The Overnight News Digest is a nightly series chronicling the road to the eschaton and the effort to build back better.
309,800 PEOPLE HAVE DIED FROM CORONAVIRUS IN THE U.S.
Los Angeles Times
U.S. cybersecurity agency warns of ‘grave’ threat from hack
The federal government’s top cybersecurity agency issued its most urgent warning yet about a sophisticated and extensive computer breach, saying Thursday that it posed a “grave risk” to networks maintained by governments, utilities and the private sector and could be difficult to purge.
Removing the malware from “compromised environments will be highly complex and challenging for organizations,” the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, or CISA, said in an alert providing the most extensive details yet about the hack.
Over the weekend, reports emerged that hackers had broken into computer networks at multiple federal agencies, including the Treasury and Commerce departments. The list of victims has continued to grow, and includes the Department of Homeland Security and the National Institutes of Health. Federal law enforcement officials have said Russia was behind the attack and are still assessing how much information was pilfered by Moscow.
ICU availability in Southern California at 0%, and it’s going to get worse, officials warn
The availability of intensive care unit beds throughout Southern California hit 0% Thursday, and officials warned that conditions in hospitals are expected to erode further if the coronavirus continues to spread unchecked.
With ICUs filled, hospitals will step up measures to ensure the sickest patients still get the highest levels of care possible during the crisis. That often means moving some patients who would typically be in intensive care to other areas of the hospital, such as a recovery area, or keeping them in the emergency room for longer than normal.
That can work to a point. But eventually, there may be too many critically ill patients for the limited numbers of ICU doctors and nurses available, leading to greater chances of patients not getting the specialized care they need. And that can lead to increases in mortality.
Politico
Nuclear weapons agency breached amid massive cyber onslaught
The Energy Department and National Nuclear Security Administration, which maintains the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile, have evidence that hackers accessed their networks as part of an extensive espionage operation that has affected at least half a dozen federal agencies, officials directly familiar with the matter said.
On Thursday, DOE and NNSA officials began coordinating notifications about the breach to their congressional oversight bodies after being briefed by Rocky Campione, the chief information officer at DOE.
They found suspicious activity in networks belonging to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), Sandia and Los Alamos national laboratories in New Mexico and Washington, the Office of Secure Transportation at NNSA, and the Richland Field Office of the DOE.
The hackers have been able to do more damage at FERC than the other agencies, and officials there have evidence of highly malicious activity, the officials said, but did not elaborate.
Congress to receive first batch of Covid-19 vaccines but uncertainty lingers
Congress will receive a limited batch of the coronavirus vaccine in the coming days, according to multiple sources, marking a major development for lawmakers and frontline workers in a Capitol complex that has battled dozens of cases this year.
Vaccines for federal agencies and officials across Washington have been arriving at Walter Reed Medical Center in recent days, and thousands of doses are expected to be designated for the House and Senate, though congressional leadership offices said they have no information to provide. […]
In a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell obtained by POLITICO, Capitol Physician Brian Monahan wrote that Congress will receive "a specific number of COVID 19 vaccine doses to meet longstanding requirements for continuity of government operations." […]
McConnell… said in a statement Thursday he planned to take the vaccine “in the coming days,” but offered no other details.
The Hill
Durbin says alleged Russian hack 'virtually a declaration of war'
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) called Russia’s alleged hack of multiple government agencies “virtually a declaration of war.”
During an interview on CNN, the Senate minority whip said the reported hack shows that the U.S. needs an “honest reset” in terms of its relationship with Moscow.
“We can’t be buddies with Vladimir Putin and have him at the same time making this kind of cyberattack on America,” Durbin said. “This is virtually a declaration of war by Russia on the United States and we should take that seriously.”
The Washington Post
Federal investigators reported Thursday on evidence of previously unknown tactics for penetrating government computer networks, a development that underscores the disastrous reach of Russia’s recent intrusions and the logistical nightmare facing federal officials trying to purge intruders from key systems.
