tennis Page 10 markets THE FIRST ENGLISH LANGUAGE DAILY IN FREE KUWAIT Page 16 Established in 1977 / www.arabtimesonline.com SUNDAY, JUNE 6, 2021 / SHAWWAL 25, 1442 AH emergency number 112 NO. 17706 16 PAGES 150 FILS Global war on ransomware ... Hurdles hinder US response Havoc escalates Newswatch CONCERN VOICED ON ASTRA THIRD RICHMOND, Va., June 5, (AP): Foreign keyboard criminals with CAIRO: There will be no in- scant fear of repercussions have crease in fees charged by private paralyzed US schools and hospi- schools in Kuwait, a local news- tals, leaked highly sensitive po- paper reported Friday, citing an lice files, triggered fuel shortages education source. “Private schools of differ- and, most recently, threatened Heart hiccup in Pfizer jab global food supply chains. ent educational systems will not hike fees for the next school year The escalating havoc caused 2021-22,” the source told Al Rai. by ransomware gangs raises an However, the source said the obvious question: Why has the fees will be due in full should the 1,280 new cases United States, believed to have in-person class system be rein- the world’s greatest cyber ca- stated in the country. pabilities, looked so powerless Kuwait has shifted to distance- By Marwa Bahrawi to protect its citizens from these learning as part of precautions Al-Seyassah Staff and kind of criminals operating with aimed to limit the spread of Agencies near impunity out of Russia and COVID-19. As part of the shift, allied countries? a 25 per cent cut in the fees was KUWAIT CITY/WAS- The answer is that there are introduced. (Gulf news) numerous technological, legal See Also Page 3 HINGTON, June 5: and diplomatic hurdles to going Health authorities are after ransomware gangs. Until WASHINGTON: President Joe trying to determine recently, it just hasn’t been a high Biden will meet with Turkish priority for the US government. President Recep Tayyip Erdog- whether heart inflam- That has changed as the prob- an while on his trip to Europe mation that can occur later this month, the White House lem has grown well beyond an announced Thursday. along with many types economic nuisance. President The meeting, which will take of infections could also Joe Biden intends to confront place June 14 on the sidelines of Russia’s leader, Vladimir Putin, the NATO summit in Brussels, be a rare side effect in about Moscow’s harboring of comes against the backdrop of teens and young adults ransomware criminals when the some tension between the two after the second dose of two men meet in Europe later leaders. this month. The Biden adminis- Erdogan had pushed for an COVID-19 vaccine. tration has also promised to boost earlier call with Biden after the An article on seven US defenses against attacks, improve US president took offi ce. And he teen boys in several states, efforts to prosecute those respon- was later frustrated when Biden published online Friday in sible and build diplomatic alli- declared the mass killings of Ar- ances to pressure countries that menians at the hands of the Turks Pediatrics, is among the latest reports of heart inflammation harbor ransomware gangs. in 1915 as a “genocide,” a decree Calls are growing for the ad- Ankara long opposed. discovered after COVID-19 ministration to direct US intelli- The White House also revealed vaccination, though a link gence agencies and the military other details of Biden’s fi rst over- to the vaccine has not been to attack ransomware gangs’ seas trip as president, which be- proven. technical infrastructure used for gins next week. The president The boys, aged 14 to 19, re- will fi rst meet with British Prime hacking, posting sensitive victim Minister Boris Johnson on June ceived Pfizer shots in April or data on the dark web and storing 10 ahead of attending the G-7 May and developed chest pain digital currency payouts. within a few days. Heart imag- summit in Cornwall, United Equivalent Kingdom. (AP) ing tests showed a type of heart ❑ ❑ ❑ muscle inflammation called Fighting ransomware re- myocarditis. quires the nonlethal equivalent JERUSALEM: The UN agency None were critically ill. All of the “global war on terrorism” for Palestinian refugees says it were healthy enough to be sent launched after the Sept. 11 at- has recalled its Gaza director af- home after two to six days in tacks, said John Riggi, a former ter he faced threats over remarks the hospital and are doing “do- FBI agent and senior adviser for in which he appeared to praise ing pretty well,” said Dr. Preeti cybersecurity and risk for the Israel’s “huge sophistication” Jaggi, an Emory University in- America Hospital Association. in carrying out precision strikes fectious disease specialist who during last month’s Gaza war. Its members have been hard hit UNRWA, which