Violence Against Antiabortion Groups | China Is Trolling Rare-Earth Miners | Bigger Floods Endanger Millions, and more

Cassidy Hutchinson’s Testimony Changed Our Minds About Indicting Donald Trump  (Alan Z. Rozenshtein and Jed Handelsman Shugerman, Lawfare)
Hutchinson’s testimony on former President Trump’s comments during Jan. 6 serve as additional proof of intent and context, and—crucially—a material act to increase the likelihood of violence.

Subverting Climate Science in the Classroom  (Katie Worth, Scientific American)
Over the past two years school board meetings around the country have erupted into shout fests over face masks, reading lists and whether to ban education about structural racism in classrooms. In Texas, a quieter political agenda played out during the lightly attended process to set science education standards—guidelines for what students should learn in each subject and grade level. For the first time, the state board considered requiring that students learn something about human-caused climate change. That requirement came under tense dispute between industry representatives interested in encouraging positive goodwill about fossil fuels and education advocates who think students should learn the science underlying the climate crisis unfolding around them.

Sole Surviving Attacker in 2015 Paris Terrorism Rampage Is Convicted  (Rick Noack, Washington Post)
The lone surviving member of a group that carried out a 2015 rampage across Paris was found guilty Wednesday of all charges, including murder and terrorism, and sentenced to life in prison, bringing the biggest criminal trial in modern French history to an end. The court found that Salah Abdeslam played a key role among the men who deployed explosives and assault rifles as they targeted the Bataclan concert venue, a national stadium, and several restaurants and cafes on the night of Nov. 13, 2015, killing 130 people and injuring hundreds. The Islamic State later claimed responsibility for the bloodshed, France’s worst terrorist attacks since World War II. While public attention during the 10-month trial focused on Abdeslam, a Belgian-born French citizen, 19 other suspected perpetrators and accomplices also were charged. Five are presumed dead, and one is imprisoned in Turkey. Nineteen of the 20 defendants were found guilty of all charges on Wednesday, with punishments ranging from suspended sentences to life in prison. The court sentenced the 32-year-old Abdeslam to the harshest form of a life-in-prison sentence under French law, an extremely rare punishment that will make parole almost impossible. It was not immediately clear whether he would appeal. Lawyers representing the victims welcomed the severity of the court’s ruling. “Salah Abdeslam’s sentence is symbolic and extremely rare, because it sanctions extremely serious events,” lawyer Gérard Chemla told reporters.

New Zealand Designates the Proud Boys as a Terrorist Group  (Zachary Fleming, Bloomberg)
New Zealand has officially named the Proud Boys as a terrorist entity. The designation for the right-wing group came quietly through a June 27 notice on the country’s government news service, The New Zealand Gazette. The notice said the reasoning behind the designation would be posted online, but the police have yet to do so. Any person who “deals with the property of, or makes property or financial or related services available to” the Proud Boys will be liable to prosecution, the notice said. The move marks the first time a US-based group has been added to New Zealand’s terrorist entity list. It comes as the Jan. 6 committee hearings reveal more details about the group’s involvement in the violent storming of the US Capitol. “The Base” was also named a terrorist group in the notice. The designations come months after police in New Zealand stormed the grounds of the country’s parliament following a three-week occupation that began as a protest against Covid-19 vaccine mandates. The event was reminiscent of the storming of the US Capitol, with violent clashes in nearby streets and fires that scorched lawns and a childrens playground. Last year Canada became the first country to name the Proud Boys a terrorist group.

Paris Court Rejects 10 Ex-Militants’ Extradition to Italy  (AP)
A Paris court on Wednesday ruled against extraditing to Italy 10 former left-wing militants, including some former Red Brigades members, convicted of domestic terrorist crimes in the 1970s and 1980s. The Italian nationals had been living in freedom in France for decades after fleeing Italy before they could be imprisoned to serve their sentences. The crimes in connection with which they were convicted include the 1980 killing of a Carabinieri paramilitary general and the kidnapping of a judge in the same year. All 10, only some of whom were linked with the deadly Red Brigades group, spent the last 14 months under French judicial supervision as judges deliberated on Italy’s extradition request following the activists’ arrests and police questioning a year ago. The Paris Court of Appeal said in a statement it rejected Italy’s extradition request for each member of the group of 10 men and women, but didn’t explain its reasoning. Wednesday’s ruling can still be appealed at France’s highest court. Italy’s justice ministry said in a statement it respected the French judicial process as they await to hear the assessments of the ruling by the Paris attorney general, who is the only one authorized to appeal the court’s decision to deny the extradition of each of the 10 convicted militants. “I am waiting to know the reasons behind the ruling that denies all extraditions without distinction,” said Italian Justice Minister Marta Cartabia.

China Is Trolling Rare-Earth Miners Online and the Pentagon Isn’t Happy (Jessica Lyons Hardcastle, The Register)
Beijing-linked Dragonbridge flames biz building Texas plant for Uncle Sam.

Prospecting for Microbes: Biotech Tackles the Rare Earth Metals Dilemma  (Bio Market Insights)
Biobased metal extraction could boost the sustainability of renewable tech.

Recovery of Rare Earth Elements from Wastewater Towards a Circular Economy  (Lara Costa, Molecules)
The use of rare earth elements is a growing trend in diverse industrial activities, leading to the need for eco-friendly approaches to their efficient recovery and reuse. The aim of this work is the development of an environmentally friendly and competitive technology for the recovery of those elements from wastewater. Kinetic and equilibria batch assays were performed with zeolite, with and without bacterial biofilm, to entrap rare earth ions from aqueous solution. Continuous assays were also performed in column setups. Over 90% removal of lanthanum and cerium was achieved using zeolite as sorbent, with and without biofilm, decreasing to 70% and 80%, respectively, when suspended Bacillus cereus  was used. Desorption from the zeolite reached over 60%, regardless of the tested conditions. When in continuous flow in columns, the removal yield was similar for all of the rare earth elements tested. Lanthanum and cerium were the elements most easily removed by all

tested sorbents when tested in single- or multi-solute solutions, in batch and column assays. Rare earth removal from wastewater in open setups is possible, as well as their recovery by desorption processes, allowing a continuous mode of operation.