The World Health Organization (WHO) on Thursday warned of a continentwide third wave of coronavirus cases in Africa as the continent’s countries see major spikes in COVID-19 infections. 

“In the last two weeks, Africa recorded a 20% increase in cases compared with the previous fortnight. The pandemic is trending upwards in 14 countries and in the past week alone, eight countries witnessed an abrupt rise of over 30% in cases,” the world health body said in a statement.

The WHO believes the spike in cases on the continent is due to the African winter approaching, an increase in travel and a premature relaxing of coronavirus restrictions. 

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Africa has had 3.7 percent of the world’s coronavirus deaths but only 2.9 percent of the globe’s reported cases. 

“The threat of a third wave in Africa is real and rising. Our priority is clear – it’s crucial that we swiftly get vaccines into the arms of Africans at high risk of falling seriously ill and dying of COVID-19,” Matshidiso Moeti, the WHO’s regional director for Africa, said in the body’s statement. 

The WHO said that vaccine distribution has also lagged in African countries — 31.4 million doses have been administered in 50 countries in Africa, where around 2 percent of the population has received at least one dose of the vaccine. By comparison, 24 percent have been vaccinated globally.

In addition, almost 20 countries in Africa have already gone through 66 percent of their vaccine doses.

“While many countries outside Africa have now vaccinated their high-priority groups and are able to even consider vaccinating their children, African countries are unable to even follow up with second doses for high-risk groups. I’m urging countries that have reached a significant vaccination coverage to release doses and keep the most vulnerable Africans out of critical care,” Moeti said.

President BidenJoe BidenWHO warns of continent-wide third wave of coronavirus infections in Africa 30 House Democrats urge Biden to do more for global vaccine distribution Manchin isn’t ready to support Democrats passing infrastructure on their own MORE announced Thursday that he would be sending 25 million vaccine doses abroad, 5 million of which are going to Africa.

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Welcome to Hillicon Valley, The Hill’s newsletter detailing all you need to know about the tech and cyber news from Capitol Hill to Silicon Valley. If you don’t already, be sure to sign up for our newsletter by clicking HERE. 

Welcome! Follow our cyber reporter, Maggie Miller (@magmill95), and tech team, Chris Mills Rodrigo (@chrisismills) and Rebecca Klar (@rebeccaklar_), for more coverage.

The Biden administration is taking more steps to confront Russia and other nations harboring malicious hackers following increasing ransomware attacks. These include the attack on JBS USA, and the company announced Thursday that all U.S. facilities are back up and running, while the White House outlined how the private sector can protect itself against future attacks, and the Justice Department elevated the priority level of ransomware investigations.

PUTIN UNDER PRESSURE: The ransomware attacks on meatpacker JBS and Colonial Pipeline are prompting the Biden administration to confront nations such as Russia and China on harboring hackers who cause major disruptions overseas.

The back-to-back attacks from groups based in Russia are raising the stakes for this month’s summit between President Biden and Russian President Vladimir PutinVladimir Vladimirovich PutinHillicon Valley: Biden steps up pressure on Russia to go after cyber criminals | All JBS facilities up and running after ransomware attack | Justice Dept. gives ransomware same priority as terrorism All global JBS facilities up and running following ransomware attack Crenshaw trolled after asking for examples of ‘woke ideology’ in military MORE, the first face-to-face meeting for the two leaders since Biden took office.

Raising expectations: “This will certainly be a topic of discussion, that harboring criminal entities that are intending to do harm, that are doing harm to the critical infrastructure in the United States, is not acceptable,” White House press secretary Jen PsakiJen PsakiManchin isn’t ready to support Democrats passing infrastructure on their own Hillicon Valley: Biden steps up pressure on Russia to go after cyber criminals | All JBS facilities up and running after ransomware attack | Justice Dept. gives ransomware same priority as terrorism Maloney grills Colonial Pipeline on decision to pay ransom to hackers MORE told reporters at the White House on Wednesday. “We are not going to stand by that, we will raise that, and we are not going to take options off the table.”

She stressed that the administration had raised concerns over the multiple Russian-linked attacks on U.S. critical organizations with Moscow and that protecting critical infrastructure was “of the utmost national security importance.”

“We believe that responsible states do not harbor ransomware criminals,” Psaki said.

Read more about the efforts here.

 

CRISIS AVERTED: JBS USA and Pilgrim’s on Thursday afternoon announced that all global facilities were functioning normally, days after JBS was hit by a ransomware attack believed to have been carried out by Russian-based hackers. 

JBS, the largest beef provider in the U.S., saw facilities in both North America and Australia impacted by the ransomware attack that hit the company over the weekend and forced the shutdown of all U.S. facilities on Tuesday. 

The two companies noted Thursday that all lost production from the shutdown would be made up by the end of this week, and that the amount lost was less than one day’s typical production. 

Read more here.

 

JUSTICE FOR ALL: The Justice Department announced this week that it will begin elevating ransomware investigations to a similar level of priority as terrorist attacks.

John Carlin, the acting deputy attorney general at the Justice Department, told Reuters on Thursday that the federal government will prioritize ransomware cases through a new process.

