UNITED STATES
China behind breach: school
The social security numbers and credit card details of up to 6,000 University of Connecticut students, faculty and others might have been stolen by hackers based in China, the university said on Friday. Officials detected a potential breach of the School of Engineering’s network in March and an investigation uncovered that hackers might have gained access to it as early as September 2013, the university’s spokesman Tom Breen said. He said 6,000 students, faculty, alumni and research partners of the school were notified that their personal information might have been compromised. “The breach is far more extensive, could impact many more accounts and started much earlier than we originally believed,” Breen said. “There is no way at the present time to determine the exact number of accounts hacked.” Breen said the hack has been traced to China “based on the type of cyberattack that was launched, and the software used.”
UNITED STATES
Zuckerbergs expecting baby
Facebook chief executive officer Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, are expecting a baby. The co-founder of the world’s largest social network on Friday announced on Facebook that Chan is pregnant with a healthy baby daughter. He did not say when the baby is due. Zuckerberg also said the couple had suffered three miscarriages over the past two years. Zuckerberg acknowledged in his post that many people are reluctant to talk about miscarriages. However, he said he and Chan decided to share the information after hearing from friends who had similar experiences and ultimately were able to have children. He said the couple hopes to encourage other parents who might be struggling with difficult pregnancies.
SAUDI ARABIA
Plane crash kills bin Ladens
The nation’s ambassador to the UK said family members of the late al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden were killed in a private jet crash in southern England. On Friday, Prince Mohammed bin Nawaf bin Abdel-Aziz offered his condolences to the bin Laden family via Twitter, without identifying the dead. The bin Laden family owns a major construction company in the Sunni kingdom. They disowned the al-Qaeda leader prior to the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. The Embraer Phenom 300 jet crashed on Friday while trying to land at Blackbushe Airport, an airfield used by private planes and flying clubs about 65km southwest of London. British authorities said four people were killed in the crash. The official Saudi Press Agency earlier identified the jet as being Saudi-owned.
UNITED STATES
Wildfire kills firefighter
A firefighter died while battling one of the 18 large wildfires raging in California, its governor said on Friday, declaring a state of emergency. About 8,000 firefighters have been deployed across the state, said the California National Guard, which has been called into action. “California’s severe drought and extreme weather have turned much of the state into a tinderbox,” California Governor Edmund Brown said in a statement. “Our courageous firefighters are on the front lines and we’ll do everything we can to help them.” The firefighter, 38-year-old Dave Ruhl, was killed on Thursday while fighting a fire in the Modoc National Forest outside Alturas. “Firefighter Ruhl will be remembered for his service and bravery and we extend our deepest condolences to his family, friends and colleagues with the US Forest Service,” Brown said in a separate statement.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in