Category: Jackrabbit News Brief

Quite possibly one of the largest data leaks in history occurred at the beginning of April. The Panama Papers included 11.5 million documents that contain sensitive information about how wealthy individuals hid their money through shell companies—companies that exist on paper, but hold no substance—in order to evade taxes. Such documents totaled to a massive 2.6 terabytes of data and pointed to many heads of state, government officials, and friends or relatives of such people involved.
These papers have been an ongoing investigation by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) since 2015, and the papers went public by Süddeutsche Zeitung, a German newspaper. In order to prevent another “Snowden” incident, a team of 400 journalists investigated this in secret.
The company Mossack Fonseca is based in Panama. Many use this law firm as a means of distributing profits to synthetic companies in order to evade taxes or hide money for other reasons. This practice has been known for a long time―historically, the Cayman Islands have been used as a tax haven because they have no corporate tax policies.
The papers date back to as far as the 1970s and politicians are already being forced out of power. On the same day that the Panama Papers leaked, the Iceland Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson was already under fire since his name was highlighted in the articles. A whopping 10% of the entire country’s population rioted and wanted him out of power immediately. He refused to resign on the first day, but after the second day, he resigned, though he remains politically active.
These papers will be a major speaking point during the presidential election, as the records are showing that President Barack Obama and Secretary Hillary Clinton have supported trade agreements between Panama, while Senator Bernie Sanders spoke and voted against it due to the potential of tax evasion. So far, there are no American names that have leaked out, but the papers are still being investigated.

Missiles Fired on Sea of Japan

On Friday March 4, Supreme Leader of North Korea Kim Jong-un has ordered his military to ready nuclear missiles. This action followed the United Nation’s decision to impose harsh economic sanctions on North Korea, which were intended to weaken North Korea’s nuclear program―the strictest policies on the country in 20 years. Some of the policies include crippling parts of North Korea’s income that would benefit nuclear developments. Just hours after this UN vote, North Korea launched short-range missiles over the Sea of Japan. As of this writing, the threat is being assessed by South Korea, as they are determining what kind of projectile was launched over the Sea of Japan. China had been the only known ally to North Korea, but the news revealed that China and the United States had been working together on this sanction for the past seven weeks. Additionally, China has stated its opposition of North Korea’s nuclear weapon developments in previous conferences.

UK Staying in the EU?

The United Kingdom is scheduled to have a public vote for citizens over the age of 18 to decide whether or not the UK will stay in the European Union. Historically, the UK joined the EU in 1973 and has been a somewhat active member, though they have not conformed to Europe’s currency, the Euro. Prime Minister David Cameron, a conservative leader, calls for a renegotiation of membership with the EU―specifically for restrictions on EU migrants and benefits. Being a member in the EU allows citizens in the UK to travel across countries without trouble, which allows for a wider variety of job opportunities. Some leaders such as President Barack Obama are in favor of the UK staying in the EU, as well as a majority of the European citizens. However, those in favor of leaving the EU believe that the cost of maintaining membership is not worth the amount of effort that the UK has put into the EU―they believe it is most logical to simply terminate membership. The British Pound has been dropping in value in midst of this British exit, or “Brexit”, as some call it in the UK.

Nevada and South Carolina Primaries

On Saturday February 20, Nevada and South Carolina held their respective caucus and primaries for the Democratic and Republican party. Secretary Hillary Clinton (D) won Nevada with 52.6% of the vote, winning 19 delegates and Senator Bernie Sanders trailing behind with 47.3% of the vote, winning 15 delegates.. Though this is an upset for Sanders, as this was a much needed win, there just was not enough young voter turnout. At South Carolina, businessman Donald Trump crushed the primaries yet again winning 32.5% of the vote, winning all of the 50 delegates. Senator Marco Rubio won the second most amount of votes, coming in at 22.5% of the votes and Ted Cruz closing off the higher percentage of the votes with 22.3%. Following this, the Republicans and Democrats will swap places and hold the Republican caucus in Nevada, and the Democratic primaries in South Carolina.

