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Chinese hackers renew attacks on U. S. entities, more violence in Kashmir pulls apart India and Pakistan, and the Roman Catholic Church prepares for its historic sexual abuse summit. Here’s the latest:
Dozens of American corporations and government agencies have been hit by attacks that have been attributed to Iran, according to analysts at the National Security Agency and the private security firm FireEye.
Those cyberattacks coincide with a renewed effort from China geared toward stealing trade and military secrets from U. S. military contractors and technology companies including Boeing, General Electric and T-Mobile, according to nine intelligence officials, private security researchers and lawyers familiar with the attacks.
Context: Cyberespionage from both Iran and China had cooled under former President Barack Obama, who spearheaded landmark agreements with both in 2015. The attacks spiked again after President Trump waged a trade war with Beijing and reneged on the Iran nuclear deal last year.
In Australia: Prime Minister Scott Morrison blamed a recent hack of Parliament’s computer network on a “sophisticated state actor,” raising the possibility of foreign interference in the country’s politics weeks before a national election. He did not identify the perpetrator, but the country has grown increasingly worried about Chinese influence.
Another angle: Despite the heightened tensions, the rate of Chinese tourists visiting Australia is surging. Our team followed one group of tourists as they toured the local attractions.
Decades after the crisis of clerical sexual abuse of minors first exploded into the public, victims of sexual abuse have arrived in Rome for a landmark meeting of Pope Francis and representatives of the world’s bishops’ conferences.
The victims will speak of their experiences during evening prayers.
Details: The meeting begins on Thursday, bringing together 190 participants from around the world, including 114 presidents of bishops’ conferences or their delegates and representatives from 14 Eastern churches.
At a Vatican news conference on Monday, bishops reiterated the themes of the meeting — accountability and transparency — and its focus on the abuse of minors.
Context: The meeting comes as more cases of sexual abuse emerge from the shadows, including the long-overshadowed abuse of nuns by priests.
A Times investigation found that the crisis even goes beyond abuse to the suppression and shaming of homosexual priests .
Over the weekend: Pope Francis expelled a former cardinal and archbishop of Washington from the priesthood after the church found him guilty of sexually abusing minors and adult seminarians. The former cardinal, Theodore McCarrick, was the first Catholic leader at that level to be defrocked for sexual abuse, a turning point in the Vatican’s approach toward the scandal.
Militants opened fire on an approaching army contingent, killing an Indian Army major and at least three other soldiers in the Pulwama District.
