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  • Iran’s hackers keep a low profile after Israeli and US strikes

    Iran’s hackers keep a low profile after Israeli and US strikes



    After Israeli and American forces struck Iranian nuclear targets, officials in both countries sounded the alarm over potentially disruptive cyberattacks carried out by the Islamic Republic’s hackers.

    But as a fragile ceasefire holds, cyber defenders in the United States and Israel say they have so far seen little out of the ordinary — a potential sign that the threat from Iran’s cyber capabilities, like its battered military, has been overestimated.

    There has been no indication of the disruptive cyberattacks often invoked during discussions of Iran’s digital capabilities, such as its alleged sabotage of tens of thousands of computers at major oil company Saudi Aramco in 2012, or subsequent break-ins at U.S. casinos or water facilities.

    “The volume of attacks appears to be relatively low,” said Nicole Fishbein, a senior security researcher with the Israeli company Intezer. “The techniques used are not particularly sophisticated.”

    Online vigilante groups alleged by security analysts to be acting at Iran’s direction boasted of hacking a series of Israeli and Western companies in the wake of the airstrikes.

    A group calling itself Handala Hack claimed a string of data heists and intrusions, but Reuters was not able to corroborate its most recent hacking claims. Researchers say the group, which emerged in the wake of Palestinian militant group Hamas’ October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, likely operates out of Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence.

    Rafe Pilling, lead threat intelligence researcher at British cybersecurity company Sophos, said the impact from the hacking activity appeared to be modest.

    “As far as we can tell, it’s the usual mix of ineffectual chaos from the genuine hacktivist groups and targeted attacks from the Iran-linked personas that are likely having some success but also overstating their impact,” he said.

    Iran‘s mission to the United Nations in New York did not respond to a request for comment. Iran typically denies carrying out hacking campaigns.

    Israeli firm Check Point Software said a hacking campaign it ties to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards has in recent days sent phishing messages to Israeli journalists, academic officials and others.

    In one case, the hackers tried to lure a target to a physical meeting in Tel Aviv, according to Sergey Shykevich, Check Point’s threat intelligence group manager. He added that the reasoning behind the proposed meeting was not clear.

    Shykevich said there have been some data destruction attempts at Israeli targets, which he declined to identify, as well as a dramatic increase in attempts to exploit a vulnerability in Chinese-made security cameras — likely to assess bomb damage in Israel.

    The pro-Iranian cyber operations demonstrate an asymmetry with pro-Israeli cyber operations tied to the aerial war that began on June 13.

    In the days since the start of the conflict, suspected Israeli hackers have claimed to have destroyed data at one of Iran’s major state-owned banks. They also burned roughly $90 million in cryptocurrencies that the hackers allege were tied to government security services.

    Israel’s National Cyber Directorate did not return a message seeking comment.

    Analysts said the situation is fluid and that more sophisticated cyber espionage activity may be flying under the radar.

    Both Israeli and U.S. officials have urged industry to be on the lookout. A June 22 Department of Homeland Security bulletin warned that the ongoing conflict was causing a heightened threat environment in the U.S. and that cyber actors affiliated with the Iranian government may conduct attacks against U.S. networks.

    The FBI declined to comment on any potential Iranian cyber activities in the United States.

    Yelisey Bohuslavskiy, the cofounder of intelligence company Red Sense, compared Iran’s cyber operations to its missile program. The Iranian weapons that rained down on Israel during the conflict killed 28 people and destroyed thousands of homes, but most were intercepted and none significantly damaged the Israeli military.

    Bohuslavskiy said Iranian hacking operations seemed to work similarly.

    “There is a lot of hot air, there is a lot of indiscriminate civilian targeting, and — realistically — there are not that many results,” he said.



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  • ICE detains a U.S. citizen in L.A. and charges her with obstructing an arrest

    ICE detains a U.S. citizen in L.A. and charges her with obstructing an arrest



    The family of a 32-year-old U.S. citizen said she was wrongfully detained by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement officers and falsely accused of “forcefully obstructing” officers during an immigration raid in downtown Los Angeles Tuesday morning.

    Andrea Velez appeared in federal court Thursday charged with assaulting a federal officer while he was attempting to arrest a suspect and was released on $5,000 bail. She did not enter a plea and is due back in court on July 17.

    The arrest comes as ICE and other federal agents have arrested thousands of people, many of whom have not committed any crimes. President Donald Trump promised aggressive immigration enforcement and mass deportations as part of his campaign platform.

    Velez’s sister, Estrella Rosas, and their mother saw the incident unfold moments after dropping Velez off at 9th and Main Street, where she works as a marketing designer. Rosas said she saw officers throw Velez to the ground and then put her in an unmarked vehicle.

