Senators rejected dueling Republican and Democratic plans to stop rates from doubling. Student loan bills stall in Senate

The Senate on Thursday voted twice to try to keep student loan interest rates low – but got nowhere.

Senators rejected dueling Republican and Democratic plans to stop rates from doubling in July, because of partisan fighting – again – over how the $6-billion bill would be paid for.

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Republicans want to divert money from a prevention fund created under the new health care law, while Democrats insist on eliminating a tax loophole for Subchapter S Corporations.

Both plans were largely expected to fail to reach the 60-vote barrier to kill a filibuster. And on Thursday, neither side was budging.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) went to the Senate floor in the morning to chastise Republicans for wanting to drain the preventive fund, which they deem an unnecessary slush fund.

“The Republican proposal is paid for by stripping Americans of life-saving preventive health care,” Reid said. “The Democratic proposal is paid for by closing a loophole that allows wealthy Americans to dodge their taxes.”

“It’s easy to see these two proposals were not created equal,” he added.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) quickly followed, accusing Democrats of trying to manufacture a scapegoat instead of reaching across the aisle to Republicans. Closing the tax loophole for so-called S Corporations amounts to a tax increase, he said.

Republicans also argue that closing the loophole, used by S Corporations to avoid paying a tax on Medicare, would redirect billions away from the health care program for the elderly.

“We already know how this story ends,” McConnell said. “So why are Democrats forcing us to vote on their failed proposal yet again? Because, as I’ve said, they’re more interested in drawing our opposition — of creating a bad guy — than in actually solving the problem.”

In the House, Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) blamed Democrats for the gridlock.

“The House has passed a reasonable and responsible student loan bill and paid for it by eliminating a slush fund that the president and Democrats have already supported cutting,” Boehner said. “If the president and Senate Democratic leaders prefer a different approach, then the onus is on them to offer a solution that can pass both chambers,”

“This issue can be resolved quickly if the Democrats come to the table and offer a responsible solution,” he concluded, “and we hope they will.”

Democrats weren’t having it, though.

“These are lobbyists, these are lawyers who have craftily used Subchapter S Corporations to avoid paying payroll taxes,” Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) said. “This loophole has been criticized on the editorial pages of The Wall Street Journal … I can’t think of a clearer choice.”

The Democratic bill failed 51-43. The Republicans’ bill, which mirrors legislation passed by the GOP-led House in April, failed 34-62. Sixty votes were needed to move the measures along.

The Obama administration has vowed to veto the Republican bill. White House press secretary Jay Carney issued a statement after the votes blaming the GOP for the gridlock.

”With only 37 days left to stop student loan interest rates from doubling on July 1, Senate Republicans still have not proven that they’re serious about resolving this problem,” he said.

Ten Republicans voted against their party’s bill, while one Democrat — Sen. Jim Webb of Virginia — rejected the Democratic version. Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) voted present on both bills to avoid conflict-of-interest issues with her husband, John McKernan, the chairman of the board of directors of the Education Management Corporation.

Keeping the federal student loan interest rate at the current 3.4 percent has been one of President Barack Obama’s top priorities lately, but so far the legislation has bogged down. Without congressional action, the rate will rise to 6.8 percent in July.

Preventing such an increase would save 7 million college students an average of $1,000 over the life of their loans, according to the White House.

This article tagged under: Student Loans

Politics


CHICAGO, IL - APRIL 29: Taj Gibson #22 of the Chicago Bulls dunks against the Washington Wizards in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals in the 2014 NBA Playoffs on April 29, 2014 at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2014 NBAE (Photo by Gary Dineen/NBAE via Getty Images) Bulls forward Taj Gibson. (Gary Dineen/NBAE/Getty Images)

The Bulls may not be as active on the trade market right now as originally thought.

After a Sporting News report surfaced that Chicago sixth man Taj Gibson had been “connected to much of the league the past few months” in trade talks, Yahoo Sports NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski told the Spiegel and Mannelly Show on Friday morning that he’d heard nothing of that sort in his discussions.

“I have not heard anything involving Taj,” Wojnarowski said.

“I haven’t heard that in my conversations with team executives. I’ve heard about a lot of names coming up in trade talks. His has not been one of them. Going forward for the Bulls, do they have a decision to make on Taj? Let’s say Jimmy Butler is going to get a max offer sheet (next offseason) or they have to get in front of a max offer sheet and offer a deal close to the max.

“Do they have to look at the cap and make a decision on Taj? It’s possible. But I don’t know that they have to do that now. I haven’t heard anything along those lines that they were looking to shake it up that way. That doesn’t mean it’s not true, but I haven’t heard one team mention to me that they felt Taj was available.”

Gibson was at the center of many trade rumors last summer when the Bulls pursued Carmelo Anthony in free agency and were weighing options on how to offer him the most money, so it’s not surprising that Gibson’s name has popped up again. Still, the report on him being connected to “much of the league” seemed to suggest Gibson had a huge “for sale” sign hanging on him, which Wojnarowski hasn’t found to be the case.

In signing the 34-year-old Pau Gasol last summer, the Bulls basically gave themselves a two-year title window with this group. So unless the return haul is something special, trading Gibson would seem contrary to Chicago’s win-now mentality anyway.

While he’s been inconsistent at times, Gibson remains a key contributor who was a stalwart in Chicago’s closing lineups last season and could serve as an answer in that role again as Tom Thibodeau looks for ways to spark his struggling team.


The University of Oregon is being sued by a longtime psychology professor who alleges the UO pays her substantially less than several less-experienced male colleagues, in violation of the federal Equal Pay Act.

Jennifer Freyd�s suit, filed Tuesday morning in U.S. District Court in Eugene, also includes claims alleging disparate treatment and impact, sex-based discrimination under the Equal Protection Clause, and Title IX violations. Title IX bans gender discrimination in education programs that receive federal money.

�For years, I have tried to work within my department and the college to help the UO live up to its own policies of non-discrimination,� Freyd said in a statement issued by her attorneys. �Women all over the country and in all kinds of jobs earn less than their male counterparts. It�s past time for the UO to recognize and address this problem in its own salary practices.�

The suit asserts that professor salaries in the psychology department are supposed to be determined by seniority and merit, and alleges that UO officials are aware of pay differences between their male and female psychology professors.

University spokesman Tobin Klinger said UO officials know of Freyd�s allegations and plan to �look closely at the case in the coming days.�

�Although professor Freyd�s pay places her in the top 13 percent of all tenure track faculty at the UO, we are committed to paying our faculty commensurate with their achievements,� Klinger said.

Freyd�s current salary is $155,237 and her benefits package, which includes health insurance and a retirement plan, totals another $70,545, bringing her total compensation to $225,782, according to data provided by Klinger.

Freyd is the psychology department�s most senior faculty member. But, according to the suit, she is paid less than three of her male colleagues �who are junior to her and similarly or less accomplished� and receives roughly the same salary as a fourth male professor who is �substantially junior.� The lawsuit did not name the colleagues or list their pay.

Freyd has been a full professor in the university�s psychology department since 1992. She is a nationally known expert in sexual assault trauma, and in 2014 filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education alleging the university had violated a federal campus security law when it did not notify the campus community or include in a police log a sexual assault allegation against three UO basketball players. The university later expelled the players.

Freyd is seeking unspecified monetary damages; a declaration that the UO has engaged in unlawful sex discrimination against her; a order that boosts her salary and benefits �to the levels they would be in the absence of discrimination� and also prohibits the UO from retaliating against her; back pay to compensate her for differences in her salary and benefits for the past six years; and an additional three years� back pay.

�The psychology department recognizes and acknowledges this gender-based disparity in her salary as well as the salaries of other female professors in the department,� the suit alleges. �Despite forceful advocacy on her behalf by the head of her department and others, the University of Oregon has not rectified its sex discrimination.�

The lawsuit asserts Freyd�s salary has been �infected by sex discrimination� since early in her career at the UO.

In May 2014 � the same month in which she filed the complaint over the UO�s handling of the basketball players� case � Freyd provided psychology department heads with an analysis showing that female professors were being paid significantly less than their male counterparts, according to the suit.

Freyd and two colleagues provided a second, similar pay analysis in April 2015. That same year, Freyd was awarded an 8-percent merit raise that still left her salary at $18,000 less than that of her closest male peer, who had seven years� less experience than she did at the time, the lawsuit says.

Meanwhile, the psychology department completed its own study during the spring of 2016 that addressed a range of topics and found male professors are paid an average of about $25,000 more per year than their female counterparts, according to the suit. That study was provided to deans in the UO�s College of Arts & Sciences.

The UO then appointed a committee to evaluate the psychology department. A report from the group noted gender pay disparities and recommended the department should continue �pressing for gender equity in terms of pay at the senior levels of the faculty,� the lawsuit says.

Ulrich Mayr, the psychology department�s head, emailed the College of Arts & Sciences� deans in December requesting they address Freyd�s salary, which he characterized as �our most glaring inequity case,� according to the suit. Mayr asserted Freyd�s pay is as much as $50,000 below where it should be, the lawsuit says.

The College of Arts & Sciences announced raises in January. Freyd earned standard pay increases but no additional raise based on requests that she and Mayr had made, according to the suit. The lawsuit did not list the increases, but it appears that her pay was boosted approximately 3 percent. A campuswide salary report issued Nov. 1 by the UO�s Office of Institutional Research lists Freyd�s annual salary as being $150,862.

Andrew Marcus, dean of the College of Arts & Sciences, and Hal Sadofsky, the associate dean, met with Freyd on Jan. 18. They told her that they would not address sex discrimination in her pay, and �belittled her comments� by saying that only three men in her department earned more than her, the lawsuit says.

