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Three Americans Injured, One ISAF Soldier Dead in Chopper Crash
An ISAF soldier was killed and three American soldiers injured in a helicopter crash in southern Afghanistan, officials said.
However a senior local security official said that the aircraft was a U.S. Military helicopter and that three Americans on board were injured in addition to the death.
The helicopter crashed when it hit a cellphone tower in the Marouf district of Kandahar province, the official said, asking not to be named because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
ISAF did not reveal the exact location of the incident and did not provide further details around the circumstances of the crash.
"Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family and friends affected by this tragic event," ISAF said in a statement. "It is ISAF policy to defer casualty identification procedures to the relevant national authorities."
Public-private survey: US cybercrime on the rise
The hackers are winning, according to a survey of 500 executives of U.S. businesses, law enforcement services and government agencies released Wednesday.
The 12th annual survey of cybercrime trends found that online attackers determined to break into computers, steal information and interfere with business are more technologically advanced than those trying to stop them.
The survey was co-sponsored by business consulting firm PwC, the U.S. Secret Service, the CERT Division of Carnegie Mellon University's Software Engineering Institute and CSO security news magazine.
Three out of four respondents said they had detected a security breach in the last year, and the average number of security intrusions was 135 per organization, the survey found.
"Despite substantial investments in cybersecurity technologies, cyber criminals continue to find ways to circumvent these technologies in order to obtain sensitive information that they can monetize," Ed Lowery, who heads the U.S. Secret Service's criminal investigative division, said in a written statement.
Lowery said companies and the government need to take "a radically different approach to cybersecurity," which goes beyond antivirus software, training employees, working closely with contractors and setting up tighter processes.
The top five cyberattack methods reported in the survey were malware, phishing, network interruption, spyware and denial-of-service attacks. And 28 percent of respondents said the attackers were insiders, either contractors or current and former employees or service providers, according to the survey.
The 12th annual survey of cybercrime trends found that online attackers determined to break into computers, steal information and interfere with business are more technologically advanced than those trying to stop them.
The survey was co-sponsored by business consulting firm PwC, the U.S. Secret Service, the CERT Division of Carnegie Mellon University's Software Engineering Institute and CSO security news magazine.
Three out of four respondents said they had detected a security breach in the last year, and the average number of security intrusions was 135 per organization, the survey found.
"Despite substantial investments in cybersecurity technologies, cyber criminals continue to find ways to circumvent these technologies in order to obtain sensitive information that they can monetize," Ed Lowery, who heads the U.S. Secret Service's criminal investigative division, said in a written statement.
Lowery said companies and the government need to take "a radically different approach to cybersecurity," which goes beyond antivirus software, training employees, working closely with contractors and setting up tighter processes.
The top five cyberattack methods reported in the survey were malware, phishing, network interruption, spyware and denial-of-service attacks. And 28 percent of respondents said the attackers were insiders, either contractors or current and former employees or service providers, according to the survey.
Santa Barbara university student arrested for accidentally firing handgun
A University of California at Santa Barbara student was arrested when he accidentally fired a handgun at his apartment wall, officials said on Wednesday, in the same college town still grieving after last week's killing spree that left 6 dead.
Kevin Tym, 21, was playing with his legally owned Glock 17 9mm handgun on Tuesday afternoon in his Isla Vista, California apartment when he accidentally fired the gun, the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office said in a statement on Wednesday.
The statement said the bullet pierced his neighbor's wall and ricocheted off a television set barely missing the resident inside.
Police searched Tym's apartment and found 7 legally-owned firearms, roughly 1,000 rounds of ammunition, and high capacity assault rifle magazines, the statement said. All the guns and bullets were taken by police, and Tym was arrested for negligent discharge of a firearm and possession of high capacity magazines. He is being held on $2,500 bail, the statement said.
Last Friday, the Isla Vista community was the scene of a deadly shooting rampage launched by 22-year-old Elliot Rodger, who killed six university students and injured over a dozen more. The University of California at Santa Barbara, which is headed into its final exams, canceled classes on Tuesday for a day of mourning.
The Sheriff's statement did not indicate that these two incidents were connected.
