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A Taiwanese pager manufacturer is being scrutinised after devices bearing its logo and name were detonated in a mass attack in Lebanon and Syria.
Tuesday's attacks, which injured thousands of users and killed 12, were aimed at the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. The group blamed Israel for the explosions and said it was launching an investigation. Israel has not commented on the incident, in which civilians were also harmed, including a nine-year-old girl.
Experts told The National that Hezbollah's attempt to use older technology to avoid hacking by Israel backfired and that the pagers were probably loaded with an explosive charge.
Israel may have infiltrated the supply chain for Hezbollah's pagers, they said. The New York Times reported that Israel hid explosive material within a new batch before they were imported to Lebanon, citing US and other officials.
It is not yet clear where or when explosives were added to the devices.
Gold Apollo's chief executive and founder said he felt like a “victim” after European brand BAC Consulting KTF, based in Hungary, was granted a licence to use the Gold Apollo name in certain regions.
“There is no problem with pagers exported from Taiwan exploding,” Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement in response to media inquiries, adding that the case is under investigation.
The pagers were brought into Lebanon earlier this year, a senior Lebanese security source told Reuters, but it is not yet known when or how they were turned into explosive devices.
Here's what we know so far about the origin of the pagers and the companies involved.
What is Gold Apollo?
Gold Apollo is a Taiwanese firm founded in 1995, producing one-way message devices among more modern technology and radio equipment. It has 40 employees, according to Bloomberg.
However, the company said it does not make the AR-924 model of pager that a Lebanese security source told Reuters was sold to the Lebanese group. It said this was made by a company called BAC Consulting KTF.
Gold Apollo founder Hsu Ching-Kuang said the pagers used in the explosion, of which Iran-backed Hezbollah reportedly bought 5,000, were made by BAC, a company in Europe.
“The product was not ours. It was only that it had our brand on it,” Mr Hsu said at the company's offices in the northern Taiwanese city of New Taipei on Wednesday. He said Gold Apollo had been working with BAC for three years.
Taiwan's Ministry of Economic Affairs said it had no evidence of pagers being shipped to Lebanon. Most of the 260,000 Gold Apollo pagers sent out between January 2022 and August 2024 were sent to Australia and the US, it said in a statement.
What is known about BAC Consulting KTF?
BAC's website was down on Wednesday morning, and the company's address appeared to be a residential street in Budapest.
Google first indexed the site more than 10 years ago, on which the company was advertised as “actively involved in International Relations to examine social science and humanities through an international lens”.
On the pages still available to view on the internet archive Wayback Machine, providing communications devices was not listed as a service, but other interests were wide-ranging, from computer game publishing to IT consulting to crude oil extraction.
Phone calls to the number listed on the site from The National would not connect.
The company's chief executive is listed on its website and her own LinkedIn profile as Cristiana Barsony-Arcidiacono.
In a phone call with NBC News, Ms Barsony-Arcidiacono denied direct involvement.
“I don’t make the pagers. I am just the intermediate. I think you got it wrong,” she said.
Gold Apollo said it authorised “BAC to use our brand trademark for product sales in specific regions, but the design and manufacturing of the products are entirely handled by BAC”.
Mr Hsu said earlier there had been problems with remittances from the firm. “The remittance was very strange,” he said, adding that payments had come through the Middle East. He did not elaborate further.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban's government said the devices used in the attack were never in Hungary.
“Hungarian authorities have established that the company in question is a trading-intermediary company, which has no manufacturing or other site of operation in Hungary,” government spokesman Zoltan Kovacs said on Facebook.
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2002 Giselle Khoury (Colombia)
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Country-size land deals
US interest in purchasing territory is not as outlandish as it sounds. Here's a look at some big land transactions between nations:
Louisiana Purchase
If Donald Trump is one who aims to broker "a deal of the century", then this was the "deal of the 19th Century". In 1803, the US nearly doubled in size when it bought 2,140,000 square kilometres from France for $15 million.
Florida Purchase Treaty
The US courted Spain for Florida for years. Spain eventually realised its burden in holding on to the territory and in 1819 effectively ceded it to America in a wider border treaty.
Alaska purchase
America's spending spree continued in 1867 when it acquired 1,518,800 km2 of Alaskan land from Russia for $7.2m. Critics panned the government for buying "useless land".
The Philippines
At the end of the Spanish-American War, a provision in the 1898 Treaty of Paris saw Spain surrender the Philippines for a payment of $20 million.
US Virgin Islands
It's not like a US president has never reached a deal with Denmark before. In 1917 the US purchased the Danish West Indies for $25m and renamed them the US Virgin Islands.
Gwadar
The most recent sovereign land purchase was in 1958 when Pakistan bought the southwestern port of Gwadar from Oman for 5.5bn Pakistan rupees.
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Micro-retirement is not a recognised concept or employment status under Federal Decree Law No. 33 of 2021 on the Regulation of Labour Relations (as amended) (UAE Labour Law). As such, it reflects a voluntary work-life balance practice, rather than a recognised legal employment category, according to Dilini Loku, senior associate for law firm Gateley Middle East.
“Some companies may offer formal sabbatical policies or career break programmes; however, beyond such arrangements, there is no automatic right or statutory entitlement to extended breaks,” she explains.
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If an employee resigns to pursue micro-retirement, the employment contract is terminated, and the employer is under no legal obligation to rehire the employee in the future unless specific contractual agreements are in place (such as return-to-work arrangements), which are generally uncommon, Ms Loku adds.
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List of alleged parties
May 12, 2020: PM and his wife Carrie attend 'work meeting' with at least 17 staff
May 20, 2020: They attend 'bring your own booze party'
Nov 27, 2020: PM gives speech at leaving party for his staff
Dec 10, 2020: Staff party held by then-education secretary Gavin Williamson
Dec 13, 2020: PM and his wife throw a party
Dec 14, 2020: London mayoral candidate Shaun Bailey holds staff event at Conservative Party headquarters
Dec 15, 2020: PM takes part in a staff quiz
Dec 18, 2020: Downing Street Christmas party
