About 40 people taken to hospital after Air Canada Express crash, some with serious injuries; ICE agents seen at several US airports amid partial DHS shutdown
Pilots killed after Air Canada jet collision at LaGuardia New York
TSA lines stretch for hours as Trump deploys ICE agents to US airports
Donald Trump has said ICE agents did not need to wear masks when deployed at airports.
ICE has repeatedly faced criticism for its agents hiding their faces during immigration raids. State officials across the US have said the face coverings add to a climate of fear in local communities and a lack of accountability.
I am a BIG proponent of ICE wearing masks as they search for, and are forced to deal with, hardened criminals, many of whom were let into our Country by Sleepy Joe Biden and his wonderful “Border Czar,” Kamala (she never even went to the Border!), through their absolutely INSANE Open Border Policy.
I would greatly appreciate, however, NO MASKS, when helping our Country out of the Democrat caused MESS at the airports, etc. Thank you! President DJT
Continue reading...Uber is aggressively partnering with multiple robotaxi companies to avoid a future dominated by Waymo or Tesla. The ride-hailing giant has struck deals with at least a dozen autonomous vehicle players in recent years. Just last week, it announced a $1.25 billion partnership with Rivian, with plans to deploy up to 50,000 driverless vehicles over the next decade. Business Insider reports: Uber announced three new robotaxi partnerships in the past few weeks with Zoox, Wayve-Nissan, and Rivian. In less than half a decade, the company has secured at least a dozen deals, including with WeRide, AVride, May Mobility, Momenta, Pony.AI, Wayve, Baidu's Apollo Go, Motional, and Lucid-Nuro. Still, less than a half-dozen of Uber's partners have deployed fully driverless, paid robotaxi operations, and only one, Waymo, operates in the US. Uber has a joint deployment with Waymo in Atlanta, Austin, and Phoenix, but in other cities, Waymo is a competitor. Uber's partnership spree is less about seeking the singular, dominant player of autonomous driving. Instead, analysts told Business Insider that Uber is ensuring multiple vendors can participate in the expensive business of robotaxis -- fending off the real risk of a Waymo or Tesla scaling on its own -- and giving itself a stake in the robotaxi economy by being the aggregator of choice. "The more diversified the supplier base, the better for the network in the middle, which is Uber," Mark Mahaney, an Uber analyst for Evercore ISI, told Business Insider.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Investors are piling back into shares after US president announces ‘very good and productive’ conversations with Iran, sending oil price down
Wholesale gas prices in Europe have jumped in early trading.
The UK month-ahead gas prices is up 3.1% at 155p per therm, nearly double their levels before the Iran conflict began.
Continue reading...A statue of Christopher Columbus been placed on the grounds of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building adjacent to the White House.
A $10,000 9-month CD could be worth opening right now. Here's how much interest savers can earn with an account.
Questions likely to PM will range across defence, the Middle East, economic security and the impact of the conflict in Iran
Matthew Pennycook, the housing minister, was speaking for the government on the morning news programmes earlier. Speaking to LBC, he confirmed that the government wanted the Competition and Markets Authority to deal with any potention profiteering by oil companies. Pennycook said prices were “prices are soaring in places” and “we’re seeing a huge differentiation in prices across the country, which is why the CMA have put fuel retailers on notice”.
Donald Trump has said he has instructed the defence department to postpone all airstrikes against Iranian power plants and energy infrastructure for a five day period, Yohannes Lowe reports. This is subject to the “success” of ongoing “meetings and discussions”, Trump said in a Truth Social post.
Continue reading...March 23, 2026 — Researchers used the Delta and DeltaAI systems at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) to test a new computational framework that will help scientists explore the universe through multi-messenger astrophysics.
Credit: Shutterstock
Radio Afterglow Detection and AI-driven Response (RADAR) utilizes artificial intelligence to analyze data from both gravitational waves and radio astronomy, improving how scientists study cosmic events such as neutron star mergers. RADAR enables faster, more efficient follow-up examinations, which can be challenging across multiple observatories and datasets.
Gravitational-wave surveys often span large swaths of the sky, radio signals can be extremely faint and delayed, and telescope time and computing resources are limited. As astronomers discover hundreds or thousands of events each year, they need faster, more collaborative systems to analyze the growing data. RADAR tackles these challenges by leveraging AI and supercomputing, analyzing gravitational-wave and radio data directly where they reside and minimizing the need to transfer enormous amounts of data.
“This framework shows how we can do collaborative, cutting-edge astrophysics while respecting data rights and privacy,” said Eliu Huerta, a theoretical physicist and NCSA affiliate. “RADAR is built to grow with the field, ensuring we can meet the challenges of the multi-messenger era.”
Delta and DeltaAI were part of a group of supercomputing resources that a team of researchers from the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory, Johns Hopkins University, the University of Chicago and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign used to help build RADAR’s functions and capabilities. The Polaris supercomputer at the Argonne Leadership Computing Facility and the Advanced Research Computing at Johns Hopkins University help test the framework, which proved it “can move less data, follow data-access limits and still coordinate large-scale analysis reliably.”
Researchers obtained time on NCSA resources through the U.S. National Science Foundation’s ACCESS program and Illinois Computes.
“The computational resources like Delta and DeltaAI and the allocations on these resources via the national ACCESS program and Illinois Computes are essential, enabling graduate students to develop the software needed for complicated research projects like RADAR,” said Greg Bauer, the technical program manager of the Science and Engineering Application Support (SEAS) group in NCSA’s Research Consulting directorate.
More from HPCwire: Argonne-Led Team Develops AI Framework to Coordinate Gravitational Wave and Radio Observations
About Delta And DeltaAI
NCSA’s Delta and DeltaAI are part of the national cyberinfrastructure ecosystem through the U.S. National Science FoundationACCESS program. Delta (OAC 2005572) is a powerful computing and data-analysis resource combining next-generation processor architectures and NVIDIA graphics processors with forward-looking user interfaces and file systems. The Delta project partners with the Science Gateways Community Institute to empower broad communities of researchers to easily access Delta and with the University of Illinois Division of Disability Resources & Educational Services and the School of Information Sciences to explore and reduce barriers to access. DeltaAI (OAC 2320345) maximizes the output of artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) research. Tripling NCSA’s AI-focused computing capacity and greatly expanding the capacity available within ACCESS, DeltaAI enables researchers to address the world’s most challenging problems by accelerating complex AI/ML and high-performance computing applications running terabytes of data. Additional funding for DeltaAI comes from the State of Illinois.
Source: Andrew Helregel, NCSA
The post NCSA Highlights Delta, DeltaAI Role in AI Framework for Astrophysics Workflows appeared first on HPCwire.
Old debt doesn't always mean uncollectible debt. Here's what the 7-year mark actually means for wage garnishment.
CCTV showed three people setting light to an ambulance in Golders Green in the early hours of Monday morning
The London Fire Brigade received 56 calls about the fire attack on four Jewish community ambulances, which involved the explosion of several cylinders stored in the vehicles, a senior figure from the fire service said.
Giving a statement at the scene in Golders Green, Paul Askew, deputy assistant commissioner for the London Fire Brigade, said:
Early this morning, London Fire Brigade control room took the first of 56 calls reporting a fire on Highfield Road in Golders Green.
Upon arrival, crews were met with a well-developed fire involving four ambulances. Several cylinders stored within the vehicles exploded because of the heat, causing damage to the windows of a nearby residential block.
We have already spoken to local community and faith leaders and will continue that work today. A specific policing plan focused on key community locations across the area is under way and will continue beyond the coming days as we move towards Passover in early April.
This attack comes at a time when fears are already heightened given global events and recent attacks targeting Jewish communities in other parts of Europe.
Continue reading...The reforms focused on the way judges and prosecutors are recruited and governed, with opponents saying it could weaken the independence of the judiciary
Meanwhile, Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán attempted to get on the front foot after allegations that his foreign minister Péter Szijjártó was leaking confidential EU talks to Russia as he ordered a probe into what he called a wiretapping of Szijjártó’s phone.
“We are dealing with two serious issues: there is evidence that Hungary’s foreign minister was wiretapped, and we also have indications of who may be behind it. This must be investigated immediately,” Orban tweeted on Monday, as reported by Reuters.
Continue reading...US president had earlier postponed strikes on Iranian power plants for a five day period claiming there had been ‘productive’ talks
British prime minister Keir Starmer is set to chair an emergency meeting on the economic fallout from the war in Iran on Monday, with chancellor of the exchequer Rachel Reeves and Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey also attending, the UK government has said.
Financial markets face another turbulent week after Iran said it would strike its Gulf neighbours’ energy and water systems if Donald Trump followed through on his threat to “obliterate” Iran’s power plants if it doesn’t fully open up the crucial strait of Hormuz.
Topics expected to be covered are the economic impact of the crisis on families and businesses, energy security and the resilience of industry and supply chains alongside the international response.
Continue reading...As the Trump administration continues to bombard Iran, a top Pentagon official revealed that U.S. wars in the Western Hemisphere are also expanding, unveiling an effort dubbed “Operation Total Extermination.”
Attacks on Latin American drug cartels are “just the beginning” Joseph Humire, the acting assistant secretary of war for homeland defense and Americas security affairs, told members of the House Armed Services Committee last week.
Humire indicated that many more strikes in Latin America are on the horizon. The comments came a day after President Donald Trump again teased American annexation of Cuba. “I do believe I’ll be the honor of — having the honor of taking Cuba,” Trump said last week. “Whether I free it, take it, I think I can do anything I want with it.”
Humire announced that the Department of War supported “bilateral kinetic actions against cartel targets along the Colombia-Ecuador border” — Pentagon-speak for March 3 strikes on unnamed “Designated Terrorist Organizations” previously reported by The Intercept. “The joint effort, named ‘Operation Total Extermination,’ is the start of a military offensive by Ecuador against transnational criminal organizations with the support of the U.S.,” he said.
The U.S.–Ecuadorian campaign has already strayed into Colombia after a farm was bombed or hit by “ricochet effect” on March 3, leaving an unexploded 500-pound bomb lying in Colombia’s border region. In response to a request for comment, U.S. Southern Command referred The Intercept to a statement on X by the Ecuadorian Ministry of Defense confirming the bomb landed in Colombia.
Humire referred to the attacks as “joint land strikes” and said that America was providing Ecuador with “capabilities that they otherwise would not have.” The U.S. has since conducted at least one more strike with Ecuador. “Yes — as @POTUS has said — we are bombing Narco Terrorists on land as well,” self-styled War Secretary Pete Hegseth wrote on X on March 6, announcing the new strike. Days later, in a war powers report announcing the introduction of U.S. armed forces into “hostilities” in that country, the White House informed Congress of “military action taken on March 6, 2026, against the facilities of narco-terrorists affiliated with a designated terrorist organization.”
The attacks in Ecuador are also part of, and an expansion of, Operation Southern Spear: the U.S. military’s illegal campaign of strikes on boats in the Caribbean Sea and Eastern Pacific Ocean. The U.S. has conducted 46 attacks since September 2025, destroying 48 vessels and killing almost 160 civilians. The latest strike, on March 19 in the Pacific, killed two more people and left one survivor. The Trump administration claims its victims are members of at least one of 24 or more cartels and criminal gangs with whom it claims to be at war but refuses to name.
“Rushing to war on one man’s whims is the exact opposite of what the Constitution demands.”
“This Administration is barely paying lip service to the constitutional or international law governing the use of force. But we have these rules for a reason,” said Rebecca Ingber, a former State Department lawyer and now a law professor at Cardozo Law School in New York. “Rushing to war on one man’s whims is the exact opposite of what the Constitution demands.”
Gen. Francis Donovan, the SOUTHCOM commander, told lawmakers last week that “boat strikes are not the answer,” but teased an even larger campaign. “What we’re moving for right now might be an extension of Southern Spear, but really a counter-cartel campaign process that puts total systemic friction across this network,” he told members of the Senate Armed Services Committee. “I believe these kinetic [boat] strikes are just one small part of that.”
Humire could not say how many land strikes were being conducted across almost 20 Latin American and Caribbean nations. “I don’t have an exact number,” he replied to a question. But when asked by Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., the ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee, if the War Department would “be moving to a lot more terrestrial strikes,” Humire replied, “Yes, ranking member.”
The Office of the Secretary of War did not respond to a request to clarify how great that increase might be.
Humire said the U.S.–Ecuadorian campaign was “setting the pace for regional, deterrence-focused operations against cartel infrastructure throughout Latin America and the Caribbean.” The word “deterrence” has become a popular Pentagon euphemism for the use of lethal strikes, in contrast to previous efforts to U.S. government efforts to marshal economic, diplomatic, and military means to convince adversaries to abandon a specific course of action. “Deterrence has a signaling effect on narco-terrorists, and raises the risks with their movements,” Humire claimed.
In January, the U.S. attacked Venezuela and abducted the country’s president, Nicolás Maduro. It now rules the country through a puppet regime. Federal prosecutors have reportedly drafted a criminal indictment against Venezuelan Interim President Delcy Rodriguez, threatening her with corruption and money laundering charges if she does not continue to do the bidding of the Trump administration. Trump also recently teased the possibility of making Venezuela the 51st U.S. state.
The Trump administration is reportedly undertaking a regime-change operation in Cuba, attempting to push out President Miguel Díaz-Canel as a requirement for negotiations between the U.S. and that island nation. U.S. officials are said to favor Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro, the grandson of 94-year-old Raúl Castro, the former Cuban president and brother to Fidel, the leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008. Díaz-Canel referenced U.S. plans to “seize the country” on X late Tuesday and said the U.S. would be met with “impregnable resistance.”
“I am holding Cuba,” Trump said recently, noting his costly regime-change war in the Middle East takes precedence at the moment. “We’re going to do Iran before Cuba.” Trump imposed an oil blockade on Cuba in January, plunging the country into a humanitarian crisis. The island’s national electrical grid has already collapsed three times this month, with one blackout lasting more than 29 hours. U.N. human rights experts have condemned Trump’s fuel blockade on Cuba as “a serious violation of international law and a grave threat to a democratic and equitable international order.”
Trump, who has repeatedly spoken of “taking” Cuba, is the latest in a long line of U.S. presidents who have attempted to overthrow the Cuban government. During the Cold War, the CIA launched the disastrous 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion. The agency also tried to assassinate Fidel Castro at least eight times. The U.S. also conducted a covert campaign of bombing Cuban sugar mills and burning cane fields, among other acts of sabotage.
In the wake of the Bay of Pigs debacle, the Pentagon prepared top-secret plans to pave the way for an attack on the island. In the spring of 1962, the Joint Chiefs of Staff circulated a top-secret memorandum titled “Justification for U.S. Military Intervention in Cuba.” It described numerous false-flag operations that could be employed to justify a U.S. invasion, including a plot to “sink a boatload of Cuban refugees (real or simulated)” and even staging a modern “Remember the Maine” incident by blowing up a U.S. ship in Cuban waters and blaming the incident on Cuba. Other U.S. plans for covert action on the island specifically prioritized attacking Cuba’s electrical grid.
Asked if the Joint Chiefs of Staff were involved in analogous actions today, spokesperson Maj. Annabel Monroe referred The Intercept to Southern Command, who then referred The Intercept to the State Department, which did not respond to a request for comment.
Humire said that the War Department was “currently focused on partner-led deterrence operations,” but would not rule out unilateral U.S. strikes across Latin America. He said that, in addition to Ecuador, the U.S. had forged agreements with 17 partner-nations in the Western Hemisphere, as part of the so-called Americas Counter Cartel Coalition. This international body, formally announced by Trump at his Shield of the Americas summit earlier this month, will focus on “bi-lateral and multi-lateral operations against cartels and terrorist organizations.”
Humire was asked if any of the 18 nations were concerned about issues of sovereignty regarding the U.S. potentially conducting attacks in their countries. “Members of the coalition specifically signed a joint security declaration mentioning that they want this support and most of them all are looking for this,” he replied. But the barebones statement they signed is astonishingly vague and offers little of substance on the subject.
Humire indicated that the U.S. had leveraged gunboat diplomacy in Venezuela to strong-arm Cuba and assist in “gaining compliance from Nicaragua,” as well as “shifting the Caribbean in a favorable direction toward U.S. interests.”
Recent official leaks about the potential U.S. indictment of President Gustavo Petro of Colombia on drug charges — the official reason for Maduro’s kidnapping, and the means reportedly used to keep his successor, Rodriguez, in line — suggest the U.S. may employ that tactic as leverage or an eventual pretext for military action. (Petro has denied ties to drug traffickers.)
“It sounds as if Petro is potentially on the chopping block,” a former defense official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity due to his current employment, told The Intercept. The source said leaks about the potential indictment of Petro, coupled with the U.S.–Ecuadorian attack, which has stirred up tensions along the South American nations’ border, increasingly look like a coordinated campaign to foment “discord” if not conflict. Asked in January about attacking Colombia, Trump responded: “It sounds good to me.”
The U.S. attacks on the Colombia–Ecuador border come as America has recently established a “permanent FBI presence in Ecuador,” joining agents from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and the Department of Homeland Security. Just before the U.S. began attacks on the Ecuador–Colombia border, Donovan traveled to Quito, Ecuador’s capital, to meet with President Daniel Noboa and senior Ecuadorian defense officials.
Last August, Lt. Col. Phillip Vaughn — the commander of an Expeditionary Task Group overseeing Air Force Special Operations in the Caribbean and South America — coordinated meetings to increase “interoperability between U.S. and Ecuadorian forces” to “counter illicit actors operating along Ecuador’s northern border” with Colombia including “operational planning scenarios, execution of close air support procedures,” and “multiple topics on Joint Terminal Attack Controller support,” which relates to targeting and airstrikes.
America’s Western hemisphere blitz is part of what Trump and others have called the “Donroe Doctrine”: a bastardization of the 1823 Monroe Doctrine. While President James Monroe’s policy sought to prevent Europe from colonizing and meddling in the Western Hemisphere, Trump has wielded his variant as a license for America to do exactly that.
The National Security Strategy, released late last year, decrees the “Trump Corollary” to the Monroe Doctrine a “potent restoration of American power and priorities,” rooted in the “readjustment of our global military presence to address urgent threats in our Hemisphere.” Humire defined “America’s immediate security perimeter” as “Alaska to Greenland in the Arctic to the Gulf of America and the Panama Canal and surrounding countries.” Trump has also threatened to annex Greenland (and possibly Iceland), turn Canada into a U.S. state, and conduct military strikes in Mexico. Humire also detailed efforts to strong-arm Panama to cut ties with China to ensure access to the Panamanian-owned canal that he nonetheless called a U.S. “national asset.”
In addition to his wars in the Western hemisphere, Trump has also launched attacks on Iran, Iraq, Nigeria, Somalia, Syria, and Yemen during his second term — most of them sites of U.S. conflicts during the war on terror.
Smith, the House Armed Services Committee ranking member, told Humire that Trump’s wars in the Americas also appeared to be morphing into a new “forever conflict” with no clear goal or “end point.” Asked what “level of achievement” would be necessary to “stop kinetic action,” Humire responded with a wall of words about border security, terrorism, and cartels. When Smith interrupted to clarify if the boat strikes would continue unabated, Humire confusingly replied: “No, correct.”
The post Pentagon Reveals Attacks in Latin America Are Just the Beginning appeared first on The Intercept.
The airport is closed during an investigation of the incident, which happened when an Air Canada Express passenger jet struck a fire truck on the runway.
Video of Reacher star allegedly showed him striking a man in what looked like a suburban Tennessee neighborhood
Alan Ritchson, the actor best known for his role in the hit action series Reacher, was filmed allegedly assaulting his neighbor in front of his children.
In a video obtained by TMZ on Sunday, the 43-year-old appeared to strike a man several times as he kneeled on the ground in what looked like a suburban neighborhood in Tennessee. Two children, reported by TMZ to be Ritchson’s, can be seen nearby sitting on motorbikes and watching the incident unfold.
Continue reading...March 23, 2026 — Two years after its launch, the National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource (NAIRR) is demonstrating how a national approach to artificial intelligence infrastructure can expand opportunity, accelerate discovery and fuel U.S. leadership in AI innovation. What began as a pilot initiative is now enabling researchers, educators, students and innovators across the country to access advanced AI resources. In doing so, NAIRR is driving innovation, fueling economic growth and reinforcing American leadership in emerging technologies.
Credit: Charlotte Geary, U.S. National Science Foundation
Led by the U.S. National Science Foundation, in partnership with 13 federal agencies and 28 private-sector contributors, NAIRR is building a scalable, national infrastructure designed to support the entire U.S. scientific community, including researchers, educators, students, startups and small businesses. By providing access to world-class AI computing, data, tools and training opportunities, NAIRR enables researchers across the country to contribute to the AI innovation ecosystem, regardless of their geographic location. In addition to expanding research capacity, NAIRR provides students and educators with hands-on opportunities to use AI resources, strengthening the pipeline of an AI-ready workforce.
NAIRR is founded on public-private collaboration. By combining federal investments in early-stage, high-risk research with access to private sector state-of-the-art AI tools, NAIRR accelerates innovation beyond what a single company or government agency could achieve independently. This model shortens the path from foundational research to deployable AI applications, producing innovations that strengthen U.S. economic competitiveness.
Acting as a force multiplier for academic research groups, startups and small businesses, NAIRR helps translate federally funded research into measurable economic and societal impact. It aligns with the White House’s AI Action Plan and has been recognized by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy in its one-year S&T wins. Through this collaborative approach, NAIRR contributes to a national AI ecosystem that advances innovation across key economic sectors, prepares the next generation of AI-ready workers, and ensures the United States remains competitive in the global AI race.
Since 2024, NAIRR has supported more than 600 research teams and 6,000 students across all 50 states, Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico. These teams have gained access to advanced computing platforms, high-quality datasets, software, models, educational and support resources. For many teams, this access has enabled research that would otherwise have been difficult or impossible to conduct.
The breadth and impact of this work are captured in the NAIRR 2-year progress update, which highlights measurable outcomes across research, workforce development and economic impact.
The projects highlighted below illustrate how access to NAIRR’s resources is translating foundational research into measurable, real-world benefits.
The NAIRR Annual Meeting
From March 10-14, 2026, more than 600 researchers, educators, resource providers, and students convened in Crystal City, Virginia, for the NAIRR annual meeting. The meeting brought together a community of researchers, students, educators and providers to highlight advances in AI-enabled science and engineering across multiple disciplines. The event featured keynote presentations, poster sessions and demonstrations to share research highlights and experiences using NAIRR tools and resources. It also created opportunities for collaboration and feedback between researchers and infrastructure providers, helping inform the continued development of NAIRR capabilities.
Looking ahead: Expanding Access Through Regional NAIRR Hubs
Building on insights from the pilot and conversations with industry, philanthropic and academic partners, NAIRR is exploring opportunities to expand training and workforce development through potential state or regional “hubs.” These hubs would combine advanced computing and data platforms with hands-on instructional programs, providing students and educators with practical experience using AI systems and expanding access to NAIRR resources across a broad range of institutions. Initial conversations on this topic have taken place among members of the industry/philanthropy community and the academic scientific computing community.
As NAIRR enters its next phase, the focus shifts from pilot-scale deployment to a sustained national capability. NAIRR will institutionalize shared AI research infrastructure as a durable public asset — supporting high-risk, high-reward research, empowering educators to train the next generation, and accelerating innovations aligned with national priorities. This transition establishes NAIRR not simply as a program but as a core component of the U.S. AI innovation ecosystem, reinforcing American leadership in AI research, deployment and real-world impact.
Source: NSF
The post NAIRR at 2 Years: Advancing American Artificial Intelligence Innovation and Leadership appeared first on HPCwire.
Crude oil prices also dropped after President Trump said the administration had held "good and productive" peace talks with Iran.
Ukrainian-American billionaire who owned subscription service for adult content died of cancer, the company says
Leonid Radvinsky, the owner of OnlyFans, has died of cancer at the age of 43, the company announced on Monday.
“We are deeply saddened to announce the death of Leo Radvinsky. Leo passed away peacefully after a long battle with cancer,” said a spokesperson for the company, best known for subscriptions to pornographic content creators. “His family have requested privacy at this difficult time.”
Continue reading...President claims immigration agents could help manage long lines as TSA agents go unpaid during partial shutdown
Security lines stretched for hours on Monday at US airports where unpaid Transportation Safety Administration (TSA) screening agents refused to report for duty and ICE agents deployed by Donald Trump were reportedly seen in a dozen cities.
The president claimed over the weekend that immigration agents could help manage long lines, but in Atlanta, little immediate impact of their presence could be observed. Meanwhile, airport staff were getting creative trying to herd thousands of discontent passengers.
Continue reading...The Trump administration began deploying U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to some of the busiest airports in the country Monday morning.
Usually, when developers or programmers write articles about their experiences developing for a platform they have little to no experience with, the end result usually comes down to “they do things differently, therefor it is bad actually”, which is deeply unhelpful. This article, though, is from a longtime Windows user and developer, but one who hasn’t had to work on native Windows development for a long time now. When he decided to write his own native Windows application to scratch a personal itch, it wasn’t a great experience.
While I followed the Windows development ecosystem from the sidelines, my professional work never involved writing native Windows apps. (Chromium is technically a native app, but is more like its own operating system.) And for my hobby projects, the web was always a better choice. But, spurred on by fond childhood memories, I thought writing a fun little Windows utility program might be a good retirement project.
Well. I am here to report that the scene is a complete mess. I totally understand why nobody writes native Windows applications these days, and instead people turn to Electron.
↫ Domenic Denicola
Denicola decided to try and use the latest technologies and best practices from Microsoft regarding Windows development, and basically came away aghast at just how shot of an experience it really is. I’m not a developer, but you don’t need to be to grasp the severity of the situation after following his development timeline and reading about his struggles.
If this is truly representative of the Windows application development experience, it’s really no surprise just how few new, quality Windows applications there are, and why even Microsoft’s own Windows developers resort to things like React for the Start menu to enabler faster and easier iteration.
This is a complete dumpster fire.
The reclusive billionaire bought a majority stake in OnlyFans in 2018, growing the site into a major adult content platform.
Local people say incident is just the latest example of hostility that has built up over a long time
The blasts that boomed out in the early hours of Monday in suburban north-west London struck terror into people living in the surrounding streets. Their effects in Golders Green, with its large Jewish population, were still reverberating later that morning.
The antisemitic attack, in which four ambulances run by the Jewish charity Hatzola were set on fire, has left local people afraid. They are afraid because of the incident itself but also because of what they see as a febrile atmosphere of antisemitism in the UK more generally.
Continue reading...Nine people hospitalised and airport closed after landing plane hits fire truck responding to separate incident
The pilot and co-pilot of an Air Canada Express regional jet have been killed after it collided with a fire truck while landing at New York’s LaGuardia airport, in an incident that closed the airport.
The collision also caused serious injuries, with nine people in the hospital. It happened as a firefighting vehicle was responding to a separate incident, according to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which runs the airport.
The Associated Press contributed reporting
Continue reading...Case focuses on RNC’s challenge to a Mississippi law that allows ballots to count if they are arrive after election day
The US supreme court is hearing arguments on Monday about whether mail-in ballots can be counted if they arrive after election day, which would affect laws in more than a dozen states during a midterm election year.
The justices are considering Watson v Republican National Committee, a challenge over a Mississippi state law that was brought in 2024 by the Republican party. Mississippi allows mailed ballots to be counted if they arrive within five business days of election day, so long as they were postmarked by election day. Fourteen states, Washington DC and three US territories have similar laws that allow for late-arriving ballots to be counted.
Continue reading...Casey Means faces pushback from some Republicans over her refusal to forcefully recommend vaccines.
Cocaine with an estimated value of $12 million has been seized off the north coast of Puerto Rico, authorities said.
Woodcocks and pochard, pintail and goldeneye ducks among threatened species protected by proposals
Hunters will be banned from shooting a rare and beautiful duck under new proposals to halt the decline of six British wild birds.
The new rules would restrict the shooting of species including the distinctive woodcock, and the striking pintail, goldeneye and pochard ducks, all of which are classed as under threat and have seen their populations fall sharply in recent years.
Continue reading...The EU’s reluctance to replace petrol cars and gas boilers keep it hooked on foreign fuels, say industry groups
Europe has made “staggering progress” in producing clean power but neglected efforts to phase out fuel-burning machines, the head of an industry group said as the global oil crisis deepens.
Adrian Hiel, director of the Electrification Alliance, said the EU has “radically transformed” its power supply and must now focus on getting “more electricity into the stuff we use every day”.
Continue reading...Airline has hedged much of fuel into 2027, avoiding soaring prices, but costs likely to hit passengers by end of summer
The boss of easyJet has said the war in the Middle East has started to hit flight bookings, while the soaring price of oil would probably mean a rise in air fares by the end of the summer.
The chief executive, Kenton Jarvis, said that while the airline had hedged much of its fuel into next year, avoiding soaring kerosene prices, it was “unavoidable” that some of the costs would be passed on in fares.
Continue reading...The justices left in place a ruling against Reed from the federal appeals court in New Orleans for the second time in less than three years.
These were Sun microcontrollers that run Squawk Java ME directly on metal with gc and all the bells and whistles, created by Sun Microsystems in 2005.
The feature mesh networking and tcp/ip and multitasking. Even the drivers are java just like Java OS.
They run a command and control server by default and there’s graphical network builders and deployment managers (Solarium) they also do some more esoteric stuff like process migration.
↫ Penny
I have no use for these but I want them. They would’ve made an excellent addition to my Sun article. There’s still a detailed tutorial and informational website up about these things, too.
First-team All Pro expected to get $120m guaranteed
PLayer was NFL Offensive Player of the Year for 2025
Seattle Seahawks star Jaxon Smith-Njigba recently said he expects to become the highest-paid wide receiver in NFL history. He got his wish with a four-year, $168.6m contract extension that includes $120m guaranteed, according to multiple reports on Monday.
Smith-Njigba’s $42.15m annual salary surpasses Cincinnati Bengals star Ja’Marr Chase, who averages $40.25m a season on his four-year, $161m deal.
Continue reading...Iranian state media said there was no "direct or indirect communication" with President Trump.
The president’s announcement sent markets soaring and energy prices diving, as investors bet Iran’s blockade of a key shipping chokepoint could soon end.
In recent weeks, systemd has both embraced slopcoding and laid the groundwork for age verification built right into systemd-based Linux distributions, there’s definitely been an uptick in people talking about alternative init systems. If you want to gain understanding in a rather classic init system, OpenBSD’s is a great place to start.
OpenBSD has a delightfully traditional init system, which makes it a great place to start learning about init systems. It’s simple and effective. There’s a bit of a counter movement in the IT and FOSS worlds rebelling against hyperscaler solutions pushing down into everyone’s practices. One of the rallying cries I’ve been seeing is to remind people that You Can Just Do Things™ on the computer. The BSD init system, and especially OpenBSD’s is something of a godparent to this movement.
↫ Overeducated-Redneck.netinit(8)just runs a shell script to start the computer, and You Can Just Do Things™ in the script to get them to happen on boot.
My main laptop is currently in for warranty repairs, but once it returns, I intend to set it up with either OpenBSD or a Linux distribution without systemd (most likely Void) to see how many systems I can distance from systemd without giving myself too much of a headache (I’m guessing my gaming machine will remain on systemd-based Fedora). I’m not particularly keen on slopcoding and government-mandated age verification inside my operating systems, and I’m definitely feeling a bit of a slippery slope underneath my feet.
I have my limits.
Outcome suggests that when mainstream parties cooperate they can still block Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally
France’s local elections, closely watched for clues to next year’s presidential vote, have given parties of the centre a welcome and unexpected lift as the far right and radical left fell some way short of their ambitions.
The 35,000 municipal ballots often focus on local survival and their outcomes do not always reflect national voting patterns, but they do show trends in popularity and suggest what kind of alliances can be struck in a fragmented political landscape.
Continue reading...The Gunners have a nine-point lead in the Premier League. But recent run-ins, and their loss to City on Sunday, will keep them wary
Some day, probably quite soon, Arsenal will win something again. Quite probably something much bigger than the Carabao Cup. But until then, there is only going to be anxiety, and it is going to get worse after Sunday’s second-half freeze against Manchester City in the Carabao Cup final, which City won 2-0. Wembley could have seen the start of the Arsenal era, perhaps even the first leg of an unprecedented Quadruple; instead it was City celebrating, and with a gusto that suggested the past couple of years of dearth have served as a useful reminder that these occasions can never be taken for granted.
Claims that victory in this final could be a huge psychological blow in the title race are perhaps a little fanciful. One game is one game. Professional athletes, robust self-belief integral to their existence, recover from defeats. But still, that flatness in the second half, the way Arsenal were pinned back and unable to break forward, has to be a concern. City were able to use the way Arsenal like to control the pace of the game against them, the short passes out from the goalkeeper used as a way of penning them in as they closed down passing lanes, allowing their defenders to have the ball and denying them options. What was that? A tactical triumph for Pep Guardiola? Exhaustion from Arsenal? Or the familiar mental fragility returning?
Continue reading...An anonymous reader quotes a report from Engadget: There could be one more step required before creating an account and posting on Reddit in the future. According to Reddit's CEO, Steve Huffman, the social media platform is exploring different ways to verify a user is human and not a bot. When asked by the TBPN podcast how to confirm that it's a human using Reddit, Huffman responded with several verification methods with varying degrees of heavy-handedness. "The most lightweight way is with something like Face ID or Touch ID," Huffman said during the interview. "They actually require a human presence, like a human has to touch, or do or look at something, so that actually just proves there's a person there or gets you pretty far." Besides these passkey methods that use biometrics data, Huffman said there are other options like relying on third-party services that are decentralized or don't require ID. On the other end of the spectrum, Huffman also mentioned more burdensome options, like ID-checking services. [...] "Part of our promise for our users is we don't know your name but we do want to know you're a person," Huffman said. "It'll be an evolution for us for a while, and probably every platform to find the right middle ground here." Reddit co-founder and former executive chair, Alexis Ohanian, said on X that Reddit requiring Face ID wasn't something he expected but agreed that something had to be done about the fake content from bots, adding that, "I just don't know how to sell face-scanning to Redditors or even lurkers." We reached out to Reddit's communications team and will update the story when we hear back. The Digg beta shut down earlier this month after failing to fight the overwhelming influx of AI-driven bots and spam. "The internet is now populated, in meaningful part, by sophisticated AI agents and automated accounts," said CEO Justin Mezzell. "We knew bots were part of the landscape, but we didn't appreciate the scale, sophistication, or speed at which they'd find us." "We banned tens of thousands of accounts. We deployed internal tooling and industry-standard external vendors. None of it was enough. When you can't trust that the votes, the comments, and the engagement you're seeing are real, you've lost the foundation a community platform is built on."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Copyright is one of the most important legal issues in the age of AI. And yes, it affects you.
The mortgage interest rate climate is changing once again. Here's where rates stand as of March 23, 2026.
Fatih Birol says effects on energy markets from Iran bombings and closure of strait of Hormuz not initially understood by world leaders. Plus, feminist magazine reclaims Charlie Kirk-style campus tours
Good morning.
The global energy crisis caused by the war in Iran is equivalent to the combined force of the twin oil shocks of the 1970s and the fallout from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the head of the International Energy Agency has said.
Why is the ex-CIA chief Leon Panetta in the news? He has spoken out about Donald Trump’s attack on Iran, telling the Guardian the US president is “sending a message of weakness” to the world.
What’s the latest in Iran? Its government is threatening to lay mines across entire Gulf if its coasts are attacked.
This is a developing story. Follow our liveblog here.
What happened? The aircraft hit the fire truck while travelling at about 24mph, according to the flight-tracking website Flightradar24. In the moments before the crash, an air traffic controller could be heard giving clearance to a fire vehicle to cross part of the runway, then trying to stop it. The controller can then be heard quickly diverting incoming aircraft from landing.
Continue reading...Trump and border czar Tom Homan confirm plan to assist TSA agents amid partial government shutdown standoff
Donald Trump and his border czar, Tom Homan, have followed through on promises from the president’s administration to send in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to US airports beginning on Monday to assist with security amid extremely long lines – and to help airport security agents who have been working without pay since 14 February because of a partial government shutdown.
ICE agents were seen at airports such as Atlanta, Newark, New Orleans and New York’s John F Kennedy. CNN reported nine other airports where ICE agents were seen.
Continue reading...Two pilots were killed and dozens of people injured at New York's LaGuardia Airport late Sunday night when an arriving Air Canada Express plane and fire and rescue vehicle collided, authorities said.
Authorities in Independence say store security contacted them about a ‘suspicious powder substance’ in the packages
Fentanyl has been discovered inside the packaging of five Barbie dolls sold at a Missouri discount store, local authorities said.
Police in Independence, Missouri, said in a statement on Saturday that store security at Cargo Largo, a local discount store, contacted authorities “regarding a suspicious powder substance located in the packaging of a Barbie Doll”.
Continue reading...People evacuated on Oahu and Maui as rains lifted houses and cars, swept through stores and left streets mud-clogged
Hawaii is coming to grips with the extensive damage left by the worst flooding the islands have seen in more than 20 years.
Over the weekend, heavy rains fell on soil already saturated by downpours from a winter storm a week ago, forcing thousands on the North Shore of Oahu to evacuate before more evacuations for parts of the island of Maui.
Continue reading...Global heating consistent with current projections would cost average millennial $130,000 and $165,000 for gen Z, according to Deloitte modelling
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The next generation of Australian workers will cop a $185,000 bill over their lifetimes if the country does not act more urgently to address the climate crisis, according to new modelling by a team of young economists at Deloitte.
The new report finds that global heating consistent with the current projections would cost the average millennial approximately $130,000 over the rest of their lives, increasing to $165,000 for gen Z.
Continue reading...The TikTok trend may be fading, but people of Chinese heritage wonder if an appreciation for their culture will continue after the algorithm moves on
I have been Chinese my whole life. Lately, many online have also found their Chinese roots, but not through traditional ancestry tests.
Creators are drinking hot water, wearing slippers around the house, using chopsticks, eating Chinese food, and wearing red. Taking off in popularity from mid-2025, these videos have racked up hundreds of thousands of views, finding virality first on TikTok, then later Instagram and X. Put simply, “people are trying to be more Chinese regardless of what their heritage is,” says Michelle She, a London-based fashion label owner.
Continue reading...
Florida Republican gubernatorial candidate James Fishback has focused much of his campaign on the concerns of his biggest supporters: young voters.
The 31-year-old hedge fund manager from Davie, Fla., tapped into college students' insecurities about the job market during a March 11 University of Florida speech.
"The Republican party is leaving us behind at a time when our country is being auctioned off, when youth underemployment for college grads is 70%," Fishback said.
For a college graduate, underemployment generally means working in a job that doesn’t typically require a college degree, working in a part-time position because full-time, skills-based positions were inaccessible or being jobless.
We found no evidence that U.S. youth underemployment is in the vicinity of 70%. The most reliable data shows the rate is about 42%, with no significant swings in the last several years.
Gary Burtless, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, said underemployment estimates for recent graduates are "far lower" than Fishback’s figure.
"Young adults with a four-year degree from an accredited U.S. institution" are less likely to be out of the labor force and searching for work compared with peers who didn’t complete college, Burtless said.
PolitiFact received no reply from Fishback’s campaign.
Although it’s a relatively new labor force statistic, the underemployment rate for all adults has stayed fairly steady since the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics began tracking it in 1994, with bigger upward swings during recessions.
Since the mid-1990s, 5.4 million people on average have been categorized as underemployed. The figure rose to more than 9 million during the 2008 Great Recession and 10 million during the COVID-19 pandemic.
A Federal Reserve of New York report found that 42.5% of recent college graduates were underemployed as of December 2025. The study used census data and considered recent college graduates ages 22 to 27 with a bachelor’s degree or higher.
The rate has fluctuated slightly since 2008, ranging from 38% to 48%, the study found. Underemployment rates were highest for graduates with degrees in criminal justice and performing arts.
Other studies show varying estimates, but are also lower than Fishback’s stat.
One 2024 report found that 52% of graduates with bachelor’s degrees were underemployed a year after graduation and about 45% were underemployed a decade after graduation. Researchers used career histories of millions of bachelor-degree graduates, analyzing the Class of 2012’s employment patterns through 2022.
Andrew Hanson, senior director at Strada Education Foundation and the report’s lead author, said the rate has been relatively stable.
"When looking at recent college graduates with bachelors degrees," Hanson said, "it’s been around 40% historically, going up and down within about 10 percentage points."
A graduate’s major was the biggest predictor in underemployment, Hanson’s research found, followed by internship participation, which decreased the odds of underemployment by nearly 50%.
Studies by Georgetown University, the Urban Institute and the Center for College Affordability and Productivity offer underemployment estimates ranging from 25% to 50%, depending on methodology and the population analyzed. None came close to 70%.
Fishback said youth underemployment for college graduates is 70% nationwide.
