College admissions cheating scheme

On March 12, dozens of wealthy parents, including some celebrities, were charged in a “multimillion-dollar scheme to cheat college admissions standard.” This scheme involved cheating, bribing, and fabrication of documents. Federal officials claim that 33 of these parents paid large amounts of money to a man named William Rick Singer to obtain these fake records. Singer was paid anywhere between $200,000 and $6.5 million dollars for his service. In the end, a total of 50 people have been charged for this admissions scheme (npr.org).

New Zealand mosque

On March 21, just six days after attacks on two different New Zealand mosques, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced that plans are in motion to ban automatic weapons. This ban will be submitted to Parliament to become legislation in April, approximately three weeks after the tragedy. Between these two attacks in Christchurch, NZ, 50 people were killed and dozens more injured. Thousands attended a vigil for these attacks on March 24. There is evidence that the perpetrator of these shootings is associated with known Nazi and white supremacy groups. The last mass shooting in New Zealand occurred in 1997 and left six dead (nbcnews.com).

S. halts aid to South American nations

President Trump’s newest attempt to stop illegal immigration from south of the border is manifesting as a halt of all American fiscal aid to El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, nicknamed the “Northern Triangle.” The $500 million dollars that will be redirected was allocated during Obama’s administration “to address the root causes of migration — violence, a lack of jobs and poverty” explains The Washington Post. Ambassadors and others familiar with the Central American struggles that lead to immigration warn that defunding the programs may cause more northern movement, as they were built to give families some resources to stay.

U. passes new copyright laws

New policies regarding copyright will replaces ones from 20 years ago. While many agree with the gist of the terms, ‘Article 13’ has garnered much worry and protest. Critics predict the Article will cause internet users trouble using images, GIFs, video clips and more. This is because host tech companies are now the parties who must monitor their own sites for copyright infringement. As sites such as YouTube have already faced scrutiny for their screening algorithms, users fear strikes against their content will only get worse. Information courtesy of CNBC.