Chinese Hacking Suspects 'Back In Business'

By Alistair Bunkall and Mark Stone, Sky News

A group of Chinese hackers suspected of being behind a cyber-attack on the New York Times earlier this year may be restarting their campaign.

BAE Systems, the defence contractor, says it has unearthed evidence that indicates the group is active for the first time since February, when the hackers were accused of being linked to a Chinese military unit in Shanghai.

Although the connection has not been proven, the hacking group went immediately quiet on the day the allegation was made. Now analysts believe the hackers are ready to strike again.

David Garfield, managing director of cyber security at Detica, a BAE Systems subsidiary, told Sky News: "The activity we have detected indicates that the espionage group was lying low until the attention around their activities died down, before getting back to 'business-as-usual'.

"Detica researchers have obtained a copy of malware that has all the hallmarks of being crafted by this espionage group.

"This malware was created in the last week and contains a PDF which contains the agenda of an upcoming US defence conference which is consistent with the mode of operation of these particular attackers.

"The conference, taking place at the end of this month, fits with the style of event which is commonly used as a 'lure' for this group, and others of its kind."

Informal hacking groups operate differently to state-sponsored cyber units

For four months, towards the end of 2012 and into early 2013, hackers repeatedly infiltrated the New York Times, obtaining staff passwords among other things.

Security consultants found that some of the attacks were being routed through US universities to divert the blame away from the source, a method commonly associated with Chinese hackers.

The newspaper said the attacks were probably motivated by work reporters had been carrying out concerning senior figures in the Chinese government.

In February the American computer security company Mandiant published several years of research which it claimed pinpointed the hacking to one building in the Pudong district of Shanghai.

The building was reportedly the headquarters of the People's Liberation Army Unit 61398.

Mandiant represents the cyber-security interests of several major multinational companies, all of whom believe they are the victims of Chinese hackers.

The HQ said by Mandiant to be the source of much hacking (Pic: City8.com)

On Monday, the Chinese army's chief of the general staff, General Fang Fenghui, was asked about cyber security at a rare news conference with the visiting US chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, General Martin Dempsey.

General Fang issued an alarming warning on the dangers of hacking.

"Cybersecurity, if it is uncontrolled, the effects can be, and I don't exaggerate, at times no less than a nuclear bomb," General Fang said.

General Fang also reiterated a longstanding Chinese government assertion that China is also a victim of cyber attacks and that it is "strongly against any kind of cyber attacks".

China is not the only country connected with cyber attacks - the US, Russia, Israel and Iran are all suspected of developing cyber weapons. Most Western countries are believed to be doing the same.

Both BAE Systems Detica and Mandiant have commercial interests in highlighting the dangers of cyber crime.

The Chinese government has not responded to the latest allegations.

:: The Syrian Electronic Army has made an uncorroborated claim that it hacked the Twitter feed of the Associated Press news organisation. On Tuesday, the AP feed falsely stated that an attack on the White House had left the US president injured.

:: Australian police have arrested the self-proclaimed leader of non-state global hacking group LulzSec, which its members have said was responsible for breaching the CIA's external website.

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Boston: Suspects' Parents Face Questioning

US diplomats have travelled to Russia's Dagestan region to interview the parents of the Boston Marathon bombing suspects.

A delegation from the American embassy in Moscow has made the journey to the North Caucasus area to interview the pair, Anzor and Zubeidat Tsarnaev.

An embassy official said the trip was in line with the co-operation between the FBI and Russian authorities over the investigation into the deadly bombings allegedly carried out by brothers Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.

Dzhokhar has been charged

The parents are currently living in Dagestan, a largely Muslim region on the Caspian Sea where the family briefly lived before leaving for the US over a decade ago.

It comes amid mounting questions in the US about whether authorities there missed crucial signals that should have raised suspicions about the brothers before the bombings.

Particular interest has surrounded a six-month trip Tamerlan made in 2012 to Dagestan and Chechnya.

