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Today's News: August 24, 2018

World News
 
Russian Central Bank building goes up in flames
Rt – The building that houses Russia’s Central Bank caught fire in Moscow late on Friday, local media reports. Firefighters have been dispatched to the scene.
 
Hardline Border Security Advocate Scott Morrison Australia’s New PM
Infowars – Australia has a new prime minister. Treasurer Scott Morrison, architect of the country’s famously tough migration and border policies, claimed the country’s top position on Friday after a party room ballot sealed the fate of Malcolm Turnbull.
Mr. Morrison, 50, won a closed door leadership vote 45-40 to end Mr. Turnbull’s troubled time at the nation’s helm. Foreign Minister Julie Bishop, another ally of the former prime minister, was also in the running but was eliminated in the opening voting round.
Mr. Turnbull is the fourth Australian PM in 10 years to be ousted by party colleagues. He had been under pressure from poor polling and what he described as an “insurgency” by fellow conservative coalition MPs.
 
Trump cancels Pompeo’s N. Korea trip but sends ‘warmest regards’ to Kim
RT – President Trump has canceled State Secretary Mike Pompeo’s upcoming trip to North Korea, due to take place next week. The President cited a lack of progress towards denuclearization when he announced the cancelation.
In a series of tweets Friday, Trump said that “sufficient progress” towards denuclearization of the Korean peninsula was not being made, and blamed China for hindering the progress, due to the ongoing trade spat between Washington and Beijing.
 
Agency: Tunnel under old restaurant used to smuggle drugs
Houston Chronicle – Federal authorities have discovered a sophisticated drug-smuggling tunnel that went from a home in Mexico to an abandoned fast-food restaurant in Arizona.
The Homeland Security Investigations division of the Department of Homeland Security says it got word in April that there was a tunnel leading to an old Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant that’s not in operation in San Luis, Arizona, just about 200 yards (180 meters) north of the border.
Police began trailing the owner of the abandoned building, Ivan Lopez, and arrested him this month after finding several packages of methamphetamine, cocaine, heroin and fentanyl in the back of his truck.
That arrest led to a search at his home and the old restaurant, where agents found a hidden tunnel that led to a house in Mexico and was large enough for people to freely walk through.
 
U.S. News, Politics & Government
 
Walmart Age-Discriminated Against Woman Who Tried to Legally Buy Gun, Oregon Rules
Cnsnews – Hannah Brumbles tried to buy her first firearm at Walmart in Oregon when she turned 18 and could legally exercise her Second Amendment right, but the store refused, because she wasn’t 21. On Tuesday, the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries ruled that Walmart had violated Oregon’s laws against discrimination.
Now, Brumbles wants the same settlement – $130,000 – from Walmart that an Oregon baker was fined for refusing to bake a gay wedding cake, Willamette Week reports:
“An Oregon teenager who filed a discrimination complaint with the Bureau of Labor and Industries after Walmart refused to sell her a rifle asked for $135,000 in a settlement—the same amount an Oregon baker was fined after refusing to sell a wedding cake to a same-sex couple.”
“Hannah Brumbles, an 18-year-old Deer Island woman, filed a civil rights complaint with BOLI in April. BOLI investigators found that Walmart had violated state nondiscrimination laws and filed formal charges against the company on Aug. 21.”
Walmart plans to fight the decision in court, a company spokesman told Willamette Week:
“In February of this year, we reviewed our policy on firearm and ammunition sales and as a result, we raised the age restriction for the purchase of those items to 21. We stand behind our decision and plan to defend it,” a spokesman for Walmart said in a statement sent to WW.
 
Senator John McCain discontinuing cancer treatment
BBC – US Republican Senator John McCain will no longer be continuing treatment for his brain cancer, his family has announced.
His family said he had “surpassed expectations for his survival” and made the choice to end his treatment.
Mr McCain, 81, was diagnosed with an aggressive form of brain tumour last summer and had been undergoing treatment since July 2017.
 
Deep State pulls security clearance for Trump supporter
WND – The Washington establishment has pulled the security clearance for a Trump supporter after he questioned lucrative government contracts being given to a man the Obama administration used to spy on the 2016 Trump campaign.
w, Lovinger, a former Pentagon analyst and White House National Security Council senior director, is in a fight over his clearance.
Judicial Watch said his security clearance was pulled “after he raised concerns regarding lucrative government contracts awarded to Stefan Halper, who has been identified as being used an informant by the Obama administration against President Trump’s campaign, as well as Long Term Strategy Group, a consulting firm owned by Chelsea Clinton’s friend Jacqueline Newmyer Deal.”
 
