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  • Trump defends Russia business links after ex-lawyer admits lying

    Donald Trump Symbol copyright Reuters Symbol caption Donald Trump is lately in Argentina for the G20 summit

    Donald Trump has defended the industry dealings he had with Russia ahead of turning into president, once more calling present investigations a “witch hunt”.

    On Thursday his ex-attorney had admitted mendacity to Congress a few belongings deal Mr Trump was planning in Moscow.

    In a chain of tweets, Mr Trump said the deals had been “very criminal”, he submit “0 cash” and deserted the project.

    A unique suggest is investigating Russia’s role within the 2016 election and whether Mr Trump colluded with it.

    What (else) we have simply learnt approximately Russia probe Michael Cohen: Trump’s pit bull Ukraine ‘paid Trump legal professional for talks’

    No exhausting proof of any collusion among the Trump campaign and Kremlin has to this point been produced and the president has regularly railed towards the research.

    Simply positioned, Cohen admitted that negotiations over the undertaking had persisted far deeper into 2016, the election 12 months, than he had told Congress and that his contacts with Mr Trump have been far more extensive.

    On Friday, Mr Trump tweeted: “Oh, I Am Getting it! i’m an overly good developer, fortuitously dwelling my life, when I see our Country going within the mistaken direction (to place it mildly).

    Media playback is unsupported for your instrument

    Media captionDonald Trump disregarded Michael Cohen as a “vulnerable person” and a liar

    “Against all odds, I decide to run for President & continue to run my trade – very legal & very cool, mentioned it on the marketing campaign trail… Calmly checked out doing a building somewhere in Russia. publish zero money, 0 guarantees and didn’t do the undertaking. Witch Hunt!”

    On Thursday, Mr Trump had referred to as Cohen “a vulnerable person and not an excessively sensible person”.

    “He Is were given himself a large jail sentence. And he’s trying to get a miles lesser prison sentence through making up this tale.”

    He brought: “He Is lying a few venture that everyone knew approximately. I mean, we have been very open with it.”

    How does Cohen have compatibility into the Russia investigations?

    Until his contemporary admission Cohen, who as soon as said he could take a bullet for the president, was once extra of a peripheral determine in the research into Russian collusion that is being overseen by means of unique suggest Robert Mueller.

    Mr Mueller has already introduced prison fees in opposition to a chain of former Trump aides and colleagues, including Mr Trump’s former national safety adviser Michael Flynn, Russian individuals and entities.

    Media playback is unsupported to your software

    Media captionThe BBC’s Anthony Zurcher analyses Mr Trump’s reaction

    The Primary thrust has been whether Russian sellers sought to undermine the marketing campaign of Hillary Clinton and whether or not the Trump team performed any part.

    Cohen’s testimony has highlighted the president’s trade empire and the extent of its Russian links. Mr Trump has endured to insist he had no monetary ties to Russia.

    Mr Trump has now himself supplied written testimony to Mr Mueller. The BBC’s Anthony Zurcher in Washington says it is now certain to be move-referenced with Cohen’s up to date testimony and could supply a political or indeed legal headache for the president.

    Cohen has already pleaded responsible to 8 criminal fees, including tax evasion, financial institution fraud and campaign finance violations.

    More on Trump and Russia

    The Trump-Russia tale – in 199 phrases Russia-Trump: Who’s who within the drama to end all dramas? Trump Russia affair: Key questions spoke back What does the unique counsel do?

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    Media captionTrump voter: ‘They all holiday the law’

    (more…)

  • Cyber-assault! Would your company maintain it higher than this?

    Cartoon of Tony the IT admin receiving an email from a hacker Image copyright TOM HUMBERSTONE Symbol caption The day starts badly for IT administrator Tony Lewis whilst he reads an electronic mail from a hacker

    What’s it like being the sufferer of a live cyber-attack? What in case you do to protect your organization from additional harm? And for those who pay that ransom demand? Technology of commercial eavesdropped on a “warfare video games” workout hosted by way of cyber safety firm Forcepoint that used to be based on a whole lot of real-life reports.

