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Don't get distracted by the shiny cyber machines

ZDNet

Two themes kept emerging at the inaugural SINET61 cyber innovation conference in Sydney this week. "A strong capability around threat intelligence", said Steve Glynn, chief information security officer (CISO) at ANZ Bank. It'll be about building an understanding of the threat actors, what they're trying to achieve, and what techniques will be needed to defeat them. Threat intelligence was one of the hyper-repeated buzz phrases at SINET61. John Haig, head of security, risk and compliance at Dun & Bradstreet, was one of many speakers who mentioned the other: machine learning.


Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte ordered killings when he was mayor, witness tells senators

Los Angeles Times

A former Philippine militiaman testified before a Senate panel on Thursday that President Rodrigo Duterte, when he was mayor of a southern city, ordered him and other members of a liquidation squad to kill criminals and political opponents in gangland-style assaults that left about 1,000 dead. Edgar Matobato, 57, told the nationally televised Senate committee hearing that he heard Duterte order some of the killings and acknowledged that he himself carried out about 50 of the abductions and deadly assaults in Davao, including one in which they fed a man to a crocodile in 2007. The Senate committee inquiry was being led by Sen. Leila de Lima, a staunch critic of Duterte's antidrug campaign that is believed to have killed more than 3,000 suspected drug users and dealers since he assumed the presidency in June. Duterte has accused De Lima of involvement in illegal drugs, alleging that she used to have a driver who took money from detained drug lords. She has denied the allegations.


la-fg-pakistan-train-accident-20160914-snap-story.html

Los Angeles Times

She said the passenger train hit the freight train from behind. Bayer buying Monsanto, Uber's self-driving cars, a Navy commander faces attempted rape charges, and Hesperia's halfway houses might be closed. Bayer buying Monsanto, Uber's self-driving cars, a Navy commander faces attempted rape charges, and Hesperia's halfway houses might be closed. Shirley Teeter was punched while attending a Donald Trump rally on Sept. 13 in Asheville, N.C. Shirley Teeter was punched while attending a Donald Trump rally on Sept. 13 in Asheville, N.C.


Oregon sheriff describes takeover of wildlife refuge as far from peaceful

Los Angeles Times

The takeover of a federal wildlife refuge in Oregon by anti-government protesters wasn't violent, a county sheriff testified, but it was far from peaceful. "Certainly it's not normal to have a hundred people walking around with firearms on our streets," Harney County Sheriff Dave Ward said Wednesday, becoming the first witness to testify in the trial of Ammon Bundy, his brother Ryan and five others charged with conspiracy in the 41-day takeover of a federal wildlife preserve in southeast Oregon. Ward testified in the federal courthouse here that features a wall engraved with a quote from Thomas Jefferson: "The boisterous sea of liberty is never without a wave." The sheriff told the jury how such a wave, ridden by Ammon Bundy and his supporters, came crashing down on Harney County early this year. On Jan. 2, Ward was watching what he thought was a live TV feed of a Bundy-led rally just three blocks from his office in Burns.


'You are so out of it,' judge tells lawyer for Gov. Mike Pence in case about Syrian refugee policy

Los Angeles Times

Attorneys defending Indiana Gov. Mike Pence's order to bar agencies from helping Syrian refugees resettle in his state faced unusually fierce questioning before a federal appeals court Wednesday, suggesting the panel might side with a lower court that found the order discriminatory. A three-judge panel for the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago zeroed in on the intelligence and intent behind the Republican vice presidential candidate's order, which a federal judge said in February "clearly discriminates" against refugees from the war-torn nation. Judges suggested that Indiana could've had a stronger argument for opting out of the refugee program -- in which states disperse federal money to resettlement organizations -- instead of excluding Syrians. "If you're in, you play by the government's rules," Judge Frank Easterbrook said. The oral arguments came the same day the White House announced that the refugee program will be expanded in the next year as concern continues about the refugee crisis stemming from Syria's civil war and conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.


Boy, 11, found dead in Echo Park closet weighed just 34 pounds

Los Angeles Times

When police officers removed the mirrored doors behind which Yonatan Daniel Aguilar had died hours earlier, they found a crumpled blanket on the ground, obscuring his emaciated body -- pale and stiff, curled in a fetal position, with cuts on his face. One officer lifted a corner of the blanket and two cockroaches crawled out. The child was so tiny that officers thought maybe he was 6 years old or so. Details about the condition of Yonatan's body when it was found last month in his Echo Park home were disclosed in more than 100 pages of heavily-redacted case records and police reports released to The Times by the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services this week. The records show that Yonatan's risk of abuse at home had been marked as "high" four times from 2009 to 2012 by a county program intended to guide social workers' level of intervention.


Interior Department signs blueprint for renewable energy development in the California desert

Los Angeles Times

Bayer buying Monsanto, Uber's self-driving cars, a Navy commander faces attempted rape charges, and Hesperia's halfway houses might be closed. Bayer buying Monsanto, Uber's self-driving cars, a Navy commander faces attempted rape charges, and Hesperia's halfway houses might be closed. Shirley Teeter was punched while attending a Donald Trump rally on Sept. 13 in Asheville, N.C. Shirley Teeter was punched while attending a Donald Trump rally on Sept. 13 in Asheville, N.C. For decades, environmentalists have rhapsodized about the tranquil beauty of California's deserts while battling fiercely with energy companies, the government and within their own ranks over what if any power production should occur on those sun-baked, wind-blown, geothermally active expanses of land.


U.N. hopes to build momentum for humanitarian aid in Syria if cease-fire holds

Los Angeles Times

As a cease-fire in Syria entered its third day, authorities said Wednesday that the government was to begin withdrawing forces from a strategic road in the besieged rebel-held area of Aleppo, a move that would open the way for U.N. relief shipments. Syrian forces, with Russian air support, closed the road in July, thereby completing the encirclement of rebel districts with a population of as many as 300,000. A withdrawal south of Castello Road was to begin Thursday morning, according to Russian state news agency TASS. Rebel forces reportedly were to retreat simultaneously to positions north of the road. But it remained unclear whether residents of the city would accept the sacks of flour and food baskets the United Nations hopes to deliver.


2 charged with hate crimes after black family's home is hit by Molotov cocktails and racist graffiti

Los Angeles Times

In a crime that shocked a California Delta community, a man and woman were charged with hate crimes Tuesday in connection with launching Molotov cocktails into the home of a black family in Antioch and spray-painting the residence with a swastika and racial slurs, police said. Roy Charles Sorvari, 27, of Antioch and Christyne Gail McDaniel, 25, of Brentwood face charges of arson and conspiracy to commit murder, mayhem, torture and assault with a deadly weapon, according to the Antioch Police Department. Sorvari and McDaniel were also charged with hate crime enhancements. They have each been ordered held on more than 1 million bail. The attack "sent shockwaves in the city of Antioch," Police Chief Allan Cantando said at news conference Tuesday.


Tesla crash in China renews spotlight on Autopilot

USATODAY - Tech Top Stories

Tesla CEO Elon Musk says the new autopilot software might have prevented the crash that killed a man in Florida in May. Model S dash displays what the car sees. SAN FRANCISCO - Tesla Motors is grappling with yet another fatal crash involving one of its electric Model S sedans, an incident in China that preceded the May death of a customer in Florida. Back in January, a Model S driven by 23-year-old Gao Yaning of Hebei province crashed into a street sweeper at highway speed. The news was first reported by Reuters Wednesday citing China's CCTV.