USA - Just 10 miles off the coast of Los Angeles lurks an environmental disaster over 70 years in the making, which few have ever heard about. That is, until now, thanks to the research of a University of California marine scientist named David Valentine. Working with little more than rumors and a hunch, curiosity guided him 3,000 feet below the ocean's surface. A few hours of research time and an autonomous robotic submersible unearthed what had been hidden since the 1940s: countless barrels of toxic waste, laced with DDT, littering the ocean floor in between Long Beach and Catalina Island. The fact that his underwater camera spotted dozens of decaying barrels immediately in what is otherwise a barren, desert-like sea floor, Valentine says, is evidence that the number of barrels is likely immense. Although the exact number is still unknown, a historical account estimates it may be as many as a half a million.

NORTH KOREA - North Korea is the only nation in the world whose government is known to conduct nakedly criminal hacking for monetary gain. Units of its military-intelligence division, the Reconnaissance General Bureau, are trained specifically for this purpose. In 2013, Kim Jong Un described the men who worked in the “brave RGB” as his “warriors ... for the construction of a strong and prosperous nation.”

GERMANY - The battle to lead Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative bloc into September’s election is headed for a final showdown, with a decision likely at some point in the next 48 hours. Armin Laschet, who leads Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union, and Markus Soeder, who runs the CDU’s Bavarian sister party CSU, were holding “constructive talks,” but have yet to come up with a solution, a CDU spokeswoman said without giving any further details.

MIDDLE EAST - In March Bahrain signed a $3 million deal with Israeli state water company Mekorot to tap its knowledge on water desalination. That follows a similar deal in which Israeli start-up Watergen will provide Al Dahra Agricultural of the UAE with technology to produce drinking water from humidity in the air. Both deals come after Bahrain and the UAE normalised relations with Israel last year.

USA - The man-made lakes that store water supplying millions of people in the US West and Mexico are projected to shrink to historic lows in the coming months, dropping to levels that could trigger the federal government's first-ever official shortage declaration and prompt cuts in Arizona and Nevada. The US Bureau of Reclamation released 24-month projections this week forecasting that less Colorado River water will cascade down from the Rocky Mountains through Lake Powell and Lake Mead and into the arid deserts of the US Southwest and the Gulf of California. Water levels in the two lakes are expected to plummet low enough for the agency to declare an official shortage for the first time, threatening the supply of Colorado River water that growing cities and farms rely on. "It is incumbent upon all users of the Colorado River to find ways to conserve," Pellegrino said in a statement.

CHINA - Beijing may consider sending a peacekeeping force to Afghanistan if the security situation in the South Asian country poses a threat to the neighbouring Chinese province of Xinjiang after American troops pull out , analysts said. US President Joe Biden said on Wednesday that he would withdraw all remaining US troops – about 2,500 – from Afghanistan by September 11, the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attack in New York. The withdrawal may pose a threat to Afghanistan’s security and stability, which could spill over into Xinjiang and disrupt China’s counterterrorism efforts. “If the security situation poses a significant threat, China may send peacekeeping troops along with humanitarian assistance to the region under the terms of the Charter of the United Nations to ensure the safety and interests of Chinese people and companies there,” he said.

UK - Extinction Rebellion’s latest stunt is to campaign for vegan school meals because dairy products “discriminate against non-white people.” Any credibility they have left is being eroded as they become a parody of themselves. Some of the woke warriors within Extinction Rebellion may well be the dumbest and most intolerant people on planet Earth. And this world’s not short on stupid intolerance. They would not though, of course, accept that they are behaving in exactly the same way as the people they claim they most despise.

PHILIPPINES - The Philippines is bracing itself for flash floods and landslides as Super Typhoon Surigae closes in on its east coast. The tropical storm intensified over sea this morning hitting wind speeds of 190 mph - the equivalent of a category 5 hurricane. Surigae is now the strongest typhoon on record for the month of April, surpassing Typhoon Maysak in 2015 which brought winds of 173 mph. In just 36 hours, the storm’s peak gusts have now more than doubled and it is now expected to "sideswipe" the island nation… over the past few days several weather forecast models showed a trend for the storm to track closer to the Central Philippines, reports CNN.

