Car Makers Having Difficulties with Tesla Car
Tesla has issued a software update for its model S car after two researchers found a way to subvert its onboard systems. It is the second time in a month that a car maker has had to act to solve security problems with its vehicles uncovered by hackers. In the latest instance, the researchers were able to shut off the car and force it to stop.
Tesla said that it had addressed all six vulnerabilities. It told the BBC that it had worked closely with the security community to protect its systems.
Marc Rogers, of security firm Cloudflare, and Kevin Mahaffey, from Lookout, have released information about problems they found in Tesla's Model S vehicle.The researchers praised Tesla for the way the vehicle handled the bogus commands and how the car maker responded to their findings.
In late July, Fiat Chrysler issued a recall for more than 1.4 million vehicles after hackers Charlie Miller and Chris Valasek showed how to use bugs in the onboard software of the Jeep Cherokee to shut it down remotely. By exploiting a connection between the car's entertainment system and its onboard controllers, the two researchers were able to issue commands and take over the car.
Mr Rogers said car makers faced difficulties because they had little control over what was done to vehicles once they were in customers' hands.
"With embedded systems like you find in cars, you cannot control who has access to it," he said. "Someone can take it home and apply any tool they want to it."
Tesla said in a statement to the BBC: "Our well-developed safeguards protect every layer of our vehicle and network security system, including for the mobile app, Tesla's servers, and the car itself.
Stuart Broad Captures Shortest First Innings in Test History
Stuart Broad took 8-15 as Australia were bowled out for 60 and Joe Root hit a century as England put themselves in a strong position to win the Ashes on the first day of the fourth Test.
Broad passed 300 wickets and equalled the fastest Test five-wicket haul - 19 deliveries - as the tourists were dismissed in 111 balls at Trent Bridge. It was the shortest first innings in Test history. Root's unbeaten 124 helped England to 274-4 at the close, a lead of 214.
Alastair Cook scored 43 and Jonny Bairstow made 74, sharing a fourth-wicket stand of 173 at more than five runs an overs with Yorkshire team-mate Root.
Victory will give England an unassailable 3-1 lead in the five-match series and see them regain the urn they lost courtesy of a 5-0 whitewash in Australia in 2013-14.
Cosby Attempts To Get Ms.Huth To Testify First
Bill Cosby will be questioned under oath in October as part of a civil legal case brought by a woman who accuses the comedian of sexually abusing her when she was 15. He will answer questions from Judy Huth's lawyer on 9 October, while she will give her deposition a week later. Mr Cosby had been attempting to get Ms Huth to testify first.
He has denied giving her alcohol and abusing her at the Playboy Mansion in 1974. Ms Huth is one of a string of women who has accused the 78-year-old of sexual assault dating back decades.
All the allegations so far fall outside the statue of limitations so he is not facing any criminal charges, although Los Angeles police have opened an investigation. Ms Huth's case can proceed in civil court because, she says, the alleged abuse happened when she was a minor.
"We are pleased that we will now be able to move ahead without further delay on Ms Huth's case," the accuser's lawyer, Gloria Allred, said in a statement
11 Year Old Faces Manslaughter Charges After Shooting 3 Year Old, Elijah Walker
An 11-year-old boy has been charged with manslaughter, accused of using his father's gun to shoot a three-year-old boy in Detroit, US media reports say. The boy was visiting his father in the east of the city on Monday when he took a handgun from the bedroom. He is said to have thrown the gun out into the back garden, retrieved it and jumped into a parked car. Later, the three-year-old boy went into the car, was then shot in the face and later died, prosecutors say.
The older boy appeared in a juvenile court for a preliminary hearing on yesterday afternoon. He faces another two charges of death by weapon aimed with intent, but without malice, and felony firearm. "I cannot remember a time when we have charged someone so young with taking a life," said prosecutor Kym Worthy in a statement. "Very unfortunately and very tragically, the alleged facts in this case demanded it."
But experts who spoke to the Detroit Free Press newspaper said it was not clear whether an 11-year-old could be competent enough to face such charges. In Michigan, prosecutors have wide discretion to charge people of any age, though the judge has some say in the process, the paper says. But prosecutors would have to prove that a youth, in this case 11 years old, had "criminal intent".
