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WASHINGTON — Hackers who breached UnitedHealth's tech unit in February potentially stole data from a third of Americans, the largest U.S. health insurer's CEO told a congressional committee on Wednesday. Two congressional panels grilled CEO Andrew Witty about the cyberattack on the company's Change Healthcare unit, which processes around 50% of all medical claims in the U.S. The breach has caused widespread disruptions in claims processing, impacting patients and providers across the country. Witty fielded heated questions from House Energy and Commerce Committee members about the company's failure to prevent the breach and contain its fallout. Pressed for details on the data compromised, Witty said protected health information and personally identifiable information pertaining to "maybe a third" of Americans was stolen. "We continue to investigate the amount of data involved here," he added. "We do think it's going to be substantial." The cybercriminal gang AlphV hacked into Change on Feb. 12 using stolen login credentials on an older server that did not have multifactor authentication, Witty said. "It was ... a platform which had only recently become part of the company was in the process of being upgraded," Witty said, referring to UnitedHealth's $13 billion acquisition of Change in 2022. The platform also did not have the security measures prescribed in a joint alert issued by the FBI and U.S. cyber and health officials in December 2023 to specifically warn about AlphV, or BlackCat, targeting healthcare organizations. UnitedHealth paid the gang around $22 million in bitcoin as ransom, Witty said, adding that however there was no guarantee that the breached data was secure and could not still be leaked. Another hacking group claiming to be an offshoot of AlphV said last month it had a copy of the data, though the company has not verified that claim. The Senate Finance Committee probed the outsized influence of UnitedHealth - which has a market capitalization of $445 billion and annual revenue of $372 billion - on American health care. But Witty said the company's problems were not a threat to the broader economy. Senator Bill Cassidy said senators on the panel "would have to ask, is the dominant role of United too dominant because it is into everything and messing up United messes up everybody?" "My point is, the size of United becomes a it's almost a too big to fail and sure, because if it fails, it's going to bring down far more than it ordinarily would," Cassidy said. Witty said in response, "I don't believe it is because actually despite our size, for example, we have no hospitals in America, we do not own any drug manufacturers." Yet, Change processes medical claims for around 900,000 physicians, 33,000 pharmacies, 5,500 hospitals and 600 laboratories in the U.S. U.S. military members' data was also stolen in the hack, Witty revealed, without saying how many of them were impacted. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden called the hack a national security threat. "I believe the bigger the company, the bigger the responsibility to protect its systems from hackers. UHG was a big target long before it was hacked," he added. "UnitedHealth Group has not revealed how many patients' private medical records were stolen, how many providers went without reimbursement, and how many seniors are unable to pick up their prescriptions as a result of the hack," said Wyden. In letters to both congressional committees, the American Hospital Association said an internal survey of its members found that 94% of hospitals reported damage to cash flow, and more than half reported "significant or serious" financial damage due to Change's inability to process claims. Similarly, 90% of respondents to an American Medical Association survey of doctors said they continue to lose revenue because of the hack, according to the group's written testimony to the Senate Finance Committee.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has wrapped up his Middle East trip without an announcement of a cease-fire or hostage deal between Israel and Hamas. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Blinken during their meeting Wednesday that he would not accept an end to the war in Gaza as part of any hostage deal, and that a planned military operation on the city of Rafah would happen whether there was a cease-fire deal or not. VOA’s senior diplomatic correspondent Cindy Saine reports.

