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Washington's Top News - Wednesday, Aug. 6, 2014 08/06/2014 03:42am • Here's a look at some of the day's top stories from WTOP: Report: Russian hackers steal 1.2B passwords A published report says Russian hackers have stolen 1.2 billion user names and passwords in a series of Internet heists affecting 420,000 websites. The New York Times says the thievery was uncove Spurs hire WNBA star Becky Hammon as assistant 08/06/2014 03:06am • DOUG FEINBERG AP Basketball Writer Becky Hammon has been defying the odds her entire basketball life. Now, the ultimate underdog is preparing for her biggest challenge yet.Hammon accepted a coaching position with the San Antonio Spurs on Tuesday, making her the first full-time paid female NBA assist 7 steps to stronger, more secure passwords 08/06/2014 02:00am • Will the latest hack-attack get you to change your passwords? And do you think you're taking cyber threats seriously enough? Or are you just hoping no one messes with your accounts? You can join the conversation on our Facebook page or tweet your thoughts using #WTOP. ANICK JESDANUN AP Technol Microsoft hires Qualcomm exec to make more deals 08/05/2014 08:40pm • REDMOND, Wash. (AP) -- Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has lured away an executive from smartphone chip maker Qualcomm to hammer out more deals that will expand the software maker's presence in the mobile device market.Margaret "Peggy" Johnson will serve as Microsoft Corp.'s executive vice president of Instagram sneaker sale ends in teen's robbery 08/05/2014 06:40pm • KENNER, La. (AP) -- A Louisiana teenager who tried using the Internet to sell Air Jordan athletic shoes was robbed at gunpoint by his would-be buyers.Police have arrested four suspects and are seeking another.Kenner Police Sgt. Brian McGregor said Tuesday the 17-year-old victim from Gretna advertise Poll: Americans diverge on how to pay for highways 08/05/2014 05:02pm • JENNIFER AGIESTA Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) -- A majority of Americans think the economic benefits of good transportation outweigh the cost to taxpayers, but they can't agree on how to pay for new highways or repairs of old ones, according to a new Associated Press-GfKpoll.Six in 10 people sur Texas man faces child porn charges after Google cyber-tip 08/05/2014 04:02pm • WASHINGTON -- A Texas man is facing child pornography charges after Google detected suspicious content in his email and turned it over to authorities. KHOU Texas reports that Denny's employee John Henry Skillern, 41, was arrested last week after Google found explicit images of a girl in his Pope speaks in German to 50,000 Catholic kids 08/05/2014 01:56pm • VATICAN CITY (AP) -- Pope Francis brushed off his German on Tuesday to greet some 50,000 German-speaking young people on a pilgrimage to Rome.Francis followed the all-German program during the evening vigil service in St. Peter's Square and read from prepared German texts.Unlike his multilingual pre Grand Canyon investigating squirrel-kicking video 08/05/2014 08:50am • FELICIA FONSECA Associated Press FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) -- Authorities are looking into a viral Internet video that shows a man kicking a squirrel off what appears to be the edge of the Grand Canyon.But park officials say the chances of finding the man are slim."Right now they are working on it," par Australia proposes new counterterrorism laws 08/05/2014 04:50am • ROD McGUIRK Associated Press CANBERRA, Australia (AP) -- Australia's government on Tuesday announced plans to regulate travel to terrorist hotbeds such as Iraq and Syria as part of a raft of counterterrorism measures aimed at addressing the domestic threat posed by war-hardened homegrown Islamic ext Poll: How to pay for roads divides Americans 08/05/2014 04:28am • The Associated Press Congress has kept federal highway and transit programs limping along for the past six years, unable to decide how best to pay for them. Lawmakers' indecision mirrors what The Associated Press and GfK found in a recent opinion survey. Some results:--Six in 10 Americans think the 5 findings about USAID travelers' program in Cuba 08/05/2014 03:25am • The Associated Press In April, The Associated Press revealed that the U.S. Agency for International Development had overseen the creation of a secret "Cuban Twitter" program to stir political dissent on the island and bypass Cuba's stranglehold on the Internet. But that program was part of a larger 49ers hold 1st camp practice at Levi's Stadium 08/04/2014 11:00pm • CRAIG MASSEI Associated Press SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) -- Colin Kaepernick cradled his eight-month-old nephew, Ezekiel, in his arms, then lifted the infant into the air, gently bouncing him up and down.A few feet away, Bruce Miller bumped fists with fans draped over the first row of seats. And Verno US sent Latin youth undercover in anti-Cuba ploy 08/04/2014 06:26pm • DESMOND BUTLER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) -- Fernando Murillo was typical of the young Latin Americans deployed by a U.S. agency to work undercover in Cuba. He had little training in the dangers of clandestine operations -- or how to evade one of the world's most sophisticated counter-intellig Hotel negative review policy spurs online backlash 08/04/2014 05:40pm • The Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) -- A hotel received a flood of online criticism Monday following reports that it threatened to charge $500 if guests posted negative reviews.The New York Post reported early Monday that the Union Street Guest House in Hudson, N.Y., warned on its website that "a $5