    “We dropped off my sister to go to work like we always do. All of a sudden, my mom in the rearview mirror, she saw how a man went on top of her. Basically, dropped her on the floor and started putting her in handcuffs and trying to arrest her,” Rosas told NBC Los Angeles.

    Rosas recorded her and her mother’s reaction while watching the arrest. “That’s my sister. They’re taking her. Help her, someone. She’s a U.S. citizen,” Rosas says in the video.

    The Union Del Barrio group, which supports Latin American and Mexican communities, posted video to Instagram that shows four officers detaining someone on the ground at the scene.

    Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary for public affairs at the Department of Homeland Security, said in a statement that Velez was arrested for “impeding an arrest after she forcefully obstructed an ICE officer by making physical contact with him.”

    Luis Hipolito was also arrested at the same time for allegedly assaulting an ICE officer, she said. McLaughlin said both he and Velez “kept ICE law enforcement from arresting the target illegal alien of their operation.”

    “Secretary Noem has been clear: if you lay a hand on a law enforcement officer, you will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” McLaughin said. She added, without citing evidence nor a timeframe, that ICE officers face a 500% increase in assaults.

    A criminal complaint alleges that Velez “stepped into an officer’s path and and extended one of her arms in an apparent effort to prevent him from apprehending a male suspect he was chasing and that Velez’s outstretched arm struck that officer in the face.”

    But Velez and her family dispute this and are considering launching a civil lawsuit against the federal officers.

    “Andrea is a victim of excessive use of force by federal agents, they had no right to stop her and no right to beat her. What you see in the videos is police brutality,” Luis Carillo, Velez’s attorney, told NBC Los Angeles.

    The LAPD said it was called to the scene in response to a report of a kidnapping in progress by individuals who wouldn’t identify themselves, but officers arrived to find a federal operation. The police said they had no prior knowledge of the operation and that while the crowd became “increasingly agitated,” they made no arrests.

    The statement mentioned the arrest of a woman, thought to be Velez, but did not mention her by name nor mention any alleged assault.

    “At one point, a partially handcuffed woman approached and stood near a LAPD officer. After several minutes, a Federal agent approached and assumed control of the woman. LAPD was not involved in her detention or arrest,” the police statement said.

    Rosas, who is also a U.S. citizen, said her older sister is a graduate of Cal Poly and has never been in trouble with the law.

    “When I saw the videos, they made me feel really upset,” she said. “I’m a U.S. citizen, my sister is a U.S. citizen and we have rights and they violated her rights, so it doesn’t make me feel secure that they’re going to protect or respect my rights.”





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  • Supreme Court set to make rulings and CDC vaccine committee meeting: Morning Rundown

    Supreme Court set to make rulings and CDC vaccine committee meeting: Morning Rundown


    The Supreme Court will mark its final day with rulings on several cases, including the birthright citizenship dispute. A CDC panel meeting hints at the direction of the agency under Robert F. Kennedy’s leadership. And why New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani’s social media campaign was more effective than Kamala Harris’ memes.

    Here’s what to know today.

    Supreme Court set to rule on a flurry of cases on term’s final day

    Demonstrators rally outside the Supreme Court in support of birthright citizenship
    Demonstrators rally outside the Supreme Court in support of birthright citizenship on May 15.Matt McClain / The Washington Post via Getty Images file

    Today marks the last day of the Supreme Court’s nine-month term — and that means the court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority, is preparing to issue rulings in six outstanding cases.

    Of these, the most closely watched case concerns President Donald Trump’s attempt to end automatic birthright citizenship, which is guaranteed under the Constitution’s 14th Amendment. The longstanding interpretation of the provision is that anyone born on U.S. soil is an American citizen with a few minor exceptions.

    This is Morning Rundown, a weekday newsletter to start your day. Sign up here to get it in your inbox.

    The case before the Supreme Court doesn’t focus on the lawfulness of the proposal itself, but rather on whether federal judges have the power to block it nationwide while litigation continues. It’s a decision that could have wide-ranging impacts, as federal judges have frequently ruled against Trump’s broad use of executive power.

    The five other cases the court has yet to rule on are:

    → Whether conservative religious parents can opt their elementary school-age children out of LGBTQ-themed books in class

    → Whether congressional districts in Louisiana are lawful

    → A law enacted in Texas that imposes age restrictions for using adult websites

    → A challenge to the Affordable Care Act’s preventive care task force

    → A Federal Communications Commission program that subsidizes phone and internet services in underserved areas

    Read the full story here.

