#ransomware farmer protests

[newstfionline]

Sunday, May 16, 2021

IRS to the rescue? Tax audits eyed for infrastructure cash (AP) Republicans say they won’t raise taxes on corporations. Democrats say they won’t raise taxes on people making less than $400,000 a year. So who is going to pay for the big public works boost that lawmakers and President Joe Biden say is necessary for the country? Enter the IRS. Biden is proposing that Congress build up the depleted and often-maligned agency, saying that a more aggressive collection of unpaid taxes could help cover the cost of his multitrillion-dollar plan to boost infrastructure, families and education. More resources to boost audits of businesses, estates and the wealthy would raise $700 billion over 10 years, the White House estimates. It’s just the latest idea emerging in the bipartisan talks over an infrastructure bill, which saw Biden huddle at the White House this week with congressional leaders and a group of Republican senators. The GOP senators, touting a $568 billion infrastructure plan of their own, said they were “encouraged” by the discussion with Biden, but all sides acknowledged that how to pay for the public works plan remains a difficult problem.

DarkSide, Blamed for Gas Pipeline Attack, Says It Is Shutting Down (NYT) The criminal hacking group DarkSide, which the F.B.I. has blamed for carrying out a ransomware attack that crippled fuel delivery across the Southeastern United States this week, has announced that it is shutting down because of unspecified “pressure” from the United States. In a statement written in Russian and provided to The New York Times on Friday by the cybersecurity firm Intel 471, DarkSide said it had lost access to the public-facing portion of its online system, including its blog and payment server, as well as funds that it said had been withdrawn to an unknown account. It said the group’s main web page and other public-facing resources would go offline within 48 hours. “Due to the pressure from the U.S., the affiliate program is closed,” the statement said, referring to intermediary hackers, the so-called affiliates, it works with to break into corporate computer systems. “Stay safe and good luck.” What that pressure may have been is unclear, but on Thursday, President Biden said the United States would not rule out a retaliatory strike against DarkSide that would “disrupt their ability to operate.” Cybersecurity analysts cautioned that the DarkSide statement could be a ruse, allowing its members to regroup and deflect the negative attention caused by the attack.

Spanish politics (Times of London) Isabel Diaz Ayuso, 42, head of the Madrid Assembly, is Spain’s rising conservative star; Pedro Sánchez, 49, is the prime minister. She inflicted a humiliating defeat on his Socialist government when she doubled her Popular Party’s number of seats in snap regional elections last week, in large part due to her keeping open the Spanish capital during the pandemic. Their defeat has rocked Spain’s political landscape. Ayuso walloped the Socialist party, shaking Sánchez’s standing, while totally wiping out the centre-right Citizens party and hobbling the advance of the far-right Vox party. Dismissed by her opponents as a Trumpista populist and lightweight novice, Ayuso is now tipped as a future national leader and her brand of liberal conservatism is being held up as a model for winning future general elections. While the left licks its wounds and looks for scapegoats for its loss, in the streets of Madrid people stop her to hail her as a heroine. “You are a fighter. You have courage,” a woman interjected to say to her during her interview with The Times. “Thank you for defending us.” Ayuso believes Sánchez’s days are numbered. “The election has generated enormous hope in Madrid and across Spain for those who are looking for an alternative type of politics,” she said.

Masks off, Poles cheer reopening of bars and restaurants (AP) Poles pulled off their masks, hugged their friends and made toasts to their regained freedom as restaurants, bars and pubs reopened for the first time in seven months and the government dropped a requirement for people to cover their faces outdoors. The reopening, for now limited now to the outdoor consumption of food and drinks, officially took place on Saturday. Yet many could not wait for midnight to strike and were out on the streets of Warsaw and other cities hours earlier on Friday evening to celebrate, gathering outside popular watering holes. Some brought their own beer to hold them over until the they could buy drinks at midnight—though some bars were also seen serving up beers and cocktails early. “Now they are opening and I feel so awesome. You know, you feel like your freedom is back,” said Gabriel Nikilovski, a 38-year-old from Sweden who was having beer at an outdoor table at the Pavilions, a popular courtyard filled with pubs in central Warsaw. “It’s like you’ve been in prison, but you’ve been in prison at home.”

Spy Agencies Seek New Afghan Allies as U.S. Withdraws (NYT) Western spy agencies are evaluating and courting regional leaders outside the Afghan government who might be able to provide intelligence about terrorist threats long after U.S. forces withdraw, according to current and former American, European and Afghan officials. The effort represents a turning point in the war. In place of one of the largest multinational military training missions ever is now a hunt for informants and intelligence assets. Despite the diplomats who say the Afghan government and its security forces will be able to stand on their own, the move signals that Western intelligence agencies are preparing for the possible—or even likely—collapse of the central government and an inevitable return to civil war. Courting proxies in Afghanistan calls back to the 1980s and ‘90s, when the country was controlled by the Soviets and then devolved into a factional conflict between regional leaders. The West frequently depended on opposing warlords for intelligence—and at times supported them financially through relationships at odds with the Afghan population. Such policies often left the United States, in particular, beholden to power brokers who brazenly committed human rights abuses.

India’s coronavirus crisis spreads to its villages, where health care is hard to find (Washington Post) BANAIL, India—The illness traveled silently through the narrow lanes of this prosperous village in Uttar Pradesh, infecting both young and old. People complained of fevers, cough and breathlessness. Then they began to die. Vipin Kumar, a farmer in his 40s, was one of them. More than 20 people with coronavirus symptoms have died in the village over the past two weeks, according to locals, a significant increase over the three or four deaths per month the village saw before the pandemic. Most of them, like Kumar, were never tested. “Not a day goes by when there are no deaths,” said Hariom Raghav, a farmer and businessman who had just returned from a cremation. “If things continue like this, the village will empty out soon.” The story of Banail has been playing out in villages across India as the virus continues its deadly surge: Rural areas, where over 65 percent of India’s 1.3 billion people live, had been spared in the first wave of the pandemic but are now facing devastating numbers of infections. Three quarters of all districts in India are reporting a positivity rate of more than 10 percent, a health official said Tuesday, an indication of how widely the virus had spread.

China lands on Mars in major advance for its space ambitions (AP) China landed a spacecraft on Mars for the first time on Saturday, a technically challenging feat more difficult than a moon landing, in the latest step forward for its ambitious goals in space. Plans call for a rover to stay in the lander for a few days of diagnostic tests before rolling down a ramp to explore an area of Mars known as Utopia Planitia. It will join an American rover that arrived at the red planet in February. China’s first Mars landing follows its launch last month of the main section of what will be a permanent space station and a mission that brought back rocks from the moon late last year.

Back-to-back tornadoes kill 12 in China; over 300 injured (AP) Back-to-back tornadoes killed 12 people in central and eastern China and left more than 300 others injured, authorities said Saturday. Eight people died in the inland city of Wuhan on Friday night and four others in the town of Shengze, about 400 kilometers (250 miles) east in Jiangsu province, local governments said. Tornados are rare in China. In July 2019, a tornado killed six people in the northeastern Liaoning province, and another tornado the following month killed eight on the southern resort island of Hainan.