Data doesn’t support this. The Federal Reserve of New York found that about 42.5% of recent college graduates aged 22 to 27 were underemployed as of December 2025, with the rate ranging from 38% to 48% since 2008.
Other studies offer a range of estimates, but none came close to 70%.
We rate his claim False.
PolitiFact Chief Correspondent Louis Jacobson contributed to this report.
Judges adjourn hearing into country’s worst rail disaster after grieving families denounce it as caricature of justice
A long-awaited trial into Greece’s worst train crash has descended into chaos hours after it began, with relatives of the 57 people killed in the disaster screaming “shame on you” at judges who were forced to adjourn the hearing until next month.
More than three years after the disaster, grieving families denounced the proceedings as a caricature of justice amid demands the trial be held elsewhere. The five-member panel of judges called multiple recesses on Monday before announcing the hearing would be postponed until 1 April.
Continue reading...The Supreme Court is considering a challenge to a Mississippi law that allows ballots that are postmarked by but received up to five days after Election Day to be counted.
New study finds that employees impressed by corporate speak may be least equipped to make effective decisions
Ever sat in a meeting where someone declares that your company is “growth-hacking” and “working at the intersection of cross-collateralization and blue-sky thinking” and called bullshit? Turns out you were right.
A new study out of Cornell University published in the journal Personality and Individual Differences found workers most excited and impressed by corporate speak may be the least equipped to make effective, practical business decisions, and it can leave companies with dysfunctional leaders.
Continue reading...Google, Amazon, Apple and Samsung control operating systems, allowing them to act as gatekeepers, letter claims
The world’s largest broadcasters have pushed for the EU to enforce its toughest regulations against virtual TVs and smart assistants built by Google, Amazon, Apple and Samsung.
The call came in a letter from the Association of Commercial Television and Video on Demand Services in Europe (ACT), whose members include Canal+, RTL, Mediaset, ITV, Paramount+, NBCUniversal, Walt Disney, Warner Bros Discovery, Sky and TF1 Groupe.
Continue reading...Monument made from shattered pieces of original statue tossed into Baltimore’s inner harbor by protesters in 2020
A statue of Christopher Columbus has been installed in the grounds of the White House in the latest attempt by Donald Trump to position the controversial explorer as a foundational hero of the US.
The president had the 13ft statue, which weighs one ton, placed outside the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, on Pennsylvania Avenue. It is a replica of a monument to Columbus that was torn down and tossed into Baltimore’s inner harbor by protesters in the city amid widespread anti-racism protests in 2020.
Continue reading...  | Took the XR out for her first ride after this miserable winter. She's still going strong with her completely stock configuration (aside from that awful VEGA). It's becoming impossible to ignore how underpowered the XR feels, but it's such a nostalgic and fun board to ride. ✌️ [link] [comments] |
President delays threat against energy infrastructure after Iran’s threats of retaliation, while Tehran denies any talks
Donald Trump has extended by five days his deadline to “hit and obliterate” Iran’s power stations and energy infrastructure if Tehran does not allow shipping to move freely through the strait of Hormuz, claiming that the US and Iran have held “very good and productive conversations” on an end to the three-week-old war.
There was no immediate official reaction from Tehran to Trump’s announcement, which was made in a post on Truth Social and appeared to avert a potentially massive escalation of the conflict, at least for now.
Continue reading...WASHINGTON, March 23, 2026 — The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), alongside the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC), has announced a unique public-private partnership with SoftBank and AEP Ohio to redevelop DOE land, modernize energy infrastructure, and develop advanced computing in Southern Ohio. As part of the partnership, SB Energy, a SoftBank Group company, is planning to build 10 gigawatts (GW) of new power generation—including 9.2 GW of natural gas generation—that will connect to the local grid and provide power to a new 10 GW data center development at the Portsmouth Site in Pike County, Ohio at no cost to American families. These collective efforts will deliver lower electricity costs across the region, create thousands of American jobs, and strengthen America’s national security.
Portions of this announcement were previously announced as part of President Trump’s U.S.-Japan Strategic Trade and Investment Agreement. This includes the $33.3 billion in Japanese funding for 9.2 GW of new natural gas generation.
“The U.S. government is leveraging its assets—like our federal lands—to add power generation, create jobs, and ensure the United States wins the AI race,” said U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright. “I’m pleased to be working with our partners at SoftBank and AEP Ohio on this important project. By bringing new power online and upgrading our existing infrastructure, this investment supports the AI boom and cutting-edge technologies while strengthening our energy system and helping keep costs down for the American people.”
“Japan has committed to invest $550 billion across America,” said U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. “With this historic trade deal we are reindustrializing the country through critical projects like this $33 billion dollar power project in Portsmouth, Ohio. [Last week] we announced additional mega projects in Alabama, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Texas.”
This project complies with the Ratepayer Protection Pledge, which protects ratepayers from paying for energy infrastructure improvements needed to power the ongoing technological boom. In compliance with the pledge, SB Energy is investing $4.2 billion with AEP Ohio to upgrade and build new transmission lines in Southern Ohio. This critical grid investment, at no cost to the public, will help lower local utility rates for American families and businesses. SB Energy has committed to making excess transmission and generation capacity available to the grid.
“AEP Ohio is proud that this partnership will bring critical infrastructure to Appalachian Ohio,” said Bill Fehrman, AEP Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer. “If it were not for the partnership between all parties – the Administration, SoftBank and our team – this type of investment would not be possible. This partnership unlocks billions of dollars of electric transmission infrastructure, all without increasing customer rates.”
“Our partnership with the Department of Energy strengthens America’s AI leadership, secures the energy and compute needed for the future, and powers the next era of innovation for the United States,” said Masayoshi Son, Chairman and CEO of SoftBank Group Corp. “AI will transform every industry, and the PORTS Technology Campus will help deliver the next-generation infrastructure needed to unlock those breakthroughs.”
The investment will support:
“This partnership is a major step forward for Southern Ohio’s economic and energy future,” said Assistant Secretary of Environmental Management Tim Walsh. “By capitalizing on investments in America and federal land assets, the partnership will safely advance restoration and revitalization of the Portsmouth site with enormous economic benefit to the region and the country.”
Construction on the project is expected to begin this year.
Source: U.S. Dept. of Energy
The post DOE Announces SoftBank Partnership to Develop Power and AI Compute Campus in Southern Ohio appeared first on HPCwire.
It's all about headphones and home tech for our readers.
The pilots of an Air Canada Express regional jet have been killed after it collided with a fire truck while landing at New York’s LaGuardia airport. It happened as a firefighting vehicle was responding to a separate incident, according to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which runs the airport. The incident closed the airport. The plane, operated by its partner Jazz Aviation, was carrying 72 passengers and four crew members from Montreal. Air Canada referred request for comment to Jazz’s statement and said it was aware of the incident. The National Transportation Safety Board and the FAA did not immediately respond to requests for comment
Continue reading...European shares start to rise after US president says talks have been ‘very good and productive’
Global stock markets swung wildly and oil prices fell on Monday after Donald Trump postponed US attacks on Iranian power plants for five days.
European stock markets, which had been falling sharply in the hours before Trump’s social media post, mostly rose on Monday as relieved investors digested the update.
Continue reading...Police in London are investigating a suspected antisemitic hate crime after vehicles belonging to a Jewish ambulance service were set on fire early Monday morning.
As Iran threatens to mine the entire Persian Gulf, Trump says his deadline for the Strait of Hormuz to reopen is postponed amid negotiations with Tehran.
As watching videos, using touchscreens, and even livestreaming behind the wheel become more common, experts warn of increased risk of crashes
Jackie was on her way to a doctor’s appointment last fall when she realized her Uber driver’s eyes were not fully on the road. “He had a video playing on his phone and was intermittently looking at it,” she said. Jackie, who is 32 and lives in New Jersey, could not tell exactly what the driver was watching, but she remembers seeing shots of people talking – she guessed it was a video podcast. “I was definitely feeling a lot of dread and distress.”
As they continued on their 40-minute drive down the New Jersey Turnpike – a hectic highway that is not easy driving – Jackie considered saying something. But she felt vulnerable as a rider. “I was alone in a car with someone who was already doing something I found shocking and reckless,” she said. “I didn’t know how they were going to react.”
Continue reading...UKHSA says on Monday morning there has been no change since 20 cases were confirmed on Sunday
There have been no new cases of meningitis linked to an outbreak in Kent reported, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has said.
As of 12.30pm on Sunday, 20 cases had been confirmed, with a further nine under investigation. This was no change on the previous day, the UKHSA said in a statement on Monday morning.
Continue reading...Leftwing victor has pledged to cut officials’ expenses and luxuries, but first must turn his attention to a series of crises
When Paris’s new leftwing mayor, Emmanuel Grégoire, leapt on a bike for a victory tour along the French capital’s large network of new cycle lanes on Sunday night, he was sending a crucial message to Paris residents.
Not only would he continue to build bike lanes and keep limits on cars in the city, keeping the French capital’s pro-cycling focus on environmental issues and reducing its dangerous air pollution., he was also seeking to style himself as humble, frugal – “of an absolute moral rigour”, in his words – after promising to shrink Paris officials’ hefty expenses accounts and end the use of chauffeur-driven cars.
Continue reading...Tracking your glucose? These are the monitors to consider.
PM will chair Cobra meeting with key ministers and Bank of England on Monday, as experts warn of economic shock
Keir Starmer has promised to look at using “every lever that’s available to the government” to help with the cost of living impacts of the US-Israel war against Iran, ahead of an emergency meeting with senior ministers later on Monday.
The prime minister is to chair a meeting of the Cobra committee on Monday afternoon, joining Andrew Bailey, the governor of the Bank of England, as well as Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, and the energy secretary, Ed Miliband, among others, to discuss possible contingency measures.
Continue reading...Hope Scottish pilot will result in heel prick test for rare genetic condition being approved across Britain
Scotland has become the first part of the UK to screen newborn babies for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), a rare genetic condition that causes progressive muscle wastage.
Campaigners, who have long advocated for newborn testing because early detection is critical for treatment outcomes, hope the Scottish pilot will result in approval for the heel prick test across the UK.
Continue reading...Africa Aware: Rebuilding regional order and security in West Africa Audio thilton.drupal
Following a panel event on West African security with foreign ministers of Ghana and Nigeria at Chatham House, Paul Ejime and Paul Melly join the podcast to discuss the ministers’ call for local security solutions in the region.
The withdrawal of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger from ECOWAS early last year – and the subsequent formation of the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) – has posed a critical challenge for regional cooperation, particularly on security. According to the Global Terrorism Index, the Sahel is the ‘epicentre of terrorism’ and rising insecurity is compounded by stalled progress on core issues including the right of hot pursuit, joint military operations, intelligence sharing and tackling illicit finance.
Following a panel event on West African security with Ghana and Nigeria’s foreign ministers at Chatham House, Paul Ejime and Paul Melly join the podcast to discuss the ministers’ call for local security solutions in the region.
The panel event formed part of the Chatham House Africa Programme’s ongoing work on African peace and security. The Programme will shortly launch a new project focused on regional conflict systems in the Horn of Africa, the Sahel and Central Africa.
Africa Aware is a podcast from the Chatham House Africa Programme bringing together leading international experts to provide in-depth analysis and sharp insights on the political, economic and social issues shaping African countries, their international relations and the continent as a whole.
You can also listen to Africa Aware on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
Democratic Senate hopeful says experience of being key witness in Trump’s first impeachment makes him right choice for Florida
Alex Vindman is not a man to hold a grudge. Ask him about the bullying, intimidation and retribution meted out by Donald Trump and Maga acolytes following his appearance as a key witness in the first of the president’s two first-term impeachments, and he almost shrugs it off.
“For people that know anything about me, I basically smile all the time,” he says.
Continue reading...If you've missed the volume bar on your iPhone's lock screen, here's how to bring it back.
Will there be an AI-optimized programming language at the expense of human readability? There's now been experiments with minimizing tokens for "LLM efficiency, without any concern for how it would serve human developers." This new article asks if AI will force source code to evolve — or make it extinct, noting that Stephen Cass, the special projects editor at IEEE Spectrum, has even been asking the ultimate question about our future. "Could we get our AIs to go straight from prompt to an intermediate language that could be fed into the interpreter or compiler of our choice? Do we need high-level languages at all in that future?" Cass acknowledged the obvious downsides. ("True, this would turn programs into inscrutable black boxes, but they could still be divided into modular testable units for sanity and quality checks.") But "instead of trying to read or maintain source code, programmers would just tweak their prompts and generate software afresh." This leads to some mind-boggling hypotheticals, like "What's the role of the programmer in a future without source code?" Cass asked the question and announced "an emergency interactive session" in October to discuss whether AI is signaling the end of distinct programming languages as we know them. In that webinar, Cass said he believes programmers in this future would still suggest interfaces, select algorithms, and make other architecture design choices. And obviously the resulting code would need to pass tests, Cass said, and "has to be able to explain what it's doing." But what kind of abstractions could go away? And then "What happens when we really let AIs off the hook on this?" Cass asked — when we "stop bothering" to have them code in high-level languages. (Since, after all, high-level languages "are a tool for human beings.") "What if we let the machines go directly into creating intermediate code?" (Cass thinks the machine-language level would be too far down the stack, "because you do want a compile layer too for different architecture....") In this future, the question might become 'What if you make fewer mistakes, but they're different mistakes?'" Cass said he's keeping an eye out for research papers on designing languages for AI, although he agreed that it's not a "tomorrow" thing — since, after all, we're still digesting "vibe coding" right now. But "I can see this becoming an area of active research." The article also quotes Andrea Griffiths, a senior developer advocate at GitHub and a writer for the newsletter Main Branch, who's seen the attempts at an "AI-first" languages, but nothing yet with meaningful adoption. So maybe AI coding agents will just make it easier to use our existing languages — especially typed languages with built-in safety advantages. And Scott Hanselman's podcast recently dubbed Chris Lattner's Mojo "a programming language for an AI world," just in the way it's designed to harness the computing power of today's multi-core chips.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
No one was hurt in the blaze, which damaged four ambulances operated by a Jewish charity in north London’s Golders Green neighborhood, officials said.
Union says below‑inflation pay rises and insecure work threaten the future of Australia’s public‑interest journalism
ABC journalists will walk off the job on Wednesday for the first time in 20 years, triggering severe disruption to the public broadcaster’s news services for 24 hours.
The protected industrial action involves staff in the journalists’ Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA) and the non-journalists’ Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU), which represents staff in technology and control systems.
Continue reading...
Why Should Delaware Care?
In his second year in office, Wilmington Mayor John Carney says he will double down on encouraging affordable housing in Delaware’s largest city. But several council members have already expressed concerns around how new money would be spent to make housing more affordable.
Wilmington Mayor John Carney introduced his $212 million city budget Thursday and within it was a proposal to create a $20 million program to incentivize the construction of new housing.
The investment, he said, would be the “largest ever made with city dollars.”
If approved, almost $17 million from the fund would be available for developers who build new affordable housing, while $2 million would fund the conversion of vacant lots into accessory dwelling units and other productive uses, Carney said. The remaining dollars would pay for various design and engineering services and for the city’s home repair lottery system.
Carney delivered the budget address at Old Town Hall on Market Street, speaking before the full City Council as well as other officials. While he spoke, protesters gathered outside the building, blaring sirens and banging on pots and pans, while urging the mayor to stabilize rent prices.
In the speech, he noted that the city has added 4,000 new housing units since 2016 – 800 of which were affordable.
“It’s time to build on that progress,” he said.
The housing fund proposal comes after more than a year of debates in the city over how to provide relief to residents facing rising costs. Carney’s solution highlights an ideological divergence between his administration and a progressive bloc of council members who have been trying to enact measures that would cap how much landlords could raise rents each year, with certain exceptions.
In a statement made after Carney’s speech, those council members called for the proposed housing fund to include other programs, including rental assistance, funding for emergency homeless shelters, and the creation of a housing trust to expand affordable rentals and support homeownership.
“The people have been clear on what they need. Now it’s time for the City Council to deliver on a budget that meets those needs,” Councilmembers Coby Owens, Shané Darby and Christian Willauer said in a joint statement.
Officials from the Carney administration said they will work out the specific details about the affordable housing fund in the coming weeks.
As a result, several questions are still unanswered, including whether developer incentives would be tax credits or direct grants, and whether the city would require housing developments created through the fund to make all units affordable, or just a portion them.
Carney’s spokeswoman, Caroline Klinger, did note that these sorts of programs typically provide developers with money “at the beginning of a project, as a way to attract other investment.”
Although Carney has made his budget ask, it won’t take effect unless the full Council discusses and approves its provisions.
The City Council’s budget hearings will begin on April 1, and the body is set to vote on the budget on May 21.
GET INVOLVED
If you would like to make your voice heard on the budget negotiations, you can find your council member and their contact information here.
Contact information for the mayor’s office is found here.
Beyond speaking about housing, Carney emphasized in his speech that his budget does not include a property tax increase.
Still, water and sewer rates would increase under the proposal budget by 9.95%. And at least one council member has already expressed opposition to it.
In her statement with Owens and Willauer, Darby said residents have told the council that their “utilities are out of control” — a likely reference to recent spikes in electricity bills, which the city does not control.
“But we do have power over water bills. This isn’t the right time to be increasing water rates,” she said in the statement.
Carney’s proposed water and sewer fund budget is $100.2 million — a $5 million increase over the current year’s budget.
His proposed general fund budget is $212.6 million — a roughly $10 million increase over the current year. This year’s budget exceeds city revenue collected by about $1.6 million, which has required officials to pull from Wilmington’s Tax Stabilization Reserve fund.
Carney has also placed an emphasis on crime prevention.
In his proposed budget, he included funding for a director position to oversee the city’s new Office of Community Safety, which he created through executive order earlier this month.
City officials have said they want to build on progress made last year — a period that experienced the lowest number of shooting incidents in 20 years.
Carney said the new office will work with law enforcement, the fire department and other organizations to target what he called “hotspots,” or areas that report high drug use and “nuisance activity.”
“Many of these people clearly need our help, but so do the residents who live on blocks where prostitution, panhandling, and drug use exist,” he said.
Carney’s comments come months after he directed city officials to make Christina Park Wilmington’s only city-sanctioned homeless encampment. In his budget address, he said the city will soon provide mobile showers and new tents for the residents there.
Portable restrooms were installed at the park in January.
Carney also noted that demolition has begun for a new day center for the unhoused — a project being developed in collaboration with the Wilmington Housing Authority and the Ministry of Caring.
Other items within Carney’s budget include new money for businesses and for emergency services.
As part of new economic development efforts, Carney outlined plans to create an Economic Development Roundtable and to add $4 million to the city’s Strategic Fund to attract jobs and investment.
The budget also sets aside $1 million for disadvantaged businesses.
His budget would also add 12 new firefighter EMT positions, at a cost to the city of $1.2 million.
Last year, the Wilmington Fire Department took over ambulance service in Wilmington after the city ended its contract with St. Francis Hospital. During his speech, Carney noted that city medics have responded to over 14,000 emergency calls since taking over, with an average response time of just over five minutes.
The post Carney calls for a $20M housing fund in next Wilmington budget appeared first on Spotlight Delaware.
Sam Surridge’s excellent form could attract interest from the Premier League, while Marc Dos Santos’s excellent start at LAFC continues
If St Louis had built Energizer Park as an indoor venue, then Marcel Hartel’s worldie would have surely blown the roof right off.
After shocking MLS in their 2023 debut by winning the West, St Louis have struggled for consistency. 2025 was a necessary transition year; the club parted with initial chief soccer officer Lutz Pfannenstiel after his most recent coaching appointment, Olof Mellberg, was sacked after just 15 games. Corey Wray was named as Pfannenstiel replacement in early November to top the sporting department, with the Thunder Bay native installing Yoann Damet as head coach soon afterwards.
Continue reading...The Trump administration is embracing violence for the sake of violence
It appears that members of Trump’s cabinet get chosen not despite their endorsements of violence, but because of them. Pete Hegseth was primarily known as a dapper TV host willing to defend war crimes. Markwayne Mullin is apparently still proud of challenging a witness to a fistfight at a Senate hearing; he also refuses to apologize for “understanding” an assault on fellow senator Rand Paul. Never before has an administration so openly glorified outright killing as the current White House propaganda machine does with its obscene snuff videos of the Iran war and the destruction of small boats.
Unlike with fascism in the 20th century, there is no attempt to promote or symbolically reward self-sacrifice – it is just video game-style killing at a distance, justified not with strategic objectives, but with seemingly uncontrollable emotions (“fury” and a thirst for vengeance). And all accompanied by open admissions that basic laws of warfare will be broken. Actual soldiers with longstanding codes of honor, as opposed to the fantasy world Hegseth is creating with his cliche-ridden chatter on TV, would not punch enemies when they are down.
Continue reading...
Why Should Delaware Care?
As energy prices rise in Delaware, solar power could be a cheaper alternative. And recent House and Senate bills are seeking to remove regulatory obstacles that deter the installation of solar on homes, and the construction of solar fields.
Delaware lawmakers advanced two bills last week that would remove regulatory obstacles facing solar projects, just as the state scrambles to increase energy production amid soaring electricity prices.
The State Senate on Tuesday passed SB 239, which removes Delaware’s cap on when utilities can stop buying new energy from households with solar panels — a process known as “net metering.”
Two days later, the House of Representatives passed HB 269, which would require utilities to modernize the process of connecting large-scale solar power projects to the grid. The legislation could help clear a backlog of solar field applications sent to the power grid, said the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Frank Burns (D-Pike Creek).
“We desperately need to bring new energy resources online,” he added.
The bills — which each passed through their respective legislative chambers this month with near unanimous support — come in the wake of rising energy prices in the state. Those increases have largely been the result of regional electricity supplies not growing as fast as rapidly increasing demand.
Much of that increased demand regionally has come from new hyper-scale data centers constructed in nearby states. Proposals for similar facilities in Delaware could exacerbate the energy crunch.
The bills’ progressions through the legislature also come as Delaware lawmakers try to increase in the amount of renewable power produced in the state.
In 2025, about 8% of Delaware’s in-state net electricity generation came from renewable resources. Most of that was produced by solar energy, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
State officials want that figure to reach 40% by 2035. That goal has likely become more difficult to attain recently as the Trump administration has worked to slow the growing renewable energy industry.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture no longer provides guaranteed loans to large-scale solar projects on farmland — a move that some Delaware farmers celebrated because solar fields cover viable farmland.
The federal government has also made significant cuts to clean energy incentives and pulled a permit for an offshore wind project that would bring more than 100 turbines nearly 12 miles off the coast of beach communities in Maryland and Delaware.
When the Delaware legislature first passed laws allowing households to sell excess energy to utilities, they capped the amount of power that could flow back into the grid.
They did so out of concern for the impact on the power grid’s reliability, and for the possibility that electricity prices could go up for people who do not have solar panels on their roofs.
But Energize Delaware, a state-chartered energy nonprofit, later published a study showing that while net metering may raise energy costs in some ways, its overall effect on the grid financially benefits all energy customers.
“As long as the system is safe and reliable, we should be able to add solar arrays to the system,” Energize Delaware Executive Director Drew Slater said.
SB 239 — the bill that removes the net metering cap — does include an exception allowing utilities to reject surplus household electricity if panels collectively produce too much electricity.
Representatives with the Delaware Electric Cooperative and the Delaware Municipal Electric Coalition said they support the bill, which passed unanimously in the Senate last week.
Delmarva Power holds a “neutral position,” a company spokesperson told Spotlight Delaware in a statement that also said the bill raises “important questions about how costs and benefits are shared among all customers.”
Burns, the sponsor of HB 269, said an outdated system used to connect large-scale-solar fields to the grid has caused a backlog of projects. That backlog, in turn, has earned Delaware a bad reputation among solar companies.
“Right now, community solar developers don’t want to come to Delaware,” Burns said.
The Delmarva Power spokesperson told Spotlight Delaware that the utility is also neutral about Burns’s bill, saying the company already is working with regulators to speed up the process of connecting new solar fields to the power grid.
Representatives with the Delaware Electric Cooperative and the Delaware Municipal Electric Coalition both said their companies are also neutral on the bill.
HB 269 passed in the House on Thursday with some bipartisan support, though Rep. Richard Collins (R-Millsboro) expressed concerns over solar fields covering farmland.
The post Democrats want to boost solar power through two bills in the General Assembly appeared first on Spotlight Delaware.
The baby needed somewhere to go. So in the frantic hours before officers took her parents away to immigration detention, her mom turned to their pastor and his wife. As squad cars waited outside the family’s Lakeland, Florida, trailer home, she gave them a crash course in how to care for the 4-month-old.
Briany, with her plump cheeks and full head of dark hair, wasn’t normally this fussy. But it was late that January night — around midnight — and she was still hungry. Her mom, Doris Flores, had tried nursing her to calm her down. It didn’t work. When she brought Briany to her breast, the milk wouldn’t come. Flores thought it had to do with the panic that set in after the officers arrested the baby’s father and told her she was next.
The baby also drank formula. The pastor and his wife, who’d never had children of their own, should take her bottles and the yellow cans of formula, too, and follow the instructions on the label. They should use distilled water, never from the tap. Briany drank 5 ounces at each feeding. She needed to eat every two to two-and-a-half hours.
She was almost due for her next round of vaccinations. She was getting big enough for Size 3 diapers. What made her happiest was to be held in someone’s arms.
The Rev. Israel Vázquez, 58, soft-spoken with close-cropped hair, had held Briany before, when he formally presented the baby to God in a ceremony at his Pentecostal church in Lakeland. If he and his wife, a fellow pastor at the church, didn’t take the girls in, they would have to go into foster care. “What else could we do?” he said.
The baby’s half-sister would be easier for the older couple to take care of. Eight-year-old Briana was quiet and humble. She preferred speaking in English rather than Spanish. Her favorite color was blue.
Deputies from the Polk County Sheriff’s Office helped load a baby stroller and bouncy swing into the couple’s car. Then the officers, employed by one of the hundreds of Florida agencies carrying out immigration enforcement for the Trump administration, handcuffed a sobbing Flores.
Incidents like this, involving the arrest and detention of immigrant parents with American citizen children, occurred twice as often after President Donald Trump returned to office, according to an analysis of a new nationwide Immigration and Customs Enforcement dataset shared exclusively with ProPublica. In the first seven months of his second term, authorities arrested and detained parents of at least 11,000 U.S. citizen children — a number that, if the pace held up, will have roughly doubled by now. That’s an average of more than 50 U.S. citizen kids a day with a parent pulled into detention.
The data underlying this analysis was obtained by the University of Washington Center for Human Rights as part of an ongoing public records lawsuit. It covers the last three years of the Joe Biden administration and the Trump administration until mid-August 2025.
ICE arrests of parents doubled in the first seven months of Trump’s second term compared with the Biden administration.
The differences between the fates of detained immigrant parents under the two presidents are stark, our analysis shows. The impact on mothers is particularly pronounced. Trump is deporting about four times as many moms of U.S. citizen children per day as Biden did.
Immigration authorities are arresting more of these moms in the first place, but that doesn’t account for all of the surge in deportations. If arrested, they are seldom allowed to return home to their families anymore. About 30% of such arrests under Biden resulted in a deportation. Under Trump, almost 60% resulted in a deportation.
Compared with the Biden administration, Trump officials are detaining many more parents with only minor criminal histories or none at all. Under Trump, more than half of the detained fathers of American citizen kids, and about three quarters of the mothers, had no criminal convictions in the United States except for traffic- or immigration-related offenses.
ProPublica compared what happened to U.S. citizen children’s mothers arrested during the same seven-month period — Jan. 20 through Aug. 20 — in 2024 (under Biden) and 2025 (under Trump), looking at over 1,000 cases. About a third of the arrests made during the Biden administration led to a deportation. Under Trump, that rate doubled.
While thousands of children who aren’t U.S. citizens are also caught up in the administration’s crackdown — some of them detained with their parents, others by themselves — families with mixed citizenship can be uniquely difficult to keep together. American-born kids like Briany can’t legally join their parents in immigrant detention. So some end up in the care of friends or strangers.
Current and former officials from the Department of Homeland Security said such separations are not necessarily a violation of policy. Instead, guidelines on the way officers should exercise discretion have changed. Among the changes: A document once known as the Parental Interests Directive has been given a new name under Trump — the Detained Parents Directive. And its preamble, which once instructed agents to handle immigrant parents in a way that was “humane,” has been stripped of the word.
John Sandweg, who oversaw ICE when the original directive was adopted under President Barack Obama, said, “Back then, we were operating from a lens that family unity is everything.” Tom Homan, then a top ICE official and now Trump’s border czar, introduced the directive to field offices around the country. If agents encountered parents, the directive would help them enforce immigration laws without “unnecessarily undermining their parental rights,” according to his August 2013 talking points, which were obtained by ProPublica.
Now, Sandweg and the other former officials said, the second Trump administration has put aggressive enforcement goals like arresting 3,000 immigrants a day above concerns about the harms of hastily separating children from their parents.
ProPublica sent detailed questions about our findings to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE. DHS Acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis said in an emailed statement that the agency “cannot verify the veracity of the data” that ProPublica analyzed. (We validated the data, which the agency provided via Freedom of Information Act requests, and our approach with outside experts.) Bis also said in the statement, “ICE does not separate families.”
Immigrant parents can choose to leave the country with their children or to designate someone to care for them, Bis said, which “is consistent with past administration’s policies.” The revised directive “simply standardizes the required forms.” She added that “under President Trump, ICE will not ignore the rule of law.”
A White House spokesperson wrote in a statement that those in the country illegally “who wish to avoid the deportation process should self-deport.”
The unraveling of Flores’ family began with another kid’s alleged threat against 8-year-old Briana.
According to a Jan. 15 police report, the girl’s school bus driver had contacted the Polk County Sheriff’s Office after Briana claimed a student at her elementary school, a boy with blond hair and blue eyes, had threatened to kill her.
The sheriff’s office dispatched a deputy to the family’s mobile home, where she introduced herself to Flores and her fiance, Egdulio Velasquez, and asked to speak with Briana. The 8-year-old was “timid,” according to the police report, and initially denied any trouble with fellow students. The family said that the deputy questioned Briana alone outside the trailer. Eventually, the girl let on that her classmate had indeed been bothering her, poking her in the back and face with his fingers — but did not say the boy had threatened to kill her, according to the police report.
The deputy went to the classmate’s house, and the boy told her it was Briana who had made the threats. He said she had pointed a broken pencil at him. The deputy filled out two threat assessment forms, one for the boy, one for the girl, noting that she hadn’t checked the boy’s home for firearms because his “father was uncooperative” but had searched Briana’s trailer.
“I was unable to determine probable cause,” the deputy wrote in her report. She would have to drop the case. But her investigation had turned up something else: Flores and Velasquez were both immigrants from Honduras.
A second sheriff’s deputy arrived at the trailer not long after and took their passports. According to police records, he then called an ICE hotline, a requirement stemming from Florida’s close cooperation with the agency. An operator told him that both parents had deportation orders: Velasquez from a DUI conviction and Flores from a missed asylum hearing.
Flores said she had missed the hearing because of computer issues and was trying to appeal the ruling. She’d crossed the border into the United States and applied for asylum in 2023, after a man in Honduras had threatened to kill her. DHS’ Bis confirmed that Flores entered the country in 2023 and had a deportation order issued in May 2025.
Flores had met Velasquez, who is from the same rural Honduran province of Olancho, in the United States. Briana, his daughter from a previous relationship, was born in Honduras. The family built a life together in Lakeland, where he worked in a factory that built shipping pallets, and they became members of Vázquez’s church.
A third squad car appeared outside the trailer. The officers arrested Velasquez first, keeping him handcuffed in the back of one of the cars for hours. But before they could arrest Flores, they needed to figure out what to do with the kids.
“Don’t be like this,” Flores recalled saying to the officers as she held baby Briany. “My girl needs me.” She said they told her they were just doing their jobs. She said she prayed to God: “Lord, I’m putting everything in your hands.”
According to Flores and Velasquez, one of the deputies took a liking to a family kitten and offered to take it home with him. Velasquez said he later saw the kitten clinging to the officer’s pants.
The Polk County Sheriff’s Office did not respond to specific questions about the incident, instead sending an emailed statement that outlined its state-mandated cooperation with federal immigration authorities.
It was close to 11 p.m. when an investigator from Florida’s child protective services finally arrived, the family said. She informed Flores that if she couldn’t find someone to take the children, the state would place them in the foster care system. So Flores called her pastor.
Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd recently began calling for a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants who have committed no crimes and have strong community ties. A spokesperson for the sheriff’s office wrote in the statement to ProPublica that deputies do not make any decisions on who to detain — they report suspects to ICE, and ICE makes the decision.
But she noted they now make an effort to determine citizenship status.
“Nothing has changed in how we deliver day-to-day law enforcement services in our community,” she wrote, “other than asking everyone with whom we interact their place of birth.”
Federal policy still says ICE officers should ask people they arrest if they are the parents or legal guardians of minors — and if they are, they should be allowed to make arrangements for the children’s care. The Trump administration’s July revision to this directive, the one that removed the word “humane” from the preamble, also added a new line. It specifies that the directive “in no way limits the ability of ICE personnel to make enforcement decisions on a case-by-case basis.”
In practice, instances when parents are spared are becoming increasingly rare, said Andrew Lorenzen-Strait, a former ICE official who oversaw implementation of the directive at ICE during the Obama and first Trump administrations. “It may happen on a case-by-case basis because an officer in and of himself has humanity,” he said.
ProPublica followed multiple families through their sudden separations — examining the moment itself and its aftermath — and found a wide variety of outcomes for the children.
Fernanda, a Florida restaurant worker, made an agonizing decision after the father of her children was arrested and deported: She would send their toddler son and 4-year-old daughter to Guatemala to live with him. She feared it was only a matter of time until immigration agents came knocking on her door. She didn’t want the children, both U.S. citizens, to be stranded.
Fernanda asked to be identified by only her middle name because of her immigration status. The Guatemalan-Maya Center, a nonprofit, helped her take the kids to the Fort Lauderdale airport in early February, the little boy dressed in a Spider-Man outfit, the little girl in a CoComelon sweatshirt and pink hat, and put them on a plane.
Griselda, a single mom originally from Honduras, had to leave her young daughters with their babysitter for four months. She said she was getting a ride to a housepainting job in Melbourne, Florida, when the car’s brakes failed and it crashed into a stop sign. Police officers showed up, she said, then called ICE.
A domestic abuse survivor who asked to be identified by only her first name, Griselda said she told the officers, then ICE, about her children, but she was sent out of state to be detained in Dilley, Texas, without them. Griselda was desperate to reunite with her 4-year-old, who was born in Mexico during her journey to the southwest border, and her 1-year-old, who is a U.S. citizen. She said she decided not to file an appeal after a judge denied her asylum claim and that an ICE agent and a social worker were dispatched to Florida to retrieve the girls. Then, she said, she and her daughters were escorted to the border to cross on foot into Mexico — where they knew no one and had no money.
A DHS spokesperson confirmed that the family was sent to Mexico together.
Mauricio Ayala, a 24-year-old engineer working at a firm in downtown Seattle, called 911 after immigration agents arrested his dad last April. “My father has been illegally detained,” he told the dispatcher nervously, stumbling over his words. “A bunch of masked men in unmarked vehicles pulled up and detained him.” (A DHS spokesperson wrote in a statement that “our officers verbally identify themselves” and wear badges and vests that display their agency name.)
His dad, a roofer, had been swept up in one of the first large-scale workplace raids of the new Trump administration. It was the beginning of a role reversal for Ayala, his college-age sister and his brother, a high school senior. All citizens, they would be the ones supporting their parents. Their mom had been forced to leave the country after an immigration arrest over a decade ago, Ayala said, but officers didn’t arrest his dad at the time because there were young children in the home. His dad was found guilty of reckless driving in 2015 but had no other criminal convictions that we could find in the United States. But now, as the siblings entered adulthood, their dad would be deported, too.
To cut costs and send money to his parents in Mexico, Ayala moved from his Seattle apartment back into the trailer his dad owned in a smaller city 90 minutes away. His sister did the same. Their little brother picked up part-time jobs.
Maria Magdalena Callejas, her boyfriend and her 14-year-old son were detained in Texas while on a road trip last spring. She called a friend back home in California who she’d asked to watch her two younger children — both U.S. citizens — until her return. She begged the friend to take care of them for even longer.
Callejas’ boyfriend was deported. She and her older son, Edwin, were held in family detention, where he said he was stressed because it felt like a prison. He said he lost 10 pounds in a week after he got sick. He was so despondent, his mother said, that she felt her only option was to allow them to be sent back to El Salvador, a country Edwin left when he was 5. (ICE has said conditions in its facilities are safe for families and that everyone is provided proper medical care.)
Callejas said she agreed to return to El Salvador only because she understood that her 6-year-old and 4-year-old would be allowed to join her and their older brother.
The kids’ father had previously pleaded no contest to domestic battery and had a restraining order placed against him, which allowed brief supervised visitation. (Attorneys for both parents said Callejas allowed him to spend time with the kids despite the order.) When he found out their mom had been deported, he opposed the children leaving the country and decided to fight for custody. Since Callejas’ deportation, the children have been with a caretaker, and a judge has allowed their father more time with them, according to lawyers for both parents. The result: a monthslong battle in a Los Angeles court — with Callejas attending hearings virtually from El Salvador.
Back in Lakeland, Israel Vázquez takes no credit for feeding the baby that first night or the ones after. “That girl can drink milk!” he said. His wife, the Rev. Raysa Vázquez, woke up every couple of hours and tended to Briany, sitting with her in the brown recliner in the living room, rocking her back to sleep.
They did not know how long the girls would be with them. They decided 8-year-old Briana should stay at the same elementary school, to keep her with her friends and teacher. They drove around 45 minutes round trip to the school every day.
Meanwhile, the girls’ parents bounced among hold rooms, jails and detention centers. In detention, Flores said, she began to suffer a painful swelling, which she believed could have been mastitis brought on by her inability to nurse her baby. Her chest became hot to the touch, her whole body feverish. The fever lasted a week.
The couple wanted to do whatever they could to make the girls feel at home. But they also wanted to make sure the girls could be reunited with their parents. If Flores and Velasquez were going to be deported, the pastors wanted the girls to go with them. And to go with them, Briany would need a passport. The pastors would have to get both parents’ signatures while they were in detention.
Briany was sitting on Raysa’s lap as they watched TV in the living room, babbling along as she listened to the couple talk, when Israel’s phone rang. It was an ICE deportation officer. He said Flores would be removed from the country soon and the window for getting her daughters on a plane with her was closing. He offered to help the Vázquezes get the parents’ signatures and said ICE would bring Flores to Tampa.
The next day, they drove to a government office in Tampa to get Flores’ signature, where the girls were allowed to see and hug her. She let out a loud scream and started weeping at the sight of the children. In Mississippi, volunteers rushed to the detention center where Velasquez was being held and got his signature, too.
The couple drove Briany to Miami a few days later and picked up her passport. Then they brought the girls to the Tampa airport.
They met Flores at the terminal. She was clad in a sweatshirt and bleary from the early hour. Israel handed over the diaper bag he’d been carrying around and the baby’s bottles. Flores’ fiance would be deported a few weeks later on a separate flight to Honduras. Her eldest child, a son from a previous relationship who had to go live with his father after she was arrested, would remain in the U.S. So for now it was just Flores and the two girls. They posed for a photo, then said goodbye.
The family now lives at Velasquez’s father’s house in the town of San José, deep in rural Honduras. The baby no longer breastfeeds. She hasn’t since the night deputies separated her from her mother. “I brought her to my breast,” Flores said, “but she doesn’t want it anymore.”
Briany’s preferred formula costs too much for the family to afford. To keep the baby fed, they rely again on their church. A box of it recently arrived, enough to last several weeks, sent by the Vázquezes and their Lakeland congregation.
Ours is the most detailed accounting to date of the U.S. citizen children whose immigrant parents have been arrested, detained and in many cases deported. Underlying the analysis is a database of ICE I-213 records obtained by the University of Washington. Immigration agents fill out Form I-213 when they arrest someone alleging they are in the country without permission. Among other pieces of information, it records the citizenship and number of minor children of each arrestee.
The data appears to contain arrests only by ICE and does not cover arrests by Customs and Border Protection. It covers late 2021 to mid-August 2025. We used this data to calculate the number of parents of U.S. citizen children arrested each day.
To learn what happened to parents after they were arrested by ICE, including detention, final release from ICE custody in the United States or removal from the country, we combined the I-213 data with records from the Deportation Data Project, which covers late 2023 to mid-October 2025. The I-213 dataset contains about 17% fewer arrests by ICE in any given month than the Deportation Data Project’s arrest dataset.
We were able to combine these two datasets using fields common to both of them, including date of arrest, gender, age, nationality, location and method of arrest. We matched about 85% of the arrests in the I-213 data to a unique record in the ICE arrest and detention data. (An additional 7% had multiple possible matches, so we did not include them, and about 7% had no possible match. These rates were similar across presidential administrations.)