Russian security sources in Dagestan told the AFP news agency he was seen four times with a figure suspected of links with the Islamist underground during his visit but there was never any reason to detain him.

Meanwhile, it has been reported Tamerlan had received welfare benefits that ended last year.

A lawyer for the suspect's wife Katherine Russell Tsarnaev claimed she was working up to 80 hours a week as a home health aide while Tamerlan stayed at home.

This image appears to show the brothers crouched by a Mercedes

Some relatives claimed Tamerlan, 26, fell under the influence of a mystery Muslim convert and was steered towards a strict strain of Islam in the years before the attacks.

After befriending the red-bearded man known to the Tsarnaev family only as Misha, Tamerlan gave up boxing and stopped studying music, the family said.

He became vocal about his opposition to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and read websites claiming that the CIA was behind the 9/11 terror attacks and Jews controlled the world.

"Somehow, he just took his brain," said Tamerlan's uncle, Ruslan Tsarni, who recalled conversations with Tamerlan's father about Misha's influence.

It was not immediately clear whether the FBI has spoken to Misha or was attempting to, but efforts by the media to identify and interview the mystery man have been unsuccessful.

Tamerlan's father Anzor was said to be worried about the mystery radical

The brothers' mother, Zubeidat, denied Misha had radicalised Tamerlan, telling the ABC network in the US he was "just a friend".

Throughout his religious makeover, Tamerlan maintained a strong influence over his siblings, including 19-year-old Dzhokhar, who investigators say carried out the deadly attack by his older brother's side, killing three people.

The family's claims came as new photos were released that apparently show the police stand-off that killed Tamerlan on Friday.

The images seem to have been taken from inside a house overlooking the scene of the gunfight, and show the brothers crouching near a Mercedes SUV they had carjacked.   

One of the brothers appears to be holding a gun with both hands in front of his body.

Dzhokhar survived the shoot-out and was caught by police later in the day.

Tamerlan (L) boxes at the 2009 Golden Gloves

He was charged on Monday with using a weapon of mass destruction to kill. He could face the death penalty if convicted.

Based on preliminary written interviews with Dzhokar in his hospital bed, US officials believe the brothers were motivated by their religious views.

Two US officials say the brothers had no tie to terrorist groups, but Tamerlan's relationship with Misha could be a clue in understanding the motives behind his religious transformation and, ultimately, the attack itself.

Elmirza Khozhugov, 26, the ex-husband of Tamerlan's sister, Ailina, said Tamerlan was idolised by his siblings.

"You could always hear his younger brother and sisters say, 'Tamerlan said this,' and 'Tamerlan said that.' Dzhokhar loved him. He would do whatever Tamerlan would say," he said.

The Tsarnaev brothers, who were ethnic Chechens, were raised in a home that followed Sunni Islam, the religion's largest sect.

Mr Tsarni made a public appeal to his nephew when he was on the run

They were not regulars at the mosque and rarely discussed religion, Mr Khozhugov said.

Then, in 2008 or 2009, Tamerlan met Misha, who the family described as slightly older, heavyset and bald.

"Misha was important," Mr Khozhugov said. "Tamerlan was searching for something. He was searching for something out there."

Mr Khozhugov did not know where they had met but believed they attended a Boston-area mosque together.

Misha was an Armenian native and a convert to Islam and quickly began influencing his new friend, family members said.

Once, Mr Khozhugov said, Misha came to the family home outside Boston and sat in the kitchen, chatting with Tamerlan for hours.

"Misha was telling him what is Islam, what is good in Islam, what is bad in Islam," said Mr Khozhugov, who said he was present for the conversation.

Tamerlan is seen here with little brother Dzhokhar and their sisters

The conversation continued until Tamerlan's father, Anzor, came home from work around midnight.

"His father comes in and says, 'Why is Misha here so late and still in our house?' He asked it politely. Tamerlan was so much into the conversation he didn't listen."

Mr Khozhugov said Tamerlan's mother told him not to worry.

