Posts - Americans

Deadly Weekend In Chicago Sees Seven Killed In Two Days

News

Chicago continues to grapple with violent gun crime as the city had seven killings in two days over the holiday weekend. The victims included 7-year-old Amari Brown, hit by a bullet meant for his father, who is a gang-member.

While Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy highlighted on Sunday the “need to repair a broken system,” he went on to push for tougher sentences but it seems obvious the problems extend far deeper.

McCarthy cited Amari’s father, who has been arrested 45 times, saying that “if Mr. Brown is in custody, his son is alive.”

Yet the city, known for its corrupt politicians and senior bureaucrats, seems stuck in a vicious cycle that can’t simply be cured by putting people in jail forever. Its penal system is already over-stretched, like many around the nation.

Its police force is also heavily taxed, which showed in McCarthy’s press conference where he stated “I’m tired of doing news conferences. I’m tired of listening to them. I’m tired of talking about them. Until we make a better decision as a community and as a city, this is all that’s going to happen.”

The issue is not new for the city and police prepared for the weekend by increasing the number of street patrols thirty percent. Yet 40 were wounded and seven were killed over two nights, highlighting the fact that policing just treats the symptoms of a far deeper underlying issue, which is primarily socioeconomic in nature.

Compared to last year, the number of violent incidents is actually down. On the long weekend in 2014 64 shootings resulted in 69 nonfatal victims and 15 killings.

McCarthy summed up the situation best when he said “we need some help here, folks. We have to fix this broken system.”

Greece Exit Polls Show ‘No’ Vote On European Exit

Entertainment News

Polls have just closed in Greece after the country voted today on whether to remain a member of the European Union or whether to leave the economic zone. At the close of polls, 7pm local time, forecasters weighed in showing a close vote in favor of staying in the Euro.

Specific local polls released data as follows:

GPO on Mega TV – 51.5% in favor of “no” and 48.5% in for “yes”
Metron Analysis on Antenna TV – 52% in favor of “no” and 48% for “yes”
MRB on Star TV – 49%-54% in favor of “np” and 46%-51% for “yes”
Marc opinion poll for Alpha TV – 49.5%-54.5% in favor of “no” and 45.5%-50.5% for “yes”

These conclusions fit with The Econonmist’s Intelligence Unit, which released the following statement:

The EIU forecast victory for the “No” camp as soon as the referendum was called. We are sticking to that call. To reiterate our Greece calls: We expect a “no” vote in today’s referendum. Grexit is our baseline (60%)

The Greek government, of which may members had threatened to resign should the exit be approved, were quick to take to social media to proclaim victory. Defense Minister Panos Kammenos tweeted “This shows Greek people can’t be blackmailed, terrorized, threatened. Democracy wins.”

While Greek politicians may be happy, UK and Irish betting houses will likely be quite upset, having overwhelmingly set odds that “Yes” was a sure bet and one company, Paddy Power, even paying out the “Yes” vote.

U.S. Launches 16 Air Strikes Against ISIS Over The Weekend

Entertainment News

ISIS militants were treated to a U.S.-led coalition 4th of July fireworks display as the U.S. Air Force conducted at least 16 airstrikes Saturday and early Sunday morning against ISIS buildings and transit routes in its stronghold of Raqqa, Syria, a U.S. Army officials confirmed.

The strikes triggered successive explosions that rocked the city and created an air of panic among residents, according to activists. While the U.S.-led coalition, which the Obama administration admits if still figuring its precise plan, has only been selectively attacking small ISIS-held towns in Syria and going after high value targets.

The overnight attacks on Raqqa were notably more intense, indicating a possible change in the U.S. strategy towards the terror group.

“The significant airstrikes tonight were executed to deny Daesh [ISIS] the ability to move military capabilities throughout Syria and into Iraq,” said Lt. Col. Thomas Gilleran, in a statement.

Gilleran, who is the spokesperson for the Combined Joint Task Force’s Operation Inherent Resolve, acknowledged that the strikes were the “largest deliberate engagements” to date.

“It will have debilitating effects on [ISIS’] ability to move from Raqqa,” he elaborated.

Raqqa is the de facto capital of the so-called Islamic caliphate declared a year ago by the Islamic State group in territories it controls in Iraq and Syria.

ISIS, always media savvy, said only that 10 civilians were killed in the attack and published photos of dead victims, including two of young boys. The accuracy of the photos could not be confirmed, though a Raqqa-based anti-ISIS activist group reported eight civilians as being killed.

Raqqa is Being Silently Slaughtered, as the activists are named, confirmed at least one of the strikes targeted a group of ISIS militants in the center of the city. They confirmed another strike targeted an ISIS checkpoint and a third destroyed large parts of a brick factory controlled by the militants.

American military officials would not confirm what precisely was targeted or how the attacks were conducted.

FCC Filing Reveals Google Readying New Version Of Google Glass

Finance

While details are thing due to a “request for confidentiality” by search giant Google, it appears the company has registered a new version of its controversial Glass product.

Thanks to an obviously named ID tag of “A4R-GG1”, it appears Google is looking to sell another version of its web enabled glasses as early as this fall. The FCC filings, which are required to sell consumer electronics to the public, were published on July 1st.

In a hint that the new product may be a mass market device, Google asked the communications watchdog not to disclose a diagram of the device, its schematics, its operating manual and antenna specification although the filing was labelled “BLUETOOTH & DTS/UNII a/b/g/n/ac,” indicating that it will be both bluetooth and wifi enabled, as previous Glass versions were.

Google is also requesting that the commission not publish the photos of the new product and its user manual until 180 days after the FCC’s approval date.

