Free Republic

Claudio Neves Valente, the suspect in the Brown and MIT shootings, had flashes of temper; former classmates describe him as confrontational and socially awkward Twenty-five years ago, two promising physicists graduated from a prestigious science university in Lisbon. On Monday, one gunned the other down at his home outside Boston after firing on a classroom of Brown University undergrads, authorities say. Claudio Neves Valente, the suspected shooter, once had a bright future. He graduated at the top of his college class, ahead of classmate Nuno Loureiro. But by the time Neves Valente confronted Loureiro at his Brookline, Mass., apartment building...

His colleagues described him as a beacon of hope. Portuguese newspapers stumbled upon his story by chance. The scientific community was shaken to its core. The political establishment in Portugal set aside a minute for him — a single, paltry minute. Something doesn’t add up. Call me paranoid. Call me what you will. I’ve worked in security long enough to trust my instincts. They’re not always right, I admit, but I’ll take that chance. Last night, over dinner, when I heard the news of the acclaimed scientist’s death — a fellow Portuguese — I voiced my suspicions to everyone at...

....the source of the sudden and puzzling collapse of heat that precedes disruptions that can damage doughnut-shaped tokamak fusion facilities. Researchers traced the collapse to the 3D disordering of the strong magnetic fields that bottle up the hot, charged plasma gas that fuels the reactions. The strong magnetic fields substitute in fusion facilities for the immense gravity that holds fusion reactions in place in celestial bodies. But when disordered by plasma instability in laboratory experiments the field lines allow the superhot plasma heat to rapidly escape confinement. Such million-degree heat crushes plasma particles together to release fusion energy and can...

Iranian state media confirmed the execution on Wednesday of Rouzbeh Vadi, identified as one of the nation’s top nuclear scientists, on charges of alleged espionage and cooperation with Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency. Iranian news outlets announced his killing alongside the execution of Mehdi Asgharzadeh, identified as a supporter of the Islamic State jihadist terror organization. Vadi is the seventh known Iranian nuclear scientist to be killed the summer; six others were confirmed dead after the Israeli government launched “Operation Rising Lion” in June, a military engagement intended to eliminate Iran’s ability to generate fuel for a nuclear weapon. According to...

In a striking twist, the operation targeting Iran’s nuclear scientists is known as "Narnia" in Israel, a name that reflects the operation’s improbable nature. Israel’s Mossad operation to eliminate Iranian’s top nuclear scientists is named “Operation Narnia.”

Israel recently learned from its agents inside Iran — presumably native informants working with Mossad — that Iran’s nuclear scientists had successfully completed tests of their design of a nuclear weapon. This meant that Iran was potentially only weeks away from being able to produce such a weapon, and that intolerable threat had to be dealt with without delay. More on Israel’s discovery that prompted the attack, can be found here: “Israel found Iran carried out key tests for nuke design ahead of strikes — report,” Times of Israel, June 15, 2025: Israel recently learned from its agents inside Iran...

TEHRAN — Any qualified individuals or eager recent college graduates looking for work in the field of nuclear engineering will be happy to know that there are exciting opportunities that have just recently opened up in Iran. Suddenly and without warning, multiple exciting positions in the field of nuclear energy research became available, creating opportunities for experienced engineers to step in and start working immediately. "These vacancies just exploded onto the scene," said one job listing. "All experienced nuclear engineers are encouraged to apply." Some of the job openings posted in the last 48 hours included: Enriched Uranium Inspector: A...

As they pounded the Iranian nuclear facilities yesterday, the Israelis were finally doing what so many Western leaders had expected they would do for years, if not decades. In fact, let us be honest: the rest of the world has not just been expecting this Israeli action. Secretly or openly, many governments have been hoping for it. In one astonishing operation the Israelis crippled the Natanz enrichment reactor and seriously damaged two others. They took out six of the most important Iranian nuclear scientists, as well as an astonishing array of the country’s top brass. They blew up radars and...

Scale AI CEO Alexandr Wang said China is directing the 'full power' of its industries toward AI ... Chinese government is spending three times as much as the U.S. government is to become the world’s undisputed AI leader. "The country that is able to most rapidly and effectively integrate new technology into warfighting wins. If we don’t win on AI, we risk ceding global influence, technology leadership and democracy to strategic adversaries like China," Alexandr Wang, CEO of Scale AI, told members of the House Armed Services Committee on Tuesday. "The Chinese Communist Party deeply understands the potential for AI...

Five Russian scientists who died in a plane crash on Tuesday had been helping Iran with nuclear secrets, it has been revealed. They were among 45 killed when the plane's lights failed in heavy fog and careered into a motorway before bursting into flames - leading conspiracy theorists to believe it was a deliberate plot to kill the nuclear experts. Russian security sources confirmed that the dead scientists worked at the controversial Bushehr nuclear plant on the Iranian Persian Gulf.

