North Korea behind $1.5 billion crypto theft, FBI says

The US Federal Bureau of Investigation on Wednesday accused North Korea of being behind the theft of $1.5 billion worth of digital assets last week, the largest crypto heist in history.Dubai-based cryptocurrency exchange Bybit reported last week that it had been robbed of 400,000 in cryptocurrency Ethereum.According to the company, attackers exploited security protocols during a transaction, enabling them to transfer the assets to an unidentified address.On Wednesday, the US government pointed the finger at Pyongyang.”(North Korea) was responsible for the theft of approximately $1.5 billion USD in virtual assets from cryptocurrency exchange, Bybit,” the FBI said in a public service announcement.The bureau said a group called TraderTraitor, also known as the Lazarus Group, was behind the theft. It said they were “proceeding rapidly and have converted some of the stolen assets to Bitcoin and other virtual assets dispersed across thousands of addresses on multiple blockchains”.”It is expected these assets will be further laundered and eventually converted to fiat currency,” the FBI added.Lazarus Group gained notoriety a decade ago when it was accused of hacking into Sony Pictures as revenge for “The Interview,” a film that mocked North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.It was also allegedly behind the 2022 $620 million heist of Ethereum and USD Coin from the Ronin Network in 2022, previously the biggest crypto theft in history.And in December, the United States and Japan blamed it for the theft of cryptocurrency worth over $300 million from the Japan-based exchange DMM Bitcoin.North Korea’s cyber-warfare program dates back to at least the mid-1990s, and the country has been dubbed “the world’s most prolific cyber-thief” by a cybersecurity firm.Pyongyang’s program has grown to a 6,000-strong cyber-warfare unit known as Bureau 121 that operates from several countries, according to a 2020 US military report.A United Nations panel on North Korea’s evasion of sanctions last year estimated the nation has stolen more than $3 billion in cryptocurrency since 2017.Much of the hacking activity is reportedly directed by Pyongyang’s Reconnaissance General Bureau, its primary foreign intelligence agency.Money stolen helps to fund the country’s nuclear weapons program, the panel said.

North Korea behind $1.5 billion crypto theft, FBI says

The US Federal Bureau of Investigation on Wednesday accused North Korea of being behind the theft of $1.5 billion worth of digital assets last week, the largest crypto heist in history.Dubai-based cryptocurrency exchange Bybit reported last week that it had been robbed of 400,000 in cryptocurrency Ethereum.According to the company, attackers exploited security protocols during a transaction, enabling them to transfer the assets to an unidentified address.On Wednesday, the US government pointed the finger at Pyongyang.”(North Korea) was responsible for the theft of approximately $1.5 billion USD in virtual assets from cryptocurrency exchange, Bybit,” the FBI said in a public service announcement.The bureau said a group called TraderTraitor, also known as the Lazarus Group, was behind the theft. It said they were “proceeding rapidly and have converted some of the stolen assets to Bitcoin and other virtual assets dispersed across thousands of addresses on multiple blockchains”.”It is expected these assets will be further laundered and eventually converted to fiat currency,” the FBI added.Lazarus Group gained notoriety a decade ago when it was accused of hacking into Sony Pictures as revenge for “The Interview,” a film that mocked North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.It was also allegedly behind the 2022 $620 million heist of Ethereum and USD Coin from the Ronin Network in 2022, previously the biggest crypto theft in history.And in December, the United States and Japan blamed it for the theft of cryptocurrency worth over $300 million from the Japan-based exchange DMM Bitcoin.North Korea’s cyber-warfare program dates back to at least the mid-1990s, and the country has been dubbed “the world’s most prolific cyber-thief” by a cybersecurity firm.Pyongyang’s program has grown to a 6,000-strong cyber-warfare unit known as Bureau 121 that operates from several countries, according to a 2020 US military report.A United Nations panel on North Korea’s evasion of sanctions last year estimated the nation has stolen more than $3 billion in cryptocurrency since 2017.Much of the hacking activity is reportedly directed by Pyongyang’s Reconnaissance General Bureau, its primary foreign intelligence agency.Money stolen helps to fund the country’s nuclear weapons program, the panel said.