In March of this year, Google’s chairman Eric Schmidt hinted at a new product when he said it was simply false to suggest that the company’s privacy invading glasses had been dumped just because it ended the Glass Explorer program at the beginning of the year.

“These things take time,” he said, indicating the company hadn’t yet given up on the device.

What remains to be seen is the scale of the new product launch, as its previous iterations were targeted at developers so that they could build software for them.

The timing of the filing is interesting because a 180 day approval, assuming that was fully taken, would put the glasses on track to launch for the all important holiday shopping season.

Google, in keeping with its FCC filings, declined to comment on the latest reports.

JetBlue Becomes First Major Airline To Offer Direct Flights To Cuba

Finance

In the latest sign that the normalization of relations between the United States and Cuba is picking up steam, JetBlue has officially added a direct flight from New York’s JFK airport to Cuba.

The Queens-based company on Friday became the first major carrier to do so, responding to market demand now that the Obama administration has eased travel bans on the socialist country.

JetBlue first announced the move back in May and on Friday afternoon it flew the route for the first time.

The discount airline will offer weekly charter flights that leave JFK at noon on every Friday, bound for the capital of Havana. The flights will take approximately three and a half hours, almost the exact same amount of time as a trip to Florida.

Small airline Sun Country has been offering similar direct flights for a few months now but JetBlue’s entry suggests the carrier is seeing significant demand for the trips, which were as of last year officially banned.

As we covered previously, ferry service is also slated to resume between Florida and Cuba in the coming months.

North Korea Executes Designer Of New Airport For “Defects” In The Design

Entertainment News

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un smiled next to his wife Ri Sol Ju as he gave ‘field guidance’ at the new terminal of Pyongyang International Airport two weeks ago but instead of being celebrated by the ruthless dictator, he has already executed the airport’s designer weeks before due to ‘defects’ in the design.

Executions are a grim fact of life in North Korea, where senior officials can be killed for offences as minor as watching South Korean TV programs.

While North Korean state media dedicated three pages of Thursday’s Rodong Sinmun newspaper to images of leader Kim and his wife inspecting restaurants, shops and waiting areas in a large, glass-fronted terminal building airport design chief Ma Won Chun disappeared late last year.

It is believed he was executed after Kim voiced his dissatisfaction with the airport, according to reports which listed his sentence as being for ‘corrupt practices and failure to follow orders.’

Kim Jong Un issued a statement in which he said that

Defects were manifested in the last phase of the construction of the Terminal 2 because the designers failed to bear in mind the party’s idea of architectural beauty that is the life and soul and core in architecture to preserve the character and national identity.
It is necessary to finish the construction of the terminal to be an icon of Korea, the face of the country and the gateway to Pyongyang.

As we reported earlier, Kim Jong-un has ordered that North Korea be made into a tourist destination and the new Pyongyang airport is seen a cornerstone of this strategy.

It remains to be seen whether the grim opening of the airport will draw tourists in the numbers that the dictator hopes for.

Greek Banks Prepare To Confiscate Customer Deposits

Entertainment News

In the face of insolvency, Greek banks are now preparing plans for a so-called “bail-in” of depositors, which would see a certain percentage of customer deposits taken by banks in order to stay in business.

The “haircut” to bank customers would be at least 30 per cent on deposits over €8,000 and is increasingly the likely scenario according to Greek banking sources.

The Greek bail-in scheme would resemble the rescue plan used in Cyprus in 2013, when customers’ funds were confiscated to shore up the banks. In that scenario customers lost all funds on uninsured deposits over €100,000.

The Greek plan would recapitalize its banks and ensure good standing with the country’s creditors, namely the European Commission, International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank.

“It [the haircut] would take place in the context of an overall restructuring of the bank sector once Greece is back in a bailout programme,” said one person to the influential Financial Times “This is not something that is going to happen immediately.”

In accordance with EU banking directives Greek deposits are insured up to €100,000, however the country’s insurance fund amounts to only €3bn, which is well short of the amount needed should the banks collapse.

Analysts believe that confiscating funds from small depositors is the only viable path forward for the banks as there are few deposits over €100,000 left in the banks after six months of capital flight.

Greece will vote Sunday on a proposed bailout plan in an event that will be closely watched by the other members of the European Union. A bank recapitalization would then follow.

New Report Shows ISIS Has Begun Executing Women And Children

Entertainment News

ISIS has sunk to a new low with revelations that women and children have been executed for refusing to starve themselves during Ramadan according to a report from the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR).

Although horrific, the reports of children being executed are no surprise as ISIS itself released videos over the last week showing 15 men being executed by drowning in cages lowered into water, being burned alive in a car, and having their heads blown apart with explosives tied around their necks.

The report said that over the last week, two children had been crucified in eastern Syria after being accused by ISIS of not properly fasting during Ramadan that that runs from June 17 to July 17. Their bodies still on the crucifixion cross bars had been displayed publically with a sign explaining their “violation”.

“Many of the charges against those executed are recorded as blasphemy and spying, but others include sorcery, sodomy, practicing as a Shia Muslim,” the report read.

SOHR said the terror group also this past week executed two married couples for “sorcery” and a magician was beheaded recently for “black magic”.

The editorial director for the US based Terrorism, Research & Analysis Consortium, Veryan Khan said.“The practicing of anything that is not approved by Islamic State under their very strict interpretation of Islam is ‘Haram’ or forbidden. If the Islamic State thinks that sorcery is real, then black magic would be a threat to them and seen as a danger.”

“Islamic State executions are not merely retribution by the state for behavior seen as illegal. The Islamic State uses executions to intimidate and dominate the local population, for diplomatic communiqués to world leaders, for recruitment purposes and to demonstrate the organization is in complete control.”