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The U.S. state of Florida has a new law banning most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy. In this presidential campaign, Donald Trump is defending the right of states to regulate reproductive rights. Joe Biden says that decentralized authority threatens women’s lives. VOA correspondent Scott Stearns has the story

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KYIV, Ukraine — Months of relentless Russian artillery pounding have devastated a strategic city in eastern Ukraine, new drone footage obtained by The Associated Press shows, with barely a building left intact, homes and municipal offices charred, and a town that once had a population of 12,000 now all but deserted.  The footage shows Chasiv Yar — set amid green fields and woodland — pounded into an apocalyptic vista. The destruction is reminiscent of the cities of Bakhmut and Avdiivka, which Ukraine yielded after months of bombardment and huge losses for both sides.  The strategically important city has been under attack by Russian forces for months. Capturing it would give Russia control of a hilltop from which it can attack other cities that form the backbone of Ukraine's eastern defenses.  That would set the stage for a potentially broader Russian offensive that Ukrainian officials say could come as early as this month.  Russia launched waves of assaults on foot and in armored vehicles at Chasiv Yar's outnumbered Ukrainian troops, who have run desperately short of ammunition while waiting for the U.S. and other allies to send fresh supplies.  Rows of mid-rise apartment blocks in Chasiv Yar have been blackened by blasts, punched through with holes or reduced to piles of timber and masonry. Houses and civic buildings are heavily damaged. The golden dome of a church remains intact but the building appears badly damaged.  No soldiers or civilians were seen in the footage shot Monday and exclusively obtained by the AP, apart from a lone man walking down the middle of a road between wrecked structures.  Regional Governor Vadym Filashkin said Wednesday on Ukrainian TV that 682 residents have held on in Chasiv Yar, living in "very difficult conditions." The city had a pre-war population of more than 12,500. Filashkin said that those remaining have lacked running water and power for over a year, and that it is "ever more difficult" for humanitarian aid to reach them.  The destruction underscores Russia's scorched-earth tactics throughout more than two years of war, as its troops have killed and displaced thousands of civilians.  NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg acknowledged Monday that the delayed delivery of allies' military aid to Ukraine had left the country at the mercy of the Kremlin's bigger and better-equipped forces.  Ukraine and its Western partners are racing to deploy critical new military aid that can help check the slow but steady Russian advance as well as thwart drone and missile attacks. 

A Japanese diplomat’s act of defiance during World War II saved thousands of lives. It's also the focus of an ongoing effort by an American musician to pay tribute to the “Japanese Schindler.” VOA’s Kane Farabaugh has more from Skokie, Illinois.

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moscow — An exhibition of Western military equipment captured from Kyiv forces during the fighting in Ukraine opened Wednesday in the Russian capital.  The exhibit, organized by the Russian Defense Ministry, features more than 30 pieces of Western-made heavy equipment, including a U.S.-made M1 Abrams battle tank and a Bradley armored fighting vehicle, a Leopard 2 tank and a Marder armored infantry vehicle from Germany, and a French-made AMX-10RC armored vehicle.  The exhibition, which will remain open for a month at a World War II memorial venue in western Moscow, also displays firearms, military papers and other documents.  Russian authorities have criticized supplies of Western weapons and military equipment to Ukraine, casting them as evidence of NATO's direct involvement in the fighting. At the same time, Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly declared that Western military supplies to Kyiv wouldn't change the course of the conflict and prevent Russia from achieving its goals.  The exhibition comes as Russian forces have grabbed more land in eastern Ukraine, taking advantage of delays in U.S. military assistance to push back the under-gunned Kyiv forces.  Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, has hailed the Moscow exhibition as a "brilliant idea."  "The exhibition of trophy equipment will attract great interest from Moscow residents, guests of our city, and all residents of the country," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. "We should all see the enemy's battered equipment."  Russian military bloggers drew parallels between the show and the exhibits of captured Nazi military equipment that the Soviet Union held during and after World War II.  Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova noted that foreign diplomats based in Moscow should take the opportunity to visit the exhibition to see how "the West destroys peace on the planet."  "This exhibition will be interesting to all those who still believe in mythical 'Western values' or fail to notice an aggression unleashed by NATO against Russia and our people," Zakharova said. 