“It’s a specialized process to ensure we track all ransomware cases regardless of where it may be referred in this country, so you can make the connections between actors and work your way up to disrupt the whole chain,” he said.

Read more here.

 

PRIVATE SECTOR UNDER PRESSURE: The White House has sent out recommendations to the private sector over how to protect themselves from cyber intrusions after a series of attacks left companies and government agencies vulnerable. 

Deputy National Security Advisor for Cyber and Emerging Technology Anne Neuberger in a memo obtained by The Hill sounded the alarm over recent high-profile attacks against places like Colonial Pipeline and SolarWinds and said the private sector must recognize the dire threat that hacks pose to its companies.

“All organizations must recognize that no company is safe from being targeted by ransomware, regardless of size or location,” she wrote. “Much as our homes have locks and alarm systems and our office buildings have guards and security to meet the threat of theft, we urge you to take ransomware crime seriously and ensure your corporate cyber defenses match the threat.”

Read more about the memo here.

 

PAY UP: Twitter is rolling out a subscription service that will allow access to features limited to the paying users, the company said Thursday. 

The Twitter Blue feature is rolling out first in Canada and Australia with monthly fees of $3.49 CAD and $4.49 AUD.

One feature Twitter Blue subscribers will have access to will let users preview and either revise or “undo” a tweet within 30 seconds. 

Other features include letting users add bookmark folders to organize saved tweets, and a “reader mode” that provides a “more beautiful reading experience” of long threads, according to the blog post. 

Read more here. 

 

QUESTIONS, CONCERNS: House Oversight and Reform Committee Chairwoman Carolyn MaloneyCarolyn MaloneyHillicon Valley: Biden steps up pressure on Russia to go after cyber criminals | All JBS facilities up and running after ransomware attack | Justice Dept. gives ransomware same priority as terrorism Maloney grills Colonial Pipeline on decision to pay ransom to hackers Hillicon Valley: DC attorney general files antitrust lawsuit against Amazon | DHS to require pipeline companies to report cyberattacks | Activists, parents urge Facebook to drop Instagram for kids plan MORE (D-N.Y.) on Thursday grilled Colonial Pipeline and insurance group CNA Financial Corporation for their recent decisions to pay hackers in order to regain access to their networks following ransomware attacks. 

Maloney requested documents from both companies on the payments, with Colonial choosing to pay likely Russian hackers the equivalent of $4.4 million in Bitcoin last month to restart their pipeline, which provides around 45 percent of the East Coast’s fuel.

Bloomberg also reported last month that CNA, one of the largest insurance providers in the nation, paid hackers $40 million in late March after being hit by a ransomware attack.

Maloney wrote to the leaders of both companies Thursday that she was “troubled” by the choice to pay the hackers, and that more information on the decisions was needed. 

Read more about the letters here.

 

GOOGLE’S TAKE: Google will launch an update to let Android users opt out of tracking features to limit targeted ads later this year, according to the company’s support website. 

The planned update comes after Apple launched a similar anti-tracking feature in March that was cheered by privacy advocates but faced fierce pushback from social media giant Facebook. 

For Android users, the update will come as part of a Google Play services update in “late 2021,” according to Google. 

If a user opts out of personalized ads, the user’s unique advertising identifier will not be available. Instead, it will appear as a string of zeros in place of the identifier.

Read more about the update. 

 

A FACEBOOK FIRST: Facebook has named Marne Levine to serve as its first ever chief business officer. 

Levine, who currently serves as the platform’s vice president of global partnerships, business and corporate development, has been at Facebook for more than a decade. She is replacing outgoing Chief Revenue Officer David Fischer.

“It is a privilege to be leading a business that enables economic and social change for our global partners, helping them to create their brand, build their community, and grow their business,” Levine wrote in an Instagram post announcing her promotion.

Read more here. 

LABEL WOES: A new study published this week by liberal media watchdog Media Matters for America found that Facebook’s misinformation labels may have actually helped to amplify former President TrumpDonald TrumpFacebook to end policy shielding politicians from content moderation rules: reports US government found no evidence that Navy UFO sightings were alien spacecraft: report More than a dozen police officers still on medical leave from Jan. 6 injuries MORE’s content.

According to Media Matters, the posts from Trump between January 2020 to 2021 that were labeled as containing misinformation by Facebook received more than twice the amount of interactions compared to his overall posts. The labeled posts received around 407,000 interactions on average, while his posts overall received an average of 152,000 interactions in comparison.

A representative for Facebook shot back at MMFA’s characterization, pointing out that the media watchdog had not provided evidence to show that the labels directly caused the posts to become more popular. 

Read more about the study. 

 

EU’S NEW ID: The European Union on Thursday unveiled plans for a digital ID wallet that would be available to residents of the 27-member bloc.

The European Commission said the wallet would allow citizens to prove identity and share documents “with the click of a button on their phone.”

Users would be allowed to link their identifications with other personal information, such as diplomas and bank accounts.