The suit calls Freyd a pioneer in the field of the psychology of trauma, and says the UO has lauded her with its Research Innovation Award in 2009, its Excellence Award for Outstanding Mentorship in Graduate Studies in 2012, and its Faculty Research Award in 2014.

Scholarly journals focus on her research, which has twice led her to be invited to the White House, according to the lawsuit.

Freyd is represented by Eugene law firm Johnson Johnson Lucas and Middleton.

Follow Jack on Twitter @JackMoranRG . Email jack.moran@registerguard.com .


Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Paul Wood in Homs says there is "nowhere to hide" for the city's people

Heavy artillery fire has been rocking Homs, as Syrian troops step up an assault on the restive city.

A BBC correspondent there describes almost constant blasts, in the fiercest attack in the 11-month uprising.

US President Barack Obama said it was important to resolve the conflict without outside military intervention.

Meanwhile, Russia and China defended their veto of a UN draft resolution criticising Syria - a move that angered opponents of President Bashar al-Assad.

Later the US State Department said it had closed its embassy in Damascus and pulled out all remaining staff because of security concerns.

Washington had warned in January that it would close the embassy if the government did not step up security.

'Not safe at all'

Homs, one of the main centres of resistance to Mr Assad's rule, has been under attack from government forces for several days.

Shelling resumed shortly after daybreak on Monday, says BBC's Paul Wood who has managed to get into the city, and hundreds of shells and mortars have been fired throughout the day.

Analysis Syrian state television denied that there had been any bombardment. It said residents were setting fire to piles of rubbish on the roofs of their homes to trick the world into thinking that there was an attack. There is no doubt, however, from what we have seen and heard, that hundreds of shells and mortars have been fired at this place during the day. As I write this, the windows of the house we are in are still reverberating from the impact of a shell, probably in the next street. It is true that people have been setting fire to rubbish in the streets. They believe it will confuse the guidance systems of rockets apparently being fired at them. They are probably mistaken. People in this part of Homs say these attacks are the worst they have known since the beginning of the uprising, almost a year ago. The bombing has been going on for several days now. 'They are still picking up the bodies' Homs: 'Who will help us now?' Avoiding Syria's secret police

Eyewitness Danny Abdul Dayem told the BBC the army was using rockets for the first time, with more than 300 falling on his locality since dawn.

"It's not safe at all, a rocket could land in this house right now," he said

Some rebels fighters have been firing automatic weapons in return, in what our correspondent calls a futile gesture.

The rebels claim that the shelling has hit a field hospital in the Baba Amr district, causing casualties. However, our correspondent says this is impossible to verify.

The facility is treating dozens of people wounded in previous assaults on Homs.

Mr Dayem said only one field hospital with four doctors was still operating in the city, and it was virtually impossible to get additional medication without being shot.

Another anti-government campaigner told the BBC the government was also using helicopters and tanks in the assault.

Activists say at least 40 people were killed on Monday.

Syrian state TV said "terrorist gangs" had blown up buildings in Homs.

The state-run Sana news agency reported that an oil pipeline near the city had been hit by an explosion on Monday. It also blamed "terrorists".

Both Syrian media and activists are also reporting clashes in the northern city of Idlib and the town of Zabadani, north-west of Damascus.

The government says it is fighting foreign-backed armed groups. Thousands of former army soldiers have defected to the rebel side, forming the Free Syrian Army.

The BBC's Jim Muir in neighbouring Lebanon says the conflict is beginning to look increasingly like a civil war with dangerous sectarian overtones.

The uprising is largely rooted in poorer sections of the Sunni community, our correspondent says, while the government draws its support mostly from Alawites, Christians and other minorities fearful of an Islamist takeover.

The Assad regime is feeling the noose tightening around them US President Barack Obama Russia keeps Syria options open

'Inexcusable'

The Syrian opposition says Saturday's veto by China and Russia of a UN draft resolution condemning the crackdown will encourage the government to act without restraint.

President Obama vowed to apply sanctions and put pressure on Mr Assad.

"I think it is very important for us to try to resolve this without recourse to outside military intervention. And I think that's possible," he said in an interview for the NBC network's Today programme broadcast on Monday.

He added that a negotiated solution was possible and said the US was "relentless" in demanding that Mr Assad leave power.

"The Assad regime is feeling the noose tightening around them," he said. "We're going to just continue to put more and more pressure until hopefully we see a transition."

UK Foreign Secretary William Hague described the Russian and Chinese vetoes as "a grave error of judgement".

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Danny Abdul Dayem in Homs: "Pieces of bodies, children, women"

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said he would discuss the situation in Syria with his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev later on Monday.

"France and Germany will not abandon the Syrian people," Mr Sarkozy said after a meeting in Paris with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. "We will not accept that the international community remains blocked."

However, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the resolution, drafted by Arab and European countries, would have meant taking sides in a civil war.

Speaking in Bahrain on Monday, he said encouraging "armed extremist groups" would only cause more casualties, and said Moscow supported peaceful dialogue in Syria.

Mr Lavrov is due to travel to Damascus on Tuesday for talks with President Assad.

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Homs resident: "I watched a three-year-old girl dying"

The Chinese government also defended its veto. It said the draft resolution would only have complicated matters, and said Beijing sought to "avoid the scourge of armed conflict".

Human rights groups and activists say more than 7,000 people have been killed by Syrian security forces since the uprising began last March.

The UN stopped estimating the death toll in Syria after it passed 5,400 in January, saying it was too difficult to confirm.

President Assad's government says at least 2,000 members of the security forces have been killed fighting "armed gangs and terrorists".


"This monument reminds us all how important it is for us to respect every human being," remarks Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai at the unveiling

Published 10:53 PM, January 10, 2014

TEL AVIV, Israel – Israel unveiled Friday, January 10, a memorial in Tel Aviv to remember the gay and lesbian victims of Nazi persecution, in a ceremony attended by Germany's ambassador.

Members of Tel Aviv's gay community turned out to see the stone monument, modelled on the pink triangle Nazis made homosexuals wear in concentration camps during World War II, and features inscriptions in German, Hebrew and English.

"In addition to the extermination of Europe's Jews, the Nazis committed many atrocities, in an attempt to destroy anyone who was considered different," Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai said at the unveiling.

"This monument reminds us all how important it is for us to respect every human being," he said.

The heart of Israel's cultural life and a bastion of secularism, Tel Aviv hosts an annual gay pride parade with relatively few objections from the country's religious community, unlike similar events in Jerusalem that have seen violence and even one stabbing.

Israel is widely seen as having liberal gay rights policies, despite the hostility shown towards homosexuals, particularly men, from the ultra-orthodox Jewish community.

German Ambassador Andreas Michaelis said "it is important that we put up monuments and name streets, in order to remember things that happened in the past. But they must be first and foremost reminders for the future."

Adolf Hitler's Nazi Germany sent thousands of homosexuals to concentration camps in the 1930s and 1940s, and the Gestapo secret police arrested an estimated 100,000 men for being gay. – Rappler.com


KABUL, Afghanistan — Coalition forces killed the top-ranking Taliban official in restive Kunduz Province during an overnight raid, according to the Afghan police and a local governor.

The officials said that Mullah Bahador, the Taliban’s shadow governor in the province, was killed late Thursday night. Abdul Rahman Saidkhaili, the provincial police chief, said the target of the raid was a house in the Chardara district.

In a statement, coalition forces confirmed that they had killed an insurgent leader who “makes improvised explosive devices and suicide vests, leads a group of Taliban fighters and employs antiaircraft weapons against Afghan and coalition forces.”

Coalition officials could not be reached Friday to try to confirm the name of the man who was killed.

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Several suspected insurgents were arrested in the operation, the statement said.

Formerly stable, Kunduz Province, which borders the former Soviet republic of Tajikistan, has become increasingly violent in the past two years, as Taliban fighters have relocated there after coalition operations against them in southern Afghanistan. Kunduz City is now nearly cut off by violence, with all roads leading out controlled by the Taliban and other armed groups.

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The governor of Kunduz was killed in October by a bomb as he prayed in a mosque, and four Taliban suicide bombers killed five policemen two weeks ago.


Last year Ann Leckie’s novel Ancillary Justice won almost every major award in science fiction. It’s the story of Breq, a hive mind consisting of a sentient starship and its crew of networked soldiers. When an act of betrayal destroys the ship and all but one member of its crew, Breq sets out in her last remaining body to seek revenge. Breq’s story is told against the backdrop of the Radsch empire, a delightfully complex and colorful milieu. Leckie worked hard to create a plausible future free of any incongruous modern trappings, a common pitfall of far-future sci-fi.

“It’s more easily noticeable in older science fiction,” says Leckie in Episode 120 of the Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy podcast. “We’ve got this future society and the technology’s all very different, but people are smoking cigarettes and using slide rules, and the social relationships are exactly like they would have been in the 50s. You know, the wife is bringing in coffee.”

Wives bringing in coffee is the last thing you’d find in the Radsch empire, where citizens are so indifferent to gender that men and women act and dress alike and are often hard to distinguish, especially for an AI like Breq. The Radsch language also makes no distinction between men and women, a fact that’s reflected in the text by the decision to use the pronouns “she” and “her” for every character regardless of gender. The fact that readers will never really know the genders of most of the major characters has created an interesting challenge for fan artists, who have to rely on personal impressions when it comes to depicting the characters.

“It’s clear that each of these artists who’ve done this have a very definite vision in their mind of what the characters look like,” says Leckie. “And they’re all very different from each other, and they’re all very different from my internal vision of the characters, and yet at the same time they all work.”