As time went on, Anzor became so concerned about his son that he called his brother, worried about Misha's influence.

"I heard about nobody else but this convert. The seed for changing his views was planted right there in Cambridge," Mr Tsarni said.

Last week, Mr Tsarni made a public appeal for Dzhokhar to turn himself in when he was still at large following his brother's death.

Since the attacks, Anzor has insisted his sons are innocent and the attacks were orchestrated to frame them. Other members of the extended family have made similar claims.

But two US officials have confirmed that Tamerlan, who was married with a young daughter, became an ardent reader of jihadist websites and extremist propaganda.

Lawyers for Katherine Tsarnaeva, Tamerlan's widow, say she is doing everything she can to assist authorities.

In a statement her legal team said Tsarnaeva, a Muslim convert, and her family were in shock when they learned of allegations against her husband and brother-in-law.

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Alexei Navalny Expects Prison Term In Russia

By Katie Stallard, Russia Correspondent, in Kirov

The trial of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has resumed, with the defence team questioning the independence of the presiding judge.

Lawyers for the 36-year-old blogger told the court in Kirov, 600 miles northeast of Moscow, added that the state's case is so vague their client does not know what he is charged with.

The defence team requested an adjournment to the trial and urged that the judge be removed from the case.

Navalny spoke to the media and supporters after a hearing on April 17

But the judge dismissed the defence complaints and praised the prosecution's work in bringing the case to trial.

The defence team quoted rights recognised in the Russian constitution for a fair trial and unbiased judge - claiming the judge has already decided on a guilty verdict.

Ahead of a short recess on Wednesday afternoon the prosecution said it saw no grounds to dismiss the judge.

People in the packed courtroom on Wednesday included observers from the US embassy and the European Union.

Navalny claims the case has been personally ordered by President Vladimir Putin to discredit his anti-corruption work and disqualify him from running for public office.

"First, this is political revenge for my and my foundation's investigations in the fight against corruption," Navalny told the packed courtroom after the judge announced his decisions.

"Second, it is political revenge for my and my supporters' campaign to 'Vote for any party except (Putin's) United Russia.'"

Posted about Navalny were placed around the city of Kirov

In a supporting statement given to Sky News, ex-oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky also slammed the Navalny trial as being politically motivated.

Khodorkovsky, one of Russia's richest men before being remanded in custody in 2003 and jailed in 2005 on charges of embezzlement, said: "In an honest and fair trial, such charges would be untenable and their political motivation obvious.

"The objective is clear – to intimidate and demoralise opponents, and politically active voters, and to present the peaceful civil protest and constitutional fight for power- as something marginal and extremist."

Blogger Navalny recently announced he wants to run for the presidency and change the way Russia is ruled, but a guilty verdict in Kirov would bar him from standing and could see him sent to prison for up a decade.

He is accused of embezzling 16m rubles (£330,000) from a state-owned timber company in Kirov, when he worked as an adviser to the regional governor here in 2009.

Alexei Navalny has become a vocal critic of the ruling elite

Navalny has published his accounts from the time on his blog, which he says clearly prove his innocence, nevertheless he fully expects to be convicted and is preparing himself for jail.

The judge presiding over his trial has yet to return a 'not guilty' verdict, putting him slightly above the national judicial average of a 99% conviction rate.

Speaking ahead of his first hearing last week, Navalny told reporters: "I'm absolutely sure it will end in a guilty verdict.

"They've already decided everything, including the sentence.

"They're interested in some kind of public relations, to say on television that the man who for years has been accusing us of corruption is corrupt himself. By them, I mean Putin."

People outside the court in Kirov, 600 miles northeast of Moscow

President Putin's spokesman has declined to comment on the case.

Navalny has been campaigning against corruption by state officials and companies since 2007, but it was his role in mass street protests following disputed election results in 2011 that brought him to prominence, and to the attention of the Kremlin.