France Mandates Food for Charity

France has become the first country in the world to enforce a law banning supermarkets from throwing away unsold food, which, under the new law, must be donated to charities or food banks. This legislation started on Wednesday, February 3, with the idea gaining popularity through a French grassroots campaign that stressed the importance of food waste. Inspired by this new law, other campaigners seek to get the European Union to emulate a similar piece of legislation regarding food waste. Due to legal and health concerns by some supermarkets in France, unsold food will be ‘doused’ with bleach or water in order to avoid food poisoning from those who took items from the trash. Supermarkets that have at least 400 square meters will need to sign contracts with charities to donate food. Those who do not comply with this legislation will face a fine of up to 75,000 euros, or 83,000 dollars, and imprisonment of up to two years.

More Candidates Drop in Race

As the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primaries have come to a close, several candidates running for president have dropped out such as Rick Santorum (R), Mike Huckabee (R), Rand Paul (R), Carly Fiorina (R), Chris Christie (R), and Martin O’Malley (D). Ted Cruz took the lead in the Iowa Caucus, receiving 27.6% of the votes, with Donald Trump trailing behind at 24.3% and Marco Rubio coming in at 23.1%. On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton received 49.9% of the votes with Bernie Sanders closely following at 49.6%. As O’Malley dropped out of the race, the Democratic debate on Thursday, February 4, only included Clinton and Sanders. The candidate fields for both parties have become increasingly competitive after wins by Trump and Sanders in New Hampshire. Candidates will now turn their attention to Nevada and future primaries.

New Hampshire Primaries

On Tuesday, February 9, there was a large upset among both political parties, as businessman Donald Trump won the primary for the Republican Party with a whopping 19.5% lead over Governor John Kasich – a startling surprise between both party lines. Kasich had not been widely known until the New Hampshire primary. Though he received very little media attention, Kasich still managed to beat out Senator Ted Cruz, who managed to pull an 11.7% vote. On the Democratic side, Senator Bernie Sanders received 60.4% of the votes compared to Hillary Clinton’s 38.0%. The theme of this primary revolved around anti-establishment candidates because both Trump and Sanders appeal to a similar demographic.

CSULB Graduation Rates Improved

More funding to CSULB allowed for professors to research habits and patterns to determine the reason for failing first-year freshmen students. Graduation rates in 2004 were floating around 46% and spiked to 65% by 2014. Professors found that using the “flipped classroom” approach would yield higher information retention and result in a higher academic grade. Through the flipped classroom method, professors assign the bulk of the learning outside of the classroom―for example, students watch informational videos or lectures at the leisure of their home while hands-on lab exercises or simulations are done in class. Previously, students struggled to sit through lengthy lectures and taking notes―now, students do the bulk of the learning independently.

Eight in Custody Amid New Year’s Eve Assaults

Around New Year’s Eve in Cologne, Germany, there was a massive influx of alleged sexual assaults and robberies, adding up to over 581 criminal reports. Victims describe the perpetrators as Arab or North African men; however, suspects were not caught until nearly three weeks later. The immigration status of the men in custody remains unknown, but at least one of the men was accused of groping and robbery. Other European cities are experiencing similar assaults, though the Cologne assaults caught the most international attention. German Chancellor Angela Merkel called them “disgusting” and wanted those responsible to be punished as soon as possible.

LAUSD Shuts Down in Wake of Terror Threat (or Terror Hoax?)

