Why Microsoft removed Google’s Chrome installer from the Windows Store!

Google published a Chrome app in the Windows Store earlier today, which just directed users to a download link to install the browser. Microsoft isn’t impressed with Google’s obvious snub of the Windows Store, and it’s taking action. “We have removed the Google Chrome Installer App from Microsoft Store, as it violates our Microsoft Store policies,” says a Microsoft spokesperson in a statement to The Verge.

Citing the need to ensure apps “provide unique and distinct value,” Microsoft says “we welcome Google to build a Microsoft Store browser app compliant with our Microsoft Store policies.” That’s an invitation that Google is unlikely to accept. There are many reasons Google won’t likely bring Chrome to the Windows Store, but the primary reason is probably related to Microsoft’s Windows 10 S restrictions. Windows Store apps that browse the web must use HTML and JavaScript engines provided by Windows 10, and Google’s Chrome browser uses its own Blink rendering engine. Google would have to create a special Chrome app that would adhere to Microsoft’s Store policies.

Most Windows 10 machines don’t run Windows 10 S, so Google probably won’t create a special version just to get its browser listed in the Windows Store. Google can’t just package its existing desktop app into a Centennial Windows Store app, either. Microsoft is explicit about any store apps having to use the Edge rendering engine.

The Verge understands Google created this installer app to combat the fake Chrome apps that can be found in the Windows Store, a problem Microsoft has been trying to address for years. Google’s workaround has now been removed from the Windows Store, so Windows 10 users will have to continue using Microsoft Edge to access the download site for Chrome if they want to access Google’s browser.

This isn’t the first time Microsoft and Google have battled over browsers or platforms. Both companies fought over a YouTube app for Windows Phone, Microsoft targeted Google with “Scroogled” commercials, and Microsoft has also criticized Chrome’s battery usage. We’ve reached out to Google to see if this is a battle that will continue, but the company is not commenting on the removal.

FBI deputy grilled by House Intel amid concerns over bias

FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe arrived at the Capitol Tuesday afternoon to face a grilling from the House Intelligence Committee amid concerns among some Republicans who believe the bureau is hopelessly biased against President Trump.

He testified for close to eight hours, in a rescheduled interview that came amid the committee’s sprawling investigation into Russian interference in the U.S. election.

McCabe — who was appointed by former FBI Director James Comey in early 2016 — has long been a Republican target, thanks in part to political donations his wife received from Democratic governor and Clinton ally Terry McAuliffe (Va.).

But he skyrocketed back into the public view after a series of texts from a former member of special counsel Robert Mueller’s team became public. The agent, Peter Strzok, disparaged political figures of both parties in the texts, including Trump, whom he called an “idiot.”

Both Democrats and Republicans described the interview as professional and cordial when the committee broke mid-way through the interview for House votes, but were tight-lipped on the details of McCabe’s testimony afterwards. Committee Republicans — as well as McCabe — evaded reporters when the interview broke up at 10 p.m. 

Panel Democrats largely declined to answer questions. Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.) called the meeting “productive,” but declined to speak further.

Republicans went into the interview planning to press him on a host of issues, from the Strzok texts to how the FBI used a controversial, unconfirmed dossier of opposition research into then-candidate Donald Trump. Some Republicans have speculated that the bureau may have used the so-called Steele Dossier — some of which has been shown to be false — as the basis for a surveillance warrant on members of Trump’s campaign.

The embryo is just a year younger than the mother who birthed her

The longest known frozen human embryo to result in a successful birth was born last month in Tennessee.

Emma Wren Gibson, delivered November 25 by Dr. Jeffrey Keenan, medical director of the National Embryo Donation Center, is the result of an embryo originally frozen on October 14, 1992.

Emma's parents, Tina and Benjamin Gibson of eastern Tennessee, admit feeling surprised when they were told the exact age of the embryo thawed March 13 by Carol Sommerfelt, embryology lab director at the National Embryo Donation Center.

"Do you realize I'm only 25? This embryo and I could have been best friends," Tina Gibson said.

