Monday, May 26, 2014

Eight primary school pupils stabbed in China: report

AFP By AFP

A knife-wielding attacker went on a rampage at a Chinese primary school on Tuesday, wounding eight schoolchildren with one seriously hurt, state media reported.

The 35-year-old suspect, a man surnamed Chen, rushed into the school in Macheng in the central province of Hubei and began slashing at students with a kitchen knife, the official Xinhua news agency reported, citing the local government.
Police apprehended Chen at the scene, the report added, and the eight injured pupils were hospitalised.
China has seen several violent attacks against children in recent years, including a spate of five incidents in 2010 which killed 17 people -- 15 of them children -- and wounded more than 80.
Last March, a man killed two relatives and then slashed 11 people, including six children, outside a school in China's commercial hub Shanghai.

Police: Driver in chase kills girl on Ga. sidewalk

Tansu Kanlica, left, and Garrett Kyle Anderson. Cobb County Sheriff

Tansu Kanlica, left, and Garrett Kyle Anderson.


KENNESAW, Ga. (AP) — A locksmith who police say was chasing a 23-year-old who drove away before paying for a lockout service lost control of his car and hit three teenage girls on a sidewalk in northern Georgia, killing one and injuring the other two.
Both men have been arrested.
Cobb County police spokesman Mike Bowman says the locksmith, 27-year-old Tansu Kanlica, of Atlanta, is facing several charges including vehicular homicide and reckless driving. Bowman says he was chasing 23-year-old Garrett Anderson in Kennesaw Sunday night.
Bowman says one girl was pronounced dead at the scene and a second suffered life-threatening injuries. The third girl is hospitalized with non-life threatening injuries.
Anderson, of Kennesaw, faces similar charges as Kanlica and is also charged with theft of services.
It's unclear if the men have attorneys.

Pope to Hold First Meeting With Sex Abuse Victims

ABOARD THE PAPAL PLANE — Pope Francis said on Monday that he will have his first meeting with a group of sex abuse victims at the Vatican early next month and said he would show zero tolerance for anyone in the Catholic Church who abused children, including bishops.

"Sexual abuse is such an ugly crime ... because a priest who does this betrays the body of the Lord. It is like a satanic Mass," he said in some of the toughest language he has used on a crisis that has rocked the Church for more than a decade.

"We must go ahead with zero tolerance," he said, adding that three bishops were currently under investigation.

Pope Francis Returns from Three-Day Trip to Holy Land

Nightly News

Francis said he would meet with eight victims and Cardinal Sean Patrick O'Malley of Boston, who is head of a commission set up to study ways of dealing with the crisis.
Speaking to reporters for nearly an hour on the plane taking him back from a visit to the Middle East, the pope looked alert despite the grueling three-day trip and overruled his spokesman who suggested the airborne news conference should be cut short to all him to rest.
But the 77-year-old pontiff fielded questions on a range of topics, including Vatican finances, priestly celibacy, his concern for the environment, and whether he himself would one day retire like his predecessor Benedict XVI instead of serving for life.
Francis said the victims, several from Europe, would attend his morning Mass and then he would meet with them. It will be the first time for Francis to meet sexual abuse victims since his election in March 2013.

It was not clear, however, if the pope also meant zero tolerance for bishops who are not accused of being abusers themselves but who are accused of having turned a blind eye to abuse by priests in their dioceses or who may have covered up abuse scandals.
O'Malley said last month in Rome that the commission he heads will recommend that negligent clerics be held accountable regardless of their rank in the Church.
In many cases of abuse, most of which took place decades ago but surfaced in the past 15 years or so, bishops seeking to protect the Church's reputation moved priests from parish to parish instead of defrocking them or handing them over to police.
Image: Andrew Medichini / AP
Pope Francis talks to journalists during a press conference he held aboard the papal flight on his way back to Rome at the end of a three day trip to the Middle East, Monday, May 26, 2014.
Victims' groups have pressed the Vatican to hold bishops who either shielded abusers or were negligent in protecting children to account, along with abusers themselves.
In February, the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child accused the Vatican of systematically turning a blind eye to decades of abuse and attempting to cover up sex crimes.

