Foreign Aid, Fired Googlers, & Cybercriminals Apprehended
April 19, 2024
Hello, readers – happy Friday! Today, we’re talking about a foreign aid bill, India’s elections, Iran & Israel, Maine’s gun laws, Google firing employees, and cybercriminals getting arrested.
Here’s some good news to carry you through the weekend: Researchers say genetics-based “one-and-done” vaccines for the flu and COVID-19 could prove more effective and easier to manufacture. Instead of teaching the immune system to create antibodies for a specific virus, the new vaccine would teach the body to create small signaling RNA proteins. Also, a new initiative will see “nature” (including the sounds of birds chirping, rain falling, and more) recognized as an official artist on major streaming platforms, including Spotify and Apple Music, which means a share of a song’s profits that include “nature” as a featured artist will be distributed to environmental causes. Finally, two new types of mosquito bed nets have been found to reduce cases of malaria by up to half.
“Poetry is when an emotion has found its thought and the thought has found words.” – Robert Frost
A House Divided Might Just Pass A Bill
Things are getting hectic in the House of Representatives – well, more hectic – after weeks of deadlock. President Biden has announced his support for a spending package put forth by Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson that would have $61 billion set aside for Ukraine, $26 billion for Israel, and $8 billion for American allies in the Pacific. Biden’s support means that the aid package might actually make it out of the House despite internal disputes in the GOP. Another separate bill would set up various foreign policy points. The numbers roughly match a different spending bill already passed by the Democrat-held Senate.
Apparently, some not-as-far-right right-wing representatives had urged Speaker Johnson to include a passage in one of the spending bills to raise the requirements needed to remove him from the speakership, protecting him from the threat of a motion to vacate coming from his far-right flank – mainly, everyone’s favorite space laser aficionado, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene. “Since the beginning of the 118th Congress, the House rule allowing a Motion to Vacate from a single member has harmed this office and our House majority,” Johnson tweeted yesterday, but he noted that “any rule change requires a majority of the full House, which we do not have. We will continue to govern under the existing rules.”
New Delhi’s New Delegates
Over the next six weeks, India will host the largest democratic elections in the world. They will involve seven phases starting today, with voters deciding who will fill the 543 seats of the Lok Sabha, India’s lower house of parliament. The party or coalition that secures a majority will then vote to pick the next prime minister, who gets a five-year term.
Analysts expect the Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), led by sitting Prime Minister Narendra Modi, to win the election by a landslide. The two most important groups in the election are the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and its rival Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (conveniently, INDIA). INDIA was formed just last year as various opposition parties banded together to contest Modi’s coalition.
While India (the country, not the party) has seen steady growth under the past decade of BJP rule, there’s been some economic stagnation in recent years. 62% of voters say it’s been harder to find a job during Modi’s second term. Unemployment and cost of living are the most important topics for voters this year. Over 968 million have registered to vote this year.
Retaliation For The Retaliation For The Retaliation…For The Retaliation?
- It looks like we’re heading into yet another weekend with tensions between Iran and Israel looming over the Middle East. A senior commander in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said that his country might conduct an attack on Israeli nuclear power sites if Israel attacks Iran’s nuclear program. That came in response to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s promise that the IDF is preparing a military response to Iran’s attack on Israel last weekend (which was retaliation, in itself, to Israel bombing Iran’s embassy compound in Syria).
- “The threats of the Zionist regime (Israel) against Iran’s nuclear facilities make it possible to review our nuclear doctrine and deviate from our previous considerations,” Ahmad Haghtalab, the IRGC commander in charge of nuclear security, told state media on Thursday. Meanwhile, the West is trying its hardest to de-escalate the conflict by slapping Iran with more sanctions. The U.S. has announced a series of sanctions against Iran’s missile and drone programs, while the U.K. and E.U. announced sanctions on the country’s military as a whole.
A Tsunami Erupts Onto The Scene
- Speaking of explosive news, a days-long volcanic eruption in Indonesia has caused concerns about a possible tsunami in the area and forced the evacuation of over 11,000 people living nearby. The Mt. Ruang volcano, located in Indonesia’s North Sulawesi province, experienced one “explosive eruption” on Tuesday, ejected a 1.5-mile-high column of ash on Wednesday, and let out “another explosive eruption” on Thursday. The latest eruption was accompanied by a 2-mile-high column of ash and an earthquake, according to local officials.
- According to the Associated Press, people living in coastal areas near the mountain were warned that the volcanic eruption might cause a tsunami, which “could be triggered by the collapse of a volcanic body into the sea.” In 1871, an eruption of the same volcano caused just that to happen – a description of the event in the journal Nature described the “frightful” incident, with the eruption generating “a large sea-wave” which “reached the shore of Tagoelanda…and destroyed three villages with 416 men.”