    More politics news:

    • Sen. Tom Cotton, the Republican chair of the Intelligence Committee, is proposing a sweeping overhaul of the intel office led by National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard that would slash its workforce by 60%.
    • Democratic voters in Virginia will head to the polls this weekend in a special primary election to choose a new representative to succeed the late Rep. Gerry Connolly. The candidates’ pitch to voters has everything to do with Trump.
    • Former Trump lawyer Kenneth Cheseboro was disbarred in New York over his role in a scheme to overturn Trump’s 2020 election loss.

    Subscribe to Here’s The Scoop, a new daily podcast from NBC News that will break down the day’s top stories with our trusted journalists on the ground and around the world, all in 15 minutes or less. Listen wherever you get your podcasts, and read the stories behind each episode on NBCNews.com.

    Republicans suffer setback on Trump’s agenda bill

    The Senate referee ruled yesterday that a series of health care cuts and savings in the One Big Beautiful Bill for Donald Trump’s agenda are ineligible for the “budget reconciliation” process Republicans are using to get around the chamber’s 60-vote threshold. The setback throws into question whether senators will be able to start voting on the bill today, as Senate Majority Leader John Thune had hoped to do, with a goal of sending legislation to President Donald Trump’s desk by July 4.

    Senate parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough, who adjudicates procedural disputes between Republicans and Democrats, has disqualified several provisions, including Medicaid rules prohibiting funds without verification of immigration status, new limitations surrounding eligibility for Affordable Care Act funding and more. The disqualified provisions total $200 billion to $300 billion in savings over a decade, one expert said.

    So, now what? Republican aides said the rulings aren’t fatal to the overall bill. Senate Republicans will return to the drawing board on some issues and accept the outcome of revoked provisions in other cases. But some conservatives angered by MacDonough’s rulings suggested she should be fired. Read the full story here.

    A sign of CDC’s shift under RFK Jr.’s leadership

    RFK Jr.'s New CDC Panel To Review Childhood Vaccine Schedule
    New committee members Dr. Robert Malone, left, and Dr. Joseph Hibbeln during the first meeting of the CDC’s Advisory Committee On Immunization Practices on Wednesday.Ben Hendren / Bloomberg via Getty Images

    A mercury-based preservative called thimerosal — which is the subject of widely debunked claims linking the ingredient to autism and hasn’t been used in nearly all vaccines made in the U.S. since 2001 — was the subject of a presentation at the CDC’s vaccine advisory committee meeting. The presentation over an issue that has long been considered settled science signaled how meetings of the panel have already changed drastically under Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s leadership.

    During the meeting, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices heard from Lyn Redwood, president emerita of the Kennedy-founded anti-vaccine group Children’s Health Defense about thimerosal. Afterward, the committee voted 5-1 to recommend that children, adults and pregnant women get single-dose thimerosal-free flu vaccines.

    A pediatrician who represented the lone dissenting vote said, “This is an old issue that has been addressed in the past.” Medical experts who also participated in the meeting questioned the veracity of Redwood’s claims.

    In a separate vote, the committee reaffirmed the existing recommendation that people ages 6 months and older should get annual flu shots. The committee also voted in favor of recommending an RSV drug for infants younger than 8 months. Read the full story here.

    Read All About It

    • Officials say the suspect in the bombing at a California fertility clinic who was found dead this week at a federal detention center died by suicide.
    • There’s a new record for the fastest mile ever run by a woman, but it’s 6.42 seconds short of the time Faith Kipyegon hoped to achieve.

    Staff Pick: Why Zohran Mamdani’s online campaign was so effective

    New York City Mayoral Candidates Campaign Ahead Of Primary Election
    Zohran Mamdani greets supporters during a campaign event in New York on Monday.Adam Gray / Bloomberg via Getty Images

    While the final results won’t be known for a few more days, Zohran Mamdani, a 33-year-old state legislator, appears to have pulled off an upset in the New York City Democratic mayoral primary. I say “upset,” because whenever a candidate’s win seems like a surprise, there are almost always missed signs that victory was likely.

    In this story, reporters Angela Yang and Bruna Horvath explain how Mamdani’s social media presence foretold his apparent primary victory. What really struck me in their reporting is not just that he had built a sizable social media following, but how he did it with substance and how he parlayed his social media virality into money, political engagement and votes. And they explain how his success online differed in key ways from the early social media success of Kamala Harris’ failed presidential campaign. Ultimately, it’s a nice snapshot of the character and strategic savvy of a man who could wind up running the biggest city in the country. Richie Duchon, deputy platforms editor

    NBC Select: Online Shopping, Simplified

    If you’re looking for an alternative to the Amazon Kindle, the NBC Select team has a roundup of the best e-readers. Plus, we have all the details on the deals to expect during this year’s Target Circle Week, which runs from July 6-12 online and in stores.

