Insider threat report

Sports Video games NBA Gamers The cramped room in Midtown Manhattan was packed wall-to-wall with YouTubers—a relentlessly cheery bunch—the lot of them excitedly live-streaming, likes and comments bobbing across their screens. It was August, and the crowd was previewing the latest product from the NBA 2K video game series—NBA 2K18, which was released Friday to those who pre-ordered—and the event was crowded with elite gamers, social media stars, 2K staffers and, pocked about the room, honest-to-God, in-the-flesh NBA players. Security stood at the front door. Booze flowed from a bar in the back. TVs pinstriped the length of the room, cutting it into even rows. That was the main attraction, with the gamers lining up, jostling through the morass of people to get their turn on the joysticks (all of this, of course, beamed over the internet to 2K devotees). In a room full of presumed NBA fans it was somewhat disorienting to see these NBA players—Brooklyn Nets guard … [Read more...] about Virtual Meets Reality: Inside NBA 2K and Pro Basketball

Last October, executives at the Chinese gaming company NetEase and the American video game developer Activision Blizzard joined a Zoom videoconference to discuss the future of their 14-year partnership to offer Activision’s games like World of Warcraft in China. NetEase executives were worried about new laws imposed by the Chinese government and wanted to make changes to their longstanding contract with Activision to ensure they were in compliance. But the companies left the call with drastically different interpretations of what had been said, according to four people familiar with the talks and a document viewed by The New York Times. What NetEase executives contended was a conciliatory gesture was seen as a threat by Activision executives. A month later, the companies broke off talks. In January, more than three million Chinese players lost access to Activision’s iconic games when the partnership ended, and angry NetEase employees livestreamed the dismantling of a 32-foot … [Read more...] about Rift Between Gaming Giants Shows Toll of China’s Economic Crackdown

Following is the transcript of Barack Obama's economic speech at Cooper Union in New York, as provided by CQ Transcriptions Inc. Thank you so much for being here. Let me begin by thanking Dr. Drucker and Cooper Union for hosting us here today. I have to say that the last time an Illinois politician made a speech here it was pretty good. So... (LAUGHTER) ... the bar is high. And I -- I want everybody to know right at the outset here that this may not be living for generations to come, the way Lincoln's speech did. I want to thank all our elected supporters who are here. I want to -- there are a couple of special guests that I'm very appreciative for being in attendance: Paul Volcker, the former chairman of the Federal Reserve Board... (APPLAUSE) We appreciate his presence. William Donaldson, the former chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. We thank you. And finally I want to thank the mayor of this great city, mayor Bloomberg, for his extraordinary … [Read more...] about Obama on ‘Renewing the American Economy’

A U.S. fighter jet shot down an unidentified object in the skies over Canada on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s orders Saturday, Canadian and U.S. officials confirmed. After U.S. and Canadian military aircraft were sent aloft, a U.S. F-22 shot down the object over the Yukon, Trudeau tweeted Saturday afternoon . The operation was coordinated by the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), the combined U.S.-Canada air defense organization. Trudeau said Sunday that investigators are hunting for wreckage. “Recovery teams are on the ground, looking to find and analyze the object,” Trudeau told reporters before he departed for a scheduled fund-raising event in Yukon. U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer , D-N.Y., told ABC News that U.S. officials believe the object and another flying object shot down Friday near Deadhorse, Alaska, were balloons. How does U.S. military assess unidentified flying objects as threats? Feb. 12, … [Read more...] about U.S. shoots down unidentified object in Canadian airspace

close Video Biden touts economic performance as voters voice their thoughts in new polls 'Special Report' panelists Guy Benson, Byron York and Marie Harf discuss President Biden's economic agenda and presidential preferences in new polls. The majority of Americans are seriously concerned about rising crime in their cities, as President Joe Biden's national approval rating takes a nosedive. A new Marist Polling survey found that Biden's approval rating dropped four percentage points in March to 42%, falling from 46% in a February poll conducted around the president's State of the Union speech. The poll revealed that 68% of Americans believe that crime is a "real threat in most communities." The poll highlights how crime is not a partisan issue among voters, with 58% of Democrat respondents viewing it as a threat, while 80% of Republicans believe it is an issue, and 69% of independents are also worried about crime in their communities. … [Read more...] about Biden’s approval drops as vast majority of Americans worry about crime in their communities

