Page 31 - Florida Sentinel 9-25-20

National
US Bans WeChat, TikTok From App Stores Citing Security Risk
Utah Officer Faces Felony
The U. S. Commerce Depart- ment said Friday it will ban Chinese-owned TikTok and WeChat from U. S. app stores on Sunday and will saddle the apps with technical restric- tions that could seriously limit their functionality in the U. S.
The order, which cited na- tional security and data pri- vacy concerns, follows weeks of dealmaking over the video- sharing service TikTok. Pres- ident Donald Trump has pressured the app’s Chinese owner to sell TikTok’s U. S. op- erations to a domestic com- pany. It is not clear how the latest prohibitions will affect a deal recently struck by Califor- nia tech giant Oracle aimed at satisfying U. S. concerns over TikTok’s data collection and related issues.
TikTok expressed “disap- pointment” over the move and said it would continue to chal- lenge President Donald
Dog To Bite Black Man
Charge For Ordering Police
Trump’s “unjust executive order.” The Commerce Depart- ment is enacting an order an- nounced by President Donald Trump in August. TikTok sued to stop that ban.
Google and Apple, the own- ers of the major mobile app stores, did not immediately reply to questions. Neither did WeChat owner Tencent. Ora- cle, which has proposed a deal with TikTok aimed at averting
such a ban, also did not reply. “At the President’s direction, we have taken significant ac- tion to combat China’s mali- cious collection of American citizens’ personal data, while promoting our national values, democratic rules-based norms, and aggressive enforcement of U. S. laws and regulations,” Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said in a prepared state- ment.
Jeffery Ryans, who sus- tained multiple dog bites, is shown here discussing his en- counter with Salt Lake City po- lice at his attorney's office in Salt Lake City.
when the incident took place, according to Salt Lake City member station KUER, which added that Ryans' injuries were so severe he required sur- gery.
TIKTOK AND WECHAT
A Salt Lake City police offi- cer is facing a felony charge stemming from an April en- counter in which he ordered a police dog to attack a Black man who was on his knees with his hands raised, seem- ingly complying with officer commands.
Salt Lake City District At- torney Sim Gill announced the aggravated assault charge on Wednesday. He alleges that officer Nickolas Pearce did "attempt, with unlawful force or violence, to do bodily injury to another" during the April 24 encounter with Jeffery Ryans.
Gill told The Salt Lake Trib- une that Ryans "wasn't resist- ing arrest" when Pearce ordered the police dog to en- gage the man.
"He certainly wasn't posing an imminent threat of violence or harm to anyone and he cer- tainly wasn't concealed. He was fenced in an area and was being compliant," Gill said.
Officers were responding to a report of domestic violence
Missing HBCU Student Adam Dowdell Has Been Found Dead In Alabama
A student at a historically Black college (HBCU) in Ala- bama has been found dead nearly one week after he was first reported missing. Adam Dowdell was in his second year at Alabama State Univer- sity in Montgomery when he never returned to his dorm last week. The 22-year-old’s body was found Monday, AL.com reported.
Dowdell’s mother said her son’s friends contacted her they hadn’t heard from him. Toya Cohill ended up con- tacting police last Wednesday, sparking an investigation that ended Monday with the dis- covery of his body in Mont- gomery.
All of the circumstances sur- rounding Dowdell’s disap- pearance were not immediately clear. However, what is known is that Dowdell went to an ATM with a fellow student the night of Sept. 8. That was the last time anybody heard from him. It was not clear what happened to the friend Dowdell went to the bank with.
Alabama State University’s
ADAM DOWDELL
president said in a brief state- ment that he and the entire university family were mourn- ing Dowdell’s death.
“We all had hoped for a dif- ferent outcome,” Quinton T. Ross Jr. said about the trans- fer student majoring in physi- cal education. “Losing a student is always difficult, and the Hornet Nation is in mourning over his death. Our thoughts and prayers are cer- tainly with Adam’s mother and the rest of his family and friends as they face this tragic
loss.”
Prior to Dowdell’s body
being found, his mother said she was desperate to find her son who she affectionately re- ferred to as “Belle.” Cohill even took to her son’s Face- book page to post pleas for help.
She told AL.com that she was especially worried because she said Dowdell doesn’t go anywhere without his phone. When she tried to call him and it repeatedly went to voicemail instead of ringing — suggest- ing the phone was dead — she said she knew it was serious.
“I just want my child back,” she said at the time.
She said he was always in touch with his family.
“He always talks to all of us,” Cohill said. “From my mama to my daughter to my son, somebody’s going to talk to him every day.”
She continued: “This is not like him. I can’t even explain the hurt.”
Dowdell, an Alabama na- tive, grew up in the town of Al- abaster, which is about 68 miles north of Montgomery.
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