The Vatican called the report unfair and ideologically slanted.
— The Associated Press
Pope to Hold First Meeting With Sex Abuse Victims
First published May 26th 2014, 8:04 pm  

Sunday, May 25, 2014

4 ways new grads are vulnerable to identity theft

New financial responsibilities and opportunities give fraudsters more chances to get their hooks into you.

By Credit.com Wed 11:57 AM
  • This post comes from Adam Levin at partner site Credit.com.

As new graduates climb down from the ivory tower (diploma in hand), many will be facing "real world" transactions for the first time, and they are at risk. Identity-related crimes, bad deals and credit score pitfalls pockmark the road ahead. And for those new grads who are thinking, "It can’t happen to me," prepare to say "hello" to reality.

College graduate © Alys Tomlinson/Creatas Images/JupiterimagesData breaches and the identity theft cases that stem from them have become certainties in life, right behind death and taxes. There are things you can do to better protect yourself, detect the problems and lessen the damage when the inevitable occurs. However, if you think a compromise to your credit or identity won’t cost you much in actual dollars and cents, consider the emotional upheaval and hours of frustration spent dealing with it that are non-refundable.

The bottom line for new grads: Your identity and your credit are incredibly valuable assets. And while it may be a wee bit early to be thinking about your investment portfolio, you already have two investment-grade portfolios that you should be managing: your credit portfolio and your identity portfolio.

Here are some general rules of the road for protecting your identity that, if you follow them, could make life a tad easier for you.

1. Credit cards
When you’re new to credit cards, it’s easy to make some rookie mistakes that can threaten your identity.

First, be careful where you share your credit card information. You are your worst enemy when it comes to credit card fraud if you’re not doing your due diligence to make sure the websites, companies and even friends with whom you’re sharing your credit card information are secure. And while your account numbers can be stolen any number of ways, it doesn’t hurt to be extra-vigilant if you also happen to live with roommates.

You should check your account statements regularly, daily even, for unauthorized purchases.  If someone steals your credit or debit card number and goes on a shopping spree, and you don’t discover it soon enough to stop the damage, you could be in a world of financial pain.

Monitor your credit reports and keep tabs on your credit scores. This will let you make sure all the accounts listed are yours. Often the first indication that you’ve become a victim of new account fraud comes from these reports. Knowing can allow you to address the issue long before a collection agency comes asking for money you never spent. You can check your credit reports for free once a year from each of the three credit reporting agencies through AnnualCreditReport.com. You can also monitor two of your credit scores for free with a Credit.com account -- if you notice an unexpected drop in your credit scores, you should check your reports for any problems, including fraudulent accounts.

2. Utilities
So, what’s to know about utilities? You call a customer service representative who takes down your name, address and phone number, and when your bill comes at the end of the month, you pay it. It’s so simple, really anyone could do it -- which is precisely the problem. Identity thieves are more than happy to steal electricity in your name, and because it can be so easy for them to do it, you may not know about it until you get a notice from a collection agency for unpaid utilities and your credit score takes a hit.

What you can do: Always scrutinize your bills and immediately check on any questionable items, always pay your bills on time, (consider enrolling in a direct debit program), protect your personally identifiable information personally identifiable information (which means guarding your Social Security number from all but the select few who need to know it), and bear in mind that tracking your scores and checking your reports regularly can alert you to a problem sooner rather than later. There’s no such thing as being too paranoid when it comes to monitoring.

3. Applying for jobs
Many new graduates don’t realize that a significant number of companies and institutions will check credit reports (not credit scores) before making an offer of employment. They’re required to get your consent (usually in writing) before checking your reports and most companies will ask for your Social Security number, a major asset in your identity portfolio, in order to do so.

Of course, make sure the employer is legit, and if you’re nervous about providing your Social Security number to a prospective employer, do a little research before you hand it over. Most fake job scams will ask for your SSN upfront, before you even interview.

4. Doing your taxes
For some college graduates, taxes have neither been a part of their lexicon nor their lives. Either their parents filed for them, or they’ve not yet worked at a job that made it necessary.

