Ukraine’s central bank, Kiev’s main airport, the Chernobyl nuclear disaster site, and a string of multinational companies, including US pharmaceutical giant Merck, Russian state oil giant Rosneft, British advertising giant WPP and French industrial group Saint-Gobain, were among the victims.

The virus is similar in its demands to the WannaCry ransomware, which swept the world last month, hitting more than 200,000 users in more than 150 countries. WannaCry locked up files and insisted on payment to regain access to them.

Some IT specialists identified the newcomer as “Petrwrap”, a modified version of ransomware called Petya which circulated last year. But global cybersecurity firm Kaspersky Lab described it as a new form of ransomware, and estimated the number of victims at around 2,000.

The virus is “spreading around the world, a large number of countries are affected,” Costin Raiu, a Kaspersky Lab researcher said in a Twitter post.

The precise method by which the intruder circulates — such as by email or through a “worm” — remains unclear, specialists said.

In France, the national cyber watchdog ANSSI said it was analysing the attacks and hoped to publish recommendations for users in a matter of hours.

‘Powerful’ attack

Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman wrote on Facebook that the attacks in his country were “unprecedented” but insisted that “important systems were not affected.”

However, the radiation monitoring system at Ukraine’s Chernobyl nuclear disaster site was taken offline.

“Our technicians are measuring radioactivity with Geiger counters onsite at the reactor as was done decades ago,” said Olena Kovaltshuk, spokesman for the government agency managing the exclusion zone around Chernobyl.

The attacks started around 2:00 pm Moscow time (1100GMT) and quickly spread to 80 companies in Ukraine and Russia, said cybersecurity company Group IB.

Victims were locked out of their computer and told to purchase a key to reinstate access. The cryptolocker demands $300 in the virtual currency Bitcoin and does not name the encrypting programme, which makes finding a solution difficult, Group IB spokesman Evgeny Gukov said.

Some Ukrainian banks were experiencing “difficulty in servicing customers and performing banking operations” due to the attacks, the central bank said in a statement.

Rosneft said its servers suffered a “powerful” cyberattack but thanks to its backup system “the production and extraction of oil were not stopped.”

In the United States, Merck was hit as was New York law firm of DLA Piper.

“We confirm our company’s computer network was compromised today as part of a global hack. Other organizations have also been affected,” Merck said on Twitter.

In Amsterdam, the Dutch parcel delivery company TNT, which operates in 200 countries around the world, said its systems had been affected.

“We are assessing the situation and are implementing remediation steps as quickly as possible,” the company, part of FedEx, said in a statement to AFP.

Vulnerabilities

Sean Sullivan, a researcher at the Finnish cybersecurity group F-Secure, said the attack “seems to be done by professional criminals,” with money as the motivation.

Unlike the recent WannaCry attack, the new attack had sophisticated elements that could make it easier to rapidly infect many more systems, he said.

Experts also said this latest attack could heighten fears that companies may be more vulnerable to cyberattacks than suspected, potentially putting personal data at risk.

“This will undeniably affect trust in these organisations and raise questions of competency,” said Louis Rynsard, a director at the corporate communications agency SBC London.

“The long-lasting impact of a cyberattack cannot be overstated,” he said.

The fight against cyberattacks has sparked exponential growth in global protection spending, with the cyber security market estimated at $120 billion this year, more than 30 times its size just over a decade ago.

But even that massive figure looks set to be dwarfed within a few years, experts said, after ransomware attacks crippled computers worldwide in the past week.

Kerr handed over the jewelry — given to her by Malaysian financier Jho Low — last Friday to federal agents in Los Angeles, a spokesman for the model told AFP.

“From the start of the inquiry, Miranda Kerr cooperated fully and pledged to turn over the gifts of jewelry to the government,” he said.

“Ms Kerr will continue to assist with the inquiry in any way she can,” he added.

Kerr is among a number of celebrities who have been sucked into the scandal involving the Malaysian fund called 1Malaysia Development Bhd, or 1MDB.

Earlier this month, Hollywood star Leonardo DiCaprio turned over an Oscar won by Marlon Brando, along with other gifts given to him by Low, who allegedly laundered more than $400 million stolen from 1MDB through an account in the United States.