Sergeant accused of sexually assaulting soldiers
A former drill sergeant at a Missouri Army post is accused of sexually assaulting several female soldiers during the past three years, including at least one while he was deployed in Afghanistan.
Staff Sgt. Angel M. Sanchez appeared at a pretrial hearing at Fort Leonard Wood on Wednesday and could face a court-martial later this year, the Washington Post reported.
Military prosecutors allege that, among other things, Sanchez used his position as a drill sergeant on the Army post to threaten some of the women he's accused of assaulting. He is accused of sexually assaulting four women and assaulting eight others by touching them inappropriately, Tiffany Wood, a Fort Leonard Wood spokeswoman, told the newspaper.
Sanchez served one tour each in Iraq and Afghanistan, earning a Bronze Star. He arrived at the Missouri post in August and trained new soldiers with the 14th Military Police Brigade, but he no longer performs drill-sergeant duty and now works an office job with his unit, Wood said.
Several of the women Sanchez is accused of attacking testified at Wednesday's hearing.
Sanchez's lawyer, Ernesto Gapasin, told the paper "there are a lot of issues with the credibility of the witnesses and the government's case." He said Sanchez was told of the charges by his commanding officer on May 13.
According to the charging documents, Sanchez's alleged crimes date back to his year in Afghanistan, which lasted from March 2011 until March 2012. Prosecutors allege that during that time, Sanchez raped a female service member in a temporary housing unit for women on the base. He is also accused of sexually harassing female soldiers during that time.
Prosecutors also allege that Sanchez committed several sexual assaults at Fort Leonard Wood between Sept. 17 and Jan. 31 of last year. In one attack, Sanchez made a soldier fear she would be kicked out of the Army if she didn't engage in sexual acts, the charging documents state. He forced her to perform oral sex on him in an office he shared with other drill sergeants, military officials said.
Sexual assault has been a front-burner issue for the Pentagon, Congress and the White House over the past year, triggering Capitol Hill hearings and persistent questions about how effectively the military was preventing and prosecuting assaults and how well it was treating the victims. Fueling outrage have been high-profile assault cases and arrests, including incidents involving senior commanders, sexual assault prevention officers and military trainers.
At the same time, the military has long struggled to get victims to report sexual assault in a stern military culture that emphasizes rank, loyalty and toughness. Some victims have complained they were afraid to report assaults to ranking officers for fear of retribution, or said that their initial complaints were rebuffed or ignored.
The Senate passed a bill in March that would remove military commanders' ability to overturn sexual assault convictions, provide alleged victims with an independent lawyer, and require convicted military members to be sentenced to a dishonorable discharge, at the minimum. The House hasn't voted on the bill.
Baltimore police commissioner helps make arrest.
When a man struggling with three Baltimore police detectives drew a loaded gun from his waistband, the city's police commissioner entered the fray, put his own gun to the suspect's head, punched him and caused him to release his weapon, according to an account in court records.
It happened May 16 as Police Commissioner Anthony Batts was riding in an unmarked car with the officers, Detective Ryan Diener wrote in charging papers that were filed against the suspect, 20-year-old Alante Moultrie.
The detectives, who also included Sgt. Derek Loeffler and Antonio Hopson, stopped the car outside a deli and approached a group of six men standing nearby, Diener wrote. He did not give a reason for the stop.
After identifying himself, asking Moultrie's name and getting a mumbled response, Diener wrote that he noticed a bulge in Moultrie's waistline.
Diener patted the man down and discovered a "hard object that I immediately recognized to be a handgun," the report reads. Diener shouted "Gun!" several times to alert his fellow officers, and tried to grab the firearm. Moultrie then pushed Diener, prompting Hopson and Loeffler to run to the officer's aid, Diener wrote. As the three officers tried to detain Moultrie, the man was able to retrieve the gun from his waistband.
Batts approached the struggling officers, drew his own gun and "placed it against Mr. Moultrie's head," the report reads. When Moultrie refused to weaken his grip on the firearm, Batts punched the man in the face, causing Moultrie to release the weapon. It turned out to be a loaded .32-caliber handgun.
Police say they recovered six rounds in the gun's magazine, as well four bags of suspected cocaine and a 3-inch folding knife.
