2 I The Behrend Beacon
Children seeking asylum in UK face deportation
UK - Children seeking asylum in the UK will now be deported before the age of 18 if they are denied
the right to stay. The old proceedings didn’t initiate deportation proceedings until the subject turned
18.
Nearly 2,000 children seek asylum in the UK each year, unaccompanied by a parent or guardian.
Children rights organizations are criticizing the UK government, stating that children being sent out
of the UK could potentially enter a harmful environment. “The government should not try to force any
child to return against their wishes where their safety and welfare cannot be guaranteed,” said Donna
Covey, chief executive of the Refugee Council. “The government should not try to force any child to
return against their wishes where their safety and welfare cannot be guaranteed.” The government said
children would not be deported until authorities were “100 percent sure” of safe reception in their
homeland.
Immigration minister Liam Byrne said the old policy allowed child traffickers to not have to worry
about children being sent home once entering the country.
Children’s Commissioner for England, Sir A 1 Aynsley-Green commended the government’s efforts
to tackle the problem, but was still concerned about unaccompanied children from “conflict-affected
countries.” Aynsley-Green said “If they feel unsupported in the UK, these children could disappear
from a local authority’s care well before their 18th birthday. This puts them at serious risk of harm...”
n laptop contained Penn
State alumni
By Matthew Schwabenbauer
asst, news editor
mjss3B7@psu.edu
The Social Security numbers of 677 Penn State
alumni are at risk after a University laptop was stolen
earlier this month. The laptop, which contained past
students' archived information, including Social
Security numbers was in the possession of a traveling
faculty member. The theft opens up alumni which
graduated between 1999 and 2004 to the possibility
of identity theft.
“[The laptop is) on the
National
Information Center data
base." said David
Lindstrom, Penn State's
chief privacy officer. “So
every police department
in the United States can
try to find it." Lindstrom
said the neither name of
the faculty member who
was in possession of the
laptop, nor the location of
the theft will be released
because he said he does
not “want the bad guys to
know what they have.” He
added that he believed the
theft was random and
unrelated to Penn State.
Annemarie Mountz, a
spokesperson for Penn
State said letters have
been sent to the individu
als whose information is
at risk. She stated that the university hasn’t received
a complaint from any of the exposed alumni. Mountz
said she was unaware why the old information was
being stored on the laptop, and that no new informa
tion on the laptops whereabouts had been discovered.
According to Lindstrom, the University no longer
stores sensitive information on devices such as lap
tops, but in the case of the laptop he said "that was
how the university used to do business." Lindstrom
added that laptops previously stolen from the
University had been recovered, but never contained
such sensitive information about Penn State alumni.
“We have no reason to believe anybody’s information
has been compromised, but you need to take precau
tions, watch your credit, and just be careful." said
Quotes on Civility
“Until he extends the circle of his compas
sion to all living things, man will not him
self find peace.”
Albert Schweitzer, French Nobel Peace
Prize-winning mission doctor
and theologian (1875-1965)
Janet Neff Sample Center Kffl
for Manners ir Civility
Sources: BBC News, CNN
Crime
“We have no reason to
believe anybody’s infor
nation has been compro
mised, but you need to
take precautions, watch
your credit, and just be
careful ”
- Penn State chief priva
cy officer David
Lindstrom.
information
Lindstrom
Former assistant vice provost for enrollment man
agement and registrar, Jim Wager, told The Daily
Collegian in March 2004 that “by using the Social
Security number, we have compromised people’s
identities. We're trying as an institution to not play
into this." Students’ Social Security numbers were
printed on Penn State identification cards until 2005.
Wager said the University ceased listing social secu
rity numbers on identification cards due to the rising
popularity in internet commerce.
posted on the Penn State web site. A researcher post
ed the information which was part of a larger file, not
realizing the numbers were part of the file. The infor
mation was removed after 12 days.
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-raw.
By having a social security
number exposed, identity
thieves can then open bank
accounts, credit cards and
checking accounts in some
one else's name. Identity
thieves can also take out
loans in someone else’s name
by having their social security
number, which then ruins the
victims credit. In rare cases,
criminals have been known to
obtain copy identification
cards by having someone's
social security number, then
if arrested for a crime they
present the false identifica
tion card which places the
charges under someone else’s
name.
The last time the
University caused a similar
security risk, no cases of
identity theft were reported.
In July 2007, 8,400 Marines'
Social Security numbers were
r i
O
Source: senior al Qaeda terrorist killed
WASHINGTON - A military source has said that a senior al Qaeda terrorist has been killed in
Pakistan.
Abu Laith al-Libi, 41, allegedly plotted and led terrorists against the U.S. and coalition forces and
was listed as one the military’s most wanted people.
Al-Libi is believed to have been involved in the Feb. 2007 bombing at the Bagram Air Base in
Afghanistan while Vice President Dick Cheney was visiting.
Officials have said that al-Libi was “not far below the importance of the top two al Qaeda leaders.”
The top two leaders are considered to be Osama bin Laden and Aymana al-Zawahiri. A CNN Middle
East analyst called al-Libi the third-ranking terrorist in al Qaeda and the fourth in the world.
Radical Islamist websites are acknowledging al-Libi’s death. One posting read, “May God have
mercy on Sheikh Abu Laith al-Libi and accept him with his brothers, with the martyrs.”
