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The White House on Thursday blamed Russia for the devastating “NotPetya” cyber attack last year, joining the British government in condemning

Moscow for unleashing a virus that crippled parts of Ukraine’s infrastructure and damaged computers in countries across the globe.

The attack in June of 2017 “spread worldwide, causing billions of dollars in damage across Europe, Asia and the Americas,” White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement.

“It was part of the Kremlin’s ongoing effort to destabilize Ukraine and demonstrates ever more clearly Russia’s involvement in the ongoing conflict,” Sanders added. “This was also a reckless and indiscriminate cyber attack that will be met with international consequences.”

The U.S. government is “reviewing a range of options,” a senior White House official said when asked about the consequences for Russia’s actions.

Earlier on Thursday, Russia denied an accusation by the British government that it was behind the attack, saying it was part of a “Russophobic” campaign that it said was being waged by some Western countries.

The so-called NotPetya attack in June started in Ukraine where it crippled government and business computers before spreading around Europe and the world, halting operations atports, factories and offices.

Britain’s foreign ministry said in a statement released earlier in the day that the attack originated from the Russian military.

“The decision to publicly attribute this incident underlines the fact that the UK and its allies will not tolerate malicious cyber activity,” the ministry said in a statement.

“The attack masqueraded as a criminal enterprise but its purpose was principally to disrupt,” it said.

“Primary targets were Ukrainian financial, energy and government sectors. Its indiscriminate design caused it to spread further, affecting other European and Russian business.”
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Traffic deaths on U.S. roads fell slightly in 2017 after two straight years of big increases, but a leading safety organization that compiled the numbers says it’s no cause for celebration.

The National Safety Council on Thursday estimated that 40,100 people were killed in traffic crashes last year, down just under 1 percent from the 2016 total of 40,327. The group said it’s too early to tell whether the small decline means a downward trend after a two-year spike in deaths that was blamed largely on people driving more miles as the economy improved as well as an increase in distracted driving.

“We’re treading water, essentially,” said council spokeswoman Maureen Vogel. “We’re not making progress. This is the second year in a row we’re seeing over 40,000 people killed in this country on the roadways.”

Fatalities rose 7 percent in 2016, on top of a 7 percent increase from 2014 to 2015, the steepest two-year increase in over 50 years, according to the council, which gets its data from states. Prior to 2016, annual deaths had not hit 40,000 since 2007, the year before the economy tanked.

Motor-vehicle injuries in 2017 also fell 1 percent to an estimated 4.57 million, and the estimated cost of vehicle deaths, injuries and property damage was estimated at $413.8 billion, also down 1 percent. The number of miles driven last year by Americans grew only 1 percent, easing back from the 3 percent increase in 2016. An estimated 1.25 deaths occurred per 100 million vehicle miles traveled, the council said. That’s 2 percent lower than the 2016 rate.

Traffic deaths began dropping in 2008 and reached their lowest point in six decades in 2011 at 32,000. They fluctuated slightly over the next two years, but started climbing in the last quarter of 2014.

Experts say as the economy recovered, people began driving more, and they also increased riskier behavior such as going out on weekends or taking longer trips on unfamiliar roads. Teens, who have the highest fatal crash rates, also started driving more after the recession, during which many couldn’t afford to travel.

The council’s fatality estimates differ slightly from those of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The government counts only deaths that occur on public roads, while the council includes fatalities that occur in parking lots, driveways and private roads.
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The shooting at a Florida high school Wednesday will rank among the worst in a long list of massacres across American campuses.

These are the 10 deadliest school shootings in modern U.S. history:

1. Bath Consolidated School, Bath, Mich.

May 18, 1927: Andrew Kehoe, a farmer unhappy about the property taxes being used to fund a rural school, blew it up with a bomb. He killed 45 people, including his wife and 38 children.

2. Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Va.

April 16, 2007: Seung-Hui Cho, a senior at the school, killed 32 people and injured 17 others in two attacks on campus, one at a residence hall and another at the Engineering, Science and Mechanics building.

3. Sandy Hook Elementary School, Newtown, Conn.

Dec. 14, 2012: Adam Lanza, 20, killed his mother before going to the school where he killed 20 first-graders and six staff members.

4. Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, Parkland, Fla.

Feb. 14, 2017: A gunman killed 17 students and injured 16 others both inside and outside the school.

5. University of Texas, Austin, Texas

Aug. 1, 1966: A former Marine sharpshooter, Charles Whitman, climbed to the observation deck of the university tower. From there, he killed 14 people and wounded 31 others. Before the attack on campus, Whitman had also killed his wife and mother.

