Facebook to verify ads with postcards

MENLO PARK, Calif. — Facebook will soon rely on centuries-old technology to try to prevent foreign meddling in U.S. elections: the post office.

Baffled in 2016 by Russian agents who bought ads to sway the U.S. presidential campaign, Facebook’s global politics and government outreach director, Katie Harbath, told a meeting of the National Association of Secretaries of State in Washington on Saturday that the company would send postcards to potential buyers of political ads to confirm they reside in the U.S.

The recipient would then have to enter a code in Facebook to continue buying the ad. The method will first apply to ads that name candidates ahead of the midterm elections in November, said Facebook spokesman Andy Stone.

The plan was unveiled a day after special counsel Robert Mueller charged 13 Russians with interfering in the presidential election. Mueller’s indictment described how Russian agents stole social security numbers and other information from real Americans and used them to create bank and PayPal accounts in order to buy online ads. Agents also recruited Americans to do things such as hold up signs at rallies organized to create content for Russian-created social media posts. says the pilot reported engine trouble before bringing the plane down Sunday on a grassy strip dividing State Route 101 in Santa Clara County.

Gregor says the pilot, who was the only person on board, wasn’t hurt during the landing near San Martin Airport, south of San Jose. The California Highway Patrol says there were no injuries on the ground.

There was no damage to the single-engine Piper PA-46. Photos from the scene showed the plane perpendicular to highway lanes about 75 miles south of San Francisco.

Carter, 90, had surgery on Sunday to remove scar tissue from a portion of her small intestine, The Carter Center said in a statement. The surgery was successful. The scar tissue, the statement said, developed after a cyst was removed many years ago.

Carter is expected to remain hospitalized for several days, where she will rest and recover, the statement said.

The former first lady married President Jimmy Carter on July 7, 1946, in Plains, Georgia, and emerged as a driving force for mental health during his presidential administration. leaving a service in Russia’s Dagestan region, killing five people and wounding four others, then was shot and killed by police, authorities say.

The shootings took place Sunday evening in Kizlyar, a town of about 50,000 people on the border with Chechnya.

Four people died at the scene and a fifth died at a hospital, regional Interior Ministry spokesman Ruslan Gadzhiibragimov said. The gunman was a local resident, and his wife has been detained for questioning, he said.

The motive for the attack was not immediately known.