Today, Tina, now 26, explained to CNN, "I just wanted a baby. I don't care if it's a world record or not."

France puts Facebook on notice over WhatsApp data transfers

Facebook and WhatsApp have been issued with formal notices by France’s data protection watchdog warning that data transfers being carried out for ‘business intelligence’ purposes currently lack a legal basis — and consequently that Facebook Inc, WhatsApp’s owner, has violated the French Data Protection Act.

WhatsApp has been given a month to remedy the situation or could face additional investigation by the CNIL — and the potential for a sanction to be issued against it in future.

In August 2016 the social networking giant caused massive controversy when its messaging platform WhatsApp announced a privacy U-turn — saying it would shortly begin sharing user data with its parent, Facebook, and Facebook’s network of companies, despite the founder’s prior publicly stated stance that user privacy would never be compromised as a result of the Facebook acquisition.

WhatsApp’s founder, Jan Koum, had also assured users that ads would not be added to the platform. However the data-sharing arrangement with Facebook included “ad-targeting purposes” among its listed reasons.

Users were offered an opt-out, but only a time-limited one — which also required they actively read through terms & conditions to find and uncheck a default-checked box to prevent information such as their mobile phone number being shared with Facebook for ad targeting (shared phone numbers enabling the company to link a user’s Facebook profile and activity with their WhatsApp account).

Facebook’s facial recognition now looks for you in photos you’re not tagged in

Facebook is expanding how it uses facial recognition to find people in photos. From today, the company will notify users when someone uploads a photo with them in it — even if they’re not tagged. The user will then have the option to add their tag to the photo, leave themselves untagged, or report the photo if they think it’s inappropriate. The feature will also work with profile photos, but won’t be available in Canada or the EU, where data laws restrict the use of facial recognition.

According to Facebook, the new tool is designed to empower users by helping them control their image online. “We really thought this as a privacy feature for a long time. If someone posts a photo of you you might not know about it,” Rob Sherman, Facebook’s head of privacy, told The Verge. “Now, the users can access the photo, and they can communicate to the person who posted it.”

Sherman also says the tool could also be a prompt for nostalgia, alerting people about photos they’ve forgotten. (Although the tool doesn’t work retroactively.) And, of course, it will encourage people to engage with the site, and increase the amount of time they spend on it. It’s like that old thought experiment: if someone uploads a photo of you to Facebook but doesn’t tag you in it, does it show up in engagement metrics? The answer, apparently, is no.

After U.S. veto, U.N. General Assembly to meet on Jerusalem status

The 193-member United Nations General Assembly will hold a rare emergency special session on Thursday at the request of Arab and Muslim states on U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

Palestinian U.N. envoy Riyad Mansour said the General Assembly would vote on a draft resolution calling for Trump’s declaration to be withdrawn, which was vetoed by the United States in the 15-member U.N. Security Council on Monday.

The remaining 14 Security Council members voted in favour of the Egyptian-drafted resolution, which did not specifically mention the United States or Trump but which expressed “deep regret at recent decisions concerning the status of Jerusalem.”

Mansour said on Monday he hoped there would be “overwhelming support” in the General Assembly for the resolution. Such a vote is non-binding, but carries political weight.

Under a 1950 resolution, an emergency special session can be called for the General Assembly to consider a matter “with a view to making appropriate recommendations to members for collective measures” if the Security Council fails to act.

WH: Kim Jong Un behind massive WannaCry malware attack

White House Homeland Security Advisor Tom Bossert said Tuesday that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ordered the release of WannaCry, the malware attack that spread rapidly throughout hundreds of thousands of computers in 150 countries during a single week in May. 

"We do not make this allegation lightly. We do this with evidence. We do so with partners," Bossert said during a White House press conference. 

Victims of WannaCry included the British National Health Service, which had to turn away patients during the attacks. Other severely impacted victims included government systems in India and Russia, FedEx and the Spanish telecom Telefónica.

On Monday evening, Bossert wrote an op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal formally announcing the White House believed WannaCry was the work of North Korean actors. 

