Obama approves cybersecurity plan

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama on Wednesday authorized a new U.S. government approach to deterring cyberattacks: financial sanctions against malicious overseas hackers and companies that knowingly benefit from the fruits of cyberespionage.

The latter category could include state-owned corporations in Russia, China and elsewhere, setting the stage for major diplomatic friction if the sanctions are employed in that way.

The order was the latest attempt by his administration to come up with options short of direct retaliation to deal with a growing cyberthreat coming from both nations and criminal groups. It gives the U.S. the authority to levy sanctions on individuals and companies, though no specific penalties were announced.

Remains recovered from plane crash site

SEYNE-LES-ALPES, France – Just over a week after a Germanwings plane crashed into the French Alps, investigators have finished retrieving human remains from the crash site and are now trying to match them with DNA profiles from the 150 people killed an arduous task that could leave families waiting for months.

The extraordinary recovery process mobilized hundreds of people and cut a stony road into a forested Alpine mountainside to help the team bring back anything they found.

François Daoust, head of the France’s IRCGN national criminal laboratory in Pontoise outside Paris, said that as of Monday afternoon the forensic teams on the site and in Paris had isolated 78 distinct DNA profiles from the hundreds of samples recovered at the site leaving nearly as many unaccounted for.

Meanwhile, they had only received complete DNA profiles for about 60 victims from their relatives because it takes time to gather samples from families still reeling from their loss.

Associated Press