The director of Southern Africa Operations at the Terrorism, Research & Analysis Consortium Jasmine Opperman said “Underlying all these executions is the apocalypse ideology of the final battle between the believers and the unbelievers. ISIS is using executions to show its followers — and would-be followers — that the group is the only true representative of believers, not only in word, but action, which is why executions are featured so prominently.”

A report released earlier this year by The United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child, detailed horrific abuse of children by ISIS including torture, being buried alive, crucifixion, being sold as sex slaves, and being forced to carry out suicide bombings.

Controversial Chicago ‘Cloud Tax’ Could Bring $12 Million Per Year To City

News

A City of Chicago ruling which expanded its ‘amusement tax’, better known as the ‘cloud tax’ and which went into effect this month, is expected to boost the city’s coffers by $12 million annually.

The controversial tax applies to services such as movies, music, online games and TV shows delivered by electronic means to customers within Chicago city limits. The 9 per cent initial tax does not apply to sales of these items.

Netflix Inc., one of the cloud based services most impacted by the cash grab, said they would add the tax to its subscriber charges. There has been no comment as yet from other online companies which stream entertainment and are also affected.

The ruling also affects “cloud computing, cloud services, hosted environment, software as a service, platform as a service or infrastructure as a service.”

International law firm ReedSmith released a statement this week saying the City may not have the authority to charge the tax, but did not indicate if it will challenge the moves.

The statement read

There are strong arguments that both rulings run afoul of provisions in the Federal Telecommunications Act, the Internet Tax Freedom Act, and federal and Illinois constitutional limits on taxation. In addition, the rulings gloss over many details of applicable federal law and how telecommunications and computer networks operate, and assume the simplest factual scenarios that do not realistically comport with how many providers and their customers transact business. As a consequence, the time to look at the impact of these rulings is now, before mounting exposure and interest accrual makes challenging these positions economically infeasible.

Thus far most companies have kept quiet on the issue though they may be readying legal challenges and do not want to risk exposing their positions before filing lawsuits.

Chinese Government Turns to Internet For Help in War Against Drugs

Entertainment News

In a move full of irony, the Chinese government has opened a website it hopes will beef up its National Anti-Drug Campaign.

Known better for its crackdown on social media freedom, the Government through its National Anti-Drug Commission Office, has registered an account on micro blogging site Weibo to enlist the public’s help in its war against illegal drugs.

The website has a platform of three channels: one to informs visitors of the dangers of taking drugs, the second listing places where drug users can seek help, and the third where citizens can hand in illegal drug users, drug smugglers and report “drug incidents”.

Meanwhile 822 websites which authorities found to be offensive have been closed down under the guise of “cleansing China’s drug scourge.”

At the end of last month Chinese Internet companies and telecoms operators signed a protocol drawn up by the Internet Society of China. Other signers were seven state agencies, Cyberspace Administration of China, and the National Anti-Drug Commission. Signers agreed to “exercise self-discipline”, and to avoid “gossiping” about the country’s underground drug movement.

At the protocol signing, Liu Yuejin, Assistant Minister of Public Security proclaimed that more than 83,000 pieces of illegal information had been “cleansed” from the Internet as part of China’s drug free campaign. Yuejin said it was the duty of every Internet user, including those on social media, to join in the campaign.

Recently Chinese police report having arrested 32,871 suspects for illegal drug use or trafficking, “solved 14,878 drug violations, and seizing, 4 tons of illegal drugs, 9 tons of chemicals used to make illegal drugs and 225 firearms during drug raids.

ISIS Terrorists Begin Destruction Of Ancient Palmyra’s Historical Treasures

Entertainment News

Islamic State (ISIS) Terrorists have continued on their barbaric,historical artifact destroying rampage by smashing six archaeological artifacts that were confiscated from a “smuggler”.

A statement released by IS the group said six busts from the historic town of Palmyra, were found during a routine checkpoint search. An Islamic “court” ordered their destruction as well as the whipping of the “smuggler”.

Released photographs showed ISIS militants smashing the busts to pieces with large hammers, and the “smuggler” being whipped.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said it was not 100 percent certain if the busts were authentic or if ISIS had used fakes to disguise their own artifact smuggling which funds terrorist operations.

The historic Syrian town of Palmyra was seized by IS last May with many now fearing they will destroy archaeological sites there as they did in Iraq.

Palmyra’s UNESCO world heritage site contains priceless artifacts and Roman colonnades dating back 2,000 years. Before the Syrian conflict began in 2011, the town was visited by thousands of tourists each year.

The chief of the Syrian government’s Antiquities and Museums Department, Maamoun Abdulkarim, said ISIS had also recently destroyed a lion statue in Palmyra which dated back to the 2nd century. Discovered in 1977, the statue had stood at the entrance to the town’s museum, and had been protected by being placed inside a metal box to protect it from damage.

Last March, ISIS destroyed UNESCO’s 3000 year old world heritage site Nimrod and the 2,000 year old Hatra site.

ISIS, in its violent interpretation of Shariah law, believe ancient relics promote idolatry.

Austrian Government Latest To Have Debate On EU Membership

Entertainment News

While Greece is hanging in by a thread to remain in the European Union (EU), more than 260,000 Austrians led by a 66 year old retired pensioner have forced their Government to debate leaving the organization.

They have signed a petition calling for a referendum to let the rest of the country weight in on the issue. Austrian law says any petition calling for a referendum which has 100,000 signatures must be debated in the Austrian parliament.