US & Mexico Joins Forces To Take Down El Chapo
The US government is offering a reward of $5m (£3.2m) for information leading to the capture of fugitive Mexican drug lord Joaquin "Shorty" Guzman. Guzman escaped from a Mexican maximum-security jail on 22 July. He is one of the world's most wanted drug lords whose Sinaloa cartel smuggled huge quantities of cocaine, heroin and methamphetamines to the US.
The head of the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) said he believed Guzman was still in Mexico. DEA acting director Chuck Rosenberg told reporters he believed that Guzman was hiding in his home state of Sinaloa, in north-west Mexico. But he said that was only "an educated guess".
Shortly after his escape, Mexican authorities announced they were offering a $3.8m reward for information leading to his arrest. Mr Rosenberg said Mexican and US authorities were working together to catch Guzman. Guzman, also known as El Chapo, or Shorty, escaped from the Altiplano penitentiary west of Mexico City through a 1.5km-long (1 mile) tunnel.
It is the second time he has escaped from a maximum-security jail. In 2001, he broke out of Puente Grande jail, reportedly hidden in a laundry cart after bribing officials. He was on the run until February 2014 when US and Mexican security officials traced him to a flat in Sinaloa state. He was arrested without a shot being fired. Guzman's wealth is estimated at $1bn.
Widespread Doping in Athletics described as "Declaration of War"
Lord Coe has described allegations of widespread doping in athletics as a "declaration of war" and says it is time to "come out fighting" to protect the sport's reputation.
The Sunday Times published data from 5,000 athletes, which it says reveals an "extraordinary extent of cheating". Athletics' world governing body, the IAAF, said the blood results were not positive tests or proof of doping.
"The fightback has to start here," said Coe, an IAAF vice-president. "It is a declaration of war on my sport. There is nothing in our history of competence and integrity in drug testing that warrants this kind of attack."
Facebook Criticized by Hank Green
Facebook has defended the way it handles video content after it was criticised by a popular YouTube star.
Video blogger Hank Green said the company intentionally overstated how many people watched videos on the site, and failed to tackle video piracy. Facebook said it took intellectual property rights "very seriously". One expert told the BBC the social network needed to do more to "reassure" content creators.
Hank Green is one of YouTube's most prominent stars and more than 2.6 million people follow the YouTube channel he runs with his brother John. In a post on his blog, Mr Green said although Facebook was an "interesting" platform for video, the company had "fundamentally devalued" online video by inflating statistics.
In April, Facebook said its visitors clocked up four billion video views daily. Mr Green said Facebook's statistics were a "lie", because the site counted a video as viewed after just three seconds. "Facebook counts views significantly before people could be said to be watching the video. By 30 seconds, when viewership actually could be claimed, only 20% are watching," he said.
Mr Green also accused the social network of making money from content which had been stolen from other websites. In June, research by advertising agency Ogilvy found that 73% of the most popular videos on Facebook had been ripped from other websites, accounting for 17 billion views.
Mr Green said it was "inexcusable" that Facebook had not developed an efficient system to spot when videos had been ripped and re-uploaded, a process known as freebooting.
Human trafficking curriculum for Jamaican secondary schools from September
So serious is the Jamaica government about ridding the country of the scourge of human trafficking that the topic will be integrated into subjects taught in secondary schools across the island from the upcoming academic year.
Teachers are being trained through the Ministry of Education, in preparation for the introduction at Grades Seven to Nine in pilot schools next month.
The curriculum, which was developed by the National Task Force Against Trafficking in Persons, is geared towards helping schoolchildren see the issue as a global crime, as well as getting them to identify means of preventing it and helping to reduce the vulnerability of people, especially children and young people.
Human trafficking is considered a modern-day form of slavery involving victims being forced, defrauded or coerced into exploitative circumstances.
Assistant chief education officer in the Core Curriculum Unit Dr. Clover Hamilton-Flowers said her department had identified areas in Social Studies, Religious Education, Information and Communication Technology, Physical Education and Sports, as well as in History, in which topics from the human trafficking curriculum will be integrated during lessons.