For days, it has been clear that compromised software patches distributed by a Texas-based company, SolarWinds, were central to Russian efforts to gain access to U.S. government computer systems. But Thursday’s alert from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency at the Department of Homeland Security said evidence suggested there was other malware used to initiate what the alert described as “a grave risk to the Federal Government and state, local, tribal, and territorial governments as well as critical infrastructure entities and other private sector organizations.”
While many details remained unclear, the revelation about new modes of attack raises fresh questions about the access that Russian hackers were able to gain in government and corporate systems worldwide.
OpEd: Why are Republicans so happy?
The American system as currently constituted gives Republicans a panoply of advantages and means of exercising disproportionate power. The electoral college helps them win elections they lose, which they’ve done twice in the past 20 years. Even this year, with Joe Biden beating Trump by 7 million votes, they came closer than people realize to snatching another such victory: Had Trump gotten just 43,000 more votes in Arizona, Georgia and Wisconsin, it would have been a 269-to-269 tie and the House of Representatives would have made Trump president for a second term. […]
And what did the Trump presidency teach them? As if his corruption and lying and vulgarity and authoritarian tendencies weren’t enough, Trump is responsible for what may be the most catastrophic failure any American president has committed in our country’s history. More than 300,000 Americans and counting are dead from covid-19, and more than 20 million are out of work. And yet his party paid almost no price. […]
Even before then, the swing of the electoral pendulum will probably give them a sweeping victory in the 2022 midterms. And as they know, that is likely to happen regardless of what they do between now and then.
That’s because, as the GOP’s fortunes prove, ours is a system with almost no accountability. They can be dishonest and hypocritical and reckless, and it won’t matter. They can throw sand in the gears of government and voters will blame “Washington,” then punish the president’s party even if it was the opposition’s fault.
Reuters
Macron tests positive for COVID-19, European leaders rush for tests
President Emmanuel Macron tested positive for the coronavirus on Thursday, prompting a track-and-trace effort across Europe following numerous meetings between the French leader and EU heads of government in recent days.
Macron, who will turn 43 on Monday, is running France remotely and has gone into quarantine at the presidential retreat of La Lanterne close to the Palace of Versailles, the presidency said.
A presidential official described Macron as tired and having a cough. His wife Brigitte tested negative but was also self-isolating, staying at the Elysee palace in central Paris.
Exclusive: Microsoft breached in suspected Russian hack using SolarWinds -sources
Microsoft was hacked as part of the suspected Russian campaign that has hit multiple U.S. government agencies by taking advantage of the widespread use of software from SolarWinds Corp, according to people familiar with the matter.
As with networking management software by SolarWinds, Microsoft’s own products were then used to further the attacks on others, the people said.
It was not immediately clear how many Microsoft users were affected by the tainted products. The Department of Homeland Security, which said earlier Thursday that the hackers used multiple methods of entry, is continuing to investigate.
Inside Elections
31,751 Votes: How Close Races Decide the Battle for the House
The [Republican Party] fell short of reclaiming the House majority by just 31,751 votes. More than 152 million votes were cast in House races this year.
Republicans needed a net gain of 17 seats. They won 10, and may net another two (Iowa’s 2nd and New York’s 22nd), where their candidates cling to slim leads but are fending off challenges from their Democratic opponents.
If those results stand, Republicans will be five seats shy of a majority. In the five closest races won by Democrats, the Republican candidates lost by a combined 31,751 votes.
New York Magazine
States Are Already Reporting Vaccine Delays and Cutbacks
On Saturday, the U.S. began the first roll-out of a coronavirus vaccine, shipping doses out to states so they could inoculate front-line medical workers. “We’re not hauling freight, we’re delivering hope,” a transportation subcontractor in Michigan told Reuters, about his involvement in the historic effort.
But already, states report that the hope is being held up. According to an analysis by Talking Points Memo, a dozen states have seen cuts to the initial number of Pfizer vaccine doses they were supposed to receive from the federal government, allocated based on states’ populations. Iowa and Missouri are now looking at as much as a 30 percent reduction in doses, Kansas will receive 37 percent less than expected, and Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker has said that the state may receive just half the amount the state was supposed to get in December. Maryland, Florida, and Oregon are expecting delays, while Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts was informed that vaccine delivery would “be pushed off to the last week of December.”
