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Campaign hacks, Ukrainian inroads and water on Mars

 
Today's Cybersecurity story

FBI probes cyber-attacks on Trump, Biden campaigns

What happened
The FBI said Monday it was investigating a "campaign cyber-intrusion," days after Donald Trump's presidential campaign said it had been hacked by Iran. The FBI investigation was reportedly opened in June after apparently unsuccessful attempts to infiltrate President Joe Biden's campaign, since retooled for Democratic nominee Kamala Harris.

Who said what
The Harris campaign said it "vigilantly monitors and protects against cyber threats" and is "not aware of any security breaches of our systems." Trump's campaign acknowledged it was hacked after Politico said an AOL account began emailing reporters purloined campaign documents in July. The Trump team did not report the hack to the FBI.

In blaming Iran, Trump's campaign pointed to a report released Friday by Microsoft warning of foreign efforts to interfere in the U.S. election, including an Iranian military intelligence unit sending a June "spear-phishing email to a high-ranking official of a presidential campaign from a compromised email account of a former senior adviser." Trump operative Roger Stone told The Washington Post on Monday that the FBI and Microsoft had informed him months ago that "a couple of my personal email accounts have been compromised," and he's "cooperating. It's all very strange."

"Trump, who blamed Democrats for poor information security when they were hacked in 2016, has expressed frustration over the hack," the Post said, citing Trump campaign advisers. Stone was convicted of seven felonies in part for lying about his efforts to coordinate the leak of Hillary Clinton's private emails in 2016. Trump pardoned him in 2020.

What next?
"Foreign malign influence" operations tied to the U.S. election "started off slowly" but have "steadily picked up the pace," Microsoft said. "Recent activity suggests the Iranian regime — along with the Kremlin — may be equally engaged in election 2024."

 
 
Today's international story

Ukraine reports large gains in Russia's Kursk region

What happened
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his top commander, Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi, said Monday that Ukrainian forces now control about 390 square miles of Russian territory, after Kyiv's surprise Aug. 6 attack on the Kursk region. Vladimir Putin demanded that Russian security forces crush Ukraine's cross-border incursion as Kursk's acting governor acknowledged Ukrainian forces have captured 28 settlements. 

Who said what
Invading Kursk was "purely a security issue for Ukraine," Zelenskyy said. "Russia must be forced to make peace if Putin wants to fight so badly." Putin said Ukraine's incursion would fail to "improve its negotiating position in the future" or draw Russian troops from their grinding gains in eastern Ukraine.

"Even as Putin spoke, Russian officials were evacuating civilians from a second region, Belgorod," The Washington Post said, and "Russian military bloggers reported fierce fighting" in Kursk. "This is the first time Russia has had war on its territory since World War II," a Ukrainian soldier told The Wall Street Journal. "Everybody was afraid of Russia, but we are showing there is nothing to be afraid of."

What next?
Kyiv's "lightning" gains have embarrassed Putin, "shocked Russia and lifted spirits in Ukraine," the Journal said. But the operation's goals remain unclear and Ukraine appears to be pulling troops from its "already threadbare units on the eastern front."

 
 
Today's SpACE Story

Liquid water detected on Mars raises hopes of life

What happened
Scientists have found evidence of liquid water deep below the arid surface of Mars, raising hope of discovering life on the Red Planet. A study published Monday, based on seismic measurements taken by NASA's InSight Lander, suggests that vast quantities of water may still be trapped within rocks up to 12 miles below the Martian surface.

Who said what
Researchers said in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that analyzing the speed of the recorded Martian temblors pointed to underground water, likely the subterranean remnants of lakes, rivers and oceans that covered the Martian surface 3 millions years ago. "The ingredients for life as we know it exist in the Martian subsurface if these interpretations are correct," lead scientist Vashan Wright at UC San Diego's Scripps Institution of Oceanography told Reuters. 

