Calista241
Calista241's JournalTrump administration backs bill to halt aid to Palestinians
The Trump administration declared its firm support Thursday for a bill that would suspend U.S. financial assistance to the Palestinian Authority until it ends what critics have described as a long-standing practice of rewarding Palestinians who kill Americans and Israelis.
The State Department announcement comes nearly six weeks after the Senate Foreign Relations Committee backed the measure. The legislation, which is named after an American who was stabbed to death in Israel by a Palestinian, reflects bipartisan outrage over what lawmakers have termed a "pay to slay" program endorsed by the Palestinian Authority.
"The Trump administration strongly supports the Taylor Force Act, which is a consequence of Palestinian Authority and Palestine Liberation Organization's policy of paying terrorists and their families," the State Department said.
The department added that President Donald Trump "raised the need to end any part of this program that incentivizes violence against Israeli and American citizens with President Mahmoud Abbas last May in both Washington and Bethlehem.
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/trump-administration-backs-bill-halt-aid-palestinians-49852922
Iceland government collapses over paedophile furore
Source: BBC
A furore over a paedophile's links to PM Bjarni Benediktsson has led to the collapse of Iceland's ruling coalition.
The Bright Future party said it was leaving the three-party coalition after nine months in office, blaming a "serious breach of trust". Mr Benediktsson said the country should hold elections as soon as possible, preferably in November.
Earlier it emerged the PM's father wrote a letter recommending a convicted paedophile have his "honour restored".
This old Icelandic system permits convicts to have certain civil rights restored - enabling them to run for public office, qualify for certain government jobs or serve as an attorney or solicitor, for example - if three letters of recommendation from persons of good character are provided.
Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-41280080
Former St. Louis police officer found not guilty in murder trial
Source: Washington Post
The St. Louis region prepared Friday for demonstrations following the acquittal of a white former police officer who was charged with murder last year for fatally shooting a black driver after a car chase and then accused by prosecutors of planting a gun on the victim.
Prosecutors charged Jason Stockley, the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department officer, with murder for killing Anthony Lamar Smith in December 2011. According to the probable cause statement, Stockley was caught saying he was "going to kill this motherf‑‑‑er, don't you know it" and was heard telling another officer to drive into Smith's slowing car.
The court document, submitted by the St. Louis circuit attorney, said Stockley then approached Smith's window and fired five times into the car, hitting Smith "with each shot" and killing him. In addition, prosecutors say, there was a gun found in Smith's car, but it was later determined to only have DNA from Stockley.
State and local officials say they have been preparing for the unrest that could follow Stockley's acquittal Friday, following demonstrations that erupted after other area police shootings, acquittals and decisions not to file charges.
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2017/09/15/st-louis-tenses-for-verdict-in-murder-trial-of-former-police-officer/?utm_term=.c7a9c097a65a
Equifax, software maker blame each other for opening door to hackers
Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Equifax and a software company are blaming each other for a glitch that allowed hackers to obtain Social Security numbers and other sensitive info for 143 million people.
The Atlanta-based company, one of the nation’s three key credit bureaus that track individuals’ credit histories, said late Wednesday that hackers breached a vulnerable spot in a U.S. website application called Apache Struts CVE-2017-5638. Equifax disclosed last week that it discovered in July that hackers had tapped a large trove of personal data on most adults in America.
But in a statement Thursday, Apache Software Foundation, which provides the application, said it provided and announced a patch for the software fault on March 7, well before Equifax said the security breach began in mid-May.
“In conclusion, the Equifax data compromise was due to their failure to install the security updates provided in a timely manner,” the foundation said.
Read more: http://www.ajc.com/business/equifax-software-maker-blame-each-other-for-opening-door-hackers/p5wJS5CgTLrmKUL59CTAjM/
Apache is a very common coding language used in websites. Vendors like Apache regularly release these security patches that the vast majority of companies implement in a timely manor. Equifax is in deep shit, IMO.
Involuntary manslaughter charges dropped in Penn State frat cas
Source: ABC News
Involuntary manslaughter and aggravated assault charges have been dropped against eight former Penn State University fraternity members in connection with the death of a pledge at the fraternity house earlier this year, a Pennsylvania judge announced today.
But Centre County District Judge Allen Sinclair said today the cases against those students and four others will head to trial for less serious alleged offenses: reckless endangerment, alcohol-related charges and hazing.
Sinclair also today dismissed charges completely against four former fraternity members who were facing single counts of either tampering with evidence or recklessly endangering another person.
