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Private transportation and sexual assault in the United States

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Between 2017 and 2022, Uber received an allegation of sexual assault or sexual misconduct in the United States nearly every eight minutes on average, classified court records show, which is a more pervasive level than the company disclosed. This means that a total of 400,181 Uber trips resulted in allegations of sexual assault and sexual misconduct. Previously, the company had reported 12,522 allegations of serious sexual assault in the same time period, without indicating the total number of such allegations it had received.

As published in The New York Times by journalists Emily Steel and Claire Fahy, Uber and Lyft helped revolutionise global transportation by connecting strangers for ridesharing. Millions of people order cars with their apps every day. Companies have long maintained that the vast majority of travel to the United States – 99.9% – occurs without incidents of any kind. But because Uber operates on a large scale, a fraction of 0.1% can represent many attacks.

Uber has not released data for the years since then, although court records indicate that incident reports have increased. They did stress that about 75% of the 400,181 complaints on the app were «minor”: for example, making comments about someone’s appearance, flirting or using explicit sexual language. These reports have not been audited by the company and may include incorrect or fraudulent reports submitted by individuals attempting to obtain a refund.

Within companies such as Uber or Lyft, employees have acknowledged that it is likely that not all cases of sexual assault and sexual misconduct are reported because of a lack of security, intimidation, embarrassment, or because many drivers know where passengers live.

However, Uber has found that sexual assaults follow distinctive patterns. The victims are usually women, whether they are passengers or drivers. Assaults usually occur late at night and on weekends, with pickups originating near a bar. In the vast majority of cases, the perpetrators are men – drivers or passengers – with a history of sexual misconduct complaints and low ratings on the app, internal documents show. Drunk female passengers are especially vulnerable.

Private transport companies have implemented a number of safety measures, such as GPS tracking, optional audio recording on the app and an emergency button to connect with emergency services.

Sexual assaults are a problem throughout the industry, including other app-based transportation companies as well as traditional taxis. Research on gender-based violence has shown that this type of assault is a very underreported problem, and comparisons across the sector are difficult because there is no centralised database for this type of incident.

Lyft, Uber’s smaller rival, has also reported thousands of sexual assaults. In a statement, it said that reports of sexual assault are statistically very unusual and account for far less than 1% of trips. And that transportation companies will continue to invest in technology, policies and alliances to try to prevent and detect unsafe situations.

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Mexico’s cartels adopt modern weapons of warfare

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There are clashes that do not happen in the war zones of Ukraine or the Middle East, and the fighters do not belong to any army. They are criminal groups with military-grade weapons fighting just a few hundred kilometres from the US border in the western Mexican state of Michoacan. This is how Paulina Villegas and Emiliano Rodríguez Mega described it in The New York Times.

Some of Mexico’s most powerful cartels are engaged in a violent arms race to fight on several fronts: on one side, against the Mexican government, which is under intense pressure from the United States to crack down on drug trafficking; on the other, they fight each other for territory and resources, causing a somersault between their members and civilians caught in the middle of the conflict.

Despite profound disagreements over the measures to be taken to confront them, officials and security analysts in both countries agree that the cartels are amassing new levels of firepower, which is transforming some of these groups into full-fledged paramilitary forces.

Drug traffickers and cartel gunmen no longer use pistols or automatic rifles, but also Claymore land mines, rocket-propelled grenades, mortars made from gasoline tank tubes and armoured trucks equipped with heavy machine guns. They bury improvised explosive devices to kill rivals and modify drones purchased over the Internet into attack weapons loaded with toxic substances and bombs.

According to Mexican authorities, most of the military-grade weapons acquired by some of these groups come from the United States, and up to half a million firearms are smuggled across the border each year. Criminals also reverse-engineer the weapons, sometimes 3D printing parts to manufacture them.

Like other armed groups around the world, the cartels combine old and new weapons, with lethal effects. Drones fly over Michoacan while roads and footpaths used by soldiers and civilians are littered with improvised explosive devices. In the last two years, more mine explosions have been recorded than anywhere else in Mexico. A chilling indicator of the drug war’s evolution.

In the past five months alone, at least 10 civilians – including a 14-year-old boy – have been killed by hidden explosives while working in the fields or walking to school.

