OUR PICKSWhat to Know About How Wildfires Form, Intensify and Spread | A North Korean Hacker Tricked a US Security Vendor, and more
· Trump White House Was Warned Sanctions on Venezuela Could Fuel Migration
The internal debate over the policy underscores how U.S. financial measures can sometimes lead to unintended consequences
· What to Know About How Wildfires Form, Intensify and Spread
Wildfire season is flaring up in the West and will probably worsen in the months ahead
· F.B.I. Examining Bullet Fragments Found at Trump Rally Site
The bureau is assessing what caused the former president’s wound during an assassination attempt. The question has turned political
· How Some States Are Making It Harder to Register Voters
Florida and some other states have put restrictions on voter registration drives, often with stiff fines that are dissuading some civic groups from taking part
· A North Korean Hacker Tricked a US Security Vendor into Hiring Him—and Immediately Tried to Hack Them
KnowBe4 detailed the incident in a recent blog post as a warning for other potential targets
Trump White House Was Warned Sanctions on Venezuela Could Fuel Migration (Jeff Stein, Ellen Nakashima and Samantha Schmidt, Washinton Post)
The Trump White House was warned that harsh sanctions on Venezuela could accelerate that country’s economic collapse and speed an exodus of millions of migrants to neighboring nations, according to three current and former U.S. government officials.
The Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Intelligence and Analysis delivered the classified assessments — part of a broader examination of how Venezuela’s economic implosion could affect migration in Latin America — to the White House National Security Council and the top two DHS officials in at least four reports between 2017 and 2019, the people said.
The Trump administration nevertheless imposed some of the harshest economic penalties in U.S. history on Venezuela in response to documented human rights abuses, extrajudicial killings and corruption by the regime of dictator Nicolás Maduro. The sanctions are fiercely defended by proponents, who say they were a necessary response to one of the most brutal crackdowns on civilians in two decades.
Today, however, Maduro remains in power, and a surge in Venezuelan immigrants has emerged as a flash point in the U.S. presidential election. Though Venezuelan mass migration to the United States only began after President Biden took office, concern among Trump officials about the sanctions’ potential effects, including on migration, was more extensive than previously known, according to interviews with more than two dozen current and former U.S. officials.
What to Know About How Wildfires Form, Intensify and Spread (Matthew Cappucci, Washington Post)
Wildfires are a staple of the summer climate in the West. While the number of fires, and area burned, hasn’t been terribly anomalous in 2024, it’s likely the season will become markedly worse in the next month or two. That’s when the sunbaked landscape, largely dried out by a summer’s worth of heat and drought, overlaps with strengthening autumnal winds. The result? A breeding ground for rapidly growing and swiftly spreading wildfires that can threaten entire communities.
