Climate threatsClimate change could cause global beer shortages

Severe climate events could cause shortages in the global beer supply, according to new research. The study warns that increasingly widespread and severe drought and heat may cause substantial decreases in barley yields worldwide, affecting the supply used to make beer, and ultimately resulting in “dramatic” falls in beer consumption and rises in beer prices.

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Election securityElections systems under attack

The Department of Homeland Security is seeing an increase in the number of attacks on election databases in the run up to the midterm elections but has yet to identify who is behind the attempted hacks. DHS continues to insist Russia shows no signs of attacking voting systems the way it did in 21 states in 2016.

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The Russia connectionTwitter’s massive data release shows the Kremlin’s broad pro-Trump strategy

Twitter today (Wednesday) released ten million tweets it says represent all of the foreign influence operations on the social media platform, including Russia’s consistent efforts to undermine Hillary Clinton’s presidential bid and support Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign. The Internet Research Agency, the St. Petersburg-based Kremlin’s troll farm, created 3,400 accounts to undermine Hillary Clinton’s campaign and support Trump. Before helping Trump defeat Clinton, the Kremlin helped Trump secure the GOP nomination by targeting former governor Jeb Bush and Senator Ted Cruz.

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CybersecurityOpen-source hardware could defend against the next generation of hacking

By Joshua M. Pearce

Imagine you had a secret document you had to store away from prying eyes. And you have a choice: You could buy a safe made by a company that kept the workings of its locks secret. Or you could buy a safe whose manufacturer openly published the designs, letting everyone – including thieves – see how they’re made. Which would you choose? It might seem unexpected, but as an engineering professor, I’d pick the second option.

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Animal diseaseMeasuring global cost of animal diseases

Across the globe, families depend on livestock animals for milk, meat, eggs, even muscle power. But when a valuable cow or sheep gets sick, farm families face a stark burden affecting not just their herd’s survival, but human health and potential losses for years to come.

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Water securityGlobal hotspots for potential water conflicts

Scientists at the Joint Research Center (JRC) of the European Commission have identified the hotspots where competition over the use of shared water resources could lead to disagreements between countries. The scientists determined that the Nile, Ganges-Brahmaputra, Indus, Tigris-Euphrates and Colorado rivers are “water hotspots”, where “hydro-political interactions” are most likely to occur. These areas are already under water stress, and future demographic and climatic conditions are expected to exert further pressure on scarce water resources.

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The Russia watchRussia’s redheaded “spies”; disinformation on steroids; Russian meddling & EU elections, and more

·  Maria Butina and Anna Chapman: The very different fates of Russia’s redheaded “spies”

·  Disinformation on steroids: The threat of Deep Fakes

·  Will Deep-Fake technology destroy democracy?

·  Penn professor: Trump would ‘probably not’ be president without Russian help

·  Why Assad and Russia target the White Helmets

·  Mueller ready to deliver key findings in his Trump probe, sources say

·  Fear of Russian meddling hangs over next year’s EU elections

·  U.K. Cyber Security Centre says Russia hacking into systems could enable devastating cyberattacks

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TerrorismBipartisan bill targeting Hamas, Hezbollah for using human shields passes senate unanimously

The United States Senate has unanimously passed a bipartisan bill that would enact sanctions on those who use civilians as human shields as a tactic of war, including terror groups such as Hamas, Hezbollah, Al Qaeda, and ISIS. The bill, called the Sanctioning the Use of Civilians as Defenseless Shields Act, was co-sponsored by 50 other senators.

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Far Right radicalizationThe Far Right and reciprocal radicalization

By Samantha McGarry

Could fragmentation within the Far-Right contribute to increasingly extreme responses to Islamist terrorism? There is increasing evidence of instrumental responses from some of the most extreme groups, which seek to encourage the strategic use of violence.

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Perception of immigrationWhite Americans see many immigrants as “illegal” until proven otherwise: Study

Fueled by political rhetoric evoking dangerous criminal immigrants, many white Americans assume low-status immigrants from Mexico, El Salvador, Syria, Somalia and other countries have no legal right to be in the United States, new research suggests. In the eyes of many white Americans, just knowing an immigrant’s national origin is enough to believe they are probably undocumented, the study’s co-author says.

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