IF iDir.com

The company's digital crimes unit (DCU) acted on a court order last week, disrupting and transferring control of a total of six internet domains created by a group known as Strontium, also known as Fancy Bear or APT28, which is associated with the Russian government, the company said in a blog posted late on Monday night. "We’re concerned that these and other attempts pose security threats to a broadening array of groups connected with both American political parties in the run-up to the 2018 elections," Microsoft said. Microsoft's announcement comes amid increasing cyber-tensions between Moscow and Washington and rising concerns regarding security ahead of the 2018 mid-term elections in the United States.

Tue, 21 Aug 2018 02:20:51 -0400

About 300 demonstrators gathered at the base of Silent Sam, a memorial to the Confederate soldiers killed during the Civil War, at about 7 p.m. (2300 GMT) to hold a protest and march. About two hours later, the statue, which had been standing on the Chapel Hill campus since 1913, was on the ground, local media reported. Protesters pulled the statue with rope and threw dirt on it, local media reported.

Tue, 21 Aug 2018 00:18:39 -0400

Less rain and longer droughts are the major cause behind larger and more intense wildfires in the U.S. West, not higher temperatures and early snowmelt as previously thought, according to research released on Monday. The findings by the U.S. Forest Service and University of Montana could help scientists better predict the severity of fire seasons, said the study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. California is marking one of the most destructive fire seasons on record.

Mon, 20 Aug 2018 22:06:00 -0400

Chris Watts, who had been involved in an extramarital affair with a co-worker, said during a police interrogation that his wife, Shannan, strangled their daughters Bella and Celeste after he announced that he wanted a separation, according to an arrest affidavit filed in the sensational case. "While in the bedroom, via a baby monitor located on Shannan's night stand, he observed Bella 'sprawled' out on her bed, blue, and Shannan actively strangling Celeste," Frederick Police Officer Matthew James wrote in the affidavit. "Chris said he went into a rage and ultimately strangled Shannan to death," James wrote.

Mon, 20 Aug 2018 19:42:13 -0400

Dennis Ball-Bey filed the action against the city of St. Louis, its former police chief and two officers involved in the shooting death of Mansur Ball-Bey. The lawsuit, filed in federal court in St. Louis on Friday, seeks unspecified damages, court records showed. The lawsuit alleged that the officers, both of them white, overreacted while chasing Mansur Ball-Bey, 18, on Aug. 19, 2015, when the teen was shot and killed.

Mon, 20 Aug 2018 18:09:17 -0400