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Algeria agreed to join military campaign to oust Mali Islamic militants
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Monday met with Algeria’s president Abdelaziz Bouteflika, seeking Algeria’s support for an emerging international effort to evict Islamic militants out of northern Mali; Algeria has the region’s strongest military, a highly regarded intelligence service, a long border with Mali, and experience in fighting, and defeating, Islamic militants; the UN Security Council declared its “readiness” to send an international force to evict the militants
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U.K. govt. awards £37.1 million for civilian nuclear research
The U.K. Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has announced an award of 37.1 million pounds to the University of Sheffield’s Nuclear Advanced Manufacturing Research Center (Nuclear AMRC), which are working in partnership with Rolls-Royce as the lead company for the U.K. nuclear supply chain
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Rising sea levels make NYC vulnerable to more frequent, more intense floods
Scientists say that Hurricane Sandy has forced a recognition on New York City and on other coastal communities: the steady rise in sea levels means not only more floods, but more frequent and more devastating floods; three of the top 10 highest floods at the Battery since 1900 happened in the last two and a half years; after rising roughly an inch per decade in the last century, coastal waters in New York are expected to climb as fast as six inches per decade, or two feet by midcentury; the city is exploring a $10 billion system of surge barriers and huge sea gates
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New cell phone surveillance method raises privacy concerns
The FBI is using a new method to access cell phone customer data,butthe American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) contends that the method is overly invasive
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DHS grants help Kansas Law enforcement agencies buy new equipment
DHS grants help local law enforcement agencies fight crime more effectively, but according to some, those same agencies are bypassing military grade surplus equipment for brand new shiny toys
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Ensuring that software security policies reflect user needs
Researchers have developed a new natural language processing tool that businesses or other customers can use to ensure that software developers have a clear idea of the security policies to be incorporated into new software products
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DOD faces shortfall in quality STEM workers; overhaul of recruitment policies needed
The principal challenge for the U.S. Department of Defense’s science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) work force is recruiting and retaining top quality professionals for critical positions, says a new report; the agency must become — and be perceived as — an appealing career destination for the most capable scientists, engineers, and technicians, all of whom are in great demand in the global marketplace
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USGS: Sandy will erode many Atlantic Coast beaches
Nearly three quarters of the coast along the Delmarva Peninsula is very likely to experience beach and dune erosion as Hurricane Sandy makes landfall, while overwash is expected along nearly half of the shoreline; the predictions of coastal change for the Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia peninsula is part of a larger assessment of probable coastal change released by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)
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Manufacturers: sequestration specter already a drag on economic growth
The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) says that the United States is already struggling due to Washington’s failure to address the pending fiscal cliff; a new NAM report indicates that there will be a 0.6 percent loss in GDP growth by the end of 2012
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U.S. East Coast braces for Sandy
Residents along the U.S. Atlantic coast, from North Carolina to Maine, were bracing form Hurricane Sandy landfall; people began to evacuate certain areas, while in many other places school closures were announced and supplies were quickly disappearing from stores’ shelves; public transit services were suspended Sunday evening, and more than 3,000 flights canceled; the hurricane may be especially ferocious because it was on its path to meet a winter storm and a cold front, together with high tides from a full moon
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Millennium plot terrorist sentenced to thirty-seven years
Ahmed Ressam, an Algerian native who set up a plot to blow up the Los Angeles airport in December 1999 in what came to be called the “millennium plot,” was sentenced to thirty-seven years in prison on Wednesday; Ressam was arrested in December 1999 when a customs agent noticed him as he drove off a ferry from Canada onto Washington’s Olympic Peninsula; when authorities stopped Ressam and searched his truck, they found large quantity of explosives, and he was captured after a brief chase
