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Cyber attack thwarted by flipping 'kill switch' but experts fear new blitz

Europe and Russia were left reeling today by a malicious global cyber attack that used leaked NSA tools to exploit a vulnerability in Microsoft Windows and spread ransomware across networks around the world.

Tens of thousands of users from London to St. Petersburg logged on yesterday to find ominous threats to delete their suddenly encrypted computer files unless they cough up $300 or more in Bitcoin payments to the unknown perpetrators, security experts and intelligence officials told ABC News today.

A message saying “Oops, your important files are encrypted” flashed across screens all over the world. According to The New York Times, experts estimated that before the last affected computers are unlocked, victims could collectively pay more than $1 billion to the attackers.

The attack appears to have been thwarted by private cyber security researchers who identified and triggered the malware’s "kill switch," which halted the attacks before it spread throughout U.S. networks, a senior U.S. intelligence official confirmed, but it is unclear whether, the official said, a modified attack will soon be launched.

"That is a huge concern right now," said Darien Huss, a senior security research engineer at Proofpoint who was among the researchers who helped disable the virus, called "WannaCry," told ABC News today. "It would not be very difficult at all to re-release this ransomware attack without a kill switch or without an approved kill switch that only they can activate."

Huss is also worried about copycats, who could "take the exploit code that was used in this attack and implement it into their own virus."

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Zimbabwe's wet season helps with bumper crops

Latest  Braking News  Zimbabwe's wet season helps with bumper crops

Maize crop damaged by heavy rains in Chivi, Zimbabwe [Aaron Ufumeli/EPA]

A country able to export excess food following good spells of rain and a concerted effort by the government.

A year after a state of emergency was declared in Zimbabwe, the country is now able to export excess food.

Lat year, the Command Agriculture program was launched in response to the shrinking agricultural output and drought.

This provided finance, seed, fertilizer and pesticides. The goal was to make Zimbabwe self-sufficient in maize and the move was a success.

I would say, frankly speaking, there may be elements of food insecurity, but there is no hunger," said Bishow Parajuli, the UN resident coordinator in Zimbabwe.

We were facing lots of challenges when the drought came in but the proactiveness of the government and strong partnership addressed all issues of famine and hunger.

Of course, there's food insecurity, malnutrition issues and that is what we are working on at the moment

READ MORE: Zimbabwe floods killed 246, made thousands homeless

The 2016-17 rainfall season in Zimbabwe officially ended in the first week of April and this season's rainfall was in excess.

This contributed greatly to an abundant crop in many areas of agriculture but, as is often the case, came in flash-flood amounts.

The country's Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa said that for the first time in almost two decades, Zimbabwe will produce enough maize to be able to export the grain.

Now the problem is where to store saleable produce - for future use or export. Dry storage is surprisingly necessary as conditions even in late April have been wet, following a surprisingly humid and windy March.

The agricultural situation did not look so rosy during the heavy rains.

In January, the downpours were damaging crops and washing away topsoil and dirt roads. The tobacco cash crop was turning yellow through nutrient leaching and maize stems were flattened by storm gusts.

Damage to roads and bridges from fast-flowing floodwater cut off access to markets.

Zimbabwe last experienced such conditions in 1999.

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China urges diplomatic solution to US-N Korea feud

Last News Update: China urges diplomatic solution to US-N Korea feud.

Foreign minister's warning comes as US threatens military action after North's latest nuclear test in defiance of UN.

China has called on the United States and North Korea to find a peaceful solution to rising tensions after a war of words erupted after the North conducted a series of missile and nuclear tests in defiance of UN sanctions. 

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told reporters in Beijing on Tuesday that the standoff between the two nations could only be resolved by diplomacy.

"I've seen that the United States has reiterated it is willing to use political and diplomatic means to resolve this, as this is their first choice," he said.

"Of course I think that any country will feel that political diplomatic means are of course the first choice."

