| New Yahoo News/YouGov poll: Trump's 'culture war' on Biden isn't winning voters to his side Posted: 15 Jul 2020 10:19 AM PDT  Trump's latest campaign ad claims "you won't be safe in Joe Biden's America" because "Biden stands with" the "radical left-wing mob."
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| UN official: Catastrophe looming from oil tanker off Yemen Posted: 15 Jul 2020 04:51 PM PDT  The U.N. environment chief said Wednesday that "time is running out" to avert an environmental, economic and humanitarian catastrophe from a deteriorating oil tanker loaded with 1.1 million barrels of crude oil that is moored off the coast of Yemen. Inger Andersen told the U.N. Security Council that an oil spill from the FSO Safer, which hasn't been maintained for over five years, would wreck ecosystems and livelihoods for decades. Houthi rebels, who control the area where the ship is moored, have denied U.N. inspectors access to the vessel so they could assess the damage and look for ways to secure the tanker by unloading the oil and pulling the ship to safety.
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| 'You're not welcome here.' The painful racial reckoning playing out in a Wendy's parking lot Posted: 15 Jul 2020 03:25 PM PDT  The death of an 8-year-girl near a Wendy's fast-food restaurant that was taken over by protesters after the shooting of Rayshard Brooks has left this city, already bruised after weeks of protests against racial inequality, grappling with how to bring about lasting, meaningful change.
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| Flight delay melee: Spirit passengers arrested after kicking and punching employees and tossing phones, food and shoes at them Posted: 15 Jul 2020 01:27 PM PDT  Three Philadelphia women who were mad about a flight delay were arrested at Fort Lauderdale Airport after kicking and throwing items at Spirit staff.
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| Arizona governor extends eviction moratorium after advocates said thousands in the state may be at risk of eviction as coronavirus cases surge Posted: 15 Jul 2020 11:48 PM PDT  By the end of September, more than 577,000 renters could be at risk of eviction in Arizona, the Aspen Institute found.
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| Ex-Pemex boss faces hearing over graft charges on return to Mexico Posted: 16 Jul 2020 09:33 AM PDT  A former boss of Mexican state oil company Petroleos Mexicanos faces an initial court hearing on Friday, an official said, as he lands in Mexico from Spain to answer corruption charges that could engulf leaders of the last government. Emilio Lozoya has been charged with bribery and money laundering dating back to his 2012-16 tenure at the helm of the firm known as Pemex. Under Mexican law, Lozoya, 45, must make an initial statement to a judge once he enters the country.
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| Covid-19 map of the US: latest cases state by state Posted: 15 Jul 2020 07:45 AM PDT  * Coronavirus: world map of deaths and cases * Coronavirus: latest global updatesWith countries all over the world affected by the coronavirus pandemic, the US has emerged as a global hotspot. The Trump administration has been criticized for being slower to act than other countries. The US currently leads the world in both confirmed coronavirus cases and deaths according to Johns Hopkins University.It's important to point out that the actual death toll is believed to be far higher than the tally compiled from government figures.default default * Due to the unprecedented and ongoing nature of the coronavirus outbreak, this article is being regularly updated to ensure that it reflects the current situation as best as possible. Any significant corrections made to this or previous versions of the article will continue to be footnoted in line with Guardian editorial policy.
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| NASA to reveal closest images ever taken of the sun Posted: 15 Jul 2020 08:57 AM PDT  The solar orbiter is bringing humans closer to our host star than we've ever been before.
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| 'They're like war zones': Trump criticizes mayors —Democratic ones — over crime surges Posted: 15 Jul 2020 01:40 PM PDT  President Trump on Wednesday criticized the leadership of cities he likened to "war zones," hinting that he may seek to have the federal government intervene to bring down crime rates.
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| Kamala Harris made her mark confronting Joe Biden. Could they end up as running mates? Posted: 16 Jul 2020 05:00 AM PDT  Joe Biden and Kamala Harris' debate confrontation over race still echoes a year later as Biden weighs his vice presidential pick.