The 261,159 people who signed the petition make up 4.12 percent of the electorate with the majority of signers coming from Lower Austria and Carinthia.

The petition was started by launched Inge Rauscher, 66-year-old retired translator, who launched a similar petition in 2000 with 3.35 percent of the electorate support.

He said his latest petition had more support because the Greek economic crisis.

Austria, cited in GDP terms as the 11th richest country in the world is one of the better off EU members countries. It 2012 it had only 4.3 percent of unemployment, the lowest figure in the EU.

Britain has a similar referendum scheduled to take place sometime before 2017. Latest polling there shows nearly 38 percent of Brits want to exit the EU, and 44 percent want to stay.

Opinion polls in Denmark show 52 percent of support for continued EU membership, and 47 percent at least wanting a review of EU membership terms.

In Ireland more than 60 percent of those surveyed wanted to remain in the EU.

Taxi Hailing App Uber Ceases UberPop Service In France Following Violent Protests

Finance

Uber will be ceasing its UberPop car sharing option in France – at least for the mean time – after weeks of violent protests from French taxi drivers. They claim the service was killing their business as it could offer lower fares because Uber drivers did not have to pay the thousands of euros in taxi licenses as they did. .

Over the last two weeks, anti-Uber taxi drivers staged violent protests throughout France, blocking key roadways, flipping over Uber cars, setting them on fire and attacking Uber drivers.

Uber’s decision follows its forced exits from Belgian and the Netherlands through court action.

What has added interest to Uber’s French pullback is that is comes after the arrest on Monday of two Uber France heads on what police have described as unrelated matters to the protests. Both are facing charges, to be heard in court in September, on charges relating to running an illegal taxi service..

Thibaud Simphal, Uber France’s CEO said the ceasing of its UberPop service was made as many Uber drivers had been attacked and injured. He also admitted Uber drivers were not making much money – on average €8,200 annually.

Simphal said Uber’s van and other transport services which require drivers to be licensed will continue in France.

A statement released by Uber read “In the light of last week’s violence, we have today decided to suspend uberPOP, our ride sharing service, until September’s Constitutional Court decision. It’s a tremendously sad day for our 500 000 French uberPOP passengers, as well as the drivers who used the platform. However, safety must come first. Our regular UberX service, which uses licensed cars and makes up a majority of our trips each day in France, will continue to operate as usual.”

General Motors Bringing Cell Phone Cooling Technology To 2016 Models

Finance

Computers and cars are increasingly converging, with consumers wanting tight integration between their mobile phones and the computers that power their vehicles. Big Detroit auto manufacturers are taking note and increasingly looking to out-do each other with cool tech features.

The latest example is General Motors which will debut “Active Phone Cooling” in its 2016 models. As the name implies this innovation will cool down your smartphone to avoid overheating in the heat of summer.

Designed by engineers in GM’s Chevrolet division, the “industry-first technology” was created when the researchers began noticing that the combination of hot temperatures and wireless charging caused phones to stop charging, or in some cases, shut down entirely.

The active phone cooling system consists of an air vent that sits over the charging station inside the vehicle and blows cool air to lower the temperature of your phone while its charging or being used for GPS navigation. The engineers found that the simple yet highly purposeful solution will not only provide a better experience for in-car phone use but it will also extend the life your phone.

“Innovation doesn’t mean reinventing the wheel,” said engineer Dan Lascu. “Sometimes simplicity offers the most elegant solution to a problem.”

According to a company press release, the technology will be available on the upcoming 2016 Chevrolet Cruze, Impala, Malibu and Volt.

Securities and Exchange Commission Will Allow Companies To Raise Money Via Twitter

News

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) social media phobia appears to be letting up as news emerged this week it will allow startups looking to raise up to $50 million to post tweets about their offerings. Previously companies had been restricted to specially prepared offer memorandums as the only way to court potential investors.

The SEC was slow to adapt to social media as it was only two years ago that it approved the use of Facebook and Twitter posts for corporate announcements like earnings and this had virtually been forced when Netflix Inc began to use Facebook to promote viewer numbers rather than using SEC filings to do so..

In March of 2012 SEC gave permission smaller businesses looking to raise just $5 million to use Twitter and has now upped the ante to $50 million under the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012.

Seattle-based attorney Joe Wallin, a Carney Badley Spellman consultant for startups, described the latest SEC social media as a “a brave new world:.

“The way securities have been distributed and sold has never involved a lot of media,” he said ”
Under the SEC’s latest Twitter concessions, financial companies that tweet to sees investor interest have to include a link to a disclaimer stating the company isn’t selling securities as yet.

Financial commentators say it isn’t clear how many firms will take up the higher fundraising offer cap, but interest will likely be strong as the change comes right at the same time the SEC will allow crowdfunded equity raises.

Between 2012 and 2014 when the limit was $5 million, less that 30 offerings were made.

First Blackberry To Run Android Leaks, Likely Headed To AT&T

Finance

While it has been known for some time that once-powerful smartphone maker Blackberry is going to be making Android powered smartphones, late yesterday the plans appeared to crystallize as known leaker @evleaks published a screenshot showing what the first device will look like.

The published photo, above, shows what appears to be a the square shaped Passport running Android, as can be seen from Google’s distinctive keyboard design.

The image shows the radical change of Blackberry’s strategy, which once centered around the latest and greatest phones in terms of both hardware and designs. This same strategy was used by Apple, Samsung, Sony and others resulting in incredible pricing pressure.

According to the leaked photo Blackberry, after suffering a string of losses playing this game, has now decidedly focused on lower end, mass market phones. The new Android powered phone will likely be nearly identical to the current Passport yet feature the Android operating system instead of Blackberry OS. This means it will be a low cost, lower risk bet for the troubled Canadian company.

