• New York’s Climate Buyout Plans Must Put Communities First: Experts

    In 2022, New York State passed the Clean Water, Clean Air and Green Jobs Environmental Bond Act. Among its many objectives, the act promises to invest more than a billion dollars toward flood protection across the state — including through voluntary private property buyouts. What should a buyout program look like? Designing an equitable buyout program is more complicated than it may seem.

  • Climate Change Has Sent Temperatures Soaring in Texas

    Hotter days and nights. More record highs. Climate change has shifted the entire range of Texas heat upwards. Heat is one of the deadliest consequences of climate change. It’s already the most dangerous type of weather, typically killing more people annually than hurricanes, tornadoes or flooding.

  • That Was the Coup That Was

    This was a mutiny more than a coup or an insurrection, but possibly to Prigozhin’s surprise and certainly Putin’s alarm, it almost turned into something more. Putin faces a cruel dilemma: He cares about his survival, whether from Covid or coups. The unintended consequences of the Ukraine war are now threatening his regime. Any suggestion that he wants to get out of the war will aggravate the image of weakness; sticking with the war regardless of losses will aggravate his actual weaknesses. 

  • Two Days in June: Echoes of the Past

    The Prigozhin affair is reminiscent of events three decades ago. Thirty years ago, disgruntled members of the Russian military, intelligence services, and police organizations attempted to topple Mikhail Gorbachev, the president of the Soviet Union, and Boris Yeltsin, who was the president of the Russian Federation. The attempted coup lasted three days, from 19 to 22 August 1991.

  • China-Based Chemical Manufacturing Companies Charged, Executives Arrested in Fentanyl Manufacturing

    DOJ announced the arrest of two individuals and the unsealing of three indictments in the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York charging China-based companies and their employees with crimes related to fentanyl production, distribution, and sales resulting from precursor chemicals.

  • Lessons from Other Democracies: Ideas for Combatting Mistrust and Polarization in US Elections

    There remains a crisis of confidence in U.S. elections, as many Americans harbor mistaken beliefs about the outcome of the 2020 elections and the way elections are run. “Virulent polarization and the trust-destroying propagation of election related mis- and disinformation remain acute threats to American democracy,” says the co-author of a new report. The report pulls lessons from six countries and recommends several solutions the United States can implement to ensure free and fair elections.

  • No Simple Answer for Why People Believe in Conspiracy Theories

    The moon landing was faked. 9/11 was an inside job. Mass shootings like Sandy Hook were “false flags.” Top Democrats are behind a child sex ring. COVID-19 as population control. Area 51 is home to lots of aliens. Trump had the 2020 election stolen from him. Psychologists say that people endorse conspiracy theories due to complex combination of personality traits and motivations, including relying strongly on their intuition, feeling a sense of antagonism and superiority toward others, and perceiving threats in their environment.

  • Declassified U.S. Intelligence Answers Few Questions on Origins of COVID-19

    On Friday, the U.S. intelligence community released declassified U.S. intelligence on the origins of the coronavirus pandemic, following a March executive order signed by President Joe Biden. The report said that despite concerns about biosafety measures at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV), and despite its history of work with coronaviruses, there is no intelligence that indicates COVID-19 was present in the lab before the outbreak.

  • Can Wagner Chief Yevgeny Prigozhin Challenge Putin?

    The owner of the Wagner private military contractor and leader of a massive internet troll farm has called for an armed rebellion to oust Russia’s defense minister. But is he a threat to Russian President Vladimir Putin?

  • Supreme Court Rejects Texas Effort to Force Biden Administration to Change Deportation Policy

    Texas and Louisiana sued after the Biden administration told immigration agents to focus on deporting undocumented immigrants who are convicted of felonies or pose a risk to public safety. The Supreme Court said states didn’t have any standing to sue.

  • U.S. Policymakers Acting to Bolster Drug Supply Chains Amid Critical Shortages

    Alarmed by persistent shortages of critically important drugs such as cancer medications, Adderall, and antibiotics, U.S. policymakers are taking steps to shore up the country’s pharmaceutical supply chains. The American Society of Health-System Pharmacists has more than 900 drug and dose shortages on its drug shortage list, and the FDA lists more than 200. The number and length of supply disruptions has grown over the last 10 years.

  • Refugee or Asylum-Seeker in the U.S.: What's the Difference?

    In the United States, there are notable distinctions between refugees or asylum-seekers. While the terms are often used interchangeably, there are significant differences under U.S. immigration law when pursuing these statuses. The U.S. Refugee Admissions Program has established specific priorities for processing individuals and groups with special humanitarian concerns who seek entry into the United States.

  • Evaluation Approaches for the Protection of Venues and Public Spaces from Terrorism

    In recent years, governments across the world have included legislation and published guidance material on how to mitigate the impact of terrorism on venues and public spaces. Known as Protective Security this pillar of counterterrorism comprises physical security, personnel security, and cyber security.

  • Robots Could Help Verify Compliance with Nuclear Arms Agreements

    Ensuring that countries abide by future nuclear arms agreements will be a vital task. Inspectors may have to count warheads or confirm the removal of nuclear weapons from geographical areas. Those hotspots could include underground bunkers and require confirmation that no weapons exist in a location at all. Now, researchers have devised an automated way to ensure compliance.

  • Three Convicted for Helping China to Repatriate Chinese Nationals

    The three men were acting on behalf of China in a campaign to harass, stalk and coerce certain residents of the United States to return to the PRC as part of a global and extralegal repatriation effort known as “Operation Fox Hunt.”