On Tuesday morning of December 15th, all schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District shut down after receiving a terror threat from a ‘credible source’ according to LAUSD officials and the Los Angeles Police Department. Shortly after this news, LAUSD Superintendent Ramon Cortines stated at a press conference that the threats were against several schools in the district and involved the use of “backpacks and other packages.” According to Congressman Brad Sherman, the threat was sent by email, and the threat appeared to be sent by “an extremist Muslim who has teamed up with local jihadists.”
However, Congressman Adam Schiff stated that the threat is actually a hoax: “Something designed to disrupt school districts in large cities. The investigation is ongoing for finding where the threat originated from and who was responsible.” After a closer look into the email, there is evidence that there is a strong sense of ignorance to the Islamic religion, such as not capitalizing ‘Allah’. NYPD Commissioner Bratton believes that the email contained references to Showtime drama Homeland because it contained several references to recent episode plotlines.
There are approximately 900 schools in LAUSD and this potential threat required the proper procedures to maintain the safety of the staff and students in each and every school. Though this may appear to be a hoax as of writing, it is best to take these “rare” threats seriously.

Paris Climate Change Summit a Success

On Saturday, December 12, there was a Conference of the 21 Parties (COP21) summit in Paris, France to discuss the global threat of climate change. This agreement involves nearly 200 countries and is the first-ever consensus for all involved countries to cut carbon emissions. Though many world leaders have released press statements regarding an imperfect deal, “this does not prevent us from marching historical steps forward,” according to Xie Zhenhua, China’s chief negotiator. The deal calls for an agreement to keep the global temperature increase to below 3.6°F (2°C), a plan to begin by 2020 that would give $100 billion per year to finance combatting climate changes in developing countries, and an effort to reach peak carbon emissions as soon as possible. Every five years, the countries will band together to review progress. This deal will officially come to fruition when at least 55 countries responsible for 55% of global emissions have agreed to the treaty.

Paris Terrorist Attacks Killed Over 100

On Friday night, November 13, there were devastating shootings and explosions in 4 different locations of Paris. At least 129 people have died, and over 350 people are injured.
Most of the fatalities occurred at the Bataclan Concert Hall, which is within the vicinity of the Charlie Hebdo shooting, nearly one year ago. According to many reports and witnesses, masked men opened fire at the concert while a band was playing, and shot in multiple directions at the venue. Over 100 people were held hostage before the police ended the hostage situation. The other three locations include Stade de France, Rue Bichat, and Rue de Charonne.
Explosions occurred outside the Stade de France stadium, which was hosting a soccer game between France and Germany. One of the assailants was stopped by a security guard beforehand and did not make it inside the stadium, preventing dozens of murders. At the other two locations, assailants opened fire at public restaurants and coffee shops. 7 attackers are confirmed dead, 6 of which were wearing the explosive suicide vests. ISIS claimed responsibility for the Paris attacks, but it has not been verified as everything in their statement repeated everything that has been in the news already.

CSULB Student Fatally Injured in Paris

Nohemi Gonzalez, student from Cal State Long Beach, was killed in the Paris shooting on Friday night, November 13. She was with two other Cal State students at the time at Le Petit Cambodge restaurant. They managed to escape the crisis but saw her get shot and carried away by stretcher. She was studying abroad in France at Strate School of Design for a semester, as she was an an aspiring design major. A vigil was held on the following Sunday mourning her death. Her boyfriend, Tim Mraz, recollected the first time they met 2 years ago–as teacher assistants in the design lab. Her mother lamented, “I feel lost, sadness, and … it was my only daughter.” This shooting has devastated the Long Beach community, and Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia assures that her death will be remembered as we grieve this loss. Nohemi Gonzalez is currently the only confirmed American that has lost a life in this shooting.

Paul Ryan Elected House Speaker

Representative Paul Ryan has been elected house speaker for the Republican party, succeeding John Boehner, who announced his retirement from Speakership and Congress last week. Boehner’s final duty as Speaker involved a negotiation with President Barack Obama on a piece of legislation that would prevent or decrease the likelihood of a government shutdown. As such, this allows for the Republican party to look forward and “begin the process of healing,” said Ryan’s aide. On Thursday, October 29th, Nancy Pelosi passed on the gavel to Paul Ryan to symbolize the beginning of the Paul era and the end of the Boehner era.

