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California Labor Commissioner orders staff to kick ICE agents out of offices

Adam Ashton
Sacramento Bee
Thu, 03 Aug 2017 14:04 UTC
ICE ban
California's top labor law enforcer wants federal immigration agents to stay away from offices where state investigators weigh claims about underpaid employees and workplace retaliation.

Labor Commissioner Julie Su last month directed her staff to turn away Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents unless the federal officers have warrants.

Her directive followed three instances over the past 10 months in which immigration agents sought information about California workers who had filed claims against employers. In two cases, immigration agents attempted to attend hearings where investigators discuss claims with workers and their employers, Su said. In all three cases, the agents left when they were asked, she said.

Su, the state's labor commissioner since 2011, did not know how the immigration agents learned about the appointments.
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Laptop

WannaCry researcher arrest sends chills through the cybersecurity community

Joe Uchill
The Hill
Fri, 04 Aug 2017 13:56 UTC
Marcus Hutchins
Marcus Hutchins
The Wednesday arrest of cybersecurity researcher Marcus Hutchins is sending chills through the cyber community.

"It's unclear if the Department of Justice knows what it just did with its handling of this indictment," said Tor Ekeland, a lawyer who specializes in computer crimes.

Researchers across the country have expressed fear and confusion after the Nevada arrest of the United Kingdom-based Hutchins. The details of why he was arrested are still murky.

Hutchins rose to international celebrity by discovering a "kill switch" in the WannaCry malware, cutting off the spread of the ransomware attack before it reached its full potential.

Hutchins is now facing charges over allegedly helping write and aid in the distribution of the Kronos banking malware in 2014. Kronos steals login information when infected systems conduct online banking.
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Caesar

Vlad's vacation: Putin goes spearfishing near Siberian border with China (PHOTOS, VIDEO)


RT
Sat, 05 Aug 2017 13:36 UTC
putin siberia holiday
© Aleksey Nikolskyi / Sputnik'Hey Sergey, have you ever noticed how big Russia is?'
Vladimir Putin has spent more than two hours chasing a giant pike in one of the lakes in Tyva Republic during his brief Siberian vacation in the form of an intense 2-day hiking and camping trip, where the Russian president once again showcased his bare torso.

Putin spent two hours searching for the perfect catch at the bottom of the Siberian lake. Clad in a wetsuit and snorkel mask while armed with a harpoon gun and a GoPro camera, the Russian president endured the cold waters of the lake to capture some incredible footage of his fishing expedition.

"He was chasing a pike for two hours and just couldn't hit it, but he managed to get it in the end," presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Friday.


Comment: Inessa S posted a longer video shown on Russian TV:



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Footprints

Former Facebook exec takes off to the wilderness, convinced that robots will take half of humanity's jobs

Jasper Hamill
The Sun
Fri, 04 Aug 2017 13:45 UTC
Antonio Garcia Martinez
© FacebookAntonio Garcia Martinez, who now claims to live as a recluse.
A former Facebook executive has quit his job and now lives as a recluse in the wilderness - because he is convinced that machines will take over the world.

Antonio Garcia Martinez worked as a project manager for the social media giant in Silicon Valley but became terrified by the relentless march of technology.

He reckons that machines will have taken half of humanity's jobs within 30 years, sparking revolt and armed conflict.

So he quit his job, fled his home and now lives in woodland north of Seattle with a gun for protection.
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Info

Son of Benjamin Netanyahu, Yair, under fire for social media activities


Sputnik
Fri, 04 Aug 2017 21:01 UTC
Benjamin Netanyahu with son Yair
© AP Photo/ Uriel Sinai
Pressure is mounting on previously bulletproof Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, with multiple investigations into bribery, fraud and breaches of trust threatening his premiership. However, his son Yair's social media activities are also helping destroy Bibi's last remaining vestiges of credibility.

On July 30, the Sixty One Project, an offshoot of Israeli democracy think tank Molad, slammed Yair in an article, "5 Facts About Our National Son" - the piece pilloried the 26-year-old for living off his parents at taxpayer expense, taking lavish vacations, seeking to influence his father, and encouraging the boycott of Arab-owned businesses.

