World

Three Essential Facts About

China’s hacker collective

A new report by Virginia-based Mandiant Corp., an information-security firm, reveals troubling details about a cybercrime group called Comment Crew and its possible ties to the Chinese military.

1. It’s savvy.

By sending malware-filled e-mails, hackers have compromised at least 140 victims over seven years, including large institutions like Lockheed Martin.

2. It’s potentially well connected.

At least 90% of the cybercrimes–presumably including a reported 2008 hack into Coca-Cola–were traced to a Shanghai tower that’s used by the People’s Liberation Army. But PLA authorities call the apparent connection “groundless.”

3. It’s a real threat overseas.

The group has already successfully hacked the Canadian arm of Telvent, a company that creates software to remotely access power grids and that reportedly holds blueprints for oil and gas pipelines throughout North and South America. It has also targeted satellites and chemical plants–and will likely do so again.

POLL

DO YOU FEEL LOVED?

Gallup asked people in 136 countries. Here’s how many said yes:

93%

PHILIPPINES

81%

U.S.

68%

CHINA

43%

MOROCCO

29%

ARMENIA

SOURCE: GALLUP

How South Africa Can Rise from the Fall of Pistorius

More than any other nation, South Africa articulates its dreams through sport. As the country approached the end of apartheid in 1994, Nelson Mandela adopted the Afrikaners’ game, rugby, and its home triumph in the 1995 World Cup held the nation together. In 2010, Mandela’s successors in the ruling African National Congress (ANC) used a soccer World Cup to announce that Africa was a waking giant. Until this month, the latest incarnation of South African hope was Oscar Pistorius, a man with no legs who triumphed in the sport he should rightly never even have taken up: running.

Perhaps it is because the crushing of hope feels so cruel that South Africa is so dazed by Pistorius’ Valentine’s Day arrest for the murder of his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, a model. The Olympian’s innocence or guilt will take years to decide.

But the case offers a rare moment for introspection. Nearly two decades after apartheid, many South Africans still interpret big events through a racial prism. Some whites are trying to pin the blame on the largely black ANC’s mismanagement of security. A few unwise comments by a government minister or prosecutor, and Pistorius’ trial may divide South Africa as O.J. Simpson’s split America.

For the moment, though, it’s hard to find racial disadvantage in the story of a glamorous white hero accused of shooting his glamorous white girlfriend. Not least because in a land obsessed with disadvantage, Pistorius was the ultimate meritocrat: a man who succeeded whatever the accidents of his birth. Instead of blaming the other, South Africans are being forced to look at themselves: at their crime, their violence against women, their fallen heroes–not just Pistorius but also the ruling ANC, now eaten by criminal corruption. It’s true: sport can inspire. But perhaps as they follow Pistorius’ trial, South Africans will realize that, at least until their country is back on track, it’s time to stop playing games.

Perry, TIME’s Africa bureau chief, is based in Cape Town

Flashback

The world’s greatest heists

The eight hooded gangsters who stole roughly $50 million in diamonds off a plane at the Brussels airport Feb. 18 join a storied roster of Ocean’s Eleven–worthy bandits.

1911

A ROBBER NABBED … the Mona Lisa, then worth $1 million, from the Louvre. The culprit, who used to work at the Paris museum, was caught trying to sell it.

1950

ROBBERS NABBED … more than $2 million in cash from Brink’s Inc. headquarters in Boston. All 11 bandits were caught and convicted after one gave them up, but nearly half the cash remains missing.

1978

ROBBERS NABBED … $6 million in untraceable U.S. bills, $1 million in jewels and an unknown amount of foreign currency at JFK airport in New York City. The culprits, described as middle-aged white men with Brooklyn accents, were never found.

1990

ROBBERS NABBED … more than $300 million in fine art (by Rembrandt, Degas and Manet) from the Gardner Museum in Boston. Despite the efforts of 30 FBI case agents and a $5 million reward, the works were never recovered.

2003

ROBBERS NABBED … $100 million in precious stones from the Antwerp Diamond Center in Belgium. All the bandits were arrested after one left behind DNA evidence–a half-eaten sandwich–but the jewels were never recovered.

2005

ROBBERS NABBED … nearly $65 million in cash from a bank in Fortaleza, Brazil. Within months, one of the suspected masterminds was found dead along an isolated road.

A Nation in Decay

SYRIA

A mannequin trussed up by rebel fighters stands at attention in a hollowed-out apartment in Aleppo, the country’s largest city. Syria’s brutal conflict has been especially grim there: on Feb. 19, Aleppo rebels claimed that a long-range Scud missile launched by the regime of President Bashar Assad killed at least 20 people, including children. Meanwhile, armed bands in the surrounding countryside have kidnapped hundreds of civilians along sectarian lines.

ISRAEL

$2,700

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s annual ice cream budget, a figure that caused outrage after it was published in a local paper

U.S.

‘It is sexy, it is satisfying, it is manly.’

STANLEY MCCHRYSTAL, retired U.S. Army general, describing his role as commander of special operations in Iraq during a recent interview with Foreign Affairs magazine. McChrystal, who stepped down in 2010 after making unflattering remarks about Vice President Joe Biden, among others, is publicizing a memoir titled My Share of the Task.

Trending In

ALTRUISM

An anonymous donor gave roughly $250,000 in gold to a tsunami-affected city in Japan

MUSIC

Fatboy Slim will become the first DJ ever to perform at the British House of Commons

TV

Norwegian channel NRK broadcast 12 hours of crackling-fireplace footage, calling it “slow but noble television”

SPORTS

A new report blames “toxic” team culture for Australia’s poor swimming performance at the 2012 Olympics