• The Global Race to Secure Critical Minerals Heats Up

    The World Trade Organization last week ruled that Indonesia had no right to ban the export of nickel or to require that raw nickel ore be refined in Indonesia. Handing a comprehensive victory to the complainant, the European Union, the WTO decision highlights the clash between national security and global trade rules over critical minerals.

  • Major Fires an Increasing Risk as the Air Gets Thirstier

    Greater atmospheric demand for water means a dramatic increase in the risk of major fires in global forests unless we take urgent and effective climate action, new research finds.

  • The Cold War Legacy Lurking in U.S. Groundwater

    In America’s rush to build the nuclear arsenal that won the Cold War, safety was sacrificed for speed. ProPublica has cataloged cleanup efforts at the 50-plus sites where uranium was processed to fuel the nation’s nuclear arsenal. Even after regulators say cleanup is complete, polluted water and sickness are often left behind.

  • North Korea’s Nuclear Program Is Funded by Stolen Cryptocurrency. Could It Collapse Now That FTX Has?

    Kim Jong-un’s military operation hackers have been stealing cryptocurrency to support North Korea’s nuclear and missile program for several years. But with the general downturn in the crypto market, coupled with the recent FTX collapse and myriad other pitfalls, analysts estimate North Korea has probably lost most of its crypto haul. Can we expect its nuclear weapons development to come to a halt, or slow down? It seems unlikely.

  • Iran Building Nuclear Weapons

    Rather than a traditional nuclear weapons program, Iran threatens the world with a program ready to produce nuclear weapons “on-demand.” Its readiness program poses a difficult challenge to the international community and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Understanding the pace of Iran building nuclear weapons matters, in particular, for designing strategies against Iran moving to construct them.

  • New ‘Faraday Cage’ Research Facility to Help Combat Digital Crime

    University of Huddersfield installing a new facility named the ‘Faraday Cage’ which will help speed-up the development and testing of new digital forensic processes to help law enforcement meet the huge growth rate in digital crime.

  • Oath Keepers Members Found Guilty of Seditious Conspiracy

    Two leaders of the Oath Keepers were found guilty by a jury Tuesday, 29 November, of seditious conspiracy and other charges for crimes related to the breach of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Their actions disrupted a joint session of the U.S. Congress that was in the process of ascertaining and counting the electoral votes related to the presidential election.

  • What Is Seditious Conspiracy?

    The conviction on Tuesday of militia leader Stewart Rhodes in connection with the January 6, 2021 assault on the U.S. Capitol marks the first time in more than two decades that the Justice Department has successfully used a criminal charge known as “seditious conspiracy.”

  • Oath Keepers Convictions Shed Light on the Limits of Free Speech – and the Threat Posed by Militias

    The conviction of two leaders of the Oath Keepers militia for seditious conspiracy – a rarely used, Civil War-era charge typically reserved in recent decades for terror plots – are the most significant yet relating to the violent storming of the Capitol, and have meaning that extends beyond those who were on trial. The Oath Keepers convictions illuminate two crucial issues facing the country: the limits of the American right to free speech and the future of the militia movement.

  • Workplace Killers: People Kill Their Colleagues for Different Reasons Than Other Shooters

    Workplace mass shootings (WMS) are undertaken by attackers who either work or worked for an organization where the attack occurs. They are different from mass shootings which occur at workplaces unrelated to attackers or where the perpetrators are (disgruntled) customers. Workplace attacks are quite homogeneous in motive. They are mostly attributed to revenge and often derived from attackers’ perceptions of being denied “organizational justice” and being treated unfairly. Many other mass shootings occur at commercial premises perpetrated by disgruntled customers or clients, rather than staff.

  • Low-Cost Sensor Records the Level of Rivers

    Researchers have developed a method that allows the water level of rivers to be monitored around the clock. The cost-effective sensor is for instance suitable for area-wide flood warning systems.

  • How a Notorious Mercenary Company Scours Siberian Prisons for Soldiers to Fight in Ukraine

    Desperate to replace dead and wounded Russian troops in Ukraine, the Kremlin, in addition to mobilization, has also turned to less traditional methods to bolster troop numbers. That includes loosening age and other physical requirements for newly mobilized soldiers, as well as outright recruitment of new volunteers. And since at least July, that effort has included recruiting some of the estimated 470,000 inmates in the custody of the Federal Penitentiary Service. Leading that effort is the Vagner Group, the private company owned by a Kremlin-connected businessman.

  • Following Uvalde Shooting, Texas DPS Wants $1.2 Billion for Academy and Active-Shooter Training Facility

    DPS is asking lawmakers to approve a $467 million active-shooter facility as a “down payment” for the training academy. “You play like you practice,” Director Steve McCraw said.

  • In Colorado Springs, Local Officials Resisted the State’s Red Flag Law

    El Paso County, the site of the mass shooting at Club Q, is one of at least 37 Colorado counties that have declared themselves a “Second Amendment sanctuary” and openly defied the state’s gun laws.

  • Rampage at Virginia Walmart Follows Upward Trend in Supermarket Gun Attacks – Here’s What We Know About Retail Mass Shooters

    Mass public shootings in which four or more people are killed have become more frequent, and deadly, in the last decade, to the extent that the U.S. now averages about seven of these events each year. Mass shootings also tend to cluster, with one study finding they are contagious for 13 days on average and our own research showing those responsible study other mass shooters and draw inspiration from them.