Morning Brief: Justice smashes international cyber ring

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The U.S. Justice Department indicted 11 people for allegedly stealing 40 million credit- and debit-card records in what federal authorities are calling the biggest case of identity theft in U.S. history.

"So far as we know, this is the single largest and most complex identity theft case ever charged in this country," said U.S. Atty. Gen. Michael B. Mukasey at a press conference in Boston.

The accused have an international flavor: Two of the defendants hail from Estonia; two are from Ukraine, two are Chinese, and one is Belorussian. Three are Americans, and one defendant is known only by the online alias "Delpiero." The accused hackers allegedly broke into the networks of retail chains such as Barnes and Noble and T.J. Maxx, and some of them made off with millions of dollars.

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Asia

In Seoul, President Bush pressed North Korea to accept a nuclear verification plan.

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Middle East and Africa

Military forces have seized power in Mauritania in an apparent coup.

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Europe

British scientists have mapped the Arctic's territorial disputes.

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Today's Agenda

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev attends the funeral of dissident writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn.

Bush dines with Thailand's prime minister. Tomorrow, he meets with Burmese exiles.