WikiLeaks reveals CIA files describing hacking tools
WASHINGTON (AP) — WikiLeaks published thousands of documents Tuesday described as secret files about CIA hacking tools the government employs to break into users’ computers, mobile phones and even smart TVs from companies like Apple, Google, Microsoft and Samsung.
The documents describe clandestine methods for bypassing or defeating encryption, antivirus tools and other protective security features intended to keep the private information of citizens and corporations safe from prying eyes. U.S. government employees, including President Donald Trump, use many of the same products and internet services purportedly compromised by the tools.
The documents describe CIA efforts — cooperating with friendly foreign governments and the U.S. National Security Agency — to subvert the world’s most popular technology platforms, including Apple’s iPhones and iPads, Google’s Android phones and the Microsoft Windows operating system for desktop computers and laptops.
The documents also include discussions about compromising some internet-connected televisions to turn them into listening posts. One document discusses hacking vehicle systems, indicating the CIA’s interest in hacking modern cars with sophisticated on-board computers.
WikiLeaks has a long track record of releasing top secret government documents, and experts who sifted through the material said it appeared legitimate.
Conservative backlash threatens to sink new GOP health bill
WASHINGTON (AP) — A powerful conservative backlash threatened to sink the new Republican health care bill Tuesday less than 24 hours after its launch, even as President Donald Trump and congressional leaders began trying to sell the legislation as the long-promised GOP cure for “Obamacare.”
“We’re going to do something that’s great and I’m proud to support the replacement plan released by the House of Representatives,” Trump declared at the White House as he met with the House GOP vote-counting team Tuesday. “We’re going to take action. There’s going to be no slowing down. There’s going to be no waiting and no more excuses by anybody.”
Meanwhile, Vice President Mike Pence told GOP lawmakers at the Capitol this was their chance to scuttle Obama’s law, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell forecast congressional passage by early April.
But major obstacles loomed as key Republican lawmakers announced their opposition, and one conservative group after another torched the plan. The Club for Growth, Heritage Action for America, Americans for Prosperity and Tea Party Patriots variously derided the new bill as Obamacare Lite, Obamacare 2.0 and even RyanCare, in a dig at House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin.
The concerted conservative opposition was a remarkable rebuke to legislation GOP leaders hope will fulfill seven years of promises to repeal and replace Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act, pledges that played out in countless Republican campaigns for House and Senate as well as last year’s race for president. Instead, the groups that are uniting to oppose the new House legislation include many that sprang up to oppose passage of “Obamacare” in the first place.
‘A nightmare:’ UN chief urges help for Somalia hunger crisis
BAIDOA, Somalia (AP) — Visibly shocked by the suffering of malnourished Somalis and cholera victims during an emergency visit, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday urged international support to alleviate Somalia’s worsening hunger crisis.
“Every single person we have seen is a personal story of tremendous suffering. There is no way to describe it,” Guterres said after seeing skeletal men, women and children in a cholera ward in Baidoa, 243 kilometers (151 miles) northwest of the capital, Mogadishu.
Somalia’s prolonged drought has caused widespread hunger, and the shortage of clean water has resulted in cholera.
On his first field trip since becoming the U.N. chief, Guterres said Somalia’s famine crisis requires a massive response. He said 6 million people, or almost half of the country’s population, need assistance.
“People are dying. The world must act now to stop this,” he tweeted on his arrival in this Horn of Africa nation.
Train hits bus in Mississippi; 3 dead, unknown number hurt
BILOXI, Miss. (AP) — A freight train smashed into a charter bus in Biloxi, Mississippi, on Tuesday, pushing the bus 300 feet down the tracks and leaving at least three people dead, authorities said.
Images from the scene show the bus, upright and still intact, straddling the tracks, with the CSX train pushed up against its left side.
The bus was carrying 50 people from Austin, Texas, Biloxi Police Chief John Miller said at a news conference. He said authorities believe the bus was stopped on the tracks at the time of the crash, but they don’t yet know why.
At least three people were killed, according to Biloxi city spokesman Vincent Creel, who said emergency responders were still removing injured people from the bus more than 30 minutes after the crash, pulling many through windows.
Witnesses told WLOX-TV that passengers were senior citizens. Charter buses often carry patrons to one of Biloxi’s eight casinos, but Creel said he wasn’t sure where the bus was headed.
Trump set to roll back federal fuel-economy requirements
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration is moving to roll back federal fuel-economy requirements that would have forced automakers to increase significantly the efficiency of new cars and trucks, a key part of former President Barack Obama’s strategy to combat global warming.
The Environmental Protection Agency is close to an announcement reversing a decision made in the waning days of the Obama administration to lock in strict gas mileage requirements for cars and light trucks through 2025.
Automakers asked EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt to discard a Jan. 13 decision that requires the fleet of new cars to average a real-world figure of 36 miles per gallon.
The automakers said the Obama rules could add thousands of dollars to the price of new cars and cost more than a million jobs.
Lawmakers, industry groups and environmentalists say the administration has signaled it plans to take this step. An announcement could come as early as this week, although changes in the standards could take years to fully implement.