Large platforms will be required to accept the digital identity at the request of users. However, citizens will be able to decide whether they use it.

Read more about the plan. 

Lighter click: Where’s Waldo?

An op-ed to chew on: Who will set standards for 21st century technologies — the US or China?

 

NOTABLE LINKS FROM AROUND THE WEB: 

Google says it’s committed to ethical AI research. Its ethical AI team isn’t so sure. (Recode / Shirin Ghaffary) 

Virtual Reality Therapy Plunges Patients Back Into Trauma. Here Is Why Some Swear by It. (The New York Times / Dani Blum)

Facebook to end special treatment for politicians after Trump ban (The Verge / Alex Heath)

First major voting vendor, Hart InterCivic, partners with Microsoft on ambitious software security tool ElectionGuard (CyberScoop / Tim Starks) 

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China on Friday pressed President BidenJoe BidenWHO warns of continent-wide third wave of coronavirus infections in Africa 30 House Democrats urge Biden to do more for global vaccine distribution Manchin isn’t ready to support Democrats passing infrastructure on their own MORE to provide a “fair and nondiscriminatory” business environment to Chinese companies after the White House expanded a Trump-era order prohibiting investments in certain firms.

The comment comes after Biden signed an executive order aimed at prohibiting investments in Chinese companies that produce or deploy surveillance technology used to repress human rights.

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Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin urged the U.S. to “provide Chinese enterprises with a fair and nondiscriminatory business and investment environment,” according to the Associated Press.

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“China will take necessary measures to resolutely safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese enterprises,” he said.

Under Biden’s new order, which takes effect on Aug. 2, 59 firms are subject to the prohibitions and more could be added.

The order expands an executive order signed by former President TrumpDonald TrumpFacebook to end policy shielding politicians from content moderation rules: reports US government found no evidence that Navy UFO sightings were alien spacecraft: report More than a dozen police officers still on medical leave from Jan. 6 injuries MORE in November allowing the U.S. to blacklist companies that had connections with Beijing’s military.

Most of the companies in the original order remained on the list.

AP noted that added companies were manufacturers of satellite equipment, integrated circuits, optical components and satellite communications equipment and software.

The move comes ascensions grow between Washington and Beijing. The White House has been vocal about its concerns over China’s treatment of Muslim majority Uyghurs and activists in Hong Kong.

Secretary of State Antony BlinkenAntony BlinkenBiden bars US investment in Chinese companies linked to surveillance What US policymakers can glean from Iceland’s clean energy evolution The Hill’s Morning Report – Presented by Citizens’ Climate Lobby – Deal or no deal? Biden, Capito continue infrastructure talks MORE and national security adviser Jake SullivanJake SullivanBiden bars US investment in Chinese companies linked to surveillance Biden orders agencies to step up anti-corruption efforts Biden walks fine line with probe into coronavirus origins MORE clashed with Chinese officials in Alaska in March during a meeting in Anchorage, Alaska.

Happy Wednesday and welcome back to On The Money. I’m Sylvan Lane, and here’s your nightly guide to everything affecting your bills, bank account and bottom line.

See something I missed? Let me know at slane@thehill.com or tweet me @SylvanLane. And if you like your newsletter, you can subscribe to it here: http://bit.ly/1NxxW2N.

Write us with tips, suggestions and news: slane@thehill.com, njagoda@thehill.com and nelis@thehill.com. Follow us on Twitter: @SylvanLane, @NJagoda and @NivElis.

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THE BIG DEAL—May jobs report to land at pivotal moment in Biden agenda: The May jobs report on Friday morning is set to come at a crucial moment for President BidenJoe BidenBiden congratulates election of new Israeli president amid agreement to oust Netanyahu Trump DOJ seized phone records of New York Times reporters ‘Blue’s Clues’ hosts virtual Pride parade with help of former ‘Drag Race’ contestant MORE’s economic agenda.

• A disappointing April gain of 266,000 jobs and higher than expected inflation data this month has fueled criticism from Republicans over Biden’s handling of the economy. 
• With the GOP eager to land a blow against Biden’s sturdy approval ratings, Republicans have seized on the fits and starts of the post-pandemic recovery to derail his massive spending plans.

Biden and Democrats are hopeful that a strong May jobs report can help vindicate their calls for patience of April’s undershoot and clear the path to eventual infrastructure package, with or without Republican support. But another weak jobs gain could spur more backlash and undercut Biden’s spending push as a backlog of other legislative priorities threatens to dominate the congressional calendar. I explain why here.

What to look for on Friday: The consensus among economists is for a gain of 500,000 jobs in May, though many say what lies beneath that headline number is arguably more important.

“It’s going to be a big number by ordinary standards almost regardless. Even the disappointing April number was a pretty big number,” said Douglas Holtz-Eakin, president of the American Action Forum, a right-leaning think tank, and former director of the Congressional Budget Office.

Holtz-Eakin added that continuing improvement in labor force participation, more workers moving from part-time to full-time work, and recovery in hard-hit sectors would all help boost the overall employment gain and the economy’s long-term prospects.

