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U.S. orders new visa reviews for international students

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The Homeland Security Department ordered border agents to verify that every international student who arrives in the U.S. has a valid student visa, according to an internal memorandum obtained Friday by The Associated Press. The new procedure is the government's first security change directly related to the Boston bombings.

The order, which is effective immediately, came from a senior official at U.S. Customs and Border Protection, David J. Murphy. It was circulated Thursday, one day after the Obama administration acknowledged that a student from Kazakhstan accused of hiding evidence for one of the Boston bombing suspects was allowed to return to the U.S. in January without a valid student visa.

The student visa for Azamat Tazhayakov had been terminated when he arrived in New York on Jan. 20. But the border agent in the airport did not have access to the information in the Homeland Security Department's Student and Exchange Visitor Information System, called SEVIS.

Tazhayakov was a friend and classmate of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. Tazhayakov left the U.S. in December and returned Jan. 20. But in early January, his student-visa status was terminated because he was academically dismissed from the university.

Tazhayakov and a second Kazakh student were arrested this week on federal charges of obstruction of justice. They were accused of helping to get rid of a backpack containing fireworks linked to Tsarnaev. A third student was also arrested and accused of lying to authorities.

A spokesman for the department, Peter Boogaard, said earlier this week that the government was working to fix the problem, which allowed Tazhayakov to be admitted into the country when he returned to the U.S.

Under existing procedures, border agents could verify a student's status in SEVIS only when the person was referred to a second officer for additional inspection or questioning. Tazhayakov was not sent to a second officer when he arrived, because, Boogaard said, there was no information to indicate Tazhayakov was a national security threat. Under the new procedures, all border agents were expected to be able to access SEVIS by next week.

The government for years has recognized as a problem the inability of border agents at primary inspection stations to directly review student-visa information. The Homeland Security Department was working before the bombings to resolve the problem, but the new memo outlined interim procedures until the situation was corrected.

Under the new procedures, border agents will verify a student's visa status before the person arrives in the U.S. using information provided in flight manifests. If that information is unavailable, border agents will check the visa status manually with the agency's national targeting data center.

It is unclear what impact the new procedure will have on wait times at airports and borders. Customs officials will be required to report any effect, including longer waits, on a daily basis.

A Buffalo, N.Y., college has advised student-visa holders from Canada to add two hours to their daily commute. In an email sent to D'Youville College students, staff and faculty, International Student Office Director Laryssa S. Petryshyn said the security change "is causing and will cause numerous delays for all international students entering the United States."

The Obama administration announced an internal review earlier this week of how U.S. intelligence agencies shared sensitive information before the bombings and whether the government could have prevented the attack. Republicans in Congress have promised oversight hearings, which begin Thursday.

Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, asked Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano on Thursday for details from the student-visa applications of Tazhayakov and Dias Kadyrbayev, the Kazakhstan students implicated in helping Tsarnaev after the bombings, including information about how Tazhayakov re-entered the United States. In a follow-up letter sent Friday, he asked Napolitano for additional details on SEVIS records and the student visa program.

Lawmakers and others have long been concerned about terrorists exploiting the student visa system to travel to the United States. A 20-year-old college student from Saudi Arabia was arrested in Texas in 2011 on federal charges of attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction. Authorities accused him of plotting to blow up dams, nuclear plants or the Dallas home of former President George W. Bush. He was later convicted and sentenced to life in prison.

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Associated Press reporter Carolyn Thompson in Buffalo, N.Y., contributed to this report.

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Follow Alicia A. Caldwell on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/acaldwellap

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/us-orders-visa-reviews-arriving-students-181312845.html

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Wood, Salt, and Wonder: The Renewable Future of 3D Printing

Weapons. Toys. Entire skulls. There?s no limit to the objects we can 3D print these days, but the materials themselves haven?t evolved as quickly?we?re still stuck in a world of plastic, steel, and ceramic. That?s all about to change, thanks to the work of a small Oakland fabrication studio called Emerging Objects.

Emerging Objects is actually the project of two architects, Ronald Rael and Virginia San Fratello, who teach a 3D printing studio at Berkeley. But unlike most 3D printing research these days, they?re not interested in the machines?instead, they focus on what goes into them. ?Many people are focused on machines that print plastic, ? Rael told me over the phone yesterday. ?We?re looking at itom the other direction, at the materials themselves.?

That ?other direction? is organic and renewable: salt harvested from San Francisco Bay, wood pulp, and clay. Using a standard powder-based 3D printer, they and their students have figured out how to print bricks, components, and furniture using recyclable materials. What does 3D-printed wood look like? Weirdly realistic: it has a faux grain, simply because of the layered printing process. The salt, meanwhile, looks like ?solid milk,? to borrow Rael?s words. Shockingly, it?s all super strong, thanks to reinforcement techniques developed in-house?their printed cement is actually stronger than standard stuff. But most importantly? It?s 90% less expensive that current 3D printing technology.

It?s hard not to go wild thinking about the potential for technology like this. Right now, the group is finishing a room-sized object printed with salt harvested from the Pacific, minutes away from their studio. Imagine being able to harvest all of the materials you need to build from local sources?beyond the sheer savings on materials, it?d be fascinating to see local vernacular reemerge in architectural culture. Or to see cities deploying printers to fix infrastructural problems using super-strong local materials. Or just to be able to replace bricks in your wall with ones you designed yourself. ?We?re using waste products from the lumber industry and salt, a renewable and inexpensive resource,? says Rael. ?It?s certainly an ecological way to think about 3D printing.?

Will we ever be able to buy these alchemical recipes? Actually, yes: the duo plan to launch a spin-off company by the end of the year. If all goes well, you?ll be able to buy their mixes by the pound?starting with cement. [Emerging Objects]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/renewable-recyclable-3d-printing-with-wood-and-salt-486558507

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REGULATION: Green guidelines for palm oil growers rankle environmentalists