Rosamunde Van Brakel

Black rain: the health and environmental risks from Tehran’s oil fires - CEOBS Attacks on Tehran's oil facilities have exposed millions to harm, we explore the attacks and unpack their health and environmental risks.

Israeli attacks on four oil facilities in #Tehran this weekend have exposed millions of Iranians to harm.

In this post we explore the attacks and unpack their health and environmental consequences: ceobs.org/black-rain-t... 1/3 #IranIsreal #Iran #IntLaw

YouTube video by scaynes David Lynch on Cooking Quinoa

I have the same with David Lynch and quinoa :) m.youtube.com/watch?v=uSP-...

Thousands of CEOs just admitted AI had no impact on employment or productivity—and it has economists resurrecting a paradox from 40 years ago | Fortune In the 1980s, economist Robert Solow made an observation that reminded economists of today’s AI boom: “You can see the computer age everywhere but in the productivity statistics.”

Thousands of CEOs just admitted AI had no impact on employment or productivity—and it has economists resurrecting a paradox from 40 years ago fortune.com/2026/02/17/a...

Flawed economic models mean climate crisis could crash global economy, experts warn States and financial bodies using modelling that ignores shocks from extreme weather and climate tipping points

”Another finding was that GDP can mask the full cost of climate damage by failing to account for deaths and ill health, social disruption and degraded ecosystems.”

#GDP #Growth

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

How do you build up public trust in predictive policing if there is almost no scientific evidence that it works for crime prevention, but there are clear social and ethical consequences? Will the UK learn from what has happened in The Netherlands with CAS?

Very happy to see more attention for the #wolf in #criminology. Together with @kristofsmeyers.bsky.social we are preparing a chapter, which explores the 'othering' of the wolf in European cultural history & how this has shaped current criminalisation of the wolf in European societies! #morethanhuman

#spring #Leuven

‘Dark, like our future’: Iranians describe scenes of catastrophe after Tehran’s oil depots bombed Residents report terror of smoke-filled city, from potentially toxic rain, air and water to food scarcity and difficulty of escape

“Tehran is burning. And smoke has filled the streets. It’s impossible to drive out of the city right now and even with the windows closed, heavy smoke is making its way inside."

Read every word.

Killing millions of foxes, crows, or ravens each year: "Ineffective and economically unjustifiable"

Savage natures: Police and the wolf - Bill McClanahan, Tyler Wall, 2026 This article picks up the trail of the wolf-in-police, from its European origins to the western frontiers of the United States and, finally, to the imaginaries ...

We describe the role of the #wolf as a prototypical criminal “enemy” of European and early American law, order, and civilization, the police obsession with the wolf as a mythical symbol of American indigeneity and a material threat to settler colonial order journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

Iran’s people were facing a horrible shortage of water before the war began. If we are destroying desalination plants and setting fire to Teheran we are committing unfathomable crimes.

How gender inequality and climate change are interconnected | UN Women – Headquarters The climate crisis is one of the most pressing issues of our times. It threatens to reverse progress on human rights and sustainable development and worsens gender inequality – posing specific risks t...

”Feminist climate justice brings a gender lens to the fight against climate change, acknowledging how the drivers of the climate crisis are also the drivers of gender inequalities.”

Something to keep in mind on International Women’s Day.

#WomensDay

www.unwomen.org/en/articles/...

Exclusive: AI Error Likely Led to Iran Girl's School Bombing Pentagon investigators believe a bombing of a girls' school in Iran on Saturday likely resulted from inaccurate information provided by AI.

Local Massachusetts weekly says it's confirmed that the Pentagon was relying on Claude for strike targeting, which is how they came to bomb a girls' school.
thisweekinworcester.com/exclusive-ai...

