News

For the uninitiated, “hack,” in modern vernacular, means “shortcut.” It’s emerged from our fascination with all things computer-related. Of course, there is a more specific definition. According to Kaspersky Labs, “Computer hacking is the act of identifying and exploiting system and network vulnerabilities in order to obtain unauthorized access to those systems” (“Top 10 Most Notorious Hackers of All Time,” Kapersky.com).

Decades after the worst nuclear disaster in history, the now-shuttered nuclear power plant in Chernobyl, Ukraine, is in the news again. Thirty-four years ago, the plant’s reactor number 4 melted down. Since that time, the surrounding radioactive towns have been almost vacant, and the site has become a tourist attraction. In the last few weeks, a major forest fire burned very close to the now closed but still hot nuclear reactor (BBC, April 13, 2020).

Oil prices are plummeting, and for Middle Eastern nations that rely on oil revenues to support their economies, this is very bad news. Iraq’s 2020 budget assumes that oil’s average price for the year will be $56 (U.S. dollars) per barrel (The Spectator, April 4, 2020), yet oil has dropped to less than $20 per barrel (as of this writing) and continues to show weakness.