Month: February 2023

Cybersecurity agencies in Europe are warning of ransomware attacks exploiting a two-year-old computer bug as Italy experienced widespread internet outages.  The Italian premier’s office said Sunday night the attacks affecting computer systems in the country involved “ransomware already in circulation” in a product made by cloud technology provider VMware.  A Friday technical bulletin from a French cybersecurity agency said the attack campaigns target VMware ESXi hypervisors, which are used to monitor virtual machines.  Palo Alto, California-based VMware fixed the bug back in February 2021, but the attacks are targeting older, unpatched versions of the product.  The company said in a …

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A 7.8-magnitude earthquake hit near Gaziantep, in southeastern Turkey, at a depth of nearly 18 kilometers early Monday local time, the U.S. Geological Service said. Another shallow 6.7-magnitude temblor happened near the site of the first quake about 15 minutes later, the USGS said. Turkish authorities have not yet reported any deaths or injuries, but videos posted on social networks showed destroyed buildings in several cities in the southeast of the country. Turkish state broadcaster TRT showed images of buildings that had been damaged and people standing outside in the snow, Reuters reported. The first quake lasted about a minute, …

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Europe imposed a ban Sunday on Russian diesel fuel and other refined oil products, slashing energy dependency on Moscow and seeking to further crimp the Kremlin’s fossil fuel earnings as punishment for invading Ukraine. The ban comes along with a price cap agreed by the Group of Seven allied democracies. The goal is allowing Russian diesel to keep flowing to countries like China and India and avoiding a sudden price rise that would hurt consumers worldwide, while reducing the profits funding Moscow’s budget and war. Diesel is key for the economy because it is used to power cars, trucks carrying …

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Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov arrived in Iraq on Sunday for talks on energy and food security in view of the Ukraine conflict, an Iraqi foreign ministry spokesman said. He landed in Baghdad late on Sunday at the head of a large delegation that includes “oil and gas companies and investors,” Ahmed al-Sahhaf told AFP. On Monday, Lavrov will meet Iraqi counterpart Fuad Hussein, the state news agency INA quoted Sahhaf as saying. He will also meet Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, President Abdul Latif Rashid, and parliament speaker Mohammed al-Halbussi. INA quoted Sahhaf as saying Lavrov’s visit “confirms Iraq’s …

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Gale-force winds and snowstorms closed roads and left more than 25,000 households in Serbia without power Sunday, while fallen trees disrupted traffic in neighboring Croatia and Montenegro. In Croatia, a red alert was issued for the regions along the Adriatic coast due to north winds estimated to reach 130 km per hour (81 mph). Authorities in Montenegro’s coastal town of Budva warned citizens to stay indoors after strong winds Saturday destroyed a school roof, brought down trees and lamp posts, sank a tourist boat and disrupted traffic along the coast. More than 250 km (155 miles) of local roads in …

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Some refugees and asylum-seekers in Brussels have been spending months in between the Street of Palaces and the Small Castle — quite literally. Unfortunately, it’s not a dream come true at the end of their fearful flight from halfway across the globe. It’s a perpetual nightmare. Petit Chateau, which means small castle, is a government reception center that often does anything but welcome arrivals. The Rue des Palais — street of palaces — has the city’s worst squat, where the smell of urine and the prevalence of scurvy have come to symbolize how the European Union’s migration policy is failing. …

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Voters in Cyprus are going to the polls Sunday to elect a new president. While 14 candidates are running for the office, the real race is expected to be among three candidates who are all closely associated with current president Nicos Anastasiades. Right-wing DISY party leader Averof Neophytou, career diplomat Andreas Mavroyiannis and former foreign minister Nikos Christodoulides, who is leading in the polls, are the top candidates, analysts say. If no one receives more than half the votes, then the two candidates who get the most votes in Sunday’s poll will face off in a runoff election later this …

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Pushing her son on a swing at a playground on a sunny winter’s day in Madrid, former Afghan prosecutor Obaida Sharar expresses relief that she found asylum in Spain after fleeing Afghanistan shortly after the Taliban took over.  Sharar, who arrived in Madrid with her family, is one of 19 female prosecutors to have found asylum in the country after being left in limbo in Pakistan without official refugee status for up to a year after the Taliban’s return to power.  She feels selfish being happy while her fellow women suffer, she said.  “Most Afghan women and girls that remain …

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The thermometer sinks below zero as a blizzard of fine snow descends on two houses freshly built inside a massive laboratory in northern England. Despite the icy conditions, the two energy-efficient homes remain cozy and warm due to their use of cutting-edge heating and insulation technology. Welcome to Energy House 2.0 — a science experiment designed to help the world’s housebuilders slash carbon emissions, save energy and tackle climate change. The project, based in a laboratory resembling a giant warehouse on Salford University campus near the center of Manchester, opened last month. Rain, wind, sunshine and snow can be recreated …

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A Royal Navy warship has returned to port in Britain after several sailors got sick from the vessel’s drinking water, officials said Saturday. The navy said, frigate HMS Portland had returned to its base at Portsmouth on England’s south coast Friday “as a precautionary measure, following an issue with one of the ship’s freshwater systems.” It said, “a small number of personnel were taken to hospital as a precaution.” The Daily Telegraph reported that a crew member put the wrong chemicals into the system that converts sea water to drinking water, but quickly realized the mistake and reported it to …

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