The age of homemade flying guns is upon us, as a Connecticut teenager demonstrated Tuesday, posting a YouTube video of a semi-automatic handgun strapped to a homemade helicopter drone, firing shots in the forest.
The Federal Aviation Administration is currently investigating 18-year-old Austin Haughwout from Clinton, Connecticut, who may have violated FAA regulations, which prohibit reckless operation of a model aircraft.
The teen created the multirotor last week, according to his father, who said it was done with the help of a Central Connecticut State University professor.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCchlgezatc
This is not the first time Haughwout has made news with a drone. Last year the teen flew a drone near a woman at a beach, and the woman, Andrea Mears of Westbrook, Connecticut, was later charged for assaulting the teen. The video posted by Haughwout shows Mears physically assaulting him while calling him a pervert.
In a park in Heze city in China’s eastern Shandong province, two people were killed and 24 wounded, including three currently in critical condition, when a bomb was detonated Monday night. The bomber was also killed.
Chinese authorities have identified the man as Xie Xintang, 33, an unemployed villager. official state media Xinhua, which originally reported the incident, did not provide details about the motive of the man or about the explosion, which happened at 10:34 local time at Huxi park, Heze city, Shanxian county, Shangdong.
Other Chinese reports say the man was chronically ill and his condition had recently worsened.
Monday night’s terrorist attack in southeastern Turkey, in which 31 people were killed and around 100 injured, may be the first of a series of seven.
The Turkish government is pointing toward the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) for the attack in Suruc, and if it was carried out by the terrorist group this would be their first suicide bombing in Turkey. So far, no one has claimed responsibility for the attack.
As reported by Turkish news organization Hurriyet Daily News, the National Intelligence Organization (MIT) of Turkey repeatedly warned national security services about seven ISIL militants — four men and three women — who crossed the southern border with Syria.
On June 22 and July 3 MIT warned authorities about the seven individuals, provided their names, and stated that there existed an extremely high risk of terrorist attack, after which notice police began counter-ISIL operations in Istanbul, Ankara, Sanliurfa, Konya and Izmir, during which they detained nearly 100 people, but this did not lead to the arrest of any of the seven.
The International Olympic Committee will make its decision about which nation will host the 2022 Games July 31, and rights groups are questioning — and petitioning — the committee about China’s bid, referring to China’s ongoing human rights abuses and claims the committee made last time around that awarding China the Games would improve human rights in the Asian nation.
Awarding China again, rights groups like Free Tibet say, would in effect be supporting China’s human rights abuses.
“Giving the Games to Beijing again when we know it won’t alter their policies is sending the message to China that their human rights abuses are no obstacle to prestige on the world stage,” Alistair Currie, Campaigns and Media Manager at Free Tibet, told The Speaker.
“Unlike in 2001, when China was an unknown quantity when it came to the Olympics, we now know how it responds to being awarded them. The IOC had hopes that the award may improve human rights in China. In reality, it did no such thing. Continued repression in China culminated in the brutal suppression of the March 2008 Uprising in Tibet, just a few months before the Games.
“China is far more confident on the world stage than it was 14 years ago but is on a backwards path when it comes to respect for human and civil rights. Now couldn’t be a worse time for giving China a gift like the Olympics Games.”
“Unlike in 2001, when China was an unknown quantity when it came to the Olympics, we now know how it responds to being awarded them.”
Currie elaborated on a focal area of ongoing human rights abuses in China, Tibet:
“In Tibet now, Tibetans face more intensive surveillance than ever before and China will use any indication of Tibetan pride and resistance to Beijing’s policies as a pretext for repression — including arbitrary detention and punitive sentences. Tibetans can be imprisoned for simply singing a song or peacefully protesting to protect their environment. Entire communities can be punished for the acts of one person and China doesn’t hesitate to use force — just last week, they fired upon a demonstration, leading to 25 people being admitted to hospital. China’s grip on Tibet is tightening. What we know for sure is that Tibetans will continue to resist China’s rule — and that means things could be worse by 2022.”