We used the overlapping 85% to make statements about the number of U.S. citizen children who had a parent arrested and detained by ICE since Trump returned to office and about the criminal status of their parents. We also used these combined records to compare how their mothers were treated differently by the Trump and Biden administrations.
To calculate that more than 11,000 U.S. citizen children had a parent arrested and detained by ICE, we counted only children of fathers. We did this to avoid double-counting children in cases where both parents were detained, and fathers made up a large majority of the parents detained. We were limited to the first seven months of Trump’s second term, the time period covered in the I-213 data. If a father was arrested and detained more than once under Trump, we counted that father’s children only once. All other calculations were performed at the arrest level, meaning that in a very small number of instances, the same parent could be included more than once for each time they were arrested, detained, released or removed.
The government cannot legally detain U.S. citizen children with their parents or deport them. According to immigration experts and current and former officials, the arrest and detention of parents of U.S. citizens often leads to a family separation, even if it’s brief.
We counted a parent as having been detained by ICE if they were booked into a facility for any length of time according to the Deportation Data Project’s detention records. In a very small minority of cases during the Trump administration, parents were released from ICE custody in less than a few days. This was more common under Biden. When we calculated the criminal history of parents arrested and detained by ICE, we relied on the criminal charges in these detention records.
To calculate that Trump has deported mothers of U.S. citizen children at four times the rate that Biden did, we calculated the total number of mothers removed under each administration in the period covered by our data and divided by the number of days each president was in office during that period. We used the period from November 2023 through mid-August 2025 to minimize undercounting at the start and end of our detention dataset. We also compared equivalent seven-month periods in 2024 and 2025, which produced a similar result. For the purposes of our analysis, we counted a small number of detained mothers who agreed to leave the country voluntarily as having been deported.
We verified our matches between the two data sources in several ways. First, there were three fields in the I-213 data that were in other parts of the Deportation Data Project data but not used as part of the linkage process: marital status, processing disposition and date of entry. For records we linked that contained values in those fields (some were empty in one or both datasets), we found that those data points matched more than 98% of the time.
Next, we checked to make sure that there were no systematic differences in which ICE arrests appeared in the I-213 dataset compared to those contained in the Deportation Data Project records. We checked to make sure that women and men were equally represented, the different ICE field offices were equally represented, nationalities were equally represented, etc. We found no appreciable difference between the two datasets.
We also compared records for which we found a match between the two datasets to records that had no match and found no strong patterns suggesting systematic differences between the two.
ICE publishes the number of parents of U.S. citizens arrested on its detention management website and in reports to Congress. We compared our analysis against these numbers and found that for fiscal years 2023 and 2024, our data showed about 15% fewer such parents arrested by ICE than the official statistics noted. We do not know exactly why this is, although it is in line with how many fewer I-213 records we have than there are arrest records in the Deportation Data Project.
We ran our findings and methodology by Phil Neff, a researcher at the University of Washington Center for Human Rights and Joseph Gunther, a mathematician who researches immigration-related datasets and former ICE officials.
We also were able to link some of the data to leaked ICE flight manifests, which allowed us in some cases to find the full names — redacted in most of the other data — of some of the deported parents. In a handful of those cases, we found their phone numbers or those of family members, and we reached out to hear their stories.
We conducted interviews in Spanish and English with close to two dozen detained or deported parents or their relatives or lawyers. We also spoke with nonprofits like the American Friends Service Committee and Each Step Home, which assist immigrant families — including Flores’ family — after they are separated.
The parents we followed through the arrest process were originally from a range of mostly Latin American countries: Honduras, Guatemala, Mexico and Ecuador. They and their children had made lives in all corners of the United States, including California, Washington state, New York, Massachusetts and Florida. Most of the parents we interviewed were moms.
The post Trump Has Detained the Parents of More Than 11,000 U.S. Citizen Kids appeared first on ProPublica.
Thanks to opposition from inside his own party, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., was forced to delay a vote on President Donald Trump’s request to extend a major domestic spying law — but Democrats could ride to the rescue.
Johnson decided to delay a vote on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act that had been scheduled for this week, Politico reported Friday. The move gives critics of the law more time to push for reforms, including a requirement that federal agents get a warrant before searching for information on Americans.
If the bill ultimately advances to the House floor, however, some top Democrats — including the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, Rep. Jim Himes of Connecticut — are already lobbying colleagues to vote for Trump’s request. Others, including members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, are pushing back.
Advocates say Democrats have a rare chance to push through added safeguards. If they want to.
The internal debate among both Democrats and Republicans is a rerun of a clash two years ago over FISA — only this time, Trump’s reelection and the war on Iran have raised the stakes. The spying law expires next month.
With Republicans split, advocates say Democrats have a rare chance to push through added safeguards.
If they want to.
Figures from the Democratic establishment have often been ambivalent or openly hostile to reforming the law, one of the most controversial pieces of post-9/11 legislation and a focus of Edward Snowden’s disclosures.
Johnson initially seemed poised to push through a vote on the law this week — but reports emerged last Friday that he had delayed the vote until the middle of April. That delay came in the face of skepticism about extending FISA without reforms from hard-liners in Johnson’s own party, such House Freedom Caucus Chair Andy Harris, R-Md.
Section 702 of FISA allows employees of the FBI and other agencies to search for information on U.S. citizens and residents among spy data that is collected abroad.
Congress has passed a series of partial reforms intended to curb widespread abuses of the law by the FBI. During fiery debate over the law in 2024, Johnson managed to narrowly get the bill through the House by agreeing to a two-year extension.
He also teamed up with then-President Joe Biden to pressure members to defeat by a single vote reformers’ most highly sought-after amendment, a provision that would have forced federal agents to go to a judge before searching for information about Americans.
The vote this year is shaping up to be as much of a nail-biter, and it appears that Johnson may need Democrats to lend an assist. Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., says that he will vote against extending the law without reforms, which means that Johnson can only afford to lose one other GOP member.
Himes, who is leading the push to get Democrats to pass a “clean” renewal of Section 702, said in a letter to his party colleagues last week that he understood why they might have concerns about the Trump administration having access to that powerful spying tool. Still, he urged them to vote for reauthorization if the bill makes it to a final floor vote.
“If I saw any evidence that Trump administration officials were directing the intelligence community to use Section 702 for illegal or improper purposes, such as to persecute, surveil, or harass Americans,” he said, “I would urge a ‘no’ vote on reauthorization, even though I recognize the program’s unparalleled national security value. I have not seen evidence of misuse, despite being on the lookout for any hint of it.”
One House staffer who asked for anonymity to speak freely said they were surprised that Himes has not pushed for concessions from Johnson — on FISA or other legislation — in exchange for Democratic support.
That support could be especially crucial if Johnson struggles to pass a procedural vehicle, known as a rule, to get the bill onto the House floor for a final vote.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., said during a press conference last Thursday that his entire caucus would oppose proceeding to a vote under a rule, which is standard practice for the opposition party in the House.
“Jim Himes is emerging as arguably the most important actor in this fight.”
Jeffries left open the possibility, however, that Democrats could freely cross party lines to support bringing the bill to the floor under a suspension of the rules, which would require support from a two-thirds majority of House members.
“Jim Himes is emerging as arguably the most important actor in this fight,” said Sean Vitka, executive director of the left-leaning group Demand Progress, which supports further reforms to FISA. “The most significant question at the moment is: Will he be able to marshal enough Democrats to go with his play? And that ultimately is a question of whether or not members of Congress think people are looking.”
On the opposite side of the debate from Himes, House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Jamie Raskin, D-Md., sent a letter to Democrats Thursday urging them to oppose a “clean” reauthorization of the surveillance bill.
Under pressure from the Biden administration and to the disappointment of privacy advocates, Raskin voted in favor of the legislation two years ago. He said in his letter this week that “times have changed.”
“The safeguards put in place in 2024 have been badly eroded by the Trump Administration,” he wrote. “The ‘clean’ extension favored by President Trump and Stephen Miller leaves the Trump Administration in charge of policing its own abuses of this authority — and what could go wrong with that?”
Raskin did not directly condition support for the bill on adding a warrant requirement, the longtime holy grail of privacy advocates.
In a letter Thursday, more than 90 civil rights and progressive groups including the American Civil Liberties Union, Demand Progress, and Indivisible called on Congress to require the government to obtain a warrant before searching for communications about Americans.
They also highlighted a relatively new issue: the data-broker loophole. Under current law, intelligence and law enforcement agencies have been able to skirt civil liberties protections by buying information from data brokers that could include location data, search histories, and transaction records of Americans.
FBI Director Kash Patel testified during a Senate hearing Wednesday that the agency was gleaning “valuable intelligence” from such data.
Advocates hope that in addition to a warrant requirement, Democrats could use their leverage in the surveillance bill debate to close the data-broker loophole.
Some Democrats who helped doom a warrant requirement last time have yet to signal how they will vote this time around.
Rep. Dan Goldman, D-N.Y., gave a passionate defense of the domestic spying bill on the House floor in 2024. His primary opponent, former New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, has already attacked him over the issue.
Patel and CIA Director John Ratcliffe gave a closed briefing to House members about the law on Wednesday. Speaking to The Intercept after that meeting, Goldman said he was still deciding whether to support a clean reauthorization.
“From my perspective, I’m going to need more data and information and need to have some way of verifying the information that they are providing, because I have no faith that this administration is doing anything by the law,” Goldman said.
Another Democrat who voted against a warrant requirement in 2024 and now faces a primary challenge from the left, Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., said he also has yet to decide.
“There are threats to the country, and then there are threats for the country from this administration,” Cohen said. “It’s kind of a balancing act.”
Advocates pushing for added reforms would have to guide them through both the House and Senate before the April 20 expiration of the current law.
The ongoing conflict with Iran is adding to the pressure, with Trump’s supporters arguing that it makes passage of a “clean” reauthorization more important.
One supporter of a warrant requirement, House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, said this week that he now supports a clean reauthorization.
“We have been at this for 10 years,” Jordan told reporters Wednesday. “There has been huge improvement based on the reforms we have done over the last decade, and this is a temporary extension, a short-term extension at the time we have this military operation going on in Iran.”
Reform advocates, however, have argued that the pending deadline is not as pressing as it seems. If the law expires next month, intelligence agencies may still be able to force tech companies to hand over communications under existing authorizations from a special surveillance court that do not expire for months.
“We have time to get this right,” Raskin said in his letter. “Opposing ‘clean’ reauthorization does not mean Section 702 suddenly turns off in April. FISA explicitly allows existing certifications to continue past a sunset. The government is in court right now making sure that Section 702 surveillance extends well into next year, no matter what.”
The post Democrats Might Save Mike Johnson’s Push to Give Trump Domestic Spying Power appeared first on The Intercept.
Last October, President Donald Trump nominated nursing home owner Benjamin Landa as his next ambassador to Hungary, a key position that would place him in a country with a vigorous conservative movement. Trump has endorsed the country’s prime minister, Viktor Orbán, a long-standing ally, for reelection, saying he “does an unbelievable job.”
One month after Landa’s appointment, the inspector general of Trump’s Department of Health and Human Services issued a blunt audit estimating that a nursing home Landa co-owns received Medicare overpayments of at least $31.2 million and recommending that the government recoup the money.
Now that facility, Pinnacle Multicare Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, is suing the very administration that is nominating Landa to the diplomatic post. The suit, filed Feb. 26 in federal district court in New York, asks the court to stop the government’s collection efforts and names HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Mehmet Oz, HHS Inspector General Thomas March Bell and a Medicare contractor as defendants. A federal district judge denied Pinnacle’s request for a temporary restraining order.
As of March, Landa has an ownership interest in more than 100 nursing homes in eight states, CMS data shows. Landa also is a donor to Republican causes, but his biggest donation by far was $5 million to MAGA Inc., a pro-Trump Super PAC, in August 2025, two months before his nomination.
Critics of Landa’s track record point to the audit’s findings, along with other legal actions against homes connected to him, as reasons that his nomination should face additional scrutiny.
Sen. Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat and ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, which oversees Medicare and Medicaid, described Landa as an example of “giant corporate health care interests that prey on the vulnerable and use clever tricks to exploit loopholes at taxpayers’ expense.”
“It’s no surprise that these companies and their owners are cozy with Trump: instead of accountability, they’ve been rewarded,” Wyden said in a statement, with “plum political appointments and ambassadorships in Europe.”
The White House and the Department of State did not respond to requests for comment about the status of Landa’s nomination. An attorney for Landa denied wrongdoing in a statement, saying the issues identified in the audit occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic when nursing homes were in the midst of a crisis.
“At Pinnacle MultiCare, patient care comes first — period, full stop,” attorney Alyssa Friedman wrote in an email to ProPublica. “That commitment drove every decision during the pandemic and continues to define operations today.
“Let’s be clear: this is about decisive actions taken during the height of COVID-19 that prioritized patients and saved lives in one of the pandemic’s epicenters — decisions now being second-guessed years later through an absurdly flawed audit of billing paperwork and a retroactive reinterpretation of the rules by government bureaucrats,” she added.
The inspector general’s audit and the resulting lawsuit are the latest controversy involving Landa.
In November 2022, New York Attorney General Letitia James sued The Villages at Orleans Health and Rehabilitation Center, as well as Landa and others she said were owners of the facility. A press release announcing the suit alleged “years of financial fraud that resulted in significant resident neglect and harm.” Between 2015 and 2022, Landa made at least $1.49 million from the facility, James’ suit alleged, through means that James characterized as “looting.” Meanwhile, Landa “contributed nothing and failed to prevent the abuse and neglect,” the suit alleged. James described a pattern of harm to residents at the home, due in part to what the suit said was “systemic understaffing and cost cutting,” which included potentially preventable deaths of residents due to delayed wound care and suicide.
The home and the defendants named as owners have disputed the suit. In 2024, a state Supreme Court judge allowed multiple claims in the case to proceed; in 2025, Landa appealed that decision. The case is ongoing.
Landa’s attorney said her client “merely owned a minority interest in the company that owned the real estate and served as the landlord of the building out of which the facility operated. He had no interest in the licensed operator of the facility and no involvement in the operations of the facility. The attorney general’s claims against Mr. Landa are baseless and a waste of the court’s time and taxpayer dollars.”
One month after filing the suit against The Villages, James sued Cold Spring Hills Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation, based in Long Island, making nearly identical claims to her prior suit. Landa owned 25% of the facility’s property holding company, according to the lawsuit. Over a number of years, the facility paid over $15 million in rent to the property holding company co-owned by Landa; over $1.4 million to a management company co-owned by Landa; and almost $500,000 in consulting fees to a company owned by Landa, the lawsuit alleged. At the same time, residents were losing significant weight and developing malnutrition, enduring life-threatening pressure ulcers and repeatedly suffering unwitnessed falls, in part due to understaffing, James alleged.
The home and its owners disputed the allegations. In March 2024, a judge in Long Island ordered four defendants, including Landa, to pay a total of $2 million back to the nursing home, and ordered that an independent health care monitor be appointed to run the facility. Landa and his co-defendants have appealed various orders in the case. In January 2025, Cold Spring Hills filed for bankruptcy; in March 2025, the facility sold itself for $10 to a third-party receiver and changed its name. (“Our facility is now under new ownership with a renewed vision for excellence,” the nursing home’s rebranded website reads. “A new chapter in compassionate care has begun.”) The appeals and bankruptcy proceedings are ongoing.
Landa’s attorney said he was merely a landlord of Cold Spring Hills and was not involved in operating the facility. She noted that the judge found no fraud committed by Landa, that all business arrangements between Landa and the home were approved by the state health department, and that none of the defendants enriched themselves at the expense of patient care.
Landa has been involved with other legal actions related to his nursing homes. In 2017, for example, an employment agency co-owned by Landa was sued on behalf of a class of Filipino nurses alleging that it had trafficked them, withheld wages, and threatened civil and criminal litigation should the nurses leave. In September 2019, a New York district court found the agency and its owners had violated the Trafficking Victims Protection Act; in April 2022, the case was settled for $3 million on the condition that the findings involving trafficking were vacated. Landa’s attorney did not respond to follow-up questions about the other suits in which he has been involved.
In one of her 2022 lawsuits, James estimated Landa’s net worth at more than $300 million in 2016.
The audit at the center of the current lawsuit was the government’s first related to a new nursing home payment system rolled out during Trump’s first term. Under the previous system, nursing homes were reimbursed based on the number of minutes of therapy provided to patients, which “created financial incentives” for them to focus on patients who needed therapy, according to the November audit report. In contrast, the new payment system was designed to “improve payment accuracy and appropriateness by focusing on the enrollee, rather than volume of services provided,” according to the report.
The inspector general’s office found that Pinnacle, located in the Bronx, received significantly higher reimbursements from Medicare under the new payment system than the old one, raising red flags at the agency.
The inspector general found that Pinnacle had violated CMS billing requirements in 99 of the 100 claims it audited. The agency noted that, in 95 of those 99 claims, Pinnacle requested reimbursement for levels of services that were higher than what was justifiable when the agency reviewed patients’ charts — for example, billing for speech therapy for aphasia in a patient who clinicians had explicitly stated did not need speech therapy. Additionally, in 54 of the 99 claims, the agency found, Pinnacle provided services that could not be justified by the patients’ charts — for example, billing for “bed mobility and wheelchair training” for patients who were able to walk on their own.
The HHS inspector general’s office declined to comment on the audit, citing pending litigation.
Separately, the New York State Department of Health has imposed three financial penalties against Pinnacle since 2021.
In its lawsuit, Pinnacle alleges that the auditors “blatantly ignore” state and federal waivers for documentation and billing requirements issued as part of the effort to reduce administrative barriers to patient care during the COVID-19 public health emergency. “Pinnacle’s efforts to provide exceptional care to its patients were an undeniable success,” the facility wrote in the lawsuit.
Additionally, the facility only had two COVID-19 deaths at the height of the pandemic — “one of the lowest COVID related death totals among New York nursing homes despite being a 480-bed facility located in one of the most heavily affected areas,” Landa’s attorney said. “The outcomes during that period are the most important measure of care,” she added.
In its suit, Pinnacle characterized the government’s demand for repayment as an “administrative process riddled with constitutional violations.” That request “would immediately paralyze Pinnacle by rendering it unable to pay its employees,” the facility added, “and would result in the shut down of the entire nursing facility — leaving highly vulnerable patients without life-saving care, depriving hundreds of individuals of jobs and income, and divesting New York City of this critical medical facility.”
Industry watchdogs say threatening closure in response to state or federal enforcement actions is a familiar ploy for nursing home owners.
“That’s their constant refrain whenever they don’t get what they want,” said Kevin Walsh, former New Jersey comptroller who investigated tens of millions of dollars in nursing home fraud during his tenure.
“The risk of closure based on the finances and cost reports that I’ve seen seems low,” Walsh added. “They’re not going to kill the golden goose they’re using to siphon profits.”
Landa has repeatedly filed lawsuits in response to allegations against nursing homes with which he is affiliated. In 2022, he brought a suit for libel against The American Prospect, as well as one of its reporters and an editor, following an investigation titled “The Nursing Home Slumlord Manifesto.” Years earlier, he sued freelancers writing for ProPublica, also alleging defamation. Judges dismissed both cases.
Landa’s nomination remains under consideration by the Senate Foreign Relations committee. (No hearing has been scheduled.) But if confirmed as ambassador to Hungary, Landa would hold a powerful position.
Hungary, despite its small population and historically minor role in U.S. foreign policy, holds increasing symbolic importance in the global conservative movement.
In a mid-February visit to Budapest, Trump administration officials reinforced their support for Orban. Secretary of State Marco Rubio signed an agreement to nurture Hungary’s civilian nuclear program. (The country does not presently have nuclear weapons, according to the World Nuclear Association, an international organization that publishes reports on global nuclear activity.)
“We are entering this golden era of relations between our countries,” Rubio said in a press conference in Budapest, “not simply because of the alignment of our people, but because of the relationship that you have with the president of the United States.”
The post Nominee for Ambassador to Hungary Co-Owns a Nursing Home That’s Suing the Trump Administration Over Medicare Payments appeared first on ProPublica.
President Donald Trump’s “energy dominance” agenda gets a boost as governments in Asia scramble to substitute Middle East fuel.
The owner of a nursing home can significantly impact the quality of care that home’s residents receive, research has shown. One owner’s influence can be widespread: Nearly one-fifth of people or companies who report an ownership interest in a nursing home have a financial stake in five or more homes, according to data from the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services. Nearly 100 owners have direct or indirect ownership in 50 or more homes.
One such owner, Benjamin Landa, was nominated by President Donald Trump in October to be ambassador to Hungary. ProPublica reported Monday that Pinnacle Multicare Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, which Landa co-owns, is suing the Trump administration following a Department of Health and Human Services audit that estimated more than $30 million in Medicare overpayments had been made to the facility.
An attorney for Landa denied wrongdoing in a statement, saying the issues identified in the audit occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic when nursing homes were in the midst of a crisis.
To give the public more insight into who owns American nursing homes, ProPublica has added the ability to search by owner, manager or officer name to Nursing Home Inspect, our database that helps you find issues that federal inspectors have identified in more than 14,000 facilities. The update allows users to find all references to an owner’s name across homes and filter results based on location or the person’s role in the nursing home.
ProPublica already publishes data provided by CMS on “affiliated entities,” groups of homes determined to share an owner, officer or entity with managerial control. However, these groups do not always capture every home a person or company has a relationship with. For example, CMS lists Landa as an affiliated entity associated with 55 nursing homes across four states. But the name “Benjamin Landa” appears in the CMS ownership data for 102 nursing homes in eight states.
To make connections between owners more visible, if you search for a specific person or company name, the database now also surfaces others who frequently appear alongside the searched name.
ProPublica plans to continue improving Nursing Home Inspect in the coming months. If you write a story using the ownership search, come across issues or have ideas for improvements, please let us know!
The post ProPublica Adds Ownership Search to Nursing Home Inspect Database appeared first on ProPublica.
Donald Gorske has eaten nearly 36,000 Big Macs. His verdict on the new Big Arch? ‘I think the Big Mac is better’
The Wisconsin man who holds a seemingly unassailable world record after eating nearly 36,000 Big Macs over his lifetime has found McDonald’s widely publicized new offering, the Big Arch burger, underwhelming.
During a brief interview on Sunday, Donald Gorske said he found the white cheddar cheese and tangy sauce that came on the Big Arch his son brought for him to try on 8 March as less preferable to him than the fixings on the Big Macs he has eaten twice daily since May 1972.
Continue reading...Hey everyone,
I'm about to pull the trigger on my first Onewheel but I'm stuck between the Pint S and the XR Classic.
I'm 1m73 (5'8") / 64kg (141lbs). I'm a lightweight and not that tall. Experience: ZERO. Never been good at skating or snowboarding. I just want to cruise safely, not looking for speed or tricks. Commute: Mostly short trips but sometimes 20km (12 miles) round trips. I live in France (so shipping back to the US for repairs is a big NO).
My doubts: Everyone says "small rider = Pint", but I'm worried it's too nervous/twitchy for a total beginner. Is the XR Classic really that much easier/steadier to learn on? Also, I read the Pint S nosedives or gets aggressive pushback when the battery is low. Is that true ? The Pint S is cheaper, but is it a "smarter" buy or just a "lesser" board? Because I want this to last for years without sending it to California...
Thanks a lot for your help 🙏🏻👌🏻
An anonymous reader shared this report from Tom's Hardware: GrapheneOS, the privacy-focused Android fork, said in a post on X on Friday that it will not comply with emerging laws requiring operating systems to collect user age data at setup. "GrapheneOS will remain usable by anyone around the world without requiring personal information, identification or an account," the project stated. "If GrapheneOS devices can't be sold in a region due to their regulations, so be it." The statement came after Brazil's Digital ECA (Law 15.211) took effect on March 17, imposing fines of up to R$50 million (roughly $9.5 million) per violation on operating system providers that fail to implement age verification... Motorola and GrapheneOS announced a long-term partnership at MWC on March 2, to bring to bring the hardened OS to future Motorola hardware, ending GrapheneOS's long-standing exclusivity to Google Pixel devices. A GrapheneOS-powered Motorola phone is expected in 2027. If Motorola sells devices with GrapheneOS pre-installed, those devices would need to comply with local regulations in every market where they ship, or Motorola may need to restrict sales geographically. Or, "People can buy the devices without GrapheneOS and install it themselves in any region where that's an issue," according to a post on the GrapheneOS BlueSky account. "Motorola devices with GrapheneOS preinstalled is something we want but it doesn't have to happen right away and doesn't need to happen everywhere for the partnership to be highly successful. Pixels are sold in 33 countries which doesn't include many countries outside North America and Europe." Tom's Hardware also notes that GrapheneOS "isn't the first and won't be the last company to outright refuse compliance with incoming age verification laws." "The developers of open-source calculator firmware DB48X issued a legal notice recently, stating that their software 'does not, cannot and will not implement age verification,' while MidnightBSD updated its license to ban users in Brazil."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
The president threatened to "obliterate" Iranian power plants if Iran didn't reopen the Strait of Hormuz by late Monday night Eastern Daylight Time.
Criminals extorting money online have created huge businesses, complete with branding and HR
The birth of ransomware was a stunt that got out of hand. In 1989, an evolutionary biologist called Joseph L Popp Jr was working part time for the World Health Organisation on the Aids epidemic. He was a difficult man. When he was denied a permanent job, he decided to punish his peers while shocking them into acknowledging another kind of infection: the computer virus.
Popp wrote a questionnaire promising to help minimise the risk of contracting HIV, duplicated it on to 20,000 floppy discs, and sent them to researchers in 90 countries. Each disc contained a Trojan virus. Once it was inserted, a malware timebomb eventually made the computer unusable until the user paid a “licence fee” of $189 to a PO box in Panama. Popp’s primitive “Aids Trojan” was quickly identified and he was arrested for blackmail. Intending to make a point rather than a profit, he was mortified to learn that some of his targets had overreacted by wiping their hard drives: one Italian Aids organisation lost a decade’s worth of vital data. Popp experienced a psychological collapse and was deemed unfit to stand trial. The criminals who developed his crude innovation into a global business would not be so scrupulous.
Continue reading...Mid-range handset gets chip, storage and MagSafe upgrades to offer more essential iOS features for less
The cheapest new iPhone has been upgraded for this year with a faster chip, double the storage, automatic portraits and MagSafe, providing even more of the core Apple smartphone experience for less.
The iPhone 17e is an upgraded version of the mid-range “e” line launched last year with the first iPhone 16e and is the latest member of the iPhone 17 family. It starts at £599 (€699/$599/A$999), undercutting the iPhone 17 and iPhone 16 by £200 and £100 respectively to be the cheapest new iPhone sold by Apple.
Screen: 6.1in Super Retina XDR (OLED) (460ppi)
Processor: Apple A19 (4-core GPU)
RAM: 8GB
Storage: 256 or 512GB
Operating system: iOS 26
Camera: 48MP rear; 12MP front-facing
Connectivity: 5G, wifi 6, NFC, Bluetooth 5.3, USB-C, Satellite and GNSS
Water resistance: IP68 (6 metres for 30 mins)
Dimensions: 146.7 x 71.5 x 7.8mm
Weight: 170g
Continue reading...In today’s newsletter: Off Duty revisits the conviction of Alexander Villa, raising troubling questions about how it was built
Good morning. On the evening of 29 December 2011, Clifton Lewis – an off-duty Chicago police officer working as a security guard at a minimart on the city’s west side – was shot dead during a robbery. The killing prompted a huge manhunt and an intensive investigation by the Chicago police department. Years later, prosecutors said they had their man, and in 2019 Alexander Villa was convicted of Lewis’s murder and sentenced to life in prison.
But the case against Lewis has long been contested – and as the Guardian’s new investigative podcast series, Off Duty, explores, there are troubling questions about how that conviction was secured, from confessions that were later recanted to evidence that appears shaky or missing. And it revolves around a justice system that, once it settled on a suspect, seemed unwilling to reconsider.
Iran | The global energy crisis caused by the war in Iran is equivalent to the combined force of the twin oil shocks of the 1970s and the fallout of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the head of the International Energy Agency has warned.
UK news | Four ambulances belonging to the Jewish community ambulance service have been set on fire in Golders Green, with police saying they were treating the incident as an “antisemitic hate crime”.
Technology | Palantir is to be granted access to a trove of highly sensitive UK financial regulation data, in a deal that has prompted fresh concerns about the US AI company’s deepening reach into the British state, the Guardian can reveal.
UK news | An undercover police officer has admitted he was exposed as an infiltrator by his own blunder, which has been described by activists as worthy of Inspector Clouseau, the spycops public inquiry has heard.
Business | Several porridge products in the UK have been recalled over a possible mice contamination at their manufacturing site.
Continue reading...What was supposed to be a quick win has become a quagmire, so it now must be reduced to a dopamine hit
The war on Iran, even as it spreads and destabilises the Middle East and the global economy, is not real. This is how it is being portrayed by the Trump administration. The war is a video game, a spectator sport, a social media festival of dunking. The architects of this war have made a virtue out of stupidity, and have been supported in that by a stupefying information ecosystem. The conflict waged by the US feels like the first of its kind in the modern age: distinctly remote and profoundly ignorant.
A week into the war, the White House uploaded a clip on its social media channels featuring montages of Top Gun, Braveheart and Breaking Bad, with the caption “Justice the American way” – itself a repurposing of a Superman motto. In another, entitled Touchdown, NFL players tackle each other and upon contact, boom, footage of a strike explosion tagged “unclassified”. SpongeBob SquarePants also makes an appearance, asking, “Wanna see me do it again?”, and then, an explosion. In another, Operation Epic Fury is rendered as a Nintendo Wii game.
Continue reading...The last time I was genuinely worried about nuclear war was more than 30 years ago. It’s nowhere near as fun now
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Fatih Birol says effect on energy markets of Iran bombings and closure of Hormuz strait not initially understood by world leaders
The global energy crisis caused by the war in Iran is equivalent to the combined force of the twin oil shocks of the 1970s and the fallout of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the head of the International Energy Agency has warned.
Fatih Birol, the IEA’s executive director, said the growing fallout could be seriously compounded through interuptions to the “vital arteries of the global economy”, including petrochemicals, fertilisers, sulphur and helium.
Continue reading...Here are hints and the answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle for March 23, No. 546.
Yes, Microsoft announced it's fixing common Windows 11 complaints. But what about getting rid of that requirement to have a Microsoft account before installing Windows 11? While Microsoft didn't mention that at all, the senior editor at the blog Windows Central reports there's "a number of people" internally pushing at Microsoft to relax that requirement: Microsoft Vice President and overall developer legend Scott Hanselman has posted on X in response to someone asking him about possibly relaxing the Microsoft account requirements, saying "Ya I hate that. Working on it...." [Hanselman made that remark Friday, to his 328,200 followers.] The blog notes "It would be very easy for Microsoft to remove this requirement from a technical perspective, it's just whether or not the company can agree to make the change that needs to be decided." Elsewhere on X someone told Hanselman they wanted to see Windows "cut out the borderline malware tactics we've seen in recent years to push things like Edge, Bing, ads into the start menu, etc." Hanselman's reply? "Yes a calmer and more chill OS with fewer upsells is a goal." Q: When will we see first changes? for now it's just words... Hanselman: This month and every month this year.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for March 23.
Trump needs an off-ramp.
The Chinese economy runs on labor exploitation.
City hall veteran beats rightwinger Rachida Dati in French capital, while far-right RN fails to win Marseille and Toulon in French local elections
The Socialist Emmanuel Grégoire has been elected mayor of Paris, beating the former rightwing minister Rachida Dati, with Marine Le Pen’s far-right, anti-immigration National Rally (RN) failing to take key cities targeted in Sunday’s second round of local elections.
Grégoire took a victory bike ride with future councillors in Paris on Sunday night to show that the French capital would continue its pro-cycling and environmental policies.
Continue reading...National leader Christopher Luxon drops in preferred PM stakes with rise in people saying country heading in wrong direction
The personal ratings of New Zealand’s prime minister, Christopher Luxon, have dipped, polling shows, as his government’s handling of the economy fails to impress voters ahead of the November election.
The RNZ-Reid Research poll, released on Monday, also found a growing number of people felt that New Zealand was heading in the wrong direction.
Continue reading...This blog is closed. Follow our new liveblog here
Several blasts could be heard from Jerusalem on Sunday, AFP journalists said, after the Israeli military warned of incoming missile fire from Iran towards central Israel.
Israel’s Magen David Adom emergency medical service said there were no immediate reports of casualties.
Continue reading...Alvaro Folgueiras nails three-pointer in final seconds
Gators are first No seed to exit this year’s tournament
Alvaro Folgueiras nailed a three-pointer with 4.5 seconds remaining and Iowa eliminated the defending national champion, Florida, sending Gators home with a 73-72 victory on Sunday in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
Under first-year coach Ben McCollum, Iowa reached the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2015, while Florida (27-8) became the first No 1 seed to be knocked out of this year’s March Madness.
The ninth-seeded Hawkeyes (23-12) wasted a 12-point lead in the second half but rallied in the final minutes. They will face No 4 seed Nebraska in the South Region semi-finals on Thursday night in Houston.
Trump vows to ‘hit and obliterate’ Iran’s power plants if it fails to reopen strait of Hormuz by his deadline – key US politics stories from 22 March at a glance
Donald Trump has given Iran 48 hours to reopen the strait of Hormuz to shipping or face the destruction of its energy infrastructure, as Tehran launched its most destructive attack yet on Israel.
The ultimatum, made just a day after the US president said he was considering “winding down” military operations after three weeks of war, came as the key oil passage remained effectively closed and thousands more US Marines headed to the Middle East.
Continue reading...Raging waters lifted homes and cars and prompted evacuation orders for 5,500 people north of Honolulu, though they were later lifted.
Walmart is "rolling out digital price tags to replace the old paper ones," reports CNBC, planning to implement them in all U.S. stores by the end of the year: Amanda Bailey, a team leader in electronics who works at a Walmart in West Chester, Ohio, estimates that the digital shelf labels — known as DSLs — have cut the time she used to spend on pricing duties by 75%, time that has freed her up to help customers. She also said the DSLs are a game-changer because Walmart's Spark delivery drivers looking for an item will see a flashing DSL so they can more easily find the product... Sean Turner, chief technology officer of Swiftly, a retail technology and media platform serving the grocery industry, said that while it makes sense that people are raising questions about dynamic pricing, the real issue is store-level efficiency. "Digital shelf labels solve some very real operational headaches. They cut down on manual price changes, reduce checkout discrepancies, and make it easier to keep in-store and digital promotions aligned," Turner said. All of that can mean fewer surprises at the register for shoppers and better-tailored promotions. "For consumers, the biggest benefit is accuracy and consistency," Benedict said. "Shoppers want to know the price they see is the price they pay. Digital labels can also make it easier for stores to mark down perishable items in real time, which can lower food waste and create savings opportunities." A Walmart spokeswoman promised CNBC that "the price you see is the same for everyone in any given store." But the article also notes that several U.S. states "are looking to ban dynamic pricing. Pennsylvania became one of the latest states to introduce a bill outlawing the practice, following New York's Algorithmic Pricing Disclosure Act, which became law in November." And at the federal level, U.S. Senator Ben Ray Luján recently introduced the "Stop Price Gouging in Grocery Stores" act, which would ban digital labels in any grocery store over 10,000 square feet, while Congresswoman Val Hoyle is sponsoring similar legislation in the House. "There needs to be laws and enforcement to protect consumers," Hoyle tells CNBC, "and until then, I'd like to see them banned outright." CNBC adds that "While there is no reported use of digital shelf labeling being tied to surge pricing yet," in Hoyle's view "it's only a matter of time."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
And 24 years in total of board sports. I took my Bustin Sportster Hybrid out for a rip, and it felt so foreign to me 🤣 killer speed with just an absolute planted feel vs. the super loose feel of the GT.
Here are hints and answers for the NYT Strands puzzle for March 23, No. 750.
Here are hints and the answer for today's Wordle for March 23, No. 1,738.
Here are some hints and the answers for the NYT Connections puzzle for March 23 #1016.
Cause of the fire that killed Pierce, who had covered the Minnesota hockey team for a decade, is under investigation
NHL reporter Jessi Pierce and her three children were killed on Saturday in a weekend house fire in Minnesota, the league announced on its sports website Sunday.
Pierce, 37, covered the Minnesota Wild as the correspondent for NHL.com for the past decade.
Continue reading...  | A little beach ride. [link] [comments] |
 | I was carving through the parking lot and even up by the sign! Perfect place to ride! [link] [comments] |
Can old dogs teach us new tricks for how to live longer, healthier lives? A nationwide project searches for answers.
The Rowe family dog Ralph was one of many canines who participated in a study of the drug rapamycin. Scientists were able to gain new insight into the drug's potential as a treatment by studying his brain.
The Dog Aging Project is working to help dogs live longer, healthier lives. The research results may help humans age well, too.
The Trump administration is working with a U.S. company to challenge China's dominance over rare earth elements. The metals are essential for components in smartphones, robotics, fighter jets, and drones.
The Trump administration brokered an unusual deal with a U.S. mining, refining and magnet company as part of a plan to diminish America's reliance on China for rare earths.
China rolls out over 1,000 cargo ships a year, while the U.S. – maybe three. The Trump administration has called this a crisis with both economic and national security risks.
The Trump administration has called the floundering American shipbuilding industry an economic and national security crisis. Getting help from overseas may be one way to save the domestic industry.
One untapped resource to meet the rising need for rare earth elements: recycling what's already been used.
Tehran’s response to Trump’s threat signals a potentially dangerous escalation as both sides menace sites relied on by millions
Tehran has said it will “irreversibly destroy” essential infrastructure across the Middle East, including vital water systems, if the US follows through on Donald Trump’s threat to “obliterate” Iran’s power plants unless the strait of Hormuz is fully opened within two days.
As Iranian missiles struck two southern Israeli cities overnight, injuring dozens of people, and Tehran deployed long-range missiles for the first time, the developments signalled a dangerous potential escalation of the war, now in its fourth week, with both sides threatening facilities relied on by millions of people.
Continue reading...Unrelated context: I moved to NYC and where i didn't want to ride (i'm a scaredy cat) and I also ended up ballooning up to 270lbs. I finally moved to a different area and down to 245 and still going down.
The real concern: 3 years completely dormant, never keeping a charge or anything. Should I be worried about the battery? Firmware updates? Just looking to be preemptive before I try turning it on and ruin it. Also it's always been kept indoors so that's good at least.
Edit: sorry I have a Pint X
AirDrop support will start with the Galaxy S26 this week and is planned for more Galaxy devices later.
A man crossing the street one San Francisco night spotted a self-driving car — and decided to confront its passenger, 37-year-old tech worker Doug Fulop. The New York Times reports the man yelled that "he wanted to kill Fulop and the other two passengers for giving money to a robot." A taxi driver would have simply driven away. But Fulop's vehicle had no driver — it was a self-driving Waymo... Self-driving cars are designed to stop moving if a person is nearby. People can take advantage of that function to harass and threaten their passengers.... It was unsettling to be trapped inside a Waymo during an attack, Fulop said. "If he had kept hammering on one window instead of alternating, I'm sure he would have eventually broken through," he said. The attacker did not appear to be on drugs or otherwise impaired, but seemed to be overtaken by extreme anger at the self-driving car, Fulop said. It did not seem safe to get out and run, he added, since the man was trying to open the locked doors and said he wanted to kill the passengers. They called 911 and Waymo's support line, Fulop said. Waymo told them that it would not manually direct the car away if someone was standing nearby, and that the passengers would be OK with the doors locked. The car's software does not allow riders to jump into the driver's seat and take over during an incident. The attack lasted around six minutes. By then, bystanders had begun cheering on the man, Fulop said. That distracted the man, who moved far enough away from the car that it could finally drive away... Fulop said he had stopped using Waymo for a time after the January attack and would avoid the service at night unless the company changed its policy of not intervening when a hostile person threatened riders. "As passengers, we deserve more safety than that if someone is trying to attack us," he said. "This can't be the policy to be trapped there." The article remembers other incidents — including a 2024 video showing three women screaming as their autonomous taxi is spray-painted by vandals. And technology author/speaker Anders Sorman-Nilsson says in Los Angeles five men on e-bikes surrounded his Waymo and forced it to stop. The author felt safe inside the vehicle, according to the times, which adds "He felt reassured knowing that Waymo's many exterior cameras were recording the men. After around five minutes, he said, they gave up and rode away."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Programme is being billed as the most ambitious housebuilding project in England for half a century
Ministers have confirmed the locations for seven new towns, which include under-developed inner-city land, a historic village and an existing new town.
The programme is being billed by the housing and communities department as the most ambitious housebuilding project in England for half a century, with the planned construction of between 15,000 and 40,000 homes in each new town.