As protesters flee Hong Kong, Taiwan quietly extends a helping hand (Washington Post) Bobbing off the coast in a Zodiac speedboat scrubbed of identifying features, Kenny and four others waited nervously for the last leg of their desperate, 350-mile journey. The five had been arrested months earlier on the front lines of demonstrations in Hong Kong. They had escaped across the South China Sea, steering toward Taiwan with just some snacks, identification and a satellite phone. Now came the final hurdle: convincing the approaching Taiwanese Coast Guard—and the government—not to turn them back. Taiwanese authorities brought the five ashore, housed them in a government complex and provided clothing, cigarettes, television, table tennis games—even English teachers. Eventually, the Taiwanese, who treated the presence of the five as a state secret, helped arrange flights to the United States, their new home. The experience of the five shows the lengths to which self-ruled Taiwan has gone to protect and help fleeing Hong Kong protesters. As Beijing tightens the noose around Hong Kong’s democracy movement, Taiwan has emerged as a key destination for those escaping the dragnet—just as Hong Kong offered sanctuary for dissidents from mainland China in the 20th century. “Hong Kong was once a safe harbor, but now, Hong Kongers need a safe harbor,” said Samuel Chu, a second-generation activist whose father helped students flee China after the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown.

Israel strike in Gaza destroys building with AP, other media (AP) An Israeli airstrike destroyed a high-rise building in Gaza City that housed offices of The Associated Press and other media outlets on Saturday, the latest step by the military to silence reporting from the territory amid its battle with the militant group Hamas. The strike came nearly an hour after the military ordered people to evacuate the building, which also housed Al-Jazeera, other offices and residential apartments. The strike followed another Israeli air raid on a densely populated refugee camp in Gaza City killed at least 10 Palestinians from an extended family, mostly children.

Medics: Israeli airstrikes kill 26 in downtown Gaza City (AP) Israeli airstrikes on Gaza City flattened three buildings and killed at least 26 people Sunday, medics said, making it the deadliest single attack since heavy fighting broke out between Israel and the territory’s militant Hamas rulers nearly a week ago. The Gaza Health Ministry said 10 women and eight children were among those killed, with another 50 people wounded in the attack. Rescuers raced to pull survivors and bodies from the rubble. Earlier, the Israeli military said it destroyed the home of Gaza’s top Hamas leader in a separate strike in the southern town of Khan Younis. It was the third such attack in the last two days on the homes of senior Hamas leaders. Israel appears to have stepped up strikes in recent days to inflict as much damage as possible on Hamas as international mediators try to broker a cease-fire.

With strikes targeting rockets and tunnels, the Israeli tactic of ‘mowing the grass’ returns to Gaza (Washington Post) For more than a decade, when analysts described the strategy utilized by Israel against Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip, they’ve used a metaphor: With their displays of overwhelming military strength, Israeli forces were “mowing the grass.” The phrase implies the Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip and their supply of crude but effective homemade weapons are like weeds that need to be cut back. But the long-term benefits of the “mow the grass” strategy have come under question. Zehava Galon, a former lawmaker with the leftist Meretz party, wrote for Haaretz that the strategy results in “perpetual war” that forgets “human beings are also able to talk, not only to carry a club.”

Arab World Condemns Israeli Violence but Takes Little Action (NYT) The Arab world is unified in condemning Israeli airstrikes in Gaza and the way the Israeli police invaded Jerusalem’s Aqsa Mosque, one of Islam’s holiest sites. Governments have spoken out, protests have taken place, social media is aflame. But by and large the condemnation is only words, not actions—at least so far. The region’s concerns have shifted since the last major Israeli incursion into Gaza in 2014, with new fears about Iran’s influence, new anxieties about popular unrest in Arab countries and a growing recognition of the reality of Israel in the Arab world. Even those countries that normalized relations with Israel last year—the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco—have all openly criticized Israeli policies and called for support of the Palestinians and the defense of Jerusalem. The escalation of violence has put a great strain on those governments, which had argued that their closer relationship with Israel would help restrain Israeli actions aimed at the Palestinians in both the West Bank and Gaza. “I have not seen any Arab state that has not expressed support for the Palestinians on a rhetorical level, and it would be very difficult for them to say anything otherwise,” said H. A. Hellyer, a scholar of Middle East politics at the Carnegie Endowment in Washington. “But what they do about it is very different.”

[superpruchika99world]

Kisan Diwas 2020: All you need to know about Farmers' Day amid protests

Current Affairs Kisan Diwas 2020- Kisan Diwas 2020 or the National Farmers’ Day 2020 is a day to celebrate the ‘annadata’ of the country. India has always been considered as an agriculture-dominated country.

A rich and resourceful land made it possible for Indians to adopt farming. But poor planning, factors related to population and government’s focus on other industrial sectors made farming unattractive.

ALSO READ: Indian pharma firms at high ransomware attack risk in 2021: Report

In the 1960's, the Green Revolution helped make farming attractive again, especially for the farmers in the northern region.

Chaudhary Charan Singh, who was the prime minister of India for a short period between 1979 and 1980, is considered to be one of the tallest farmers’ leaders. During his time in office as the PM...Read more.

[mrhackerco]

New ransomware forces people to protest against government and support poor farmers | MrHacker.Co #hacker #hacking #cybersecurity #hackers #linux #ethicalhacking #programming #security #mrhacker

[techrise]

Hybrid Warfare: Indian APT Groups Building Large-Scale Phishing Campaigns

APT C-35 Indian Mercenaries As the unconventional methods of a multi-domain warfighting approach have been growing in the name of hybrid warfare, India is now sparing no efforts in targeting the domestic fault lines that encompass the political, social, economic, and religious factors.

Several Indian APT groups have now sped up collaboration on and executing scams, fraud, and large-scale targeted phishing campaigns to counter foreign attacks in the digital space. Such activities have brought a rise in overall hybrid warfare since every country is extensively pursuing it to destabilise, demoralise and disintegrate their core adversaries.

Due to its conflicting nature, Pakistan remains one of the biggest adversaries of India in South Asia. It has been blamed for not allowing regional peace and integration while escalating cyberwarfare with India. Since it has been linked with the Taliban at an international level, India has also radicalised militant groups in Pakistan and is supporting the dissidents in Baluchistan taking help from private actors.

Cyber risks in India exist both domestically and from foreign actors as the legal and regulatory framework to deal with this, still seems to be under process. As a result, the private actors are using cyber-attacks and subversion, disinformation campaigns, economic manipulation, proxies and insurgencies, diplomatic pressure, and military actions, to inflict harm to the adversaries rather than engaging in open hostilities.

Recently, it was reported that APT C-35 Indian mercenaries launched several phishing websites and mobile apps relating to Referendum 2020 as bait to target pro Khalistan Sikhs in India. The ransomware named “Sarbloh” was designed to target entities connected with farmers’ protests in India, with the hacker group titled Khalsa Cyber Fauj reported to be leading the attack in the country.

The Khalistan delusion makes an appearance every time the Sikh community is in news. It was in 2020 when the Macdonald-Laurier Institute (MLI) in its newest publication released “Khalistan: A Project of Pakistan,” report, which included brief research upon the entire Khalistan movement by Terry Milewski. The veteran journalist discovered that the movement was a geopolitical project nurtured by Pakistan, threatening the national security of both the Canadians and Indians.