    Sign up to The Selection newsletter for hands-on product reviews, expert shopping tips and a look at the best deals and sales each week.

    Thanks for reading today’s Morning Rundown. Today’s newsletter was curated for you by Elizabeth Robinson. If you’re a fan, please send a link to your family and friends. They can sign up here.



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  • An Israeli strike kills 18 Palestinians in central Gaza as turmoil mounts over food distribution

    An Israeli strike kills 18 Palestinians in central Gaza as turmoil mounts over food distribution


    DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — An Israeli strike hit a street in central Gaza on Thursday where witnesses said a crowd of people was getting bags of flour from a Palestinian police unit that had confiscated the goods from gangs looting aid convoys. Hospital officials said 18 people were killed.

    The strike was the latest violence surrounding the distribution of food to Gaza’s population, which has been thrown into turmoil over the past month. After blocking all food for 2 1/2 months, Israel has allowed only a trickle of supplies into the territory since mid-May.

    Efforts by the United Nations to distribute the food have been plagued by armed gangs looting trucks and by crowds of desperate people offloading supplies from convoys.

    The strike in the central town of Deir al-Balah on Thursday appeared to target members of Sahm, a security unit tasked with stopping looters and cracking down on merchants who sell stolen aid at high prices. The unit is part of Gaza’s Hamas-led Interior Ministry, but includes members of other factions.

    Witnesses said the Sahm unit was distributing bags of flour and other goods confiscated from looters and corrupt merchants, drawing a crowd when the strike hit.

    Video of the aftermath showed bodies, several torn, of multiple young men in the street with blood splattering on the pavement and walls of buildings. The dead included a child and at least seven Sahm members, according to the nearby Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital where casualties were taken.

    There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military. Israel has accused the militant Hamas group of stealing aid and using it to prop up its rule in the enclave. Israeli forces have repeatedly struck Gaza’s police, considering them a branch of Hamas.

    An association of Gaza’s influential clans and tribes said Wednesday that they had started an independent effort to guard aid convoys to prevent looting. The National Gathering of Palestinian Clans and Tribes said it helped escort a rare shipment of flour that entered northern Gaza that evening.

    It was unclear, however, whether the association had coordinated with the U.N. or Israeli authorities. The World Food Program did not immediately respond to requests for comment by The Associated Press.

    “We will no longer allow thieves to steal from the convoys for the merchants and force us to buy them for high prices,” Abu Ahmad al-Gharbawi, a figure involved in the tribal effort, told the AP.

    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz in a joint statement Wednesday accused Hamas of stealing aid that is entering northern Gaza, and called on the Israeli military to plan to prevent it.

    The National Gathering slammed the statement, saying the accusation of theft was aimed at justifying the Israeli military’s “aggressive practices.” It said aid was “fully secured” by the tribes, which it said were committed to delivering the supplies to the population.

    The move by tribes to protect aid convoys brings yet another player in an aid situation that has become fragmented, confused and violent, even as Gaza’s more than 2 million Palestinians struggle to feed their families.

    Gazan infant loses leg in Israeli airstrike
    A 4-month-old baby who was severely injured in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza on Thursday.Hamza Z. H. Qraiqea / Anadolu via Getty Images

    Throughout the more than 20-month-old war, the U.N. led the massive aid operation by humanitarian groups providing food, shelter, medicine and other goods to Palestinians despite the fighting. U.N. and other aid groups say that when significant amounts of supplies are allowed into Gaza, looting and theft dwindles.

    Israel, however, seeks to replace the U.N.-led system, saying Hamas has been siphoning off large amounts of supplies from it, a claim the U.N. and other aid groups deny.

    Israel has backed an American private contractor, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which has started distributing food boxes at four locations, mainly in the far south of Gaza, for the past month.

    Thousands of Palestinians walk for hours to reach the hubs, moving through Israeli military zones where witnesses say Israeli troops regularly open fire with heavy barrages to control the crowds.

    Health officials say hundreds of people have been killed and wounded. The Israeli military says it has only fired warning shots.

    Israel has continued to allow a smaller number of aid trucks into Gaza for U.N. distribution. The World Health Organization said Thursday that it had been able to deliver its first medical shipment into Gaza since March 2, with nine trucks bringing blood, plasma and other supplies to Nasser Hospital, the biggest hospital still functioning in southern Gaza.

