Month: July 2019

Pennsylvania’s message was clear: The state was taking a big step to keep its elections from being hacked in 2020. Last April, its top election official told counties they had to update their systems. So far, nearly 60% have taken action, with $14.15 million of mostly federal funds helping counties buy brand-new electoral systems. But there’s a problem: Many of these new systems still run on old software that will soon be outdated and more vulnerable to hackers. An Associated Press analysis has found that like many counties in Pennsylvania, the vast majority of 10,000 election jurisdictions nationwide use Windows …

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President Donald Trump was defiant and declarative, with all the hammer-on-anvil subtlety that has charted a now-familiar pattern of his presidency: create a crisis, retreat, declare victory, move on. “Not only didn’t I back down, I backed up,” Trump insisted Friday. However he may phrase it, though, Trump walked away from his earlier vow to include a contentious question about citizenship on the 2020 census. The president shifted his bulldozer of an administration into reverse, announcing that he would drop his push to seek the citizenship status of all American residents on the census, instead ordering other agencies to share …

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A British investigation into the leaking of confidential diplomatic memos is raising press freedom issues with a police warning that U.K. media might face a criminal inquiry if leaked documents are published. The Metropolitan Police Counter Terrorism Command is investigating the leak of private memos written by Britain’s ambassador to the United States as a possible breach of the Official Secrets Act. Announcing the police inquiry, Counterterrorism police unit leader Neil Basu warned against any further publication of leaked documents. “The publication of leaked communications, knowing the damage they have caused or are likely to cause, may also be a …

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Simona Halep was not focused on trying to prevent Serena Williams from winning a 24th Grand Slam title. All Halep cared about was winning Wimbledon for the first time. Pretty much perfect from start to finish, Halep beat Williams 6-2, 6-2 in stunning fashion in the final at the All England Club on Saturday. The whole thing took less than an hour. Halep made a mere three unforced errors, a remarkably low total and 23 fewer than Williams. This is the third consecutive Grand Slam final lost by Williams as she tries to equal Margaret Court with 24 major trophies, …

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This week’s indictment of American multimillionaire Jeffrey Epstein on sex trafficking charges shows how public and political pressure fueled by the #MeToo movement is prompting prosecutors to take a closer look at sexual assault cases that most likely would have fallen by the wayside just a few years ago. In 2007, Epstein, then a jet-setting money manager for the wealthy who counted Donald Trump and Bill Clinton among his friends, avoided charges for alleged sexual crimes involving minors that, upon conviction, could have put him behind bars for decades.  At the time, Epstein stood accused of sexually abusing dozens of …

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On July 1, a crowd in Hong Kong protesting a controversial bill allowing extradition to mainland China broke through tempered glass and charged into the city’s legislative chamber. They defaced officials’ portraits and spray-painted anti-government graffiti. Police gave the protesters until midnight to leave, or be expelled by force. Most protesters left, but four refused. Then, just before midnight, several people rushed into the chambers, shouting, “We leave together! We leave together!” They pulled away those remaining inside.  That act, more than the broken glass and graffiti, has knit together the anti-government movement in Hong Kong and sustained a protest …

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The attorney general for the District of Columbia issued subpoenas Friday to the National Rifle Association and its charitable foundation seeking financial records in an investigation into their nonprofit status. District of Columbia Attorney General Karl Racine said in a statement his office “has issued subpoenas to the National Rifle Association of America (NRA) and the NRA Foundation, Inc., as part of an investigation into whether these entities violated the District’s Nonprofit Act.” The announcement, first reported by the Washington Post, follows similar action in April by New York State Attorney General Letitia James, who sought documents in a probe …

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Mexicans are dismayed by the continued increases in the price for avocados, a staple of the country’s cuisine. The government says increased demand in the United States and a slight drop in production are to blame. The price in the United States hit $2.23 per pound this week. The most expensive stores in Mexico price them about the same, though the average price is just less than $2. Some Mexicans say they have cut back on buying avocados because of the high prices. But it’s also led to outrage, as recipes have begun appearing in Mexico for making so-called guacamole …

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U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday defended his decision to halt a legal fight to add a citizenship question to the 2020 U.S. census forms, one day after issuing an executive order directing the Department of Commerce to obtain citizenship data through other means. Speaking before departing the White House, Trump said he did not “back down” on the citizenship question. “I backed up because anybody else would have given this up a long time ago,” he said.  The once-a-decade census, which aims to tally all people living in the United States, is required by the Constitution in order to …

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