Neither Kerr nor DiCaprio are defendants in civil-forfeiture lawsuits filed by the justice department in the case.

The scandal has rocked the Malaysian governing class, exposing Prime Minister Najib Razak to allegations of corruption, which he has denied.

Razak created the 1MDB fund shortly after coming to power in 2009, saying it would help modernize the country.

1MDB now carries debt of some 10 billion euros ($11.2 billion). The prime minister and fund officials have consistently denied any wrongdoing.

The State Department downgraded China in its annual “Trafficking in Persons Report,” saying Beijing is doing little to combat the phenomenon or protect its victims.

It pointed to ethnic Uighurs, a Muslim minority in China’s west, being coerced into forced labor, and to Beijing’s wholesale repatriation of North Koreans without checking to see if they were trafficking victims.

Beijing “does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so,” said the report unveiled in Washington by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.

It marked the first significant rebuke of China’s rights record by the Trump administration, which has avoided harsh criticism of Beijing as the president seeks to establish a working relationship over deep trade differences and North Korea’s nuclear program.

The release of the annual report also appeared to signal the Trump administration’s closer embrace of human rights issues as an integral part of its foreign policy. The five-month old government has been reticent to highlight rights issues, keeping its focus on more narrowly defined security and economic interests.

Speaking at the report’s launch, Ivanka Trump, the president’s daughter and White House assistant, said all governments have the responsibility to prosecute human traffickers.

“Human trafficking is a pervasive human rights issue,” she said. “Ending human trafficking is a major foreign policy priority for the Trump administration.”

North Korea singled out

The State Department report placed Congo Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Guinea and Mali on its list of 23 “Tier 3” countries with the worst human trafficking records, which also includes Russia, Iran, Syria and Venezuela.

The DR Congo and Mali were singled out for not taking action against the use of child soldiers; Congo Republic was named as a key source and destination country for the trafficking of children, men and women into forced labor and sex networks.

Tillerson said around 20 million people worldwide are victims of human trafficking, benefitting rogue governments, organized crime, and even established businesses unaware of forced labor in their supply chains.

“When state actors or non-state actors use human trafficking it becomes a threat to our national security,” Tillerson said.

“We hope the 21st century will be the last century of human trafficking.”

Tillerson singled out North Korea as one of the most egregious offenders, noting the country has forced 50,000 to 80,000 people to work abroad, mainly in China and Russia, while their pay goes directly to the government.

“The North Korean regime receives hundreds of millions of dollars per year from the fruits of forced labor,” he said. He tied China’s downgrade in part to its acceptance of laborers from North Korea.

“Responsible nations cannot allow this to go on,” he said.

Meanwhile Afghanistan was upgraded for its crackdown on the abuse of boys for social and sexual entertainment, and providing shelters for rescued children.

Myanmar, heavily criticized in the past for its large numbers of child soldiers, was removed from among the worst offenders to the “Tier 2 Watch List” for its efforts to halt the practice.

But the elimination of both Myanmar and Iraq from a special list of countries which use child soldiers brought a strong condemnation from Human Rights Watch, which called the State Department’s claim of their improvement a “lie”.

The move “flies in the face of evidence that both governments are still complicit in child soldier use,” said Jo Becker, HRW’s advocacy director for children’s rights.

“The US provides Iraq with billions of dollars of military assistance each year; in exchange, it should insist the government put an end to child recruitment by its units. Instead, the State Department isn’t even acknowledging Iraq has a child soldier problem,” she said.

The three were stopped as they travelled back from a drugs-burning ceremony organised by the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) in the eastern state of Shan to mark the UN’s anti-drug trafficking day.

They included reporters from The Irrawaddy and DVB, two publications that for years challenged the then-junta with their independent reporting from outside the country.

“They are under interrogation,” ministry of information spokesman Ye Naing told AFP.

“Based on the result of their interrogation, we have to consider how to proceed,” he added, declining to give any more details.

The military said on Monday they were stopped near Phayargyi village in Namhsham township. A TNLA source on Tuesday confirmed they were still being held in the area.