The Scope of the Latest Russian Hack on the U.S. Is Growing
Hackers connected to the Russian government gained access to some of the most sensitive parts of the U.S. government and the list is growing. The hacking was first reported on December 13, with the Treasury and Commerce departments said to be compromised. On December 14, it turned out the Department of Homeland Security had also been hacked into. On December 15, the list scope grew to include parts of the Pentagon and State Department, according to the New York Times’ Nicole Perlroth. And on December 17, Politico reported that the National Nuclear Security Administration — the agency within the Department of Energy that oversees the nuclear stockpile — had also been hacked.
The list is likely to grow, because according to the Times, around 18,000 government servers and private users downloaded a software update that allowed hackers to access their information on a compromised network management system called SolarWinds. Because the SolarWinds system provides significant access to the workings of a given network, those who hacked in would have wide access once inside a system. At the moment, the motive for the attack is not known, though the hackers may have been in federal government systems as early as March. “This is a big deal,” according to cybersecurity expert John-Scott Railton, who spoke with the Washington Post. “Given what we now know about where breaches happened, I’m expecting the scope to grow as more logs are reviewed. When an aggressive group like this gets an open sesame to many desirable systems, they are going to use it widely.” On December 17, Reuters reported the largest private firm breached in the scheme to-date: Microsoft, one of the largest companies in the world by market capitalization.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Judges dismiss two Republican lawsuit challenging Georgia’s absentee ballot rules
Federal judges Thursday dismissed two Republican lawsuits that sought to change the rules for absentee voting in Georgia amid the hotly contested Jan. 5 runoff election.
In the first case, a federal judge in Augusta rejected a Twelfth Congressional District Republican Committee lawsuit that, among other things, sought to eliminate the use of absentee ballot drop boxes in Georgia. In the second, a judge in Atlanta dismissed a request by the state’s two Republican incumbent U.S. senators - Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue - for more scrutiny of signature matching for absentee ballots.
The lawsuits are part of an extraordinary effort by Republicans to ask courts to change the rules for absentee ballots amid the runoff election that will determine which party controls the U.S. Senate. Through Wednesday, more than 423,000 Georgians had already cast absentee ballots for the runoff. Early in-person voting began Monday.
Why the ground game matters even more in Georgia’s Senate runoffs
“You’ve got to catch people — and not let them forget that there is an election,” said Karen Owen, a University of West Georgia political scientist. “The political ads are not doing it.”
The turnout operations play an outsized role in an election with such unusual dynamics. The candidates must compete for attention with the holiday season and voters already worn out by the political back-and-forth. […]
Turnout in statewide runoffs, which have long favored Republicans, tends to be significantly lower than in general election contests. But with control of the U.S. Senate in the balance, Georgians are rushing to the polls in unprecedented numbers for an overtime cycle.
As of Thursday, more than 1,000,000 Georgians have already cast their ballots, either by mail or in person. And legions of canvassers from both parties armed with smartphone apps and fine-tuned scripts are targeting the likeliest of voters to coax them to vote again.
The Atlantic
White Suburbanites Won’t Be Enough in Georgia
Georgia Democrats are in a door-knocking, lit-dropping frenzy. Many of them are focused on turning out voters in the upper-middle-class neighborhoods of suburban Atlanta—the voters who helped flip the state to Joe Biden in November, and who are widely considered the key group for Democrats to reach. But not Ben Davidson. Ben Davidson is hitting the apartments. […]
At each door, Davidson asks residents about COVID-19—whether they’ve still got a job, plenty of food, enough money for rent. He asks whether they’d like to get another $1,200 check from the government. They typically respond with something along the lines of “Hell yeah,” Davidson told me. So he tells them to vote for Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock on January 5. “If we want COVID relief, we have to get these guys in office,” he says to the residents.
Progressives such as Davidson have a theory for Democratic success that goes something like this: If candidates campaign on a populist economic agenda that appeals to all working-class Americans, they’ll see a boom in turnout. So far, that theory has not borne fruit, at least not on any mass scale.
Brownstein: Does Joe Biden Understand the Modern Republican Party?