The women brewing change in India, one beer at a time

As a fixture of India’s burgeoning craft beer scene, Varsha Bhat is a rarity twice over: first as a woman who brews alcohol, and second as a woman who drinks it.Bhat is staking a claim to a male-dominated industry in a country where social mores compel most women to stay teetotal. The 38-year-old had for years weathered barbs from male peers questioning whether she had the muscles to carry hefty bags of hops or was calm enough to deal with the job’s pressures.But after a decade in the industry she has risen to become head brewer at one of Bengaluru’s most popular pubs, catering for the city’s moneyed young tech workers.”There’s nothing a woman can’t do that a man can… from recipe development, to the physical work, to managing a team,” Bhat told AFP.”We’ve taken that step to come forward and say that we can do it,” she added. “There was a stigma… we’re breaking those stereotypes and barriers.” Bengaluru has long been renowned for a more liberal drinking culture than the rest of India — a country where 99 percent of women do not drink, according to government figures.Its signature tech industry employs a young and highly educated workforce drawn from elite universities, often arriving without established social connections to the city.That provides a roaring trade to Bengaluru’s thriving craft beer bars, with in-house breweries employing hundreds and a clientele both eager to meet new people and ready to burn money.The city’s workforce is an anomaly in a country where, according to official statistics, only 25 percent of working-age women are formally employed.By comparison, they account for nearly 40 percent of those working at Bengaluru’s tech firms — a testament to the city’s ability to draw ambitious women from elsewhere in India, large numbers of whom are seen chatting raucously with friends in bars after hours.- ‘Role model’ -Among them is Lynette Pires, 32, who moved to Bengaluru to work as a pharmaceutical researcher but quickly found herself drawn to the brewing business.Her path to becoming the brewer at a burgeoning outdoor beer garden in the city’s south forced her to assert herself over male colleagues who refused to take her seriously.”Standing there in mostly a male-dominated room and trying to get your opinion across or trying to get them to listen… you have to learn how to overcome that and move past it,” she told AFP. Four years ago she founded the Women Brewers Collective which, along with more than a dozen other women working in the city’s brewpubs, aims to smooth the path for those who come next. “I definitely want to be a role model for other women brewers,” Pires said. “That’s what it’s all about — to inspire and help develop other women who are entering the industry.”- ‘Bitter men, bitter beer’ -While Bhat and Pires are trailblazers in their own city, women have been the pillars of the brewing industry since ancient times.The first recorded beer recipe is thought to have been written on a piece of clay in 1800 BC as an ode to Ninkasi, the Sumerian goddess of beer.Around the same time in Mesopotamia, the Code of Hammurabi, among the earliest known laws, referred to female tavern owners. Given this history, it was “crazy and a little immature and ignorant when people say it’s a man’s drink”, Girija Chatty, host of a podcast about India’s beer industry, told AFP. Drinking is often frowned upon in India, with independence leader Mahatma Gandhi one of the most strident voices in favour of temperance and abolition.India’s 1949 constitution enjoins the government to ban drinking except for “medicinal purposes”, a clause largely ignored except for prohibitions imposed in some states.Even among the small minority of Indians who do drink, the divide between the sexes is stark — nearly 15 times as many men as women imbibe, according to a government health survey published in 2022. Among the small number of women who frequent bars, that divide and its attendant social expectations are still easy to spot. Chatty cites the regular instance of waiters reflexively handing the drinks menu to any man seated at the table — rather than the woman who asked for it in the first place.”If women can handle bitter men,” she joked, “they can very well handle bitter beer.”

