Tag: Reveals

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Entertainment

Romeo Santos Reveals One other Quantity of Boundary-Crossing Bachata

Romeo Santos Reveals Another Volume of Boundary-Crossing Bachata

Ever since he left the Bronx boy band Aventura a decade ago to go solo, the bachata luminary Romeo Santos has been teaching a graduate seminar in melodrama. He is a disciplined thespian, especially across his “Fórmula” series, a collection of albums driven by audacious, genre-crossing collaborations and intrepid experiments with pop, hip-hop and reggaeton.

Santos, 41, has an unwavering devotion to bachata — a Dominican genre with Black and working-class origins known for its bedrock of amargue, a peerless brand of bleeding-heart bitterness. Still, he has never really been a traditionalist. (His 2019 album, “Utopía,” was a rare exception, an LP that genuflected to and recruited genre-defining forebears like Raulín Rodriguez and Anthony Santos.)

Instead, he has consistently sought out new ways of refreshing bachata’s templates while developing some of his own trademarks — signature catchphrases, caustic disses and salacious onstage antics. He has brought in English lyrics and hints of R&B, and ventured into the world of reggaeton, most memorably alongside Don Omar (“Ella y Yo” from 2005) and Daddy Yankee and Nicky Jam (“Bella y Sensual” from 2017). Years before the music industry became obsessed with Anglo pop artists singing in Spanish, he had A-list figures from the world of hip-hop and R&B appearing on his albums, including Usher, Nicki Minaj and Drake. At a moment when other high-profile stars are experimenting with bachata (see Rosalía and the Weeknd on “La Fama,” as well as the intro to Bad Bunny’s “Tití Me Preguntó), it feels even more urgent to recognize that Santos saw its potential for global popularity and creative reimagining all along.

On “Fórmula Vol. 3,” the latest, 21-track installation of the series and his fifth solo album overall, Santos includes unexpected team-ups with Justin Timberlake and the regional Mexican star Christian Nodal. He also doubles down on the theatrics, submerging listeners further into his acerbic torch songs about betrayal, bitter revenge and unrequited love, sometimes with mixed success.

Of the collaborations, “El Pañuelo” with the Spanish star Rosalía is an immediate standout: Her melismatic vocal runs flutter into focus in the intro, and in the chorus, a call-and-response lament between the two singers recalls the 2002 hit “ Te Quiero Igual Que Ayer” by Monchy y Alexandra. The misty-eyed merengue “15,550 Noches,” which unites the genre stalwarts Toño Rosario, Rubby Pérez and Fernandito Villalona, ​​is nostalgic, doleful and explosive all at once. And on the booming Christian Nodal feature “Me Extraño,” a song about returning to yourself after being wronged by a paramour, Santos finds a perfect balance between the thematic commonalities of mariachi and bachata.

His dramatic flourishes are most palpable when he makes full use of cohesive metaphors and potent storytelling as on “Ciudadana,” a diaspora tale about a romance separated by borders, complete with aerial sound effects, like a flight attendant announcing a landing. Santos’ yearning, crisp falsetto is most effective in these contexts: On the corrosive opener “Bebo,” an alcohol-soaked send-off to a duplicitous lover, his voice trembles with despair, and he feigns intoxication in a spoken outro. It’s a vocal performance that magnifies the best parts of bachata’s theatrical core.

But Santos missteps when he falls into religious and gendered tropes. On “Nirvana,” a ballad written as a monologue to God, he attempts to reconcile the existence of social and political injustice with God’s assumed benevolence. It descends into low-level political signaling, with an exculpatory name-drop of the Dominican dembow star Tokischa and the Puerto Rican rapper Anuel AA, who have been blamed for promoting crime and drug use.

Both “La Última Vez” and “Suegra” reproduce antediluvian gender stereotypes. “Suegra” is the bigger disappointment, though it is expertly produced and arranged by Iván “MateTraxx” Chévere, Martires De León and Santos. The nylon-string guitar-picking complements his high-pitched tenor as Santos sings about the clichéd image of an overbearing mother-in-law. But then his lyrics turn violent, as he describes poisoning her coffee and pushing her body off the side of a cliff in a car (the song even ends with a car crashing sound effect). In a country that currently has the second highest rate of femicide in Latin America, the gag doesn’t land as a lighthearted farce; it just feels irresponsible and out of touch.

“Sin Fin,” a collaboration with Timberlake, is perhaps the most paradigmatic song on an album rooted in both the past and future. Its syrupy celebration of endless love sometimes forgets on sappy idolatry, but it also maximizes Timberlake and Santos’s talent for pop sentimentality. The track is a full-circle moment for Santos: On Aventura’s second album, the band transformed ‘N Sync’s “Gone” into a bilingual bachata requiem. Here he once again finds common ground between two worlds once thought irreconcilable, demonstrating how bachata can stretch beyond both its real and imagined borders.

Romeo Santos“Formula Vol. 3”
(SonyLatin)

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Entertainment

JoJo Siwa Reveals the Candy Means She Requested Out Kylie Prew

JoJo Siwa Reveals the Sweet Way She Asked Out Kylie Prew

Each new detail we learn about JoJo Siwa and Kylie Prew’s relationship is even cuter than the last. During an appearance on the Success With Jess podcast on Aug. 21, the couple sat down to talk about everything from when they started dating to how they told each other “I love you.” The 18-year-old Dance Moms alum also dished on how they both asked each other to be their girlfriend, and let’s just say, JoJo went big. “I had a whole musical number,” JoJo shared. “I had like word choreography that coordinated to music, and then it went into a song after the word [choreography]. It was magical.”

The adorable duo first went public with their romance in February, shortly after JoJo came out as a part of the LGBTQ+ community on Instagram. During an appearance on The Tonight Show, JoJo shared that Kylie was “super encouraging” about her decision to come out, calling her “the most amazing, wonderful, perfect, most beautiful girlfriend in the whole world.” Learn more about their sweet relationship as you watch the video above.

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Politics

Lindsey Graham reveals Covid an infection, lauds vaccine

Lindsey Graham reveals Covid infection, lauds vaccine

Senate Justice Committee Chairman Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) attends the Senate Justice Committee business meeting on Supreme Court Justice candidate Amy Coney Barrett at the Hart Senate Office Building in Washington on October 15, 2020 , DC, part.

