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Florida’s Indian River lagoon is considered the most biologically diverse estuary in the Northern Hemisphere. But it is facing a serious threat to the plants and animals in its waters. The water’s surface is increasingly dotted with thousands of dead fish, manatees, birds and other creatures. Faiza Elmasry has more about the problem, the cause and the solution. VOA’s Faith Lapidus narrates.
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From: MeNeedIt
Veteran Irish rock band U2 is the top-selling live music act in the United States for summer 2017, ticket seller StubHub said on Sunday, outpacing pop acts such as Ed Sheeran and Lady Gaga with a concert tour celebrating its seminal “Joshua Tree” album.
U2’s 13-stop “The Joshua Tree Tour 2017” topped the list of most popular live music acts in the United States between Memorial Day (May 29) and Labor Day (September 4). British singer Sheeran’s U.S. leg of his “divide” tour came in at No. 2 with 32 shows over the summer.
Unlike most artists who tour in support of new albums, U2’s concert celebrates the 30th anniversary of its 1987 “The Joshua Tree” album, with lyrics that drew from the band’s travels across America and social commentary.
U2 will kick off its U.S. Joshua Tree tour on Sunday at Seattle’s 68,000-capacity CenturyLink Field, and will play shows across the country including California, Texas and Florida before heading to Europe.
Sheeran’s tour will be at venues averaging a capacity of 20,000 while U2’s venues are upwards of 65,000 seats.
StubHub’s top-10 list did not include tickets sold for shows in Canada.
StubHub, which did not release the number of tickets sold, said U2 had outsold Sheeran by 65 percent and outsold last year’s top summer act, British singer Adele, by 15 percent.
Tickets for U2 have averaged around $246, while average ticket prices for Sheeran have been about $231, the ticket seller said, adding that U2’s June 3 Chicago date was the most in-demand concert of the summer.
StubHub’s top-10 acts of the summer saw an equal division of veteran artists and current pop and hip-hop acts, with Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers, Metallica, Tool and Roger Waters facing off Bruno Mars, Lady Gaga, Kendrick Lamar and Justin Bieber.
From: MeNeedIt
Europe’s police agency Europol says a global cyberattack has affected at least 100,000 organizations in 150 countries, with data networks infected by malware that locks computer files unless a ransom is paid.
“I’m worried about how the numbers will continue to grow when people go to work and turn on their machines on Monday,” Europol director Rob Wainwright told Britain’s ITV television.
So far there has been no progress reported in efforts to determine who launched the plot.
Computer security experts have assured individual computer users who have kept their PC operating systems updated that they are relatively safe.
They advised those whose networks have been effectively shut down by the ransomware attack not to make the payment demanded — the equivalent of $300, paid in the digital currency bitcoin, delivered to a likely untraceable destination that consists merely of a lengthy string of letters and numbers.
However, the authors of the “WannaCry” ransomware attack told their victims the amount they must pay would double if they did not comply within three days of the original infection — by Monday, in most cases. And the hackers warned that they would delete all files on infected systems if no payment was received within seven days.
Avast, an international security software firm that claims it has 400 million users worldwide, said the ransomware attacks rose rapidly Saturday to a peak of 57,000 detected intrusions. Avast, which was founded in 1988 by two Czech researchers, said the largest number of attacks appeared to be aimed at Russia, Ukraine and Taiwan, but that major institutions in many other countries were affected.
‘Kill switch’ found
Computer security experts said the current attack could have been much worse but for the quick action of a young researcher in Britain who discovered a vulnerability in the ransomware itself, known as WanaCryptor 2.0.
The researcher, identified only as “MalwareTech,” found a “kill switch” within the ransomware as he studied its structure.
The “kill” function halted WanaCryptor’s ability to copy itself rapidly to all terminals in an infected system — hastening its crippling effect on a large network — once it was in contact with a secret internet address, or URL, consisting of a lengthy alphanumeric string.
The “kill” function had not been activated by whoever unleashed the ransomware, and the researcher found that the secret URL had not been registered to anyone by international internet administrators. He immediately claimed the URL for himself, spending about $11 to secure his access, and that greatly slowed the pace of infections in Britain.
Experts cautioned, however, that the criminals who pushed the ransomware to the world might be able to disable the “kill” switch in future versions of their malware.
