GOP-led House votes to repeal ObamaCare - Bill to undo Obama immigration actions, fund DHS fails in Senate test vote

WASHINGTON –  The House voted Tuesday to repeal the Affordable Care Act, getting Republicans on record in favor of overturning the law for the first time since the party took control of Congress.

The bill passed on a 239-186 vote. 

President Obama already has threatened to veto the legislation — and like past bills to repeal ObamaCare, it is unlikely to go far under the current administration, despite Republicans now controlling the Senate and having a bigger majority in the House.

But the vote serves as an opening shot in the 114th Congress’ efforts to chip away at the law. Several lawmakers have introduced bills to change or undo parts of the Affordable Care Act, and some could garner bipartisan support. 

“We need health care reform that makes the system more responsive to patients, families and doctors — reforms that preserve and protect the doctor-patient relationship. Right now, ObamaCare is moving our health care system in the exact opposite direction where the American people are paying more and getting less,” Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga., said in a statement after the vote. “In the House of Representatives, we are saying we need to get rid of this law that’s not working and focus on solutions that will embrace the principles of affordability, accessibility, quality, innovation, choices, and responsiveness.” 

Prior to the vote, Obama questioned the logic behind it.

“So my understanding is the House scheduled yet another vote today to take health care away from folks around this table,” Obama said during a meeting with 10 people who have written him letters about how the ACA has helped them.

He added, “I’ve asked this question before. Why is it that this would be at the top of their agenda? It was maybe plausible to be against the Affordable Care Act before it was implemented. But now it has been implemented and it is working.”

The House has voted more than 50 times in the past two years to repeal all or parts of the law.

The legislation would go next to the Republican-controlled Senate.

While some say the vote is a symbolic gesture, the push to repeal ObamaCare comes as the Supreme Court weighs the King v. Burwell case, which challenges the legality of some subsidies offered through the president’s signature health care law. If the Supreme Court upholds a lower court’s verdict, it could severely undermine the law and fuel GOP efforts to at least change it. 

Republicans, as their next major step, are planning to draft legislation offering an alternative to the ACA. The bill approved Tuesday also directs House committees to begin work on an alternative plan, in case the Supreme Court rules against the law. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

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GOP-led House votes to repeal ObamaCare - Bill to undo Obama immigration actions, fund DHS fails in Senate test vote

Military tightens password security after CENTCOM Twitter hack - Obama says US must up its game on cyberthreats - Centcom hack shows US fails to get ahead of hackers

 (Shown here is an image of the compromised U.S. Central Command Twitter account.)

The hack attack that seized the U.S. Central Command’s Twitter and YouTube accounts on Monday has prompted the military to tighten its social media password security.

Officials have launched an investigation into the alarming hack, which saw the accounts briefly carrying messages promoting the Islamic State.

On Tuesday, Pentagon spokesman Col. Steve Warren told reporters that he has ordered all 50 Office of Secretary of Defense social media websites to change their passwords and increase the strength of their passwords — and offered a tip sheet to social media account administrators on “how to keep their accounts more secure.”

DoD has thousands of social media websites that it is operating in an official capacity.

Security experts say that the Central Command hack should serve as a wake-up call for military social media. “They probably could have avoided this using ordinary [password] hygiene,” Roger Kay, president of research firm Endpoint Technologies, told FoxNews.com.

Standard security procedures include the use of long passwords with multiple characters and ensuring that only a small number of people can access the accounts, according to Kay. “You want to have just one or two individuals responsible for the account,” he said. “They should be named individuals, so that if there’s a problem, you can go to those people.

Tim Junio, a cybersecurity fellow at Stanford University’s Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, also highlighted the risks posed by weak passwords.

“If, in fact, the accounts were breached due to poorly chosen passwords and security challenge question responses, the advice would be to make sure that the staff responsible for social media for DoD are well trained in best practices for strong passwords and unique security question answers,” he told FoxNews.com, in an email.  

Twitter and YouTube have not yet responded to a request for comment on this story. A DoD spokeswoman told FoxNews.com that the FBI is investigating the intrusion and working with the department to determine the nature and scope of the incident.

In a statement released on Monday evening, Central Command said that its Twitter and YouTube accounts were compromised for approximately 30 minutes, before being taken temporarily offline while officials investigated the incident. The Twitter account and YouTube channel were back online late Monday.

In its statement, Central Command explained that the sites reside “on commercial, non-Defense Department servers.”

Endpoint Technologies’ Kay said that, while the hack is clearly embarrassing, moving the sites to specially-built servers within the Defense Department is not necessary. “They should continue to use commercial servers, but secure them using normal methods,” he said. “My sense is that they were a little bit careless with their security.”

Ofer Hendler, CEO of cloud security specialist Skyfence, told FoxNews.com that multi-factor authentication, which uses a combination of passwords, personal information, and device verification is a powerful way to protect against account takeover. “It forces would-be attackers to present at least two forms of authentication — one that involves something you own (e.g., a mobile device) and the other something you know (e.g., a one-time password),” he explained, in an email.

