Posts - Americans

Citigroup To Pay Yet Another Multi-Million Dollar Fine Over Illegal Conduct

Finance

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has ordered Citigroup to refund $700 million to customers and slapped the institution with $70 million in fines for “illegal and deceptive credit card practices”.

The penalties are the latest in a series of multimillion dollar settlement actions against credit card issuers in the U.S. for selling “add-on” products like “rush” processing and credit score monitoring. Bank of America was fined and ordered to repay customers last year as was JP Morgan Chase in 2013.

Citigroup will give refunds to 8.8 million customers who paid for add-ons and will pay two $35 million fines to federal bank regulators and the CFPB which was created five years ago by the passing of the Dodd-Frank law that made huge changes to the financial industry in the wake of the 2008 financial meltdown.

News of the penalties did not affect Citigroup shares today which rose 27 cents in midday trading on an overall broad market decline.

Richard Cordray, CFPB Director said “We continue to uncover illegal credit card add-on practices that are costing unknowing consumers millions of dollars. This is the tenth action we’ve taken against companies in this space for deceiving consumers.”

Some of Citigroup’s illegal activities dates back to 2000.

CFPB records show that in one case Citigroup telemarketers sold consumers identity theft protection services using a 30 day free trial which did not even exist, and signed up customers for add-ons when it was unclear if the customers had even agreed to the purchase. The organization even sold non existent credit monitoring services and misrepresented consumers by charging an $14.95 “expedited” payment fee when no-fee options were available.

Nick Bourke of Pew Charitable Trusts said “Add-on services, for the most part, provide no benefit to consumers and people should be very careful to sign up for them.”

He said although credit card providers have mostly ended the practice, some high-cost installment loan providers or payday lenders still sell the add ons.

Obama To Be Greeted By 5000 Naked Protesters As He Arrives in Kenya

Entertainment News

Up to 5000 naked protesters are set to welcome President Barrack Obama when he visits Kenya this week. The protesters will be protesting against plans by the U.S. President to talk on gay rights in a fiercely conservative Christian nation. Homophobia is the order of the day in the East African nation. Members of the LGBT community face rampant discrimination, abuse and even rape to “cure them.” President Obama’s visit may just offer a new way of thinking about the sidelined and oppressed community in Kenya.

President Obama is set to jet into Kenya on Friday and as reports indicate, he will be greeted by 5000 “completely naked” protesters. The protesters will line the streets of Nairobi, the nation’s capital, publicly opposing Obama’s “open and aggressive support for homosexuality.”

The naked protests will be organized by the Republican Liberty Party, a largely ardent conservative party known for its crude tactics of getting its points across. Their main objective for the march will be to make Obama “see and understand the difference between a man and woman.”

Homosexuality is illegal in Kenya and is punishable by up to 14 years in prison. A report by Pew Global Attitudes Project reported that up to 96 per cent of the nation’s people were against homosexuality. So bad is the stigma associated with being gay that members of the community hide their habits for fear of victimization or even rape to “cure them”, as reports indicate.

The decision to protest against the perceived pro gay stand by Obama comes hot on the heels of the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling that allowed marriage between gay persons in the U.S. Following POTUS’ open support of the decision, anti gay crusaders have warned Obama not to delve into the sensitive topic, one that the White House has shown no sign of shying away from.

So eager are the protesters to display their pompous bravado that they held a warning demonstration on Monday. According to a local news outlet, the enraged members shouted, “We do not want Obama and Obama, we do not want Michelle and Michelle. We want Obama and Michelle and we want a child!” while carrying anti gay placards.

The country’s leadership seemed to be in support of the protest. Kenya’s Deputy President William Ruto, who is on trial for crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court, recently told worshippers that homosexuality was an act “against the plan of God.” He added, “Those who want to engage in those things can go to those countries and not ours.”

The visit by POTUS to his father’s native country has sparked a huge frenzy in the East African country. After the SCOTUS ruling, focus has been drawn to Obama’s agenda, which has caused the largely anti gay population to predict he may delve into the controversial topic. It remains to be seen whether POTUS will heed their warnings or will stand his ground in a country where being gay can earn you 14 years in prison or an even worse fate at the hands of an enraged public.

Thousands Of Chrysler Vehicles Are Now Vulnerable To Hack Attack

Finance

Is your car cyber secure? If it uses the standard Uconnect system, used by thousands of Chrysler vehicles, it’s not. Two hackers have developed a method to hack into a car’s system and take absolute control of it, wherever it is, from anywhere in the U.S. The new system has exposed a fundamental flaw in the configuring of car systems that could potentially render thousands of cars across North America susceptible to cyber attacks from unknown faceless hackers. Questions have been raised, chief among them, are automakers doing everything to secure the end users?

The two hackers who have developed the system to randomly hack into vehicle systems are Charlie Miller and Chris Valasek. In a recent test, through a laptop connected to the internet and stationed 10 miles away, the two managed to easily take control of a Jeep Cherokee, rendering the driver powerless against an anonymous force. The two started by taking control of the Jeep’s vents, letting out a stream of hot air that sent the driver sweating bullets. They then took control of the radio, switching channels wirelessly, before sending the car wipers into overdrive. All this happened as the driver was inside, panicking. The big play came when they completely overrun the car systems, paralyzing the accelerator, killing the brakes and steering the Jeep into a ditch. The test driver was left dumbfounded.

The new study revealed just how much hacking had grown and just how little automakers are doing to secure the end users. According to Miller, their full arsenal includes controls that kill the engine, lower speed, unhook seat belts and even engage or disengage car brakes. The driver is absolutely powerless every time. According to the hackers, the security breach is possible only because the Jeep, like almost all cars today, are fitted with Uconnect operators, an internet connecting feature that controls the vehicle operations including navigation, entertainment and even WiFi connections. According to the two, the system allows them to easily figure out a car’s IP address, locate it from anywhere in America and take control of it effortlessly. Miller quipped, “From an attacker’s perspective, it’s a super nice vulnerability.”

The potential harm the system holds is enormous, inconceivable to drivers all over, unsettling for automakers and nerve wracking for U.S. authorities. Up to 41,000 vehicles can be located and seamlessly broken into wirelessly. The security threat posed is stupendous.

Thankfully the two hackers have revealed that they would share their knowledge with the world at the Black Hat conference on security to be held in Las Vegas next month. The two have even been sharing their research with Chrysler to help develop a new system that will ensure vehicles in the U.S. are attack proof.

Miller and Valasek have exposed a fundamental weakness in vehicle manufacturing. Through sharing their research with automakers, the two will surely play a huge role in making car systems hijack proof. In the end, it is the everyday American who will be more secure.

Controversial Prize Winning Video Game Sees Users Try To Kill Poachers

Entertainment News

A group of teen students from Nepal, called Team Octavian, have created a somewhat controversial video-game depicting the killing of poachers. While some people strongly feel that the act of poaching is heinous and that poachers should be shot, or at least harshly punished, others feel that poaching is a way of life necessary to support and provide for very poor families. However one feels about poaching, it is undisputed that the act of poaching threatens the future existence of certain species of animals. It is this aspect of poaching that the video-game’s creators hope players recognize. The game, entitled Defend Your Territory, is a first-person shooter game where cyborgs from the future go back in time and hunt down and kill poachers. .