@evleaks also confirmed yesterday that AT&T will receive the U.S. exclusive for the BlackBerry ‘Venice’, the company’s flagship curved-edge slider set to hit the market this fall. Its likely that the new Android device will also hit the carrier around the same time.

There are no indications that further models will receive Android as an operating system as the company is likely using the debut model to test the waters and gauge whether further Android powered phones are financially viable.

Big Health Keeps Getting Bigger: Aetna To Buy Rival Health Insurer Humana

Finance

Consolidation continues to occur in the already consolidated health insurance market as hot on the heals of Anthem’s $54 billion bid for rival Cigna, Aetna announced it will acquire all outstanding shares of Humana at roughly $230 per Humana share.

The cash and stock deal represents a 23% premium to Humana’s Thursday closing price.

The massive new company will have over 33 million members, revenue of over $115 billion per year, and have 56% of sales coming from government-sponsored programs such as Medicare.

“This combination will allow us to continue to invest in excellent service for our members and strengthen our partnerships with providers to deliver high quality care at an affordable price,” said Mark Bertolini, Aetna’s chairman and CEO, in a statement.

Both Aetna and Humana shares fell nearly 3% on Thursday prior to the deal being announced.

The U.S. health insurance industry has seen lots of deal making lately as in addition to Anthem’s offer for Cigna, UnitedHealth had been interested in either Aetna or Humana. 2014 was a huge year of healthcare mergers with giant Pfizer offering over $100 billion for rival AstraZeneca at one point.

In the health insurance industry the race for deals has been driven by The Affordable Care Act which has meant more business for major insurers because of more Americans having health insurance, but lower margins due to provisions in the act.

By merging, company can in theory reduce costs and thus maintain margins on the Affordable Care Act plans. There is also a race to do deals before the November open enrollment period, the next such period on the act’s roadmap.

While plans may continue to be cheap on the surface, many doctors fear that these mergers will put even more power into the hands of a precious few health insurance companies.

Bigger insurers could raise premiums in the future or reduce the number of doctors and hospitals in coverage plans.

These are sure to be questions that will be asked by the Federal Trade Commission when it examines the mega deal, should it be approved by both groups of shareholders.

ISIS ‘Emir Of Suicide Bombers’ Killed In Coalition Air Strike

Entertainment News

A U.S. official announced on Thursday that senior ISIS leader Tariq al-Harzi, known as the “emir of suicide bombers,” was killed by a targeted coalition airstrike in Syria last month.

Al-Harzi was a prominent logistician for the terror group, coordinating efforts to move jihadists and weapons into Iraq and Syria to keep the militant organization’s war machine humming, according to intelligence officials.

Born in Tunisia, Al-Harzi is believed to be one of the first foreign fighters to join ISIS. In addition to helping with logistics he was also responsible for the Sunni extremist group’s highly effective use of suicide and car bombs in Iraq, the U.S. Department of Defense confirmed.

“This was a big get,” said Mike Rogers, former chairman of the U.S. House Intelligence Committee. “It will be very disruptive to their operation for at least some period of time.”

Department of Defense spokesman Capt. Jeff Davis confirmed that Al-Harzi was killed in Shaddadi, Syria, on June 16th.

The State Department offered a $3 million reward for information on his whereabouts ever since he was placed on the U.S. Designated Terrorist List last year.

The Pentagon killed al-Harzi’s brother in an airstrike in Mosul, Iraq, on June 15th.

The U.S. government had called him “a person of interest” in the deadly attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, on Sept 11, 2012 and the more junior terrorist had also been responsible for coordinating ISIS’ moves into North Africa.

British Government Caught Spying On Human Rights Group Amnesty International

Entertainment News

Hot on the heels of recent revelations that the U.S. Government has been spying on members of several foreign governments and organizations, comes allegations the British Government has spied on various rights groups including the well respected yet often time politically inconvenient Amnesty International.

Salil Shetty, Amnesty International’s secretary general said the British government has admitted that its version of the CIA – GCHQ – spied on campaigners at the human rights group.

She said Amnesty had received an email from the Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT), the organization that polices the UK’s surveillance of citizens, which confirmed the government bugged and intercepted its communications and then stored the details.

“How can we be expected to carry out our crucial work around the world if human rights defenders and victims of abuses can now credibly believe their confidential correspondence with us is likely to end up in the hands of governments,” said Shetty.

“The revelation that the UK government has been spying on Amnesty International highlights the gross inadequacies in the UK’s surveillance legislation. If they hadn’t stored our communications for longer than they were allowed to, we would never even have known. What’s worse, this would have been considered perfectly lawful.”

In June the IPT revealed the Government had illegally spied on two other foreign human rights organizations – breaches of of Article 8, of the European Convention on Human Rights, which is something the UK government is trying to distance itself from after passing laws in May that allow for domestic surveillance.

“After 18 months of litigation and all the denials and subterfuge that entailed, we now have confirmation that we were in fact subjected to UK government mass surveillance,” Shetty said. “It’s outrageous that what has been often presented as being the domain of despotic rulers has been occurring on British soil, by the British government.”

The IPT was set up by Tony Blair in 2000 under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA), as a tool against terrorism but since then it has been abused on many occasions including by town and city councils to monitor families to make sure their children were attending the correct school districts, and by police to spy on reporters. There have even been cases of corrupt police finding out information for criminals.

Polls Show Confederate Flag Opinion Has Not Actually Changed Much In 15 Years

News

Although by reading media reports one would think the issue of the confederate flag is a major debate nationally with most people now in favor of its removal, that is far from the case according to new results of a CNN/ORC poll.