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phoenix — Democrats secured enough votes in the Arizona Senate on Wednesday to repeal a Civil War-era ban on abortions that the state's highest court recently allowed to take effect. Voting wasn't complete but the Senate had the 16 votes it needed to advance the bill. Fourteen Democrats in the Senate were joined by two Republican votes in favor of repealing the bill, which narrowly cleared the Arizona House last week and is expected to be signed by Democratic Governor Katie Hobbs. The near-total ban, which predates Arizona's statehood, permits abortions only to save the mother's life — and provides no exceptions for survivors of rape or incest. In a ruling last month, the Arizona Supreme Court suggested doctors could be prosecuted under the 1864 law, which says that anyone who assists in an abortion can be sentenced to two to five years in prison. If the repeal bill is signed, a 2022 statute banning the procedure after 15 weeks of pregnancy would become Arizona's prevailing abortion law. Still, there would likely be a period when nearly all abortions would be outlawed because the repeal won't take effect until 90 days after the end of the legislative session, likely in June or July. Several senators spoke about their motivations for voting as numbers were tallied on the repeal bill. "This is a clear statement that the Legislature does not want the territorial ban to be enforceable," said Democratic state Senator Priya Sundareshan, who voted yes to repeal. There were numerous disruptions from people in Senate gallery, as Republican state Senator Shawnna Bolick explained her vote in favor of repeal, joining with Democrats. Republican state Senator Jake Hoffman denounced Republican colleagues for joining with Democratic colleagues, calling it an affront to his party's principles. "It is disgusting that this is the state of the Republican Party today," Hoffman said. Advocates on both sides of the abortion issue arrived outside the Arizona Senate on Wednesday to emphasize their views. They included people affiliated with Planned Parenthood and faith-based groups opposed to abortion. "I am expecting it will be repealed, but I am praying it won't be," said Karen Frigon, who was handing out brochures from the Arizona Right to Life. Arizona is one of a handful of battleground states that will decide the next president. Former President Donald Trump, who has warned that the issue could lead to Republican losses, has avoided endorsing a national abortion ban but said he's proud to have appointed the Supreme Court justices who allowed states to outlaw it. When Roe v. Wade was overturned in June 2022 though, then-Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich, a Republican, persuaded a state judge that the 1864 ban could again be enforced. Still, the law hasn't been enforced while the case was making its way through the courts. Advocates are collecting signatures for a ballot measure allowing abortions until a fetus could survive outside the womb, typically around 24 weeks, with exceptions — to save the parent's life, or to protect her physical or mental health. Republican lawmakers, in turn, are considering putting one or more competing abortion proposals on the November ballot.

washington — The United States on Wednesday accused Russia of violating the international chemical weapons ban by deploying the choking agent chloropicrin against Ukrainian troops and using riot control agents "as a method of warfare" in Ukraine. "The use of such chemicals is not an isolated incident and is probably driven by Russian forces' desire to dislodge Ukrainian forces from fortified positions and achieve tactical gains on the battlefield," the State Department said in a statement. The Russian Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Chloropicrin is listed as a banned choking agent by the Hague-based Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), which was created to implement and monitor compliance with the 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC). German forces fired the gas against Allied troops during World War I in one of the first uses of a chemical weapon. Earlier this month, Reuters reported the Ukrainian military as saying Russia has stepped up its illegal of use riot control agents as it presses its biggest advances in eastern Ukraine in more than two years. In addition to chloropicrin, Russian forces have used grenades loaded with CS and CN gases, the Ukrainian military says. It says at least 500 Ukrainian soldiers have been treated for exposure to toxic substances and one was killed by suffocating on tear gas. While civilians usually can escape riot control gases during protests, soldiers stuck in trenches without gas masks must either flee under enemy fire or risk suffocating. The State Department said it was delivering to Congress its determination that Russia's use of chloropicrin against Ukrainian troops violated the CWC. Moscow's use of the gas "comes from the same playbook as its operations to poison" the late opposition leader Alexey Navalny in 2020 and Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in 2018 with the Novichok nerve agent, the statement said. Russia denied involvement in both cases. The department also determined that Russia has breached the CWC's prohibition on the use of riot control agents as a method of warfare, the statement said. It said it was sanctioning three Russian state entities linked to Moscow's chemical and biological weapons programs, including a specialized military unit that facilitated the use of chloropicrin against Ukrainian troops. Four Russian companies that support the three entities were also sanctioned, it said. The sanctions freeze any U.S. assets belonging to the targeted entities and generally prohibit Americans from doing business with them. Separately, the U.S. Treasury imposed sanctions on three entities and two individuals involved in purchasing items for Russian military institutes involved in the country's chemical and biological weapons programs. The sanctions were among new measures announced by the United States on Wednesday targeting Russia over its 2022 invasion of Ukraine. The CWC bans the production and use of chemical weapons. It also requires the 193 countries that have ratified the convention, which include Russia and the U.S., to destroy any stocks of banned chemicals. The State Department was expected to convey its determination that Russia has violated the CWC to the OPCW. Russia and Ukraine have accused each other of breaching the treaty in OPCW meetings. But the organization says it has not been formally asked to open an investigation into the use of prohibited substances in Ukraine. Reuters has not been able to independently verify the use of banned chemical substances by either side.