Al Jazeera's Divya Gopalan, reporting from Hong Kong, said that China "was very keen to see this issue resolved peacefully".

"Any kind of action on North Korea will have repercussions on China," our correspondent said.

On Tuesday, US Vice President Mike Pence met Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, following meetings in South Korea with Hwang Kyo-ahn, the acting president.

Pence has repeatedly warned that "all options are on the table" when dealing with Pyongyang.

In Tokyo, Pence reassured Japan of the US' commitment to reining in North Korea's nuclear and missile ambitions after warning that its own strikes in Syria and Afghanistan showed the strength of its resolve.

North Korea regularly threatens to destroy Japan, South Korea and the United States and it showed no let-up in its defiance after conducting a reportedly failed missile test on Sunday.

"The time of dictating orders by brandishing the US military might has gone. If those businessmen in power in the US thought of intimidating us by any military or sanction threats - as the Obama administration used to do and failed - they will soon find out such threats are useles"

Sin Hong-chol, North Korea's deputy foreign minister.

The North has warned that its army is on "maximum alert" following Pence's visit on Monday to the heavily militarised border between the two Koreas, where he reiterated Washington's position that "all options are on the table" in dealing with Pyongyang.

'Threats are useless'

Sin Hong-chol, North Korea's deputy foreign minister, told Al Jazeera that Donald Trump's administration "should look at the world with open eyes".

"The time of dictating orders by brandishing the US military might has gone. If those businessmen in power in the US thought of intimidating us by any military or sanction threats - as the [Barack] Obama administration used to do and failed - they will soon find out such threats are useless," Sin said.

North Korea's deputy representative to the United Nations, Kim In Ryong, accused the US of creating "a situation where nuclear war could break out an any time" and said Pyongyang's next nuclear test would take place "at a time and at a place where our headquarters deems necessary".

The North has warned of a nuclear strike against the United States if provoked. 

US officials say tougher sanctions could include an oil embargo, a global ban on North Korea's airline, intercepting cargo ships and punishing Chinese banks doing business with Pyongyang. They say greater Chinese cooperation is vital.

China banned imports of North Korean coal, its most important export, in February, and Chinese media have raised the possibility of restricting oil shipments to the North.

North Korea and South are technically still at war because their 1950-1953 conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty.

News Collect by www.aljazeera.com

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Cleveland Facebook killing reported in emotional 911 call: 'He’s dead ... Lord have mercy'

Breaking News: Cleveland Facebook killing reported in emotional 911 call: 'He’s dead ... Lord have mercy'.

                     Cleveland Facebook killing reported in emotional 911 call

• By EMILY SHAPIRO
• KARMA ALLEN
 

Apr 18, 2017, 10:36 AM ET

"He’s dead ... He’s lying there. Lord have mercy. Oh, my God," a distraught-sounding Cleveland woman said to a 911 operator after she heard a gunshot and saw a man dead outside.

The woman dialed 911 Sunday afternoon in Cleveland after murder suspect Steve Stephens allegedly gunned down 74-year-old Robert Godwin Sr. and later posted a video of the killing on Facebook, according to police.

In another 911 call that day, a man reported: "Someone in front of my house has been shot ... He’s unconscious, he’s dead."

Stephens has been on the run since Sunday, and there have been no credible sightings of him, authorities said. The manhunt for Stephens, who is considered armed and dangerous, is now nationwide and billboards around the country have been plastered with Stephens' photo.

Stephens claimed to have committed multiple homicides, according to police, but no additional victims have been found.

Cleveland police chief Calvin Williams said at a news conference this morning that authorities have received close to 400 tips and are following up on each one. He said calls have come in from as far away as Texas.

“I don’t think the investigation has stalled," Williams said. "These things can take two days, they can take two weeks or even two years.”

Williams urged people who may have seen Stephens to call 911 and anyone with information on the suspect to call the FBI's tip line.