They may now face charges under the Unlawful Associations Act, a law used by the former military government to silence dissent during its half-century in power.

The legislation, which carries a maximum three-year prison sentence, was regularly used against anyone who made contact with the armed insurgent groups which have been fighting the state for decades.

The latest arrests were widely condemned, with the US embassy in Yangon expressing “concern” for the reporters and adding that a “free press is essential to Myanmar’s success”.

“Their arrests send a chilling message to Myanmar’s already embattled media,” said Amnesty International’s director for Southeast Asia and the Pacific, James Gomez.

Myanmar Journalists Association called for “prompt measures” to be taken to ensure the three men are freed.

The arrests come amid a groundswell of activism among Myanmar’s journalists aimed at quashing a controversial online defamation law which critics say is being used to stifle press freedom.

Pressure has mounted since last month, when the army sued the editor in chief of The Voice and a satirist for uploading a link to an article poking fun at the military’s leaders.

The reporter has been released but the editor, Kyaw Min Swe, is being prosecuted under a broadly-worded telecommunications law which forbids the uploading of false of defamatory information.

Prosections under the law have surged since Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy came to power last year, with social media satirists, activists and journalists increasingly targeted.

Hard-charging European Commission competition chief Margrethe Vestager said the tech giant “abused its market dominance” as the world’s most popular search engine to give an advantage to its Google Shopping service.

“What Google has done is illegal under EU antitrust rules,” Denmark’s Vestager told a news conference in Brussels.

“It denied other companies the chance to compete on the merits and to innovate. And most importantly, it denied European consumers a genuine choice of services and the full benefits of innovation.”

Google now has 90 days to “end this conduct” or face further fines, Vestager said. These could amount to five per cent of Google’s daily revenue, she added, a penalty of roughly $14 million a day.

The fine broke the previous European Union record for a monopoly case against US chipmaker Intel of 1.06 billion euros in 2009.

Google said it “respectfully” disagreed with the EU decision, which followed a seven-year investigation, and may appeal.

“When you shop online, you want to find the products you’re looking for quickly and easily. And advertisers want to promote those same products,” Kent Walker, Google’s senior vice president and general counsel, said in a statement.

“That’s why Google shows shopping ads, connecting our users with thousands of advertisers, large and small, in ways that are useful for both.

“We will review the Commission’s decision in detail as we consider an appeal, and we look forward to continuing to make our case.”

– ‘Game-changer’ –

Google Shopping shows the images and prices of products in response to searches about shopping when someone uses the search engine.

Brussels accuses Google of giving its own service too much priority in search results to the detriment of other price comparison services, such as TripAdvisor and Expedia.

The EU alleges that in 2008 Google embarked on a “fundamental change in strategy” by devoting top of the page priority to Google Shopping, pushing rivals further down the page.

“This decision is a game-changer,” said Monique Goyens, head of the European Consumer Organisation which was also involved in the case.

“Google’s market dominance has given the company power to decide the fate of all but the biggest online service providers — in other words nearly every company,” said Fairsearch, a lobby of complainants, in a statement.

The verdict comes less than a year after Vestager shocked Washington and the world with an order that iPhone manufacturer Apple repay 13 billion euros in back taxes in Ireland.

The Google fine could also set an important precedent for other Google services, such as for images, news and travel that have also received complaints from rivals.

While an EU record, the amount is below the maximum possible of more than 8 billion euros or 10 per cent of Google’s total revenue of $90 billion last year.

 – ‘No bias’ –

The case, launched in 2010, is one of three against Google and of several against blockbuster US companies including Starbucks, Apple, Amazon and McDonalds.

In the other Google cases, the EU is examining Google’s AdSense advertising service and its Android mobile phone software.

Vestager said “preliminary conclusions” in the Android and AdSense cases showed Google also breached EU rules.

The cases have stoked tensions with Washington and could now face the wrath of Trump, the tycoon who won office on his “America First” slogan and has previously hit out against the EU.

But Vestager denied any anti-US prejudice.

“I have been going through the statistics… I can find no facts to support any kind of bias,” she said.

