Tag: Apple News

Washington (TIP): The Russian-based agency behind last year’s massive SolarWinds cyberattack has targeted hundreds more companies and organizations in its latest wave of attacks on US-based computer systems, Microsoft said in a blog post. Microsoft, in a blog post dated October 24, said Nobelium’s latest wave targeted “resellers and other technology service providers” of cloud services. Those attacks were part of a broader campaign over the summer, Microsoft said, adding it had notified 609 customers between July 1 and Oct. 19 that they had been attacked. Just a small percent of the latest attempts were successful, Microsoft told the New York Times, which first reported the breach, but it gave no further details.

US cybersecurity officials could not be immediately reached to confirm the report.

US officials confirmed to the Times that the operation was underway, with one unnamed senior administration official calling it “unsophisticated, run-of-the mill operations that could have been prevented if the cloud service providers had implemented baseline cybersecurity practices.”

“This recent activity is another indicator that Russia is trying to gain long-term, systematic access to a variety of points in the technology supply chain and establish a mechanism for surveilling – now or in the future – targets of interest to the Russian government,” Microsoft wrote. Reuters

London (TIP): French authorities fined two British fishing vessels and kept one in port overnight on October 28 amid a worsening dispute over fishing licenses that has stoked tensions following the UK’s departure from the European Union. Britain’s government warned France that it would retaliate if French officials followed through on threats made late on Wednesday to block British boats from some French ports and tighten checks on UK vessels. France also suggested it might restrict energy supplies to the Channel Islands, British Crown dependencies that lie off the coast of France. “We believe these are disappointing and disproportionate, and not what we’d expect from a close ally and partner,” UK Environment Secretary George Eustice told lawmakers. “The measures being threatened do not appear to be compatible with the trade and cooperation agreement or wider international law,” he said. — AP

Beijing (TIP): A jump in the number of people in China infected with bird flu this year is raising concern among experts, who say a previously circulating strain appears to have changed and may be more infectious to people.

China has reported 21 human infections with the H5N6 subtype of avian influenza in 2021 to the World Health Organization (WHO), compared with only five last year, it said.

Though the numbers are much lower than the hundreds infected with H7N9 in 2017, the infections are serious, leaving many critically ill, and at least six dead.

“The increase in human cases in China this year is of concern. It’s a virus that causes high mortality,” said Thijs Kuiken, professor of comparative pathology at Erasmus University Medical Centre in Rotterdam.

Most of the cases had come into contact with poultry, and there are no confirmed cases of human-to-human transmission, said the WHO, which highlighted the rise in cases in a statement on Oct. 4.

It said further investigation was “urgently” required to understand the risk and the increase in spill over to people.

Since then, a 60-year-old woman in Hunan province was admitted to hospital in a critical condition with H5N6 influenza on Oct. 13, according to a Hong Kong government statement.

While human H5N6 cases have been reported, no outbreaks of H5N6 have been reported in poultry in China since February 2020.

China is the world’s biggest poultry producer and top producer of ducks, which act as a reservoir for flu viruses.

The Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) could not be reached for comment on the rise in H5N6 human cases. However, a study published on its website last month said the “increasing genetic diversity and geographical distribution of H5N6 pose a serious threat to the poultry industry and human health”.

Avian influenza viruses constantly circulate in domestic and wild birds, but rarely infect people. However, the evolution of the viruses, which have increased as poultry populations grow, is a major concern because they could change into a virus that spreads easily between people and cause a pandemic. The largest number of H5N6 infections has been in southwestern Sichuan province, though cases have also been reported in neighbouring Chongqing and Guangxi, as well as Guangdong, Anhui and Hunan provinces. At least 10 were caused by viruses genetically very similar to the H5N8 virus that ravaged poultry farms across Europe last winter and also killed wild birds in China. That suggests the latest H5N6 infections in China may be a new variant.  (Reuters)

Paris (TIP): France seized a British trawler fishing in its territorial waters without a licence on October 29 and issued a warning to a second vessel in a dispute over access to fishing grounds after Brexit.

