News article:

Organised crime believed to be behind coordinated raids across stores in Japan

 Members of an international crime syndicate are suspected of stealing more than 1.4bn yen (US$12.7m) from cash machines in Japan in the space of less than three hours, in an audacious heist that involved thousands of coordinated withdrawals.

 Police believe that as many as 100 people, none of whom have been apprehended, worked together using forged credit cards containing account details illegally obtained from a bank in South Africa.

 Who invented the cash machine? I did – and all I earned was £10 Read more

 The culprits used the fake cards at 1,400 convenience store automated teller machines on the morning of 15 May, according to police. Each made withdrawals of 100,000 yen at a time – the maximum allowed by the cash machines – and there was a total of 14,000 withdrawals.

 The thieves targeted cash machines in the capital Tokyo and 16 other prefectures, according to Kyodo News.

 Japanese police have asked the authorities in South Africa, via Interpol, to establish how the credit card information was obtained.

 Transaction data retrieved from the cash machines suggests that the criminals used information for 1,600 credit cards issued by the South African bank, which has not been named.

 The Yomiuri Shimbun reported that the withdrawals began just after 5am last Sunday, with the last one made just before 8am the same day.

 Reports suggest that members of the gang may no longer be in Japan. By using cards that were issued in a different country from the one in which the fraud took place - and on a day of the week when banks were closed - they were probably able to buy themselves enough time to leave the country before their crime was discovered.

 Japan is the latest victim of a string of ATM heists using credit cards forged using leaked data. In one case, thieves withdrew 4.5bn yen in 26 countries, including Japan, in 2012 and 2013, the Yomiuri said.

  ||||| In a heist reminiscent of the blockbuster film 'Ocean's Eleven,' some 100 thieves managed to steal $12.7 million from ATMs in Japan in just three hours. The incredible feat is believed to be the work of an international crime syndicate.

 The thieves worked together to withdraw the huge sum of money in coordinated withdrawals at 1,400 convenience store ATMs throughout Tokyo and 16 other prefectures, police said, as cited by Kyodo News.

 Read more

 Using forged credit cards containing account details illegally obtained from Standard Bank in South Africa, around 100 different people are believed to have made a single withdrawal of 100,000 yen (US$913) – the maximum allowed by cash machines – in each of the 14,000 transactions attempted.

 The withdraws took just three hours to complete, with the first one made just after 5am on May 15, and the last made just before 8am, The Yomiuri Shimbun reported. All of the ATMs were located at 7-Eleven stores.

 No one has been arrested in connection with the heist, and local media reports suggest that the thieves – believed to be part of an international crime syndicate – may no longer be in Japan.

 Police are currently examining CCTV footage to identify the suspects, and have asked South African authorities to investigate how the credit card information was obtained.

 Standard Bank, which has estimated its losses at $19.25 million, has described the heist as a “sophisticated, co-ordinated fraud incident" involving a "small number" of fake cards.

 It stressed, however, that its customers had not suffered any losses, and that it has “taken swift action to contain the matter.”

 It's not the first time that a sophisticated ATM heist has hit Japan. In a spree spanning 2012 and 2013, thieves using forged credit cards managed to withdraw $41 billion in 26 countries, including Japan, according to The Yomiuri Shimbun. |||||
What is a shorter version of the above article?

– A purported organized-crime incident in Japan put the emphasis on "organized" in a crime that RT.com is labeling "Ocean's 100." Cops believe that more than 100 thieves took part in a spree in Tokyo and 16 other prefectures on May 15, cleaning out 7-Eleven ATMS of nearly $13 million in less than three hours, the Guardian reports. Just after 5am that day, the mass withdrawals started, with the meticulous money-nabbers making a total of 14,000 or so transactions, each one reaping about $915 (the maximum allowed per ATM), before wrapping things up right before 8am. Investigators think the suspects, believed to be part of an international gang, were able to access customer accounts by using fake credit cards with account details stolen from a South Africa bank. No suspects have been caught, and officials fear they may have all fled the country. (A $1 billion bank heist was thwarted by a typo.)


Article:

Earlier this week, we introduced a set of updates to our privacy policy and terms of service to help our users better understand our service. In the days since, it became clear that we failed to fulfill what I consider one of our most important responsibilities – to communicate our intentions clearly. I am sorry for that, and I am focused on making it right.

 The concerns we heard about from you the most focused on advertising, and what our changes might mean for you and your photos. There was confusion and real concern about what our possible advertising products could look like and how they would work.

 Because of the feedback we have heard from you, we are reverting this advertising section to the original version that has been in effect since we launched the service in October 2010. You can see the updated terms here.

 Going forward, rather than obtain permission from you to introduce possible advertising products we have not yet developed, we are going to take the time to complete our plans, and then come back to our users and explain how we would like for our advertising business to work.

 You also had deep concerns about whether under our new terms, Instagram had any plans to sell your content. I want to be really clear: Instagram has no intention of selling your photos, and we never did. We don’t own your photos – you do.

 Finally, there was also confusion about how widely shared and distributed your photos are through our service. The distribution of your content and photos is governed by our privacy policy, and always has been. We have made a small change to our terms to make that as clear as possible.

 You can view the current terms and privacy policy, as well as review the updated terms and privacy policy that will take effect on January 19, 2013.

 I’m proud that Instagram has a community that feels so strongly about a product we all love. I’m even more proud that you feel empowered to be vocal and approach us with constructive feedback to help us build a better product. Thank you for your feedback, and I look forward to all that Instagram has to bring in the New Year.

 Thank you,

 Kevin Systrom co-founder, Instagram ||||| Eric Piermont/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

 SAN FRANCISCO — In the aftermath of the uproar over changes to Instagram’s privacy policy and terms of service earlier this week, the company did an about-face late Thursday.

 In a blog post on the company’s site, Kevin Systrom, Instagram’s co-founder, said that where advertising was concerned, the company would revert to its previous terms of service, which have been in effect since October 2010.

 “Rather than obtain permission from you to introduce possible advertising products we have not yet developed,” he wrote, “we are going to take the time to complete our plans, and then come back to our users and explain how we would like for our advertising business to work.” Users had been particularly concerned by a clause in Instagram’s policy introduced on Monday that suggested Instagram would share users’ data — like their favorite places, bands, restaurants and hobbies — with Facebook and its advertisers to better target ads.

 They also took issue with an update to the company’s terms of service that suggested users’ photos could be used in advertisements, without compensation and even without their knowledge.

 The terms of that user agreement said, “You agree that a business or other entity may pay us to display your user name, likeness, photos (along with any associated metadata) and/or actions you take, in connection with paid or sponsored content or promotions, without any compensation to you.”

 Following a reaction that included customers defecting to other services, Mr. Systrom told Instagram users on Tuesday that the new policy had been misinterpreted. “It is our mistake that this language is confusing,” he wrote, and he promised an updated agreement.

 That statement apparently was not enough. With more people leaving the service, the company, which Facebook bought for $735 million this year, reacted again by returning to the old rules.

 Acknowledging those concerns late Thursday, Mr. Systrom wrote: “I want to be really clear: Instagram has no intention of selling your photos, and we never did. We don’t own your photos — you do.”

 Mr. Systrom said the company would still be tweaking its privacy policy to quell users’ fears that their photos might pop-up on third-party sites without their consent.

 But Mr. Systrom did not clarify how Instagram planned to monetize its service in the future. Facebook is under pressure to make Instagram earn income.

 “It’s a free service — they have to monetize somewhere,” said John Casasanta, a principal at Tap Tap Tap, the maker of Camera+, a photo-filter app that has shunned advertising and instead charges users for premium features. “The days of the simple banner ads are gone. Their user data is too valuable.”

 It was unclear whether reverting its terms of service would be enough to satisfy high-profile users like National Geographic, which stopped using its Instagram account in light of the moves, or other users who have aired their grievances on Twitter and Facebook.

 The controversy has driven traffic and new users to several other photo-sharing applications.

 Pheed, an Instagram-like app that gives users the option to monetize their own content by charging followers to see their posts, gained more users than any other app in the United States on Thursday. By Thursday morning, Pheed had jumped to the ninth most downloaded social-networking app in Apple’s iTunes store, just ahead of LinkedIn.

 O. D. Kobo, Pheed’s chief executive, said Thursday morning that subscriptions to the service had quadrupled this week and that in the last 24 hours users had uploaded 300,000 new files to the service — more uploads than any other 24-hour-period since Pheed made its debut six weeks ago.

 Another runaway success was Flickr, Yahoo’s photo-sharing service, which redesigned its app last week to make it easier to share photos on Twitter. In a stroke of good fortune, it released the app to positive reviews just as Instagram announced it would no longer sync with Twitter, a Facebook rival.

 The day before Instagram announced changes to its terms of service, Flickr’s mobile app was ranked at around 175 in Apple’s overall iTunes app charts. Since that day, the application skyrocketed to the high 20s.

 Of course, most of these services are still tiny compared to Instagram, which claims to have more than 100 million members who have uploaded upward of 5 billion photos using its service. And it was unclear if the services’ newfound members had also deleted their Instagram accounts or were merely dabbling in other offerings. But the migration, whether temporary or permanent, was a reminder of the volatility of success and that the fall to bottom can sometimes be as swift as the rise to the top.

 Facebook and Instagram declined to say whether they had seen any significant number of account deletions or if they were concerned about losing ground in the photo-sharing market to rivals. Some photo apps took direct aim at Instagram. Camera+ even went so far as to include a snide, holiday-themed reference to Instagram’s stumbles in an app update on Wednesday.