The decision come after a long negotiation period with many twists and turns.

Vestager’s predecessor, the Spaniard Joaquin Almunia, made three attempts to resolve the dispute amicably but each time pressure by national governments, rivals and privacy advocates scuppered the effort.

The Google fine will almost certainly face a gruelling appeals process through the EU court in Luxembourg.

The 2009 fine against Intel is still snaking its way through the court, with an appeal decision not expected until next year.

If you need to look up any of those words, the unofficial custodian of the English language now has the answers.

In its latest update, the Oxford English Dictionary identified more than 600 words, phrases and senses that have entered common parlance.

They include “zyzzyva”, a genus of tropical weevils native to South America. The word replaces zythum — an ancient Egyptian malt beer — as the OED’s final entry.

The name was apparently coined by the US entomologist Thomas Lincoln Casey, who described it in a 1922 work, the OED said.

“In any case, zyzzyva owes much of its currency in English to its notoriety as the last entry in various dictionaries, the ranks of which now include the OED,” it said.

The quarterly update includes “post-truth”, previously announced by the OED as its word of the year for 2016 following Britain’s Brexit referendum and Donald Trump’s presidential victory.

“Brexit” itself also made into the dictionary last year, meeting the OED’s criterion that a new word, phrase or sense of a word must have featured in a variety of printed sources over several years.

Other new senses this time include “thing”, as in “a genuine or established phenomenon or practice”, often used when you’re incredulous about something.

The OED said the earliest citation of this new sense was from a 2000 episode of the US TV drama “The West Wing”: “Did you know that ‘leaf peeping’ was a thing?'”

Just in time for this year’s Wimbledon tournament are 50 new terms relating to tennis, such as “forced error”, “chip and charge” and “career slam”.

Further additions to the English lexicon are chana dal, the Hindi phrase for chickpeas, and doenjang, a paste made from fermented soya beans used in Korean cookery.

A gin daisy is a cocktail made with gin, lemon juice and (usually) grenadine.

Drink enough gin daisies and you may well be overcome by hygge, the Danish term for “a quality of coziness and comfortable conviviality that engenders a feeling of contentment or well-being”.

The mini and full rehearsals for the funeral procession and other requirements have to start next month, he said.

The issues were discussed and agreed during the second meeting of the funeral panel that was chaired by Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn.

“The preparations for the Royal funeral have progressed about 60 to 90 per cent. All the things would be ready in September,” Prayut said.

The Royal funeral for HM King Bhumibol Adulyadej will take place from October 25 to 29 while the cremation will take place on October 26.

His Majesty the King has been informed of the progress of the work, Prayut said.

From next month, we will enter full-rehearsal mode, Prayut said. The rehearsals would have to start today because the procession of 800 meters (to parade the Royal Urn from Dusit Maha Prasat Throne Hall to the Royal crematorium in Sanam Luang) would last about two hours.

“All the works are very informative so the rehearsals would be in full function from next month,” he said.

He reiterated that the special public holiday will fall on October 26 only, not all the five days of that week as claimed on some social networks.

Titled “Xi Jinping: The Governance of China,” the work has drawn worldwide readers to the mysteries of its popularity and left a profound impact on the world.

A selection of 79 chapters of speeches and notes made by Xi from his election as general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee in 2012 to June 2014, the book is known for being a “window” to the Chinese leadership and a “key” to China’s development success.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen requested a digital version to read on cellphone; Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha recommended it to cabinet members.

Russian scholar Yuri Tavrovsky introduced Xi’s innovative reform measures to Russian readers in a recent book, and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg not only has one for himself but has bought more for his colleagues so that they would “understand Socialism with Chinese Characteristics.”

Photo taken on Nov. 4, 2015 shows the Vietnamese version of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s book on governance, which is released in Vietnam’s capital Hanoi. (Xinhua/Le Yanna)

Though nearly three years have passed since the first launch of the book, the demands for local language versions are still growing.

A dozen of the existing 22 language editions were released at the request of foreign countries, and by the end of 2018 another 13 language versions are expected to add to the series, said Xu Bu, president of Foreign Languages Press, the book’s publisher.