Tom Williams | Swimming pool | Reuters

GOP Senator Lindsey Graham on Monday praised the Covid vaccine after testing positive for the disease, saying that his “symptoms would be much worse without him”.

Graham said in a tweet that the family doctor informed him of his positive test even though he was fully vaccinated. He said he had flu-like symptoms on Saturday night and will be quarantined for ten days.

While the Senate has not officially issued a mask mandate, Graham was reportedly seen wearing a mask on Monday, according to a Politico reporter.

Graham’s announcement came as the United States is grappling with a spike in the Delta variant of Covid and the Biden government is urging more people to get vaccinated.

This story evolves. Please check again for updates.

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Entertainment

Spike Lee By accident Reveals Palme d’Or Winner Early: It’s ‘Titane’

Spike Lee Accidentally Reveals Palme d’Or Winner Early: It’s ‘Titane’

CANNES, France – The 2021 edition of the Cannes Film Festival awarded the French film “Titane” its grand prize, the prestigious Palme d’Or.

A wild serial killer story featuring some of the festival’s most controversial scenes, “Titane” was directed by Julia Ducournau, who was only the second woman to win the Palm after Jane Campion won the 1993 award for “The Piano”. ”

And although “Titane” was hotly touted as the main contender for the palm, that reveal came much earlier than intended: At the beginning of the graduation ceremony, when Jury President Spike Lee was asked to take the first prize of the night, he misunderstood and read that instead first prize winner.

“Do not do it!” shouted actress-director Mélanie Laurent, a jury member who sits next to Lee. But the cat was already out of the bag.

(At a post-ceremony press conference, Lee said he had no excuses and that “I screwed it up,” added, “I’m a huge sports fan. It’s like the guy at the end of the game on the foul line. Him misses the free throw or a guy misses a kick. “He also said he apologized to the Cannes organizers.” They said forget it. “

The accidental disclosure of “Titane” was only the first of several chaotic moments at the ceremony, as the spoiled palm unveiling was followed by a Best Actor Award for Caleb Landry Jones for the Australian tragedy “Nitram”. When a nervous looking Jones took the stage, he seemed to have a bad stomach, said, “I can’t do this,” and hurriedly backed off.

When, at the end of the ceremony, a tearful Ducournau was brought out to finally accept her palm, chaos had embraced her. “This evening was perfect,” she said, “because it’s not perfect that way.”

Other big winners were Leos Carax, who received the award for the best director for his eccentric musical “Annette”, the winner of the best leading actress Renate Reinsve for the Norwegian romantic dramedy “The Worst Person in the World” and a pair of ties: The Second -Place was split between “A Hero” by Iranian director Asghar Farhadi and the Finnish drama “Compartment No. 6”, while third prize went to the Nadav Lapid films “Ahed’s Knee” and “Memoria”. with Tilda Swinton.

At the last Cannes Film Festival in 2019, the palm tree winner was “Parasite”, the first big prize that Bong Joon Ho’s film took on its way to the Best Picture Oscar. Although “Titane” is far too bloody to be a major Oscar contender, her Palme win makes Ducournau only two feature films in her career as a major international director.

Correction: July 17, 2021

In an earlier version of this article, the name of the winner of the Best Director Award was misspelled. He’s Leos Carax, not Leox Carax.

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Health

Putin reveals he had the Sputnik V shot as Russia struggles with Covid

Putin reveals he had the Sputnik V shot as Russia struggles with Covid

Watching a live broadcast of the annual phone call of Russian President Vladimir Putin in the newsroom of the TASS news agency.

Gavriil Grigorov | TASS | Getty Images

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday said he received the Sputnik-V coronavirus vaccine as the Kremlin struggles to convince a skeptical public of the benefits of vaccination.

“I thought I needed to be protected as long as possible. So I decided to vaccinate with Sputnik V. The military is vaccinated with Sputnik V and after all I am the commander in chief, ”Putin said during his annual conference call where the public asked questions to the president.

“After the first shot, I didn’t feel anything. About four hours later there was some tenderness where I had the shot. I took the second.” [shot] at noon. I took my temperature at midnight. It was 37.2 [Celsius]. I went to sleep, woke up and my temperature was 36.6. That was it, “Putin said in a Reuters-translated commentary.

Putin had previously refused to say what Covid vaccine he received in March and the Kremlin said it would keep the information “a secret”. Putin was not filmed or photographed when he received the shot, leading to speculation among the Russian public and the international press that he had not received any Russian vaccine at all.

Doubts about Putin’s vaccination status have not helped allay Russians’ apparent reluctance to get a Covid vaccination, despite the incentives for older people to get the vaccination.

Russia has now approved four home-grown vaccines for use and was the first country in the world to approve a coronavirus vaccination, Sputnik V (its most famous vaccine), last August.

The fact that the vaccine was approved prior to the completion of clinical trials caused a stir in the global scientific community and is believed to have contributed to public skepticism about the vaccine’s safety and effectiveness.

Still, an interim analysis of the shot’s Phase 3 clinical trials, which included 20,000 participants and which were published in the peer-reviewed medical journal The Lancet in early February, found 91.6% of it against symptomatic Covid-19 infection was effective. Russia has tried to sell its vaccine to several countries around the world, especially its allies.

Still, vaccination rates at home remain very sluggish, much to the chagrin of Putin, who has extolled the benefits of Russian Covid vaccines and encouraged the public to take up vaccination. The vaccination rate is lagging behind many countries, including India, Mexico and Brazil.

Our World in Data figures show that 15% of the Russian population received one dose and 12% received their second dose.

Putin’s comments come as Russia struggles to contain Covid and the Delta variant in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Last Friday, the Russian coronavirus task force reported 20,393 new Covid cases, most of the cases confirmed in a single day since January 24, according to Reuters. 7,916 new infections were in Moscow. Russia has recorded nearly 5.5 million cases since the pandemic began.

During the question-and-answer session in front of various members of the public from across Russia, Putin raised a variety of issues including rising food prices, energy infrastructure, relations with Ukraine and housing issues. Over 1 million questions were put to Putin, the TASS news agency reported.

