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A Russian ransomware gang breaches the Energy Department and other federal agencies

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 19:36:16 GMT

By FRANK BAJAK (AP Technology Writer)The Department of Energy and several other federal agencies were compromised in a Russian cyber-extortion gang’s global hack of a file-transfer program popular with corporations and governments, but the impact was not expected to be great, Homeland Security officials said Thursday.But for others among what could be hundreds of victims from industry to higher education — including patrons of at least two state motor vehicle agencies — the hack was beginning to show some serious impacts. Jen Easterly, director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, told reporters that unlike the meticulous, stealthy SolarWinds hacking campaign attributed to state-backed Russian intelligence agents that was months in the making, this campaign was short, relatively superficial and caught quickly. “Based on discussions we have had with industry partners … these intrusions are not being leveraged to gain broader access, t...

Mac Jones, a breakout defender and 4 takeaways from Patriots minicamp

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 19:36:16 GMT

Two practices.That’s all the Patriots decided they needed from their mandatory minicamp, a scheduled three-day stretch they capped with a surprise paintball outing Wednesday before sending players into their summer break. Before then, more than 80 players reported for practices on Monday and Tuesday, the most competitive and intense sessions of the spring. Mac Jones led the offense for all but one period of team drills, while the defense predictably had the upper hand.What else did we learn from that practice and Monday’s session? Here were the top four takeaways from Foxboro:1. Mac Jones is in commandIf it’s a quarterback controversy you’re looking for, sit tight. The Patriots offense still belongs to Mac Jones.Jones looked comfortable at the controls of Bill O’Brien’s system, a hybrid of the old Patriots playbook and the offense he ran at Alabama. Jones feathered a few pinpoint downfield throws to tightly covered receivers, made checks at the li...

How Trump and Johnson, divisive populists with many similarities, ended up on different paths

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 19:36:16 GMT

At first blush, they seem so alike — two pugnacious, ideologically flexible politicians who latched onto the 2016 global explosion of populism to lead their respective countries before falling from power.But Boris Johnson and Donald Trump appear headed down different paths this week as they navigate the fallout from their conduct now that they’ve left higher office — a reflection of the varying political cultures and systems in the nations they once led.On Thursday, a committee of the House of Commons released a scathing report about how Johnson lied to Parliament and intimidated those investigating lockdown-flouting parties in his administration during the pandemic. The committee said Johnson’s conduct was so flagrant that it warranted a 90-day suspension from Parliament, although that recommendation was largely symbolic because he resigned from the House of Commons last week. He was ousted as prime minister almost a year ago, partly due to the “partygate” scandal.Two d...

Poverty, climate, regional stability on agenda for Saudi crown prince visit with Macron in France

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 19:36:16 GMT

PARIS (AP) — Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is to meet with French President Emmanuel Macron Friday in Paris as part of an official visit, during which he will also participate in a global financing summit aimed at fighting poverty and climate change.Macron and the prince are expected to have a one-to-one working lunch at the Elysee presidential palace.The French presidency said the talks are to focus on bilateral relations between the two countries and on regional stability issues, especially after long-time rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran restored diplomatic ties earlier this year.France is a major weapons and defense supplier to Gulf nations.The leaders also are preparing for a global summit next week “aimed at bringing together private and public funding” to fight poverty, support climate transition and protect biodiversity, the French presidency said. The event is expect to gather over 50 heads of states and governments as well as many NGOs and prominent climate activists....

Relatives fear worst with four men and a boy missing after Mediterranean ship disaster

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 19:36:16 GMT

BEIRUT (AP) — Seeking to find lives better than they had in their war-scarred town in northeast Syria, four men and a 14-year-old boy from the Sheikhi family set out for Europe.Ignoring an older relative’s warnings, the group boarded a fishing boat from Libya to Italy, where they hoped to start crossing Europe on land and get to Germany. Instead of docking in Italy, the trawler capsized and sank Wednesday in thousands of feet of seawater, 75 kilometers (45 miles) off Greece. The trawler may have carried as many as 750 passengers. Hundreds remained missing early Friday, on the third and final day of search operations. It would be one of the worst Mediterranean shipwrecks in recent history if officials confirm relatives’ worst fears, as expected.Five members of one family were aboard the trawler, including Ali Sheikhi, 29. The father of three boys, he left behind his wife, and boys — ages 6, 5 and 2 — hoping to one day reunite in Europe and offer the children the good educ...

