Our PicksIran “Leapfrogging” U.S. Cyber Defenses | Saving Colorado River Water | Hamas Banned in U.K., and more
· California, Arizona and Nevada in Talks on New Plan to Save Colorado River Water
· SAGO Has a Politics Problem, and WHO Is Ignoring It
· C.D.C. Says ‘Smallpox’ Vials Found in Lab Did Not Contain Disease-Causing Virus
· U.K. to Ban Terror Group Hamas in Its Entirety
· Four Takeaways from the Iranian Election Interference Indictments
· QAnon Backer Sentenced to 14 Months for Attack on Army Reservists
· Iran Is “Leapfrogging Our Defenses” in a Cyber War
California, Arizona and Nevada in Talks on New Plan to Save Colorado River Water (Ian James, Los Angeles Times)
Two and a half years after signing a deal aimed at averting a damaging crisis along the Colorado River, water officials from California, Arizona and Nevada are discussing plans to take even less water from the shrinking river and leave it in Lake Mead in an effort to prevent the reservoir from falling to dangerously low levels.
Representatives of water agencies from the three states said they are firming up the details of a deal that would leave an additional 500,000 acre-feet of water in the reservoir next year, and the same amount again in 2023—about double the quantity of water used annually by Las Vegas and the rest of southern Nevada.
For California, the deal would mean participating in water reductions prior to Lake Mead reaching levels that would otherwise trigger mandatory cuts.
SAGO Has a Politics Problem, and WHO Is Ignoring It (The BMJ)
The World Health Organisation’s (WHO) Scientific Advisory Group on the Origins of Novel Pathogens (SAGO) has recently been established to “define and guide studies into the origins [of Novel Pathogens]” and “advise WHO on prioritising studies and field investigations into [Novel Pathogens].” In both of these, an attention to political questions like “which pathogens deserve investigation?” and “how should countries’ possible pathogen origins be prioritised?” will need to be addressed.
C.D.C. Says ‘Smallpox’ Vials Found in Lab Did Not Contain Disease-Causing Virus (Johnny Diaz, New York Times)
In a new statement, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the vials found in a Pennsylvania lab contained vaccinia, the virus used in the smallpox vaccine.
U.K. to Ban Terror Group Hamas in Its Entirety (CEP)
The U.K. Home Secretary Priti Patel announced that Hamas, a U.S.-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO), will be similarly banned in its entirety under the U.K.’s Terrorism Act. The new policy will supplant a ban on the Hamas’s military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades. (Cont.)