 “We’ll never do shady things with your shared pics, because it just isn’t right,” the update noted. “On that note, happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!” |||||
What is a summary?

– After a furor over changes to its ad terms of service, Instagram tried to clear things up; now, it's simply dropping the changes, the New York Times reports. The company is returning to its old advertising terms from 2010, co-founder Kevin Systrom wrote in a blog post. "Rather than obtain permission from you to introduce possible advertising products we have not yet developed, we are going to take the time to complete our plans, and then come back to our users and explain how we would like for our advertising business to work." "I want to be really clear," he added. "Instagram has no intention of selling your photos, and we never did. We don’t own your photos—you do." Still, the move may have come too late for some users: Similar services like Pheed saw more new users yesterday than any other app in the US, while Flickr's app jumped in popularity from 175 to somewhere in the 20s among iTunes rankings. The question remains, then, how the free service will monetize, notes the Times.


News article:

Barry Brecheisen/Getty Images There is no question that Americans are frustrated with their elected officials, but the latest Gallup poll shows that frustration has reached a fever pitch, plummeting Congress to its lowest approval rating in history. Just 10 percent of Americans approve of the job Congress is doing, fewer than at any previous point in Gallup's nearly 40 years of polling. With an approval rating that low, it is hard to find anything that is actually less popular than Congress. In the nearly half a century-long history of Gallup polling, the only people or institutions that have been more unpopular than the current Congress are Fidel Castro, Saddam Hussein, Osama bin Laden and Mark Fuhrman, a detective in the O.J. Simpson murder trial, said Gallup's Editor in Chief Frank Newport. Here's a look at some of the things Americans like more than Congress:

 Derick E. Hingle/Bloomberg /Getty Images BP During the Oil Spill At the height of the BP oil spill in 2010, while thousands of barrels of crude oil were streaming into the Gulf of Mexico daily, the BP oil company, which owned the gushing offshore rig, had a higher approval rating than Congress currently has. A June 2010 Gallup poll shows that 16 percent of respondents approved of how BP was handling the spill, which went uncapped for two months.

 Jacques DeMarthon/AFP/Getty Images Socialism It's a label than many of Obama's critics have attempted to plaster on the president's re-election campaign like the scarlet A on Hester Prynne's dress. But judging by the latest polls, socialism is actually more popular than Congress. Three times as many people have a positive view of socialism than have a positive view of Congress. According to a CBS/New York Times poll released last month, 33 percent of Americans view socialism positively.

 John Moore/Getty Images Waterboarding More people think waterboarding, where interrogators pour water over a prisoner's face so they feel like they are drowning, should be used as an interrogation tactic against suspected terrorists than support Congress. According to a November CNN/ORC poll an even 50 percent of respondents said Waterboarding should be allowed. The same poll found that 31 percent of Americans do not think the practice is torture while 68 percent said it is torture.

 Getty Images Abortion In a July ABC/Washington Post poll 19 percent of respondents supported abortion being legal "in all cases," nearly double the percentage of people who support the current Congress. A slightly smaller percentage were on the opposite end of the spectrum, with 15 percent of respondents saying abortion should be outlawed in every circumstances.

 Pierre Manevy/Express/Getty Images President Nixon In the midst of one of the greatest scandals in presidential history, President Richard Nixon had a higher approval rating that Congress currently has. A 1974 Gallup poll shows that 24 percent of Americans supported the president at the height of the Watergate scandal.

 Getty Images Santa Clause Non-Believers More people in the United States have never believed in Santa Clause than currently put their faith in Congress. An AP/Gfk poll in December showed that 16 percent of Americans did not believe in Old Saint Nick as a child. Put another way, roughly the same number of people believe or have believed in Santa as currently disapprove of Congress. Cue Congressional Scrooge/Grinch jokes…

 Yiannis Liakos/AFP/Getty Images Prime Minister of Greece More than twice as many people approve of the job Greek leader George Papandreou did in 2011, the year his country plummeted into the worst debt crises in the Western world, than support the U.S. Congress. Even after Papandreou resigned amid Greece's debt catastrophe, 21 percent of respondents worldwide still supported him, according to a worldwide Gallup poll conducted throughout 2011.

 Seth Wenig/AP Photo Occupy Wall Street The groups representing outraged citizens on both ends of the political spectrum – Occupy Wall Street and the Tea Party – both have more support than the current Congress. An NBC/ Wall Street Journal poll in December showed 24 percent of respondents were supportive of the Occupy Wall Street movement and 27 percent said they considered themselves Tea Party supporters.

 Jeff Bottari/Getty Images Paris Hilton Reality TV star and heiress Paris Hilton is the least popular celebrity, but she is still more popular than Congress. An August Ipsos poll on celebrity popularity found that 60 percent of respondents had an unfavorable view of Hilton, making her comparatively popular compared to the 86 percent of people who said they disapprove of Congress. Hilton and Charlie Sheen were the only two celebrities in the poll that were view more negatively than positively, falling below the likes of Brittany Spears and Kanye West, who both had a 45 percent favorability rate. ||||| Barry Brecheisen/Getty Images There is no question that Americans are frustrated with their elected officials, but the latest Gallup poll shows that frustration has reached a fever pitch, plummeting Congress to its lowest approval rating in history. Just 10 percent of Americans approve of the job Congress is doing, fewer than at any previous point in Gallup's nearly 40 years of polling. With an approval rating that low, it is hard to find anything that is actually less popular than Congress. In the nearly half a century-long history of Gallup polling, the only people or institutions that have been more unpopular than the current Congress are Fidel Castro, Saddam Hussein, Osama bin Laden and Mark Fuhrman, a detective in the O.J. Simpson murder trial, said Gallup's Editor in Chief Frank Newport. Here's a look at some of the things Americans like more than Congress:

 Derick E. Hingle/Bloomberg /Getty Images BP During the Oil Spill At the height of the BP oil spill in 2010, while thousands of barrels of crude oil were streaming into the Gulf of Mexico daily, the BP oil company, which owned the gushing offshore rig, had a higher approval rating than Congress currently has. A June 2010 Gallup poll shows that 16 percent of respondents approved of how BP was handling the spill, which went uncapped for two months.

 Jacques DeMarthon/AFP/Getty Images Socialism It's a label than many of Obama's critics have attempted to plaster on the president's re-election campaign like the scarlet A on Hester Prynne's dress. But judging by the latest polls, socialism is actually more popular than Congress. Three times as many people have a positive view of socialism than have a positive view of Congress. According to a CBS/New York Times poll released last month, 33 percent of Americans view socialism positively.

 John Moore/Getty Images Waterboarding More people think waterboarding, where interrogators pour water over a prisoner's face so they feel like they are drowning, should be used as an interrogation tactic against suspected terrorists than support Congress. According to a November CNN/ORC poll an even 50 percent of respondents said Waterboarding should be allowed. The same poll found that 31 percent of Americans do not think the practice is torture while 68 percent said it is torture.

 Getty Images Abortion In a July ABC/Washington Post poll 19 percent of respondents supported abortion being legal "in all cases," nearly double the percentage of people who support the current Congress. A slightly smaller percentage were on the opposite end of the spectrum, with 15 percent of respondents saying abortion should be outlawed in every circumstances.

 Pierre Manevy/Express/Getty Images President Nixon In the midst of one of the greatest scandals in presidential history, President Richard Nixon had a higher approval rating that Congress currently has. A 1974 Gallup poll shows that 24 percent of Americans supported the president at the height of the Watergate scandal.

 Getty Images Santa Clause Non-Believers More people in the United States have never believed in Santa Clause than currently put their faith in Congress. An AP/Gfk poll in December showed that 16 percent of Americans did not believe in Old Saint Nick as a child. Put another way, roughly the same number of people believe or have believed in Santa as currently disapprove of Congress. Cue Congressional Scrooge/Grinch jokes…

 Yiannis Liakos/AFP/Getty Images Prime Minister of Greece More than twice as many people approve of the job Greek leader George Papandreou did in 2011, the year his country plummeted into the worst debt crises in the Western world, than support the U.S. Congress. Even after Papandreou resigned amid Greece's debt catastrophe, 21 percent of respondents worldwide still supported him, according to a worldwide Gallup poll conducted throughout 2011.

 Seth Wenig/AP Photo Occupy Wall Street The groups representing outraged citizens on both ends of the political spectrum – Occupy Wall Street and the Tea Party – both have more support than the current Congress. An NBC/ Wall Street Journal poll in December showed 24 percent of respondents were supportive of the Occupy Wall Street movement and 27 percent said they considered themselves Tea Party supporters.

 Jeff Bottari/Getty Images Paris Hilton Reality TV star and heiress Paris Hilton is the least popular celebrity, but she is still more popular than Congress. An August Ipsos poll on celebrity popularity found that 60 percent of respondents had an unfavorable view of Hilton, making her comparatively popular compared to the 86 percent of people who said they disapprove of Congress. Hilton and Charlie Sheen were the only two celebrities in the poll that were view more negatively than positively, falling below the likes of Brittany Spears and Kanye West, who both had a 45 percent favorability rate. |||||
What is a shorter version of the above article?

