The situation grows ever more dire in Egypt, where over 600 were killed nationwide on Wednesday after government security forces attempted to wipe out ex-President Morsi’s supporters in deadly attacks in Cairo. Meanwhile, The Washington Post, CNN, and Time magazine suffered from a cyberattack conducted by the Syrian Electronic Army. In Nevada, decades-long theories have been debunked as the CIA revealed the existence of Area 51, a part of Nevada previously thought to have boasted UFO sightings.
Welcome back to NEWSFLASH! Giving you the week’s biggest news stories!
Hundreds Routed As Egyptian Security Officers Attack Protestors
A total of 638 people died nationwide on Wednesday in Egypt after security officers stormed two key encampments full of protestors. The protestors were supporters of ousted Egyptian president, Mohamed Morsi, and the attacks were meant to disperse them while weakening support for the ex-president.
Protestors were aware that security authorities would be called in to deal with the situation in Cairo, but were shocked at the intensity of the onslaught. The massacre lasted 12 hours, with the Egyptian officers rolling in with armored vehicles, tear gas, bulldozers, and guns which they used to shoot protestors in the head and chest. Snipers had also been set up in all around the protestors’ camps.
In total, the Health Ministry declared that 3,994 people had been injured.
The attack on pro-Morsi supporters prompted Morsi to for a “Day of Rage.” The ex-president’s demand was honored on Friday when his supporters clashed with opposing groups in a day of conflict that killed at least 60 people. In response, Egyptian security officials stormed a mosque known as a main shelter for pro-Morsi protestors.
President Obama has condemned the violence in Egypt, but has not made clear what measures he plans to take. The U.S. currently offers Egypt 1.5 billion dollars in military and economic aid every year, which Obama has not yet decided to cut.
Syrian Electronic Army Hacks Washington Post, CNN, and Time Sites
For half an hour Thursday morning, the Washington Post, CNN, and Time magazine were subjected to an attack by the Syrian Electronic Army (SEA), a team of hackers who support Syrian President Bashir al-Assad. During those 30 minutes, multiple links on the three news sources’ websites redirected to the SEA’s web domain.
The attack first hit the offices of Outbrain, a firm that provides link recommendation services. An email that appeared to be from the company’s CEO was distributed throughout the entire Outbrain office and urged employees to enter their login details. This eventually provided the pathway for the SEA to alter The Post, CNN, and Time’s websites, as all three are Outbrain clients.
The SEA has been quite active recently, as the hackers had also broken into many of the New York Post’s Facebook and Twitter accounts. But their previous endeavors were limited to social media accounts, making the recent attack their most prominent to date.
In April, the group also claimed responsibility for hacking into an AP Twitter account and reporting that a bomb had gone off in the White House. The false report caused the Dow Jones stock crashing, which hinted at the frightening effects cyberattacks can have when successful.
CIA Reveals Existence of Area 51
After decades of conspiracy theories and speculation, the CIA acknowledged the existence of Area 51, an area 125 miles north of Las Vegas that had long been the purported source of UFO sightings.
According to the released official documents, Area 51 was the initial testing site of the government’s U-2 spy plane, among other surveillance projects. Therefore, many of the unidentified objects observed by passersby are likely to have been government spy planes, not extraterrestrials.
For years up until 1974, citizens would report sightings of unidentified flying objects above the area. Given that many of these spy planes also flew way above the normal flight path of ordinary aircraft, they would have been difficult to accurately identify.
Many have celebrated the government and the CIA’s decision to uncover Area 51, arguing that this could mean government officials will be much more transparent about their future operations.