Moultrie was handcuffed and taken to Johns Hopkins for treatment for an unspecified injury. When he was interviewed later by detectives, police say Moultrie admitted possessing the handgun, which is a violation of probation stemming from a prior conviction. Moultrie is also being charged with drug possession, second-degree assault and resisting arrest.
Batts, who has been in law enforcement since 1982, once served as a street patrolman. He sometimes rides with his officers. The police department said he would not comment on the incident because the charges against Moultrie are still pending.
"The commissioner was leading from the front, and at the end of the day he's a police officer as well as the commissioner," said Baltimore Police spokesman Lt. Eric Kowalczyk. "He is as focused on getting guns off the street as the officers that he leads."
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A Monday, Feb. 11, 2013 file photo shows Baltimore Police Commissioner Anthony Batts at Girard College, in Philadelphia. |
The detectives, who also included Sgt. Derek Loeffler and Antonio Hopson, stopped the car outside a deli and approached a group of six men standing nearby, Diener wrote. He did not give a reason for the stop.
After identifying himself, asking Moultrie's name and getting a mumbled response, Diener wrote that he noticed a bulge in Moultrie's waistline.
Diener patted the man down and discovered a "hard object that I immediately recognized to be a handgun," the report reads. Diener shouted "Gun!" several times to alert his fellow officers, and tried to grab the firearm. Moultrie then pushed Diener, prompting Hopson and Loeffler to run to the officer's aid, Diener wrote. As the three officers tried to detain Moultrie, the man was able to retrieve the gun from his waistband.
Batts approached the struggling officers, drew his own gun and "placed it against Mr. Moultrie's head," the report reads. When Moultrie refused to weaken his grip on the firearm, Batts punched the man in the face, causing Moultrie to release the weapon. It turned out to be a loaded .32-caliber handgun.
Police say they recovered six rounds in the gun's magazine, as well four bags of suspected cocaine and a 3-inch folding knife.
Moultrie was handcuffed and taken to Johns Hopkins for treatment for an unspecified injury. When he was interviewed later by detectives, police say Moultrie admitted possessing the handgun, which is a violation of probation stemming from a prior conviction. Moultrie is also being charged with drug possession, second-degree assault and resisting arrest.
Batts, who has been in law enforcement since 1982, once served as a street patrolman. He sometimes rides with his officers. The police department said he would not comment on the incident because the charges against Moultrie are still pending.
"The commissioner was leading from the front, and at the end of the day he's a police officer as well as the commissioner," said Baltimore Police spokesman Lt. Eric Kowalczyk. "He is as focused on getting guns off the street as the officers that he leads."
Health care overhaul could tame big insurance price jumps.
The wild hikes in health insurance rates that blindsided many Americans in recent years may become less frequent because of the health care overhaul.
Final rates for 2015 won’t be out for months, but early filings from insurers suggest price increases of 10 percent or more. That may sound like a lot, but rates have risen as much as 20 or 30 percent in recent years.
The rates that emerge over the next few months for 2015 will carry considerable political weight, since they will come out before Republicans and Democrats settle their fight for Congressional control in next fall’s midterm elections. Republicans are vowing to make failures of the law a main theme of their election push, and abnormally high premiums might bolster their argument.
In addition to insuring millions of uninsured people, the other great promise of the massive health care overhaul was to tame the rate hikes that had become commonplace in the market for individual insurance coverage.
No one expects price increases to go away, but some nonpartisan industry watchers say they do expect the big hikes to hit less frequently in the years to come, even though it’s still early in the law’s implementation. They point to competition and greater scrutiny fostered by the law as key factors.
Public insurance exchanges that debuted last fall and were created by the law make it easier for customers to compare prices. The overhaul also prevents insurers from rejecting customers because of their health.
That means someone who develops a health condition like high blood pressure isn’t stuck in the same plan year after year because other insurers won’t take her. She can now shop around.
The Urban Institute, a nonpartisan policy research organization, said in a recent report that competition will help restrain individual insurance prices next year.
And it could have a lasting impact once the new markets for coverage stabilize in a few years, said Larry Levitt, an insurance expert with the Kaiser Family Foundation, which analyzes health policy issues.