This also makes the book a bit of a Rorschach test for readers, who sometimes form strong opinions about the gender of different characters and become convinced that their guesses have been confirmed by the text. Mostly they’re wrong.

“There was one review where someone was saying that … the characters are straight who are involved in sexual relationships,” says Leckie. “And I was like, ‘How do they know that?'”

Listen to our complete interview with Ann Leckie in Episode 120 of Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy (above), and check out some highlights from the discussion below.

Ann Leckie on the pitfalls of portraying music in fiction:

“I think a lot of times our culture has an attitude toward art and the production of art that separates artists from the rest of us, like making art or music or painting or whatever is some magical thing that you have to be inspired to do, and special people do it. Sometimes when somebody will write a character who’s musical there’ll be touches of that, there’ll be an almost Mary Sue-ish ‘they play and sing beautifully and all the animals stop and listen.’ I’m exaggerating, but that kind of fetishization of music and musical talent and singing, I’m not comfortable with myself. … I feel very strongly that art—and music in particular—is something that really everybody has some kind of ability to do, and that when you separate that out as something only special people can do, who are specially talented, you cut off that avenue of artistic expression for tons of people who would be able to enjoy it otherwise, but who think of it as something they can’t do, and I feel kind of strongly about that.”

Ann Leckie on writing from the point of view of Breq:

“Like a lot of writers, I’m a serious introvert, and talking to strangers, going out into a place—the grocery store or whatever—and talking to somebody I don’t know is really very difficult. … In college I got a job as a waitress, and in a lot of ways it was not a fun job, but in a lot of ways it was really very beneficial, because I didn’t know how those interactions were supposed to go with people I didn’t know well. But working for several years as a waitress you learn really quickly a couple of default scripts, so you know exactly what the interaction is going to be when the person sits down at the table. And then after a few months I’m like, ‘Oh, I can switch it up a bit. I can say, ‘Hey, it’s pretty rainy outside,’ and get a particular response to that. … And that’s something I found really very useful. But what it means is that I’m not the kind of person that those interactions come to naturally, and so when I’m thinking about Breq, I’m thinking about my own experience of, ‘Here I am talking to a person, now I need to pick a script.'”

Ann Leckie on criticism of her use of pronouns:

“I’ve been surprised at the number of people who were really angry that I tried to convey gender neutrality by using a gendered pronoun. Even if it was ‘she,’ which undercuts a masculine default, they feel as though it would have been much better if I had used an honest-to-goodness gender-neutral pronoun, and that would have conveyed it better. People have also been feeling angry that the male characters in the story are persistently mis-gendered, because they’re continually referred to as ‘she.’ I understand where that’s coming from, and it certainly wasn’t my intention to make anybody feel like they were being maliciously mis-gendered, and in some ways I share the frustration of folks about the third person neutral pronouns. I wish they were used more. … I think at the time I was working very strongly from an assumption … that in fact gender is a binary, and the implications of that do turn up in the text, and I know some people have pointed it out, and they’re right, it’s there, and had I been writing it now I probably would have handled those moments a little bit differently, but I think I would still have gone with ‘she,’ because I think it has a much stronger, more visceral effect.”

Ann Leckie on ancient religion:

“It’s a common part of the narrative of the history of Christianity that it was ‘real’ religion that involved real spirituality and real faith, and that’s why it’s completely superseded the more pagan polytheistic practices. I grew up Roman Catholic in a majority Roman Catholic city, and it wasn’t until I was about college age that I discovered some of the attitudes people who aren’t Catholic have toward Roman Catholicism—that it’s pagan superstition which has been superseded by true religiousness. … I’m not Catholic anymore, I’m an atheist, but I find that really offensive and hateful. If you look at anybody’s religious beliefs and practices that aren’t yours, they seem kind of shallow, and they don’t make sense, and they don’t have any resonance. … It’s really easy to look back, particularly with the way we’re taught in school about Greek and Roman paganism, that they’re just these stories, and these stories ‘explain’ why there’s lightning or why there’s winter and why there’s spring, because otherwise they didn’t understand it, they were just so ignorant, right? I think a lot of ancient polytheistic religions worked very differently from the way that Christianity works, but I do not think they were any less important to the people who lived those religions.”


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The Crown Prosecution Service has been fined £200,000 by data watchdogs after sensitive video interviews given to police by victims of sex abuse and violence were stolen from a private film studio in Manchester .

The filmed statements involved were given to police by 43 victims and witnesses concerned in 31 separate criminal investigations.

They included testimonies of alleged victims of disgraced radio DJ Jimmy Savile’s ex-chauffeur and flatmate Ray Teret , who was subsequently jailed for 25 years in December last year for rapes and indecent assaults on young girls.

The videos, saved on laptops, were being edited by Manchester-based Swan Films for the CPS to use as evidence in court.

All the cases involved allegations of violence or sexual abuse.

The film company used a flat on Wilmslow Road, Rusholme , as a studio. Two laptops were stolen in a burglary there in September last year.

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) launched an urgent investigation into the CPS’ contract with the company.

The probe found the videos were not being kept in a secure environment. They were left on a desk and were password-protected, but not encrypted. The ICO said the studio had no alarm and ‘insufficient security’.

The ICO’s head of enforcement, Stephen Eckersley, said the probe ruled the CPS was ‘negligent’ and failed to take into account the ‘substantial distress’ that would be caused if the videos were lost.

The laptops were recovered by police eight days later. It’s understood that they hadn’t been accessed.

Mr Eckersley said: “Handling videos of police interviews containing highly sensitive personal data is central to what the CPS does.

"The CPS was aware of the graphic and distressing nature of the personal data contained in the videos, but was complacent in protecting that information.

“The consequences of failing to keep that data safe should have been obvious to them.”

The ICO said the alleged victims were vulnerable and had already endured ‘distressing interviews’. They talked openly in their statements, and named names.

Mr Eckersley added: “If this information had been misused or disclosed to others, the consequences could have resulted in reprisals.”

It was discovered during the probe that the CPS had been using the same film company since 2002.

Arrangements surrounding collection and delivery of un-encrypted DVDs were found by the ICO to constitute an ongoing contravention of the Data Protection Act.

The CPS said its contract with Swan Films was terminated immediately.

Security arrangements have now been assessed and tightened.

A spokesman said: “It is a matter of real regret that sensitive information was not held more securely by our external contractor, and that we, as an organisation, failed to ensure that it was.

"We are grateful that the material was recovered without being accessed by those who stole the computer equipment but accept that this was fortuitous.

"It is vital that victims of crime feel confident that breaches like this will not happen and, following a full review after this incident, we have strengthened the arrangements for the safe and secure handling of sensitive material.”


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Donald Trump wants to be hailed as the “Make America Great Again” president, but on Twitter, he’s known as another four-word expression:

“A tweet for everything.”

No matter what Trump does, there is an old tweet of his that applies (and is usually in direct opposition) to everything, especially when it comes to his predecessor, Barack Obama. There was the time the White House announced that visitor logs will not be made public (“Why does Obama believe he shouldn’t comply with record releases that his predecessors did of their own volition? Hiding something?”). Or when the Trump administration ordered an attack on Syria (“AGAIN, TO OUR VERY FOOLISH LEADER, DO NOT ATTACK SYRIA – IF YOU DO MANY VERY BAD THINGS WILL HAPPEN & FROM THAT FIGHT THE U.S. GETS NOTHING!”). Or when the president went on a 17-day vacation to play golf (“Can you believe that, with all of the problems and difficulties facing the U.S., President Obama spent the day playing golf?”).

Trump’s latest “should regret, but doesn’t regret” tweet dates back to December 2014, when he wrote, “Obama has admitted that he spends his mornings watching @espn. Then he plays golf, fundraises & grants amnesty to illegals.” We already know about his propensity for playing golf, but he’s also an avid follower of ESPN. After SportsCenter host Jemele Hill called Trump a “white supremacist who has largely surrounded himself w/ other white supremacists” and “the most ignorant, offensive president of my lifetime,” he tweet-demanded that ESPN “apologize for untruth.”

Obama has admitted that he spends his mornings watching @ESPN. Then he plays golf, fundraises & grants amnesty to illegals. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 16, 2014

ESPN is paying a really big price for its politics (and bad programming). People are dumping it in RECORD numbers. Apologize for untruth! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 15, 2017

A president who spends his mornings watching TV? It’s hard to believe.


HUMAN FAMILY TREE used to be a scraggly thing. With relatively few fossils to work from, scientists' best guess was that they could all be assigned to just two lineages, one of which went extinct and the other of which ultimately gave rise to us. Discoveries made over the past few decades have revealed a far more luxuriant tree, however—one abounding with branches and twigs that eventually petered out. This newfound diversity paints a much more interesting picture of our origins but makes sorting our ancestors from the evolutionary dead ends all the more challenging, as paleoanthropologist Bernard Wood explains in the pages that follow.

More on this topic:

The Latest Fossil Finds Make the Puzzle of Human Evolution Harder Than Ever to Solve

New Evidence Shows How Human Evolution Was Shaped by Climate

New Twist Added to the Role of Culture in Human Evolution


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#1 of 2: Donald Trump's indecent comments in 2005 (11 yrs ago) - were made when he was a Democrat. The hypocrisy of HilaryClinton to say.. — Susan Hutchison (@Susan_Hutch) October 8, 2016

SEATTLE -- Taking a partisan view of Donald Trump's lewd comments about women, Washington State Republican Party Chairman Susan Hutchison said Friday night that the GOP presidential nominee's "indecent comments in 2005 ... were made when he was a Democrat."

She added, "The hypocrisy of Hillary Clinton to say Trump does not belong in the White House when her husband defined this behavior."