– A Gallup poll released Wednesday finds that Americans' approval of Congress has hit yet another record low: 10%. There aren't many institutions Americans have liked less over the last 50-or-so years, according to Gallup: Only Fidel Castro, Saddam Hussein, Osama bin Laden, and OJ Simpson detective Mark Fuhrman have ever scored lower. ABC News takes a look at some very unpopular things that still manage to rank above Congress: According to an August poll, Paris Hilton is America's least-favorite celeb. But her 60% disapproval rating is still better than Congress's 86% disapproval rating. Socialism is about three times as popular as Congress: About 33% of Americans view the system positively, according to a January poll. About half of Americans polled in November said waterboarding should be permitted as an interrogation technique—meaning more support the technique than support Congress. During the financial crisis, banks were more popular than Congress is now: Some 18% of Americans still had faith in the institutions in 2009. In June 2010, as thousands of barrels of oil were pouring into the Gulf of Mexico every day, 16% of Americans approved of BP's work on the crisis. Click through to see what else Americans hate less than they despise Congress.


Summarize this article:

Multiple sources tell The Federalist that the New York Times is prepping yet another attack piece on Brett Kavanaugh for his party planning efforts in the 1980s.

 Having failed to corroborate any allegations of rape against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, The New York Times is now preparing to smear him for organizing party planning and logistics more than 30 years ago. This comes on the heels of a blockbuster Times report alleging that Kavanaugh might have thrown ice at someone at some point in the 1980s.

 The Times is calling around to classmates asking them about a letter Kavanaugh allegedly wrote to a classmate to organize a week at the beach during the 1980s, according to multiple sources. The letter notes the location on the Maryland shore where the classmates planned to stay, the estimated costs for each organizer, and items they should bring with them, such as “sheets, pillowcases, blankets, etc.”

 The letter noted that a total of eight friends, including Kavanaugh, were “in charge” and that they would each get to have beds to sleep in at the designated rental property and a say in who else was invited. The tongue-in-cheek note, infused with inside jokes, said they should talk to neighbors of the property ahead of time and give them a heads up that a party would be hosted there and that alcohol and obnoxious students would be involved.

 “P.S. It would probably be a good idea on Sat. the 18th to warn the neighbors that we’re loud, obnoxious drunks with prolific pukers among us,” the letter said. The note also joked that “the danger of eviction is great and that would suck because of the money and because this week has big potential.”

 The letter noted that each of the eight boys owed an additional $50 to secure the remainder of the costs of the rental property, which totaled $398. Kavanaugh openly discussed needing to maintain order to prevent the festivities from getting out of control.

 “If half of Gonzaga/St. Johns starts coming,” he wrote, “we might have to give the boot or else we might get it ourselves.”

 The letter also made note of their awkwardness with girls, whom the teenage boys very much hoped would join them at the party.

 “I think we are unanimous that any girls we can beg to stay there are welcomed with open …” he wrote.

 The letter addressed to Patrick “P.J.” Smyth was signed by Kavanaugh as “Bart,” which friends say was a nickname P.J. used with him.

 “FFFFF, Bart,” the letter closed, using an inside reference to a speech tic of one of the boys’ friends.

 Classmates contacted by The Federalist confirm that Kavanaugh organized “Beach Week,” which to this day remains a popular rite of passage in the D.C. metro area for public and private school students alike. The letter was apparently shared with Georgetown Prep alumni years later as an example of the camaraderie and shared hijinks of Kavanaugh and his classmates. One person told The Federalist that the letter was shared as an homage to Kavanaugh, who even then was seen as the most organized individual in a school full of them.

 “Brett was very organized, the most organized of everybody. This was his attempt to get people informed about where we were staying,” said one classmate, who described the note as innocuous. He described his friend set as having a good reputation with women at neighboring schools, a view confirmed by many female contemporaries who have signed letters in praise of Kavanaugh.

 The friend said Kavanaugh was “one of the most reserved and conservative guys in this group. Did he drink beer? Yes, but absolutely he was one of the most reserved and conservative guys in the whole group.” He expressed disappointment in the Times, which he said couldn’t care less about the truth. “They have an objective and will do whatever it takes to achieve that objective,” he said.

 This isn’t the first attempt by The New York Times to spuriously slime Kavanaugh and his classmates for their high school friendships. As The Federalist previously noted, a Times article scrutinizing inside jokes in the 1983 yearbook of Kavanaugh’s Georgetown Preparatory School hid multiple problems with its claims, including that it was sourced to a rabidly anti-Trump politician in Maryland and his associate.

 The article revealed inside jokes about a friend of Kavanaugh and his classmates named Renate Schroeder Dolphin. The classmates were featured in a picture with a caption “Renate Alumnius,” which the Times’ named and anonymous sources argued is a reference to sex. The classmates themselves, however, strenuously insist that the reference was nothing of the kind and that none of the men had sexual relations with the friend. They say that they attended each other’s dances and prep school functions and maintained the friendship throughout the next several decades.

 More recently, The New York Times reported that Kavanaugh may or may not have thrown ice in the 1980s in an article reported by Emily Bazelon, an abortion fanatic and virulent critic of Kavanaugh who publicly opposed his confirmation in July.

 The Senate is awaiting the completion of a supplemental background check investigation by the FBI before it votes on the confirmation of Kavanaugh to be a Supreme Court justice. ||||| Parties, in the backyards of classmates’ suburban homes when their parents were away, would often attract hundreds of students from nearby private schools, his classmates recall. Five or 10 kegs would be procured and, if all went as planned, drained by the end of the night.

 One night during his senior year, according to classmates who witnessed it, Judge Kavanaugh triumphantly hoisted an empty beer keg above his head, in recognition that he and his friends were well on their way to reaching their goal of polishing off 100 kegs during the academic year — an achievement they later boasted about in their yearbook.

 Four Georgetown Prep classmates said they saw Judge Kavanaugh and his friends partake in binge-drinking rituals many weekends in which other partygoers saw them inebriated, even having difficulty standing. Three of those classmates signed a July letter, along with more than 150 other alumni, that endorsed him for the Supreme Court.

 Through his lawyers, Judge Kavanaugh declined to comment for this article, other than to say of his letter: “This is a note I wrote to organize ‘Beach Week’ in the summer of 1983.”

 Kerri Kupec, a White House spokeswoman, said: “It seems The New York Times is committed to embarrassing Judge Kavanaugh with three-decade-old stories of adolescent drinking.”

 Judge Kavanaugh, an only child and sports fanatic, surrounded himself in high school with athletes. Among his closest friends, classmates said, were Mr. Judge, Christopher C. Garrett and Don Urgo Jr. Other members of the clique included Mr. Gaudette and DeLancey Davis.

 “Academically, athletically and socially, we all became literally almost like brothers,” Mr. Urgo said in an interview with The Times in July. He got to know Judge Kavanaugh as a fellow altar boy in elementary school. “We had a particular esprit de corps, a zest for life, as a group.” |||||

– The New York Times has unearthed an artifact from Brett Kavanaugh's youth: A letter preparing for "Beach Week" in the summer of 1983. In it, the 18-year-old Kavanaugh gives seven Georgetown Prep classmates details of a rented condo in Ocean City, Md.—and warns of the dangers of eviction. "Any girls we can beg to stay there are welcomed with open ..." he writes to fellow members of what classmates describe as a hard-partying clique of football players. The first students to arrive should "warn the neighbors that we’re loud, obnoxious drunks with prolific pukers among us," writes Kavanaugh, whose teenage drinking has been in the spotlight amid sexual assault claims. More: No biggie. The conservative Federalist accuses the Times of creating a "hit piece" based on nothing more than Kavanaugh's "party planning." The White House was also dismissive: "It seems the New York Times is committed to embarrassing Judge Kavanaugh with three-decade-old stories of adolescent drinking," said spokeswoman Kerri Kupec.


Write an article based on this summary:

– With Monday's news the FBI is investigating the Trump campaign, it's a good time to get the know the man who stands a good chance of being at the center of the investigation. Roger Stone, a Republican strategist who's championed a Trump presidency for three decades, has been accused of colluding with Russian agents to make that happen. Here's what you need to know: To start with, the New York Times has a profile of the man who calls himself a "dirty trickster," has a massive Nixon back tattoo, claims he's survived a recent assassination attempt, and says he's playing a character. CBS News reports Stone denies any sort of collusion with Russia regarding the 2016 election. And Stone says he hasn't spoken to the FBI as part of its investigation into communication between Trump camp and Russians, though he's long assumed he himself has been under investigation, according to Politico. Heavy has a list of five facts about Stone, including that he acknowledges being in communication with Gufficer 2.0, the hacker who took credit for data breaches within the DNC ahead of the election. Stone also claims to have a direct line of communication with Julian Assange and has repeatedly said he knows about WikiLeaks releases before they happen, CNN reports. Also according to CNN, Stone accuses the US intelligence community of being "politicized" and says Americans shouldn't trust it, especially when it claims there's no evidence Barack Obama wiretapped Trump Tower. Finally, New York wonders what's up with Stone's bizarre sartorial choices—such as this outfit, or this one—that have been keeping Twitter busy in recent days.