    PALESTINIAN-ISRAEL-CONFLICT
    Palestinians carrying food parcels from a distribution point in Gaza City on Thursday.Bashar Taleb / AFP via Getty Images

    In Gaza City, large crowds gathered Thursday at an aid distribution point to receive bags of flour from the convoy that arrived the previous evening, according to photos taken by a cameraman collaborating with the AP.

    Hiba Khalil, a mother of seven, said she cannot afford looted aid that is sold in markets for astronomical prices and was relieved to get flour for the first time in months.

    “We’ve waited for months without having flour or eating much and our children would always cry,” she said.

    Another woman, Umm Alaa Mekdad, said she hoped more convoys would make it through after struggling to deal with looters.

    “The gangs used to take our shares and the shares of our children who slept hungry and thirsty,” she said.

    Separately, Israeli strikes overnight and early Thursday killed at least 28 people across the Gaza Strip, according to the territory’s Health Ministry. More than 20 dead arrived at Gaza City’s Shifa Hospital, while the bodies of eight others were taken to Nasser Hospital in the south.



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  • 6 Americans detained for trying to send rice and Bibles to North Korea by sea, police say

    6 Americans detained for trying to send rice and Bibles to North Korea by sea, police say



    SEOUL, South Korea — Six Americans were detained Friday in South Korea for trying to send 1,600 plastic bottles filled with rice, U.S. dollar bills and Bibles toward North Korea by sea, police said.

    The Americans tried to throw the bottles into the sea from front-line Gwanghwa Island so they could float toward North Korean shores by the tides, said a police officer who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to media on the issue. He said they were being investigated on allegations that they violated the law on the management of safety and disasters.

    A second South Korean police officer confirmed the detentions of the Americans.

    The police officers gave no further details, including whether any of the six had made previous attempts to send bottles toward North Korea.

    Activists floating plastic bottles or flying balloons carrying anti-North Korea propaganda leaflets across the border has long caused tensions on the Korean Peninsula. North Korea expressed its anger at the balloon campaigns by launching its own balloons carrying trash into South Korea, including at least two that landed in the presidential compound in Seoul last year.

    In 2023, South Korea’s Constitutional Court struck down a 2020 law that criminalized the sending of leaflets and other items to North Korea, calling it an excessive restriction on free speech.

    But since taking office in early June, the new liberal government of President Lee Jae Myung is pushing to crack down on such civilian campaigns with other safety-related laws to avoid a flare-up tensions with North Korea and promote the safety of front-line South Korean residents.

    On June 14, police detained an activist for allegedly flying balloons toward North Korea from Gwanghwa Island.

    Lee took office with a promise to restart long-dormant talks with North Korea and establish peace on the Korean Peninsula. Lee’s government halted front-line anti-Pyongyang propaganda loudspeaker broadcasts to try to ease military tensions. North Korean broadcasts have not been heard in South Korean front-line towns since then.

    It remains unclear whether North Korea will respond to Lee’s conciliatory gesture after it vowed last year to sever relations with South Korea and abandon the goal of peaceful Korean reunification. Official talks between the Koreas have been stalled since 2019, when the U.S.-led diplomacy on North Korean denuclearization derailed.



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  • Smugglers to be sentenced in 53 migrant deaths from 2022 human smuggling tragedy in Texas

    Smugglers to be sentenced in 53 migrant deaths from 2022 human smuggling tragedy in Texas



    SAN ANTONIO — Two smugglers convicted of federal charges in connection with the deaths of 53 migrants found in the back of a sweltering tractor-trailer in Texas in 2022 face up to life in prison when they are scheduled to be sentenced Friday.

    Felipe Orduna-Torres and Armando Gonzales-Ortega are to be the first of several defendants sentenced in the San Antonio tragedy, which remains the nation’s deadliest human smuggling attempt across the U.S.-Mexico border. A jury convicted the men in March of being part of a human smuggling conspiracy that resulted in death and injury.

    Prosecutors described Orduna-Torres as the leader of the smuggling operation inside the U.S. and Gonzales-Ortega as his top assistant.

    The immigrants had come from Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico and had paid between $12,000 and $15,000 each to be smuggled into the United States, according to an indictment in the case. They had made it as far as the Texas border city of Laredo when they were placed into a tractor-trailer with broken air conditioning for a three-hour drive to San Antonio.

    As the temperature rose inside the trailer, those inside screamed and banged the walls of the trailer for help or tried to claw their way out, investigators said. Most eventually passed out. When the trailer was opened in San Antonio, 48 people were already dead. Another 16 were taken to hospitals, where five more died. The dead included six children and a pregnant woman.

