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How Russian Spies Played the Media (Ben Makuch, Vice)
Tracing the history of psychological warfare in “Active Measures.”

Russia Threatens Massive Response if U.S. Deploys Low-Yield Nukes on Subs (VOA News)
Russia is warning that any U.S. attempt to use a low-yield nuclear weapon against a Russian target would set off a massive nuclear response. The Russian foreign ministry was reacting to a State Department paper released last week that says placing low-yield nuclear weapons on ballistic missiles launched from submarines would counter what it sees as possible new threats from both Russia and China.

These Tiny Islands Are at the Heart of an Uncovered Chinese Phishing Campaign (Shannon Vavra, Cyberscoop)
Suspected Chinese hackers are behind a phishing campaign apparently aimed at collecting data about Vietnamese government officials amid an ongoing territorial dispute between the two nations, according to new findings.

Former National Security Council Officials Flag Backlash from Commerce Blacklisting Huawei (Mariam Baksh, Nextgov)
U.S. companies’ participation in crucial standards setting bodies is falling off even more precipitously.

How the Justice Department is Permitted to Use Counter-Drone Technology (Brandi Vincent, Nextgov)
The guidance enables the agency and its subcomponents to intercept, damage or destroy threatening drones in some cases.

Predicting Earthquakes Weeks in Advance Is a Nice Premise, but We Aren’t There Yet (Daniel S. Helman, ScienceX)
For major earthquakes, the satellite predictions work. They give us enough warning, for example, to be able to stop a surgery safely before the shaking starts. A few seconds are critical in some situations. But to predict a large earthquake a week or more in advance takes something more. A research group in Greece has been working on detecting changes in the Earth’s electrical environment, and have been hoping to make progress. What is interesting is that the changes they purportedly detect occur in the right time period—about ten days beforehand sometimes—to be useful. A recent update to their method prompted me to take a new look at their work.
Unfortunately, the premise is too good to be true.

Terrible Luck. The Only Person Ever Killed by a Meteorite – Back in 1888(Nancy Atkinson, Universe Today)
What are your chances of getting smacked – and killed — by a meteorite? One astronomer put the odds of death by space rock at 1 in 700,000 in a lifetime, while others say it’s more like 1 in 1,600,000.
Computing the probability for such an untimely death is difficult because this type of event is so rare. In fact, even though thousands of meteorites are thought to hit the ground each year, in looking through the annals of meteorite history, there seemed to be no evidence that anyone had ever been killed by a meteorite.  Until now.