Hackers’ key tool
WanaCryptor 2.0 is only part of the problem. It spread to so many computers so rapidly by using an exploit — software capable of burrowing unseen into Windows computer operating systems.
The exploit, known as “EternalBlue” or “MS17-010,” took advantage of a vulnerability in the Microsoft software that reportedly had been discovered and developed by the U.S. National Security Agency, which used it for surveillance activities.
NSA does not discuss its capabilities, and some computer experts say the MS17-010 exploit was developed by unknown parties using the name Equation Group (which may also be linked to NSA). Whatever its source, it was published on the internet last month by a hacker group called ShadowBrokers.
Microsoft distributed a “fix” for the software vulnerability two months ago, but not all computer users and networks worldwide had yet made that update and thus were highly vulnerable. And many computer networks, particularly those in less developed parts of the world, still use an older version of Microsoft software, Windows XP, that the company no longer updates.
The Finnish computer security firm F-Secure called the problem spreading around the world “the biggest ransomware outbreak in history.” The firm said it had warned about the exponential growth of ransomware, or crimeware, as well as the dangers of sophisticated surveillance tools used by governments.
Lesson: Update programs
With WanaCryptor and MS17-010 both “unleashed into the wild,” F-Secure said the current problem seems to have combined and magnified the worst of the dangers those programs represent.
The security firm Kaspersky Lab, based in Russia, noted that Microsoft had repaired the software problem that allows backdoor entry into its operating systems weeks before hackers published the exploit linked to the NSA, but also said: “Unfortunately it appears that many users have not yet installed the patch.”
Britain’s National Health Services first sounded the ransomware alarm Friday.
The government held an emergency meeting Saturday of its crisis response committee, known as COBRA, to assess the damage. Late in the day, Home Secretary Amber Rudd said the NHS was again “working as normal,” with 97 percent of the system’s components now fully restored.
Spanish firm Telefonica, French automaker Renault, the U.S.-based delivery service FedEx and the German railway Deutsche Bahn were among those affected.
None of the firms targeted indicated whether they had paid or would pay the hackers ransom.
From: MeNeedIt
Dr. David Nabarro says he wants to rid the world of two diseases that are close to being eradicated: polio and guinea worm. Polio exists mainly on the Pakistani-Afghan border and in northern Nigeria. Both are conflict zones, where vaccine workers risk their lives to immunize children.
“The last part of eradicating any disease is always the hardest part,” Nabarro said during a visit to VOA. “If you don’t do it, you lose everything. To do it, you’ve got to really bring all the energy and commitment you can to bear.”
The World Health Organization has worked to eliminate polio for more than 30 years. Nigeria was to be declared polio-free this year, meaning the country had no cases for three continuous years, but then the disease returned.
“We must remain vigilant and focused until we are certain that the last case has been found and that we have got everybody protected,” Nabarro said.
Watch: WHO to Vote on New Director-General; David Nabarro Wants the Job
Guinea worm
Nabarro also wants to rid the world of Guinea worm, a disease that starts when people drink water containing fleas infected with guinea worm larvae. The larvae grow in human intestines. And while it is not life-threatening, it is painful when the worm emerges.
In 1986, about 3.5 million people had Guinea worm disease. Last year, 25 people had it. This was the result of efforts by United Nations agencies, the Carter Center, which was founded by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Nabarro wants to make more inroads in ending malaria, a disease that threatens nearly half the world’s population. Even through malaria can be prevented and cured, the WHO says it caused nearly half a million deaths in 2015.
Ebola epidemic
During the Ebola epidemic, Nabarro visited the West African countries ravaged by the disease as the U.N. special envoy on Ebola. It took the world a long time to put together an effective response to the epidemic, and before it was over more than 11,000 people died.
The WHO was heavily criticized for the way it handled the pandemic. Nabarro wants to make sure a tragedy of this magnitude does not happen again because of a lack of preparedness.
“I want to be sure the world as a whole helps nations to respond quickly when there’s a threat of infection. Usually, that means that the problem doesn’t get out of control,” he told VOA.
Life of public health service
Nabarro has spent his life working in public health. He worked in Iraq with Save the Children in 1974. He continued to work in public health positions until he joined the World Health Organization in 1999 and has worked at the WHO and for the U.N. since then. Nabarro has worked on malaria programs.
Now, he hopes to be elected director-general of the World Health Organization when the World Health Assembly meets in Geneva May 23.