Continue reading...Centre-left Robert Golob and rightwing populist Janez Janša are frontrunners in contest after polarised campaign
Campaigners in Slovenia warned of a surge in anti-Romany rhetoric as the country headed to the polls on Sunday, leaving many bracing for the outcome of a vote that has become, in part, a referendum on how the country treats its most marginalised.
In Sunday’s vote, the prime minister, Robert Golob, of the centre-left Freedom Movement party, faced off against the rightwing populist and Donald Trump ally Janez Janša.
Continue reading..."Billionaire Elon Musk has announced plans to build a $20 billion chip plant in Austin, Texas" reports a local news station: Musk announced on Saturday night during a livestream on his social media platform X that the plant, called "Terafab," will be built near Tesla's campus and gigafactory in eastern Travis County. The long-anticipated project is a joint venture between Musk-owned properties Tesla, SpaceX and xAI... The Terafab plant is expected to begin production in 2027. Musk "has said the semiconductor industry is moving too slow to keep up with the supply of chips he expects to need," writes Bloomberg — quoting Musk as saying "We either build the Terafab or we don't have the chips, and we need the chips, so we build the Terafab." Musk detailed some specific plans, including producing chips that can support 100 to 200 gigawatts a year of computing power on Earth, and chips that can support a terawatt in space, but gave no timelines for the facility or its output... The facility is expected to make two types of chips, one of which will be optimized for edge and inference, primarily for his vehicle, robotaxi and Optimus humanoid robots. The other will be a high-power chip, designed for space that could be used by SpaceX and xAI... Musk said he expects xAI to use the vast majority of the chips. During the presentation, Musk also unveiled a speculative rendering of a future "mini" AI data center satellite, one piece of a much larger satellite system that he wants SpaceX to build to do complex computing in space. In January, SpaceX requested a license from the Federal Communications Commission to launch one million data center satellites into orbit around Earth. Musk said that the mini satellite he revealed would have the capacity for 100 kilowatts of power. "We expect future satellites to probably go to the megawatt range," Musk said. Raising money to build and launch AI data centers in space is one of the driving forces behind SpaceX's planned IPO later this year. SpaceX is expected to raise as much as $50 billion in a record-setting IPO this summer which could value it at more than $1.75 trillion, Bloomberg News reported earlier.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Just had a listing taken down because "Used large lithium batteries and chargers are not allowed." Since when?? Anyone else have this happen? I also noticed a lot of the other listings I remember being there are now gone.
So I am a bigger guy, 245lb 6ft. I ride a +XR at the moment and love it!
My question, is it worth the price for a GTs for the 113 voltage?
Or do you guys think the XRC will be just fine with the 75 voltage at my weight?
There is a park near my house I like to ride at, it has a nice paved trail and I enjoy carving on it and just floating.
Well there is grass areas with slight hills that seem do able and fun as hell if I commit.
Problem is grass riding feels REALLY weird to me(I'm only 100 miles in on my +XR btw) and am afraid to accelerate on grass because is feels like I will nosedive.
Tanner suspended over misconduct allegations
Sons of Ben want further explanation of situation
Amid the worst start to a season in team history, the Philadelphia Union’s largest supporters group has criticized the club’s response to the suspension of its sporting director, Ernst Tanner. Tanner, who was the subject of a league investigation into wide-ranging, alleged misconduct, was suspended by Major League Soccer without pay last week; the suspension runs through 1 June.
The Union released a boilerplate statement after the suspension was announced, with Tanner apologizing to the club and its supporters for the situation’s “impact.” Tanner did not address any of the allegations made against him or offer an apology to any specific person. He has denied the allegations throughout.
Continue reading...A new bill proposed in California "goes after big tech companies" writes Semafor. Supported by Y Combinator, Cory Doctorow , and the nonprofit advocacy group Fight for the Future, it's called the "BASED" act — an acronym which stands for "Blocking Anticompetitive Self-preferencing by Entrenched Dominant platforms." As announced by San Francisco state representative Scott Wiener, the bill "will restore competition to the digital marketplace by prohibiting any digital platform with a market capitalization greater than $1 trillion and serving 100 million or more monthly users in the U.S., from favoring their own products and services on the platforms they operate." More from Scott Wiener;s announcement: For years, giant digital platforms like Apple, Amazon, Google, and Meta have used their immense power to promote their own products and services while stifling competitors — a practice also known as self-preferencing. The result has been higher prices, diminished service, and fewer options for consumers, and less innovation across the technology ecosystem. Self-preferencing also locks startups and mid-sized companies out of the online marketplace unless they play by rules set by their competitors. As a new generation of AI-powered startups seeks to enter the marketplace, their success — and public access to the innovations they produce — depends on their ability to compete on an even playing field. "Anticompetitive behavior is everywhere on the internet," said Senator Wiener, "from rigged search results, to manipulative nudges boosting the 'house' product, to anti-discount policies that raise prices, to the dreaded green bubble that 'breaks' the group chat. When the world's largest digital platforms rig the game to favor their own products and services, we all lose. By prohibiting these anticompetitive practices, the BASED Act will protect competition online, empower consumers and startups, and promote innovations to improve all our lives." The announcement includes a quote from Teri Olle, VP of the nonprofit Economic Security California Action, saying the act would "safeguard merit-based market competition. This legislation stands for a simple principle: owning the stadium doesn't mean that you get to rig the game." Some conduct prohibited by the proposed bill includes Manipulating the order of search results to favor a provider's products or services, irrespective of a merit-based process, Using non-public data generated by third-party sellers — including sales volumes, pricing, and customer behavior — to develop competing products that are subsequently boosted above the third-party sellers' product... And the announcement also notes that "under the terms of the bill, providers could not prevent consumers from obtaining a portable copy of their own data or restrict voluntary data sharing (by consumers) with third parties." Read on for reactions from DuckDuckGo, Proton, Yelp, Y Combinator, and Cory Doctorow.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
If approved on Monday, as expected, Mullin would replace Kristi Noem, whom Trump fired in early March
Donald Trump’s nomination of Republican senator Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma to be the president’s next head of homeland security on Sunday advanced toward final confirmation after the US Senate voted 54-37 to limit debate on the appointment.
The confirmation vote could come sometime on Monday. If approved, as expected, Mullin would replace Kristi Noem, whom Trump fired from the role of homeland security secretary on 5 March.
Continue reading...17-year-old took time off high school to win gold
Beats Belgium’s Eliott Crestan by 0.14 seconds
US teenager Cooper Lutkenhaus made history on Sunday when he won gold in the 800m to becomes the youngest ever champion at the world indoor athletics championship.
The 17-year-old, who took time off from his classes at Northwest High School in Texas to compete at the championships, won gold with a time of 1min, 44.24sec, 0.14 seconds ahead of Belgium’s Eliott Crestan. Mohamed Attaoui of Spain won bronze.
Continue reading...President Trump said Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents will assist TSA agents at airports as delays and security staffing shortages continue to worsen.
Israelis said securing the strait for energy shipments could become the war’s main goal now that regime change and ending Iran’s ability to obtain a nuclear weapon seem out of reach.
RACHEL GEHRMAN
Staff Reporter
As an app that was created primarily for entertainment purposes, the concept of TikTok controlling Generation Z’s news awareness may be surprising to older generations.
TikTok, a social media app that began as a platform for short, funny and creative videos, is now a fundamental source of news for its target audience — teenagers and young adults.
Gaining rapid popularity in 2018 and 2019, growing numbers of people downloaded the app. As of 2025, there were well over 136 million active users within the United States. Many still enjoy TikTok for its entertainment, but the platform has significantly grown into other markets.
As it turns out, many university students make up a fraction of TikTok’s 1.9 billion users, and utilize the app as a make-shift news outlet.
Emily Helm, a public policy major at the university, has experience using social media for news coverage.
“I am a public policy major, so I get lots of news from everywhere, but the app that I spend the most amount of time on is TikTok, and I follow the Washington Post, and the New York Times,” Helm said.
A variety of official news organizations have accounts on the app with particularly large followings, including CNN with around 11.3 million, Fox News with around 8.2 million and Daily Mail with around 24.9 million. News information regularly circulates the app, regardless of a user’s personalized algorithm.
When asking university students about the types of news they find on the app, answers ranged from the November government shutdown, food-borne illness in pre–packaged food and the Epstein files.
“I’m pretty sure I heard about the queen dying on TikTok,” Ryan Sharkey, a junior at the university, said. “Charlie Kirk too.”
However, while mainstream news sources are found on the app, TikTok is also home to an accumulation of news — offering videos unaffiliated with any accredited organization. It is not uncommon to find individual creators sharing pieces of news on the app, through both first-person accounts or commentary on an issue.
“I mean this is clearly the direction of the message now of meeting the public where they are,” Nancy Karibjanian, director of the university’s journalism program, said.
According to a study by Pew Research Center, the Americans who were surveyed consistently agreed that news must be factual, up to date and hold societal importance. The factual reliability of information can depend on the site that it is coming from.
Many university students explained their personal habits of fact-checking news after learning about it from TikTok.
“With some of the stuff about the government shutdown I looked into it more,” Kayleigh Jackson, a sophomore at the university, said. “But it also depends on who the person on TikTok is, because one of the people was an actual news reporter, so I trusted that more than just some random account.”
Jackson, like other university students, has adopted a layer of skepticism when navigating TikTok journalism. Others’ opinions have also proven to play a role in users’ confidence in the news they find on the app, namely through comment sections.
“Normally I see more content creators who make accounts and do news, and I always look at the comments to see people’s opinion on it, because normally people call out that it’s wrong,” Sharkey said. “And if I see skepticism in the comments, then I definitely won’t really believe it as much.”
Some students say their parents are wary of what they talk about learning on the app. Jumping to discredit it as a proper source, many parents are default-skeptics of the app — in terms of any kind of information, not just news.
“They feel like you can’t believe everything you see on the internet, especially TikTok, because people are just doing it for views,” Kaleila Boakai, a sophomore at the university, said.
Neglecting to mention that a certain piece of information came from TikTok is a way around parents’ voiced skepticism, utilized by many teenagers wanting to share something they learned on the platform.
“I never say I learn it off TikTok, and that means nobody’s there to question me about it,” Sharkey said.
While false news information has given the app a distrustworthy reputation, Karibjanian offers a new approach to the topic.
“I think that the fact that bonafide journalism is now engaging on TikTok is a good sign that there will be a spark people will get to want to know more and to think for themselves,” Karibjanian said.
"Today Show" co-host Savannah Guthrie is renewing pleas to residents of Tucson, Arizona, to jog their memories in the hopes of sparking new leads in the disappearance of her mother, Nancy.
Her husband, 19 Kids and Counting’s Joseph Duggar, was recently charged in separate case with lewd behavior against a child
Arkansas police have arrested Kendra Duggar, the wife of reality TV personality Joseph Duggar, on misdemeanor child abuse charges, in the latest scandal to envelop the family featured on TLC’s 19 Kids and Counting.
Kendra Duggar faces four counts each of endangering the welfare of a minor and second-degree false imprisonment, according to the Washington county sheriff’s office in Arkansas. She has a hearing scheduled for Monday.
Continue reading...An anonymous reader shared this report from the tech-news blog Neowin: Apple appears to have temporarily prevented apps, including Replit and Vibecode, from pushing new updates. Apple seems bothered by how apps like Replit present vibe-coded apps in a web view within the original app. This process virtually allows the app to become something else. And the new app isn't distributed via the App Store, but it still runs on the user's device... [S]uch apps would also bypass the App Store Review process that ensures that apps are safe to use and meet Apple's design and performance standards... According to the publication (via MacRumors), Apple was close to approving pending updates for such apps if they changed how they work. For instance, Replit would get the green light if its developers configure the app to open vibe-coded apps in an external browser rather than the in-app web view. Vibecode is also close to being approved if it removes features, such as the ability to develop apps specifically for the App Store.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Found a new route today to get out from one town and to a neighboring city. Tried it out and got some pics. The majority of it was following a towpath along a canal. Here's the best ones 🥰
Beginning the canal stretch of the journey Stoke Bruerne. Pretty village although not really a fun place to be so I don't stick around long.
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A common threat on canals and beside a lot of farmers fields is blackthorn bushes. The bushes are fine, it's the clipping. Lazy trimming ends up leaving loads of massive thorns that can be like 2cm long just laying like spike strips. On 3rd party tires these will just cleanly go through the tire. Thankfully I'm still rolling stock rubber so it just ignores even these evil thorns. That said... can't be mad, view is still beautiful.
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Bank gets slimmer and path gets less defined in a lot of spots. Not nearly the worst spot but a few later on were barely traversable safely on foot so riding was out of the question. Definitely have to scrub this route from the planned route with some of the other women I was planning >.>
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Another pretty little village. Ended up chilling here chatting to a chap moored up for a bit about things. Nice guy and had a cat that wanted cuddles so was well worth the trip.
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This was atop of an aqueduct entering the edges of Milton Keynes. Very pretty
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So I made it into MK. No pics to share since it's not a super picturesque place at least where I ended up.
The following is the transcript of the interview with Rep. Jason Crow, Democrat of Colorado, that aired on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" on March 22, 2026.
On this "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" broadcast, U.N. Ambassador Mike Waltz and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte join Margaret Brennan.
Luke Grimes leads the Yellowstone sequel.
Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz said "we are seeing our allies come around as they should," as Iran threatens shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.
Customers told not to eat affected pot and sachet products and to return them to place of purchase for refund
Several porridge products in the UK have been recalled over a possible mice contamination at their manufacturing site.
The British porridge and oat drink brand Moma issued a warning for seven versions of its pots and two of its sachets.
Continue reading...Cuba has begun restarting its power grid after another nationwide blackout left millions without electricity.
 | Installed this when I hit 2804 miles. Just swapped it out today at 6331 miles. Longest lasting tire I’ve ever put on my board. 3,500 + miles before it started leaking air. [link] [comments] |
Accusations of intimidation and harassment within UK diaspora including ‘aggressive’ and ‘coercive’ videos online
Iranians living in the UK have expressed safety concerns to authorities amid heightened tensions linked to the conflict with the US and Israel.
Online videos of individuals allegedly being “aggressive” and “coercing” in London, which is home to one of the UK’s largest Iranian communities, have led to some feeling unsafe.
Continue reading...Former head of the FBI who investigated Russia’s involvement in the 2016 US presidential election
Robert Mueller, who has died aged 81, led an investigation, as US special counsel, into Russian interference in the 2016 White House election and alleged collusion with Donald Trump’s campaign team. Trump was enraged by the two-year-long investigation, which dominated much of his first term as president. He repeatedly dismissed it as a “witch-hunt”.
Mueller’s report, published in 2019, was inconclusive. He found links between Russians and those around Trump, and that his bid for the presidency had benefited from Russian leaks that undermined the Democratic campaign. But he failed to establish collusion on the part of the Trump campaign.
Continue reading...In a 54 to 37 vote, two Democrats voted with all Republicans in attendance to advance Sen. Markwayne Mullin's nomination. A final confirmation vote is expected in the coming days.
It was 60 years ago when William Shatner — born in 1931 — portrayed Captain Kirk in the TV series Star Trek. Shatner turns 95 today — and celebrated by posting a picture of himself smoking a cigar. "At 95, I'm still smokin'!" Shatner joked, adding that in life he'd learned two things. "Never waste a good cigar. Never trust anyone who says you should 'act your age.'" For more celebrations, Paramount's free/ad-supported streaming platform Pluto TV announced a "Trek TV takeover birthday celebration" that will run through April 3rd, according to TrekMovie.com, with marathon of Star Trek movies and TV shows — and even that time he was roasted on Comedy Central. ("Freeâ½ My favorite price!" Shatner quipped on X.com.) Shatner still remains a popular celebrity, even travelling to space five years ago on a Blue Origin flight past the Kármán line. Since then he's led a cruise to Antarctica — and even performed an alternate take of Captain Kirk's final scene on the Jimmy Fallon show. And this week Shatner (along with hundreds of thousands attendees) appeared at Orlando's MegaCon — and shared stories about his life with Orlando Weekly: Shatner: Last month, I was on board a cruise ship, and they said the only thing I had to do over the next three days, "before we let you go home," is sing "Rocket Man." So I thought, "I'm not going to sing 'Rocket Man' the same way that what's-his-name did. ... So, I looked at the song very carefully to see if I could find what actors call a throughline. What is the character singing? What is he singing about? And so I look through all of these weird lyrics, and all of a sudden, the word sticks out to me: "alone." So I say to the band members, "OK, let's make this song about being alone in space." And I work on it with the band and the musicians, and again on a Saturday night, I perform the number, and 4,000 people stand up and applaud "Rocket Man." And they won't let me off the stage, again and again. Four times, I get a standing ovation, wild. And that's the progression for me, of science fiction for me, as exemplified by this song. The song went from superficial to something of depth and meaning... It touched people enough for them to stand up and applaud, and I realized that is the story of science fiction... Science fiction with all its great technology has evolved into great storytelling that reaches people in a manner that is very difficult for other types of drama to do. Shatner answered questions from Slashdot readers in 2002 ("My life is my statement...") and again in 2011. ("I used to try to assemble computers way back when and they came out looking like a skateboard...") And judging by his X.com posts, Shatner is now involved in early testing of the site's upcoming digital payment system X Money.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
In an interview with The Post after resigning from the administration in protest, the veteran said he is taking his message to the president’s supporters.
The following is the transcript of the interview with Mike Waltz, U.S. ambassador to the U.N., that aired on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" on March 22, 2026.
Today show host Savannah Guthrie’s family released new statement asking for help in locating missing mother, 84
Savannah Guthrie and her family have released a new statement about their missing mother, urging Tucson, Arizona, residents to come forward with potential clues about 84-year old’s Nancy Guthrie’s whereabouts.
In their statement on Sunday, the NBC Today show host and her siblings said: “We continue to believe it is Tucsonans, and the greater southern Arizona community, that hold the key to finding resolution in this case. Someone knows something. It’s possible a member of this community has information that they do not even realize is significant.”
Continue reading...The following is the transcript of the interview with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte that aired on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" on March 22, 2026.
Some say this is very dangerous. Others say they've done it dozens of times with no complications. Here's the deal -- I just jumped an xr battery that hadn't been used for a while -- the board and the battery look to be in good shape. The multimeter gave me a reading of 6.8v before jumping it. I connected it to a drill battery that read 19v. After 30 minutes of the two batteries connected together, the XR battery gave me a reading of 19v. I reassembled the onewheel and plugged it into the stock charger. It is now seeming to charge back up normally (hooray).
Is the safety of this battery now compromised from here on?
Is it considered dangerous to charge now?
Is it considered dangerous to ride?
The stakes are high for title-chasing Los Blancos in today's El Derbi Madrileño.
Aerial video shows floodwaters around Oahu’s North Shore and Waialua in Hawaii’s worst flood in more than 20 years.
Officials urged people in hard-hit areas to ‘LEAVE NOW’ after heavy rains fell on soil already saturated by downpours from a winter storm a week earlier.
Muddy floodwaters covered streets and farmland. On Maui, authorities upgraded an evacuation advisory to a warning for some parts of Lahaina, which is still reeling from a deadly 2023 wildfire, because of retention basins nearing capacity
Continue reading...Inquiry into sexual assault claims did not establish that chief prosecutor’s actions amounted to misconduct, judges advise
The international criminal court’s governing body is expected to meet on Monday to assess the advice of a panel of judges who have challenged the findings of an investigation into the chief prosecutor, Karim Khan.
Last year a UN inquiry into the allegations about Khan’s behaviour is understood to have established a factual basis for claims of misconduct against him. The senior British lawyer has been accused by a complainant of sexual abuse.
Continue reading...CNN looks at "the Magic AI fitness mirror," a new product "watching you, and giving you feedback automatically," while sometimes playing footage of a recorded personal trainer. Long-time Slashdot reader destinyland describes CNN's video report: CNN says the device "tracks form, counts reps, and corrects technique in real-time — and it doesn't go easy on you." (Although the company's CEO/cofounder, Varun Bhanot, says "we're not trying to completely replace personal trainers. What we are providing is a more accessible alternative.") CNN call the company "more a computer-vision firm than a fitness company, building the tech for this mirror from the ground up." CEO Bhanot tells CNN he'd hired a personal trainer in his 20s to get fit, but "Going through that journey, I realized how old-fashioned personal training was. Dumbbells were still dumb. There was no data or augmentation for the whole process!" "The AI fitness and wellness market is already huge — and it's growing," CNN adds. "In 2025 the global market was worth $11 billion, according to [market research firm] Insightace Analytic. By 2035, this market is expected to reach just shy of $58 billion. And Magic AI is far from alone. Form, Total, Speediance, and Echelon, to name a few, are all brands vying for a slice of this market. Even the most purely physical of activities — exercising your body — now gets "enhanced" with AI accessories...
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
The iNaturalist cellphone app not only helps users identify plant, animal and insect species; it also provides invaluable data to scientists studying biodiversity, species decline, and habitat loss - and, as Martha Stewart discovers, it's fun!
US president’s backing comes as Hungary’s PM faces toughest election campaign of 16 years in office
Donald Trump has endorsed Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orbán, who faces his toughest electoral challenge next month since taking power 16 years ago, as Europe’s far-right leaders gather for a “grand assembly” in Budapest.
In a video message, the US president told the national-conservative Cpac Hungary conference in the capital on Saturday that Orbàn, who has been trailing in the polls behind a centre-right rival for more than a year, was a “fantastic guy”.
Continue reading...Wait times aren't expected to improve until government funding is restored and TSA officers receive paychecks.
LAUREN BOYER
Opinion Columnist
As Generation Z enters the workforce, suits are being replaced with slippers and cubicles with couches. Growing up, I would watch my father leave for work every day with his suit and briefcase. I would think to myself that I couldn’t wait to wear fancy clothes and have a busy day, just like the red-lipped women in my books who wore travel suits and fancy hats.
Now, as a college student, I wrote articles from home for my first internship. For my third, I spent weeks sitting on my bed looking at spreadsheets. In short, it was not what I believed the life of a working girl was like for all those years.
It was less exciting, less elegant and less engaged with the world. It was lonely, sloppy and boring. I wondered if this was because of the rise of technology new to my generation, and if so, did that mean we were losing something human about the way we work?
Office culture looks different around the world, especially throughout history. But COVID-19 hit worldwide just a few years ago — and while its impact was far from equitable, it was extensive to say the least. Working from home became easier and officewear became more casual. Now that the pandemic has ended, we need to embrace dressing up and going into work.
There’s nothing like real connection — and I’m not talking about Wi-Fi. When you go to the office, you meet the people there, and you make it a place worth going. We can all agree that no one looks the same online as they do in person — we’ve all had awkward photos of us posted by friends, right? Not only do people look different, but they also engage differently, in both conscious and unconscious ways, when we interact with them in person.
Secondly, networking is important for life and careers. How can you build a strong relationship with someone you never see? It’s possible, but I argue it’s less rewarding. For long term purposes, it’s better to meet your co-workers face-to-face. Who knows? Maybe they’ll become life-long friends or even spouses.
Working from home makes it easier to get distracted. There is a lack of accountability, and slacking off looks more like scrolling than bonding with teammates. Plus, wouldn’t you rather go outside every day and go to a place with free coffee?
Lastly, going into the office is a great motivator for dressing up. COVID may have lowered our standards, but isn’t it nice to look in the mirror and feel put together? Besides this, dressing professionally usually makes people feel better and going into work with optimism and confidence can boost performance rates. That’s why presenters often dress up.
As thrift stores fill up with blouses and slacks and students wear flip flops to class in January, the takeaway is simple: Dressing up and going into the office is important for developing enduring connections with the working community, as well as maintaining accountability and performance levels.
Lauren Boyer is an opinion columnist at The Review. Her opinions are her own and do not represent the majority opinion of The Review staff. She may be reached at leboyer@udel.edu.
AI analytics firm has become influential in Whitehall, and FCA deal gives it yet more access to data
Palantir’s latest UK contract takes the AI and data analytics company into the heart of one of Britain’s biggest industries: financial services, which accounts for 9% of the economy.
The Miami-based company embedded its technology in the NHS in 2023, the police in 2024 and the military in 2025. Land and expand, they say in the tech industry. Palantir has followed the script, building contracts worth more than £500m.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Allowing US tech firm to analyse intelligence in name of tackling fraud raises fresh concerns over privacy
Palantir is to be granted access to a trove of highly sensitive UK financial regulation data, in a deal that has prompted fresh concerns about the US AI company’s deepening reach into the British state, the Guardian can reveal.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has awarded Palantir a contract to investigate the watchdog’s internal intelligence data in an effort to help it tackle financial crime, which includes investigating fraud, money laundering and insider trading.
Continue reading...Police found that five Barbie packages containing fentanyl were sold. They have all been recovered.
The Trump administration has asked a federal judge to dissolve her order preventing ICE from deporting Kilmar Abrego Garcia to Liberia.
"Google is beginning to replace news headlines in its search results with ones that are AI-generated," reports the Verge: After doing something similar in its Google Discover news feed, it's starting to mess with headlines in the traditional "10 blue links," too. We've found multiple examples where Google replaced headlines we wrote with ones we did not, sometimes changing their meaning in the process. For example, Google reduced our headline "I used the 'cheat on everything' AI tool and it didn't help me cheat on anything" to just five words: "'Cheat on everything' AI tool." It almost sounds like we're endorsing a product we do not recommend at all. What we are seeing is a "small" and "narrow" experiment, one that's not yet approved for a fuller launch, Google spokespeople Jennifer Kutz, Mallory De Leon, and Ned Adriance tell The Verge. They would not say how "small" that experiment actually is. Over the past few months, multiple Verge staffers have seen examples of headlines that we never wrote appear in Google Search results — headlines that do not follow our editorial style, and without any indication that Google replaced the words we chose. And Google says it's tweaking how other websites show up in search, too, not just news. The good news, for now, is that these changed headlines seem to be few and far between, and they're not yet the kind of tripe we've seen in Google Discover. (For example, Google Discover told me this week that the PlayStation Portal was getting a 1080p streaming mode, when it actually got a higher bitrate mode instead.) Compared to that and other lying Google Discover headlines like "US reverses foreign drone ban" — on a story reporting the opposite — the nonsense headlines we're seeing in Google Search are downright tame. The article points out that Google "originally told us its AI headlines in Google Discover were an experiment too. A month later, it told us those AI headlines are now a feature..." "Google confirmed that the test uses generative AI, but claimed that 'if we were to actually launch something based on this experiment, it would not be using a generative model and we would not be creating headlines with gen AI'..."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Witnesses describe coordinated raids in which homes and vehicles were set on fire and several Palestinians injured
Israeli settlers have carried out a series of attacks across the occupied West Bank, setting homes and vehicles on fire and wounding several Palestinians in what witnesses described as coordinated raids on communities.
The violence, reported across at least half a dozen locations overnight from Saturday into Sunday, comes amid a wider surge in tensions in the territory. The official Palestinian news agency, Wafa, cited local sources as saying settlers had entered al-Fandaqumiya and the nearby town of Seilat al-Dahr, south of Jenin, late on Saturday.
Continue reading...Nasa confirms meteor after residents reported hearing thunder-like noises about the time the fireball was visible
A suspected meteorite crashed into a home in suburban Houston on Saturday night, according to local residents and officials.
Speaking to the local news outlet KHOU11 over the weekend, Spring area resident Sherrie James recalled the incident, saying: “My grandson went to check and said there was a hole in the ceiling … then I saw the rock, and I thought, ‘That looks like a meteor.’”
Continue reading...Shadow justice secretary had called Trafalgar Square event an ‘act of domination’
James Cleverly has said he disagrees with his Conservative frontbench colleague Nick Timothy that public Muslim prayers are an act of domination, as another senior Tory called for the party to respect the right to worship.
Kemi Badenoch has defended Timothy, the shadow justice secretary, after he posted images of mass prayer at a Ramadan event on Monday evening in Trafalgar Square, calling it “an act of domination” and “straight from the Islamist playbook”.
Continue reading...Web domain added to government registry a month after president directed agencies to release files relating to UAPs
It was a gift to conspiracy theorists.
Last week, the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency registered the alien.gov and aliens.gov web domains, adding both to the official government website registry.
Continue reading...Nebraska, Indiana and West Virginia Republicans have all rolled back child labor regulations while the number of violations has risen fivefold in the last decade
The number of child labor violations has risen fivefold in the last 10 years, but Republicans across the US are continuing to propose and pass legislation that rolls back protections or regulations for workers under the age of 18.
Republicans in Nebraska, Indiana and West Virginia have successfully passed legislation in 2026 rolling back child labor regulations, with legislation led by Republicans pending in other states, including Florida, Missouri and Virginia.
Continue reading...About 65% of US firefighters are volunteers, as New York state says number has fallen to lowest level in 40 years
Officials have warned of serious consequences after the number of volunteer firefighters, the bedrock of firefighting in the US, plunged, leading to entire departments closing in some states.
About 65% of American firefighters are volunteers, serving in their free time alongside their regular jobs. In 2008 there were 827,000 volunteers nationwide, but that figure dropped to 635,000 in 2023, the last year data is available.
Continue reading...CNBC reports: Amazon has acquired Rivr, a Swiss robotics company developing machines for "doorstep delivery," the company confirmed Thursday... It announced the deal in a notice sent to third-party delivery contractors... "We believe this technology, when working alongside your [delivery associates], has the potential to further improve safety outcomes and the overall customer experience, particularly in the last steps of the delivery process...." In its notice to delivery service partner owners, Amazon said Rivr's technology, which includes a four-legged robot on wheels, will allow it to research and test how the devices can be integrated into delivery operations, including "helping [delivery associates] carry packages from delivery vehicles to customer doorsteps."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Running back retracts comments he gave on podcast
Player’s mother says she is asthmatic
New York Giants running back Cam Skattebo has apologized for saying that chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) and asthma are “fake”, insisting that his comments were not meant to be taken seriously.
In an appearance on the Bring the Juice podcast, the 24-year-old was asked whether he believes CTE – a degenerative brain condition linked to repeated head trauma – is real. Skattebo called the condition an “excuse”, before making a similar claim about asthma.
Continue reading...At a time when our nation is splintered in many areas of public life, the New Jersey Senator writes how virtue is a strategy to rekindle the belief that Americans' destiny is bound together.
The New Jersey Senator has been a face of the Democratic Party's resistance to the Trump administration. He expresses his hopes for our nation in a new book, "Stand," in which he encourages Americans to stand together, reminding us of our shared virtues.
Resolving boredom through our incessant attention to our devices has, according to New York Times bestselling author Arthur C. Brooks, also brought an end to letting our minds wander, inhibiting abstract thinking, and making us vulnerable to anxiety and depression.
In 2005, the "Friends" star played Valerine Cherish, a washed-up sitcom actress, in the HBO comedy "The Comeback." The show was cancelled, but it earned a cult following, and returned in 2014. Now, "The Comeback" is itself making a comeback.
The River Cafe in London has had a Michelin star since the late 1990s, thanks to co-founder, owner, acclaimed chef and podcaster Ruthie Rogers, whose new book, "Table 4 at the River Cafe," celebrates conversations and comfort food.
The phrase should evoke optimism, positive expectations about the future, trust and belonging. That seems almost out of reach in a chaotic world
One term has already become the well-intentioned weasel word of 2026: “social cohesion”. A phrase that can be dropped into speeches, inquiries and legislation, its meaning shape-shifts depending on the audience. Is it about “glue” or the rule of law? About community resilience or countering fear? Does it mean finding places of real exchange, or shutting up and getting on?
Although it has been in the political lexicon for years, the terror attack that targeted Jewish people celebrating Hanukah in Bondi last December brought social cohesion to the fore as an urgent problem to solve.
Continue reading...The White House’s politicization of the agency will have a real-world impact on small business owners in the US
Kelly Loeffler, the new administrator of the Small Business Administration (SBA), announced recently that the agency charged with supporting the businesses that are the backbone of the US economy would no longer be approving loans to small business owners unless they are US citizens. If you’re a legal, tax-paying immigrant with a green card and full residency? No loans for you.
This is a big mistake.
Continue reading...Heather Danae Lewis, who was one of 30 people charged in Minnesota church protest, showed she did not attend event
Federal prosecutors have dropped criminal charges against a woman accused of participating in a controversial January protest at a Minnesota church after the woman apparently did not attend the event at all.
Prosecutors notified a federal judge they intended to drop charges against Heather Danae Lewis, who was one of 30 people charged in connection with an anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) protest that disrupted a service at the Cities church in Saint Paul. Officials have charged the protesters with civil rights crimes, saying they interfered with the right of the congregants at the church to exercise their religious beliefs. The media professional Don Lemon, who was at the event reporting on the protest, was among those charged.
Continue reading...David Margolick's biography of Sid Caesar explores how the 1950s comic reinvented the art of comedy in the new medium of television.
Outfielder was angered by handshake snub during game
Arozarena says pair are ‘brothers and teammates’
Randy Arozarena says he has apologized to his Seattle Mariners teammate Cal Raleigh after an incident at this month’s World Baseball Classic.
Arozarena was representing Mexico against Raleigh’s USA when the teams met at the WBC on 9 March. Raleigh ignored Arozarena’s offer of a handshake during an at-bat, a move that angered the outfielder. In a later interview, Arozarena said Raleigh could “fuck off” and “go to hell.” Raleigh downplayed the incident, saying “we’re good friends and we’ll continue to be good friends”.
Continue reading...A master of humor, slapstick and accents, his 1950s series "Your Show of Shows" and "Caesar's Hour" rewrote the rules of comedy in the new medium of television. Biographer David Margolick and comedian Robert Klein discuss Sid Caesar's unique gifts.
Following an executive order from President Trump, the Department of the Interior has removed dozens of educational signs at our national parks that the administration claims promote "divisive narratives" and "corrosive ideology."
PM’s ‘cost of living champion’ calls for consideration of temporary measure to prevent profiteering from Iran war
The government’s top cost of living adviser has called on ministers to explore a temporary cap on the profits of energy and petrol companies to prevent them from cashing in excessively on the war in the Middle East.
Richard Walker – a Labour peer, the chair of Iceland supermarkets and the prime minister’s “cost of living champion” – said he had asked the government to examine limiting how much businesses were able to benefit from higher energy prices after Iran’s blockade of the strait of Hormuz, a crucial shipping route for Europe’s oil and gas, and the wider conflict in the region.
Continue reading...Officer said he held himself responsible for accidentally phoning activist while in secret special branch meeting
An undercover police officer has admitted he was exposed as an infiltrator by his own blunder, which has been described by activists as worthy of Inspector Clouseau, the spycops public inquiry has heard.
The officer, who used the fake name Simon Wellings, jeopardised his own covert deployment by mistakenly recording himself discussing individual campaigners with other special branch officers.
Continue reading...News that chickpea dip is to join list of products used for UK inflation basket confirms its move into the mainstream
It is a sign of the times. This week it was revealed that hummus is joining the list of foods used to measure the cost of living in Britain as the ubiquity of the dip at mealtimes sees it billed as the “new ketchup”.
The decision to drop a pot of hummus in the inflation basket is a moment for the all-conquering chickpea dip, which arrived on supermarket shelves on the late 1980s. Since then Britons have gone from spending virtually nothing to £170m a year on the versatile stuff.
Continue reading...Outpatient prescriptions for the drug increased 71% after the announcement, but the FDA later approved it only for folate deficiency
When Donald Trump and Robert F Kennedy Jr stood up at the press conference in September to tout leucovorin, a vitamin B derivative, as a treatment for autism, some neurodevelopmental doctors were shocked – and they braced themselves. There was little evidence to suggest the folinic acid helps with autism, yet there was an immediate flood of parents calling and scheduling visits to talk about the medication.
“The average parent who maybe wasn’t getting the right information said, ‘Well, to be good parents, we need to try this,’” said William Graf, a professor of pediatrics and neurology at Connecticut Children’s Medical Center. Outpatient leucovorin prescriptions for children ages five to 17 in the US rose by 71% in the weeks following the announcement, new research shows.
Continue reading...Most Republicans, especially MAGA, continue to support the US action and express a lot of confidence in Trump personally.
Regulators narrow securities definitions – a shift that could benefit Trump family’s crypto projects
On Tuesday, major US financial regulators published rules for the cryptocurrency industry that may reduce regulatory requirements and that insiders believe will benefit the Trump family’s ventures.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued new guidelines for the cryptocurrency industry to answer the longstanding question of what does or does not qualify as a security, a classification that entails strict oversight. SEC chair, Paul Atkins, has dubbed the framework a “token taxonomy” for the sector. Published jointly with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), the guidelines classify most of crypto-based assets as commodities, collectibles, payment tokens or “digital tools”, exempting them from the SEC’s more stringent oversight and disclosure requirements. Only blockchain-based representations of existing securities, such as stocks and bonds, remain classified as securities under this new framework.
Continue reading...Growers face soaring fertiliser and fuel costs as shipping choke point of the strait of Hormuz hits supply chains
It is peak harvesting season for avocados in the lush southern highlands of Tanzania but growers are racing against time to find buyers for the precious green fruits before they become overripe.
Donald Trump’s disastrous Middle East war is being felt in the world’s energy markets but oil and gas are not the only products that transit through the maritime choke point of the strait of Hormuz. The conflict is also hitting supply chains elsewhere.
Continue reading...Three cases previously confirmed reclassified by UK Health Security Agency after further testing
The number of confirmed meningitis cases linked to the Kent outbreak has fallen from 23 to 20.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said on Sunday that three cases previously thought confirmed had been downgraded after further testing.
Continue reading...I saw the wild Nosh One up close in January and it's available for preorder now. Here's my take on the pricey robo-chef.
Don't give up something you love out of fear or frustration. You may have to explore and adapt, but ultimately it's still about having fun.
Iran struck two communities near Israel's main nuclear research center late Saturday, leaving more than 100 people wounded in the southern part of the country.
Next year marks the 20th anniversary of the Apple Phone. We don't know what will it be called but here's everything we know so far about the alleged iPhone 20.
At GDC 2026, Google trumpeted Gemini-powered games, but the industry still hasn't found must-have uses to win over players and developers.
Though the majority of the president’s base backs the war, a schism has developed among Trump-touting media stars
When the histories of the Iran war and Donald Trump’s “Make America great again” (Maga) movement are written, there may be a special place for the words of former US congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene: “I wholeheartedly support Megyn Kelly telling the world that Mark Levin has a micropenis.”
Greene’s social media post summed up how the media stars of the Trump coalition have turned on each other in a ferocious, bitter and – sometimes – vulgar brawl. Figures such as Kelly, Levin, Tucker Carlson, Laura Loomer, Candace Owens and Ben Shapiro have clashed over the meaning of “America first”, the role of Israel and whether Trump is breaking his promise to end forever wars.
Continue reading...There are flooding rains in Hawaii, rare snow in Alabama and a severe heatwave in the west coast
The US is experiencing a striking mix of weather extremes this March. Flooding rains in Hawaii, rare snow in Alabama, flip-flopping temperatures in the north-east and, perhaps most concerning, a severe heatwave affecting the west coast are raising questions about how strange these patterns really are, and what role the climate crisis is playing.
Experts suggested that people around the US need to pay closer attention to the climatecrisis and do what they can to “minimize the impacts”.
Continue reading...Nvidia GTC brought out several robots I had never met before, offering a glimpse at many possible robotic futures.
America's cable TV industry "is undergoing its most dramatic collapse in history," reports Cord Cutters News, "with operators large and small waving the white flag on traditional TV service and pointing their customers toward streaming platforms instead." Just in 2025 Comcast lost 1.25 million pay-TV subscribers (ending the year with just 11.3 million), while Charter Spectrum also lost hundreds of thousands of customers each quarter. But "for smaller regional operators, who lack the scale and diversified revenue streams of giants like Comcast, those kinds of losses are simply unsurvivable," they write. And "the companies that once delivered hundreds of channels through coaxial cables are now either shutting down entirely or reinventing themselves as internet providers." Pay-TV subscriptions have plummeted from nearly 90% of U.S. households in the mid-2010s to roughly half by the end of 2025, resulting in billions in lost revenue and forcing many smaller operators to conclude that continuing linear TV services is no longer viable... [This year over U.S. 50 cable TV companies — primarily smaller and midsize providers — are "expected to cease operations entirely or shut down their television services," Cord Cutters News reported earlier.] YouTube TV's pricing is so competitive that the platform is projected to have close to 12.6 million subscribers by the end of 2026, positioning it to become the largest paid TV distributor in the United States. Exclusive content deals, such as YouTube TV's acquisition of NFL Sunday Ticket rights, have further eroded the value proposition of traditional cable at every level of the market... As older cable subscribers age out of the market, there is no new generation of customers waiting to replace them... [Cable TV] operators like WOW! are betting that their physical infrastructure — now increasingly upgraded to fiber — is more valuable as an internet delivery system than as a cable TV platform. [WOW! serves customers across Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, and Alabama — but is "phasing out its proprietary streaming live TV service and directing all customers toward YouTube TV," the article notes.] Industry observers see this as part of a broader trend: operators shedding unprofitable video segments to focus on broadband, where returns and network investments are prioritized. By the end of 2026, non-pay-TV households are expected to surge to 80.7 million, outnumbering traditional pay-TV subscribers at 54.3 million — a milestone that would have seemed unthinkable just a decade ago. For the cable companies still standing, the math is now inescapable: the era of the cable bundle is ending, and the only real question left is how gracefully each operator manages its exit.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Israeli air defence systems fail to intercept projectiles during attacks on southern cities of Arad and Dimona
Iranian missile strikes have wounded about 200 people in southern Israel, after air defence systems failed to intercept projectiles that hit two cities close to a nuclear facility.