Hutchison tweeted her statements after she reportedly told a Seattle news outlet that 11 years ago, Trump was channeling Bill Clinton with his crude comments at the time.

#1 of 2: Donald Trump's indecent comments in 2005 (11 yrs ago) - were made when he was a Democrat. The hypocrisy of HilaryClinton to say.. — Susan Hutchison (@Susan_Hutch) October 8, 2016

#2 of 2: ...The hypocrisy of Hillary Clinton to say Trump does not belong in the White House when her husband defined this behavior. — Susan Hutchison (@Susan_Hutch) October 8, 2016

Meanwhile, the highest-ranking Republican woman in Congress, Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington state, has condemned Trump's crude comments.

Multiple news outlets are reporting that in a Friday evening statement McMorris Rodgers said, "It is never appropriate to condone unwanted sexual advances or violence against women." She also said, "Mr. Trump must realize that it has no place in public or private conversations."

She did not say she would withdraw her support for the Republican presidential candidate, to whom she had given a lukewarm endorsement.

In a debate earlier this week, McMorris Rodgers said she would vote for Trump and praised his acumen as a businessman.


Submitted by Jim Quinn via The Burning Platform,

“The truth is like poetry, and most people fucking hate poetry.”

The Big Short opens nationwide today. But it happened to have one showing last night at a theater near me. My youngest son and I hopped in the car and went to see it. I loved the book by Michael Lewis. The cast assembled for the movie was top notch, but having the director of Anchorman and Talledaga Nights handle a subject matter like high finance seemed odd.

The choice of Adam McKay as director turned out to be brilliant. The question was how do you make a movie about the housing market, mortgage backed securities, collateralized debt obligations, collateralized debt swaps, and synthetic CDOs interesting for the average person. He succeeded beyond all expectations.

Interweaving pop culture icons, music, symbols of materialism, and unforgettable characters, McKay has created a masterpiece about the greed, stupidity, hubris, and arrogance of Wall Street bankers gone wild. He captures the idiocy and complete capture of the rating agencies (S&P, Moodys). He reveals the ineptitude and dysfunction of the SEC, where the goal of these regulators was to get a high paying job with banks they were supposed to regulate. He skewers the faux financial journalists at the Wall Street Journal who didn’t want to rock the boat with the truth about the greatest fraud ever committed.

What makes the movie great are the characters, their motivations, their frustrations, their anger at a warped demented system, and ultimately their hollow victory when the entire edifice of fraud came crashing down on the heads of honest hard working Americans. The movie does not glorify the men that ended up making billions from the demise of the housing bubble. But it clearly defines the real bad guys.

Steve Carell plays Mark Baum (based on the real life character Steve Eisman). He’s the kind of prick who would fit in perfectly on TBP. He is abrasively hysterical with his foul mouthed commentary and insults to authority. He is the heart and soul of the movie. You feel his pain throughout. Carrell should win an Academy Award for his performance.

Christian Bale’s quirky performance as one eyed Dr. Michael Burry, whose Asberger’s Syndrome actually allowed him to focus on the minutia and discover the fraud before everyone else, is top notch. Ryan Goseling is hysterical in his role as the narrator of the story. Brad Pitt plays a supporting role, but does it with his usual class.

Ultimately, it is a highly entertaining movie with the right moral overtone, despite non-stop profanity that captures the true nature of Wall Street traders. This is a dangerous movie for Wall Street, the government, and the establishment in general. They count on the complexity of Wall Street to confuse the average person and make their eyes glaze over. That makes it easier for them to keep committing fraud and harvesting the nation’s wealth.

This movie cuts through the crap and reveals those in power to be corrupt, greedy weasels who aren’t really as smart as they want you to think they are. The finale of the movie is sobering and infuriating. After unequivocally proving that Wall Street bankers, aided and abetted by the Federal Reserve, Congress, the SEC, and the mainstream media, destroyed the global financial system, put tens of millions out of work, got six million people tossed from their homes, and created the worst crisis since the Great Depression, the filmmakers are left to provide the depressing conclusion.

No bankers went to jail. The Too Big To Fail banks were not broken up – they were bailed out by the American taxpayers. They actually got bigger. Their profits have reached new heights, while the average family has seen their income fall. Wall Street is paying out record bonuses, while 46 million people are on food stamps. Wall Street and their lackeys at the Federal Reserve call the shots in this country. They don’t give a fuck about you. And they’re doing it again.

Every American should see this movie and get fucking pissed off. The theater was deathly silent at the end of the movie. The audience was stunned by the fact that the criminals on Wall Street got away with the crime of the century, and they’re still on the loose. I had a great discussion with my 16 year old son on the way home. At least there is one millennial who understand how bad his generation is getting screwed.

Merry Fucking Christmas America from a Wall Street banker


Family members among 157 asylum seekers being detained on the high seas in separate rooms on a customs vessel are allowed out for meals and ''approximately three hours'' of daylight a day, according to a document lodged with the High Court on Tuesday.

While it was previously stated 153 asylum seekers were on a boat that was intercepted off Christmas Island more than three weeks ago, the document says there are 157.

Scott Morrison arriving for talks with India's Minister for Home Affairs, Mr Rajnath Singh. Credit:Jason Koutsoukis

A document filed by the government reveals the national security committee of cabinet decided on July 1, two days after the boat was intercepted, that those on board ''should be taken to a place other than Australia''.

The document says the asylum seekers are permitted ''approximately three hours' outside during the day in natural light for meals'', but says it would be unsafe to give them unrestricted movement.


If you’re a fantasy reader (and, if you’re reading this, I suspect you are), 2006 was a vintage year. One for the ages, like 2005 for Bordeaux, or 1994 for Magic: The Gathering. The Class of 2006 includes Joe Abercrombie’s The Blade Itself, Naomi Novik’s His Majesty’s Dragon, Scott Lynch’s The Lies of Locke Lamora and Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn: The Final Empire. All of which, remarkably, are debuts (except Mistborn, but Elantris was only the year before and Mistborn was the breakout hit, so we’ll roll with it). And hey, if we stretch the strict definition of “2006,” we can even include Patrick Rothfuss’ The Name of the Wind in the mix as well.

These are five authors that have dominated the contemporary fantasy scene, and to think that they all published more or less simultaneously is, well, kind of ridiculous.

However, as tempting as it is to examine the lunar conjunctions of 2006 in the hopes of finding some sort of pattern, the fact that these books all published at the same time is total coincidence—and, in many ways, irrelevant. Publishing ain’t quick, and by 2006, these books had all been finished for some time. For some of these authors, their books had been out on submission for several years. If anything, we’re actually better off prying into 2004, since the process between acquisition and publishing is generally around two years. What was in the air when five different editors all decided to lift these particular manuscripts from the stack?

Or do we go back further? We know, of course, that these books were all written at completely different times. The Name of the Wind was the culmination of a decade’s hard labor, beginning in the 1990s. Mistborn, given Sanderson’s legendary speed, was probably written overnight. But what were the influences of the late 1990s and early 2000s that would’ve led these five different people to all write such amazing, popular books? In the years leading up to 2006, there are some clear trends. These trends may have impacted the authors as they wrote these stunning debuts. They may have influenced the editors as they chose these particular books out of the pile.

Or, of course, they may not have. But where’s the fun in that? So let’s take a look at some of major touchstones of the period:

Harry Potter

From 1997 onward, the world belonged to Harry Potter. And by 2004, five of the books were published and the end of the series was on the horizon. Publishers, as you might expect, were pretty keen to finding the next long-running YA/adult crossover series with a fantasy inflection. Moreover, Potter proved that a big ol’ epic fantasy had huge commercial potential, and could be a massive breakout hit. It also showed that the hoary old tropes—say, coming of age at a wizard school, detailed magic systems, and a villainous Dark Lord—still had plenty of appeal.

The British Invasion

Rowling—deservedly—gets the headlines, but the Brits were everywhere during this period. Susanna Clarke’s Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell was one of the breakout hits of 2004, a fantasy that couldn’t be more British if it were served with scones and a gently arched eyebrow. China Miéville collected every major genre award between 2000 and 2004. Looking at the Hugo finalists in from 2000, you can also see Stross, Richard Morgan, Ken MacLeod, Ian McDonald, Iain M. Banks… and that’s just in the Novel category. Seeing so many British authors up for what’s traditionally been a predominantly American award shows that the UK was, well, trending. That could only help inform—or sell—a UK author like Joe Abercrombie, or a British-set novel like Novik’s His Majesty’s Dragon.

A Game of Thrones

This is a little weird to think about—by 2006, every A Song of Ice and Fire book (save A Dance with Dragons) had already been published. The Potter arguments apply here as well—ASoIaF was proof of concept: big fantasy series would sell, and publishers were on the prowl for the “next” one. And, for authors, ASoIaF had dominated the scene since 1996: even before the HBO show, it was a massively popular series. Big Fantasy, again, could be successful—and by subverting the tropes, Martin ushered in a new world of possibilities. Characters could die. Good guys could lose. Surprise was as interesting—and as rewarding—as simply doing the expected.

