North Korea’s Internet links restored amid U.S. hacking dispute

As the internet saga between US, Sony and North Korea continues ,North Korea experienced a complete Internet outage for hours before links were restored on Tuesday, but U.S. officials said Washington was not involved.

U.S.-based Dyn, a company that monitors Internet infrastructure, said the reason for the outage was not known but could range from technological glitches to a hacking attack. Several U.S. officials close to the investigations of the attack on Sony Pictures said the U.S. government had not taken any cyber action against Pyongyang.

U.S. President Barack Obama had vowed on Friday to respond to the major cyberattack, which he blamed on North Korea, “in a place and time and manner that we choose.”

Dyn said North Korea’s Internet links were unstable on Monday and the country later went completely offline. Links were restored at 0146 GMT on Tuesday, and the possibilities for the outage could be attacks by individuals, a hardware failure, or even that it was done by North Korea itself, experts said.

Matthew Prince, CEO of U.S.-based CloudFlare which protects websites from web-based attacks, said the fact that North Korea’s Internet was back up “is pretty good evidence that the outage wasn’t caused by a state-sponsored attack, otherwise it’d likely still be down for the count”.

Almost all of North Korea’s Internet links and traffic pass through China and it dismissed any suggestion that it was involved as “irresponsible”.

Meanwhile, South Korea, which remains technically at war with the North, said it could not rule out the involvement of its isolated neighbor in a cyberattack on its nuclear power plant operator. It said only non-critical data was stolen and operations were not at risk, but had asked for U.S. help in investigating.

South Korean President Park Geun-hye said on Tuesday the leak of data from the nuclear operator was a “grave situation” that was unacceptable as a matter of national security, but she did not mention any involvement of North Korea.

North Korea is one of the least-connected nations in the world, and the effects of the Internet outage would have been minimal.

Very few of its 24 million people have access to the Internet. However, major websites, including those of the KCNA state news agency, the main Rodong Sinmun newspaper and the main external public relations company went down for hours.

“North Korea has significantly less Internet to lose, compared to other countries with similar populations: Yemen (47 networks), Afghanistan (370 networks), or Taiwan (5,030 networks),” Dyn Research said in a report.

“And unlike these countries, North Korea maintains dependence on a single international provider, China Unicom.”

NO PROOF, CHINA SAYS

The United States requested China’s help last Thursday, asking it to shut down servers and routers used by North Korea that run through Chinese networks, senior administration officials told Reuters.

The United States also asked China to identify any North Korean hackers operating in China and, if found, send them back to North Korea. It wants China to send a strong message to Pyongyang that such acts will not be tolerated, the officials said.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Monday it opposed all forms of cyberattacks but there was no proof that North Korea was responsible for the Sony hacking.

North Korea has denied it was behind the cyberattack on Sony and has vowed to hit back against any U.S. retaliation, threatening the White House and the Pentagon..

The hackers said they were incensed by a Sony comedy about a fictional assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, which the movie studio has now pulled from general release.

China is North Korea’s only major ally and would be central to any U.S. efforts to crack down on the isolated state. But the United States has also accused China of cyber spying in the past and a U.S. official has said the attack on Sony could have used Chinese servers to mask its origin.

Source: Reuters

Obama defiant, vows immigration action this year

President Barack Obama’s determination to act alone to change the immigration system promptly drove a wedge Wednesday into the post-election commitment from the president and Republican leaders to find common ground under the new political alignment.

Obama defiantly stood by his pledge to act on his own to reduce deportations, grant work permits and improve border security by the end of the year despite resounding election victories by Republicans strongly opposed to his plans.

The Senate’s likely majority leader next year, Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., declared that such a move would amount to “waving a red flag in front of a bull.”

On a day when both sides tried to herald a new era of potential compromise, immigration stood out not only as a single obstacle to bipartisanship but as a sign that the hard-fought election and the heavy Democratic losses had not pushed partisan sparring aside.

“I have no doubt that there will be some Republicans who are angered or frustrated by any executive action that I may take,” Obama said in a post-election news conference. “Those are folks, I just have to say, who are also deeply opposed to immigration reform, in any form, and blocked the House from being able to pass a bipartisan bill.”

He cast his executive actions as an inducement for Republicans to pass their own immigration bill.

“The best way, if folks are serious about getting immigration reform done, is going ahead and passing a bill and getting it to my desk. And then the executive actions that I take go away,” he said.

Republicans led by McConnell pledged to use their new found majorities to stop him.

