Briefly

NIGER

Two Chinese mining workers kidnapped

Armed men have kidnapped two Chinese employees of a mining company in a volatile area near western Niger's borders with Mali and Burkina Faso, the regional governor said on Monday. He said the identity and number of those behind Sunday's abduction were not known. Landlocked Niger faces attacks by the Nigerian extremist group Boko Haram from the southeast, and Islamic State and al-Qaida terror groups from the western border with Mali.

AUSTRALIA

Hundreds arrested in global crime sting

Police arrested more than 800 people worldwide in a huge global sting involving encrypted phones that were secretly planted by the FBI, law enforcement agencies said on Tuesday. Police in 16 countries were able to read the messages of underworld figures on the compromised ANOM devices. Mafia groups, Asian crime syndicates, motorcycle gangs and other organized crime syndicates were all monitored using the spiked phones as part of Operation Trojan Shield. The sting was conceived by Australia and the US Federal Bureau of Investigation.

UNITED STATES

FDA approves new drug for Alzheimer's

US health officials on Monday approved the first new drug for Alzheimer's disease in nearly 20 years, disregarding warnings from independent advisers that the much-debated treatment hasn't been shown to help slow the brain-destroying disease. The Food and Drug Administration approved the drug from Biogen based on study results showing it seemed "reasonably likely" to benefit Alzheimer's patients. The medication, aducanumab, will be marketed as Aduhelm and is to be given as an infusion every four weeks.

$2.3m ransom paid to hackers recovered

The US Justice Department announced on Monday that federal law enforcement officials have seized $2.3 million in cryptocurrency of the ransom paid to hackers who shut down Colonial Pipeline last month. In early May, Colonial Pipeline was the victim of a highly publicized ransomware attack resulting in the company taking portions of its infrastructure out of operation, according to the Justice Department.

Agencies - Xinhua