Moves to ban the Confederate Flags and other Confederacy symbols from public places received a lot of media coverage in the weeks following the shooting murder of nine African-American churchgoers in a Charleston church by a white man who was a self declared racist. The gunman 21 year old Dylann Roof had posed with a Confederate flag in on-line photos he had posted with a racist manifesto.

The poll showed public opinion on the issue was the same now as it was 15 years ago with the majority seeing it not as a racist symbol but one of southern pride.

Of those surveyed, 57 per cent viewed the confederate flag as a Southern pride symbol . In 200 that figure was 59 percent . However opinions now varied and were divided by race and education levels.

Of African-Americans polled, 72 percent associated the Confederate flag as a racist symbol while only 25 percent of whites shared that view. In the South, the difference was even wider with 75 percent of whites describing the flag as a symbol of pride and only 18 percent called it a racist symbol. Those figures were nearly reversed among Southern African-Americans, with 75 percent associating it with racism and only 11% seeing it as a pride symbol.

Among whites, opinion is divided by education levels, with those with more formal education seeing the flag as a symbol of racism and the days of slavery. Among whites polled who do not have a college degree, 73 percent said it was a sign of Southern pride and only 18 percent racism. Of those with a college degree 51 percent said it was ‘a symbol of pride, 41% racism.

A majority, 55 percent favored not displaying the Confederate flag on government property, apart from museums and half supported retailers not selling the confederate flag while 47 percent opposed such a move. But a majority opposed redesigning state flags that featured Confederate emblems – 57 percent , renaming streets and highways named after Confederate leaders – 68 percent, and removing memorials and tributes to those that fought on the Confederate side during the civil war – 71 percent.

However the majority of African-Americans surveyed favored the removal of the flag from government property – 73 percent, a ban on sales of the flag – 65 percent , and redesigning state flags that displayed Confederate references – 59 percent.

Although no significant age gaps were revealed in the poll overall on questions about the flag, younger African-Americans were more likely to support some proposals than older ones. African-Americans 54 or younger were more likely than their older peers to support banning Confederate flags from government property – 80 percent compared to 63 percent, the ban of selling confederate flags – 71 percent to 54 percent, and redesigning of state flags to remove Confederacy references – 64 percent v 54 percent.

Most everyone surveyed agreed that the Charleston shootings should be considered a hate crime.

Amnesty International Finds Saudi Led Airstrikes Were Aimed At Civilians

Entertainment News

Saudi Arabia continues to come under fire for human rights abuses, as a new report by human rights advocate Amnesty International has claimed airstrikes in Yemen by Saudi Arabian lead coalition forces showed a pattern of attacks aimed specifically at civilians.

The organization’s Senior Crisis Response Adviser Donatella Rovera, said airstrike research and weapons analysis revealed a failure by the coalition forces to follow requirements of international humanitarian law, leading to significant civilian loss of life.

Amnesty International researchers looked into eight airstrikes in various parts of the Yemen carried out June 12, 13 and 16. In those attacks a total of 54 civilians were killed – 27 children (including a one day old baby) , 11 men and 16 women 16 women – including a one-day-old infant, and 55 civilians were injured – 19 children, 17 mean and 19 women .

Rovera said “International humanitarian law is clear that belligerents must take all possible steps to prevent or minimize civilian casualties. But the cases we have analysed point to a pattern of attacks destroying civilian homes and resulting in scores of civilian deaths and injuries. There is no indication that the Saudi Arabia-led military coalition has done anything to prevent and redress such violations,” she said.

“These eight cases investigated by Amnesty International must be independently and impartially investigated as possible disproportionate or indiscriminate attacks. The findings of any investigation must be made public, and those suspected of responsibility for serious violations of the laws of war must be brought to justice in fair trials. All victims of unlawful attacks and their families should receive full reparation.”

Brigadier-General Ahmed al-‘Assiri, spokesman for the Saudi Arabia-led coalition has denied responsibility for the airstrikes but bomb fragments taken from the rubble of houses destroyed in the airstrikes revealed they came from bombs used by the coalition.

The air strikes were part of a Saudi Arabia lead campaign against Shiite rebels who earlier this years overthrew the Yemeni government which was a key Ally of the US in it’s fight against al Qaeda.

Saudi Arabia Sentences Tourist To 1000 Lashes And Eight Years In Prison For Criticizing Government

Entertainment News

The Saudi Arabian court system sent out another strong message today that it would not tolerate freedom of speech or the media by sentencing Pakistani analyst and commentator Zaid Hamid to 1000 lashes and eight years prison.

Hamid has allegedly been an opponent and critic of the Saudi Government but what makes his case stand out and be of major concern is that Hamid is not a Saudi citizen or resident.

He was arrested on June 26 while on a private visit to Saudi Arabia with his wife for allegedly making statements against the Saudi government.

On June 26, the Pakistani Foreign Office confirmed Hamid had been arrested in Saudi Arabia but has not corroborated news of Hamid’s sentencing.

“Our embassy in Riyadh has informed us that Mr Zaid Hamid was arrested about two weeks ago. Since then, the embassy has been working with the local authorities to get consular access,” said Foreign Office spokesperson Qazi Khalilullah.

A former Hamid aide in 2013 accused him of being in the coffers of the Inter-Services Intelligence agency, raising the prospect the arrest and sentence are far more militarily motivated than on the surface.

Scientists Push For Change As Five Companies Now Control Virtually All Published Science

Finance

What the world learns through published textbooks and journals is controlled by just five companies according to a report published by the Public Library of Science (PLos), a nonprofit organization committed to ensuring scientific and medical literature is freely accessible to the public and scientists.