Milewski added that the Khalistan movement was going nowhere in the Sikhs’ home state but instead was Pakistan’s continued campaign of agitation, after failed Kashmir project. To counter similar future attempts, India is aiming to slowly take control of Pakistan’s cyberspace. Several private actors have emerged to help India fulfil the objective over time. It has overall extended the idea of hybrid warfare against Pakistan.

Back in 2019, the EU DisinfoLab alleged an Indian firm – Srivastava Group for building 750+ fake media websites. In the recent report, it accused the network of resurrecting the dead scholars and propagating the false news in the international media. Domains related to topics for India Chronicles, namely Gilgit Baltistan (gilgitnews.net, gilgitpost.net, and gilgittimes.com), Khalistan (khalistan.eu, khalistanfm.net, and radiokhalistan.net), Balochistan (balochnews.com, balochistantoday.org and .net), and Maldives (maldivesaffairs.com, maldivescurrent.com) were also found.

Clearly, the mission has been to dominate cyberspace and isolate Pakistan internationally while countering nations in conflict with India in Asia.

[thestickypost]

Farmers' Protests Activists Reportedly Using Ransomware to Demand Justice

Farmers’ Protests Activists Reportedly Using Ransomware to Demand Justice

Farmers’ protests activists are reportedly using a ransomware-style cyber attack in a bid to raise more voices towards the cause of the protesting farmers in India. In light of the ongoing farmer protests against the newly instated Farm Bills 2020, Quick Heal, an Indian cyber security organisation, has claimed to have found proof of a cyber attack campaign by a group seemingly called ‘Khalsa…

[newsmatters]

A ransomware that demands justice, not money

A ransomware that demands justice, not money

A new ransomware ‘Sarbloh’ is being distributed via malicious Word documents that contain political message supporting farmer community (Subscribe to our Today’s Cache newsletter for a quick snapshot of top 5 tech stories. Click here to subscribe for free.) Farmer protests in India have garnered significant attention from around the world, and the protest that started on the roads and the…

[franklong12]

New Sarbloh ransomware supports Indian farmers' protest A brand-new ransomware called Sarbloh se......Read the rest by clicking the link below! https://worldwidetweets.com/new-sarbloh-ransomware-supports-indian-farmers-protest/?feed_id=23102&_unique_id=6046f200948f2

[koliasa]

New Sarbloh ransomware supports Indian farmers' protest

https://koliasa.com/new-sarbloh-ransomware-supports-indian-farmers-protest/ New Sarbloh ransomware supports Indian farmers' protest - https://koliasa.com/new-sarbloh-ransomware-supports-indian-farmers-protest/ A new ransomware known as Sarbloh encrypts your files ...

[newstfionline]

Friday, February 11, 2022

A sign of ransomware growth: Gangs now arbitrate disputes (AP) Cyber criminal gangs are getting increasingly adept at hacking and becoming more professional, even setting up an arbitration system to resolve payment disputes among themselves, according to a new report by the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom that paints a bleak picture of ransomware trends. Ransomware gangs, which hack targets and hold their data hostage through encryption, caused widespread havoc last year with high-profile attacks on the world’s largest meat-packing company, the biggest U.S. fuel pipeline and other targets. The new report on 2021 ransomware trends highlights the growing maturity and specialization of the ransomware market, with independent operators filling a lucrative niche market. Specialists now range from the hackers who can break into networks or develop ransomware to the nontechnical operators who negotiate payments with victims. The United Kingdom’s National Cyber Security Centre said it’s seen some ransomware gangs offer a 24/7 help center to victims to expedite ransom payments and restore encrypted data. “The criminal marketplace is incredibly, incredibly efficient and constantly evolving,” said John Hultquist, vice president of intelligence analysis at the cybersecurity firm Mandiant.

Canada’s capital is jammed, its border crossings are blockaded, and there’s no end in sight (Washington Post) Canada’s usually sleepy capital is under a state of emergency. It’s been nearly two weeks since the self-styled “Freedom Convoy” reduced its key arteries to a parking lot. Three crossings on the U.S.-Canada border, including the busiest, have been partially blockaded. Meanwhile, the Department of Homeland Security is warning that U.S. truckers are potentially planning to block roads in major metropolitan areas in protest of vaccine mandates, and that the protest activity could impact the Super Bowl in Los Angeles this Sunday as well as President Biden’s State of the Union address March 1, according to a copy of the bulletin obtained by The Washington Post. Canadian officials continued to condemn the “illegal” blockades and detailed their deleterious effects on national security and the economy. But there were few indications of how or when authorities will bring them to an end.

US states scaling back mask mandates (WSJ) Nine states are scaling back mask mandates, as Covid-19 case numbers fall and more officials push to get back to normal. New York, Illinois, Massachusetts and Rhode Island say rules requiring masks or proof of vaccinations would end by March. They joined California, Oregon, New Jersey, Connecticut and Delaware, which made similar announcements earlier this week.

Disaster politics claims a victim in Greece (ABC) Last week, Greece’s agriculture minister, Spilios Livanos, traveled to Sparta to announce compensation payments would be made to farmers who had suffered crop damage from frost. While in Sparta, Livanos met with the mayor and was caught on video laughing about how compensation payments for natural disasters can help win elections. Livanos was heard saying that Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ conservative New Democracy party won an uphill election battle in 2007 “by taking bags (of money) to compensate” those affected by wildfires that had ravaged southern Greece weeks earlier, killing scores of people. The mayor himself had been a cabinet official when the New Democracy party was in government in 2004-2009. Mitsotakis became party leader in 2016 and wasn’t part of the 2004-2009 government. But he will be front and center in Greece’s next parliamentary election in 2023, so he didn’t appreciate what Livanos had to say. When Mitsotakis demanded an explanation from Livanos, the chagrined minister “admitted that he should have reacted differently,” and offered his resignation, which was accepted.

Ukrainians not panicking as West ramps up invasion rhetoric (AP) U.S. officials say the threat of a Russian invasion in Ukraine is more serious than others that have come and gone during nearly a decade of trench warfare. The White House national security advisor warned that an all-out invasion could happen any day, and President Joe Biden said “it would be wise” for Americans other than essential diplomats to leave Ukraine and ordered the deployment of 1,700 troops to neighboring Poland. But even as the rhetoric out of Washington ramps up, a sense of calm prevails in the Eastern European nation among soldiers and citizens alike, from relatives of those in the trenches on up to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who campaigned on a promise of ending the drawn-out conflict and has repeatedly called for diplomacy to carry the day. While waves of Ukrainians fled their homes during 2014 fighting that saw Russia annex the Crimean Peninsula and back separatists in the eastern province of Donbas, so far people are staying put in the areas closest to the Russian troop movements. The calm expressed by Zelenskyy and others owes in part, perhaps, to the fact that they have little control over the situation before them. Ukraine is vastly overmatched by Russia not only in troop numbers but in arms and equipment.