The students will compete next week in Seattle, WA in Microsoft’s Imagine Cup. The tournament is a student technology competition and the students are competing in the video-game category. If the student group wins the video-game category, Team Octavian will compete for the overall winner prize of $50,000, which will be handed out by Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.

Defend Your Territory co-creator Alex Rumba told Geek Wired that he and his fellow developers want to educate players of the game that poaching is very serious and that if continued, the world could be in real danger. In an effort to avoid people-on-people killing, the game’s developers chose a cyborg to go back in time to find and shoot poachers. The cyborg comes from the future in a world where the effects of poaching have left the Earth’s ecosystem in a muck. In fact, in the game, Earth is covered by a vast, dusty desert. Rumba stated that he and his friends wanted to “[l]et people know about the rarity and value of wildlife and what may result if the system of nature gets disturbed for selfishness. Every life counts is the logic.”

According to gamers, the game is fun and visually inspiring. The use of high tech graphics allows users the opportunity to experience the game as lifelike as possible. The game is played with one or more users online, and objectives and quests must be met in order for players to move to the next level.

Defend Your Territory has already won three competitions in order to make it to the next level of the Imagine Cup.

SpaceX Delays Heavy Rocket Until 2016 In Wake Of Launch Failure

News

Elon Musk, SpaceX chief, announced that the company will delay the launch of their new rocket that is supposed to be the most powerful in the world. The news came during a briefing given by company executives and Musk after the explosion of their smaller Falcon 9 rocket last month. The new rocket, Falcon Heavy, was originally set to be launched in 2013 but is now delayed until spring of next year.

The Falcon Heavy is projected to be able to lift 53 tons into orbit. That is twice what the biggest operational rocket can lift. This rocket boasts 27 Merlin rocket engines with one atop the central core. It is essentially three first stage Falcon 9 rockets put together side by side.

If SpaceX delays the launch of their rocket for much longer, NASA’s Space Launch System will overshadow their project. The SLS can lift 70 tons into orbit and is scheduled for a first unmanned launch in 2018. Soon, enhanced versions of the SLS are projected to be able to lift 130 tons and perhaps launch a manned mission to Mars in the future.

Theoretically, the decision to use a heavy rocket for the deep-space program was a decision for the U.S. government. However, it seems NASA, along with their political allies, have made that decision on their own.

SpaceX and Musk have been considered for the SLS using their new methane or kerosene-powered technology which is more efficient and powerful than the old hydrogen technology used by the Shuttle.

And while the SpaceX technology could prove to be groundbreaking it will also result in a large number of lost jobs at aerospace giants Boeing and Lockheed, which operated the space shuttle for NASA under a partnered monopoly called United Launch Alliance. Many people, notably politicians under intense lobbying pressure, seem unwilling to put faith in the new projects at SpaceX and maintain the same attitude during the 70’s with NASA at the helm of space exploration and innovation.

This may not have been the case if Falcon 9 hadn’t exploded upon launch or if Falcon Heavy had been released on time. Regardless, Space X and Musk are making excellent strides in development of new rockets. They are close to recovering a Falcon after a launch for reuse. Once these things are accomplished, it will be hard to not look at the SLS as outdated equipment.

Ashley Madison Offers Free Profile Deletion As Hackers Continue Releasing User Info Of Adulterers

Finance

Extramarital fling seeking members of the dating site Ashley Madison who were hoping their adulterous ways would be kept secret are very nervous after the website was recently hacked.

Although the owners of the U.S and UK “members only” extramarital dating site have apologized for the hack and are offering users the opportunity to fully delete their accounts free of charge, the hackers have said this was not being done and because of this they will continue releasing information about members and their activities. Ashley Madison usually offers a “paid delete” ability, costing $19, but after the hack was discovered, offered this service free of charge.

The hackers calling themselves “The Impact Team” claimed through social media, that Ashley Madison had not fully deleted all information about users who had asked for this, and had never done so in the past even when members had paid for this “service”. They said if the site owners had been deleting information on paid request, they would not have hacked into the site in the first place.

Ashley Madison in a statement said The Impact Teams claims were false. “Contrary to current media reports, and based on accusations posted online by a cyber criminal, the ‘paid-delete’ option offered by AshleyMadison.com does in fact remove all information related to a member’s profile and communications activity,” read the statement. “ The process involves a hard-delete of a requesting user’s profile, including the removal of posted pictures and all messages sent to other system users’ email boxes. This option was developed due to specific member requests for just such a service, and designed based on their feedback.”

Cyber crime experts said they are not clear whether Ashley Madison has made the free of charge information removal offer to appease the hackers demands or simply as an PR exercise to lock the barn door after the horse had already bolted.

In its statement, Ashley Madison called the hack an “act of cyber-terrorism”, and said it had managed to remove all leaked member information on the internet . It said “using the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), our team has now successfully removed the posts related to this incident as well as all Personally Identifiable Information (PII) about our users published online.”

The security engineering manager at Rapid7, a cybersecurity firm, Tod Beardsley, said what made the hack interesting was the fact that the majority of site members would not be willing to confess to suffering a breach.

He said “Dating sites also host millions of intensely private scraps of user data. Users of these services may routinely share risqué photos, checklists of sexual preferences, and patterns of romantic activity that they consider deeply personal. Because of this, any breach involving a dating site comes with a built-in ‘ickiness’ factor,”

“Dating site users are likely to feel more violated after a breach than those caught up in a retail or government website breach, and they are less likely to reach out for help and advice on how to manage their identity information after a breach. For Ashley Madison users in particular, this tendency to suffer silently is all but guaranteed.”

Noel Biderman. Ashley Madison’s CEO and founder, said he believed the hack was an inside job.

“I’ve got their profile right in front of me, all their work credentials. It was definitely a person here that was not an employee but certainly had touched our technical services,” he said.

Millennial Renters Still Feeling Effects Of Financial Crisis Eight Years Later

News

Renters, especially Millennials, will continue to shoulder the brunt of the aftershocks from the worst economic slowdown in the United States since the Great Depression according to economists. They predict rents will continue to rise for the next two years, with rent increases outpacing the rate of inflation.

Capitalizing on this trend are multi-family housing developers who have increased their building activities to the highest level since 1988.

Devin O’Brien, strategic head of marketing for Zumper’s said the housing market overall was becoming “much more landlord-focused.”

“Real estate development should catch up to demand 2-3 years from now given the cyclical nature of the market,” he said.

Housing experts said this situation could not be worse for Millennials (those aged 22 to 34 years of age) who on average already spend 30 percent of their income on rent. In 1979 this figure for the same age group was 23 percent. This group was also experiencing problems finding suitable rental properties with the experts citing Miami as an example where only eight percent of rentals be able to be classified as ” affordable”. In Los Angeles this was 12.7 percent and in New York City 20.4 percent.

Data released in a statement by New York University’s Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy show the supply of affordable rentals has not kept pace with demand in the U.S.’s 11 largest cities.

“With the exception of Dallas and Houston, the average renter in each metropolitan area could not afford the majority of recently available rental units in their city,” according to the statement. “The cities were even less affordable to low-income renters, who could afford no more than 11 percent of recently available units in the most affordable cities.”