The women brewing change in India, one beer at a time

As a fixture of India’s burgeoning craft beer scene, Varsha Bhat is a rarity twice over: first as a woman who brews alcohol, and second as a woman who drinks it.Bhat is staking a claim to a male-dominated industry in a country where social mores compel most women to stay teetotal. The 38-year-old had for years weathered barbs from male peers questioning whether she had the muscles to carry hefty bags of hops or was calm enough to deal with the job’s pressures.But after a decade in the industry she has risen to become head brewer at one of Bengaluru’s most popular pubs, catering for the city’s moneyed young tech workers.”There’s nothing a woman can’t do that a man can… from recipe development, to the physical work, to managing a team,” Bhat told AFP.”We’ve taken that step to come forward and say that we can do it,” she added. “There was a stigma… we’re breaking those stereotypes and barriers.” Bengaluru has long been renowned for a more liberal drinking culture than the rest of India — a country where 99 percent of women do not drink, according to government figures.Its signature tech industry employs a young and highly educated workforce drawn from elite universities, often arriving without established social connections to the city.That provides a roaring trade to Bengaluru’s thriving craft beer bars, with in-house breweries employing hundreds and a clientele both eager to meet new people and ready to burn money.The city’s workforce is an anomaly in a country where, according to official statistics, only 25 percent of working-age women are formally employed.By comparison, they account for nearly 40 percent of those working at Bengaluru’s tech firms — a testament to the city’s ability to draw ambitious women from elsewhere in India, large numbers of whom are seen chatting raucously with friends in bars after hours.- ‘Role model’ -Among them is Lynette Pires, 32, who moved to Bengaluru to work as a pharmaceutical researcher but quickly found herself drawn to the brewing business.Her path to becoming the brewer at a burgeoning outdoor beer garden in the city’s south forced her to assert herself over male colleagues who refused to take her seriously.”Standing there in mostly a male-dominated room and trying to get your opinion across or trying to get them to listen… you have to learn how to overcome that and move past it,” she told AFP. Four years ago she founded the Women Brewers Collective which, along with more than a dozen other women working in the city’s brewpubs, aims to smooth the path for those who come next. “I definitely want to be a role model for other women brewers,” Pires said. “That’s what it’s all about — to inspire and help develop other women who are entering the industry.”- ‘Bitter men, bitter beer’ -While Bhat and Pires are trailblazers in their own city, women have been the pillars of the brewing industry since ancient times.The first recorded beer recipe is thought to have been written on a piece of clay in 1800 BC as an ode to Ninkasi, the Sumerian goddess of beer.Around the same time in Mesopotamia, the Code of Hammurabi, among the earliest known laws, referred to female tavern owners. Given this history, it was “crazy and a little immature and ignorant when people say it’s a man’s drink”, Girija Chatty, host of a podcast about India’s beer industry, told AFP. Drinking is often frowned upon in India, with independence leader Mahatma Gandhi one of the most strident voices in favour of temperance and abolition.India’s 1949 constitution enjoins the government to ban drinking except for “medicinal purposes”, a clause largely ignored except for prohibitions imposed in some states.Even among the small minority of Indians who do drink, the divide between the sexes is stark — nearly 15 times as many men as women imbibe, according to a government health survey published in 2022. Among the small number of women who frequent bars, that divide and its attendant social expectations are still easy to spot. Chatty cites the regular instance of waiters reflexively handing the drinks menu to any man seated at the table — rather than the woman who asked for it in the first place.”If women can handle bitter men,” she joked, “they can very well handle bitter beer.”

US to remove trans troops from military unless they obtain waiver

The United States will remove transgender troops from the military unless they obtain a waiver on a case-by-case basis, the Pentagon said in a Wednesday memo.The memo became public as part of a court filing in a case challenging President Donald Trump’s late January executive order that was aimed at barring military service by transgender personnel.”Service members who have a current diagnosis or history of, or exhibit symptoms consistent with, gender dysphoria will be processed for separation from military service,” the memo said.These troops may be “considered for a waiver on a case-by-case basis, provided there is a compelling government interest in retaining the service member that directly supports warfighting capabilities,” it said.To obtain such a waiver, troops must show that they have never attempted to transition, as well as demonstrate “36 consecutive months of stability in the service member’s sex without clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning.”Another Pentagon memo issued earlier this month barred transgender people from joining the military and halted gender transition treatment for others who are already in uniform.The latest memo also states that “applicants for military service… who have a current diagnosis or history of, or exhibit symptoms consistent with, gender dysphoria are disqualified for military service,” as are those with “a history of cross-sex hormone therapy or sex reassignment or genital reconstruction surgery as treatment for gender dysphoria.”- Shifting US policies -Disqualified applicants can also obtain a waiver if there is a “compelling government interest” in them joining the military and they are “willing and able to adhere to all applicable standards, including the standards associated with the applicant’s sex.”Transgender Americans have faced a roller coaster of changing policies on military service in recent years, with Democratic administrations seeking to permit them to serve openly, while Trump has repeatedly sought to keep them out of the ranks.The US military lifted a ban on transgender troops in 2016, during Democrat Barack Obama’s second term as president.Under that policy, trans troops already serving were permitted to do so openly, and transgender recruits were set to start being accepted by July 1, 2017.But the first Trump administration postponed that date to 2018 before deciding to reverse the policy entirely.Trump’s controversial restrictions on transgender military service — which underwent changes in response to various court challenges — eventually came into force in April 2019 following a protracted legal battle that went all the way to the nation’s top court.Trump’s Democratic successor Joe Biden moved to reverse the restrictions just days after he took office in 2021, saying all Americans qualified to serve should be able to do so.After returning to office in January, Trump issued an executive order executive order that again took aim at transgender troops, saying: “Expressing a false ‘gender identity’ divergent from an individual’s sex cannot satisfy the rigorous standards necessary for military service.”Transgender issues have roiled US politics in recent years, as states controlled by Democrats and Republicans have moved in opposite directions on policies ranging from medical treatment to what books on the topic are allowed in public or school libraries.

