I've heard Bill Hemmer in the past 2 days say twice now that the OIG will come out in May or June
POTUS_Schedule
‏ @45_Schedule
9h9 hours ago
Daily Public Schedule for March 25, 2019:
11:45AM POTUS meets with the Prime Minister of the State of Israel.
11:50AM POTUS participates in a bilateral meeting with the Prime Minister of the State of Israel.
12:20PM POTUS participates in an expanded bilateral meeting with the Prime Minister of the State of Israel
1:00PM POTUS participates in the departure of the Prime Minister of the State of Israel.
3:00PM POTUS participates in a photo op with the 2018 Stanley Cup Champions.
Arab News
‏Verified account @arabnews
56s57 seconds ago
#BREAKING: UN envoy: We will conduct an international campaign on the dangers children face in armed conflict
Arab News
‏Verified account @arabnews
56s57 seconds ago
#BREAKING: UN envoy: We will conduct an international campaign on the dangers children face in armed conflict
Saudi Gazette
‏Verified account @Saudi_Gazette
3m3 minutes ago
#BREAKING: Representative of the UN Secretary-General: #Houthis committed major violations against #children in Yemen.
French Muslim group sues Facebook, Youtube over Christchurch footage streaming
[Reuters]
Reuters•March 25, 2019
https://news.yahoo.com/french-muslim-group-sues-facebook-youtube-over-christchurch-131236093–finance.html
PARIS (Reuters) - The French Council of the Muslim Faith (CFCM), a leading representative of Muslims in France, on Monday said it was suing Facebook and YouTube after footage of the Christchurch massacre was streamed on their platforms.
The mass-shooting at two mosques in New Zealand was livestreamed by the attacker through his Facebook profile for 17 minutes.
A few hours after the attack, footage from the stream could still be found on Facebook, Twitter and Alphabet Inc's YouTube, as well as Facebook-owned Instagram and Whatsapp.
Abdallah Zekri, president of the observatory of Islamophobia at the CFCM confirmed the legal complaint.
(Reporting by Julie Carriat; writing by Richard Lough; editing by John Irish)
Man pleads guilty to scamming Facebook and Google for over $120 million
Evaldas Rimasauskas could face up to 30 years in prison for a phishing scheme involving Facebook and Google.
https://www.cnet.com/news/man-pleads-guilty-to-scamming-facebook-and-google-for-over-120-million/
Evaldas Rimasauskas, a 50-year-old man from Lithuania, pled guilty to one count of wire fraud, admitting he and some unnamed conspirators scammed Google and Facebook into paying over $100 million for work that never actually took place.
Posing as Quanta Computer, a Taiwan based laptop manufacturer, the phishing scheme netted $23 million from Google in 2013 and $98 million from Facebook in 2015, according to a Bloomberg report.
Prosecutors don't allege that Rimasauskas was directly responsible for convincing the companies to send the money, but believe he created the infrastructure by which the money was sent and delivered.
According to allegations, Rimasauskas registered and incorporated a company in Latvia using the Quanta Computer name and sent fraudulent phishing emails to agents from Google and Facebook regularly involved in directing business with Quanta. He asked that money for services rendered by the real Quanta Computer be sent to a different bank account in Latvia and Cyprus, accounts controlled by Rimasauskas.
He was extradited to the US in August 2017.
"As Evaldas Rimasauskas admitted today, he devised a blatant scheme to fleece U.S. companies out of $100 million, and then siphoned those funds to bank accounts around the globe," said Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman. "Rimasauskas thought he could hide behind a computer screen halfway across the world while he conducted his fraudulent scheme, but as he has learned, the arms of American justice are long, and he now faces significant time in a U.S. prison."
"We detected this fraud and promptly alerted the authorities," said a Google spokesperson, in a statement sent to CNET. "We recouped the funds and we're pleased this matter is resolved."
Facebook did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Rimasauskas is scheduled to be sentenced on July 24, 2019.
Apple's Showtime event: What to expect and how to watch: What we know so far about Apple's TV series, subscription news service and everything else it could announce at its next launch event on Monday, March 25.
Facebook wants to show it's a force for good amid scandals: The social network updates its tools for blood donations, nonprofits and mentorships.
https://www.businessinsider.com/top-us-general-to-meet-with-google-on-china-security-worries-2019-3
The top US general will meet with Google next week to discuss the 'second and third order of effects' for the company's business efforts in China
Associated Press
Mar. 22, 2019, 3:05 PM
The top US military officer will meet with Google representatives next week amid growing concerns that American companies doing business in China are helping its military gain ground on the US.
Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Wednesday that efforts like Google's artificial intelligence venture in China allow the Chinese military to access and take advantage of US-developed technology.
"This is not about me and Google," Dunford said, in part. "This is about us looking at the second and third order of effects of our business ventures in China."
In a statement last week Google said it is not working with the Chinese military, but that its AI activities in China are focused on "education, research on natural language understanding and market algorithms, and development of globally available tools."
The top US military officer will meet with Google representatives next week amid growing concerns that American companies doing business in China are helping its military gain ground on the US.
Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Wednesday that efforts like Google's artificial intelligence venture in China allow the Chinese military to access and take advantage of US-developed technology.
"This is not about me and Google," Dunford told an audience at the Atlantic Council. "This is about us looking at the second and third order of effects of our business ventures in China, Chinese form of government, and the impact it's going to have on the United States' ability to maintain a competitive military advantage."
Google says its AI activities in China are focused on "education, research on natural language understanding and market algorithms, and development of globally available tools."
In a statement last week Google said it is not working with the Chinese military. And the company said that it continues to work with the US government, including the Defense Department, in many areas, including cybersecurity, recruiting and healthcare.