Rents in San Francisco have skyrocketed 12.9 percent over the last year with the medium for a one bedroom rental unit being $3,500 per month The demand for rentals properties there is attributed to its proximity to Silicon Valley.

But at the other end of the scale, one-bedroom apartments in Detroit fetch on average $500 per month, a decrease of 11.5 percent over the past year.

The experts said rents were rising for several reasons including difficulties Millennials were experiencing securing mortgages and their preference to rent instead of buy.

Rising rents are also seeing many aged between 18-34 staying at home or moving back in with parents. In 2007 28 percent of this age group lived at home while last year that figure had risen to 31 percent.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in attempts to revive home buying amongst Millennials was offering mortgages with just a 3 percent down payment but experts said this was not having much effect as yet.

U.S. Navy Submarine Successfully Launches and Recovers First Underwater Drone

News

In a first for the United States Navy, a member of its submarine fleet has successfully launched and recovered an underwater drone during an underwater mission in the Mediterranean. The USS North Dakota, an attack submarine, returned to its base in Groton, CT on July 20th after a nearly two-month mission in the Mediterranean. Navy officials declined to comment on the mission but did state that the drone was launched from a dry deck shelter attached to the top of the submarine, normally utilized for launching mini-submarines and divers. The Navy sees these drones, or unmanned undersea vehicles known as UUVs, as a cost-effective method to extend the capabilities of its submarine fleet, which slowly has been shrinking in size since the end of the Cold War.

Specifically, a submarine commanding officer and his crew can have eyes in two places at the same time. The drones can be launched in order to complete both mundane and dangerous missions. They can detect mines, map the ocean floor and conduct intelligence gathering. Illustrating the Navy’s commitment to integrating unmanned vehicles into its fleet, the military has been researching how to use the drones in anti-submarine warfare.

The drone deployed by the North Dakota was the Remus 600, developed by the Hydroid company with funding from the United States Office of Naval Research. The drone is 500 pounds and 10-feet-long that is apparently from a class that is readily available on the public market. The UUV is advertised as fully modular that runs on a lithium ion battery which can last up to 70 hours, subject to various configurations. It is further advertised as having a maximum operating depth of 656 yards, although Hydroid claims it can be configured to have an operating depth of 3,280 yards. It can be equipped with GPS devices, sonar technology and video cameras.

War Hero Comments Lead GOP To Push For Trump Disqualification

News

Donald Trump has once again placed himself in the middle of a raging publicity storm, this time by making incredibly controversial statements regarding the war hero status of Arizona Senator John McCain. In his latest brush with controversy, Trump stated that McCain, who remained a prisoner of the Vietnam War in the Hanoi Hilton prison for more than five years, was only a “war hero because he was captured,” and that “[he] like[d] people that weren’t captured, OK?” In fairness, Trump did follow his comments with the statement that McCain was a war hero. GOP leadership hopes that Trump’s latest antics will turn voters against him and narrow the Republican presidential candidate field.

As one might expect, Trump’s comments drew numerous critical responses from both the Republican and Democratic parties. The Republican National Committee (“RNC”), which generally remains neutral during the GOP primary and very rarely comments on political debates, publicly condemned Trump’s remarks. RNC spokesman Sean Spicer tweeted that “[t]here is no place in our party or our country for comments that disparage those who have served honorably.”

Florida Senator Marco Rubio, a Republican presidential candidate, commented that Trump’s “shot” against a man who refused early release from a war prison because his comrades could not also be released “disqualified” the New York billionaire as potential President of the United States. Former Texas Governor Rick Perry, another Republican presidential hopeful who is not doing very well in the polls and desperately needs publicity, called for Trump to “immediately withdraw” from the 2016 presidential race. Left Wing Senator Elizabeth Warren called Trump a “blowhard.”

Texas Senator Ted Cruz took a more neutral approach, stating that he “recognize[s] that folks in the press love to see Republican-on-Republican violence, and so [the press] want[s] [him] to say something bad about Donald Trump, or bad about John McCain or bad about anyone else. [He] isn’t going to do it.”

The quick and nearly unanimous criticism of Trump by the GOP was in stark contrast to its response to Trump’s earlier controversial comments regarding immigration. In that firestorm, Trump stated that some people illegally entering the United States from Mexico are “drug dealers,” “rapists,” and “criminals.” These comments seemed likely to alienate the increasingly influential Hispanic demographic which are crucial in general election swing states like Colorado, Florida and Nevada. However, GOP candidates did not take a clear stand against Trump’s immigration statements.

True to Trump form, rather than apologize or walk away, he doubled down by intensifying the controversy. He wrote an opinion piece in USA Today that admonished the media, McCain and the “establishment.” Trump wrote that “[t]he reality is that John McCain the politician has made America less safe, sent our brave soldiers into wrong-headed foreign adventures, covered up for President Obama with the VA scandal and has spent most of his time in the Senate pushing amnesty. He would rather protect the Iraqi border than Arizona’s.”

On Monday, a new Washington Post/ABC national poll reported that Trump continued to lead the Republican field by 24%. While many analysts believe that Trump does not have a chance to win the GOP presidential nomination, he most likely will not exit the race early.

New Study Confirms Men Who Harass Women Online Are, Literally, Losers

News

A recent study proves that men who harass women online are in fact losers. The journal PLOS published the study led by researchers Jeffrey Kuznekoff of Miami University and Michael Kasumovic of University of New South Wales. The study took place during 163 plays of Halo 3 and tracked how men treated women online.

The researchers studied the gameplay and tracked the comments made between players. They observed that men acted relatively cordially to one another regardless of their skill level or gameplay. The research also showed that men who were skillful at the game typically paid compliments to both other men and women. Male players that were less skillful at the game frequently made nasty comments to other female players. The results suggest that sexist men are losers.

Recent polls prove this research’s validity as 40% of users on the Internet have experienced some form of harassment. While these users consist of both men and women, it seems that women receive the heaviest and most consistent harassment compared to their male peers.

Kasumovic suggests that studies of video games like these make good proxies for real-life behavior. In the game, players are anonymous and will most likely never see each other face to face. Also, the male players far outweigh the female. According to gender rations, the Halo sub Reddit is overwhelmingly 95% male. These ratios are similar to other sites known for harassment, 4Chan, Reddit and Twitter.

The lead researchers suggest that this harassment is due to a socially triggered reaction that has been around since Neanderthals. A social hierarchy is threatened as more women are brought into the gaming realm. While men at the top are comfortable, less skilled males are threatened by the new players. This results in opposition which comes out in harassment.

Kasumovic says,“As men often rely on aggression to maintain their dominant social status, increase in hostility towards a woman by lower-status males may be an attempt to disregard a female’s performance and suppress her disturbance on the hierarchy to retain their social rank.”

Although this research cannot provide any suggestions for dealing with this kind of harassment, it does shed some light on the cause for this phenomenon. Kasumovic and Kuznekoff expect only more interesting findings from this research.

Israel Launches Major U.S. Lobbying Effort To Thwart Iran Nuclear Deal

Entertainment News

Israeli officials are running a major lobbying effort to put an end to the nuclear deal that the Obama administration has struck with Iran. Prime Minister Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders fear for the future of their country as they see Iran only getting more powerful from the deal.