This is the first time candidates will be elected to become director-general of WHO by member nations.
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From: MeNeedIt
Here is a look at some of the places hit by the global cyberattack.
European Union — Europol’s European Cybercrime Center, known as EC3, said the attack “is at an unprecedented level and will require a complex international investigation to identify the culprits.”
Britain — Britain’s home secretary said the “ransomware” attack hit one in five of 248 National Health Service groups, forcing hospitals to cancel or delay treatments for thousands of patients — even some with serious aliments like cancer.
Germany — The national railway said Saturday departure and arrival display screens at its train stations were affected, but there was no impact on actual train services. Deutsche Bahn said it deployed extra staff to help customers.
Russia — Two security firms — Kaspersky Lab and Avast — said Russia was hit hardest by the attack. The Russian Interior Ministry, which runs the country’s police, confirmed it was among those that fell victim to the “ransomware,” which typically flashes a message demanding payment to release the user’s data. Spokeswoman Irina Volk was quoted by the Interfax news agency Saturday as saying the problem had been “localized” and that no information was compromised. Russia’s health ministry said its attacks were “effectively repelled.”
United States — In the U.S., FedEx Corp. reported that its Windows computers were `”experiencing interference” from malware, but wouldn’t say if it had been hit by ransomware. Other impacts in the U.S. were not readily apparent.
Turkey — The head of Turkey’s Information and Communication Technologies Authority or BTK says the nation was among those affected by the ransomware attack. Omer Fatih Sayan said the country’s cyber security center is continuing operations against the malicious software.
France — French carmaker Renault’s assembly plant in Slovenia halted production after it was targeted. Radio Slovenia said Saturday the Revoz factory in the southeastern town of Novo Mesto stopped working Friday evening to stop the malware from spreading.
Brazil — The South American nation’s social security system had to disconnect its computers and cancel public access. The state-owned oil company Petrobras and Brazil’s Foreign Ministry also disconnected computers as a precautionary measure, and court systems went down, too.
Spain — The attack hit Spain’s Telefonica, a global broadband and telecommunications company.
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From: MeNeedIt
Portugal’s Salvador Sobral won the Eurovision Song Contest on Saturday with a gentle romantic ballad that challenged the event’s decades-long reputation for cheesy, glittery excess.
Sobral sang his Amar Pelos Dois (Love For Both) in a high, clear tenor accompanied by quiet strings and a piano. Unlike the 25 other competitors who performed on a wide stage backed by flashing lights, bursts of flames and other effects, Sobral sang from a small elevated circle in the middle of the crowd, an intimate contrast to others’ bombast.
“Music is not fireworks, music is feeling,” he said while accepting the award.
Runner-up Kristian Kostov of Bulgaria wasn’t short on feeling — his power-ballad “Beautiful Mess” was awash in melodrama, the singer appearing almost wrung out by romantic turmoil.
Moldova’s Sunstroke Project finished a surprising third, with a bouncy, jazzy song called “Hey Mama”‘ that featured a clever stage routine in which the female backup singers hid their microphones in bridal bouquets.
Francesco Gabbani of Italy had led bookmakers’ tallies for most of the days leading up to the final, but he ended up placing sixth even though his act seemed the epitome of Eurovision’s cheerfully tacky aesthetics — singing a driving number about spirituality while accompanied by someone in a gorilla suit.
Eurovision, in its 62nd year, is aimed at apolitical entertainment. But the sweet intentions were soured this year when Russia’s participation was scuttled by host Ukraine over the two nations’ diplomatic and military conflict.
Russia is one of Eurovision’s heavy hitters, tied with Sweden for the most top-five finishes this century. But this year’s Russian entrant, Yuliya Samoylova, was blocked from competing by Ukraine because she had toured in Crimea after Russia’s 2014 annexation of the peninsula.
In response, Russia’s state-owned Channel 1 television is refusing to broadcast the contest, replacing Saturday’s final with a screening of the film “Alien.”
The Moscow-Kyiv split is a headache for Eurovision’s producer, the European Broadcasting Union, which strives mightily to keep pop and politics separate. Overtly political flags and banners are banned, and lyrics are monitored for provocative content.
In 2009, the EBU nixed the Georgian entry “We Don’t Wanna Put In,” a dig at Russian President Vladimir Putin. The union, however, has been criticized for not barring “1944” last year, allowing Russia-Ukraine tensions to fester.
