Iranian-linked hackers representing government interests attempted to break into the email accounts of World Health Organization (WHO) staffers in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, Reuters reported Thursday.

Reuters cited four sources with knowledge of the situation in reporting the attempted hacking incidents, which have been ongoing since March 2. The hackers sent malicious phishing emails to WHO staff accounts that mimicked those from Google web services in an attempt to get staffers to share their email passwords. 

WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic told Reuters that the agency was aware of the attacks, and that “to the best of our knowledge, none of these hacking attempts were successful.”

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WHO did not immediately respond to The Hill’s request for comment. 

Iran’s government denied any involvement in the email targeting, with a spokesperson for Iran’s information technology ministry telling Reuters that the claims were “sheer lies to put more pressure on Iran” and that Iran “has been a victim of hacking.”

Iran — alongside China, Russia and North Korea — is widely seen as one of the most dangerous nations in cyberspace. 

The incident comes less than two weeks after Reuters reported that WHO was unsuccessfully targeted by an elite group of hackers, and that the health agency had seen a spike in attempted cyberattacks since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic. 

Cyberattacks against health agencies and organizations have seen a massive increase over the past few months amid the coronavirus outbreak, with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) also attacked by hackers in March. Already overwhelmed hospitals are bracing themselves for cyberattacks by those looking to make money in the midst of the crisis.

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The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will no longer block the import of KN95 masks, due to a shortage in personal protective equipment, or PPE, in the United States, an agency official first told Buzzfeed News.

The masks have been described as the Chinese equivalent of an N95 mask which U.S. health care workers use to protect themselves from airborne bacteria and viruses. Though they are allowing imports of the KN95 mask, the product is not FDA-approved, meaning those who use it do so without legal protections.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has included the KN95 mask as an alternative to other certified masks that should be used on an emergency basis.

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The FDA has not authorized models of KN95 masks made in China under an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) previously due to concerns of fraudulent products.

“Because of this, the FDA generally would not object to the importation and use of KN95 masks without an EUA,” an FDA official told The Hill. “Although not required, if a KN95 mask does not have an EUA, importers may want to take appropriate steps to verify the authenticity of these products. The FDA is ready and available to engage with importers to minimize disruptions during the importing process.”

The agency announced Thursday that it was loosening regulations on face masks but did not specifically name the KN95 mask.

“Most recently, the FDA issued an EUA to help increase the supply of filtering facepiece respirators by authorizing the use of certain imported disposable respirators that are not National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)-approved for use by health care professionals,” the FDA said in a statement.

“We are continuing to work on strategies to increase the availability of these devices,” the statement continues.

The agency also said it is working with manufacturers to produce masks as the demand has increased for both health care workers and civilians. 

“We are providing maximum regulatory flexibility where we can,” the agency added.

The move to allow the import of KN95 comes as GOP lawmakers have shown concern over the U.S.’s dependence on China for medical supplies and various pharmaceuticals. 

Sailors on the USS Theodore Roosevelt cheered for their departing captain Thursday night as he was removed from duty.

Videos captured on social media and sites like Stars and Stripes show sailors shouting “Captain Crozier” for Capt. Brett Crozier as he left the ship.

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Crozier was removed from duty after a letter he wrote pleading for help for those onboard his ship who are infected with the coronavirus leaked to the media.

The Navy announced his removal on Thursday. According to Navy Secretary Thomas Modly, whether Crozier intentionally leaked the letter or not, he “did not take care” to ensure it was not leaked.

As of Thursday, 114 sailors on board the Roosevelt had tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.

Crozier’s letter to Navy officials, which leaked on Tuesday, warned that the tight quarters onboard the ship did not allow for the safety of the crew. He asked leadership to offload most of the ship in order to allow for social distancing and sanitizing the ship.

The ship is currently docked in Guam and the crew of nearly 5,000 is being tested for the virus.

Naval operations will conduct an investigation into Crozier’s actions.