It is a difficult position for Israel as congressional Democrats and the Obama administration are in support of the deal, seeing it as part of their legacy. Vice President Biden has set aside two separate trips to speak with congressional Democrats at Capitol Hill about the increased lobbying efforts by Israel.

According to White House spokesperson Eric Schultz, President Obama has been having his own conversations with lawmakers to push the deal forward. Israel puts Democrats in a tough position to choose between supporting this deal and making America’s most important Middle Eastern ally happy.

The deadline is September for lawmakers to discuss the bill’s implications and approve or disapprove. It seems a majority of Republicans want to disapprove the deal. Congress seems out of options as President Obama has made it clear that he will veto any attempt to stop the deal from going through.

If the veto is made, Congress is unlikely to come up with the two-thirds majority vote to overrule the veto. Dylan Williams, a left-leaning Israeli says, “I think the government of Israel will continue and even ramp up its efforts to kill the agreement”. Netanyahu warns that this deal would threaten the security of the United States as well as Israel.

Last year alone, Israel spent $2.5 million on a team of lobbyists to push their ideas. Netanyahu, a proven bi-partisan, must be careful not to isolate himself or the Israeli government further from congressional Democrats during this process.

Republicans are said to be supporting the Israeli efforts while President Obama said he is listening to arguments opposing the deal but says he has yet to hear a compelling argument.

Israel Offered Massive New Arms Deal For Iran Nuclear OK

Entertainment News

The United States is expected to give Israel “an unprecedented package” in exchange for its agreement to last week’s Iran nuclear deal, according to U.S and Israeli officials.

Sources said the package under consideration had been in the $3.7 billion range, but Israel expected this to be much higher.

They say Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon expects significant “compensation” from the U.S. and that U.S State Department officials have confirmed they were considering upping the package if Israel gives its OK to the agreement, under which Iran’s nuclear program will be curbed for a decade in exchange for relief from international sanctions which are expected to be worth billions of dollars.

Many key sanctions such as those pertaining to financial and energy sectors, could be removed by the end of this year.

Sources in Israel said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had been complaining about the initial package saying the fact that the US was willing to “pay him off “shows the Iran deal was “bad” for Israel and that they would increase what was on offer.

Foreign Affairs experts said that Israeli holding off on giving the deal the green light was a gamble for the Israeli leadership. They said that if it looks like Israeli lobby’s efforts won’t secure a veto-proof congress majority to kill the deal, the administration may decide Israel should not be bought off, or that the package should not be as much as Israel thought was fair.

Today the Iran deal, took one step closer to being made official with the U.N. Security Council unanimously endorsing it.

Secretary of Defense Ash Carter will be in Israel this week but is not expected to present an offer – a direct response to Netanyahu’s refusal to even discuss the subject in talks with President Obama last week.

NASA Tries Crowdfunding To Save Neil Armstrong’s Space Suit

News

The Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum has launched a campaign to raise funds in order to conserve and restore the spacesuit worn by Neil Armstrong on the first-ever moonwalk in 1969. The campaign is aptly entitled “Reboot the Suit.” Beginning the restoration project now will hopefully allow the suit to be made available to the public by July 2019, the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon landing.

NASA has partnered with the organization Kickstarter, a program that allows individuals to donate to a particular cause, in order to raise the necessary funds. The conservation project is necessary to both protect the spacesuit and to make it available to the public as the suit is deteriorating and has not been displayed to the public since 2006.

NASA is a federally funded program and federal appropriations provide the majority of the Smithsonian’s operating budget. However, projects like Reboot the Suit do not receive federal funding, so the only way to conduct this restoration project is through private funding. Utilizing a program like Kickstarter allows countless people the opportunity to become part of this historic project and all those who donate on Kickstarter will receive regular updates on the project and can follow the process each step of the way.

Like most of the spacesuits in the Air and Space Museum’s collection, Neil Armstrong’s spacesuit is presently stored in a climate-controlled storage area not accessible to the public. Interestingly, these spacesuits that protected astronauts while they travelled to the moon and back, are extremely fragile. Conservation efforts are required in order to stop the current deterioration of the spacesuit and to ready the suit for public display and access.

As scientists complete the restoration process, they will utilize state-of-the-art technology and techniques in 3D scanning, chemical analysis, photogrammetry and CT scanning that will create a detailed map of the spacesuit in order to documents its condition. This research will aid scientists in creating the perfect environment to protect the suit for public display while preserving the suit in its present condition.

As of 4:27 P.M. EST on July 20, 2015, the Kickstarter campaign has raised $79,466 of the requested $500,000 by 1,040 donors. The campaign will run until August 19, 2015.

Curious UK Driverless Car Law Still Requires A Non-Driving Driver

Entertainment News

The United Kingdom took steps Monday to join in the global adoption of driverless vehicles, enacted legislation that makes driverless cars street legal though curiously not so driverless. If the new laws are in place long term the future of driverless road transportation in England and possibly other parts of the world hardly looks like the stuff of dreams.

The UK’s Department for Transport (DfT) has laid down the law regarding driverless technology. The advent of driverless vehicles was seen by many as the end of traffic legislation because machines have rules engraved into their systems. Unlike humans, they are infallible. They neither break the law nor make mistakes. However, UK lawmakers are not taking any chances. Through a new set of rules to be released by the DfT, road users keen on acquiring driverless vehicles will have a lengthy set of guidelines to follow.

Some of the rules have not changed. Car owners, for example, will still have to get insurance cover and a roadworthiness certificate. However, beyond that, everything else is different.
Perhaps the most peculiar rule is that owners must “maintain the regular appearance of someone driving a car – like looking in the correct direction when at junctions… to not confuse other motorists.” This effectively means that operators must look like they are in control of the vehicle, even though they are not, which effectively takes away the whole purpose of having a driverless vehicles.

Other regulations prohibit the consumption of alcoholic beverages or drugs before going into their cars and consequently on the road. Also, use of mobile phones inside the vehicles is strictly outlawed.

Additional features are expected to be fitted inside the vehicles before they can be deemed roadworthy. They include a “black box” similar to those found on aircrafts. The black boxes would be responsible for “capturing data from the sensor and control systems associated with the automated features as well as other information concerning the vehicle’s movement.” The feature will improve the operators’ experience by ensuring their safety on the road.

With driverless technology already being rolled out in multiple states across the globe, legislative backing is required. Yet while the UK has set the pace for other countries lagging behind in adoption due to no proper legal framework it appears it may have jumped the gun and crafted rules that severely handicap the bright future of a promising technology yet to be fully developed or understood by lawmakers.

After all, who wants to pretend to drive a driverless vehicle.

After 50 Years United States And Cuba Reopen Embassies

Entertainment News

At 12:01 a.m. this morning, the United States and Cuba reestablished diplomatic relations when they reopened embassies in each other’s countries. This historic move took more than two years to coordinate and is greater than 50 years in the making. Specifically, both nations had to overcome years of enmity and animosity in order to make this work. The Cuban Foreign Minister, Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla, will travel to the Cuban Embassy in Washington D.C. to raise the Cuban flag, while the raising of the United States flag in Cuba will take place in August, when U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will visit Havana. Kerry’s visit to Cuba is the highest-level trip by an American official to Cuba since 1959.

