France’s state cybersecurity agency, the National Agency for the Security of Information Systems (Anssi), has found traces of Pegasus spyware in phones of French journalists.

• In the analysis of the phone of a France 24 journalist, Anssi found identifiers that were also found among other Moroccan targets of Pegasus, French daily Le Monde reports. His phone number was on the Pegasus database reported on by multiple media outlets, but was not analysed by Amnesty International’s cybersecurity division.
• The analysis of phones of two Mediapart journalists was carried out as part of a judicial investigation. Anssi reached the same conclusions as those of Amnesty’s cybersecurity division on the reality of Pegasus infection, its modalities, dates and duration, Mediapart reports.

Why it matters: Whilst Citizen Lab, the cybersecurity lab at the University of Toronto, in its peer review had verified the forensic analysis by Amnesty, this is the first time a major government agency has done so.

France has also…

• … investigating reports of Pegasus surveillance. French President Emmanuel Macron’s phone number was in the Pegasus database, possibly added by Moroccon agencies.
• …. pressured Israel to investigate NSO Group.
• … provided its ministers with new secure devices to ensure data security and confidentiality.

Note: Amnesty’s Security Lab had analysed 67 phones, and found 23 were successfully attacked and 14 showed signs of an attempted hack. These included phones of Indian political strategist Prashant Kishor and journalists Siddharth Varadarajan (The Wire) and Sushant Singh (formerly with The Indian Express). The numbers were on a database of 50,000 potential Pegasus targets.

The Supreme Court of India said it will hear the PILs on the issue next week.

• Journalists N. Ram and Sashi Kumar had filed a petition seeking an independent probe, arguing such surveillance violates Articles 14 (equality before the law), 19 (freedom of expression) and 21 (protection of life and personal liberty). Serial litigant M.L. Sharma, too, has filed a petition.

Bills without debate

• Both Houses of Parliament passed crucial bills this week amid disruptions, adjournments and protests by opposition MPs mainly over the Pegasus issue. Most of these bills were passed either without any debate or without opposition MPs being present.
• On Monday, Lok Sabha passed two bills — the Factoring Regulation Bill (aimed at helping the MSME sector) and the National Institute of Food Technology Entrepreneurship and Management Bill — without a debate. Rajya Sabha faced a complete washout.
• On Tuesday, the Upper House passed the Marine Aids to Navigation Bill, which will replace a nine-decade-old law governing lighthouses, amid protests.
• On Wednesday, the Rajya Sabha passed the Juvenile Justice Bill without a debate. In Lok Sabha, the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code Bill, which provides a resolution process for stressed MSMEs, was passed without debate.
• On Thursday, Lok Sabha passed two bills amid din, before being adjourned for the day. While the Airports Economic Regulatory Authority Bill took 13 minutes to be passed, the Inland Vessels Bill was passed in just 6 minutes. Rajya Sabha too passed the Factoring Regulation Bill in the midst of disruptions.
• On Friday, RS proceedings were adjourned till Monday amid protests but after passing the Coconut Development Board Bill without debate. Lok Sabha proceedings were adjourned too.

Non-issue for Centre

• Parliamentary affairs minister Pralhad Joshi on Friday said the controversy was a “non-issue” and the government was ready for discussions “on people-related issues”.

Why it matters

• One way in which MPs hold the government accountable is by using their right to question the council of ministers. During the Question Hour in the Lok Sabha, for instance, MPs can ask questions that require oral answers from ministers (starred questions).
• Only 25 starred questions are taken up in a day, which means that not everyone gets to grill a minister and even those who get the chance lose it if the proceedings are disrupted. Advantage: Government.

A rule on paper

• Sukhendu Sekhar Ray of the Trinamool Congress said in Rajya Sabha that no notice under rule 267 has been accepted since November 2016. A notice under rule 267 seeks setting aside of the listed business of the day to take up a discussion on an issue that is being raised in the House.

