Source: BBC

California Governor Jerry Brown has signed legislation ending the US state's 10-year statute of limitations on rape.

The move was prompted by decades-old allegations made by multiple women against actor Bill Cosby.

The change means that from January 2017 there will be no time limit on the prosecution of rape cases.

But it will not work retroactively, or help those who accuse Cosby of crimes committed more than 10 years ago.

Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-37504919

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Good.

Source: King 5 - local Washington news

BURLINGTON, Wash. - The Washington mall shooting suspect, Arcan Cetin, may face an additional investigation related to his voting record and citizenship status.

Federal sources confirm to KING 5 that Cetin was not a U.S. citizen, meaning legally he cannot vote. However, state records show Cetin registered to vote in 2014 and participated in three election cycles, including the May presidential primary.

Cetin, who immigrated to the United States from Turkey as a child, is considered a permanent resident or green card holder. While a permanent resident can apply for U.S. citizenship after a certain period of time, sources tell KING his status had not changed from green card holder to U.S. citizen.

Read more: http://www.king5.com/news/local/investigators-may-probe-cascade-mall-suspects-citizenship-status-voting-record/327490798

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Not sure what to think about this.

Source: The Atlantic

Which mammal is most likely to be murdered by its own kind? It’s certainly not humans—not even close. Nor is it a top predator like the grey wolf or lion, although those at least are #11 and #9 in the league table of murdery mammals. No, according to a study led by José María Gómez from the University of Granada, the top spot goes to… the meerkat. These endearing black-masked creatures might be famous for their cooperative ways, but they kill each other at a rate that makes man’s inhumanity to man look meek. Almost one in five meerkats, mostly youngsters, lose their lives at the paws and jaws of their peers.

Gómez’s study is the first thorough survey of violence in the mammal world, collating data on more than a thousand species. It clearly shows that we humans are not alone in our capacity to kill each other. Our closest relatives, the chimpanzees, have been known to wage brutal war, but even apparently peaceful creatures take each other’s lives. When ranked according to their rates of lethal violence, ground squirrels, wild horses, gazelle, and deer all feature in the top 50. So do long-tailed chinchillas, which kill each other more frequently than tigers and bears do.

The point of this macabre census was to understand the origins of our own behavior. Gómez typically studies plants and insects, but he realized that the techniques he uses to study their evolution can be used to study our own. In particular, he noted that closely related species tend to show similar levels of lethal interpersonal violence. He could use those similarities to predict how violent any given mammal should be, and whether it meets, exceeds, or defies those expectations.

Humans do all three. Gómez’s team calculated that at the origin of Homo sapiens, we were six times more lethally violent than the average mammal, but about as violent as expected for a primate. But time and social organizations have sated our ancestral bloodthirst, leaving us with modern rates of lethal violence that are well below the prehistoric baseline. We are an average member of an especially violent group of mammals, and we’ve managed to curb our ancestry.



Read more: http://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2016/09/humans-are-unusually-violent-mammals-but-averagely-violent-primates/501935/

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Surprising. The headline is a little misleading, because the results of the study don't even have humans in the top 50 mammals, but i used the headline published by The Atlantic.

Source: NY Daily News

University of North Carolina football player accused of sexual assault: 'Everything was completely consensual'


The University of North Carolina football player accused of sexual assault by a fellow student denies raping the woman and says the two had consensual sex. Allen Artis, 20, made his first public comments on the case since 19-year-old Delaney Robinson came forward about the alleged assault earlier this month.

“Everything was completely consensual that happened that night,” he said from his attorney's Durham, N.C., home while sitting alongside family members. “That’s the truth.” His attorney, Kerry Sutton, said Artis passed a polygraph test about the Valentine's Day incident.

...

“I was drinking that night on Valentine’s Day, I am underage and I take responsibility for that, but does not give anybody the right to violate me,” she said at the press conference, where she appeared with her father and attorney.

...

The junior linebacker was suspended from the team after he turned himself in on two misdemeanor warrants linked to the alleged rape earlier this month. UNC policy enforces the suspension of any athlete charged with a misdemeanor.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/unc-player-accused-sex-assault-completely-consensual-article-1.2809834

Source: ESPN

The ACC announced Wednesday that it is moving all neutral-site conference championship games out of the state of North Carolina as a result of the state's controversial House Bill 2 law that limits the legal protection of the LGBT community.