The president-elect insists he can work with Republicans…
But many progressives find that mentality deeply naive. In an open memo published late last month, four leading progressive groups said such optimism could prove electorally dangerous for Democrats—by luring the party into dead-end negotiations that demoralize the Democratic base heading into the 2022 election. “The only question is whether Democrats spend the next two years playing into Republicans’ hands by feeding the pretense that [Senate Majority Leader Mitch] McConnell is seeking to negotiate in good faith,” the groups wrote. […]
Biden probably lands much more on the conciliatory end of that continuum, both because of his long experience in the clubbier Senate of decades past and because of his belief that he’s negotiated productively with McConnell before (a view not all Democrats share). But his is not the only viewpoint in the incoming administration. […]
A wild card in how Biden will approach Senate Republicans may be his vice president. Harris entered the Senate in 2017, so all she’s known is the unstinting partisan warfare of the McConnell era. […]
If Senate Republicans dangle agreements with Biden provided he makes just one concession, the source said, “I think her instinct, given how she was raised in the Senate, would be to say, ‘Fuck you.’”
BuzzFeed News
Biden's Pick Of Deb Haaland Could Make Her The First Native American Cabinet Secretary
President-elect Joe Biden has picked Rep. Deb Haaland of New Mexico as head the Department of the Interior, making her the first-ever Native American to oversee the management of federal lands and resources.
If confirmed by the Senate, she would also be the first Native American Cabinet secretary and would oversee the Bureau of Indian Affairs, which sits under the Interior Department.
"A voice like mine has never been a Cabinet secretary or at the head of the Department of Interior," Haaland wrote on Twitter Thursday evening. "Growing up in my mother's Pueblo household made me fierce. I'll be fierce for all of us, our planet, and all of our protected land."
Donald Trump’s own judicial nominees handed down some of his biggest postelection losses, but the confirmation of more than 220 judges over the last four years is a Republican achievement that will far outlast his presidency — and one that President-elect Joe Biden will have a hard time undoing.
The numbers are there on paper for Biden to leave his own, sizable legacy on the bench, but he’ll start at a disadvantage. There are 60 open judgeships — less than half of what Trump inherited in January 2017 — and Republicans are racing to fill as many of those seats as they can before Biden is sworn in. The Senate on Tuesday confirmed a judge for Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s former seat, and the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing for an appeals court nominee on Wednesday.
If every remaining active judge confirmed under former president Bill Clinton stepped down over the next four years, that would give Biden 87 seats, according to judiciary records.
The News & Observer
Biden picks North Carolina’s Michael Regan to lead EPA
President-elect Joe Biden selected North Carolina environmental official Michael Regan to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, putting Regan in line to become the first Black man to lead the agency.
Regan, who has served as secretary of the Department of Environmental Quality in North Carolina for nearly four years, must be confirmed by the U.S. Senate.
Regan, 44, worked for the EPA for eight years in the Bill Clinton and George W. Bush administrations before working for the Environmental Defense Fund. He joined Gov. Roy Cooper’s administration at the beginning of 2017.
The Guardian
'An evil family': Sacklers condemned as they refuse to apologize for role in opioid crisis
Two of a group of billionaire Sackler family members that own Purdue Pharma, the US pharmaceutical manufacturer of the prescription painkiller OxyContin, refused to apologize for their role in the opioids crisis that has killed almost half a million Americans, during a hearing in Washington on Thursday.
Kathe Sackler and David Sackler, former board members of Purdue, both said sorry for the pain endured by individuals suffering from addiction and those who lost loved ones to overdoses, but they avoided admitting any personal culpability. It was the first time members of the family faced such public scrutiny in person for their alleged role in the opioid epidemic.
The Democrat Jim Cooper of Tennessee, a member of the House of Representatives oversight committee questioning the two at the online hearing, said that watching the pair testify made his “blood boil”.
“I’m not sure I know of any family in America that is more evil than yours,” Cooper said.
Denmark strengthens rape laws, outlawing sex without explicit consent
Denmark has strengthened its rape laws by criminalising sex without explicit consent.