“Now if a plan tries to raise premiums a lot, people can vote with their feet and move to another plan,” Levitt said.
Greater scrutiny by regulators could also keep rates from skyrocketing. The overhaul requires a mandatory review of rate increases larger than 10 percent, which can lead to public attention that insurers don’t want.
“Nobody’s going to get a rate increase unless they truly deserve it,” said Dave Axene, a fellow of the Society of Actuaries, who is working with insurers in several states to figure out pricing. “The rigor that we had to go through to prove that the rates were reasonable, it’s worse than an IRS audit at times.”
To be sure, insurers and others in the field say it’s too early to fully understand what pricing trends will emerge for individual insurance plans, which make up a small slice of the insured population. And some experts aren’t convinced of any one outcome of the law.
Industry consultant Bob Laszewski called the idea that the exchanges will reign in prices by promoting competition an “unproven theory.”
“No one has any idea what this risk really looks like yet and probably won’t for two to three years,” he said.
Karen Ignagni agrees. The CEO of the trade association America’s Health Insurance Plans, which represents insurers, said competition between insurers will mean little if too many sick people sign up for coverage on the exchanges. Insurers need a balance between sick and healthy people to avoid big claim hits that lead to future rate hikes.
Laszewski expects some plans to seek either big premium increases or decreases in 2015, but he says that says nothing about the long-term implications of the overhaul. He noted that insurers entered 2014 without a good feel for what their competitors would charge, so price swings are inevitable as companies adjust.
Charmaine Piquette, 60, said she’s “petrified” of a big increase for next year. “I finally feel like in my life I have a break and can afford to take care of myself even though I’m not living on very much a month,” said Piquette, who lives outside Milwaukee.
She lives mainly on about $1,200 a month in Social Security disability payments, but her health coverage helps her afford things like visits with a diabetes counselor to get her blood sugar back under control.
“I said, ‘Praise the Lord’ every single time I use this,” she said.
Final rates for 2015 won’t be out for months, but early filings from insurers suggest price increases of 10 percent or more. That may sound like a lot, but rates have risen as much as 20 or 30 percent in recent years.
The rates that emerge over the next few months for 2015 will carry considerable political weight, since they will come out before Republicans and Democrats settle their fight for Congressional control in next fall’s midterm elections. Republicans are vowing to make failures of the law a main theme of their election push, and abnormally high premiums might bolster their argument.
In addition to insuring millions of uninsured people, the other great promise of the massive health care overhaul was to tame the rate hikes that had become commonplace in the market for individual insurance coverage.
No one expects price increases to go away, but some nonpartisan industry watchers say they do expect the big hikes to hit less frequently in the years to come, even though it’s still early in the law’s implementation. They point to competition and greater scrutiny fostered by the law as key factors.
Public insurance exchanges that debuted last fall and were created by the law make it easier for customers to compare prices. The overhaul also prevents insurers from rejecting customers because of their health.
That means someone who develops a health condition like high blood pressure isn’t stuck in the same plan year after year because other insurers won’t take her. She can now shop around.
The Urban Institute, a nonpartisan policy research organization, said in a recent report that competition will help restrain individual insurance prices next year.
And it could have a lasting impact once the new markets for coverage stabilize in a few years, said Larry Levitt, an insurance expert with the Kaiser Family Foundation, which analyzes health policy issues.
“Now if a plan tries to raise premiums a lot, people can vote with their feet and move to another plan,” Levitt said.
Greater scrutiny by regulators could also keep rates from skyrocketing. The overhaul requires a mandatory review of rate increases larger than 10 percent, which can lead to public attention that insurers don’t want.
“Nobody’s going to get a rate increase unless they truly deserve it,” said Dave Axene, a fellow of the Society of Actuaries, who is working with insurers in several states to figure out pricing. “The rigor that we had to go through to prove that the rates were reasonable, it’s worse than an IRS audit at times.”
To be sure, insurers and others in the field say it’s too early to fully understand what pricing trends will emerge for individual insurance plans, which make up a small slice of the insured population. And some experts aren’t convinced of any one outcome of the law.
Industry consultant Bob Laszewski called the idea that the exchanges will reign in prices by promoting competition an “unproven theory.”