    Scenario

    IT staff at fictional High Boulevard optician Blink Wink’s head administrative center have been suckered by way of a phishing email. Someone clicked on a hyperlink to a spoof website as a result of they thought the email seemed reputable. It wasn’t. That was once months in the past. Nowadays, the proverbial hits the fan…

    Tuesday 08:30

    Tony Lewis, Blink Wink’s IT administrator, begins his day clearing out the corporate’s public e-mail inbox of the usual junk and spam. One message sticks out. His stomach lurches.

    “i have extra where this came from. we will be in touch in a while with our demands,” the textual content says beneath someone’s title, credit card main points and electronic mail address.

    Tony hopes it is a hoax, however can not take the chance. He swallows onerous and calls the company’s security officer, Doug Hughes. Doug is not impressed as he is on vacation in The Big Apple the place it is THREE:30am.

    Symbol copyright TOM HUMBERSTONE Image caption Safety officer Doug Hughes is having an afternoon to fail to remember…

    “Smartly, when did we get this?” Doug snaps.

    “Um… neatly… it seems we were given it the previous day simply after I’d left paintings, so i did not realize it till this morning.”

    “So we’re at least 12 hours into this?”

    “Um, yeah,” Tony mumbles sheepishly.

    Tuesday 13:30

    “We Have a second electronic mail,” Tony tells Doug. “it’s a ransom call for for £15,000 in the Litecoin crypto-currency. we’ve got to pay by 22:00 BST or they will delete all our customer information.”

    “What?” shouts Doug. “i believed they just had one?”

    “Um, no. They claim to have them all.”

    In a sweat, Doug calls Blink Wink’s criminal recommend Grace Bolton for recommendation. She has to dial in several occasions as her headset is malfunctioning. Her voice helps to keep reducing out in the course of the conversation.

    “that is obviously a possible breach,” she says. “So do not reply to that message. I’ll wish to evaluate existing legislation so we know where we stand.”

    “What concerning the police?” asks Doug, his romantic city holiday now totally ruined. “And the guidelines Commissioner? What approximately GDPR, who do we notify?”

    Tuesday 15:30

    Things are spiralling out of control for Blink Wink. The hackers have published a tranche of shopper names and credit card numbers on Pastebin, a public website online for sharing textual content and source code.

    Doug has now confirmed that the data is authentic.

    “Shouldn’t we close down the website?” asks Tony. “Then we’re going to prohibit the danger.”

    Grace butts in. “Earlier Than we do that, who do we wish to tell first? What’s our knowledge breach policy?”

    “i assumed that came from criminal,” says Doug.

    “Are Not you the information coverage officer?” Grace asks Tony.

    “Nope, not me…”

    Image copyright TOM HUMBERSTONE Symbol caption No-one at Blink Wink seems very certain what they should be doing on this situation

    “God, is it me?” asks Doug despairingly. “Besides, if we pull the website that’ll just draw consideration to ourselves won’t it? undecided that is the right factor to do.”

    “Me neither,” says Grace.

    Blink Wink’s head of public members of the family, Sandra Ellis, has been looped in to the dialog.

    “this isn’t looking good,” she says moderately clearly. “We Have failed to protect our shoppers’ personal data. we could get in reality hammered for this.”

    She issues out that the company has a “buy one get one free” touch lens merchandising working on the second.

    “We’re using other people to the web site at this time. Are their main points being stolen too?”

    “Very perhaps,” says Doug. “We Now Have to shut down the positioning – or portions of it besides. and then we have to make a decision whether to pay the ransom.”

    Tuesday 17:00

    Sandra Ellis has drafted a public remark but doesn’t recommend liberating it to the media until other folks get started asking questions.

    “We’ll just say we are experiencing an incident and do it reactively,” she says.