    Investigators said the Orduna-Torres and Gonzales-Ortega worked with human smuggling operations in Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico, and shared routes, guides, stash houses, trucks and trailers. Orduna-Torres provided the address in Laredo where they would be picked up, and Gonzalez-Ortega met them there.

    Five other men previously pleaded guilty to felony charges in the smuggling case, including the truck driver Homero Zamorano Jr., who was found hiding near the trailer in some bushes. Zamorano faces up to life in prison when sentenced in December. The other defendants are scheduled to be sentenced later this year.

    The incident is the deadliest among tragedies that have claimed thousands of lives in recent decades as people attempt to cross the U.S. border from Mexico. Ten immigrants died in 2017 after they were trapped inside a truck parked at a Walmart store in San Antonio. In 2003, the bodies of 19 immigrants were found in a sweltering truck southeast of San Antonio.



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  • Microsoft says goodbye to the Windows blue screen of death

    Microsoft says goodbye to the Windows blue screen of death


    It’s a bittersweet day for Windows users.

    Microsoft is scrapping its iconic “blue screen of death,” known for appearing during unexpected restarts on Windows computers. The company revealed a new black iteration in a blog post on Thursday, saying that it is “streamlining the unexpected restart experience.”

    The new black unexpected restart screen is slated to launch this summer on Windows 11 24H2 devices, the company said. Microsoft touted the updates as an “easier” and “faster” way to recover from restarts.

    The software giant’s blue screen of death dates back to the early 1990s, according to longtime Microsoft developer Raymond Chen.

    Crowdstrike Microsoft Tech Glitch Halts Operations At Delhi Airports blue screen of death recovery
    Travelers walk past screens after a major disruption in Microsoft’s cloud services caused widespread flight cancellations and delays at T3 IGI Airport in New Delhi, India, on July 19.Vipin Kumar / Hindustan Times via Getty Images file

    Microsoft also said it plans to update the user interface to match the Windows 11 design and cut downtime during restarts to two seconds for the majority of users.

    “This change is part of a larger continued effort to reduce disruption in the event of an unexpected restart,” Microsoft wrote.

    The iconic blue screen was seemingly everywhere in July 2024 after a faulty update from CrowdStrike crashed computer systems around the world.



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  • Attorneys challenge immigration arrest, detention of child treated for cancer

    Attorneys challenge immigration arrest, detention of child treated for cancer



    Attorneys are pleading for the release from immigration detention of a 6-year-old boy treated for cancer of the blood and bone marrow, who is being held in Texas with his mother and sibling.

    The boy, his mother and his 9-year-old sibling, originally from Honduras, were seized after the three attended their May 29 immigration hearing in Los Angeles last month. Attorneys say the family could be deported within days because their attempt to secure asylum in the U.S. was cut short.

    Their arrests are among many that Immigration and Customs Enforcement has carried out at immigration courts to shuffle more immigrants into a speeded-up removal from the country known as expedited removal. Many are like the mother and her children and were granted legal entry to the U.S. during the Biden administration.

    The Trump administration has directed judges to dismiss the cases of immigrants who have been in the country less than two years, so ICE can more quickly remove them from the country.

    As attorneys try to free the family from detention and get medical care for the child with cancer, they also are challenging the Trump administration’s growing practice of making arrests at immigration courts. Attorneys believe this is the first case to challenge the administration’s use of this tactic on children.

    “A federal district court has already ruled that the ICE courthouse arrest policy announced last month is illegal and unconstitutional and I think applying it to children is particularly abhorrent and unconscionable,” said attorney Elora Mukherjee, who is part of the team representing the family.

    Last week, several groups filed a lawsuit challenging the arrest of Oliver Eloy Mata Velasquez, originally from Venezuela, after his immigration court hearing in Buffalo, New York. He also had entered the country legally through the CBP One process.

    In this case, the mother had been instructed to bring her children, who are out of school, to the immigration hearing, said Kate Gibson Kumar, an attorney with the Texas Civil Rights Project who is also representing the family.

    “They arrested the family in the hallway as they were leaving … The children were really scared. They were crying,” Gibson Kumar said.

    The family was arrested and then taken to an immigration processing center. Attorneys said that during that time, an agent lifted his shirt as he was changing and one of the children, the 6-year-old boy, saw his gun. He became frightened and urinated on himself and remained in the soaked clothing for hours, said Mukherjee.

    There were no clothes the boy’s size until the next morning, when the family was about to be put on a plane and flown to Dilley, Texas, a detention facility near San Antonio, she said.

