An American news blog with an international flavor, focusing on news from the United States and the Pacific Rim. I also have an Editorial and Opinion Blog @ Opinion
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and a Technology Blog @ Technology. My domain is @ Armwood.Com. I also have a Law Blog @ Law.
Bloomberg Admits Terminal Snooping - NYTimes.com: "Reporters at Bloomberg News were trained to use a function on the company’s financial data terminals that allowed them to view subscribers’ contact information and, in some cases, monitor login activity in order to advance news coverage, more than half a dozen former employees said."
SEOUL, South Korea — President Park Geun-hye of South Korea has fired her spokesman for committing an “unsavory” act while he was traveling with her on her state visit to Washington, her office announced Friday, after South Korean media reported an allegation that the official had groped a young woman.
The US is tightening its screening of international students, its first security change in response to the Boston Marathon bombings last month.
The move comes after a student from Kazakhstan - who did not have a valid visa - was accused by police of hiding evidence for one of the bomb suspects.
The Department of Homeland Security has ordered border agents to automatically check the visa status of every student.
Azamat Tazhayakov had returned to the US despite being dismissed from school.
Yonhap, via Reuters Kenneth Bae in an undated image taken from video.
Connect With Us on Twitter Follow @nytimesworld for international breaking news and headlines. Twitter List: Reporters and Editors The citizen, Kenneth Bae, 44, a Korean-American from Washington State who ran a tour business out of China, was arrested in the special economic zone of Rason in northeastern North Korea in November after leading a group of businessmen there from Yanji, China. On Saturday, the North said it was indicting him on charges that he tried to overthrow Pyongyang’s government.
3 more taken into custody in connection with Boston Marathon bombing case: police - U.S. News: "Boston Police said Wednesday they have arrested three more people in the marathon bombing investigation, but gave no immediate details. Sources told NBC News the three are college students who are suspected of removing items from the dorm room of Dzokhar Tsarnaev, 19, who is charged with placing a bomb at the finish line of the April 15 race. It was unclear if the persons in custody had any knowledge or involvement in the bombing or its aftermath. Authorities said Tsarnaev and his older brother Tamerlan carried out the blasts that killed three and wounded more than 200."
Marathon Bombing Suspects Seemed Set for Attacks Beyond Boston - NYTimes.com: "WASHINGTON — The two men suspected in the Boston Marathon bombings were armed with a small arsenal of guns, ammunition and explosives when they first confronted the police early Friday, and were most likely planning more attacks, the authorities said Sunday."
Push for Tsarnaev to Be Tried in Federal Court - NYTimes.com: "With the surviving suspect of the Boston Marathon bombing in the hospital — a breathing tube down his throat and unable to speak — several lawmakers said Sunday that he should be tried in federal court as a civilian, a move that would allow prosecutors to seek the death penalty."
YA’AN, China — Residents huddled outdoors Saturday night in a town near the epicenter of a powerful earthquake that struck the steep hills of China’s southwestern Sichuan province, leaving at least 160 people dead and more than 6,700 injured.
Saturday morning’s earthquake triggered landslides and disrupted phone and power connections in mountainous Lushan county five years after a devastating quake wreaked widespread damage across the region. The village of Longmen was hit particularly hard, with authorities saying nearly all the buildings there had been destroyed in a frightening minute-long shaking by the quake.
Two African-American men from Atlanta plead guilty today to attacking a man outside of a store because he is gay. According to the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division, Christopher Cain, 19, and Dorian Moragne, 20, admitted in federal court to “mercilessly” punching and kicking Brandon White, a black 20-year-old, while yelling anti-gay slurs at him. The beating was caught on video and posted to the Internet.
Cain and Moragne are already serving 10 years in state prison for the beating, but under the federal hate crime law — the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act — they will face additional time, although federal prosecutors are recommending the sentences be served concurrently.
“Hate-fueled violence will not be condoned,” said Roy L. Austin Jr., deputy assistant attorney general for the Civil Rights Division. “The Justice Department will use all the tools in our law enforcement arsenal to investigate and prosecute hate crimes.”
Community members from the Pittsburgh area of Atlanta publicly supported White, including Pittsburgh Community Improvement Association CEO LaShawn Hoffman. “No one called the police … [In the video] a MARTA bus passes, people walk down the street like this is the norm,” she said at a press conference. This is not the norm in our neighborhood and it has to stop.”
The victim, White, also spoke at the press conference saying that his “scars run deeper than anyone could know,” but that by standing up to his attackers that he is “the brave one.”
Civil rights hero Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) also spoke in support of White saying, “We must turn toward each other and not against each other. People must not be allowed to get away with beating an innocent young person, elderly person, or any human being.”
The Boston Marathon bombing suspects — armed with explosives and guns — battled law enforcement officers in a Boston suburb early Friday morning, unleashing chaos until cops took one of the men into custody and the other fled, law enforcement sources said. Officials later said the suspect taken into custody died and authorities identified the man on the run as the "white-hat" suspect, referencing photographs released by the FBI Thursday. Authorities warned he should be considered armed and dangerous. The standoff in Watertown, Mass., erupted shortly after the fatal shooting of a Massachusetts Institute of Technology police officer. A transit police officer was also wounded in the Watertown fire fight, officials confirmed to NBC affiliate WHDH