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World

Microsoft Blaming NSA for WannaCry Malware Pandemic

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Microsoft President Brad Smith complained that various governments “stockpile vulnerabilities.”

In other words, governments and agencies find weaknesses in technology and then keep that information to themselves in case they want to use it.

Smith said the current WannaCry malware event was a very rare one, combining a piece of very sophisticated software (to do the exploit) with a simpler piece (to do the ransom), conducted by a criminal organization.

To accusations Microsoft didn’t do enough to alert people about the danger, Smith said, “Microsoft has the first responsibility.” He called it a “wake-up call for us,” and that “we should all learn from this.”

In response to questions about whether the NSA told Microsoft they had a tool that exploited the vulnerability, Smith said, “I don’t want to go into the specifics about how we learned this particular problem, or by whom or when. It is a public record that we provided a patch in March. There wasn’t a public statement until April.

“But what I think is also important: We need the global community to come together.”

Drones Helping with Elephant Problems

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Everywhere humans and elephants coexist, they come into conflict, resulting in injuries, deaths, and ruined crops.

While governments compensate farmers and others for injuries and ruined crops, people in countries like Tanzania and Kenya have said they believe the government’s real priority is the elephants, which bring in tourist dollars.

A few years ago by accident, a drone pilot in Tanzania discovered that elephants he was filming were afraid of his drone. Because conservationists had been looking for a way to deal with elephants getting too close to humans and farms, they seized on the opportunity and added drones to their bag of tricks, which already included making loud noises, movement, firing guns into the air, charging elephants with vehicles, and hanging spicy chili-soaked sheets.

Farmers and the groups that help them are still looking for a better, long-term solution to the elephant problem.

Trump: ‘I Would Meet Kim Jong-Un’

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The President said he was willing to meet the North Korean leader if the right circumstances presented themselves.

“If it would be appropriate for me to meet with him, I would absolutely, I would be honored to do it,” Mr Trump said in an interview with Bloomberg News.

In the interview, Trump also said that while “most political people would never say” they’d be willing to meet with Kim. “I’m telling you, under the right circumstances, I would meet with him. We have breaking news.”

U.S.’s New Spending Bill

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The new bill has been approved, and it includes an extra $20 billion for defense. Immigration and border patrol get an 8% increase, but there is nothing for a border wall between the U.S. and Mexico.

The defense amount includes a 2.1% pay raise for military personnel.

There was also nothing in the bill about hot topics planned parenthood and sanctuary cities. Both keep their current funding for now.

The Republicans traded a lot of the things they wanted in order to get funding for defense and border security.

The National Endowment for the Arts, about which there was some buzz that the program would see cuts, got a slight increase.

The UN will get $640 million less from the U.S. this year, and funding for the Coast Guard was also reduced.

Trump Tries to Buy CNN Ad Space for Ad that Calls CNN Fake News

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The President’s 100 Days advertising campaign was denied by CNN when his team tried to buy space for their new 30-second video ad, which has a shot of 5 news personalities, including one from CNN, with “FAKE NEWS” printed over them.

The anchors include CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell and Rachel Maddow, ABC’s George Stephanopolous and CBS’ Scott Pelley. The video is published on Trump’s YouTube channel and elsewhere.

The “FAKE NEWS” part of the video is just a second or so out of 30, which highlight Trump’s accomplishments in his first 100 days.The message is that while he did these laudable things, “You wouldn’t know it from watching the news.”

China Making It’s Own Wikipedia, but Public Can’t Edit It

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The government, which enforces strict censorship of media, has decided it needs its own online encyclopedia. Wikipedia, like many other popular free information sources on the internet, is blocked in China.

China’s encyclopedia will not be like Wikipedia, though. It will not allow public edits, and its editors will be hand-picked by the government.

The want to put together 300,000 entries. Analysts have said they do not expect to see subjects China does not like to talk about, such as “Tiananmen Square 1989” and “Falun Gong spiritual group” to be included.

New Loonie Low

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The loonie might go as low as 70 cents to the U.S. dollar in 2017, according to experts.

Right now it’s around 73 cents, a 14-month low.

The fall of the loonie is tied to the same old things: a strong period for the U.S. economy, interest rate hikes by the U.S. Federal Reserve, and oil prices that are expected to stay low.

However, business in the U.S. isn’t doing amazing: This week, the U.S. PMI was below the forcast level, and construction spending contracted very slightly.

Meanwhile, Canadian manufacturing is doing well. Their PMI reported a 6-year high this week.

First Pack of Wolves in Denmark in 200 Years

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Scientists might know the general whereabouts of up to 40 wolves in the country, but they are keeping the location secret because they fear public attention would have a negative impact on the wolves, which haven’t existed in Denmark for 200 years.

It’s thought the current inhabitants are making their way from Germany, about 500 kilometers away. One was spotted in Jutland 5 years ago.

The big news is of a recent sighting of a pair on CCTV, male and female, which generally only come together briefly to mate. Scientists predict there may be cubs within the the next year or two.

In other Northern European countries as well, a slight increase in wolves has been reported. They are harassing farmers and killing sheep and deer.

Leaked Doc Reveals UK Plans for Wider Internet Surveillance

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No more end-to-end encryption is one of the consequences of a new law proposed in a draft in the UK.

The authors of the draft want to force internet providers to monitor all communications in near realtime, as well as install backdoor equipment to break encryption, so providers can be required to turn over communications to authorities “in an intelligible form” (non-encrypted) within one working day.

In the UK, law already requires internet providers to store all browsing data for 1 year.

It isn’t yet known how the requirement for a backdoor will work, since many messaging and other apps use end-to-end encryption for security, including Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, Wire, and iMessage, and these apps are based outside of the UK.