Short Takes – 9-6-25

Hundreds Arrested in Immigration Raid at Hyundai Site in Georgia. WSJ.com article. Pull quote: “Among those detained at the factory were South Korean employees of LG Energy Solution who were traveling for business. Hyundai Motor said it believed that it didn’t directly employ any of those detained. LG Energy said Friday it was cooperating with the South Korean government and relevant authorities to ensure the employees’ safety and secure their prompt release from detention.”

Russian spy drones over Germany: Why the Bundeswehr cannot shoot them down. Euronews.com article. Pull quote: “Constitutional limits, particularly with regard to the deployment of the German Armed Forces inside the country, must also be strictly adhered to. "In view of the months of inactivity on the part of Minister Dobrindt, the states have long since run out of patience," said von Notz.”

US turns up heat against drug cartels in Caribbean: What to know. TheHill.com article. Pull quote: ““We’ve got assets in the air, assets in the water, assets on ships, because this is a deadly serious mission for us, and it won’t, it won’t stop with just this strike,” Hegseth said this week while on “Fox & Friends.” “Anyone else trafficking in those waters who we know is a designated narco-terrorist will face the same fate, and it’s important for the American people to protect our homeland and protect our hemisphere.””

Meat prices skyrocket worldwide.LinkedIn.com article. Pull quote: “Cattle farmers in many parts of the world are dealing with climate change and disease, curbing production. The American herd is the lowest in decades and numbers are also tightening in top shipper Brazil, with increasingly volatile weather adding to the challenges to rebuild.”

FERC in Focus: Will the agency maintain its independence under Trump 2.0? UtilityDive.com commentary. Pull quote: “LaCerte does not appear to have any background in energy. He is listed as a contributor to the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, the conservative blueprint for “dismantling the administrative state” that Trump disowned as a candidate but has since moved to implement.”

Mechanochemical recycling converts polystyrene to a commodity chemical. CEN.acs.org article. Pull quote: “A solvent-free ball-milling process can break down waste polystyrene into benzene and aliphatic hydrocarbons in as little as 15 min (Angew. Chem., Int. Ed. 2025, DOI: 10.1002/anie.202512687). By also including benzoic anhydride in the reaction vessel, Junpeng Wang and his team at the University of Akron converted the freshly generated benzene directly to benzophenone, creating a one-pot method to valorize consumer waste into a useful chemical feedstock.”