A trained lawyer with an ear for a soundbite, Navalny coined the slogan "party of crooks and thieves" for Mr Putin's United Russia and labelled the president himself "Chief Thief", firing up a new generation of young, internet-savvy protesters and earning himself a rock star following among the opposition.

His anti-corruption investigations have since claimed the scalps of several of Mr Putin's allies, including the head of his parliamentary Ethics Committee, who resigned after claims published on the Navalny's blog.

The father-of-two has said he does not want to go to prison, but is not afraid to do so, and has already planned what he will take with him; from velcro trainers (the laces would be confiscated) and slippers, to photos of his family to tape to the wall.

The blogger believes Vladimir Putin is behind the case

He said: "If you get into opposition politics, they can put you in jail. If you take on corruption, the easiest thing for these people is to put you in jail.

"Putin and his inner circle have realised that they have no levers left at their disposal to keep control of the political system except repression.

"They see the decline in (Putin's) ratings and the growing discontent, and the protests continue ... They will crush anyone who objects to Putin being president for life."

Navalny's case has been compared to that of Khodorkovsky - who is still being held near the town of Segezha in the Karelia region, bordering Finland.

According to his lawyers, the prison was constructed in the Soviet era by the forced labour of gulag inmates.

Khodorkovksy's legal team maintains the case against him was fabricated after he strayed from the realm of business into politics.

But the former tycoon has continued to campaign from his prison cell, and jailing Navalny runs a similar risk of uniting opposition protesters behind him and turning him into a popular martyr.

An independent poll last month found only 37% of Russians knew who Alexei Navalny was, but that is a substantial increase on 6% two years ago.

It is a significant proportion for a man without access to the mechanism of state-controlled media in Russia.

The gamble for the authorities is that the trial, and presumably conviction, of Alexei Navalny, will only boost his popularity and give him a new platform from which to campaign.

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Bulletproof Whiteboards: Schools Get 'Shields'

Bulletproof whiteboards are being introduced in some US schools in what is being seen as adding a last-resort layer of safety for teachers and students against shootings.

The schools include one where there was an attack a decade ago in which two students were killed.

The 18-by-20in (46-51cms) boards use a material apparently stronger than police-issue bulletproof vests and can be used as a shield in an emergency.

Among the places where they are being installed is the Rocori School District in Minnesota which has acquired nearly 200 of them.

Some experts question the boards' effectiveness (Pic: Hardwirellc.com)

In 2003, a 15-year-old boy took a gun to the school and fatally shot 14-year-old Seth Bartell and 17-year-old Aaron Rollins.

The gunman, who is serving a life sentence, was convinced by a teacher to put the gun down.

The board's manufacturer, Maryland-based Hardwire, has been working on armour protection devices for military vehicles and personnel for years.

It turned its attention to school security after the Connecticut elementary school shootings last December that killed 20 children and six teachers.

Company officials said the whiteboards are already in schools in North Dakota and Maryland, and are being rolled out in Pennsylvania and California.

Police chief Phil Jones said Rocori schools were the first to use them in Minnesota.

He claimed he test-fired several rounds at it and told Fox News: "We put this board to the test, and quite frankly, that was the day I became a believer."

Mr Jones and Scott Staska, the Rocori superintendent, stress that the boards are a supplement to a broad plan that includes lockdown drills and school resource officers.

At least one security expert questioned whether the boards would be effective.

Bill Nesbitt, president of school security consulting firm Security Management Services International, was not familiar with the whiteboards.

But he said his initial reaction was that they may provide a false sense of security. The prudent thing to do would be to retreat from danger rather than hide behind a whiteboard, he said.

Rollins' father, Tom Rollins, said he does not believe the whiteboards would have saved Aaron or Seth.

But he said it is a good idea, adding that if the teen gunman had decided to keep shooting, such a board may have helped other students.

"He still had seven more shells in his gun, so who knows what would've happened," Mr Rollins said.

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China: 21 Dead In Xinjiang Province Clashes

Twenty-one people are reported to have died in what Chinese authorities describe as violent clashes between the authorities and "a terrorist gang".