The reopening of embassies is the first step in what is expected to be a years-long process of diminishing Cubans’ anti-American sentiment. Cuban President Raul Castro stated last week that “a new stage will begin, long and complex, on the road toward normalization.” This stage “will require the will to find solutions to the problems that have accumulated over more than five decades and hurt ties between our nations and peoples.”

Ties between Washington and Havana finally snapped in 1961 when Cuban leader Fidel Castro threatened to expel American diplomats for meddling in Cuban affairs. The Cuban government had seized American property and executed American officials from the Fulgencio Batista regime, which was overthrown by Fidel Castro. The years that followed included the failed U.S. led invasion of the Bay of Pigs, the declaration by Fidel Castro that his revolution was socialist, repeated CIA attempts to assassinate Castro, and the Cuban Missile Crisis. These events further poisoned relationships between the countries for decades.

Despite these events, in 1977, a brief period of improved relations between Cuba and the United States occurred and both countries opened Interests Sections in the buildings of their former embassies. These Interests Sections were a step below embassies and allowed the sparring countries to maintain diplomatic dealings without officially restoring relations.

Despite the reopening of the embassies, many questions remain, such as if/when the American trade embargo of Cuba will be lifted; whether Cuba will improve the human rights of its citizens; and whether the lives of Cubans will improve. Presently, the average income of a Cuban citizen is $20 monthly.

The Obama administration recently eased travel restrictions between the countries and expanded the amount of goods that Americans visiting Cuba could take home, such as Cuban cigars and rum. Earlier this spring, Obama also removed Cuba from the list of countries that sponsor terrorism. All of these measures will hopefully, in time, improve everyday relationships between the countries and will encourage citizens of both countries to accept each other rather than further instill negative feelings about each other.

Chinese Government Caught Censoring Nearly 5 Per Cent Of All Social Media Posts

Entertainment News

In China’s growing online community, comments on corrupt administration officials, ‘unwarranted’ mention of Chinese politics and even anti administration rumors are strictly prohibited. So much do the Chinese rulers wish to suppress such information that they are censored and even deleted such comments from Chinese social media without the users’ knowledge.

Research on China’s online community indicated glaring intrusions by the Chinese government into people’s lives. Conducted by Citizen Lab, from the University of Toronto, the researchers indicated that censorship on China’s online community occurred on a massive scale that included the mainland’s most popular texting app WeChat.

Censorship of mobile texts in the country is an open secret. What the report brought to light was the shocking extent to which it occurred. Out of 36,000 posts covered by the study between the months of June 2014 and March 2015, 4% had been censored. In addition, 100 public accounts on WeChat had been shut down for “spreading distorted historical information.”

The report’s author, Jason Ng, reported that keywords relating to corruption were five of the 50 most sensitive keywords. Chinese president Xi Jinping’s has been widely criticized for not doing enough to stem the country’s rampant corruption that is already threatening to bring down decades of economic progress. Rather than encouraging citizens to speak openly about the vice and even report suspicious transactions to authorities, the president prefers censorship of such “rumors”. According to him, such “sensitive” information needs to be kept off public forums, especially if it involves his own strong men such as Bo Xilai, who has been charged with multiple counts of corruption.

What is even more puzzling is how these censorships are carried out. According to Ng, it was impossible for an algorithm to pick up all keywords arithmetically, some needed human intervention to pick up. Ng said, “WeChat appears to tread in ambiguous waters [regarding censorship], forcing us to ask questions like: are those who object to a given post regular users, or are they employees of WeChat or the government?” If government agencies are involved, that would be the greatest act of intrusion into its citizens’ privacy and breach of their inherent rights to unrestricted interaction and unlimited expression.

In 2013, Beijing launched an “anti rumor campaign” that threatened all rumormongers with unprecedented gaol time. The administration then cracked down on religious movements such as the Falun Gong. By the time reports of social media censorship erupted, the citizens had had enough. Pro democracy protests escalated in the country’s capital all through the end of last year, threatening to tear apart one the world’s largest economies. President Xi Jinping’s administration’s intolerance to opposition is a far much greater threat to the country’s stability than are a handful of comments on mobile chat forums.

North Korea Reports 99.97 Per Cent Turnout For Local ‘Elections’

Entertainment News

North Korean officials, not exactly known for their love of democracy, reported a stunning 99.97 percent voter turnout for the recently held State controlled local elections, which are held to “elect” representatives nominated by the ruling party.

In the past State controlled media have reported a 99 per cent voter turnout with all those voting saying “yes” for uncontested candidates.

The official Korean Central News Agency Pyongyang (KCNA) said “All participants took part in the elections with extraordinary enthusiasm to cement the revolutionary power through the elections of deputies to the local people’s assemblies.”

Apparently the only eligible voters who do not cast a vote are those out of the country according to KCNA. Even the elderly, the infirm and hospital patients vote through “mobile ballot boxes”.
Setting an example for the democratic process was North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, who cast his vote in front of a barrage of media cameras.

In 2011, 28,116 representatives were elected as deputies to local assemblies with not a single vote of opposition to the candidates.

During each four-year term, the State approved candidates who enter the election unopposed, meet once or twice each year to “approve” budgets and “endorse” leaders put forward by the ruling party.

Last year, North Korea, ruled by the Kim family for more than sixty years, held national elections for its rubber-stamp parliament with a 99.97 percent voter turnout.

Foreign Affairs experts said the only worthwhile thing that comes from such election is that they provide a glance into who is still favored by Kim Jong-un and who is not, as dozens of senior North Korean officials have been kicked out of seats of power by the leader since he took control following his father’s death in 2011. One of those was his once favored and powerful uncle Jang Song-Thaek, who was sentenced to death in 2013 for being “factionalist scum”.

In April Kim Jong-un also replaced his defence minister, whom he had executed with an array of anti-aircraft guns, highlighting that the nation of North Korea is run in a truly medieval fashion.

Falling Ruble Leads To Spike In Counterfeit U.S. Dollars Inside Russia

Entertainment News

There has been a dramatic increase in the number of counterfeit foreign bank notes floating around Russia following the devaluation of the ruble which raised the value of the US dollar and the Euro according to the Russian Central Bank. In a statement the Bank said that for the first half of 2015 there had been a 39.9 percent rise in the number of fake notes discovered within the banking system.

A Bank spokesman said many more fake dollar and euro notes would be circulating within the retail system, undetected.

Just recently 1,500 foreign bank notes were taken out of circulation after being found floating within bank branches. The Russian news agency Interfax said 1,400 of the notes were US dollars and only 90 were euros, as they were harder to fake.

Meanwhile because of the falling value of the ruble, there has been an apparent decrease in the rate of fake domestic notes being produced. The number of fake ruble bills discovered fell by 2.1 percent in the first half of 2015 – 7,300 fake notes worth 150.8 million rubles ($2.7 million). Of these, 76.7 percent were 5,000 ruble bills ($88), the largest denomination.

The ruble’s value fell when the West imposed sanctions over Russia’s involvement in the Ukraine crisis and when oil, Russia’s main export, prices fell. Since January 2015, the value of the ruble has fallen by 40 percent against the U.S. dollar and almost 30 percent against the euro.

The European Central Bank has reported that in the second half of 2014, 507,000 counterfeit notes were withdrawn from circulation from a total of 16 billion real euro bills in circulation for the same period.