Photo: Courtesy of Twitter/AASchapiro

 Trump adviser Roger Stone appeared on Infowars Monday to refute claims that he’d had inappropriate contact with Russian intelligence during the 2016 election. This wouldn’t necessarily be news (Stone has proclaimed his innocence before), except that he did it wearing this:

 Roger Stone, live on Alex Jones, commenting on #ComeyHearing, dressed as a hot air ballon pilot. pic.twitter.com/b7gLpWBFwo — Avi Asher-Schapiro (@AASchapiro) March 20, 2017

 Stone’s “Iris Apfel but wearing Samuel L. Jackson’s hat�? look comes just a few days after he was roasted on Twitter for his inauguration getup:

 Perhaps this confusing new aesthetic can be coined “dirty trickster�? chic. ||||| Longtime GOP operative and Trump confidant Roger Stone on Tuesday doubled down on his assertion that he did not collude with Russia to meddle in the 2016 U.S. election.

 “I have said that repeatedly and I say that again today,” Stone said in an interview on “CBS This Morning.”

 Stone said he’s aware that he’s under investigation by the FBI, but that he has not spoken to the bureau. He said he is following the Senate Intelligence Committee’s request to preserve documents.

 “I assume I have been under surveillance now for some time,” Stone said. “What probable cause there is, or what evidence that would dictate that, I don’t know.”

 Stone’s name frequently popped up during a House Intelligence Committee hearing with FBI Director James Comey and NSA Director Admiral Mike Rogers that was focused on Russia’s interference in the election. He had been in contact with Guccifer 2.0, someone involved in hacked the Democratic National Committee during the 2016 race, though he says their exchange was “benign.”

 “The inference that my now completely public exchange with a hacker Guccifer 2.0 -- who may or may not be a Russian agent -- somehow constitutes collusion is not true based either on the facts, on the actual text which I released or on the timing,” he told CBS.

 U.S. officials have said they believe Guccifer 2.0 is linked to Russia.

 Asked if President Trump should say he was wrong when he accused President Obama of ordering a wiretap of Trump Tower, Stone said, “No, actually, I don’t.” Comey said Tuesday neither the FBI nor the Justice Department has evidence to support that claim.

 Stone said it’s “certainly possible” that Trump Tower was under surveillance. ||||| (CNN) In the final months of the 2016 campaign, longtime Donald Trump associate Roger Stone repeatedly discussed his backchannel communications with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and claimed knowledge of forthcoming leaks from the group, a CNN KFile review of his public statements shows.

 Stone's comments about WikiLeaks have come under increased scrutiny as the FBI and congressional committees investigate whether Trump associates were involved in Russian efforts to interfere in the 2016 election.

 Stone has repeatedly and publicly denied that he had any contact with Russian officials during the campaign. Stone declined to answer questions from CNN for this story. After this story was published, WikiLeaks tweeted, "WikiLeaks & Assange have repeatedly confirmed that they have never communicated with Stone."

 But Stone's many statements have fueled suspicions that figures in Trump's orbit played a role in releases of hacked emails from the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman, John Podesta.

 On July 22 of last year, on the eve of the Democratic National Convention, WikiLeaks released nearly 20,000 internal DNC emails, which ultimately sparked the resignation of DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz.

 "Guccifer 2.0," the online persona US intelligence officials believe is a front for Russian intelligence, claimed responsibility for the hacks.

 WikiLeaks began to serially release emails from Hillary Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta in October. The US intelligence community has attributed those hacks to Russian intelligence.

 Stone began discussing WikiLeaks and Assange in August 2016. Stone told a local Republican Party group in Florida on August 10 that he had "communicated with Julian Assange." In an interview later in August, Stone suggested that Assange had material that included emails deleted by Clinton aides Huma Abedin and Cheryl Mills. At other times, Stone said the material released would be related to the Clinton Foundation.

 On August 21, Stone tweeted that "it will soon the Podesta's time in the barrel." Stone claimed in an October 19 Breitbart post that he did not have advanced knowledge that Podesta's hacked emails would be leaked, claiming his tweet was about Podesta's business dealings.

 In mid-September, Stone said on Boston Herald Radio that he expects, "Julian Assange and the Wikileaks people to drop a payload of new documents on a weekly basis fairly soon. And that of course will answer the question of exactly what was erased on that email server."

 In late October, Stone told a local Florida television station he only knew of the material that would be released in "a broad sense" from a source who was a friend of Assange.

 Here's a timeline of Stone's statements:

 Stone tells a local Republican Party group in Florida "I've actually communicated with Julian Assange."

 Stone says on the #MAGA podcast he believes Assange has emails deleted by Clinton aides Huma Abedin and Cheryl Mills. He adds that he knows he has them and they should be expected to drop in the next three months.

 "In fact I know [Assange] has them," Stone said. "And I believe he will expose the American people to this information in the next 90 days."

 Stone engages in direct messages with DNC hacker Guccifer 2.0, according to direct messages reported by the Washington Times and The Smoking Gun. Stone tells the hacker he was "delighted" Twitter reinstated his account.

 Stone tells World Net Daily he communicated with Assange and forthcoming material will be related to the Clinton Foundation.

 Stone tells radio host Alex Jones he has "backchannel communications" with Assange who has "political dynamite" on the Clintons.

 Stone says in an interview on C-SPAN he's been in touch with Julian Assange "through an intermediary—somebody who is a mutual friend." WikiLeaks would later tweet in response to Stone's appearance, "We are happy to hear true information from everyone. But so far, we have not heard from Mr. Stone."

 Stone says he is not "at liberty to discuss" information he received from Assange. Stone claims he was hacked after speaking with Assange.

 Stone says on The Blaze radio that he had "communicated" with Assange through a "mutual acquaintance."

 Stone tweets that "it will soon the Podesta's time in the barrel." Stone later says his tweet was about Podesta's business dealings.

 Stone denies Guccifer 2.0 is connected to the Russians on local Maryland radio.

 "The DNC leaks that nailed Deborah Wasserman Schultz in the heist against Bernie Sanders was not leaked by the Russians, it was leaked by Cruccifer [sic] 2, I should say hacked and leaked first by Cruccifer 2, well known hacker who is not in the employment of the Russians and then Wikileaks. So that whole claim is a canard."

 In an interview with Breitbart Radio, Stone says, "I'm almost confident Mr. Assange has virtually every one of the emails that the Clinton henchwomen, Huma Abedin and Cheryl Mills, thought that they had deleted, and I suspect that he's going to drop them at strategic times in the run up to this race."

 Stone says on local Florida radio of Assange and the Clinton Foundation, "Perhaps he has the smoking gun that will make this handcuff time."

 Stone says on Boston Herald Radio that he expects Assange the WikiLeaks to "drop a payload of new documents on a weekly basis fairly soon. And that of course will answer the question of exactly what was erased on that email server."

 Stone adds of Assange, "I am in touch with him through an intermediary."

 Stone tweets, "Wednesday @HillaryClinton is done. #Wikileaks."

 Stone tells a local Florida radio station that he has "a back-channel communication with Assange, because we have a good mutual friend."

 "That friend travels back and forth from the United States to London and we talk. I had dinner with him last Monday," Stone said.

 Stone writes on Breitbart: "I had no advance notice of WikiLeaks' hacking of Podesta's e-mails."

 Stone says on local Florida television that he had no advanced knowledge of the forthcoming hack of Podesta's emails, but says he has a "backchannel contact" to Assange.

 "We have a mutual friend," Stone says.

 When asked about the content of the information shared, Stone said, "Broad information pertaining to the fact that Wikileaks has information pertaining to massive secret surveillance, war, oil, the U.S. election."

 Stone says he only knew about emails being released "in the broad sense." He says he has never met or spoken to Assange and didn't pass any information about it to Trump.

 Stone calls claims that he colluded with Assange "false" in a blog post and says he only knew of forthcoming material because, "Julian Assange of WikiLeaks on numerous occasions had signaled that he had unspecified political dynamite that would shake up the presidential race."

 Stone explains his WikiLeaks contacts in a Reddit ask me anything.

 "I have been forthright about the fact that Julian Assange of Wikileaks and I share a common friend who has communicated with both of us," he writes. "I was simply told Wikileaks was in possession of 'political dynamite' that would 'rock Hillary's campaign,' and they would release it in late October."

 "I had no previous knowledge of the subject of the disclosures, although I've speculated that it would be related to the Clinton Foundation. I've had no advance knowledge of the hacking of Podesta or anyone else. Nor do I believe that Assange is an agent of the Russians, a charge which is yet undocumented with proof and which he denies."

 Stone tweets -- then deletes -- about communicating with Assange, writing that he "never denied perfectly legal backchannel to Assange who indeed had the goods on #CrookedHillary."

 Stone says charges he colluded with Russian hacker Guccifer are "demonstrably false."

 Stone tweets in response to the House Intelligence Committee hearing on Russian interference in the 2016 election: "It's only fair that I have a chance to respond 2 any smears or half truths about alleged "Collusion with Russians" from 2day's Intel Hearing." ||||| Tweet with a location

 You can add location information to your Tweets, such as your city or precise location, from the web and via third-party applications. You always have the option to delete your Tweet location history. Learn more ||||| Tweet with a location

 You can add location information to your Tweets, such as your city or precise location, from the web and via third-party applications. You always have the option to delete your Tweet location history. Learn more ||||| Story highlights Stone said it's "naive" to think the intelligence community isn't politicized

 Stone has long assumed that he's under surveillance

 (CNN) A longtime Donald Trump associate who has became a recurring topic in conversations about the relationship between the Trump campaign and Russian officials said that the US intelligence community has become "politicized."

 Political adviser Roger Stone was asked Tuesday if he thought Americans should stop trusting recommendations from the intelligence community.

 "To think that our intelligence community has not been politicized would be naive," he said on CBS "This Morning."