Regarding the mandatory vaccination of the population in light of the low vaccination rate, Putin reiterated on Wednesday that he still disagreed with it, despite steps being taken to get Russians to accept the vaccination with the prospect of restrictions and possible job losses those who do not accept it.

In Moscow, for example, officials said that 60% of workers in the service sector must have their first dose of a Covid vaccine before July 15.

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Health

100 Million Vaccine Doses Held Up Over Contamination Issues, Emergent Reveals

Contamination Woes Hold Back 100 Million Vaccine Doses

WASHINGTON – The executive director of Emergent BioSolutions, whose Baltimore facility ruined millions of coronavirus vaccine doses, announced on Wednesday that more than 100 million doses of the vaccine were being put on hold by Johnson & Johnson as regulators screen for possible contamination.

In more than three hours of testimony before a House subcommittee, chief executive Robert G. Kramer calmly acknowledged unsanitary conditions, including mold and peeling paint, at the Baltimore plant. He acknowledged that Johnson & Johnson had discovered – not emergent – contaminated cans and fought off aggressive questions from the Democrats about his stock sales and hundreds of thousands of dollars in bonuses for company executives.

Emergent’s Bayview Baltimore facility shut down a month ago after contamination spoiled the equivalent of 15 million cans. However, Mr. Kramer told the legislature that he expected the plant to resume production “in a few days”. He said he took “very seriously” a report from federal regulators that identified manufacturing defects and assumed “full responsibility”.

“Nobody is more disappointed than us that we had to stop manufacturing new vaccines around the clock,” Kramer told the panel, adding: “I apologize for the failure of our controls.”

Mr Kramer’s appearance before the House Select Coronavirus Crisis Subcommittee, which has launched a full investigation into his company, provided the public with an initial glimpse into the men who run Emergent, a politically affiliated federal entrepreneur who has a niche market for the Biological Defense Preparation dominates with the US government as the main customer.

Mr. Kramer, who testified virtually, was assisted by Fuad El-Hibri, the company’s founder and chairman, who has grown from a small biotech company to a $ 1.5 billion company in annual sales over the past two decades has expanded. Executive compensation documents released by the subcommittee show that the company’s board of directors praised Mr. El-Hibri, who cashed in more than $ 42 million in stock and options last year, for “his critical relationships with important customers, Congress and other stakeholders. ”

Those members of Congress include Representative Steve Scalise of Louisiana, the No. 2 Republican in the House, and the Chief Republican on the House subcommittee. Federal campaign records indicate that Mr. El-Hibri and his wife have donated more than $ 150,000 to groups associated with Mr. Scalise since 2018. The company’s Political Action Committee has donated approximately $ 1.4 million to members of both parties over the past 10 years.

Mr El-Hibri expressed his remorse on Wednesday. “The cross-contamination incident is unacceptable,” he said.

Mr. Kramer’s estimate of 100 million cans held increased the number of Johnson & Johnson cans effectively quarantined due to regulatory concerns about contamination by 30 million. Federal officials had previously estimated that the equivalent of about 70 million cans – most of them for domestic use – could not be released until purity was tested.

The House Democrats began their investigation into Emergent after the New York Times documented months of problems at the Baltimore plant, including failure to properly disinfect equipment and protect it from viral and bacterial contamination.

Hours before the hearing began, the committee’s staff released confidential audits previously reported by The Times that cited repeated violations of manufacturing standards. A leading federal manufacturing expert reiterated these concerns in a June 2020 report, warning that Emergent did not have trained staff and adequate quality control in place.

“My teenage son’s room gives your facility a run for its money,” Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi, Democrat of Illinois, told Mr. Kramer.

Mr. Kramer initially stated that the contamination of the Johnson & Johnson cans “was identified by our quality control procedures and checks and balances.” However, when questioned, he admitted that a Johnson & Johnson laboratory in the Netherlands had picked up the problem. Johnson & Johnson hired Emergent to manufacture its vaccine and is now claiming greater control over the facility at the urging of the Biden government.

The federal government placed a $ 628 million contract with Emergent last year, primarily to reserve space at the Baltimore plant for vaccine manufacturing. The legislature is examining, among other things, whether the company is maintaining its contacts with a leading representative of the Trump administration, Dr. Robert Kadlec, used to secure this mandate and whether federal officials have ignored known shortcomings in placing the work on Emergent.

Mr El-Hibri told lawmakers that the government and Johnson & Johnson are aware of the risks.

“Everyone was open-minded that this is a facility that has never manufactured a licensed product before,” he said. While the Baltimore plant was “not in perfect working order – far from it,” he argued that the plant was “in the highest state of readiness” among the plants that the government had to choose from.

For Republicans, including Mr Scalise, Wednesday’s session became a means of defending Emergent and the Trump administration and raising other virus-related issues: the unproven theory that the coronavirus leaked from a laboratory in China that “Lies of the Communist Party” of China “, mask mandates and the demand of the Biden government for a renunciation of an international agreement on intellectual property.

“You are a reputable company that did Yeoman’s job protecting this bio-defense country,” exclaimed Mark E. Green, Republican of Tennessee, adding, “So you have your people a bonus for their incredible work given. “

Emergent is able to work in Washington. The board of directors is made up of former government officials, and Senate lobbying data shows the company has spent an average of $ 3 million a year on lobbying over the past decade. That’s roughly the equivalent of two pharmaceutical giants, AstraZeneca and Bristol Myers Squibb, whose annual sales are at least 17 times higher.

Democrats urged Mr. Kramer and Mr. El-Hibri to open their contacts with Dr. Kadlec, who had previously consulted for Emergent. Documents indicate that Emergent agreed to pay him $ 120,000 annually for his advisory work between 2012 and 2015 and that he recommended that Emergent be given a “priority rating” so that the contract can be approved quickly. Dr. Kadlec said he didn’t negotiate the deal but signed it.

“Did you or any other Emergent executives speak or make contacts with Dr. Kadlec while these contracts were being issued?” Representative Nydia M. Velázquez, Democrat of New York, asked Mr. Kramer.

“Congressman,” he replied cautiously, “I haven’t had any discussions with Dr. Kadlec about it.”