In addition to an online petition that has reached almost 10,000 signatures, Free Tibet recently joined 174 other rights groups and communicated with the Olympic Committee to question the propriety of awarding China another Olympics. Currie referred to the return letter from the IOC, in which the Olympic board stated, “Choosing the host city of the Olympic Games does not mean that the IOC necessarily agrees with the political and/or the legal system in the host country.”
“We must acknowledge that we have neither the mandate nor the capability to change the laws or the political system of a sovereign country,” the letter continued. “The IOC is neither a world government, nor a superior world parliament.”
However, Currie noted recent changes in Olympic policy following the Sochi Games in Russia last year. He also commented on a distinction he saw between the two 2022 candidates — both of which raise questions about human rights abuses and Olympic hosting rights.
“Now couldn’t be a worse time for giving China a gift like the Olympics Games.”
“Interestingly, they do say they should be aware of the “political implications” of their choice but the remainder of the letter suggests that that level of “consideration” is very limited. After Sochi, the IOC introduced measures in the Host City contracts to ensure no discrimination or, for instance, environmental destruction accompanies the Games themselves. These requirements don’t apply to the political system overall, however.
“The IOC is trying to insulate itself from any criticism or fallout from giving the Games to countries with political and human rights problems and there’s no surprise in that when both candidates for 2022 – Beijing and Almaty – fall into that category. One distinction with Almaty, however, is that it’s a small country and it remains possible that the award of the Games may bring about some positive change. That may not be the case of course, but in Beijing’s case, we know it won’t bring about positive change.”
Ramadan, Islam’s holy month, regularly sees a significant increase in religiously-motivated killing, but this year’s was the most deadly of the century, according to The Religion of Peace, a terrorism watch group that keeps records of killings in the name of Islam.
“This year’s Ramadan was the highest since I’ve been keeping track,” Glen Roberts, editor of TROP, told The Speaker. “Normally, Islam’s holiest month sees about 30 percent more terror deaths over a typical month.”
“Nearly 3,000 people were shot, beheaded, blown up, drowned, burned or hacked to death in the name of Islam,” stated Roberts in the summary on TROP’s webpage, noting that no deaths in the name of other religions took place during that time.
For the period roughly corresponding with Ramadan, which lasts 29-30 days based on visual sightings of the crescent moon, 314 terror attacks took place globally, including 63 suicide bombings, which resulted in 2,988 deaths and 3,696 wounded.
Killings during the first few days of Ramadan(TROP resource)
However, as Roberts pointed out, the actual numbers are higher than reported because TROP relies on news reports for figures. There is not a news report for every attack, Roberts told us, and the reports are not followed up by deaths that occur days or longer after the initial incident.
The figures include all killings motivated by a sentiment of religious duty, and so include killings by the Islamic State. “Any killing that I come across by the Islamic State is included in the count. I’m sure that there’s quite a bit that I miss,” commented Roberts.
The 314 attacks that resulted in death between June 18 and July 16 took place in Iraq, Niger, Somalia, Lebanon, Nigeria, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Libya, Yemen, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Egypt, Mali, Chad, Israel, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Kenya, India, Phillipines, Thailand, China, France, and Austria.
The United Nations’ top diplomat in South Sudan is not needed by the country, according to the young nation’s Unity State government.
Mary Cummins was the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) head, based in oil-rich Unity State. The UN’s human rights division released a report at the end of June in which it accused the government army of human rights violations including systematic killing including killing of women and children, gang rape and burning people alive.
Sunday the South Sudanese government announced that Unity State officials had submitted a request that Cummins be expelled.
Cummins will not be the first UN head to be expelled from South Sudan. Last May, the nation expelled UN humanitarian coordinator Toby Lanzer.
Lanzer was also removed following the publication of a UN report on serious human rights violations in South Sudan, including killing, rape and kidnapping.