What next?
The researchers said their findings and future analysis will help humans understand Mars' aquatic history and assess "in situ resource utilization for future missions." But the discovery of liquid water is only of limited utility for "billionaires with Mars colonization plans," the BBC said. "Drilling a hole 10 kilometers deep on Mars — even for [Elon] Musk — would be difficult," said study co-author Michael Manga at UC Berkeley.

 
 

It's not all bad

A record-breaking 17 California condor chicks have hatched this year at the Los Angeles Zoo. Through an innovative program, breeding pairs of the critically endangered birds are placed in "condor-miniums," zoo spokesperson Carl Myers told the Los Angeles Times, with fertilized eggs then moved to incubators. Before the eggs hatch, they are placed with surrogate condor parents able to raise the chicks. The baby birds will stay at the zoo for 18 months before being evaluated for release into the wild.

 
 
Under the radar

The Great Salt Lake has been steadily drying up, falling to a record low level two years ago. That isn't just a problem for recreational kayakers and birdwatchers. A study published in the journal One Earth found that 4.1 million tons of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases were released by the Great Salt Lake in 2020, causing a 7% increase in Utah's greenhouse gas emissions and worsening climate change.

"Human-caused desiccation of Great Salt Lake is exposing huge areas of lake bed and releasing massive quantities of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere," Soren Brothers, lead author of the study, said in a statement. The emissions come from microorganisms releasing carbon dioxide while feeding on materials exposed by the drying lakebed. "Everything that's flowed into that lake over the last 10,000 years or so since it's existed has ended up on that big lake bottom," Brothers told The Salt Lake Tribune. "It's a huge buffet for bacteria to consume."

The true magnitude of emissions caused by drying lakes is understated in climate calculations, but at least in Utah, people are starting to pay attention. "For generations, the lake was seen as kind of this dead thing that just happens to be there and will always be there," Utah Gov. Spencer Cox said to NPR. "Now that people are realizing there's a potential that it might not always be here, that's gotten people's attention in a positive way." The Utah state legislature has invested approximately $1 billion in water conservation efforts.

 
 
On this day

August 13, 2004

The 2004 Summer Olympics opened in Athens, Greece. This marked the first time the Greek capital hosted the Olympics since it relaunched the modern Olympic Games in 1896. Athens is one of only five cities to have hosted multiple Summer Olympics. The next Summer games will be held in Los Angeles in 2028.

 
 
TODAY'S newspaperS

The 2024 presidential race is between a New Yorker and a Californian, but their respective running mates, Minnesota's Tim Walz and Ohio's J.D. Vance, are "tugging at the strings of nation's heartland" in a "duel over Midwestern street cred," The Boston Globe says on Tuesday's front page. The Washington Post leads with the FBI's investigation of the "suspected hackings" of Donald Trump's campaign and the targeting of President Joe Biden's, while The New York Times focuses on the government's battle to counter the "disinformation deluging voters." Meanwhile, prominent purveyor of disinformation Elon Musk "gets hands-on with bid to boost Trump," The Wall Street Journal says.

► See the newspaper front pages

 
 
Tall tale

Eau de chien

Luxury fashion brand Dolce & Gabbana launched a new perfume aimed at attracting a fresh customer base: dogs. This "olfactory masterpiece" is named in honor of co-founder Domenico Dolce's pet pooch, Fefé. The alcohol-free perfume has notes of ylang ylang, musk and sandalwood, offering a "touch of opulence, making every walk a fragrant and fashionable affair," Dolce & Gabbana said. The scent is available for $108, and its bottle is emblazoned with a 24-carat gold-plated paw print.

 
 

Morning Report was written and edited by Theara Coleman, Nadia Croes, Catherine Garcia, Scott Hocker, Anya Jaremko-Greenwold, Justin Klawans, Devika Rao, Rafi Schwartz and Peter Weber, with illustrations by Stephen Kelly and Julia Wytrazek.

Image credits, from top: Joe Raedle / Getty Images; Roman Pilipey / AFP via Getty Images; Illustration by Adrian Mann / Future Publishing via Getty Images; Illustration by Julia Wytrazek / Getty Images