* * *

But if we simply limit ourselves to books, we’re missing out. A lot. The Class of 2006 was surrounded by storytelling in a host of formats, both personally and professionally. Abercrombie and Novik, for example, worked in the film and the gaming industries, respectively. So let’s also consider the impact of the following:

The Lord of the Rings

The three most successful fantasy films of all time were released in 2001, 2002, and 2003. Everyone knew how to pronounce “po-tay-to” and had an opinion on eagles. The films were ubiquitous, breath-taking and, most of all, lucrative. Jackson’s trilogy meant that Hollywood wouldn’t shy away from Big Fantasy, and, as with Harry Potter, everyone was on the prowl for “what would be next”…

Gaming

The biggest and best fantasy worlds weren’t in cinemas—they were in your home, to be devoured in hundred-hour chunks. 1998 alone saw the release of, among others, Thief, Baldur’s Gate, Half-Life, and The Ocarina of Time. By the early 2000s, games weren’t just hack-and-slash; they were about stealth, storytelling, meandering side-quests and narrative choice—with a rich visual language that stretched the boundaries of the imagination. From Baldur’s Gate 2 (2000) to Final Fantasy (1999-2002), Grand Theft Auto (2002, 2004) to Fable (2004), huge worlds were in, as were immersive stories and moral ambiguity.

Games were no longer about levelling up and acquiring the BFG9000; they involved complex protagonists with unique skills, difficult decisions, and complicated moral outlooks. Whether it’s the immersive environments of Scott Lunch’s Camorr, the unconventional morality of Abercrombie’s Logen Ninefingers, the deliciously over-the-top Allomantic battles in Sanderson’s Mistborn books, or the rich and sprawling world of Novik’s Temeraire, it is easy to find parallels between game worlds and the class of 2006.

The Wire

Television’s best drama started airing on HBO in 2002. Critically acclaimed (and sadly under-viewed), it’s had a huge impact on the nature of storytelling. Big arcs and fragmented narratives were suddenly “in.” Multiple perspectives, complicated plotlines: also in. Immediate payoffs: unnecessary. Moral ambiguity: brilliant. Pre-Netflix, it showed that audiences—and critics—would stick around for intricate long-form storytelling. The Wire’s impact on fiction in all formats can’t be underestimated.

Spice World

In 1998, the Spice Girls had sold 45 million records worldwide. Their first five singles had each reached #1 in the UK. The previous year, they were the most played artist on American radio—and won Favorite Pop Group at the American Music Awards. Yet, later that year, Geri Halliwell split from the group. Sales foundered. Lawsuits abounded. The Spice World had shattered. As an influence, we can see here the entire story of the Class of 2006. The second wave British invasion. The immersive, transmedia storytelling. The embrace of classic tropes (Scary, Sporty, Ginger)—and their aggressive subversion (Posh, Baby). The moral ambiguity—who do you think you are? The tragic, unexpected ending: what is Halliwell’s departure besides the Red Wedding of pop? The void left by their absence—a vacuum that only another massive, commercially-viable, magic-laced fantasy could fill.

* * *

Okay, fine. Probably not that last one.

But it still goes to show the fun—and futility—of trying to track influences. With a bit of creativity, we can draw a line between any two points, however obscure. If anything, the ubiquitous and obvious trends are the most important. We don’t know everything that Rothfuss read or watched while crafting The Name of the Wind, but we can guarantee that he heard the Spice Girls. If a little bit of “2 Become 1” snuck in there… well, who would ever know?

Chasing an author’s influences—or an editor’s—is nearly impossible. There are certainly those inspirations and motivations that they’ll admit to, but there are also many more they don’t. And many, many more that the authors and editors themselves won’t even be fully aware of. We are surrounded by media and influences, from The Wire to BritPop, Harry Potter to the menu at our favourite Italian restaurant. Trying to determine what sticks in our subconscious—much less the subconscious of our favourite author—is an impossible task.

What we do know is that, for whatever reasons, many of which are completely coincidental, 2006 wound up being a remarkable year. Thanks, Spice Girls.

With huge thanks to r/fantasy and /u/TeoKajLibroj for kicking off the conversation.

Jared Shurin is the editor of Pornokitsch and over a dozen anthologies, the latest of which is The Djinn Falls in Love and Other Stories.


It was one of many ads that John Geer, a Vanderbilt University political scientist, and I showed to panels of people throughout the campaign. We ran a weekly experiment called SpotCheck in which we randomly assigned a representative sample of 1,000 people to see one of two campaign ads. We evaluated the ads’ persuasive effects and asked people to evaluate the ads on such criteria as whether the ad made them happy, hopeful, angry or worried.

By far, Mr. Sanders’s “America” was the ad from 2016 that made SpotCheck’s raters the happiest and the most hopeful. Nearly 80 percent of viewers said the ad made them at least a little bit happy and hopeful in the week it debuted — including over half of the Republicans who saw it.

We paired the ad with a spot from Hillary Clinton called “All the Good,” which also tested well. It featured the commanding voice of Morgan Freeman and a moving string soundtrack, yet only half the raters said this ad made them happy and hopeful.


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Radical plans to merge Manchester’s three hospital trusts have moved a step closer after health chiefs backed the move.

The move could see North Manchester Hopsital, MRI and Wythenshawe Hospital - currently under three separate NHS trusts - all come under the same NHS management.

And now the city’s health and wellbeing board, chaired by council leader Sir Richard Leese alongside GP, patient, charity and hospital representatives, have given their green light to the plan this morning.

The trusts in charge of the hospitals - Central Manchester, University Hopsital of South Manchester and Pennine Acute - will now spend six weeks hammering out the finer detail of how that process should happen and what it could mean for patients.

However patient group Healthwatch, while broadly supportive, has sounded out a warning over the speed of the move.

It says that Manchester patients and residents must be more actively involved in the process before the resulting plan becomes a ‘done deal’.

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Last week it emerged Sir Jonathan Michael, a King’s Fund health expert commissioned by the council to look at the best model for running hospitals in Manchester, had concluded that one single trust was the best way forward, meaning North Manchester General could be removed from struggling Pennine Acute.

The plan would create a much clearer, more consistent level of healthcare in the city, the expert claimed, making health bosses more accountable and lining up services with GPs and social care.

It is estimated the move would save around £20m a year, although the reorganisation itself is likely to be expensive.

So far it is unclear what the impact will be on services in the city, but it is likely to mean some services being closed or moved.

Nevertheless a restructure is absolutely not ‘an end in itself’, stressed Sir Jonathan, but simply a vehicle through which to make care better.

The plan had immediately prompted fears that taking North Manchester General Hospital out of Pennine would hit the trust’s other hospitals in Rochdale, Oldham and Bury.

But Sir Richard said he had spoken to council leaders in the areas, who he said were ‘supportive’, while a separate review being led by consultant Mike Farrar is reviewing health care in general across the north east of Greater Manchester.

He also said parts of Pennine Acute, which is currently being overseen by Salford Royal, has effectively been ‘in intensive care’ of late.

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The city’s other two hospital trusts must now play their part in supporting North Manchester General hospital, he said.

Meanwhile Mike Wild, representing the city’s voluntary sector, said it was vital patients were put at the heart of the process - stressing trusts should not just ‘broadcast’ their plans at residents but have a proper discussion with them.

And Vicky Szulist, chair of patient organisation Healthwatch, warned against the move being a ‘done deal by the time it gets to patients’.

Nevertheless all the GPs, commissioners, councillors and hosptial leaders - including board chairs - around the table said they were supportive of the move.

Councillor Paul Andrews, who is in charge of health and social care for the council, said he was delighted such an agreement between so many organisations had been reached.

Two years ago trying to get to such a point had felt like ‘walking through custard’, he added.

Central, UHSM and Pennine will now report back in August.


I am a colorful creature that values love and equality above all else. I have a loving home environment and am a strong advocate for women's rights and LGBTQ equality. I have a loving boyfriend and a terrorist disguised as an orange cat with an vendetta against paper towel rolls. I am very opinionated and very loud at times, but I always mean well. Cheers!

As people, we rely way too much on appearance and how people perceive us. There is a need to be accepted and liked ingrained within almost every mind. It is such that in today’s society, it is difficult to find any single person, let alone any company that accepts all the colours in the crayon box.

This needs to be rectified. There are many topics of discussion that this article could be referring to with the above statements, but we’re going to start with something as simple as hair colour. I have never understood dress code rules and regulations regarding hair colour. They make zero sense. Hair colour does nothing to deter or take away from work performance. The only excuse I have ever heard is that it’s ‘distracting’. You know who it distracts? 3 year olds…but even then they move on once you sate their curiosity.

Adults should be well past the stage of believing that hair colour has any iota of sway in productivity, but time and time again, I see hair colour included in my friends’ dress code rules for employers. If I want my hair to resemble unicorns fluffy and magical behind, well, that’s my prerogative. Blue hair colour does not cause Jan in billing or Eric in tech to do their job any less fabulously. Hair colour can be a way to express ones’ personality in a way that clothes may not always be able to.

While I’m on the topic, clothes should not determine ones’ social status or ability to hold a job. I would be perfectly fine if Sebastian in collections came to work sporting goth attire with a few extra piercings, but the fact of the matter is that people simply do not accept others for who they are. Strange and unusual is a big ol’ fat no no in the work place. You simply don’t see the CEO of most companies with purple hair and skinny jeans, but I don’t know why. I feel like there are so many standards in society that were established eons ago that simply do not hold a candle with today’s society.

Personally, I would feel much more comfortable if Jan from billing decided to change up her hair from conservative blonde to coca-cola bottle red. If Eric in tech wants to wear fine tailored suits everyday and gauge his ear lobes to see through proportions, that’s just fine with me. I feel like we need to be a little more accepting of change, because the world as we know it is changing…and the strict stubborn rules of yesteryear are being left for the birds.


The first annual Ultimate Classic Rock Awards are here, and they are your chance to vote for the best rock music of 2011. Over the next week, we will be announcing nominees for the year's best classic rock albums, songs, tours, artists and more -- 10 categories in all -- and allowing our readers to pick the winners in each.

We'll begin with the Tour of the Year category: After all, if there's one place classic rockers undeniably dominate the music landscape, it is in the live performance setting. This year featured two big summer tour team-ups: Journey , Foreigner and Night Ranger combined to bring fans a hit-packed evening, and Motley Crue brought Poison and the New York Dolls along for their typically extravagant trek.