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“What I’d like to see is strength across the board, some additional pickup in the service sector but also in the goods sector. And if you get all of those, you’ll get a big number,” he said.

LEADING THE DAY

Biden, top GOP negotiator agree to continue infrastructure talks Friday: President Biden and Sen. Shelley Moore CapitoShelley Wellons Moore CapitoOn The Money: May jobs report to land at pivotal moment in Biden agenda | Biden, top GOP negotiator agree to continue infrastructure talks Friday Overnight Energy:  Senate climate advocates start digging in on infrastructure goals | Judge rebuffs Noem’s bid for July 4th fireworks at Mount Rushmore | Climate advocate wins third seat on Exxon board Biden, top GOP negotiator agree to continue infrastructure talks Friday MORE (W.Va.), the lead Republican negotiator on infrastructure talks, met for about an hour at the White House on Wednesday and made plans to speak later this week as the two sides discuss a potential bipartisan agreement. 

The White House described the meeting as a “constructive and frank conversation in the Oval Office about how we can drive economic growth and benefit America’s middle class through investing in our infrastructure” and said that Biden and Capito agreed to reconnect on Friday.

A spokeswoman for Capito said in a statement that the senator is “encouraged that negotiations have continued” and would brief other GOP senators on the discussion with Biden before engaging with him again later this week.

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What it means: It’s hard to say. White House press secretary Jen PsakiJen PsakiHalf of US states end enhanced pandemic unemployment benefits On The Money: May jobs report to land at pivotal moment in Biden agenda | Biden, top GOP negotiator agree to continue infrastructure talks Friday Harris gets new high-stakes role with voting rights effort MORE said at a briefing earlier Wednesday that the meeting would be more of a “discussion” rather than an “exchange of paper,” suggesting that Biden would not give Capito a counteroffer after Republicans unveiled a $928 billion infrastructure counterproposal last week.

Both Biden and Democrats say they’re losing patience with the length of talks and want to move an infrastructure bill by August. Talks can’t produce a deal unless they continue, but talks continuing without actual progress toward a deal only takes up time needed to legislate, and Democrats can’t afford to lose much more.

JBS ransomware attack underscores threat facing meat industry: A ransomware attack that temporarily froze the country’s second biggest producer of beef, pork and poultry upended the national food system this week, highlighting the vulnerabilities in the highly consolidated meat industry.

What happened: 

• Hackers believed to have originated in Russia forced JBS SA to shut down its US operations, cutting off the supplier of roughly 25 percent of beef and 20 percent of pork and poultry.
• JBS is expected to restart packaging at full capacity by the end of Wednesday, reducing the impact of the shutdown to a small but manageable bump to beef and pork prices that were already trending higher.

The long-term: While the short-term impact of the JBS shutdown may be brief, the latest high-profile attack on a private company with a major market share in a critical industry has spurred more concern about consolidation within meatpacking and the threats a longer freeze could pose to the U.S.

“It’s alarming to see another cyberattack against a crucial supply chain,” said Sen. Deb FischerDebra (Deb) Strobel FischerOn The Money: May jobs report to land at pivotal moment in Biden agenda | Biden, top GOP negotiator agree to continue infrastructure talks Friday JBS ransomware attack underscores threat facing meat industry McConnell returns as Senate ‘grim reaper’ MORE (R-Neb.) in a statement Tuesday.

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“JBS has taken action to resolve this issue. However, the fact that nearly 20% of U.S. meat processing capacity can go offline due [to] a single event could be a hit to Nebraska’s economy, the cattle market as whole, and consumers across America.” I break it down here.

GOOD TO KNOW

• Ally Financial on Wednesday announced that they plan to end overdraft fees, becoming the first large bank to make the move. 
• Businesses across the U.S. scrambled to hire workers in May as a variety of pandemic-related constraints keep potential employees on the sidelines, Federal Reserve officials said in a Wednesday report.
• Stimulus checks sent out by the government during the pandemic significantly helped Americans pay basic bills and reduced their anxiety, according to a new analysis of Census Bureau data.
• United States Trade Representative Katherine TaiKatherine TaiOn The Money: May jobs report to land at pivotal moment in Biden agenda | Biden, top GOP negotiator agree to continue infrastructure talks Friday USTR announces suspended tariffs on six nations after probes into digital taxes Biden faces dilemma on Trump steel tariffs MORE on Wednesday announced tariffs on goods from six countries in light of their digital services taxes (DSTs), but said that the tariffs would be suspended for up to 180 days to keep negotiations going.
• President Biden regularly fell on the hawkish side of fiscal debates during his decades-long Senate career, often going a step further than other centrist Democrats in his push to rein in deficits and debt. But since taking office this year at the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue, Biden has taken a largely different approach to government spending.

ODDS AND ENDS

• Trading of AMC Entertainment shares was halted several times on Wednesday after the stock, a favorite among Reddit traders, saw a surge in activity and price.

Multiple lawyers defending individuals accused of participating in the deadly Jan. 6 Capitol riot are blaming misinformation and conspiracy theories for their clients’ actions, hoping it will inspire sympathy.