Speaking of the charm of Xi’s book, Seubpong Changboonchu, a teacher at Thailand’s Chulalongkorn University and one of the translators of the Thai version, said the Chinese president reminded him of famous Japanese football cartoon “Captain Tsubasa.”

“The main character was a resilient person who worked really hard to make his dreams come true,” he said, referring to Xi’s elaboration on the Chinese dream of great national rejuvenation.

Instead of painting an illusionary picture, Xi drove home his belief that “hard work makes dreams come true.” He went to great lengths to address “all-round and deeper-level reform,” listing over 330 major measures in 15 fields, including fighting corruption and improving the judicial system.

“Xi’s thoughts are focused on the fundamental problems occurring during China’s transition from a big country to a strong country, and his governance practice is aimed at accomplishing the historic tasks that come with this period,” said Han Qingxiang, a professor of the Party School of the CPC Central Committee.

In the past five years, thanks to its strong determination and effective execution, China has lifted over 60 million people out of poverty, created 64 million new jobs in urban areas, universalized nine-year tuition-free compulsory education, and established the world’s biggest healthcare and social security system.

Earlier this month, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development expressed confidence in separate reports in China’s economic outlook, which was also a vote of confidence in China’s economic reform.

Impressed by the success of the Chinese path, Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, in his foreword for the Uzbek edition, said Xi’s book offers important inspiration and guidance on governing a country, developing a market economy that fits national features, and protecting public interests.

In about two years, Pakistan issued both the English and the Urdu versions of the book. Chairman Mushahid Hussain of Pakistan’s Senate Defense Committee, who attended both publishing ceremonies, told Xinhua that he had learned a lot from Xi’s experience of communicating with the people when he worked as party chief in an eastern Chinese province.

Chinese President Xi Jinping delivers a keynote speech at the opening plenary of the 2017 annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Jan. 17. (Xinhua/Lan Hongguang)

Xi’s confident governance style has inspired many more developing countries to seek a development path that suits their national conditions, observed Han, the Party School professor.

With the West haunted by terrorism, refugee waves, financial crises and political deadlocks, more and more countries are joining China’s initiatives such as the Belt and Road and the building of a community of shared future for mankind.

French author Sonia Bressler first read the book two years ago and was fascinated by Xi’s thoughts on “peaceful development.” Having recently reread the work, she commented that China’s aim for “mutually beneficial cooperation” is just as relevant to today’s world as ever.

Former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and British sociologist Martin Albrow, two renowned strategic thinkers, both saw new conceptions from Xi’s book that could help improve the current world order.

“At a time when some countries wrestle over global governance reform, China sticks to a more open and inclusive path forward, which answers the call of history and accords with international public opinion,” said Qin Yaqing, president of China Foreign Affairs University.

“It is an important reason both behind the growing global support for Chinese initiatives and behind the lasting global attention on Xi’s book,” he added.

(Xinhua reporters Ying Qiang, Wei Zhongjie, Yang Zhou, Liu Tian, Zhang Jianhua and Liang Nini contributed to the story.)

In a Facebook post on Monday, she reiterated that the government does not have to make any decision about the late Lee Kuan Yew’s house now, as his daughter, Dr Lee Wei Ling, is still staying there as per his wishes.

“Letting the house stand for now does not go against those wishes … The matter may well not need to be decided for another 20 to 30 years. It can be decided by a future government,” she said.

She added: “The real question therefore is why Lee Hsien Yang is asking for an immediate commitment on demolition now? What is the urgency?”

Indranee also listed four options for 38, Oxley Road — demolition, preservation, conservation, and compulsory acquisition — in her third post on the feud between the Lee siblings over whether to demolish the house.

Her first post centred on issues surrounding the dispute including the demolition clause in the late Lee Kuan Yew’s will , while the second post focused on that final will.

On Monday, she noted that demolishing the house would pave the way for the owner to appeal for rezoning or to increase the plot ratio.

38, Oxley Road is currently a freehold site zoned for a two-storey landed property, with a land area of 1,120.5 sq m.

Indranee said the land value will increase significantly if rezoning or increased plot ratio is granted, and one can expect interest from many developers.

