Today's news

DronesNew Obama policy sets higher standards for drone use
In a major policy speech Thursday, President Obama announced plans to set higher standards for the use of drones in the fight against terrorists. He defended the use of the unmanned vehicles in that war, however, including when, in extreme situations, they are used to kill American citizens.
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CybersecurityReport: U.S. companies should consider counter-hacking Chinese hackers
A group studying how the United States should respond to the sustained campaign of cyberattacks conducted by Chinese government hackers against U.S. companies, said the United States should seriously consider a campaign of retaliatory cyberattacks against the hackers.
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3D plastic gunsDHS: it is impossible to stop 3D plastic guns from getting past security checkpoints
A DHS intelligence bulletin starkly warns it may not be possible to stop 3D-printed guns from being made – or from getting past security checkpoints undetected. DHS notes that 3D-printed firearms can be made without serial numbers or unique identifiers, making ballistics testing difficult, and that advancements in technology and decreasing 3D printer costs will mean even more sophisticated printed guns will become easier to acquire.
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DetectionSmartphone turned into handheld biosensor
Scientists and physicians in the field could soon run on-the-spot tests for environmental toxins, medical diagnostics, food safety and more with their smartphones. Researchers have developed a cradle and app for the iPhone that uses the phone’s built-in camera and processing power as a biosensor to detect toxins, proteins, bacteria, viruses, and other molecules.
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Keystone XLGOP lawmakers urge Obama not to link Keystone decision to climate policies
Democrats who are uncomfortable with the Keystone XL pipeline have urged President Obama to consider attaching policies requiring cuts in greenhouse gases emissions to his approval of the project. Republican lawmakers are urging the president not to link approval of Keystone to climate change policies.
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FrackingAdministration more actively to support expansion of fracking
The Obama administration is leaning toward offering more active support for the expansion hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, despite the opposition of environmental groups.
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TerrorismTerrorists kill British soldier in London in broad daylight
Two men – one a British-born Nigerian, the other a naturalized Nigerian – yesterday attacked and killed a British soldier in broad daylight outside his London barracks. The used meat cleavers and knives. The attack was caught on the smartphones of passersby. The attackers stayed near the body until the police arrived, explaining their violence to n-lookers: “We swear by almighty Allah we will never stop fighting you. The only reason we have done this is because Muslims are dying every day. This British soldier is an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth,” one of them said.
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ImmigrationImmigration bill more acceptable to Senate Republicans
The immigration bill passed by the Senate Judiciary Committee is picking up Republican support. Committee chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) removed a major obstacle to the bill’s passing the Senate by withdrawing his own amendment to it, an amendment which would have given the American spouse in a gay relationship the right to sponsor the non-American partner for legal status in the United States. The bill also added provisions conditioning the beginning of the path-to-citizenship process on proven bolstering of border security. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) told reporters he will not block the measure from reaching the senate floor.
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ImmigrationAFL-CIO vows to fight Hatch’s amendments to immigration bill
Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee will try to persuade skeptical Democrats that Hatch’s changes to the immigration bill, which brought it closer to the preferences of the high-tech industry, are not necessarily bad for U.S. labor. The AFL-CIO does not agree, and vows to fight Hatch’s amendments
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Tornado predictionNew technologies help in tornado prediction
Scientists are working to increase tornado warning times. A new method, known as “warn-on forecasts,” will issue warnings based on forecasts rather than on observations. These warnings could increase the warning time to one -to-six hours before a tornado touches down. Another methodology being developed would give meteorologists the ability to tell people how strong the tornado will be before it hits the ground.
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AviationDHS debars scanner maker from government contracts
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has sent OSI Systems, the manufacturer of airport body scanners, a debarment notice which would prevent the company from receiving government contacts in the future. The notice was sent to the company after TSA determined that the company had failed to address security concerns about its scanners.
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EnergyHouse will see floor battle today over Keystone XL pipeline
Republican and Democrats lawmakers are set to engage in a fierce battle on the House floor over the fate of the Keystone XL project. Representative Lee Terry’s (R-Nebraska) proposed legislation to allow TransCanada to start construction of the Keystone XL pipeline, which runs from Hardisty, Canada through seven states to Houston, Texas. The bill will come to the House floor today.
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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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The long view