Among the injured in the attacks on Arad and Dimona were a 12-year-old boy and a five-year-old girl, both reported to be in serious condition. The Israeli broadcaster Channel 13 reported early indications of possible deaths, though there was no official confirmation.
Continue reading...A partnership aims to ease food insecurity in low-income areas underserved by grocery stores
Dozens of newly planted fruit trees have created an oasis in a Florida “food desert” after local groups teamed up with the national Arbor Day Foundation in a project to counter soaring grocery prices.
Those behind the community forest venture in Orlando say demand from people struggling to afford basic, healthy food is at its highest level since the Covid pandemic.
Continue reading...These updates are smaller and meant to patch certain software components on your iPhone.
The Supreme Court will consider whether states can count mail ballots that are postmarked by Election Day but arrive after.
Leon Panetta calls president ‘naive’ over strait of Hormuz closure and says ‘the chickens are coming home to roost’
Donald Trump is stuck between “a rock and a hard place” after three weeks of war in Iran and “sending a message of weakness” to the world, Leon Panetta, a former US defence secretary and Central Intelligence Agency director, has told the Guardian.
Panetta, who served in the Bill Clinton and Barack Obama administrations, recalled that national security officials were always keenly aware of Iran’s ability to create an energy crisis by blocking the strait of Hormuz. That very scenario is now unfolding, leaving Trump with no exit strategy beyond wishful thinking.
Continue reading...Steve Reed says ‘UK is not going to be dragged into this war’ after Israeli warnings that Iranian missiles could hit Europe
Iran is not believed to have the capability or intent to hit the UK with its missiles, a cabinet minister has said, after Tehran aimed two at the UK-US airbase on Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean.
One missile failed to reach the island, while another was shot down by a US warship, according to reports. It was the longest-range attack yet by Iran since the country was attacked by the US and Israel.
Continue reading...The 1.3 release has been a long time in the making and there are still some details to flesh out. But those are mostly about reducing the config options and tweaking a few small details, so I’m providing this feature preview release for people to try out the new code and provide feedback. The plan is for this to become 1.3 as-is, just with the aforementioned cleanups.
This release brings two major improvements, the Timing rework and Sepoint smoothing. There’s also the (firmware 6.06+ only) feature of normalizing the tunes via the motor torque constant (calculated from the Flux Linkage motor config value).
Overall, this version introduces a number of improvements that cause small changes in behavior. Realizing this can be disruptive, I’ve tried to bundle all of them into one release to reduce the inconvenience as much as possible.
I’ve written a lengthy post about the details of these improvements. Short story of these changes is:
The core Setpoint smoothing algorithm is the 3-Stage algorithm from the old implementation. The config options have been updated to be more user-friendly, but three options remain:
The first option represents the time in seconds it takes for the setpoint value to reach approximately 66% of its new target, if the other two options (On/Off Speed Time Constants) were 0. So just think of it as the smoothing delay, typically set to something like 0.2-0.3s. This can (by nature of the filter) still be too harsh and so the other two options come into play. They also define the time to reach 66% of the target value, but for the speed of the transition, meaning how fast the value is changing. No need to think too hard about that, just know they are not of the same scale as the Smoothing Time Constant, but they are of the same scale between themselves. What’s the difference between them then? They correspond to the two Tiltback Speeds: Smoothing On Speed Time Constant corresponds to Max Tiltback Speed and Smoothing Off Speed Time Constant corresponds to Max Tiltback Release Speed. So, if we consider e.g. uphill ATR, setting a high On Speed Time Constant will slow down the nose going up, a high Off Speed Time Constant will slow down the nose going down.
Note the defaults prioritize slower On Speeds and faster Off Speeds. At least one of them needs to be slow for a smooth ride and slower On Speed seems more comfortable for casual riding. Racers might want to tweak these.
The options are added for Torque Tilt, ATR, Turn Tilt and Remote in the feature preview. Brake Tilt uses the ATR values. Note the defaults for these values are not necessarily optimal, the goal of the feature preview is to gather feedback and fine-tune them. For Turn Tilt and Remote the smoothing should likely be hard-coded and the options removed.
For ATR, the Response Boost option has been removed due to being deemed no longer necessary and the Transition Boost option has been reworked. Due to it having a different effect now, it was intentionally changed so that it won’t transfer from backups. A default value of 2.0x will be set in all 1.3 tunes.
On firmware 6.06+ the package has access to the motor Flux Linkage value. This value expresses the torque capability of the motor (technically torque constant, Kt, inverse of the speed constant, Kv). Refloat 1.3 will compensate for this (effectively use the value to internally convert all currents to torque). This means tunes will slightly change in their torque output depending on how much the motor Flux Linkage differs from the reference value of 27 mWb.
There are now two more realtime data values available in the realtime data plot in package UI: Control Loop dt and Control Loop Frequency
They are both defined by the IMU Sample Rate. In an ideal world Control Loop Frequency would be equal to the Sample Rate, but it ends up being a bit different depending on circumstances. It is heavily impacted by the Motor Zero Vector Frequency, which puts a significant load on the controller. ZVF only has an impact when the board is engaged (or more broadly when the motor current modulation is on).
The Control Loop dt is the time between control loop iterations. For viewing it the Data Recording firmware is necessary, regular realtime data which are logged around 10x per second cannot accurately capture it. The Data Recording plot can be used to check and tune the noise on dt, which heavily depends on combinations of IMU Sample Rate and Motor ZVF (make sure to record while the board is engaged as the plot will be different from when idle).
For the LSM6DS3 IMU with my 6.06 Refloat Extras firmware, IMU Sample Rate 1200 Hz and IMU bus speed 700 kHz, this plot is with Motor ZVF 35 kHz:
And this is with Motor ZVF 25 kHz:
The combination of IMU Sample Rate 1200 Hz, bus speed 700 kHz and Motor ZVF 25kHz is the best that I’ve found so far for a very clean control loop timing. A disadvantage being the 25 kHz ZVF produces an audible high pitch noise.
A noisy dt does not necessarily mean it’s bad. The timing is partially compensated but low noise can only be better. I haven’t noticed any observable impact of having a noisy dt, any observations and feedback is welcome. You can play around with these values and see what you get.
Note on IMUs: You can find more info on the LSM6DS3 situation in the firmware link. For BMI160 upon a brief check, for configured 800 Hz the real frequency when engaged with ZVF 28 kHz is 500 Hz. You can inspect the data on your board and see what you find.
I invest a lot of time and energy into developing and testing of these improvements. If you would like to support Refloat development, here’s a few options to do so.
Scott Peyton left the Lafayette, Louisiana, diocese after priest admitted to abusing his son and was excommunicated months later
A Louisiana man who resigned as a Roman Catholic deacon after a priest molested his son and then was excommunicated from the church entirely by his local bishop is asking global church leaders to inform him of the fate of his appeal against the prelate’s decision, something that was supposed to be resolved more than a year earlier.
In a letter to the Vatican entity in charge of clerical discipline, a canon – or church – law attorney representing Scott Peyton asserts that his case is “nuanced and requires careful consideration”. “To the extent that the delay reflects such diligence, he is grateful,” said the letter to the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF), prepared by Dawn Eden Goldstein on 3 February and obtained recently by the Guardian.
Continue reading...BEIRUT — It is morning outside Mohammed Al-Amin Mosque in downtown Beirut, and beneath the gigantic crescent moon statue, a woman in a white hijab and dirtied floral dress is calling for her children.
She screams out the name of one of them, Mohammed, when he almost wanders into the busy street.
Fatima, 45, fled the southern suburb of Bourj al-Barajneh with her family on March 2 when Israel bombarded the community as part of the broadening regional war.
She is a mother of two young boys and an older daughter who are sitting cross-legged around her on cardboard boxes. Thick comforters, a jug of water, and a half-eaten bag of Lebanese bread lean on the statue behind them.
It’s not the first time they have been displaced. The family is originally from Syria but escaped the civil war for the relative peace of Bourj al-Barajneh. Fatima’s mother, Warde, 70, is there in her wheelchair; she sheltered in the exact same spot under the gigantic crescent moon statue in 2024 when Israel last struck their neighborhood.
This time, they abandoned their home when the explosions brought her sons to tears. “Children are not like adults; there is fear and there is terror,” she says. “So we left Bourj al-Barajneh. Yesterday we slept near this statue.”
“Our children have been hungry since yesterday. I mean there’s no food, no drink,” she explains. “And yesterday night the children were freezing.”
“Children are not like adults; there is fear and there is terror.”
Authorities in Beirut have done nothing to help them, Fatima says. They are among a wide swath of the Lebanese populace that has been uprooted and one of tens of families who have found shelter near the gigantic crescent moon statue. A few men brought them blankets when they saw that the family was cold. The problem is that they have nowhere to go now. “Now we’re afraid to go back. They’re saying there’s bombing. So, we’re forced to be sitting here on the ground. What can we do? There’s no solution. There’s nothing,” she says.
The next day, they are gone.
Israel’s wave of attacks on Lebanon are the deadliest conflict in the country since the 1975–1990 civil war. According to the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health, Israeli airstrikes have killed more than 1,000 people, 118 of them children, and displaced 1 million others. Israel says it is targeting Hezbollah but has consistently struck residential buildings in the south and east of the country, the southern suburbs of Beirut, and, recently, parts of central Beirut as well.
Nowhere seems safe, especially for those whose apartments are in evacuation zones that encompass nearly 600 square miles, according to the United Nations. As of mid-March, as many as 1 in 5 people in Lebanon have been displaced by Israeli military operations. The Intercept walked the streets of Beirut to learn their stories.
Across the street from the statue where Fatima’s family sheltered, two teenage boys lay on a thin mattress pushed up against a wall covered with purple and yellow graffiti. One is awake and scrolling his phone with one hand behind his head. Behind him, his brother sleeps.
Karim is 16, with dark brown hair and an inviting face. A few days ago, he was in Dahieh, the southern suburbs of Beirut, trying to pick up odd jobs to make money. He lived with his family in an apartment and shared a room with his brother.
On February 28, the night the U.S. and Israel killed Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, Karim heard “problems would soon be coming to Lebanon.” He wasn’t convinced at first. When Israel started hitting the southern suburbs, Karim narrowly avoided an air attack as his parents and brother tried to escape by car on the street known as Airport Road, which connects downtown Beirut to the Rafic Hariri International Airport. “They were striking in front of us, cutting off the road.”
“If we find a house, we’ll go, and if we find a school, we’ll go. And if we don’t find anything, we’ll stay here.”
When they made it to downtown Beirut, his family tried to find a place to stay in schools that were being converted into makeshift shelters, but they were mostly full. “My mom has a mental health condition,” he explains. “The schools are overcrowded, and it bothers her too much.”
That’s why he’s sleeping on the street and using cafes to charge his phone. Karim runs into dukkan, or corner stores, for food, water, or whatever else he needs.
He wants to return to his house, but the strikes have only gotten worse in Dahieh since they arrived. “We have to be patient. What can we do? If we find a house we’ll go, and if we find a school we’ll go. And if we don’t find anything we’ll stay here. We have to have patience,” he says.
“Right now, everything is exhausting. I am just so tired.”
It’s hard to grasp the scale of displacement inside Lebanon. Already, according to the U.N., 667,831 people have registered themselves as displaced with Lebanon’s government. Lebanon’s National Disaster Risk Management Unit reports that “119,700 displaced individuals [are] currently accommodated in 567 collective shelters.” However, reports suggest that more than 1 million people — of a population of just about five and a half million — are displaced, including many who have not yet registered. According to Al Jazeera, about 99,000 homes were already damaged or destroyed in the previous 14 months before this escalation started.
The Lebanese government, with the U.N. and local NGOs, says it is responding to the emergency by opening public schools, the city’s stadiums, and universities as temporary shelters. With support from the U.N. Development Programme, they also created a disaster management unit to coordinate aid, such as essential supplies and cash transfers, and direct people to safer regions like the North and Bekaa.
Despite these efforts, the scale of displacement has far exceeded the government’s capacity to provide aid. Every one of the 36 displaced people in Beirut who spoke with The Intercept said the response has been inadequate.
“Where is the government? What are they doing?” one humanitarian aid worker asks frustratedly.
The man who raises this question over and over again is Mohammed, who shares his frustration while sitting on his motorcycle and smoking a cigarette in front of Ras Beirut’s Public Secondary School, which has been converted into a shelter. He describes himself as part of the “resistance against Israel,” and as “a son of Ras Beirut,” known in the capital city as an upper-scale and religiously mixed neighborhood.
“I am here to help the displaced people in that school behind me,” he points.
He doesn’t think the Lebanese government is doing enough for its displaced citizens. “Children, boys, women, girls, are just sitting in the street with no one to feed them, no medicine at all, so we are trying, as the sons of this area, to serve them best we can.”
Mohammed says that there are around 450 displaced people in the school with few resources. “They have no mattresses or pillows to put their heads on right now,” he begins to speak louder and get more agitated. “Inside the school, women and children are sleeping on the floor barefoot covering themselves with their clothes instead of blankets,” he says.
Throughout March, schools in Lebanon have faced a near-total disruption due to the sharp escalation in conflict. Since October 2023, Lebanon’s schools have faced repeated widespread interruption.
The atmosphere inside the school is tense as families bunch together in classrooms trying to find room. One couple has set up a nargileh, and the woman, who is in a black hijab, takes a long, deep pull from the hose and lets out a plume of smoke. “No pictures here,” one of the gentlemen running the displacement shelter tells a European journalist with a camera around her neck. “It is a very sensitive time for all of these people.”
The facade of the school has one blue balcony on the upper left-hand side that overlooks Hamra in Ras Beirut. On it, a pair of red children’s pajama pants, along with several other pieces of clothing, are hung out to dry. “These are the children of the southern suburbs, and where are they? They are on the streets,” Mohammed says.
Hundreds of tents have sprung up along the highway that passes Horsh Beirut, a park that butts up against the southern suburbs of the city. Yara Sayegh has taken it upon herself to help their inhabitants.
Sayegh runs an organization called Truth Be Told, which usually focuses on transitional justice and human rights in Lebanon. Now it is serving as an emergency response initiative, cooking and distributing meals and medicine to families in tents across the area. She has experience after responding the same way in during a period of intense Israeli strikes in 2024.
Recently, she decided to build a makeshift kitchen at Riwaq Cafe near Mar Mikhael in Beirut. “I decided, given how much transparency is needed and the importance and the attention to detail, and the amount of corruption I have witnessed during crises, I would just open up my own [kitchen].”
Every day, volunteers show up to the cafe around 10 a.m. to help cook and pack meals for those fasting in Horsh Beirut. Her chef, Omar Khaled, directs volunteers on how to dice onions, squeeze lemons, and cook mujadara. He counts and recounts the boxed meals before they go out to the houseless people on the streets. Sayegh passes out as many as 1,000 meals a day in the park and surrounding areas.
“Whatever I do right now, whatever a lot of us are doing, isn’t enough,” Sayegh says “There are too many families who are displaced.”
On a rainy night in mid-March, Sayegh drives the meals to Horsh Beirut. Along the perimeter of the park, tents lining the streets are sopping wet. Tarps hang over four or five of them at a time. As she backs up her car, a line forms of people who need her help.
“Is my medicine ready?” one woman calls out.
“No, ma’am not yet, but inshallah I will try to bring it to you tomorrow,” Sayegh responds as she jots down another young woman’s information onto an Excel spreadsheet on her laptop.
“I am committed to them, there aren’t enough people helping, and they have nowhere to go,” Sayegh says.
Israel’s attacks on Lebanon extend far beyond Beirut and its suburbs. The most devastating strikes have been across the south of the country.
Evacuation orders took effect both south and north of the Litani River, a crucial and agriculturally rich landscape powered by the river itself, in the last week. But problems for southerners started much before that.
At the height of its war on Gaza in 2024, Israel began a series of strikes in southern Lebanon, aimed at what it said were militant groups, including Hezbollah, that had been launching retaliatory salvos across the border. This included a campaign of deadly Israeli ground raids in the border region and the expansion of what it says is a “buffer zone.”
According to the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon, between November 2024 and the end of 2025, Israeli forces have committed over 10,000 air and ground violations of a November 2024 ceasefire agreement. This included daily airstrikes and ground incursions that killed hundreds in Lebanon, including civilians. Israel never withdrew troops from southern Lebanon and has pushed further into the country as its right wing parties call to settle Lebanon and make the Litani River Israel’s northern border.
Buildings in that area have been leveled to the ground, and the Israeli military has paved roads over Lebanese homes, making sure displaced people can never return. The reality on the ground is “undeniable erasure” says Hanan, a queer Lebanese American art history student at the American University of Beirut. She is among those dealing directly with Israel’s aggression in southern Lebanon.
Hanan grew up in Arizona about 30 minutes from the Mexican border. She came to Lebanon in August to pursue a master’s degree in art history and curation. Ever since Israel’s so-called ceasefire with Hamas, she felt a pull to Lebanon and her family there. She was drawn by bucolic memories of past visits.
“I romanticize the shit out of that time now,” she says. “We literally ate mulberries off the trees on the mosque grounds and chopped vegetables all morning listening to Arabic music.”
Last week, her family’s house in Chehabiye, near the southern border, was destroyed. Hanan is now housing 12 relatives in her two-bedroom apartment in Beirut’s Achrafieh neighborhood, an upper-class Francophile, predominantly Christian community.
“Some were more prepared than others when they came. They all mostly left in a hurry,” she explains. Because of the chaos and the traffic, it took her family two days to get to her apartment in Beirut. On the journey, they slept in their cars.
They had jobs at shoe stores and grocery stores, Hanan says. Kids were just beginning school. One relative had finally purchased a motorcycle after saving his money; it was destroyed in the strikes. “All of their lives have become completely upended,” she says.
She thinks her relatives’ building was targeted because a Hezbollah-affiliated Al-Qard Al-Hassan bank occupied the first floor. Founded in 1982, Al-Qard Al-Hassan operates more than 30 branches across Lebanon and is registered as an NGO with the Lebanese Ministry of Interior. But it is not licensed by Banque du Libam, the central bank of Lebanon, to operate as a bank. The U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned Al-Qard Al-Hassan in 2007, stating Hezbollah uses it as a cover to manage financial activities and access the international financial system. This month, the Israeli military conducted a systematic campaign of airstrikes against numerous branches across Lebanon, identifying them as legitimate military targets because they fund Hezbollah’s military activities.
Even in Beirut, Hanan’s family is treated with suspicion. Soon after their arrival, a neighbor threatened to inform authorities that 12 relatives were crammed into Hanan’s two-bedroom apartment.
“My neighbors are afraid we are targets for Israel.”
“It is just because they are southern and could be supporters of Hezbollah, and so my neighbors are afraid we are targets for Israel,” Hanan explains. “What they don’t understand is that the people of the south are helping each other, even when others leave them hanging.”
The tensions got worse on March 13, when Israeli aircraft dropped thousands of leaflets over several neighborhoods in Beirut. They called on the Lebanese citizens to “disarm Hezbollah” and said “Lebanon is your decision, not someone else’s.” Another flier, designed to look like a newspaper, warned that the current situation in Lebanon would turn into something similar to Gaza. The leaflets asked Lebanese people to inform Israel of Hezbollah’s whereabouts using a QR code.
The point, many believe, is to stoke civil tension and sectarian fractures that will destabilize the country. Sayegh, for instance, says her family and friends don’t support her humanitarian aid work. She comes from a Christian background and is often criticized for helping supporters of Hezbollah. “We are one people and that is the only way forward, and that is why I help. I believe in one Lebanon for all,” Sayegh says.
Many in Lebanon understand that its diverse religious makeup leaves it vulnerable to outside forces pitting the people of the country against each other. But in the current chaos and terror of Israeli missile strikes, many who supported Hezbollah’s retaliation on behalf of Gaza just a year ago are now changing their minds. “Where were they when Israel was breaking the ceasefire in the south thousands upon thousands of times in the last year?” a young woman whose family hails from the south asks. “It seems like they came alive only for Khamenei’s death, and I don’t fully believe their leaders are doing this for Lebanon anymore,” she says.
Hanan knows the current situation is untenable in the long run. “Their loose plan is to return to the south, but I can’t realistically see that happening anytime soon,” she says.
She and her father are looking at renting an apartment in an area that will be more forgiving to her family’s circumstances and backgrounds, but with 1 million people pushed from their homes, it won’t be easy to find lodging.
An uncle works at a soup kitchen attached to a mosque that has some underutilized office space. “There’s two rooms there that they use as offices,” Hanan says. “So he’s thinking that he can turn them into rooms temporarily before they return south, which is actually crazy, because the building right next door got bombed the other day.”
The post More Than 1 Million People in Lebanon Have Been Displaced. These Are Their Stories. appeared first on The Intercept.
Iran’s military said it would respond to strikes on Iranian energy infrasturcture with counterattacks against U.S.-linked energy facilities in the region.
At a time when the bad news feels endless, we should celebrate the gutsiness of a judiciary quietly standing up for democracy
Cast your mind back to the American south in the late 1950s, when federal trial court judges were called upon to do a herculean job – enforce the supreme court’s titanic decision in Brown v Board of Education, which struck down the “separate but equal” school segregation regime.
Bear with me for a brief history lesson, because it resonates today.
David Kirp is professor emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley and a frequent contributor to the Guardian
Continue reading...Figures seen by the Guardian show the two peers each attended just 1.12% of sessions in past four years
Evgeny Lebedev’s longstanding commitment to being the most relaxed member of the House of Lords has come under threat from another peer, Ian Botham, with both recording identical attendance rates of 1.12% over the past four years.
According to Lords records seen by the Guardian, Lebedev and Botham – who were both appointed by Boris Johnson – each managed to make it to seven of the 625 sessions of the upper house that took place from the start of 2022 to the end of 2025.
Continue reading...Mother's Day will be here before you know it, but shopping for a gift for Mom doesn't have to be stressful. Check out these outstanding gifts, all hand-picked by our expert editors.
If you have presbyopia or trouble seeing up close, a pair of reading glasses can easily be bought online without a prescription.
The Washington Post’s Venezuela reporter writes on a couple divided by the authoritarian regime in Caracas — and their joyful reunion.
Tehran’s unwillingness to capitulate as the war enters its fourth week is wrapped up in the power it exerts over the Strait of Hormuz, officials in the region say.
A blended Black family’s annual journey on horseback to the Houston rodeo is part of a seven-decade tradition.
In Colorado, where gas prices have surged higher than the rest of the country, the impact of the Iran war has changed daily lives for many. But not equally.
Exclusive: Rebecca Harris promotes latest Crewkerne Gazette skit, created by Joshua Bonehill-Paine who says he is Tory member
The Conservative party’s chief whip has been condemned for promoting AI-generated footage created by a notorious far-right figure who was jailed for hate crimes against Jewish people.
Rebecca Harris reposted the latest skit by the Crewkerne Gazette, which depicts Kemi Badenoch and her shadow justice secretary, Nick Timothy, as characters in the gangster film Scarface.
Continue reading...American last hit a competitive ball in 2022 but Instagram posts show her training again, with her motives still unknown
As was often the case in Serena Williams’s unparalleled tennis career, her time at the French Open in 2009 was far from straightforward. Her gritty performance in a third-round win against Spain’s María José Martínez Sánchez that went the distance was quickly overshadowed by a gamesmanship row after Martínez Sánchez refused to admit that one of Williams’s shots had struck her body, not her racket, before going back over the net. The point should have been awarded to the American.
An unimpressed Williams immediately protested to opponent and umpire. Then, once it became clear the point was a lost cause, she comically suggested Martínez Sánchez should probably not approach the net again. During her post-match press conference, Williams’s continued criticisms led to her uttering one of her more memorable quotes: “I’m, like, drama. And I don’t want to be drama,” she said, sighing. “I’m like one of those girls on a reality show that has all the drama, and everyone in the house hates them because no matter what they do drama follows them. I don’t want to be that girl.”
Continue reading..."It is the talk of the town today — the loud boom, the flash of light in the sky experienced by a lot of folks across the Houston area this afternoon," says a local Texas newscaster. "And then there was this — a home in northwest Harris county hit by something that crashed through their roof." Travelling at very high speed, the six-pound meteorite crashed through their roof and through their attic, crashing again through the ceiling of the floor below. It then bounced off the floor, hit the ceiling again — and then fell onto the bed. CBS News reports: NASA said in a social media post that the meteor became visible at 49 miles above Stagecoach, northwest of Houston, at 4:40 p.m. local time. The meteor moved southeast at 35,000 miles per hour, breaking apart 29 miles above Bammel, just west of Cypress Station, NASA said. "The fragmentation of the meteor — which weighed about a ton with a diameter of 3 feet — created a pressure wave that caused booms heard by some in the area," NASA said in the post. Across the Houston area, residents described hearing a low, rumbling sound that many compared to thunder, even though the skies were clear, according to CBS affiliate KHOU. Earlier this week, an asteroid weighing about 7 tons and traveling at 45,000 mph traveled over multiple states. And last June, a bright meteor was seen across the southeastern U.S. and exploded over Georgia, creating similar booms heard by residents in the area.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Unpaid carers say they remain ‘in limbo’ as DWP continues to pursue discredited repayment bills
MPs have threatened to launch a fresh inquiry into the handling of the carers allowance scandal after unpaid carers spoke of being “stuck in limbo” by the government’s response.
The warning came amid concerns over delays in Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) plans to offer redress to tens of thousands of carers who were unfairly issued with overpayment bills based on discredited official guidance.
Continue reading...Electoral alliances expected to play vital role in number of contests including Paris and Marseille
Voting is under way in France in the second round of local elections seen as a bellwether for next year’s presidential race – with cities including Paris and Marseille in the balance and both the radical left and far right hoping for gains.
Most of France’s 35,000-odd communes elected their councils in the first round last Sunday, but in municipalities where the contest is tighter, including most large urban areas, the second round will be decisive, with electoral alliances playing a key role.
Continue reading...Cyber experts say influence operations in ‘asymmetric’ campaign to intensify moral pressure on US and Israel
Iran has radically overhauled its social media strategy in an all-out information war launched by the country’s Islamic rulers in response to US and Israeli military attacks.
Cyber experts say Iranian foreign influence operations have gone into overdrive as part of an “asymmetric” campaign designed to complement its military retaliation and intensify moral pressure on the US and Israel into curtailing their war efforts.
Continue reading...‘Problem-solving’, child-focused courts to replace adversarial hearings, with earlier intervention to cut delays
Family courts are “not good enough” and have treated women and children unfairly for decades, a government minister has said.
Announcing a major overhaul of the family justice system in England and Wales that will play a central role in “rebalancing” the family courts, Alison Levitt said often brutal legal showdowns will be replaced with a “problem-solving”, child-focused model.
Continue reading...Donald Trump’s ‘little excursion’ is likely to have long-term effects, from oil prices to inflation to growth, say experts
In the days after the US and Israel first bombed Iran, financial markets bet the economic fallout from Donald Trump’s “little excursion” in the Middle East would be short-lived.
“There are risks from higher oil prices longer term. But this is a tail risk,” one US-based fund manager said after the airstrike killing Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. “History has shown time and time again that geopolitical flare-ups like this tend to be short-lived. This one should prove to be no exception.’’
Continue reading...National referendum is being seen as a de facto confidence vote on the government – and the polls are neck and neck
In the run-up to a referendum in Italy on a government quest to overhaul the judiciary, a campaign flyer circulated online quoting Giorgia Meloni, the prime minister, taking aim at judges and feminists. “Judges block the deportations of rapists. Where are the feminists? Vote yes – there will not be another opportunity,” it read.
The flyer, posted on the Facebook page of Meloni’s Brothers of Italy, a party with neofascist roots, was subsequently removed. But its tone has defined a campaign dominated by inflammatory rhetoric rather than meaningful debate.
Continue reading...The other day the gate gaurd in my neighborhood went “ I saw an ad on YouTube… they make a new version that can go off-road” and it had me thinking I wonder what some funny uninitiated questions comments you guys have gotten
"After nearly a decade of delays and industry skepticism, Tesla's electric big rig is finally rolling out of Nevada's Gigafactory for mass production starting summer 2026," writes Gadget Review. And some truckers who tested the vehicles already love them (as reported by the Wall Street Journal): Dakota Shearer and Angel Rodriguez, among other pilot drivers, rave about the centered cab that eliminates blind spots during tight maneuvers. The automatic transmission means no more wrestling with 13-gear diesels, reducing physical stress on long hauls. Most surprisingly, the Semi maintains highway speeds on grades where diesel trucks typically crawl at 30 mph. The 500-mile range enables multiple daily round-trips — think Long Beach to Vegas or Inland Empire runs — without range anxiety... Sure, the Semi costs under $300,000 — roughly double a diesel equivalent — but the math gets interesting quickly. Energy costs drop to $0.17 per mile compared to $0.50-0.70 for diesel fuel. Maintenance requirements shrink dramatically; one fleet reports needing just one mechanic for their electric trucks versus five for 40 diesels... Tesla offers Standard Range (325 miles) and Long Range (500 miles) versions, both handling 82,000-pound gross combined weight at 1.7 kWh per mile efficiency. The tri-motor setup delivers 800 kW — over 1,000 horsepower equivalent — enabling loaded 0-60 mph acceleration in 20 seconds versus 45-60 for diesel. Fast charging hits 60% capacity in 30 minutes [which Tesla says is 4x faster than other battery-electric trucks] using the new MCS 3.2 standard, while 25 kW ePTO power runs refrigerated trailers without diesel auxiliaries. Charging networks remain the biggest hurdle for widespread adoption. Public charging stations lack the Semi's massive power requirements, limiting long-haul routes. Tesla plans dedicated fast-charging corridors starting this summer, but coverage remains spotty. The lack of sleeper cabs also restricts the Semi to regional freight rather than cross-country hauling. Production scales to 5,000-15,000 units by 2026, then 50,000 annually — assuming charging infrastructure keeps pace with demand. Thanks to long-time Slashdot reader schwit1 for sharing the article.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
A possible meteorite crashed into a Houston area house on Saturday night, tearing through the roof and two stories of the home, officials said.
When Gary Herbst, described by his Minnesota neighbors as confrontational, disappeared on July 8, 2013, it appeared he walked out on his wife and teenage son. Years later, a startling discovery would confirm what neighbors thought they might have witnessed.
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Circling back now to Diego Garcia, Iran fired two intermediate-range ballistic missiles at the joint US-UK military base in the Indian Ocean – but neither of them hit, according to news reports citing US officials.
The Wall Street Journal said one of the missiles failed in flight, and that a US warship fired an SM-3 interceptor at the other, citing two US officials. It could not be determined if an interception was made, one said.
Continue reading...Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for March 22.
Here are hints and the answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle for March 22, No. 545.
LeBron James broke the NBA record for games played in the Lakers' win over the Orlando Magic on Saturday, passing Robert Parish with 1,612 career games.
Donald Trump threatened to deploy ICE agents to US airports on Monday if congressional Democrats do not immediately agree to fund airport safety – key US politics stories from 21 March at a glance
Donald Trump threatened to deploy Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to US airports on Monday if congressional Democrats do not immediately agree to fund airport safety.
Transportation Security Administration personnel are set to miss a second full paycheck on 27 March amid a partial government shutdown in its 36th day as lawmakers clash over funding for the Department of Homeland Security, the parent agency for TSA and ICE.
Continue reading...  | so ive been looking into the hubs and have been debating which one I should get and ideally want a btg set up but I dont see the option for tht particularly yet. As its not a small purchase id like to do a good buy and not have parts sitting around not being used in the end and not to have a duplicate. should I just wait for them to drop a btg hub for the xrc or does the gt btg hub work as an equivalent? and also on tht same thought is it a silly question to ask whether the xrv or gtv kit is best and the best battery etc to pair with it. (im pretty sure its the gtv although the naming can be confusing at 1st). and lastly I recently installed a flightfin fender to the xrc and my fm rail guards are preventing it from being flush and 100% secure which keeps the torque box sealed from the plastic flap. should I just take like rotary tool or something similar and just cut the like inch of the area it needs to secure without completely not having any railguards. [link] [comments] |
"We have removed all malicious artifacts from the affected registries and channels," Trivy maintainer Itay Shakury posted today, noting that all the latest Trivy releases "now point to a safe version." But "On March 19, we observed that a threat actor used a compromised credential..." And today The Hacker News reported the same attackers are now "suspected to be conducting follow-on attacks that have led to the compromise of a large number of npm packages..." (The attackers apparently leveraged a postinstall hook "to execute a loader, which then drops a Python backdoor that's responsible for contacting the ICP canister dead drop to retrieve a URL pointing to the next-stage payload.") The development marks the first publicly documented abuse of an ICP canister for the explicit purpose of fetching the command-and-control (C2) server, Aikido Security researcher Charlie Eriksen said... Persistence is established by means of a systemd user service, which is configured to automatically start the Python backdoor after a 5-second delay if it gets terminated for some reason by using the "Restart=always" directive. The systemd service masquerades as PostgreSQL tooling ("pgmon") in an attempt to fly under the radar... In tandem, the packages come with a "deploy.js" file that the attacker runs manually to spread the malicious payload to every package a stolen npm token provides access to in a programmatic fashion. The worm, assessed to be vibe-coded using an AI tool, makes no attempt to conceal its functionality. "This isn't triggered by npm install," Aikido said. "It's a standalone tool the attacker runs with stolen tokens to maximize blast radius." To make matters worse, a subsequent iteration of CanisterWorm detected in "@teale.io/eslint-config" versions 1.8.11 and 1.8.12 has been found to self-propagate on its own without the need for manual intervention... [Aikido Security researcher Charlie Eriksen said] "Every developer or CI pipeline that installs this package and has an npm token accessible becomes an unwitting propagation vector. Their packages get infected, their downstream users install those, and if any of them have tokens, the cycle repeats." So far affected packages include 28 in the @EmilGroup scope and 16 packages in the @opengov scope, according to the article, blaming the attack on "a cloud-focused cybercriminal operation known as TeamPCP." Ars Technica explains that Trivy had "inadvertently hardcoded authentication secrets in pipelines for developing and deploying software updates," leading to a situation where attacks "compromised virtually all versions" of the widely used Trivy vulnerability scanner: Trivy maintainer Itay Shakury confirmed the compromise on Friday, following rumors and a thread, since deleted by the attackers, discussing the incident. The attack began in the early hours of Thursday. When it was done, the threat actor had used stolen credentials to force-push all but one of the trivy-action tags and seven setup-trivy tags to use malicious dependencies... "If you suspect you were running a compromised version, treat all pipeline secrets as compromised and rotate immediately," Shakury wrote. Security firms Socket and Wiz said that the malware, triggered in 75 compromised trivy-action tags, causes custom malware to thoroughly scour development pipelines, including developer machines, for GitHub tokens, cloud credentials, SSH keys, Kubernetes tokens, and whatever other secrets may live there. Once found, the malware encrypts the data and sends it to an attacker-controlled server. The end result, Socket said, is that any CI/CD pipeline using software that references compromised version tags executes code as soon as the Trivy scan is run... "In our initial analysis the malicious code exfiltrates secrets with a primary and backup mechanism. If it detects it is on a developer machine it additionally writes a base64 encoded python dropper for persistence...." Although the mass compromise began Thursday, it stems from a separate compromise last month of the Aqua Trivy VS Code extension for the Trivy scanner, Shakury said. In the incident, the attackers compromised a credential with write access to the Trivy GitHub account. Shakury said maintainers rotated tokens and other secrets in response, but the process wasn't fully "atomic," meaning it didn't thoroughly remove credential artifacts such as API keys, certificates, and passwords to ensure they couldn't be used maliciously. "This [failure] allowed the threat actor to perform authenticated operations, including force-updating tags, without needing to exploit GitHub itself," Socket researchers wrote. Pushing to a branch or creating a new release would've appeared in the commit history and trigger notifications, Socket pointed out, so "Instead, the attacker force-pushed 75 existing version tags to point to new malicious commits." (Trivy's maintainer says "we've also enabled immutable releases since the last breach.") Ars Technica notes Trivy's vulnerability scanner has 33,200 stars on GitHub, so "the potential fallout could be severe."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Osaka admits to ‘dilemma’ after loss to Talia Gibson
Norrie, Boulter and Jones all out to end British hopes
Naomi Osaka has said she does not intend to continue competing if she frequently loses first-round matches after suffering a disappointing 7-5, 6-4 defeat to Australia’s Talia Gibson in her opener at the Miami Open.
Osaka, who received a first-round bye as the 16th seed in Miami, moved sluggishly in an error-strewn performance and was outplayed by the talented 21-year-old Gibson, who will play Iva Jovic in the next round.
Continue reading...Here are hints and the answer for today's Wordle for March 22, No. 1,737.
Here are hints and answers for the NYT Strands puzzle for March 22, No. 749.
Here are some hints and the answers for the NYT Connections puzzle for March 22 #1015.
Humanitarian organizations began delivering aid to Cuba by air Friday, including solar panels, food and medicine.
People in hard-hit areas of Oahu and Maui told to evacuate with still more rain expected over the weekend
As Hawaii endures its worst flooding in more than 20 years, officials urged people in hard-hit areas to “LEAVE NOW”. That warning early on Saturday came after heavy rains fell on soil already saturated by downpours from a winter storm a week ago, and still more was expected over the weekend.
Muddy floodwaters smothered vast stretches of Oahu’s North Shore, a community renowned for its big-wave surfing. Raging waters lifted homes and cars and prompted evacuation orders for 5,500 people north of Honolulu. Authorities cautioned that a 120-year-old dam could fail.
Continue reading...  | I am putting together the above mentioned board with a 5" pioneer tire and kush wide back footpad. I bought a drop top fender from tfl for an xr. I was planning to print adapters from the link. I noticed the fender looks too tiny for the pioneer and the adapters do not work with a kush wide. Any suggestions on what to do are appreciated. Thanks. [link] [comments] |
President attacks ‘Radical Left Democrats’ after homeland security funding bill again sinks in Senate
Donald Trump threatened on Saturday to deploy federal immigration agents to US airports on Monday if Democrats do not agree to measures aimed at strengthening security and immigration enforcement.
“If the Radical Left Democrats don’t immediately sign an agreement to let our Country, in particular, our Airports, be FREE and SAFE again, I will move our brilliant and patriotic ICE Agents to the Airports,” Trump said in a Truth Social post.
Continue reading...Victims of army drone attack on East Darfur health facility included children and medical personnel
A strike on a healthcare facility in Sudan has killed 64 people and wounded 89 more, the World Health Organization reported on Saturday.
The UN’s humanitarian office in Sudan had earlier said it was “appalled by the attack on a hospital in East Darfur yesterday, reportedly killing dozens, including children, and injuring more”.