Turkey’s Doctors Are Leaving, the Latest Casualty of Spiraling Inflation (NYT) Anxiety rose after an assistant doctor died last fall when she plowed her car into the back of a truck after a long shift. Then there were the growing cases of violence. An assistant doctor abandoned his career after a patient stabbed him in the stomach and hand. A pregnant nurse was hospitalized after being kicked in the belly. The worsening economy and soaring inflation, which has reduced some doctors’ salaries close to the level of the minimum wage, have brought many to a tipping point, driving them in growing numbers to search for better opportunities abroad. Their departures are a sad indictment of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who burnished his own reputation by expanding universal health care over his 18 years in power. It was one of his signature achievements. For many of his supporters, that action alone remains their main reason to support him. But the strains of those overhauls wrought by Mr. Erdogan, in addition to those brought by the pandemic—and now galloping inflation—have undermined the very professionals on whom the health system depends. More than 1,400 Turkish doctors left their posts to work abroad last year, and 4,000 over the past decade, according to the Turkish Medical Association, the largest association of medical professionals in the country. Many more are preparing applications and have requested certificates of good standing from the organization, officials said.

China’s love of big (AP) Tiananmen Square. The Forbidden City. The Great Wall. The Three Gorges Dam. Dozens of high-end malls in Beijing. China has thousands of years of doing things in a really big way, reinforcing its perceived place in the world and the political power of its leaders—from emperors to Mao Zedong to the current leader, Xi Jinping. This affinity for bigness isn’t new. It goes back to a dozen dynasties that ruled China for thousands of years—one of which re-created an entire army of terra cotta warriors to be buried with an emperor. It’s a tradition of projecting large-scale power that was adopted by the Chinese Communist Party when it took over in 1949. Writing in his book “Mandate of Heaven,” U.S. China scholar Orville Schell explained how Mao, who led China’s communist revolution, expanded Tiananmen Square in the 1950s to make it the largest public square in the world—100 acres. Schell wrote of Tiananmen, calling it “a propagandist’s dream come true. Everything about it was gargantuan.” The colossal begins with the country’s population of 1.4 billion and extends to public buildings all around China. A shopping mall in the western city of Chengdu, the New Century Global Center, is billed as the largest building on Earth. How big? Three Pentagons could fit inside. Or at least 300 football fields.

Philippines welcomes back foreign travelers after 2 years (AP) The Philippines lifted a nearly two-year ban on foreign travelers Thursday in a lifesaving boost for its tourism and related industries as an omicron-fueled surge eases. Foreign travelers from 157 countries with visa-free arrangements with the Philippines who have been fully vaccinated and tested negative for the virus will be welcomed back and will no longer be required to quarantine upon arrival. The government also ended a risk classification system that banned travelers from the worst-hit countries. The Philippines imposed one of the world’s longest lockdowns and strictest police-enforced quarantine restrictions to quell a pandemic that caused its worst economic recession since the 1940s and pushed unemployment and hunger to record levels. More than a million Filipinos lost their jobs in tourism businesses and destinations in the first year of the pandemic alone, according to government statistics.

Results of the war on terror (The Intercept) On September 20, 2001, President George W. Bush stood before Congress and declared a “war on terror” that would “not end until every terrorist group of global reach has been found, stopped, and defeated.” Over the next 20-plus years, the tab on that conflict, which began in Afghanistan but spread across the globe to Burkina Faso, Iraq, Libya, Mali, Niger, Pakistan, Somalia, Syria, Tunisia, and Yemen, has ballooned to more than $6 trillion. The payoff has been dismal: To date, the war has killed around 900,000 people, including more than 350,000 civilians; displaced as many as 60 million; and led to humanitarian catastrophes and the worst U.S. military defeat since the Vietnam War. American cash has built armies that have collapsed or evaporated when challenged; meanwhile, the number of foreign terrorist groups around the world has more than doubled from 32 to 69. It didn’t have to be this way, according to a new study of counterterrorism approaches from Brown University’s Costs of War Project. “Terrorism is a political phenomenon,” writes researcher Jennifer Walkup Jayes in “Beyond the War Paradigm: What History Tells Us About How Terror Campaigns End.” “Counterterrorism strategies which address the root causes of terrorism, rather than the organizations and people that commit it, might end the waves of terrorist violence.”

A new program in Canada gives doctors the option of prescribing national park visits (NPR) A walk in the park may be just what the doctor ordered. A new program launched last month in Canada gives some doctors the option of providing patients with a free annual pass to the country’s national parks as part of an effort to increase access to nature and the health benefits to be found outside. The typical park prescription program allows doctors to write more general prescriptions for time spent out in nature; two hours a week, at least 20 minutes at a time, is what PaRx director Dr. Melissa Lem suggests, according to the Washington Post. Research has long pointed to the mental and physical health benefits of spending time outdoors. A 2019 study concluded that those who spent between 120 minutes or more outside per week reported positive effects on their general health and well-being when compared to those who didn’t get outside at all.

[savetopnow]

2018-03-30 18 NEWS now

NEWS

Associated Press

Brake failure, a blown tire? Search for clues in SUV wreck

Brother of unarmed man killed by police redirects protests

California judge rules that coffee requires cancer warning

Gaza man killed by Israel tank fire as border tensions rise

Trump loses a trusted aide, White House anxiety lingers

BBC News

The South Korean rock band returning to perform in Pyongyang

Volkswagen's car 'graveyard' in California

Turning bread into beer to fight food waste

Lagos street dancers go viral after Rihanna retweet

Colorado senator explains white privilege to colleagues

Chicago Tribune

2 dead, 1 wounded in seven minutes during West, South side shootings

Rep. Litesa Wallace said aide who reported harassment was fired for misusing credit cards. Wallace didn't mention police had cleared the aide of wrongdoing.

Indiana woman found at landfill near Rockford died of exposure, hypothermia

30-year-old man dies after car hits tree, catches fire in Aurora

After gag order lifted, attorneys blast Chicago top cop Eddie Johnson for calling deadly police shootings justified

LA Times

Servite hires Darnell Arceneaux to be offensive coordinator

Varsity Times Insider: The latest sports news from Southern California's high school teams

Fire kills 20 migrant factory workers aboard bus in Thailand

Sierra Canyon wins San Diego Lions tournament

Pope washes the feet of inmates, reveals he has cataracts

NPR News

As Atlanta Seeks To Restore Services, Ransomware Attacks Are On The Rise

Brother Of Accused Parkland Shooter Pleads Guilty To Trespassing At Site

Turning Kids Into Readers, One Barbershop At A Time

Sacramento Still Dealing With Unrest And Anger As Stephon Clark's Funeral Takes Place

Sessions Says 'No' To Republican Requests For A Second Special Counsel

New York Times

Yulia Skripal, Poisoned Daughter of Ex-Spy, Is Out of Critical Condition

Greece’s Island of Despair

Op-Ed Contributor: How Iran Used the Hezbollah Model to Dominate Iraq and Syria

5 Cheap(ish) Things to Help You Become a Better Baker

Thailand Bus Fire Kills 20 Migrant Workers From Myanmar

ProPublica

Trump’s Labor Department Eviscerates Workplace Safety Panels

ProPublica’s ‘Too Broke for Bankruptcy’ Wins ASNE Award

American Voting Machines Are Old and Vulnerable, But Who Will Pay for New Ones?

A Partisan Combatant, a Remorseful Blogger: The Senate Staffer Behind the Attack on the Trump-Russia Investigation

The Many Red Flags of Trump’s Partners in India — ‘Trump, Inc.’ Podcast

Reddit News

Facebook—even as it apologizes for scandal—funds campaign to block a California data-privacy measure

FCC Authorizes SpaceX to Provide Broadband Satellite Services

Jo-Ann Fabrics shooter stole rented firearm after his inability to purchase one.