In its statement, Central Command noted that its operational military networks were not compromised in the hack and downplayed the incident as “a case of cybervandalism.” 

The Twitter account, while it was compromised, carried an image identifying the page as “CyberCaliphate” with a message that said, “I love you ISIS.” 

The hacker group may be the same one that is under FBI investigation for hijacking the websites or Twitter feeds of media outlets in the last month, including a Maryland television station and a New Mexico newspaper. 

The intrusion on the military Twitter account carried the same logo, CyberCaliphate name and photo that appeared on the Albuquerque Journal’s website in late December when one of its stories was hacked. And earlier this month, it appeared that the same hackers breached the Journal’s Twitter account and also took over the website and Twitter feed of WBOC-TV in Salisbury, Md. 

During the Central Command hack, tweets contained what appeared to be military plans and contact information for military officials — one posting even showed what appeared to be an image from a computer webcam in a military facility.

Central Command said that, based on its initial assessment, no classified information was posted and that none of the information came from its server or social media sites.  “Additionally, we are notifying appropriate DoD and law enforcement authorities about the potential release of personally identifiable information and will take appropriate steps to ensure any individuals potentially affected are notified as quickly as possible,” it said, in its statement.

Follow James Rogers on Twitter @jamesjrogers

Fox News’ Jennifer Griffin and The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

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Military tightens password security after CENTCOM Twitter hack - Obama says US must up its game on cyberthreats - Centcom hack shows US fails to get ahead of hackers

Minaj fails to snatch solo UK number one

12 October 2014 Last updated at 19:16 Nicki Minaj is due to release her album The Pink Print later this year Nicki Minaj has failed to capture the first UK solo number one single in her own right as her song Anaconda was beaten into third place in the chart.

The US singer was routed by Meghan Trainor, who galvanised pole position with All About That Bass.

Bang Bang – Minaj’s joint effort with Jessie J and Ariana Grande – was ahead of her solo record, remaining steady at number two.

George Ezra retained top spot in the album chart with his debut collection.

The singer-songwriter was ahead of Ed Sheeran, Sam Smith and Barbra Streisand in the rundown.

Smith’s album The Lonely Hours clocks up its 20th week in the chart this week.

Irish musician Hozier scored the highest new entry at five with his self-titled collection.

A large number of other new entries peppered the chart, including Canadian star Caribou at eight, former Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr at nine, with electro-house duo Gorgon City rounding out the top 10.

Another Canadian, Bryan Adams, was just outside at 11 with his 11th studio album.

Elsewhere in the singles chart, Taylor Swift was at four with Shake It Off, which was the most-streamed track of the week.

US R&B star Jeremih went in at number five with Don’t Tell ‘Em.

A cover of Beach Boys classic God Only Knows – covered by 27 artists including Coldplay’s Chris Martin and Sir Elton John – made number 20 after just four days on sale.

A lavish music video was unveiled to launch BBC Music this week, with proceeds of sales going to Children In Need.

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Minaj fails to snatch solo UK number one

Smith fails, Bravo flickers but Chennai still win handsomely

BANGALORE, India (CMC) — West Indies one-day captain Dwayne Bravo played a minor role while opener Dwayne Smith failed again, but Chennai Super Kings did just enough to beat Perth Scorchers by 13 runs and edge closer to a semi-final spot in the Champions League Twenty20 here Saturday.

Sent in, Chennai overcame a terrible start to post 155 for six off their 20

overs and then produced a clinical bowling performance to restrict Scorchers to 142 for seven at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium.

With the victory, Chennai moved to 10 points from their full complement of matches and into second spot behind Kolkata Knight Riders who have already qualified for the semis.

Chennai can only be caught by Lahore Lions who have six points and play Scorchers in their final game tomorrow.

Hunting a crucial win, Chennai stumbled to 56 for four in the 12th

over before being rescued by a 64-run, sixth-wicket stand between Ravi Jadeja (44 not out) and captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni (35).

Brendon McCullum (11) and Suresh Raina perished within the space of three balls in the third over to leave Chennai on 16 for two.

Smith, recently named in West Indies one-day team for the tour of India, continued his struggles with the bat when he struck two fours in scoring 11 from 13 balls before he was bowled by seamer Yasir Arafat with the score on 33 for three.

When Mithun Manhas fell for 18, Chennai were 56 for four, but Bravo combined with Jadeja to add 23 for the fifth wicket and stem the haemorrhaging.

Bravo scored a patient 27 from 26 balls with a four and a six and was threatening to explode when he missed a prod at one from off-spinner Ashton Turner and was bowled off stump in the 15th over.

However, Jadeja smashed four fours and two sixes in his 28-ball knock, while Dhoni thumped four massive sixes in his 16-ball stay, to rally the innings.

Scorchers were never really in the hunt, losing wickets steadily, as off-spinner Ravi Ashwin with three for 20 from his four overs, crippled the innings.

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Smith fails, Bravo flickers but Chennai still win handsomely

Sprinter Baptiste fails drugs test

Trinidad and Tobago sprinter Kelly-Ann Baptiste has failed a drugs test and will not compete at the World Championships in Moscow.