The study suggests it was time for researchers and scientists to make a move from major for profit publishers.

After analyzing 45 million Web of Science indexed documents, the authors of the study found five groups published more than 50 per cent of all academic papers in 2013. The five were
Sage, Springer, Reed-Elsevier, Wiley-Blackwell, and Taylor & Francis.

Some scientists have been questioning the need a for publishing houses as everything these days could be put onto the web, but it was not public knowledge till the Plos report just how much of academic publishing was by the big five publishers.

About 70 percent of published psychology, chemistry and social science papers were contained in journals owned by the big five and this was only available to those with paid subscriptions. In 1973 that figure was just 20 per cent and in 2006 that figure had grown to 50 per cent.

Only journals dealing with physics have escaped the control of the big five and that may be because there is not much money to be made from the science.

One of the biggest publishers Reed-Elsevier, reported earnings of $1.5 billion just for the first six months of 2014 from its medical, scientific and technical journals .

Recently 15,000 researchers called for a boycott of publishing house Elsevier because of the high cost of subscriptions.

PLos spokesperson Vincent Larivière said “Unfortunately, researchers are still dependent on one essentially symbolic function of publishers, which is to allocate academic capital. Young researchers need to publish in prestigious journals to gain tenure, while older researchers need to do the same in order to keep their grants.”

The study’s authors wrote in their conclusion that it was “tempting” to think of a self-regulated science world with no big publishers charging subscriptions.

“What do we need publishers for? What is it that they provide that is so essential to the scientific community that we collectively agree to devote an increasingly large proportion of our universities budgets to them?” they wrote.

Dubai Creating World’s First Fully Functional 3D Printed Office Building

Finance

3D printing continues to revolutionize manufacturing and it isn’t just little things like hearing aides, which took under 500 days for the entire industry to switch to 3D, that are using the new manufacturing technique. Plans for the first ever fully workable 3D printed office building have been revealed in Dubai which will be built layer by layer using a 20 foot tall printer.

Plans for the 2000 square foot single story test building were announced by Mohammed Al Gergawi, the United Arab Emirates Minister of Cabinet Affairs and Chairman of the National Innovation Committee.

No timeline for construction were given although Al Gergawi said the office would house the staff of the Museum of The Future which is to open in 2017.

Chinese 3D-printing firm Winsun Global will carry out most of the work, partnered by other firms including Thornton Tomasetti, Gensler and Syska Hennessy Group.

Winsum Global has used 3D printer technology for large scale buildings previously including a six storey apartment building.

The Dubai office will be assembled from the printer layers onsite and will be reinforced with concrete, plastic and glass fibre. All furniture inside the building will also be 3D printed.

The country hopes to use the information collected during the test to prepare to print a fully 3D printed skyscraper. While pieces of tall building have been 3D printed in the past, Dubai is looking to become the first nation to build a completely 3D printed high-rise sometime in the next five years.

Moscow Calls New U.S. Military Plan “Confrontational” As Relationship Continues To Sour

News

Already strained relationships between Russia and the USA dived further today with the Kremlin accusing the US of being confrontational. The statement was a direct reference to a new military strategy announced last week by the Pentagon which would see a build up of U.S. infantry and troops in six NATO countries bordering Russia.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said today the strategy would not help improve the White House’s relationship with Moscow.

He said the Pentagon’s choice of language in announcing its plans for Europe, showed “confrontational attitude, devoid of any objectivity towards our country.”

The Pentagon justified its military build up last week by saying Russia had continually showed it doesn’t respect its’ neighbors sovereignty and was willing to use force to achieve its’ plans and goals.

Experts said the Pentagon was referring to Russia’s involvement in Ukraine.

There was no immediate reaction from the Pentagon or the Obama administration to Peskov’s comments today.

Last week U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter announced the U.S. would be sending M1AK2 tanks, self propelled howitzers and Bradley Infantry Fighting vehicles and a limited number of troops to Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Bulgaria, Romania and Poland, to reassure NATO allies against “Russia’s aggressive stance and their actions in Ukraine”.

He also said the US will be working closely with NATO’s Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence in Estonia, to strengthen planning and defense strategies.

There were also reports last week that the Pentagon has secretly been planning an extensive defense network to protect US cities from attacks by Russian cruise missiles.

Latest Survey Finds One In Three Americans Are Gun Owners

News

One in every three American adults owns a gun with Alaska having the highest rate of gun ownership at 62 percent, according to a study from New York’s Columbia University.

Study researchers said firearm ownership was tied closely to “social gun culture” where gun owners associated with each other either within families or groups of friends, all thinking less of non gun owners.

Study Lead author Dr. Bindu Kalesan of Columbia’s Mailman School of Public Health, said “Considering the presence of deeply rooted gun culture and the estimated number of guns in the U.S. to be 310 million, we suspected that social gun culture is associated with gun ownership. This association was strong even after removing the effect of other factors such as presence of gun laws and gun deaths”.

She said compared to other developed countries, civilian gun ownership in the U.S.A. is extremely high.

Data used in the study came from a 2013 online survey which questioned 4,000 people over the age of 18 from throughout the 50 US states and the District of Columbia.

The study found gun ownership rates varied state by state.

Approximately 29 per cent of those surveyed reported owning a gun. The state’s with the lowest gun ownership were Delaware with five per cent and six percent in Rhode Island with 6 percent which fell in with findings that gun ownership was less common in the Northeast.

Kalesen said those wanting to discourage gun ownership should note that the study found universal background checks for purchasing guns and ammunition tended to be the most effective laws in discouraging gun ownership.

