personal

March 31 (Asia Today) — South Korea’s National Intelligence Service said Tuesday that an employee accused of involvement in a North Korea drone incident acted independently, describing the case as “personal misconduct” unrelated to official duties.

The agency said its internal inspection found the employee was an administrative staff member with no authority to collect or handle intelligence.

Officials added that the employee had known the main suspect – a graduate student in his 30s – since their college years, and that funds transferred in connection with the case were personal money, not tied to the agency.

Earlier in the day, a joint military-police task force referred the employee and two military officers to prosecutors without detention. The case involves allegations of aiding violations of national security and aviation safety laws.

The intelligence employee was sent to civilian prosecutors, while the two active-duty officers were referred to military prosecutors, all with recommendations for indictment.

Investigators said the suspects were involved in assisting the graduate student, identified only by his surname Oh, in flying a drone into North Korea.

The employee is believed to have known about the civilian suspects’ drone development activities and related business operations. Authorities said he provided about 2.9 million won ($2,200) to help cover production costs and meal expenses on the day of a test flight.

An intelligence agency official said the employee’s actions were “an individual deviation unrelated to official duties” and that the agency had cooperated fully with investigators to clarify the facts.

— Reported by Asia Today; translated by UPI

© Asia Today. Unauthorized reproduction or redistribution prohibited.

Original Korean report: https://www.asiatoday.co.kr/kn/view.php?key=20260331010009597

Is there room in corridos tumbados for a little bit of R&B soul? Linea Personal is betting on it.

For three years, the música Mexicana band Linea from Stockton has been perfecting its sophomore album, “Todo ø Nada,” a 13-track project that incorporates elements of melodic trap, R&B, blues and corridos tumbados.

“It’s slow music, the lyrics transmit good feeling and it’s moody,” said frontman Gustavo Raya Garcia following the album’s release on March 26. “Our R&B style is a lot different from these [corrido] artists.”

At its core “Todo ø Nada” is a sad sierreño escapade that heavily has boisterous elements of corrido tumbados — often through wailing high-pitch strumming from a requinto and thunderous tololoche plucks, most notable in tracks like “Motorola” and “Tarot.”

But most distinct from the LP is the blues-infused “Caperuzita,” which kicks off the album with an ethereal, pitch-shifting cry that wades through the backdrop as an omniscient spirit — an interpolation inspired by Future’s “Wait for U” (featuring Drake and Tems) — while sounds of a banjo speckle about. The band also isn’t afraid to tap into other genres by infusing a drunken, jazzy trumpet into the sex positive “Ülala” — whose infatuating lyrics were partially inspired by the chorus line in Luther Vandross’ ”Never Too Much.”

“R&B is our original sound and we wanted to bring that back to this album but a little different,” said Raya Garcia “We wanted it to have a little bit more feeling to it. That’s why we added new instruments.”

For the group — which includes frontman Raya Garcia, his brother and secondary voice Aidan Raya Garcia, requinto player Jorge Ontiveros Zúñiga and guitarist Edgar Lozoya Verduzco — bringing “Todo ø Nada” to fruition was a total slow burn.

The band — who gained traction through their 2024 hustler melodies “Holanda” and the melancholic “Hennessy” — was often stuck in lengthy creative meetings at Street Mob Records, the record label founded by Fuerza Regida’s Jesús “JOP” Ortiz Paz, who signed the band in 2021.

“It taught us a lot of patience and a lot of faith in God’s timing,” said Raya Garcia. “We really wanted this album to come out a year ago, but things happened for a reason.”

To help fuel their creative flow, the group went down to a beach retreat in San Carlos, Sonora, right Mexico’s Gulf of California. They compiled a total of 50 songs, then narrowed it down to the 13-track list.

“What we look at is the lyrics,” said Edgar Lozoya Verduzco, the group’s producer. “The one we were not too sure about was ‘P— Alcohol’ because it was too explicit.”

But at the end of the day, Lozoya Verduzco wanted to push against the grain with the obscenity-laced track whose lyrics’ double meaning are reminiscent of those in Lil Wayne’s 2008 “Lollipop.”

“We’re not scared to try something new,” said Lozoya Verduzco.

(Cat Cardenas / For De Los)

With the release of “Todo ø Nada,” Linea Personal hopes it can continue to build on the momentum achieved by many of its Mexican American contemporaries — including corrido tumbado forefather Natanael Cano and its mentor, Fuerza Regida. According to Spotify, corridos accounted for 77% of all música Mexicana streaming in 2023.

“We are inspired a lot [by these acts], we see their mentality,” said Lozoya Verduzco. “We need need to be exactly like that or work 10 times harder.”

March 27 (UPI) — Iran-linked hackers broke into FBI Director Kash Patel’s personal email account, multiple news outlets reported Friday.

The hackers published photos and emails from the account from before Patel became FBI director, CNN, CNBC and CBS News reported. CNN said a source familiar with the breach confirmed the authenticity of the photos.

The emails the group stole from Patel date from around 2011 to 2022. They include personal, business and travel communication.

The hacking group, Handala Hack Team, said on their website that Patel “will now find his name among the list of successfully hacked victims.”

The photos published include Patel sniffing and smoking cigars, riding in an antique convertible, and making a face while taking a picture of himself in the mirror with a large bottle of rum. There are family photos and details of Patel searching for an apartment.

The group calls it a breach of “impenetrable” FBI systems, but the FBI was not breached.

“This isn’t an FBI compromise — it’s someone’s personal junk drawer,” cybersecurity researcher Ron Fabela told CNN.

“The FBI is aware of malicious actors targeting Director Patel’s personal email information, and we have taken all necessary steps to mitigate potential risks associated with this activity,” a statement from the FBI said. “Consistent with President Trump’s Cyber Strategy for America, the FBI will continue to pursue the actors responsible, support victims, and share actionable intelligence in defense of networks.”

It also said the information taken, “is historical in nature and involves no government information.”

The FBI also said that the State Department has offered a $10 million reward for information that leads to the identification of the Handala Hack Team.

The hackers have said they hacked the account to retaliate for a missile strike on an Iranian school, CNN reported.

Handala claimed Thursday to have published the personal data of dozens of Lockheed Martin employees stationed in the Middle East. The company said in a statement it was aware of the reports and had policies and procedures in place “to mitigate cyber threats to our business.”

Gil Messing, chief of staff at Israeli cybersecurity company Check Point, told CNBC that the move against Patel was part of Iran’s strategy to embarrass U.S. officials and “make them feel vulnerable.”

On March 19, the FBI took down two websites used by Handala after it hacked the medical company Stryker on March 11. The two sites were: one that had information about its hacks and the other used to dox people it alleges work with the Israeli military. The website it used to post Patel’s information was registered the same day the other sites came down.