    The 6-year-old, identified as N.M.Z in a habeas corpus complaint, was diagnosed in Honduras with acute lymphoblastic leukemia when he was 3 and has been undergone two of the required two-and-a-half years of treatment, according to the court filing. He missed a June 5 medical appointment because he was in detention.

    Because it is acute, the cancer can progress rapidly without treatment. It affects the blood cells and immune system. It is considered curable in most children.

    However, attorneys said that the detention may be taking a toll on the children’s health. Gibson Kumar said the children are really scared, are crying daily and barely eating.

    Mukherjee said that when she visited the family earlier this week, the 6-year-old exhibited some conditions that are known symptoms of his cancer.

    “He has easy bruising. … His right leg had a lot of black-and-blue marks on it, his left leg had black and blue marks on it, he had black-and-blue marks on his arms. He has bone pain occasionally, He has lost his appetite. These are all pretty concerning things,” Mukherjee said.

    In an email, Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said the “minor child has not undergone chemotherapy in over a year, and has been seen regularly by medical personnel since arriving” at Dilley.

    McLaughlin said that detained individuals are at no time denied emergency care and any implication that ICE would deny a child needed medical care is “flatly FALSE” and “an insult to federal law enforcement officers.”

    “ICE always prioritizes the health, safety and well-being of all detainees in its care,” McLaughlin stated.

    Illnesses of children held at Dilley in past years, as well as the 2018 death of a toddler after release from Dilley, have raised concerns about previous medical care for children confined there.

    The family was paroled into the U.S. on Oct. 26 through the CBP One app. They fled Honduras after being subjected to “imminent and menacing death threats,” according to the habeas corpus petition.

    Once in the country, the U.S. government determined they were not a flight risk and not a danger to the community. The mother was not put on an electronic monitor. DHS gave them a notice to appear at the May 29 court hearing to pursue their claims for humanitarian relief, Mukherjee said.

    Attorneys have appealed the dismissal to the Board of Immigration Appeals, which is part of the Justice Department. McLaughlin said that because the family has “chosen to appeal their case — which had already been thrown out by an immigration judge” — the mother and children will remain in ICE custody until the case is resolved.

    The attorneys said the family was becoming deeply rooted in their community. The children attended a local public school that focused on the arts and had made friends. The 6-year-old loved playing soccer in the local park. The family attended church every Sunday and they were learning English, they said.

    “This is that family that was literally trying to do everything right and the forced disappearances of so many of our neighbors and community members, especially those who are law-abiding, should shock us all,” Mukherjee said.

    The attorneys are arguing that the administration has illegally placed the mother and children in expedited removal and should at least offer them a chance for bond.

    The family should be in what is considered full-removal proceedings, which provides a longer, multistep process leading to a trial opportunity where they could submit evidence supporting their claim and present witnesses, Mukherjee said.

    “As DHS determined when it paroled them into the United States, the family is not a flight risk nor are they a danger to the community,” the attorneys said in the habeas corpus petition, adding that their detention is unjustified. “Accordingly, the family is being detained in violation of their constitutional right to Due Process under the Fifth Amendment, and they should be released immediately.”

    On June 21, the government conducted a credible fear interview — to determine if they fear persecution, harm or death if returned to Honduras — but Mukherjee said she was not informed of the hearing. Mukherjee said this happened even though ICE was well aware she and others were representing the family.

    “There are extremely, serious concerns about the government illegally subjecting them to a credible fear interview and denying of the opportunity to have counsel on the line, when DHS has been on notice for weeks that I’m representing the family,” Mukherjee said.



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  • Gun control crusader and former US Rep. Carolyn McCarthy has died

    Gun control crusader and former US Rep. Carolyn McCarthy has died



    Former U.S. Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, who successfully ran for Congress in 1996 as a crusader for gun control after a mass shooting on a New York commuter train left her husband dead and her son severely wounded, has died. She was 81.

    News of her death was shared Thursday by several elected officials on her native Long Island and by Jay Jacobs, chair of the New York State Democratic Committee. Details about her death were not immediately available.

    McCarthy went from political novice to one of the nation’s leading advocates for gun control legislation in the aftermath of the 1993 Long Island Rail Road massacre. However, the suburban New York Democrat found limited success against the National Rifle Association and other Second Amendment advocates.

    McCarthy announced in June 2013 that she was undergoing treatment for lung cancer. She announced her retirement in January 2014.

    “Mom dedicated her life to transforming personal tragedy into a powerful mission of public service,” her son, Kevin McCarthy, who survived the shooting, told Newsday. “As a tireless advocate, devoted mother, proud grandmother and courageous leader, she changed countless lives for the better. Her legacy of compassion, strength and purpose will never be forgotten.”