Of course, some bands decided to go it alone, too. Rush continued their 'Time Machine' tour, which featured the band playing their 1981 'Moving Pictures' album in its entirety. Kiss proved the worth of their music by scaling down their stage show to play long-awaited concerts in smaller cities for much of the summer, and even as we speak, Guns N' Roses are making an emphatic case for the power of their new lineup and the 'Chinese Democracy' album with 3-hour marathon shows all across the land.

Let's not forget Alice Cooper , who dazzled audiences around the world with a career-spanning show of surprising ferocity prior to the release of his 'Welcome 2 My Nightmare' album. That album, by the way, has already earned the No. 1 spot on our list of the Top 10 Albums of 2011, in addition to spawning what we've labeled the year's best new song, ' I'll Bite Your Face Off .'

But those were our staff's choices; this one is up to you. Select which one of the six aforementioned tours you thought was the best. You have until 11:59 PM on Jan. 1, 2012, and the winners will be announced Tuesday, Jan, 3.


The father of Daron Wint, the man suspected of killing a Northwest D.C. couple, their young son, and their housekeeper, had been so frightened by threats his son made to shoot his own family that he sought a protective order barring the man from contacting them for a year.

Maryland court records show that over the last decade Mr. Wint has been the subject of numerous peace and protective orders.

One taken out by his own father in 2005 describes how the then 21-year-old Mr. Wint stood outside of his father’s Lanham home and threatened to shoot his father and step-mother. Police were called to the scene, but Mr. Wint came back afterward.

“He stood in the street in front of the house and continued to threaten me and my wife,” wrote Mr. Wint’s father in a handwritten application for a protective order filed in Prince George’s County District Court. “Threats were to be on the lookout for him, I should have made the officer pat him and they would have found what he had under his clothing for me.”

D.C. police have named Mr. Wint as a suspect in the gruesome killings of Savvas Savopoulos; his wife, Amy; their 10-year-old son, Philip; and their housekeeper, Veralicia Figueroa.

First responders found their bodies May 14 inside the Savopouloses’ multi-million-dollar Woodley Park home after responding to extinguish a fire there. The family is believed to have been held captive in the home the night before, and media reports indicate that $40,000 in cash was delivered to the home shortly before the fire broke out the afternoon of May 14.

In a press conference Thursday, Metropolitan Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier said Mr. Wint at one point had worked for Mr. Savopoulos at his business, American Iron Works, which is based in Hyattsville.

The D.C. Medical Examiner has not ruled a cause of death in the four homicides, but there is speculation that the victims may have been beaten while held captive as at least three of the four victims suffered either blunt force trauma or wounds from sharp objects. Police said the fire at the home was set intentionally.

The protective order sought by Mr. Wint’s father sought to ban him from the family’s Lanham home, which was one of several locations in Prince George’s County that police searched Wednesday night. The order also sought to keep Mr. Wint away from the elementary school and day care that his then 8-year-old sister attended.

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* Israel says major operation may last days

* Does not rule out ground invasion of Gaza

* Hamas, militant groups vow to fight

* First target was Hamas commander

* Southern Israel braced for Gaza rockets

By Nidal al-Mughrabi

GAZA, Nov 14 (Reuters) - Israel launched a major offensive against Palestinian militants in Gaza on Wednesday, killing the military commander of Hamas in an air strike and threatening an invasion of the enclave that the Islamist group vowed would "open the gates of hell".

The onslaught shattered hopes that a truce mediated on Tuesday by Egypt could pull the two sides back from the brink of war after five days of escalating Palestinian rocket attacks and Israeli strikes at militant targets.

Operation "Pillar of Defence" began with a surgical strike on a car carrying the commander of the military wing of Hamas, the Islamist movement which controls Gaza and dominates a score of smaller armed groups.

Within minutes of the death of Ahmed Al-Jaabari, big explosions were rocking Gaza, as the Israeli air force struck at selected targets just before sundown, blasting plumes of smoke and debris high above the crowded city.

Panicking civilians ran for cover and the death toll mounted quickly. Seven people including two girls under the age of five were killed, the health ministry said.

A second Gaza war has loomed on the horizon for months as waves of Palestinian rocket attacks and Israeli strikes grew increasingly more intense and frequent.

Israel's Operation Cast Lead in 2008-2009 began with a week of air attacks and shelling, followed by a land invasion of the blockaded coastal strip, sealed off at sea by the Israeli navy. Some 1,400 Palestinians were killed and 13 Israelis died.

Hamas said Jaabari, who ran the organisation's armed wing, Izz el-Deen Al-Qassam, died along with an unnamed associate when their car was blown apart by an Israeli missile.

The charred and mangled wreckage of a car could be seen belching flames, as emergency crews picked up what appeared to be body parts.

GATES OF HELL

Israel confirmed it had carried out the attack and announced there was more to come. Reuters witnesses saw Hamas security compounds and police stations blasted apart.

"This is an operation against terror targets of different organisations in Gaza," Israeli army spokeswoman Colonel Avital Leibovitch told reporters.

Jaabari had "a lot of blood on his hands", she said. Other militant groups including Islamic Jihad were on the target list.

Immediate calls for revenge were broadcast over Hamas radio.

"The occupation has opened the gates of hell," Hamas's armed wing said. Smaller groups also vowed to strike back.

"Israel has declared war on Gaza and they will bear the responsibility for the consequences," Islamic Jihad said.

Southern Israeli communities within rocket range of Gaza were on full alert, and schools were ordered closed for Thursday. About one million Israelis live in range of Gaza's relatively primitive but lethal rockets, supplemented in recent months by longer-range, more accurate systems.

"The days we face in the south will, in my estimation, prove protracted," Brigadier-General Yoav Mordechai, Israel's chief military spokesman, told Channel 2 TV.

"The home front must brace itself resiliently."

Mordechai said Israel was both responding to a surge in Palestinian rocket salvoes earlier this week and trying to prevent Hamas and other Palestinian factions from building up their arsenals further.

Among the targets of Wednesday's air strikes were underground caches of longer-range Hamas rockets, he said.

Asked if Israel might send in ground forces, Mordechai said: "There are preparations, and if we are required to, the option of an entry by ground is available."

HAMAS EMBOLDENED

Israel's intelligence agency Shin Bet said Jaabari was responsible for Hamas' takeover of the Gaza Strip in 2007, when the militant Islamist group ousted fighters of the Fatah movement of its great rival, the Western-backed Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas.

It said Jaabari instigated the attack that led to the capture of Israeli Corporal Gilad Shalit in a kidnap raid from Gaza in 2006. Jaabari was also the man who handed Shalit over to Israel in a prisoner exchange five years after his capture.

Israel holds a general election on Jan. 22 and conservative Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has pledged to retaliate harshly against Hamas.

Hamas has been emboldened by the rise to power in neighbouring Egypt of its spiritual mentors in the Muslim Brotherhood, viewing them as a "safety net" that will not permit a second Israeli thrashing of Gaza, home to 1.7 million Palestinians.

Egypt condemned Israel's strikes on Gaza and urged it to end the attacks at once.

Hamas has historically been supported by Iran, which Israel regards as a rising threat to its own existence due to its nuclear programme.

In the flare-up that was prelude to Wednesday's offensive, more than 115 missiles were fired into southern Israel from Gaza and Israeli planes launched numerous strikes.

Seven Palestinians, three of them gunmen, were killed. Eight Israeli civilians were hurt by rocket fire and four soldiers wounded by an anti-tank missile.

Helped by Iran and the flourishing contraband trade through tunnels from Egypt, Gaza militias have smuggled in better weapons since the war of 2008-09.

But Gaza's estimated 35,000 Palestinian fighters are still no match for Israel's F-16 fighter-bombers, Apache helicopter gunships, Merkava tanks and other modern weapons systems in the hands of a conscript force of 175,000, with 450,000 in reserve.

Israel's shekel fell nearly one percent to a two-month low against the dollar on Wednesday after news of the Israeli air strikes broke.

Earlier, Israel killed the head of the Hamas military wing, Ahmed Jabari, in an airstrike. In all, Palestinian officials say six people have been killed in the Israeli attacks.

Israel says the airstrikes are the beginning of a broader operation, launched in response to days of heavy rocket fire from Gaza.


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An NGO on Thursday accused the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency), IDF, police and Prisons Service of a spike in alleged torture and abuse of detainees starting in June, during Operation Brothers’ Keeper.

The Shin Bet gave an extensive rejection of these claims, as well as of torture that allegedly continued through the Gaza war and elevated tensions in the area through the end of 2014.