provides es- co-authored the report. by ransomware gangs during the sential health, education and She said more follow-up is coronavirus pandemic. other services in the territory, needed to determine how the “It should include a combina- said late on Thursday that it was seven fare but that it’s likely the tion of diplomatic, financial, law “seriously concerned” about the heart changes were temporary. enforcement, intelligence opera- threats, including a “very large Only one of the seven boys tions, of course, and military op- protest” outside its Gaza head- in the Pediatrics report had evi- erations,” Riggi said. quarters on Monday. dence of a possible previous CO- A public-private task force It said Gaza director Mat- VID-19 infection and doctors de- including Microsoft and Ama- thias Schmale and his deputy termined none of them had a rare zon made similar suggestions have been recalled to UNRWA’s inflammatory condition linked in an 81-page report that called headquarters in east Jerusalem with the coronavirus. for intelligence agencies and the for “consultations.” The agency The cases echo reports from Pentagon’s US Cyber Command cited media reports that “Pal- Israel in young men diagnosed to work with other agencies to estinian factions” had declared after receiving Pfizer shots. “prioritize ransomware disrup- Schmale and his deputy persona tion operations.” non grata in Gaza but said it re- Alerted “Take their infrastructure ceived no formal notifi cation to The US Centers for Disease away, go after their wallets, their that effect. (AP) Control and Prevention alerted ❑ ❑ ❑ ability to cash out,” said Philip doctors last month that it was Reiner, a lead author of the re- WASHINGTON: Israel’s visiting monitoring a small number of port. He worked at the National defense minister said Thursday reports of heart inflammation in Security Council during the that it will stay engaged as the teens and young adults after the Obama presidency and is now US tries to return to a nuclear mRNA vaccines, the kind made CEO at The Institute for Security deal with Iran, sidestepping by Pfizer and Moderna. and Technology. what’s long been an area of open The CDC hasn’t determined if But the difficulties of taking disagreement between the United In this May 16, 2021 file photo, Palestinian rescuers pull a body of a woman of al-Kawlak family from under the rubble of one of there’s really a link to the shots, down ransomware gangs and States and the now-jeopardized the destroyed residential buildings following deadly Israeli airstrikes in Gaza City. The single deadliest bombing raid of Israel’s and continues to urge that every- other cybercriminals have long government of Prime Minister fourth war with Hamas collapsed two apartment buildings and killed 22 members of the extended al-Kawlak family, including a one 12 and older get vaccinated been clear. The FBI’s list of Benjamin Netanyahu. 6-month-old boy and his 89-year-old great-grandfather. (AP) — See Page 2 against COVID-19, which is far most-wanted cyber fugitives has Benny Gantz told report- riskier than the vaccine. The Pfiz- ers before a meeting with De- grown at a rapid clip and now fense Secretary Lloyd Austin er vaccine is available to those as has more than 100 entries, many that Iran’s nuclear program and Bloc says let’s talk young as 12; the Moderna shot of whom are not exactly hiding. other actions were an “existential remains cleared only for adult Evgeniy Bogachev, indicted threat” to Israel. “Stopping Iran is use. nearly a decade ago for what certainly a shared strategic need This kind of heart inflamma- prosecutors say was a wave of of the United States,” Israel and tion can be caused by a variety cyber bank thefts, lives in a Rus- other countries, Gantz said. Air passenger fees queried of infections, including a bout sian resort town and “is known to But on a visit that came as an of COVID-19, as well as certain enjoy boating” on the Black Sea, opposition coalition back home medications - and there have according to the FBI’s wanted tries to end Netanyahu’s 12 years By Saeed Mahmoud Saleh Meanwhile, the 31 MPs Bloc recently been rare reports following other listing. in power, Gantz — unlike Netan- Arab Times Staff announced their intention to seek an audi- types of vaccinations. Ransomware gangs can move yahu — stopped short of openly Authorities will have to tease around, do not need much in- opposing the Biden administra- ence with His Highness the Amir Sheikh KUWAIT CITY, June 5: MP Marzouq Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah to Evictions loom out whether cases following frastructure to operate and can tion’s efforts to get the United Al-Khalifa forwarded queries to Minister COVID-19 vaccination are oc- shield their identities.