SyriaIsrael warns Assad: if you attack Israel, you “risk forfeiting [your] regime”
Israel has issued a highly unusual public warning to Syrian president Bashar al-Assad. The warning, couched in no uncertain terms, consists of two parts: First, if Syria and Iran again try to ship game-changing weapon system to Hezbollah, Israel will destroy these shipments, as it has already done three times, on 30 January, 3 May, and 5 May. Second, if Syria retaliated against Israel in the wake of such attacks, Israel would inflict crippling blows on the Assad regime and force Assad from power.
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SyriaHezbollah increases role as protector of the Assad regime
With the anti-regime uprising in Syria evolving into a full-fledged ethnic conflict between the Alawite minority and the Sunni majority, the Assad regime relies more and more on Shi’a allies – Iran, Hezbollah, and the al-Maliki government in Iraq — to stay in power. Over the last three months, Hezbollah has been playing a growing, and more open, role in shoring up the regime.
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CybersecurityWave of cyberattacks targets American energy companies
A new wave of cyberattacks has been hitting American corporations, and federal officials, say the attackers, who reside somewhere in the Middle East, are trying to sabotage these corporations. The majority of the targets have been energy companies, and the attacks are trying to take control of company’s processing systems.
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CybersecuritySmall, medium businesses suffer record levels of cyber attacks
More small businesses than ever are facing the threat of losing confidential information through cyberattacks, according to research published today by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS).

The 2013 Information Security Breaches Survey has shown that 87 percent of small businesses across all sectors of the U.K. economy experienced a breach in the last year. This is up more than 10 percent and cost small businesses up to 6 percent of their turnover, when they could protect themselves for far less.
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SurveillanceU.S. considering revamping wiretap laws
The White House is reviewing an FBI plan to overhaul surveillance laws in order to make it easier for law enforcement officials to wiretap citizens using the Internet to communicate rather than phone services.
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CybersecurityObama administration shifting cybersecurity legislative strategy
The Obama administration’s has shifted its cybersecurity legislative strategy. Rather than emphasize DHS-monitored regulations – an approach which stalled in Congress last summer because of Republican opposition — the administration is focusing on getting Congress to help promote the voluntary adoption by industry of standards being developed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) following a February 2013 executive order signed by President Obama.
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Infrastructure protectionNew software protects networked control systems from cyber attacks
Researchers have developed a software algorithm that detects and isolates cyber-attacks on networked control systems — which are used to coordinate transportation, power, and other infrastructure across the United States.
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Planetary securityAssessing asteroid risk to Earth
Of the more than 600 000 known asteroids in our Solar System, almost 10 000 are classified as near-Earth objects, or NEOs, because their orbits bring them relatively close to Earth’s path. A dramatic proof that any of these can strike Earth came on 15 February, when an unknown object thought to be 17-20 meter in diameter arrived at 66 000 km/h and exploded high above Chelyabinsk, Russia, with 20-30 times the energy of the Hiroshima atomic bomb.
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Nuclear powerA “cauldron of events” has brought the nuclear industry to a halt
Until two years ago, people talked of a nuclear energy renaissance. Now the talk is about nuclear malaise. The Fukushima scare, the emergence of alternative energy sources as a result of fracking, and the lack of action on climate change – which means that limits on fossil fuels are not coming any time soon – have, in the words of one experts, brought the nuclear industry to a halt.
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Nuclear powerU.S. nuclear industry faces a wave of nuclear power station retirements
A wave of U.S. nuclear power station retirements is on the horizon. The typical design life of a nuclear power plant is 40 years. There are 104 nuclear power plants in the United States, and their average age is 34 years — only a few years short of, and fast approaching, their design life. Almost 30 U.S. commercial and research reactors already have started decommissioning. A $400 million is regarded as the bargain basement price tag for cleaning up a single reactor.
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Nuclear wasteReducing the volume of nuclear waste
The nuclear industry seeks to minimize the volume of nuclear waste by extracting the radioactive elements from spent fuel.This relies on exploiting differences in the chemical bonding of uranium. Scientists have found that in some circumstances the bonding may be surprisingly similar, an important discovery which is going to be important in the amelioration of nuclear waste clean-up and devising new atom-efficient catalytic cycles.
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AviationFAA may allow use of electronic devices on flights
The Federal Aviation Administration may announce by the end of the year that it would relax the rules for Kindles, iPads, and other e-readers. Lawmakers say that since the FAA allows iPads as flight manuals in the cockpit, and flight attendants use the devices for information on flight procedures, it makes no sense not to allow passengers to use the devices.
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GunsThe two sides in the gun control debate are gearing up for Round 2
A few weeks ago, when the Senate was considering legislation to expand background checks for gun buyers and other gun-control measures, gun-rights advocate successfully organized and campaigned at the grass-root level, exerting pressure on enough wavering Senators, including four Democrats from Red stated who face re-election in 2014. Now, as the Senate majority leader is getting set to introduce the gun-control measures again, supporters of gun control legislation are trying to emulate the grass-root mobilization performance of gun-rights advocates.
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EnergyIncreasing supplies of North American oil changing global markets
The supply shock created by a surge in North American oil production will be as transformative to the market over the next five years as was the rise of Chinese demand over the last fifteen, a new report says. The shift will not only cause oil companies to overhaul their global investment strategies, but also reshape the way oil is transported, stored, and refined.
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BudgetFederal budget deficit falling fast – perhaps too fast, some economists say
In each of the last four years the federal budget has exceeded $1 trillion dollars every year. This year, however, the government’s annual deficit is falling faster than anyone thought it would. Some economists say it may be falling too fast. In FY2009-10, the deficit was more than 10 percent of GDP. On present trends, by 2015 the federal budget deficit would be just 2.1 percent of GDP.
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Food securityIllnesses in U.S. on the rise as a result of decline in foreign food inspections
More Americans get sick every year as a result of food-borne pathogens. The reason: inspections at foreign food factories shipping food and food ingredients to the United States have declined in recent years, and border inspections of food coming into the country could be next to be reduced. Experts say this decline in inspections is especially worrisome since Americans consume more imported food – or food made with imported ingredients – every year, and foreign food production and processing facilities often do not meet U.S. sanitation and hygiene standards.
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Today's news

