The US Secret Service said Tuesday it had dismantled a network of electronic devices that could have crashed New York’s telecommunications network in an attack ahead of the UN General Assembly.The protective agency did not say who was responsible for the sophisticated material but linked it to “nation-state” actors and “individuals that are known to federal law enforcement.”ABC News quoted a law enforcement source briefed on the investigation as saying officials “believe the plot is connected to the Chinese government.””The potential for disruption to our country’s telecommunications posed by this network of devices cannot be overstated,” Secret Service Director Sean Curran said.In a statement released shortly before President Donald Trump began addressing world leaders at the UN headquarters in New York, the Secret Service said the network of devices was uncovered after threats were made against senior US officials.”In addition to carrying out anonymous telephonic threats, these devices could be used to conduct a wide range of telecommunications attacks,” the agency said.”This includes disabling cell phone towers, enabling denial of services attacks and facilitating anonymous, encrypted communication between potential threat actors and criminal enterprises.”Secret Service special agent Matt McCool said the agency was “working towards identifying those responsible and their intent, including whether their plan was to disrupt the UN General Assembly.”McCool said no arrests have been made so far.He said the investigation that led to the seizure of the electronics began this spring in an effort to identify what he called the “fraudulent calls” made to senior US officials.- 300 servers, 100,000 SIM cards -The Secret Service said the devices it seized were located within a 35-mile (56-kilometer) radius of the UN and included 300 computer servers and 100,000 SIM cards across multiple sites.”Given the timing, location and potential for significant disruption to New York telecommunications posed by these devices, the agency moved quickly to disrupt this network,” it said.”Early analysis indicates cellular communications between nation-state threat actors and individuals that are known to federal law enforcement,” it said.The New York Times said an initial analysis of data on SIM cards has identified ties to “at least one foreign nation” as well as drug cartel members.The newspaper said 80 grams of cocaine and illegal firearms had been found at locations where the electronic devices were found.

The leader of a US congressional delegation to China warned Tuesday of the “risk of a misunderstanding” between the two countries’ militaries as advances in defence technology move at breakneck speed.Adam Smith, the most senior Democrat on Washington’s Armed Services Committee, told journalists in Beijing that China needs to talk more about its military with other global powers “for basic de-confliction”.”We’ve seen this with our ships, our planes, their ships, their planes coming entirely too close to one another,” he said at a news conference at the US Embassy.”We need to have a better conversation about de-conflicting those things.”The four-person delegation also includes other members of the same Armed Services Committee — Democrats Ro Khanna and Chrissy Houlahan — as well as Republican congressman Michael Baumgartner, a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee. The group on Monday met Chinese Defence Minister Dong Jun, with whom they talked about the importance of “working through our differences” and more candid dialogue, according to a statement from the US side.Dong called on the visitors to “remove disruptive and restrictive factors” between them, China’s Xinhua state news agency reported.Speaking on Tuesday alongside the other lawmakers and the US Ambassador to China, David Perdue, Smith said: “AI and drone warfare and cyber and space is moving so rapidly and innovation is happening so quickly. “The risk of a misunderstanding of capabilities on one side or the other is great,” he said, adding the two sides need to talk so they “don’t stumble in any sort of conflicts”. – Tariffs, TikTok and Taiwan -The bipartisan congressional delegation comes just days after Presidents Xi Jinping and Donald Trump spoke by telephone for the second time since the return to the White House of Trump, who has tried to keep a lid on tensions despite his once virulent criticism of China.Trump said he would meet Xi on the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in South Korea starting at the end of next month and that he would travel to China next year. He said Xi would also visit the United States at an unspecified time and that the two leaders would speak again by telephone. Both sides dramatically hiked tariffs against each other during a months-long dispute earlier this year, disrupting global supply chains. Washington and Beijing then reached a deal to reduce levies, with the United States imposing 30 percent duties on imports of Chinese goods and China hitting US products with a 10 percent tariff. The deal expires in November. Smith’s group on Monday held talks with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng, in which they discussed the ongoing trade talks and the hot-button issues of fentanyl, critical minerals and the future of TikTok. The White House has said a US version of TikTok would feature a homegrown model of the app’s prized algorithm, potentially clearing one of the main obstacles to keeping the Chinese-owned platform online in the United States.Asked about the TikTok issue, Smith said: “My understanding is that I don’t think that has been 100 percent resolved.”The delegation later met Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who said the “current stabilisation of China-US relations is hard-won and should be cherished”, according to a readout from Beijing.But the top diplomat took a swipe at Washington over Taiwan, telling the group of lawmakers: “The United States has made a political commitment on the one-China issue. “To safeguard peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, it is necessary to firmly oppose ‘Taiwan independence’.”

