El Paso shooting suspect told police he targeted 'Mexicans' AL JAZEERA ENGLISH (AJE)(cached at August 9, 2019, 11:56 pm)

Authorities believe that the accused shooter is the author of a racist screed published online shortly before attack.
NSA's Free Malware Research Tool Gains Traction, 6 Months On Slashdotby msmash on security at January 1, 1970, 1:00 am (cached at August 9, 2019, 11:41 pm)

In March the National Security Agency released an internal malware research tool for free to the public, a first for the secretive agency. Six months later, by most indications, the release is an even bigger event than the NSA thought. From a report: Some aspects of researching malware have long required expensive software. The release of Ghidra, the NSA tool, has profoundly changed the field, opening it up to students, part-timers and hobbyists who otherwise couldn't afford to participate. It's been a good six months for Ghidra. The software has been downloaded more than 500,000 times from GitHub. "We had a bet on how many downloads it would be," Brian Knighton, senior researcher at the NSA, told Axios. "We were off by quite a factor." Ghidra also netted the NSA two nominations for "Pwnie" awards at the typically NSA-adverse DEF CON hacker conference this week. The NSA was also pleasantly surprised with the number of outside developers modifying code and creating new features for the now open-source program. The toolkit is popular enough that the NSA now offers touring classes on Ghidra for colleges and universities.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Russians Rush To Buy Iodine After Blast Causes Radiation Spike Slashdotby msmash on earth at January 1, 1970, 1:00 am (cached at August 9, 2019, 11:20 pm)

Residents of two northern Russian cities are stocking up on iodine that is used to reduce the effects of radiation exposure after a mysterious accident on a nearby military testing site, regional media reported. Reuters: The Ministry of Defence has given few details of the accident, saying only that two people were killed and six injured by the explosion of a liquid-propelled rocket engine at a test site in Russia's north. Although the ministry initially said no harmful chemicals were released into the atmosphere and radiation levels were unchanged, authorities in the nearby city of Severodvinsk reported what they described as a brief spike in radiation. No official explanation has been given for why such an accident would cause radiation to spike. "Everyone has been calling asking about iodine all day," one pharmacy was quoted as saying by 29.Ru, a media outlet that covers the Arkhangelsk area. It said the run on iodine had occurred in the northern port cities of Arkhangelsk and Severodvinsk and that several pharmacies had run out. Severodvinsk is the site of a shipyard that builds nuclear-powered submarines.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Ozil, Kolasinac miss Arsenal opener due to 'security incidents' AL JAZEERA ENGLISH (AJE)(cached at August 9, 2019, 10:40 pm)

Duo will not play for Arsenal in Sunday's match at Newcastle due to 'further security incidents', London club says.
Mysterious, Ancient Radio Signals Keep Pelting Earth. Astronomers Designed an AI to Slashdotby msmash on ai at January 1, 1970, 1:00 am (cached at August 9, 2019, 10:33 pm)

An anonymous reader shares a report: Sudden shrieks of radio waves from deep space keep slamming into radio telescopes on Earth, spattering those instruments' detectors with confusing data. And now, astronomers are using artificial intelligence to pinpoint the source of the shrieks, in the hope of explaining what's sending them to Earth from -- researchers suspect -- billions of light-years across space. Usually, these weird, unexplained signals are detected only after the fact, when astronomers notice out-of-place spikes in their data -- sometimes years after the incident. The signals have complex, mysterious structures, patterns of peaks and valleys in radio waves that play out in just milliseconds. That's not the sort of signal astronomers expect to come from a simple explosion, or any other one of the standard events known to scatter spikes of electromagnetic energy across space. Astronomers call these strange signals fast radio bursts (FRBs). Ever since the first one was uncovered in 2007, using data recorded in 2001, there's been an ongoing effort to pin down their source. But FRBs arrive at random times and places, and existing human technology and observation methods aren't well-primed to spot these signals. Now, in a paper published in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, a team of astronomers wrote that they managed to detect five FRBs in real time using a single radio telescope. Wael Farah, a doctoral student at Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne, Australia, developed a machine-learning system that recognized the signatures of FRBs as they arrived at the University of Sydney's Molonglo Radio Observatory, near Canberra.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

[no title] Scripting News(cached at August 9, 2019, 10:25 pm)

We need political stories like this to believe in.
Can Earth be saved? AL JAZEERA ENGLISH (AJE)(cached at August 9, 2019, 10:13 pm)

Climate change is threatening the world's food supply, according to a UN panel.
[no title] Scripting News(cached at August 9, 2019, 10:11 pm)

And here's a video demo of the feature because why not.
White House Proposal Would Have FCC and FTC Police Alleged Social Media Censorship Slashdotby msmash on facebook at January 1, 1970, 1:00 am (cached at August 9, 2019, 10:02 pm)

A draft executive order from the White House could put the Federal Communications Commission in charge of shaping how Facebook, Twitter and other large tech companies curate what appears on their websites, CNN reported Friday, citing multiple people familiar with the matter. From the report: The draft order, a summary of which was obtained by CNN, calls for the FCC to develop new regulations clarifying how and when the law protects social media websites when they decide to remove or suppress content on their platforms. Although still in its early stages and subject to change, the Trump administration's draft order also calls for the Federal Trade Commission to take those new policies into account when it investigates or files lawsuits against misbehaving companies. If put into effect, the order would reflect a significant escalation by President Trump in his frequent attacks against social media companies over an alleged but unproven systemic bias against conservatives by technology platforms. And it could lead to a significant reinterpretation of a law that, its authors have insisted, was meant to give tech companies broad freedom to handle content as they see fit.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Italy: Far-right leader Matteo Salvini seeks to trigger snap vote AL JAZEERA ENGLISH (AJE)(cached at August 9, 2019, 10:00 pm)

Italy braces for snap election in autumn that could move the country further to the right.
Italy: Far-right leader Matteo Salvini seeks to trigger snap vote AL JAZEERA ENGLISH (AJE)(cached at August 9, 2019, 10:00 pm)

Italy braces for snap election in autumn that could move the country further to the right.
Italy: Far-right leader Matteo Salvini seeks to trigger snap vote AL JAZEERA ENGLISH (AJE)(cached at August 9, 2019, 10:00 pm)

Italy braces for snap election in autumn that could move the country further to the right.
Italy: Far-right leader Matteo Salvini seeks to trigger snap vote AL JAZEERA ENGLISH (AJE)(cached at August 9, 2019, 10:00 pm)

Italy braces for snap election in autumn that could move the country further to the right.
Canadians seek cancellation of major arms deal with Saudi Arabia AL JAZEERA ENGLISH (AJE)(cached at August 9, 2019, 9:57 pm)

Nine months after first announcing probe into $11.3bn deal, campaigners question why Ottawa has not announced outcome.
Canadians seek cancellation of major arms deal with Saudi Arabia AL JAZEERA ENGLISH (AJE)(cached at August 9, 2019, 9:57 pm)

Nine months after first announcing probe into $11.3bn deal, campaigners question why Ottawa has not announced outcome.