 Stone said he does not think Trump should apologize or admit that he was wrong for making unsubstantiated claims that former President Barack Obama wiretapped Trump Tower during the presidential election. FBI Director James Comey said Monday he had "no information" to support the President's accusations.

 "The people you are referring to are the same people that said there were weapons of mass destruction and (Saddam) Hussein had them, who lied about rendition, who lied about torture at Abu Ghraib," Stone said.

 Read More ||||| Roget Stone doubled down on the White House's claims that Obama wiretapped Trump Tower. | Getty Roger Stone: I haven’t talked to the FBI

 Roger Stone, the longtime Republican strategist and confidant of President Donald Trump, doubled down on claims that former President Barack Obama had wiretapped Trump Tower, and said that he had not spoken to the FBI as part of an investigation into communications between Trump allies and Russians during the campaign.

 In an appearance on CBS This Morning on Tuesday, Stone said he assumed he was under investigation, based on news reports.

 Story Continued Below

 “I have assumed that, because page one of the New York Times on Jan. 20 said that wiretapped information on Trump aides was being used in an inquiry,” Stone said, after being asked by CBS This Morning host Charlie Rose whether he was aware that was under investigation. “I assumed that I had been under surveillance now for some time. What probable cause there is or what evidence that would dictate that, I don’t know.”

 Stone confirmed that the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee had sent him a letter asking him to preserve documents in the case of an investigation.

 Stone also dug in on the White House’s claims that Obama had wiretapped Trump Tower, even as FBI director James Comey shot down the allegations at a Senate hearing Monday. He suggested that Comey and the FBI “are the same people who said there were weapons of mass destruction,” and made claims about “the deep state.”

 When asked directly whether he believed Trump Tower was under surveillance and was wiretapped at all, Stone said he thought it was “certainly possible.”

 Stone, who has repeatedly denied contacts with Russians aiming to influence the presidential election, defended his communications with the hacker Guccifer 2.0. He suggested that his conversations with the hacker was linked to a story he wrote for Breitbart News, and characterized his conversations as “entirely benign.” Stone had previously bragged about having been in communication with WikiLeaks and its founder Julian Assange (something WikiLeaks and Assange have denied), and he suggested that Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta would “soon be in the barrel” prior to WikiLeaks’ publication of Podesta’s emails.

 Stone asserted that he had not had any contact with Russians nor had he been involved in trying to tamper with the election, and he defended former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and former national security adviser Michael Flynn. He declined defending the Trump campaign’s former foreign policy adviser Carter Page, who Trump advisers have denied was involved in the campaign, saying only that he “never heard of this guy.”

 “When people say, when there’s smoke, there’s fire, in this particular case, you say what?” co-host Gayle King asked Stone.

 “Let me have my day in court,” Stone said. |||||


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Cruz mocks Biden, then apologizes The joke had been a winner in the past for the Texas Republican.

 Sen. Ted Cruz rapidly apologized Wednesday after making a joke at the expense of Vice President Joe Biden, whose son died during the weekend.

 Cruz, speaking in Michigan, trotted out an old line of his: “Joe Biden … You know what the nice thing is? You don’t even need a punch line. I promise you it works. At the next party you’re at, just walk up to someone and say, ‘Vice President Joe Biden,’ and just close your mouth. They will crack up laughing,” according to reports on MLive.com.

 Story Continued Below

 The insult had been a winner in the past for the Texas Republican — Biden jokes are a staple of his standard stump speeches — but this time the joke drew immediate criticism on social media from people who noted that the vice president is grieving for his son Beau, who died of brain cancer on Saturday at the age of 46.

 Cruz subsequently issued an apology on Facebook: “It was a mistake to use an old joke about Joe Biden during his time of grief, and I sincerely apologize. The loss of his son is heartbreaking and tragic, and our prayers are very much with the Vice President and his family.”

 He also tweeted an apology, which linked to his Facebook page.

 Detroit News reporter Chad Livengood tweeted that he questioned Cruz about the joke immediately after the speech and that “the Texas senator turned and walked away.” Livengood described the reaction to Cruz’s joke as “faint laughter.”

 The GOP presidential contender was speaking in Howell, Michigan, to approximately 650 people at a gathering of Livingston County Republicans. The event, billed as a Lincoln Day Dinner, featured a VIP reception at $150 per person and $250 per couple.

 Saul Anuzis, Cruz’s campaign chair in the state, had tweeted a message: “600+ strong listening to Ted Cruz in Michigan!” Later, Anuzis was quoted by Livengood as saying that the senator meant no disrespect with his stab at humor. “Timing could have been better,” Anuzis said.

 Beau Biden is to lie in state Thursday in Dover in his home state of Delaware. His funeral will be Saturday in Wilmington; President Barack Obama will deliver a eulogy. ||||| Ted Cruz talks with supporter Heather Huntley, who holds daughter Audrey, 7 months, at the Livingston County Lincoln Day Dinner. (Photo: John M. Galloway / Special to The Detroit News)

 Howell — GOP presidential candidate Ted Cruz apologized Wednesday night for telling a joke at a Livingston County Republican dinner about Joe Biden less than a week after the vice president lost his eldest son to brain cancer.

 "Vice President Joe Biden," the Texas senator said to faint laughter among 650 Republicans packed in a Howell banquet hall Wednesday. "You know the nice thing? You don't need a punch line."

 "I promise you it works," Cruz added. "The next party you're at, just walk up to someone and say, 'Vice President Joe Biden' and just close your mouth. They will crack up laughing."

 "Vice President Joe Biden," @TedCruz says to faint laughter. "You know the nice thing? You don't need a punch line." #JoeBiden — Chad Livengood (@ChadLivengood) June 3, 2015

 The presidential candidate's comments immediately set off a social media firestorm on Twitter. Cruz issued an apology less than an hour after his keynote speech ended.

 "It was a mistake to use an old joke about Joe Biden during his time of grief, and I sincerely apologize," Cruz said in a statement. "The loss of his son is heartbreaking and tragic, and our prayers are very much with the Vice President and his family."

 Biden's eldest son, Beau, died Saturday of brain cancer. Beau Biden was a former two-term attorney general of Delaware and is to be buried Saturday in the Biden's hometown of Wilmington, Delaware.

 Cruz used the joke to talk about Biden's past comments about firing off a double-barrel shotgun to ward off intruders — one of several stump-speech jabs at Democrats.

 "That is very, very good advice — if it so happens that you're being attacked by a flock of geese," Cruz said.

 When asked why he told a Joe Biden joke, Cruz turned and walked away.

 Cruz was the keynote speaker for the Livingston County Republican Party's Lincoln Day dinner at Crystal Gardens banquet center in Howell.

 "He clearly wasn't trying to be disrespectful," said Saul Anuzis, Cruz's Michigan campaign chairman and a former Michigan Republican Party chair. "Timing could have been better."

 Lon Johnson, chairman of the Michigan Democratic Party, slammed Cruz late Wednesday night for the Biden remarks.

 "When it counted, and it always does for someone attempting to become the leader of our nation, Sen. Cruz demonstrated a true lack of Christian compassion for a father mourning a son," Johnson said in a statement.

 Cruz's visit to Howell was his first campaign event in Michigan since launching his campaign for president in March.

 "He's willing to fight for what's right, even against the Grand Poobahs up in Washington," said state Sen. Patrick Colbeck, R-Canton Township, who also is a leader in Cruz's Michigan campaign.

 A conservative firebrand in the U.S. Senate, Cruz made clear he intends to appeal to constitutionally conscious Republicans, Evangelical Christians and Reagan Democrats in Michigan's March 8 presidential primary next year.

 "Michigan is ground zero for the Reagan Democrats, the working men and women getting hammered by the Obama (agenda)," Cruz said. "…We are working to build a grassroots army across Michigan and every state in the union."

 Cruz called for a federal flat tax, abolishing the Internal Revenue Service and repealing "every word of Obamacare."

 He said there would be consequences of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton succeeding Democratic President Barack Obama in the White House.

 "If we have four or eight more years going down this road, I think we risk losing the great country in history," Cruz said.

 clivengood@detroitnews.com

 (517) 371-3660

 Twitter.com/ChadLivengood

 Read or Share this story: http://detne.ws/1IiXpJQ ||||| Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, a GOP presidential candidate, quickly apologized Wednesday night after cracking a joke he’s used before about Vice President Biden, whose son Beau died on Saturday.

 Speaking in Howell, Mich., Cruz mentioned Biden’s name to a GOP group, then, according to a reporter from The Detroit News, said: “You know the nice thing? You don’t need a punch line.”

 "Vice President Joe Biden," @TedCruz says to faint laughter. "You know the nice thing? You don't need a punch line." #JoeBiden — Chad Livengood (@ChadLivengood) June 3, 2015

 Cruz has delivered the line at Biden’s expense in the past, but the timing of Wednesday’s remark, coming just days after Beau Biden’s death after a battle with brain cancer, sparked immediate criticism on social media.

 Cruz apologized in a Facebook post after the event, saying “It was a mistake to use an old joke about Joe Biden during his time of grief, and I sincerely apologize.”

 A funeral Mass for Beau Biden is scheduled this Saturday in Wilmington, Del. ||||| Add a location to your Tweets

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 Embed Ted Cruz: I’m sorry about Joe Biden joke 0:43 autoplay autoplay Copy this code to your website or blog

 Republican presidential hopeful Ted Cruz has apologized for making a joke about Joe Biden just days after the vice president's eldest son died from brain cancer.

