‘Vulkan files’ leak reveals Putin’s global and domestic cyberwarfare tactics
Documents leaked by whistleblower angry over Ukraine war
Private Moscow consultancy bolstering Russian cyberwarfare
Tools support hacking operations and attacks on infrastructure
Documents linked to notorious Russian hacking group Sandworm
Russian program aims to control internet and spread disinformation
The inconspicuous office is in Moscow’s north-eastern suburbs. A sign reads: “Business centre”. Nearby are modern residential blocks and a rambling old cemetery, home to ivy-covered war memorials. The area is where Peter the Great once trained his mighty army.
Inside the six-storey building, a new generation is helping Russian military operations. Its weapons are more advanced than those of Peter the Great’s era: not pikes and halberds, but hacking and disinformation tools.
The software engineers behind these systems are employees of NTC Vulkan. On the surface, it looks like a run-of-the-mill cybersecurity consultancy. However, a leak of secret files from the company has exposed its work bolstering Vladimir Putin’s cyberwarfare capabilities.
Climate change helps breed springtime wildfires in Spain
Firefighter Manuel Rubio had never seen a blaze like the one that raged for the past week in eastern Spain
In his more than a decade battling wildfires, firefighter Manuel Rubio had never seen a blaze like the one that raged for the past week in eastern Spain. Not this early in the year.
The forest fire that that broke out last Thursday near the village of Villanueva de Viver surprised Rubio and fire experts by displaying an unusual ferocity for spring, when in previous years lower temperatures helped keep fires manageable. That doesn't bode well for a country that led Europe in burned land during a record-hot 2022.
“I was expecting a fire like the ones we normally see in March, which can consume 100, 200 hectares, not the more than 4,300 hectares (11,600 acres) that this one has burned,” Rubio, 39, told The Associated Press hours before going back into the fray. “We are dealing with weather conditions appropriate for the summer and have a fire that is behaving like a summertime fire.”
Senegal opposition leader gets suspended sentence for libel
Senegal's opposition leader Ousmane Sonko has been given a two-month suspended prison sentence and a fine for libel.
The 48-year-old was found guilty of defaming Tourism Minister Mame Mbaye Niang, a member of President Macky Sall's party.
Sonko had claimed the tourism minister stole $47 million (€44 million) from a government agency.
The opposition leader also faces separate charges of sexual abuse.
There were fears that the trial's outcome could disqualify Sonko from running in the next year's presidential election.
But lawyers representing Mbaye Niang said it would not.
New rules bar human rights abusers from owning Premier League clubs
An individual who has committed human rights abuses will be unable to be an owner or director of a Premier League football club under new rules approved on Thursday.
Human rights abuses, based on the Global Human Rights Sanctions Regulations 2020, will be one of a number of additional "disqualifying events" under a strengthened owners' and directors' test for England's top flight.
The new rules, approved by clubs, also mean a person or company subject to British government sanctions would be disqualified.
Relocating 70 of Pablo Escobar’s ‘cocaine hippos’ to cost around $3.5 million
Colombia’s plans to relocate 70 “cocaine hippos” descended from drug trafficker Pablo Escobar’s private menagerie will cost approximately $3.5 million, officials said in a press conference Wednesday.
It will form part of a deal that the local Antioquia government signed with various institutions including the Colombian Agricultural Institute, the Colombian Air Force and the Ostok Sanctuary in Mexico where 10 hippos will be transported, a statement released on Wednesday said.
A sanctuary in India will provide a new home for the other 60 hippos since it is impossible to transport them back to their native Africa and risks upsetting the local ecosystem there.
Russia arrests US journalist Evan Gershkovich on spying charge
A US journalist working for the Wall Street Journal has been formally arrested in Russia and accused of spying.
Evan Gershkovich, an experienced Russia reporter, was working in Yekaterinburg at the time of his detention.
The Wall Street Journal said it was "deeply concerned" for his safety and vehemently denied the allegations against him.
The Kremlin claimed the reporter had been "caught red-handed".
Russia's FSB security service said it had "halted illegal activities" and that the reporter had been "acting on US instructions" and "collecting state secrets".
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