Category: Євросоюз

Europe’s police agency Europol says a global cyberattack has affected at least 100,000 organizations in 150 countries, with data networks infected by malware that locks computer files unless a ransom is paid. “I’m worried about how the numbers will continue to grow when people go to work and turn on their machines on Monday,” Europol director Rob Wainwright told Britain’s ITV television. So far there has been no progress reported in efforts to determine who launched the plot. Computer security experts have assured individual computer users who have kept their PC operating systems updated that they are relatively safe. They …

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Countries across the globe scrambled to respond to a malicious “ransomware” virus, as internet security watchdogs said the attack had disproportionately targeted Russia. The Russian cyber security firm Kaspersky Labs was among the first to identify the so-called “Wanna Cry” malware — a viral worm that exploits a vulnerability in the Windows operating system to encrypt files without users permission. A group of hackers known as “The Shadow Brokers” are widely believed to have stolen the program from the U.S. National Security Agency last April and deployed it as a means to ransom user data around the world for cash profits. …

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Portugal’s Salvador Sobral won the Eurovision Song Contest on Saturday with a gentle romantic ballad that challenged the event’s decades-long reputation for cheesy, glittery excess. Sobral sang his Amar Pelos Dois (Love For Both) in a high, clear tenor accompanied by quiet strings and a piano. Unlike the 25 other competitors who performed on a wide stage backed by flashing lights, bursts of flames and other effects, Sobral sang from a small elevated circle in the middle of the crowd, an intimate contrast to others’ bombast. “Music is not fireworks, music is feeling,” he said while accepting the award. Runner-up …

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Ukraine officials blamed pro-Russian separatists in the country’s restive east for the killings of four civilians Saturday by artillery fire in a government-controlled area near the Russian border. The shelling in the Donetsk region occurred just hours before the finals of the wildly popular Eurovision song contest, held this year in Kyiv.   The deaths prompted Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko to announce that he and his wife would protest the killings by not appearing at the event, which is followed passionately by tens of millions of Europeans and viewed around the globe each year by millions more. The head of …

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A cyberattack against tens of thousands of data networks in scores of countries, all infected by malware that locks computer files unless a ransom is paid, spread further in its second day Saturday, with no progress reported in efforts to determine who launched the plot. Computer security experts assured individual computer users who have kept their PC operating systems updated that they are relatively safe. They advised those whose networks have been effectively shut down by the ransomware attack not to make the payment demanded — the equivalent of $300, paid in the digital currency bitcoin, delivered to a likely …

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It’s worth more than an ounce of gold right now, it’s completely digital and it’s the currency of choice for the cyberattackers who crippled computer networks around the world in recent days. When the attackers’ “ransomware” sprang into action, it held victims hostage by encrypting their data and demanding they send payments in bitcoins to regain access to their computers. Bitcoin has a fuzzy history, but it’s a type of currency that allows people to buy goods and services and exchange money without involving banks, credit card issuers or other third parties. Here’s a brief look at bitcoin: How bitcoins …

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Gulsumoh Sharbatova hasn’t seen her donkey for nearly two months, which normally wouldn’t be cause for alarm. But that was before reports emerged that donkeys in Tajikistan were turning up dead, their skinned and hoofless carcasses hastily discarded and left to rot. “I didn’t pay attention to it at first,” says the housewife from Bulakdasht, a village in the southern Khatlon province. She explains that locals in the mountainous region commonly let their donkeys roam free to graze when there is no work for them to do. But now, with the arrival of spring planting season, Sharbatova has her son …

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An aggressive wave of cyberattacks has hit companies and public institutions around the globe, causing international havoc and bringing many services to a standstill. The cyberextortion attempt appeared to use stolen software developed by a U.S. spy agency. One of the first and worst attacks was aimed at Britain’s National Health Service. A wave of crippling ransomware hit dozens of hospitals across the country Friday, prompting the NHS to declare a “major incident.” Some hospitals diverted ambulances and canceled surgeries as a result of the attack, which blocked doctors’ access to patients’ files. Ransomware is a type of computer malware, …

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A court in Azerbaijan has ruled in favor of blocking several independent websites, including that of RFE/RL’s Azerbaijani service. The Sabail district court in Baku ruled Friday that the Ministry of Transport, Communications and High Technology’s request for the blockage of access to the websites must be met.  RFE/RL said it would appeal the ruling, which it called “another blatant attempt” at silencing its reporting in the country.  In addition to RFE/RL’s Azerbaijani service, the ruling affects opposition newspaper Azadliq, Meydan TV and two other Internet TV programs. The ministry has limited access to the sites since March 27 on …

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Centrist French President elect Emmanuel Macron sought to woo conservative members of parliament to his cause on Friday and head off a row with an ally as he bids for victory in elections for parliament next month. Macron, until last year economy minister in the outgoing Socialist administration, blew apart the traditional political boundaries of French politics on May 7 when he won the presidency under the banner of his own one-year-old Republic on the Move (REM) party. His main task now is to try to secure enough seats for REM in the June parliamentary election to give him a …