Speaking to The Associated Press, three lawyers representing defendants charged in connection with the violent riot said they plan to blame misinformation, much of it spread by former President TrumpDonald TrumpBarbra Streisand: Republicans ‘want an authoritarian state’ DOJ adds four defendants to Oath Keepers conspiracy case J.D. Vance emerges as wild card in Ohio GOP Senate primary MORE, for deceiving their clients.

Albert Watkins, who is representing so-called QAnon Shaman Jacob Chansley, 33, compared misinformation regarding the election to brainwashing or a cult.

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“He is not crazy,” Watkins said of his client. “The people who fell in love with [cult leader] Jim Jones and went down to Guyana, they had husbands and wives and lives. And then they drank the Kool-Aid.”

However, one expert, Christopher Slobogin, who is the director of Vanderbilt Law School’s Criminal Justice Program, told the AP that he has never seen such a defense win.

“I’m not blaming defense attorneys for bringing this up,” Slobogin told the AP. “You pull out all the stops and make all the arguments you can make.”

“But just because you have a fixed, false belief that the election was stolen doesn’t mean you can storm the Capitol,” he added.

Lawyers representing Bruno Joseph Cua, 19, accused of shoving a police officer outside the U.S. Senate chamber, blamed his inflammatory statements on social media. One of his attorneys, Jonathan Jeffress, said his client was “parroting what he heard and saw on social media. Mr. Cua did not come up with these ideas on his own; he was fed them.”

One of the defendants, Anthony Antonio, 27, told the AP that he had not been interested in politics before boredom brought on by the pandemic led him to right-wing social media and conservative news channels. After his work was shut down, he said he would watch Fox News all day with his roomates.

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Antonio is accused of throwing a water bottle at a police officer, destroying furniture and screaming “You want war? We got war. 1776 all over again” at officers, the AP reports.

Antonio’s lawyer, Joseph Hurley, told the AP that he plans to argue that his client was an impressionable person who was exploited by Trump and his allies, likening misinformation to a disease.

He clarified that misinformation “is not a defense. It’s not. But it will be brought up to say: This is why he was here. The reason he was there is because he was a dumbass and believed what he heard on Fox News.”

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The ransomware attacks on meatpacker JBS and Colonial Pipeline are prompting the Biden administration to confront nations like Russia and China on harboring hackers who cause major disruptions overseas.

The back-to-back attacks from groups based in Russia are raising the stakes for this month’s summit with President BidenJoe BidenBiden congratulates election of new Israeli president amid agreement to oust Netanyahu Trump DOJ seized phone records of New York Times reporters ‘Blue’s Clues’ hosts virtual Pride parade with help of former ‘Drag Race’ contestant MORE and Russian President Vladimir PutinVladimir Vladimirovich PutinFBI says Russia-linked group behind JBS hack Navalny loses bid to overturn designation he says allows guards to ‘torture’ him American imprisoned in Russia calls for Biden to resolve ‘hostage diplomacy situation’ in Putin meeting MORE, the first face-to-face meeting between the two leaders since Biden took office.

“This will certainly be a topic of discussion, that harboring criminal entities that are intending to do harm, that are doing harm to the critical infrastructure in the United States, is not acceptable,” White House press secretary Jen PsakiJen PsakiHalf of US states end enhanced pandemic unemployment benefits On The Money: May jobs report to land at pivotal moment in Biden agenda | Biden, top GOP negotiator agree to continue infrastructure talks Friday Harris gets new high-stakes role with voting rights effort MORE told reporters at the White House on Wednesday. “We are not going to stand by that, we will raise that, and we are not going to take options off the table.”

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She stressed that the administration had raised concerns over the multiple Russian-linked attacks on U.S. critical organizations with Moscow and that protecting critical infrastructure was “of the utmost national security importance.”

“We believe that responsible states do not harbor ransomware criminals,” Psaki said.

The concerns around the Kremlin’s treatment of cyber criminals comes after months of escalating cyberattacks linked to Russia.

Last month’s ransomware attack on Colonial Pipeline, which supplies around 45 percent of the East Coast’s fuel, forced the company to shut down operations for a week and led to widespread fuel shortages.

The FBI later confirmed the “DarkSide” ransomware variant had been used to attack the company, with Biden announcing the hackers behind the attack were likely based in Russia but not backed by the Kremlin.

Microsoft assessed last week that the Russian hackers believed to be responsible for the earlier SolarWinds attack, which compromised nine federal agencies, were behind a new effort to target hundreds of organizations by exploiting an email application used by the U.S. Agency for International Development.

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Further underlining the threat, White House principal deputy press secretary Karine Jean-PierreKarine Jean-PierreFBI says Russia-linked group behind JBS hack All JBS beef plants in US forced to halt production after cyberattack On The Money: Infrastructure negotiations enter make-or-break week | Biden lays out plan for racial wealth equity in Tulsa MORE told reporters Tuesday that JBS USA had informed the administration that it believed Russian-based hackers were behind a ransomware attack that hit the company this week. JBS USA is the largest supplier of beef in the country, and all U.S. plants were forced to shut down Tuesday due to the disruptions from the hack.

