Malware affects few computers
Malware affects few computers
WASHINGTON (AP) — The day that was supposed to see thousands of people knocked off the Internet has arrived, but only a few people were affected.
Thousands of Internet users across the U.S. and beyond waited too long or simply didn’t believe warnings that they would lose access to the Internet just after midnight because of malware that took over computers around the world more than a year ago. At 12:01 a.m. on Monday, the FBI turned off Internet servers that were functioning as a temporary safety net to keep infected computers online for the past eight months. A court order the agency had gotten to keep the servers running expired, and was not renewed.
FBI officials have been tracking the number of computers they believe still may be infected by the malware. As of Sunday night, there were about 41,800 in the U.S., down from 45,600 on July 4. Worldwide, the total is roughly 211,000 infected. An estimated 2.3 billion people around the world use the Internet, according to Internet World Stats.
Considering there are millions of Internet users across the country, several thousand losing access isn’t a big deal — unless you are one of them.
NYC rally over sugary drink ban
NEW YORK (AP) — New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg says that if New Yorkers want to kill themselves with sugar — that’s their right.
That was the mayor’s response Monday to a small, peaceful protest rally against the soda ban on a sidewalk near City Hall Park — dubbed The Million Big Gulp March.
Bloomberg has proposed a crackdown on super-sized drinks. He wants to stop bar restaurants, movie theaters, sports arenas, food carts and delis from selling sodas and other sugary drinks in servings larger than 16 ounces. He says it’s a way to fight obesity in a city that spends billions of dollars a year on weight-related health problems.
“If you want to kill yourself, I guess you have the right to do it. We’re trying to do something about it,” Bloomberg said earlier Monday.
Credit card use increases sharply
WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans put more on their credit cards in May than in any single month since November 2007, one month before the Great Recession began.
But overall credit card use is still well below where it was just before the downturn. Economists say May’s increase was likely a temporary response to weaker hiring and poor wage growth and not a sign of sustained confidence in the economy.
“We might see additional increases in credit card debt in the coming months,” said Paul Edelstein, of IHS Global Insight. “But they won’t match the May surge.”
Consumer borrowing rose by $17.1 billion in May from April, the Federal Reserve said Monday. The gain drove total borrowing to a seasonally adjusted $2.57 trillion, nearly matching the all-time high hit in July 2008.
Hug with officer leads to shooting
DETROIT (AP) — The death of a woman shot in the chest after she hugged an off-duty police officer from behind during a party is a tragic, unfathomable accident, Detroit’s police chief said Monday.
Adaisha Miller was dancing and celebrating what would have been her 25th birthday the next day, when she hugged the officer from behind during a party Sunday, authorities said. She died later of gunshot wounds to the chest.
Police Chief Ralph Godbee said her death is an “unfathomable” accident and the officer is “very remorseful.”
Godbee said the gun was in a waist holster made of soft material, which would have allowed the trigger to be activated. He said there’s no evidence the officer fired the gun, and he believes the gun discharged after Miller hugged the officer from behind during a party at the officer’s home.
“There was some manipulation along the officer’s waistline (that) he did not control,” Godbee told reporters.
The officer, whose name was not released, is on desk duty while the case is fully investigated. Police union lawyer John Goldpaugh said the officer didn’t know Miller.
“This was just a freak accident,” Goldpaugh told the Detroit Free Press. “They were having a party and the next thing, a woman is dead. He’s devastated by what happened.”
Police said previously that the bullet punctured Miller’s lung and hit her heart, and she died at a hospital.
Her mother, Yolanda McNair, said the shooting never should have happened.
“All she wanted to do was enjoy the weekend for her birthday,” McNair told WDIV-TV. “She had every right to enjoy turning 25 and look beyond that.”