At the press conference, Bossert said other nations, including the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada and Japan as well as private sector partners, including Microsoft, had agreed with the United States assessment that North Korea was behind the attack.  

Bossert said that the goal of the announcement to "name and shame" the North Korean actors.

"I hope they stop acting badly online," he said, adding "If they don't, this president will act on behalf of the United States." 

He did not claim to know what shape that response would take, saying the Trump administration had tried "every lever short of starving the people of North Korea to death." 

Security researchers believe this group behind the WannaCry attack was a notorious North Korean hacking operation known as Lazarus. 

The Lazarus group is best known for being suspected of hacking Sony Pictures in late 2014. Later, the group was tied to a series of digital bank heist utilizing the SWIFT system banks use to request transfers, as well as other attacks. Most recently, Lazarus has been tied to phishing attempts on cryptocurrency exchanges.

US says Facebook, Microsoft disabled North Korean cyber actions

Facebook Inc and Microsoft Corp acted last week to disable a number of North Korean cyber actions, White House homeland security adviser Tom Bossert said on Tuesday as the United States publicly blamed Pyongyangfor a May cyber attack that crippled hospitals, banks and other companies.

Bossert did not provide details on those actions but said the US government was calling on companies to cooperate in cyber security defense.


"The attack was widespread and cost billions, and North Korea is directly responsible," Bossert had written in a piece published on Monday night in the Wall Street Journal.

"North Korea has acted especially badly, largely unchecked, for more than a decade, and its malicious behavior is growing more egregious," Bossert wrote. "WannaCry was indiscriminately reckless."


The US government has assessed with a "very high level of confidence" that a hacking entity known as Lazarus Group, which works on behalf of the North Korean government, carried out the WannaCry attack, an official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss details of the government's investigation, had said.

Lazarus Group is widely believed by security researchers and US officials to have been responsible for the 2014 hack of Sony Pictures Entertainment that destroyed files, leaked corporate communications online and led to the departure of several top studio executives.

North Korean has repeatedly denied responsibility for WannaCry and called other allegations about cyber attacks a smear campaign.


The accusation comes as worries mount about North Korea's hacking capabilities and its nuclear weapons program.


'PATTERN OF MISBEHAVING'

Many security researchers, including the cyber firm Symantec, as well as the British government, have already concluded that North Korea was likely behind the WannaCry attack, which quickly unfurled across the globe in May to infect more than 300,000 computers in 150 countries.


Considered unprecedented in scale at the time, WannaCry knocked British hospitals offline, forcing thousands of patients to reschedule appointments and disrupted infrastructure and businesses around the world.

The attack originally looked like a ransomware campaign, where hackers encrypt a targeted computer and demand payment to recover files. Some experts later concluded the ransom threat may have been a distraction intended to disguise a more destructive intent.


A separate but similar attack in June, known as NotPetya, hit Ukraine and other nations and caused an estimated $300 million in damages to international shipper FedEx.


Some researchers have said they believed WannaCry was deployed accidentally by North Korea as hackers were developing the code. The senior administration official declined to comment about whether U.S. intelligence was able to discern if the attack was deliberate.

Saudi Arabia Says It Intercepts Houthi Missile Fired Toward Riyadh, No Reported Damage

Saudi air defences intercepted a ballistic missile fired towards the capital Riyadh on Tuesday but there were no reports of casualties, the Saudi-led coalition said, the latest in a series of attacks by an Iran-aligned group in Yemen.

A spokesman for the Houthi movement said a ballistic missile targeted the royal court at al-Yamama palace, where a meeting of Saudi leaders was under way.

There was no official word on this assertion, but a royal family member appeared to confirm the missile was aimed at a royal palace meeting.

"Coalition forces confirm intercepting an Iranian-Houthi missile targeting (the) south of Riyadh. There are no reported casualties at this time," the government-run Center for International Communication wrote on its Twitter account.

The attack happened hours before Saudi Arabia was due to announce the country's annual budget in a news conference expected to be attended by senior ministers.