 "Vice President Joe Biden. You know the nice thing? You don't need a punchline," the Texas senator said at a GOP dinner in Howell, Michigan, on Wednesday night.

 "I promise you it works. The next party you're at, just walk up to someone and say, 'Vice President Joe Biden' and just close your mouth. They will crack up laughing," he said, repeating a joke he has used in previous speeches.

 Ted Cruz comments on Joe Biden. http://t.co/m3y7NP1xbO -Zaid Benjamin (@zaidbenjamin) June 4, 2015

 Cruz told reporters after the event that 46-year-old Beau Biden's death on Saturday was "heartbreaking and tragic" and said his prayers were with the vice president and his family.

 But when Cruz was asked by Detroit News reporter Chad Livengood: "Why did you tell a joke about the vice president tonight?" the senator walked away without commenting. The joke and exchange with reporters was uploaded to YouTube by Democratic super PAC American Bridge 21st Century.

 How Ted Cruz responded when @ChadLivengood asked about his tastelessly timed @VP joke. https://t.co/rcUZLzT0Kc -Scott Charton (@ScottCharton) June 4, 2015

 After a considerable backlash on social media, Cruz posted on his Facebook page late Wednesday saying "it was a mistake to use an old joke about Joe Biden during his time of grief, and I sincerely apologize."

 The post added: "The loss of his son is heartbreaking and tragic, and our prayers are very much with the vice president and his family." |||||

– Telling the same tired joke over and over again is arguably just as bad as telling a "too soon" joke in bad taste. Ted Cruz earned the distinction of doing both yesterday in Michigan after he regurgitated a wisecrack he's used before about Joe Biden, just days after the vice president's son, Beau, died of brain cancer. Speaking in Howell at a GOP dinner, Cruz said, "Vice President Joe Biden. You know the nice thing? You don't need a punch line," NBC News reports. "I promise you it works. The next party you're at, just walk up to someone and say, 'Vice President Joe Biden' and just close your mouth. They will crack up laughing." Except no one was really cracking up (Detroit News reporter Chad Livengood tweeted there was "faint laughter" in the audience), and Cruz was quickly taken to task on social media for mocking the VP while he's grieving, Politico notes. Livengood tweeted that when he asked Cruz after the event about the ill-timed joke, Cruz simply walked away (Livengood also retweeted a video of the brief encounter). Cruz issued an apology last night on both Twitter and Facebook, USA Today notes, which read, "It was a mistake to use an old joke about Joe Biden during his time of grief, and I sincerely apologize. The loss of his son is heartbreaking and tragic, and our prayers are very much with the Vice President and his family." Saul Anuzis, Cruz's campaign manager in Michigan, told Livengood, "Timing could have been better," per the Detroit News.


News article:

This undated photo taken by Mexican Authorities and provided Wednesday, Feb. 6, 2013 by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice shows Juan Salaz.AP/Texas Department of Criminal Justice

 A Texas prison escapee on the run for almost 16 years has been captured by authorities in Mexico and awaits extradition to the U.S. to finish serving his sentence on charges of attempted capital murder of a police officer, state Department of Criminal Justice officials said Wednesday.

 Juan Salaz was apprehended last week. The 37-year-old American citizen had been sought for years by authorities on both sides of the border.

 Salaz escaped the night of March 22, 1997, from the Garza East prison in Beeville in South Texas by climbing over three 16-foot fences all topped with razor wire.

 At the time, he was serving three concurrent 35-year sentences for aggravated kidnapping with a deadly weapon and two counts of attempted capital murder of a police officer for a 1995 incident involving two Houston officers.

 He now also faces a felony escape charge besides serving the remainder of his sentence.

 Prison records show on April 2, 1995, Salaz and another man, Geronimo Soto Alvarado, abducted a man at gunpoint and demanded a ransom. Houston police undercover officers involved in the case arranged for the exchange. After the abducted man was freed, they identified themselves as police and Salaz and Alvarado opened fire on them. A police sergeant avoided serious injury when he was saved by his body armor. Another officer suffered a hand wound.

 Salaz was seriously wounded when police returned fire. He recovered from his injuries and subsequently pleaded guilty.

 Alvarado, now 45, also was arrested and is serving a life sentence for two convictions of aggravated assault and another for aggravated kidnapping.

 Prison officials said sources for years had told them Salaz was hiding out in Mexico but he managed to evade police. The hunt for him involved the U.S. Marshals Service, the Texas prison system's Office of Inspector General and Mexican law enforcement agencies.

 "Salaz thought that he had eluded authorities by starting a new life in Mexico," Department of Criminal Justice Inspector General Bruce Toney said Wednesday. "He was wrong."

 Salaz is to be returned to Texas custody once the Mexican government approves his extradition.

 Salaz's capture leaves Jose Fernando Bustos-Diaz, 24, as the lone Texas prison fugitive. He fled in April 2010 from the Brisco Unit in Dilley, near San Antonio. The prison houses medium- and minimum-security inmates. He also is believed to have fled to Mexico.

 Bustos-Diaz was serving 35 years for a 2005 murder in Harris County. ||||| Page 1 of 1

 Former Houston Police Department homicide detective Jim Binford shows the bullet that was removed from his body after a shootout involving fugitive Jose Salaz in April 1995.

 Jose Salaz is the only prisoner to escape from the Texas prison system and still remain at large.

 A man who escaped from a Texas prison 16 years ago has been captured in Mexico, authorities said Wednesday.

 Juan Salaz, an American citizen, was captured last week and remains in Mexico awaiting extradition, authorities said.

 Salaz escaped on March 22, 1997 from the Garza East Unit in Beeville, southeast of San Antonio. He was serving three concurrent 35 years sentences for two counts of attempted capital murder of a police officer and aggravated kidnapping with a deadly weapon.

 He climbed over three 16-foot razor wire topped security fences.

 As recently as three years ago, investigators suspected Salaz was is in the vicinity of Monterrey, Mexico. At that time, investigators said they suspected Salaz has crossed back and forth between Mexico and Texas with help from family in Houston. |||||
What is a shorter version of the above article?

– A Texas inmate who escaped from prison nearly 16 years ago has been caught in Mexico, reports the Houston Chronicle. Juan Salaz, a 37-year-old US citizen, climbed a 16-foot fence outside a San Antonio prison in 1997 and made his way to a new life in Mexico. It's not clear how he got caught, but authorities in both countries were on the case. Salaz was serving a 35-year sentence for, among other things, trying to kill a police officer, reports Fox News. His capture leaves Texas with one remaining fugitive inmate: Convicted murderer Jose Fernando Bustos-Diaz, 24, busted out in 2010.


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Keystone Virus Makes First Known Jump From Mosquitoes To Humans

 Enlarge this image toggle caption Alan Diaz/AP Alan Diaz/AP

 Updated at 10:45 a.m. ET Friday

 Just in time for the hot, humid, bug-bite-riddled summer: Researchers from the University of Florida have confirmed the first known case of a human infected with the mosquito-borne Keystone virus.

 A 16-year-old boy in North Central Florida went to an urgent care clinic after coming down with a fever and a severe rash in August 2016, during the Zika outbreak in Florida and the Caribbean.

 Doctors couldn't figure out what made him sick. They tested for Zika and various other pathogens but hit a series of dead ends.

 "We couldn't identify what was going on," J. Glenn Morris, director of the university's Emerging Pathogens Institute, told NPR member station WUSF. "We screened this with all the standard approaches and it literally took a year and a half of sort of dogged laboratory work to figure out what this virus was."

 Researchers published their findings earlier this month in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases.

 The virus was first found in the U.S. in 1964, when researchers isolated it from mosquitoes in Keystone, Fla. Since then, it "has been found in animal populations along coastal regions stretching from Texas to the Chesapeake Bay," according to a statement from University of Florida Health.

 But until now, there hasn't been a way to test humans for the Keystone virus, which is carried by the Aedes atlanticus mosquito, a cousin to the Zika-spreading Aedes aegypti.

 The virus can cause a rash and mild fever in humans. The teenager did not show signs of encephalitis, or inflammation of the brain — but Keystone is part of a group of viruses "known to cause encephalitis in several species, including humans," said lead study author John Lednicky, a University of Florida research professor in the environmental and global health department of the College of Public Health and Health Professions.

 Morris suspects many people might have the Keystone virus.

 "Although the virus has never previously been found in humans, the infection may actually be fairly common in North Florida," he said in the statement.

 "It's one of these instances where if you don't know to look for something, you don't find it." ||||| A mosquito-borne illness originally found in the Tampa Bay area has been confirmed in a human for the first time, according to University of Florida researchers.

 The Keystone virus, named after the northwestern Hillsborough County area where it was initially identified in 1964, has been found in animal populations along coastal regions stretching from Texas to the Chesapeake Bay.

 UF researchers have been sequencing the virus since August 2016, when a 16-year-old boy in North Central Florida showed up to a clinic with a rash and fever during the Zika virus epidemic in Florida and the Caribbean. The report was published June 9 in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases.

 Because of concerns about Zika, laboratory samples were collected from the patient, but studies were negative for Zika or related viruses.

 But the researchers found Keystone virus when they did viral cultures from the patient samples. Although the teenager did not report symptoms of encephalitis, lab studies indicate that Keystone virus can infect brain cells, and may pose a risk for brain infections.