    “Now Not an incident – a breach,” Doug advises.

    “No, do not use the phrase ‘breach’ – now not yet besides,” chips in Grace, deliberating the felony ramifications. Tony bursts in on the conference name.

    “Now We Have found a few malware! We saw an email come in that went to quarantine so we checked it out and it had an attachment. that would be it.”

    “You didn’t click it did you?” asks Doug, his day going from bad to worse.

    “Um… I just concept it would pace things up…”

    More Technology of commercial

    The crop-spraying drones that pass where tractors cannot the rustic that’s ‘top possibility, top return’ for start-ups what is 5G and what’s going to it imply for you? The cameras that know if you are happy – or a danger Telephone within the proper hand? you are a hacker!

    Doug swears and dips out of the decision to get his safety personnel to test for any more damage.

    Grace turns the conversation to informing the guidelines Commissioner’s Place Of Work.

    “We Can phone or file it online,” she tells them. “However we wish to say what we did to mitigate the problem.”

    “Neatly, we have been supposed to get the most recent danger detection tool last year, but the guy who was once taking a look into that left and wasn’t replaced,” says Tony. “It kinda didn’t happen.”

    “Well don’t tell the ICO that,” Grace barks. “If we won’t show we had adequate controls in place we may well be in bother. And the cyber-insurance other people may not pay out either.”

    Later, Doug confirms that the newest phishing electronic mail used to be a crimson herring, however informs the workforce: “They did discover a phishing e mail sent months ago that associated with a log-in web page made to seem like the one for our cloud provider. That Is how they were given in.

    “We Have to handle issues higher from now on,” Doug concludes. “this will occur once more, and it is only going to get worse.”

    So what should Blink Wink have done?

    Symbol copyright Getty Photographs Symbol caption In The Event You don’t react quickly to a cyber-attack, hackers could have the higher hand

    Richard Ford, chief scientist at Forcepoint, says: “Reacting past due has positioned Blink Wink on the back foot. You want to transfer temporarily in these eventualities another way the attackers dictate the tempo.

    “A negative wisdom of data breach laws has made the corporate inclined. They clearly didn’t have a breach policy in place nor did they know who used to be chargeable for each position or what they need to be doing.”

    Richard says the firm will need to have:

    ready a data breach plan with step-via-step actions to take rehearsed this plan with workforce specified who’s chargeable for what all over a breach steadily circulated and updated the plan so senior body of workers have been aware of it notified 3rd-events and suppliers collected proof for the tips Commissioner to show the way it has treated the issue referred to as its cyber-insurance coverage provider for recommendation and lend a hand ready an announcement for purchasers demonstrating how it will lend a hand deal with any harm refused to pay the ransom – there’s no guarantee they might get their knowledge again.

    And if your company is the victim of an information breach, cyber knowledgeable Troy Hunt says it will:

    determine where the call for/ransomware got here from include infected units (get them offline) investigate how many machines have been affected restore misplaced information from back-ups tell shoppers if their data has been compromised plan to ensure this doesn’t happen once more. Observe Technology of industrial editor Matthew Wall on Twitter and Facebook Click here for extra Generation of business features

  • Ebola outbreak in DR Congo now second worst in history

    A health worker injects a patient Symbol copyright AFP Image caption Medical Experts were vaccinating people in opposition to Ebola to stop the unfold of the virus

    The UN’s global well being frame says the Ebola outbreak within the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo is now the second-largest ever recorded.

    a total of 426 cases of the virus have now been reported in and around the the city of Beni, taking the outbreak previous that recorded in Uganda in 2000.

    Beni is in the heart of a warfare zone and operations had been suffering from rebel attacks.

    Almost 200 folks have died on this outbreak of Ebola.

    But it’s nonetheless so much smaller than the epidemic in West Africa between 2013 and 2016 which killed 11,310 folks.

    Lack Of Confidence in the east of the rustic has affected the Ebola response.

