Public versus private security

February 18, 2016 - Daily News Briefing

Apple and the FBI are squaring off in a case that tests Fourth Amendment rights in the 21st century world.

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Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Wednesday sought to downplay reports that China had positioned anti-aircraft missiles on a disputed South China Sea island, accusing the media of hyping the issue and saying more attention should be paid to what he called "public goods and services" provided by China's development of its maritime claims. The move would follow China's building of new islands in the disputed sea by piling sand atop reefs and then adding airstrips and military installations. They are seen as part of Beijing's efforts to claim virtually the entire South China Sea and its resources, which has prompted some of its wary neighbors to draw closer to the U.S.

Apple Inc. CEO Tim Cook says his company will fight a federal magistrate's order to hack its users in connection with the investigation of the San Bernardino shootings, asserting that would undermine encryption by creating a backdoor that could potentially be used on other future devices. U.S. Magistrate Judge Sheri Pym's order to Apple to help the FBI hack into an encrypted iPhone belonging to Syed Farook, one of the San Bernardino shooters, set the stage for a legal fight between the federal government and Silicon Valley. The first-of-its-kind ruling was a significant victory for the Justice Department in a technology policy debate that pits digital privacy against national security interests.

Twenty-eight people were killed and dozens wounded in Turkey's capital Ankara on Wednesday when a car laden with explosives detonated next to military buses near the armed forces' headquarters, parliament and other government buildings. The Turkish military condemned what it described as a terrorist attack on the buses as they waited at traffic lights in the administrative heart of the city. A government spokesman said 28 people had been killed and 61 wounded in the blast, which took place near a busy intersection less than 500 meters from parliament during the evening rush hour.

No bird breeds farther south than the Adélie penguin. Antarctica is a harsh habitat, but their fast swimming skills and colony-mentality has allowed these birds to thrive. However, scientists say 150,000 Adélie penguins have disappeared from their home on Cape Denison within the last five years. The authors suggest the penguins died after the B09B iceberg was lodged in the Commonwealth Bay in 2010, blocking the birds’ main food source. This water is rarely covered by sea-ice, making it ideal for their hunting of krill and fish.

February may have begun with a promise of an early spring, but halfway into the month, the nation has been enduring some unusual winter weather patterns. This week, Californians are in for a particular shock. After having basked in unseasonable heat over the weekend (while the Northeast contended with record cold), West Coast sunbathers will likely be running for layers as a storm brings cooler air and rain to much of the state on Wednesday and Thursday. The Sierra Nevada mountain range could get as much as two feet of snow.

A cyberattack on a hospital in Hollywood shows how vulnerable doctors and patients have become as health care data is transferred to the national Electronic Health Records system. The Federal Bureau of Investigation is still investigating the cause of a cyberattack that crippled the patient data electronic database at the Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center and forced patients and staff to relay chart information by telephone, fax machine, and old-fashioned doctor shorthand. Medical identity theft impacted an estimated 2.3 million in 2014, a 21 percent increase from 2013, and cost victims an average of $13,500, according to the Ponemon Institute, a security and privacy research organization.

Boutros Boutros-Ghali, a veteran Egyptian diplomat who helped negotiate his country's landmark peace deal with Israel but then clashed with the United States when he served a single term as United Nations secretary-general, died Tuesday. Mr. Boutros-Ghali, the scion of a prominent Egyptian Christian political family, was the first UN chief from the African continent. He stepped into the post in 1992 at a time of dramatic world changes, with the collapse of the Soviet Union, the end of the Cold War, and the beginning of a unipolar era dominated by the United States.

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