Author: Press Room

A black ribbon will be projected onto the sails of the Opera House Thursday night in solidarity with Turkey and Syria.The black ribbon symbolises remembrance and mourning, paying tribute to the more than 7,000 people who have died in the earthquakes.The light projection will begin at 8:30 PM and will last until midnight. Source: Sky News

Washington CNN  —  A new global ransomware campaign has hit at least 3,800 victims, including hundreds in the US, according to crowdsourced data reviewed by CNN, prompting warnings from European and US cybersecurity officials. Only four of those victims, however, have paid ransoms so far, according to “Ransomwhere,” a platform built by cybersecurity researchers to track ransomware attacks. And the extent to which the ransomware – which encrypts computers and demands a payoff – has disrupted operations at the victim organizations, if at all, is unclear. The attackers are exploiting a 2-year-old vulnerability in widely used software made by California-based…

A Nicaraguan judge on Monday sentenced four Roman Catholic priests to 10 years behind bars in what critics maintain is part of President Daniel Ortega’s crackdown on dissent. The priests were convicted in closed-door trials in which government-appointed defenders acted as the priests’ attorneys. The conspiracy charges against stem from long-standing government allegations that the church backed illegal pro-democracy protests.  The priests had worked with Matagalpa Bishop Rolando Álvarez, and one had been rector of the privately-run Juan Pablo II University in the capital of Managua.Álvarez is under house arrest on charges of conspiracy and “damaging the Nicaraguan government and society,”…

CNN  —  China refused a conversation with US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin following the downing of the suspected Chinese balloon, the Pentagon said in a statement Tuesday. The Defense Department submitted a request for a call between Austin and China’s Minister of National Defense Wei Fenghe immediately after the US fighter jets shot down the balloon on Saturday afternoon. But China declined the request, according to the Pentagon. “We believe in the importance of maintaining open lines of communication between the United States and the [People’s Republic of China] in order to responsibly manage the relationship,” Pentagon spokesman Brig. Gen.…

Shreya, 15, was last seen when she left school in West Thornton, Croydon, at around 3pm on Friday, February 3, and investigating police say they are concerned for her welfarePolice have launched a search for a missing teenager who has not been seen since Friday when she left school. Shreya, 15, was last seen leaving her school in West Thornton, Croydon, at around 3pm on Friday, February 3. Investigating officers searching for Shreya say they are concerned for the teenager’s welfare and say the disappearance is ‘out of character’ for the youngster. Shreya is known to frequent both Croydon and…

Millions of Californians in 2022 got a special check from their state government to offer relief from a variety of negative economic events including inflation. Millions of taxpayers in other states got different types of special payments from their state governments as well — such as income or property tax rebates. While those payments are likely not going to be taxed at the state level, they may be subject to income tax at the federal level. Or not. It’s still unclear. The IRS has said it expects “to provide additional clarity for as many states and taxpayers as possible” as…

Deadly wildfires continue to burn in Chile as President Gabriel Boric has called for unity and resolve in response to the destruction of more than 1,000 homes and hundreds of thousands of hectares of land across south-central regions of the country. Authorities said on Monday that conditions conducive to the spread of the fires, which have consumed 270,000 hectares (667,184 acres) and left at least 24 people dead so far, would persist this week. The blazes are the deadliest in the South American nation in recent years and have already made 2023 the second-worst year on record in terms of…

A speeding bus collided with a car and plunged into a ravine in northwest Pakistan on Tuesday, killing at least 22 passengers and injuring 12 others, police said, the second such deadly accident in less than a week.The bus was traveling to the garrison city of Rawalpindi from the Ghizer district in the north when the accident happened near Shatial village, 30 miles north of Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, said Dildar Khan, an area police chief.PLANE CARRYING DECEASED PAKISTANI EX-PRESIDENT ARRIVES IN KARACHI He said rescuers transferred the dead and injured to a hospital, where some of…

B.C.’s Transportation Ministry is expecting the price tag for repairs to major highways damaged during the November 2021 floods to grow to approximately $1 billion. According to Transportation Minister Rob Fleming, more than $250 million has been sunk into repairing highways one, five and eight so far.The atmospheric rivers caused widespread flooding and massive destruction to the Coquihalla, the Fraser Canyon and Highway 8.“We’re at about a quarter of a billion dollars in expenditures so far,” said Fleming.“All of those highways are open, the Coquihalla is back to four-lane capacity for the entire duration. We had about 430 damaged sites…

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says the Greens “sometimes don’t understand the way the economy works” in response to calls from the party for RBA Governor Philip Lowe to be sacked following Tuesday’s ninth-straight interest rate hike. ‘We have an independent Reserve Bank – that is a very important principle, one that we maintain, one that we won’t be diverting from,” Mr Albanese said at a media conference on Wednesday. Source: Sky News