The new law passed by parliament on Thursday also widened the circumstances that could constitute rape – under the old legislation, prosecutors had to show the rapist had used violence or attacked someone who was unable to resist.
“Now it will be clear, that if both parties do no consent to sex, then it’s rape,” the justice minister, Nick Haekkerup, said in a statement.
Miami Herald
Jean-Luc Brunel, modeling agent suspected of recruiting girls for Jeffrey Epstein, arrested
Modeling mogul Jean-Luc Brunel, a close associate and one-time business partner of disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, has been arrested in France and is being held for questioning on numerous rape and sexual trafficking charges, the Paris prosecutor’s office announced Thursday..
Brunel was arrested Wednesday at Paris Charles De Gaulle airport trying to go to Senegal and has been held for questioning by the special victims unit in Paris.
Brunel has long been accused of enabling and participating in Epstein’s abuse of girls and of using the promise of modeling work to lure in underage victims. His detention marked the start of legal woes for another member of the mysterious Epstein’s one-time inner circle.
Sojourners
The U.S. Undercounts People in Poverty—By 106 Million, Advocates Say
Suppose the total annual income of a family composed of a mother, father, great-aunt, and two children living outside of a major metropolitan area came to $32,000 in 2019. Although their income might be significantly lower than the average among similarly-sized households in the region, the U.S. wouldn’t have included them in the official count of American families living in poverty.
Families of their size and composition only would have been considered impoverished in 2019 if their earnings fell below $31,275. Since this hypothetical family earned $725 more, they wouldn’t have been considered poor. […]
Even though the OPM is updated annually to account for inflation, it still assumes that households spend a third of their income on groceries and it doesn’t account for how living expenses have changed relative to the cost of food — including cost for housing, childcare, transportation, health care, utilities, or debt, says Shailly Gupta Barnes, policy director for the Kairos Center for Religions, Rights, and Social Justice and the Poor People’s Campaign.
“The official poverty measure is based on income and food expense data from 1955, but it has not been updated in meaningful ways since that time,” Barnes said during a November 2020 Kairos Center policy briefing on the OPM featuring a panel of experts.
Bloomberg
Fifty Years of Tax Cuts for Rich Didn’t Trickle Down, Study Says
Tax cuts for rich people breed inequality without providing much of a boon to anyone else, according to a study of the advanced world that could add to the case for the wealthy to bear more of the cost of the coronavirus pandemic.
The paper, by David Hope of the London School of Economics and Julian Limberg of King’s College London, found that such measures over the last 50 years only really benefited the individuals who were directly affected, and did little to promote jobs or growth.
“Policy makers shouldn’t worry that raising taxes on the rich to fund the financial costs of the pandemic will harm their economies,” Hope said in an interview.
Democrats notched a small win in their bid to prove that there’s legal authority for the Federal Reserve emergency lending programs to extend past the end of the year: researchers at the Library of Congress agree with them.
The Congressional Research Service, a nonpartisan arm of the Library of Congress, said in a memo released Thursday that Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has the authority to extend the lending programs if he so chooses and that the facilities can continue to make loans and purchase assets backstopped by the money already invested into the Fed vehicles.
Representatives James Clyburn, the No. 3 House Democrat, and Maxine Waters, the chairwoman of the House Financial Services Committee, asked the CRS to answer whether the Treasury secretary can extend the programs beyond Dec. 31, 2020 and whether some loans can continue to be made after that point.
Chicago Tribune
Long-running federal review into Obama center concludes, groundbreaking tentatively set for 2021
A federal review into the historic effects of former President Barack Obama’s proposed presidential center in Jackson Park officially concluded Thursday afternoon, further dashing hopes of opposition groups troubled by the impact of future construction on the storied South Side park.
Officials finalized a memorandum of agreement that caps off the presidential center’s three-year Section 106 federal review, the longest out of several triggered by the Obama Foundation’s decision to locate the future complex on historic property. Other reviews into mitigating environmental impacts as well as protecting public parkland remain ongoing, although the foundation announced earlier this month that groundbreaking for the center is slated to begin in 2021.
Sahan Journal
The cell phone recording went viral around the world: a 24-year veteran of the Minneapolis Police Department threatening to break the leg of a teenager if he didn’t cooperate when stopped by police in March 2015.