The ACC Council of Presidents issued a statement Wednesday saying its decision "reaffirmed our collective commitment to uphold the values of equality, diversity, inclusion and non-discrimination."

"Every one of our 15 universities is strongly committed to these values and therefore, we will continue to host ACC Championships at campus sites," the statement said. "We believe North Carolina House Bill 2 is inconsistent with these values, and as a result, we will relocate all neutral site championships for the 2016-17 academic year."

This means the upcoming ACC football championship game set for Charlotte on Dec. 3 will no longer be played there. Conference commissioner John Swofford said in a statement that a new location will be announced at a later date.

Read more: http://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/17547270/acc-moving-neutral-site-championship-games-

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This is different from the NCAA announcement yesterday. The ACC is based in North Carolina, and has 4 member schools located in North Carolina. Duke, UNC, NC State, and Wake Forest, collectively known as Tobacco Road.

Source: BBC

The World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) has condemned Russian hackers for leaking confidential medical files of US Olympic athletes.

Athletes affected include tennis players Venus and Serena Williams and teenage gymnast Simone Biles.

A group calling itself "Fancy Bears" claimed responsibility for the hack of a Wada database.

After the leak, Ms Biles said she had long been taking medicine for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.

Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-37352326

Source: The Hill

The chairman of NBC News had nothing but high marks for "Today" anchor Matt Lauer’s performance as moderator of Wednesday’s presidential "Commander-in-Chief Forum."

"Against all odds we were able to bring the two presidential nominees together for the first time and presented an important examination of what each would bring to the role of Commander-in-Chief," Andrew Lack, who also serves as MSNBC chairman, wrote in an internal staff note.

...

Lack also praised the ratings generated by the event, which outpaced nine of the Republican presidential primary debates and all but one from the Democratic side.

“Matt did a tremendous job — driving one of the most serious discussions to date on these topics. Nearly 15 million people watched the event, and over 26 million tuned in at some point during the hour."


Read more: http://thehill.com/media/295235-nbc-news-chairman-praises-lauer-for-forum-moderator-performance

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Unbelievable.

Source: Reuters

Saudi Arabia's Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdulaziz Al al-Sheikh, the highest religious authority in the country, said in remarks published on Wednesday that the leaders of regional rival Iran were not Muslims and saw Sunni Muslims as their enemy.

Al al-Sheikh was reacting to comments by Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei criticizing Saudi management of the haj and suggesting Muslim countries think about ending Saudi control of the annual pilgrimage.

Responding to a question about Monday's comments by Khamenei, Al al-Sheikh said he was not surprised by them.

"We have to understand that they are not Muslims ... Their enmity toward Muslims is old and their main enemies are the followers of Sunnah (Sunnis),” the English-language Arab News website reported him as saying.

Read more: https://www.yahoo.com/news/saudi-mufti-says-irans-leaders-not-muslims-media-061725278.html

Source: Politico

The National Rifle Association's political arm on Tuesday endorsed Missouri Democratic gubernatorial candidate Chris Koster over his Republican rival Eric Greitens, touting the current state attorney general's "proven record in fighting to preserve the Second Amendment."

“Chris Koster has never wavered from his Second Amendment beliefs. For over 17 years, he has fought to preserve the constitutional rights of law-abiding Missourians,” NRA-Political Victory Fund chairman Chris W. Cox, said in a statement. “The NRA is proud to endorse Chris Koster and we urge Missouri’s gun owners and sportsmen to get out this November and vote to elect a governor with a proven record of fighting to preserve the Second Amendment.”

The NRA-PVF passed over Greitens, a Navy veteran and former SEAL who won a closely contested Republican primary in the state and ran an ad depicting him firing a machine gun while declaring that he would "take dead aim at politics as usual."


Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2016/09/nra-endorses-chris-koster-227771

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Wow.

Source: The Guardian

Federal authorities are taking most humpback whales off the endangered species list, saying they have recovered enough in the last 40 years to warrant being removed.

The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) said on Monday that nine of the 14 distinct populations of humpbacks would be removed, while four distinct populations remain listed as endangered and one as threatened.

Last year the NMFS, an office of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa), proposed that humpbacks be split into 14 population segments, allowing for 10 populations to be removed from the endangered list.

It said populations of the animals had steadily grown since the international community banned commercial whaling nearly 50 years ago.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/sep/06/humpback-whales-endangered-species-list