US investigators wiretapped former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort under secret court orders before and after the election as part of an FBI probe that has grown to include Russia’s meddling in the election, CNN reported on Monday.

Manafort, who resigned from the Trump campaign in August 2016, has been known to be under investigation by the FBI — who notably searched his home in a raid this summer. The investigation is examining Manafort’s business dealings with pro-Russia leaders in Ukraine as well as whether he or the Trump campaign colluded with Russia in swaying the results of the 2016 election, the New York Times has reported.

But Monday’s CNN report shows that the FBI investigation has gone further than previously known. Intelligence gained from the wiretapping has led to some evidence — though possibly inconclusive — that Manafort may have encouraged Russians to help with Trump’s campaign, the network reported.

Details from the wiretapping have been provided to special counsel Robert Mueller, who is leading the investigation into Russia’s meddling in the election, CNN reported. The wiretapping came under the authority of two secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act court orders: following the beginning of the FBI’s investigation into Manafort in 2014, then another that allowed the wiretapping to continue until early 2017, CNN reported.

A spokesperson for Mueller did not immediately respond to a BuzzFeed News request for comment.

The news comes as the New York Times reported on Monday that Mueller’s prosecutors have told Manafort he will be indicted. In the raid of Manafort’s home, agents sought evidence that he had set up offshore bank accounts, the Times reported. The investigation is also considering whether Manafort was involved in money laundering, violating tax laws, or improperly lobbying, it said.

Whether Manafort is charged with any crime — or if it implicates the larger Trump campaign in wrongdoing — remains to be seen. But President Trump earlier this year was critical of wiretapping of his campaign and personally accused President Obama of tapping Trump Tower.

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Hurricane Irma will hurt boat captains in the Florida Keys for months to come.
USA TODAY

The IRS has extended filing deadlines for taxpayers including businesses located in areas hit hard by hurricanes Harvey and Irma.

The tax relief is available in federally declared disaster areas in Texas, Florida, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Taxpayers who got extensions of the April filing deadline for their 2016 income tax returns now have until Jan. 31 to file their returns; they had been due Oct. 16. Taxpayers required to make estimated tax payments on Sept. 15 and Jan. 16 now have until Jan. 31 to make those payments.

And companies’ quarterly payroll and excise tax returns due Oct. 31 may also now be delayed until Jan. 31.

The IRS will not assess late filing or payment penalties on these taxpayers.

Tax relief is also available to workers covered by 401(k) and similar employer-sponsored retirement plans in these disaster areas. Employers are allowed to relax and streamline rules and procedures for staffers to take out loans against their retirement accounts or make hardship withdrawals. The withdrawals must be made by Jan. 31.

More information about the hurricane-related tax relief is available on the IRS website, www.irs.gov .

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Florida officials reported on Thursday that 22% of homes and businesses were still without power. About 65% did not have power just after Irma. Florida’s largest utility hopes to restore service for all of its east coast customers by Sunday. (Sept. 15)
AP

Waning optimism?

Small business owners are more pessimistic about the economy and less likely to hire than they were at the end of last year, according to a survey released by the National Small Business Association.

Forty-five percent of the 1,134 owners surveyed in July and August expect the economy to expand in the next 12 months, down from 54% in a survey taken in December. The number of owners expecting the economy to remain the same was 45%, up from 34%. Ten percent expect a recession, down from 12%.

That dip in optimism was reflected in owners’ expectations for growth opportunities for their companies. Eight percent said they foresee opportunities in the next three months, down from 11% in December. Fourteen percent see opportunities in the next three to 6 months, versus 18%. There was little change among those forecasting growth opportunities in the next six months to a year — 30% versus 31%.

Hiring plans also showed the caution. Thirty-seven percent said they expect to increase their payroll in the next 12 months, compared to 43 percent at the end of 2016.

More: Irma aftermath: Florida Keys boat captains fear they won’t stay afloat if tourism sinks

More: When to use a public adjuster for hurricane insurance claims

More: Businesses far from the devastation can feel hurricanes’ impact

Video marketing

Business owners who want to use video in their digital marketing can learn how at an online seminar sponsored by SCORE, the organization that provides free counseling to small companies. The seminar will be held Thursday, Sept. 21 at 1 p.m. Eastern time. Learn more and register here.

Follow Joyce Rosenberg at www.twitter.com/JoyceMRosenberg. Her work can be found here.
 

Posted Sep. 18, 2017 at 3:05 p.m.

