World Briefly: 3-8-17

BC-World Briefly/1981

AP News in Brief at 6:04 p.m. EST

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.

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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.

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Casey Anthony tells AP: ‘I didn’t do what I was accused of’

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Casey Anthony knows that much of the world believes she killed her 2-year-old daughter, despite her acquittal. But nearly nine years later, she insists she doesn’t know how the last hours of Caylee’s life unfolded.

“Caylee would be 12 right now. And would be a total badass,” she told The Associated Press in one of a series of exclusive interviews. “I’d like to think she’d be listening to classic rock, playing sports” and putting up with no nonsense.

But discussing Caylee’s last moments, the 30-year-old Anthony spoke in halting, sober tones: “I’m still not even certain as I stand here today about what happened,” she said.

“Based off what was in the media” — the story of a woman who could not account for a month in which her child was missing, whose defense involved an accidental drowning for which there was no eyewitness testimony — “I understand the reasons people feel about me. I understand why people have the opinions that they do.”

This was the first time Anthony spoke to a news media outlet about her daughter’s death or her years since the trial. Her responses were at turns revealing, bizarre and often contradictory, and they ultimately raised more questions than answers about the case that has captivated the nation.

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‘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.

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Battle looms over Bill Cosby’s testimony on drugs and sex

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The next battle in the criminal case against Bill Cosby will be whether prosecutors can use his lurid deposition testimony about giving pills and alcohol to a string of women before sex — material that may be disallowed at his trial since the judge ruled most of the women themselves can’t testify.

Judge Steven O’Neill must resolve the seeming conflict between two key pretrial rulings he made in recent months: One lets the deposition in, while the other excludes most of the accusers Cosby discusses.

The two sides will slug it out in briefs being filed in the coming weeks. The case is set for trial June 5 in suburban Philadelphia.

Cosby, 79, is accused of drugging and molesting former Temple University employee Andrea Constand at his home in 2004. The TV star whose reputation as America’s Dad has been destroyed by a barrage of sexual assault allegations could get 10 years in prison if convicted. He has said the sexual contact was consensual.

The comedian gave the damaging testimony more than a decade ago as part of a lawsuit filed against him by Constand, who later settled for an undisclosed sum.

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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.

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Democrats push No. 2 Justice pick for special Russia probe

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats pushed Tuesday for a special prosecutor to examine the Trump administration’s potential ties to Russia, using a confirmation hearing to urge the No. 2 pick at the Justice Department to consider handing over any such investigation to an independent overseer.

“We need steel spines, not weak knees when it comes to political independence in the Department of Justice,” said Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, the Senate Judiciary Committee’s top Democrat.

The remarks came during a hearing for Rod Rosenstein, a longtime federal prosecutor tapped for deputy attorney general, which instead became a referendum on Russian meddling in the presidential election.

As deputy, Rosenstein would assume oversight of a federal investigation into Russian influence following the recusal last week of Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who said he would step aside from any probes into the Trump campaign after revelations of unreported contacts with the Russian ambassador last year.

Though repeatedly pressed by Democrats, Rosenstein would not commit to appointing a special prosecutor and said he was unaware of a basis to do so at the moment.

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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.

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US moves controversial missile defense to South Korea

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — U.S. missile launchers and other equipment needed to set up a controversial missile defense system have arrived in South Korea, the U.S. and South Korean militaries said Tuesday, a day after North Korea test-fired four ballistic missiles into the ocean near Japan.

The plans to deploy the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense system, or THAAD, within this year have angered not only North Korea, but also China and Russia, which see the system’s powerful radars as a security threat.

China responded quickly, saying it will take “necessary measures” to protect itself and warning that the U.S. and South Korea should be prepared to bear the consequences.

Washington and Seoul say the system is defensive and not meant to be a threat to Beijing or Moscow. The U.S. military said THAAD can intercept and destroy short and medium-range ballistic missiles during the last part of their flights.

“Continued provocative actions by North Korea, to include yesterday’s launch of multiple missiles, only confirm the prudence of our alliance decision last year to deploy THAAD to South Korea,” Adm. Harry Harris, head of the U.S. Pacific Command, said in a statement.

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WikiLeaks: CIA has targeted everyday gadgets for snooping

NEW YORK (AP) — Maybe the CIA is spying on you through your television set after all.

Documents released by WikiLeaks allege a CIA surveillance program that targets everyday gadgets ranging from smart TVs to smartphones to cars. Such snooping, WikiLeaks said, could turn some of these devices into recorders of everyday conversations — and could also circumvent data-scrambling encryption on communications apps such as Facebook’s WhatsApp.

WikiLeaks is, for now, withholding details on the specific hacks used “until a consensus emerges” on the nature of the CIA’s program and how the methods should be “analyzed, disarmed and published.” But WikiLeaks — a nonprofit that routinely publishes confidential documents, frequently from government sources — claims that the data and documents it obtained reveal a broad program to bypass security measures on everyday products.

MORE PRIVACY CLASHES

If true, the disclosure could spark new privacy tensions between the government and the technology industry. Relations have been fraught since 2013, when former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden disclosed secret NSA surveillance of phone and digital communications.