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The former captain of the Costa Concordia cruise liner was sentenced to 16 years in prison on Friday by Italy’s highest court for his role in the 2012 shipwreck, which killed 32 people off the Tuscan holiday island of Giglio. Francesco Schettino was originally found guilty in 2015 of manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning his passengers. Friday’s ruling marked the end of the appeals process, with the court upholding the initial verdict. Free during the prolonged legal battles, Schettino, 56, reported to a Rome prison to start his sentence as soon as he was told of the verdict, his …

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Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan appeared both confrontational and conciliatory Friday, saying his scheduled talks next week with President Donald Trump could mark a “new beginning” in relations between the two NATO allies, who’ve been increasingly at cross purposes over Syria. Erdogan cautioned, though, that Washington’s decision to arm Syrian Kurds for an assault on the Islamic State’s Syrian stronghold of Raqqa had damaged strategic relations between Turkey and America. And he warned Turkish forces would continue military operations against Kurdish militiamen not just in Iraq, but also those allied with the U.S. in northern Syria. The Turkish leader’s comments, …

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Turkey’s state-run news agency says police have detained 62 former employees of the Istanbul stock exchange over their alleged links to a U.S.-based Muslim cleric blamed for last year’s coup attempt. Anadolu Agency said the suspects were detained Friday in simultaneous police raids in Istanbul and five other cities. Detention warrants were issued for 40 other people, the agency reported. The detained are suspected of being followers of Fethullah Gulen who the government says is behind the July 15 coup attempt. Anadolu said the suspects were removed from positions at Borsa Istanbul stock exchange following the attempt. Gulen denies involvement …

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Authorities in Moscow have arrested five activists for gay and lesbian rights as they tried to deliver a petition calling on the government to investigate the alleged detention and torture of about 100 of gay men in Russia’s southern region of Chechnya. The activists were arrested Thursday on the way to the offices of Russia’s prosecutor general and are expected to be charged with staging a protest without official permission. VOA’s Zlatica Hoke has more. …

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The lingering threat from Russia following its attempts to meddle with the U.S. presidential election is unlikely to recede anytime soon, with the nation’s top intelligence officials warning that Moscow is likely to get both more aggressive and more unpredictable. VOA National Security Correspondent Jeff Seldin. …

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Emmanuel Macron’s victory in the French presidential elections brought a sigh of relief in many Western capitals, worried that the National Front’s Marie Le Pen if elected would pull France away from the European Union. But many analysts warn that the future of the European bloc remains uncertain. Britain, a key member of the EU, is on its way out, and the populist, anti-establishment, anti-EU wave is still on the rise across the continent. VOA’s Jela de Franceschi reports. …

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As the seven other Arctic Council member nations called on the U.S. to remain a steady partner in efforts to mitigate the effects of climate change, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told his counterparts the Trump administration has not yet made a decision on its policies on the issue. Tillerson, a former ExxonMobile CEO, spoke to the plenary session about U.S. policy on climate change going forward. “We’re not going to rush to make a decision. We’re going to work to make the right decision for the United States,” he said. “The Arctic Council will continue to be an …

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Television journalist Julia Kirienko was sheltering with Ukrainian soldiers and medics two miles (three kilometers) from the front when their cellphones began buzzing over the noise of the shelling. Everyone got the same text message at the same time. “Ukrainian soldiers,” it warned, “they’ll find your bodies when the snow melts.” Text messages like the one Kirienko received have been sent periodically to Ukrainian forces fighting pro-Russian separatists in the eastern part of the country. The threats and disinformation represent a new form of information warfare, the 21st-century equivalent of dropping leaflets on the battlefield. “This is pinpoint propaganda,” said …

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The U.S. informed French officials that Russia had hacked France’s computer networks during the country’s presidential election before the cyber attacks became public, a U.S. national security official told Congress Thursday. “We had become aware of Russian activity,” National Security Agency Director Admiral Mike Rogers testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee. “We had talked to our French counterparts and gave them a heads up,” Rodgers said. He added the U.S. offered to help French officials. France’s Macron targeted France’s election campaign commission said Saturday “a significant amount of data,” some of it likely fake, was leaked on social networks …

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Sprinkle the sequins, spark up the disco lights and get ready for battle — it’s time for the Eurovision Song Contest , a celebration of kitsch and cheesy pop with an undercurrent of politics and patriotism. More than a singing contest, it’s diplomacy in dancing shoes. This week musical acts from more than 40 countries are taking the stage in Kyiv to vie for the Eurovision crown, watched by some 200 million television viewers. The 62nd annual contest has clean-cut crooners, electro beats, yodeling Romanians and even a dancing gorilla. But there is also a big absence: Russia, whose participation …

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