Important Takeaways:
- American Water became informed of “unauthorized activity” in its computer networks and systems Thursday, the company said in a press release.
- The New Jersey-based company later determined the activity was due to a cybersecurity incident” prompting it to disconnect or deactivate certain systems. This included shutting down the company’s portal used to bill customers, while its call center has “limited functionality.”
- The company said it is “working diligently” to get the disconnected systems back online while noting the third-party investigation by cybersecurity professionals could take some time.
- American Water, which serves an estimated 14 million people in 14 states, said it also notified law enforcement and is cooperating with the investigation.
- The utility company’s water or wastewater facilities and operations are not believed to have been negatively affected by the cybersecurity attack, and the water remains safe to drink, according to the company.
- The company manages an estimated 540 groundwater treatment plants in about 1,700 U.S. communities across 14 states including California, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia.
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Important Takeaways:
- The suspect, Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi, 27, is a citizen of Afghanistan residing in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, according to prosecutors.
- “This defendant, motivated by ISIS, allegedly conspired to commit a violent attack, on Election Day, here on our homeland,” said FBI Director Christopher Wray in a statement on Tuesday.
- The FBI said he was attempting stockpile firearms, and had taken steps to liquidate his family’s assets and relocate members overseas.
- Mr Tawhedi is charged with providing, attempting to provide, and conspiracy to provide support or resources to a foreign terrorist organization; and with trying to procure firearms and ammunition to use to commit a felony or act of terrorism.
- Mr Tawhedi sought AK-47 assault rifles to use in the attack, authorities claim. On 7 October, he and the co-conspirator met with individuals who actually worked undercover for the FBI to purchase the weapons and ammunition.
- After the purchase, Mr Tawhedi and his co-conspirator were arrested.
- In an interview conducted after his arrest on Monday, the FBI said Mr Tawhedi allegedly confirmed he planned an Election Day attack that would target “large gatherings of people” and that he planned to die carrying it out.
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Important Takeaways:
- The General Staff of the Korean People’s Army said the move was a “response to the grave situation in which the imminent danger of war is escalating day by day along the southern border”
- North Korea said it would fortify its side of the de facto border with “strong defense structures,” without elaborating.
- A “telephone message” communicating its intentions was sent to U.S. forces “to prevent any misjudgment and accidental conflict over the fortification project,” the army said.
- This week, the North Korean leader twice threatened to use nuclear weapons on the South if provoked.
- The South Korean defense ministry said the latest announcement likely was a continuation of the North’s efforts to severe inter-Korean connections—physical and symbolic—since April.
- The North Korean notification was sent via an existing channel to the U.S.-led United Nations Command, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency said on Wednesday, citing military sources. Pyongyang said its DMZ fortification project would involve a large number of personnel, heavy equipment and “explosive work,” the report said.
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Important Takeaways:
- The call, under way late Wednesday morning U.S. time, was the leaders’ first known chat since August and coincided with a sharp escalation of Israel’s conflict with both Iran and the Iran-backed Lebanese Hezbollah with no sign of an imminent ceasefire to end the conflict with Iran-backed Hamas in Gaza.
- The Middle East has been on edge awaiting Israel’s response to a missile attack last week that Tehran carried out in retaliation for Israel’s military escalation in Lebanon.
- The Iranian attack ultimately killed no one in Israel and Washington called it ineffective.
- Netanyahu has promised that arch-foe Iran will pay for its missile attack, while Tehran has said any retaliation would be met with vast destruction, raising fears of a wider war in the oil-producing region which could draw in the United States.
- Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant canceled a Wednesday visit to the Pentagon, the Pentagon said, as Israeli media reported Netanyahu wanted first to speak with Biden.
- Israel has faced calls by the United States and other allies to accept a ceasefire deal in Gaza and Lebanon but has said it will continue its military operations until Israelis are safe.
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Important Takeaways:
- The National Weather Service (NWS) in Miami has issued a tornado watch and several tornado warnings for parts of Florida as Hurricane Milton rapidly approaches west-central Florida.