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| African American History Museum Publishes Graphic Linking ‘Rational Linear Thinking,’ ‘Nuclear Family’ to White Culture Posted: 15 Jul 2020 12:46 PM PDT  The National Museum of African American History and Culture has published a graphic on its website that suggests concepts such as "rational linear thinking," the "nuclear family," and an emphasis on "hard work" are specific to "white culture."The article, titled "Talking About Race," delves into white privilege and "the way that white people, their customs, culture, and beliefs operate as the standard by which all other groups" are "compared.""Whiteness and the normalization of white racial identity throughout America's history have created a culture where nonwhite persons are seen as inferior or abnormal," the article reads.The accompanying graphic describes "white culture" as adopting certain aspects and assumptions, such a "work before play" attitude and the belief that "hard work is the key to success." The "nuclear family," described as a mother, father, and 2.3 children, is the "ideal social unit" embraced by white culture, the graphic says.White culture also emphasizes respect for authority, delayed gratification, self-reliance, independence and autonomy, the value of property rights and ownership, progress, planning for the future, politeness, and decision-making, according to the graphic.> The National Museum of African American History & Culture wants to make you aware of certain signs of whiteness: Individualism, hard work, objectivity, the nuclear family, progress, respect for authority, delayed gratification, more. (via @RpwWilliams)https://t.co/k9X3u4Suas pic.twitter.com/gWYOeEh4vu> > -- Byron York (@ByronYork) July 15, 2020 The graphic cites data from a 1990 paper by Judith H. Katz titled, "Some Aspects and Assumptions of White Culture in the United States."Since 2007, Katz has worked as an advisor for a nonprofit organization called Net Impact, which says it partners with some of the country's most powerful companies, including ExxonMobil, 3M, McDonalds, the Coca-Cola Company, Starbucks, Microsoft, the Walt Disney Company, Bank of America, Monsanto, and Nestlé Waters North America.The company also partners with the U.S. National Park Service, which the group listed as having contributed more than $100,000 to the organization during fiscal year 2013.Net Impact focuses on promoting "equity and inclusion" and "working across sectors for a more just and sustainable world," and runs chapters across the globe on university campuses, in cities, and in companies."We believe in the power of the business sector to drive social and environmental change, and we welcome a variety of companies to partner with us," Net Impact says on its website.The National Museum of African American History & Culture did not respond immediately to a request for comment on whether it stands by the assertions made in the graphic.
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| Investors in Russian pipeline projects at risk of U.S. sanctions, Pompeo says Posted: 15 Jul 2020 08:03 AM PDT  U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday warned investors in two Russian natural gas pipeline projects that they could face sanctions as the Trump administration seeks to curb the Kremlin's economic leverage over Europe and Turkey. Pompeo told a news conference that European investors in the Nord Stream 2 and a branch of the Turkstream pipelines could be "put at risk" of U.S. sanctions under the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act of 2017. The pipelines will carry gas from Russia to Europe and Turkey.
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| Florida breaks single-day coronavirus death toll record, still has no mask mandate Posted: 16 Jul 2020 11:19 AM PDT  Florida's coronavirus problem keeps getting worse.The state reported its highest-ever single-day death toll on Thursday, with 156 people reported dead from COVID-19 in the past 24 hours. The numbers have Miami, recently called the "new epicenter of the pandemic," considering mandatory lockdowns, but Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) doesn't seem inclined to push many statewide restrictions at all.Thursday marked the second time this week Florida broke its coronavirus death toll record, with 132 people reported dead on Tuesday. The state's death toll now sits at 4,677. A total of 13,965 people tested positive for COVID-19 over the past day as well, putting Florida's total case numbers at 315,775.Miami Mayor Francis Suarez said Thursday he was planning to meet with business leaders to weigh "the possibility of a future lockdown" if these numbers don't improve soon, the Miami Herald reports. Suarez specifically raised concerns about hospitals and ICU beds filling up. Yet the state as a whole still has relatively relaxed social distancing guidelines, and no mandatory mask order, putting it behind the restrictive measures New York took to eventually cut its massive coronavirus spread.More stories from theweek.com Maryland's GOP governor publishes a scathing indictment of Trump's coronavirus response Trump attacks Biden's housing desegregation proposal as a plot to 'abolish our suburbs' Donald Trump is destroying the Post Office
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| Africa's week in pictures: 10 - 16 July 2020 Posted: 16 Jul 2020 04:06 PM PDT  A selection of the week's best photos from across the continent.
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| City removes statue of BLM protester that took slave trader's place Posted: 16 Jul 2020 03:02 AM PDT  "It's something to feel proud of, to have a sense of belonging, because we actually do belong here and we're not going anywhere," said the protester who inspired the statue.