Security analysts and Mexican officials say the cartels began to militarise in the mid-2000s, when Los Zetas, a group formed by former members of the military, introduced battlefield discipline, encrypted communications and heavy weaponry to organised crime.

As Los Zetas acquired more military hardware, rivals did the same in an attempt to compete with them. Mexico’s security forces also responded with increasingly sophisticated tactics and equipment. More recently, the United States has brought in its own technology, including drones that search for fentanyl labs.

According to authorities, the cartels are also increasingly manufacturing chemical bombs and loading drones with compounds such as aluminium phosphide – a toxic pesticide that can cause hypoxia and circulatory failure – and other pesticides and poisons.

The increase in drones and improvised explosive devices has coincided with the arrival of Colombian nationals, former soldiers recruited to train cartel fighters. In just over seven months, state authorities have arrested 53 foreigners accused of links to organised crime, including 23 Colombians and 20 Venezuelans.

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U.S. wildfire fighters die from toxic smoke inhalation

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The smoke from the wildfires that swept through Los Angeles last January smelled of plastic and was so thick it obscured the ocean. Firefighters who fought the blaze developed instant migraines, coughed up black goo, vomited and fell down dizzy.

Seven months later, some still wake up startled by attacks of wheezing during the night. It is unthinkable that urban firefighters – those American icons that occupy a dominant position in the public imagination – would enter a burning building without wearing a mask. But across the country tens of thousands of wildfire fighters spend weeks working amid toxic smoke and ash, protected only by a handkerchief or nothing at all. This is how researcher Hannah Dreier explained it in The New York Timesin late August.

In the past, wildfire fighters were seasonal workers who alternated deployments with other jobs. It is possible that they suffered only a few days of intense smoke during the year and had winter and spring to recover. Now, as drought and extreme heat increase, wildfires in the United States are starting earlier, burning longer and spreading further. As a result, firefighters often work almost year-round and, as a consequence, many of them are getting ill.

For decades, studies have consistently linked increased exposure to smoke from wildfires to increased cardiovascular and pulmonary problems, cancer and premature deaths. The Forest Service’s own investigators – the U.S. Department of Agriculture agency in charge of managing U.S. forests – have themselves warned of the effects of smoke and have called for providing firefighters with face masks, monitoring their exposures and long-term monitoring of their health status.

Countries with large wildfire seasons such as Canada, Australia and Greece have begun to distribute half-face respirators with replaceable filters, such as those used by painters and demolition crews. In laboratory tests, they puff about 99% of the toxic particles in the smoke. Disposable N95 masks are almost as effective.

But, year after year, the Forest Service sends firefighters into the smoke with nothing to prevent them from inhaling the poison. The agency has opposed equipping firefighters with masks; it publishes safety manuals that do not mention the long-term dangers of smoke exposure, and it does not allow workers to wear masks on the front line, even if they want to.

In a statement the Forest Service has said it wants to protect its crews, but the masks pose too great a risk to firefighters because they can overheat during the strenuous work they must perform to contain a wildfire. Instead, they propose that supervisors move them away from dense smoke and set up sleeping camps in places with cleaner air, when possible.

Respirators are a potential tool for reducing smoke exposure, but regulatory and logistical problems make widespread use impractical.

Researchers in countries that already use face masks have stated that they have not observed an increase in cases of heat stress. Firefighters slow down or remove their masks when it gets too hot, they said. The Forest Service continues to monitor international practices and research.

Internal records, studies and interviews with current and former agency officials reveal another motivation: adopting the masks would mean admitting the danger of wildfire smoke.

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Frontex Fundamental Rights Office publishes 2024 Annual Report

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The Fundamental Rights Office of Frontex has published the 2024 Annual Report which provides an overview of how rights are protected at the European Union’s external borders and where concerns remain. The report highlights that the Office shapes operations by integrating the protection of rights into all areas of Frontex’s work, including returns, surveillance and cooperation with national authorities.

Geopolitical tensions, war, unrest and natural disasters have been shaping the situation on Europe’s borders. These pressures, which still persist, make the work of the Office even more important.