The government has paid Emergent $ 271 million to date, although American regulators have not yet approved a single dose of vaccine made in the vaccine in Baltimore.

An investigation by the Times found that Emergent was an oversized influence on the Strategic National Stockpile, the country’s emergency medical reserve. In a few years, the company’s anthrax vaccine made up half of the inventory budget.

The investigation found that some federal officials believed the company was undermining taxpayers – an issue that also surfaced at Wednesday’s hearing when New York Democrat Carolyn B. Maloney asked how much it would cost to make the vaccine and what he sells for. Mr. El-Hibri promised to provide the information later.

Company executives also consider their coronavirus work to be one of the “main drivers” of 2020 revenue, according to a memorandum released Wednesday by committee staff. Executives have been rewarded for what the company’s board of directors calls “exemplary overall company performance for 2020 , including a significant overachievement of the sales and earnings targets ”.

Mr Kramer received a $ 1.2 million cash bonus in 2020, the records show, and this year also sold $ 10 million worth of shares in stores that he said were planned in advance and dated Companies have been approved. Three of the company’s executive vice presidents received awards between $ 445,000 and $ 462,000.

Sean Kirk, who is responsible for overseeing development and manufacturing processes at all Emergent production sites, received a special bonus of $ 100,000 last year in addition to his regular bonus of $ 320,611, including for expanding the contract manufacturing capacities of the Company to Covid- 19 show the documents. Mr. Kirk is now on personal vacation.

Aspiring officials “appear to have wasted tax dollars while filling their own pockets,” accused Ms. Maloney.

Mr Krishnamoorthi asked Mr Kramer if he would consider giving his bonus to American taxpayers.

“I will not make this commitment,” replied Mr. Kramer.

“I didn’t think so,” replied Krishnamoorthi-san.

Rebecca R. Ruiz contributed to the coverage.

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World News

Michael Burry of ‘The Huge Brief’ reveals a $530 million guess towards Tesla

Michael Burry of ‘The Big Short’ reveals a $530 million bet against Tesla

Michael Burry attends the New York premiere of “The Big Short” on November 23, 2015 at the Ziegfeld Theater in New York City.

Jim Spellman | WireImage | Getty Images

Famed investor Michael Burry announced a short position on Tesla worth more than half a billion in a filing for approval on Monday.

Burry, one of the first investors to benefit from the subprime mortgage crisis, has long puts on 800,100 Tesla shares, or $ 534 million, by the end of the first quarter, according to filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

Investors benefit from puts when the underlying security falls in price. As of March 31, Burry had 8,001 put contracts of unknown value, exercise price, or expiry as per filing.

Tesla’s shares fell more than 4% on Monday, increasing losses to more than 20% since the start of the month.

Burry, whose company is Scion Asset Management, made fame for betting against mortgage securities prior to the 2008 crisis. Burry was featured in Michael Lewis’ book “The Big Short” and the subsequent Oscar winner of the same name.

Tesla had a tumultuous year in 2021, when sales in China fell in April and parts became scarce, hampering production in both the US and China.

Burry previously mentioned in a tweet he later deleted that Tesla’s reliance on regulatory credit to generate profits is a red flag.

As automakers grow their own battery electric vehicles, allegedly fewer have to purchase environmental credits from Tesla than they did to comply with environmental regulations.

Alongside his “Big Short”, Burry recently killed from a long GameStop position when the Reddit favorite made Wall Street history with its massive short squeeze.

In the first quarter of 2021, Tesla reported $ 518 million in revenue from regulatory loans, which the company generally receives from Elon Musk from government programs to support renewable energy. These were sold to other automakers, particularly FCA (now Stellantis), when they needed credit to offset their own carbon footprint.

In the fourth quarter of 2020, Tesla’s net income of $ 270 million was made possible by the sale of regulatory loans of $ 401 million to other automakers.

Tesla has historically raised around $ 1.6 billion in regulatory energy loans, mostly zero-emission vehicle loans. This has helped Tesla report more than four consecutive quarters of profitability and qualify Elon Musk’s automaker for inclusion in the S&P 500 index.

Tesla is currently delaying the production and shipping of its updated versions of its high-end sedan and SUV, the Model S and X. It is also delaying commercial production of its custom “4680” battery cells for use in future vehicles, including the Cybertruck and Tesla Semi.

Meanwhile, Elon Musk’s electric vehicle company is under regulatory scrutiny in China and the United States as high-profile vehicle accidents result in negative publicity and investigations by vehicle safety authorities in both countries.

Many believe CEO Elon Musk’s tweets about Bitcoin and Dogecoin also contributed to the volatility of Tesla stock. Musk has tens of millions of followers on Twitter.

A proponent of cryptocurrency in general, Musk announced last week that Tesla would indefinitely suspend accepting Bitcoin as a payment for cars, and said he was concerned about the “rapidly increasing use of fossil fuels in Bitcoin mining and mining.” for transactions “. Tesla announced earlier this year that it had purchased $ 1.5 billion worth of Bitcoin.

Tesla shares are down nearly 20% in 2021, after rising a whopping 740% in 2020.

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Correction: Michael Burry is long against 800,100 Tesla shares according to a report with the SEC. In an earlier version, the number of put contracts Burry bought was incorrectly stated.

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Business

Colonial Pipeline Hack Reveals Weaknesses in US Cybersecurity

Colonial Pipeline Hack Reveals Weaknesses in US Cybersecurity

For years, government officials and industry executives have been running in-depth simulations of a targeted cyberattack on the US power grid or gas pipeline and imagining how the country would react.

But when the real moment came when it wasn’t an exercise, it didn’t look like the war games.

The attacker was not a terrorist group or a hostile state such as Russia, China or Iran, as was assumed in the simulations. It was a criminal blackmail ring. The aim was not to disrupt the economy by taking a pipeline offline, but rather to save company data as a ransom.

The most visible impact – long lines of nervous drivers at gas stations – resulted not from a government response but from a decision by the victim Colonial Pipeline, which controls nearly half of the gasoline, jet fuel and diesel flowing on the east coast, to turn the spigot. This was done out of concern that the malware that had infected their back office functions could make it difficult to bill for the fuel delivered down the pipeline or even spread to the pipeline’s operating system.

