Anthem insurance data breached

Anthem insurance data breached

SACRAMENTO, Calif.

A foreign government may have been behind a cyber breach of health insurance company Anthem Inc. that compromised the records of more than 78 million consumers, investigators said Friday. They declined to identify the hackers or the foreign government.

Social Security numbers, birth dates and employment details of customers were accessed in the breach, officials said. Cybersecurity experts say the data could help a foreign government build a profile of people they’re targeting for espionage.

Anthem has agreed to make $260 million in improvements to its information security systems as part of a settlement with insurance regulators in most U.S. states and territories.

Civil-rights groups to fight Sessions nomination

Leaders of civil-rights organizations on Friday reasserted their criticisms of attorney general nominee Jeff Sessions as unqualified for the role, and urged his Senate colleagues to put the Alabama Republican’s record to a thorough vetting.

Sessions’ hearing is set to begin Tuesday, and he is expected to be confirmed in the GOP-controlled chamber.

Echoing Senate Democrats, the civil-rights groups want to delay the hearing. They say the Judiciary Committee needs more time to review his voluminous nomination materials, which they also say may be incomplete.

DEA opens shop in China to fight global drug trade

SHANGHAI

In a sign of improving cooperation between the U.S. and China to fight the global drug trade, the Drug Enforcement Administration will open a new office there and its top chief will visit next week for the first time in more than a decade.

The DEA said acting administrator Chuck Rosenberg will visit Beijing, Guangzhou and Hong Kong Monday through Thursday at the invitation of China’s Ministry of Public Security.

The planned new office in the city of Guangzhou will likely be staffed with two special agents, pending final approvals, said Russell Baer, a DEA special agent in Washington.

Dying UK man to challenge law on assisted suicide

LONDON

A British man with a terminal disease is attempting to overturn the country’s laws on assisted suicide.

The charity Dignity in Dying said in a statement Friday that 67-year-old Noel Conway has motor neurone disease, a degenerative muscle-wasting disease. He is not expected to survive another year.

Conway says he fears being “entombed” in his body and has instructed his lawyers to begin a judicial review to challenge the existing laws that prohibit people from actively helping others to die.

Associated Press