Reuters witnesses described hearing a blast and said they saw smoke in the north-east of Riyadh.

Saudi Arabia said on Nov. 4 it had intercepted a ballistic missile over Riyadh's King Khaled Airport, in an attack that provoked a strong reaction from the kingdom.


Riyadh accused Iran of smuggling the missile to the Houthis and imposed a blockade on Yemen demanding that united Nations inspection procedures be tightened.

Last week the United States presented for the first time pieces of what it said were Iranian weapons supplied to the Houthis, describing it as conclusive evidence that Tehran was violating U.N. resolutions.

US stands alone, defiant at UN Security Council over Jerusalem

Exercising its veto power at the United Nations for the first time, the Trump administration torpedoed a Security Council resolution critical of the White House's unilateral recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley cast the veto, blocking the resolution, introduced by Egypt, despite the 14 other members of the Security Council voting in favor.

"Today for the simple act of deciding where to put our embassy, the United States was forced to defend its sovereignty. The record will reflect that we did so proudly," Haley said after the vote.

"Today for acknowledging a basic truth about the capital city of Israel, we are accused of harming peace. The record will reflect that we reject that outrageous claim. For these reasons and with the best interest of both the Israeli and the Palestinian people firmly in mind, the United States votes no on this resolution."

Palestinian leaders slammed the US decision, citing it as further proof the White House could no longer play an impartial role in any Israeli-Palestinian peace process. A spokesman for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said the US veto "contravenes the resolutions of international community and Security Council resolutions and represents a complete bias with the [Israeli] occupation and aggression," according to Wafa, the official Palestinian news agency.

India’s Governing Party Shows Its Might in State Elections

India’s governing party — which detractors say stokes religious divisions but supporters praise for economic development — handily won two state elections, according to results released on Monday.

It seems that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party continue to be a formidable political force.

Despite aggressive campaigning by the opposition and talk about rising discontent over India’s economy, unemployment and poor public services, the governing party held control of the State Assembly of Gujarat, one of India’s most industrialized states, and it captured the assembly of Himachal Pradesh, a small state tucked in the Himalayas.

Mr. Modi was a celebrated chief minister in Gujarat’s state government for 13 years before rising to prime minister of the country in 2014. Over the past several weeks, he has crisscrossed the state, holding huge rallies that have turned dusty fields into seas of saffron flags and scarves — saffron is his party’s signature color — and even traveling by seaplane.

Cops probe suspicious deaths of pharma billionaire, wife

Toronto homicide detectives have taken over the investigation of the deaths of billionaire Barry Sherman and his wife after autopsies showed they died from "ligature neck compression."

Police released a statement Sunday reporting the cause of death. Authorities also identified pharmaceutical magnate Sherman and his wife, Honey, as the two people found dead in a north Toronto mansion Friday.

Police call the deaths suspicious, but on Friday also said that there were no signs of forced entry and that they were not looking for any suspect.

The Sherman family issued a statement Saturday urging police to conduct a "thorough, intensive and objective criminal investigation" into the deaths and calling on the media to avoid speculating on the cause of the deaths.

Canadian Business magazine recently estimated his worth at 4.77 billion Canadian dollars ($3.65 billion), making him the 15th richest person in the country.

But the Shermans didn't flaunt their wealth. He drove beat-up cars. They recently put up their house for sale for 6.9 million Canadian dollars ($5.4 million), but the home is relatively modest for a billionaire.

Sherman founded Toronto-based Apotex Inc. in 1974 with two employees and turned the generic drugmaker into a company that now has 11,000 employees worldwide. The company released a statement Saturday paying tribute to its founder, praising both his philanthropic efforts and what it described as his vision for health care.

The Shermans were among Canada's most generous philanthropists, and their deaths shocked Canadian high society and the country's Jewish community. The couple made numerous multimillion-dollar donations to hospitals, schools and charities and had buildings named in their honor. They hosted Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at a Liberal Party fundraiser in 2015.