Acting Attorney General Jeffrey A. Rosen has released the following statement: “We understand that Pakistani authorities are taking steps to ensure that Omar Sheikh remains in custody while the Supreme Court appeal seeking to reinstate his conviction continues. The separate judicial rulings reversing his conviction and ordering his release are an affront to terrorism victims everywhere. We remain grateful for the Pakistani government’s actions to appeal such rulings to ensure that he and his co-defendants are held accountable. If, however, those efforts do not succeed, the United States stands ready to take custody of Omar Sheikh to stand trial here....

Russian security officers have arrested several scientists working at a top-secret Russian nuclear warhead facility for allegedly mining crypto-currencies. The suspects had tried to use one of Russia's most powerful supercomputers to mine Bitcoins, media reports say. The Federal Nuclear Centre in Sarov, western Russia, is a restricted area.

On April 18, just days after a U.S.-led coalition wrapped up the first round of renewed nuclear negotiations with Iran, the Republic of Azerbaijan made an announcement. In a statement released online, Azerbaijan’s Ministry of National Security said it had “conducted large-scale special operations” to disband a terrorist cell of about 20 al Qaeda-linked operatives. The alleged terrorists reportedly had plans to attack “shrines, mosques, and prayer houses” in addition to “law-enforcement agencies.” Their intent, according to Azerbaijani officials, was “to create [an] atmosphere of .  .  . confusion and horror among the population.” Al Qaeda has operated in Azerbai-jan since the...

A major purpose of Iran wanting to enlarge its footprint in Syria may be to hide aspects of its nuclear program from the International Atomic Energy Agency, former top IDF Military Intelligence official Yossi Kuperwasser said on Wednesday. Speaking at a Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs conference on the Iran nuclear situation, JCPA fellow Kuperwasser, a former IDF brigadier-general, noted that IAEA inspectors are limited to inspecting Iran’s territory, as the Iran nuclear deal did not grant IAEA inspectors complete access to Iranian scientists. Based on that limited access, Kuperwasser said Iran could move and conceal its nuclear scientists and...

U.S. seeks the relocation of N. Korean nuclear engineers By YOSHIHIRO MAKINO/ Correspondent May 10, 2018 at 16:35 JST SEOUL--In preliminary negotiations before their upcoming summit, the United States is demanding that North Korea relocate its nuclear engineers to other countries and discard data from its nuclear development program. The demands were made in preliminary discussions for the U.S.-North Korea summit scheduled to be held by early June, sources related to North Korea said on May 9. However, North Korea is resisting the relocation of up to several thousand nuclear engineers and is taking a vague stance on the abandonment...

ALBANY -- The spiritual leader of an Albany mosque repeatedly called a phone number in Syria that an FBI report indicates had been used to gather terrorist intelligence for Osama bin Laden, according to classified documents unsealed late Tuesday in U.S. District Court. The FBI report, which was based on information from a confidential informant, was among several once-secret documents that federal authorities say raise questions about Yassin Aref's connections to terrorist organizations across the Middle East. Aref, 35, a Kurdish refugee who moved to Albany with his family in 1999, is in jail without bond while awaiting trial on...

In the aftermath of the bombing of a bus carrying Israeli tourists in Bulgaria, the Obama administration included an Iranian-American anti-Israel group in a White House meeting and characterized the terror attack as a “tit-for-tat” reprisal by Iran. Wednesday, officials from the National Iranian-American Council (NIAC) attended a White House roundtable event for Iranian-American community leaders that featured Valerie Jarrett, one of President Obama’s closest advisers. NIAC bills itself as an Iranian-American community organization, but its work focuses on softening U.S. policy toward Iran. It advocates removing sanctions on Iran and attempted to scuttle Dennis Ross’s promotion to an Iran...

U.S. military forces have discovered a smuggling ring moving copious quantities of explosives and weapons from Iraq to terrorist training camps constructed by the Saddam Hussein regime inside Syria prior to Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF). The Pentagon also announced that the structure bombed by U.S. warplanes last week, described by many major media outlets as a wedding celebration at a private ranching operation, was actually a "dormitory-like" facility used as a "safe house" to facilitate the clandestine movement of foreign terrorists into Iraq from Syria. According to Pentagon officials, small arms, explosives, and bomb making materials are being removed from...

WASHINGTON -- As Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu flies to Washington - due to arrive on Sunday (March 2), to prepare for talks with President Barack Obama at the White House on Monday - it's clear that there are several points of friction between Israel and the United States. The two countries are allies, but their leaders often differ on the details of key issues: Israel's peace talks with the Palestinians, America's nuclear talks with Iran, how to approach political turmoil in Egypt, what might be done to limit Syria's horrible civil war, and a broader issue of whether the...

The United States is reportedly pressuring Israel to stop assassinating Iranian nuclear scientists, a number of whom have been mysteriously killed in a campaign thought to be carried out by Mossad. According to CBS News, Obama administration officials have communicated to Israeli intelligence their wish for a cessation of the targeting of scientists in order to allow diplomatic negotiations aimed at rolling back Iran’s nuclear program to take their course.