How ‘Smallville’ Actress Allison Mack Became a Women-Branding Cult Leader

Man facing 15th drunk driving charge, including a conviction for motor vehicle homicide while drunk, rejects plea deal in favor of a trial

Reuters

Toshiba says unable to meet end-March deadline for chip unit sale

Autopsy results for Stephon Clark to be announced: lawyer

Gaza farmer killed by Israeli tank shell: Gaza health official

How Seoul raced to conclude U.S. trade deal ahead of North Korea talks

Ads pulled from Ingraham show after she mocked Parkland survivor

Reveal News

Nation’s largest janitorial company faces new allegations of rape

A group of janitors started a movement to stop sexual abuse

The Hate Report: How white supremacists recruit online

New documents about Jehovah’s Witnesses’ sex abuse begin to leak out

California is preparing to defend its waters from Trump order

The Altantic

West Virginia's Teachers Are Not Satisfied

This Average Joe Is the Most Quoted Man in News

The Unsinkable Benjamin Netanyahu?

Eric Garcetti Isn't Expecting Much From Washington

The Particular Horror of Church Shootings

The Guardian

Cathay Pacific completes two-leg journey, letting women wear trousers

Blackmail, prejudice and persecution: gay rights in Nigeria

Are you ready? This is all the data Facebook and Google have on you | Dylan Curran

Crossing the US border – in pictures

Three Tall Women review – Glenda Jackson's astounding return to Broadway

The Independent

World Cup 2018 kits: Every home and away shirt rated - and your shock favourite revealed

Israel lines up snipers and special forces along border with Gaza Strip as Hamas organises mass protests

China's 'Jack the Ripper' sentenced to death for eleven murders

Good Friday: Pubs in Ireland set for roaring trade as alcohol ban lifted for first time in 90 years

Malala breaks down in tears as she returns to Pakistan for first time since Taliban attack

The Intercept

The U.S. Government Is Finally Scrambling to Regulate Facebook

“We Know Where Your Kids Live”: How John Bolton Once Threatened an International Official

Why the Backlash to Former Black Panther Herman Bell’s Parole Risks Setting a Dangerous Precedent

Trump’s Nominee to Oversee Superfund Program Spent Decades Fighting EPA Cleanups on Behalf of Polluters

The Prosecution of Noor Salman, Pulse Shooter’s Widow, Highlights the Criminalization of Domestic Abuse Survivors

The Quartz

Too good to be true? It must be an Indian startup’s April Fool’s Day offer

Two women are reviving India’s forgotten poetry, one postcard at a time

“Very, very dull”: What happened to India’s white-hot cryptocurrency market?

Here are the K-pop acts performing in North Korea this weekend

Adnan Syed, made famous in the podcast “Serial,” is getting a new trial

Wall Street Journal

Saudi Prince Urges Stepped-Up Pressure on Iran

Russia Lashes Back at U.S., Expelling Dozens of Diplomats

North and South Korea Set Summit, but Nuclear Omission Casts a Shadow

NATO Fears Its Forces Not Ready to Confront Russian Threat

Families of Venezuela Fire Victims Demand Answers

[mrhackerco]

New ransomware forces people to protest against government and support poor farmers | MrHacker.Co #hacker #hacking #cybersecurity #hackers #linux #ethicalhacking #programming #security #mrhacker

[infecting-domain]

Infecting 3

Aug 28, 2019 - A new IoT botnet named Ares is infecting Android-based devices that have left a debug port exposed on the Internet. Among this botnet's most ... Oct 18, 2019 - Baculoviridae by the International Commission on Taxonomy of Viruses. The 4 available gut-infecting crustacean viruses are described and all ... Apr 18, 2019 - Jason wants to protect ... Apr 11, 2019 - Two Romanian Cybercriminals Convicted of All 21 Counts Relating to Infecting Over 400,000 Victim Computers with Malware and Stealing ... Dec 4, 2019 - An economist says he was pushed out of his job at a Chinese bank in part due to his views on the impact of Hong Kong's protests. A brokerage ... Oct 24, 2019 - Beetle-Infecting Ancestors. Highlights d. Phylogenetic host association reconstructions of the fungal genus Ophiocordyceps d. Zombie-ant fungi ... Oct 21, 2019 - MADISON (WQOW) – Researchers here in Wisconsin have just discovered a previously unknown virus infecting roughly 1/3 of America's bald ... Nov 21, 2019 - Scientists are trying to flip the script on control of mosquitoes in an effort to combat dengue fever. Instead of trying to wipe them out, they're ... Nov 22, 2019 - Know the signs of RSV: Dangerous virus infecting children in Charlotte area. You may think it's just minor cold, but it could be much worse and ... Jun 26, 2019 - Deliberately infecting people with a disease-causing agent as part of carefully considered medical research can be ethically acceptable or ... Infecting the City is the longest running public arts festival in South Africa. It brings free, socially-engaged performance and visual art into the public spaces of ... Aug 13, 2019 - Evolutionary lability of host associations promotes phylogenetic overdispersion of co‐infecting blood parasites. Spencer C. Galen. The Sneaky Hidden Virus Infecting Many Over 65. You may not realize it. There is a sneaky hidden virus which infects many people over 65 here in East ... Aug 7, 2019 - AMERICUS, Ga. (AP) — A Georgia woman who went on a viral Facebook Live rant claiming she was HIV-positive and intentionally infecting ... Oct 29, 2019 - UW scientists discovered a new virus plaguing bald eagles that could be linked to Wisconsin River Eagle Syndrome. An expert joins us to ... Oct 18, 2019 - UW-Madison researchers have discovered a previously unknown virus infecting nearly a third of America's bald eagle population. 6 days ago - Utah nurse, 53, is sentenced to 5 years in prison after infecting SEVEN patients with hepatitis C and exposing 7,200 more by using dirty ... Nov 21, 2019 - Cameron Simmons is far more familiar with dengue than he would like to be. Nov 27, 2019 - Cedar Rapids man accused of sexually abusing 13-year-old girl, infecting her with HIV. Lamont James. katr. Kat Russell. The Gazette. Sep 26, 2019 - If you're a WordPress admin using a plug-in called Rich Reviews, you'll want to uninstall it. Now. The now-defunct plug-in has a major ... Aug 29, 2019 - Retadup Worm Squashed After Infecting 850K Machines. An operation involving French law enforcement, the FBI, and Avast forces Retadup to ... May 28, 2019 - Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Health (MOH) announced 6 new MERS-CoV cases over the past 3 days, including 3 in Riyadh and 3 fatalities, and in ... Dec 30, 2019 - I'm generally an optimist—to a fault, some of my friends and colleagues would say. I find the bright side in almost anything and focus ... 4 hours ago - Price for Tribe-Infecting Virus from eBay and multiple card vendors. Jul 29, 2019 - Viruses infecting cool season crops in the northern Turkey. MEHMET A. SEVIK http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8895-7944. 1Department of Plant ... Ransomware is a type of malware that locks your computer and mobile devices or encrypts your electronic files, demanding a ransom payment through certain ... Sep 26, 2019 - A former Utah hospital nurse pleaded guilty Sept. 25 to diverting opioids and infecting at least seven people with hepatitis C, The Salt Lake ... Oct 8, 2019 - Antibacterial Efficiency of Surface-Immobilized Flavobacterium-Infecting Bacteriophage. S-1. Supporting information. Antibacterial efficiency of ... Nov 28, 2019 - CEDAR RAPIDS - A 33-year-old man is accused of sexually abusing a 13-year-old girl and infecting her with HIV, an Iowa newspaper reported. Mar 20, 2019 - The governor of Kentucky admitted intentionally infecting his kids with chickenpox -- a move that medical experts warn could have deadly ... Aug 7, 2019 - Forming a protective shell, Arc moves from neuron to neuron. Mosquitoes carrying deadly, brain-infecting virus found in 12 Connecticut towns. September 12, 2019 / 10:20 AM / CBS News ... Aug 21, 2019 - Abstract. Metagenomic sequencing has revolutionised our knowledge of virus diversity, with new virus sequences being reported at a higher ... Aug 7, 2019 - A Georgia woman who went on a viral Facebook Live rant claiming she was HIV-positive and intentionally infecting others is now being ... Apr 22, 2014 - Most of us have had to deal with a computer virus or some sort of malware by now. It wasn't fun; it was annoying, time consuming, and very ... Jun 24, 2019 - (2019) Genetic diversity of Ascaris spp. infecting humans and pigs in distinct Brazilian regions, as revealed by mitochondrial DNA. PLoS ONE ... Jul 27, 2019 - C. auris appears to be the first disease found in humans caused by the changing climate, as opposed to known diseases that are migrating. Jan 26, 2012 - It is harmless to humans, infecting only the gut bacterium Escherichia coli. Justin Meyer, a graduate student in the biology laboratory of Richard ... May 22, 2019 - DEAR DR. ROACH: I am a 75-year-old male in excellent health who is sexually active. During my thirties, I was exposed to the herpes virus 2, ... Mar 29, 2019 - California farmers and scientists race to combat a citrus disease infecting trees. Blotchy mottle is a typical symptom on citrus leaves infected by ... 4 days ago - By LJ Garfield. It's no surprise that there is a disparity between the access to quality health care among Black women and white women. Jan 28, 2019 - Transgressive segregation reveals mechanisms of Arabidopsis immunity to Brassica-infecting races of white rust (Albugo candida). Nov 18, 2016 - Volume 22, Number 12—December 2016. Letter. Introgressed Animal Schistosomes Schistosoma curassoni and S. bovis Naturally Infecting ...