Energy & Environment
 
Hawaii inundated by catastrophic flooding as Hurricane Lane tracks dangerously close
Lives and property will remain in significant peril across Hawaii as Hurricane Lane will continue to unload feet of rain, strong wind gusts and dangerous surf into this weekend.
Lane has the potential to be the single-costliest hurricane in recorded history of Hawaii and may end up causing the most expensive hurricane damage in all of the United States for the 2018 hurricane season, according to AccuWeather President and Founder Dr. Joel N. Myers.
Hurricane Iniki caused just over $3 billion in damage to Hawaii in September 1992, which would be about $5 billion in today’s dollars, according to Myers.
 
Indonesia earthquake death toll rises to 555
Al Jazeera – More than 1,300 people were injured on Lombok island in the major quake and 353,000 are now internally displaced.
 
Science & Technology
 
Court rules accessing smart meter data constitutes a government search
Endgaget – Data provided by smart meters does not facilitate spying in the traditional sense, of course. But as these devices collect energy usage data at high frequencies (every five, 15 or 30 minutes, usually) it wouldn’t be difficult for someone with access to that data to build a pretty clear picture of what’s going on inside that property — information that wouldn’t otherwise be available without a search.
Previously, courts have ruled that the Fourth Amendment does not protect household energy data -– a precedent largely based on readings from traditional analog energy meters which don’t really reveal anything at all, other than the total amount of energy used over a long period of time. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and Privacy International filed an amicus brief urging the Seventh Circuit (a federal court with jurisdiction in the central and northern districts of Illinois) to reconsider this position, which they subsequently did, potentially setting an example for the protection of energy data throughout the US.
The court held that residents have a reasonable expectation of privacy, and government access of this data constitutes, in essence, a search. It added that the “ever-accelerating pace of technological development carries serious privacy implications” and that smart meters “are no exception.” This ruling sets a critical precedent. According to the EFF more than 40 percent of American homes have a smart meter – a number set to rise to 80 percent by 2020. Some reports suggest law enforcement agencies are already trying to get access to data from energy companies without a warrant — this ruling could be crucial in staving off unjust invasions of privacy.
 
DC Airport First In Nation to Catch Suspected Imposter Using Facial Biometrics
Nextgov – After three days of operation, Washington Dulles International Airport’s biometric cameras identified a man allegedly attempting to use someone else’s passport to enter the U.S.
A D.C.-area airport’s brand new facial recognition program caught an alleged imposter trying to enter the country on a false passport, the first such detection at an airport using facial biometrics, according to a Customs and Border Protection release.
CBP officials at Washington Dulles International Airport Wednesday said the newly implemented facial biometric program identified a 26-year-old Congolese man attempting to enter the U.S. using a French passport.
The man, traveling from Sao Paulo, Brazil on Tuesday, went through the new international entry system at Dulles Airport, which brings travelers directly to a CBP officer for document inspection. While the documents are being scanned, a biometric camera analyzes the passenger’s face and compares it against records associated with the passport or other travel documents.
In this instance, the system flagged the man as a mismatch for the passport on record and he was removed for additional screening. At that time, officers said he became “visibly nervous” and an authentic ID card showing he was a citizen of the Republic of Congo was found in his shoe.
“Facial recognition technology is an important step forward for CBP in protecting the United States from all types of threats,” said Casey Durst, director of CBP’s Baltimore Field Office, in a statement. “Terrorists and criminals continually look for creative methods to enter the U.S. including using stolen genuine documents. The new facial recognition technology virtually eliminates the ability for someone to use a genuine document that was issued to someone else.”
 
Welcome To The Minority Report: Thousands Of Stores Plan Facial Recognition Use For Anti-Theft
Activist Post – Hundreds of retail stores and soon thousands are investigating using biometric facial recognition software FaceFirst to build a database of shoplifters to aid in the fight against theft, Peter Trepp CEO of FaceFirst told BuzzFeed News.
The software is called FaceFirst and is designed to scan faces as far as 50 to 100 feet away. As customers walk through a store entrance, the video camera captures repetitious images of each shopper and chooses the clearest one to store. The software then analyzes that image and compares it to a database of “bad customers” that the retailer has compiled; if there is a match, the software sends an alert to store employees that a “high risk” customer has entered the door.
 
