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November 3: Congo Ebola Outbreak and California Mail Ballot Ruling
In U.S. news
A federal judge has dismissed the Trump administration’s lawsuit seeking to force Harvard University to turn over admissions records.
The Supreme Court also rejected the administration’s request to keep more than twenty thousand California mail-in ballots separate ahead of Tuesday’s midterm elections. The administration claims the ballots came from noncitizens. Separately, the Justice Department has charged six lawful permanent residents in California with unlawfully registering to vote and casting fraudulent ballots, following similar charges against twenty-eight people last month.
The Washington Sun reports that the administration released some long-withheld disaster aid for California and Minnesota four days before the elections. According to the report, most of the money is going to projects in areas represented by two Republican members of Congress.
Ebola in Central and East Africa
An Ebola outbreak has killed more than fifty-three hundred people in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The Bundibugyo strain has spread to Kenya and Uganda. Two tests in Nigeria came back negative.
In cybersecurity
Britain’s National Cyber Security Centre is working with retailers after hackers targeted supermarket refrigeration systems across Europe, spoiling food. Forty Delhaize stores in Belgium were affected, along with systems at thirteen SuperValu stores in Ireland. Belgium’s cybersecurity center says those responsible have not been identified.
Google says it disrupted a botnet operated by Chinese manufacturer Videostrong, which it says preinstalled persistent malware in Android device firmware. According to Google, the company sold criminal affiliates access to more than a million compromised devices, including TV boxes and telehealth equipment, for advertising fraud, proxy abuse and data theft.
The FBI blames North Korea’s TraderTraitor hackers for stealing more than six billion dollars from Binance. The bureau has asked crypto services to block hundreds of linked addresses. The stolen funds are still moving.
Florida Learjet crash
Nine people died when a Learjet crashed Sunday near Cresthaven in Palm Beach County. Relatives say those aboard included a Texas technology entrepreneur, his wife and children, their nanny and family friends. Investigators say the aircraft may have been breaking apart before impact. The National Transportation Safety Board says weather could also have been a factor, but it is too early to determine the cause.
Australia’s social media ban
A rights group is preparing a High Court challenge to Australia’s social media ban for children under sixteen. The group will argue that the policy denies young people their right to free communication.
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This podcast is a fully automated experiment in AI-generated content. Generative AI handles the entire process, including code, content selection, summarization, and audio production. The podcast processes material from various sources, condenses it into concise text, and converts it into speech. No human intervention is involved in the production process.
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