....
The charges, initially against 18 students, stemmed from the death of Timothy Piazza, a 19-year-old sophomore and pledge at Beta Theta Pi, who died Feb. 4 after he fell down the stairs during a night of drinking for a pledge ceremony at the house on the night of Feb. 2.
Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/US/involuntary-manslaughter-charges-dropped-penn-state-fraternity-hazing/story?id=49543863
Cobb cop during traffic stop: Remember, we only shoot black people
Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A Cobb County police lieutenant has been moved to administrative duty for making what the department deemed were “inappropriate racial comments” during a traffic stop last year.
Channel 2 Action News reported that its request for body camera footage of the incident prompted an internal investigation of Lt. Greg Abbott.
The footage shows a white female driver pulled over during a DUI traffic stop telling Abbott that she was scared to move her hands in order to get her cellphone because “I’ve just seen way too many videos of cops ... ”
“But you’re not black. Remember, we only shoot black people,” the police veteran of nearly three decades can be heard saying. “Yeah. We only kill black people, right? All the videos you’ve seen, have you seen the black people get killed?”
Read more: http://www.ajc.com/news/local/cobb-cop-during-traffic-stop-remember-only-shoot-black-people/I3RAuy3GVMmoM4WsXBGN7H/
US revised second-quarter GDP up 3.0% vs 2.7% rise expected
Source: CNBC
The U.S. economy grew faster than initially thought in the second quarter, notching its quickest pace in more than two years, and there are signs that the momentum was sustained at the start of the third quarter.
Gross domestic product increased at a 3.0 percent annual rate in the April-June period, the Commerce Department said in its second estimate on Wednesday. The upward revision from the 2.6 percent pace reported last month reflected robust consumer spending as well as strong business investment.
Growth last quarter was the strongest since the first quarter of 2015 and followed a 1.2 percent pace in the January-March period. Economists had expected that second-quarter GDP growth would be raised to a 2.7 percent rate.
Retail sales and business spending data so far suggest the economy maintained its stamina early in the third quarter. Other data on Wednesday showed private employers ramped up hiring in August, adding 237,000 jobs to their payrolls. That was up from 201,000 jobs in July.
Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2017/08/30/us-revised-second-quarter-gdp.html
Lurid Trump allegations made by Louise Mensch and co-writer came from hoaxer
Source: The Guardian
Explosive allegations about Donald Trump made by online writers with large followings among Trump critics were based on bogus information from a hoaxer who falsely claimed to work in law enforcement.
Claude Taylor tweeted fake details of criminal inquiries into Trump that were invented by a source whose claim to work for the New York attorney general was not checked, according to emails seen by the Guardian. The allegations were endorsed as authentic and retweeted by his co-writer Louise Mensch.
The source’s false tips included an allegation, which has been aggressively circulated by Mensch and Taylor, that Trump’s inactive fashion model agency is under investigation by New York authorities for possible sex trafficking.
The hoaxer, who fed the information to Taylor by email, said she acted out of frustration over the “dissemination of fake news” by Taylor and Mensch. Their false stories about Trump have included a claim that he was already being replaced as president by Senator Orrin Hatch in a process kept secret from the American public.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/aug/28/trump-tweets-hoax-louise-mensch-claude-taylor
It's a shame, but confirms what many suspected for awhile, that these two were full of shit.
Woman jailed for 10 years for making series of false rape claims
Source: The Guardian
A woman who made a series of false rape claims and sexual assault allegations has been jailed for 10 years.
Jemma Beale claimed she had been seriously sexually assaulted by six men and raped by nine, all strangers, in four different incidents over three years. The 25-year-old was found guilty in July at Southwark crown court of four counts of perjury and four counts of perverting the course of justice.
Sentencing her on Thursday, the judge, Nicholas Loraine-Smith, said: “This trial has revealed, what was then not obvious, that you are a very, very convincing liar and you enjoy being seen as a victim.
“The prosecution described your life as a ‘construct of bogus victimhood’.”
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/aug/24/woman-jailed-10-years-false-rape-claims-jemma-beale
Brazil opens vast Amazon reserve to mining
Source: BBC
Brazil's government has abolished a vast national reserve in the Amazon to open up the area to mining.
The area, covering 46,000 sq km (17,800 sq miles), straddles the northern states of Amapa and Para, and is thought to be rich in gold, and other minerals.
The government said nine conservation and indigenous land areas within it would continue to be legally protected.
But activists have voiced concern that these areas could be badly compromised.
Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-41033228
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