CHINA - China has imposed sanctions on more than two dozen European and British lawmakers, academics and think tanks. The move comes after the European Union and the United Kingdom imposed sanctions on Chinese officials for human rights abuses in China's Xinjiang region. China contends that its sanctions are tit for tat — morally equivalent retaliation — in response to those imposed by Western countries. This is false. The European sanctions are for crimes against humanity, whereas the Chinese sanctions seek to silence European critics of the Chinese Communist Party.

USA - Texas came uncomfortably close to another round of rolling blackouts Tuesday night because grid operators misjudged the weather. The Electric Reliability Council of Texas, which manages most of the state’s grid, had counted on a mild cold front sweeping the state, lowering demand for power. It didn’t happen. As a result, demand on the grid was about 3,000 megawatts higher than anticipated - or the equivalent of 600,000 homes.

USA - Parts of north-central Texas were pounded by what is described as a "gorilla" hail due to its remarkable size, with some as large as a grapefruit, on Monday, April 12, 2021. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), hail reportedly accumulated up to 76 cm (3 inches) on the ground. The storm caused havoc on properties, leaving many windows smashed and vehicles damaged.

USA - Texas farmers and ranchers have lost at least 600 million dollars to the unprecedented winter storm that lashed the state last month, according to the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service. The deep freeze left more than 4.3 million homes without power, paralyzed transportation, and seriously impacted agricultural production in the state. A large number of Texas farmers, ranchers, and others involved in commercial agriculture and agricultural production were seriously affected by the storm, said Jeff Hyde, AgriLife Extension director. "Freezing temperatures and ice killed or harmed many of their crops and livestock and caused financial hardships and operational setbacks. The residual costs from the disaster could plague many producers for years to come." Citrus, livestock, and horticultural crops were among the sectors hit hardest by the deep freeze, according to the preliminary data from the organization. The unprecedented winter storm left more than 4.3 million homes without power in the state. It also led to crippled transportation and infrastructure, prompting a nationwide disaster declaration.

USA - Tucker Carlson on Wednesday night doubled down on his criticism of Anthony Fauci's recommendation to continue wearing masks, stepping up his attack after Fauci accused him of spreading a 'crazy conspiracy theory'. The clash began on Tuesday, when the Fox News host questioned why people who were fully vaccinated were recommended to continue wearing face masks and suggested the vaccines didn't work. 'So maybe it doesn't work, and they're simply not telling you that,' Carlson said. 'That's just a typical crazy conspiracy theory,' Fauci responded during an interview on Wednesday. Later that night, Carlson hit back at the disease expert, demanding to know; 'If this stuff works, why can't you live like it works? What are you really telling us here?' 'For months now, we have been asking a very straightforward question about the coronavirus vaccine,' Carlson said on his Fox show. 'Why do people who take it -and by the way, why do people who have been previously infected and show high levels of antibodies - have to live under the restrictions that the vaccines were supposed to eliminate?' he asked.

USA - Secure your laptop. Secure your smart phone. Secure your tablet. And, before I forget, secure your fish tank. Yes, you heard me. Your fish tank. That was the lessoned learned a few years ago from the operators of a North American casino. According to a 2018 Business Insider report, cybersecurity executive Nicole Eagan of security firm Darktrace told the story while addressing a conference. “The attackers used that (a fish-tank thermometer) to get a foothold in the network,” she recounted. “They then found the high-roller database and then pulled that back across the network, out the thermostat, and up to the cloud.” Can this really be possible? It certainly can. And you can blame the Internet of Things.

GERMANY - Many in Germany are familiar with the unseemly clamor to stock up on groceries before Sundays. That’s because here, Sunday is an explicitly noncommercial day. Economists are demanding a more flexible approach. As you might expect for Europe's powerhouse economy, commerce is king in Germany. Except, that is, on Sundays, when the nation's stores are definitively shuttered. Long before pandemic lockdowns forced closures every day, Sunday was already a sacred day of rest for German retailers and consumers. Over the years, many non-Germans have found that out to their surprise and disappointment.