Furious that Britain has refused to grant its fishermen the full number of licences to operate inside British waters that France says is warranted, Paris announced retaliatory measures on Wednesday if there was no progress in talks.

The French government said it would from Nov. 2 impose extra customs checks on British goods entering France, raising the prospect of more economic pain before Christmas for Britain, which faces labour shortages and rising energy prices. It is also reviewing a second round of sanctions and does not exclude a review of its exports of electricity to Britain, which left the European Union on Jan. 31, 2020.

“It’s not war, but it is a fight,” France’s Seas Minister Annick Girardin told RTL radio.

European Affairs Minister Clement Beaune signalled France would be forceful in the dispute.

“So now, we need to speak the language of strength since that seems to be the only thing this British government understands,” Beaune told news channel CNews.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the detained trawler.

Britain has said France’s planned acts of retaliation will be met with an appropriate and calibrated response.

“France’s threats are disappointing and disproportionate and not what we would expect from a close ally and partner,” a British government spokesperson said.

Barrie Deas, head of Britain’s National Federation of Fishermen’s Organisations, said Britain was issuing licences in line with the terms of the post-Brexit trade agreement and that France appeared determined to escalate the licence row.

“I suppose we have to wonder why. There is a presidential election coming up in France and I think all the signs are that the rhetoric has been ramped up ahead of that on the fishing issue,” Deas told the BBC. French President Emmanuel Macron has not yet confirmed he will seek a second term in April’s election but is widely expected to run.

French maritime gendarmes made multiple checks on fishing vessels off the northern French port of Le Havre overnight, the Maritime Ministry said, as France steps up surveillance during negotiations.

The seized trawler, now under the control of French judicial authorities, had been rerouted to Le Havre under a maritime police escort and was tied up at on the port’s quayside. The vessel’s captain could face criminal charges, with his catch confiscated, the ministry added. (Reuters)

London (TIP): Britain’s environment minister pledged on October 29 to retaliate if France carries through on threats to block UK ships from French ports, warning that “two can play at that game” in the worsening dispute rooted in Britain’s departure from the European Union.

Britain summoned the French ambassador for a dressing-down after French authorities fined two British fishing vessels and kept one in port overnight Thursday.

Since the UK left the economic orbit of the EU in January, relations between London and Paris have become increasingly frayed as the nations on either side of the English Channel sort out a post-Brexit path.

France has threatened to block British boats and tighten checks on UK vessels unless French vessels get more permits to fish in UK waters.

France also suggested it might restrict energy supplies to the Channel Islands, British Crown dependencies that lie off the coast of France. “We will see what they do,” Environment Secretary George Eustice told Sky News. “But if they do bring these into place, well, two can play at that game and we reserve the ability to respond in a proportionate way.” The UK government said France’s ambassador, Catherine Colonna, would be summoned to the Foreign Office on Friday, in an official sign of displeasure.

“We regret the confrontational language that has been consistently used by the French government on this issue, which makes this situation no easier to resolve,” the British government said in a statement.

France vehemently protested the decision last month by the UK and the Channel Island of Jersey to refuse dozens of French fishing boats licenses to operate in their territorial waters. Dozens of other licenses were granted. France says the restrictions are contrary to the post-Brexit agreement that Britain signed when it left the EU. Meanwhile, the European Union’s executive said UK authorities withdrew the impounded vessel’s license to fish off France on March 1. But Macduff Shellfish, which operates the impounded scallop vessel Cornelis, hit back in a statement, saying it had access to French waters under the Brexit deal and that its activities were “entirely legal,” and that it would defend itself against all claims. Its statement did not offer specifics on licenses. “It appears our vessel has been caught up in the ongoing dispute between the UK and France on the implementation of the Brexit Fishing Agreement,” the company statement said. “We are looking to the UK government to defend the rights of the UK fishing fleet and ensure that the fishing rights provided under the Brexit Fishing agreement are fully respected by the EU.”(AP)