DronesNew Obama policy sets higher standards for drone use

CybersecurityReport: U.S. companies should consider counter-hacking Chinese hackers

3D plastic gunsDHS: it is impossible to stop 3D plastic guns from getting past security checkpoints

DetectionSmartphone turned into handheld biosensor

Keystone XLGOP lawmakers urge Obama not to link Keystone decision to climate policies

FrackingAdministration more actively to support expansion of fracking

TerrorismTerrorists kill British soldier in London in broad daylight

ImmigrationImmigration bill more acceptable to Senate Republicans

ImmigrationAFL-CIO vows to fight Hatch’s amendments to immigration bill

Tornado predictionNew technologies help in tornado prediction

AviationDHS debars scanner maker from government contracts

EnergyHouse will see floor battle today over Keystone XL pipeline

SyriaSyrian army attacks Israeli army patrol; Israel retaliates, issues stark warning

ImmigrationSenate panel reaches compromise on foreign workers

ImmigrationSenator Hatch champions tech industry’s priorities in immigration reform

TerrorismCourt upholds CIA’s decision not to release post-raid Bin Laden photos

CybersecurityCyber risks for users of cloud computing

BioterrorismOregon drills first responders for bioterrorism attack

EnergyAlgae could become an important source of fuel in U.S.

PrivacySocial sites’ privacy practices “seriously deficient”

DisastersTornados kill 51, including 20 children, in Oklahoma City suburbs

CybersecurityU.S. to help protect private companies from malicious cyberattacks

More headlines

The long view

SyriaIsrael warns Assad: if you attack Israel, you “risk forfeiting [your] regime”

SyriaHezbollah increases role as protector of the Assad regime

CybersecurityWave of cyberattacks targets American energy companies

CybersecuritySmall, medium businesses suffer record levels of cyber attacks

SurveillanceU.S. considering revamping wiretap laws

CybersecurityObama administration shifting cybersecurity legislative strategy

Infrastructure protectionNew software protects networked control systems from cyber attacks

Planetary securityAssessing asteroid risk to Earth

Nuclear powerA “cauldron of events” has brought the nuclear industry to a halt

Nuclear powerU.S. nuclear industry faces a wave of nuclear power station retirements

Nuclear wasteReducing the volume of nuclear waste

AviationFAA may allow use of electronic devices on flights

GunsThe two sides in the gun control debate are gearing up for Round 2

EnergyIncreasing supplies of North American oil changing global markets

BudgetFederal budget deficit falling fast – perhaps too fast, some economists say

Food securityIllnesses in U.S. on the rise as a result of decline in foreign food inspections