Among the dead in the north western region of Xinjiang were 15 police officers and local government officials, the Xinjiang government propaganda office said in a news release, adding that six assailants were killed on the spot and another eight captured alive.

"Initial investigations show this was a gang plotting to carry out terrorist acts and the case is now being further cracked open," the statement said.

A leading activist from the region's indigenous Turkic Muslim Uighur ethnic group questioned the official account, saying local sources said police sparked the incident by shooting a Uighur youth during an illegal search of homes.

Tuesday's violence began after three local officials reported a group of suspicious men armed with knives hiding inside a home in Selibuya township outside the city of Kashgar, the news release said.

The three were then grabbed by the men in the house, it added, and local police and officials rushing to the scene were taken by surprise and attacked.

Xinjiang, a sprawling region bordering Central Asia, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, is home to millions of Uighurs, many of whom complain of tight restrictions and favouritism towards Han migrants.

The US initially placed one group, the East Turkistan Islamic Movement, on a terrorist watch list following the 9/11 attacks, but later quietly removed it amid doubts that it existed in any organised manner.

Rioting in July 2009 between Uighurs and Han left nearly 200 people dead in Xinjiang's capital, Urumqi, and there have been sporadic attacks since then.

Dilxat Raxit, a spokesman for the German-based World Uyghur Congress, denied those involved in the latest clash were part of an organised group and dismissed the government's terrorism claims.

"They always use such labels as a way of justifying their use of armed force," Mr Raxit said in a phone interview.

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Taiwan Reports First Case Of Lethal Bird Flu

Taiwan has reported the first case of bird flu outside the Chinese mainland.

The news comes as international experts probing China's deadly H7N9 bird flu virus said it is "one of the most lethal influenza viruses" seen so far.

China has confirmed 108 cases and 22 deaths since the first infections were announced on March 31 and Taiwan has now confirmed its first infection in a man who had recently returned from working in eastern China where most cases have been reported.

"This is definitely one of the most lethal influenza viruses we have seen so far," said Keiji Fukuda, one of the leading flu experts for the World Health Organisation which has led a team on a week-long visit to China to study the virus.

Mr Fukuda told a news conference that the latest strain was more easily transmissible than the more common H5N1 strain of bird flu - experts had previously remarked on the "affinity" of H7N9 for humans.

An official sprays disinfectant inside a market in New Taipei City, Taiwan

"We think this virus is more transmissible to humans than H5N1," he said, referring to the strain the WHO estimates has killed more than 360 people globally since 2003.

"When we look at influenza viruses this is an unusually dangerous virus," he said, but he added: "We are really at the beginning of our understanding."

Taiwanese health authorities said their first case, a 53-year-old man who had been working in the eastern Chinese city of Suzhou, showed symptoms three days after returning to Taiwan via Shanghai.

Health Minister Chiu Wen-ta told reporters the patient said he had not been in contact with poultry or eaten under-cooked birds or eggs while staying in Suzhou.

The WTO team, however, said poultry was the likely source of the H7N9 outbreak as chickens, ducks and pigeons from markets had tested positive. Nevertheless, they warned over the potential for human-to-human transmission.

"No sustained person-to-person transmission has been found," a statement from the team said. "What remains unclear is whether the virus could gain the ability to become transmissible between people."

A WHO official said last week that more than 50% of those with the virus had remembered coming into contact with birds, raising questions over how the remaining cases became infected.

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Sharon Osbourne Talks About Ozzy Drug Problem

Sharon Osbourne has said she did not realise the extent of her husband's addiction problems - as she denied suggestions the couple are getting divorced.

Black Sabbath frontman Ozzy Osbourne recently apologised on Facebook for his "insane behaviour" and revealed he had been struggling with a drink and drug problem for 18 months.

He said he was now sober after being in a "very dark place" and his marriage was not in trouble.

Speaking on The Talk, the US show which his wife co-hosts, Sharon blamed the media for "distorting" the truth.