 Dr. Glenn Morris, director of the university's Emerging Pathogens Institute, said until now, there hasn't been a way to test for the virus.

 "We couldn't identify what was going on,” Morris said. “We screened this with all the standard approaches and it literally took a year and a half of sort of dogged laboratory work to figure out what this virus was.”

 Morris said biotech companies are already reaching out to the institute to develop commercial tests that can be used in clinics and hospitals.

 Keystone is spread by aedes atlanticus, a common Florida mosquito and cousin to the mosquito, aedes aegypti, that spreads Zika.

 It’s part of a group of viruses that are known to cause encephalitis - inflammation of the brain - in several species, including humans. Morris said they’re not absolutely certain that Keystone can also cause encephalitis.

 Morris said although the virus has never previously been found in humans, the infection may actually be fairly common in North Florida. A 1972 article in the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene reported Keystone virus antibodies in 19 to 21 percent of the people tested in the Tampa Bay region.

 “There’s a high likelihood that Keystone virus is continuing to circulate in Florida, as it has for at least 50 or 60 years, and as it may well have for hundreds of years,” Morrisa said. “This is one of our native Florida viruses.”

 "It's likely there have continued to be a fair number of human infections. In most instances, it would appear to be asymptomatic or cause mild infection, fever and a rash."

 Morris emphasized the need for additional research into the prevalence of vector-borne diseases in the United States, and stressed the importance of minimizing the risk of mosquito bites by using mosquito repellent. ||||| The University of Florida Health Science Center - the most comprehensive academic health center in the Southeast - is dedicated to high-quality programs of education, research, patient care and public service.

 The UF College of Dentistry is the only public-funded dental school in Florida and is recognized as one of the top U.S. dental schools for the quality of its educational programs, oral health research enterprise and commitment to patient care and service.

 The College of Medicine, the largest of six colleges at the University of Florida Health Science Center, opened in 1956 with a mission to increase Florida's supply of highly qualified physicians, provide advanced health-care services to Florida residents and foster discovery in health research.

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 Co-located with the Shands Jacksonville Hospital, the Jacksonville Health Science Center excels in education, research and patient care that expresses our abiding values of compassion, excellence, professionalism and innovation. Our state-of-the-art medical center serves an urban population of 1 million from north Florida to south Georgia.

 The UFCOM-J offers accredited graduate medical education residency and fellowship programs, in addition to non-standard fellowship programs. Clinical rotations in all the major disciplines are provided for UFCOM undergraduate medical students and elective rotations to students from other accredited schools.

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 The UF College of Pharmacy-Jacksonville offers a four-year Doctor of Pharmacy (Pharm.D.) Program completed entirely in Jacksonville. Also offered on campus is an American Society of Health-System Pharmacists-accredited pharmacy residency program at Shands Jacksonville. ||||| These crawls are part of an effort to archive pages as they are created and archive the pages that they refer to. That way, as the pages that are referenced are changed or taken from the web, a link to the version that was live when the page was written will be preserved.Then the Internet Archive hopes that references to these archived pages will be put in place of a link that would be otherwise be broken, or a companion link to allow people to see what was originally intended by a page's authors.The goal is to fix all broken links on the web . Crawls of supported "No More 404" sites. |||||

– A coastal virus that can cause a rash and mild fever has officially infected a person for the first time, NPR reports. Scientists say it took 18 months to figure out that a Florida teen who got sick during the Zika outbreak of 2016 actually had the Keystone virus, which is carried by mosquitos. "We couldn't identify what was going on," J. Glenn Morris, head of the Emerging Pathogens Institute at the University of Florida, tells WUSF. "We screened this with all the standard approaches and it literally took a year and a half of sort of dogged laboratory work to figure out what this virus was." There wasn't even a test to detect Keystone virus in humans. The 16-year-old boy had a fever and a bad rash, but not the encephalitis (or brain inflammation) that a group of viruses including Keystone can cause in animals. First seen in America in 1964, Keystone is known to infect "animal populations along coastal regions stretching from Texas to the Chesapeake Bay," per a University of Florida Health statement. Scientists have long suspected there are human cases, but the new study in Clinical Infectious Diseases confirms it. "The infection may actually be fairly common in North Florida," says lead study author John Lednicky. "It's one of these instances where if you don't know to look for something, you don't find it."


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– Kim Jong Un has allegedly had two men put to death using a method he's been said to have used before: by anti-aircraft gun. South Korean newspaper JoongAng Ilbo reports by way of an unnamed source that two men were publicly executed earlier this month. It identifies the men as Ri Yong Jin, a high-ranking official in the education ministry, and Hwang Min, the former agriculture minister. The men's alleged offenses: Ri fell asleep while in a meeting with Kim and was "arrested on site and intensively questioned"; corruption charges followed. In Hwang's case, unspecified "policy proposals he had pushed for were seen as a direct challenge to the Kim Jong Un leadership," says the source. While Kim is thought to have ordered at least 70 executions since taking power in 2011, Bloomberg highlights one difference with the current case: If Ri and Hwang were in fact put to death, they are the first from outside the Workers' Party or the military to have met that fate on Kim's orders. The Guardian notes the news has not been independently verified, nor has it been announced by the KCNA. The South Korean newspaper suggests the executions were in part prompted by a high-profile defection and carried out as a way of reasserting control over the country's elite. (Ri's alleged situation has echoes of another from 2015.)

Two senior North Korean officials were executed with an anti-aircraft gun in early August on the orders of Kim Jong Un, South Korea’s JoongAng Ilbo newspaper reported, citing people it did not identify.

 Ri Yong Jin, a senior official in the education ministry -- possibly minister -- was arrested for dozing off during a meeting with Kim and charged with corruption before being killed, the paper said. Former Agriculture Minister Hwang Min was purged over a proposed project seen as a direct challenge to Kim’s leadership, it said.

 If true, it would mark the first executions ordered by Kim from outside his party or the military, the paper said. A spokesman at South Korea’s Unification Ministry said he couldn’t immediately confirm the JoongAng report.

 Kim has carried out a series of executions since taking power in 2011 after his father’s death as he puts his mark on the leadership of the isolated nuclear-armed nation. The most high profile was the killing three years ago of his uncle and one-time deputy Jang Song Thaek. He had about 50 officials executed in 2014 on charges ranging from graft to watching South Korean soap operas.

 "Kim is continuing to replace the old guard of his father’s regime with loyalists," said Robert Kelly, a political science professor at South Korea’s Pusan National University. "The charges are obviously trumped up, and this is how promotion or demotion often works in totalitarian states without legitimate venues for opposition."

 Uncle Purged

 Kim had his military chief Ri Yong Gil executed in February on charges including corruption, Yonhap News reported at the time. In January last year he executed General Pyon In Son, head of operations in the army, for disagreeing with him; and in May of that year he purged his defense minister Hyon Yong Chol for dozing off at a rally.

 For an explainer on North Korea’s nuclear program, click here.

 Still, reports of purges of senior North Korean officials are not uncommon and at times have proven to be unreliable.

 Earlier this month, Seoul announced that a senior North Korean diplomat based in the U.K. had defected to South Korea. The man was among seven diplomats who have defected this year, according to JoongAng Ilbo.

 Fractured Regime?

 South Korean President Park Geun Hye said on Monday the defections signal a “serious fracture” within the North Korean regime and raise the prospects of fresh provocations as Kim seeks to maintain control. Her comments came as South Korea and the U.S. hold annual military drills that North Korea calls a prelude to an invasion.

 Even so, Kelly at Pusan University said that the isolated state is probably more stable than many people think or want it to be.

 "I don’t think there has been a fracture," he said. "So long as China keeps the goodies flowing into Pyongyang, which is like a city-state in an ocean of deprivation, the elites won’t turn on each other." ||||| Two senior regime officers reported to have been killed for posing a threat to leader Kim Jong-un

 North Korea’s purge of senior officials who are deemed a threat to Kim Jong-un’s leadership of the country has continued with the public executions of two senior officials, according to South Korean media, possibly to generate fear among members of the elite after recent high-level defections.

 The conservative daily, the JoongAng Ilbo, reported on Tuesday that Hwang Min, a former agriculture minister, and Ri Yong-jin, a senior official at the education ministry, were executed by anti-aircraft gun at a military academy in Pyongyang earlier this month.

 Hwang was reportedly killed for making policy proposals that were seen as a direct threat to Kim’s leadership. The report did not give details of the proposals. Ri was said to have been executed for falling asleep during a meeting chaired by Kim.

 The newspaper’s front-page report, based on information from an unnamed source it claimed had “special knowledge” of the regime, has not been independently verified. No announcement has been made by the state’s official KCNA news agency.

 The rumoured executions, though, would fit into a pattern of purges Kim has ordered against perceived enemies since he became leader in late 2011 after the death of his father, Kim Jong-il.

 The most influential official to have been executed was Jang Song-thaek, Kim’s uncle and second-in-command. Jang, denounced as a “traitor for all ages”, was killed in December 2013 after being found guilty of treason and other crimes against the North Korean state.

 In April last year, Hyon Yong-chol, a former defence chief, was executed after falling asleep during a military rally attended by Kim.

 The JoongAng Ilbo speculated that the executions could herald a new round of purges, intended as a show of force by Kim in retaliation for recent defections, including that of Thae Yong-ho, deputy ambassador at the North Korean embassy in London.

 The regime denounced Thae as “human scum ”, and claimed he had fled to South Korea to escape charges of misusing government funds, selling state secrets and committing child rape.

