US ‘pleased’ with Russian arrest of ransomware hackers

Biden administration said one of the suspected hackers arrested in Russia was to blame for the Colonial Pipeline attack

The Biden administration is “pleased” about Russia arresting several suspected hackers, including one allegedly behind the ransomware attack that led to week-long fuel shortages last year.

A senior administration official, speaking with reporters on Friday, said Moscow had informed Washington about the arrests, and that one of the individuals involved was responsible for the May 2021 attack that crippled the Colonial Pipeline.

“I want to be very clear: In our mind, this is not related to what’s happening with Russia and Ukraine. I don’t speak for the government’s motives, but we’re pleased with these initial actions,” said the unnamed official, according to Axios.

The US has been accusing Russia of planning an “invasion” of Ukraine for several weeks now, with Moscow dismissing the allegations as “fake news.”

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Russia busts REvil hacker ring after tip off from US

Earlier on Friday, Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) announced it had conducted raids in three regions – Moscow, St. Petersburg and Lipetsk – targeting suspected hackers, after receiving a notice from US authorities about their alleged criminal activity.

The men arrested were reportedly members of REvil, a hacking group that specialized in ransomware attacks, and was blamed for the June 2021 attack on the meat processing conglomerate JBS and the US-based IT management platform Kaseya in July. 

The Colonial Pipeline attack was originally attributed to a different gang, called DarkSide. The company, which runs the pipeline providing much of the southern and eastern US with fuel, shut down operations for several days in May 2021, after the ransomware attack affected its automated invoicing service. 

The week-long disruption in supply caused fuel shortages across several states and Washington, DC. Colonial’s CEO Joseph Blount later admitted that he paid $4.4 million in ransom to the hackers, saying it was “the right thing to do for the country.” 

The following month, the FBI also blamed DarkSide for the attack, boasting that it had seized about $2.3 million in bitcoin from their accounts.

America’s national symbol faces slow death

Lead poisoning is blamed for the slump in bald eagle population’s growth

A new study has found the bald eagle population in the US has taken a significant hit from lead poisoning, eaten by the animals from left-behind ammunition from hunters.

The study, from the Department of Public and Ecosystem Health at Cornell University, found the bald eagle population growth has decreased by 4-6%, based on data gathered between 1990 and 2018.

Scientists examined bald eagle populations in seven Northeast states and found some are affected by hunters leaving behind contaminated organs after field dressing an animal. This affects bald eagles and other animals that may later feed on anything left of the carcass as they can consume lead fragments left behind in the meat. 

“We’re putting eagles out there as a poster species for this issue, but they’re not the only ones being impacted,” Krysten Schuler, research professor for Cornell, said. 


READ MORE: Scientists announce discovery on ‘very rare’ planet

Bald eagles’ population size has quadrupled in the last decade, but researchers warned that “some perturbation” could cause the population to decline again. 

The Cornell study estimates that growth rates for bald eagles have been suppressed by 4.2% for females and 6.3% for males. 

Bald eagles have seen their population dip over the years, with the species being included on the list of endangered species in the 1973 Endangered Species Act, but later being removed from the list in 2007. The animal is still a protected species within the US. Killing one can come with a felony charge, up to two years in prison, and fines up $250,000. 

In March of 2021, the US Fish and Wildlife Service announced there were more than 316,000 bald eagles in the US. 

Rare condition listed as possible side effect of COVID-19 shots

The EU’s drug watchdog is warning of a ‘very rare’ spinal cord inflammation possibly related to AstraZeneca and J&J vaccines

The European Medicines Agency wants to put warning labels on Covid-19 jabs made by AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson, saying there was a “reasonable possibility” they may have caused a spinal inflammation on rare occasions.

Following three days of meetings and discussions, the EMA’s Pharmacovigilance Risk Assessment Committee (PRAC) said Friday it wants to include a warning for “very rare cases of transverse myelitis (TM) reported following vaccination” with Vaxzevria and Janssen jabs. It is also adding the condition as an “adverse reaction of unknown frequency” to the vaccine profile.

The EMA describes TM as a rare neurological condition characterized by an “inflammation of one or both sides of the spinal cord,” which can cause weakness in arms or legs, tingling, numbness, pain – or loss of pain sensation – and problems with bowel and bladder function.

The recommendation comes after PRAC reviewed available information on reported cases worldwide and scientific literature,  concluding that “a causal relationship between these two vaccines and transverse myelitis is at least a reasonable possibility.” However, it said the “benefit-risk profile of both vaccines remains unchanged.”

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Concerns over side effect claims hamper Covid jab deliveries – documents

The warning is intended to “raise awareness among healthcare professionals and people receiving the vaccines.” Doctors were told to be on alert for signs and symptoms of TM, while recipients were urged to “seek immediate medical attention” if they develop the symptoms.