Statistics from the International Labour Organisation (ILO) show that nearly half of the 1.2 million children trafficked worldwide each year are from Latin America and the Caribbean.
The National Task Force Against Trafficking in Persons in the Ministry of Justice says trafficking victims in Jamaica are predominantly females (79.3 per cent) between the ages of 18 and 24 years, have secondary education (89.7 per cent), and are from the working-class or a poor background (86.2 per cent).
The efforts being made to increase awareness about the crime, from secondary school level, comes against the background of United States (US) authorities maintaining a Tier 2 Watch List ranking for Jamaica in its 2015 Trafficking in Persons Report which was released last Monday.
The ranking means that Jamaica does not comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking, but it is making significant efforts to do so.
The US State Department said Jamaica’s ranking remained unchanged because the government “did not demonstrate evidence of overall increasing anti-trafficking efforts compared to the previous period”.
The Portia Simpson-Miller administration said it found that conclusion “perplexing” and “unfounded” and it was deeply disappointed with some aspects of the report, including allegations that sex tourism is a problem in Jamaica’s resort areas and that policemen were complicit in prostitution rings which recruit children and coerce adults into the sex trade.
The Class of 75
The Class of 75 met with the purpose of providing and creating Vision, Opportunity and Empowerment within the community and committed to building strong community partnerships, while enriching Heritage. The Class of 75 shall be inclusive in its efforts for public involvement. The Class of 75 will stand on charitable foundation.
The Class of 75 shall be non -profit and non -partisan. No substantial part of the activities of the Class of 75 shall consist of the publication or dissemination of materials with the purpose or attempting to influence legislation, and the Class of 75 shall not participate or intervene in political activities.
Mission Statement : The Class of 75 seeks to convene a pool of diverse men and women to improve the quality of life within the Turks and Caicos community, and enhance educational and economic opportunities for all individuals with an emphasis on our youth.
Some Names of the Class of 75:
LINDA WINNER
GEORGINA STILES
EMMABELLE DURHAM
VERENE ASTWOOD
CALVIN TAYLOR
BRENDA TAYLOR
YVONNE MORRIS
BLOSSOM SMITH
LINDA ULBRICK
CARL SIMMONS
ROBERT SMITH
ARTHUR FORBES
LEONORA HARVEY
HERMAN HANDFIELD
EARLE BARRANCO
WHITLEAN HIGGS
SARAH HANDFIELD
KENNETH ADAMS
CLAUDETTE MISSICK
GIRLEY GARLAND
DENNIS SWANN
DEBRA ARIZA
WALTER GARDINER
RITA MILLS
MARJORIE DURHAM
WINSTON QUELCH
JANE MALCOLM
KAREN INGHAM
Suriname bank with half billion dollars in assets acquired by Trinidad’s Republic Bank
Republic Bank Limited has welcomed a new territory into the fold of the expanding financial group, with the acquisition of a Surinamese bank with just over half billion US dollars in assets.
Republic Bank (Suriname) N.V. will begin operations tomorrow, following the Trinidad and Tobago financial institution’s acquisition of RBC Royal Bank (Suriname) N.V. from RBC Financial (Caribbean) Limited, through the purchase of Royal Overseas Holdings (St. Lucia) Limited. The transaction closed last Friday.
The Suriname bank has a network of five branches in the capital of Paramaribo and one in Nickerie, and assets of approximately US$525 million, as at October 31, 2014.
Managing Director of Republic Bank, David Dulal Whiteway said they’re very excited about the opportunity to be part of the future development of Suriname and intend to hold true to their tradition of adding value to the countries in which they operate, both on a commercial and community level.
“Undoubtedly, at our core is a culture of providing excellent, innovative customer service. We believe in organic growth and have a well-established institutional track record of successfully entering new territories, ensuring compliance and integrity, while investing in technology and the development of the country’s human resource capabilities,” Whiteway said.
This latest acquisition brings the Republic Bank Group’s strategic expansion to nine territories. The others are Barbados, Cayman Islands, Cuba, St Lucia, Trinidad and Tobago, Grenada, Guyana and, more recently, Ghana.