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After Discord leak, Pentagon to tighten procedures for classified info

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:20:33 GMT

The Pentagon is tightening up the way it handles classified national security information, after a member of the Air National Guard allegedly leaked a trove of military secrets online earlier this year.A review ordered after that incident and made public Wednesday did not find systematic failures, or call for drastic changes to the way the Pentagon safeguards classified information. However, it did find areas where the Pentagon needs to improve accountability measures to prevent future leaks.Those include keeping better track of who has access to classified documents and where that information is being held, along with making sure those who can see classified information have up-to-date nondisclosure agreements.Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin commissioned the review following the April arrest of National Guardsman Jack Teixeira for posting hundreds of pages of classified documents on the Discord social media platform.The massive leak revealed some of the nation’s top milita...

The big green energy skills gap

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:20:33 GMT

Presented by SSE By CHARLIE COOPER and RUSSELL HARGRAVE PRESENTED BY View in your browser or listen to audioSNEAK PEEK— The energy workforce has major worries about the skills-transfers required for the green transition, according to new research.— MPs and the aviation industry have mounted a last minute bid to get ‘jet zero’ at the heart of the Energy Bill.— Ed Miliband thinks Europe just needs to chill its boots over Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act.Good Thursday morning. Welcome to POLITICO Pro Morning Energy and Climate UK. As always, please get in touch with your thoughts, tips and critique at [email protected], [email protected] and [email protected]. Or reach us on Twitter: @hargraver; @charliecooper8; @abby_wallace3.If you are not already a Pro subscriber and would like a free trial of this newsletter, sign up here.DRIVING THE DAYTHE GREEN SKILLS GAP: You can’t have a green transition without a workf...

How do we improve digital skills learning in schools?

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:20:33 GMT

Arie has just turned 12. He’s in a warm, stuffy classroom, Rotterdam, daydreaming of a long summer break. In six weeks, Arie returns for ‘big’ school. He’ll have a tablet to work on, enjoy superfast connectivity and start coding lessons for the first time.Alisa is a little older. At 13, she’s in her second year of high school, no longer the ‘new kid’. She writes her notes on paper. The only code she’s learned about is Morse, in a history lesson last term. Alisa is in Rome.Fast-forward five years. Arie’s looking at universities. He wants to become a software engineer — one of Europe’s most in-demand jobs — and has a good base understanding of coding languages like Python.The study suggests only half the schools in Europe offer any form of online teaching.Alisa isn’t going to university. The institutions she’s looked at have been withdrawing humanities subjects due to ‘low demand’. The world has changed, she’s told, and other options are available — has she considered an unpaid intern...

Fourth of July sets new records at San Diego beaches, lifeguards say

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:20:33 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- Lifeguards are reporting the largest crowds at San Diego beaches since before the pandemic. The July 4 holiday crammed in tourists and residents all day with the promise of the best fireworks on the West Coast and rescuers are calling this Fourth of July a success. “There were over 400,000 people for just yesterday at San Diego beaches and the bay,” said Lt. Jacob Magness from the San Diego Lifeguards. Reporting colder than normal temperatures, there were fewer rescues than expected, just 58, but there were 6,000 safety warnings. Two people were seriously injured crashing their jet skis, but the victims are expected to recover. Body found in Mission Beach “There was going to be a lot of trash left over and there was, but this morning there were so many volunteers that by the time I got in it was almost completely picked up,” Lt. Magness said.Volunteers spent the mornings cleaning up bottle caps, glass and other leftover celebration debris. Lifeguards say they are goi...

China says 239 people died from COVID-19 in June in a significant uptick

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:20:33 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — China reported Thursday that 239 people died from COVID-19 in June in a significant uptick months after it lifted most containment measures. The Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention had reported 164 deaths in May and none at all in April and March. China started employing a “zero-COVID” containment strategy in early 2020 and credits the strict lockdowns, quarantines, border closures and compulsory mass testing with significantly saving lives. But the measures were lifted suddenly in December with little preparation, leading to a final surge in which about 60,000 people died, according to the official toll. Deaths this year peaked in January and February, hitting a high of 4,273 on Jan, 4, but then declined gradually to zero on Feb. 23, according to the Chinese CDC. Chinese health officials didn’t say whether they expect the trend to continue or if they would recommend for preventative measures to be restored.Two of the deaths in June were from respiratory...