The acrimony is ironic, since Eurovision was founded in 1956 to bring the recently warring countries of Europe together. It launched a year before the foundation of the European Economic Community, forerunner of the European Union.
From its launch with seven countries, Eurovision has grown to include more than 40, including non-European nations such as Israel and — somewhat controversially — far-off Australia.
The contest helped launch the careers of Sweden’s ABBA — victors in 1974 with “Waterloo” — Canada’s Celine Dion, who won for Switzerland in 1988, and Irish high-steppers Riverdance, the halftime entertainment in 1994.
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From: MeNeedIt
A roundup of some of the most popular, but completely untrue, headlines of the week. None of these stories are legit, even though they were shared widely on social media. AP checked these out; here are the real facts:
NOT REAL: U.S. Department of State suspends New York Times license
THE FACTS: The account claiming the State Department suspended the newspaper’s operational permit after it criticized Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte is “completely false,” Times spokeswoman Danielle Rhoades Ha says. There is no permit required for U.S. news organizations and there is no issue with the newspaper’s foreign press credentials, she said. A website made up to look like a CNN outlet says in a story published last month that the State Department accused The Times of “breaking communication code of ethics” in a matter that could cause diplomatic challenges between the two countries.
NOT REAL: Sarah Palin out of her coma, able to identify her attackers
THE FACTS: More than half a dozen sites have run the same verbatim account of a hit-and-run accident on California’s Pacific Coast Highway involving the former Alaska governor, followed up by stories alleging Palin emerged from her coma to identify her assailants. A spokesman for Palin tells the AP the reports are “as fake as fake can be.” The sites report that the accident happened April 28, when Palin’s Twitter and Facebook accounts were active. The 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate has been a target of hoax articles in the past.
NOT REAL: Hobby Lobby just announced plan to close ALL stores
THE FACTS: The arts and crafts retail chain has 700-plus stores and says it’s adding 60 more in 2017. A story published by Daily Info News, The Washington Feed and other outlets said the chain’s CEO said it could go out of business if it pays fines for violating a mandate under the Affordable Care Act to provide employees access to emergency contraception. Hobby Lobby won an exemption from the law based on religious preferences in a 2014 Supreme Court decision.
NOT REAL: 2 moms, 5 kids killed in car crash in (insert place here)
THE FACTS: Multiple websites have appropriated many details from a true account of a June 2016 minivan accident in Southern California that killed two mothers and four children while two fathers survived. The stories circulating with dozens of different headlines change the U.S. county where it occurred, and in some cases add the fathers’ names and varying ages of the children.
NOT REAL: Robertson: David Bowie is not dead, he was kidnapped by demons summoned by rock music
THE FACTS: This account first published by politicops.com last year and recently recycled by admitted hoax site uspoln.com began with an accurate answer by “700 Club” host Pat Robertson to a teenager’s written question on whether it was OK to listen to rock music. Robertson replied that some rock wasn’t “all that bad,” but some “is just evil.” A spokesman for Robertson’s Christian Broadcasting Network tells the AP that the evangelist made no mention of Bowie, who died Jan. 10, 2016.
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From: MeNeedIt
In what is believed to be the largest attack of its kind ever recorded, a cyberextortion attack struck in dozens of countries Friday, locking up computers and holding users’ files for ransom at dozens of hospitals, companies and government agencies.
Massive Cyberattack Hits Organizations Around Globe — An aggressive wave of cyberattacks has hit companies and public institutions around the globe, causing international havoc and bringing many services to a standstill. The cyberextortion attempt appeared to use stolen software developed by a U.S. spy agency.
What You Need to Know About Ransomware — What is ransomware? How does it infect your computer? How is the U.S. government’s National Security Agency involved? How to keep your computer safe.
Global Cyberattack Fuels Concern About US Vulnerability Disclosures — A global cyberattack on Friday renewed concerns about whether the U.S. National Security Agency and other countries’ intelligence services too often horde software vulnerabilities for offensive purposes, rather than quickly alerting technology companies to such flaws.
Companies Affected by Global Cyber Attack — A global cyber attack on Friday affected British hospitals, government agencies and companies, such as FedEx Corp., Telefonica SA, Portugal Telecom and Telefonica Argentina, in 99 countries, with Russia, Ukraine and Taiwan the top targets.