“If you fuck with me, I’m gonna break your leg before you even get a chance to run,” Officer Roderic Weber told one of the four Somali American teens in the car. “I don’t screw around.”
“Can you tell me why I’m being arrested?” one of the teens asked.
“Because I feel like arresting you,” Weber replied.
The video clip drew widespread outrage, and a demand for a federal investigation from the Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MN)—but it wasn’t the whole story.
Vox
The first abortion case of the Amy Coney Barrett era is now before the Supreme Court
Last October, the Supreme Court handed down a fairly surprising order in an abortion case.
FDA v. American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists concerns whether patients should have an easier time obtaining a pill used in medication abortions while the Covid-19 pandemic is still raging, but the Trump administration saw in the case an opportunity to drastically roll back abortion rights. One of the administration’s arguments could force abortion patients to have unnecessary surgeries instead of receiving a far less invasive medication abortion, and it could potentially deny abortions to many people altogether…
If the Court’s new majority were looking for a vehicle to roll back abortion rights, they now have one. And the Trump administration wants them to make some very significant cuts to those rights.
Deutsche Welle
Angela Merkel 'incredibly proud' of BioNTech founders
German Chancellor Angela Merkel praised the accomplishments and tenacity of BioNTech researchers who developed the first coronavirus vaccine to be approved in western countries.
The comments came during a digital meeting on Thursday between Merkel and the BioNTech founders Ugur Sahin und Özlem Türeci.
"We are incredibly proud to have such researchers in our country," Merkel said at the start of the talks.
Sahin and Türeci faced many hurdles in their road to getting the mRNA technology behind the vaccine to be recognized, but did not give up. […]
The chancellor noted that the vaccine, which was developed in partnership with US pharma giant Pfizer, represents a major step in turning the tides of the coronavirus pandemic.
Putin: If Russia poisoned Navalny he'd be dead
Russian President Vladimir Putin denied state involvement in the poisoning of opposition activist Alexei Navalny in comments during an annual nationally televised press conference on Thursday.
Putin said recent reports that Russian state security agents had poisoned Navalny were part of a US intelligence plot to discredit him.
An investigation by Bellingcat and Russian media outlet The Insider in cooperation with Der Spiegel and CNN identified a team of Federal Security Service (FSB) agents who allegedly stalked Navalny over several years. The investigation, endorsed by Navalny, named the agents and the poison laboratories allegedly responsible for the attack based on data including phone logs and travel records.
However, Putin rejected this, saying: "It's a trick to attack the leaders [of Russia]."
Al AJazeera
US slams China for no-show at meeting on maritime security
The US military has slammed China for failing to appear at virtual, senior-level meetings slated for this week, with the top US admiral for the Asia-Pacific saying it was “another example that China does not honour its agreements”.
“This should serve as a reminder to all nations as they pursue agreements with China going forward,” Admiral Phil Davidson, the commander for US Indo-Pacific Command, said in a statement on Wednesday.
China had been expected to participate in the December 14-16 meetings related to the Military Maritime Consultative Agreement (MMCA) focused on maritime safety, the Command said.
US Navy to be ‘more assertive’ in countering China in Pacific
The US military has warned that its warships would be “more assertive” in responding to violations of international law, citing in particular Beijing, which it accused of having expansionist ambitions in the South China Sea.
In a document setting objectives for the US Navy, Marines and Coast Guard for the coming years, the Pentagon said on Thursday that several countries, notably Russia and China “are contesting the balance of power in key regions and seeking to undermine the existing world order”.
“Our globally deployed naval forces interact with Chinese and Russian warships and aircraft daily,” the document said, noting their “growing aggressiveness” and calling China “the most pressing, long-term strategic threat”.
Mongabay
Belo Monte dam’s water demands imperil Amazon communities, environment
Fish gasp, gills working furiously, as they lie stranded in mere inches of muddy water, trapped in the isolated pools of Xingu River tributaries within the influence area of the Belo Monte dam and its reservoirs.