The FBI on Wednesday said a Russia-linked group was responsible for the attack.

Biden stressed last month plans were underway to put pressure on Russia to take action.

“We are working to try to get to the place where we have an international standard that governments knowing that criminal activities are happening in their territory, that we all move on those criminal enterprises, and I expect that is one of the topics I will be talking about with President Putin,” Biden said as part of a speech at the White House.

Jean-Pierre told reporters Tuesday that this effort was part of a multi-pronged strategy to combat ransomware attacks, which included “building an international coalition to hold countries who harbor ransom actors accountable.”

“Combating ransomware is a priority for the administration, President Biden has already launched a rapid strategic review to address the increased threat of ransomware,” Jean-Pierre said.

Multiple agencies are involved, with the Justice Department establishing a ransomware task force in April, and the Department of Homeland Security highlighting the attacks as the first major cyber-related priority to address.

Still, Biden has come under criticism for not taking a tougher stance against Putin in other areas, particularly after waiving sanctions against the Russian company behind the Nord Stream 2 pipeline and its CEO Matthias Warnig, an associate of Putin.

While the recent hacks have largely been tied to Russian-based hackers, the country is not the only one to come under pressure.

China has also been accused of harboring cyber criminals and doing little to rein in their activities, particularly as Beijing is increasingly competitive on the world stage in a number of sectors. North Korea and Iran, two other nations that pose threats to the U.S. in cyberspace, have also been pushed to address cyber criminals within their borders, though U.S. relations with those two countries are virtually non-existent.

The Justice Department last year indicted two Chinese hackers for allegedly targeting hundreds of companies worldwide, including groups researching COVID-19 vaccines and treatments.

John Demers, assistant attorney general for the agency’s National Security Division, said in announcing the indictments that actions of the Chinese government in protecting the defendants ran “afoul of norms of acceptable state behavior in cyberspace, which the international community must address.”

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“China has now taken its place, alongside Russia, Iran, and North Korea, in that shameful club of nations that provide a safe haven for cyber criminals in exchange for those criminals being ‘on call’ to work for the benefit of the state,” Demers said at the time.

Concerns around the dangers of ransomware attacks have grown over the past year as cyber criminals increasingly take aim at organizations like hospitals and schools that are more likely to pay a ransom to regain access to systems.

Amit Yoran, chairman and CEO of cybersecurity group Tenable, said that if the international community does not come together to address the ransomware threat, there could be “catastrophic damages.”

“Cyberattacks do not stop at national borders and we cannot overlook the importance of making cybersecurity a critical component of international cooperation,” Yoran told The Hill on Wednesday. “The U.S. and our allies must work together on cybersecurity policy standards that ensure no government or nation can harbor cybercriminals.”

The Institute for Security and Technology’s Ransomware Task Force, made up of cybersecurity experts from government and industry, released a report in April detailing steps the U.S. should take to confront the threat from ransomware attacks. One top recommendation was to use a “carrot and stick approach” to confront nations harboring ransomware criminals.

Megan Stifel, one of the co-chairs of the task force and the executive director for Americas at the Global Cyber Alliance, told The Hill that an “international coalition of the willing” was needed to put pressure on countries like Russia and China to not allow cyber criminals to operate from within their borders.

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“There needs to be an international effort, prioritized and driven by top-level partner nations, to identify ransomware as an international priority and national security risk,” Stifel said.

With Biden slated to meet with Putin in two weeks, and cybersecurity set to be high on the agenda, Stifel said that while it could be helpful to have the two leaders meeting, more would be needed to pressure Russia and other nations to crack down on cyber criminals.

“What would make any such public statements even more effective is if the administration is working diplomatic channels to say to our partners and allies, ‘This is what happened, we really need you to come along with us and highlight the problem that this is for the international community,’ and similarly state to Putin and the others that this type of behavior will no longer be tolerated,” Stifel said.

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga on Friday extended the nation’s state of emergency through June 20 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to CNN, Sugar said that cases continued to be at high levels and that hospitals were under strain even though infection numbers are decreasing in Osaka and Tokyo.

“Infection is on the decline these days, however, the situation is still unpredictable,” Suga said, according to the news outlet. “ Considering these situations I have decided to extend the declaration.”

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The move comes just a couple of months before the Olympics are slated to begin in Tokyo on July 23. Yuriko Koike, the governor of Tokyo, asked the Japanese government for an extension to the state of emergency amid increasing coronavirus infections.

Foreign spectators are currently banned from attending the Olympic games, but athletes and support staff are still expected to attend the games.

Meanwhile, the U.S. State Department has advised Americans not to travel to Japan, citing a “high level” of COVID-19 in the country.

The extended state of emergency comes amid growing pressure to cancel the games.

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Earlier this month, over 350,000 people petitioned Koike and the heads of the Olympics and Paralympic committees to cancel the Olympics. A doctors group in Japan also called for the games to be cancelled.

