• DisastersTornado kills at least 116 in Joplin, Missouri

    Residents and emergency responders are searching for survivors in Joplin, Missouri after a tornado tore through the town Sunday evening; the tornado tore a 6-mile-long, half-mile wide path through the middle of town; much of the city’s south side was leveled, with churches, schools, businesses, and homes reduced to ruins by winds of up to 165 mph; so far 116 people have been found dead, and officials expect the death toll to rise; officials have estimated 2,000 buildings were damaged; among the ruined buildings is St. John’s Regional Medical center, the city’s major hospital; the hospital was struck directly by the tornado and lost portions of its roof, façade, and windows; the Joplin twister was one of 68 reported tornadoes across seven Midwest states over the weekend

  • Western states could face disastrous floods from record snowpacks

    Western states could soon face disastrous floods like the Midwest due to record snowpacks; heavy winter storms and an abnormally cold and wet spring have resulted in record snow levels for May in states across the west including Montano, New Mexico, Colorado, and California; officials worry that if June is particularly hot and sunny, the snow could melt too quickly and inundate the region’s rivers with torrents of water; officials are particularly concerned about flash floods as they can occur with little warning; officials are bracing for the worst holding emergency drills and releasing thousands of gallons of water to make room in reservoirs
    Western states could soon face disastrous floods like the Midwest due to record snowpacks

  • BiometricsPortable iPod Touch fingerprint scanner launched

    IPod Touch users can now turn their devices into a portable fingerprint scanner; last week, Fulcrum Biometrics unveiled its new FbF mobileOne biometric fingerprint reader and software for the iPod touch; using the Touch’s standard dock connector, the mobileOne device can scan and match fingerprints on the iPod or send it wirelessly to a remote server for authentication

  • Terror targetsOil tankers and refineries on high alert based on latest al Qaeda intelligence

    Refineries and ship operators are on a state of heightened alert after documents recovered from the raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound revealed that al Qaeda had considered bombing oil tankers; DHS officials issued the warning to law enforcement officials nationwide based on evidence that al Qaeda operatives had discussed holding drills to practice hijacking and bombing oil tankers to create “an extreme economic crisis” in the United States; port officials and refineries in Houston, Texas are particularly wary, as it is the largest oil producing region in the United States with tankers constantly moving in and out

  • Lawsuit against DHS contractor grows to $17 million

    The lawsuit against private security firm Eagle Technologies Inc. has recently ballooned to more than $17 million; the firm was sued in March 2010 by a dozen current and former employees who provided armed security at the yet to be opened DHS National Biodefense Analysis and Countermeasures Center at Fort Detrick in Frederick, Maryland; the employees accused Eagle Technologies, which was recently purchased by Protection Strategies Inc., of withholding overtime pay, failing to reimburse employees for work-related expenses, and other labor violations; an investigation by the Department of Labor found that the firm had committed sixty-one labor violations

  • Northrop wins $141 million follow-on contract for DOD biometric system

    Today, defense giant Northrop Grumman announced that it was awarded a $141 million follow-on task order to continue working with the Department of Defense (DOD) on its biometric identification system for military threats; under the contract, Northrop will continue work on the DOD’s Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS), which functions as the centralized database that collects facial, fingerprint, iris, and palm biometric records on individuals that the Department of Defense has identified as persons of interest

  • Israel plans to launch “most secure” biometric passport

    Earlier this month Israel announced that it will soon launch its sophisticated new biometric passport; one official claims that the passport’s new security features could make it “the most secure passport in the world”; the passport will contain a short range wireless computer chip that will contain personal information like an individual’s photograph, fingerprint, birth date, and signature; the passport will be issued after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and a special committee on biometric affairs reach an agreement on the content of a proposed biometrics oversight bill

  • InfrastructureChina admits to critical flaws at world’s largest dam

    Last week, the Chinese government made a rare announcement and publicly admitted that there were critical problems at the Three Gorges dam, the world’s largest hydroelectric dam, lending support to the growing opposition to future dam projects; with the approval of Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, the country’s second in command, last Thursday the State Council announced that the Three Gorges dam had been plagued by a series of problems “urgently in need of resolution”; problems include ecological deterioration, geological disasters, and the lingering uncertain status of more than one million people displaced by the dam; this is the first time such a high-ranking government official has publicly acknowledged the dam’s problems