There has also been a resurgence of black market currency trading similar to the Cold War era, with everyone from taxi drivers to staff working in hotels frequented by tourists offering visitors exchange rates much higher than they would get at official foreign exchange centers or banks.

Relationship Cheaters On Edge World Wide As Affairs Site Ashley Madison Hacked

News

Tens of thousands of relationship cheaters are especially nervous this morning as Ashley Madison, the eHarmony for adulterers, was revealed to have been hacked by a group that is now threatening to release users’ personal data unless the site discontinues its services. The Impact Team, an unknown hacking group, released caches of users’ personal data from the website to demonstrate the validity of their claims.

Chief executive Noel Biderman, who helms the Canadian parent company Avid Life Media (ALM), acknowledged the breach and commented that he was “working diligently and feverishly” to pull the leaked data offline.

ALM has acknowledged being one of the latest companies to have been hacked despite advanced protective technologies The company has guaranteed a thorough investigation and will receive help from law enforcement going after the hackers.

Although the amount of information hacked by the Impact Team remains unclear, the hacking group has claimed to have access to financial records, user databases and other sensitive data. Samples of this data such as employee credentials and bank account data of the company have been leaked by the group.

The Impact Team says that they hacked ALM for their “false claims” that users could clear their membership information for only $19. AdultFriendFinder was hacked by cybercrooks only weeks before this incident is a very similar situation.

The Impact Team claims that, despite what ALM claims, the billing information of users such as names and addresses stay after users delete their account info.

The hackers demand that the ALM websites be taken offline or personal information of users will be leaked to the public. This hack poses a greater threat than typical security breaches of social networking or e-commerce sites. The data that was breached can potentially be used for extortion or blackmail.

Whatever the motives of the attackers the breach of an online hookup site with millions of members poses a far greater problem than a similar hack against a mainstream e-commerce or social networking site. Users are being warned by security experts of the potential risks involved with this security breach, including violence by angered domestic partners.

Renowned Physicist Stephen Hawking Backs $100 Million Search For Alien Life

Culture

The search for extraterrestrial life stepped up a notch today with the announcement from renowned Professor Stephen Hawking that he is backing a new initiative which will use sound in an attempt to answer the long asked question of “is there life in space?”

The $100 million initiative, reportedly the biggest to date in support of the search for life in space as we know it, will involve a ten year period of eavesdropping on broadcast signals from one million stars closest to Earth.

Speaking on behalf of the Breakthrough Initiatives group at the Royal Society in London today, Hawking said: “Somewhere in the cosmos, perhaps, intelligent life may be watching these lights of ours, aware of what they mean. Or do our lights wander a lifeless cosmos – unseen beacons, announcing that here, on one rock, the Universe discovered its existence. Either way, there is no bigger question. It’s time to commit to finding the answer – to search for life beyond Earth,” he said.

“We are alive. We are intelligent. We must know.”

The public was encouraged to help in the efforts to find a signal from space through the SETI@home project.

The Breakthrough Initiatives group claims the search for “signs of intelligent life” will cover an area 10 times bigger than any previous program, and will scan five times more of the spectrum of radio broadcast signals at a speed 100 times faster than before, using the Green Bank Telescope which is in West Virginia, USA, and the Parkes Telescope in the Australian State of New South Wales.

The Astronomer Royal, Lord Martin Rees said “The search for extraterrestrial life is the most exciting quest in 21st-century science. The Breakthrough Initiatives aim to put it on the same level as the other ultimate scientific questions.”

The man bankrolling the initiative is Yuri Milner, the US based high tech billionaire, He said he believed technology was now at a stage where it was possible to put listening for extraterrestrial intelligence signs in a proper scientific context.

Current technology gives us a real chance to answer one of humanity’s biggest questions: Are we alone?,” he said . “With Breakthrough Listen, we’re committed to bringing the Silicon Valley approach to the search for intelligent life in the Universe. Our approach to data will be open and taking advantage of the problem-solving power of social networks.”

Hawking added that the search for extraterrestrial life was one of the most important scientific endeavours humans had to attempt.

“To understand the Universe, you must know about atoms – about the forces that bind them, the contours of space and time, the birth and death of stars, the dance of galaxies, the secrets of black holes.”But that is not enough,” he said.

“These ideas cannot explain everything. They can explain the light of stars, but not the lights that shine from planet Earth.To understand these lights, you must know about life. About minds.”

Deadly New African Bird Flu Has Health Officials On High Alert

Health & Wellness

Health and medical organizations throughout West Africa are on high alert following reports that a highly contagious strain of avian flu is quickly spreading through the region. The reports say the flu is wiping out poultry farms and there are fears the virus strain will spread to humans.

The U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said poultry farms and markets throughout Burkina Faso, Ghana, Ivory Coast and Nigeria have been hit hard with the H5N1 virus which if unchecked has the potential to affect 330 million people across West Africa, a part of the world still reeling from the Ebola crisis.

The news also mean that U.S. farms and health officials will be on high alert as a similar yet less virulent strain of avian influenza has decimated chicken populations across the midwest this year.

FAO head Juan Lubroth said “Urgent action is needed to strengthen veterinary investigation and reporting systems… to tackle the disease at the root, before there is a spillover to humans.”

He said in Nigeria 1.6 million birds have been either killed by the disease or have had to be killed to stops its spread, damaging the economy and removing a relatively cheap food source in the impoverished country.

There have not yet been any reported outbreaks in the other West African countries of Cameroon, Mali and Togo Benin, but agricultural groups are on high alert to prevent the virus’s spread.

Both local and international medical aid groups are preparing for the worse and many of the measures used recently in attempts to contain the deadly ebola outbreak will be deployed if the virus spreads to humans. The UN has asked for $20 million from donors to respond to the outbreak and prevent its spread.

West African officials have been urged by the U.N. to trace where infected animals had been sold in an attempt to find the sources of the outbreak.

Lubroth said the poultry industry has grown rapidly throughout West Africa in recent years with the Ivory Coast for example reporting a growth of 60 percent. However regulatory systems and veterinary services have not keep pace.

H5N1 bird flu reportedly first infected humans in Hong Kong in Hong Kong, spreading throughout Asia and into Africa and Europe.

Defense Giant Lockheed Acquires Helicopter Maker Sikorsky In $9 Billion Deal

Finance

In a big move for Lockheed Martin, the largest U.S. weapons maker will acquire Sikorsky Aircraft, a division of United Technologies. The sale price: $9 billion. The deal is expected to close later this year or early 2016. Sikorsky, maker of the Black Hawk and Marine One helicopters, has been manufacturing helicopters for the U.S. government since 1958. The acquisition is the largest for Lockheed since it bought Martin Marietta for approximately $10 billion over twenty years ago. Lockheed’s purchase of Sikorsky further strengthens the weapon maker’s stronghold on the United States defense business, with its nearest competitors, Boeing and Northrop Grumman, only small players.

Department of Defense budget reports show that the United States military has requested $1.6 billion to buy 94 UH-60 Black Hawks in 2016. Further, in 2014, Sikorsky won a $1.24 billion contract from the United States Navy to manufacture six new helicopters by 2020 and a total of 21 helicopters by 2023. These new helicopters will replace the current Marine One Fleet.