Hamas hands over bodies of Israelis as more Palestinian prisoners freed

Hamas handed over the coffins of four hostages early Thursday, Israeli authorities confirmed, followed soon after by the return of hundreds of freed Palestinian prisoners to the West Bank and Gaza.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office confirmed Israel had received the coffins of “four fallen hostages”, and a process to formally identify them had started.In the West Bank and Gaza, AFP journalists saw hundreds of Palestinian prisoners freed by Israel arrive on buses accompanied by Red Cross vehicles.More than 600 were due to be released in the latest exchange, while Al Jazeera reported nearly 100 would be deported to Egypt.They were supposed to have been freed last weekend, but Israel stopped the process following outrage over elaborate ceremonies Hamas had been holding to hand over hostages seized in its shock October 7, 2023 attack.The row had threatened the first phase of a fragile Gaza ceasefire deal that went into effect on January 19 and ends on Saturday.Hamas said Thursday that Israel now has no choice but to start negotiations on a second phase.”We have cut off the path before the enemy’s false justifications, and it has no choice but to start negotiations for the second phase,” the group posted on Telegram.Several of the Palestinians freed to Ramallah were hoisted in the air on arrival, some of them conducting interviews from the shoulders of friends or relatives.A group of women broke into tears as they gathered around one released prisoner, and a child held aloft made peace signs with both hands.Earlier, Hamas said the return of the four Israeli bodies would take place in private “to prevent the occupation from finding any pretext for delay or obstruction”.Israeli media identified them as Ohad Yahalomi, Tsachi Idan, Itzik Elgarat and Shlomo Mansour. – ‘Negotiations will begin’ -The ceasefire has largely halted the war sparked by Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, and seen 25 hostages released alive in exchange for more than 1,100 prisoners.There have been sporadic incidents of violence, however.The Israeli military said it carried out air strikes on several launch sites inside Gaza after a projectile was fired from there on Wednesday, though the munition fell short inside the Palestinian territory.In Washington, US President Donald Trump’s top envoy to the Middle East said Israeli representatives were en route to talks on the next phase of the ceasefire.”We’re making a lot of progress. Israel is sending a team right now as we speak,” Steve Witkoff told an event for the American Jewish Committee.”It’s either going to be in Doha or in Cairo, where negotiations will begin again with the Egyptians and the Qataris.”- Minute of silence -On Wednesday, thousands gathered in Israel for the funeral of Shiri Bibas and her sons, who were killed in captivity in Gaza and had become symbols of the country’s hostage ordeal.The Israeli parliament held a minute of silence to mourn their deaths, as well as those of other victims of Hamas’s October 7 attack.”Yesterday, the funeral of Oded Lifshitz took place; today, the funeral of Shiri, Kfir and Ariel Bibas is taking place. We remember all the victims of October 7. We remember, and we will not forget,” said speaker Amir Ohana.Israel vowed to destroy Hamas after the attack, the deadliest in the country’s history and has made bringing back all the hostages taken that day a central war aim.The attack resulted in the deaths of more than 1,215 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.Israel’s retaliation in Gaza has killed more than 48,348 people, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory, figures that the United Nations considers credible.At the Bibas family funeral on Wednesday, father Yarden Bibas, who was abducted separately on October 7 and released alive in a previous exchange, apologised to his late wife and sons.”Shiri, I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you all,” he said in his eulogy, his voice cracking.