Startup profile: Cultivate, delivering digital marketing solutions (+ video)

Published: 2017-09-18 15:05:46
Updated: 2017-09-18 15:05:46

Cultivate

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On The Web

• Cultivate
• Cultivate overview video
• CED Tech Venture conference

By WRAL TechWire

Durham, N.C. — Have something you want to market digitally? Durham startup Cultivate says its technology will « change the marketing world. » How?

« A user enters what they want to market and Cultivate creates and executes a tailored marketing plan that continuously evaluates itself, » says CEO Joe Bell.

« The system scans a robust amount of data and makes qualitative recommendations to users. As data is accumulated, the system will be able to provide predictive intelligence. »

According to Bell, his firm’s technology « will change the marketing world.  All other digital marketing software packages like Hootsuite or Hubspot only make it easier for humans to do the work by automating rote tasks.  With Cultivate, you don’t need Hootsuite since the manual work is eliminated through automating the entire marketing process a marketing agency does in planning, creating and distributing marketing content. »

Watch a video overview of Cultivate at {{a href= »external_link-16957130″}}https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBRrPEg3WMI{{/a}}

Bell says Cultivate combines « our extensive marketing experience with today’s advances in technology has made something like this possible. The system evaluates a number of characteristics to show users what content performs best for their audience. It also supplies qualitative recommendations to users so they’ll know what content reaches and resonates best with their audience. The Cultivate system plugs into sales objective platforms so we can attribute sales directly to marketing and will eventually be able to make sales predictions. »

Cultivate will showcase its technology at CED Tech Venture on Sept. 19-20.

This profile is written, edited and published by WRAL TechWire in partnership with the CED.

Profile: Cultivate

• Website: http://www.cultivate.social
• Email contact: joe@cultivate.social
• Address: 201 W Main St, Durham, NC 27704
• CEO: Joe Bell
• Video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBRrPEg3WMI
• How many employees? 5
• Link to CED Tech Venture Company Profile: https://cednc.org/company-profile/cultivate

The QA:

• What is the focus of your business?

A user enters what they want to market and Cultivate creates and executes a tailored marketing plan that continuously evaluates itself. The system scans a robust amount of data and makes qualitative recommendations to users. As data is accumulated, the system will be able to provide predictive intelligence.

• What is the top pain point/business application you are seeking to address?

Digital marketing is a complex and time consuming endeavor. Today, people are randomly trying to do digital marketing. They don’t really have any insights or data to drive when or how they should market a product on social media channels. Cultivate can change this.

In a world with Cultivate, people tell our software what they want to market and when events related to that product are happening. Cultivate then figures out, based on the market you are trying to reach, the content you need to publish on which media channels to reach your audience.  It asks you to provide that content while at the same time suggesting what that content should be. 

Once you provide the content, Cultivate handles the rest. It publishes the right content on the right channels at the right time, continuously evaluating metrics to maximize the impact of the marketing campaign it created.

• What makes it unique?

Cultivate will change the marketing world. All other digital marketing software packages like Hootsuite or Hubspot only make it easier for humans to do the work by automating rote tasks. With Cultivate, you don’t need Hootsuite since the manual work is eliminated through automating the entire marketing process a marketing agency does in planning, creating and distributing marketing content.

• Why should investors be interested in your firm?

The Cultivate technology is the first of its kind in marketing. It will truly revolutionize how all marketing is done in the future. Combining our extensive marketing experience with today’s advances in technology has made something like this possible. The system evaluates a number of characteristics to show users what content performs best for their audience.

It also supplies qualitative recommendations to users so they’ll know what content reaches and resonates best with their audience. The Cultivate system plugs into sales objective platforms so we can attribute sales directly to marketing and will eventually be able to make sales predictions.

• How are you financed at this point?

Angel investors.

WRAL TechWire any time: Twitter, Facebook

Copyright 2017 WRAL TechWire. All rights reserved.

Hurricane Maria is forecast to become a major hurricane — Category 3 or higher — before it hits the Leeward Islands.

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National Hurricane Center

Hurricane Maria is forecast to become a major hurricane — Category 3 or higher — before it hits the Leeward Islands.

National Hurricane Center

Updated at 11:05 a.m. ET

Hurricane Maria, now a Category 3 storm, will hit the Leeward Islands on the edge of the Caribbean Sea on Monday night, forecasters say, threatening areas that are still coping with the devastation brought by Hurricane Irma two weeks ago. Predictions call for it to pass straight over Puerto Rico on Wednesday.