Honey Sherman was sat on the boards of several civic groups, including Mount Sinai's Women's Auxiliary, the Simon Wiesenthal Center and the International American Joint Distribution Committee.

Linda Frum, a Canadian senator and close friend of the couple, said they were one of the kindest and most beloved members of Canada's Jewish community.

Demand For Meat Is Growing Rapidly in India. This Could Impact All Of Us

India is projected to be one of the largest growth areas for consumption in chicken, beef, and mutton. And while vegetarianism is often believed to be widespread in India, influenced by religion and other factors, the data seems to suggest otherwise.

According to the sample registration system (SRS) baseline survey 2014 released by the registrar general of India, 71 percent of Indians over the age of 15 are non-vegetarian. While that means 330 million of India’s 1.2 billion people are vegetarian, it obscures the fact that many are rapidly abandoning their vegetarian diet due to an increased desire for meat.

Higher meat consumption in India is not entirely surprising, as meat-heavy diets are often correlated with an increase in wealth. As the emerging market countries like India gain a larger share of the economic pie, the trend is likely to continue.

This is important for many reasons, as the world is already grappling with climate change and water scarcity. It takes over 8,000 liters of water to produce 1 kg of mutton and 4000 liters for 1 kg of chicken, which is significantly larger than that of plant-based protein. Chicken production also releases 25 times more CO2 than grain production per calorie.

Windows 10 included a password manager complete with massive password-stealing potential

Microsoft has been bundling a password manager that features a dangerous flaw with some versions of Windows 10, a Google security researcher has revealed. Tavis Ormandy noticed that his copy of Windows 10 included Keeper, which he had previously found to be injecting privileged UI into pages.

The version that Microsoft was including with Windows 10 featured the same bug. What does this mean? In short, it allows any website to steal passwords from you.

Keeper was included in some Windows 10 installations as a browser plugin, and it included the very same vulnerability that Ormandy had reported nearly a year and half earlier. With little more than a couple of very easily implemented tweaks, he found that it was possible to steal passwords that are stored within Keeper.

Ormandy shared details of the vulnerability on Twitter:

He also posted on the Project Zero page, saying:

I recently created a fresh Windows 10 VM with a pristine image from MSDN, and found that a password manager called “Keeper” is now installed by default. I’m not the only person who has noticed this:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Windows10/comments/6dpj78/keeper_password_manager_comes_preinstalled_now/

I assume this is some bundling deal with Microsoft. I’ve heard of Keeper, I remember filing a bug a while ago about how they were injecting privileged UI into pages (   issue 917   ). I checked and, they’re doing the same thing again with this version. I think I’m being generous considering this a new issue that qualifies for a ninety day disclosure, as I literally just changed the selectors and the same attack works.

Nevertheless, this is a complete compromise of Keeper security, allowing any website to steal any password.

Former Boko Haram Fighters Wait for Rehabilitation Facility

The multinational joint task force fighting the Boko Haram insurgency in Cameroon, Chad and Nigeria says it will hold some 200 former terrorists until Cameroon can construct a rehabilitation center where they will be socially integrated before returning to their communities. The ex-terrorists are currently at the barracks of the multinational joint task force in Mora, on Cameroon's northern border with Nigeria.

Soldiers of the Mora camp of the Multinational Joint Task Force fighting Boko Haram sing what is now their regular song after a successful operation. They have just returned from the border with Nigeria with 12 fighters whom they say handed themselves over to the military. Among them is Soule Bupaga, a 22-year-old Nigerian.

He says his wish is to return to his village (at Sanda Wajiri, near Kerawa) in Nigeria and that he regrets all the killings even though they were forced to carry them out. He says what he did was not good.

There are nearly 200 former fighters detained in the camp. Some were arrested during fighting and others handed themselves over to the military. Cameroonian ex-fighter, 26-year old Gouma Wamwha, says he decided to report to the military after he escaped from a Boko Haram training camp in the Nigerian border town of Gambarou, but was barred from entering his village in the Cameroon town of Kolofata.