The difficulties UN officials face in South Sudan are also illustrated, commentators note, in the resignation of former UNMISS peacekeeping leader Hilde Johnson in July of 2014. Johnson assumed office in the summer of 2011 when South Sudan’s Independence was new and no serious violent conflict existed in the region.
But according to South Sudanese lawyers, the state government does not have authority to remove Cummins because the UN made agreements with the national government, not Unity State.
“The notion that Mabek Lang and his colleagues expelled a top UN official in the country is like saying Unity State Governor banned the United Nations Secretary General,” an independent South Sudanese legal expert told South Sudan News Agency.
“What the Unity State government supposed to say is that it has decided to expel Mary Cummins from Unity State, not South Sudan; from there, the national government can decide of what to do with the state decision.”
The number of Russian desertions in the first half of 2015 is already almost double the number of desertions between 2010 and 2014, according to Russian journalists and lawyers involved, who also say that Russian soldiers do not want to fight in Donbas despite high pay promised by recruiters.
The desertions are taking place, lawyer Tatyana Chernetskaya said, because Russian soldiers do not want to fight in the Donbas even for the high pay rate — up to 8,000 rubles or $160 per day — promised by senior officers and other recruiters, who, soldiers report, present themselves out of uniform but with clear marks of rank.
“If there is a real trial according to the law, the commanders will be responsible for the violation of order”
Russian deserters face up to 10 years in prison.
One such deserter is Anatoly Kudrin, 23, who served in Maikop Intelligence Brigade, has received six months in a settlement colony, feared being sent to war in Donbass.
“I did not want to take part in the fighting on the territory of Ukraine,” Kudrin told Gazeta.ru news.
The defence of the soldiers includes the soldiers’ own oaths of service. One soldier facing charges wrote in a brief that he “did not fulfill a criminal order since he did not want to go against the oath which [he] took and did not want to participate in military actions on the territory of Ukraine.”
Human Rights Council’s Sergei Krivenko agreed. Russian military statutes, Krivenko noted, provide that important orders shall be written. “In case of doubt it requires the order in writing by any officers.”
Further, Krivenko said, sending troops on combat missions abroad is impossible without a presidential decree. Formally, any such soldiers could be considered “mercenaries” and “participating in illegal armed groups.”
“If there is a real trial according to the law, the commanders will be responsible for the violation of order,” said Krivenko.
“I did not want to take part in the fighting on the territory of Ukraine”
Russian journalists said that they could not provide comment on the issue from the Russian defence ministry, but noted that the ministry has repeatedly provided news outlets with their official position: that Russian soldiers are not in Ukraine.
Guzman, who has been incarcerated since 2014 this time around, was last seen in the area of the prison’s showers, the commission reported late Saturday night, and a search operation is being organized for the surrounding area.
Flights from Toluca airport near Mexico City have been suspended.
After months held in Thai immigration detention centers, over 100 Uighurs have been deported to China, despite protests from the United Nations and the Uighurs themselves, who fear punishment in China.
“Thailand and Turkey are not rivals and we do not want to destroy trade and commerce with Turkey,” said Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha in Bangkok Friday. “At the same time, we do not want to destroy the relationship between China and Thailand.”
Without public notice, last month the Thai government sent 172 Uighurs to Turkey from the holding camps where they had been provided for in Thailand.
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) commented on the move, saying it was “shocked by this deportation of some 100 people and consider it a flagrant violation of international law.”
Many of the deported Uighurs have been accused of terrorism by Chinese officials. China’s Foreign Ministry said those Uighurs suspected of “committing serious crimes” would be brought to justice, while others would be dealt with in “proper ways.”
Over 60 Uighurs remain in Thai custody awaiting deportation. The Thai government is processing their paperwork to be sure of their citizenship status before moving them.
Not only are business people going to invest in Microsoft’s cloud, they are going to do it despite thinking that they will end up spending more with Microsoft over time. Fifty-seven percent of CIOs who were using or planned to use services like Azure and Office 365 said they thought they would spend MORE with Microsoft in a recent poll. Only 16 percent thought they’d end up paying less to Microsoft.