Continue reading..."Imagine a newspaper publisher announcing it will no longer allow libraries to keep copies of its paper," writes EFF senior policy analyst Joe Mullin. "That's effectively what's begun happening online in the last few months." The Internet Archive — the world's largest digital library — has preserved newspapers since it went online in the mid-1990s... But in recent months The New York Times began blocking the Archive from crawling its website, using technical measures that go beyond the web's traditional robots.txt rules. That risks cutting off a record that historians and journalists have relied on for decades. Other newspapers, including The Guardian, seem to be following suit... The Times says the move is driven by concerns about AI companies scraping news content. Publishers seek control over how their work is used, and several — including the Times — are now suing AI companies over whether training models on copyrighted material violates the law. There's a strong case that such training is fair use. Whatever the outcome of those lawsuits, blocking nonprofit archivists is the wrong response. Organizations like the Internet Archive are not building commercial AI systems. They are preserving a record of our history. Turning off that preservation in an effort to control AI access could essentially torch decades of historical documentation over a fight that libraries like the Archive didn't start, and didn't ask for. If publishers shut the Archive out, they aren't just limiting bots. They're erasing the historical record... Even if courts place limits on AI training, the law protecting search and web archiving is already well established... There are real disputes over AI training that must be resolved in courts. But sacrificing the public record to fight those battles would be a profound, and possibly irreversible, mistake.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
 | So I accidentally snapped the pins in my footpad connector while trying to replace the footpad. My bad. FM in their typical fashion wants me to buy a $450 replacement controller box. Id rather not. Now im trying to use a Fungineers connector to repair it myself instead. The onewheel won't even turn on right now, and im hoping its not bricked. Im hoping thats just because theres no footpad connected. Can someone explain to me like im 5, what NOT to do or unplug to avoid bricking it? Also, if anybody knows how to do this repair or has experience with it, please let me know and give me any tips. Thanks! [link] [comments] |
I will go back to France, my Onewheel is travelling by boat… a very long trip 😝. Wish battery will survive 4 months without charging 😫
 | Hey guys . My first post here . I just wanted to share my story with my onewheel original that i got for 300€ . The story is im a fan of onewheel since i was a teenager . I always dreamt of having one and i always saw that its a very unique machine . So i moved to Europe in the last 3 years and i saw an add of a onewheel for sell . I always wanted one . I wanted to buy it from the official website but unfortunately its difficult to get it here . So i was on the search for a cheap onewheel . But i couldn't afford the prices here . I decided to build one and i approximately failed (another story for another time ) . Then an an ad for a onewheel v1 pop-up up . I bought it it got delivered and it was very much fun . I fell most of the times . But you learn with each fall . Then the hard news came . The footpad sensor broke . I couldn't buy one because there is non . I couldn't buy a used one because there is non . And the fact that im based in europe makes it very difficult. [link] [comments] |
13 million people live in Moscow, reports CNN. But since early March the city "has experienced internet and mobile service outages on a level previously unseen." (Though Wi-Fi access to the internet is still available...) Russian social media "is flooded with jokes and memes about sending letters by carrier pigeons or using smartphones as ping-pong paddles..." [Moscow residents] complain they cannot navigate around the center or use their favorite mobile apps. The interruptions appear to have had a knock-on effect of making it more difficult to make voice calls or send an SMS. Some are panic-buying walkie-talkies, paper maps, and even pagers. The latest shutdown builds on similar efforts around the country. For months, mobile internet service interruptions have hit Russia's regions, particularly in provinces bordering Ukraine, which has staged incursions and launched strikes inside Russian territory to counter Russia's full-scale invasion. Some regions have reported not having any mobile internet since summer. But the most recent outages have hit the country's main centers of wealth and power: Moscow and Russia's second city, St. Petersburg. Public officials claim the blackout of mobile internet service in the capital and other regions is part of a security effort to counter "increasingly sophisticated methods" of Ukrainian attack... Speculation centers on whether the authorities are testing their ability to clamp down on public protest in the case there's an effort to reintroduce unpopular mobilization measures to find fresh manpower for the war in Ukraine; whether mobile internet outages may precede a more sweeping digital blackout; or if the new restrictions reflect an atmosphere of heightened fear and paranoia inside the Kremlin as it watches US-led regime- change efforts unfold against Russian allies such as Venezuela and Iran... On Wednesday, Russian mobile providers sent notifications that there would be "temporary restrictions" on mobile internet in parts of Moscow for security reasons, Russian state news agency RIA-Novosti reported. The measures will last "for as long as additional measures are needed to ensure the safety of our citizens," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on March 11... As well as banning many social media platforms, Russia blocks calling features on messenger apps such as WhatsApp and Telegram. Roskomnadzor, the country's communications regulator, has introduced a "white list" of approved apps... Russia has also tested what it calls the "sovereign internet," a network that is effectively firewalled from the rest of the world. The disruptions are fueling broader concerns about tightening state control. In parallel with the internet shutdown, the Kremlin has also been pushing to impose a state-controlled messaging app called Max as the country's main portal for state services, payments and everyday communication. There has been speculation the Kremlin may be planning to ban Telegram, Russia's most widely used messaging app, entirely. Roskomnadzor said that it was restricting Telegram for allegedly failing to comply with Russian laws. "Russia has opened a criminal case against me for 'aiding terrorism,'" Telegram's Russian-born founder Pavel Durov said on X last month. "Each day, the authorities fabricate new pretexts to restrict Russians' access to Telegram as they seek to suppress the right to privacy and free speech...." The article includes this quote from Mikhail Klimarev, head of the Internet Protection Society and an expert on Russian internet freedom. "In any situation when they (the authorities) perceive some kind of danger for themselves and accept the belief that the internet is dangerous for them, even if it may not be true, they will shut it down," he said. "Just like in Iran."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
First responders report 33 injured at multiple sites in Dimona, including a 10-year-old boy in serious condition
An Iranian missile has hit the Israeli town of Dimona, home to a nuclear facility, in what Iran said was retaliation for strikes on its own nuclear site at Natanz.
Dimona hosts a facility just outside the main town widely believed to possess the Middle East’s sole nuclear arsenal, although Israel has never admitted to possessing nuclear weapons.
Continue reading..."Juicier steaks could soon be served up after barley was given the go-ahead to become Britain's first gene-edited crop," reports the Telegraph: In an effort to fatten up cows and get them to market faster, scientists have altered the DNA of Golden Promise barley to increase its fat content... [Regulators have approved the feeding of that barley to cows for further studies.] [T]he small increase reduces the time it takes for farmers to raise animals for slaughter and increases the amount of milk and meat they produce to make the industry more profitable. The gene-edited barley is also able to cut the amount of methane a cow produces, [Rothamsted Research professor/biochemist Peter] Eastmond said... Reducing methane from cattle is a major goal of the industry, and Professor Eastmond estimated his barley could cut the methane output from a single cow by up to 15%. The two genetic tweaks to the barley are believed to alter the gut bacteria in cows' stomachs and reduce the amount of methane-generating microbes, cutting the cows' emissions.... [Eastmond] is also working on applying the same two gene edits to rye grass to create pastures and meadows which are lipid-rich and calorie-dense. This, he said, could lead to entire fields of gene-edited grass which could be grazed by cows, sheep, horses and goats to fatten them up and cut emissions... "It would be better to have this technology in a pasture grass that's grown to supply the livestock and graze it directly." The barley "has been modified to have a single letter of DNA removed from two different genes to switch them off," the article points out. "No genes have been added to its DNA and it is not considered to be genetically modified." The article points out that Britain "has launched a push towards more gene-edited crops as a key post-Brexit freedom since splitting from the European Union," noting that U.K. scientists and private companies "have created products such as bread with fewer cancer-causing chemicals, longer-lasting strawberries and bananas, sweeter-tasting lettuce and disease-resistant potatoes, although these are yet to be granted permission to land on supermarket shelves..." But the EU has so far resisted the sale of any gene-edited crops in the EU. Thanks to long-time Slashdot reader fjo3 for sharing the article.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Outrage mounts after president posted on Truth Social he was ‘glad’ former FBI director and special counsel had died
Donald Trump has been condemned as a “vile, disgusting man” and a “sick human being” after gloating over the death of Robert Mueller, a former director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
Mueller, a decorated Vietnam war veteran who led a politically explosive investigation into Trump, died on Friday aged 81, triggering a callous reaction from the US president.
Continue reading...Boozer ignites Duke rally in dominant second half
Texas storm from First Four into Sweet 16
Cameron Boozer shook off a quiet first half to finish with 19 points and No 1 overall seed Duke shot 61.5% after halftime Saturday to pull away from TCU for an 81-58 win in a physical second-round game at the NCAA Tournament.
The freshman voted a unanimous first-team Associated Press All-American earlier this week had just two points and missed his only shot in the first half. But he scored three times during the 11-0 second-half burst – twice on high-low feeds from fellow big Patrick Ngongba II in his return to the lineup – as Duke (34-2) finally shook free of the ninth-seeded Horned Frogs (23-12).
Continue reading...  | Hey r/onewheel, I’ve got the original Pint with the Quart battery upgrade and it’s been awesome, but I’m ready for more torque, speed, and range. I’m 6’2” and 185 lbs, so hills and bigger trails are starting to feel limited. I’ve seen mixed reviews on the GT, but the torque bump at this price and condition looks solid. On the flip side I’ve been eyeing the ADV2, but having to pay via Coinbase + 60-day shipping from overseas feels slightly sketchy and way too long What do you all think? Appreciate any advice — thanks! [link] [comments] |
Joyce Edwards scores 27 in Gamecocks romp
Southern held to two points in third quarter
UConn win by 38 in March Madness opener
Joyce Edwards had 27 points and eight rebounds and No 1 seed South Carolina won their 17th straight home women’s NCAA Tournament game with a 103-34 defeat of 16th-seeded Southern on Saturday.
Edwards and the Gamecocks (32-3) opened with a 15-0 burst and never let up against the Jaguars (20-14), the Southwestern Athletic Conference champions.
Continue reading...Robert Mueller served as FBI director from 2001 to 2013 and led the investigation into allegations of Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.
States argue deal would create largest broadcast station group in US, cut jobs and increase consumers’ cable bills
Eight states asked a US judge on Friday to issue a temporary restraining order to stop a $3.5bn merger of Nexstar Media Group and Tegna.
On Thursday, the local broadcast station owners received merger approval from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the US Department of Justice and said they had closed the transaction two hours after approval.
Continue reading...  | floating around the parking lot of the Barr Trail whilst wearing my custom made Barr Trail Tee shirt the wifey made spreading the words of her amazing things to the hundreds of climbers. impressed over 500 people in the 2 hours we were there. i am getting pretty proficient and feel like we should invent and have yearly X-games for the onewheel. we could joust with padded sticks ? whos in? [link] [comments] |
China's orbital outpost Tiangong was completed in 2022 and is hosting up to three astronauts at a time, reports CNN. But meanwhile U.S. lawmakers are now signaling there's not time to develop and launch a replacement for the International Space Station — considered the signal most expensive object ever built — before its deorbiting in 2030. A recent Senate bill calls for the U.S. to continue funding it as late as 2032, but that bill still awaits approval from the U.S. Senate and the House. But some private space companies are already building their alternatives: Private companies that are in the early design and mockup phase of developing these space stations are still waiting on NASA for guidance — and money... [NASA's "Requests for Proposals"] were delayed, in part because it took all of 2025 to cinch a confirmation for Trump's on-again-off-again pick for NASA administrator, Jared Isaacman [confirmed in December]... Similarly, 2025 saw a 45-day government shutdown, the longest in history — adding another hiccup in the space agency's plans to begin formally soliciting proposals from the private sector. Companies now expect that NASA will issue its Request for Proposals in late March or early April, one CEO told CNN... Several commercial outfits have recently announced big funding influxes aimed at speeding up the development and launch of new orbiting outposts. Houston-based Axiom Space announced a $350 million funding round last month. Its California-based competitor Vast then notched a $500 million raise in early March. Vast is determined to launch a bare-bones station to orbit as soon as possible, with or without federal input, according to the company. "Our approach is to actually not wait for (NASA) and get going and build a minimum viable product, single-module space station called Haven-1, which we're launching into orbit next year," Vast CEO Max Haot told CNN in a phone interview earlier this month. Similarly, Axiom Space is working toward a 2028 launch date for a module that it plans to initially attach to the ISS before breaking off to orbit on its own. A spokesperson told CNN that it the company is "committed" to winning the NASA contract money and may continue pursing such goals even without contract awards. Still, there's lingering doubt that any of the companies pursuing space stations will be able to stay afloat without securing a coveted NASA contract or at least cinching significant business from the public sector. The article includes "Another complicating fact: Russia, the United States' primary partner on the ISS, has not pledged to keep operating its half of the space station past 2028." NASA will eventually evaluate proposals for an ISS alternative from Vast, Axiom Space, Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin, Max Space and several competitors including Voyager Technologies, CNN notes, ultimately handing out an estimated $1.5 billion in contracts between 2026 and 2031. And while those companies may wait decades before a return on their investment, the article includes this quotes from the cofounder/general partner of Balerion Space Ventures, which led the fundraising for Vast. " What's obvious to us is you're going to have multiple vehicles with myriad companies go into space. You're going to have vehicles leaving from celestial bodies, like the moon. And we need a habitat."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Skattebo calls CTE and asthma ‘fake’ on podcast
Comments draw backlash citing medical consensus
Giants have not publicly responded to remarks
New York Giants running back Cam Skattebo is facing backlash after dismissing both chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) and asthma as “fake” during a recent podcast appearance.
Speaking on the Bring the Juice podcast, the 24-year-old was asked whether he believes CTE – a degenerative brain condition linked to repeated head trauma – is real. Skattebo called it an “excuse”, agreeing with the host before making a similar claim about asthma.
Continue reading...Democrats are expected to eventually block the broader legislation.
Yvette Cooper says government wants swift resolution to war after two missiles directed at military base at Diego Garcia
The foreign secretary has condemned Iran’s strikes on a joint US-UK military base on the island of Diego Garcia, while stressing the UK has “taken a different position from the US and Israel” on the conflict.
Yvette Cooper said ministers wanted to see a swift resolution to the war, adding the government was supporting defensive action against the “reckless Iranian threats”.
Continue reading...I have a XR I just started using for this year again and I’ve started to notice my battery life will disappear after 20%. I will get a notification that the battery is at 20% then all of a sudden I will get pushback and battery is dead next time I look at the app.
Has anyone else experience anything like this? Is it a sign I’m going to need to replace the battery soon.
I have 5200 miles on it.
Mueller, who concluded Moscow had interfered in 2016 election, served as FBI director under Bush and Obama
Robert Mueller, the former special counsel who investigated Russian interference in 2016 and links between Donald Trump and Moscow, has died, his family said on Saturday. He was 81.
A statement from Mueller’s family, relayed by the New York Times on X, said: “With deep sadness, we are sharing the news that Bob passed away last night. His family asks that their privacy be respected.”
Continue reading...ReactOS aims to be compatible with programs and drivers developed for Windows Server 2003 and later versions of Microsoft Windows. And Slashdot reader jeditobe reports that the project has now "announced significant progress in achieving compatibility with proprietary graphics drivers." ReactOS now supports roughly 90% of GPU drivers for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003, thanks to a series of fixes and the implementation of the KMDF (Kernel-Mode Driver Framework) and WDDM (Windows Display Driver Model) subsystems. Prior to these changes, many proprietary drivers either failed to launch or exhibited unstable behavior. In the latest nightly builds of the 0.4.16 branch, drivers from a variety of manufacturers — including Intel, NVIDIA, and AMD — are running reliably. The project demonstrated ReactOS running on real hardware, including booting with installed drivers for graphics cards such as Intel GMA 945, NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTS and GTX 750 Ti, and AMD Radeon HD 7530G. They also highlighted successful operation on mobile GPUs like the NVIDIA Quadro 1000M, with 2D/3D acceleration, audio, and network connectivity all functioning correctly. Further tests confirmed support on less common or older configurations, including a laptop with a Radeon Xpress 1100, as well as high-performance cards like the NVIDIA GTX Titan X. A key contribution came from a patch merged into the main branch for the memory management subsystem, which improved driver stability and reduced crashes during graphics adapter initialization.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
A total of 25 skiers were on the mountainside where the avalanche occurred, but most had escaped.
A landmark new CBA should be a moment of progress. Instead, the discourse around the negotiations revealed the same old attitudes – and my daughters recognized them instantly
I interviewed Jemele Hill for my podcast The Rematch and asked for her reaction to the WNBA’s landmark new collective bargaining agreement, a seven-year deal that includes a salary cap increase to $7m (up from $1.5m in 2025), maximum salaries approaching $1.4m, 20% revenue sharing, expanded rosters, charter flights and more.
Hill didn’t mince words.
Continue reading...Slashdot reader BrianFagioli writes: According to the research firm Gartner, 50% of U.S. consumers say they would prefer to do business with brands that avoid using GenAI in consumer facing content such as advertising and promotional messaging. The survey of 1,539 Americans, conducted in October 2025, also found growing skepticism about the reliability of online information, with 61% saying they frequently question whether information they use for everyday decisions is trustworthy... Gartner found that 68% of consumers often wonder whether the content they see online is real, while fewer people now rely on intuition alone to judge credibility [only 27%]. Instead, more consumers are actively verifying information and checking sources. Gartner's senior principal analyst offered suggests discretion for brands trying to use AI. "The brands that win will be the ones that use AI in ways customers can immediately recognize as helpful, while being transparent about when AI is used, what it's doing, and giving customers a clear choice to opt out."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Mark Robinson, who ran for North Carolina governor in 2024, tells podcast he had ‘obsession’ with porn and sex
The former Republican North Carolina lieutenant governor Mark Robinson has admitted he misled voters during his unsuccessful 2024 gubernatorial campaign when he denied posting racist and offensive comments on a pornography website – suggesting he did so to protect Donald Trump’s successful presidential run.
Robinson, who worked in furniture manufacturing before entering politics in 2020, told the After the Call podcast on Thursday: “I won’t say that I completely lied. Some of the things about the whole story – some of it — there’s some truth to it.”
Continue reading...Videos of Labour’s Al Carns include him talking about his time as a marine and challenging a firefighter to pull-up contest
Labour minister Al Carns has claimed thousands of pounds on parliamentary expenses for promotional videos including one showing him doing pull-ups at a fire station in competition with a firefighter.
The veterans minister and former Royal Marine, who is tipped by some MPs as a leadership hopeful, claimed about £3,000, approved by the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (Ipsa), for the production of 17 videos that show him interacting with local businesses.
Continue reading...Kaiser pushed back on striking workers’ claims and AI fears, saying it delivers ‘timely, high-quality care to meet members’ needs’
Ilana Marcucci-Morris is worried about the patients she treats and how long it took for them to arrive in her office. At Kaiser Permanente’s psychiatry outpatient clinic in Oakland, California, she says she increasingly finds herself assessing people experiencing more severe mental health issues than two years ago. For those who do make it to their appointments, she thinks: “Thank God they’re still alive.”
It wasn’t always this way, according to Marcucci-Morris, a licensed clinical social worker. Licensed professionals used to almost always be the first point of contact for patients with behavioral health issues at Kaiser, she said. Had some of these patients received a screening with a licensed healthcare professional, she suspects they would have received an appointment within days instead of a meeting with her a week or two later.
Continue reading...The western United States experienced a severe snow drought this year, threatening the region's water supply and potentially setting the stage for its wildfire season.
A free built-in VPN is coming to Firefox on Tuesday, Mozilla announced this week: Free VPNs can sometimes mean sketchy arrangements that end up compromising your privacy, but ours is built from our data principles and commitment to be the world's most trusted browser. It routes your browser traffic through a proxy to hide your IP address and location while you browse, giving you stronger privacy and protection online with no extra downloads. Users will have 50 gigabytes of data monthly in the U.S., France, Germany and U.K. to start. Available in Firefox 149 starting March 24. We also recently shared that Firefox is the first browser to ship Sanitizer API, a new web security standard that blocks attacks before they reach you [for untrusted HTML XSS vulnerabilities]. "The roadmap for Firefox this year is the most exciting one we've developed in quite a while," says Firefox head Ajit Varma. "We're improving the fundamentals like speed and performance. We're also launching innovative new open standards in Gecko to ensure the future of the web is open, diverse, and not controlled by a single engine. "At the same time we're prioritizing features that give users real power, choice and strong privacy protections, built in a way that only Firefox can. And as always, we'll keep listening, inviting users to help shape what comes next and giving them more reasons to love Firefox." Two new features coming next week: Split View puts two webpages side by side in one window, making it easy to compare, copy and multitask without bouncing between tabs. Rolling out in Firefox 149 on March 24. Tab Notes let you add notes to any tab, another tool to help with multitasking and picking up where you left off. Available in Firefox Labs 149 starting March 24. And Firefox also released a video this week introducing their new mascot Kit.
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The footage, which shows the singer being arrested after struggling to perform field sobriety tests, was released by Sag Harbor police on Friday. Timberlake’s lawyers had sued to block the release of the video, arguing it would 'devastate' Timberlake’s privacy and that it would cause 'severe and irreparable harm' to his reputation. Timberlake pleaded guilty to driving while impaired in September 2024, about three months after the arrest
Continue reading...Kendra Duggar was charged with multiple misdemeanors a day after husband Joseph Duggar's arrest.
The US has been targeting not only people who have violated the law but many who are in the country legally
The Trump administration’s aggressive anti-immigration policy has led to a crackdown on immigrant communities that, increasingly, targets not just people who have violated immigration law but many immigrants who are in the US legally.
Throughout the past year, policies – many of which are actively being challenged in court – amount to the government attempting to strip people of their status, with countless numbers suddenly finding themselves undocumented, or about to be, and under threat of deportation.
Continue reading...I've been using my VESC for a while now on paths, off - road, MTB trails, and sometimes tricks.
Do you use one tune to rule them all, different tunes for different things?
Roughly, how many tunes do you use?
"The systemd project merged a pull request adding a new birthDate field to the JSON user records managed by userdb in response to the age verification laws of California, Colorado, and Brazil," reports the blog It's FOSS. They note that the field "can only be set by administrators, not by users themselves" — it's the same record that already holds metadata like realName, emailAddress, and location: Lennart Poettering, the creator of systemd, has clarified that this change is "an optional field in the userdb JSON object. It's not a policy engine, not an API for apps. We just define the field, so that it's standardized iff people want to store the date there, but it's entirely optional. " In simple words, this is something that adds a new, optional field that can then be used by other open source projects like xdg-desktop-portal to build age verification compliance on top of, without systemd itself doing anything with the data or making it mandatory to provide. A merge request asking for this change to be repealed was struck down by Lennart, who gave the above-mentioned reasoning behind this, and further noted that people were misunderstanding what systemd is trying to do here. "It enforces zero policy," Poettering said. "It leaves that up for other parts of the system."
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DraftKings pushed back on the accusation, saying in a statement that it is not engaging in trademark infringement.
Local reports estimate that roughly 40,000 people gathered across central Seoul to watch K-pop band BTS reunite.
Michael Smith, 52, charged after flooding platforms with thousands of AI songs and boosting them with bots
A North Carolina man has pleaded guilty to defrauding music streaming platforms and his fellow musicians out of millions in royalties by flooding the services with thousands of AI-generated songs – and using automated “bots” to artificially boost the number of listens into the billions.
As part of a deal with federal prosecutors in New York’s southern district, 52-year-old Michael Smith pleaded guilty on Friday to conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
Continue reading...Footage shows US musician struggling with field sobriety tests he calls ‘really hard’ before his 2024 arrest in New York
Justin Timberlake struggled to perform field sobriety tests requiring him to walk a straight line and stand on one leg after the pop star was pulled over in New York’s Hamptons in 2024 by police officers who suspected him of driving drunk, according to video footage released on Friday.
Timberlake tells officers at one point: “These are, like, really hard tests.”
Continue reading...The South Korean megastars thrilled tens of thousands of fans with their first concert in nearly four years following a break for military service and solo careers.
Dyson's first-ever wet and dry robot vacuum is out, and I got to get an early look at it at the Dyson Soho store.
Jeff Bezos "is in early talks to raise $100 billion," reports the Wall Street Journal, "for a new fund that would buy up manufacturing companies and seek to use AI technology to accelerate their path to automation." "The Amazon.com founder is meeting with some of the world's largest asset managers to raise funding for the project." A few months ago, [Bezos] traveled to the Middle East to discuss the new fund with sovereign wealth representatives in the region. More recently, he went to Singapore to raise funding for the effort as well, according to people familiar with the matter. The fund, described in investor documents as a "manufacturing transformation vehicle," is aiming to buy companies in major industrial sectors such as chipmaking, defense and aerospace... Bezos was recently appointed co-CEO of Project Prometheus, a new startup that is building artificial-intelligence models that can understand and simulate the physical world. Bezos plans to use the company's technology to boost the efficiency and profitability of businesses owned by the fund, a playbook that some investment firms are similarly deploying in sectors such as accounting and property management... [Prometheus has also hired employees from OpenAI and Google DeepMind, the article points out.] While much of the AI revolution has been focused on large language models, billions of dollars have begun to flow to companies that are seeking to apply spatially focused AI systems toward industries including robotics and manufacturing... Amazon, one of [America's] largest employers, has closed in on the milestone of having as many robots as humans.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Venezuelan-born dancer posts emotional video saying she plans to take on new projects in other areas
Strictly Come Dancing’s longest-serving female professional dancer, Karen Hauer, has quit the show after 14 years.
In a video posted on Instagram, Hauer said it was “the right time to close this chapter and take on new projects in other areas I’m passionate about”.
Continue reading...From layoffs to export troubles, California’s wine industry is in flux – but small producers are innovating to survive
After more than a quarter century tracking the seemingly endless growth of the wine industry, Rob McMillan was finally vindicated last year as California’s vigneron of doom.
McMillan is the author of Silicon Valley Bank’s annual state of the US wine industry report, and the 2025 edition was a doozy. Since 2018, the bank has warned the industry that a correction in demand would shake the wine world. That reality is now here, with 2025 revenue down, the volume of wine produced dropping and a “bumpy bottom” in demand forecast in 2027 and 2028.
Continue reading...The chef and podcaster's new book features interviews with famous names who reminisce about the comforts of food.
Joe Kent, who left Trump administration over Iran war, tells Megyn Kelly ‘facts are on my side’ amid FBI investigation
The counter-terrorism official who resigned from Donald Trump’s administration over the US and Israel’s war against Iran has said he is bracing for political retribution – but would do it all again anyway.
Asked by conservative podcaster Megyn Kelly if he was concerned about a pre-existing FBI search investigating him for leaking classified information, Joe Kent said he was ambivalent.
Continue reading...Here are some highly rated films to try, plus a look at what's new in March.
Anthropic fought against the government’s misuse of its technology, but authorities are buying Americans’ data, enabling them to surveil citizens at scale
The FBI declares it can conduct mass surveillance without AI, despite Anthropic’s protest.
A central part of the standoff between Anthropic and the Department of Defense has revolved around the artificial intelligence firm’s refusal to allow its technology to be used for mass domestic surveillance. Yet even without the cooperation of AI firms, remarks this week from Kash Patel, FBI director, show how authorities are by any reasonable measure already operating a system that can surveil citizens at scale.
Continue reading...Gig AI trainers worldwide are selling moments of their lives, including calls and texts, to AI companies for quick cash
One morning last year, Jacobus Louw set out on his daily neighborhood walk to feed the seagulls he finds along the way. Except this time, he recorded several videos of his feet and the view as he walked on the pavement. The video earned him $14, about 10 times the country’s minimum wage, or for Louw, a 27-year-old based in Cape Town, South Africa, half a week’s worth of groceries.
The video was for an “Urban Navigation” task Louw found on Kled AI, an app that pays contributors for uploading their data, such as videos and photos, to train artificial intelligence models. In a couple of weeks, Louw made $50 by uploading pictures and videos of his everyday life.
Continue reading...Changing a few settings will help you get the best image possible from your Hisense TV.
Bodycam video footage of Justin Timberlake's June 2024 DWI arrest on Long Island was released to the media Friday.
Johnson edged as Pirovano clinches downhill globe
Italian wins third straight race to seal discipline
Aicher trims Shiffrin’s lead to 95 points overall
Italy’s Laura Pirovano claimed the women’s downhill World Cup title with victory in Lillehammer on Saturday, as Emma Aicher closed the gap on leader Mikaela Shiffrin in the overall standings.
The 28-year-old Pirovano had never even finished on a World Cup podium until earlier this month.
Continue reading...Autopsy reveals James ‘Jimmy’ Gracey’s injuries consistent with repeatedly hitting breakwater’s rocks, Spanish media report
A University of Alabama student who was found dead in Barcelona after going missing while vacationing evidently fell into the sea by accident in view of surveillance cameras – and an autopsy revealed injuries on his body that were consistent with having repeatedly struck a breakwater’s rocks.
Such details about James “Jimmy” Gracey surfaced in the Spanish media as a spokesperson for police in Barcelona told the Associated Press that “all signs point” to the 20-year-old’s death as having been inadvertent.
Continue reading...If you’ve ever had a nosedive caused by the board cutting the motor on you, you know there’s no worse feeling than getting back on the board as you can no longer trust it. That’s why it’s important to gather as much information on the incident before engaging the board again or power-cycling it. This can help you identify the root cause and spare you more unpleasant experiences.
Note this post doesn’t address logging, which is a useful tool, but you may not always find the issue there. Some events/data are not logged and the logging typically records samples at around 10x per second, an event shorter than that may not show in there.
It’s also important to distinguish nosedives caused by motor cuts and nosedives caused by simply overpowering the motor (which is still engaged and trying to balance you, but not having enough power).
This post assumes you’re running Refloat 1.2 or later.
First thing to do after having a nosedive is connect to the board with VESC Tool. Even if you weren’t connected during the accident, you will find all the important information as long as you don’t re-engage the board or power-cycle it. Navigate to the Refloat UI (tab next to the Start tab called “AppUI” up until Refloat 1.2.1 and “Refloat” in later versions). Tap the big glowing status text in the middle of the screen saying usually “READY”, an “Alerts” dialog will pop up. This dialog shows all the possible issues the board could have had, example:
You can find firmware faults listed there, even the history of how they occurred. That’s one common cause of motor cuts (you won’t normally see a temperature fault, only in a rare case of faulty electronics). If you don’t see any firmware faults, check for the Stop Condition: text at the bottom. This gives you the reason why the package disengaged the motor. If you see Sensor Full as the reason, that indicates a faulty sensor (usually the wiring). Assuming you have a tail-heavy board (vast majority), go to Refloat Cfg → Stop tab and enable “Disable Moving Faults”. This will prevent the fault as long as you’re not riding in reverse.
If the Stop Condition line is completely missing, it indicates a fresh bootup and means your controller must have reset. To verify this, go to the “Terminal” tab in VESC Tool (last tab).
If you have stock VESC firmware, type “uptime” into the text box at the very bottom and tap “Send”. This gives you the number of seconds since the controller was started. If the time matches approximately the time of your crash, that confirms a controller reset. You can’t find out more specific information for the reset on this firmware. I recommend installing my 6.06 Refloat Extras firmware release to be able to find out more.
In the 6.06 Refloat Extras firmware there’s another terminal command to help diagnose spurious resets (the command has been submitted for inclusion in the mainline VESC firmware, but wasn’t accepted yet). Type “crash_diag” into the terminal and “Send” it. This will print a bunch of indicators, which may be hard to understand. Take a screenshot and take it to discord or pev.dev to ask for help (feel free to tag me). In the rare case of a software (firmware or package) crash, the output of this command can provide invaluable information to find the cause of the crash.
Note on Floatwheels: Floatwheels have a history of turning off on their riders. If that happens (the board is off), you know what’s up. They can also cut the power only temporarily, potentially causing a firmware fault (e.g. UNDERVOLTAGE) or a controller reset, which should show distinct values in the “crash_diag” reset indicators.
Missile exchanges have jarred with the spirit of the holidays underway across the region.
In Georgia, a woman was charged with murder after allegedly taking pills to induce a termination. Yet America happily drops bombs on children abroad
How many children has the US helped kill this week in the Middle East? It’s hard to keep track, but Unicef reports that more than 1,800 children in the region have been killed or injured since the US and Israel started a war with Iran on 28 February.
In Lebanon, a US-backed Israel is killing or wounding a classroom’s worth of children every day, Unicef’s deputy executive director told Reuters. That’s just after killing more than 20,000 children in Gaza in two years, all with the help of US taxpayer dollars.
The assault on freedom with Mehdi Hasan and Arwa Mahdawi
On Monday 8 June, join Mehdi Hasan and Arwa Mahdawi to discuss the current seismic changes in geopolitics, the alarming rise of populism and nationalism, and its global implications. Live in London and livestreamed worldwide. Book tickets here or at guardian.live
Allergy season is here, but you don't need to suffer. CNET put 15 of the latest air purifier models through CNET's smoke bomb test to find out which perform the best at particle filtering, noise levels and energy efficiency.
Some in cabinet in despair over possible impact of war begun by Donald Trump, who branded Nato allies ‘cowards’
Donald Trump has branded the UK and other Nato allies “cowards” as anger grows among cabinet ministers that his war in Iran could jeopardise Britain’s fragile finances.
Senior members of the UK government are in despair about the potential effects on the economy, with experts warning of higher energy prices and increased mortgage and borrowing costs.
Continue reading...I put three methods for making bacon to the test in my own kitchen. One prevailed and it's my new go-to method.
We put more than two dozen air fryers of all shapes and sizes to the test. This unique model tops our list in 2026.
Doctors fear that skepticism, fueled by anti-science sentiment and mistrust, is extending beyond vaccines to other proven, routine care.
The Treasury Department’s authorization of the sale of Iranian crude already at sea is likely to provide revenue for Iran’s war effort against the U.S.
The Woman’s Hour host, who has died aged 75, could talk about hydrangeas, campaign against domestic abuse, then tear a strip off a politician – all within a few minutes
Before she took over Woman’s Hour in 1987, Jenni Murray was a presenter on the Today programme. She had joined the BBC in Bristol in 1973, and became a TV reporter and presenter for South Today, so arrived with solid news credentials. But Today in the 1980s was inveterately sexist – the guys took the politics, the women mopped up the rest – that the format was just too small for her.
Woman’s Hour, on the other hand, was absolutely reshaped in her image: there was no preconception of tone, and nothing was too serious or too light for it. Murray, who has died at the age of 75, could tear a strip off a politician, talk about hydrangeas, then campaign against domestic abuse, all within a few minutes. She was instinctively open and generous about her personal experience, but never solipsistic – an incredibly fine balance.
Continue reading...The Realme P4 Power introduces a 10,001mAh battery to a mass market product without any noticeable flaws.
Transit Officer Paul DeGeorge thought his son was lying on him. Then he realized something much scarier was happening.
“As controversial as AI is right now, this is one of those areas where it’s a real win,” said Julie Castle, chief executive of Best Friends Animal Society.
FoI request reveals no evidence of testing despite ministers hailing agreement as key to delivering AI-led public service reform
When the UK government signed a memorandum of understanding with OpenAI, the tech firm behind ChatGPT, the partnership was hailed as one that could harness artificial intelligence to “address society’s greatest challenges”.
But eight months on from the fanfare of that announcement, the government has yet to hold any trials involving the firm’s tech.
Continue reading...Iran war should be wake-up call about costs of not going full throttle towards EVs as Chinese have done, experts say
By the 1980s, Detroit’s once titanic carmakers were being upended by rivals from Japan. Ford, General Motors and Chrysler had grown rich selling gas guzzlers, but when oil prices rose and suddenly cheap, fuel-efficient Japanese models looked attractive, they were unprepared. The collapse in sales led to hundreds of thousands of job losses in the automotive heartland of the US.
Now western car manufacturers are making what one former boss calls a similar “profound strategic mistake” as they pull back from electric vehicles (EVs) and refocus on the combustion engine just as oil prices are soaring once again. Experts say the industry’s future – and that of tens of millions of jobs – could be on the line. This time, however, the threat is from China.
Continue reading...In Appalachia, a deeply red region hit by poverty and cuts, some ask why billions are going to war instead of home
When it comes to politics in Appalachian Kentucky, one of the first things anyone will tell you is that people defy easy categorization.
There are fervent church goers who say that Jesus’ message of helping others is basically socialism, and that’s a good thing. There are gun owners who pine for universal healthcare.
Continue reading...Exclusive: War in the Middle East is draining the global carbon budget faster than 84 countries combined
The US-Israel war on Iran is a disaster for the climate, according to an analysis that finds it is draining the global carbon budget faster than 84 countries combined.
As warplanes, drones and missiles kill thousands of people, level infrastructure and turn the Middle East into a gigantic environmental sacrifice zone, the first analysis of the climate cost has found the conflict led to 5m tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions in its first 14 days.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Tariq Ahmad says he has raised concerns with party leadership after shadow justice secretary’s remarks
The shadow justice secretary, Nick Timothy, has been accused by a Conservative peer and former counter-extremism minister of “instilling fear” among Muslims with his comments about public prayer.
British Muslims were openly talking about leaving the Conservative party, added Tariq Ahmad, who said he had raised his concerns with the party leadership and expected action to be taken.
Continue reading...Commentary: With some phone-makers willing to push boundaries, the days of dull-looking devices may soon be behind us.
Court’s decision to eliminate Save plan and internal shuffling on who handles what when it comes to student loans presents new challenges for borrowers
Many Americans with student debt are again facing future upheaval after a federal appeals court recently ordered the end of a Biden-era student loan repayment program, known as the Saving on a Value Education (Save) Plan, a move that coincided with another grim revelation: new education department data shows that by the end of 2025, 7.7 million borrowers had defaulted on $181bn in federal student loans.
The Save plan, which was launched in 2023, is an income-driven repayment program created with the goal of cutting undergraduate loans in half, bringing some borrowers’ monthly payments to $0, and offering early forgiveness for low-balance borrowers. Shortly after the program was announced, Republican attorneys general across the country sued to get it killed, arguing that it was an overstep of executive power and imposed heavy taxpayer costs.
Continue reading...Nearly 300 of the actor’s items, from designer gowns to everyday basics, to be sold in Los Angeles, with some lots under $100
A customised sunhat. A slogan sweatshirt. A “mom” necklace. An old copy of Cosmopolitan. If these sound like items found in many homes today, they’re actually the castoffs of a household name: Gwyneth Paltrow.
Next week, nearly 300 pieces owned by Paltrow will be on sale as part of an auction at Julien’s, the Los Angeles auction house that has sold big-ticket items such as Marilyn Monroe’s so-called “naked” dress and the leather jacket worn by Olivia Newton-John in Grease. But, while those items went for six-figure prices, Paltrow’s sale is a little more affordable, with estimates starting at about $50 (£37) to $75 (£56) for some of Paltrow’s personalised stationery.
Continue reading...If you want to remain motivated, these fitness devices may hold the key.
These emoji still need to be approved but a pickle might replace the eggplant emoji in some contexts.
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope unexpectedly captured a rare, early-stage breakup of comet C/2025 K1 (ATLAS) just days after it first began disintegrating. Phys.org reports: "Sometimes the best science happens by accident," said co-investigator John Noonan, a research professor in the Department of Physics at Auburn University in Alabama. "This comet got observed because our original comet was not viewable due to some new technical constraints after we won our proposal. We had to find a new target -- and right when we observed it, it happened to break apart, which is the slimmest of slim chances." Noonan didn't know K1 was fragmenting until he viewed the images the day after Hubble took them. "While I was taking an initial look at the data, I saw that there were four comets in those images when we only proposed to look at one," said Noonan. "So we knew this was something really, really special." Hubble caught K1 fragmenting into at least four pieces, each with a distinct coma, the fuzzy envelope of gas and dust that surrounds a comet's icy nucleus. Hubble cleanly resolved the fragments, but to ground-based telescopes, at the time they only appeared as barely distinguishable, bright blobs. [...] "Never before has Hubble caught a fragmenting comet this close to when it actually fell apart. Most of the time, it's a few weeks to a month later. And in this case, we were able to see it just days after," said Noonan. "This is telling us something very important about the physics of what's happening at the comet's surface. We may be seeing the timescale it takes to form a substantial dust layer that can then be ejected by the gas." The findings have been published in the journal Icarus.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Online searches for electric and hybrid cars increase as war-linked fuel prices hit highest levels in nearly three years
US car buyers are showing a surge in interest in electric vehicles after Donald Trump’s decision to attack Iran helped cause a major jump in gasoline prices.
The cost to refuel a vehicle in the US is at its highest level in nearly three years, with the average national price of gas standing at $3.90 a gallon on Friday.
Continue reading...Almost 60 injured in blaze in Daejeon with footage seemingly showing people jumping from burning building to escape
A fire at a car parts factory in South Korea has killed 14 people and injured almost 60 others.
Firefighters said all of the missing are now accounted for after a search operation of the wreckage of the three-storey building.
Continue reading...Striker will not play in March World Cup warmup games
Backlash after player based in UAE met Dubai’s ruler
Sardar Azmoun has been omitted from the Iran squad announced for two World Cup warm-ups after Iranian media reports that the striker had been expelled from the national team for a perceived act of disloyalty to the government.
Azmoun, who has scored 57 goals in 91 internationals, was the most notable absentee from a 35-man squad named by the head coach, Amir Ghalenoei, on Friday for friendlies against Nigeria and Costa Rica in the Turkish city of Antalya.
Continue reading...Police say two people tried to enter Faslane base in Scotland, home to core of UK’s submarine fleet and Trident nuclear weapons
Two people have been charged, one of them Iranian, after they allegedly tried to enter HM Naval Base Clyde in Scotland, which houses the UK’s nuclear Trident submarines.
A 34-year-old man and a 31-year-old woman were charged after the incident at the base, which is known as Faslane. Police Scotland said inquiries were continuing and that the pair were due to appear at Dumbarton sheriff court on Monday.
Continue reading...The latest edict from beard-obsessed Secretary of War Pete Hegseth adds strict new regulations to his crusade on facial hair, which rights groups have characterized as an attack on troops’ civil liberties.
In a March 11 memo, Hegseth, who has made grooming and appearances a central focus in his time at the helm of the U.S. military, raised the bar to qualify for a religious exemption to his blanket ban on beards. The guidelines lay out a strict new process by which service members may apply for a religious exemption and subject those who’ve already received one to a reevaluation, arguing they need to ensure their religious beliefs are “sincerely held” and have a genuine conflict with the grooming standards.
Service members who have spoken against Hegseth’s focus on grooming standards say his restrictions on beards are exclusionary to people from religious communities that require adherents to follow specific tenets of faith around beards, hair, and other grooming matters.