6. Columbine High School, Littleton, Colo.

April 20, 1999: Eric Harris, 18, and Dylan Klebold, 17, killed 12 of their peers and one teacher. They also injured 21 people in a well-planned massacre.

7. Umpqua Community College, Roseburg, Ore.

Oct. 1, 2015: Christopher Harper-Mercer killed nine people and wounded seven, sparing only one person to deliver a message to the police.

8. Red Lake Indian Reservation, Red Lake, Minn.

March 21, 2005: 16-year-old Jeffrey Weise killed his grandfather, a tribal police officer, and his grandfather’s girlfriend. Then, armed with his grandfather’s police weapons, he went to Red Lake High School, where he killed seven people and wounded five others.

9. California State University, Fullerton, Calif.

Jan. 12, 1976: University custodian Charles Allaway killed seven people and injured two others.

10. Oikos University, Oakland, Calif.

April 2, 2012: One L. Goh, 43, stood up in a nursing class at the Korean Christian college and ordered all the students to line up against the wall. He killed seven people and wounded three others.
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Just 45 days into the new year, there have been seven school shootings across the United States that have either killed or wounded children, including one Wednesday.

At least 17 people were killed when a former student, who had been expelled for disciplinary problems, opened fire at a Florida high school. Sixteen others were wounded.

According to Everytown for Gun Safety, a gun safety advocacy group, there have been 17 gun-related incidents in schools across America in 2018.

Of those, some were accidents. Eight of those incidents involved a gun being shot in or near a school, but caused no injury or death. Two were an attempted or completed suicide where the shooter had no intent to injure anyone else.

In addition to Wednesday’s shooting in Florida, there have been six other incidents that have resulted in death or injury.

​Feb. 5: Oxon Hill High School, Oxon Hill, Maryland — One student was shot and wounded in the school parking lot during an argument. Two teens were arrested.

Feb. 1: Salvador B. Castro Middle School, Los Angeles — A 12-year-old girl accidentally fired a gun that wounded four others.

Jan. 23: Marshall County High School, Benton, Kentucky — Two students were killed and more than a dozen injured when a 15-year-old opened fire. He was arrested.

Jan. 22: The NET Charter High School, Gentilly, Louisiana — One student was wounded after someone opened fire in the direction of children gathered in the parking lot during lunch break.

Jan. 22: Italy High School, Italy, Texas — 16-year-old girl was wounded when a boy opened fire inside the cafeteria.

Jan. 20: Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, North Carolina — A 20-year-old football player was killed at a fraternity event on campus.

According to its website, Everytown for Gun Safety defines a school shooting as “any time a firearm discharges a live round inside a school building or on a school campus or grounds, as documented by the press and, when necessary, confirmed through further inquiries with law enforcement or school officials.
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U.S. stock markets are set to open higher Wednesday as investors prepared for the government’s latest monthly inflation report.

Markets in Europe also showed gains in early trading, while in Asia, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng finished up more than 2 percent and Japan’s Nikkei finished down 0.4 percent.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics will make public its Consumer Price Index for January with discussion of how prices for certain sectors changed from the prior month.

The report comes after recent wild swings in U.S. stock markets driven by investor fears of high inflation and the possibility the Federal Reserve will move to raise interest rates.
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American snowboarder Shaun White has won his third career Olympic gold medal Wednesday with a masterful run in the men’s halfpipe at the PyeongChang Winter Olympics in South Korea.

The 31-year old White was trailing Japan’s Ayumu Hirano going into the final of three runs at the Phoenix Snow Park venue, but dazzled the crowd with a daring set that included back-to-back 1440-degree spins, known as the “1440 Triple Cork.” Hirano won the silver medal with a score of 95.25, while Australia’s Scotty James earned the bronze. 

Wednesday’s gold medal run for the red-headed daredevil dubbed “The Flying Tomato” redeems his failure to reach the medals podium four years ago in Sochi, after winning gold in 2006 in Turin and the 2010 Vancouver Olympics to become the sport’s biggest star. 

White’s gold medal also marks the 100th overall for the United States in the Winter Olympic Games.

Elsewhere in PyeongChang Wednesday, strong winds have forced officials to postpone the women’s slalom, the third event that has been scratched in the Alpine skiing program due to inclement weather. The women’s slalom has been moved to Friday, while the giant slalom, which was originally scheduled for Monday, has been moved to Thursday.