"Everybody knows he's been struggling with this his entire life and I never knew that he was using prescription drugs," said Osbourne.

"I knew he was drinking occasionally, but I didn't realise to (such an) extent."

The celebrity couple have reportedly been living apart, but Osbourne told the studio audience they were working hard to resolve their problems.

"We're not getting divorced," said the 60-year-old. "However, am I happy? No. Am I upset? Yes I am. I'm devastated right now."

She added: "We've dealt with worse and we will deal with it and this too shall pass. Otherwise my husband will be taken to the hospital to get my foot removed from his a***."

The couple married in 1982 and found themselves enjoying a fresh wave of fame 20 years later when their family became the subject of hit MTV documentary The Osbournes.

Ozzy is due to tour with Black Sabbath later this year, playing seven gigs in the UK and Irish Republic.

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Madonna's Brother Needs Stitches After Arrest

Madonna's brother needed nine stitches to his forehead after resisting arrest in a public toilet, according to police in Michigan.

Local media said officers were called to Grand Traverse County civic centre after Anthony Ciccone, 56, refused to leave.

Police said they tried to detain Ciccone on an outstanding arrest warrant for trespass, but he confronted an officer - who ended up bringing him to the ground.

"He pulled away, turned around and confronted the female officer in an aggressive manner," police captain Brian Heffner told the Traverse City Record-Eagle.

"She turned him around and brought him to the ground, which is when he struck his face on the bathroom floor."

His blood-alcohol level was 0.40. The alcohol limit for driving in Michigan is 0.08.

Ciccone, who is reported to be homeless, was jailed and is expected to be charged with resisting and obstructing a police officer.

Madonna's publicist declined to comment on the matter.

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Bangladesh: Dozens Dead After Building Fall

At least 70 people have died after an eight-storey building collapsed on the outskirts of Bangladesh's capital, Dhaka.

Another 700 are reported to have been injured in the building's collapse which involved several garment factories.

"The toll will rise as conditions of some injured were critical," said Hiralal Roy, a senior emergency ward doctor at the nearby Enam hospital.

Tens of thousands of people gathered at the site, some of them weeping survivors, some searching for family members, with 1,000 people still reported to be trapped inside the building.

Clothing factories are usually staffed 24 hours a day.

Firefighters and soldiers using drilling machines and cranes worked together with local volunteers in the search for other survivors from the building, which fell into itself, leaving it about two storeys tall.

Hundreds of factory workers were trapped inside the building

Some workers complained that the building had developed cracks on Tuesday evening, triggering an evacuation, but they had been forced back to the production lines by their managers.

"The managers forced us to rejoin and just one hour after we entered the factory the building collapsed with a huge noise," said a 24-year-old worker who gave her first name as Mousumi.

"I am injured. But I've not found my husband who was working on the fourth floor," she said, estimating that 5,000 people worked inside the building, which also housed apartments, a bank and shops.

Thousands gathered on the streets where the building collapsed

The collapse stirred memories of a fatal fire in a clothing factory in November that killed 112 people and raised an outcry about safety in the nation's garment industry.

That fire at the Tazreen factory drew international attention to the conditions workers toil under in the $20bn-a-year (£13bn) textile industry in Bangladesh.

The country has about 4,000 garment factories and exports clothes to leading Western retailers - the industry wields vast power in the South Asian nation.

Tazreen did not have emergency exits and its owner said only three floors of the eight-story building were legally built.

Surviving employees said gates had been locked and managers had told them to go back to work after the fire alarm went off.

The factory made clothes for Wal-Mart, Disney and other Western brands.

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Boston: Slain Uni Police Officer Remembered

A memorial service is being held for Sean Collier - a university police officer killed by the Boston Marathon bombing suspects.

Up to 10,000 Massachusetts Institute of Technology students, faculty and staff as well as law enforcement officials are lining up for a solemn tribute to fallen the campus officer.

More follows...

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