In 2024, fundamental rights monitors spent nearly 2,000 days on the ground in more than 20 countries. Almost 50 serious incident reports were published and almost 100 complaints were handled. More than 500 field days were dedicated to training and more than 200 return operations were supervised together with national experts.

The report also reflects the growing influence of the Fundamental Rights Office within Frontex. The Office works closely with the agency’s operational command structure, and assists in decision making from the outset. Its long-term strategy aims to ensure that the protection of rights is integrated into all Frontex activities.

The Annual Report covers supervision at EU and non-EU borders, return activities, accountability mechanisms, advisory functions, cooperation and training. It provides specific data on the growing impact of the Office within Frontex and on how member states approach border management.

The report is aimed at both experts and the general public and contributes to the wider debate on how to manage Europe’s borders while respecting European values and legal obligations.

This report is structured in five chapters that reflect this work.

Chapter 1 presents the main findings from the monitoring of activities at the external borders and in other countries.

Chapter 2 covers the monitoring of return operations, the main recommendations on return operations by air and the Frontex reintegration programme.

Chapter 3, on accountability mechanisms and the use of force, describes the main findings of the two main accountability mechanisms under the mandate of the Frontex Fundamental Rights Office: complaint handling and serious incident reporting.

Chapter 4 focuses on the advisory functions of the Office and cooperation. It provides an overview of the advice provided on operational activities and fundamental rights concerns, and of cooperation with third countries and risk analysis. It also presents the agency’s fundamental rights action plan and the technical and operational strategy on integrated European border management, among other policy frameworks relevant to the enforcement of fundamental rights by the European border and coast guard community.

Chapter 5 presents the Office’s commitment in terms of training and skills development, with activities aimed at internal and external stakeholders, often organised in cooperation with external partners.

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Drug trafficking network dismantled in joint operation in Belgium, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom

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During the month of July 2025, a coordinated police operation with the support of Europol, involving authorities in Belgium, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, led to the arrest of seven suspects involved in drug trafficking throughout Europe.

The gang trafficked mainly ketamine, but also smuggled cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) and drug precursors. Law enforcement authorities seized more than 225 kg of ketamine in Belgium alone.

The action day in July 2025 was the culmination of a long investigation. The criminal network had already been unravelled months earlier, and several operations against some of its members had been carried out during 2024. In total, the operations involved:

  • 7 arrests.
  • 11 house searches (9 in Belgium, 1 in the United Kingdom and 1 in the Netherlands).
  • The seizure of more than 600 kg of drugs, including ketamine, amphetamines, cannabis, heroin and cocaine.
  • The seizure of more than 5 million euros in cash.

The criminals were not only operating in Western Europe but were spread across multiple regions of the world. They used various sophisticated methods to smuggle drugs through Europe undetected, including trucks with drugs hidden in cargo packages and mail intercepted in Belgium.

Europol began supporting the investigation in September 2024 by organising a series of operational meetings and offering financial support to the member states involved in the case. In addition, Europol experts cross-checked and provided operational support to national authorities throughout the investigation. On the police action day, two specialists were working together in Belgium and the United Kingdom to provide on-site expertise and ensure good coordination.

The following police services participated in the investigation:

  • Belgium: Federal Judicial Police of East Flanders (Federale Gerechtelijke Politie).
  • The Netherlands: IRC Netherlands
  • United Kingdom: National Crime Agency (NCA)

Drug trafficking is a dynamic crime, with a high destabilising potential, given that it is associated with violence, corruption, infiltration of the legal economy and global interconnections. Europol identifies drug trafficking as one of the main threats to the internal security of the European Union.

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Hospitalisations due to firearm injuries in the U.S.

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Accurate data on firearm injuries in the United States are critical to better understand the total cost or societal burden of gun violence. However, there is no single resource that provides reliable estimates of this type of injury in that country. Data are scarce and, in some cases, too expensive for most researchers.

This lack of information limits the ability of researchers to answer basic questions about gun violence, such as whether injury trends are changing over time or whether harm reduction strategies are effective.

As part of the Gun Policy in America initiative, RAND researchers developed a longitudinal database for the of U.S. national estimates of hospitalisations for non-fatal firearm injuries between 2000 and 2022.