“I hope he won’t do that, because I do think it poisons the well for the opportunity to address a very important domestic issue,” McConnell said in Louisville, Kentucky, as he celebrated a victory in his own Senate race and the GOP’s capture of the Senate.

Some on the right said executive action on immigration could even be grounds for impeachment. Several House Republicans said Obama would make it
very difficult to cooperate on other issues if he acts on immigration.

“Him moving ahead like that, I think he’s completely tone deaf to what happened last night,” said Rep.

Phil Roe, R-Tenn. And a half-dozen GOP senators, including Ted Cruz of Texas, wrote to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D- Nev., on Wednesday urging him to quickly pass legislation to block Obama from taking executive action.

Otherwise, the senators warned, they’ll use “all procedural means necessary” to resolve what they called a constitutional crisis of Obama’s making. But Obama appeared in no mood for waiting. He had already angered Latinos and immigration advocacy groups this fall when he delayed executive action until after the election.

“What I’m not going to do is just wait,” he said. “I think it’s fair to say I’ve shown a lot of patience.”

Immigration advocates made clear that their patience, too, was at an end.

“The election is over. Act boldly to bring relief to the millions facing deportation and family separation,”

Janet Murguia, head of National Council of La Raza, said at a news conference Wednesday. “The Hispanic community has waited too long and expects you to fulfill your promise.”

White House officials say Obama, who is traveling to Asia and Australia next week, would not take any action until late November at the earliest and could
wait until December.

Advocates in touch with the White House expect Obama to expand a 2-year-old program that deferred deportations for more than 500,000 immigrants brought here illegally as minors, and made them eligible for work permits. He is also expected to take steps to make more business visas available.

Advocates say White House officials are debating whether to require a certain term of residency in the U.S. — say 10 years — and whether eligibility criteria
would include the parents of immigrants who received deportation deferrals under Obama, or only people who have children who are U.S. citizens because they were born here.

Such decisions could determine whether the program affects as many as 3 million people or more, or fewer. In an interview, Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., a leading immigration advocate, said anything fewer than 5 million to 8 million people would be insufficient. He and others argue that Obama’s actions will infuriate Republicans no matter how many are affected.

“Half a loaf is going to be unsatisfactory to everyone,” Gutierrez said.

Source: Associated Press

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Mitt Romney Hating on Obama as he Delivers An Epic Rant About Obama’s ‘Terrible Administration’

When big boy Work little boys Rant, like the Famous Hip Hop rapper snoop Dogg will say

” Big dogs don’t back, small dogs do”
Captured in details was Mitt Romney ranting over Obama’s terrible administration, he was ranting like a wounded puppy saying “If you’re running for office they tell you it’s not a good idea to tell jokes alright. Because you always offend someone,” and he continued “But I’m going to tell you one about the president and I don’t care if he’s offended.”

Romney began by declaring he didn’t care about upsetting Obama.
“If you’re running for office they tell you it’s not a good idea to tell jokes alright. Because you always offend someone,” said Romney. “But I’m going to tell
you one about the president and I don’t care if he’s offended.”

Romney, who was campaigning for Nebraska GOP Senate candidate Ben Sasse, went on to make a crack about Obama not having “a clue” that he’s used in other recent appearances.

“Look, I’m not a big fan of the president’s as you may understand, but even I have been disappointed by what I’ve seen over the last six years,” Romney said.

“Because he promised some things, but hasn’t been able to deliver those things.”
Romney went on to list things he said Obama promised to address including “poverty,” “income inequality,” the education system, and the president’s infamous promise people would be allowed to keep existing health plans under Obamacare.

Afterwards, Romney swiftly moved away from domestic issues. That’s where he really got fired up, still ranting like a screaming Christmas Chicken and hating on Mr President

“It’s been a terrible administration here at home and then look internationally,” said Romney. He went on to accuse Obama of having a foreign policy that is
“very different” from all other post-war
presidents. Romney said Obama has ignored “three principles” that were first established by President Harry Truman: that American must “be involved in the
world,” that we must “promote our values,” and that we need a “military second to none.”

“He went on to shrink our military smaller, and smaller, and smaller,” Romney said of Obama. “Our navy will be smaller than that of China in seven years. Russia already has a larger nuclear arsenal than ours.”

Romney suggested the decreased size of our armed forces has contributed to international tensions. “The challenges we face are not just because of the leadership skill of the president. It’s because he’s wrong on so many issues,” said Romney.