[newstfionline]

Wednesday, July 7, 2021

Surging global food prices (Washington Post) A year of coronavirus pandemic saw a pot of jollof rice grow steadily more expensive in the Nigerian suburb of Nyanya. At Nyanya Market, near Abuja, Nigeria’s capital, the price of the rice that forms the base for the dish went up by 10 percent. A small tin of tomatoes? Twenty-nine percent costlier. And the onions? Their price jumped by a third, according to a Nigerian research firm. Surging consumer food prices are a local problem—and a global one. In Russia, an increase in pasta prices left President Vladimir Putin boiling. In India, it’s cooking oil, and in Lebanon, bread. In meat-loving Argentina, the cost of some cuts of beef has doubled, and beef consumption is at an all-time low. The issue has made headlines the world over, including in the United States, where inflation has climbed to 5 percent, the highest level in 13 years. “Even relatively well-off people complain about how food prices are seemingly on an unstoppable tear,” said Feyi Fawehinmi, a Nigerian author and analyst based in Britain.

Hackers demand $70 million to unlock businesses hit by sprawling ransomware attack (Washington Post) A hacking group that experts said was behind the sprawling ransomware attack that hit hours before the beginning of the July Fourth holiday weekend is demanding $70 million to unlock the thousands of businesses affected by the hack. REvil, the group that was behind the attack on meat processor JBS, posted the demand on a dark-Web site associated with the group. The group wants the funds in bitcoin, a popular cryptocurrency, and said if it receives the money it will publish a “decryptor key,” or a computer code that will unlock the victims’ files. The attack was carried out through software that helps businesses manage their computer systems, made by Miami-based firm Kaseya. On its website, the company said “fewer than 1,500 downstream businesses,” had been affected.

20 years after 9/11, lawsuit against Saudis hits key moment (AP) As the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks approaches, victims’ relatives are pressing the courts to answer what they see as lingering questions about the Saudi government’s role in the attacks. A lawsuit that accuses Saudi Arabia of being complicit took a major step forward this year with the questioning under oath of former Saudi officials, but those depositions remain under seal and the U.S. has withheld a trove of other documents as too sensitive for disclosure. The information vacuum has exasperated families who for years have tried to make the case that the Saudi government facilitated the attacks. Past investigations have outlined ties between Saudi nationals and some of the airplane hijackers, but have not established the government was directly involved. The Saudi government has denied any connection to the attacks. But the question has long vexed investigators and is at the heart of a long-running lawsuit in Manhattan on behalf of thousands of victims. The issue gained traction not only because 15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudi—as was Osama bin Laden, the mastermind—but also because of suspicions they must have had help navigating Western society given their minimal experience in the U.S.

Grasshopper Population Jump (Guardian) Deep drought, excessive heat, and wildfires aren’t all that’s threatening lives and livelihoods in the American West. Sweltering conditions are ideal for grasshopper survival, from hatching eggs to adulthood. The ravenous insects are proliferating, arriving in swarms so dense it seems the earth is moving. They’re covering roads and fields, pelting ATV riders, and steadily devouring grains and grass to the torment of farmers and ranchers. They compete with cattle for tough-to-find wild forage, and cost tens of thousands of dollars in lost crops and associated costs. One cattle rancher in a small community in southern Oregon recalled seeing grasshopper bands eat 1,000 acres a day and cover the ground like snow. “I can only describe grasshoppers in expletives,” he said. “They are a scourge of the Earth … They just destroy the land, destroy the crops. They are just a bad, bad predator.” When grasshoppers hatch, they’re so tiny about 50 can fit on a coin the size of a quarter. They’re susceptible to pathogens, brutal winters, and starvation while young, so normally, most would die off before reaching adulthood. But thanks to warmer and drier winters that favored survival, grasshopper populations began ballooning in spring 2020. “The biggest biomass consumer in the country are not cattle, are not bison. They are grasshoppers,” said an entomologist and agricultural scientist who works for Oregon’s department of agriculture. “They eat and eat from the day they get born until the day they die. That’s all they do.”

Four-day week 'an overwhelming success' in Iceland (BBC) Trials of a four-day week in Iceland were an "overwhelming success" and led to many workers moving to shorter hours, researchers have said. The trials, in which workers were paid the same amount for shorter hours, took place between 2015 and 2019. Productivity remained the same or improved in the majority of workplaces, researchers said. A number of other trials are now being run across the world, including in Spain and by Unilever in New Zealand. In Iceland, the trials run by Reykjavík City Council and the national government eventually included more than 2,500 workers, which amounts to about 1% of Iceland's working population. A range of workplaces took part, including preschools, offices, social service providers, and hospitals. Many of them moved from a 40 hour week to a 35 or 36 hour week, researchers said.