Maria is now classified as a major storm, and « additional rapid strengthening is forecast during the next 48 hours, » the National Hurricane Center says.

Maria’s maximum winds are currently at 120 mph, after rising from 90 mph earlier Monday; they could reach 140 mph within the next two days, the center said. The storm is heading west-northwest at around 10 mph.

A hurricane warning — meaning hurricane conditions are expected to strike — has been issued for the islands of Guadeloupe, Dominica, St. Kitts, Nevis, Montserrat, St. Lucia and Martinique, as well as the neighboring British and U.S. Virgin Islands.

The eye of Hurricane Maria is forecast to pass over the center of Puerto Rico on Wednesday.

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National Hurricane Center

The eye of Hurricane Maria is forecast to pass over the center of Puerto Rico on Wednesday.

National Hurricane Center

A tropical storm warning is in effect for Antigua and Barbuda, Saba, St. Eustatius, St. Martin and Anguilla.

An Air Force Reserve Unit Hurricane Hunter aircraft flew on a route in and around Maria this morning to investigate the storm’s development, the hurricane center said.

Unlike Irma, which took a relatively flat westward angle as it raked Barbuda, St. Martin, Cuba and other islands and stormed toward the Florida Keys, Maria is expected to take a sharper northwest tack, passing east of the Turks and Caicos as it heads toward the Bahamas.

Maria puts many of those same areas at risk — including the Virgin Islands, parts of which were hit by Irma’s eye wall before that storm veered north. Maria’s different approach also means that Puerto Rico and other islands that suffered only glancing blows from Irma could now be directly confronted with hurricane conditions.

On Monday morning, Puerto Rico’s emergency officials were meeting to plan their response to Maria.

« The government is prepared, » Gov. Ricardo Rosselló said via Facebook, « and we ask of the citizenship preparation, attention, and action. »

On the Saffir-Simpson wind scale, a major hurricane designates Category 3 storms and higher — hurricanes with sustained winds of at least 111 mph.

Maria now fits that description, and is expected to remain a major hurricane through the weekend.

Satellite imagery from NOAA shows Hurricane Jose, along the U.S. East Coast, and Hurricane Maria, in the Atlantic Ocean near the Leeward Islands. Trailing Maria is Tropical Depression Lee.

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CIRA/CSU and NOAA/NESDIS/RAMMB

Satellite imagery from NOAA shows Hurricane Jose, along the U.S. East Coast, and Hurricane Maria, in the Atlantic Ocean near the Leeward Islands. Trailing Maria is Tropical Depression Lee.

CIRA/CSU and NOAA/NESDIS/RAMMB

Maria doesn’t have the historic size and strength of Irma, and its hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 15 miles — far short of the 70 miles such winds extended from Irma’s center. But the hurricane’s storm surge and heavy rains could post grave threats, from triggering mudslides to frustrating relief and recovery efforts in places where thousands of buildings were heavily damaged by Irma.

Maria « is expected to produce total rain accumulations of 6 to 12 inches, » the hurricane center says, « with isolated maximum amounts of 20 inches across the central and southern Leeward Islands, including Puerto Rico and the U.S. and British Virgin Islands, through Wednesday night. »

Here are the conditions the National Hurricane Center warns could be brought by a Category 3 storm:

« Well-built framed homes may incur major damage or removal of roof decking and gable ends. Many trees will be snapped or uprooted, blocking numerous roads. Electricity and water will be unavailable for several days to weeks after the storm passes. »

Hurricane Jose, which buzzed the Leeward Islands as it moved north and west in Irma’s wake last week, has now weakened, with maximum sustained winds of 85 mph. Jose is currently about 280 miles east-southeast of Cape Hatteras, N.C., and it’s expected to remain off the East Coast.

With Jose moving north at 9 mph, a tropical storm watch is in effect for areas from Fenwick Island to Sandy Hook; Delaware Bay South; East Rockaway Inlet to Plymouth; Block Island; Martha’s Vineyard; and Nantucket.

Hackers have successfully breached CCleaner’s security to inject malware into the app and distribute it to millions of users. Security researchers at Cisco Talos discovered that download servers used by Avast (the company that owns CCleaner) were compromised to distribute malware inside CCleaner. “For a period of time, the legitimate signed version of CCleaner 5.33 being distributed by Avast also contained a multi-stage malware payload that rode on top of the installation of CCleaner,” says the Talos team.