Norway leads the overall medal count with 11, with both Canada and the Netherlands tied for second place with 10, followed by Germany with nine and the United States with 7. In the gold medal count, Germany leads with five, the United States and the Netherlands tied with four each, and Norway and Canada tied with three.
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Top U.S. intelligence officials say Russian President Vladimir Putin is targeting the U.S. midterm elections this November. Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats told the Senate Intelligence Committee Tuesday the United States is “under attack,” with Russia and other adversaries engaging in cyber warfare to degrade American democratic institutions. VOA’s Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine reports from the State Department.
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Aimin Liu’s food delivery job is an exercise of muscle memory and physical endurance. He scans the Chinese kitchen’s receipts and addresses before placing his hands on the padded handlebars of his e-bike. Lifting his body, he is off — as fast as the bike will allow, against the sting of the winter wind.

The goal is to deliver 30 to 40 orders a day, six days a week, across New York’s midtown and lower Manhattan, sometimes as far as 20 city blocks away. Liu has been doing this for almost as many years.

“My legs are no good,” Liu tells VOA in Mandarin, rubbing his 59-year-old kneecaps. “Both of my feet hurt. I have arthritis on both sides.”

If it weren’t for his electric motor-powered bicycle, Liu says he might collapse or deliver half the number of orders on any 12-hour shift — not an option in a low-wage profession that is dependent upon customer tips.

But that is the dilemma faced by Liu and thousands of delivery workers, most of them Chinese immigrant workers in their 50s and 60s.

The e-bike — which can typically reach speeds of 32 kilometers per hour — is legal to purchase and own, but illegal to operate on New York streets, thanks to conflicting federal and state regulations.

Workers like Liu have a choice: Use an e-bike and risk confiscation by the New York Police Department (NYPD), along with a $500 ticket, or don’t use an e-bike and jeopardize a benchmark monthly wage.

“We’ll need to appear in court, which means we’ll have to take days off, and to get the bikes back, and to go pay the fine,” explained Liqiang Liu, 45, an e-bike delivery worker and spokesperson for the New York Delivery Workers Union.

“When you are looking at the loss of four to five days’ worth of pay, on top of the $500 fine, we are easily looking at a loss of over $1,000,” he said.

‘Economic pressure’

The bags beneath Aimin Liu’s eyes are pronounced. Once a farmer and truck loader in Fujian province, he became a political asylee in the United States in 1991 and now counts the years until he is eligible for social security benefits.

Already, he has had several run-ins with the police for using an e-bike. But lacking English skills and physical strength, he cannot find another job.

Fifty-three-year-old Deqing Lian, who works six 11-hour shifts every week, cares for his wife who is “not well,” and sends additional money to his parents in China. He says the “economic pressure” he faces is worsened by customers’ expectations to cover long distances and do it fast, an outgrowth of computerized ordering systems.

“If we’re too slow, the customers will be unhappy. They would refuse the meal and demand a refund,” Lian said. “And when we get back from the run, our boss would be cursing at us.”

Measuring safety

In October, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and the NYPD announced stricter measures to hold e-bike operators and the restaurants that use them accountable, citing hazardous use.

“E-bikes are too often a danger on the city’s streets and sidewalks,” NYPD Commissioner James P. O’Neill said.

But Do Lee, an advocate for The Biking Public Project and an Environmental Psychology Ph.D. candidate at the City University of New York Graduate Center, says arguments that deem e-bikes unsafe don’t add up and, instead, impoverish “an already impoverished community.”

“It’s largely these very privileged, wealthy residents who are complaining about very low-wage immigrant workers who often don’t have English fluency and are very low-wage, and so they lack a lot of political capital to fight back on this,” Lee said.

His research, citing NYPD data from 2007 to 2015, suggests a disproportionate number of tickets were issued to bicyclists of color based on the neighborhoods where they live and work. Within the food delivery workforce, that largely equates to Latino and Asian immigrants.

‘Simply too old’

Among New York pedestrians and drivers, the very mention of an e-bike sometimes draws a visceral reaction.

“They never stop on the red light; they go in any direction,” said Lana Rayberg, a Belarusian-American artist.

Kyshia Anderson was more sympathetic. “The e-bikes stop faster than the regular bike,” she said. “I’m more paranoid of taxi drivers.”

Like his older peers, Deqing Lian feels he is out of options. Asked whether his kids might be able to help if he were out of a job, he replied, “They are hardly capable of taking care of themselves. How could I expect them care for us?