“For example, if a 20-storey luxury condominium can be built on the site, with one condo unit per floor, all with the address of 38 Oxley Road, it could be marketed as a unique trophy address,” she noted.

She said the house could be conserved, which means it cannot be developed but works can be done to the building if they comply with conservation guidelines.

A third option is for the house to be designated a national monument, which means it cannot be redeveloped and will be subject to stringent preservation guidelines.

Since the house is used as a residence, it will be subject to compulsory acquisition — the fourth option — within one year of the preservation order.

Compulsory acquisition will be done under the Land Acquisition Act, and Hsien Yang, who owns the house, will be compensated at market value.

Indranee said the government has several further options, like demolishing the house and building a tasteful memorial or symbolic marker in a park setting.

She cited Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean, who chairs a ministerial committee to consider options for the house, and previously said he would not personally support options at the extreme ends of the range — preserving the house for visitors against Lee Kuan Yew and his wife’s wishes or demolishing the house and putting it on the market for private new residences.

Said Indranee: “One can understand DPM Teo’s feelings. A luxury condo with that address would confer bragging rights on a select few to say: ‘I’m living where Lee Kuan Yew lived’. The history and heritage of the site would be forever lost to ordinary Singaporeans, including future generations. That is probably not the way Singaporeans will want to remember 38 Oxley Road.”

She pointed that out that while Hsien Yang has said he has not thought about what lies beyond demolition, “it would appear he has not ruled out redevelopment.”

Hsien Yang travelled to Hong Kong on Sunday, and told Hong Kong media he was visiting friends. He declined to say when he was returning to Singapore.

In her post, Indranee also reiterated that PM Lee has no financial interest in the house, having sold it to his brother.

For the government, the question is whether there is an intermediate option that will respect the late Lee Kuan Yew’s wishes and still preserve the heritage and history of 38, Oxley Road for Singapore and Singaporeans, she said.

One option raised by DPM Teo was to demolish the house but keep the basement dining room, where many historical meetings took place, with a heritage centre attached.

This, Indranee said, would “substantially fulfil Lee’s wish” as his and his wife’s privacy would be respected.

“At the same time, the history and heritage would not be lost and the crucible where the hopes and dreams of a nation were forged can be kept to inspire many more generations to come,” she said.

House Bill No. 5224 also seeks to impose stiff penalties of P50,000 to P100,000 on “any person who, or entity which violates any provision” of the proposed law—much heftier than the P5,000 to P20,000 fine

provided for by the current Flag and Heraldic Code of the Philippines.

Under the proposed measure, singing along when the anthem is played at public gatherings “shall be mandatory and must be done with fervor.” It may be noted the current flag code, enacted in 1998, did not use the word “mandatory” when it directed public attendees to sing along during gatherings.

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As a sign of respect, all persons must stand at attention facing the Philippine flag, if displayed, or the band or conductor; civilians salute the flag with their right palm over the left chest.

But, the House bill also seeks to provide leeway for people whose religious beliefs prohibit them from singing. The current flag code did not contain any provision, while the House measure states these people “must, nonetheless, show full respect… by standing at attention.”

The House bill also seeks to standardize the proper rendition of Lupang Hinirang in accordance with the musical arrangement and composition of Julian Felipe: in 2/4 beat when played, and within the range of 100 to 120 metronome, in 4/4 beat when sang.

The National Historical Commission of the Philippines will also be mandated to disseminate an official musical score sheet to reflect the correct way of singing the anthem.

The proposed flag code will also oblige the Department of Education, the Commission on Higher Education, and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority to “ensure that the national anthem… shall be committed to memory by all students” of public and private schools.

The House bill also strikes out the current flag code’s prohibition on the display of the Philippine flag in front of “buildings and offices occupied by aliens.”

Under the proposed law, failure to observe the rules on the proper rendition of the anthem and display of national symbols will also lead to administrative discipline for the employees of all government offices and privately-owned entities displaying the flag.

The House announced the development in a Monday statement. With the approval of the law on third and final reading via a unanimous vote of 212-0, the measure now moves to the Senate for consideration.