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Washington — The last thing standing between Ashnaelle Bijoux and her college dream is the FAFSA form — a financial aid application that's supposed to help students go to college but is blocking her instead. She has tried to submit it over and over. Every time, it fails to go through. "I feel overwhelmed and stressed out," said Bijoux, 19. She came close to tears the last time she tried the form. "I feel like I'm being held back." Normally a time of celebration for high school seniors, this spring has been marred by the federal government's botched rollout of the new FAFSA application. By May 1, students usually know where they're headed to college in the fall. This year, most still haven't received financial aid offers. Three months before the start of fall classes, many don't know where they're going to college, or how they're going to pay for it. "We're asking them to make probably one of the biggest financial decisions — and decisions that will have the biggest implications on their lives going forward — without all of the information," said Justin Draeger, president and CEO of the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators. FAFSA, or Free Application for Federal Student Aid, went through a massive overhaul that was supposed to make it simpler and shorter. But a series of blunders by the Education Department made it harder than ever, delaying college decisions by months and raising fears that hundreds of thousands of students will forgo college entirely. Across the United States, the number of students who have successfully submitted the FAFSA is down 29% from this time last year, and it's even worse at schools with more low-income students, according to the National College Attainment Network. The group's CEO, Kim Cook, warned members of Congress this month about a potentially "catastrophic" drop in college enrollments that would make the decreases of the pandemic seem mild. For Bijoux of Norwich, Connecticut, the FAFSA problems threaten to undermine the promise of higher education. To her, college is a chance to seize the opportunities that weren't available to her mother, who immigrated from Haiti to the U.S. as an adult. Bijoux hopes to become a therapist and set a positive example for her three younger brothers. If her FAFSA goes through, she should be eligible for enough financial aid to help with the $13,000-a-year tuition at Southern Connecticut State University. If not, she might go to a local community college, but even that would require loans if she can't complete the FAFSA. "That's why it hurts, because it's like you work so hard to go somewhere and do something and make something of yourself," Bijoux said. "I thought I would start at a four-year (college) and then work hard continuously, like I've been doing basically my whole life. But that's not the case." The updated FAFSA form has one section filled out by students and another by their parents. But when Bijoux finishes her part, nothing shows up on her mom's online account. She keeps trying, but nothing seems to change. Similar problems have been reported across the country, along with numerous other bugs that the Education Department has scrambled to fix. Families who call for customer service have faced long wait times or say the call center hung up on them. It "drains all the momentum" from families working to send their children to college, especially those navigating the process for the first time, said Anne Zinn, a counselor at Norwich Free Academy, where Bijoux goes to school. "I can only say so many times, 'Just be patient, just be patient,' before they throw their hands up and they're like, 'Why am I doing this? I'm just going to go get a job,'" she said. The rollout has attracted bipartisan criticism in Congress, and it's being investigated at the request of Republicans. Last week, Richard Cordray, the federal student loan chief who oversaw the FAFSA update, announced he's stepping down at the end of June. For colleges, too, the delays pose a major threat. Enrollment decreases like those being projected now could put many small colleges out of business or necessitate deep cuts in staff. Some colleges are pushing for emergency relief just to stay afloat, said Angel Pérez, CEO of the National Association for College Admission Counseling. "If they don't get checks from the federal government to basically get them through next year, they will not survive," Pérez said. FAFSA has been the linchpin of student financial aid for decades. It's used to determine eligibility for the federal Pell grant, a scholarship for low-income students, and it's required to receive federal student loans. Colleges and states also use FAFSA to distribute their own scholarships. FAFSA had long been maligned for being tedious, difficult and intimidating to families without college experience. Congress passed legislation in 2020 meant to simplify the form. The Education Department was ordered to reduce the number of questions from more than 100 to about 40 and change the formula to expand aid to more students. Problems started piling up as soon as the new form went online in December, already months overdue. The first applications were incorrectly processed using an outdated calculation for inflation. Later, a federal contractor miscalculated a different formula on more than 200,000 applications. Each mistake added to delays, leaving students waiting longer to hear anything about financial aid. Even more worrisome is a misstep that blocked students from finishing the form if they have a parent without a Social Security number. Advocates say the system locked out hundreds of thousands of students who are U.S. citizens or permanent residents but whose parents are not. The Education Department on Tuesday said it's giving those parents a new way to enter their tax information manually. But as recently as this week, some students said they were still blocked from submitting the form. Federal education officials say they're addressing lingering bugs but making progress. More than 8 million student applications have now been processed and sent to colleges, the agency said, and new applications are being processed within three days. Still, the wait is far from over. It usually takes weeks for schools to prepare financial aid offers. Some colleges have extended decision deadlines to give students more time to weigh their options. But some stuck to May 1, forcing students to choose a college — and make a nonrefundable payment to hold their spot — without knowing all their scholarship options. In Baltimore, Camryn Carter is waiting to find out if he'll get a full ride to the University of Maryland or face tens of thousands of dollars in student loans. A top student and captain of his baseball and wrestling teams, Carter sees college as a step up in life. He thinks back to the times in the grocery store line when he had to put items back on the shelf because his mom couldn't afford the bill. A college degree would give him the stability he didn't always have, the 18-year-old said. But when he looks at tuition, it's intimidating. Along with Maryland, he's also considering McDaniel College, a private school in Maryland. If he enrolls there, he expects to borrow almost $30,000 a year. "I try to make the best decisions now so I can have a good future," he said. "I'm a little nervous that things won't work out. But I'm faithful."