“We don’t want to rely on the government,” Lian added. “We still have our hands and our feet. But without these e-bikes, we really don’t have any other means. We are simply too old.”
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The Oglala Lakota tribe on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota is one step closer to taking control of the food it eats: The Charging Buffalo Meat House will open shortly for business, processing and packaging buffalo meat from the tribe’s own herd.

Buffalo were for centuries the lifeline of Plains tribes, a source of food, clothing, shelter and even weapons and utensils. In the 19th century, the U.S. Army recognized the best way to force Indians onto reservations was to destroy their greatest resource. Aided by sportsmen and trophy hunters, the Army slaughtered buffalo to near extinction.

Tribes were forced to abandon their traditional diet and survive off government rations of flour, oil and coffee; these were gradually replaced by processed, packaged foods. There’s only one supermarket on the reservation, but with unemployment running at about 80 percent on Pine Ridge, many must rely on cheap, filling food that is low in nutrition and high in fat. Today, obesity, diabetes and heart disease are rampant on Pine Ridge, and life expectancy is the lowest in the nation.

Charles “Bamm” Brewer believes the solution for Lakota lies in returning to a traditional diet of wild fruits and vegetables—and, of course, buffalo.

Twenty years ago, he explains, he had a vision while riding in a buffalo roundup, an annual affair in which the tribe rounds up animals that have strayed from the herd.

“As the buffalo ran, they kicked up snow and dirt,” he remembered, “and they gave off hot steam. And all of this rose up into a huge cloud. And I ran right into that cloud with them.”

That’s when he believes he stepped into the past, living the experience of his ancestors. “And they gifted me a message: ‘Bring the buffalo back to the people.’”

He began small, taking out a loan to fence in his family’s land allotment, about 325 hectares (800 acres), and slowly, he began building up a herd of stock culled from federally-owned herds in nearby national parks.

“Every other year, the national park has surplus, and to be eligible to buy, tribes have to have pastures big enough to hold the buffalo. So, the tribe created a sharecrop program, where tribal members can turn their land into buffalo pastures and get 60 percent of the calf crop.”

Today his herd amounts to about 50, and buffalo has been part of his family’s diet for years.

The Lakota, like other tribes, never killed buffalo for sport.

“In our culture, when we hunt the buffalo, we say a special prayer to thank the animal for giving its life,” he said.

Up until now, Brewer would kill a buffalo out in the field, then haul the animal back to the family garage where he would hand-butcher it.

About seven years ago, Brewer took a job as food program manager for One Spirit, a local non-profit group that distributes fresh food and produce to families in need. It occurred to him that if One Spirit could build a meat-processing plant, it could include buffalo meat in those distributions.

One Spirit launched a fundraising campaign, and donors heeded the call. Today, the Charging Buffalo Meat House is only about $15,000 away from becoming fully operational; it lacks only a heating and air conditioning system to begin operating as a “custom exempt” meat processing facility, that is, gaining state approval to process and package buffalo meat for individual owners and hunters.

One Spirit hopes to someday gain federal Food and Drug Administration approval and enter the open market. These days, there’s a big demand for buffalo meat, a $340-million industry, according to the National Bison Association.

“But by building the Meat House, we aren’t just providing employment,” said One Spirit’s director Jeri Baker. “We’re also looking at all the things that could be done with the buffalo besides just having meat to eat.”

One Spirit is looking to revive the traditional art of brain-tanning raw buffalo hides, and it has enlisted one of the few existing brain tanners to teach others his skill.

“It’s a very labor-intensive process that uses an emulsified solution of animal brain and water to provide outstanding absorbency to the final product,” Baker explained. “What you get at the end of your sweat and toil is an exceptionally soft hide that stays pliable even after it gets wet. And that’s a potential for a whole new industry.”

Recently, the Meat House distributed its first buffalo meat to tribe members—250 one-kilo bags.

“We got good compliments,” Brewer said. Then he laughed, relating how one tribe member turned up his nose at the offering, saying, “Eww, we don’t eat buffalo.”

“That just shows us just how much this project is needed,” he said.

 
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U.S. Central Intelligence Agency Director Mike Pompeo strongly denied on Tuesday a report that Russia bilked U.S. spies out of $100,000 by offering compromising information on President Donald Trump.

He told a Senate hearing that reporting on the matter was “totally inaccurate.”

The New York Times reported on Friday that a Russian offered stolen National Security Agency cyberweapons and compromising information on Trump to cheat U.S. spies of the money last year, citing U.S. and European security officials.

Reporting by Patricia Zengerle.
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