Sikorsky accounted for only 10% of United Technologies’ profits for the first quarter of 2015. Company officials state that selling the Sikorsky division will allow the company to focus more of its attention and power on other high-tech factions of the defense industry. United Technologies also owns the Otis brand of elevators, the Carrier line of air conditioners and the Pratt & Whitney brand of jet engines.

The Black Hawk helicopter was made famous for its missions in Somalia in 1993. Eighteen American soldiers were killed during the Battle of Mogadishu where two helicopters were shot down. The events became the basis of the book and movie “Black Hawk Down.”

Both shares for Lockheed Martin and United Technologies rose more than 1% this morning in early trading.

New York’s JFK Airport To Open New Terminal Exclusively For Animals

News

A new luxury terminal for at JFK airport will open in 2016. Yet the 178,000 square foot facility won’t be for humans but rather it will be used exclusively by animal passengers. The new facility comes as the present facility, Vetport, built in the 1950s, is increasingly in disrepair. Aptly named ARK, after Noah’s Ark, the new terminal will provide state of the art holding and quarantine areas for all types of animals.

Horses in quarantine, which usually lasts three days, will rest in hay-lined, climate-controlled stalls featuring showers and will have daily exercise. The facility will have the capacity to hold up to 70 horses and 180 cattle at any given time and there will also be an aviary for birds, holding pens for sheep, pigs and goats, and a special area for penguins to allow mating privacy.

Cats will have their own tree to climb and dogs will have access to a 20,000 square foot luxury resort facilitated by the company, Paradise 4 Paws, that includes flat-screen televisions, massage therapy, doggie pedicures and bone-shaped splashing pools. Owners will have the ability to watch their beloved pets via webcam.

Maybe most importantly, all animals will have access to veterinary care 24 hours a day, seven days a week, run by Cornell University’s veterinary school.

Presently, JFK airport receives the majority of animals entering the United States. As of now, horses must be driven to a quarantine facility in Newburgh, NY about 81 miles north of the airport. The new ARK facility will eliminate this drive and further will allow planes to taxi directly to the facility. This should reduce stress on the horses as well as injury.

ARK Development has signed a 32- year lease for the facility with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and the completed facility will be subject to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s approval.

Fares for animals utilizing the facility have yet to be determined. It is likely that fancy dog suites could cost greater than $100 per night. Presently, it costs approximately $1,000 to transport a dog from the United States to London. It can cost over $10,000 to transport a horse.

Despite the cost, millions of pet owners will utilize the amenities that the ARK facility will offer. The pet industry is booming and more often than not, pet owners do not hesitate to spend large amounts of money in order to pamper their beloved companions.

Air Filled Tires Could Soon Become Thing Of The Past

Finance

The days of the “I got a puncture on the way to work” late excuse may be coming to an end with news that air filled (pneumatic) tires may soon be a thing of the past. South Korean tire manufacturer Hankook said it was in the final stages of factory testing a series of consumer oriented airless tires (also called non-pneumatic tires, or NPTs).

American tire manufacturers Michelin and Polaris have had NPT’s on sale since late 2013, but these are designed for agricultural vehicles like tractors and combine harvesters, and off-road ATV’s.

Hankook said its’ focus was on producing NPT’s for the much more profitable consumer market, not just for low-speed, ruggedness applications like its two American competitors.

A statement released by Hankook said the current series of “rigorous tests” were designed to prove stability, durability, and hardness (efficiency), which included the ability to take high-speed turns on a slalom like course and the ability to maintain “integrity” at speeds in excess of 80 mph.

The statement said the tests had shown “impressive results in five categories which demonstrated that the NPTs could match conventional tires in terms of performance.”

Road safety experts said although the Hankook internal test results were promising, there was no guarantee that the tires would be released for consumer use any time soon. They said there would need to be a lot of independent safety testing done before they were allowed to be sold generally.

Environmental groups have welcomed the news of the NPT’s because the tires are fully recyclable and appear to have a much longer life than traditional tires, and also because Hankook has found a way to lessen the manufacturing carbon print by reducing manufacturing steps from eight to four.

NPT’s have long been used for children’s bikes, wheelbarrows, shopping carts and other slow speed requiring wheeled applications but their durability, especially outdoors has proven to be a minus in their development.

Drone Operators In Search Of Epic Photos Again Disrupt California Firefighting Planes

News

As the California drought drags on, firefighters face a new enemy in their battle with wildfires: civilian drones.

Outside of LA on Friday, airborne firefighters were again prevented from making water drops on a wildfire by the activities of some local drone operators in search of spectacular pictures of the raging inferno. With the threat of mid-air collisions too great to continue, firefighters were prevented from performing their duties for a duration of around 20 minutes. Although drones can be a wonderful way to explore one’s surroundings, some of the “hold my beer” types are clearly interfering with the serious work of the fire teams.

Although the drone operators were likely to have obtained some extraordinary footage, civilians fled their cars on Interstate 15 as the wildfire passed through and burned many cars in the process. The charred vehicles should be a stark reminder to drone operators that the wildfires are serious business and anything that prevents an emergency response could endanger lives.

Four lanes of the I-15 were burned over a span of many yards. The blaze was battled by some 1,000 firefighters along with 22 fire engines, seven airplanes, and other equipment. The fire began in the desert near Phelan, 75 miles northeast of downtown LA. Damage totals included three houses, 64 vehicles, and eight other buildings.

The individuals fleeing their vehicles on I-15 included one Talia Sclafani, who just prior to running from her vehicle had been ordered by police to stay in her car. Trusting her own intuition, she fled along with others to a nearby hillside where they remained for three hours as the blaze passed through. Referred to as the “North Fire,” it burned over 3,500 acres and was only 5% contained. Firefighters attempted to salvage some of the vehicles by doing their water drops on the freeway, as citizens in nearby houses doused their homes and property in defense against the fire.

Conditions remain ideal for more wildfires and the FAA has placed temporary flight restrictions against unmanned drones during such fires. Compliance with the restrictions is currently voluntary, but if operation is done in a dangerous manner or the behavior continues after being contacted by the FAA, fines ranging from $1,000 to $25,000 could be imposed.

California lawmakers are eyeing tough new penalties in draft legislation revealed last week. That legislation came after earlier reports about drone operators preventing fire crews from dousing the flames.

ISIS Has Now Established A Terror Camp In Bosnia To Launch Attacks In Europe

Entertainment News

In the secluded woodlands of Bosnia, ISIS has developed a stronghold in the town of Osve, which came to light during a raid on a neighboring village by the State Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA), Bosnia’s state police agency. It is suspected the base is being used as a training camp or possibly as a stage from which to launch terror attacks inside European countries. During the SIPA raid on the village of Gorjna Maoca, officials discovered that ISIS members have been secretly buying land in the town of Osve. The move by ISIS is logical as it is close to the Mediterranean, a travel route used by terrorists from Syria, Iraq and North Africa.

Locals regularly hear gunshots from surrounding woods, suggesting training exercises by the group. Adherents to the strict form of Islam known as Wahhabism, remained in Bosnia following the civil wars of the 1990s and many who join ISIS originate from this subset of Islam. Couple this fact with the ease of access to weapons there, as well as the remote nature of the suspected village and there is much to attract ISIS to the region.