Stephen Anthony, special agent in charge of the FBI's Cleveland Division, said, "Someone out there has a key piece of information that can help us resolve this matter. They just might not know it.” If in doubt, he said, call.

Manhunt for Cleveland Facebook murder suspect expands to national search

Daughter of man gunned down in Facebook video: 'I saw the fear in my father's eyes'

Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson at the news conference this morning thanked the Godwin family "for their leadership" and "showing us the way in this situation."

Jackson said the family "demonstrated even in this tragedy ... that they have forgiven and that they have come together ... They’ve asked us as a community to forgive and to begin to heal. Because what happened on Easter Sunday was traumatic."

Jackson also said that the local clergy has "asked us to communicate to Steve Stephens that they are available to him" if he needs to talk.

Facebook on Monday released a timeline of events connected to the suspect, according to its records:

• 11:09 a.m. PDT — First video, of intent to murder, uploaded. Not reported to Facebook.
• 11:11 a.m. PDT — Second video, of shooting, uploaded.
• 11:22 a.m. PDT — Suspect confesses to murder while using Live, is live for 5 minutes.
• 11:27 a.m. PDT — Live ends, and Live video is first reported shortly after.
• 12:59 p.m. PDT — Video of shooting is first reported.
• 1:22 p.m. PDT — Suspect’s account disabled; all videos no longer visible to public.

A Facebook executive on Monday said the company is reviewing some of its practices in light of the incident.

"It was a horrific crime — one that has no place on Facebook, and goes against our policies and everything we stand for," Facebook VP of Global Operations Justin Osofsky said Monday. "As a result of this terrible series of events, we are reviewing our reporting flows to be sure people can report videos and other material that violates our standards as easily and quickly as possible."

Godwin's daughter, Tonya Godwin Baines, told ABC News the video "forever will be in my mind because I saw the fear in my father's eyes."

Baines said it "feels like our heart is just ripped out of our chest. For somebody to brutally murder my father like that is unbelievable."

                               Steve Stephens is pictured in this photo released by Cleveland Police, April 16, 2017.

Baines said her father was the epitome of a family man who "would give you the shirt off his back."

"He taught us about God, he taught us love, forgiveness. Just to know that I will never ever hear my father's voice again is devastating," Baines said.

"We can never replace him," she added, crying. "A part of us died with him."

Her sister, Debbie Godwin, told ABC News, "I truly can say I don't even feel any animosity against the guy that killed my father.

"I'm glad that my parents taught us to love people and to forgive even when they do us wrong," she said. "My dad would be the kind of person that would say, 'You gotta forgive.'"

"I want him to get help," Debbie Godwin said of the suspected gunman.

Angela Smalls, who said Robert Godwin is the father of two of her children, is pleading for Stephens to turn himself in.

"He took my kids’ father from them and you’re still breathing out here? My babies are hurting," a tearful Smalls said, according to ABC affiliate WEWS in Cleveland. "Let them get some peace. Just turn yourself in, please."

Stephens visited the Sherwin Shooting Sports shooting range in Eastlake, Ohio last summer, a representative of the business told ABC News. Stephens had a concealed carry permit, police said, according to WEWS.

Police said Monday that authorities don’t have any reason to believe Stephens is not still driving a white Ford Fusion with temporary tag number E363630.

A reward is being offered for information leading to his arrest.

ABC News' Jason Volack and Dominick Proto contributed to this report.

Breaking News: 

What's at stake in North Korea?

    Apr 17, 2017, 2:57 PM ET

North Korea test missiles, challenges US with nuclear war threats

North Korea’s failed missile test this weekend is just the latest in a string of tests by the country that has stoked fears around the world.

There had been growing concern all week that Kim Jong Un’s government would attempt some form of missile or nuclear test this weekend as it celebrated the 105th birthday of its late founder, Kim Il Sung. So while the missile test did not come as a grand surprise, it serves a reminder of the growing threat that North Korea poses to U.S. interests in East Asia and the possible threat that it could pose to the U.S. homeland in the not-too-distant future.

