Now, it’s the Bank of Canada’s turn to sound the alarm. In a paper — “Is a Cashless Society Problematic?” — it outlines a number of risks that could arise if the country went fully cashless. The premise underpinning the analysis is that at some point in the future individuals and firms decide, of their own volition, to cease using cash altogether. In response, the central bank stops printing physical money because of the large fixed costs inherent in supplying bank notes.

A video was uploaded to Facebook this week showing two police officers tasering and then shooting a young woman’s dog after it bit an intruder... According to witnesses, Gotti was trapped in alleyway outside of the apartment and posed no threat to anyone. During the 30 minute encounter police tasered the dog twice before shooting him. The final moments of the encounter were caught on eyewitness’ video.

From wood batons to stun batons to water cannons to sound cannons to. . .  frickin' plasma lasers that can "vaporize" your skin? Recent reporting out of the Pentagon reveals that the U.S. military is working on perfecting what they called a Scalable Compact Ultra-short Pulse Laser System (SCUPLS)—or plasma gun, for short—intended for mounting on a truck or a tank.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is working on an agricultural bio-weapon, and a team of scientists are speaking out about it.

Years of US allegations that Russia is violating the Intermediate Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) may be coming to a head, with John Bolton reportedly pushing hard for President Trump to withdraw outright from the pact.

A government computer system that interacts with HealthCare.gov was hacked earlier this month, compromising the sensitive personal data of some 75,000 people, officials said Friday.

The USS Ronald Reagan has resumed flight operations Friday morning after a mysterious incident where a MH-60R Seahawk helicopter crashed while making an emergency landing on the ship's flight deck shortly after taking off at 9 am on Oct. 19. The Navy said it is investigating the crash after the helicopter, a member of the "Saberhawks" Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron, crash landed shortly after lifting off from the ship's deck at approximately 9 am on Oct. 19.

Transparency reports are standard practice across the tech industry, disclosing the nature, quantity and scope of all the law enforcement requests each company receives in a given year. But there's a notable exception to this practice: the "smart home" companies who sell you products that fill your house with gadgets that know every intimate fact of your life -- all-seeing eyes, all-listening ears, all-surveillance network taps. The companies that sell these products refuse to say whether (or how) they are being suborned to serve as state surveillance adjuncts by law enforcement.

The remains of more than 60 infants and fetuses were found stashed in a funeral home in Detroit, Michigan, a discovery that US police have called “deeply disturbing.”

Saudi Arabia confirmed tonight that Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi was killed at its consulate in Istanbul on 2 October. In a statement put out on Saudi state television, citing an initial investigation by Saudi prosecutors, SPA said that: “an argument erupted between him [Khashoggi] and others whom he met in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul leading to a fistfight which led to his death.”

The National Security Agency is quietly beginning work on a new series of three communications contracts valued at $6.7 billion. Details are sparse because the classified contracts—collectively called Greenway—were secretly awarded to telecommunications giant AT&T and defense contractors General Dynamics and ManTech International in 2016. Redacted legal documents following a protest of one of the contracts in March indicate the NSA’s goal is to “technically evolve” its IT environment.

Dozens are feared dead after a train ran over a crowd of people near railway tracks in Amritsar, near the Pakistani border. Many more have been injured. Police say that they are expecting over 50 casualties, and Indian newspaper First Post is reporting 30 deaths, after a train plowed at high speed through a crowded religious rally, which appears to have been held alongside a railway track.

Moscow has delivered advanced S-300 air defense missiles to Syria to protect the country’s troops deployed in the war-torn Arab country in the wake of last month’s downing of a Russian reconnaissance plane during an Israeli airstrike in Latakia. The three battalion sets of S-300PM-2 air defense missile handed over to Syria by Russia are more advanced compared to their conventional counterparts, the newspaper Izvestiya wrote, citing Defense Ministry sources in Moscow.

While the fact remains that the United States has long had and maintained such allies—staunchly defending them from international rebuke and shielding them from prosecution—Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) says the alleged murder and brutal dismemberment of journalist Jamal Khashoggi by his own Saudi government and ongoing war crimes in Yemen should be the final straws in allowing the powerful Gulf monarchy to claim the U.S. as a friend and partner.

Steve Penny, the former president of USA Gymnastics who has been accused of covering up sexual abuse by sports doctor Larry Nassar, was arrested Wednesday over allegations that he tampered with evidence related to a Nassar investigation. If convicted, Penny could receive two to 10 years in prison and up to a $10,000 fine.

Despite the slightly unorthodox fact that he is dead, infamous brothel owner Dennis Hof will remain on the ballot (since officials in the Silver State say it’s too late to change the printed ballots since they’ve already been mailed out for early voting) and is expected to win by a landslide in the forthcoming Nevada state legislature elections.

Amnesty International today warned of a new “zero tolerance” policy by Israeli forces towards Palestinian demonstrators in the occupied Gaza Strip, raising “fears of escalating bloodshed”. In a statement, the human rights organisation urged the Israeli government “to rein in its armed forces, which have routinely used unnecessary or excessive force during Gaza’s weekly ‘Great March of Return’ demonstrations”.

On October 15, Sweden began a temporary amnesty program for anyone in possession of hand grenades or other explosives, urging the public to hand over their illegal arsenals before January 11, 2019, with no legal ramifications or questions asked. Sweden has had a hand grenade crisis and issues with organized crime since about 2010. Combine the two with refugees, and the country is on the verge of chaos with violent crime exploding.

According to a new study that observed sea, rock and lake salts, 90 percent of the table saltbrands sold around the world contain microplastics. Several years ago, researchers discovered that microplastics were in sea salt, but no one was certain just how extensive the problem was until now.

Mexico deployed hundreds of riot police on Thursday to intercept a caravan of more than 4,000 Central American migrants, following demands by President Trump that Mexio, Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador intervene before he has to deploy US troops.