News Headlines - 19 February 2019

▽Congress wants Facebook to explain why closed groups leaked user data | ZDNet

Members of the US House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee wrote Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg today demanding answers from the exec and its staff about the company's most recent privacy scandal... The complaint is connected to a privacy issue that Facebook dealt with over the summer. According to a CNBC report at the time, the leader of a health-centric Facebook group discovered that a Chrome extension for marketers allowed advertisers to collect the names and emails of users who joined Facebook "closed" groups, including the details of a group she organized for women with BRCA gene mutations.

▽PS Vita production ending soon in Japan - Gematsu

PS Vita will soon end production in Japan, according to the official Japanese PlayStation website... While a specific end date is currently unknown, it is worth noting that when PlayStation 3 ended production back in May 2017, the official Japanese PlayStation website posted the same notice two months prior. PS Vita first launched in December 2011.

▽Stephen Lawrence: '100 years before Met has ethnic mix' of London - police - BBC News

Currently 14% of Met officers are from black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds, but the 2011 Census shows 40.2% of Londoners identify as BAME.
As a result the force says it wants to recruit 250 extra BAME officers a year... Since 1999, BAME officers have increased from 3% to 14%, while last year 30% of new recruits were from that background.

▽Karl Lagerfeld, iconic Chanel fashion designer, dies - BBC News

Iconic fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld has died in Paris following a short illness.
The German designer, who was the creative director for Chanel and Fendi, was one of the industry's most prolific figures and worked up until his death.
His signature ponytail and dark glasses made him an instantly recognisable figure around the world.

▽Karl Marx's London grave vandalized again, with red paint | Reuters

A memorial to Karl Marx at the cemetery in north London where the 19th century political philosopher is buried has been defaced for the second time in less than a fortnight - this time with red paint.
Earlier this month, the monument in Highgate cemetery, which is among British structures listed as being of exceptional historical interest, was damaged with a hammer.