The post also claimed Netanyahu's son wielded sizable and growing influence over his father, particularly regarding media matters, suggesting he was responsible for his father's softened stance towards Elor Azaria, the IDF soldier convicted of shooting dead an unarmed Palestinian in 2016.
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Dollars

Venezuela bolivar disintegrates: Down 40% past three days

Tyler Durden
Zero Hedge
Fri, 04 Aug 2017 20:48 UTC
bolivar currency
Venezuela's currency, the bolivar, is disintegrating at an incredible pace under the country's political and economic crisis that has left citizens broke, desperate and in many cases, homicidal. The depreciation accelerated this week, after a disputed vote electing an all-powerful "Constituent Assembly" filled with allies of President Nicolas Maduro, which the opposition and dozens of countries have called illegitimate.

Just two days ago, on August 2, we reported that one dollar would buy 14,100 bolivars, up from 11,280 the day before.

bolivar to US dollar Aug. 2, 2017
The next day, the bolivar slumped nearly 15 percent on the black market, to 17,000 to one US dollar. Today, it has crashed again, tumbling 16% to 20,142, and down almost 40% in just the past three days.
bolivar to US dollar Aug. 4, 2017
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2 + 2 = 4

All for nothing: British soldiers upset as Taliban retake Afghan towns they once 'liberated'


RT
Fri, 04 Aug 2017 20:36 UTC
UK soldiers in Afghanistan
© UK MOD
Gereshk, a town in southern Afghanistan where British troops were wounded and killed during the long war and occupation, may soon fall to the Taliban.

Intense fighting between insurgents and Afghan government forces has inspired little comment in the UK media, despite the market town once being a household name in Britain when UK forces fought and died there.

Neighboring towns and villages along the Helmand River, like Lashkar Gah and Sangin, also featured heavily in news reports at the height of the war.

Government forces now claim to have repelled the insurgents, who reportedly stormed the town center and took over building on Thursday.

Comment: Maybe it's time for Britishers to learn from history? When you invade a country 4 times in 200 years, and keep getting the same results...

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Chart Bar

"Equality of outcome" triumph? Minorities make up majority of incoming Harvard class

Deirdre Fernandes
Boston Globe
Fri, 04 Aug 2017 19:55 UTC
harvard
© CHARLIE MAHONEY/THE NEW YORK TIMES
For the first time in Harvard University's history, the majority of students accepted into the incoming freshman class are not white, a milestone for an institution that prides itself on educating future presidents, CEOs, and world leaders.


Comment: Looks like some people really are more equal than others.
usa race demographics
© WikipediaU.S. population by race, 2010 figures.



But Harvard's push to broaden the diversity of its student ranks comes as the Trump administration intensifies its focus on affirmative action policies and suggests it will investigate how colleges shape the racial makeup of their campuses.

The US Justice Department is preparing to redirect resources from its civil rights division toward investigating and suing universities over affirmative action admissions policies deemed to discriminate against white applicants, The New York Times reported this week.

On Wednesday, the Trump administration said it had no broad plans to investigate whether college and university admissions programs discriminate against students based on race and that it was looking into a single complaint from a coalition of Asian-American groups filed in 2015. The coalition filed an administrative complaint against Harvard University, alleging that the school and other Ivy League institutions are using racial quotas that shut out high-scoring Asians.
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Wedding Rings

UK charity reports increasing numbers of young girls are being forced into early marriages


RT
Fri, 04 Aug 2017 13:52 UTC
child brides
© Shutterstock
The number of children in the UK who fear being forced into marriage is on the rise, according to figures from a leading British charity. The organization has seen a 12 percent increase in counseling sessions for concerned minors.

Girls as young as 13 have contacted Childline, run by the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC), expressing fear about being taken abroad and being forced to marry strangers by their families.

"Many said they experienced emotional abuse from their parents and were afraid of being cut out of their communities if they refused," the NSPCC wrote in a release.

The charity said it provided 205 counseling sessions on forced marriage in 2016/2017, representing a 12 percent increase from the previous year.
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Red Flag

Woman forced to pay $575 for swimming in communal pool wearing burkini


RT
Fri, 04 Aug 2017 19:25 UTC
swimming burkini
© nullplus / Getty Images
A Muslim woman who rented a private vacation residence in France was reportedly made to pay €490 (US$575) because she swam in the property's communal pool while wearing a burkini. The owner said the pool had to be emptied and cleaned after her swim.

The woman, referred to as 'Fadila' by United Against Islamophobia in France (Le Collectif Contre l'Islamophobie en France, CCIF), rented the house near Marseille with her husband and three children.

On the first day of her vacation, Fadila swam with her children while wearing a burkini and did not encounter any problems. However, on the second day, a staff member at the pool told everyone to get out of the water after spotting Fadila swimming in her burkini.
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