It is known that 12 ISIS fighters have already been trained and left Osve, with five already reported dead in Syria. Known ISIS supporter Harun Mehicevic is among those who have purchased land in the village. He is joined by other ISIS members Jasin Rizvic and Osman Kekic, who are currently fighting in Syria. The report titled “The Lure of the Syrian War: The Foreign Fighters Bosnian Contingent,” states that between 2013 and 2014 there were over 200 individuals who travelled from Bosnia to Syria, including women and children. As of this January, the report also stated that around 50 individuals had returned from Syria. Sarajevo University professor Vlado Azinovic and Islamic theologian Muhamed Jusic authored the report.

Suspected individuals in Bosnia are currently under surveillance by SIPA. Fighters continue to arrive in Bosnia from Syria, and ISIS’s self-described “gateway to Europe” through Libya was announced earlier this year, with ISIS bases already established in that country. There are still many clouds on the horizon for the Mediterranean region, and Europe.

After 22 Year Drought U.S. Claims Victory At International Math Olympiad

News

In Chang Mai, Thailand, Team USA eked out a narrow yet important victory in the International Mathematical Olympiad where the team of top-ranked students from around the country battled teams from over 100 other countries to come out the winner. The win ends a 21 year gap since team USA last took the podium. Social justice warriors were quick to bemoan the fact that only two on the team were female, but it should nonetheless be celebrated considering the lackluster press that U.S. education has received in recent years. The U.S. defeated China 185-181, with South Korea taking third.

Head coach for Team USA, Po-Shen Loh, said that it is important to teach the principles behind math rather than memorization of formulas. He sees this strategy as the best way to broaden math’s appeal to U.S. students and thereby increase their abilities in the subject. Loh is not new to the competition, having been a contestant in 1999, when the U.S. took 10th place. In recent years it has usually placed second or third.

The competition at the Olympiad is much less cutthroat than in the traditional Olympics. Teams sometimes actually assist one another, and many top students do end up coming to U.S. universities. Loh said about the competition, “I will say that it’s not really a super-great spectator sport, in the sense that if you are watching them, it will look like they are thinking…inside their heads, if you could spectate, that would be quite the sport.”

In contrast to the fact that the best students from the U.S. came out on top this year, American students still remain below average in the world in math and science. The win by Team USA is a good sign, but when are we going to see a ticker tape parade in Times Square for the achievements of these mathletes? Perhaps that won’t happen until, like Loh says, the events inside the competitors minds could be displayed using some yet to be made technology.

Med School Grads Ditching Residency For Lucrative Digital Health Startups

Finance

Recent medical student graduates in the San Francisco Bay Area graduates are foregoing the residency route and instead pursuing entrepreneurship opportunities in the field of digital health. So called “digital health” is defined as the integration of wireless devices, hardware sensors, social networking, personal genetic information, etc. into the health industry. One firm that encourages this development is Rock Health, a venture capital group aimed towards bringing more technological integration to the healthcare industry.

Rock Health has worked with startups that have developed wearable devices and mobile apps to give patients more involvement in their health. One success story comes from Omada Health, which offers online coaching in dealing with preventable diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, and obesity. As part of their service, they mail customers a wireless scale and a pedometer to keep track of patients’ progress.

By 2012, hospitals began rapidly moving away from paper-based records and into electronic storage. With doctors currently only spending eight minutes on average for each individual patient (partially due to record-keeping needs), digital health firms allow more opportunity for physicians to keep up with patients’ progress. They could also open up access to patients who may not otherwise have been able to see a physician.

Stanford and UCSF have some of the lowest residency route stats in the country. In particular, Stanford ranked 117 out of 123 schools. UCSF is number 98. Those foregoing residency are drawn to startup opportunities like those at Rock Health. These companies have demonstrated great willingness to hire grads with no experience, in part due to their insider knowledge of the industry. Having not worked in residency, these grads would also be less complacent to practices that may need improvement.

Part of the shift of medical grads towards digital health startups may be explained by the lack of career opportunities and earning potential, along with rising discontent among the ranks of primary care physicians. UCSF MD graduate Rebecca Coelius said, “I loved working with patients but I looked around me and realized that I didn’t want the jobs of anybody who had ‘succeeded’ as a clinician.” Perhaps this revolution from the digital health industry will cast out the stereotype of the overworked and cynical doctor.

Google Expanding Into Local Services Business With HomeJoy Acquisition

Finance

Google is getting into the local services game after it announced it will be releasing technology to match local professionals to customers for services in all aspects of home maintenance. Customers will have access to services for lawn mowing, painting, plumbing, cleaning, etc. Google announced that they will be using some of the technical talent that developed by Homejoy, a company google recently acquired that allows users to connect with local cleaning professionals, but current plans for the site are to discontinue business as of July 31, 2015. This move by Homejoy is part of the push by Google towards.

The venture capital arm of Google known as Google Ventures, had previously contributed to Homejoy’s $40 million in funding. The details are not concrete yet, but there is suspicion that the talent from Homejoy will be used in a new Google search feature. Google has made similar moves in the past, having released comparative services for air travel and hospitality. They are also looking to develop a mortgage comparison feature.

Combining all these capabilities with Google Wallet could be the end goal, such that customers only enter payment information one time and have access to a multitude of services. Google Wallet is the company’s current mobile payment system. With mobile searches now outnumbering those on desktops, this strategy makes sense. Some of the upside for Google would be from taking a small fee for each transaction from the service or product to which Google is connecting the customer.

Similar efforts in this market are under works by Pinterest and Amazon. One of Google’s current partners in this area is Delivery.com. CEO of Delivery.com, Jed Kleckner, sees Google as a means to “close the last mile” in the transaction process. To that effect, he doesn’t see Google as cannibalizing sales from their online presence. Instead, he views the actions by Google as a validation of this type of industry.

Saudi Arabia Arrests Over 400 As Bloody ISIS Attacks Continue

Entertainment News

Attacks by Islamic State (IS) militants have continued through the Ramadan holiday as arrests of 431 suspected IS militants have been reported by Saudi Arabia. The announcement was made following an IS attack near the nation’s highest security prison on Thursday. In typical fashion, a car bomb was exploded at a checkpoint, but killed only the driver. Saudi Arabia has claimed that numerous plots by IS terrorists have been thwarted in recent months.

Alleged offenses include smuggling explosives, surveying potential attack sites, and manufacturing suicide vests. IS has called for attacks on Saudi Arabia and recently killed 25 people in May as a result of two Shi’ite mosque bombings. In June, 27 more were killed in a suicide bombing, also at a Shi’ite mosque.

One of IS’s stated priorities is the removal of Shi’ite Muslims from Saudi Arabia and the Arabian peninsula in general. As Sunnis and Shi’ites continue to kill each other in the region, Obama and other U.S. diplomats have been attempting to push tolerance, despite a history of conflict between the two groups dating back to the 7th century.

On Friday, one of the deadliest IS attacks took place in Iraq, killing more than 100 people in a truck bomb explosion. This particular attack involved the driver of an ice truck, who lured in customers to his truck with the announcement of a discount in honor of the Eid al-Fitr holiday marking the end of Ramadan. The city where the attack took place was also a mostly Shi’ite area. Despite the constant refrain on some American media of an Islamic war on America, most victims of Islamic attacks continue to be other Muslims. With such terrible attacks continuing through Ramadan, the holiest days of Islam, the hope for this conflict to dwindle out of existence seems to be very small.