Father of the bride and teen who tried to save friend among 5 killed in Philadelphia shooting

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:20:33 GMT

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A father who was preparing to walk his eldest daughter down the aisle. An aspiring actor who appeared as an extra in the “Creed” movie franchise. A teenager who tried to help a wounded friend. These are the stories of those killed in the all-too-familiar thrum of another mass shooting.Five people in a working-class neighborhood of Philadelphia were gunned down Monday in what became the deadliest among a rash of U.S. shootings that occurred around the July Fourth holiday. A gunman in a ski mask and body armor appeared to fire on people at random while they were on the street or in a car, authorities said. Ralph Moralis, 59; Joseph Wamah Jr., 31; Dymir Stanton, 29; Lashyd Merritt, 21; and DaJuan Brown, 15, were killed in the shooting. Four others, including two 2-year-old boys, were also wounded.The alleged shooter was arraigned Wednesday on multiple charges including five counts of murder. The victims’ families remain shattered as they now cope with the feel...

Hong Kong changes law to slash directly elected council seats, undermining democratic challenges

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:20:33 GMT

HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong lawmakers on Thursday passed an amendment to a law to eliminate most directly elected seats on local district councils, the last major political representative bodies chosen by the public, shutting down further democratic challenges in the city. The changes include slashing the proportion of directly elected seats in the municipal-level organization being from some 90% currently to just about 20% — even lower than the level when these bodies were first set up in the 1980s, when Hong Kong was ruled by Britain.The rest of the 470 seats will be filled by members appointed by the chief executive, rural committee chairpersons and others elected by local committees that are packed with pro-establishment figures. All incoming councilors will be vetted by a committee to ensure “patriots” are administering Hong Kong. A performance monitoring mechanism will be introduced for “sanctioning misconduct” of councilors. The electoral overhaul reflects Beijing’s increasing...

French justice is working overtime and the mood is stern after thousands of teen arrests

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:20:33 GMT

CRETEIL, France (AP) — At 19, he was the oldest of the group of teens accused of lobbing Molotov cocktails at the police station of their suburban hometown. “Why?” the judge asked Riad, who was taken into custody after he was identified in video surveillance images of the group from June 29, the second night of nationwide unrest following the police shooting of another suburban teenager outside Paris. “For justice for Nahel,” Riad said. Slumped and slightly disheveled after five nights in jail, he said he didn’t know about the peaceful march organized by Nahel Merzouk’s family. He explained the cellphone photo of him holding a Molotov cocktail was “for social media. To give an image.”In all, more than 3,600 people have been detained in the unrest across France since the death of Nahel on June 27, with an average age of 17, according to the Interior Ministry. The violence, which left more than 800 law enforcement officers injured, has largely subsided in recent days...

An EU mission in Gaza once represented hope. Today, it is a symbol of a sputtering Western vision

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:20:33 GMT

JERUSALEM (AP) — It’s been 16 years since the borders of the Gaza Strip slammed shut after Hamas militants seized control of the territory.The takeover forced the European Union to withdraw monitors who had been deployed at a Gaza border crossing to help the Palestinians prepare for independence. Yet the EU has regularly renewed funding for the unit since then, most recently late last month.The continued existence of the unit known as EUBAM is an extreme example of the West’s willingness to keep pumping hundreds of millions of dollars a year into the moribund vision of a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians.Proponents say this approach remains the best chance for securing an eventual peace deal. Critics argue that opting for such costly conflict management helps keep a 56-year-old Israeli military occupation in place and allows Europe and the U.S. to avoid making the hard political decisions needed to end the conflict. This week’s deadly Israeli raid of a Wes...

Why does France take the risk of arming Armenia, an ally of Moscow and Tehran?

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:20:33 GMT

Information has been circulating for several weeks that France is helping Armenia to arm itself and provide itself with Mistral anti-aircraft missile systems. It was the Ukrainian secret service that revealed the pink post: "After persistent promises, France has decided to supply Armenia with lethal weapons, sources from the Ministry's Main Intelligence Directorate (GUR) said. According to the Telegram channel AZfront, the first batch of 50 armored personnel carriers will arrive in Armenia very soon," writes Sebastien Boussois.Landlocked between Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Russia, Armenia has two major allies from a geostrategic and economic point of view and who have strengthened their support since the start of the war in Ukraine: Russia and the 'Iran. While France is in the Minsk group, which should impose a certain form of neutrality on it to facilitate negotiations for the peace process between Azerbaijanis and Armenians, it is now arming Yerevan. As for the Armenian diaspo...