These estimates are based on a variety of data sources, the largest of which are summaries from state inpatient databases (SIDs), which are supplemented by other data from the country’s health department. The estimates do not include emergency department visits that do not result in subsequent hospitalisation or firearm injuries for which inpatient medical care is not sought.

Between 2000 and 2022, there were an estimated 728,617 hospitalisations for non-fatal firearm injuries nationwide: that is an annual average of about 31,600 non-fatal injuries in the United States.

The data also reveal substantial differences in the rate of non-fatal firearm injury hospitalisations among states and relatively stable national trends. These data could help answer questions regarding the effects of state policies and the social cost of firearm injuries to states and the country.

Data and methodology

The model used for non-fatal firearm injury hospitalisations combined SID data that were available through the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP), comprehensive state SID data, data available through U.S. health department web portals on hospitalisation, and data provided by state health departments in response to direct requests from the study team.

Years with data lacking the number of firearm injury hospitalisations were imputed using hypothesised covariates associated with firearm hospitalisations. These covariates included the non-suicide firearm death rate, the rate of firearm deaths in medical facilities, the rate of reported violent crime, and annual demographic, economic, and social characteristics at the national level.

Both the imputation of missing hospitalisation data and the correction for incomplete injury mechanism data were estimated simultaneously in a Bayesian regression model. This model uses a complex error structure that was designed to capture key features of the hospitalisation data, including the greater variance in firearm hospitalisation rates for less populated years and the correlation of values within each state over time. Multiple imputation datasets were created by sampling from the posterior predictive distribution of the model.

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Major global operation against human trafficking

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A major operation against human trafficking has resulted in the protection of 1,194 potential victims and the arrest of 158 suspected criminals. As part of ongoing investigations, 205 other suspected human traffickers have also been identified. The police day focused on human trafficking for sexual exploitation, forced criminality and forced begging, with a special focus on underage victims.

This year’s edition of the operation, codenamed Global Chain, took place from 1 to 6 June 2025 and was led by law enforcement agencies in Austria and Romania, with coordination and support from Europol, the agency Frontex and INTERPOL. The purpose was to detect and dismantle high-value targets and organised crime groups responsible for the majority of human trafficking cases, as well as to protect victims, seize criminal assets and initiate follow-up investigations.

The operation involved nearly 15,000 officers from 43 different countries, including law enforcement, border guards, labour inspectors, and tax and customs authorities. Potential victims were identified from 64 different countries, mostly from Romania, Ukraine, Colombia, China and Hungary. Many of them had crossed borders and even continents, demonstrating the global nature of human trafficking schemes.

Research shows that the vast majority of victims of sexual exploitation are adult women, while the exploitation of minors is mainly related to forced begging and forced criminal activity, for example, as pickpockets. In many of these cases, protecting victims can be difficult, as they are often exploited by family members.

The offenders were involved in human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation and forced criminality in several European Union states. Victims were usually recruited through the “lover boy” method and then forced into prostitution. In addition, the victims were forced to defraud customers and trick them into handing over large sums of money. In other cases, the victims had to steal from customers or lure them to remote locations so that the traffickers could steal their goods.

Significant seizures were also made, such as 277,669 euros in cash, 1 tonne of cannabis, 899 units of other narcotics, 30 firearms, 15 explosive components, 65 fraudulent documents and 5 real estate properties.

Europol, Frontex and INTERPOL supported the operation, which also led to 182 new investigations through international coordination. To assist officers in the field and support real-time information exchange, a coordination centre was established at the Frontex headquarters in Warsaw, Poland, consisting of officials from 33 countries.

Europol provided analytical support from several experts who processed the data and compared it with the agency’s databases. One Europol expert was based at the coordination centre in Warsaw for the duration of the action week.

INTERPOL provided access to its databases and international notices, offering investigative and analytical support to cases that arose during the operation.

During the six-day police operation, the countries acted on shared intelligence to conduct raids on known locations and carry out seizures. Law enforcement presence was also increased at critical points and key transport hubs to identify victims and suspects. Some 15,000 officers checked: 924,392 individuals, 842,281 documents, 181,954 vehicles, 5,745 flights and vessels, and 20,783 locations.