North Korea’s attempted missile launch fails, US officials say

North Korea vows further missile tests: Report

Here’s what you need to know:

Ballistic abilities

At the moment, North Korea doesn’t have the ability to hit the U.S. mainland with its missiles. However, according to data provided by Michael Elleman, a senior fellow for missile defense at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, a British research institute, North Korea is developing a missile known as the Musudan (or Hwasong-10), with a range of up to 3,200 kilometers (nearly 2,000 miles).

That puts the Musudan within striking range of Guam, a U.S. island territory in the western Pacific that is home to more than 150,000 U.S. citizens, as well as a number of U.S. military bases.

In addition, North Korea is developing other missiles with even greater ranges. Among those are the KN-08 (or Hwasong-13) and KN-14 (or Hwasong-14), both of which are believed to be intercontinental ballistic missiles. According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, an American think tank based in Washington, D.C., the missiles have maximum ranges of 11,500 kilometers (approximately 7,145 miles) and 10,000 kilometers (approximately 6,215 miles) respectively — within striking distance of the U.S. mainland.

For a missile to be considered an ICBM, it must be able to travel a minimum of 3,400 miles (about 5,500 kilometers).

But experts have cast doubt on how ready the country is to launch such missiles.

“ICBMs that are reliable are at least four years away and more likely five to seven,” Elleman told ABC News.

Robert Kelly, an associate professor of political science at Pusan University in South Korea, pointed out that while Hawaii and Guam are closer targets that might not require an ICBM for targeting, he is “very doubtful North Korea missile guidance systems are good enough to get a ... missile to such a precise location,” he wrote in an email to ABC News.

Nuclear ambitions

Missiles are just one piece of the puzzle. North Korea’s nuclear program is also a concern for the international community.

North Korea has conducted five nuclear tests since 2006, two of them last year.

While the nuclear program is separate from the missile tests, “the real issue is whether they could put a nuke on top of that missile. That is just unknown,” said Kelly. “If I had to speculate, I would say yes, that they could nuke Japan but, no, they could not reach Hawaii or [the U.S. mainland] yet.”

“Nuclear experts believe the North to have 12 to 20 bombs and [will] expand its nuclear arsenal to 40 or 50 in the next four to five years,” Sung-Yoon Lee, a professor of Korean studies at Tufts University, told ABC News in an email. “That would rival the size of the United Kingdom’s nuclear arsenal.”

Firepower at this scale would “give North Korea credible second strike capability. That is, the North attacks first, the U.S. shoots back, and the North shoots back — a series of nuclear exchanges, in a mutual destruction,” Lee added.

What is the worst-case scenario?

“The worst-case scenario is open warfare between the two Koreas into which China and the U.S. would get dragged on opposite sides and in which nuclear weapons were used,” said Kelly, adding that he thinks this is unlikely.

But if it does happen, “China has never confirmed what its status would be if war [broke] out again, and we’d like to think China would be on our side, but they’ve so far refused to agree to that position,” said Van Jackson, an associate professor at the College of Security Studies at the Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies.

But how could the U.S. get dragged into a conflict so far away? “The American alliance arrangement with South Korea and Japan would require American involvement in the case of war, much like America’s Cold War commitment to NATO,” Kelly said.

Vice President Mike Pence speaks during an Easter fellowship dinner at a military base in Seoul, South Korea, April 16, 2017.more +

The defense of South Korea is something that the U.S. continues to guarantee.

“Our commitment to this historic alliance with the courageous people of South Korea has never been stronger,” Pence said on Sunday while visiting U.S. troops stationed in the country.

Jackson explained that the most likely way the U.S. would be dragged into the conflict would be “a North Korean first strike against either South Korea or the U.S. or a U.S. preventive attack on North Korea that leads to North Korean retaliation that then escalates.”

attack on North Korea that leads to North Korean retaliation that then escalates.”