He went on to contrast this with the Republican Party, which Romney argued is offering better solutions. Then, Romney, who is sometimes cited as a potential 2016 presidential candidate made an admission.

“A lot of times we’re not as effective in communicating our message as we should be,” Romney said. “I’m to blame for that too and I wish I would have won.”

Romney concluded by encouraging the audience to vote for Sasse and other GOP candidates this year even though it is not a presidential race. “The president said it right. I don’t always agree with the president, but he said something right yesterday and you’ve heard it before. He said ‘Look, I’m not on the ballot, but my policies are,'” said Romney. “And that’s absolutely right.”

” Mr Mitt Romney the Fire spiller, words are easily said than done, so let your actions speak louder than your voice”

Credits to Business Insider

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US and other countries that accept Gay marriage

The U.S. Supreme Court’s refusal this month to review rulings that overturned bans on same-sex marriage marked a milestone in gay rights in the United States. Around the world, many countries have come to accept such unions as part of the tapestry of everyday life. But there are still pockets
of resistance. Here is a look at some countries that have made same-sex marriage common practice:

BRITAIN WAITS, ACCEPTS:
In 1992, five same-sex couples in London applied for marriage licenses in one of the opening salvos of the battle for what campaigners call “marriage equality.”

The license bid was denied — to no one’s surprise and one of the organizers, rights campaigner Peter Tatchell, said that most gay people at the time believed same-sex marriage to be an “impossible,
unattainable” goal.

It took until March, 2014, for same-sex couples to be able to marry in Britain, after a lengthy period in which civil partnerships were allowed. But even in its first year the practice of men marrying men and women marrying women has become widely accepted.

“People see that same-sex marriage hasn’t caused the collapse of civilization,” said Tatchell. “They see
friends and family who got married and feel very happy for them. It’s been a great joy to witness.”

The process seems to be working smoothly, said Natalie Banner, who recently married Elysia Rose Jenson in central London. She said her partner had to obtain a “fiancee’s visa” to enter Britain from New Zealand and didn’t encounter any obstacles.

“We didn’t face any difficulties as a same-sex couple,” said Banner. “We were apprehensive, we didn’t know
if there would be closer scrutiny, but we had no problems whatsoever.”

When it came time to fill out forms, they found a space for the “bride” and the “groom” and simply crossed out the word “groom” and wrote in “bride.”

Banner said the marriage is more meaningful to her than a civil partnership would have been. “Legally the rights are the same, but there’s something about the legitimacy of marriage, of being able to call my partner my wife,” she said. “It does lend an air of validity to the relationship.”

MAORI LOVE SONGS:
New Zealand last year became the first country in the Asia-Pacific region to legalize gay marriage. Parliament’s groundbreaking vote prompted raucous
cheers by gay rights supporters and sparked an impromptu concert of sorts: After the tally was announced, people watching from the public gallery and some lawmakers began to sing the New Zealand love song “Pokarekare Ana” in the indigenous Maori language.

Most political party leaders had encouraged lawmakers to vote their conscience rather than along party lines, and the bill was supported by center-right Prime Minister John Key.

Between August 2013, when the law went into effect, and June 2014, the most recent month for which data
is available, there were 870 same-sex marriages registered in New Zealand. A large number of gay couples who have married in New Zealand are from neighboring Australia, where same sex marriage remains illegal.

The change in the law has not been without its hiccups. In September, the marriage of two men prompted criticism from an unexpected source: gay rights groups. Longtime friends Travis McIntosh and Matt McCormick, both heterosexual, got married in Auckland as part of a local radio station’s “Love Your Man” competition.

The prize: tickets to next year’s Rugby World Cup in Britain. Gay rights activists said the stunt made a mockery of the institution of marriage at a time when gay and lesbian couples are still barred in most countries from marrying one another.

DUTCH PIONEERS:
The Netherlands in 2001 became the world’s first country to legalize gay marriage. The unions are broadly accepted, but still sometimes raise eyebrows,

says wedding planner Margot Nieuwold, whose business Magnificent Weddings caters to both heterosexual and homosexual. “People still sometimes find it a bit strange when they see two men arriving. They still look for the bride,”
Nieuwold said. “It is still not the first picture you have in your head of a wedding.”

While the vast majority of the Netherlands accepts gay marriages, there remain outposts in some religious
municipalities where gay couples are not welcomed with open arms.

Ten years after legalization, members of a linguists’ organization called Onze Taal (Our Language) voted the word “weigerambtenaar,” a term for a civil servant who refuses to carry out gay weddings, their 2011 word of the year.