More than 60,000 people have signed a Change.org petition calling for Crozier’s reinstatement.

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The charge that the EU was sidelined in Copenhagen is unfair, but Europe still lacked diplomatic clout when it mattered. Judged on the outcome of the Copenhagen accord (see box), the EU was not the dealmaker it had aspired to be.

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EU dealmakers?

EU officials can at least claim that they initiated a process that saw 28 countries coming together in a final marathon of talks in a group that included France, Germany, the UK, the European Commission, Brazil, China, India, the US, Korea, Ethiopia, Sudan, and some tiny states on the frontline of climate change, including the Maldives. EU sources say that they were the first to propose this meeting, although, entertainingly, they differ as to whether the bright idea came from President Nicolas Sarkozy of France or the European Commission.

These EU officials, for understandable reasons, contest the significance of a meeting between the US, China, India, South Africa and Brazil, which is fabled as the meeting where the deal was done, without European involvement.

The final document was, said one senior Commission official, “not put together by five, it was put together by more than 30”.

The meeting of the five gained disproportionate significance “as a matter of American publicity,” says another EU source, who described it as “just one meeting among many held by all sides, including EU representatives”. EU sources emphasise that US President Barack Obama spoke to European leaders before and after this meeting.

The meeting of the five was important for the US to get concessions from China on the transparency of its emissions pledges, but its significance has been exaggerated: it did not tie up the whole deal.

The EU can take some credit for key numbers in the Copenhagen accord: the commitment to 2°C and 100 billion in climate aid for developing countries were made in Brussels – albeit the EU wanted this latter figure in euros not dollars. (At today’s exchange rates, the difference is a €30 billion per year loss for poor countries.)

But the hard truth is that European countries and the EU were powerless to get more ambitious targets to reduce emissions. The EU’s ‘lead-by-example’ policy led nowhere, suggesting that the EU needs to recalibrate its climate diplomacy, perhaps putting less emphasis on the US, and more on countries such as Australia and Japan with similar commitments to the EU.

Fact File

Key climate dates in 2010

õ 14-15 January: EU energy and environment ministers debate climate strategy, Seville
õ 31 January: UN deadline for industrialised countries to submit emission-reduction targets and other countries (excluding the least-developed and island states) to submit mitigation plans
õ 25-26 March: European Council, Valencia
õ 31 May-11 June: UN meeting, Bonn
õ 29 November-10 December: ‘COP 16’, (Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change), Mexico

China

The EU must also rethink how it engages with China. As the world’s biggest emitter, China was able to veto what it did not want. “The Chinese were blocking left, right and centre,” said one EU participant. “This was the summit where we learnt that China is a superpower,” said another.

The UN climate conferences may appear like EU summits on a grand scale, with their set meetings and endless rounds of redrafting texts and bilateral negotiations. The EU is experienced at summitry, but Copenhagen taught the EU some tough lessons about a new world order.

The Trump administration will send an additional 540 troops to the southern border “very soon” to aid federal border agents in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, according top military officials. 

U.S. Army North head Lt. Gen. Laura Richardson told reporters at the Pentagon that the increase is “specifically related to COVID-19.”

The military has been working with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Customs and Border Protection to provide the extra troops “so as to be able to help them enforce their orders to secure against potential COVID positive migrants coming over the border,” U.S. Northern Command lead Air Force Gen. Terrence O’Shaughnessy said. 

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“As we look at trying to seal off the external potential for COVID exposure to our U.S. citizens, there’s actually an increased demand signal, not a decreased demand signal for securing the southern border,” O’Shaughnessy added.

Defense Secretary Mark EsperMark EsperEsper: Military personnel could help treat coronavirus patients ‘if push comes to shove’ Overnight Defense: 2,700 sailors evacuating coronavirus-stricken carrier | Military to send ships, aircraft for counter-narcotics effort amid pandemic | Trump alleges Iranian plot for ‘sneak attack’ on US troops in Iraq Trump announces enhanced counternarcotics operation at coronavirus briefing MORE approved a DHS request seeking the 540 troops, Reuters first reported late Tuesday.

