Impact: American and Israeli intelligence agencies say Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is deeply entwined with the country’s petrochemical industry. Undercutting the sanctions keeps funds flowing to the group and reduces pressure on Iran to return to talks about its nuclear program. Now it has expanded its digital dragnet to include people who don’t even live in Xinjiang or China. It also checks whether the devices have photos, videos, audio files or documents that match a list of 73,000 items. How we know: A team of journalists from The New York Times and other publications examined the policing app used in the region and interviewed several people who crossed the Xinjiang border recently.

Source: International New York Times July 02, 2019 19:52 UTC