Japan has recorded 735, 234 coronavirus infections since the pandemic began, and 12, 691 deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

A California district attorney will not seek a new death sentence against Scott Peterson, who was convicted in 2005 of murdering his wife following a highly publicized trial. 

In a Friday San Mateo Superior Court filing, Stanislaus County District Attorney Birgit Fladager said that she would no longer be pursuing an effort to restore the death sentence.

The sentence was thrown out last year when California justices said potential jurors were excluded from the trial after saying they disagreed with the death penalty. 

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Fladager in the filing obtained by The Associated Press said that while Laci Peterson’s family has “no doubt” that Scott Peterson killed his wife, who was eight months pregnant with their unborn son, Conner, and deserves the death penalty, it doesn’t want to pursue restoring the punishment because “this process is simply too painful to endure once again.” 

Scott Peterson, whose trial was moved from Stanislaus County to the San Mateo court due to significant public attention surrounding the case, has been held at San Quentin State Prison since his conviction. 

The move by the district attorney comes as Scott Peterson has continued to maintain his innocence and is seeking a new trial. His attorneys said a juror failed to disclose that she had sought a restraining order against her boyfriend’s ex-girlfriend out of fear for the safety of her unborn child. 

Superior Court Judge Anne-Christine Massullo has said that she hopes to make a decision this year on whether the nondisclosure amounts to juror misconduct and if it warrants a new murder trial, the AP reported. 

Pat Harris, the attorney who is handling the death sentence portion of Scott Peterson’s case, told the AP that it was not immediately clear if the district attorney would resume seeking the death penalty should a new trial occur. 

“It’s not clear to me that they’re saying no matter what, we’re taking the death penalty off the table … or they’re saying if we go back to trial we’re reserving the right to put the death penalty back up again,” Harris told the news agency. “It sounds like they’re kind of holding back that if the judge orders a new trial, they could put the death penalty back on the table.”

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“The truth of the matter is they have determined … that the handwriting is on the wall and if we go back to trial we’re going to prove Scott’s innocence,” he added. 

Harris has said that he could prove to the court that a nearby burglary on the day of Laci Peterson’s 2002 disappearance could provide reasonable doubt about whether her husband was the one responsible for her death. 

The Hill has reached out to the Stanislaus County district attorney’s office for comment.

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TGIF!!! Welcome to Overnight Energy, your source for the day’s energy and environment news.Please send tips and comments to Rachel Frazin at rfrazin@thehill.com . Follow her on Twitter: @RachelFrazin . Reach Zack Budryk at zbudryk@thehill.com or follow him on Twitter: @BudrykZack . Signup for our newsletter and others HERE. 

Programming note: There will be no Overnight Energy on Monday. We’ll be back on Tuesday. 

Today we’re looking at The White House’s defense of increased gas prices and President BidenJoe BidenPutin backs up Belarus’s Lukashenko amid international pressure Biden administration to reimpose sanctions on Belarus over diverted flight Senate passes resolution urging probe into COVID-19 origins MORE’s proposed budget taking aim at fossil fuel tax benefits.

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PRICE CHECK ON AISLE THREE: Psaki defends gas prices as ‘well in line’ with recent decades 

White House press secretary Jen PsakiJen PsakiBiden administration to reimpose sanctions on Belarus over diverted flight Overnight Energy: Psaki defends gas prices | Biden budget aims to raise B from cutting fossil fuel tax benefits On The Money: Inside Biden’s T budget | Key inflation metric higher than expected MORE on Friday said that gas prices have “stabilized” and defended them as “well in line” with recent decades as they reached the highest prices since 2014 ahead of Memorial Day weekend. 

“As Americans are hitting the road, they are paying less in real terms for gas than they have on average over the last 15 years — and they’re paying about the same as they did in May 2018 and May 2019,” Psaki said in a statement. 

“While prices have increased from the lows last year — as demand drastically dipped — prices at just about $3 per gallon are still well in line with what they’ve been in recent decades,” she added. 

The White House official also noted that prices have “stabilized” after climbing earlier this month, and noted that gas supply has also returned to normal after the temporary shutdown of a major pipeline earlier this month prompted panic buying. 

How high were they??? Gas prices reached their highest price since 2014 on Friday, costing an average of $3.04 per gallon nationally, according to AAA.

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However, according to the organization, the price is much lower than gas prices were on Memorial Day weekend in 2014, reaching $3.65 per gallon. 

Going into Memorial Day weekend in 2018, gas prices averaged $2.93 and they averaged about $2.84 on the Friday before Memorial Day in 2019.  

Read more about Psaki’s statement here.

 

TAXATION WITH EXPLORATION: Biden budget aims to raise $35B from cutting fossil fuel tax benefits

President Biden’s budget proposal released Friday takes aim at specific tax provisions that benefit the fossil fuel industry and projects that eliminating these measures will generate $35 billion over the course of a decade. 

The new $6 trillion budget proposal is a more detailed proposal than the “skinny” version released last month, which had called for spending an additional $14 billion on tackling climate change and proposed funding increases for the Energy Department, Interior Department and Environmental Protection Agency. 