US left Afghan airfield at night, didn’t tell new commander (AP) The U.S. left Afghanistan’s Bagram Airfield after nearly 20 years by shutting off the electricity and slipping away in the night without notifying the base’s new Afghan commander, who discovered the Americans’ departure more than two hours after they left, Afghan military officials said. “We (heard) some rumor that the Americans had left Bagram ... and finally by seven o’clock in the morning, we understood that it was confirmed that they had already left Bagram,” Gen. Mir Asadullah Kohistani, Bagram’s new commander said. Kohistani insisted the Afghan National Security and Defense Force could hold on to the heavily fortified base despite a string of Taliban wins on the battlefield. Meanwhile, in northern Afghanistan, district after district has fallen to the Taliban. In just the last two days hundreds of Afghan soldiers fled across the border into Tajikistan rather than fight the insurgents. On display on Monday during was a massive facility, the size of a small city, that had been exclusively used by the U.S. and NATO. The sheer size is extraordinary, with roadways weaving through barracks and past hangar-like buildings. There are two runways and over 100 parking spots for fighter jets known as revetments because of the blast walls that protect each aircraft. One of the two runways is 12,000 feet (3,660 meters) long and was built in 2006. There’s a passenger lounge, a 50-bed hospital and giant hangar size tents filled with supplies such as furniture. Kohistani said the U.S. left behind 3.5 million items, all itemized by the departing U.S. military. They include tens of thousands of bottles of water, energy drinks and military ready made meals, known as MRE’s.

Debris from missing plane found on Russian Far East Kamchatka peninsula (BBC) Debris from a passenger plane carrying 28 people which went missing in the Russian Far East on Tuesday has been found, officials say. The An-26 aircraft lost contact with air traffic control shortly before it was due to land in the settlement of Palana, in the north of the remote Kamchatka peninsula. It is thought unlikely that anyone survived the crash. Unconfirmed reports say it hit a rock as it was coming in to land. It is thought that it then crashed on the coast.

In Myanmar, the military and police declare war on medics (AP) The clandestine clinic was under fire, and the medics inside were in tears. Hidden away in a Myanmar monastery, this safe haven had sprung up for those injured while protesting the military’s overthrow of the government. But now security forces had discovered its location. In Myanmar, the military has declared war on health care—and on doctors themselves, who were early and fierce opponents of the takeover in February. Security forces are arresting, attacking and killing medical workers, dubbing them enemies of the state. With medics driven underground amid a global pandemic, the country’s already fragile healthcare system is crumbling. “The junta is purposely targeting the whole healthcare system as a weapon of war,” says one Yangon doctor on the run for months, whose colleagues at an underground clinic were arrested during a raid. “We believe that treating patients, doing our humanitarian job, is a moral job….I didn’t think that it would be accused as a crime.” Myanmar is now one of the most dangerous places on earth for healthcare workers, with 240 attacks this year—nearly half of the 508 globally tracked by the World Health Organization. That’s by far the highest of any country.

HK leader says ‘ideologies’ pose security risk, teenagers need to be monitored (Reuters) Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam said on Tuesday “ideologies” posed risks to national security and urged parents, teachers and religious leaders to observe the behaviour of teenagers and report those who break the law to the authorities. The financial hub has taken a swift authoritarian turn since China’s imposition of a sweeping national security law last year and changes to its political system to reduce democratic participation and oust people deemed disloyal to Beijing. “For a long time, citizens have been exposed to wrong ideas, such as achieving justice through illegal means,” Lam told reporters, adding that national security risks stemmed not only from “public order” acts, but also from ideology. About an hour after Lam spoke, police said they had arrested nine people, including six secondary students, on suspicion of terrorist activities. The city has been polarised since protesters took to the streets in 2019 demanding greater democracy and accountability for what activists called police violence. Authorities have said the protests were fuelled by foreign forces and exposed risks to national security. Since the security law was introduced, the most prominent government opponents have been jailed or fled abroad. Critics say the legislation has crushed the city’s wide-ranging rights and freedoms, while supporters say it has restored stability.

The Great Escape (Guardian) An Australian woman has been fined $2,500 after kicking down a door and scaling two hotel balconies in order to get out of quarantine. Claiming she simply wanted to go to her mother’s house in Cairns, the 22-year-old pleaded guilty before a Queensland court for failing to comply with the public health mandate. The woman initially tested negative for Covid-19 when she entered quarantine, but the results of her second test are not yet known. The court ordered her to pay a $2,500 fine and return to hotel quarantine on Tuesday.

Smugglers are partly behind Lebanon’s energy crisis (Washington Post) The Lebanese armed forces have lately stepped up their border patrols amid rising public fury over the smuggling of fuel to Syria in the middle of what is Lebanon’s most severe fuel crisis in its history. Lebanon’s worsening financial meltdown has been accompanied by a dire shortage of imported fuel. Roads in cities like Beirut and Tripoli are now lined with cars queuing for hours to get their allotted amount of gasoline, at most a third of a tank. The waits are so long that people order food delivered to cars. Tensions are so high that scuffles have become normal. At least six shootings have taken place at gas stations over the past two weeks. Taxis and Ubers are disappearing. Warnings abound of valet attendants siphoning fuel from cars they park. Yet smugglers have discovered there’s good money to be made by buying gasoline in Lebanon at the heavily subsidized price and then selling it on the black market in Syria, which has a debilitating fuel crisis of its own. Smuggling across the 250-mile border is not new, with an active illegal trade in both directions that includes arms, drugs, cigarettes, foodstuffs and people. The heightened campaign to stem the flow of gasoline across the border is proving no more successful than earlier efforts to stop other types of smuggling.

[newstfionline]

Sunday, July 4, 2021

Out-Group Hostility (The Present Age) A new research article published by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS) doesn’t bode well for efforts to fight political extremism and polarization. The paper’s authors analyzed 2,730,215 Twitter and Facebook posts published by members of the news media and U.S. Congresspeople, and came to the conclusion that the quickest way to social media success is to attack members of the “out-group.” Specifically, each additional word about the opposing party (e.g., “Democrat,” “Leftist,” or “Biden” if the post was coming from a Republican) in a social media post increased the odds of that post being shared by 67%. These results are troubling in an attention economy where the social media business model is based on keeping us engaged in order to sell advertising. Facebook knows that its algorithm rewards extreme rhetoric and anger. Last year, The Wall Street Journal uncovered an internal report Facebook put together in 2018 that found that the company’s “algorithms exploit the human brain’s attraction to divisiveness.” Even worse, the report’s authors found that if left in place, the algorithm would continue to serve “more and more divisive content in an effort to gain user attention and increase time on the platform.”

COVID-19 shots are causing social conflicts (Yahoo News) After 15 months of limiting their social interactions to small outdoor gatherings with masks and social distancing—and two COVID-19 vaccination shots apiece for herself, her husband and their teen son—Suzanne (who preferred to not use her real name for this article) and her family are finally easing up and meeting with friends and family members inside. Sort of. While Suzanne’s side of the family is fully vaccinated, most of her in-laws are not. What’s more, they are lax about wearing masks, and have thus not been included in recent gatherings. And so a pandemic that’s already seen fissures form between those who mask and those who don’t now ushers in its new social divide: the vaccinated versus the unvaccinated. At a time when a return to “normal” is touted at every turn, awkwardness, hurt feelings and a sense of being judged are leaving many relationships feeling anything but.