Sikhs, for example, who have served in the U.S. military since at least World War I, are required by their faith not to cut the hair on their head, to keep a beard, and to wrap their long hair in a turban. Members of many schools of Muslim tradition likewise have rules around beards and hair length.
A Sikh advocacy group derided the new requirements as “completely unnecessary.”
“Sikhs and other service members of faith already earned their accommodations, under policies and processes established under both the Obama and first Trump Administrations,” the Sikh Coalition said in a statement. “If there are accommodations that the Department of Defense feels are not sincere, they could have chosen to pursue those cases with a process that doesn’t force every single soldier, sailor, airman, guardian, and Marine with an accommodation through more paperwork and bureaucracy.”
The Department of War did not respond to a request for comment.
Hegseth introduced the new guidelines as the military increasingly embraces overt Christianity and Christian nationalism, including an ideological turn on the Air Force Academy’s oversight board and the presentation of the war on Iran as part of “God’s divine plan.”
The changes come months after Hegseth declared war on “beardos” in a combative speech in September.
“If you want a beard, you can join Special Forces. If not, then shave,” Hegseth said at the time.
In a November letter to Hegseth, four senators — Gary Peters, D-Mich.; Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.; Tim Kaine, D-Va.; and Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y. — warned that an overly strict grooming standard could force religious service members from the ranks and ultimately harm the military’s primary mission of national security.
“This will happen either by forcing out servicemembers with accommodations earned through carefully following their branch’s established processes or signaling to members of these religious communities that their contributions are not needed in the world’s greatest fighting force,” the senators wrote. “At a time when readiness and retention remain urgent concerns, such a move would be ill-advised.”
Federal courts have repeatedly ruled in favor of service members’ rights to observe tenets of faith while in the military, limiting Hegseth’s ability to put in place an outright ban on any facial hair. He has opted instead to tighten the screws on anyone wishing to get an exemption.
Courts have generally required the military to accommodate sincerely held religious beliefs unless it can demonstrate a compelling operational need.
Under the new rules, anyone applying for an exemption — or facing reevaluation under the new guidelines — must submit a sworn statement affirming their religious beliefs, a statement detailing those beliefs, a statement explaining how the grooming standard would conflict with those beliefs, and supporting evidence backing up their “sincerely held” beliefs. Additionally, anyone applying for an exemption must receive from their unit commander a written assessment of the applicant’s sincerity of belief.
The policy also places commanders in the position of evaluating the sincerity of a service member’s religious beliefs. False statements could expose service members to disciplinary action under the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
The post Hegseth Makes Troops Prove “Sincerely Held” Faith in Latest Beard Crackdown appeared first on The Intercept.
Kareem’s Daily Quote: The importance of truth in small matters
Where’s Vlad?: The Kremlin’s Toughest Man is suddenly hard to find
Video Break: Dancing with Zorba the Greek
Congress Turns Up the Heat: Pam Bondi to testify in Epstein case
Chief Justice Roberts: He wants growing hostility to judges to stop
What I’m Watching: Young Sherlock
Jukebox Playlist: You Can’t Always Get What You Want
“Whoever is careless with the truth in small matters cannot be trusted with important matters.” — Albert Einstein
This is an actual quote from Albert Einstein. The wording may differ slightly, but that’s due to translation choices, not because some spurious or random statement was attributed to a famous person who never said any such thing. And though I don’t speak German, the tone of the original, from what I gather, is more ethical and deliberate than it appears in English. It’s less about accidental carelessness with the truth and more about a person’s attitude toward it.
In basketball, you find out quickly that greatness isn’t built on highlight plays, but on the quiet habits nobody cheers for: the extra pass, the box-out, the discipline to run the play even when the crowd wants a show. Winning matters, of course, but the game itself also matters—how it’s played. In other words, the best players are those who have an ethical and deliberate attitude. They do it for the love of the game, even when nobody’s watching.
The same is true in public life. Some people in power quietly protect the Constitution. Others perform for the cameras. They tend to “exaggerate” the errors of their adversaries while sweeping their own mistakes under the rug. We’ve seen this so often that we’ve come to take it for granted—the fact that Truth with a capital T takes a back seat to partisan politics. We tune in to government hearings hoping to hear thoughtful, well-calibrated questions grounded in research. Instead, we often see members of one party defending their own interests, with truth as an afterthought. This isn’t accidental carelessness or even, as it sometimes appears, outright stupidity. More often, it reflects an attitude toward truth that has become so malleable it can be pushed aside in favor of a paycheck or continued power.
Unfortunately, the more truth is handled this way, the less weight it carries. Over time, the system teaches itself to survive by obscuring the truth from its own people. An overt case at the moment continues to be Epstein and his infamous files. They’ve ceased to be simply about bringing criminals to justice and have become an indication of whether of not truth itself still matters—not only to elected officials, but to us all.
Societies drift away not with a bang, but with a shrug, not through dramatic collapse, but through a slow erosion of standards. A little secrecy here. A little intimidation there. A little bending of the rules “just this once.” A little sweeping of truth under the nearest rug. Our elected officials strain at a gnat and swallow a camel while expecting us to do the same…or at the very least, to turn away politely while they wash it down with a nice Chianti.
And when we finally decide to look again, we notice that the guardrails are not just no longer where we left them, they’re nowhere to be found.
Families, advocates and lawmakers say poor care, opaque investigations and bureaucracy leave deaths unexplained
The circumstances of many of the record number of deaths in US immigration custody under the second Trump administration have left loved ones often searching in vain for answers amid a lack of transparency over key investigations.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) reports mandated by Congress, autopsy reports and 911 calls collected by the Guardian raise questions about the quality of medical care, allegedly inadequate or haphazard responses to emergencies, and contraction of diseases and infections inside detention facilities that in some cases contributed to detainee deaths.
Continue reading...President revealing congressman’s terminal diagnosis follows caginess about his own health, such as recent rash
When Donald Trump revealed that Republican congressman Neal Dunn would have been “dead by June” if not for White House doctors who treated the representative’s reportedly terminal condition, many were shocked by his disclosure.
The president’s comments last week, which unfolded during a meandering presser with Republican House speaker Mike Johnson and Kennedy Center leaders, came after Trump prodded the top politician for details on Dunn’s health.
Continue reading...
Why Should Delaware Care:
Government works best when its citizens are knowledgeable and engaged. Delaware’s government has scores of commissions, working groups, agencies and legislative committees. All must hold meetings that are open to the public. Below we highlight a few of those meetings that are happening this week.
Below are some of the most important or interesting public meetings happening around the state this week.
Starwood Digital Ventures is set to present its appeal on Tuesday morning to the Coastal Zone Industrial Control Board, after Delaware environmental regulators ruled that half of its two-part, hyper-scale data center plan is prohibited under the state’s Coastal Zone Act.
Starwood’s controversial Delaware City data center plan, dubbed Project Washington, was originally denied because of its proposed use of 516 diesel generators for back-up power.
Now, the developer will challenge that denial – a process that could take months, or years, to be fully adjudicated.
This week’s hearing comes after New Castle County enacted sweeping regulations against data centers earlier this month, including new rules requiring they maintain buffer zones and use energy-efficient backup generators.
But the Starwood project, if its appeal is successful, would not be subject to these new regulations. As part of a compromise to get the rules enacted, New Castle County Council included a provision that made them only apply to newly proposed projects – not ones already in the development pipeline.
The Coastal Zone Industrial Control Board’s forthcoming decision about Starwood’s appeal will be its first in nearly five years.
📍 The Coastal Zone Industrial Control Board is scheduled to meet at 9 a.m. Tuesday inside the auditorium of the Richardson and Robbins building, located at 89 Kings Highway in Dover. For more details, including information about virtual attendance, click here.
The Prescription Opioid Settlement Distribution Commission (POSDC) is set to vote on funding applications submitted by various Delaware municipalities on Monday morning.
The commission – tasked with distributing the state’s nearly $250 million in legal settlements with drug manufacturers to municipalities and local organizations – will direct 15% of its total funds to 10 local jurisdictions that include Wilmington, Dover, Seaford and each of the state’s three counties.
The amount of money each jurisdiction will receive was determined based on a formula of population size, drug overdose deaths, and the number of admissions to substance use treatment facilities, POSDC Brad Owens previously told Spotlight Delaware.
📍 The Prescription Opioid Settlement Distribution Commission is scheduled to meet at 10 a.m. Monday inside the Springer Building on the Herman Holloway Campus, located at 203 Mitchell Ln. in New Castle. For more details, including information about virtual attendance, click here.
Two stakeholder groups that oversee the Port of Wilmington – the Diamond State Port Corporation Board of Directors and the Port of Wilmington Expansion Task Force – will meet on Monday for the first time since Spotlight Delaware reported last month that a buildup of sediment is blocking fully loaded fruit ships from docking at the port – a facility long known as the top banana port in North America.
Spokespersons for Enstructure, the port’s operator, and for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers – which is in charge of maintaining the navigable waters in the United States – each blamed the sediment buildup on delays in dredging that began last fall.
But those delays in digging out the buildup of sediment and mud could amount to a reputational setback for Delaware’s port.
They also mean the hours worked at the publicly owned, privately run Port of Wilmington are lower than what they would have been otherwise. And in some cases, those hours have been filled by non-union labor at upstream ports, sparking outcry from Delaware workers.
📍 The Port of Wilmington Expansion Task Force is scheduled to meet at 1 p.m. Monday, followed by the Diamond State Port Corporation board of directors at 3 p.m. Both meetings will take place at Buena Vista, located at 661 S DuPont Highway in New Castle. For more details about the expansion task force meeting, click here. For more details about the DSPC board of directors meeting, click here.
Budget season continues in the First State, with both New Castle County and Georgetown scheduled to hold public meetings this week focused on how they will spend money next year.
In New Castle County, County Executive Marcus Henry will formally present his budget proposal for the 2027 fiscal year — which begins July 1 — during a speech on Tuesday evening. A county council meeting will follow Henry’s address.
Facing a $23 million deficit, Henry has publicly said the county will likely see some kind of tax increase next year, though it is unclear exactly how much tax rates could rise.
In Georgetown, town officials will introduce their fiscal year 2027 budget during Monday night’s town council meeting.
📍 New Castle County Executive Marcus Henry is set to present his budget at 5 p.m. Tuesday at the Louis L. Redding City County Building, located at 800 N. French St. in Wilmington. For more details, including information about virtual attendance, click here.
📍 Georgetown Town Council is set to meet at 7 p.m. Monday inside council chambers, located at 39 The Circle in Georgetown. For more details, including information about virtual attendance, click here.
The Delaware House of Representatives will convene on Tuesday to consider a bill that would effectively ban private prisons in the state.
Introduced by Rep. Mara Gorman (D-Newark), House Bill 151 was first described as a ban on private detention facilities.
An updated version of that bill, set to be considered on the House floor Tuesday afternoon, walks back that description. But the legislation, if passed, would effectively render private prisons inoperable in Delaware.
It would prohibit Delaware from entering into contracts with private providers or incentivizing their operation in any way.
There currently are no private prisons in the state.
Lawmakers will also consider a slew of other bills in committee this week, including one that would prohibit certain state employees from disclosing residents’ immigration status, and two Republican-led proposals to limit school districts’ ability to increase tax rates following property reassessments.
📍 The House of Representatives will convene at 2 p.m. Tuesday at Legislative Hall, located at 411 Legislative Ave., in Dover. For more details, including information about virtual attendance, click here. To view details of all committee hearings, scroll through the “What’s Happening” box here.
Karl Baker, Olivia Marble and Maggie Reynolds contributed to this report.
Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to reflect that Delaware received nearly $250 million in opioid settlement funds, not $7.4 billion.
The post Get Involved: Data center appeal, opioid settlement funds, budgets unveiled, more appeared first on Spotlight Delaware.
To aid Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, a friend of Russia, in his election, operatives proposed “the Gamechanger” — a staged assassination attempt to stir supporters.
The aggressive pace of expansion has alarmed advocates who say the construction will destroy pristine country, threaten endangered species, and cut off access to sacred Indigenous and archaeological sites.
A Kremlin spokesman said the Russian government is discussing “possible options for assisting Cuba in the difficult situation it finds itself in.”
Damn, you’re right, an omission on my part. Added.
At least 400 killed in Pakistan’s strike on drug rehab centre, Taliban say, with families searching unmarked mass graves
Sohrab Faqiri spent Eid, the Muslim festival to mark the end of the fasting month of Ramadan, looking for the grave of his brother, killed in a massive Pakistan airstrike on Kabul this week.
Pakistan’s bombardment campaign, on what it says is terrorist and military infrastructure in neighbouring Afghanistan, appeared to have gone catastrophically wrong. A rehabilitation centre for drug addicts was hit on Monday night, according to the United Nations and the Afghan authorities. The UN’s preliminary death toll is 143 people, while the Taliban administration puts the figure at more than 400 dead.
Continue reading...Bypassing animal health certificate system by using cheaper pet passport issued abroad could backfire, experts say
British pet owners who want to take their furry friends elsewhere in Europe have been warned not to try to dodge expensive health certificates by using a pet passport issued abroad.
Before Brexit, taking a cat, dog or ferret to the EU was relatively simple: the Pet Travel Scheme meant an animal needed a microchip, vaccination against rabies, a pet passport and, for dogs, there were also requirements concerning tapeworm treatment.
Continue reading...Washington considers Kharg Island takeover as Donald Trump calls Nato allies ‘cowards’ for refusal to ‘help open’ strait of Hormuz
Donald Trump said he was considering “winding down” military operations in the Middle East even as the US is reportedly sending three more amphibious assault ships and roughly 2,500 additional marines to the region.
The US president’s remarks on Friday followed an Iranian threat to attack recreational and tourist sites worldwide and another day of the airstrikes and drone and missile attacks that have engulfed the region.
Continue reading...Cases emerge after other people tell of change in Home Office policy on passports that has left people scrambling
Two more British teenagers have found themselves unable to return to the UK because of new Home Office border rules on British dual nationals.
Their cases emerged just hours after reports a 16-year-old British schoolgirl was blocked from boarding a flight in Denmark home to the UK because she was a dual national and did not have a British passport. She has missed two weeks of school so far.
Continue reading...DHSC corrects statements after regulator intervenes as experts say smoking causes far more cancer cases
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has had to retract a misleading claim that sunbeds are as dangerous a cancer risk as smoking.
In January, health officials announced stricter rules for sunbeds, incorrectly claiming they were “as dangerous as smoking”. The comparison was repeated in social media posts shared by the health secretary and NHS England and was reported by a number of media outlets.
Continue reading...schwit1 shares a report from the BBC: A French officer has reportedly revealed the location of an aircraft carrier deployed towards the Middle East after publicly registering a run on sports app Strava. French news outlet Le Monde first reported the officer, referred to as Arthur, logged a 35-minute run on the app while exercising on the deck of aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle on 13 March. He used a smartwatch to record his run and upload the activity to the app, the paper said, creating a map that showed his location. [...] The location of the vessel was said by Le Monde to have been northwest of Cyprus, around 100km (62 miles) from the Turkish coast, with satellite images capturing the carrier and its escort. A representative from the French Armed Forces said the officer's behavior "does not comply with current guidelines," which "sailors are regularly made aware of."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Medics and officials say there is systematic use of double-tap strikes in campaign to make the south uninhabitable
Lebanese healthcare workers and officials say Israeli bombings have deliberately targeted medical workers and facilities in south Lebanon, including through the use of double-tap strikes, in what they describe as a systematic effort to make the area unlivable.
Since the war began on 2 March, Israel has struck at least 128 medical facilities and ambulances across south Lebanon, killing 40 healthcare workers and wounding 107, according to the Lebanese ministry of health. The war started when Hezbollah launched rockets at Israel, triggering an Israeli military campaign.
Continue reading...If the UK wants to regain serious respect in the world, it needs its European leg as well as its transatlantic one
“A friend who bullies us is no longer a friend. And since bullies only respond to strength, from now onward, I will be prepared to be much stronger. And the president should be prepared for that.” Thus spoke Hugh Grant, playing the British prime minister confronting the US president in a famous scene in the romcom Love Actually. Real-life British prime minister Keir Starmer has attempted to stand up ever so slightly to the current bully in the White House over the latest US war in the Middle East. Despite the British government’s right-royal efforts to flatter Donald Trump ever since he was elected US president, his response to Starmer’s little attempt has been a torrent of contempt. So the reality is not Love Actually. It’s Contempt Actually.
Asked about the British government’s subtle distinction between defensive strikes in the Gulf, which it now supports, and offensive ones, which it doesn’t, Maga ideologue Steve Bannon tells the New Statesman’s Freddie Hayward: “That’s diplomatic bullshit. Fuck you. You’re either an ally or you’re not. Fuck you. The special relationship is over.” Ah, the “special relationship”! It must be 40 years since I first heard former West German chancellor Helmut Schmidt say: “The special relationship is so special only one side knows it exists.”
Continue reading...Heavy rains have pummeled the Hawaiian island of Oahu and triggered the worst flooding the island has in 20 years
Towering flash floods and an imminent dam failure in the northern part of Oahu triggered mass rescues and evacuation warnings in Hawaii on Friday, as the state continued contending with a powerful storm this week.
The waters came on quickly in the middle of the night, and videos on social media captured inundated streets and cars being swallowed by the muddy flood waters.
Continue reading...Better seeds go 16-0 on Friday as chalk prevails
Baylor erase nine-point fourth-quarter deficit
LSU, Texas and TCU roll in dominant openers
Taliah Scott scored 15 points and Baylor rallied from a nine-point deficit in the fourth quarter, making 11 of 14 free throws down the stretch, to beat Nebraska 67-62 on Friday in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
After leading 19-11 after the first quarter, the sixth-seeded Bears (25-8) went cold and were down 50-41 with 9:33 to play in their March Madness opener. Baylor then turned up the full-court press and forced six turnovers by Nebraska in the final quarter.
Continue reading...Treasury secretary Scott Bessent says move will bring 140m barrels to market but insists Tehran will not benefit
The Trump administration has waived sanctions on Iranian oil purchases at sea for 30 days to ease surging oil prices driven by the US-Israeli war on Iran.
The US treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, said the waiver would bring about 140m barrels of oil to global markets and help relieve pressure on energy supply.
Continue reading...Mors Imperator caused a scandal in 1887 amid fears it mocked the German kaiser – more than 100 years later it is being displayed in a state museum
Wrapped in a cloak with ermine fur and wearing a jagged iron crown, a hulking skeleton rests one foot on a globe and knocks over a royal throne with a dramatic flick of its ivory wrist.
Entitled Mors Imperator (“Death is the Ruler”), the German artist Hermione von Preuschen’s 1887 symbolical painting was meant to express the transience of fame and power. But authorities feared the picture could be seen as mocking the ageing German Emperor Wilhelm I, who then had recently turned 90, and refused to accept its submission to the Berlin Academy of the Arts’ annual exhibition that year.
Continue reading...US president claims he ‘always says yes’ to Australia, Japan and South Korea, after saying he didn’t need help from trio of countries earlier this week
Donald Trump says he is “very surprised” Australia has not sent warships to aid in opening the strait of Hormuz as the blockade of the key strategic route for global oil supply continues to affect fuel prices.
“I was very surprised,” the US president said in Washington on Friday when asked what he took issue with regarding Japan, South Korea and Australia.
Continue reading...World No 1 beats Brazilian 6-4, 6-4 at the Hard Rock Stadium
Spaniard says teenager ‘reminds me a lot [of me] when I was his age’
As Carlos Alcaraz worked through his service motion midway through his opening match at the Miami Open, a scream pierced the night-time air. One of the 16,000 spectators breathlessly cheering Alcaraz’s demise had attempted to distract the Spaniard just before he struck the ball.
In a spectacular atmosphere unlike many other Masters 1000 second round matches in recent memory, Alcaraz maturely navigated both a passionate, adversarial crowd and a prodigious teenage opponent in Joao Fonseca to reach the third round of the Miami Open with a 6-4, 6-4 win.
Continue reading...  | Hey guys, I just wanted to get the community’s insight into my situation. I ordered from craft&ride in late 2024, and I received most of my order with zero complaints. I really don’t want to post this because of my past good experiences, but I don’t know what else to do. I acknowledge that the answer is likely to take the loss and move on. The issue arose because I ordered PintX Fangs. I tried my best not to pester, as impatient as I can be, only asking for updates on what I consider to be a reasonable timeline. The delivery date was pushed along without updates, aside from when I asked. Along the way, I sadly had a mosfet failure in my board, which is soon to be acknowledged. I recently remembered the order that I had for the fangs and searched my email for any update. After research into the status of craft&ride, my understanding is that they have gone into a sort of indefinite hiatus, judging by the website that only links to social media posts. I understand we are living in tough times, but the thing that irks me is I wasn’t notified that my order could be neither fulfilled nor refunded. It feels a little disrespectful to not acknowledge the orders left unfulfilled in the business going under. In addition, note that my text messages were promptly replied to before it was apparent that my order would never come. Please let me know your guys’ thoughts, thanks. [link] [comments] |
 | Hey guys. I've got someone having issues with his Pint X. See the texts for the symptoms. Anyone got any idea? [link] [comments] |
An anonymous reader quotes a report from CNBC: The Trump administration on Friday issued (PDF) a legislative framework for a single national policy on artificial intelligence, aiming to create uniform safety and security guardrails around the nascent technology while preempting states from enacting their own AI rules. The six-pronged outline broadly proposes a slew of regulations on AI products and infrastructure, ranging from implementing new child-safety rules to standardizing the permitting and energy use of AI data centers. It also calls on Congress to address thorny issues surrounding intellectual-property rights and craft rules "preventing AI systems from being used to silence or censor lawful political expression or dissent." The administration said in an official release that it wants to work with Congress "in the coming months" to convert its framework into a bill that President Donald Trump can sign. The White House wants to codify the framework into law "this year" and believes it can generate bipartisan support, Michael Kratsios, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, said in an interview with Fox News on Thursday evening. That won't be easy in a deeply divided Congress where Republicans hold thin and often fractious majorities, and where Trump has already urged GOP lawmakers to prioritize his controversial voter-ID bill above all else ahead of the November midterms. BCLP has an interactive map that tracks the proposed, failed and enacted AI regulatory bills from each state.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Nicholas Brendon was best known for his role as Xander Harris on all seven seasons of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer."
The Trump administration has been strategizing methods and options to secure or extract Iran's nuclear materials, according to multiple sources, as the military campaign against Tehran enters a more uncertain phase.
Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for March 21.
This live blog is now closed.
The US military is deploying thousands of additional marines and sailors to the Middle East, three US officials told Reuters on Friday.
One of the officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said that the USS Boxer, along with the marine expeditionary unit onboard, were departing the west coast of the US about three weeks ahead of schedule.
Continue reading...NCAA files trademark suit against DraftKings
Seeks ban on ‘March Madness’ betting promotions
Claims use misleads fans on NCAA endorsement
The NCAA filed a complaint in federal court Friday seeking an emergency restraining order to stop online sportsbook DraftKings from using registered trademarks associated with the NCAA men’s and women’s basketball tournaments.
The complaint for trademark infringement was filed in the Southern District of Indiana and requests that DraftKings stop using terms including “March Madness”, “Final Four”, “Elite Eight” and “Sweet Sixteen” or variations of them in sports betting products, promotional campaigns or marketing.
Continue reading...Trump called alliance members ‘cowards’ for not wanting ‘to help open’ the strait of Hormuz; more than a dozen nations later made vague offer to help – key US politics stories from 20 March at a glance
Several Nato members and other US allied nations pledged on Thursday to join “appropriate efforts to ensure safe passage” through the strait of Hormuz. But the joint statement from the leaders of more than a dozen nations – including the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Canada, South Korea, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Bahrain – did not provide details on how they would do this.
That followed a recent bashing by Donald Trump, who called alliance members “cowards” for not wanting “to help open” the strait of Hormuz. Iran has effectively closed the strait with periodic attacks on oil tankers and other shipping.
Continue reading...The separate narco-trafficking investigations, based out of New York's Southern and Eastern districts, didn't set out to target Petro, but his name has come up during the course of the probes, one source said.
Proposal fails to advance in Senate amid growing concerns about long lines to get through screening at some airports
A bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security failed to advance on Friday in the Senate amid growing concerns about long lines to get through screening at some of the country’s biggest airports.
Democrats declined to provide the support needed to move the funding measure toward final passage. Senate Democratic leader, Chuck Schumer, said he would offer an alternative measure on Saturday to fund just the Transportation Security Administration, which screens passengers and luggage for hazardous items. That too is likely to fail as lawmakers hold a rare weekend session.
Continue reading...The company described changes Windows Insiders will be seeing over the next few months, many of which are long overdue.
Here are hints and the answer for today's Wordle for March 21, No. 1,736.
Here are hints and answers for the NYT Strands puzzle for March 21, No. 748.
Here are some hints and the answers for the NYT Connections puzzle for March 21, No. 1014.
A look back at the esteemed personalities who've left us this year, who'd touched us with their innovation, creativity and humanity.
The U.S. Treasury has authorized the purchase of Iranian oil that's already at sea, exempting buyers from the tight sanctions that have restricted Iran's oil industry for years, as the Trump administration grapples with high oil prices.
This week's guests include U.S. Representative to the United Nations Mike Waltz, Democratic Rep. Jason Crow and International Atomic Energy Agency Director-General Rafael Grossi.
Prosecutors say they paid ‘slammers’ to intentionally crash into tractor-trailers and file fraudulent lawsuits
A federal jury in New Orleans has found two personal injury attorneys guilty of involving themselves in a scheme to stage collisions with 18-wheelers and then collect settlement payouts.
The lawyers, Jason Giles and former Hollywood stuntwoman Vanessa Motta, were found guilty on Friday of fraud, obstruction of justice and witness tampering, local news outlets WVUE and WWL Louisiana – a Guardian reporting partner – reported. Their law firms were convicted of related charges.
Continue reading...A federal judge has struck down some of the Defense Department's strict controls on how journalists with access to the Pentagon are allowed to report — ending a policy that caused many news outlets to leave the Pentagon.
Clot appeared in his arm after injection in wrong place
‘I will never let the devil stop me from getting a gold’
On a night of dizzying speed and freakish drama, track and field found itself a new sprint sensation. It came in the form of Jordan Anthony, a 21-year-old American with one heck of a story, along with the first global gold medal around his neck.
“The devil is always going to try, but I will never let him stop me from getting a gold medal,” he said after winning one of the great world indoor championships 60m races of all time in 6.41secs, the fourth-fastest time in history.
Continue reading...Mary Fong Lau crashed into bus shelter in 2024, causing deaths of two parents and two infant children
The 80-year-old woman that prosecutors found responsible for a car crash that killed a family of four in San Francisco has been sentenced to two years of probation and will have her driver’s license suspended.
Lau will receive no jail time and will not be subject to home confinement. As part of her sentence, she must complete 200 hours of community service.
Continue reading...Former boxing world champion’s cause of death was hanging but his intention was unclear, inquest concludes
A coroner has said she “cannot be satisfied” that British former boxing world champion Ricky Hattonintended to take his own life.
Hatton, 46, was found dead in his home on 14 September, with the inquest concluding that the official cause of his death was hanging.
In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counselor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org
Continue reading...Earlier this year, Microsoft openly acknowledged the sorry state of Windows 11, and made vague promises about possible improvements somewhere in the near future, but stayed away from making any concrete promises. Today, the company published a blog post with some more details, including some actual concrete, tangible changes it’s going to implement over the coming two months.
In coming builds, you’ll be able to move the taskbar to any side of the screen, instead of it being locked to the bottom, thereby reintroducing a feature present since Windows 95. They’re also scaling back their obsession with ramming “AI” in every corner of Windows, and will be removing Copilot integrations from Snipping Tool, Photos, Widgets, and Notepad. Furthermore, and this is a big one among Windows users I’m sure, Windows Update will be placed under user control once again, allowing them to ignore updates, postpone them indefinitely, reboot without applying updates, and so on. These are the tangible improvements we’ll be able to point to and say the company kept their word, and they all feel like welcome changes.
There’s also a few promises that feel far more vague and less tangible, like the ever-present, long-running promise to “improve File Explorer”. I feel like Microsoft’s been promising to fix their horrible file manager for years now, without much to show for it, so I hope this time will be different. The company also wants to improve Widgets, the Windows Insider Program, and the Feedback Hub application. These all feel less tangible, and will be harder to quantify and benchmark.
Beyond these first round of improvements that we’re supposed to be seeing over the coming two months, Microsoft also promises to implement wider improvements across the board, with the usual suspects like better performance, quicker application launches, improved reliability, lower memory usage, and so on. They also promise to move more core Windows user interface components to WinUI 3, including the Start menu, which is currently written in React. Windows Search is another common pain point among Windows users, and here, Microsoft promises to improve its performance and clearly separate local from online results (but no word on making search exclusively local).
There’s some more details in the blog post, but overall, it sounds great. However, words without actions are about as meaningful as a White House statement on the war with Iran, so seeing is believing.
The vernal equinox heralds the arrival of spring in the Northern Hemisphere. But have you heard the myth about balancing an egg on its end?
CBS News is shutting down its nearly 100-year-old radio news service due to economic pressures and the shift toward digital media and podcasts. Longtime CBS News anchor Dan Rather said: "It's another piece of America that is gone." The Associated Press reports: When it went on the air in September 1927, the service was the precursor to the entire network, giving a youthful William S. Paley a start in the business. Famed broadcaster Edward R. Murrow's rooftop reports during the Nazi bombing of London during World War II kept Americans listening anxiously. Today, CBS News Radio provides material to an estimated 700 stations across the country and is known best for its top-of-the-hour news roundups. The service will end on May 22, the network said Friday. "Radio is woven into the fabric of CBS News and that's always going to be part of our history," CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss said in delivering the news to the staff. "I want you to know that we did everything we could, including before I joined the company, to try and find a viable solution to sustain the radio operation." But with the radical changes in the media industry, she said, "we just could not find a way to make that possible." It was unclear how many people will lose their jobs because of the radio shutdown. CBS News was cutting about 6% of its workforce, or more than 60 people, on Friday. It's not the end of turmoil at the network, as parent company Paramount Global is likely to absorb CNN as part of its announced purchase of Warner Bros. Discovery.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Customers could pay as much as $20 more each month if they hold onto their old plans.
Lawsuit alleged changes gave DoD free rein to punish reporters and outlets over coverage it did not like
A federal judge has blocked key portions of the Pentagon’s press access policy, siding with the New York Times and ruling that the Trump administration’s controversial policy was unconstitutional.
The policy, which was introduced in October, prohibited journalists from soliciting information that the defense department didn’t directly provide, and revoked the credentials of any outlet that didn’t sign on. News outlets including the Washington Post, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Associated Press, Reuters, Bloomberg News and the Atlantic joined TV networks in refusing to sign. Of 56 news outlets in the Pentagon Press Association, only one agreed to sign onto the new policy.
Continue reading...Here are hints and the answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle for March 21, No. 544.
Jefferson hurt left ankle on untidy early landing
Miami (Ohio)’s charmed season ended by Tennessee
Kentucky reach second round after OT thriller
Iowa State forward Joshua Jefferson sprained his left ankle in the opening minutes of the second-seeded Cyclones’ 108-74 rout of No 15 seed Tennessee State on Friday, leaving the All-American’s status in question for the rest of the NCAA Tournament.
The Cyclones’ second-leading scorer and top rebounder did not appear to be touched as he drove the lane for an open layup. But his entire 240lb body came down on his left ankle as it turned beneath him, and Jefferson immediately dropped to the floor in front of the Iowa State bench as a hush came over a crowd filled with Cyclones fans.
Continue reading...It's been more than 10 years since Amazon stopped selling the Fire Phone. A new report says the company is giving it a second try.
Allegations of AI-generated text have caused Hachette to scrap the US release of Shy Girl.
The White House and Sen. Marsha Blackburn are proposing new laws around AI. Critics say the plan falls short of what's needed.
BrianFagioli writes: Microsoft says it is finally listening to user complaints about Windows 11, promising a series of changes focused on performance, reliability, and reducing everyday annoyances. In a message to Windows Insiders, the company outlined plans to bring back long requested features like taskbar repositioning, cut down on intrusive AI integrations, and give users more control over updates. File Explorer is also getting attention, with promised improvements to speed, stability, and general responsiveness. The bigger picture here is less about new features and more about fixing what already exists. Microsoft is talking about fewer forced restarts, quieter notifications, and a more predictable experience overall, along with improvements to Windows Subsystem for Linux for developers. While the roadmap sounds reasonable, users have heard similar promises before, so the real test will be whether these changes actually show up in day to day use.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
One person survived and two were killed, the military said, who were turned over to Costa Rican coast guard
US Southern Command announced on Friday that US forces carried out another “lethal kinetic strike” on a suspected drug-smuggling boat in the eastern Pacific which left one survivor and two people dead.
After the strike, the military said that it “immediately notified US Coast Guard to activate the Search and Rescue system” for three people who survived the strike. The coast guard said in a statement that one of its ships recovered two dead bodies and one survivor and turned them over to the Costa Rican coast guard.
Continue reading...A jury has found Elon Musk liable for misleading investors by deliberately driving down Twitter's stock price in the tumultuous months leading up to his 2022 acquisition of the social media company.
Transcript: Siamak Namazi, Emad Shargi, Roger Carstens, Neda Sharghi on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan," March 22, 2026
An effective U.S. oil blockade has worsened the island’s energy crisis. The U.S. Embassy in Havana, too, is feeling the effects.
Joseph Duggar's arrest comes almost five years after his older brother Josh Duggar was convicted of downloading child sexual abuse images.
As energy prices soar from the Iran conflict, the International Energy Agency is urging governments to cut energy use by taking up measures like remote work and reduced speed limits. The group warns the energy security crisis could persist for months, even if supply routes stabilize. "I believe the world has not yet well understood the depth of the energy security challenge we are facing," said IEA's executive director, Fatih Birol. "It is much bigger than what we had in the 1970s... It is also bigger than the natural gas price shock we experienced after the Russia's invasion of Ukraine." The BBC reports: Thirty-two countries are members of the IEA, including the US, the UK, Australia, Canada, Japan and 24 other European nations. Its role is to act as a global watchdog, providing analysis and recommendations on global energy problems, such as energy security and the transition to clean energy. The IEA's other suggestions for governments, businesses and individuals include: - Promoting use of public transport - Giving private cars access to city centres on alternate days - Encouraging car sharing and efficient driving habits - Avoiding air travel where possible, especially business flights - Switching to electric cooking It also said there should be a focused effort to preserve liquid petroleum gas for cooking and other essential uses, by switching bio-fuel converted vehicles onto gas and introducing other measures to reduce its use. Birol said these proposals were in addition to action taken by IEA member countries earlier this month, when they agreed to release 400 million barrels of oil, 20% of its emergency reserves. Several countries in Asia have implemented emergency four-day workweeks and work-from-home mandates as they have been hit particularly hard from the conflict. Fortune notes: "Asia is particularly dependent on oil exports from the Middle East; Japan and South Korea respectively source 90% and 70% of their oil from the region."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Calls for Pennsylvania senator – Trump’s ‘favorite Democrat’ – to resign after casting decisive committee vote
Democrats reacted with outrage to their party colleague John Fetterman’s decision to advance the nomination of Republican US senator Markwayne Mullin as homeland security secretary.
Fetterman, the senior US senator from Pennsylvania, has in recent months broken with the party several times to support Republican proposals, and has routinely expressed staunch support for Israel. He cast the decisive committee vote on Thursday to advance Mullin’s nomination to succeed Kristi Noem as homeland security secretary.
Continue reading...Won't you be his neighbor?
I found WTF and stock, but nothing else. Are there any other types that exist, specifically for the pint series?
Judge rules that Trump’s health secretary did not go through proper procedures when issuing declaration
Robert F Kennedy Jr, the health secretary, overstepped his power when he declared that gender-affirming treatments are unsafe, a federal judge has ruled.
In a blow to the Trump administration’s attempts to limit access to gender transition procedures, Judge Mustafa Kasubhai ruled Thursday that Kennedy did not go through the proper procedures when issuing his 12-page declaration last December.
Continue reading...Team says ‘timing just didn’t work out’ for visit
No NBA team has visited during a Trump presidency
The reigning NBA champion Oklahoma City Thunder will not visit the White House during their trip to the nation’s capital this weekend.
A Thunder spokesperson confirmed Friday that a “timing issue” will prevent the team from making the traditional appearance. Oklahoma City face the Wizards in Washington on Saturday.
Continue reading...Check out Ponies, a spy thriller series starring Haley Lu Richardson and Emilia Clarke.
Five people who were charged in connection to the Feeding Our Future scheme pleaded guilty to wire fraud this week.
Most observers expect Apple to launch its first foldable phone in September.
Markets seem particularly attuned to increasing oil prices, with S&P 500 and Nasdaq down 1.5% and 2% respectively
US stock markets dropped again on Friday, capping off a fourth week of market turbulence as investors worried about the US-Israel war on Iran and its widespread impact on global oil prices.
The Dow lost over 400 points on Friday, with the S&P 500 slipping 1.5% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq down 2%.
Continue reading...Diggins, 34, clinches fourth World Cup overall title
American seals rare feat in Lake Placid season finale
Minnesota-born star to retire after dominant season
No woman from outside Europe had ever captured the cross-country skiing World Cup overall title until Jessie Diggins in 2021. Now she’s won it four times.
The Minnesota-born star clinched yet another crystal globe in the twilight of her glittering career on Friday, securing the season crown with a fifth-place finish in the 10km classic at the World Cup finals in Lake Placid, New York. Diggins made it a mathematical certainty with two races remaining in the season-ending weekend, giving her a third consecutive overall title and fourth in total.
Continue reading...Two former Louisville police officers were facing civil rights charges in connection with the 2020 shooting death of Breonna Taylor.
Border czar Tom Homan is expected back on Capitol Hill later Friday for bipartisan talks.
Chuck Norris' family said his death at 86 was sudden, but did not share any details on the cause.
A look at the features for this week's broadcast of the Emmy-winning program, hosted by Jane Pauley.
Democrats opposing the Trump-backed SAVE America Act say if the legislation passes, millions of Americans will lack the documents needed to register to vote and cast a ballot.
Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., said in a March 18 X post, "9% of American citizens don't have the identification that the SAVE act requires to vote. Almost 1 in 10. This is a voter suppression bill."
The bill, formally named the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, passed the House in February. The Senate began debating the legislation March 17; it does not appear to have the 60 votes needed to pass.
Duckworth’s statement comes from credible research organizations and is largely accurate but needs context. When contacted for comment, her spokesperson pointed to data about proof of citizenship.
Before casting ballots, people must register to vote. The SAVE America Act says people must present documentary proof of U.S. citizenship, and it lists options including a passport or REAL ID driver’s license that indicates citizenship. However, REAL IDs offered by most states do not show citizenship status.
A handful of states offer the option of an enhanced ID that shows citizenship. Michigan, for example, has offered such IDs since 2008. About 2 million of Michigan’s 8.3 million driver’s license and state ID holders currently have this enhanced identification.
Nationwide, people can also register to vote with a government-issued ID plus a birth certificate or naturalization certificate.
Duckworth’s spokesperson pointed to a 2023 national survey by the Center for Democracy and Civic Engagement at the University of Maryland and voting rights groups, including the Brennan Center for Justice.
The survey asked 2,400 U.S. citizen adults if they had various federal government documents — a passport, birth certificate, naturalization certificate or certificate of citizenship. If the respondents indicated they did have one of these items, the pollsters asked if it was "in a place where you could quickly find it if you had to show it tomorrow."
Just over 9% — or 21.3 million people when applied to the entire U.S. citizen adult population — either did not have or could not readily access documentary proof of citizenship, the survey concluded. The survey didn’t drill down into why some people couldn’t access them, but Michael J. Hanmer, a University of Maryland professor who oversaw the survey, said that some people hold the documents in another location. For example, college students may have birth certificates at their parents’ homes, and older Americans may have their documents stored at an adult child’s home.
States administer elections and set laws, including on voter ID. The majority of states require some type of ID to vote while others use different methods to verify eligibility. The SAVE America Act would set standard rules nationwide.
The legislation requires that people show nonexpired government-issued photo IDs to cast ballots. That could include a driver’s license, state ID, passport, military ID or ID issued by a tribal government. Student IDs, which some states currently allow, would be banned under the bill.
On government ID, the survey that Duckworth’s spokesperson pointed to found just under 9%, or 20.8 million people, did not have a nonexpired driver’s license.
Black and Hispanic Americans were less likely to have a current driver’s license compared with white people. People ages 18 to 24, and those with less education or income, were also less likely than other groups to have a nonexpired driver’s license.
The survey was not specifically of registered voters. But another survey targeted voters, asking about their IDs. The 2024 Survey of the Performance of American Elections showed that 97% of voters surveyed said they had a driver’s license. Eighty-five percent said "yes" when asked if their driver’s license was unexpired, showed the same name under which the voter was registered to vote, and displayed the same address where the voter was registered..