The White House has also previously, in its infrastructure plan, said that it wanted to “eliminate tax preferences for fossil fuels,” but the new proposal gets much more specific.

The deets: Among the benefits Biden hopes to cut are those received by the fossil fuel industry for enhanced oil recovery, a method of extraction that allows companies to get to fuel they wouldn’t be able to otherwise reach, and another for “intangible” costs like wages, repairs, supplies and other expenses that are needed for oil and gas drilling. 

He’s also targeting a provision that allows oil and gas companies to deduct as much as 15 percent of the revenue they get from a well. 

Read more about what Biden hopes to change here.

 

IN SCIENCE NEWS: Senate confirms Biden’s top scientist

The Senate confirmed President Biden’s nominee to lead the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, Eric LanderEric LanderOvernight Energy: Psaki defends gas prices | Biden budget aims to raise B from cutting fossil fuel tax benefits Hillicon Valley: Facebook to resume some political donations | Microsoft says Russian hackers utilized email system used by USAID to target other groups | Senate confirms Biden’s top scientist Senate confirms Biden’s top scientist MORE, in a voice vote on Friday.

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Lander will be the first person at the position since Biden elevated it to Cabinet level, and is the last member of Biden’s Cabinet to be confirmed.

He faced pushback during his nomination hearing over allegations of downplaying contributions of two female scientists, and over two meetings he had in the past with the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Lander apologized during his nomination hearing over a question about downplaying the work of two Nobel Prize-winning female scientists in a 2016 paper. 

He also said that the “sum total” of his interactions with Epstein was meeting briefly at two events within the span of three weeks in the spring of 2012. He maintained that he did not know about Epstein’s “sordid history before that point,” and when he learned about it, “had nothing to do with him thereafter.” 

Read more about Lander’s confirmation here.

 

WHAT WE’RE READING:

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Jane Goodall: If We Don’t Make Peace With Nature, Expect More Deadly Pandemics, HuffPost reports

Why Biden’s EPA chief stepped into a Chicago permit controversy, The Chicago Sun-Times reports

Bayer hit by failure to cap risk from weedkiller cases, Reuters reports

Florida’s top environmental official resigns. He had been leading Piney Point response, The Miami Herald reports

Granholm touts clean energy jobs in Houston, The Houston Chronicle reports

 

OFF-BEAT AND OFFBEAT: Check out this weird squirrel! 

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Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron (R) is accusing CVS Health of “fueling” the opioid crisis in the state in a lawsuit filed on Wednesday.  

Cameron sued the health care company in Franklin Circuit Court, alleging that its “unlawful business practices” and failure to “guard against diversion” of opioids contributed to Kentucky’s epidemic. 

The lawsuit said CVS pharmacies in Kentucky bought more than 151 million dosage units of oxycodone and hydrocodone from its own distribution centers and third-party distributors between 2006 and 2014, amounting to almost 6.1 percent of the dosage units in the state at the time. 

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“As both distributor and pharmacy, CVS was in a unique position to monitor and stop the peddling of these highly-addictive drugs from their stores, yet they ignored their own safeguard systems,” Cameron said in a statement.  

“By bringing this lawsuit on behalf of the people of Kentucky, we are holding CVS accountable for these decisions and for contributing to a man-made crisis that tragically led to the loss of life of thousands of Kentuckians,” he added. 

Cameron specifically highlighted two CVS stores, including one in Perry County that bought more than 6.8 million dosage units of oxycodone and hydrocodone between 2006 and 2014. That would be enough for every county resident to have 26 pills every year.

Another CVS in Crittenden County purchased more than 2.8 million dosage units, amounting to enough for every person to have more than 34 pills annually, according to the lawsuit.  

CVS did not report any suspicious orders for its Kentucky stores between 2007 and 2014. The following year, drug overdoses reached more than 59 percent of the state’s accidental deaths. 

The lawsuit also alleges CVS “improperly normalized the widespread use of opioids” through its participation in marketing and advertising of opioid products, including with manufacturers such as Purdue Pharma and Endo Pharmaceuticals. 

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CVS Health told The Hill in a statement that it’s ready to defend against the lawsuit’s allegations. 

“Opioids are made and marketed by drug manufacturers, not pharmacies,” the statement said. “Pharmacists dispense opioid prescriptions written by licensed physicians for a legitimate medical need. Pharmacists do not — and cannot — write prescriptions.”

The health care company said it has invested in fighting opioid misuse and abuse through educational programs, safe medication disposal sites and increased access to overdose reversal drugs.  

Former Kentucky Attorney General Andy Beshear (D), who is now the governor, filed a similar lawsuit against Walgreens in 2018 saying the company made the epidemic worse. 

The National Institute on Drug Abuse ranked Kentucky ninth for the most opioid deaths in 2018 in the latest available data, with 23.4 fatalities per 100,000 people. It also had the fourth most opioid prescriptions, with 79.5 per 100 people. 

The Bluegrass State also saw a jump in overdose deaths last year during the pandemic. Preliminary data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found a 53.1 percent increase in predicted cases in the 12-month period ending in October 2020, compared to the previous year.

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