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GENEVA — More than 800 mine action leaders attending a U.N.-sponsored conference in Geneva this week are warning of the ongoing dangers from unexploded ordnance and landmines in countries affected by conflict. A focus of the conference is on the war in Gaza, which the United Nations Mine Action Service, or UNMAS, says “has resulted in explosive ordnance contamination on a scale unprecedented for Gaza.” The agency has been working in Gaza for over a decade providing services to lessen the threat of explosive ordnance to civilians and enable the safe delivery of humanitarian aid. “After October 7, the program has undergone a rapid evolution. We have become an enabler of the humanitarian response into Gaza,” said Charles Mungo Birch, chief of the UNMAS mine action program in the Palestinian territories. He told journalists Wednesday, “We support humanitarian convoys going north and do explosive hazard assessments of humanitarian sites which allow humanitarian work to continue.” For example, he said that in December, UNMAS Explosive Ordnance Disposal officers accompanied a World Health Organization convoy along a dangerous route to Shifa hospital. “That convoy evacuated over 30 premature babies, which we returned to southern Gaza, and only one of them died,” he said. UNMAS estimates there are 37 million tons of rubble in Gaza, amounting to 300 kilos (660 pounds) per square meter of surface. This, it says, is more rubble than in Ukraine. “To put this in perspective, the Ukrainian frontline is 600 miles long and Gaza is 25 miles long,” Birch said. “This rubble is likely heavily contaminated with UXO [unexploded ordnance].  Clearance of this will be further complicated by other hazards in the rubble,” he said, noting that about 800,000 tons of asbestos is estimated to be in the rubble. Paul Heslop, program manager for mine action, UNDP Ukraine, said a significant amount of contamination from UXO is found on both sides of the frontline of that conflict — however, mine clearance experts are unable to access Russian-occupied areas. “So, we have not had any work on that side of the conflict zone,” he said. “There has been an extensive use of all types of munitions by both sides in this conflict. We are seeing a level of contamination that we have not seen in Europe since the Second World War.” UNMAS reports 60 million people around the world are affected by the threat of land mines, leftover ammunition and explosive devices every day. It says the legacy of contamination from these weapons continues decades after a conflict ends, killing and maiming thousands of people. The agency cites Syria, Yemen, West Africa and the Sahel region, including Ethiopia, Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, among the most-contaminated countries in the world. “Most of the problem in the Sahel is the IUDs, improvised unexploded devices that are homemade, similar to what we have seen in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Somalia,” said Heslop, who was involved in projects in the Sahel for the past 10 years. “Obviously, they are very low-cost and fairly easy to make.  So, I think the scourge of the Sahel is the use of IUDs in a fairly indiscriminate way,” he said. UNMAS officials said a mine clearance program the agency ran for many years in Sudan “was incredibly successful.” Therefore, they said, it is “very distressing” to see Sudan once again being contaminated by these lethal weapons, many of which now are in urban areas where the current war is raging. Last year, UNMAS recorded 1,500 victims of explosive ordnance in the Tigray and Afar regions in northern Ethiopia, with men and young boys accounting for 80% of the victims. Francesca Chiaudani, chief of the UNMAS mine action program in Ethiopia, said casualties are likely to remain high because the agency has received only 2% of the $10 million needed for mine clearance activities. Another problem, she said, is difficulty in getting accreditation for nongovernmental organizations to conduct surveys and clearance activities in conflict-affected areas. “At the moment, some limited or clearance activity has been conducted by the Ethiopian national defense forces. But there is no humanitarian clearance happening in the county because of not having authorization for organizations to do so,” she said. However, she said, “Accreditation for international NGOs is currently in process, and we are very hopeful that at least four will be accredited in the next month.”