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| Trump news - live: President makes bizarre comments about his hair and lightbulbs in freewheeling White House speech Posted: 16 Jul 2020 11:10 AM PDT  Donald Trump has shaken up his campaign staff amid falling poll numbers less than four months before the US presidential election, replacing his campaign manager Brad Parscale with veteran Republican operative Bill Stepien.The RNC has told members that attendance will be severely restricted for much of August's convention in Jacksonville due to the coronavirus. Many events over the four-day period will also take place outside. The surge of coronavirus cases continues with Florida reporting the most deaths per day it has seen since the start of the pandemic.
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| Kentucky Democratic party stalwart sentenced to prison Posted: 16 Jul 2020 03:01 PM PDT  Kentucky businessman and Democrat Party stalwart Jerry Lundergan was sentenced on Thursday to 21 months in prison for making illegal contributions to the failed U.S. Senate campaign of his daughter, former Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes. Prosecutors said Lundergan, 73, orchestrated a scheme to funnel more than $200,000 in illegal contributions to Grimes' 2014 campaign against Republican Mitch McConnell.
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| Facebook is adding a label to all posts about voting from federal officials and political candidates, including the president Posted: 16 Jul 2020 07:28 AM PDT  Facebook will label any post about voting from a politician or federal official, whether the posts contain accurate or inaccurate information.
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| 87 People Arrested During Breonna Taylor Protest Outside Kentucky Attorney General's Home Posted: 15 Jul 2020 02:50 PM PDT  87 people were arrested and charged with a felony for protesting on Kentucky Attorney General's lawn to demand justice for Breonna Taylor
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| Bangladesh hospital owner arrested over fake coronavirus test results Posted: 15 Jul 2020 08:40 PM PDT  A Bangladesh hospital owner accused of issuing thousands of fake negative coronavirus test results to patients at his two clinics was arrested on Wednesday while trying to flee to India in a burqa, police said. The arrest marked the end of a nine-day manhunt for Mohammad Shahed over allegations of giving fake certificates to patients saying they were virus free without even testing them. Mr Shahed, 42, was one of more than a dozen people detained by authorities over the past few days in connection with the scam. Experts warn the false documents have worsened the already dire virus situation in the country of 168 million people by casting doubt about the veracity of certificates issued by clinics. "He was arrested from the bank of a border river as he was trying to flee to India. He was wearing a burqa," Rapid Action Battalion spokesman Colonel Ashique Billah told AFP. "His hospitals carried out 10,500 coronavirus tests, out of which 4,200 were genuine and the rest, 6,300 test reports, were given without conducting tests." Mr Shahed is also accused of charging for the certificates and virus treatments even though he had agreed with the government that his hospitals in the capital Dhaka would provide free care. A well-known doctor and her husband were also arrested by police and accused of issuing thousands of fake virus certificates at their Dhaka laboratory. The alleged scams could badly hurt migrant workers seeking to go abroad and whose remittances are key to Bangladesh's economy, said Shakirul Islam of migrant rights group OKUP. Italy last week suspended flights to Rome from Bangladesh to stem the spate of coronavirus cases within the community. Several passengers arriving from Dhaka had tested positive for Covid-19. "Some of the Bangladeshis who were tested positive in Italy were allegedly carrying negative Covid certificates from Bangladesh," Shakirul Islam claimed. "The government must ensure quality of Covid-19 tests in local laboratories for the sake of its overseas job market." Nearly $19 billion was sent back to Bangladesh by an estimated 12 million migrant workers last year, according to the central bank. Bangladesh has reported just more than 193,000 infections and 2,457 deaths so far. But medical experts say the real figures are likely much higher because so little testing has been carried out. The impoverished country has restarted economic activities after lifting a months-long virus lockdown at the end of May, even as the number of cases continues to rise.
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| Seven ships catch fire at Iran's Bushehr port, agency says Posted: 15 Jul 2020 05:32 AM PDT |
| Fire extinguished aboard USS Bonhomme Richard after raging for 4 days Posted: 16 Jul 2020 01:39 PM PDT  Firefighters extinguished the blaze that had raged aboard the USS Bonhomme Richard at its pier in San Diego for four days.
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| River Nile dam: Sudan blasts 'unilateral' move as Ethiopia dam fills Posted: 16 Jul 2020 01:38 PM PDT  As talks fail with Ethiopia, Sudan says water levels drop downstream and Egypt demands "clarification".
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| CNN Anchor Rips GOP Lawmaker Suing Over Mask Mandates: ‘You’re Not a Doctor’ Posted: 15 Jul 2020 12:56 PM PDT  CNN anchor Brianna Keilar on Wednesday clashed with a Republican state lawmaker who is suing over mask mandates, eventually pointing out that he is not a "public health expert" while noting he's already had one case tossed out.With coronavirus cases and hospitalizations spiking in Florida as the nation deals with a prolonged surge, Florida State Rep. Anthony Sabatini has attempted to challenge county ordinances in the state requiring face masks in businesses, claiming the mandates are constitutional violations.Appearing on CNN Newsroom, Sabatini immediately justified his lawsuits, claiming the ordinances are "unconstitutional" and that mask mandates violate the privacy of citizens. Keilar, meanwhile, wondered aloud if the GOP lawmaker believed that seat belts are therefore also unconstitutional.After he claimed the major difference is that seatbelt laws are only focused on "very highly regulated areas of public domain," Sabatini went on to dispute that Florida was actually struggling with the virus, insisting that reporters have been too focused on rising cases."The media's almost exclusively focused on one number versus the two most important numbers, obviously: hospitalizations and fatalities," he declared. "Where in most parts of the state, flat lines are going down, especially in mine. So if you focus on the two more relative metrics, Florida's doing just fine."Keilar, meanwhile, was struck by Sabatini's assertion that Florida was doing fine, prompting the state representative to say that as long as she was just "counting cases" then she would "scare people.""OK, deaths: 4,521," she quickly retorted. "Hospitalizations increasing 19,344. 54 hospital ICUs have reached capacity in Florida. Another 40 hospitals show ICUs at 10 percent or less availability. And you say you're doing just fine?!"He continued to argue that Florida was dealing with a dire situation as the virus rapidly spreads, claiming the deaths weren't that bad when weighed against the number of overall cases while insisting that the state's economy should be "100 percent open."The CNN anchor wondered why Sabatini was pushing against mask mandates if he wanted everything open, noting that mask-wearing in public spaces would help to stem the spread of the virus and allow many businesses to remain open.Sabatini said that he only opposed mandates and felt local and state governments should merely recommend voluntary mask-wearing. At the same time, he admitted that he doesn't wear a face covering whenever he goes to the grocery store, claiming it's unnecessary because he always "maintains social distance."Towards the end of the lengthy and at-times contentious conversation, Keilar confronted Sabatini for claiming the media is "grossly exaggerating" the effectiveness of face coverings."The media is repeating what public health experts are saying," she shot back. "Just to be clear, you are not a doctor and you're not a public-health expert. Right?"After the GOP legislator attempted to dismiss health experts' recommendations on masks, Keilar interjected: "You're not. I'll just answer it for you."Wrapping up the segment, and after Sabatini said citizens should merely take the CDC's recommendations "with interest," Keilar reminded her audience of Sabatini's credentials."OK, just to point out, we're monitoring one loss at this point of a county that disagrees," she plainly stated. "And you're not a doctor. You're not a scientist."Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| Joe Biden opens up biggest national poll lead over Trump since securing nomination as independents abandon president Posted: 15 Jul 2020 12:35 PM PDT  Joe Biden has opened up his biggest poll lead over Donald Trump since securing the nomination, with a new nationwide survey showing him with a 15-point advantage in the race for the White House.Registered voters back the former vice president over the incumbent 52 - 37 per cent, according to a Quinnipiac University national poll released on Wednesday. The same poll one month ago gave Mr Biden a lead of eight points, 49 - 41 per cent.
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| Brazil tops 2 million coronavirus cases, with 76,000 dead Posted: 16 Jul 2020 11:27 AM PDT  Since late May, three months after Brazil's first reported case of the coronavirus, it has recorded more than 1,000 daily deaths on average in a gruesome plateau that has yet to tilt downward. On Thursday evening, the federal health ministry reported that the country had passed 2 million confirmed cases of virus infections and 76,000 deaths. Experts blame denial of the virus' deadly potential by President Jair Bolsonaro and lack of national coordination combined with scattershot responses by city and state governments, with some reopening earlier than health experts recommended.
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| Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot calls White House press secretary 'Karen' Posted: 16 Jul 2020 03:45 PM PDT  "Hey, Karen. Watch your mouth,"Lori Lightfoot said in response to White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany calling the Chicago mayor "derelict."
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| 2 charged in deadly California kidnapping of China citizen Posted: 15 Jul 2020 04:25 PM PDT |
| Woman Who Ran Away to Join ISIS As Teenager Can Return to U.K. to Fight Citizenship Decision, Court Rules Posted: 16 Jul 2020 08:32 AM PDT  Shamima Begum, the woman who ran away from her London home as a teenager to join ISIS in 2015, has won the right to return to the U.K.
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| India says Pakistan broke agreement on unimpeded consular access to convicted spy Posted: 16 Jul 2020 10:42 AM PDT  India on Thursday said its diplomats protested and left a meeting arranged by Pakistan in Islamabad with an Indian man condemned to death on charges of spying, saying an agreement to allow "unimpeded" consular access had not been honoured by Pakistani officials. Former Indian Naval Commander Kulbhushan Jadhav was arrested in 2016 in Pakistan's southwestern province of Baluchistan and convicted of espionage and sabotage by a Pakistani military court a year later. India took the matter to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) which ordered a stay on Jadhav's execution in 2019, as well as consular access for India.
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| US Navy carries out second 'freedom of navigation' op off Venezuela coast Posted: 15 Jul 2020 04:11 PM PDT  The US Navy on Wednesday deployed a warship off the coast of Venezuela to challenge what it called Caracas' "excessive maritime claim in international waters." It was the second time in three weeks that the US Navy has carried out such a "freedom of navigation" operation, a move that Venezuela previously called a "provocation." "Today, the US Navy Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer USS Pinckney (DDG 91) challenged Venezuela's excessive maritime claim in international waters during a successful freedom of navigation operation in the Caribbean Sea," US Southern Command said in a statement.
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| Ruth Bader Ginsburg: US Supreme Court oldest justice treated for possible infection Posted: 15 Jul 2020 01:52 PM PDT  The 87-year-old underwent a procedure to clean out a bile duct stent in Baltimore's hospital.
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| 'Wake up call': Prominent group warns Biden campaign that it's falling short on outreach to women of color Posted: 15 Jul 2020 11:54 AM PDT  Women of color worry that presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden isn't paying enough attention to their concerns, risking loss in Nov. 3 as in 2016
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| Space Force Selects More Than 2,400 Airmen to Join the New Service Posted: 16 Jul 2020 03:42 PM PDT  It announced that it has chosen 2,410 members within the space operations and space systems operations career fields.
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| Phoenix's mayor says Arizona's coronavirus surge was preventable and unnecessarily political: 'It's heartbreaking' Posted: 15 Jul 2020 04:18 AM PDT  Mayor Kate Gallego says Phoenix is grappling with insufficient testing, a high positivity rate in COVID-19 tests, and nearly full morgues.
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| Deputies: 3 women attacked airline workers over flight delay Posted: 16 Jul 2020 05:39 AM PDT |
| Second group of U.S. diplomats fly back to China amid frayed ties Posted: 15 Jul 2020 02:52 PM PDT  A chartered commercial aircraft left Dulles airport outside Washington for the South Korean capital, Seoul, where passengers would transfer to another aircraft outfitted for medical operations before flying to the Chinese city of Guangzhou. The flight, only the second of many required to return more than 1,200 U.S. diplomats with their families, was the first since negotiations hit an impasse two weeks ago over conditions China wanted to impose on the Americans, prompting the State Department to postpone flights tentatively scheduled for the first 10 days of July. The U.S. is working to fully restaff its mission in China, one of its largest in the world, which was evacuated in February because of COVID-19.
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| California city moves to replace police with unarmed civilians for traffic stops Posted: 15 Jul 2020 06:48 PM PDT  Berkeley city counci lmembers approve landmark reform measure aiming to fight racial profilingThe city of Berkeley is moving forward with a first-of-its kind proposal to replace police with unarmed civilians during traffic stops in an effort to curb racial profiling.After hours of emotional public testimony, council members in the northern California city approved a reform measure that calls for a committee tasked with police reforms. They include removing the police department from responding to calls involving people experiencing homelessness or mental illness and finding ways to eventually cut the police budget by half. The vote also called for the creation of a separate city department to handle the enforcement of parking and traffic laws.The plan appears to be a landmark move in a US city and comes as many regions across the country are facing growing calls to defund and dismantle police departments in the wake of George Floyd's death.Numerous studies have shown Black drivers are much more likely to be stopped by police than white people for minor traffic infractions, with sometimes deadly results. Philando Castile, for example, was fatally shot after the 32-year-old was stopped for a broken tail light in 2016 in Minnesota. And Sandra Bland, 28, died in a jail cell three days after being stopped for failing to signal when changing lanes in Texas in 2015.At the council meeting, after residents shared personal accounts of police violence, Berkeley's mayor, Jesse Arreguin, said he did not expect a new transportation department overnight because conversations will be hard and detailed with complicated logistics to figure out. But he said communities of color in his city feel targeted by police and that needs to change."There may be situations where police do need to intervene, and so we need to look at all that," he said. "We need to look at if we do move traffic enforcement out of the police department, what does that relationship look like and how will police officers work in coordination with unarmed traffic enforcement personnel?"Some progressive Bay Area activists said the move was a step in the right direction, but did not go far enough. The majority of commenters during a nearly nine-hour meeting that ended in the middle of the night had called for a more radical proposal of immediate defunding of the Berkeley police.Veena Dubal, a University of California law professor and former Berkeley police review commissioner, noted that traffic enforcement is one of the most common ways that police interact with community members, which can lead to harmful consequences: "Black and Brown men are disproportionately pulled over for minor traffic violations, and that's when we see this escalation … That is where you see the violence unfold."Mohamed Shehk, with the abolitionist group Critical Resistance, said he supported the idea of removing police from traffic enforcement, but said it was vital that the alternative department Berkeley creates does not replicate the same problems: "We also need to be dismantling the systems of fines and fees that keep communities that are targeted by these policies in poverty."Residents speaking at the council meeting made clear that they wanted something "much bolder", he added. "We've seen how incrementalism and cosmetic reforms are not substantial enough to reduce or reverse the enormous amounts of damage, violence, harm and racism that policing has inflicted on communities for decades."It could take months, even years, to create a new department, but police and other law enforcement leaders rebuked the idea."I think what Berkeley is doing is nuts," said Mark Cronin, a director with the Los Angeles Police Protective League, a union for officers. "I think it's a big social experiment. I think it's going to fail."The Berkeley police department said it did not comment on council legislation. But police unions for Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Jose issued a statement opposing the proposal.Arreguin, the mayor, said creating a new department was a phase-two development that was at least a year away and would probably involve making changes to state law.Agencies contributed reporting
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| 'We have nothing': Ethiopia's ethnic unrest leaves destruction in its wake Posted: 15 Jul 2020 08:38 PM PDT  Girma had no choice but to watch from afar as a crowd chanting "This is our place!" set fire to the school he founded more than a decade ago. The unrest that left Girma's school a charred ruin was kicked off by the murder two weeks ago of Hachalu Hundessa, a pop star beloved by Oromos for giving voice to deep-rooted feelings of political and economic marginalisation. Similar property damage has been reported in towns across Oromia, which surrounds the capital Addis Ababa.
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| India coronavirus: Kuwait's new expat bill has Indians worried Posted: 15 Jul 2020 10:10 PM PDT  Kuwait's expat quota bill, if approved, will force nearly 800,000 Indians to return home.
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| Republicans fear coronavirus will force scaling back Trump's Florida convention Posted: 16 Jul 2020 09:50 AM PDT  Coronavirus concerns have sparked fear within GOP circles that convention festivities moved to Jacksonville may have to be vastly pared back.
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| Hospitals told to send coronavirus data to Washington, not CDC Posted: 15 Jul 2020 05:03 AM PDT  "The new faster and complete data system is what our nation needs to defeat the coronavirus," Department of Health and Human Services official says.
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| Ex-officer in Hawaii sentenced for making man lick urinal Posted: 15 Jul 2020 03:38 PM PDT  A U.S. judge sentenced a former Honolulu police officer Wednesday to four years in prison for forcing a homeless man to lick a public urinal, telling him to imagine someone doing that to his two young daughters. The homeless man was just as defenseless and powerless as the children of defendant John Rabago, U.S. District Judge Leslie Kobayashi said. "You took from him his only possession: his dignity as a human being," Kobayashi said.
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| Intel: Putin’s Hillary Hackers Now After Our COVID-19 Vaccine Secrets Posted: 16 Jul 2020 09:43 AM PDT  A Russian hacking group that played a role in breaking into Democratic networks during the 2016 election is now trying to steal coronavirus research, according to officials in the U.S., U.K., and Canada. In a joint cybersecurity advisory released by the three countries, intelligence agencies warned that a Russian hacking ground referred to as "APT29" had "targeted various organisations involved in COVID-19 vaccine development in Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom, highly likely with the intention of stealing information and intellectual property relating to the development and testing of COVID-19 vaccines."The group conducted basic vulnerability scanning against specific external IP addresses owned by the organizations. They then deployed public exploits against the vulnerable services identified.How Russian Trolls Weaponize Virus Lies to Undercut UkraineIt's unclear whether the hackers were successful in accessing or stealing any research data, but one British official told The Daily Beast that the joint statement was an attempt to "stop" it from happening."We're not going to comment on operational detail," the official said. "However, we know that U.K. organizations involved in the COVID-19 response have been targeted. We believe they are targeting organizations to steal information and intellectual property. The [National Cyber Security Centre] has said this group is scanning IT networks looking for ways to get in and access sensitive material. The action from NCSC is intended to help stop that happening."APT29, sometimes referred to as "Cozy Bear," is widely believed to be a government-run hacking group associated with Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service or SVR and has "a long history of targeting governmental, diplomatic, think-tank, healthcare and energy organizations for intelligence gain," according to Anne Neuberger, director of the NSA's Cybersecurity Center.In 2016, APT29 hackers broke into the Democratic National Committee's networks alongside hackers from Russia's Main Intelligence Directorate, known as GRU. Unlike their military intelligence counterparts, APT29 appears to be focused more on traditional espionage rather than carrying out hack-and-leak influence operations."They're there to quietly collect intelligence. If you get targeted by them, you might simply never know that they're in your network. They're not going to drop something later or blow something up there," John Hultquist, Director of Intelligence Analysis at the cybersecurity firm FireEye and an expert on Russian hacking groups, told The Daily Beast.Hultquist says Russian government-linked hackers have been seen targeting pharmaceutical and biotech companies before but the focus in the past was different. "We've seen it more on the disruptive angle or in situations where it just wasn't clear what they were going after." In particular, Hultquist points to the NotPetya attack, the single most expensive cyber attack in history in which Russia unleashed destructive malware designed to look like ransomware. The attack primarily targeted networks in Ukraine but companies and countries around the world were affected, including the pharmaceutical giant Merck, which filed a $1.3 billion insurance claim related to losses from the incident.Biotechnology research has long been a target for countries engaged in economic espionage. In a 2018 report on "Foreign Economic Espionage in Cyberspace," the U.S. National Counterintelligence and Security Center listed the biotechnology industry as one of the targets in which foreign intelligence services have the "highest interest."But the COVID-19 pandemic appears to have changed the targeting priorities of several state-backed hacking groups to a focus on collecting pandemic-related intelligence, according to Hultquist."These are extraordinary times. We're seeing a lot of different actors don't generally get into the intellectual property space or this type of space showing up," said Hultquist.Moscow Held Back Dirt So It Could Slime President HillaryIn May, the FBI issued a statement indicating that the bureau was "investigating the targeting and compromise of U.S. organizations conducting COVID-19-related research by [China]-affiliated cyber actors and non-traditional collectors" who sought to steal "valuable intellectual property (IP) and public health data related to vaccines, treatments, and testing from networks and personnel affiliated with COVID-19-related research."Iranian hackers have also reportedly been active in attempting to steal COVID-19 research data. Reuters reported that Iranian-linked hackers posed as journalists in emails as part of an attempt to hack Gilead, which makes the COVID-19-fighting antiviral drug remdesivir. Google's Threat Analysis Group, which analyzes cybersecurity threats for the company, subsequently announced that it had "found new, COVID-19-specific targeting of international health organizations," consistent with the Iranian-linked hacking group known as "Charming Kitten," which "corroborates reporting in Reuters."In terms of COVID-19-related espionage, cybersecurity firms like FireEye noticed state-run hacking campaigns begin almost from the start of the pandemic. In January 2020, according to a FireEye report, hackers linked to the Vietnamese government broke into local government networks in Wuhan, China and China's Ministry of Emergency Management in an apparent attempt to learn more about the pandemic amid efforts by Chinese officials to suppress news of the outbreak. The combination of a deadly global pandemic and an atmosphere of mistrust means cybersecurity experts don't expect campaigns like the one called out by the U.S., Britain, and Canada on Thursday to end anytime soon."There's going to be espionage against the research institutions, academia, pharmaceutical companies, local municipalities who have case spikes—there's a tremendous amount of mistrust going on in the world and, given that environment, they're going to deploy this capability," said Hultquist.Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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