But even that barrier is falling. In June, the Dutch parliament’s upper house approved legislation that bans municipalities from hiring such civil servants.

“There are still religious areas in the Netherlands where municipalities or venues can be difficult for gay couples, regardless of the fact that it is legal,” said Nieuwold.

SOUTH AFRICAN FIRST:
South Africa’s constitution is one of the world’s most liberal and the country legalized gay marriage through the Civil Union Act in 2006. That breakthrough
came after activists petitioned the country’s constitutional court to force Parliament to extend the legal definition of marriage to include same-sex couples.
Matuba Mahlatjie, one of the activists who made submissions to Parliament, said the change restored his faith in South Africa’s democracy.

He has taken advantage of the new law, marrying a man and raising a son with him — something he said he had never
even dreamed about as a young activist.
Despite marked progress on the legal front, he knows many anti-gay stereotypes are common in South
Africa.

“The history of this country left the majority of the black population illiterate and poor,” he said. “Attending workshops on hate crimes is the last thing on their mind because they are hungry. It is therefore easy for them to hate and destroy rather than trying to understand.” Mahlatjie followed what is locally believed to be his ancestral calling and is a trained Sangoma — a
traditional healer or shaman. He says the intense spiritual preparation he received and his prominent position in his community have helped dispel some
misconceptions about homosexuality.

“My becoming a healer contradicts the notion that being gay is un-African,” he said. “I am a custodian of Africa’s important and sacred teachings. Being gay does not separate me from being an African.”

SPANISH WINGS OF LOVE:
There were joyous celebrations in 2005 when Spain became the third European country to legalize same- sex marriage.
The practice made headlines again a year later when Spain’s military — once a fusty remnant of a right-wing regime tied to the Roman Catholic Church — was
rocked by its first public taste of gay marriage.

Alberto Linero, then 27, and Alberto Sanchez, then 24, both privates in the air force, wore crisp, dark-blue dress uniforms with red and gold epaulets as they exchanged vows and kissed in an elegant, chandeliered reception room at Seville’s town hall. The two grooms were married by Mayor Alfredo Sanchez Monteseirin, who said the wedding marked a victory for gay people everywhere who had suffered under age-old discrimination.

The laws irked the church and the country’s conservative establishment, which accused the Socialist government of badly undermining the nation’s traditional values. The conservative opposition Popular Party vowed to reverse the law the moment it was elected into office.

However, once in power — and with a large majority in Parliament — Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy declined to act on its pledge and left the legislation untouched in the face of polls showing that Spaniards. overwhelming favor gay marriage.

Source: Associated Press

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Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen to donates $100m to tackle Ebola

Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, 61, who is worth about $17billion, announced yesterday October 23rd that he will donate $100 million to the fight against Ebola, the dreaded disease which has killed thousands of people all around the world.

This donation skyrockets him to be the largest individual donor in the Ebola crisis so far.

“Everybody feels called sometimes to really pursue a certain thing that resonates with them, and this has resonated with me. We’re up against an extremely tough opponent here. The
exponential nature of the growth of this disease is really a challenge – we’ve already seen in the U.S. where one case quickly became two.” Allen told NY Times

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WoW ! Ebola fears as passenger flying from Nigeria to JFK dies in his seat after vomiting profusely

This Ebola virus is currently tormenting the world seriously, there was fresh a Ebola fears yesterday October 16th after an unidentified 63 year old man on board an Arik flight which left Lagos on Wednesday night heading to New York’s JFK airport died before the plane reached its destination after vomiting profusely in his seat.

The plane crew immediately contacted the Centre for Disease Control, CDC, and custom officials, who then boarded the plane as it touched down, forcing 145
worried passengers to remain on board, UK Daily Mail reports..

CDC then conducted tests on the body and found he did not have Ebola.
According to The New York Post the unidentified man’s body was then handed over to the Port Authority who removed it from the plane. What they
plan to do with the remains have not been made known.

Throughout the ordeal, the door connecting the aircraft to the terminal was left open, prompting worries from Republican Congressman Peter King that there are not enough checks in place before reaching the screening process.

In a letter to the Department of Homeland Security, King wrote:
‘It was what I was told a cursor examination. The Port Authority cops and personnel from Customs and Border Protection were there, and they were
told there was no danger because the person did not have Ebola,’

‘But their concern was, how could you tell so quickly? And what adds to the concern is how wrong the CDC has been over the past few weeks.

