Today's news
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SyriaSyrian army attacks Israeli army patrol; Israel retaliates, issues stark warning
Syrian forces have fired at an Israeli army patrol Tuesday, and for the first time since the beginning of the conflict in Syria, the Syrian government publicly took responsibility for the firing. In response, Israel launched a cruise missile and destroyed the Syrian position from which the Syrian soldiers fired into Israel. Israel’s military chief warned: “We will not allow the Golan Heights to become a comfortable space for Assad to operate from.”
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ImmigrationSenate panel reaches compromise on foreign workers
The Senate Judiciary Committee reached a compromise which would make it much easier for American tech companies to hire foreign workers. Most U.S. high-tech companies would not be required to offer tech jobs to Americans before they are able to hire foreign workers. The only companies required to do so are companies which depend on foreign workers for more than 15 percent of their workforce.
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ImmigrationSenator Hatch champions tech industry’s priorities in immigration reform
As the Senate Judiciary Committee continues to consider the bipartisan immigration reform bill, both supporters and opponents of the bill agree that one senator has emerged as a key voice on the issue: the 79-year old Orrin Hatch (R-Utah). Hatch has emerged as a champion of the U.S. technology industry, and while he supports the broad goal of immigration reform, he insists on shaping the legislation so it addresses the priorities and preferences of the tech industry, priorities and preferences which he sees as essential not only for the health of the industry, but for the health of the U.S. economy more generally.
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TerrorismCourt upholds CIA’s decision not to release post-raid Bin Laden photos
A federal appeals court on Tuesday unanimously ruled that the U.S. government does not have to release more than fifty images and a video of Osama Bin Laden, taken after his death. “It is undisputed that the government is withholding the images not to shield wrongdoing or avoid embarrassment, but rather to prevent the killing of Americans and violence against American interests,” the judges said.
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CybersecurityCyber risks for users of cloud computing
Home computer users and businesses are being warned to consider more closely the risks associated with cloud computing, as well as its many advantages.
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BioterrorismOregon drills first responders for bioterrorism attack
A three day drill called the Portland Area Capabilities Exercise (PACE), simulating a terrorist attack involving a biological weapon, will take place across fifty different facilities and sixty-five jurisdictions in the state of Oregon.
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EnergyAlgae could become an important source of fuel in U.S.
A new analysis shows that the U.S. land and water resources could likely support the growth of enough algae to produce up to twenty-five billion gallons of algae-based fuel a year in the United States, one-twelfth of the country’s yearly needs.
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PrivacySocial sites’ privacy practices “seriously deficient”
The privacy management of sixteen popular social networking sites, including Facebook and Twitter, is “seriously deficient,” according to a new study. Researchers found a disconnect between privacy statements and the site’s actual privacy controls.
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DisastersTornados kill 51, including 20 children, in Oklahoma City suburbs
A twister half mile-wide with 200mph winds swept through the suburbs of Oklahoma City Monday, killing at least fifty-one people, among them twenty children, and destroying homes and properties. This is the second day in a row that the area has been hit destructive tornados. OU Medical Center and a nearby children’s hospital have admitted 120 people for treatment, including 70 children, some in critical condition. The children were killed an injured when two elementary schools were flattened by the twister. The worst hit was the town of Moore, which, in May 1999, was hit by a massive tornado with the strongest winds ever recorded on Earth — 318 mph.
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CybersecurityU.S. to help protect private companies from malicious cyberattacks
The U.S. government said it will help protect private companies from cyber attacks. DHS secretary Janet Napolitano said a system is being developed which will monitor Internet traffic directed to critical infrastructure businesses and block attacks on software programs.
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BioterrorismRicin can kill, but there are more potent bioterror weapons
Ricin was in the headlines a few weeks ago, when envelopes containing the poison were mailed to President Obama, Senator Roger Wicker (R-Mississippi), and a Mississippi judge. The threat from ricin is low, however, because ricin cannot poison someone through contact with the skin. To be poisoned, an individual would have to ingest or inhale traces of the poison.
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ImmigrationU.S. technology industry working hard to shape immigration bill
The U.S. technology industry is generally happy with the Senate immigration reform bill which is currently under review, but some of provisions in the bill are not to the liking of the industry, and lobbyists working on its behalf are now trying to remove them.
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InfrastructureSenate passes water resources bill, funding flood control projects
Several projects for the Army Corps of Engineers will now be expedited under a bi-partisan Senate legislation passed last Wednesday. The authors of the bill hope the legislation will move the Morganza-to-the-Gulf hurricane protection project forward. The project goal is to install a series of levees, locks, and other systems through the Terrebonne and Lafourche parishes, which will protect about 200,000 people from storm surges like the ones Hurricane Katrina caused.
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EarthquakesUnderstanding slow earthquakes helps in earthquake prediction
Earthquakes that last minutes rather than seconds are a relatively recent discovery, according to an international team of seismologists. Researchers have been aware of these slow earthquakes only for the past five to ten years because of new tools and new observations, but these tools may explain the triggering of some normal earthquakes and could help in earthquake prediction.
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EnergyCompressing air for renewable energy storage
Enough Northwest wind energy to power about 85,000 homes each month could be stored in porous rocks deep underground for later use, according to a new, comprehensive study. Researchers identified two unique methods for this energy storage approach and two eastern Washington locations to put them into practice.
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LeaksLeak exposed valuable informant, jeopardized counter-terrorism efforts
Discussing the Justice Department’s effort to obtain telephone records of several AP journalists, sources close to the case say that the leak was deemed exceedingly egregious because it exposed an informant working for the U.K. and U.S. intelligence services, and who was able to achieve what other informants had not: the trust of the terrorists.
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ImmigrationSenate panel considering, and voting on, nearly 300 amendments to immigration bill
The Senate Judiciary Committee is considering, and voting on, each of the nearly 300 amendments to the immigration overhaul bill. An amendment offered by Senator Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), which would require DHS to transfer all student visa information to border patrol agents at all 329 ports of entry into the United States, was approved unanimously.
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DronesBipartisan consensus on drone legislation emerges in Congress
More and more law enforcement departments across the country have purchased, or are considering purchasing, drones. Some states have already passed laws to regulate the use of drones. Congress, in an effort to prevent the emergence of a patchwork of regulations which differ from state to state, is considering passing drone legislation.
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BudgetPanel's draft bill shields DHS funds
A house panel introduced a bill last week that will protect DHS from budget cuts facing other domestic agencies under the house’s budget plan. This will allow the department to hire 1,600 new agents at Customs and Border Patrol agency, replace cuts to local and state governments, boost spending on cybersecurity, and abandon cuts to the Coast Guard.
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Infrastructure protectionCybersecurity framework for critical infrastructure: analysis of initial comments
On 12 February 2013 President Obama issued the “Improving Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity” executive order, which called for the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to work with industry to develop a voluntary framework to reduce cybersecurity risks to the nation’s critical infrastructure, which includes power, water, communication, and other critical systems.
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DisastersGPS technology offers 3-minute tsunami alerts
Researchers show that by using global positioning systems (GPS) to measure ground deformation caused by a large underwater earthquake, they can provide accurate warning of the resulting tsunami in just a few minutes after the earthquake onset.
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DisastersThe contribution of geophysics to disaster planning
Earthquakes, tsunamis, and other natural disasters often showcase the worst in human suffering — especially when those disasters strike populations which live in rapidly growing communities in the developing world with poorly enforced or non-existent building codes. Geophysicists can help by identifying natural hazards, and by developing effective disaster risk reduction strategies which integrate many different experts.
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