Last month, EMA approved the Janssen jab as a booster for people 18 and older, to be given at least two months after previous vaccinations.

PRAC also revised the product information for AstraZeneca’s Vaxzevria, to reflect that far fewer cases of thrombosis with thrombocytopenia (TTS) – blood clotting with a low platelet count – have been recorded after the second dose of the jab, compared to the first. 

The use of AstraZeneca’s vaccine, developed with Oxford University, has already been scaled back due to the “ultra rare” side effect, which UK government statistics last summer estimated at around 14.9 per million doses of the jab. A study published in December blamed a very specific issue with Vaxzevria’s adenovirus vector.

‘Pharma Bro’ CEO ordered to pay $64 million, barred from industry

The company was accused of driving up the price of a lifesaving drug used by pregnant women and cancer patients

Martin Shkreli, dubbed the “Pharma Bro” by the media, has been ordered to pay $64.6 million in profits he and his company made off of the anti-parasitic drug Daraprim. He is also barred from the pharmaceutical industry for life.

Shkreli, the founder and former CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals, won’t be living up to his nickname for much longer. US District Judge Denise Cote delivered the decision barring him from the business on Friday, following a seven day bench trial in December. 

“The powerful don’t get to make their own rules, despite Shkreli thinking cash rules everything around him,” New York Attorney General Letitia James tweeted about Shkreli in a thread celebrating the ruling. The 2020 lawsuit alleged Shkreli blocked the competition from vital data and used supply agreements to manipulate the market availability of the drug’s actual ingredients. 

Shkreli will now pay $64 million and will be banned from the pharmaceutical industry for life.

New Yorkers can trust that my office will do everything possible to hold the powerful accountable, in addition to fighting to protect their health and their wallets

— NY AG James (@NewYorkStateAG) January 14, 2022

Shkreli’s price gouging was first discovered in 2015 and the story immediately captured the national spotlight, with former President Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton even addressing it on the 2016 campaign trail, with the former dubbing Shkreli a “spoiled brat.”

Then-CEO Shkreli came under fire after his company acquired the lifesaving drug Daraprim and sent prices through the roof, raising costs in 2015 for consumers from under $20 to more than $700. 

He defended the actions simply as capitalism at the time, something that did not help him in his latest case, with Judge Cote saying Shkreli “doubled down” in the face of “public opprobrium.”

Shkreli is currently serving a seven year sentence for separate securities fraud charges. 

Biden admin tells state to mask up kids or forfeit Covid relief

Government tells Arizona to lift ban on masks in schools or lose billions in federal Covid aid

The US Treasury Department has told Arizona’s Republican governor to abolish two programs aimed at discouraging school mask mandates within 60 days, or give back over $1 billion in federal Covid-19 relief and forfeit the rest.

The Biden administration is taking issue with Arizona’s Education Plus-Up Grant Program, which offered $163 million in funding to schools in the state, but made districts that require masking ineligible.

Another initiative, dubbed the Educational Recovery Benefit Program, offers up to $7,000 in school vouchers to parents if their child’s school requires masks or quarantining after exposure to the virus. Federal guidance says masks must be worn at all times by schoolchildren, in order to prevent the spread of Covid-19. 

“By discouraging families and school districts from following this guidance, the conditions referenced above undermine efforts to stop the spread of [Covid]-19,” Treasury’s Deputy Chief Compliance Officer Kathleen Victorino said in a letter that was made public on Friday. “Accordingly, these school programs as currently structured are ineligible uses” of funds provided under the American Rescue Plan, President Joe Biden’s March 2021 relief bill.

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Arizona has reportedly received about half of the $4.2 billion from the bill, and is due for the rest in April. Not only did Victorino require Arizona to abolish the two programs within 60 days or face paying back the money already received, she said that “Treasury may also withhold funds from the state of Arizona’s second tranche installment of ARP funds until Treasury receives information that confirms that the issues described above have been adequately addressed.”

Governor Doug Ducey’s chief of staff, Daniel Ruiz, said that Phoenix only found out about the letter from news reports.

“We think that this program is above board,” Ruiz told AP. “We’re going to defend that program and any other future program that is designed to get kids caught back up and mitigate the learning loss” due to school closures and remote learning since the pandemic began. 

Ruiz added that the governor intends to “challenge at every level in terms of court proceedings any attempt by them to retroactively change policies or rules.”

Ducey introduced another $10 million program last week, offering school vouchers to parents whose children’s schools close even for one day due to Covid-19. The Arizona Republic newspaper described it as “largely a pre-emptive effort,” since there have been no school closures in the state since the start of the year.