Tech Companies Are Gathering For A Secret Meeting To Prepare A 2018 Election Strategy
BuzzFeed – Reps from up to a dozen of the US’s biggest tech companies plan to meet in San Francisco to discuss efforts to counter manipulation of their platforms.
Representatives from a host of the biggest US tech companies, including Facebook and Twitter, have scheduled a private meeting for Friday to share their tactics in preparation for the 2018 midterm elections.
Last week, Facebook’s head of cybersecurity policy, Nathaniel Gleicher, invited employees from a dozen companies, including Google, Microsoft, and Snapchat, to gather at Twitter’s headquarters in downtown San Francisco, according to an email obtained by BuzzFeed News.
“As I’ve mentioned to several of you over the last few weeks, we have been looking to schedule a follow-on discussion to our industry conversation about information operations, election protection, and the work we are all doing to tackle these challenges,” Gleicher wrote.
 
Health
 
Dangerous parasitic disease caused by ‘kissing bugs’ has sickened 300,000 Americans – and doctors warn it is spreading across the U.S.
Daily Mail – A parasitic illness that can cause strokes and heart failure is spreading across the US, doctors have warned.
Chagas disease is transmitted by an insect known as the ‘kissing bug’ because it tends to bite people’s faces, near their mouths.
Many never shown signs that they’ve been infected with the disease, which is why it has earned the nickname of the ‘silent killer’.
The disease has mostly been limited to Central and South America, but it has entered the States, sickening an estimated 300,000 Americans.
A statement released by the American Heart Association says that if US doctors don’t become better at recognizing, diagnosing and treating Chagas disease, it could result in a devastating outbreak.
 
Zero tolerance: no safe level of alcohol, study says
AFP – Even an occasional glass of wine or beer increases the risk of health problems and dying, according to a major study on drinking in 195 nations that attributes 2.8 million premature deaths worldwide each year to booze.
“There is no safe level of alcohol,” said Max Griswold, a researcher at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation in Seattle, Washington and lead author for a consortium of more than 500 experts.
Despite recent research showing that light-to-moderate drinking reduces heart disease, the new study found that alcohol use is more likely than not to do harm.
“The protective effect of alcohol was offset by the risks,” Griswold told AFP in summarising the results, published in medical journal The Lancet on Friday.
“Overall, the health risks associated with alcohol rose in line with the amount consumed each day.”
 
Surprising Vegetable May Protect against Heart Disease
Care2 – Radishes aren’t the first food you might think of when you consider foods that protect against heart disease, yet they probably should be among them. That’s because new research in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry found that certain kinds of radish have heart-protective and heart-healing effects.
For the first time ever, scientists explored a particular type of radish known as the Sakurajima radish, or monster radish as it is also known due to its large size, for its potential heart-healing benefits. They found that the radishes had a significant influence on the production of nitric oxide (NO), which relaxes blood vessels, reduces blood pressure, and prevents the formation of blood clots.
While monster radishes hold great promise in the treatment of heart disease, you don’t need to search forever to find the enormous vegetables, the largest of which has been recorded at a whopping 69 pounds and nearly 4 feet in circumference, according to the Guinness Book of World Records. And, that’s good news because, let’s face it: that might be hard to get home, although it would probably feed your family for a week or more. Other varieties of radishes have exhibited similar heart-healing properties.
 
FDA to Ban More Supplements?
Health Impact News – An advisory committee is meeting to make recommendations to the FDA on whether or not to ban certain supplements from being made at specialized pharmacies. Action Alert!
On September 12, the FDA’s advisory committee on compounded medicine—medicine made for individual patients at specialized pharmacies—will meet to discuss five ingredients: alpha lipoic acid, CoQ10, creatine monohydrate, pyridoxal 5 phosphate (P5P), and quercetin dihydrate. If the agency doesn’t hear from patients and concerned citizens, we may lose access to individualized preparations of these important dietary ingredients.
The Pharmacy Compounding Advisory Committee (PCAC) advises the FDA in writing new rules regarding what supplements and drugs can be made individually for patients with specific needs by compounding pharmacies.
PCAC has met a handful of times over the last few years, and as we’ve noted elsewhere, the track record is not good. The committee has voted to ban almost every dietary ingredient put before it, including curcumin, boswellia, and aloe vera—usually following the FDA’s recommendation.
It’s important to note that PCAC meetings are one step in the FDA’s process; to ban an ingredient from compounding requires publishing a proposed rulemaking, which the public can comment on and voice concerns about.
 
Taking certain antibiotics can INCREASE a pregnant woman’s risk of miscarrying, researchers find
NaturalNews – According to researchers, women who took antibiotics during the early stages of pregnancy increased their risk of spontaneous abortions. The investigation team, who published their findings in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, studied over 90,000 pregnancies and discovered that certain forms of antibiotics were associated with increased risk, stated the Daily Mail.

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