A 5-year-old child fatally shot their 16-month-old brother on Tuesday at a northwestern Indiana apartment, authorities said. The shooting killed Isiah Johnson, Tippecanoe County Coroner Carrie Costello said. An autopsy was scheduled for Wednesday to determine the boy’s cause and manner of death. "Detectives with the Lafayette Police Department determined that the child was shot by his five-year-old sibling, who was able to gain access to a weapon in the apartment," police said in a news release. The shooting at the Romney Meadows apartment complex in Lafayette was reported around 3 p.m., Lafayette Police Lt. Matt Gard said. A call of a child not breathing did not come from someone inside the apartment at the time the shot was fired, and no resuscitation was performed by first responders at the scene, Gard said. The child was found dead from the gunshot wound inside the apartment, according to the news release. “There was one adult and two children inside the … [Read more...] about 5-year-old fatally shoots 16-month-old brother at Indiana apartment

Not many people know how to wage nuclear war. I’m one of them. As a young U.S. Air Force fighter pilot in the late 1970s, I was trained to carry out nuclear strikes in a rigorous process designed to ensure that no contingencies — mechanical or ethical — deter your mission. Certain things remain burned into my memory: maps and photos of my target and the realization of the Armageddon I would leave in my wake. Training culminated with a sworn pledge to vaporize that target without hesitation. Much of my 33-year career was spent as a nuclear warrior — I later oversaw the U.S. intercontinental ballistic missile fleet and served as deputy commander of American military forces in the Pacific — experience that informs my deep alarm over the growing risk of nuclear conflict with North Korea. The United States has tried for decades to prevent the country from becoming a nuclear threat, veering from diplomacy to pressure to patience. None of these approaches have worked. Here’s something … [Read more...] about I Know How Nuclear War Is Waged, So I’m Calling for Peace With North Korea

PUTUMAYO, Colombia — In a rebel-held town deep in the jungle, Joel ran drills beside his comrades, line after line of them in camouflage and boots, rifles at their sides. “To the right!” their instructor shouted. For Joel, 36, this scene was familiar. He had spent six years in the army, fighting on the front lines against a brutal insurgency that had terrorized Colombia for decades. But now he had a new employer: an illegal armed group that included the same insurgents he had spent his military career battling to defeat. “I know it shouldn’t be like this,” he said recently, cradling a rifle in his lap. But after he left the army, he said, he’d struggled to make ends meet. Then came an offer of a salary of $500 a month, nearly twice Colombia’s monthly minimum wage. Now, “my children live better lives,” he said, “because I can feed them.” Colombia’s peace accord, signed in 2016 by the government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, was supposed to … [Read more...] about Deep in Colombia, Rebels and Soldiers Fight for the Same Prize: Drugs

It already looks clear that many Obamacare insurance plans are going to raise their prices significantly. Over the last few years, average premium increases in the Obamacare markets have been lower than the increases for people who bought their own insurance in premiums before the Affordable Care Act . But several trends are coming together that suggest that pattern will break when plan premiums are announced in early November. Many plans may increase prices by 10 percent, or more. Over the last two years, I’ve written articles warning against scary headlines that exaggerate premium increases. Next year, those scary headlines are more likely to be accurate. Peter Lee runs the country’s largest and most stable state marketplace, Covered California. The typical rate increase has been only 4 percent over the last two years. Next year will be different. “We expect our rates to go up more than that this year,” he said at a recent meeting with health reporters. He predicted “big … [Read more...] about Get Ready for Higher Obamacare Rates Next Year

On the morning of Oct. 5, President Bush and his education secretary, Margaret Spellings, paid a visit, along with camera crews from CNN and Fox News, to Friendship-Woodridge Elementary and Middle Campus, a charter public school in Washington. The president dropped in on two classrooms, where he asked the students, almost all of whom were African-American and poor, if they were planning to go to college. Every hand went up. “See, that’s a good sign,” the president told the students when they assembled later in the gym. “Going to college is an important goal for the future of the United States of America.” He singled out one student, a black eighth grader named Asia Goode, who came to Woodridge four years earlier reading “well below grade level.” But things had changed for Asia, according to the president. “Her teachers stayed after school to tutor her, and she caught up,” he said. “Asia is now an honors student. She loves reading, and she sings in the school choir.” Bush’s Woodridge … [Read more...] about What It Takes to Make a Student