Rebecca Solnit Says the Left’s Next Hero Is Already Here

This happened. The print interview was edited in ways that feel very jumpy, but I got to say some things. Like: Maybe changing the world is more like caregiving than it is like war. Too many people still expect it to look like war. [and then there's a crazy jump-cut w/out transition.]

thanks sorry we urgently need an edit function

Following the event we will also publish a policy brief and two podcasts and we also have several publications in the pipeline so do also look out for those in due course! /7

👏 Research for the project was conducted by stellar PhD-researchers Stephanie Garaglia (who also organized the whole event!) and Megan Leal Causton /6

It intended to identify the main promises and drivers behind official discourses of smart city programmes in relation to smart video surveillance in three Belgian cities: Brussels, Antwerp and Ghent. More info about the project can be found here: cris.research.vub.be/en/smart-vid... /5

The project led by Lucas Melgaço and myself at the Crime & Society Research Group (CRiS) aimed to analyse the discourses that surround the implementation of 'smart' video surveillance technologies, and their affordances in 'smart cities'. /4

The event will close with a stimulating debate moderated by Lucas Melgaço on possible futures and alternative socio-technical imaginaries with a stellar line-up of speakers: Marleen Easton, Jiska Engelbert and Katerina Hadjimatheou ⭐ /3

We also aim to brainstorm further about the implications of the results of the project and how these can inform policy and practice in a positive way. Very grateful that Brunilda Pali and @mehdighassemi.bsky.social will join me to lead the discussions at three thematic roundtables. /2

Thread: Extremely excited that tomorrow we will hold the final event of our Research Foundation Flanders - FWO project Smart Video Surveillance in Smart Cities: Deconstructing #Surveillance and Security Discourses. We have a great group of stakeholders and academics joining us /1

Hacked traffic cameras and US intelligence: How a plot to kill Iran’s supreme leader came together | CNN The US and Israel worked together for weeks to plan the strike that killed Iran’s leader

Hacked years ago, the cameras allowed Israel to map the city in detail, establish patterns of movement, and build an intricate, complex picture of what was happening inside an enemy capital, according to an Israeli official. #surveillance

edition.cnn.com/2026/03/03/m...

Thoughts & prayers to the EPA :(

Head of Police Federation of England and Wales arrested on suspicion of corruption Mukund Krishna arrested by City of London police along with two other national board members

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

Three days of Operation Epic Fury: rapid overview of environmental harm in Iran and the region - CEOBS Rapid overview of emerging environmental issues and risks in Iran and the wider region from Operation Epic Fury.

Overview of emerging environmental issues and risks in #Iran and the wider region from Operation #EpicFury. We're already seeing pollution incidents that are placing people and ecosystems at risk of acute and chronic harm: ceobs.org/three-days-o... #IsraelIranWar 1/5

en dan die proffen die sociaal-wetenschappelijke experimenten doen tijdens mondeling examens 😅

‘Het stadscentrum wordt meer en meer een soort Disneyland’: waarom onze publieke ruimte steeds braver wordt Wie door de stad loopt, danst zonder het te beseffen een stukje ‘trottoirballet’. In zijn nieuwe boek onderzoekt Mattias De Backer (45) hoe beleefde onoplettendheid, kledingkeuzes en sociale controle ...

Ik sta met m'n boek in de krant!

www.demorgen.be/beter-leven/...

She Came Out of the Bathroom Naked, Employee Says Bank details, sex and naked people who seem unaware they are being recorded. Behind Meta’s new smart glasses lies a hidden workforce, uneasy about peering into the most intimate parts of other people’...

In @svenskadagbladet1.bsky.social and @goteborgsposten.bsky.social investigation, the people behind Meta’s smart glasses testify to the hidden stream of privacy-sensitive data that is fed straight into the tech giant’s systems.
www.svd.se/a/K8nrV4/met...

Deadly bombing of Iran primary school ‘a grave violation of humanitarian law’: UNESCO The UN education agency, UNESCO, says that the bombing of a primary school during the US and Israeli military attacks on Iran on Saturday constitutes a grave violation of humanitarian law.

The UN Education agency, UNESCO, says the US / Israeli strike that destroyed a girls primary school in Iran and left 150 dead and almost 100 wounded was a "a grave violation of humanitarian law".

"Places dedicated to learning are protected under international humanitarian law"