Category Archives: News to use

Useful news for all to advance knowledge of the world and how it works

Nigeria: Boko Haram ′didn′t kidnap′ 344 boys | News | DW | 18.12.2020

Abubakar Shekau, a factional leader of Boko Haram, had claimed earlier this week in a video message that his group carried out the attack because it believes Western education is un-Islamic.

However, experts also said the attack was likely carried out by local gangs, who have staged increasingly deadly assaults in northwest Nigeria this year and could possibly have been collaborating with Boko Haram.

Source: Nigeria: Boko Haram ′didn′t kidnap′ 344 boys | News | DW | 18.12.2020

L.A. COVID-19 spread hits elderly, people of color extra hard – Los Angeles Times

New daily cases have hit levels that are hard to fathom, including one day this week when more than 20,000 new COVID cases were reported in the county. An estimated one in 80 people in L.A. County are now contagious with the virus; that’s far worse than in late September, when scientists calculated that one in 880 county residents were infectious.

Source: L.A. COVID-19 spread hits elderly, people of color extra hard – Los Angeles Times

Biden team expresses concern over ‘abrupt halt’ in cooperation with Pentagon | TheHill – (Trump henchman continues to lie and block transition activities)

“We were concerned to learn this week about an abrupt halt in the already limited cooperation there, and as indicated by DOD earlier today, we expect that decision will be reversed,” Abraham continued.

“Let me be clear: there was no mutually agreed upon holiday break,” Abraham added later. “In fact, we think it’s important that briefings and other engagements continue during this period, as there’s no time to spare.”

Transition team members were notified Thursday about canceled meetings and “immediately and appropriately escalated” the issue, Abraham said.

Earlier Friday, Axios reported that acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller ordered a halt to cooperation with Biden’s transition amid frustration within the Trump administration at Biden’s team.

The Pentagon responded to the report by acknowledging that about 20 meetings with 40 officials were being rescheduled until after Jan. 1, but insisted cooperation was continuing, saying that documents would be given to Biden’s team during the pause.

Source: Biden team expresses concern over ‘abrupt halt’ in cooperation with Pentagon | TheHill

Covid vaccines are costing Europe less than the United States – The Washington Post

Comparing that list to U.S. calculations by Bernstein Research, an analysis and investment firm, it appears the 27-nation union has a 24 percent discount on the Pfizer vaccine, paying $14.76 per dose relative to $19.50 in the United States. Some of the difference may reflect that the E.U. subsidized that vaccine’s development and the cost of shipping the European-made vaccine across the Atlantic.

The bloc will pay 45 percent less than the United States for the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine currently under development. But it will pay 20 percent more than the United States for the Moderna vaccine, which is expected to be approved for U.S. use on Friday. Both of those vaccines were funded partly by the U.S. government as part of Operation Warp Speed, an effort to expedite their development. The AstraZeneca-Oxford team received $1.2 billion, and Moderna got $4.1 billion.

Source: Covid vaccines are costing Europe less than the United States – The Washington Post

The SolarWinds Breach: Why Your Work Computers Are Down Today – Lawfare

CISA ordered all nonmilitary governmental systems running the Orion software to both stop running the software and, critically, disconnect these computers from the rest of the network by noon today. This is simply the first step in a remediation process through which the network administrators seek to restore operations.

But the attacker’s ability to ingrain itself in the network further amplifies the problem faced by those rebuilding the networks. If the SAML (a protocol for federated authentication) or Active Directory (a tool for managing a Windows network) server is affected, there is now the significant possibility that the attacker used the initial compromise to spread throughout the entire network.

Which means that more than a few networks are going to have to take drastic measures. To quote the movie Aliens: “Take off and nuke the entire site from orbit—it’s the only way to be sure.” That is, they will need to start from scratch by reinstalling systems and then re-adding authorized users, rather than trying to ensure that all attacker accounts were removed successfully.

Source: The SolarWinds Breach: Why Your Work Computers Are Down Today – Lawfare