Baptiste won 100m bronze in the World Championships in Daegu two years ago and finished sixth at London 2012.

The 26-year-old was third in the 100m at the Anniversary Games on her return to London’s Olympic Stadium last month.

Former men’s world champion Tyson Gay and ex-100m world record holder Asafa Powell failed tests earlier this year.

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Sprinter Baptiste fails drugs test

BlackBerry 10 sales flop, fails to put RIM in the black

TORONTO, Canda – SHARES of BlackBerry maker Research In Motion (RIM) plunged nearly 30 per cent Friday after the company posted a loss and warned of future losses despite releasing its make-or-break new smartphones this year.

RIM also announced that it will stop developing new versions of its slow-selling tablet computer called the Playbook.Analysts were looking for insight into how phones running RIM’s new BlackBerry 10 operating system are selling. It wasn’t good.RIM said it sold 6.8 million phones overall versus 7.8 million last year. That includes older models. In wasn’t until well into a conference call with analysts that RIM announced that 2.7 million of the devices sold in the quarter were BlackBerry 10 models.RIM’s BlackBerry 10 operating system is critical to the company’s comeback. New phones running the BlackBerry 10 software began selling around the world this year. The BlackBerry Z10, a touchscreen model, and the Q10, which sports a keyboard, have received positive reviews, but there was a delay in getting them to the market in the US.The first quarter, however, included a substantial period of sales of the Z10 phone in the US It didn’t include sales numbers for the Q10 in the US The Q10 just went on sale in the US earlier this month.Sales results and RIM’s projections, however, signal that the new BlackBerry 10 phones are not selling well. The company said it anticipates it will generate an operating loss in the second quarter, too.Mike Walkley, an analyst with Canaccord Genuity, said it’s clear the new operating system has not turned the company around.“With Z10, Q10, and Q5 all shipping in the August quarter and BlackBerry still guiding to a loss we believe that is strong evidence BB10 has not turned around BlackBerry in an extremely competitive smartphone market,” Walkley said.Chief Executive Thorsten Heins said on a conference call with analysts that the “transition takes time” and noted things are better compared to last year when “we were told the company was finished”.Shares of Research in Motion Ltd dropped US$3.93, or 27 per cent, to US$10.30 in morning trading Friday.The BlackBerry, introduced in 1999, was once the dominant smartphone for on-the-go business people. But it lost its cachet not long after Apple released the first iPhone in 2007. Apple’s device reset expectations for what a smartphone can do. RIM promised to catch up while developing new a software system called BlackBerry 10, which uses technology it got through its 2010 purchase of QNX Software Systems. But the company took more than two years to unveil new phones that were redesigned for the multimedia, Internet browsing and apps experience that customers now demand. During that time, RIM cut more than 5,000 jobs and saw shareholder wealth of more than US$70 billion vanish.The Canadian company said it lost US$84 million, or 16 cents a share, in the three months ended June 1 on revenue of US$3.1 billion. It lost US$518 million, or 99 cents per share, on revenue of US$2.8 billion a year ago.Analysts expected RIM to earn five cents a share on revenue of US$3.37 billion.The number of BlackBerry users in the world also fell by four million to 72 million. RIM also said it anticipates it will generate an operating loss in the second quarter. Heins noted the highly competitive smartphone market makes it difficult to estimate revenue and levels of profitability.Heins also announced on the call that he has halted further development of RIM’s failed tablet offering, the Playbook. The Playbook has not sold well.“Our teams have spent a great deal of time and energy looking at solutions that could move the BlackBerry 10 experience to Playbook, but unfortunately I am not satisfied with the level of performance and user experience and I made the difficult decision to stop these efforts and focus on our core hardware portfolio,” Heins said.Heins said they’ll continue to support the PlayBook on the existing software platforms and configurations. Asked if RIM will continue to make the Playbook, a RIM spokeswoman said the company is evaluating its hardware strategy.Colin Gillis, an analyst at BGC Partners, said it’s tough for RIM because it’s hard to make money on handsets now.“There are a lot of people that haven’t been able to make it happen. For all the talk about Apple and Samsung, there are companies like Nokia and HTC,” Gillis said.Gillis said things look bleaker for the company and it’s going to continue to be a struggle.Jefferies & Co analyst Peter Misek said the high-end global smartphone market is saturated and brutally competitive.“Everybody is coming to this reality. You talk to HTC, Samsung and even Apple, the high-end is saturated. That’s a fact,” Misek said. “Anybody in the high-end who wants a smartphone in the world has one, so you have to knock somebody away from another platform. That is a brutal, brutal market.”RIM has unveiled a lower-cost BlackBerry aimed at consumers in emerging markets, but hasn’t said if the device will be available in North America.Misek was expecting the company to sell four million BlackBerry 10 phones. He said the sale of 2.7 million new BlackBerry 10 phones was the most disappointing news Friday.Thorsten Heins, CEO of Research in Motion, introduces the BlackBerry Z10, in New York in January. (PHOTO: AP)

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BlackBerry 10 sales flop, fails to put RIM in the black