    A fatal rebel attack in September forced medical experts to halt vaccinations and the tracing of individuals who were in contact with suspected Ebola patients.

    The earlier month, the who is Peter Salama warned of this kind of “dreaded” situation coming to pass.

  • Cameron Underwood: Face transplant manner i will be able to smile again

    Cameron Underwood Symbol copyright NYU Langone Health

    Cameron Underwood says he doesn’t get as many “stares or questions from strangers” given that his face transplant.

    “i’ve a nose, and a mouth so I’m capable of smile, to talk and eat solid foods again,” he says.

    Cameron was talking two years after capturing himself in a suicide try in 2016.

    He misplaced his nose, such a lot of his decrease jaw and all however one in every of his tooth within the incident.

    “i am so thankful to have a face transplant because it offers me a second chance at existence,” the 26-year-vintage said at a press convention in Ny on Thursday.

    Symbol copyright Getty Images Symbol caption Cameron spoke approximately his surgical procedure and restoration at a press convention in Big Apple

    In January this 12 months, greater than 100 clinical team of workers carried out a 25-hour surgical procedure on Cameron at the NYU Langone Well Being centre in Long Island, Ny, and his recovery was once found out this week.

    The operation took place just 18 months after Cameron’s suicide attempt – which the centre says is the shortest period of time among harm and surgical operation in US historical past.

    for the reason that first face transplant in 2005, greater than FORTY have been performed worldwide.

    The surgical procedure used to be led through Dr Eduardo D. Rodriguez who says, at the side of scientific advances, it was once Cameron’s resolution to outlive that helped make the surgical treatment a success.

    “within the end, it is all in regards to the affected person. Cameron has put within the work and has made the necessary commitments,” he says.

    Cameron’s transplant used to be the third carried out by way of Dr Rodriguez and he says the moderately short time during which Cameron had lived together with his accidents was also a major think about his restoration.

    “Cameron has now not lived together with his harm for a decade or longer like such a lot other face transplant recipients have,” he says.

    “As a consequence, he has no longer had to handle a lot of the long-time period psychosocial issues which regularly result in issues like severe depression, substance abuse, and different potentially harmful behaviours.”

    in the course of the surgical operation, the physician transplanted and reconstructed Cameron’s higher and lower jaw, including all 32 enamel and gums.

    The roof and flooring of his mouth, lower eyelids and nose have been changed and his tongue needed reconstruction.

    The centre says the operation was once the most technologically advanced face transplant and used to be the primary use of a 3D-published donor facial mask in the US.

    ‘My son helps Cameron reside a greater life’

    Image copyright Getty Images Symbol caption Sally Fisher, the mother of donor Will, says she would possibly not have “survived” losing her son if it wasn’t for Cameron

    The donor used to be 23-yr-vintage Will Fisher, a chess champion, aspiring creator and filmmaker.

    “My son’s loss of life was once a tragedy,” says Will’s mum Sally.

    “i am grateful that, in honouring his decision, we have been capable of supply existence to others, and especially so one can and Dr Rodriguez have given Cameron and his circle of relatives an opportunity to recapture their goals.

    “Being a component of this enjoy has been a source of energy for me all through a very tough time.

    “i do not assume i would have survived Will’s dying if no longer for Cameron. Cameron has his complete lifestyles prior to him – and that i love the speculation that Willie is helping him have a better lifestyles.”

    Cameron paid tribute to Will and the beef up of the Fisher circle of relatives right through his speech at the hospital’s press conference.

    “i need Sally and her circle of relatives to understand how so much my family and that i relish their reward and i’ll at all times honour Will’s legacy,” he says.

    “There were such a lot of superb advances in surgical treatment. I’m living proof of that. nevertheless it handiest occurs because of different folks like Will and his circle of relatives.”

    for information and improve on problems equivalent to suicide, discuss with the Radio 1 recommendation pages.