Ransomware hits hundreds of US companies, security firm says (AP) A ransomware attack paralyzed the networks of at least 200 U.S. companies on Friday, according to a cybersecurity researcher whose company was responding to the incident. The REvil gang, a major Russian-speaking ransomware syndicate, appears to be behind the attack, said John Hammond of the security firm Huntress Labs. He said the criminals targeted a software supplier called Kaseya, using its network-management package as a conduit to spread the ransomware through cloud-service providers. Such cyberattacks typically infiltrate widely used software and spread malware as it updates automatically. Brett Callow, a ransomware expert at the cybersecurity firm Emsisoft, said he was unaware of any previous ransomware supply-chain attack on this scale.

Firefighters are tackling three major wildfires in California in worrying sign as summer begins (Washington Post) Firefighters in California are battling three sizable wildfires in what authorities are characterizing as a worrying sign that this year’s fire season could be even more devastating than the record-breaking destruction seen in 2020. “We’re seeing a large increase in fires on a historical basis compared to where we would be at this time last year,” Cal Fire Battalion Chief Jon Heggie said. “This is a large indicator that we’re looking at another busy fire season—all the same scenarios that set up last year for such a devastating year have the same potential for this year.”

Hurricane Elsa races toward Haiti amid fears of landslides (AP) Hurricane Elsa raced toward Haiti and the Dominican Republic on Saturday, where it threatened to unleash flooding and landslides before taking aim at Cuba and Florida. The Category 1 storm was located about 395 miles (635 kilometers) east-southeast of Isla Beata, Dominican Republic and was moving west-northwest at 29 mph (46 kph). It had maximum sustained winds of 80 mph (130 kph), with the hurricane expected to become a tropical storm after hitting Cuba, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami. In Haiti, authorities used social media to alert people about the hurricane and urged them to evacuate if they lived near water or mountain flanks.

Vatican judge indicts 10, including a cardinal, for alleged financial crimes (Reuters) A Vatican judge on Saturday ordered 10 people, including an Italian cardinal, to stand trial for alleged financial crimes including embezzlement, money laundering, fraud, extortion and abuse of office. Those indicted include Cardinal Angelo Becciu, who was fired by Pope Francis last year, the former heads of the Vatican’s financial intelligence unit, and two Italian brokers involved in the Vatican’s purchase of a building in a luxury area of London.

At least 19 missing as mudslide west of Tokyo hits houses (AP) A powerful mudslide carrying a deluge of black water and debris crashed into rows of houses in a town west of Tokyo following heavy rains on Saturday, leaving at least 19 people missing, officials said. As many as 80 homes in Atami were completely buried, according to an official with the Fire and Disaster Management Agency. The official said more people, possibly 100, could still be missing under the mudslides but warned that details were not immediately clear. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, stressed that aggressive rescue operations were underway to find survivors.

Australia: Will the mouse infestation ever end? (The Week) The biblical mouse plague ravaging Australia is showing no signs of letup, said Daniella White at The Sydney Morning Herald (Australia). The millions of mice now scurrying across the southeast have gobbled some $775 million worth of crops and are gnawing through anything in their path—including barns, homes, and even cars. A rural prison in the state of New South Wales was being evacuated this week because mice had chewed through ceiling tiles and wiring and their stinking dead bodies are piling up in wall cavities. Once the rodents start rotting, says state prison commissioner Peter Severin, “the next problem is mites.” The infestation is so severe “that mice are biting people in their beds, sending some residents to the hospital in a critical condition,” said Lucy Thackray at ABC.net.au (Australia). Dozens of people have contracted leptospirosis, a bacterial infection that if left untreated can cause kidney failure and meningitis. Farmers are baiting fields with the poison zinc phosphide, which is expensive and time-consuming, but the worst part is the ick factor. “Farmers and their families are unable to get a decent night’s sleep,” said John Warlters of the charity Rural Aid, “without mice chewing on toes and scampering across beds.” It’s going to be “a long battle,” said Peter Hannam at The Age (Australia). Population growth should slow now that the Australian winter has arrived. But “the mice are expected to return with renewed menace” when spring crops ripen.

Unable to control Tigray, Ethiopia isolates region (Washington Post) The Ethiopian government’s inability to sustain its military offensive in the mountainous northern Tigray region was laid bare this week, as rebel forces chased their adversaries out of key cities and were met, as they triumphantly marched in, with jubilation from locals who see them as liberators. Now reports from the United Nations and aid groups imply a concerted campaign by government-aligned forces to punish and isolate Tigray, destroying key infrastructure in ways that will complicate the delivery of urgent relief, if not make it impossible, in a region where hundreds of thousands are already estimated to be experiencing war-driven famine. Aid groups report that there has been no Internet, phone service or electricity in Tigray since Ethiopian troops retreated and that no food or fuel are being allowed in. Both of the latter are essential—millions are depending on food aid for survival, and hospitals are using fuel-dependent generators to keep the power on. On Thursday, the United Nations’ humanitarian coordination office confirmed the destruction of a key bridge spanning a deep river valley that had been the main route for aid to be driven in.

Africa’s Last Absolute Monarchy Convulsed by Mass Protests (NYT) As Africa’s last absolute monarch, King Mswati III of Eswatini chooses his country’s prime minister and cabinet, and possesses the power to dissolve Parliament. His grip on the nation’s limited economic resources has underwritten a lavish lifestyle of luxury cars and palaces. About six out of 10 of citizens, meanwhile, live in poverty. Many in this tiny landlocked nation, wedged between South Africa and Mozambique, are on the brink of hunger and have to cross into South Africa to find work. Now, it seems, many of the kingdom’s 1.1 million inhabitants have had it with this imbalance: Over the past week, the tiny southern African nation, formerly known as Swaziland, has descended into the most explosive civil unrest in its 53 years of independence. Thousands of protesters have taken to the streets in the executive capital, Mbabane, and elsewhere, with many burning and looting businesses in which the king holds a stake. The government has responded aggressively, with witnesses, activists and hospital staff reporting that the military and the police have fired live rounds at protesters and looters.

Facebook tests prompts that ask users if they're worried a friend is 'becoming an extremist' (CNN Business) Some Facebook users in the United States are being served a prompt that asks if they are worried that someone they know might be becoming an extremist. Others are being notified that they may have been exposed to extremist content. It is all part of a test the social media company is running that stems from its Redirect Initiative, which aims to combat violent extremism, Andy Stone, a Facebook spokesperson, told CNN. Screen shots of the alerts surfaced on social media Thursday. “This test is part of our larger work to assess ways to provide resources and support to people on Facebook who may have engaged with or were exposed to extremist content, or may know someone who is at risk,” Stone said. “We are partnering with NGOs and academic experts in this space and hope to have more to share in the future,” Stone added. One of the alerts, a screen grab of which made the rounds on social media Thursday, asks users, “Are you concerned that someone you know is becoming an extremist?”

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Sarbloh ransomware aims at supporting Indian Farmers’ Protest | MrHacker.Co #hacking #india #malware #ransomware #sarbloh #hacker #hacking #cybersecurity #hackers #linux #ethicalhacking #programming #security #mrhacker