- On Wednesday morning, the NWS reported several tornadoes, including one crossing the I-75 highway, and urged residents to seek shelter immediately.
- The tornado watch remains valid until Wednesday evening at 9pm ET and covers parts of south Florida
- Videos and pictures posted online showed several of the spotted tornadoes growing in size as they move across south Florida.
- The agency also warned that isolated hail up to a 0.5in size is possible, along with isolated gusts of wind traveling up to 70mph.
- Approximately 12.6 million residents face potential exposure to the tornadoes, in addition to 2,424 schools and 170 hospitals.
- The tornado watch and warnings come as the category 5 Hurricane Milton is expected to double in size as the “storm of the century” by the time it makes landfall late Wednesday or early Thursday.
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Important Takeaways:
- US officials tell Axios that the Biden administration is increasingly distrustful of what Israel is saying about its military and diplomatic plans.
- Two of the officials tell the outlet that White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer on Friday that the US expects “clarity and transparency” from Israel over its plans for a potential attack on Iran after Tehran fired some 200 ballistic missiles at Israel last week.
- The officials note that any Israel strike would have an impact on US forces in the region.
- An official says that Sullivan’s message was a signal that if the US is not given a heads-up as to Israel’s plans, it won’t necessarily join a coalition to defend Israel against a potential future attack from Iran.
- The report says the US is also concerned about the most recent operation launched by the IDF in north Gaza, despite the fact that Israel has told Washington that the evacuation orders for civilians there will not lead to a permanent displacement of the population.
- “They tell us what we want to hear — the problem is lack of trust,” a US official says.
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Important Takeaways:
- Omar is the son of Osama bin Laden, the Saudi-born founder of the al-Qaeda terrorist group and the mastermind behind the 9/11 terrorist attacks, which killed almost 3,000 people in the biggest terror attacks on US soil in 2001.
- France’s Interior Minister announced Omar bin Laden had been deported from a Normandy village he was living in after he was accused of glorifying terrorism on social media.
- In a post shared on X early Tuesday morning, French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau accused Omar bin Laden of “posting comments on his social media accounts in 2023, which made an apology for terrorism”.
- Calling the matter “a decision of national security”, the post did not detail when exactly Omar bin Laden had been deported nor reveal where he was sent to.
- The administrative ban ensures that Mr. bin Laden cannot return to France, for any reason whatsoever,” Retailleau said.
- According to local newspaper Le Publicateur Libre, a controversial tweet was posted by bin Laden on 2 May 2023, the date of his father’s birthday.
- The post from the now-deleted account @omarbinladin1 read: “History is written only with the blood of these people — to tell the story of these martyrs who made history, built nations and brought glory. Their blood is the lifeline of our faith until judgment day. Rest in peace.”
- “A person from another country managed to get the password of my Twitter account and posted a Tweet using my name. They were not my words. I reported the Tweet to Twitter and after a week or so, the account was thankfully blocked,” bin Laden said.
- “I no longer have access to my Twitter account,” he added, “so I was unable to remove it myself. I want to tell people I condemn terrorism and violence with all my heart”, he added.
- Although Omar bin Laden began training in al-Qaeda camps at the age of 14, he left the terrorist organization in 2000. In a 2008 interview with ABC News, he said, “my father is very kind man… and he was very sorry when he did something like 11 September.”
- “He believed if he brought two buildings down, maybe some people, few would die… But millions other would (be) save(d). He believed that”, Omar added.
- Omar bin Laden went on to assert that he did not agree with his father’s actions “I believe what he did was wrong.”
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Important Takeaways:
- With residents preparing for whatever Milton brings, Tampa Mayor Jane Castor sat down with CNN on Monday to discuss what’s at risk for residents who don’t heed evacuation orders.
- As the Gulf Coast prepares for yet another strong hurricane, Tampa Bay officials are urging residents to take evacuation orders seriously, especially if they live anywhere near the coast.