The United States already has roughly 5,000 military personnel at the border who perform non-law enforcement duties.

As cases of the coronavirus have surged in America, President TrumpDonald John TrumpBiden campaign: Trump and former vice president will have phone call about coronavirus Esper: Military personnel could help treat coronavirus patients ‘if push comes to shove’ Schumer calls for military official to act as medical equipment czar MORE in March announced that nonessential travel would be restricted at the Canada and Mexico borders.

The pandemic has not stopped wall construction at the southern border, however, which is going ahead as scheduled in Arizona even as other states across the country shut down nonessential construction.

The Trump administration has said the wall will stop the spread of the virus into the United States from Mexico.

Heath experts, however, argue that a physical barrier will do little to prevent further spread of the illness, which is already widespread in the United States with more than 206,000 recorded cases compared to Mexico’s 1,215.

BAY SHORE, NY — It was a team effort to make an 11-year-old Bay Shore boy’s dream come true during a youth football game Sunday. In a heartwarming moment captured during the game, the team’s captain, Jackson Wyss, who has cerebral palsy, got the chance to score his first touchdown thanks to a little help from his team.

Joe Rao, president of Bay Shore Youth Football team, said the team had been planning to let Wyss, who has been captain for about seven years, score a touchdown during the last game of the season.

Unfortunately, he is scheduled to have surgery Tuesday, so Rao and the team wanted to move up Wyss’ big moment during Sunday afternoon’s game against Lindenhurst.

He consulted the coach of the Lindenhurst team, who was “more than cooperative,” Rao said.

During the end of the fourth quarter, the ball was handed off to Wyss, who was then pushed in his wheelchair by a fellow member of his team while the Lindenhurst players dove at his feet. After scoring the touchdown, Wyss received cheers from the whole crowd.

Wyss has a limited vocabulary, Rao said, but they were still able to tell how excited he was to score his first touchdown.

“You know he’s having fun, he was screaming the whole time,” he said. “He was very happy, he was definitely excited.”

Rao described Wyss as a “good boy” and a “fighter.”

“I always say the reason he’s there is to show the other kids that can play and are able-bodied to have the heart that he has,” Rao said.

In addition, he described Wyss as a “funny kid” and, in some ways, a typical 11-year-old.

“One of my favorite stories when he’s on the sidelines with his father, he gets mad if his father is next to him because he’s a typical 11-year-old boy,” Rao joked. “He’s with his friends and wants his father to go away.”

The team members also love Wyss. They even have competitions to see who gets to push his wheelchair.

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LEXINGTON, KY — Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin has refused to concede victory to Democratic Attorney General Andy Beshear, who received the most votes in a tightly contested and closely watched race with national political implications.

With 100 percent of the Kentucky vote in, Beshear had 709,846 votes (49.2 percent), Bevin had 704,760 votes (48.8 percent) and Libertarian John Hicks had 28,442 votes (2 percent).

Beshear, a Louisville attorney, declared victory in the race Tuesday night, and tweeted out a photo of himself and running mate, Jacqueline Coleman.

Thank you, Kentucky! pic.twitter.com/mmMb7ekyK5
— Andy Beshear (@AndyBeshearKY) November 6, 2019

Kentucky Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes called the race for Beshear in a phone call to CNN on Tuesday night. She said the state has no provision for an automatic recount but that an appeal could be filed.

The fight is far from over for Bevin, though, as he told a crowd assembled at the Galt House in downtown Louisville that he was not conceding the race.

Kentucky Senate President Robert Stivers presented another possible solution to determine the winner in the race, saying that based on his staff’s research, the decision could end up in front of the Republican-controlled state legislature.

Giving the legislature the final say in the governor’s race would be risky if clear reasons aren’t provided, Sam Marcosson, a constitutional law professor at the University of Louisville Brandeis School of Law, told The Courier Journal.

