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Sweden Asks the European Union for Help as It Battles Nearly a Dozen Wildfires in the Arctic Circle
This year’s hot and dry summer has led to dozens of wildfires throughout Sweden, according to the Copernicus Earth observation program. The Nordic region has suffered from an intense heat wave in the last few days. In Finland, Norway and Sweden, temperatures have soared past 90 degrees Fahrenheit, CBS News reported.
At least 40 wildfires are burning in Sweden, particularly in the central and western parts of the country, according to Swedish broadcaster SVT.
“This is definitely the worst year in recent times for forest fires. Whilst we get them every year, 2018 is shaping up to be excessive,” Mike Peacock, a university researcher and local resident, told The Guardian.
The United States has also been hard hit by wildfires this year, particularly in the West. Colorado, California, Nevada, New Mexico and Oregon have seen their fair share of wildfires in recent weeks.
The Ferguson fire near Yosemite National Park is the latest blaze to strike California. The fire, which ignited on Friday, has already spread to 17,319 acres, CalFire reported.
https://www.newsweek.com/sweden-asks-european-union-help-it-battles-nearly-dozen-wildfires-arctic-1031773


Was Georgia’s Election System Hacked in 2016?
July 18, 2018
Robert Mueller’s latest indictments raise new questions about the integrity of Georgia’s voting infrastructure. Why is the state stonewalling?
“[It] appears that Kemp and the State Board prefer not to know [what may have happened on that server],” Marks told me. “Nor do they want plaintiffs to find out, as they are continuing to block all attempts at litigation discovery.”
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/07/18/mueller-indictments-georgia-voting-infrastructure-219018


Ahead of 2016 elections, some states rejected federal help to combat hackers
October 28, 2016
CBS News has found that 11 states - including the battlegrounds of New Hampshire and Michigan - have not accepted the Department of Homeland Security’s help to try and bolster the cyberdefenses of their voter registration systems.
The federal offer, which comes free of charge to state and local election agencies, includes services from remote “cyber hygiene” scans to on-site inspections. The services look for vulnerabilities within the voter registration system that hackers could exploit.
Experts said the largest danger is not whether hackers could change actual vote counts but instead that they could modify or delete registration rolls, disqualifying voters on Election Day.
Seven states have declined the offer outright: Alabama, Georgia, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts and New Hampshire.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ahead-of-elections-states-reject-federal-help-to-combat-hackers/


This week, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos saw his net worth soar above $150 billion, giving him the most billions among all the billionaires on the billionaire lists. Bill Gates, in second place, is worth a modest $94 billion, according to Forbes. Bezos first appeared on Forbes’ list in 1998, with a $1.6 billion fortune.
The Amazon founder’s vast wealth is enough to buy several countries’ stock markets outright. Currently, for example, he could purchase every company listed in Ireland, another popular place for tech firms, and still have a few billion dollars left over.
https://qz.com/1330631/jeff-bezos-is-now-worth-150-billion-as-much-as-many-entire-stock-markets/


Seattle Repeals Tax On Big Business After Opposition From Amazon, Starbucks
Amazon, Starbucks and investment company Vulcan each paid $25,000 toward the referendum effort, KUOW reports. The No Tax on Jobs campaign raised $350,000.
The law passed in May was itself a watered-down version of the original plan, to tax companies $500 per employee. Amazon temporarily halted construction of a tower in downtown Seattle in opposition.
https://www.npr.org/2018/06/13/619444956/seattle-repeals-tax-on-big-business-after-opposition-from-amazon-starbucks