North Korea
North Korea ‘practising blowing up South Korean ports and airports with nuclear warheads’ independent.co.uk
The drill rehearsed “making preemptive strikes at ports and airfields in the operational theatre in south Korea, where the US imperialists nuclear war hardware is to be hurled,” the North's official Korean Central News Agency said.
From Pyongyang with love: North Korea restarts coded spy broadcasts in.reuters
Now we'll begin a mathematics review assignment for members of the 27th expeditionary unit of the distance learning university, the woman's voice crackled over the radio. Turn to page 459, question 35; 913, question 55; 135, question 86.
Syria
Seeing no future, deserters and draft-dodgers flee Syria reuters
Many young Syrian men are deserting like Nasser or dodging the draft altogether to avoid the experiences that have left conscripts physically and mentally scarred and with an uncertain future. The prospect of being forced to fight in a civil war is a major factor driving them in large numbers to seek refuge in neighboring countries or Europe.
Israel
Israeli parliament passes controversial impeachment law bbc
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the measure ended an "absurd situation" whereby someone who "supports terror" was allowed to serve in the Knesset knesset.gov.il. But critics said it was anti-democratic and aimed mainly at Israeli Arab MPs.
Archeology
Mighty Fortifications Found by Archaeologists Show Kingdom of Geshur More Powerful Than Thought haaretz
The ruins of Bethsaida sit on a basalt outcrop descending from the Golan Heights, about a mile north from the Sea of Galilee. Among the most striking finds at the site is the massive city gate.
Society
Transgender students sue in Maryland, Wisconsin nola
The two lawsuits -- filed by transgender 'boys' from Talbot County, Maryland, and Kenosha, Wisconsin -- are the latest actions in a flurry of litigation surrounding the question of how schools treat transgender students. The cases challenge the legality of restricting transgender students to unisex restrooms or to the restrooms that correspond with the sex shown on their birth certificates rather than allowing them access to the public-school bathrooms - and locker rooms - that match their gender identity.
Atheists may have upper hand in removing Christian flag onenewsnow
A Christian flag has been in a courtroom in Bryant County Courthouse bryancountyga.org in Georgia for many years. In fact, Becky Crowe, the clerk of superior court, joined the staff in 1989 when the room was being renovated, and the flag was placed there afterwards. No one had complained since that time - until now.
See also Freedom From Religion Foundation urges Christian flag removal from Georgia courthouse ffrf.org
Environmental
Group clones California giant trees to combat climate change sfgate
The two [arborists] are part of a cadre of modern day Johnny Appleseeds v who believe California's giant sequoias and coastal redwoods are blessed with some of the heartiest genetics of any trees on Earth — and that propagating them will help reverse climate change, at least in a small way.
I almost put this under the Society section for it's 'climate change' bent...
AI
Google uses AI to cut data centre energy use by 15% theguardian
Mustafa Suleyman, DeepMind’s co-founder, said that the level of complexity and number of variables meant the job of managing data centres was one where an algorithm could outperform a human.
VCs Searching For The AI Startup That Will End The World valuewalk
Although AI has been thrust into the spotlight somewhat recently, with tech giants devoting entire teams to its research, the idea and iterations of the technology have been being worked on for almost half a century now. So why the sudden uptick in interest by corporations, investors and startups?
Robots
Meet SwagBot, the Robot Cowboy that Can Herd and Monitor Cattle on Its Own modernfarmer v
While the name sounds like some sort of obnoxious, millennial-targeting social media app, SwagBot could instead be an invaluable ally for farmers in Australia. According to New Scientist, the technology was developed to deal with the country’s outback farmsteads, which are both enormous and sometimes far outside cities. For example, Suplejack Downs in the Northern Territory is a half-day drive away from a town and is 4,000 square kilometers (988,421 acres) in size.
Research
New Malleable Magnetic Memory Chip Developed by Scientists azonano
The small piece of plastic with minute engravings is deceptively simple looking, and it is transparent and flexible enough to be rounded into a tube. However, the plastic is “smart” and has the potential to store and process data. This new invention was designed by scientists at the National University of Singapore nus.edu.sg (NUS), and the groundbreaking development is the next step in the path towards flexible, wearable electronics and is a significant milestone in the flexible electronics revolution.
Lab discovers titanium-gold alloy that is four times harder than most steels phys.org
...the atomic structure of the material—its atoms are tightly packed in a "cubic" crystalline structure nde-ed.org that's often associated with hardness—was previously known. It's not even clear that Morosan and former graduate student Eteri Svanidze, the study's lead co-author, were the first to make a pure sample of the ultrahard "beta" form of the compound. But due to a couple of lucky breaks, they and their co-authors are the first to document the material's remarkable properties.
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