Earlier in al-Libi’s life, he served as the leader of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group. His group
later joined forces with al Qaeda where he was allegedly responsible for plotting terrorist attacks
throughout North Africa and the Middle East. Officials describe al-Libi as an inner circle man who
filled the space left by other senior leaders who had been captured or killed.
The military spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas told CNN reporters that it was impossible to know
exactly who had been killed because all the bodies of the deceased have been removed and buried by
Taliban and al Qaeda members.
Al- Libi was placed on the U.S. military’s most wanted list in 2006. The U.S. offered a reward rang
ing from $20,000 to $200,000 for information on al-Libi and 11 other terrorist leaders.
Former Behrend student
sentenced in child porn case
By Lenny Smith
news editor
lrsso46@psu.edu
Bomb scare at Erie County Courthouse
By Lenny Smith
news editor
lrsso46<a psu.edu
Erie County Police are investigating who left a
pipe bomb on the steps of the Erie County
Courthouse after a worker discovered the bomb
around 8 a.m. on Jan 31.
Erie County Sheriff Bob Merski said the pipe
bomb was seven to eight inches in length and
also included a fuse and gun powder. Police have
not yet been able to determine how the bomb was
to be detonated. Although, Merski called the
bomb a “simple device.”
The courthouse was closed to the public while
police secured the streets and surrounding areas.
“The action they took was to defuse the pipe
bomb, which entailed blowing off the end cap
which would render it pretty much harmless,”
Merski said.
The courthouse was not evacuated because
Robotics club prepares for competition
By Marcus Yeagley
staff writer
mjysOl2<o'psu.edu
The Robotics Club here at Behrend is looking
for new members to assist them in entering a
firefighting robot competition at the Penn State
Abington campus next spring.
Rebounding from roughly five members last
fall, the club has grown into the double digits.
Spreading through word of mouth, the club is
ready to tackle the task of a three semester long
project, but they are more than willing to take in
any new members that are interested.
“Any major is welcome,” said Jason Frisk,
president of the Robotics Club and a junior dou
ble majoring in computer and electrical engi
neering who hopes to go into robotics after grad
uate school. “If you are interested in helping us,
you can. Pre-med students are allowed to come.
Doesn’t matter here. Pretty much whoever is
interested in robotics, but we would like to see
some upper class men like mechanical engi
neers, computer engineers, electrical engineers,
software engineers, computer science... even
technology people can help out a lot.”
The club wishes to enter into a competition
that challenges the contestants to design a small
robot no larger than 12 and a quarter inch cubed
that can autonomously find its way through a
short maze to extinguish a small candle placed at
random in one the maze’s four rooms. The event
is based on the International Fire Fighting Robot
Contest at Trinity College.
Winning the competition is determined by
whichever team can complete the task of extin
guishing the flame the fastest. Each robot is
“ placed on five years probation and required to
register as a sex offender.
Demerecz was found guilty of possessing 21
' files depicting children being raped or sexually
Former Penn State Behrend a t, use d on his personal computer in Oct. 2007 at
student Jonathan Demerecz, a non . jury trial
24, was sentenced to six while at Behrend, Demercz was a physics
months to a year in the Erie ma j or t h at was ver y active in extra-curricular
County Prison today after act i v ities. He also served as the vice-president
being convicted of child g amers c | u b Demerecz was scheduled to
pornography possession. graduate in the spring of 2007, but has not been
After his release from a re gi stere( j student at the college since Dec.
prison, Demerecz will be 2006
Friday, February 1, 2008
officials felt that there was no threat to the work
ers inside the courthouse. The courthouse was
reopened to the public at 9:30 a.m., and services
ran in normal operation throughout the day.
Investigators are hoping that film from two
security cameras at the courthouse will shed
some light onto who left to bomb. Police have
requested the use of footage from buildings
owned by Gannon University that surround the
eourthouse.
The bomb was sent to a lab for further testing.
A white substance found next the bomb is also
undergoing tests to determine exactly what it is.
although officials believe it could be salt.
Merski said the call was never looked at as a
false alarm. “False alarms, we don’t consider
anything a false alarm. We handle everything as
if it were an incident that could potentially dam
age property, or injure, kill or maim people.”
No one has been arrested.
given two chances to extinguish the candle fol
lowing certain guidelines such as, for example,
being at most a foot away from the flame before
putting it out.
Robots that complete certain tasks in addition
to extinguishing the flame can get seconds taken
off their time. Using carbon dioxide to put out
the candle, returning back to the starting posi
tion, ascending or descending a set of stairs in
the maze, and starting to operate after hearing a
fire alarm all give the competitors bonuses if
they can complete them, all of which the
Robotics Club is trying to achieve. An addition
al time deduction can be achieved if obstacles
are placed in the rooms.
With roughly three whole semesters to prepare
for the event, the club plans to take this spring
semester to plan, design, and purchase parts for
the robot, use next fall for construction, and use
next spring to fine tune, debug, and ultimately
enter their creation into the competition.
The faculty advisor for the Robotics club, Ron
Krahe, Associate Professor of Electrical and
Computer Engineering Technology, expressed
what can be gained by taking on such an under
taking. “It is the process that is important I think
here,” Krahe said in a brief interview. “It’s going
through the steps and solving the problem...what
they come up with is valuable but more impor
tant than that is the process that they go through
to figure out how to do these kinds of things.”
Any students interested in joining or finding
out more about the Robotics Club and the com
petition can contact them at their website,
www.clubs.psu.edu/bd/robotics or email them at
behrendrobotics@gmail.com.