‘These individuals transit the airport with the rest of the traveling population, including using the restrooms,’ King wrote in a letter on Thursday.

Source: UK Daily Mail

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WoW ! Donald Trump wants all flights from West Africa to stop, and calls Obama a psycho

Following the new cases of Ebola diagnosed in the US, billionaire business mogul, the raged Donald Trump has once again called for the stop of all flights to and from West Africa.

He is really mad about the situation, he even went far to call his president a psycho…really not good. Is screening at the airport is not enough for him.
Thank God he’s not the US president.

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WoW ! Ebola crisis: Obama says US outbreak risk very low

The US President Barack Obama emphatically said that the chance of an Ebola outbreak in the US, is “extremely low”.

He was speaking after a second US nurse became infected after treating a Liberian who died a week ago in Dallas.
Meanwhile, a UN chief has warned that West Africa faces a potential food crisis because of the Ebola crisis.

The dreaded disease has killed about 4,500 people so far, mostly in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone. In the US, health officials are seriously seeking to trace 132 people who flew on a plane with Amber Vinson the day before she fell ill.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said it wanted to interview the passengers on Frontier Airlines flight 1143 from Cleveland, Ohio, to Dallas, Texas on Monday.

An unnamed federal official has told US media that Ms Vinson, 29, called the CDC before boarding to report a temperature of 99.5F (37.5C) and to say she was getting on a plane.

She is the second nurse to become infected after treating Thomas Eric Duncan at the Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital. More than 70 medics who may have come in contact with Mr Duncan at the hospital are being monitored for symptoms.

President Obama cancelled a political campaign trip to meet Cabinet officials involved in the Ebola response both in the US and in West Africa. He has also cleared his diary for Thursday,postponing other engagements so that he can remain in Washington and monitor the situation.

Willing volunteers On Thursday, campaign group Avaaz said it had identified more than 2,000 international
volunteers, including hundreds of doctors and nurses, who are willing to help fight the Ebola outbreak in West Africa.

The group said it will give the names to aid agencies working in the field but they are unlikely to arrive in the region in the near future because of the training needed before they can be deployed. Meanwhile, the head of a United Nations agency said on Wednesday that the West African states affected by the outbreak were facing a looming food crisis.

Kanayo Nwanze, the president of the UN’s International Fund for Agriculture, said farmers in Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia had abandoned their crops because of fear of catching the disease.
‘Aggressive monitoring in US’ Speaking after chairing a crisis meeting on Ebola,
President Obama said it would be more difficult to prevent an outbreak in the US if the epidemic “rages out of control in West Africa”.

He promised a “much more aggressive” monitoring of Ebola cases in the US and reaffirmed plans to send a “Swat team” of experts to any hospital that reported an infection. It is still unclear how Ms Vinson and the other infected nurse, Nina Pham, contracted the virus.

Both wore face shields, hazardous materials suits and protective footwear as they drew blood and dealt with Mr Duncan’s body fluids. However, a national nurse union said health workers
had not been properly equipped while treating Mr Duncan.

Source : BBC

Amber Vinson was not supposed to travel on an aeroplane, health officials said

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WoW ! UK, US, Canada to screen air travelers for Ebola

Following the recent happenings on the issue of Ebola, US, UK and Canada have started airport screening of air travelers for Ebola. The US kick started theirs in five airports yesterday following the dismiss of Liberian Thomas Eric Duncan in Dallas, Texas on Wednesday October 8th.

Meanwhile, the condition of the Spanish nurses is getting pretty bad, the nuses contracted Ebola from Spanish missionaries who were repatriated from Liberia and Sierre Leone to Spain, is said to have worsened. The dreaded virus has gained an unduly prominence because of the world earlier negligence

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WoW ! US may start screening air passengers for Ebola

News trailing around now is that The US government is considering screening passengers from Ebola hit countries before they enter the country. This is as a result of a Liberian man who entered the country with Ebola about a week ago.

President Obama said yesterday that though the likelihood of an Ebola outbreak in the US is “extremely low’ but they have to react.

“We’re also going to be working on protocols to do additional passenger screening both at the source and here in the United States. Countries that think that they can sit on the sidelines and
just let the United States do it, that will result in a less effective response, a less speedy response, and that means that people die.”

“And it also means that the potential spread of the disease beyond these areas in West Africa becomes more imminent,” President Obama said at the White House briefing with US health officials The Liberian man who became the first case of Ebola diagnosed on American soil, Thomas Eric Duncan, is
in a critical condition in a hospital isolation unit in Dallas.

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