What happened next was a vivid example of the difference between table simulations and the cascade of consequences that can follow even a relatively straightforward attack. The episode aftermath is still playing out, but some of the lessons are already clear, showing how far the government and the private sector must go to prevent and manage cyberattacks and put in place fast backup systems in case that critical Infrastructures fail.

In this case, the long-held belief that the pipeline’s operations were completely isolated from the data systems locked down by DarkSide, a gang of ransomware believed to be operating out of Russia, proved false. And the company’s decision to shut down the pipeline sparked a series of dominoes, including panic buying at the pumps and silent fear within the government that the damage could spread quickly.

A confidential assessment by the ministries of energy and homeland security found that the country could only afford three to five days if the colonial pipeline was shut down before buses and other local transport had to cut operations due to the lack of diesel fuel. Chemical plants and refineries would also be shut down as there was no way to sell what they produced, the report said.

And while President Biden’s advisors announced efforts to find alternative ways to get gasoline and jet fuel to the east coast, none were immediately available. There was a shortage of truck drivers and tankers for trains.

“Every fragility has been exposed,” said Dmitri Alperovitch, co-founder of CrowdStrike, a cybersecurity company and now chairman of the Silverado Policy Accelerator think tank. “We learned a lot about what could go wrong. Unfortunately our opponents too. “

The list of lessons is long. Colonial, a private company, may have thought it had an impermeable protective wall, but it was easy to break through. Even after paying the extortionists nearly $ 5 million in digital currency to recover their data, the company found that the process of decrypting its data and turning the pipeline back on was excruciatingly slow, which means it is still It will be days before the east coast comes back to normal.

“It’s not like flicking a light switch,” Biden said Thursday, noting that the 5,500-mile pipeline had never been shut down before.

For the administration, the event was a dangerous week in crisis management. Mr Biden told the aides it was remembered that nothing could cause political damage faster than television images of gas pipes and soaring prices, with the inevitable comparison to Jimmy Carter’s worst moments as president.

Mr Biden feared the situation would raise concerns that the economic recovery is still fragile and inflation will rise if the pipeline is not restarted, the panic subsides and the price cut is nipped in the bud.

In addition to the numerous measures to promote oil traffic on trucks, trains and ships, Mr Biden published a long-standing regulation that aims to prescribe changes in cybersecurity for the first time.

And he suggested that he was ready to take steps the Obama administration hesitated during the 2016 election campaigns – direct measures to repel the attackers.

“We will also be pursuing a measure to compromise its operability,” said Biden, a line suggesting that the United States Cyber ​​Command, the military’s cyberwarfare force, had authority to take DarkSide out of circulation like another ransomware group in the fall before the presidential election.

Hours later, the group’s website went dark. Early Friday, DarkSide and several other ransomware groups, including Babuk, who hacked the Washington DC Police Department, announced they were getting out of the game.

Darkside alluded to disruptive actions by an unspecified law enforcement agency, although it was not clear whether this was the result of US action or pressure from Russia ahead of Mr Biden’s expected summit with President Vladimir V. Putin. And the silence could have simply expressed a decision by the ransomware gang to thwart retaliation by potentially suspending their operations.

The Pentagon’s Cyber ​​Command referred questions to the National Security Council, which refused to comment.

The episode highlighted the emergence of a new “mixed threat” that may emanate from cybercriminals but is often tolerated and sometimes encouraged by a nation that views the attacks as serving their interests. That is why Mr Biden singled out Russia – not as the culprit, but as a nation that is home to more ransomware groups than any other country.

“We do not believe that the Russian government was involved in this attack, but we have strong reasons to believe that the criminals who carried out this attack live in Russia,” said Biden. “We spoke in direct communication with Moscow about the need for responsible countries to take action against these ransomware networks.”

With Darkside’s systems down, it’s unclear how Mr Biden’s government would take further revenge beyond possible charges and sanctions that Russian cybercriminals have not previously deterred. Fighting back with a cyber attack also carries the risk of escalation.

The government must also expect much of America’s critical infrastructure to be owned and operated by the private sector and still ripe for attack.

“This attack showed how bad our resilience is,” said Kiersten E. Todt, executive director of the nonprofit Cyber ​​Readiness Institute. “We are rethinking the threat if we still don’t lay the foundations to secure our critical infrastructure.”

The good news, some officials said, was that the Americans received a wake-up call. Congress faced the reality that the federal government lacks the power to require a minimum level of cybersecurity from the companies that control more than 80 percent of the country’s critical infrastructure.

The bad news is that American opponents – not just superpowers, but also terrorists and cyber criminals – are learning how little it takes to wreak havoc in a large part of the country, even if they don’t break into the core of the electricity grid or the operational control systems, moving gasoline, water, and propane across the country.

Something as basic as a well-designed ransomware attack can easily do the trick while providing plausible denial to states like Russia, China, and Iran, which often appeal to outsiders for sensitive cyber operations.

It remains a mystery how Darkside first broke into Colonial’s business network. The privately owned company has said practically nothing, at least in public, about how the attack unfolded. It waited four days before having significant conversations with the administration, an eternity during a cyberattack.

Cybersecurity experts also note that the Colonial Pipeline never should have shut down its pipeline if it had had more confidence in the separation between its business network and pipeline operations.

“There should definitely be a separation between data management and the actual operating technology,” said Ms. Todt. “For a company that ships 45 percent of its gas to the east coast, frankly, it is inexcusable not to do the basics.”

Other pipeline operators in the US employ advanced firewalls between their data and their operations that only allow data to flow out of the pipeline in one direction and prevent a ransomware attack from spreading.

Colonial Pipeline did not indicate whether this level of security was provided in their pipeline. Industry analysts say many critical infrastructure operators say that installing such one-way gateways along a 5,500-mile pipeline can be complicated or prohibitively expensive. Others say the cost of providing these protections is still cheaper than the losses from potential downtime.

Detering ransomware criminals, whose number and audacity has increased in recent years, will certainly be more difficult than deterring nations. But this week made the urgency clear.

“It’s all fun and games when we steal each other’s money,” said Sue Gordon, former deputy chief director for national intelligence and longtime CIA analyst specializing in cyber issues, at a conference hosted by The Cipher Brief, an online intelligence agency Newsletter. “If we play around with the functioning of a society, we cannot tolerate it.”