More Mixed Nuts
- Trump and Polish President discuss NATO members increasing their defense spending (CNN)
- Croatia ruling party races to form coalition after election win (Reuters)
- Prominent figure in German far-right party stands trial over alleged use of Nazi slogan (NBC)
- Plastic-production emissions could triple to one-fifth of Earth’s carbon budget (Guardian)
- Lethal heat in West Africa is driven by human-caused climate change (NPR)
- Germany arrests two dual nationals on suspicion of plotting attacks for Russia (Guardian)
Middle East Mixed Nuts
- US and Israel meet on Rafah days after Iran’s attack (Politico)
- Qatar re-evaluating its role as mediator in Gaza cease-fire talks (NBC)
- The U.N. denies the Palestinian Authority’s bid for full membership (NPR)
The Yellow Flag Gets The Green Light
- In the wake of October’s mass shooting in Lewiston, Maine, which left 18 dead and 13 injured, the state has passed gun safety legislation introduced by Democratic Gov. Janet Mills and the Democratic-led Legislature. The law will boost the state’s yellow flag law, a one-of-its-kind law that allows law enforcement to take a firearm from someone deemed to be a threat.
- The law will expand background checks for private sales of guns and make it a crime to recklessly sell a gun to someone who is prohibited from having guns. The bill also funds violence prevention initiatives and opens a mental health crisis receiving center in Lewiston. In a separate move, the Maine Senate also approved a 72-hour waiting period and a ban on bump stocks.
1.2 Billion Israeli Dollars vs. 28 Googlers
- Google announced yesterday that it had fired 28 employees who were involved in protests organized by No Tech For Apartheid that took place inside Google’s offices in New York and Sunnyvale, California. Google (and Amazon) have a $1.2 billion contract to provide cloud computing services to the Israeli government and military, known as Project Nimbus.
- Google issued a statement about the firings, saying, “Physically impeding other employees’ work and preventing them from accessing our facilities is a clear violation of our policies, and completely unacceptable behavior.” “This flagrant act of retaliation is a clear indication that Google values its $1.2 billion contract with the genocidal Israeli government and military more than its own workers,” wrote No Tech For Apartheid in a Medium post.
More Nuts In America
- University of Idaho murder suspect says cellphone data proves he was out driving at the time of the slayings (NBC)
- 911 outages in several states caused by company installing a light pole (ABC)
- Trump is funneling campaign money into cash-strapped businesses. Experts say it looks bad. (USA Today)
- Oklahoma man arrested in pipe-bomb attack on Massachusetts Satanic Temple (ABC)
- Trump cuts into Biden’s lead among young people, poll finds (Politico)
- A Georgia beach aims to disrupt Black students’ spring bash after big crowds brought chaos in 2023 (AP)
Angling For An Arrest
- Sometimes the hunters become the hunted, but what about phishers? This week, an organization that provided tools to the phishers became “the arrested” following a years-long joint operation by the U.K.’s Metropolitan Police and Europol. The company, named LabHost, was operating an online platform that earned over $1 million by selling phishing kits to cybercriminals. Those kits enabled the criminals running phishing scams to easily create fake websites, helping them to steal the email addresses, passwords, and bank details of tens of thousands of people across the globe.
- “Since (its) creation, LabHost has received just under £1 million ($1,173,000) in payments from criminal users, many of whom Met cybercrime detectives have now been able to identify,” said U.K. police. In total, law enforcement officials said that LabHost technology had been used to steal 480,000 bank card numbers, 64,000 PINs, and more than 1 million passwords since it was released in 2021.
- “With a monthly fee averaging $249, LabHost would offer a range of illicit services which were customizable and could be deployed with a few clicks. Depending on the subscription, criminals were provided an escalating scope of targets from financial institutions, postal delivery services and telecommunication services providers, among others,” said Europol.
More Loose Nuts
- ‘War, loss, courage and perseverance’: See the 2024 winners of World Press Photo Contest (USA Today)
- Burned remains of Maya royalty marked the rise of a new leader, study says (CNN)
- The largest marine reptile ever could match blue whales in size (Ars Technica)
- Jason Kelce says he’s lost his Super Bowl LII ring… in a pool filled with chili (CNN)
- We found unhealthy pesticide levels in 20% of US produce – here’s what you need to know (Guardian)
- OpenAI winds down AI image generator that blew minds and forged friendships in 2022 (Ars Technica)