CCleaner has been downloaded more than 2 billion times according to Avast, making it a popular target for hackers. Dubbed “crap cleaner,” it’s designed to wipe out cookies and offer some web privacy protections. 2.27 million users have been affected by the attack, and Avast Piriform believes it was able to prevent the breach harming customers. “Piriform believes that these users are safe now as its investigation indicates it was able to disarm the threat before it was able to do any harm,” says an Avast spokesperson.

This is an unusual attack as software similar to CCleaner is trusted by consumers and meant to remove “crapware” from a system. “By exploiting the trust relationship between software vendors and the users of their software, attackers can benefit from users’ inherent trust in the files and web servers used to distribute updates,” says Talos. The malware itself appears to have been designed to use infected PCs as part of a botnet.

Earlier this year, Ukrainian company MeDoc was breached and its update servers used to distribute the Petya ransomware. Hackers appear to be targeting these types of distribution points to more easily spread malware, instead of the traditional way of attacking individual machines themselves. It’s a trend that many security researches will be monitoring closely, to catch the latest innovative ways that hackers are breaching multiple systems.

Update, 8:30AM ET: Article updated with Avast statement.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said on Sunday the U.N. Security Council has run out of options on containing North Korea’s nuclear program and the United States may have to turn the matter over to the Pentagon.

“We have pretty much exhausted all the things that we can do at the Security Council at this point,” Haley told CNN’s “State of the Union,” adding that she was perfectly happy to hand the North Korea problem over to Defense Secretary James Mattis.

As world leaders head to the United Nations headquarters in New York for the annual General Assembly meeting this week, Haley’s comments indicated the United States was not backing down from its threat of military action against North Korea.

North Korea launched a missile over Japan into the Pacific Ocean on Thursday in defiance of new U.N. Security Council sanctions banning its textile exports and capping imports of crude oil.

China has urged the United States to refrain from making threats to North Korea. Asked about President Donald Trump’s warning last month that the North Korean threat to the United States will be met with “fire and fury,” Haley said, “It was not an empty threat.”

“If North Korea keeps on with this reckless behavior, if the United States has to defend itself or defend its allies in any way, North Korea will be destroyed. And we all know that. And none of us want that. None of us want war,” she said on CNN.

“We’re trying every other possibility that we have, but there’s a whole lot of military options on the table,” she said.

Related Coverage

• As North Korea threat looms, Trump to address world leaders at U.N.
• Factbox: What Trump has said about the United Nations

Pyongyang has launched dozens of missiles as it accelerates a weapons program designed to provide the ability to target the United States with a powerful, nuclear-tipped missile.

North Korea said on Saturday it aimed to reach an “equilibrium” of military force with the United States.

‘ROCKET MAN’

Trump plans to meet with South Korean President Jae-in Moon on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly.

“I spoke with President Moon of South Korea last night. Asked him how Rocket Man is doing. Long gas lines forming in North Korea. Too bad!” Trump said in a Twitter post on Sunday morning.

White House national security adviser H.R. McMaster said on Friday, after the latest North Korean missile launch, that the United States was running out of patience: “We’ve been kicking the can down the road, and we’re out of road.”

On Sunday, he warned of imminent danger from Pyongyang.

”This regime is so close now to threatening the United States and others with a nuclear weapon, that we really have to move with a great sense of urgency on sanctions, on diplomacy and preparing, if necessary, a military option,” McMaster told the “Fox News Sunday” program.

Military options available to Trump range from a sea blockade aimed at enforcing sanctions to cruise missile strikes on nuclear and missile facilities to a broader campaign aimed at overthrowing leader Kim Jong Un.

Mattis has warned the consequences of any military action would be “tragic on an unbelievable scale” and bring severe risk to U.S. ally South Korea.

Democratic U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein said on Sunday that Trump should not rule out talks with North Korea before it agrees to end its nuclear program.

“I think that North Korea is not going to give up its program with nothing on the table,” she said on CNN.

Feinstein said that a freeze of both its nuclear program and missile arsenal, rather than ending them, would be more palatable to North Korea and to China, who fears the U.S. goal is toppling Kim.

The United States still wants a peaceful solution and has been waiting for the North Koreans to indicate they are ready to talk, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”

“We have tried a couple of times to signal to them that we’re ready, when they’re ready,” he said. “And they have responded with more missile launches and a nuclear test.”

Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe