When It Strikes, Are We Ready? Lessons Identified at the 7th Planetary Defense Conference in Preparing for a Near-Earth Object Impact Scenario

Near-Earth object (NEO) impact is one of the examples of high impact and low probability (HILP) event, same as the Covid-19 pandemic the world faces since the beginning of 2020. The 7th Planetary Defense Conference held by the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA) in April 2021 included an exercise on a hypothetical NEO impact event, allowing the planetary defense community to discuss potential responses. Over the span of the 4-day conference this exercise connected disaster response and management professionals to participate in a series of panels, providing feedback and perspective on the unfolding crisis scenario. The hypothetical but realistic asteroid threat scenario illustrated how such a short-warning threat might evolve. The scenario utilized during the conference indicates a need to prepare now for what might come in the future, because even with advance notice, preparation time might be minimal. This scenario chose Europe for the impact, which may likely cope with such a disaster, through the Union Civil Protection Mechanism (UCPM) and other solidarity and support mechanisms within the European Union (EU), as well as with potential support from international partners. This short article raises concern about other areas in the world on how they may access NEO impact information and cope with such disasters. It also provides an idea on vast scale of such disaster vis-à-vis the current capacity of response systems to cope with a larger event in Europe or elsewhere. This scenario showed that planetary defense is a global endeavor. Constant engagement of the planetary defense and disaster response communities is essential in order to keep the world safe from potential disasters caused by NEO impacts.

Insider Trading

This chapter addresses regulation of insider trading in the United States. Uncertainties and inconsistencies prevail in this setting resulting in disparate treatment for similarly situated actors. Other developed countries, while applying many principles of U.S. securities law to their securities markets, have rejected the U.S. approach in the insider trading context. To redress this situation, Congress should enact comprehensive legislation that meaningfully addresses the contours of the insider trading prohibition. Among other mandates, this legislation would: require corporate insiders to provide advance notice of their contemplated transactions in the subject company’s equity securities; bar corporate insiders and other access persons from trading in the subject company’s securities during the interval between the occurrence of a reportable event and the making of a SEC filing (such as a Form 8-K); close loopholes that currently exist with respect to the propriety of insider trading plans; and adopt a comprehensive access approach governing the legality of trading and tipping on the basis of material nonpublic information.

Survive, Revive, Thrive: Chapter 10—Anchors Aweigh

It Is Time To Leave Port Education is not a way to escape poverty; it is a way of fighting it.—Julius Nyerere, Tanzanian president, 1922–1999 As the COVID-19 pandemic subsides in most parts of the world, and as a global society we commit ourselves to its control and eradication everywhere, it is time for our “ship” to leave port. As we pull up our anchor (“anchors aweigh” means the anchor is off bottom and the ship is free to move), we must accept that there are risks out there, but we must get back to the task of exploration and production of oil and gas as never before. As I predicted in this column many months ago, we are definitely leaner (fewer people, with even more work to do) and now we need to be much meaner (better skilled, better motivated, and better focused). All the old adages apply: “life isn’t fair,” “there are no guarantees,” etc.—but a commitment to “duty, honor, and service” (an unofficial motto of my employer, Texas A&M University) stands firm in my mind for our industry. As we leave port, we must have the confidence and purpose that has defined our industry since its inception—improving lives, mitigating poverty, and providing the energy to enable a modern global society. Reasons We Must Change as an Industry Life’s a bit like mountaineering—never look down.— Edmund Hillary, New Zealand explorer, 1919–2008 I was in a panel session a few weeks back and, as SPE President, I am certain they saved the toughest question for me: “What are the reasons we must change as an industry?” I confess that this question was particularly hard because it requires a sketch of our future strategies as an industry and as a professional society, which in many ways remains undefined. Fortunately, I had some advance notice and was able to put some thought into my answer. Paraphrasing Darwin, “we must adapt or die.” It is that simple. Our industry provides enormous societal benefit, and just as the future of renewables lies in metals for batteries, conducting materials, circuitry, etc., the present and future of manufacturing lies in oil and gas. There simply are no viable substitutes.

31. Disclosure

The Civil Procedure Rules 1998 (CPR) require the parties to give advance notice to their opponents of all the material documentation in their control. This is done in two stages. At the first stage the parties send each other lists of documents, a process called ‘disclosure’. The second stage is ‘inspection’, which is the process by which the other side can request copies of documents appearing in the list of documents, typically with photocopies being provided by the disclosing party. This chapter discusses these processes. It covers lawyers’ and clients’ responsibilities; the stage when disclosure takes place; disclosure orders; standard disclosure; menu option disclosure; duty to search; list of documents; privilege; inspection; orders in support of disclosure; documents referred to in statements of case, etc.; admission of authenticity; and collateral use.

Performance Escapes and Catastrophes

This chapter presents an overview of newer thinking about how suicide risk fluctuates over time using concepts informed by mathematics, which provides a useful model for understanding why and how suicide emerges in different ways for different people at different times. It focuses in particular on the implications of this perspective for understanding suicides that emerge suddenly or “out of the blue” without much advance notice or warning signs. In the world of dynamical systems, sudden and discontinuous change processes are often referred to as “catastrophic” change because they represent a fundamental shift in how a system operates. Catastrophic change can be so dramatic that it defies reason and cannot be easily anticipated. The chapter then considers the cusp catastrophe model, which stands in contrast to the unidimensional suicide-risk continuum model that has dominated thinking about suicide risk for decades.

Five Functions, and Two Kinds, of Mens Rea

This chapter sketches how mens rea serves at least five different functions, which can be grouped into two broad categories. Within the first category, it helps to establish that the defendant’s offence was an instance of culpable wrongdoing. It does this in three different ways. First, and most obviously, it contributes to findings of culpability. Secondly, it can help to identify what kind of action a person is performing: in these cases, the finding of mens rea is integral to the moral wrongness of the action for which a person is being held responsible. Thirdly, mens rea affects the availability of justifications. Whether a person’s pro tanto wrong was, all things considered, wrongful—unjustified—and an instance of wrongdoing—depends on the reasons why they did it. The other broad category concerns the principle of legitimate enactment. Mens rea has important roles to play in articulating, and notifying, the limits of citizens’ freedom. More specifically, a fourth function of mens rea is to secure fair warning to defendants, ensuring they have sufficient advance notice that, by their conduct, they risk violating the criminal law. Finally, mens rea plays a key mediating role in criminalization, being part of the trade-off between the protection of potential victims and the preservation of liberties for potential defendants.