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    Listen to Newsbeat live at 12:FORTY FIVE and 17:FORTY FIVE every weekday on BBC Radio 1 and 1Xtra – if you happen to omit us you can concentrate back right here.

  • Marriott hack hits 500 million guests

    Marriott hotel Image copyright Getty Images

    The information of 500 million consumers of the hotel group Marriott Global have been occupied with a data breach.

    The resort chain stated the guest reservation database of its Starwood department have been compromised by an unauthorised celebration.

    It stated an internal investigation discovered an attacker have been in a position to get admission to to the Starwood network considering the fact that 2014.

    The company stated it might notify consumers whose data were within the database.

    Starwood’s lodge brands come with W Inns, Sheraton, Le Méridien And 4 Issues by Sheraton.

    Marriott said it was alerted by way of an inner security device that somebody used to be trying to get admission to the Starwood database. After investigating, it found out that an “unauthorised birthday celebration had copied and encrypted knowledge”.

    It stated it believed its database contained information of up to 500 million shoppers.

    For about 327 million guests, the ideas integrated “some combination” of brand, mailing deal with, phone number, electronic mail cope with, passport number, account data, date of beginning, gender, and arrival and departure data.

    This breaking information tale is being up to date and more details can be published in a while. Please refresh the web page for the fullest version.

    You’ll receive Breaking Information on a smartphone or tablet via the BBC News App. You’ll Be Able To also follow @BBCBreaking on Twitter to get the most recent indicators.

  • Afghanistan warfare: US strike in Helmand killed 23 civilians, UN says

    An injured boy receives treatment at a hospital after an airstrike in Helmand province, southern Afghanistan, 29 November 2018 Symbol copyright EPA Image caption As Much As 10 kids were killed and 3 others injured

    A US airstrike in Afghanistan on Tuesday killed as many as 23 civilians, with most sufferers ladies and youngsters, the UN says.

    The strike on a compound in Helmand province used to be called in throughout a joint operation among Afghan and US forces.

    Investigators mentioned up to ten kids and eight girls could have been killed. US forces say they are investigating.

    Civilian casualties from aerial assaults have surged because the US announced a new Afghan technique remaining yr.

    President Trump dedicated more troops to America’s longest conflict and considerably boosted the choice of moves focused on Taliban and Islamic State workforce positions in August 2017. The Principles of engagement have been also loosened, permitting extra bombings.

    the u.s.-led Nato venture in Afghanistan said that Tuesday’s helicopter strike came about amid a firefight among US-advised Afghan unique forces and Taliban fighters in Garmser district.

    Counting the fee of Trump’s air struggle in Afghanistan Why Afghanistan is more unhealthy than ever

    It has been pronounced that lots of the dead civilians had been from the same circle of relatives, however the UN has now not showed this.

    The UN Assistance Venture in Afghanistan recorded 649 civilians casualties (useless and injured) as a results of aerial attacks within the first 9 months of this yr, the highest quantity in any any year due to the fact that systematic recording started in 2009.

    In April, an assault by means of the Afghan Air Power – which is skilled and equipped through the us – killed 30 youngsters in north-japanese Kunduz province at a commencement rite.

    the u.s. Air Pressure launched nearly 6,000 guns in the first 10 months of this year, compared to FOUR,361 in all of 2017 and 1,337 in all of 2016.

    Most civilian casualties in Afghanistan are alternatively still because of anti-government groups just like the Taliban and the Islamic State group (IS).

    Taliban ‘threaten 70% of Afghanistan’ Afghan Taliban attend landmark talks

    The Taliban are gaining floor across Afghanistan, as US officials pursue a peace deal that will bring an finish to the 17-yr battle.

    The militants attended a landmark global assembly in advance this month in Moscow and a delegation from the group has also not too long ago held conferences with US envoys in Qatar.

  • France MPs vote to ban kid smacking

    Mother hitting daughter Image copyright Thinkstock

    French MPs have voted overwhelmingly in favour of a invoice that will ban oldsters from smacking their children.

