NPR Blogs

Kaspersky Lab made another big announcement this morning: It has found another nation-state sponsored virus it is calling Gauss.

What makes this different than Stuxnet or Flame, which they discovered in May, this is the first "publicly known nation-state sponsored banking Trojan."

In a long explanation, Kaspersky said that by looking at virus it had determined it was related to Flame and Stuxnet.

Usain Bolt cemented his place as one of the greatest sprinters in history, when he won the 200 meter final today.

Bolt was challenged by his Jamaican teammate Yohan Blake, who closed in with less than 100 meters to go. Bolt kicked on his burners and ended up taking back the lead and beating Blake 19.32 to 19.44 seconds.

The big deal here is that this makes Bolt the first Olympian to win both the 100 meter and 200 meter races two Olympics in a row.

Warren Weir, another Jamaican, took third.

The AP adds:

There's some disturbing news out today about a disease we don't hear about much these days: gonorrhea. Federal health officials announced that the sexually transmitted infection is getting dangerously close to being untreatable.

Out of the horror of Sunday's shooting at a Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wis., has come a window into "the sunshine of their minds," India's ambassador to the U.S. says about faithful Sikhs.

Tonight, Shannon Eastin will break a gender barrier: The line judge will become the first woman to officiate an NFL game.

In a conference call today, she told the AP she wasn't intimidated.

"I want to encourage women: Don't be afraid," Eastin said. "Pursue and have dreams. This is my dream. With very step I hope to show it really doesn't matter if you are male or female."

The thing is that Eastin is stepping into the role during a difficult time. She is a replacement official because the regular officials are currently locked out because of a labor dispute.

Television crime dramas may draw big audiences, but they don't seem to work as a recruiting tool for forensic pathologists.

She's still in high school, but boxer Claressa Shields, 17, is also an Olympic gold medalist, after she won her middleweight final Thursday. She defeated Russia's Nadezda Torlopova by a score of 19-12.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said today that the chance for a more active than normal hurricane season has increased since it issued its first prediction in May.

NOAA is now predicting 12 to 17 named storms and five to eight hurricanes. Two or three of those could become major hurricanes. In May, NOAA had predicted 9 to 15 storms.

As several news outlets had predicted last month would happen, Google is going to pay $22.5 million — the largest civil penalty the Federal Trade Commission has ever levied — to settle charges that it wasn't straight with users of Apple's Safari browser about how it would track their Web surfing.

Why do the best weightlifters have short arms? What's the biggest physical challenge that marathon runners face? What kind of advantages do athletes from West Africa — and from Asia — enjoy? Those questions are answered in a great post over at our sister blog, Shots.

Our colleague Adam Cole analyzed information from a range of sources to come up with conclusions about the bodies of Olympic sprinters and rowers, as well as weightlifters and marathon runners.

Ten men who said they are Iranians were rescued Wednesday from a burning vessel in the Gulf of Oman by the crew of the USS James E. Williams, a guided-missile destroyer, the U.S. Navy says.

According to the Navy, "the vessel was flying an Iranian flag. The mariners ... are being well cared for, receiving medical treatment and awaiting transport to aircraft carrier USS Enterprise, which is coordinating the repatriation efforts."

Good morning. It's Day 13 of the London Games, and the overall medal tally stands at 82 for the United States, 77 for China, and 48 for Great Britain. Here's a roundup of the news that caught our eye this morning:

Canada has won the bronze medal match over France in women's soccer, as midfielder Diana Matheson scored a golden... er, bronze goal in the 92nd minute to break a 0-0 tie. Obviously, the match featured lots of good defense.