World

International police have disrupted the “world’s most dangerous” cybercrime service used to break into computer systems, law agencies announced on Wednesday. The illicit service called EMOTET was operated as a so-called botnet, software that infects a network of computers and allows them to be remotely controlled, Europol and its judicial sister agency Eurojust said. Police based in Britain, Canada, Germany, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Ukraine and the United States teamed together to infiltrate EMOTET’s infrastructure. Describing it as the “world’s most dangerous malware”, Europol said in a statement that “law enforcement and judicial authorities worldwide have this week disrupted one of…

(FILES) In this file photo taken on April 06, 2020 bodies are moved to a refrigeration truck serving as a temporary morgue at Wyckoff Hospital in the Borough of Brooklyn on April 6, 2020 in New York. – The global economy is expected to see a strong rebound this year but the coronavirus crisis is causing severe damage, IMF chief economist Gita Gopinath said on January 26, 2021.”Now at $22 trillion, the projected cumulative output loss over 2020 to 2025, relative to the pre-pandemic projected levels remains substantial,” Gopinath told reporters. (Photo by Bryan R. Smith / AFP) Optimism that…

US President Joe Biden delivers remarks before signing a “Made in America” Executive Order in the South Court Auditorium at the White House on January 25, 2021 in Washington, DC. JIM WATSON / AFP Americans tend to notice everything about an incoming president at their inauguration, and thus Joe Biden’s choice to wear a $7,000 Rolex watch on the day he was sworn in did not pass without comment. Nor did the fact that the timepiece was made in Switzerland escape attention, as it marked one of the new president’s first breaks with his predecessors, who chose watches a bit…

(FILES) This file US Navy photo shows the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71)as it is moored pier side at Naval Base Guam on May 15, 2020. – A US aircraft carrier group sailed into the South China Sea on a so-called “freedom of navigation” exercise, the first routine operation in the region under new President Joe Biden. Led by the USS Theodore Roosevelt, the carrier strike group entered the area on January 23, 2021, the US Indo-Pacific Command said, the same day Taiwan reported multiple Chinese jets and bombers had flown into its air defense zone. (Photo by…

Prime Minister Boris Johnson sees how a dose of the Oxford/AstraZeneca Covid 19 vaccine is prepared for a mobile vaccination centre during a visit to Barnet FC’s ground at The Hive, north London, which is being used as a coronavirus vaccination centre on January 25, 2021. (Photo by Stefan Rousseau / POOL / AFP) The UK government faced growing pressure on Monday to detail a strategy to reopen schools in England, following a backlash from lawmakers about reports they could remain closed for months. A dozen MPs from Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s ruling Conservatives have warned publicly that pupils risk…

Samsung heir Lee Jae-yong arrives at court in Seoul on Janaury 18, 2021. – The de facto chief of South Korea’s Samsung business empire was convicted over a huge corruption scandal and jailed for two and a half years, in a ruling that deprives the tech giant of its top decision-maker. (Photo by Ed JONES / AFP) The de facto chief of South Korea’s Samsung business empire will not appeal against his 2.5-year prison sentence for corruption, his lawyer said Monday, in a move experts noted could pave the way for his early release on parole. Lee Jae-yong, the vice-chairman…