Former Ukrainian Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko was detained on Sunday while attempting to cross the Ukrainian border, according to the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU). The detention occurred amid ongoing legal proceedings related to a corruption scandal that occurred in the country's energy sector last year, as reported by Euronews.
Halushchenko, who resigned last November, was apprehended while trying to leave the country. NABU stated that the arrest was made during the crossing of the state border. The Euronews report indicated that the former minister's detention was a result of a corruption scandal that had "rocked Kyiv" last year.
In other news, the World Health Organization (WHO) released a formal statement on Friday, criticizing a US-funded vaccine trial as unethical. The trial, conducted in Guinea-Bissau, Africa, involved withholding a safe and potentially life-saving hepatitis B vaccine from some newborns. The WHO concluded that the trial was "inconsistent with established ethical and scientific principles," citing concerns about its potential harm and low quality, according to Ars Technica. The trial has drawn widespread criticism from health experts since the US funding was announced in December.
Meanwhile, the Department of Homeland Security has increased its efforts to identify owners of social media accounts critical of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), according to The New York Times. The department has reportedly sent hundreds of subpoenas to tech companies like Google and Reddit, seeking to unmask anonymous accounts. Bloomberg reported on five cases where Homeland Security sought to identify owners of anonymous Instagram accounts, later withdrawing the subpoenas after the account owners sued. The Washington Post also highlighted the growing use of administrative subpoenas, which do not require judicial approval, to target Americans.
In the realm of academia, computer science enrollment at University of California campuses experienced a decline this fall, marking the first drop since the dot-com crash, according to TechCrunch. System-wide, enrollment fell 6% last year after declining 3% in 2024. While overall college enrollment nationally increased, students are moving away from traditional computer science degrees. The exception is UC San Diego, which added a dedicated AI major this fall.
Finally, NASA is working to resolve fueling problems with the Space Launch System rocket before the Artemis III mission, which is slated to be the first crewed mission to land on the Moon in over 50 years. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said the agency is looking at ways to prevent the issues that plagued the rocket. As for Artemis II, which remains on the launch pad at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, NASA is preparing for a second countdown rehearsal as soon as next week to confirm whether technicians have resolved a hydrogen fuel leak that cut short a practice countdown run on February 2, according to Ars Technica.
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