China Ends One-Child Policy

On October 29th, the Communist party released a statement announcing their plans to end the one-child policy, which has been in effect since 1979. This controversial policy was enacted in order to control population growth rates. Statistics show that the world average for children and young people ranging between 0-24 drastically dropped at a constant rate when China enacted this policy. However, while the Communist party may have “ended” the one-child policy, there is still a limit for couples. Couples will now be allowed to have two children, which at first still sounds restricting, but to put in perspective, will potentially double the population for young people. The motive behind removing the one-child policy is to strike a balance between the amount of elderly people and younger people to prevent the population crisis currently happening in Japan.

Long Beach Streetlights Switch to LED

Long Beach officials announced an LED streetlight program, a major project with the intention of reducing carbon dioxide emissions by as much as 7,297 tons, saving $1 million in energy and labor annually. Under a hefty $650,000 grant from the Port of Long Beach Community Mitigation, Long Beach plans to replace nearly 2,000 street lights within an ambitious two month period. Each year, Long Beach can reduce energy consumption by up to ten percent. LED lights are more efficient than the current high-pressure sodium lights commonly used as street lights. During their lifespan, the lights are expected to last 24 years with 12 hours of use every day.

Settlement on Moon

Russia and Europe are planning to work together on a space program to create a permanent space settlement on the moon. Luna 27, the name for the first stage of the project, will begin in five years time, led by Russian space agency Roscosmos and partnered with the European Space Agency.

The goal of the mission is to trek through the unexplored areas near the vicinity of the South Pole. In the beginning, most of the mission will be done with controlled robots but the end goal is to establish permanent moon bases. “The 21st century will be the century when it will be the permanent outpost of human civilization, and our country has to participate in this process.” said Professor Igor Mitrofanov, Space Research Institute. By the end of the year, Europe’s space committee will confirm their cooperation and begin the program.

Democratic Debate Drama

Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, Jim Webb, Martin O’Malley, and Lincoln Chafee were the candidates debating on the democratic side. In order to prevent a one-on-one debate between Sanders and Clinton, candidates Webb, O’Malley, and Chafee were considered seat fillers by many with Webb even expressing his frustration that “I’ve been standing here for about ten minutes.” Seconds after the debate, CNN received a lot of flak on social media for posting biased headlines such as “Clinton’s Confident Sweep” or “Hillary Clinton Dominates…” CNN held a public poll on Facebook and Twitter for viewers to vote for the candidate that they think did best; Sanders received a whopping 83%, while Clinton received a 12% ‘dominance’ with over 12,000 total votes in the poll. Less than 24 hours after the poll was public, the post was deleted. Many journalists took to Twitter to expose this scandal, but CNN did not comment on the issue. Some point to Time Warner Cable’s endorsement to Clinton (Clinton’s 7th largest endorser), which coincidentally owns CNN, as the source of the bias to Clinton.

North Korea Demands Peace Treaty with US

After a meeting involving President Obama and South Korean President Park Geun-hye, they talked about their willingness to discuss with North Korean President Kim Jong-un about peace talks. The catch is that it will happen only if North Korea is willing to stop all nuclear weapon developments and production. Kim Jong-un rejected the idea of ending their nuclear program, but still demanded for a peace treaty with the United States. Apparently, the only way to resolve conflicts in the Korean peninsula permanently requires the US’s involvement with a peace treaty. In the long run, Obama wishes to reach similar ease of sanctions with North Korea as they have reached with Iran with the Nuclear Deal in July. “We haven’t even gotten to that point yet, because there has been no indication on the part of the North Koreans as there was with the Iranians that they could foresee a future in which they did not possess or were not pursuing nuclear weapons,” he said.

Water Found on Mars

On Tuesday, September 29, NASA announced its discovery of liquid water on the surface of Mars. Though the origins of the water is unclear, NASA stated that the water is extremely salty as it is filled with perchlorates, which are not drinkable. “…we think this is a very small amount of water-maybe just enough to wet the top layer of the surface of Mars. The streaks are [approximately] 4-5 meters wide and [approximately] 200-300 meters long,” said Deputy Project Scientist, MRO, Leslie K. Tamppari. Scientists agree that water is necessary for life to exist on Earth, which is therefore a good litmus test for determining if Mars is habitable. NASA and Tesla/SpaceX CEO Elon Musk’s dream for a colony on Mars by the 2030s may be one step closer to reality after this discovery.

