GAO warns of threat to commercial flights
WASHINGTON – The same Internet access now available on most commercial flights makes it possible for hackers to bring down a plane, a government watchdog warned Tuesday.
The finding by the Government Accountability Office presents chilling new scenarios for passengers. The report doesn’t suggest it would be easy to do or very likely. But it points out that as airlines and the Federal Aviation Administration attempt to modernize planes and flight tracking with Internet-based technology, attackers have a new vulnerability they could exploit.
A worst-case scenario is that a terrorist with a laptop would sit among the passengers and take control of the airplane using its passenger Wi-Fi, said Rep. Peter DeFazio, of Oregon.
Congress OKs revamp of Medicare pay
WASHINGTON – Legislation permanently overhauling how Medicare pays physicians won approval Tuesday from an atypically united Congress as lawmakers banded together to erase an irritant that has dogged them for years.
Adding urgency to legislators’ work, the measure headed off a 21 percent cut in doctors’ Medicare fees that would have hit home Wednesday, when the government planned to begin processing physicians’ claims reflecting that reduction. The bill also provides billions of extra dollars for health care programs for children and low-income families, including additional money for community health centers.
Working into the evening, the Senate approved the measure 92-8 less than three weeks after the House passed it by a lopsided 392-37.
Fighting continues overnight in Ukraine
SHYROKYNE, Ukraine – Fighting raged overnight and in the early hours on Tuesday on the outskirts of the rebel stronghold of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine despite an agreement reached by the Ukrainian and Russian foreign ministers a day earlier.
The yearlong military conflict between Russian-backed rebels and government forces has claimed more than 6,000 lives and left large parts of Ukraine’s once industrial heartland in ruins.
Associated Press
