing markets, primarily the nations of BRICS, are among the leaders here. In March 2022, Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs Sergey Ryabkov said that BRICS will form the foundation of a new world order, saying “I think that the BRICS states, totaling almost half of the world’s population and accounting for a large chunk of the global GDP, will be among the backbones of the new emerging world order.”

> However, for the BRICS states to become the foundation of a new world order, the bloc has to offer other countries in the world economy new paradigms of development on a global scale. Such areas in the new economic architecture may include relaunching globalization on a platform of new states and regions, establishing a new institutional system for modernizing nations engaged in the global economy, agreeing on a new reserve currency pool with currencies of developing countries, creating a global development track as an alternative to the one promoted by the West, and forming new regional blocs and platforms to coordinate and develop those blocs.

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