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Exponential growth in the use of 3D-printed firearms

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In an article published in BBC News in early July this year, the result of research by Dan Hardoon, the author believes that 3D-printed guns could become the weapon of choice for criminals and violent extremists around the world.

These untraceable homemade firearms have been recovered in several recent criminal cases, including the alleged murder of Brian Thompson, CEO of United HealthCare, in the United States.

Dan Hardoon has investigated the global spread of 3D-printed weapons through social media platforms such as Telegram, Facebook and Instagram, and on websites offering guides on how to make them. These are firearms that can be assembled with a printer from downloadable blueprints and some basic materials.

Designed to circumvent gun-control laws, the technology to manufacture these devices has advanced rapidly in the last decade, and the latest models are capable of firing multiple rounds without breaking the plastic components. The materials have improved, the cost has gone down and the ease of access to the plans is at its peak. For all these reasons, they could become the weapons of choice for those planning violent acts.

Hardoon’s research began with tracking gun ads on Instagram and Facebook. In this vein, the Tech Transparency Project, a non-profit organization that monitors technology companies, found hundreds of advertisements for 3D printed and so-called ghost guns.

Many of these gun ads guided potential customers to Telegram or WhatsApp channels. A Telegram account with more than 1,000 subscribers advertised that it could ship guns to anywhere in the world.

However, a Telegram spokesperson stated that the sale of weapons is explicitly prohibited by the terms of service and is removed whenever it is discovered. Moderators empowered with personalised artificial intelligence and machine learning tools proactively monitor public parts of the platform and accept reports to remove millions of pieces of malicious content every day, including the sale of weapons.

More troubling, however, is that people looking for 3D-printed guns don’t need to buy them ready-made through social media; they can assemble them themselves. Models such as the FGC-9 are designed using only 3D-printed plastic and reused metal components, without having to use commercially available weapon parts.

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August

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Thank you for your co-opration. We return on 8 September. Have a good summer!

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Europe-wide dismantling operation of the oldest drug marketplace on the dark web

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European law enforcement authorities have dismantled Archetyp Market, the most prolific dark web marketplace, following a large-scale operation involving five countries, with support from Europol and Eurojust.

Between 11 and 13 June of this year, a series of coordinated actions were carried out in Germany, the Netherlands, Romania, Spain and Sweden, targeting the platform’s administrator, moderators, key suppliers and technical infrastructure. Some 300 officers were deployed to enforce the law and secure critical evidence.

Archetyp Market operated as a drug market for more than five years, during which time it accumulated more than 600,000 users worldwide, with a total transaction volume of at least 250 million euros. With more than 17,000 listings, it is one of the few dark web marketplaces that allowed the sale of fentanyl and other highly potent synthetic opioids, contributing to the growing threat posed by these substances in Europe.

As a result of the police action, the platform’s infrastructure in the Netherlands was taken offline and its administrator, a 30-year-old German citizen, was arrested in Barcelona. In parallel, measures were taken in Germany and Sweden against a moderator and six of the market’s main sellers, and assets worth EUR 7.8 million were seized.

This operation, led by German authorities, marks the end of a criminal service that allowed the anonymous trade of a large volume of illicit drugs, such as cocaine, methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), amphetamines and synthetic opioids. The platform’s resilience, scale and reputation within the criminal community place it alongside now-defunct dark web marketplaces such as Dream Market and Silk Road, both known for facilitating online drug trafficking.

Europol’s Deputy Executive Director of Operations, Jean-Philippe Lecouffe, certifies that law enforcement has eliminated one of the oldest drug markets on the dark web, and this fact has cut off a major supply line for some of the world’s most dangerous substances.

Europol has contributed to the efficiency and effectiveness of international investigations. The agency organised multiple coordination meetings that allowed authorities to exchange information critical to the investigation. During the action days and preliminary investigations, Eurojust coordinated the execution of mutual legal assistance and European Investigation Orders.

The dismantling comes after years of intensive investigation to map the technical architecture of the platform and identify the people behind it. By tracking financial flows, analysing digital forensic evidence and working closely together in the field, it has been possible to strike a decisive blow to one of the most prolific drug markets on the dark web.

By dismantling its infrastructure and arresting its key players, law enforcement authorities have sent a clear message: there is no safe haven for those who profit from crime.

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