 The JoongAng Ilbo said the defections had “rekindled talk of instability and disunity among the North Korean elite”. ||||| North Korean leader Kim Jong-un executed two top officials publicly, killing them with an anti-aircraft gun, a source with special knowledge of North Korea told the JoongAng Ilbo.One was apparently killed for nodding off during a meeting with Kim.The executed men were Hwang Min, former agricultural minister, and Ri Yong-jin, who had a senior position in the education ministry, possibly as high as minister level.“I have the information that ministers of agriculture and education were publicly executed on a special order from Kim Jong-un,” said the source. The executions took place at a military academy in Pyongyang, he said, and an anti-aircraft gun was used.If the report is true, it would mark the first execution ordered by Kim Jong-un from outside the Workers’ Party and military.The report may be interpreted as a new reign of terror in North Korea prompted by a series of defections by senior officials that has rekindled talk of instability and disunity among the North Korean elite.“One of the executed is Hwang Min, a former agricultural minister,” said the source. “I understand he was executed because policy proposals he had pushed for were seen as a direct challenge to the Kim Jong-un leadership."The source did not elaborate what the proposal was or why it was seen as a challenge to the leader. Hwang was replaced by Ko In-ho at a meeting of the rubber-stamp parliament in late June before apparently being executed.The other ill-fated official was Ri Yong-jin, who the source said was a ministerial-level official at the education ministry.“He incurred the wrath of Kim after he dozed off during a meeting presided over by Kim. He was arrested on site and intensively questioned by the state security ministry. He was executed after other charges such as corruption were found during the probe.”In North Korea, there are two ministries related to education: the Ministry of Common Education and Ministry of Higher Education, which are headed by Kim Sung-du and Thae Hyong-chol, who is also president of Kim Il Sung University. A government official said the ill-fated Ri could have had a minister-level position at one of the two.Since taking over after his father’s death in late 2011, Kim has carried out a series of executions of party and military officials. The most high-profile was the December 2013 execution of Jang Song-thaek, Kim’s uncle and former political guardian. Another high-profile execution was that of Hyon Yong-chol, North Korea’s former defense chief, who South Korean intelligence said was executed by firing squad in April 2015 on charges of dozing off during a meeting attended by the supreme leader.If the report of the two executions is true, they may have been related to a series of defections by senior North Korean officials with privileged backgrounds.The recent defection of Thae Yong-ho, formerly No. 2 at the North Korean embassy in London, sparked speculation that there is disunity among the North’s inner circle and a decline in faith in the Kim regime. The young leader could have felt the need to impose a sense of terror among elite officials to reinforce their loyalty.“The recent series of defections by top officials is less a looming sign of the collapse of the North Korean regime than the outcome of the North’s wrong policies for its overseas officials,” said Kim Byung-yeon, professor of economics at Seoul National University, who specializes in the North Korean economy.North Korean officials overseas are said to be under growing pressure to find source of hard currency to be transferred to Pyongyang after sanctions were slapped on the country in March, following its fourth nuclear test in January and a long-range missile launch the following month. Such pressure could have driven elite officials like Thae to opt to defect to the South rather than face dire consequences back home after failing to find the motherland extra sources of foreign exchange, observers say.President Park Geun-hye said Monday that her government would continue to “send a message of hope for North Korean people for the life of liberty and dignity.”At a meeting with senior secretaries at the Blue House, Park said, “Improving human rights conditions in North Korea is a humanitarian issue that cannot be put off any more and a cornerstone to bringing about an era of peace on the Korean Peninsula.”She called on the military to maintain readiness so the North Korean regime can be brought to “self-destruction” should it choose to provoke the South violently.BY KANG JIN-KYU, LEE YOUNG-JONG [kang.jinkyu@joongang.co.kr] |||||


Summarize this article:

Reuters

 Yikes. Rafe Esquith—perhaps the most decorated elementary-school teacher in the country, the only K-12 educator ever to receive the National Medal of the Arts—has been accused of sexual misconduct in shocking documents released Tuesday by Los Angeles Unified School District.

 Until he was removed from the classroom this spring, Esquith, 61, had taught fifth grade at Hobart Elementary School, a high-poverty school in Los Angeles with an overwhelming percentage of English-language learners, for more than 30 years. Esquith’s “Hobart Shakespeareans” nonprofit, which puts on a Shakespeare production every year in his classroom, became world-renowned, the subject of a PBS documentary, and a resplendent example of the miracles that committed public educators can work even in challenging school environments. When he wasn’t transforming young lives, Esquith was writing inspirational books and accepting lots of awards: In addition to the National Medal of the Arts, his prizes include Oprah Winfrey’s Use Your Life Award, Disney’s National Outstanding Teacher of the Year award, and even Dalai Lama’s Compassion in Action Award.

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 And now for the it-was-all-too-good-to-be-true part: According to the Los Angeles Times, this spring, one teacher reported that Esquith had made an inappropriate joke about Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, saying that if he couldn’t raise enough cash to fund the annual production, the class would have to perform naked. Then there was:

 an incident from March 2015 in which Esquith told a student who had completed his work that he could “surf the net for porn. That’s what we do in our spare time.”… Esquith told a student who would appear in an upcoming play that “if the audience doesn’t like his performance, he can perform while nude, or at least wear a fig leaf. And, from what I’ve heard, it would be a small fig leaf.”

 These claims kicked off Los Angeles Unified’s investigation into Esquith, who was removed from the classroom pending its findings. In October, he was fired, a move greeted with outrage all over the country. In the Washington Post, education columnist Jay Mathews, who had named Esquith “America’s Best Classroom Teacher” in 2007, wrote that:*

 He has been dismissed for murky reasons that appear to be part of a witch hunt against hundreds of other L.A. educators … the result of L.A. school leaders losing touch with reality after being traumatized by a molestation scandal a few years ago.

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 But now, with the 66-page document dump, those reasons no longer seem so murky.

 While Esquith has not been charged with a crime (though the documents do allege that, even before he became a teacher, Esquith fondled several children in the 1970s), he comes across as a desperate, preening, pathetic predator: the last person you want near your kids. He’s accused of spanking, fondling, and tickling female students; making grossly inappropriate comments (saying, for example, that one student “loved green M&M’s because they made her horny”); and screening movies with sexually inappropriate content to fifth-graders after school.

 And then there were the emails. Lots and lots of legitimately grotesque emails, addressed to students who were at most 14 years old, that lay bare the consummate creepiness: He addressed one student as “Supermodel” and signed off to another as “Your Favorite ATM.” The Wednesday Washington Post story about the allegations uses one of his lines as its headline: “How is my favorite Hottie?” And this, from the Los Angeles Times:

 In one 2013 email, Esquith praised a former student, who was 14 years old, saying she was “Beautiful. Elegant. Dazzling. Sexy. Gorgeous.” And in the same conversation writes “don’t argue, hottie.” He later writes to her, “you’re soooooooooooooooo fine.”

 The conversations include one in which the girl thanks him for giving her lunch money and “for the hundreds and hundreds” he’s given her.

 Captain Inappropriate wrote another girl, “You will do WELL wherever you go because you’re great, but I want you to be happy and have lots of guys and beer and drugs and all the things that make high school great!”

 Before the documents became public, Esquith’s lawyer accused the school district of constructing a “fraudulent narrative” as part of its “latest effort to smear.” In October, Esquith filed a $1 billion class-action lawsuit on behalf of approximately 2,000 LAUSD teachers who were removed from the classroom for no clear reason—part of an age-discrimination scheme, the suit alleged, to place pressure on teachers approaching retirement age to resign without the full pension and benefits they’d earned. We’ll see how that one works out. ||||| These crawls are part of an effort to archive pages as they are created and archive the pages that they refer to. That way, as the pages that are referenced are changed or taken from the web, a link to the version that was live when the page was written will be preserved.Then the Internet Archive hopes that references to these archived pages will be put in place of a link that would be otherwise be broken, or a companion link to allow people to see what was originally intended by a page's authors.The goal is to fix all broken links on the web . Crawls of supported "No More 404" sites. |||||

– The man Slate calls "perhaps the most decorated elementary-school teacher in the country" is facing allegations of "immoral" and "egregious" behavior—including fondling three children—in the wake of an investigation by the Los Angeles Unified School District. The Los Angeles Times reports fifth-grade teacher Rafe Esquith was fired in October and an investigation launched after a fellow teacher accused him of making jokes about nudity to his students. The results of that investigation were released this week. According to the documents, problems for Esquith started in the 1970s, when he was accused of fondling two boys and a girl. And a former student recalled Esquith putting her on his lap and touching her buttocks and spanking other female students in the 1990s. Other details included in the documents: Esquith allegedly had photos of nude women on his work computer, joked about the size of a student's penis, tickled a female student, and told a fellow teacher that a student liked green M&M's because "they made her horny." The Times reports email records indicate Esquith was acting as an ATM for former students while sending them inappropriate messages. He reportedly told a 14-year-old former student she was "sexy," a "hottie," and "soooooooooooooooo fine." To another he allegedly wrote: "I spank really hard!!! Your bottom will hurt for months." According to Slate, Esquith—who specialized in minority and low-income students—received the National Medal of the Arts, as well as awards from Oprah, Disney, and the Dalai Lama. He was even the subject of a PBS documentary. The Times reports Esquith denies doing anything wrong. (Elsewhere, a "teacher of the year" honoree quit after being informed she was not qualified.)