    New York Gov. Kathy Hochul directed flags on all state government buildings to be flown at half-staff in honor of the congresswoman on Friday.

    “Representative Carolyn McCarthy was a strong advocate for gun control and an even more fierce leader,” Hochul said.

    Democratic U.S. Rep. Tom Suozzi said the nation has “lost a fierce champion.”

    “Carolyn channeled her grief and loss into advocacy for change, becoming one of the most dedicated gun violence prevention advocates,” Suozzi said on X.

    She became a go-to guest on national TV news shows after each ensuing gun massacre, whether it was at Columbine High School or Sandy Hook Elementary School.

    Known as the “gun lady” on Capitol Hill, McCarthy said she couldn’t stop crying after learning that her former colleague, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, had been seriously wounded in a January 2011 shooting in Arizona.

    “It’s like a cancer in our society,” she said of gun violence. “And if we keep doing nothing to stop it, it’s only going to spread.”

    During one particularly rancorous debate over gun show loopholes in 1999, McCarthy was brought to tears at 1 a.m. on the House floor.

    “I am Irish and I am not supposed to cry in front of anyone. But I made a promise a long time ago. I made a promise to my son and to my husband. If there was anything that I could do to prevent one family from going through what I have gone through then I have done my job,” she said.

    “Let me go home. Let me go home,” she pleaded.

    McCarthy was born in Brooklyn and grew up on Long Island. She became a nurse and later married Dennis McCarthy after meeting on a Long Island beach. They had one son, Kevin, during a tumultuous marriage in which they divorced but reconciled and remarried.

    McCarthy was a Republican when, on Dec. 7, 1993, a gunman opened fire on a train car leaving New York City. By the time passengers tackled the shooter, six people were dead and 19 wounded.

    She jumped into politics after her GOP congressman voted to repeal an assault weapons ban.

    Her surprise victory inspired a made-for-television movie produced by Barbra Streisand. Since that first victory in 1996, McCarthy was never seriously challenged for reelection in a heavily Republican district just east of New York City.

    Some critics described McCarthy as a one-issue lawmaker, a contention she bristled about, pointing to interests in improving health care and education. But she was realistic about her legacy on gun control, once telling an interviewer:

    “I’ve come to peace with the fact that will be in my obituary.”



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  • Death toll from Kenya’s anti-government protests rises to 16

    Death toll from Kenya’s anti-government protests rises to 16


    NAIROBI, Kenya — The number of Kenyans who died during Wednesday’s nationwide protests over police brutality and bad governance has doubled to 16, according to the state-funded human rights commission.

    Property was also destroyed in the protests that attracted thousands of frustrated young Kenyans. At least two police stations were razed down by angry protesters.

    Kenyans demonstrated Wednesday in 23 of 47 counties across the country, calling for an end to police brutality and better governance. Thousands chanted anti-government slogans, and the protests morphed into calls for President William Ruto to resign.

    tear gas teargas smoke protest demonstration crowd
    Protesters scattered as police fired tear gas at them during a demonstration in downtown Nairobi, Kenya, on Wednesday.Brian Inganga / AP

    Many protesters were enraged by the recent death of a blogger in custody and the shooting of a civilian during protests over the blogger’s death.

    The country’s interior minister, Kipchumba Murkomen, on Thursday assessed damage to businesses in the capital, Nairobi, where goods were stolen from multiple stores. He said police would follow up with owners whose CCTV cameras captured the looters to ensure swift arrests.

    At least two families have identified their deceased kin at the Nairobi mortuary. One relative, Fatma Opango, told local media that her 17-year-old nephew was gunned down in the Rongai area in the outskirts of Nairobi.

    “I came across his photo in a group online and I started searching for him at the hospitals hoping he had survived,” she told journalists at the mortuary.

    Murkomen on Thursday defended the conduct of police officers during the protests, saying the “government has your back.”

    “There is no police officer who committed any excess yesterday, they foiled a coup and they deserve our defense,” Murkomen said, adding that police “don’t carry guns as toys.”

    In downtown Nairobi, businesspeople counted their losses after looters raided their shops and set some shops on fire.

    In one of the buildings where smoke was still billowing on Thursday morning, a phone seller told journalists that she lost stock worth 800,000 Kenya shillings ($6,000).

    Kenyans mobilized Wednesday’s protests on social media platforms to mark the one-year anniversary of huge anti-tax protests, when demonstrators stormed parliament and at least 60 people were killed. Twenty others are still missing.

    Parliament and the president’s office were on Wednesday barricaded with razor wire and protesters were unable to use the roads leading to the two establishments.



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