- Hurricane Milton poses a threat to the region that likely no one in the region has ever seen in their lifetimes, as the last time the Tampa area was hit by the eye of a major hurricane was on Oct. 25, 1921. The hurricane had no official name but is known locally as the Tarpon Springs storm, for the seaside town where it came ashore.
- “The number one message, as it has been for several days now, is that you need to prepare. Do whatever you need to do and then get out of the evacuation zones which now are evacuation zones A and B, and as we all have heard so many times now, you hide from the wind and run from the water and we are talking about, right now, the possibility of a direct hit with 10 to 12-foot tidal surge — put that in perspective, Hurricane Helene, which just left the Tampa Bay area a week ago, there was 6-foot storm surge and that literally devastating to so many in our coastal areas,”
- “Helene was a wake-up call, this is literally catastrophic and I can say without any dramatization whatsoever: If you choose to stay in one of those evacuation areas, you are going to die,” Castor warned.
- She went on to explain that she’s never given that warning before but given the unprecedented circumstances of Milton and the threat of a direct hit to the Tampa Bay area, the warning could save residents’ lives who are on the fence about staying or leaving.
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Important Takeaways:
- Israeli forces have killed the would-be successors of late Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday, without naming them.
- “We’ve degraded Hezbollah’s capabilities. We took out thousands of terrorists, including Nasrallah himself and Nasrallah’s replacement, and the replacement of the replacement,” Netanyahu said in a pre-recorded video message.
- Netanyahu did not identify by name Nasrallah’s replacement that he claimed Israel had killed.
- It was not immediately clear who Netanyahu meant in his comments by the “replacement of the replacement”.
- “Today, Hezbollah is weaker than it has been for many, many years,” Netanyahu said in his video message, which was directed at the people of Lebanon.
- “Israel has a right to defend itself. Israel also has a right to win. And Israel will win,” Netanyahu said.
- He urged Lebanon to “take back your country” and return it to a path of peace and prosperity and take advantage of an opportunity that hasn’t existed in decades.
- “If you don’t, Hezbollah will continue to try to fight Israel from densely populated areas at your expense. It doesn’t care if Lebanon is dragged into a wider war,” he added. “Christians, Druze, Muslims — Sunnis and Shiites — all of you are suffering because of Hezbollah’s futile war against Israel.
- “Don’t let these terrorists destroy your future any more than they’ve already done,” Netanyahu added. “You have an opportunity to save Lebanon before it falls into the abyss of a long war that will lead to destruction and suffering like we see in Gaza. It doesn’t have to be that way.”
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Important Takeaways:
- The country’s adversaries are stepping up efforts to influence the U.S. election, including down-ballot races, intelligence officials told the press on Monday.
- Officials said China, Russia, Iran, and Cuba have sought to “launder their narratives” into election discourse, as well as aggravate divisions among Americans through hot-button issues such as immigration.
- Though four weeks remain before Election Day, more than 16 million Americans had requested mail-in ballots or opted for early in-person voting as of Tuesday, according to an NBC News poll sourced from state officials and market research firm TargetSmart.
- One official said agencies have been privately briefing candidates for president, congress and local elections about foreign influence efforts.
- More of these notifications have already been carried out than during any past election, according to another official, who said suspected cases of foreign influence campaigns against public officials have seen a “more than threefold increase.”
- China-linked actors were said to have directly interfered in “tens” of down-ballot races, particularly when it comes to issues that most concern the Chinese Communist Party, Reuters reported.
- Russia and Iran have been focused on shaping the views of the U.S. electorate,” the intelligence officials said.
- Moscow’s efforts have reportedly been to drive down support for Ukraine, which is struggling against invading Russian forces in the eastern part of the country. Iran has been covertly seeking to drum up support for Democratic candidate and current Vice President Kamala Harris, according to officials.
- They believe Cuba has concentrated on giving a boost to its preferred candidates by swaying Spanish-speaking voters on social media.
- The news follows a report released last month by social network analysis firm Graphika that detailed a Chinese “spamouflage” operation attempting to sow division in U.S. social media spaces through fake accounts.
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