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L.A. sued for detaining foreign nationals on “immigration holds”
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a class-action lawsuit against the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (LASD) accusing it of illegally detaining people for days, weeks, or months after they should have been released. The reason for the continued detention is that those detained are subject to what is called “immigration hold”
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Israeli planes destroy Sudanese arms factory suspected of producing chemical weapons for Hamas
Earlier this morning Israeli planes destroyed the Yarmouk arms factory in Khartoum, Sudan’s capital – 1,300 miles from Israel; in 1998 the plant was suspected of holding Iraqi chemical weapons which Saddam Hussein wanted to conceal from the UN inspectors; Sudan has become a major corridor of arms for Hamas, and Israel has conducted several military operations inside Sudan aiming to disrupt shipments of arms to Hamas; in April 2011 Israeli special forces, ferried by helicopters into Sudan, ambushed and killed two high-level Hamas officials who were on their way to Libya to finalize a deal, financed by Iran, to buy about 800 chemical munitions from anti-Qaddafi rebels who had taken over a couple of chemical weapons depots from the pro-Qaddafi forces
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Kaspersky Lab working on a secure operating system for critical infrastructure
Antivirus firmKaspersky Lab is set to make a major contribution to the security of critical infrastructure systems by developing an operating system specifically designed for such systems; the new operating system will protect information used in infrastructure such as nuclear power plants, transportation control facilities, gas and electrical systems,and other facilities “criticallyimportant” to the economy and well-being of industrialized societies
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Looming sequestration causes Navy to looking at future technology, fleet size
Adm. Mark Ferguson, vice chief of naval operations, offered a revealing look at the potential future for the Navy if sequestration, or automatic defense cuts, goes into effect in January; without some sort of adjustment by Congress, currently the subject of discussion on Capitol Hill, the nearly 10 percent across-the-board Department of Defense budget cuts are slated to commence in 2013 and continue for ten years
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More headlines
The long view
Preventing Another 'Jan. 6' Starts by Changing How Elections Are Certified, Experts Say
The 2024 presidential election may be a rematch between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump, but preventing a repeat of Jan. 6, 2021 — when false claims of a stolen election promoted by Donald Trump and his allies led to an insurrection at the U.S. Capitol —will be top of mind this election year. Research finds broad support among public for nonpartisan certification commissions.
States Rush to Combat AI Threat to Elections
This year’s presidential election will be the first since generative AI became widely available. That’s raising fears that millions of voters could be deceived by a barrage of political deepfakes. Congress has done little to address the issue, but states are moving aggressively to respond — though questions remain about how effective any new measures to combat AI-created disinformation will be.
Chinese Government Hackers Targeted Critics of China, U.S. Businesses and Politicians
An indictment was unsealed Monday charging seven nationals of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) with conspiracy to commit computer intrusions and conspiracy to commit wire fraud for their involvement in a PRC-based hacking group that spent approximately 14 years targeting U.S. and foreign critics, businesses, and political officials in furtherance of the PRC’s economic espionage and foreign intelligence objectives.
European Arms Imports Nearly Double, U.S. and French Exports Rise, and Russian Exports Fall Sharply
States in Europe almost doubled their imports of major arms (+94 per cent) between 2014–18 and 2019–23. The United States increased its arms exports by 17 per cent between 2014–18 and 2019–23, while Russia’s arms exports halved. Russia was for the first time the third largest arms exporter, falling just behind France.
LNG Exports Have Had No Impact on Domestic Energy Costs: Analysis
U.S. liquified natural gas (LNG) exports have not had any sustained and significant direct impact on U.S. natural gas prices and have, in fact, spurred production and productivity gains, which contribute to downward pressure on domestic prices.
Don’t Buy Moscow’s Shameless Campaign Tying Biden to Its Terrorist Attack
Russia has offered many different explanations to the ISIS-K’s 22 March 2024 terrorist attack at the Crocus City Hall in Moscow, but the most recent explanation offered by Russia is the most audacious yet: Russia now charges that the Ukrainian energy company Burisma financed the attack. Burisma is at the center of an effort by a congressional committee to impeach President Biden, but the case has all but collapsed. Hunter Stoll writes that Russia’s disinformation and propaganda apparatus appears to be searching for ways to keep Burisma in the news ahead of the U.S. presidential election.