More than 50 per cent of people surveyed in Idaho, West Virginia, Wyoming, Arkansas and Montana were gun owners. Alaska headed the list with 62 percent.

Disturbing to the anti gun lobby would be the finding that only 5 percent of gun owners reported using their guns for hunting, and only 10 percent reported having attended gun safety classes.

Kalesan said although US gun ownership is on the decline, sales are up, meaning those who own them are buying more.

Cuban Doctors Eliminate Mother to Baby HIV Transmission

Health & Wellness

Cuba has become the first nation on earth to eliminate HIV and syphilis transmission from mother to baby according to Margaret Chan, Director General of the World Health Organisation (WHO). She said this was a giant step towards an Aids-free generation describing it as “one of the greatest public health achievements possible” .

Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) Director Carissa Etienne said Cuba’s achievement “provides inspiration for other countries to advance towards elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HIV and syphilis.” PAHO partnered with the WHO on the Cuba initiative,

Access to antiretroviral drugs has increased in Caribbean over the last five years as part of regional moves to eliminate mother-to-child HIV and syphilis transmission.

Chan testing for HIV and syphilis amongst pregnant women and their partners, substitution of breastfeeding, and Cesarean deliveries and have also helped break the infection chain.

According to official figures 1.4 million women with HIV become pregnant annually. They have a 15-45% chance of transmitting the virus during pregnancy. This risk lowers to just over 1% if mother and baby receive treatment with antiretrovirals. Who figures show the incidence of HIV has dropped by 50 per cent since 2009.

Experts have said the eradication of Aids, even if there’s no cure, is possible if HIV prevention continues to increase.

Wikipedia Fighting European Push To Ban The Free Use Of Photos Of Public Spaces

Entertainment News

Under European copyright law a well constructed exception allows people to create and make use of photographs of public places with very little restriction. The ‘Freedom of Panorama’ provision allows organizations, such as Wikipedia, to use imagery of European public spaces for free yet still protects the artists’ ownership rights over the images.

Yet the European Parliament, at the behest of big copyright holders, is looking to revoke Freedom of Panorama, prompting the world’s largest encyclopedia to take action.

If the law is scrapped Wikimedia, the images and videos division of Wikipedia, estimates that “tens of thousands” of images displayed in articles about such topics as architecture, art and notable European public spaces will need to be taken down.

The repressive legislation would be a blow not just for Wikipedia, who would be required to do substantial work to become compliant, but also for users of the service who would lose access to much of the public history of Europe, as told through images.

The not for profit group is calling on European citizens to contact their respective members of Parliament and ask them to vote against the proposed measures before they make it into law.

New Study Finds Alzheimer’s Cure May Not be Far Off Thanks To Already Approved Drugs

Health & Wellness

The search time for a cure for Alzheimer’s disease may have been reduced significantly following findings that two drugs already licensed and in use have been shown to stop brain degeneration in mice.

Attendees at the Alzheimer’s Society’s annual research conference being held in Manchester, England, heard that the two drugs are already known to be safe and well-tolerated in people – potentially cutting years from the timeline for a medicine to reach Alzheimer patients.

Giovanna Mallucci, a clinical neuroscience professor from the University of Cambridge said: “It’s really exciting. They’re licensed drugs. This means you’d do a straightforward basic clinical trial on a small group of patients because these are not new compounds, they’re known drugs.”

She said scientists and researchers have chosen not to identity the two drugs to prevent Alzheimer’s patients using them before clinical trials to prove their effects in humans were completed. The drugs she said are currently used for non-dementia related diseases.

Before any human trials, scientists said a brain imaging study was crucial to prove the same faulty signal that the two drugs targeted in mice was responsible for degeneration of the neurological system and the memory loss it causes in Alzheimer’s.

“The big, burning question is what is the relevance for human disease.” said Mallucci. If the brain imaging study can take place quickly and if they showed a link, clinical trials could start “in a couple of years”.

Scientists have estimated that delaying the Alzheimer’s by five years would cut the number of deaths from the disease by 50 per cent.

“I have people in my clinics who come in with quality of life and are still able to converse, but over time they become dependent, unable to enjoy the company of their lifetime partners and that’s heartbreaking,” Mallucci said.

“Even delaying progress of Alzheimer’s by 10 years would have a massive effect. You have to re-adjust and understand that slowing Alzheimer’s would change the disease into something completely different and infinitely more acceptable to society.”

Tennessee Latest To See Train Related Chemical Spill As Nearly 5,000 Evacuated Overnight

News

The latest incident involving a derailed train car carrying toxic chemicals happened early Thursday, after the train burst into flames and released toxic fumes that forced the evacuation of 5,000 people in a rural Tennessee town authorities confirmed.

Blount County sheriff’s office spokeswoman Marian O’Briant confirmed the incident and said that seven deputies were treated at a local hospital for exposure to the deadly fumes.

In total 12 emergency responders were decontaminated at Blount Memorial Hospital, according to hospital spokesman Josh West who called the procedure “standard” after exposure to toxic chemicals.

The single car was part of a 60-car train carrying acrylonitrile, a chemical used to manufacture plastics, said train operator CSX through spokeswoman Kristin Seay.

The train was traveling from Cincinnati to Waycross, Georgia, when a lone car suddenly veered off the rails in Blount County, just south of Knoxville.

Officials continue to investigate the cause of the crash and have released no further details at present.

The accident is the latest in a number of incidents this year involving rail cars carrying toxic chemicals and will likely bring further pressure for rail operators to upgrade their aging fleets to more robust, double-reinforced, models to prevent disasters.