Iran tells France's Macron not to 'blindly follow' Trump

Iran on Sunday criticized French President Emmanuel Macron over his tough stance toward Tehran and said Paris would soon lose its international credibility if it “blindly follows” U.S. President Donald Trump.

Tensions between Iran and France have risen in recent months after Macron said Tehran should be less aggressive in the Middle East, citing in particular its involvement in Syria’s civil war.

Macron, unlike Trump, has reaffirmed his country’s commitment to the deal Iran signed in 2015 with world powers under which it curbed its disputed nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of most international sanctions.

Embassy in East Jerusalem : Turkey

Turkish President Rejep Tayyip Erdoğan on Sunday said his nation plans to open an embassy in east Jerusalem, a move that follows the United States’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

“God willing, the day is close when officially, with God’s permission, we will open our embassy there,” said Erdoğan, as reported by Reuters.

Erdoğan’s statement comes after he and other Muslim world leaders during a summit in Istanbul last week slammed the United States’s announcement about Jerusalem. Erdoğan at the summit reportedly called on countries to officially accept that Jerusalem is “the occupied capital of Palestine.” 

President Trump earlier this month said the United States would officially recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, bucking years of precedent by the international community. Trump also said he would put in motion plans to move the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to the holy city, but signed a six-month waiver putting the move on hold.

East Jerusalem, one of the most contentious subjects in the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, was not part of the original lines drawn for Israel. Israel captured east Jerusalem in 1967 during the Six-Day War. Much of the international community views this part of the city as occupied territory and Palestinians claim it as the capital of a future independent state.

Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, has said that the United States is not taking sides in the dispute over east Jerusalem and that Israelis and Palestinians should determine the fate of the contested parts of the city during peace negotiations.

US Naval Academy Discovers 150-Year-Old Battle Flags Taken From Kim Jong Un’s Ancestors

The US Naval Academy just made a startling discovery recalling the violent past between the US and North Korea’s Kim dynasty while moving around some old war memorabilia.

When reshuffling some old war trophies in the academy’s Mahan Hall, staff found old Korean battle standards in the framework that hadn’t been opened since 1920, the US Naval Institute’s news service reports.

The flags recall a bloody history of US-Korean relations, and actually belonged to a Kim Ung U — a direct ancestor of Kim Jong Un.

The story starts in 1866, when a US merchant ship arrived in Pyongyang to try and open Korea up to trade. Fearing the Westerners had come to sack their temples, the Koreans killed the crew and burned the ship, according to the Institute.

Five years later, five US warships returned on a mission to establish diplomatic relations, but the Koreans fired on them. The US Marines responded and seized several coastal towns, taking some of the flags with them, according to the Institute.

The US sent the flags to the Naval Academy, and simply forgot about them for almost a century.

Today, when the tensions between the US and North Korea seem higher than ever before, the rediscovery of these flags points to a long, violent history between the two feuding states.

Mueller team defends obtaining Trump transition emails

Special counsel Robert Mueller’s office on Sunday defended its work after a lawyer for President Trump’s transition team accused investigators of improperly obtaining thousands of emails from transition officials.

“When we have obtained emails in the course of our ongoing criminal investigation, we have secured either the account owner’s consent or appropriate criminal process,” Peter Carr, a spokesman for the special counsel’s office, said in a statement to The Hill.

Axios reported Saturday that Mueller’s team is now in possession of tens of thousands of emails from the Trump transition team, including messages from Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner, as well as other members of the transition’s political leadership and foreign policy team.

Mueller's prosecutors reportedly used the emails to question witnesses, and are also looking to the messages to confirm information and follow new leads.

Axios reported that the special counsel obtained the emails from the General Services Administration, which managed the transition team's email accounts.

But in a letter to several members of Congress, a lawyer for Trump’s transition team, Trump for America (TFA), said that Mueller obtained the emails illegally.

Kory Langhofer accuses the GSA of “unlawfully produc[ing] TFA's private materials, including privileged communications, to the Special Counsel’s Office,” according to Reuters.