“They can’t just make them up,” Marcosson said.

“If the House and Senate were just to proceed on vague allegations without proof, that raises serious questions about disenfranchisement of the voters who voted for Attorney General Beshear,” Marcosson said. “It’s an extraordinary proposition to suggest that the General Assembly would take vague allegations of unspecified irregularities and call into question a gubernatorial election.”

Bevin has 30 days to formally contest the outcome after it is certified by the State Board of Elections. It would be the first contested governor’s race in the state since 1899.

If the race is contested, the candidate challenging the results must specify the reasons for the action, such as voter fraud or campaign finance violations.

The Kentucky election, along with those in Mississippi and Virginia, was seen somewhat of a test about how the country feels about President Donald Trump.

The election centered on local issues and personalities but Trump and the national GOP stepped up their efforts about a month ago, fearing a Democratic candidate could win in Kentucky.

Trump hosted a rally on Monday in Lexington with the hope that his appearance would inspire added support for Bevin in the 11th hour.

Trump carried Kentucky in the 2016 election by 30 points.

Aside from Trump, the campaign for governor of Kentucky was intensely personal.

Bevin made consistent remarks about Beshear’s backing 0f abortion rights, which is a rare stance for any Southern governor candidate to take, according to Politico.

A recent Bevin campaign ad called Beshear “pro-death,” but the Democratic challenger has made it clear that he supports certain limits on abortion and used a playbook that helped Democrats secure wins across the country in 2018, according to Politico.

Here’s other Patch coverage of the governor’s race in Kentucky:

Kentucky Election Guide 2019: Governors Race Set For Photo Finish

Kentucky Governor Election 2019 Results: Beshear Named Winner

A more standardized pre-match procedure requiring referees to perform skin checks or verify that skin checks had been completed on-site by an appropriate health-care professional was approved by the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) Wrestling Rules Committee at its April 8-10 meeting in Indianapolis.

This clarification of the skin-check rule for dual meets and tournaments, along with one other change recommended by the committee for the 2015-16 season, were subsequently approved by the NFHS Board of Directors.

Under Rule 3-1-4a, the new pre-match procedure further clarifies the duties of wrestling referees before a dual meet begins. A new rule (3-1-5) will add the same inspection requirements before tournaments. The actual requirements were not changed, only written in clearer, more specific language.

 “The skin-check rule has always been in the NFHS Wrestling Rules Book, but the committee felt it needed to be clarified and specified that this needed to be done,” said Bob Colgate, NFHS director of sports and sports medicine and liaison to the NFHS Wrestling Rules Committee. 

Alan Beste, executive director of the Iowa High School Athletic Association and chair of the Wrestling Rules Committee, said there continues to be national concern about communicable skin conditions in wrestling. Some of those conditions can pose significant health risks that may have lifelong effects.

“The two major rules changes reflect the committee’s feeling that it is important to emphasize this concern and give referees, who are the impartial parties at every competition, more responsibility in determining a wrestler’s readiness to compete safely,” Beste said.

The other rule change was to Rule 10-2-9, regarding a situation where two wrestlers in the championship bracket simultaneously cannot continue a match and the score is tied. A new criterion was added to the rule. The new criteria states, “the wrestler whose opponent has received an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty at any time during the match will continue in the consolation round.”  If neither wrestler received an unsportsmanlike penalty, then the previously set criteria will be used to determine advancement to the consolation bracket. The committee added this new criterion to emphasize sportsmanship during competition.

“I think it’s a good change,” Colgate said. “It puts more emphasis on sportsmanship in wrestling, which the committee feels is very important.” 

A complete listing of the wrestling rules changes is available on the NFHS website at www.nfhs.org. Click on “Activities & Sports” at the top of the home page, and select “Wrestling.”

According to the 2013-14 NFHS High School Athletics Participation Survey, wrestling is the sixth-most popular boys sport nationwide with 269,514 participants. There were 9,904 girls who participated in the sport as well.