Don’t Click: What Is the ‘Ransomware’ WannaCry Worm? — What is so special about WannaCry?
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From: MeNeedIt
Malicious software called “ransomware” has forced British hospitals to turn away patients and affected Spanish companies such as Telefonica as part of a global outbreak that has affected tens of thousands of computers.
How does it work?
WannaCry — also known as WanaCrypt0r 2.0, WannaCry and WCry — is a form of “ransomware” that locks up the files on your computer and encrypts them in a way that you cannot access them anymore.
How does it spread?
Ransomware is a program that gets into your computer, either by clicking on the wrong thing or downloading the wrong thing, and then it holds something you need to ransom.
In the case of WannaCry, the program encrypts your files and demands payment in bitcoin in order to regain access.
Security experts warn there is no guarantee that access will be granted after payment. Some ransomware that encrypts files ups the stakes after a few days, demanding more money and threatening to delete files altogether.
There are different variants of what happens: Other forms of ransomware execute programs that can lock your computer entirely, only showing a message to make payment in order to log in again. There are some that create pop-ups that are difficult or impossible to close, rendering the machine difficult or impossible to use.
Where has it spread?
British-based cyber researcher Chris Doman of AlienVault said the ransomware “looks to be targeting a wide range of countries,” with initial evidence of infections in at least two dozen nations, according to experts from three security firms.
The broad-based ransomware attack has appeared in at least eight Asian nations, a dozen countries in Europe, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates and Argentina, and appears to be sweeping around the globe, researchers said.
What is so special about WannaCry?
WannaCry is not just a ransomware program, it is also a worm.
This means that it gets into your computer and looks for other computers to try and spread itself as far and wide as possible.
Ransomware has a habit of mutating, so it changes over time in order to find different ways to access computers or to get around patches (operating system updates that often include security updates). Many security firms are already aware of WannaCry in past forms and most are looking at this one right now to see how it might be stopped.
Several cybersecurity firms said WannaCry exploits a vulnerability in Microsoft and that Microsoft patched this in March. People don’t always install updates and patches on their computers, and so this means vulnerabilities can remain open a lot longer and make things easier for hackers to get in.
It exploited a vulnerability in the Windows operating system believed to have been developed by the National Security Agency, which became public last month. It was among a large number of hacking tools and other files that a group known as the Shadow Brokers released on the internet. Shadow Brokers said that they obtained it from a secret NSA server.
The identity of Shadow Brokers is unknown, though many security experts believe the group that surfaced in 2016 is linked to the Russian government.
The NSA and Microsoft did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
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From: MeNeedIt
A rare Harry Potter prequel handwritten by author J.K. Rowling on a postcard was stolen during a burglary in central England, police said Friday as they appealed for help from fans of the wizard across the world.
The 800-word story, set three years before Harry Potter is born and which sold for 25,000 pounds ($32,152) at a charity auction in 2008, was stolen from a property in Birmingham between April 13-24.
Appeal to Potter fans
“Please don’t buy this if you’re offered it,” Rowling wrote on Twitter. “Originally auctioned for @englishpen, the owner supported writers’ freedoms by bidding for it.”
The proceeds of the auction were donated to English PEN, an organization that champions freedom of expression, and to Dyslexia Action.
“The only people who will buy this unique piece are true Harry Potter fans. We are appealing to anyone who sees, or is offered this item for sale, to contact police,” said Constable Paul Jauncey from West Midlands Police.
Untitled prequel
Handwritten over two sides of an A5 postcard, the untitled prequel features the characters Sirius Black and Harry’s father, James. It opens with a youthful Sirius and James cornered by two irate policemen at the end of a high-speed motorcycle chase.
After an exchange of words with the policemen, the two teenagers make their escape using a touch of magic. The card concludes with the words “From the prequel I am not working on — but that was fun!”
More than 450 million copies of the seven original Harry Potter books have been sold worldwide in 79 languages. The movie franchise has grossed more than $7 billion worldwide.
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From: MeNeedIt
After several large-scale incidents at nuclear power plants around the globe, public pressure in some countries led to abandoning the technology. But manufacturers say the new generation reactors are much safer, and their use will dramatically lower the air pollution that causes global warming. VOA’s George Putic reports.
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From: MeNeedIt