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Business

Epic trial reveals Apple negotiations with Netflix, Fb, Microsoft

Epic trial reveals Apple negotiations with Netflix, Facebook, Microsoft

Apple und Epic Games stehen sich seit Jahren in einem der am genauesten beobachteten Kartellverfahren in der Technologiebranche gegenüber.

Epic Games hat diese Woche seinen Fall vorgestellt, und Apple wird seinen Fall in den kommenden Wochen vorstellen. Schließlich wird Richterin Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers eine Entscheidung treffen, ob Apple Epic erlauben muss, einen eigenen App Store auf iPhones zu installieren und die 30% App Store-Gebühr von Apple zu umgehen.

Als Teil von Epics Argument, dass Apples App Store wettbewerbswidrig ist, hat die Studie viele interne Apple-Überlegungen zu Verhandlungen ergeben – Gerichtsausstellungen, einschließlich E-Mail-Threads füllen Dokumente im Wert von 60 Ordnern – mit einigen seiner wichtigsten Partner.

Die Dokumente zeichnen ein Porträt eines Unternehmens, das sich seiner umsatzstärksten und wichtigsten Apps sehr bewusst ist und regelmäßig Verhandlungen mit Unternehmen wie Netflix, Microsoft, Facebook und sogar Epic Games selbst führt, deren Fortnite-Spiel eine der Top-Apps bei Apple war Appstore.

Während die E-Mails nicht zeigen, dass das App Store-Team Kompromisse bei den Apple-Regeln bezüglich der zulässigen Inhalte im Store eingeht, haben sie andere Zugeständnisse gemacht, darunter die Platzierung auf der Titelseite im App Store, Koordination und Werbung durch Apple-Produkteinführungen sowie Zugriff auf exklusive Programme Funktionen und Versuche, leitende Angestellte einzuschleifen, um Kompromisse zu finden.

Apple hat Netflix Kompromisse angeboten

Im Februar 2018 traf sich ein Apple-Manager mit Mitarbeitern von Netflix und schrieb anschließend eine E-Mail an seine Kollegen, in der er das Meeting zusammenfasste.

Er schrieb, dass der Video-Streamer besorgt über die “freiwillige Abwanderung” oder die Anzahl der Netflix-Abonnenten war, die über Apple zahlten und beschlossen, das Abonnement einzustellen. Infolgedessen wollte Netflix in einigen kleinen Märkten einen Test durchführen, um zu sehen, was passieren würde, wenn keine In-App-Käufe mehr akzeptiert würden, von denen Apple eine Kürzung um 15% bis 30% vornimmt.

Der Apple-Manager schrieb, dass der geplante Test von Netflix Fragen für Apple aufwirft, einschließlich der Frage, ob “Strafmaßnahmen” ergriffen werden sollen, z. B. die Einstellung der Werbung für Netflix im App Store oder die Eskalation von Bedenken gegenüber Netflix-Führungskräften.

Die E-Mail löste bei Apple-Managern ein Durcheinander aus. Zu dieser Zeit gehörte Netflix zu den erfolgreichsten Apps im App Store von Apple.

Pete Distad, ein Apple-Vizepräsident, der sich auf das Streaming-Geschäft von Apple konzentrierte, entsandte Mitarbeiter, um mit seinem früheren Arbeitgeber Hulu über ähnliche Themen zu sprechen. Ein Apple-Mitarbeiter sagte, dass Eddy Cue, Apples Chef für Onlinedienste, mit Reed Hastings, CEO von Netflix, sprechen wollte.

In den nächsten zwei Monaten trafen sich Apple-Mitarbeiter mit Netflix, um über den Test zu sprechen, und aktualisierten ihre Vorgesetzten über die Pläne von Netflix, als Apple laut E-Mails versuchte, ein Executive Meeting zu planen.

Bis Juli 2018 hatten Apple-Mitarbeiter eine Präsentation zum Netflix-Problem erstellt. Das Dia-Deck enthielt “Pie in the Sky-Ideen”, die nicht genehmigt worden waren, warnte ein Apple-Mitarbeiter.

Auf dem Dia-Deck stand, dass Apple Netflix bereits “benutzerdefinierte APIs” oder nicht öffentliche Software angeboten hatte, mit denen es Systeme erstellen konnte, mit denen Apple-Abonnements geändert, kostenlose Testversionen durchgeführt oder Daten für die automatische Verlängerung verlängert werden konnten. Es würde auch Funktionen erstellen, die direkt auf Netflix-Anforderungen basieren.

Es wurde auch auf die Leistungsfähigkeit von Apples App Store-Inhalten hingewiesen, die Downloads fördern können. Es führte seine eigenen Tests durch und stellte fest, dass die Download-Conversions bei der Werbung für Netflix in seiner App Store-App um 6% bis 7% zunahmen. Netflix erhielt mehr App Store-Placements als jeder andere Partner und erzielte 330.000 Downloads oder eine Conversion von 2% Bewertung. Apple berechnet keine Gebühren für “redaktionelle” Platzierungen von App Store-Inhalten.

Schließlich schlug das Dia-Deck vor, dass Apple seine Partnerschaft mit Netflix vertiefen könnte, einschließlich der Verwendung der von Apple gesammelten Netflix-Provision, um App Store-Suchanzeigen zu kaufen, um Downloads zu fördern oder Netflix zusammen mit Apple-Diensten zu bündeln. Eine andere Möglichkeit bestand darin, Netflix “Vorteile für Videopartnerprogramme” anzubieten, was einem Vertrag ähnelt, den Apple mit Amazon Prime Video abgeschlossen hat, mit dem Kunden direkt belastet werden können.

Trotz der offensichtlichen Bemühungen von Apple hat Netflix im Dezember 2018 neue Abonnements über Apple eingestellt, um die Kürzung von In-App-Käufen durch Apple zu umgehen. Die Netflix iPhone-App öffnet derzeit die Meldung: “Sie können sich in der App nicht für Netflix anmelden. Wir wissen, dass dies problematisch ist.”