• Boxing: Assam’s Lovlina Borgohain (World No. 3, in pic) assured India of at least a bronze by beating World No. 2 Chen Nien-Chin of Chinese Taipei 4-1 in the women’s welterweight (64-69 kg) quarterfinal. (It is only India’s third medal in Olympics boxing.) Her semifinal bout on August 4 pits her against Turkey’s Busenaz Surmeneli, the reigning world champion and current World No. 1.
• Simranjit Kaur, however, lost 5-0 on points to Thailand’s Sudaporn Seesondee in the women’s lightweight Round of 16.
• Badminton: Rio 2016 silver medallist PV Sindhu beat Japan’s Akane Yamaguchi 21-13, 22-20 to advance to the women’s singles semifinals. She faces World No. 2 Tai Tzu Ying in the last four today.
• Hockey: The men’s team overcame hosts Japan 5-3 for their third win on the trot (fourth overall) and sealing second spot in their pool — for the first time in 41 years. Their opponents in Sunday’s quarterfinal: Great Britain.
• Earlier, the women’s team pulled off a late 1-0 win against Ireland, their first at the Games, to stay in contention for a last 8 spot.
• Equestrian: Fouaad Mirza, India’s third-ever entry in equestrian at the Olympics, and his horse Seigneur Medicott finished an impressive joint 7th at the end of day one of the dressage among 42 competitors.
• Golf: Anirban Lahiri couldn’t complete 18 holes in Round 2 as play was interrupted due to bad weather. He is currently tied 20th. India’s other golfer Udayan Mane is tied 57th.
• Archery: Deepika Kumari beat Ksenia Perova of the Russian Olympic Committee 6-5 to advance to the women’s individual quarters, where she lost 0-6 to top seed An San.
• Athletics: Dutee Chand, Avinash Sable and MP Jabir managed to finish seventh in their heats and failed to make progress in the women’s 100 m, men’s 3,000 m steeplechase and men’s 400 m hurdles, respectively.
• India was the only Asian country in the 4 x 400 mixed relay event, which made its Olympic debut, but they were eliminated after finishing last in the heats.
• Shooting: Manu Bhaker and Rahi Sarnobat failed to make the final after finishing 15th and 32nd, respectively, in the women’s 25 m pistol qualification.
• Sailing: Nethra Kumanan finished 35th after 10 races in the women’s one person dinghy laser radial event. Vishnu Saravanan was 20th overall after 10 races in the men’s one person dinghy laser event. The men’s skiff 49er duo of KC Ganapathy and Varun Thakkar are 17th after 9 races.

All updates here

• Despite a pandemic year and the CBSE adopting an alternative method of assessment, the Class XII examination results are at a new high. The pass percentage is at 99.37%, up from 88.78% last year, while schools under Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan and Central Tibetan School Administration have scored 100%!
• The fear among students that inclusion of the Class XI marks in working out their final scores would be a drag on their performance seemed to have been unfounded. This year the number of students scoring 95% and above is 70,004, up from 38,686 last year. College principals are saying that higher cut-offs are inevitable. The students in this bracket constitute about 5.37% of the total number.
• However, there is a slight dip in the 90%-95% group — down from 157,934 last year to 150,152 with 11.51% of the students in this bracket. There are chances of these numbers going up as the results of 1,060 new schools, which have around 65,184 students, are yet to be declared.
• Girls vs boys: The margin of performance between the girls and boys has narrowed this year. The girls have scored a pass percentage of 99.67% with the boys at 99.13%. In 2020, the girls had a pass percentage of 92.15% as against 86.19% of the boys.
• Regionwise: this year once again, Trivandrum has the best pass percentage at 99.89%, followed by Delhi with 99.84%. From the fourth position last year, Delhi has now moved to the second.
• Since the board did not conduct the Class XII exams, it did not release a merit list. This year the board will release a combined mark sheet-cum-pass certificate for the students.

• Clue 1: It was founded in 1837, by an English candlemaker and Irish soapmaker — both US immigrants.
• Clue 2: Headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA, David Taylor is its current CEO.
• Clue 3: Count Ariel, Gillette, Oral-B, Old Spice and Vicks among its iconic brands.

Scroll below for answer

A new star in long-distance

• 21-year-old Selemon Barega of Ethiopia won the men’s 10,000 metres gold medal, the first of the athletics programme at Tokyo Games, on Friday, defeating world champion and world record holder Joshua Cheptegei of Uganda. Barega, who had won no major titles in the 10,000m before Friday, broke clear on the last lap and won in 27 minutes, 43.22 seconds. Cheptegei took the silver medal in 27:43.63. Jacob Kiplimo of Uganda was third for bronze.

Who’s the fastest woman?

• Six women ran under 11 seconds in the heats of the 100 metres. Ivory Coast’s Marie-Josee Ta Lou led the field with 10.78s, followed by Jamaica’s Elaine Thompson Herah in 10.82s, and defending champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce in 10.82s.
• Could Florence Griffith Joyner’s world record of 10.49 seconds finally be beaten 33 years after they were set? The semifinals (3.45 pm today) and final (6.20 pm) will give the answer.

No Golden Slam for Djokovic

• Novak Djokovic wasn’t simply chasing an Olympic gold medal, he was chasing history to become the first man to win all tennis majors and the Olympic gold in the same year — the Golden Slam.
• As it turned out World No.4 Alexander Zverev of Germany knocked out the 20-time major winner from Serbia 1-6, 6-3, 6-1 in a little over 2 hours in the men’s singles semifinals to advance to the final, where he will face Russian Karen Kachanov, who beat Pablo Carreno Busta 6-3, 6-3.