Using cloud services is widely considered to be a way for businesses to cut down on other costs — for example, hardware and IT staff — although results are far from uniform.
This is in part due to the ongoing nature of cloud service provision– the lifetime customer value in a budding industry projected to be worth $150 billion when it ripens. According to Morgan Stanley’s Keith Weiss, current evidence supports Microsoft’s calculations of a 1.2-1.8X increase in customer value — a future that sounds more sunny than cloudy.
Who knows best what content users of social media want to see? According to Facebook in statements accompanying the roll out of their latest news feed update, users themselves.
“We know that ultimately you’re the only one who truly knows what is most meaningful to you and that is why we want to give you more ways to control what you see,” said Facebook’s product manager Jacob Frantz.
“Today we are announcing even better tools for you to actively shape and improve the experience. We’ve redesigned and expanded Facebook’s News Preferences to give you more control.”
With the new algorithm, Facebook users will choose their own top 30 friends or pages. This will leave all the others further below when users check their newsfeeds.
For businesses, this could be boon or misfortune, according to social media expert Dionne Lew, whose remarks were reported by SmartCompany. “I think this is a really good change to the algorithm,” said Lew.
“People have been unhappy about the decline in reach as a result of the changes with the last news feed update and there’s been general unhappiness — from people using it personally, but also businesses who have seen a significant decline in organic reach.”
The companies that have the best relationships with their customers will have the best chances of rising to the top in the new newsfeed, Lew predicted.
“It’s going to work really well for those brands who’ve put the effort into building relationships.”
In order to get prioritized, though, businesses on Facebook may need to ask for it.
“For some brands it might be appropriate to ask directly for some people to prioritize them,” said Lew.
“But it’s a bigger ask. When it was a click of a button [to like a page] it was just click and off you go. But what you’re saying here is we know you have limited space and you’re actually going to have to find that option in your settings. It’s not something that’s as easy as clicking a button – it needs to be a more thoughtful ask and you need to give them a bit of a reason and a call to action.”
In a recently completed study, scientists at New York University Langone Medical Center’s department of population health have concluded that marijuana is not a gateway drug for teens.
Looking at high school seniors over the course of 11 years — seniors who had reported using marijuana in the past 12 months — the researchers found that although many teens did use other drugs, evidence showed that this was not due to using marijuana first.
“Most teens who use marijuana don’t progress to use of other drugs, and we believe this is evidenced in part by the fact that nearly two-thirds of these marijuana-using teens did not report use of any of the other illicit drugs we examined,” said lead author Joseph Palamar.
“The majority of adults in the U.S. have at least tried marijuana, and we know the majority has never gone on to use another drug, yet we tend to treat all drug use as pathological,” he added.
So what does cause teens to use drugs?
Two significant causes found by the study were boredom and a desire to expand consciousness.
Almost one-third of the teens in the study cited boredom as the reason they used drugs. This group was 43 percent more likely to use cocaine and 56 percent more likely to try a hallucinogen other than LSD.
Around one-fifth reported a desire to achieve insight or understanding. These teens were 51 percent more likely to try a hallucinogen other than LSD.
The drug-experimenter group actually had a decreased risk of using any of the other eight drugs asked about in the study.
But boredom and the quest for greater understanding don’t explain all drug users, the researchers stated, and Palamar stressed the importance of finding out the real reasons people use mind-altering substances.
Marcia Lee Taylor, president and CEO of the Partnership for Drug-Free Kids, agreed. “No matter what drug we’re talking about, motivations are really important,” she said. “We need to understand what is motivating a teen to use if we want to know how to prevent it.”
“Science has consistently shown that environmental factors, such as ready access to other illicit substances, and personal traits, such as a propensity toward risk-seeking behavior, are associated with the decision to move from marijuana to other illicit substances,” commented Paul Armentano, deputy director of the pro-marijuana group NORML. “But marijuana’s drug chemistry likely does not play a significant role, if any role, in this decision.”