According to statistics presented by the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI) based on hundreds of prison visits, there were 66 alleged acts of torture or abuse in the second half of 2014, up from 19 alleged acts in the first half of the year.PCATI did not distinguish between acts of torture and acts of abuse. It generally takes the position that it is simply fighting all deviant interrogation practices.What is considered illegal torture or abuse versus, sometimes permitted under Israeli law, “moderate physical pressure,” is hotly debated both domestically and globally, with international law often giving few specifics.“Moderate physical pressure” is a synonym for enhanced interrogation or pressure short of what the High Court of Justice would forbid as torture, and has been permitted for the sake of stopping a “ticking bomb” terrorist attack since a 1999 court decision – which also prohibited anything more than moderate pressure.Of the 85 alleged acts for 2014, PCATI said that 48 complaints were submitted “to various investigatory powers,” including the Justice Ministry.The 48 complaints themselves involve fewer than 48 Palestinians as some of them submitted multiple complaints.Breaking down the 48 complaints: 23 were filed against the Shin Bet, 14 against the IDF, nine against the police or border police and two against the Prisons Service.Since June 2014, 18 complaints claimed their interrogators used the “frog” or “banana” (contorted) positions against them, 19 complained of sleep deprivation, 12 of beatings during interrogation, eight of sexual harassment or assault during the interrogation, seven of physical violence during arrest and two of being physically shaken against High Court dictates.PCATI said that the use of the “frog” and “banana” positions were most noteworthy since these methods had been used only 10 times in the prior four years.No specifics were provided regarding the individual cases that made up the basis of the statistics, though some information is protected under gag order.On March 3, 2014, the state attorney confirmed to the High Court that the Shin Bet does currently use moderate physical pressure in a small number of ticking bomb cases.On June 18, 2014 multiple media reports said that a senior military source had told them that the Shin Bet was using moderate physical pressure on certain Hamas agents to get operational information for finding the kidnappers of three murdered Jewish teens, whose kidnapping brought about Operation Brothers’ Keeper.The military source also said that the Shin Bet had gotten special approval for using enhanced interrogation from Attorney-General Yehuda Weinstein.A number of harsher and controversial tactics have been employed by the state in responding to increased security challenges since June 2014, such as house demolitions, though unlike torture, house demolitions were never forbidden by the High Court.The Justice Ministry at the time referred all question to the Shin Bet.The Jerusalem Post investigated the reports at the time, and each media source stood by the story, while security officials neither confirmed nor denied the statement, other than that the Shin Bet said that it neither asked for nor needs prior approval to undertake interrogations.If true, the new PCATI statistics would confirm the June reports.However, without assessing individual cases regarding each complaint’s veracity and whether, if moderate physical pressure was used, the Shin Bet would have a necessity defense for having tried to prevent a “ticking bomb” attack, it is impossible to know whether the complaints could legally carry criminal charges.PCATI director Ishai Menuchin said, “some of the torture methods that were used are in full violation of High Court decisions... including giving advance approval for torture.”He said that at least three detainees had been told by their interrogators that their torture had been approved by the attorney- general or other officials – which he called illegal.Menuchin added that some detainees were allegedly tortured only after having been in administrative detention for some time, such that he questioned how they could provide updated and current information to help stop a ticking bomb attack.The IDF, police and Prisons Service said that they could not respond without information about the specific allegations.The Shin Bet did say, however, that it “acts solely within the law and is open to both internal and external oversight and criticism, including the state comptroller, the state attorney, the attorney-general, the Knesset and the courts.”It continued, “Shin Bet detainees receive their full humanitarian rights that they are entitled to under the law, including: medical attention, meetings with lawyers and ICRC visits.”Further, the Shin Bet stated, “every detainee complaint is passed on directly and immediately to the Justice Ministry’s head Shin Bet investigator, and handled by her.”The statement concluded, “all decisions regarding handling of the complaints and taking follow- up actions regarding them, on the basis of reviews, are decided by the Justice Ministry.”Of around 1,000 similar complaints filed since 2001, not a single criminal investigation has been opened to date, leading the Justice Ministry to take over investigations of complaints of torture against the Shin Bet in June 2013.The new Justice Ministry division, which became fully operational in 2014, has sped up processing of complaints, but the jury is still out on whether it will be viewed as handling complaints better than the Shin Bet did.Yaakov Lappin and Ben Hartman contributed to this report.

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ACTA has received a knockout blow from the European Parliament as the majority of MEPs voted in favor of rejecting the controversial trade agreement, which critics say would protect copyright at the expense of freedom of speech on the Internet.

MEPs voted overwhelmingly against ACTA, with 478 votes against and only 39 in favor of it. There were 146 abstentions.

“In am proud to say that the highly controversial Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) will not come into force in the European Union,” the Treaty’s rapporteur in the European Parliament, David Martin MEP, wrote on his blog after the session.

Martin recommended that Parliament reject the treaty as it would not effectively tackle online piracy.

The anti-ACTA mood was strong among MEPs during the session, with some members holding banners reading “Hello democracy. Goodbye ACTA”.

The ACTA-killing vote came despite an attempt by supporters of the treaty to postpone the crucial vote at the Parliamentary plenary session on Wednesday. However, as Martin writes, MEPs “were able to build a strong majority and defeated the call for a postponement.”

“This is a historic day in terms of European politics,” he wrote. The European Parliament vote means that 22 European member states cannot ratify ACTA into their local sovereign law.

Earlier all five parliament committees reviewing ACTA voted in favor of rejecting the international treaty.

The European Parliament was supported by 2.8 million European citizens around the globe who signed a petition calling for MEPs to reject the agreement. Thousands of EU citizens lobbied for blocking ACTA in street demonstrations, e-mails to MEPs and calls to their offices.

“On July 4, Europe celebrates a day of independence from American special interests. Today, we stood up for our most basic rights against corporate giants, and won,” Rick Falkvinge, the founder of the Swedish Pirate Party , wrote.

“This is a huge victory for the citizenship, for democracy and for freedom online. We worked very hard for the last four years to achieve this,” Jeremie Zimmermann, a co-founder and spokesperson for civil advocacy group La Quadrature du Net, told RT.

What's next for ACTA?

In theory, ACTA could still come into force outside the EU, between the United States and a number of smaller states like Australia, Canada, Japan, Morocco, New Zealand, Singapore and South Korea, where the treaty is widely supported.

ACTA was developed with the participation of a number of countries, including all those listed above and others since 2007. When the ramifications of the agreement came to wider public knowledge this year, a wave of protests hit several countries. The EU suspended the ratification of ACTA in February to reconsider it.

ACTA could still be revived in the EU if the European Commission, the bloc's executive body, calls for the agreement's implementation and wins a court decision over it.

However, non-EU countries will still be able to shape laws around the treaty's mandates, but ACTA will be significantly reduced without Europe's support.

ACTA “was wrong from the start” says Martin, adding that they “need to start again from scratch.”

The proposed Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement is aimed at protecting copyright over a wide range of industries.

ACTA would require signatory states to impose draconian restrictions on online privacy in the drive to eradicate content piracy and the sale of counterfeit branded goods through the internet.

The main focus of criticism was targeting the impact it would cause to internet freedom.

AFP Photo/Frederick Florin AFP Photo/Frederick Florin

Image from Twitter/@judithineuropa Image from Twitter/@judithineuropa


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Of all the billionaires that come and go on the Forbes China Rich List, Liu Yiqian is certainly the one with the biggest appetite for art. Liu, who ranked No. 220 with a net worth of $ 1 billion, yesterday bought a 600-year-old imperial embroidered Tibetan tapestry at a Christie’s auction for $ 348 million Hong Kong dollars ($ 45 million), setting a record for any Chinese works of art sold by an international auction house.

For the art-savvy Liu, the magnificent piece is too important to miss. The silk tapestry, known as a thangka, is more than three meters tall and two meters wide. The work, created more than five centuries ago during the Ming dynasty on command of Emperor Yongle, is excellently preserved. The still brightly colored gold and silk threads depict the story of Raktayamari, 'The Red Conqueror of Death', embracing his consort, Vajravetali, according to Christie’s. The thangka is the only one of its kind still in private hands - two other known examples are in the Jokhang Monastery in Tibet.

Liu, who bought the piece for his private Long museum in Shanghai, said he is “proud to bring back to China this significant and historic 15th century thangka, which will be preserved in the Long museum for years to come.” In his WeChat message now widely circulated on Chinese media, Liu said the auction was a tough battle.

The 50-year-old collector has an eye for all sorts of artwork. In April, he spent $36.3 million on a tiny porcelain cup with a humble chicken painted on its surface- he also took a celebratory swig from it. Liu’s collection also includes revolutionary pieces from the Mao period and modern Chinese artworks by celebrated artists such as Chen Yifei and Fang Lijun.

Liu, who sometimes is dubbed the eccentric one, has a penchant for paying his purchases through American Express . He paid for the chicken cup by swiping his American Express card an individual 24 times and confirmed to the Wall Street Journal that he intended to settle payment for the thangka through American Express again.

Liu is chairman of Shanghai-based investment company Sunline Group. Born in 1963 into a working-class family in the city, he left school at 14 to help with his mother’s handbag business. After amassing a small amount of fortune by selling bags, he learned stock trading at 27 and was one of the earliest investors in the Shanghai stock market. He started collecting art about two decades ago with his wife Wang Wei.


As expected, Nokia has officially announced the Lumia 920. The leaks of this device have been spot on. The 920 has a Snapdragon S4 dual-core processor, a PureView camera on the back, and wireless charging. We’ll have more details as they are revealed.

The PureView camera is very special. It reacts to the movements of your hand, and lets the shutter stay open longer. They haven’t said exactly how many mega-pixel the camera is, but the leaks said 8 and they have been correct so far.

The display is called “PureMotion HD Plus.” It has a fast refresh rate to reduce blur when scrolling. The ClearBlack display is even better now, and the color tones adjust to glare from the sunlight. The display can “even bee seen in the dessert.”

The battery on the Lumia 920 is 2,000mAh. Combined with the efficient processor, this makes for a long lasting display. The wireless charging comes with a Fatboy pillow, a plush charger that can be set comfortably on your bed. Nokia has also announced wireless charging partnerships with Virgin Atlantic and The Coffee Bean.


“Buckle your seatbelt and get ready.” That’s Jon Stewart‘s message to us.

The former Daily Show host spoke with the TimesTalks’ Chris Smith on his thoughts regarding the coming Donald Trump era.

“It is odd to be in a position of knowing that the leader of the free world tweeted that you were a p*ssy at 1:30 in the morning,” Stewart said regarding Trump according to The Huffington Post.