From the unproven medical claims to the self-proclaimed expertise, anyone watching Donald Trump’s autism announcements Monday could have been forgiven for having flashbacks.There were strong echoes of the US president’s pandemic performance during his first term, when he once famously mused about injecting disinfectant to counter Covid.Five years later, the Republican’s claims were almost as eye-popping.And with the health of millions at stake as he urged pregnant women not to take the painkiller Tylenol — before expounding his theories on vaccines — the stakes were just as high.”There’s a rumor — and I don’t know if it’s so or not — that Cuba, they don’t have Tylenol because they don’t have the money for Tylenol. And they have virtually no autism,” Trump said at the White House.It was perhaps the most outrageous of the claims Trump made during a more than hour-long press conference attended by an AFP reporter — but it was far from the last.”The Amish, as an example. They have essentially no autism,” Trump said of the traditionalist people, known for their horse-drawn carts and rejection of modern technology.Turning to his vaccine-skeptic Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr, as he asked whether that was actually true, Trump added: “Bobby wants to be very careful with what he says. I’m not so careful with what I say.”Time and again the 79-year-old Trump admitted that his personal theories were just that — theories — even as he cast himself in the role of America’s physician-in-chief.”This is based on what I feel,” said Trump as he repeated long debunked concerns over the MMR shot combining vaccines for measles, mumps and rubella.Trump also urged further spacing for childhood vaccines that have been the cornerstone of public health programs around the world for decades — before adding: “I’m not a doctor but I’m giving my opinion.”- ‘Tough it out’ -The billionaire former reality TV star has long made his name challenging the conventional wisdom on politics and diplomacy, and it has won him two elections.But it is on health where his views have often veered furthest from the mainstream. During the Covid pandemic Trump repeatedly resisted lockdowns and masking measures, while throwing his weight behind unproven drugs like hydroxychloroquine.He was widely mocked when, during one of his many freewheeling White House briefings on Covid in 2020, he gave some increasingly bizarre suggestions about how to treat the disease.Trump mused about bringing “light inside the body” — and disinfectant.”I see the disinfectant, it knocks it out in a minute… is there a way we can do something like that by injection inside,” he asked a bemused expert.During his second term, Trump’s pick of Kennedy as his health secretary has brought once fringe medical ideas into the heart of the government.Trump himself says he has long been preoccupied with autism, and showed supreme confidence in his views on Monday — even as he struggled to pronounce “acetaminophen,” or paracetamol, the active ingredient in Tylenol.”Don’t take it,” Trump said repeatedly.He urged pregnant women in pain to avoid the drug and “tough it out,” but had few answers for what they should do for fevers that could harm them or their babies.Veering off on the subject of vaccines, Trump also had his own theories.He insisted that children should not be vaccinated against Hepatitis B until the age of 12, versus soon after birth, saying: “Hepatitis B is sexually transmitted. There’s no reason to give a baby that’s almost just born hepatitis B.”Trump added that children were being loaded up with “too much liquid” while being innoculated against potentially fatal diseases — repeating a frequent anti-vaccine talking point.”They pump so much stuff into those beautiful little babies, it’s a disgrace,” he said. “It looks like they’re pumping into a horse.”