Facebook und Apple hatten eine Geschichte von Konflikten

Facebook hatte einen langen Konflikt mit Apple wegen seines Wunsches, soziale Spiele in seine Apps aufzunehmen, was im Widerspruch zu den Apple-Regeln für das Vorhandensein von Sammlungen von Apps oder Software in Apps steht. Im vergangenen Jahr hat Facebook seine Kritik verstärkt und erklärt, dass Apple seine Kontrolle über seine Plattform nutzt, um Entwicklern und Verbrauchern Schaden zuzufügen.

In einem E-Mail-Austausch von 2011, der im Rahmen der Testversion in einem Dokumenten-Repository veröffentlicht und anschließend entfernt wurde, diskutierten Apple-Führungskräfte, darunter der frühere CEO Steve Jobs, einen Kompromiss in Bezug auf Spiele in der Facebook-iPad-App, nachdem der frühere Software-Chef Scott Forstall mit dem Facebook-CEO Mark Zuckerberg gesprochen hatte.

Die Dokumente enthalten nicht die Bedingungen des Kompromisses. Als die Facebook iPad-App im Jahr 2011 herauskam, enthielt sie webbasierte Spiele wie Farmville, mit denen Apples Regel gegen App Stores im App Store verstoßen wurde. IPhone- und iPad-Nutzer konnten jedoch nicht mit der Spielewährung Credits von Facebook bezahlen.

Interne Facebook-Beratungen, die im Rahmen der Epic Games-Studie veröffentlicht wurden, zeigen, wie sich diese Verhandlungen in den Jahren seitdem auf die Unternehmensbeziehungen ausgewirkt haben.

In einer E-Mail aus dem Jahr 2017, die als Teil von Gerichtsdokumenten eingereicht wurde, fügte ein Facebook-Mitarbeiter vor dem Treffen eines Facebook-Geschäftsführers mit Apple auf der jährlichen Geschäftskonferenz von Allen and Company in Sun Valley eine kurze Analyse hinzu.

Bis dahin wollte Facebook Klarheit oder Anleitung zur Entwicklung von “Sofortspielen” in seiner Facebook Messenger-App, die durch den Überprüfungsprozess von Apple verlangsamt wurde. Der Kompromiss von 2011 war jedoch immer noch groß.

“Ende 2016 genehmigte Apple Facebook, die Einführung von ‘Instant Games’ in Messenger und der FB Blue App voranzutreiben”, schrieb der Facebook-Mitarbeiter. “”[Former Apple marketing chief] Phil Schiller zog eine E-Mail aus dem Jahr 2011 heraus, in der an eine Vereinbarung erinnert wurde, die wir getroffen haben, damit FB HMTL5-Spiele streamen kann, solange wir keinen App Store erstellen oder In-App-Zahlungen tätigen. “

Das Ergebnis des Sun Valley-Treffens ist aus Gerichtsdokumenten nicht ersichtlich, aber bis 2020 kämpfte Facebook erneut mit dem Überprüfungsprozess von Apple um eine eigenständige Gaming-App. Nach einer Ablehnung von Apple im März 2020 beschrieb ein Facebook-Mitarbeiter in E-Mails Frustration über den Prozess und sagte, dass es “eine Überraschung ist, da FB Gaming keine eindeutige Funktionalität enthält, die noch nicht auf der Registerkarte” Spiele “in der Facebook-App genehmigt wurde . “

Laut den E-Mails musste Facebook den gleichen Berufungsprozess wie jeder andere Entwickler durchlaufen, einschließlich der Berufung an eine Apple-Stelle namens App Review Board. Der Social-Media-Riese konnte jedoch Anrufe mit Trystan Kosmynka und Bill Havlicek, den Leitern der Apple-Überprüfungsgruppe, und später mit Ron Okamoto, dem für die Gruppe zuständigen Vizepräsidenten, planen, bevor er dieses Jahr in den Ruhestand ging.

Als Facebook Gaming Ende 2020 veröffentlicht wurde, war klar, dass Facebook und Apple keinen Kompromiss finden konnten.

“Leider mussten wir die Gameplay-Funktionen vollständig entfernen, um die Genehmigung von Apple für die eigenständige Facebook-Gaming-App zu erhalten. Dies bedeutet, dass iOS-Benutzer eine schlechtere Erfahrung als Android-Benutzer haben”, sagte Sheryl Sandberg, COO von Facebook, in einer damaligen Erklärung.

Microsoft verhandelte 2012 über Office für iPad

Ein E-Mail-Thread aus dem Jahr 2012 zeigt, dass Top-Führungskräfte von Apple, darunter Schiller und Cue, über den bevorstehenden Start von Microsoft Office für iPhones und iPads durch Microsoft informiert wurden.

Okamoto, der zu dieser Zeit Apple VP war und sich auf Entwicklerbeziehungen konzentrierte, traf sich mit Microsoft. In seiner E-Mail an seine Chefs heißt es, Apple wolle wissen, ob Microsoft an der jährlichen Entwicklerkonferenz WWDC teilnehmen könne. (Microsoft lehnte ab und sagte, es sei noch nicht bereit, über seine Pläne zu sprechen.)

Microsoft hatte zwei Anfragen. Zunächst wollte Apple, dass Benutzer für In-App-Käufe auf die Microsoft-Website umgeleitet werden. Microsoft würde die Zahlung abwickeln und die 30% ige Gebühr von Apple für In-App-Käufe umgehen.

Zweitens wollten sie, dass Schiller und Cue sich mit Microsoft-Kollegen treffen, insbesondere mit Kirk Koenigsbauer, der derzeit Senior Vice President von Microsoft ist.

Schiller stimmte dem Treffen zu, goss aber in einer E-Mail kaltes Wasser auf den Zahlungsvorschlag von Microsoft. “Wir führen den Laden, wir sammeln die Einnahmen.”

Microsoft veröffentlichte Office erst 2014 für das iPad, nachdem Satya Nadella Steve Ballmer als CEO des Unternehmens übernommen hatte.

Epische Spiele und Marshmello

Bevor Apple Epics Shooter-Spiel Fortnite aus dem App Store entfernte, war es eine der erfolgreichsten Apps im Store, und Mitarbeiter beider Unternehmen arbeiteten daran, Cross-Promotion-Deals zu besiegeln, wie Gerichtsakten belegen.

