Section: Free Malaysia Today (Malaysia)
Potent malware targets electricity systems
WASHINGTON: Hackers have developed powerful malware that can shut down electricity distribution systems and possibly other critical infrastructure, two cyber security firms announced Monday, with one report linking it to Russia. Slovakia-based ESET said the malware is the most powerful threat to appear since Stuxnet, the hacking tool used to...
Green light for MH17 relatives to watch victims’ final hours
THE HAGUE: Relatives of those killed when flight MH17 was downed over Ukraine in mid-2014 were given the green light Thursday to view final images of victims as they boarded the ill-fated flight. Dutch investigators and a victims’ foundation reached an agreement to view CCTV camera footage taken at Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport on July...
‘Wombs for rent’ business flourishes in communist Laos
VIENTIANE: Dozens of fertility clinics have mushroomed in land-locked Laos after scandals over commercial surrogacy have spurred wealthier southeast Asian neighbors to ban the controversial procedure since 2015. The gleaming, modern clinics have names featuring words such as “Miracle” and “Perfect” to help them stand out amid the dusty...
Experts, Microsoft push for global NGO to expose hackers
TALLINN: As cyberattacks sow ever greater chaos worldwide, IT titan Microsoft and independent experts are pushing for a new global NGO tasked with the tricky job of unmasking the hackers behind them. Dubbed the “Global Cyber Attribution Consortium”, according to a recent report by the Rand Corporation think-tank, the NGO would probe major...
Putin leaves Russians guessing on economic reform plan
ST PETERSBURG, RUSSIA: Russia’s leading economic thinkers say the country needs bold action to avoid stagnation. After President Vladimir Putin set out his ideas for the economy in a keynote speech on Friday, they are still waiting to hear what that action will be. Addressing the St Petersburg International Economic Forum, an annual...
Putin urges end to ‘harmful chatter’ over Russian meddling
SAINT PETERSBURG: Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a blistering attack Friday on what he said were baseless accusations that Moscow was behind a hacking and influence campaign aimed at getting Donald Trump elected. “This useless and harmful chatter needs to stop,” the Kremlin strongman told Russia’s annual showcase economic forum...
Police storm Malaysian plane after passenger ‘bomb threat’
MELBOURNE: Armed police stormed a Malaysia Airlines flight which was forced to return to Melbourne after a passenger tried to enter the cockpit claiming he had a bomb, officials said Thursday. Passengers told of fearing for their lives, but Malaysian Deputy Transport Minister Abdul Aziz Kaprawi said a Sri Lankan national, who appeared to have...
Trump campaign had at least 18 undisclosed contacts with Russians
WASHINGTON: Michael Flynn and other advisers to Donald Trump’s campaign were in contact with Russian officials and others with Kremlin ties in at least 18 calls and emails during the last seven months of the 2016 presidential race, current and former US officials familiar with the exchanges told Reuters. The previously undisclosed...
Ukraine blocks Russia’s top social media networks
KIEV: Ukraine on Tuesday blocked Russia’s most popular social media networks and an internet search engine in response to the Kremlin’s alleged backing of a three-year separatist war in the east. The decision sparked an immediate outcry from Ukrainian internet users and freedom of speech advocates. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov...
No ‘clean slate’ between the US and Russia, Tillerson says
WASHINGTON: Relations between the United States and Russia, at their lowest level since the Cold War, will not restart “with a clean slate,” Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Sunday. The former ExxonMobil CEO, who was decorated in 2013 by Russian President Vladimir Putin, had said previously that the relationship between the two nuclear...