Russia Launches Airstrikes

Last week, Russian president Vladimir Putin launched airstrikes against ISIS. Local videos also reveal that they are targeting rebel groups trying to overthrow Syrian president Bashar al-Assad’s regime. The United States believes Assad will continue to stay in power if ISIS collapses, so Russia’s intervention with the rebel groups may weaken this effort to defeat his regime. On Friday morning, October 2nd, Moscow reported that there have been 18 strikes since Thursday, twelve of which have been targeted towards the Islamic State. Warplanes also have reportedly attacked an Islamic State command center Friday morning as well.

Oregon Legalizes Marijuana

Oregon became the fourth state to legalize marijuana for recreational purposes, following Colorado, Washington, and Alaska. Residents in Oregon over the age of 21 are able to carry up to one ounce of marijuana in public, keep up to seven ounces of marijuana in private, and maintain up to four marijuana plants in their residence. With a tax on marijuana, Oregon will most likely see the positive results that Colorado experienced such as a major decrease in crime rates and large gain in surplus funds for projects like funding infrastructure and education.

Oregon Shooting in Umpqua Community College

On Thursday, October 1st, ten lives were taken and nine were wounded after a shooting occurred in Douglas County, Oregon. The shooter was included among the death toll, as he allegedly took his own life after authorities arrived to the scene. While the shooter’s motives remain unknown, witnesses reported that he questioned victims’ religious preferences before firing. Multiple news stations found that he ran a personal blog in which he voiced his opinions about school shootings, suggesting his lust for infamy. Prior to the shooting, there was a post on 4chan, an internet forum that allows anonymous posting, stating, “Don’t go to school tomorrow if you are in the northwest” which is now being investigated by federal authorities for authenticity. The thread was posted at 1:19AM while the shooting occurred at 10:38AM, so it may have been the shooter. “Somehow, this has become routine. The reporting is routine. My response here at this podium ends up being routine. We become numb to this,” said President Obama.

Ahmed Mohamed

In Irving, Texas on September 14, 14 year old freshman Ahmed Mohamed was arrested for building a clock to impress his engineering teacher, as it was thought to be a bomb. Mohamed was put in handcuffs and taken to a downtown detention center that same day. He was also interrogated, searched, and fingerprinted. Official charges have been dropped, though Mohamed did receive a 3 day suspension from the school district, during which his family has made plans to transfer him to another high school. Mohamed has received support from President Obama and Mark Zuckerberg, among others, for his engineering skills. Upon graduation, he hopes to study at MIT.

Syrian Refugee Crisis

Syria’s civil war began 5 years ago, and 4 million Syrians have fled from their country. Currently, huge swaths of the country are controlled by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, otherwise known as ISIS. Syrians have fled primarily to Jordan, Lebanon, and Turkey. Now, however, many are setting their sights on Europe. Hungary has already closed its borders to immigrants, but Germany is still accepting, as is Austria. According to Secretary of State John Kerry, the US will increase the number of worldwide refugees it accepts each year to 100,000 in 2017, as opposed to its current 70,000.

Second Republican Debate

The second Republican debate was held September 16 at the Ronald Reagan Library. The debate was hosted by CNN. 11 nominees attended, including Donald Trump, Carly Fiorina, Scott Walker, Jeb Bush, Rand Paul, and Chris Christie, among others. The debate covered a wide range of topics, such as same-sex marriage, immigration, the nuclear deal with Iran, and federal funding for Planned Parenthood. Carly Fiorina has jumped to the top spot in polls as a result of the debate. 5 days afterward, on Monday, Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin dropped from running as a presidential nominee.