Epic lieferte Demos bei Apple-Startveranstaltungen, in denen neue Technologien, Zitate zu Apple-Spielefunktionen und Heads-up zu den großen Veranstaltungen und Werbeaktionen in Fortnite vorgestellt wurden.

Im Gegenzug wurde Epic Games über den Apple App Store sowie über andere Apple Media-Eigenschaften wie Apple Music für Fortnite beworben. Es nutzte auch seine Beziehung zu Apple-Mitarbeitern, um eine Fortnite-Abzocke aus dem App Store zu starten.

Eine E-Mail von Epic Games 2019 enthält Mitarbeiter, die über ein Konzert 2019 im Fortnite-Spiel mit Marshmello, einem DJ, sprechen.

Apple wollte eine Partnerschaft eingehen – aber erst nachdem sichergestellt wurde, dass Marshmellos Mix keine Schimpfwörter enthält -, heißt es in den E-Mails und enthielt einen Vorschlag für eine Cross-Promotion mit Apples Marke Apple Music, einschließlich Werbetafeln in New York und Los Angeles, digitaler Werbung und Posts von Apples Social-Media-Konten.

Apple benötigte die Erlaubnis, den Namen Fortnite in seinen Apple Music-Wiedergabelisten und -Anzeigen zu verwenden, aber die Mitarbeiter von Epic waffelten. Man befürchtete, Apple würde nach Epic “kooptieren und zeichnen”.

Ein anderer Mitarbeiter wies auf die Vorteile von Epic Games hin, darunter, dass das Unternehmen wollte, dass Apple künftige Fortnite-Events sponsert, und dass sie eine große Chance für das Wachstum des Spiels bei den iPhone-Spielern sahen.

“Apple-Werbespots sind immer geschmackvoll und cool”, schrieb ein Mitarbeiter von Epic. “Sie würden damit nichts anfangen.”

Apple schien besonders daran interessiert zu sein, dass Epic Games ARKit unterstützt, eine Software für iPhones, die ihre 3D-Sensorhardware verwendet, um die reale Welt und Computergrafiken zu integrieren.

In epischen E-Mails aus dem Jahr 2017 wurde ein Treffen mit Apple besprochen, um die Gesichtsverfolgung des iPhones zu integrieren und animierte Charaktere zu erstellen.

Die Partnerschaft zwischen den beiden Unternehmen wurde bis 2020 verlängert. Kurz nachdem Apple ein High-End-iPad-Modell mit einem neuen 3D-Scanner herausgebracht hatte, bot ein Apple-Mitarbeiter Epic Games ein Treffen mit dem ARKit-Team von Apple an, das die Software dafür herstellte, und ließ später die Möglichkeit aufkommen Förderung auf seiner jährlichen Entwicklerkonferenz.

Im Jahr 2018, nachdem Fortnite veröffentlicht worden war und an Dynamik gewonnen hatte, antwortete Epic Games-Mitbegründer Mark Rein auf eine E-Mail und fragte: “[I]Können wir irgendetwas tun, damit Apple in erheblichem Maße hinter uns bleibt? “

Rein sagte, er habe bereits ein Treffen mit Apple im Februar geplant und Apple sei “SEHR” daran interessiert, die Smartphone-Version von Fortnite zu sehen.

Apple hatte Fortnite seit 2015 beworben, als auf der WWDC-Konferenz von Apple eine frühe Version des Spiels auf der Bühne auf einem Mac demonstriert wurde.

Die Beziehung zwischen den beiden Unternehmen bedeutete jedoch nicht, dass die Verhandlungen jemals das Niveau von Apple-CEO Tim Cook erreichten. Im Jahr 2015, Wochen nach der Präsentation von Epic Games auf einer Apple-Veranstaltung, schickte Tim Sweeney, CEO von Epic Games, eine E-Mail an Cook, in der er sich über die Regeln des App Store beschwerte.

Cook fragte seine Leutnants: “Ist das der Typ, der bei einer unserer Proben war?”

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UK reveals inexperienced listing of countries England residents can go to quarantine-free

UK reveals green list of nations England residents can visit quarantine-free

A traveler leaves a test center at Heathrow Airport in London on January 17, 2021.

Hollie Adams | Getty Images News | Getty Images

LONDON – UK Transport Secretary Grant Shapps announced on Friday the ‘green list’ of countries UK residents will soon be able to visit without being quarantined on their return.

Travel was severely restricted during the heaviest months of a second wave of the coronavirus pandemic. However, as of May 17th, people in England will be allowed to visit certain countries, although some restrictions still apply.

Twelve countries will be on England’s so-called “green list”. Travelers to these countries must be tested prior to departure and upon their return. However, they do not need to be quarantined on their return.

The 12 countries are:

Portugal

Israel

Gibraltar

Australia

New Zealand

Singapore

Brunei

Iceland

Faroe Islands

Falkland Islands

South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands

St. Helena, Tristan de Cunha, Ascension Island

Outside of these 12, other nations have been divided into “amber” and “red” lists – the latter requiring the strictest of measures. Turkey was a notable name that was added to the Red List on Friday.

Popular destinations for the British such as France and Spain were not yet put on the green list at this point. Shapps said at a press conference on Friday that countries on the green list can have their status withdrawn at any time.

Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland will separately announce their own travel restrictions for their residents.

British travelers are also exposed to travel restrictions in other countries, such as Australia and the United States.

U.S. and European airlines, as well as a multitude of travel companies grappling with a slump in international travel, urged their governments this week to relax the travel rules that are currently preventing most Britons from entering the country an increase in vaccination rates in their respective countries.

“We continue to encourage the US to implement a two-way policy that allows fully vaccinated travelers to travel to the US from countries with similarly successful vaccination programs,” said Airlines for America, a trade group that promotes most of the US major Airlines, including American, represents, Delta and United.

Airline executives have expressed doubts about restoring most US-Europe travel this summer, with restrictions still in place, but have been more optimistic about the possibility of re-opening UK-US travel.

American airlines have announced new flights to some destinations that have opened or are planned, such as Greece, Iceland and Croatia, in the past few weeks.

– CNBC’s Leslie Josephs contributed to coverage from New York.