“No one has any idea what this risk really looks like yet and probably won’t for two to three years,” he said.
Karen Ignagni agrees. The CEO of the trade association America’s Health Insurance Plans, which represents insurers, said competition between insurers will mean little if too many sick people sign up for coverage on the exchanges. Insurers need a balance between sick and healthy people to avoid big claim hits that lead to future rate hikes.
Laszewski expects some plans to seek either big premium increases or decreases in 2015, but he says that says nothing about the long-term implications of the overhaul. He noted that insurers entered 2014 without a good feel for what their competitors would charge, so price swings are inevitable as companies adjust.
Charmaine Piquette, 60, said she’s “petrified” of a big increase for next year. “I finally feel like in my life I have a break and can afford to take care of myself even though I’m not living on very much a month,” said Piquette, who lives outside Milwaukee.
Piquette used Wisconsin’s public health insurance exchange in March to get coverage from the nonprofit insurance cooperative Common Ground. The plan costs her only about $177 a month thanks to a $500 tax credit she receives as part of the overhaul.
She lives mainly on about $1,200 a month in Social Security disability payments, but her health coverage helps her afford things like visits with a diabetes counselor to get her blood sugar back under control.
“I said, ‘Praise the Lord’ every single time I use this,” she said.
Man holding breath in Oregon tunnel causes crash
A 19-year-old man caused a three-car crash when he fainted while holding his breath as he drove through a tunnel northwest of Portland, Oregon State Police said.
Daniel J. Calhon, of Snohomish, Washington, told investigators he fainted Sunday afternoon while holding his breath in the Highway 26 tunnel near the community of Manning, according to a news release. His car, a 1990 Toyota Camry, drifted across the centerline and crashed head-on with a Ford Explorer.
Both vehicles struck the tunnel walls before a pickup hit the Camry.
Calhon and his passenger, 19-year-old Bradley Meyring, of Edmonds, Washington, suffered non-life-threatening injuries, as did the two people in the Explorer: Thomas Hatch Jr., 67, and Candace Hatch, 61, from Astoria. All four were taken to hospitals.
The two people in the pickup were not hurt.
Calhon was cited for reckless driving, three counts of reckless endangerment and fourth-degree assault in Washington County Circuit Court. It was not clear if he had a lawyer.
State Police Lt. Gregg Hastings said Monday he's not sure why Calhon was holding his breath, but some people hold their breaths in tunnels as part of a game or superstition.
The tunnel, called the Dennis L. Edwards Tunnel, was completed in 1940 and carries the highway through the Northern Oregon Coast Range mountains. It's 772 feet long, meaning that a car traveling at the posted speed limit of 55 mph would get through it in about 10 seconds.
Daniel J. Calhon, of Snohomish, Washington, told investigators he fainted Sunday afternoon while holding his breath in the Highway 26 tunnel near the community of Manning, according to a news release. His car, a 1990 Toyota Camry, drifted across the centerline and crashed head-on with a Ford Explorer.
Both vehicles struck the tunnel walls before a pickup hit the Camry.
Calhon and his passenger, 19-year-old Bradley Meyring, of Edmonds, Washington, suffered non-life-threatening injuries, as did the two people in the Explorer: Thomas Hatch Jr., 67, and Candace Hatch, 61, from Astoria. All four were taken to hospitals.
The two people in the pickup were not hurt.
Calhon was cited for reckless driving, three counts of reckless endangerment and fourth-degree assault in Washington County Circuit Court. It was not clear if he had a lawyer.
State Police Lt. Gregg Hastings said Monday he's not sure why Calhon was holding his breath, but some people hold their breaths in tunnels as part of a game or superstition.
The tunnel, called the Dennis L. Edwards Tunnel, was completed in 1940 and carries the highway through the Northern Oregon Coast Range mountains. It's 772 feet long, meaning that a car traveling at the posted speed limit of 55 mph would get through it in about 10 seconds.
Hipólito y Mireles irán a reunión de autodefensas
El doctor José Manuel Mireles y el fundador de las autodefensas de La Ruana, Hipólito Mora, acudirán el próximo miércoles 28 de mayo al Encuentro Nacional de Autodefensas Ciudadanas, que se realizará en el Polyforum Cultural Siqueiros en el Distrito Federal, donde ambos serán oradores principales.