But even the tests pose a threat, according to professor Victor Cha, the director of Asian studies at Georgetown University.

“A failed missile test that hit Japan could spark calls for retaliation,” he told ABC News, and that could see the U.S. become involved.

Beyond conflict, the development of nuclear weapons in North Korea could cause other problems.

“A collapse of the regime could spark a loose-nukes crisis and/or proliferation of weapons to nonstate actors,” said Cha. In other words, terrorist groups could take advantage of the situation to get their hands on nuclear materials.

Further development of nuclear weapons in North Korea could encourage other countries — even ones friendly with the U.S. — to develop their own nuclear weapons.

“The moment we acknowledge North Korean nuclear weapons, the global taboo against nuclear weapons becomes violated, no longer sacrosanct,” said Jackson. “Practically speaking, South Korea will eventually go nuclear itself, which in turn will place tremendous pressures on Japan and Taiwan to do so as well.”

What options does President Donald Trump have?

Putting it bluntly, Jackson said, “The United States has no good options.”

The U.S. could launch a strike on North Korea’s nuclear arsenal, but that is “very difficult and fraught with risk” and could lead to conflict, he added.

“A military strike is a dangerous option, given that North Korean artillery stands only seconds away from Seoul, where 10 million people live and 100,000 American expats and 27,500 U.S. troops,” said Cha.

The U.S. could temper its desire to see North Korea denuclearize in an attempt to get a deal with North Korea that modestly stabilizes relations in the region, Jackson said.

But “this has historically been unacceptable to South Korea and to most U.S. policy officials,” he explained.

Lee said that the U.S.’s best course of action is “to put unrelenting financial pressure” on the regime that would exclude it from the U.S. dollar system, the backbone of the global financial system.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un is pictured inspecting the "Dropping and Target-striking Contest of KPA Special Operation Forces - 2017" at an undisclosed location in North Korea, in this undated photo released April 14, 2017.more +

But according to Kelly, China “has mixed feelings about really cutting North Korea off from the global economy.”

“If North Korea were to dramatically implode, most analysts expect a wave of refugees headed toward China,” South Korea or even Japan, explained Kelly.

Jackson agreed that refugees were a concern, saying, “This is one of China’s long-standing concerns that has incentivized it to urge caution and restraint in Korea.”

The refugee flow could be “on the same scale as Syria but perhaps with even greater desperation,” he added.

‘No joke’

“North Korea is no joke. With its bizarre cult of personality and backwardness, the world tends to laugh at Pyongyang,” said Lee.

“The leadership is not crazy or suicidal, hence an imminent war is unlikely,” Lee continued. “But North Korea is a revisionist state — that is, a state that is willing to take risks to change the international environment in its favor.”

ABC News’ Luis Martinez contributed to this report from the Pentagon.

Pope Francis uses Easter message to condemn 'vile' Syria attack

Pope Francis uses Easter message to condemn 'vile' Syria attack

Pope Francis has used his Easter address to condemn Saturday's deadly attack on a bus convoy in Syria.

The Pope delivered his "Urbi et Orbi" ("To the City and the World") message to thousands of pilgrims who gathered in St Peter's Square at the Vatican.

Francis said the bombing, which killed more than 100 people near the city of Aleppo, was "the latest vile attack on fleeing refugees".

He also spoke against "old and new" forms of slavery and discrimination.

"May [God] sustain the efforts of those who are actively working to bring comfort and relief to the civilian population in beloved Syria, who are greatly suffering from a war that does not cease to sow horror and death," he said.

In the latest attack, a vehicle filled with explosives targeted buses carrying evacuees from besieged, government-held Syrian towns.

At an earlier vigil, Francis spoke of migrants' pain, and criticized "paralyzing and barren bureaucracies that stand in the way of change".

Easter was also marked in Coptic churches in Egypt, where attacks a week ago, claimed by Islamic State militants, killed at least 45 people.

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