Nation and world news in brief for December 5

Democrat wins final House seat, setting up narrower GOP edge

(TNS) — A California Democrat eked out a win in the final outstanding House election race, setting up an even narrower Republican edge in the coming Congress and signaling potential headaches for the ruling GOP.

Democrat Adam Gray won the rural, heavily Latino CA-13 district by a less than 200-vote margin, ousting Republican Rep. John Duarte to flip the GOP-held swing seat in a rematch of their 2022 battle.

The photo-finish victory means Republicans have won 220 House seats this election cycle, with Democrats holding 215 seats, an increase of one seat for Team Blue despite President-elect Donald Trump’s sweeping win in the White House contest.

‘Large number’ of Americans’ metadata stolen by Chinese hackers, senior official says

WASHINGTON (Reuters) — A large number of Americans’ metadata has been stolen in the sweeping cyberespionage campaign carried out by a Chinese hacking group dubbed “Salt Typhoon,” a senior U.S. official told journalists on Wednesday.

The official declined to provide specific figures but noted that China’s access to America’s telecommunications infrastructure was broad and that the hacking was still ongoing.

“We believe a large number of Americans’ metadata was taken,” she told reporters. Pushed on whether that might include every American cell phone’s records, the official said: “We do not believe it’s every cell phone in the country, but we believe it’s potentially a large number of individuals that the Chinese government was focused on.”

Dozens of companies across the world had been hit by the hackers, the official said, including “at least” eight telecommunications and telecom infrastructure firms in the United States.

U.S. officials have previously alleged the hackers targeted Verizon, AT&T , T-Mobile , Lumen and others and stole telephone audio intercepts along with a large tranche of call record data.

Call record metadata is sometimes described as the who, what, when, and where of phone calls. It doesn’t include the content of a call but can include who a call was placed to, how long it lasted, and where it was made from. Even without the content, call record metadata — especially when captured in bulk — can reveal extraordinarily granular details about a person’s life, work, and intimate relationships.

Senate passes Ted Cruz bill cracking down on deepfake nudes

WASHINGTON (TNS) – The U.S. Senate has passed legislation by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, that aims to shut down publication of nonconsensual deepfake pornography and intimate images.

Cruz said the bill would give victims, many of whom are teenage girls, a chance to seek justice against those who publish the computer-generated images.

“It will also hold Big Tech accountable by making sure websites remove these disgusting fake videos and pictures immediately,” Cruz said in a statement.

His bill would criminalize publishing intimate images, often referred to as “revenge porn,” including realistic computer-generated photos and videos depicting real people.

It would require apps such as Snapchat and websites to remove such images within 48 hours of a victim’s request. The Federal Trade Commission would enforce that requirement.

Millions of people in Cuba without power after grid collapse

HAVANA (Reuters) — Cuba said it had begun restoring power after the island’s electrical grid collapsed, the latest in a string of nationwide blackouts that underscore the increasingly frail state of the country’s power generation system.

Cuba`s energy minister Vicente de la O’Levy said the government had prioritized hospitals and water pumping facilities as it began restoring electricity to scattered circuits around the country.

But millions of Cubans across the island remained without power by midmorning Wednesday, according to official reports, forcing the communist-run government to close schools and order non-official workers to stay home until electricity is restored.

Ex priest, 93, pleads guilty to raping, kidnapping young boy

(TNS) — A retired Roman Catholic priest accused of raping and kidnapping a young boy nearly 50 years ago entered a guilty plea on Tuesday, just before jury selection for his criminal trial was set to get underway.

Lawrence Hecker, 93, pleaded guilty to first-degree rape, aggravated kidnapping, aggravated crime against nature and theft. He’s scheduled to be sentenced to life in prison on Dec. 18.

Hecker is accused of choking the young victim before sexually assaulting him in an area in the school’s bell tower. The boy, who was underage, claims he told the school principal, Paul Calamari, about the incident, but nothing was done about it.

Calamari didn’t alert the police, according to the victim. Instead, the principal arranged for the young student to undergo psychological treatment.