That was the scene at the end of October and start of November, 2020, as the Trindade, Ambê, and Altamira creeks all dwindled to a trickle, preventing fisherfolk from getting their boats to the Xingu River to fish, even as uncounted thousands of fish died.
Lorena Curuaia, of the Curuaia Indigenous people, went to Ambê Creek with friends to try to rescue fish — scooping up the stranded and moving them to the Xingu. “But where was Norte Energia?” she asked, referring to the absence of the dam’s owner and operator. Teams from IBAMA, Brazil’s environmental agency, appeared in some stream stretches to save fish. “But it wasn’t sufficient. There are 130 kilometers [81 miles of impacted river]. How many fish died?”
BBC News
Afghanistan conflict: Top US general meets Taliban negotiators
America's most senior general met Taliban peace negotiators on Tuesday to urge a reduction in violence, the US military said.
Mark Milley, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, met negotiators in Doha, Qatar, before flying to Kabul to meet Afghan President Ashraf Ghani.
The Taliban and the Afghan government are holding peace talks in Doha.
Senior US officials have warned publicly that an increase in Taliban violence is endangering the talks.
The US is drastically reducing the number of its troops in the country ahead of the end of the Trump administration in January.
Brexit: Trade talks in 'a serious situation' says Boris Johnson
Talks to reach a post-Brexit trade deal are in a "serious situation", Boris Johnson said after a call with the EU Commission head Ursula von der Leyen.
He warned that "time was short" and that a no deal scenario was "very likely" unless the EU position changed "substantially".
Mrs von der Leyen said it would be "very challenging" to bridge the "big differences", particularly on fish.
However, she also welcomed "substantial progress on many issues".
Talks in Brussels will continue on Friday, with two weeks to go before the UK leaves EU trading rules.
NPR News
U.S. Cyber Agency: Computer Hack Poses 'Grave Risk'
The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency on Thursday delivered an ominous warning about a major computer intrusion, saying it "poses a grave risk" to federal, state and local governments as well as private companies and organizations.
The Trump administration has said relatively little since the hack on government computers at multiple agencies was first announced last weekend.
But the CISA, which is part of the Department of Homeland Security, offered a broad overview in its latest comments. The agency noted the attack began around March and is still ongoing — meaning the malware that's been placed on computers may still be capturing valuable information.
In addition, CISA said that removing the malware will be "highly complex and challenging for organizations."
6 Suspects Indicted In Alleged Conspiracy To Kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer
A federal grand jury has indicted six men on a charge of conspiring to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a crime that upon conviction can bring a sentence of life in prison.
In a statement, U.S. Attorney Andrew Birge announced that the indictment was handed up on Wednesday. The men were previously charged by criminal complaint at the time of their arrest in October.
Adam Fox, Brandon Caserta, Ty Garbin, Kaleb Franks and Daniel Harris, all of Michigan, and Barry Croft of Delaware, allegedly began to plan the kidnapping last summer, conducting surveillance of Whitmer's rural vacation home and practicing the use of firearms and explosives, according to the indictment.
Ars Technica
Google committed “antitrust evils,” colluded with Facebook, new lawsuit says
Two separate coalitions of states have filed massive antitrust lawsuits against Google in the past 24 hours, alleging that the company abuses its extensive power to force would-be competitors out of the marketplace and harms consumers in the process.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton spearheaded the first suit, which nine other states also signed onto. The second suit is led by Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser and Nebraska Attorney General Doug Peterson, and an additional 36 states and territories signed on. […]
You have indeed heard this song before, and recently, too. Both new suits come in the wake of a suit the Justice Department and a group of 11 states—Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, South Carolina, and Texas—jointly filed against Google in October.
Moderna vaccine gets the thumbs-up for emergency use
Earlier this week, the FDA released documents that summarized the data on a second SARS-CoV-2 vaccine candidate, this one from a company called Moderna. That document was the background for a meeting of the FDA's Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee, which would consider whether the benefits of the vaccine outweigh its potential risks. That question is one of the key considerations for the agency as it decides whether to grant an emergency use authorization similar to the one it gave the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.
After an all-day meeting that frequently focused on other topics, the committee was near unanimous: 20 votes for approval, none against, and one abstention.