NATION BRIEFING
Trump says he’ll ban bump stock devices
WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump says his administration will ban bump stock devices that “turn legal weapons into illegal machines.”
The Justice Department announced Friday that it has started the process to amend federal firearms regulations to clarify that federal law defines bump stocks as machine guns.
Trump had ordered Justice to work toward a ban after the Florida high school shooting. Bump stocks enable guns to fire like automatic weapons, and were used in last year’s Las Vegas massacre.
Trump tweeted Friday: “Obama Administration legalized bump stocks. BAD IDEA. As I promised, today the Department of Justice will issue the rule banning BUMP STOCKS with a mandated comment period.”
The government determined in 2010 that bump stocks couldn’t be regulated unless Congress changed the law.
US charges 9 Iranians in cyber thefts
WASHINGTON – Nine Iranians have been charged as part of a massive state-sponsored cyber theft campaign that targeted hundreds of universities, companies and government entities in the U.S. and abroad, federal authorities announced Friday.
The suspects, all affiliates of an Iran-based company known as the Mabna Institute, allegedly breached the computer systems of the U.S. Labor Department, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the United Nations, and the states of Hawaii and Indiana, federal officials said.
Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said Friday that the suspects allegedly stole more than 31 terabytes of data — about 15 billion pages — from 140 American universities, 30 U.S. companies and five government agencies, while targeting 176 universities abroad.
The stolen information, including academic research in technology, medicine and other sciences, is valued at $3.4 billion, authorities said.
At least 100,000 email accounts held by university professors and researchers were targeted.
Teen wounded in school shooting has died
A teenage girl who was shot when a classmate opened fire inside their Maryland high school has died, authorities said Friday.
The St. Mary’s County Sheriff ’s Office said Jaelynn Willey died at 11:34 p.m. Thursday at the University of Maryland Prince George’s Hospital Center. Melissa Willey told news reporters her daughter was brain dead.
The teen was shot Tuesday by 17-year-old Austin Rollins at Great Mills High School in St. Mary’s County. Rollins died after shooting Willey.
Postal Service unveils ‘forever’ stamp honoring Mister Rogers
PITTSBURGH – The U.S. Postal
Service on Friday released a stamp featuring Fred Rogers, the gentle TV host who entertained and educated generations of preschoolers on “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood.”
The “forever” stamp pictures Rogers in his trademark cardigan along with King Friday, a puppet character from the show’s Neighborhood of Make-Believe sketch.
Postal officials held a dedication ceremony at the Pittsburgh studio where Rogers filmed his beloved PBS show, which aired between 1968 and 2001. Rogers died in 2003 at age 74.
Foreign adoptions by US families drop by 12%
NEW YORK – The number of foreign children adopted by U.S. parents dropped more than 12 percent last year, accelerating a decline that’s now continued for 13 years, reported the State Department.
Sharp drops in adoptions from China and Congo more than offset notable increases from many countries, including India, Colombia and Nigeria.
The department’s report for the 2017 fiscal year, released Friday, shows 4,714 adoptions from abroad, down from 5,372 in 2016 and nearly 80 percent below the high of 22,884 in 2004. The number has fallen every year since then.
China, as has been the case for several years, accounted for the most children adopted in the U.S.. Its total of 1,905 was down nearly 15 percent from 2016 and below a peak of 7,903 in 2005.
Craigslist to drop personal ads after sex trafficking law passes
Craigslist said it is dropping its personals section, citing the passage of a sex trafficking bill potentially leaving websites liable for penalties.
The U.S. Senate voted 97-2 on Wednesday to pass the Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act, which adds tougher penalties on web services that help facilitate prostitution or sex trafficking.
“Any tool or service can be misused,” said the statement from Craigslist. “We can’t take such risk without jeopardizing all our other services.”