Dunford's comments reflect widespread US government worries that any information or data an American company has or uses as it does business in China is automatically available to the Chinese government and its military.
US companies in China are required to have a cell of the communist party present, said Dunford, adding, "that will lead to that intellectual property from that company finding its way to the Chinese military."
Last week he and acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan expressed similar concerns during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing.
"We watch with great concern when industry partners work in China knowing that there is that indirect benefit," Dunford said during the hearing. "And frankly, indirect may be not a full characterization of the way it really is. It's more of a direct benefit to the Chinese military."
Shanahan also noted that Google is stepping away from some Pentagon contracts.
Internal protests by workers at Google led the tech company to say last year that it is dropping out of Project Maven, which uses algorithms to interpret drone video images from conflict zones. Employees had complained that Google was helping with technology that could improve lethal targeting.
Shanahan told senators that $5 trillion of China's economy is state-owned enterprises, "so the technology that is developed in the civilian world transfers to the military world. It's a direct pipeline. Not only is there a transfer, there's also systemic theft of US technology that also facilitates even faster development of emerging technology."
As a result, Shanahan said the US military needs to continue to invest in artificial intelligence, adding that funding would double in the proposed 2020 budget.
The Joint Staff did not release details on the timing of Dunford's meeting next week or who would be attending from Google.
A dozen defendants head to court Monday in biggest-ever college admissions cheating scandal
Joey Garrison, USA TODAY Published 8:02 a.m. ET March 25, 2019
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/03/25/college-admissions-bribery-scam-accused-appear-monday-court/3244345002/
BOSTON – Twelve people accused of crimes in the nation's largest-ever college admissions bribery case are set to make their initial federal court appearances in Boston on Monday.
Twenty-three additional defendants are scheduled to appear in court Friday in the city, where the explosive nationwide case is being led.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/03/25/college-admissions-bribery-scam-accused-appear-monday-court/3244345002/
A dozen defendants head to court Monday in biggest-ever college admissions cheating scandal
BOSTON – Twelve people accused of crimes in the nation's largest-ever college admissions bribery case are set to make their initial federal court appearances in Boston on Monday.
Twenty-three additional defendants are scheduled to appear in court Friday in the city, where the explosive nationwide case is being led.
Monday's slate includes six college athletic coaches, one associate college athletics director, two ACT/SAT test administrators and two people who prosecutors say worked with William "Rick Singer, the alleged ringleader of the cheating and bribery scheme.
It marks the largest gathering of defendants in the same court so far in the historic case.
Each defendant faces racketeering conspiracy charges as well as racketeering forfeiture allegations. Four are former employees of the University of Southern California. Coaches from Wake Forest University, Georgetown University an the University of California-Los Angeles are set to appear as well.
Fifty people have been charged overall in the sweeping federal case that was brought March 12 by the Justice Department. Several have already gone to court in the federal districts where they were arrested, but the case is now shifting to federal court here.
Federal prosecutors say that rich and powerful parents of under-qualified students paid "enormous sums" to Singer to either have someone cheat on their ACT or SAT exams or to pay off athletic coaches who accepted their children on their teams even if they didn't play the sport.
On Friday, an additional 23 defendants, all parents accused of crimes in the case, are scheduled to appear in federal court in Boston. The group was originally set to include the case's two highest-profile defendants, actresses Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin, but their court appearances are now scheduled for April 3.
A judge granted requests for different court dates from both women as well as Loughlin's fashion designer husband, Mossimo Giannulli, last week. They cited scheduling conflicts.
Loughlin and Giannulli are accused of paying bribes of $500,000 to get their daughters in to the University of Southern California. They had originally asked for a delay until the week of April 15, but that request was denied.
Huffman is accused of paying $15,000 that she disguised as a charitable donation so that her daughter could take part in the entrance-exam cheating scam.
More: USC to deny students connected to cheating scheme class registration, transcripts as their status is frozen
Huffman, Loughlin and Giannulli each appear before U.S. District Court Judge Page Kelley.
The defendants appearing Monday are each of those charged by indictment. Most of the 33 parents accused of paying to cheat or lie their way into college have been charged in a separate complaint.
An additional four defendants, including Singer and Mark Riddell, who allegedly took tests for students, have been charged individually by information.
Here's who is set to appear in federal court Monday. Some are no longer in the positions they had when they allegedly committed the crimes.
Gordon Ernst, former tennis head coach at Georgetown University
Donna Heinel, senior associate athletics director at the University of Southern California
Ali Khosroshahin, women's soccer head coach at University of Southern California
Laura Janke, a former assistant coach of women's soccer at the University of Southern California
Jovan Vavic, water polo head coach at University of Southern California
Jorge Salcedo, head coach of men's soccer at UCLA
William Ferguson, women's volleyball coach at Wake Forest University
Niki Williams, an assistant teacher at a Houston public high school and a standardized test administrator for the ACT exam and the College Board, which oversees the SAT exam
Martin Fox, president of a private tennis academy in Houston, who allegedly accepted a bribe to introduce Singer to a tennis coach at the University of Texas who Singer then reportedly paid to admit a student as a purported athletic recruit
Igor Dvorskiy, director of a private elementary school and high school in Los Angeles and a test administrator for the ACT exam and the College Board
Steven Masera, a resident of Folsom, California, and an accountant and financial advisor for Edge College and Career Network and for The Key Worldwide Foundation, the nonprofit overseen by Singer
Mikaela Sanford, a resident of Sacramento, California, employed at Edge College and Career Network and the Key Worldwide Foundation