    The bill on “corporal punishment or humiliation” seeks to verify that parental authority is exercised with out violence. it’s going to now go the Senate.

    Campaigners say approximately EIGHTY FIVE% of French oldsters lodge to corporal punishment.

    Previous attempts to outlaw smacking at house have failed, even though the practice has long been banned in French colleges.

    France holds again the anti-smacking tide French boy ‘killed for not doing homework’

    French lawmakers subsidized the bill in a 51-1 vote early on Friday, following a past due-night debate.

    MP Maud Petit, who sponsored the measure, mentioned the invoice’s major objective was instructional, to encourage society to switch its perspectives on the issue, the AFP information agency reports.

    Like different Eu states, France criminalises violence in opposition to youngsters, but it surely also recently permits oldsters the right to self-discipline their youngsters at a low level.

    What constitutes low-stage discipline and what constitutes prison violence is left to the courts to make a decision – and often sparks controversy, correspondents say.

    Last week, four participants of the similar circle of relatives were arrested after a nine-year-vintage boy was beaten to death within the eastern town of Mulhouse.

    Police sources instructed local media that the boy had refused to do his homework and used to be hit with a broom handle.

    If the invoice is adopted by way of the Senate, France turns into the 55th united states of america to outlaw corporal punishment of children, AFP says.

  • Ukraine bars Russian men from entering u . s .

    Breaking News image

    Ukraine is not going to permit Russian males elderly 16-60 into the rustic all over martial regulation, the top of the State Border Carrier has said.

    An exception could be made for “humanitarian instances” comparable to the ones vacationing to funerals, he said.

    Martial regulation has been imposed in 10 areas bordering Russia for a month.

    The transfer got here amid fears of a Russian invasion after Russian forces seized 3 Ukrainian vessels and 24 sailors within the Black Sea on the weekend.

  • MeToo founder Tarana Burke: Campaign now ‘unrecognisable’

    Tarana Burke Symbol copyright Maria Aufmuth/TED Symbol caption Tarana Burke advised the TEDWomen conference MeToo had a protracted approach to pass

    The founding father of the MeToo motion has said that the campaign in opposition to sexual violence she started more than a decade ago has become “unrecognisable” to her.

    Speaking at TEDWomen in Palm Springs, Tarana Burke mentioned a media backlash had framed the motion as a witch hunt.

    “Abruptly, a movement to centre survivors of sexual violence is being mentioned as a vindictive plot towards males,” she said.

    “Sufferers are heard and then vilified.”

    She used to be keen to come again to the unique intention she had for MeToo while, in 2006, she wrote the words on a piece of paper as some way of beginning an motion plan to do something about the sexual violence she saw in her group.

    The word turned into a globally used hashtag ultimate yr within the wake of allegations made in opposition to Hollywood manufacturer Harvey Weinstein but Ms Burke says she feels the campaign is neglecting the ones it was once set up to assist.

    What has #MeToo in truth modified? Why women concern a backlash over #MeToo Has #MeToo divided girls?

    “My imaginative and prescient for the Me Too movement is part of a collective imaginative and prescient to peer a global free of sexual violence,” she told delegates at the TED (Technology, Entertainment and Layout) convention.

    “This Is a motion about the one in four women and the only in six boys who are sexually abused once a year, and who lift those wounds into maturity,” she says.

    Ms Burke said in the wake of events like Brett Kavanaugh being appointed to the Supreme Court Docket despite going through allegations of sexual misconduct – which he denied – US politicians seemed to be “pivoting clear of the problem”.

    “This motion has been referred to as a watershed second however some days I wake up feeling that all the proof points to the contrary,” she said.

    She ended her talk with a plea that victims no longer be forced to relive their traumas by talking about them and he or she known as for the struggle against “power and privilege” to continue.

    “we now have to re-train ourselves and our kids to understand that power and privilege doesn’t always need to wreck and take – it will probably be used to serve and build,” she stated.