At a certain point in the interview, Stewart extended an olive branch of sorts to the folks responsible for putting Trump in the White House.

“Not everybody that voted for Trump is a racist,” Stewart said during the interview. “I don’t give a f*ck what any of you say to me. You can yell it at me, you can tweet it at me. They’re not all racists. Or they’re not giving tacit support to a racist system … We all give tacit support to exploitative systems as long as they don’t affect us that badly.”

"I'm optimistic because I can't believe how much greater this country is than when it started." – Jon Stewart on #Election2016 pic.twitter.com/UXvATQINTS — TimesTalks (@TimesTalks) December 1, 2016

He gave an example:

“…guess how those are made, guess who makes them?” Stewart said asking an audience member to pull out a phone. “’Oh yeah, but that’s … ‘ What, what is it? It’s not different, we all do that. All of our shit stinks and getting beyond that takes incredible work.”

Stewart talked about Trump’s rhetoric versus his actions, recalling how he attacked Hillary Clinton as an “unqualified Secretary of State because the way she handled classified material.”

“His selection for Secretary of State will be David Petraeus, who pled guilty to mishandling classified material,” Stewart continued. “He said [Clinton] was unqualified because she gave a speech to Goldman Sachs. His Secretary of the Treasury is somebody from Goldman Sachs. We’re in post-accountability.”

“Let’s look out for the losers. Having somebody you agree with have greater control over the levers of power might be a comfort, but it’s not a solution. Unfortunately, I think our expectation now is, ‘Oh, great, one of our team is in charge. I don’t have to think about this anymore.’ And I think it’s never actually been the case.”

A transcription of the most notable moments from the interview can be found at HuffPo.

Featured image via YouTube


When Hillary Clinton’s former campaign chief received a bogus email that an elite Russian hacking unit allegedly sent, he clicked on its infected link, giving the hackers access to 58,000 or so emails.

Such a hack is known as “spearphishing,” and it turns out to be only the simplest tool in a sophisticated Russian hacking kit, according to a report issued Wednesday by FireEye, a Milpitas, California, cybersecurity company whose experts have been examining the group since 2007.

Other tools include setting up “watering holes” on websites likely to be visited by individuals of interest, infecting the users in the equivalent of a drive-by digital shooting, or finding “zero day” flaws that allow hackers to control every aspect of targeted computers, servers or networks and the material they store.

The techniques are malicious and nearly impossible for nonprofessionals to block.

“They are so capable,” FireEye’s Jonathan Wrolstad said of the Russian military unit. “In some ways, it may seem futile because they are so skilled. If you block them one way, they are going to look for the next way and the next way until they achieve their goal.”

SHARE COPY LINK Members of the Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday took turns questioning top intelligence officials, who say investigative agencies found compelling evidence of Russian cyber-hacking throughout the 2016 election cycle.

The Russian hackers are linked to the Russian military intelligence service, known as the GRU, and its targets span the globe and parallel the interests of the Russian state, FireEye said.

In late 2014, FireEye dubbed the Russian hacking unit APT28, a name derived from “advanced persistent threat.” Other cybersecurity firms have given the unit names like Fancy Bear, Sofacy, Tsar Team and Pawn Storm. All the names refer to the same hacker team.

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The FireEye report says APT28 hackers have targeted areas of strategic Russian interest including “the conflict in Syria, NATO-Ukraine relations, the European Union refugee and migrant crisis, the 2016 Olympics and Paralympics Russian athlete doping scandal, public accusations regarding Russian state-sponsored hacking and the 2016 U.S. presidential election.”

The 13-page FireEye report is called: “APT28: At the Center of the Storm: Russia Strategically Evolves its Cyber Operations.”

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Targets of APT28 hacks, compiled by FireEye, include government entities or political parties in Germany, Poland, Kyrgyzstan, Ukraine and the United States, the World Anti-Doping Agency, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and French TV5Monde as well as active or retired political figures, including former Clinton campaign chief John Podesta and former Secretary of State Colin Powell.

While it’s not included in Wednesday’s report, Wrolstad said APT28 had also targeted U.S. defense contractors, military attachés in Europe and Asia, and the governments of Georgia and Chile.

“We saw the Chilean government as a target of this activity back in 2014. And you wonder: How does that fit with Russia at all? So we started researching and we found that at that time there were discussions between the two militaries of Russia and Chile over some sort of arms sale or cooperation,” Wrolstad said.

APT28 and other hackers alleged to be linked to the Russian state under President Vladimir Putin have used spearphishing thousands of times.

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The Obama administration’s declassified intelligence report on Russian hacking, released Dec. 29, said a parallel Russian hacking team known as APT29, thought to be operated by a domestic spying agency, the FSB, launched a massive spearphishing campaign in the summer of 2015, sending targeted emails “to over 1,000 recipients, including multiple U.S. government victims.”

It said that Russian team had routed the fake emails through domains belonging to universities and other respected institutions or groups, worming their way into the network of “a U.S. political party,” known to be the Democratic National Committee.

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APT28 used a different technique to get into the DNC, luring one or more employees to click on a link to a fake webmail domain that mimicked Gmail or another service and tricked them into changing their passwords, thus sharing the new passwords with unseen Russian hackers observing from afar, the report said.

The FireEye report says, however, that the malicious toolbox owned by APT28 is large and growing. It listed six so-called “zero day” vulnerabilities the unit is known to have utilized, allowing its hackers to use software flaws in products that U.S. vendors, such as Adobe, Java and Microsoft, hadn’t known existed, although they were eventually patched.

The flaws bear the name “zero day” because they allow hackers to take over systems the moment the flaws are known, leaving victims unaware that they have been compromised.

APT28 has shown over the past two years that they are able to procure these vulnerabilities called zero days at a rate much higher than any other group we’ve observed. Jonathan Wrolstad, FireEye

“APT28 has shown over the past two years that they are able to procure these vulnerabilities called zero days at a rate much higher than any other group we’ve observed,” Wrolstad said.

When a zero-day flaw is known only to hackers, there’s no defense until it is discovered and patched.

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The Russian hacking toolkit includes other methods, such as creating a “watering hole.” If hackers want to penetrate a network of an organization, they might first hack into the website of a nearby business that employees use, perhaps a restaurant.

(The hackers) can just insert a line of code that tells the viewer’s browser to go load another page. Patrick Neighorn, FireEye

“The attackers, if they gain access to that restaurant’s website, they can just insert a line of code that tells the viewer’s browser to go load another page,” said Patrick Neighorn, head of global media relations for FireEye. That activity would be invisible to the victim, beginning a process of deeper control of a targeted computer.

The FireEye report says this technique “was used to compromise and infect visitors to numerous Polish government websites in 2014.”

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APT28 hackers can even beat vaunted two-factor authentication, which requires users not only to type in passwords but also to type ever-changing security codes, the report says.

They also can spoof a Google App authorization request, such as when a user visits a retail or other site that allows visitors to log on using Gmail accounts, the report says.

“In a matter of about 20 minutes . . . they would have the entire contents of both your Google Drive and your Gmail account,” Wrolstad said.


Dealers get drugs and mobile phones thrown over prison walls

They are raking in tens of thousands of pounds from operations while inside jails. With a captive market, they can charge fellow inmates more for drugs such as heroin and crack cocaine than they can sell them for on the outside. In some cases, heroin is 10 times dearer inside prisons than out on the streets. Dealers are deliberately setting out to get caught for relatively minor offences they know will result in a three-month jail term. Having already set up bank accounts, they smuggle mobile phones into the prison. Drug-using inmates then call friends and relatives with the account details so they can make cash deposits into the dealer’s bank.

The dealer is able to use either phone or internet banking via the smuggled mobile to check the money has been deposited. Once it is in his account, a drug drop is arranged. A source released from Hull Prison last week told the Daily Express that dealers boast about making more than £20,000 during three months in jail. The 37-year-old former burglar said: “The dealers are laughing at the prison officers because they say they can make more in just a couple of weeks than they earn in a whole year.

“Most use mobile phones but some are so brazen they even use the prison phones which are recorded. Getting the drugs into jail is no problem. They are thrown over the wall at designated times, again organised via the mobile phones. “If the phones get confiscated, a new one can be delivered in much the same way.” The source said prison visitors also bring in large quantities of drugs, often hiding them in the clothing of young children. A common ploy is to smuggle the drugs inside a baby’s nappy, as these are not checked by the guards.

Because of the high profits to be made, there is also a strong temptation for prison officers to assist in smuggling in drugs. The Government said 64 prison officers were investigated for involvement in the trafficking of drugs last year. No figures were available for how many of these investigations subsequently led to prosecutions. The source has just completed four-year jail term for burglary and has spent much of the past two decades in prison. He has never developed a drug problem and is amazed at the scale of the illicit trade.

He said: “I have been moved between 13 different prisons during this last stretch, all across Britain, and this scam was happening at every prison. It would be so easy to stop but most of the screws can’t be bothered because it would only mean more grief and paperwork for them to do. “A prisoner who is an addict is a lot easier to handle if he has got his fix than if he’s being deprived it. “I reckon about 80 per cent of the prisoners I have come into contact with are addicts. Even if they’re not smack heads when they go inside, there is so much temptation and boredom once they are banged up that most give in.

“Proper policing of jails could stop drugs quite quickly but nobody seems to care and that is allowing dealers to flourish within the system.” Tory justice spokesman Nick Herbert reacted with astonishment at the revelations. He said: “These are extraordinary allegations which the Ministry of Justice should investigate without delay. “The idea that criminals might actually want to return to prison to conduct criminal activity offends against the fundamental tenet that jails should be secure.