En el panel también participarán el general José Francisco Gallardo, “autodefensa de los derechos humanos de los militares”; el padre Alejandro Solalinde, “autodefensa de migrantes” de la frontera; el obispo Raúl Vera, “autodefensa de víctimas de la violencia”; la periodista Sanjuana Martínez Montemayor, “autodefensa de víctimas de trata de personas”.
Así como Javier Livas Cantú, “autodefensa de los derechos políticos de los ciudadanos” y experto en seguridad pública; el senador Ernesto Ruffo Appel, “autodefensa frente a estructuras de gobierno corruptas”; Jaime Cárdenas, catedrático e investigador del Instituto de Investigaciones Jurídicas de la UNAM.
Además de Roberto Gallardo Galindo, “autodefensa empresarial y defensor de los derechos políticos de los ciudadanos”, y Mario Segura, “autodefensa contra el secuestro” y miembro de la organización “Salvemos Tamaulipas”.
El evento será moderado por el periodista Javier Solorzano y está previsto que inicie a las 8:30 horas en el Polyforum Cultural Siqueiros. Hipólito Mora señaló que junto con Mireles Malverde irá al Distrito Federal tomando las medidas de seguridad necesarias.
Señaló que llegarán desde mañana martes para entrevistarse previamente con los organizadores. La semana pasada algunos de los miembros del grupo que participarán en este panel subieron a la red social de YouTube, un video promocional con el slogan “#TodossomosAutodefensas”.
Ceviche habría causado intoxicación reos Puente Grande.
Encontraron indicios de la bacteria Escherichia Coli en el ceviche de soya servido a los internos del Penal de Puente Grande, Jalisco.
Situación que causara la intoxicación de 450 reos.
Ayer, un par de horas después de la comida, los internos comenzaron a presentar cuadros leves de diarrea y vómito.
Al menos una decena de ambulancias acudieron al penal y brindaron atención médica a por lo menos 170 pacientes con signos fuertes de intoxicación.
Presumen que ceviche causó intoxicación en penal
Hallan indicios de bacteria Escherichia Coli en el ceviche de soya servido a los internos.
El secretario de Salud de Jalisco, Jaime Agustín González Álvarez, indicó que aparentemente elceviche de soya que se sirvió el domingo en elreclusorio preventivo de Puente Grande fue la causa de la intoxicación de 450 reos.El funcionario indicó que tras los primeros análisis se encontraron indicios de la bacteria Escherichia Coli en el alimento, que ya no estaba en óptimas condiciones.
Ayer, un par de horas después de la comida, los internos comenzaron a presentar cuadros leves de diarrea y vómito.
Al menos una decena de ambulancias de distintas corporaciones acudieron al penal y brindaron atención médica a por lo menos 170 pacientes con signos fuertes de intoxicación.
Añadió que no fue necesario trasladar a ningún interno a un hospital, pero hoy nueve de ellos continúan en observación médica dentro del reclusorio.
Se intoxican 450 en penal Puente Grande
La Secretaría de Salud Jalisco (SSJ) reportó como estable la salud de alrededor de 450 internos del Reclusorio Preventivo de Puente Grande, intoxicados con los alimentos proporcionados en la cárcel, los cuales presentaron diarrea y vómito la tarde de ayer domingo.
El director general de Regulación Sanitaria de la SSJ, Ángel Montiel reveló que alrededor de 170 internos presentaron síntomas clínicos de cuadro de infección gastrointestinal con deshidratación de media a moderada. "Todos se encuentran estables; no se requirió ningún traslado", indicó.
Alrededor de las 18 horas llegaron a Puente Grande ambulancias de la Cruz Roja, de la Cruz Verde y paramédicos de la Secretaría de Salud Jalisco, quienes atendieron a los reos al interior del penal y permanecen al pendiente de la salud de los internos.
Además informó que ya se inició la investigación para establecer dónde se originó la diarrea y el vómito de los presos de Puente Grande.
Por su parte, la Fiscalía indicó que los primeros indicios señalan que los alimentos proporcionados en el interior del penal estaban en mal estado o con exceso de algún condimento.
