Man gets 28 years in plot to behead conservative blogger
BOSTON (AP) — A man convicted of leading an Islamic State-inspired plot to behead a conservative blogger who upset Muslims when she organized a Prophet Muhammad cartoon contest was sentenced on Tuesday to 28 years in prison.
David Wright sobbed as he apologized to blogger Pamela Geller, law enforcement and his family and denounced the terror group, whose horrific acts he used to celebrate online.
“Nothing I can say can fix the hurt I caused,” the 28-year-old Wright said. “I sincerely hope that I can be given the opportunity to help others avoid the mistakes I made.”
Wright was convicted in October of conspiracy to provide material support to the Islamic State group, conspiracy to commit acts of terrorism transcending national boundaries and other crimes.
Prosecutors had sought a life sentence for Wright, arguing it would send a strong message to others considering terror attacks in the U.S. But Judge William G. Young said he was uncomfortable with sending Wright away for life, telling him: “You are not a monster, yet you embraced a monstrous evil.”
Saudis intercept Yemen rebel missile targeting royal palace
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — The Saudi-led coalition fighting Yemen’s Shiite rebels said it intercepted a missile fired over southern Riyadh on Tuesday, which the rebels said was targeting a “top leadership” meeting at the royal palace in the kingdom’s capital.
It was the second time in as many months that a rebel projectile had reached as far inside the kingdom as Riyadh.
The Yemeni rebels, known as the Houthis, said they launched a ballistic missile to target Yamama Palace in Riyadh, where King Salman chairs weekly government meetings and receives dignitaries and heads of state from around the world.
The statement from the U.S.-backed coalition, carried by Saudi state TV, said the missile was fired by the Houthis. State TV said no damage was caused by the intercepted missile.
The coalition later said the missile launch proved the “continued involvement” of Iran in supporting the Houthis.” It also repeated its claim that the rebels use “relief work outlets” to smuggle such missiles inside Yemen to target the kingdom.
The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, said that “the very fact of this attack is a flashing red siren” for the Security Council.
Clashes over state ballot initiatives could spill into 2018
BROOKINGS, S.D. (AP) — Joyce Scott made hundreds of phone calls and knocked on countless doors, helping persuade South Dakota voters to approve a ballot measure last year tightening campaign contribution limits and creating a government ethics watchdog.
Republican lawmakers quickly torched the new rules this year and instead are seeking changes that would make it far tougher for residents to bypass the statehouse at all.
Scott and others angry about the swift repeal of the voter-backed anti-corruption initiative have turned to the 2018 ballot, hoping to enact a new constitutional amendment that even the Legislature can’t touch.
“I was disgusted that we had to go through this again,” said Scott, a 75-year-old Democrat who collected signatures for the new campaign after seeing lawmakers dismantle the first ethics package. “We had already told them once what we wanted.”
Legislatures from the Dakotas to Maine this year brushed aside voter measures, some working to hamper citizens’ ability to pass ballot questions. In 2018 and beyond, states including Ohio, Maine, Missouri and the Dakotas could tussle over the states’ ballot question systems.
FBI involved with airport blackout probe; no sign of terror
ATLANTA (AP) — The FBI is part of the probe into what caused a fire that knocked out power to the world’s busiest airport in Atlanta, but an agency spokesman said Tuesday there was no sign of anything connected to terrorism.
“There’s no indication at this point of anything nefarious,” FBI spokesman Kevin Rowson said.
The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has also been involved in the investigation, Georgia Power spokesman Craig Bell said.
“We’re bringing everything we have to bear to the situation to make sure this doesn’t happen again,” Bell said Tuesday.
No conclusions have been drawn as to the cause of the fire, which took out the airport’s power supply and also its backup electricity for about 11 hours Sunday. The blackout stranded thousands of passengers on grounded jets and in darkened concourses and led to the cancellation of more than 1,500 flights just ahead of the frenzied holiday travel period.
Facebook improves how blind can “see” images using AI
MENLO PARK, Calif. (AP) — When Matt King first got on Facebook eight years ago, the blind engineer had to weigh whether it was worth spending an entire Saturday morning checking whether a friend of his was actually in his friend list. Such were the tools at the time for the visually impaired — almost nonexistent.
Today, thanks to text-to-audio software, it just takes a few seconds for him to accomplish the same task. And because of a new face recognition service the social network is rolling out Tuesday, he can now learn which friends are in photos, even those who haven’t been tagged by another user.
The facial recognition technology, which uses artificially intelligent algorithms, doesn’t appear to have changed much since Facebook began using it in 2010 to suggest the identities of people in photos. But after incorporating feedback from billions of user interactions, Facebook felt confident enough to push its use into new territory.
“What we’re doing with AI is making it possible for anybody to enjoy the experience,” says 52-year-old King, who lost his sight in college due to a degenerative eye disease and now works at Facebook as an accessibility specialist. In addition to the improved facial recognition, Facebook has in recent years also automated descriptions of what’s happening in a photo. (Those remain relatively primitive, as they’re limited to only about 100 or so concepts and roughly a dozen action verbs.)
For the sighted, the new facial recognition settings will also help crack down on imposters. Starting Tuesday, Facebook will notify you if someone has uploaded your face as their profile picture. And just in time for alcohol-laden holiday parties, you can also be notified if someone in your friend network has posted a compromising picture of you without explicitly tagging you.
Baby bongo born, more likely soon at Species Survival Center
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A bouncing baby bongo has been born in New Orleans.
The 46-pound female is from a highly endangered antelope subspecies. It’s the first calf conceived at the Species Survival Center created by the Audubon Nature Institute and San Diego Zoo Global.
And more baby antelope are on their way, including two or three more Eastern bongo, curator Michelle Hatwood said Monday.
That’s an excellent sign for a project to create large natural spaces where herds of antelope and giraffe can be comfortable and multiply.
In addition to the bongo, Hatwood said, three or four of the center’s sable antelope, two or three eland and a duiker (DIKE-er) also are probably pregnant. But the bongo are especially exciting, because — though zoos hold about 550 of the Eastern subspecies — only about 100 are left in the wild.