Pool is ablaze

• South Africa’s Tatjana Schoenmaker set the first individual swimming world record at the Tokyo Olympics, winning the women’s 200-metre breaststroke with a time of 2 minutes, 18.95 seconds. Americans Lilly King and Annie Lazor took silver and bronze respectively.
• Russia’s Evgeny Rylov completed a backstroke sweep by adding the 200-metre backstroke gold to his 100m back gold. He won in an Olympic-record time of 1 minute, 53.29 seconds. The silver went to American Ryan Murphy, while Britain’s Luke Greenbank grabbed the bronze.

• Stressing that its order shall not be “construed as a gag on the media”, the Bombay High Court nevertheless directed the removal of certain videos from news channels and websites which it said were “prima facie defamatory” in nature against Bollywood actor Shilpa Shetty, whose husband Raj Kundra has been arrested in a pornography case.
• Shetty, in her suit, had accused the media houses of invading her privacy and making derogatory statements and also sought Rs 25 crore as damages. There were 29 defendants named in the suit, including NDTV, Free Press Journal, Clapping Hands Private Limited, PeepingMoon.com, Facebook, Instagram, Google, a regional channel from UP called Capital TV and a youtube channel named Shudh Manoranjan, among others.
• However, the high court made it clear that it won’t issue a blanket restraint order as reporting of what was said by the police in a case under investigation “is never defamatory.” Noting that “the line between freedom of press and right to privacy will have to be balanced”, the high court added that while Shetty’s suit raises issues requiring a closer scrutiny, “it is not possible to say at this stage that all the statements by all the defendants are of the same defamatory stature.”

• India’s sole silver medallist so far at the Tokyo Olympics has been assured a sum of Rs 1 crore by the Manipur CM N Biren Singh and another Rs 2 crore by Union Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw — a total of Rs 3 crore (over $404,000) which is tax free. That’s way higher than what other countries give to their Olympic medallists. For the record, P V Sindhu, the 2016 silver medallist, received Rs 13 crore (over $1.9 million at 2016 exchange rates) in cash awards.
• If Mirabai was a Singaporean, she would have to settle for just $372,000 (Rs 2.76 crore) for her silver medal — though, had she won the gold, she would have received $744,000 (around Rs 5.52 crore). Bronze medallists get $286,000 (approx. Rs 2.12 crore) for their efforts.
• The US in fact is way down the monetary rewards pole, offering their medal winners $37,500 (Rs 27.84 lakh), $22,500 (Rs 16.71 lakh) and $15,000 (Rs 11.14 lakh) for gold, silver and bronze respectively — amounts which are non-taxable unless the total income of the athlete exceeds $1 million (Rs 7.43 crore). However, it also adds health insurance and college tuition assistance to sweeten the deal.
  

And why Mirabai should thank Abhinav Bindra

• Bindra, the first individual Olympic gold medallist from India, who won the medal at the Beijing Olympics 2008 in the 10-metre air rifle event, won an appeal in 2013 against the income tax department which had wrongly computed an award of over Rs 63 lakh as income, with the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal ruling that “awards in the cases of a sportsman, who is not a professional, will not be liable to tax in his hands as it would not be in the nature of income.”

• 24 year old former waiter Tong Ying-kit became the first person in Hong Kong to be jailed under the new national security law, for 9 years in a judgement that is expected to have long term ramifications. Accused of driving his motorcycle into three riot police personnel last year while carrying a flag emblazoned with the slogan ‘Liberate Hong Kong. Revolution of our times’, Ying-kit was charged with terrorist activities and inciting secession.
• The controversial law, enacted by China, led to widespread protests in Hong Kong (HK) in 2019 and last year as well. HK residents and human rights organisations fear that the law will not only severely curtail freedom of expression but also snuff out any political dissidence.
• As part of its provisions, it allows extradition of anyone in HK accused of a crime under the relevant provisions of the law and be tried in mainland China. Moreover, the interpretation of the law will be as per Beijing’s directives and not according to HK officials. Additionally, the national security law enacted by China will prevail in case of a conflict with any local laws.
• Reacting to the judgement, Amnesty International’s Asia-Pacific Regional Director Yamini Mishra described the law as “a weapon that will be used to incarcerate” HK government’s critics. The judges, in their order, said that the slogan used by Ying-kit was “capable of inciting others to commit secession” and as such the prison term was appropriate.

Procter & Gamble. The consumer goods major has announced that Mumbai-born Shailesh Jejurikar (in pic) will be taking over as the global chief operating officer (COO) in October, making him the first Indian to do so. As part of the global succession announcement, Jon R Moeller, vice chairman and COO, will succeed David Taylor as P&G’s president and CEO, effective November 1.