Greece’s search for hundreds of migrants feared dead in shipwreck enters final day

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 19:36:16 GMT

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece’s coast guard launched its final day of searching an area of the Mediterranean Sea where a large fishing boat packed with migrants sank and hundreds of passengers were missing and feared dead Friday.The round-the-clock search and rescue operation off the coast of southern Greece entered its third day with little hope of finding survivors or bodies since none have been located since Wednesday, when 78 bodies were recovered and 104 people were rescued.The fishing boat carrying the migrants was traveling from Libya to Italy. Greek authorities and European Union border protection agency Frontex tracked the boat before it capsized and sank early Wednesday. The trawler may have carried as many as 750 passengers, according to the International Organization for Migration, the U.N. migration agency. Most of the survivors were being moved Friday from a storage hangar at the southern port of Kalamata, where relatives also gathered to look for loved ones, to migrant...

Protesters in Senegal accuse police of using armed civilians to quell unrest

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 19:36:16 GMT

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — As gunfire rang out at a protest in Senegal’s capital, a man wearing khaki pants and a T-shirt shot Cheikh’s childhood friend in the chest. The bleeding 21-year-old slumped against a wall, displaying his wound in disbelief. “We thought tear gas and grenades would be used against us. We had no idea they would shoot,” said Cheikh, who was inches away when the bullet struck his friend and rushed him to the hospital in an unsuccessful attempt to save his life. “As I watched him on the way there, I realized it was over.” His friend, Khadim Ba, was one of at least 23 people killed earlier this month in Senegal during the country’s deadliest clashes between police and protesters in decades, according to Amnesty International. Like Ba, several people were reported shot with live ammunition by men wearing civilian clothes who appeared to be fighting alongside the police, according to protesters and rights groups.Such “nervis,” a French word for “thugs” that ...

Chinese president Xi Jinping stresses US-China cooperation in meeting with Bill Gates

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 19:36:16 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — Chinese leader Xi Jinping said the United States and China can cooperate to “benefit our two countries” in a meeting Friday with Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates ahead of a visit by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken at a time of strained relations.The state broadcaster CCTV showed Xi saying he was happy to see Gates, who he called an “old friend,” after three years without meeting during the pandemic. “I believe that the foundation of Sino-U.S. relations lies in the people,” Xi said to Gates. “Under the current world situation, we can carry out various activities that benefit our two countries, the people of our countries, and the entire human race.”Xi gave no details but emphasized the potential benefits of cooperation that has been hampered by disputes over human rights, Taiwan, security and technology. Gates told Xi he was “very honored” to meet with Xi. The visits by leading foreign business people have coincided with efforts by the ruling Communist Part...

Palestinian leader Abbas ends China trip after backing Beijing’s crackdown on Muslim minorities

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 19:36:16 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas wrapped up a trip to China Friday after seeking economic aid and voicing support for Beijing’s repressive policies toward Muslim minorities in the northwestern region of Xinjiang. During his four-day visit, Abbas met with Chinese President and head of the ruling Communist Party Xi Jinping. The leaders then issued a joint statement endorsing Beijing’s domestic and foreign policies and repudiating Western concepts of human rights. In the statement, the Palestinian Authority said issues regarding China’s policy toward Muslims in Xinjiang have “nothing to do with human rights and are aimed at excising extremism and opposing terrorism and separatism.” “Palestine resolutely opposes using the Xinjiang problem as a way of interfering in China’s internal affairs,” the joint statement said. That echoes Chinese propaganda surrounding the detention of more than 1 million Uyghurs, Kazakhs and other Muslim minorities in prison-like...

IMF head welcomes Europe’s interest rate hikes in campaign against inflation

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 19:36:16 GMT

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — The head of the International Monetary Fund on Friday praised the European Central Bank’s decision to raise interest rates for the eighth time in a row and its pledge to keep going as long as needed to bring down high inflation.Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said the IMF welcomed both the ECB’s quarter-percentage point rate hike Thursday and President Christine Lagarde’s vow that the ECB is “not thinking about pausing.” The bank is trying to lower inflation from 6.1% to its goal of 2%.“Monetary policy should continue to tighten and then remain in restrictive territory for some time until inflation expectations are firmly anchored and inflation trends toward target,” Georgieva said.“We welcome yesterday’s decision of the ECB to tighten, we also welcome the communication that surrounded this decision,” she added.The central bank for the 20 countries that use the euro currency is pressing ahead with rate hikes even as the U.S. F...