If you’re dealing with your taxes for the first time, there’s something you should know: Not everyone who offers to help will be trustworthy. There are thieves out there, so do your homework before hiring an accountant or a tax preparation service. Tax-related identity theft is another reason you should be very careful about who has access to your personally identifiable information. If a fraudster files a tax return in your name before you do, you’ll spend six months or more waiting for the IRS to correct the mistake and send your refund.

A final note about protecting your identity
In the world of personal finance, so many are poised to take you for a ride, steal your personally identifiable information and potentially wreck your credit. They see new graduates as fresh meat. After all, most new grads have a clean credit history and may not be aware of the potential identity thieves lurking in the real world.  However, if you properly manage and vigilantly monitor your identity portfolio, it will be a resume and not a rap sheet.

More from Credit.com

Aging veterans build online honor roll of fallen comrades

​A young boy approaches a large US flag which is placed near the Vietnam Veterans Memorial where memorial services are held throughout the Memorial Day weekend. Getty Images: Astrid Riecken, The Washington Post

​A young boy approaches a large US flag which is placed near the Vietnam Veterans Memorial where memorial services are held throughout the Memorial Day weekend.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Air Force veteran Don Skinner, 83, wakes at dawn's early light, downs a cholesterol pill, blood thinner and some instant coffee then boots up his computer to spend eight hours each day telling war stories of the fallen who can't speak for themselves.
The reverential routine is a calling for Skinner, the oldest of 200 volunteers who create online profiles of men and women who died in the line of duty. These accounts can be viewed in a Roll of Honor on the website Togetherweserved.com, an online meeting place for veterans and their loved ones.

"These people's stories have got to be told," said Skinner, who was awarded a Purple Heart Medal and a Bronze Star Medal as a commanding sergeant who tended to his wounded comrades during an assault in Vietnam in 1968 despite being critically wounded himself. His service from 1949 to 1974 included the Korean War.

Between treatments for bladder and colon cancer, Skinner, a widower living in Aiken, South Carolina, has researched and created 858 profiles for the Roll of Honor in the last five years. They are among nearly 100,000 profiles on the site, which serves 1.4 million living vets and is free to veterans and family members to build but charges a $19.95 annual membership fee to connect with old service friends.
Traffic to the site typically surges on Memorial Day, said organizers, who noted that on last year's holiday the site received some 40,731 page views, up from their usual daily 5,889.

Some younger users said the site shed light on the military service of now-dead loved ones.
David Baker, a 38-year-old Navy machinist mate from Dallas currently stationed in Japan said the profiles provided a window into the World War I experience of his great-grandfather and World War II duties of his grandfather.

"I have learned so much from digging around for information about what he did, since he passed away before I could ask," Baker wrote on the site.

HEALING OLD WOUNDS

In Destin, Florida, Army veteran Denny Eister, 69, initially struggled but has mastered the skills of uploading pictures and cutting and pasting details into the 993 profiles he's created in the past two years.
Eister, who ran combat missions as an infantry officer in Vietnam, said the work has eased the emotional pain that lingers after coming home to an angry, not grateful, United States, and helped him summon the "courage" to visit the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., after decades of avoidance.
"It makes me feel good about that period of my life that I tried to shut out for such a long time," said Eister, who was awarded the Bronze Star for rescuing his wounded platoon sergeant during a heavy firefight.
He said that when he returned to the U.S. after serving from 1965-1968, "We had to get out of airplane and run into the men's room and change into civilian clothes and hope nobody knew what we were doing."
As crowds gather Monday to watch Memorial Day parades and lay wreaths, World War II Navy veteran Barbara "Bobbe" Stuvengen, 89, will pay her respects on the computer her sons helped her purchase.
"It's been a lifesaver for me, especially since my husband died after two years in a nursing home with Alzheimer's," said Stuvengen, of Orfordville, Wisconsin, who served in the Navy from 1945-1959.
Through the site, Stuvengen has met more than 10 friends, some of whom have visited her, hungry for tales of the Navy from a woman whose 17th birthday dinner on December 7, 1941, was interrupted by radio newscasts of Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor.

"I sometimes feel like the matriarch of a very large family," Stuvengen said.

(Reporting by Barbara Goldberg; Editing by Scott Malone and Alden Bentley)