Trump has said the SAVE America Act is his top domestic priority. It follows years of his voter fraud falsehoods.
Voter fraud is rare, including voter impersonation. In 2016, we found that people were more likely to be struck by lightning than to impersonate someone else at the polls.
We found anecdotal examples of people who cast mail ballots in the name of dead relatives, but the numbers are too small to affect a statewide election’s outcome. Cases of noncitizens voting are rare, too. If they vote, noncitizens risk deportation, fines or jail. When people register to vote, they sign a form attesting that they are U.S. citizens. Noncitizen voting is already banned in federal elections.
Many Republican-led states are using federal data to look for noncitizens on their voter rolls. They are finding small numbers. Utah, for example, found only one confirmed noncitizen who never cast a ballot.
Duckworth said, "9% of American citizens don't have the identification that the SAVE act requires to vote. Almost 1 in 10."
The SAVE America Act would require documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote and government-issued photo ID to cast a ballot.
A 2023 national survey — of U.S. adult citizens, not exclusively voters — found 9% of adult U.S. citizens either did not have or could not readily access documentary proof of citizenship. Duckworth left out context that some of the respondents have the documents but don’t have easy access to them.
Nine percent of survey respondents also lacked a nonexpired driver’s license.
We rate this statement Mostly True.
RELATED: Fact-checking Chuck Schumer about SAVE America Act, how many Americans register to vote in person
CBS News announced Friday that CBS News Radio will be shutting down this spring after nearly 100 years of broadcasting, citing "challenging economic realities."
joshuark shares a report from Neowin: OpenAI is planning to combine its Atlas web browser, ChatGPT app, and Codex coding app into a singular desktop "superapp." CEO of Applications, Fidji Simo, said the company was doubling down on its successful products. By taking this move, the AI company aims to streamline the user experience and reduce fragmentation. Simo said in an internal memo: "We realized we were spreading our efforts across too many apps and stacks, and that we need to simplify our efforts. That fragmentation has been slowing us down and making it harder to hit the quality bar we want."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
The aproned robot had the moves, but unfortunately, it had to be restrained by restaurant workers.
With gas closing in on $4 a gallon, the Trump administration is pulling multiple levers to tame energy prices. The results have been mixed.
Veteran broadcaster interviewed prominent female leaders including Margaret Thatcher and Hillary Clinton
Jenni Murray, the broadcaster who hosted BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour for more than 30 years, has died at the age of 75.
Murray joined the programme in 1987 and presented it until she departed as its longest-serving presenter in 2020. She was awarded a damehood in 2011 in recognition of her contribution to broadcasting.
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Republican lawmakers advocating for the SAVE America Act — which would require government-issued photo ID to vote — often argue that Americans are already required to present ID for all sorts of everyday activities.
A House Republican recently said "it’s nuts" one needs an ID to buy a six-pack of beer but not to vote. (State laws vary on IDs and alcohol purchases.) Other leaders have locked in on a dreaded post-blizzard activity.
"You can’t rent a home, you can't go to work, you can't shovel snow in New York City without an ID," Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., said during a March 19 press conference.
Britt’s shoveling remark met cold corrections on social media; people don’t need an ID to shovel their own sidewalk.
Britt’s spokesperson told PolitiFact the senator was referring to a New York City program that hires residents to shovel snow following a major snowfall, and requires workers to provide two forms of ID. Other Republicans, including President Donald Trump and Sen. Rick Scott of Florida, have talked about this requirement when advocating for the SAVE America Act.
"If you apply for that job, you need to show two original forms of ID and a Social Security card," Trump said Feb. 24 during his State of the Union address. "Yet they don't want identification for the greatest privilege of them all: Voting in America."
On Feb. 22, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani held a press conference amid a snowstorm and was asked whether snow shovelers had to provide documentation.
Mamdani said yes, and that this was part of a longstanding program in which the city pays shovelers, so it asks for ID. "Federal law requires that employers get authorization and documentation to pay people for their work," Mamdani said. "We are not allowed to just cut checks to individuals for their work."
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a lawyer and senior fellow at the American Immigration Council, an advocacy group, said that the ID requirement stems from the Immigration Reform and Conrol Act of 1986 signed by President Ronald Reagan. That law, he said, requires that "every person who wants to work in the United States now has to produce proof of their eligibility." The requirement applies to U.S. citizens and noncitizens.
States set their own voter ID requirements, and the majority of them require ID to cast ballots, though with some variation on what form of ID is acceptable. Alabama, for instance, requires a photo ID to vote and has a long list of acceptable ID cards, including student IDs. Alabama law also says that voters who lack photo ID can vote if election officials sign a sworn affidavit stating that the person is eligible.
New York does not require all voters to present identification when they show up at the polls. But if a voter does not provide valid ID when they register, they must show ID at the polling place when voting for the first time. Only U.S. citizens can vote in federal elections.
The Trump-backed SAVE America legislation would establish identical laws for every state and require that voters show nonexpired, government-issued photo IDs to cast their ballots. Acceptable IDs include driver’s licenses, state-issued IDs, passports, military IDs or IDs issued by tribal governments. Student IDs, which are allowed in some states, would be banned as voter ID.
People would also have to provide documentary proof of citizenship, such as a passport or birth certificate to register to vote. And people who changed their names to something other than what shows on their birth certificates would have to provide documentation showing the name change was legal or sign an affidavit.
The House passed the SAVE America Act in February. Debate in the Senate began March 17.
Britt said, "You can't shovel snow in New York City without an ID."
Britt’s statement ignores critical facts: People can shovel their own sidewalk without an ID, but people need to present identification to get hired and paid by the city. That ID requirement, for any employment, stems from federal law.
We rate this statement Mostly False.
Chief Correspondent Louis Jacobson contributed to this fact-check.
Siamak Namazi, who was released from Iran's Evin prison in 2023, said "it's important" that President Trump "hears that there are innocent Americans being held like we were as political pawns."
Security lines are stretching up to 2 hours at some airports amid TSA staffing shortages. Here's how to check wait times before you leave.
 | So I have over 1700 miles on my pint x and just decided to deep clean it. Is this oxidation bad or concerning. It concerned me when I opened it and it smelled like that old battery smell [link] [comments] |
‘Teleporting is no fun,’ Gregg Phillips, picked to lead Fema’s office of response and recovery, has said on a podcast
A far-right conspiracy theorist turned high-ranking official at the US Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) claims to have once teleported to a Waffle House.
Gregg Phillips, who in December was appointed to lead Fema’s office of response and recovery, has spoken on “multiple podcasts” about being teleported against his will, CNN reported on Friday.
Continue reading...It is unclear under what circumstances President Trump would authorize the use of U.S. troops on the ground in Iran.
Officials understood to be investigating use of visas by company linked to Ahmadi Religion of Peace and Light
The Home Office is investigating a company linked to a religious sect based in Cheshire over its use of immigration visas.
The company under investigation is linked to the Ahmadi Religion of Peace and Light (AROPL), a sect that blends tenets of Islam with conspiracy theories about the Illuminati and aliens controlling US presidents. Followers believe the sect’s leader, Abdullah Hashem, can cure the sick and make the moon disappear. About 100 of his followers live in a former orphanage in Crewe, in the north-west of England.
Continue reading...Crisis in the Middle East, a sandstorm in Gaza, a blackout in Havana and the Oscars – the past seven days as captured by the world’s leading photojournalists
Continue reading...It's definitely a good month to reup your subscription.
Here's a breakdown of the best platforms for streaming your favorite reality hits on demand.
An anonymous reader quotes a repot from the Portland Tribune: There was plenty of uncertainty and debate about the effectiveness of a cell phone ban decreed (PDF) by executive order last summer. But at least in Estacada, the policy has earned two thumbs up, including approval from a "grumpy old teacher." Jeff Mellema is a language arts teacher at Estacada High School. He has worked in the building for 24 years, and he said the new policy that prohibits students from using their phones during the day has been a breath of fresh air. "There is so much better discourse in my classroom, be it personal or academic," Mellema said. "Students can't avoid those conversations anymore with their phones." "This ban has brought joy back to this old, grumpy teacher," he added with a smile. That is the kind of feedback Gov. Tina Kotek was hoping for as she visited Estacada High School on Wednesday afternoon, March 18. Her goal was to visit classrooms, speak with administrators, and meet with students one-on-one to hear about the effectiveness of her phone policy. [...] In the classrooms, she was able to take a straw poll around the cell phone ban and then get specific, direct feedback from the kids. Overall, it was positive. The Rangers said they noticed changes in how they interact with teachers and peers. They don't feel that "siren's song" tug of their phones as often, and the changes are bleeding into everyday life as well -- think less reminders to put phones away during family dinners. Phones also led to issues around bullying and online toxicity during the school day. There are some hiccups. The students spoke about difficulties in tracking busy schedules. Many athletes relied on their phones for practice times and locations. Some advanced placement kids said the overzealous programs monitoring school laptops blocked access to needed resources for studying/researching schoolwork. There is even a strange quirk with school-provided tech that prevents them from accessing their calculators. "Maybe the filters are too strong right now," Gov. Kotek said. "That is why we are working with the districts to best implement the policy." The kids also weighed in on the debate around the extent of the ban. The two options bandied in Salem were a "bell-to-bell" policy or just inside classrooms. The latter would allow kids to use their phones during passing period and lunch. Several advocated for that change. That mirrored the debate within the Oregon legislature. It ultimately led to a stalemate and the need for Gov. Kotek's executive ruling. "When you make a decision like this, you don't know how it will ultimately work," Kotek told the students. "I appreciate you adapting to the situation and making it work for you." While things could change in the future, the governor is pleased with the early results. The phone ban is here to stay.
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A pharmaceutical company issued the recall after receiving complaints of "gel-like mass and black particles" in the product, the FDA said.
Eid al-Fitr celebrated amid political furore over claims public Ramadan prayers an ‘act of domination’
On Friday morning, little space remained in Baitul Futuh mosque as thousands of people poured in to mark the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.
The south London mosque, one of the largest in Europe, offered a glimpse of the Eid al-Fitr festivities being celebrated by millions of Muslims across the UK. This year, however, a political furore around one of the most important holidays in the Islamic calendar has divided UK party leaders, drawn warnings of bigotry and left members of the community feeling disturbed and disappointed.
Continue reading...Forces have been stripped back since the cold war but political stasis is dangerous in the face of growing global threats
It will have been more than three weeks since the US and Israel first attacked Iran when the first British warship finally arrives off the coast of Cyprus, a belated defensive deployment that has highlighted the lack of military capacity available to the UK.
Nominally, HMS Dragon was one of three destroyers available out of six. In reality the warship has had to be hauled out of dry dock, prepared and then, after launch, tested for several days in the Channel. Its arrival date is still unconfirmed.
Continue reading...The Pentagon has put out a call to its civilian employees to volunteer with the Department of Homeland Security as the embattled agency enters its second month without funding and weathers a public relations crisis over its brutal immigration enforcement tactics.
As email dated Thursday compares immigration enforcement to fighting wildfires and other disaster response and implores civilian employees and contractors to “step up for our country’s next challenge.”
Those who volunteer “will directly support the operations of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) as they work to ensure a safe and orderly immigration system,” reads the email, listed as from the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness. “To date, participants have helped ICE and CBP develop concepts of operation, provide logistics support, and managed enforcement activities that enhance public safety.”
ICE and CBP have faced a wave of public backlash in recent months, as immigration operations have terrorized communities across the country and killed two civilians in Minneapolis. President Donald Trump fired DHS Secretary Kristi Noem earlier this month, and in February, Congress triggered a partial government shutdown by letting DHS funding lapse while Democrats request reforms.
A photo of the memo, which was first reported by Military Times, appeared Thursday afternoon on an unofficial Facebook page for Air Force personnel. A spokesperson for the Department of Defense did not respond to The Intercept’s request for comment, but the email’s details match those of an earlier department press release published March 11.
The Pentagon’s current call for DHS support appears to be a re-up of an earlier ask for volunteers made last August. At that time, Michael A. Cogar, the deputy assistant defense secretary for civilian personnel policy, expressed pride in civilians joining the efforts of DHS.
“This is a national security problem, and our civilians have the critical skill sets to support DHS in their mission,” Cogar said in August. “We’re proud that our civilians are already willing to sign up.”
The memo sent out Thursday claimed that more than 900 people had submitted applications so far to take part in the details, but did not specify how many people have been deployed. The March 11 press release claimed that around 200 civilians had deployed as part of the program.
The email linked to a page on USA Jobs, a clearinghouse for federal job opportunities. The page, titled “Volunteer Force,” advertises a salary range of $25,684 to $191,900 per year. A list of potential volunteer duties include data entry, operational support, assisting ICE and CBP with managing the flow of detainees, and logistical planning.
The Pentagon has taken an active support role in DHS activities since the beginning of Trump’s second term, when Trump declared a national emergency on the southern border and authorized the armed forces to deploy there.
Pentagon spending on border security has been the subject of controversy over the past year. In December, Democratic lawmakers accused the Trump administration of siphoning at least $2 billion from the Pentagon’s budget and prioritizing hard-line border initiatives and political stunts over its traditional focus on national security.
Spokespeople for DHS, ICE, and CBP did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The post Pentagon Implores Civilian Workers to Join ICE “Volunteer Force” appeared first on The Intercept.
Ah, yes. It’s a sensitive topic. Ennoid didn’t submit the hardware configs for all his hardware variants to upstream. He doesn’t even have them in git. He’s got them on a google drive somewhere and would hear nothing about doing things the right way. I’m not gonna be manually coping his source files from somewhere and figuring out if I’ve done it correctly, not even having the hardware to test them (even if I wanted to go out of my way testing them). So sadly, no support for those until Kevin gets his stuff straight 
They were at a salon getting their nails done for Eid al-Fitr. It was unclear who fired the missile.
Recent developments could improve the value of a CD account again. Here's what savers should consider right now.
Martinez Lake, about 145 miles west of Phoenix, reached 110F (43.3C) on Thursday amid scorching south-west heat
A small community in the Arizona desert has broken a record for the highest March temperature ever recorded in the US, as the south-west bakes in a blistering late-winter heatwave.
The astonishing temperature was recorded just outside Martinez Lake, Arizona, which reached 110F (43.3C) on Thursday, according to the National Weather Service (NWS).
Continue reading...SAN JOSE, Calif., March 20, 2026 — Super Micro Computer, Inc. has issued the following statement:
Supermicro was informed yesterday that the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York has unsealed an indictment of three individuals associated with the Company in connection with an alleged conspiracy to commit export-control violations.
Supermicro is not named as a defendant in the indictment. The individuals charged are Yih-Shyan “Wally” Liaw, Senior Vice President of Business Development and a member of the Company’s Board of Directors; Ruei-Tsang “Steven” Chang, a sales manager in Taiwan; and Ting-Wei “Willy” Sun, a contractor. Supermicro has placed the two employees on administrative leave and terminated its relationship with the contractor, effective immediately.
The conduct by these individuals alleged in the indictment is a contravention of the Company’s policies and compliance controls, including efforts to circumvent applicable export control laws and regulations. Supermicro maintains a robust compliance program and is committed to full adherence to all applicable U.S. export and re-export control laws and regulations.
The Company has been cooperating fully with the government’s investigation and will continue to do so. Supermicro has not been named as a defendant in the indictment.
About Super Micro Computer, Inc.
Supermicro (NASDAQ: SMCI) is a global leader in Application-Optimized Total IT Solutions. Founded and operating in San Jose, California, Supermicro is committed to delivering first-to-market innovation for Enterprise, Cloud, AI, and 5G Telco/Edge IT Infrastructure. We are a Total IT Solutions provider with server, AI, storage, IoT, switch systems, software, and support services. Supermicro’s motherboard, power, and chassis design expertise further enables our development and production, enabling next-generation innovation from cloud to edge for our global customers. Our products are designed and manufactured in-house (in the US, Taiwan, and the Netherlands), leveraging global operations for scale and efficiency and optimized to improve TCO and reduce environmental impact (Green Computing). The award-winning portfolio of Server Building Block Solutions allows customers to optimize for their exact workload and application by selecting from a broad family of systems built from our flexible and reusable building blocks that support a comprehensive set of form factors, processors, memory, GPUs, storage, networking, power, and cooling solutions (air-conditioned, free air cooling or liquid cooling).
Source: Supermicro
The post Supermicro Responds to US Indictment of 3 Individuals Tied to Export Control Allegations appeared first on HPCwire.
ARLINGTON, Va., March 20, 2026 — The Special Competitive Studies Project (SCSP) has announced the formation of the National Security Commission on Robotics for Advanced Manufacturing. This initiative, co-chaired by SCSP President Ylli Bajraktari, Sen. Ted Budd (R-NC) and Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), is designed to restore American industrial preeminence by mastering the convergence of physical AI and automation, ensuring that U.S. manufacturing capacity becomes a durable national security asset against our adversaries.
“We are at a hinge point in history where ‘Physical AI’ – powered by robotics – will determine the next era of geopolitical and economic power,” said Bajraktari. “The Commission is not just about making things more efficiently; it is about ensuring the United States commands the robotics-enabled industrial base required to defend our interests. We are bringing together the best minds to ensure America wins the race for the future of production.”
As the global landscape shifts toward autonomous production, the Commission will serve as the primary architect for a national strategy to scale next-generation robotics. By unifying public and private efforts, the Commission aims to bridge the gap between laboratory innovation and shop-floor execution.
“If the U.S. fails to deploy next-generation technologies, we risk our national and economic security falling behind. Improving America’s physical AI can help power a new manufacturing renaissance, and the deployment of robotics will create smarter systems and scalable solutions. Enhancing technology for workers will unlock new careers, reduce our reliance on adversaries, and ensure the advanced manufacturing capabilities that will define the future are built in America,” said Sen. Budd.
“To win the future you need a plan. And with advanced manufacturing and AI rapidly evolving, it’s critical to have organizations like The Special Competitive Studies Project (SCSP) working to stay ahead so we don’t fall behind to adversaries like China,” said Sen. Slotkin. “This commission will work across government, academia and industry to strengthen our national security, protect workers, and boost advanced and robotics manufacturing in Michigan and across the nation.”
The Commission will focus its efforts on four critical pillars:
The co-chairs are joined by a distinguished group of commissioners representing the vanguard of technology, industry, and academia:
The year-long Commission’s recommendations will be published in its final report in March 2027.
The Special Competitive Studies Project (SCSP) is a non-profit, non-partisan initiative with a mission to make recommendations to strengthen America’s long-term competitiveness as artificial intelligence (AI) and other emerging technologies are reshaping our national security, economy, and society.
For more information, please contact Tara Rigler at tmr@scsp.ai.
Source: Special Competitive Studies Project
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SAN JOSE, Calif., March 20, 2026 — Physicl emerged from stealth at NVIDIA GTC, introducing a new data infrastructure platform purpose-built for Physical AI and robotics.
Launched by members of the team behind Nfinite — the company known for building one of the largest pipelines of high-fidelity 3D digital twins and recently collaborating with Getty Images on AI-ready visual datasets — Physicl focuses exclusively on the next frontier: scaling world-ready data for embodied intelligence.
As the AI industry moves beyond language and image models toward systems that interact with space, a new bottleneck has emerged: physics-grounded, simulation-ready 3D data.
“Every major advance in AI has required a new data layer,” said Alex de Vigan, CEO of Physicl. “For Physical AI, that missing layer is structured, spatially consistent, physics-aware data that models can actually learn from. Physicl exists to build that foundation — enabling robots and world models to understand space, simulate environments, and ultimately operate reliably in the real world.”
Powering the Next Wave of Physical Intelligence
Physicl supports three converging pathways:
Built on nearly a decade of experience digitizing the physical world, Physicl’s infrastructure enables continuous, production-grade data pipelines, moving Physical AI beyond one-off datasets and toward scalable, world-ready infrastructure.
The platform is already supporting teams at leading technology and AI organizations, including Meta, DeepMind, World Labs, and Getty Images, integrating three tightly connected infrastructure layers:
Physicl Leverages NVIDIA Technology: The Data Layer for the Omniverse Ecosystem
As Physical AI scales, the team is building on NVIDIA’s Physical AI stack — NVIDIA Omniverse, NVIDIA Isaac Sim, NVIDIA Isaac Lab, and NVIDIA Cosmos. Physical AI developers need production-grade 3D environments to train and evaluate their models. Today, most of that data is built in-house, slowly and at high cost.
Physicl is purpose-built to fill this gap:
Physicl launches with a library of millions of simulation-ready 3D assets and environments, providing a continuous supply of simulation-ready 3D data — much like Getty Images serves licensed visual content or Scale AI provides labeled training data.
While GPUs power the models, Physical AI requires a fundamentally different type of training input than language systems.
Industry leaders have increasingly emphasized that the next generation of AI will require exponentially larger volumes of high-quality data. For systems that must interact with space, that data must also encode geometry, physics, and spatial relationships.
“NVIDIA has built the compute and simulation infrastructure for Physical AI,” Alex continued. “Physicl is designed to be the dedicated data layer powering the next wave of AI and robotics”
Developers and researchers interested in early beta access can apply here: https://www.physicl.ai.
About Physicl
Physicl is building the data infrastructure layer for Physical AI — enabling robots and AI models to perceive, simulate, and interact with the physical world. Physicl delivers simulation-ready 3D assets, physics-accurate data augmentation, and human-validated environments used to train robotic systems, world models, and embodied AI.
Source: Physicl
The post Physicl Launches the Data Infrastructure Layer for Physical AI at NVIDIA GTC appeared first on HPCwire.
AMSTERDAM, March 20, 2026 — Nebius has announced it is collaborating with NVIDIA to accelerate physical AI development with an end-to-end platform purpose-built for the full robotics lifecycle, from simulation and training to real-world deployment at scale.
Combining Nebius’s global AI cloud infrastructure with the NVIDIA Physical AI Data Factory Blueprint, an open reference architecture for massive data generation and evaluation, Nebius will provide robotics developers and enterprises an agent-driven environment that addresses the two fundamental barriers to physical AI at scale: infrastructure and tooling fragmentation, and the lack of high-quality training data for rare, unpredictable scenarios that determine real-world success.
“Physical AI is going to be one of the defining technology shifts of this decade, and the teams building it today are being held back by infrastructure and tooling that was never designed for those workloads,” said Evan Helda, Head of Physical AI at Nebius. “Working with NVIDIA, we are building the execution layer for the entire physical AI ecosystem — so that any team, anywhere, can go from idea to deployed robot at the speed the market demands.”
“Physical AI is the next phase of computing — where intelligence is trained, tested and validated in simulation before it operates in the real world,” said Rev Lebaredian, VP of Omniverse and simulation technologies at NVIDIA. “That demands tightly integrated systems connecting large-scale AI training with physically accurate simulation to create a continuous data flywheel. By integrating the NVIDIA Physical AI Data Factory Blueprint, Nebius is enabling developers to generate physics-grounded synthetic data and build safe, robust autonomous machines at scale.”
Solving Physical AI’s Three-Computer Problem
Building physical AI at scale means operating across three distinct environments — large-scale GPU training, simulation testing, and edge deployment — each with its own infrastructure and tooling. Engineering teams routinely spend 30–40% of their time on integration work rather than improving robot behavior.
Real-world training data compounds the challenge: it is expensive and dangerous to collect, inconsistent across companies, and never sufficient to cover the long-tail edge cases that determine whether a robot succeeds or fails in the field.
The Nebius cloud solution for physical AI addresses both challenges. NVIDIA OSMO — delivered as an easy-to-consume managed service — provides unified, agentic orchestration across the entire pipeline. NVIDIA Cosmos open world foundation models generate large-scale, physics-consistent synthetic data that bridges the gap that real-world collection cannot close.
The whole stack runs on Nebius AI Cloud — purpose-built infrastructure combining NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell Server Edition GPUs, high-throughput object storage, integrated data management and labelling, serverless features and managed inference directly within the platform — so teams can consume it as a service, without having to provision clusters or manage integrations.
Beyond large-scale simulation and training, Nebius extends the robotics lifecycle into production with serverless and managed inference services, including Nebius Token Factory, enabling teams to deploy and scale trained policies with low-latency execution from cloud to edge.
The result is a complete managed physical AI runtime, from synthetic data generation to real-world inference, delivered through a tightly integrated platform that can be consumed as a service.
Leading Physical AI Companies Building the Future with Nebius and NVIDIA
RoboForce builds AI robots for unstructured outdoor environments — solar farms, construction sites, agricultural fields — where encountering rare edge cases is a daily reality. Using NVIDIA Cosmos open world foundation models on the Nebius cloud, RoboForce cut pipeline setup time by more than 70% and significantly accelerated the rate at which new policies reach production.
“Manual handoffs between data generation, simulation, and training means our GPUs can sit idle — costing us both time and money,” said Calvin Zhou, co-founder of RoboForce. “Using OSMO agentic orchestration, our engineers can push a single configuration file and run the entire pipeline end-to-end. We’re generating thousands of scenario variations with NVIDIA Cosmos on Nebius AI Cloud, powering our AI data flywheel and accelerating the development of our robot foundation model. This allows us to push hardened robot models straight to the edge and cut our iteration cycles from weeks to days.”
Voxel51, a physical AI data platform and key technology partner of Nebius, provides powerful data visualization, curation, annotation, and analysis capabilities for teams to build high-quality datasets for model training and simulations. By running FiftyOne workflows on Nebius GPU clusters, Voxel51 customers can curate, augment, and quality-check visual datasets at scale—reducing the time between data collection and model deployment.
“Data is the biggest determinant of computer vision success. As vision AI systems become more capable, the limiting factor is no longer algorithmic innovation, but the quality, coverage, and observability of the data used to train models,” said Brian Moore, CEO and co-founder of Voxel51. “Nebius gives our users the compute infrastructure for running complex data tasks such as auto labeling and generating novel scenes at the speed and scale needed by physical AI systems.”
Together with Nebius cloud for physical AI and NVIDIA technologies, Voxel51 is delivering a synthetic data generation pipeline for its customer, Porsche Engineering, to accelerate autonomous driving data augmentation workflows.
Milestone Systems, a global leader in intelligent video management software and the company behind the Hafnia platform for computer vision, selected Nebius to fine-tune its next-generation Vision-Language Models (VLMs). Milestone curates real-world video footage into compliant, annotated training data, then uses it to fine-tune NVIDIA Cosmos Reason into highly accurate, use-case specific VLMs. For this computationally intensive work Nebius provides sustained access to large GPU clusters, high-throughput data pipelines, and managed workflow orchestration that keeps training runs stable and cost-efficient.
“We evaluated several cloud providers, and Nebius offered the best combination of GPU availability, price-performance, and hands-on engineering support for our physical AI and VLM training workloads,” said Edward Mauser, Director of Hafnia at Milestone Systems. “We chose Nebius not just for their tech, but also for their commitment to data sovereignty — guaranteeing that European customers’ data can remain within Europe.”
The Nebius cloud for physical AI is available now across Nebius data centers in the US and Europe. Visit http://nebius.com/solutions/phy to learn more.
About Nebius
Nebius, the AI cloud company, is building the full-stack platform for developers and companies to take charge of their AI future — from data and model training to production deployment. Founded on deep in-house technological expertise and operating at scale with a rapidly expanding global footprint, Nebius serves startups and enterprises building AI products, agents and services worldwide.
Source: Nebius
The post Nebius Teams with NVIDIA to Build Cloud for Robotics and Physical AI appeared first on HPCwire.
Going from 6.05 to 6.06, Calibrate on Boot has been changed from a toggle into a bitfield for Offset Calibration Mode. So if desired to be off, the Calibrate on Boot option has to be toggled off under Motor CFG → FOC → Offsets after the firmware update
International Energy Agency recommends emergency measures, including working from home, as Iran war hits fuel supply
Lowering speed limits to minimise fuel consumption is among potential contingency plans being drawn up by the UK government as the crisis in the Middle East threatens global oil supplies.
Sources stressed that there is no shortage of fuel in the UK, but said that officials in the Department for Transport were working with the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) on an analysis of what measures could be taken to curb oil demand.
Continue reading...Bill Ready pointed to Australia’s social media ban for under-16s as a model, though it does not apply to his company
Pinterest’s CEO called on world leaders to ban social media for youth under 16 in a LinkedIn post on Friday.
“We need a clear standard: no social media for teens under 16, backed by real enforcement, and accountability for mobile phone operating systems and the apps that run on them,” Bill Ready wrote. Pinterest, an image-sharing platform, has seen a surge in young users over the past year but has disappointed Wall Street with its quarterly financial reports of late.
Continue reading...Tania Warner and Ayla, her seven-year-old with autism, sent to notorious Texas detention center and told to ‘self-deport’
A Canadian woman and her seven-year-old daughter with autism who have been held by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for nearly a week have been transferred to a notorious detention center and asked to “self-deport”, according to her husband, who said the pair had been “traumatized” by the experience.
Tania Warner and her daughter Ayla Luca, originally from British Columbia, moved to the US five years ago, when Warner married Edward Warner, a US citizen.
Continue reading...The company plans to bundle ChatGPT, the Atlas browser and the Codex coding tool into one, according to a news report.
Longtime Slashdot reader AmiMoJo shares a report from CNN: The co-founder of Super Micro Computer and two others were charged with diverting $2.5 billion worth of servers with Nvidia's artificial intelligence chips to China, in violation of U.S. laws barring exports to that country without a license. Yih-Shyan Liaw, known as Wally; Ruei-Tsang Chang, known as Steven; and Ting-Wei Sun, known as Willy, were charged with conspiring to violate export control laws, smuggling goods from the U.S. and conspiring to defraud the U.S. Liaw, who co-founded Super Micro Computer and served on its board of directors, was arrested Thursday in California and released on bail. Sun, a contractor, is held awaiting a detention hearing. Chang, who worked in the Taiwan office of Super Micro, remains at large. [...] According to the indictment, the men used a pass-through company based in Southeast Asia to place orders to obscure that the servers would end up in China. The men worked with executives at the pass-through company to provide false documents to the server manufacturer to further the deception, the indictment said. They used a shipping and logistic company to repackage the servers into unmarked boxes to conceal their contents before they were shipped to China. To deceive the manufacturer's auditors, who checked the pass-through company for compliance with export laws, the men allegedly used "dummy" nonworking copies of the servers when the actual servers were on their way to China. Two of the defendants allegedly worked to stage the dummy servers at a warehouse rented by the pass-through company, according to the indictment. Sun took photos and videos of the staged servers to one of the compliance auditors who instead of conducting the audit was "off-site enjoying entertainment paid for" by the pass-through company, according to the indictment. In another instance, prosecutors said surveillance cameras documented individuals using hair dryers to remove labels and add labels and serial number stickers to the boxes and dummy servers. Super Micro said it's fully cooperating with the investigation, but that hasn't prevented its stock from plunging. It's down nearly 30% following the news. The company issued the following statement: "The conduct by these individuals alleged in the indictment is a contravention of the Company's policies and compliance controls, including efforts to circumvent applicable export control laws and regulations. Supermicro maintains a robust compliance program and is committed to full adherence to all applicable U.S. export and re-export control laws and regulations."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Scientific advisory committee to examine impact of offering routine MenB jabs to wider range of people
Experts are considering the case for routinely vaccinating more people against meningitis B in response to the fatal outbreak in Kent.
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation’s review was announced after the health secretary, Wes Streeting, asked it to “re-examine eligibility for meningitis vaccines” for a wider range of people than those who now qualify.
Continue reading...The failure to protect explicit case evidence in Denise Huskins' kidnapping and sexual assault case is driving reform at the State Capitol. New developments exposed a little-known gap in state law that could expose videos of sexual assault victims.
National intelligence director said voting machine seizure was requested by US attorney in Puerto Rico – who’s been trying to revive 2020 election conspiracy theory
When the US director of national intelligence (DNI), Tulsi Gabbard, testified on Thursday that her office seized voting machines from Puerto Rico, she said it was at the request of the office of the US attorney in Puerto Rico. Left unsaid was that the prosecutor, as the Guardian previously reported, has been the center of a push by Donald Trump supporters to revive a long discredited conspiracy theory purporting to link Venezuela to Trump’s 2020 electoral defeat.
Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro, the conspiracy theory maintains, controlled electronic voting machines worldwide and remotely manipulated results in 2020 to deprive Trump of a presidential victory.
Continue reading...SAN JOSE, Calif., March 20, 2026 — VAST Data has announced the availability of VAST Foundation Stacks, a new open source library that augments and extends NVIDIA AI Blueprints into production-ready pipeline implementations that run natively on the VAST AI Operating System.
NVIDIA AI Blueprints provide developers with a foundational starting point for building advanced AI applications and intelligent agents, leveraging NVIDIA AI Enterprise software to rapidly prototype, customize, and deploy domain-specific AI workflows with minimal integration effort. VAST Foundation Stacks extend these blueprints into production-ready templates, enabling organizations to deploy and operate NVIDIA-powered pipelines natively on the VAST AI Operating System. Developers can now focus on the business logic that connects AI to their environment instead of assembling the underlying infrastructure and platform layers required to support it, enabling teams to deliver AI applications faster.
Enterprises are racing to operationalize proven AI patterns, but many reference examples still require extensive integration before they can run securely and reliably in production. Teams often must stitch together fragmented infrastructure, orchestration layers and data services to make these AI applications production-ready.
VAST Foundation Stacks address this challenge by extending NVIDIA AI Blueprints into repeatable, enterprise-ready implementations designed to run natively on the VAST AI Operating System. By unifying data access, database services, compute orchestration, eventing, and pipeline execution in a single environment, VAST enables organizations to deploy scalable AI pipelines without building complex infrastructure from scratch. These Foundation Stacks can be seamlessly and repeatedly deployed anywhere the VAST AI OS runs, including in the cloud as well as on-premises via VAST’s newly announced CNode-X platforms, as part of the NVIDIA AI Data Platform reference design.
The first Foundation Stacks are based on NVIDIA AI Blueprints for Video Search and Summarization (VSS) and NVIDIA AI-Q:
The VSS-based VAST Foundation Stack enables organizations to ingest massive volumes of live or archived video and extract insights through semantic indexing, summarization, and interactive Q&A, powered by the high-performance data and pipeline services of the VAST AI Operating System.
The AI-Q based VAST Foundation Stack provides a foundation for building custom AI researchers that can operate across private, enterprise data sources, synthesizing hours of research in minutes while leveraging the VAST AI OS for persistent and secure context, scalable reasoning pipelines, and trusted agent execution.
“NVIDIA AI Blueprints have given the market an important starting point for building next-generation applications, but enterprises still need a production-ready way to deploy and operate those capabilities at scale,” said John Mao, Vice President, Global Technology Alliances at VAST Data. “With VAST Foundation Stacks, VAST is taking the architectural patterns behind leading NVIDIA Blueprints and giving customers a faster path from experimentation to production for scalable AI pipelines, video intelligence, and agentic AI systems.”
“As enterprises transition to production AI at scale, preparing enterprise data for AI has become one of the biggest challenges,” said Adel El Hallak, Vice President, Product at NVIDIA. “Turning data into AI-ready pipelines needs to be done continuously and requires full-stack acceleration across compute, networking and software. By extending NVIDIA AI Blueprints with the VAST AI Operating System, customers can prepare and serve data so intelligent agents are always working off the most recent and accurate information.”
In addition to the available VSS and AI-Q implementations, VAST plans to release additional Foundation Stacks in the coming months, including industry-focused examples. VAST Foundation Stacks will be available through a public GitHub repository, with interactive demos and planned sandbox environments for customers and partners.
About VAST Data
VAST Data is the AI Operating System company – powering the next generation of intelligent systems with a unified software infrastructure stack that was purpose-built to unlock the full potential of AI. The VAST AI OS consolidates foundational data and compute services and agentic execution into one scalable platform, enabling organizations to deploy and facilitate communication between AI agents, reason over real-time data, and automate complex workflows at global scale. Built on VAST’s breakthrough DASE architecture – the world’s first true parallel distributed system architecture that eliminates tradeoffs between performance, scale, simplicity, and resilience – VAST has transformed its modern infrastructure into a global fabric for reasoning AI.
Source: VAST Data
The post VAST Data Introduces Foundation Stacks to Accelerate Enterprise Adoption of NVIDIA Blueprints appeared first on HPCwire.
The insects covered its largest area since 2018, despite threats from habitat loss, climate crisis and pesticides
The population of monarch butterflies in Mexico increased 64% this winter, compared with the same period in 2025, offering a glimmer of hope for an insect considered at risk of extinction.
The figures, released this week by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Mexico, showed that the area occupied by monarchs expanded to 2.93 hectares (7.24 acres) of forest from 1.79 hectares (4.42 acres) the previous winter, the largest coverage since 2018.
Continue reading...Staffing shortages intensify and lead to longer screening times as TSA workers go for weeks without pay
Many travelers across the US are continuing to face significant delays at airport security checkpoints as the homeland security department shutdown, which has affected staffing of the Transportation Security Administration, remains ongoing.
With TSA workers going for weeks without pay, staffing shortages have intensified, leading to longer screening times and growing frustration among passengers.
Continue reading...Sabri Essid also found guilty of crimes against humanity after harrowing evidence from women enslaved by jihadist
A French member of Islamic State has been convicted of genocide and crimes against humanity for atrocities committed against Yazidis in a historic judgment that highlighted the atrocities committed by jihadists.
The Paris criminal court found Sabri Essid, who was tried in his absence, directly participated in an organised system of killing, raping and enslaving members of the Iraqi ethnic and religious minority who are descended from some of the region’s most ancient roots.
Continue reading...A debt collector can't freeze your bank account on a whim, but certain debts make it easier to pursue a bank levy.
Benjy Taylor is suing Morehouse, two campus officers
Incident came after dispute over taunts, handshake line
Tuskegee men’s basketball coach Benjy Taylor filed a lawsuit against Morehouse College and two campus police officers on Friday, claiming he suffered emotional and physical harm when he was handcuffed and escorted off the court on 31 January.
“He has suffered financial harm, reputational harm, emotional harm as well as physical damages,” Harry Daniels, one of Taylor’s attorneys, told the Associated Press.
Continue reading...Anyone who rides with Nike Shox?
I’m concerned that they’re too cushiony, anyone who has some, or some other “bubble” like shoes?
I have Nike Air Max 90 right now.
Lawsuit alleges Ivy League university violated civil rights of Jewish and Israeli people in aftermath of war in Gaza
The Trump administration has renewed its assault on Harvard University, filing a lawsuit in Massachusetts alleging the Ivy League institution violated the civil rights of Jewish and Israeli people in the aftermath of the war in Gaza.
The lawsuit, shared publicly by the New York Times, accuses Harvard of allowing anti-Israel protesters to operate on campus “with impunity” following the 2023 Hamas terrorist attack on Gaza and Israel’s massive military response.
Continue reading...Gwyn Samuels, who committed crimes as James Bubb, befriended both victims online
A Metropolitan police special constable who raped a girl and a woman after “systematically” grooming them both online has been jailed for 24 years.
James Bubb, who now identifies as a woman named Gwyn Samuels, first sexually assaulted the girl when she was just 12 years old after befriending her online in 2018, the trial at Aylesbury crown court was told last year.
Continue reading...Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum on Friday condemned the deaths of three Mexican nationals in ICE custody this year.
KELLY HALL
Staff Reporter
“Sweeney Todd,” a musical performed by the Harrington Theatre Arts Company (HTAC) students, opened Nov. 13 in the Pearson Hall Auditorium and closed its four-show run on Nov. 18.
The musical is based on the 1973 play of the same name by Christopher Bond, with music and lyrics written by Stephen Sondheim. The show is a melodramatic thriller set in 19th century London and follows Sweeney Todd’s return to the city after being wrongfully exiled by Judge Turpin. Dark themes of revenge, murder and injustice are woven into the catchy and gripping songs performed throughout the show.
This was my first time seeing the show, though I was already familiar with its dark nature and a majority of the songs prior to entering the auditorium.
I have seen many of HTAC’s shows in the past, including “Heathers,” “Alice by Heart” and “Cabaret.” Recognizing some of the actors from past shows and seeing them step into new roles and embody their characters is always such an incredible experience.
Everyone involved is always extremely dedicated to the character they play, which makes it easy to get completely sucked into the show.
My two favorite songs from the show were “The Ballad of Sweeney Todd” and “By the Sea.” “The Ballad of Sweeney Todd” starts the show and has a bold, serious, dramatic energy that immediately captivated me. Even though I had listened to it on my phone beforehand, hearing it live was a thrilling experience.
Completely different from “The Ballad of Sweeney Todd,” the song “By the Sea” is light, airy and fun. In this number, Mrs. Lovett shares her fantasy and wishes of being at the beach with Sweeney, especially after sales at her pie shop are booming.
The actors and music staff did an excellent job keeping the audience engaged, while the lighting crew perfectly matched the colors and brightness of the stage to the lyrics and energy each song included.
Despite the music’s dark and violent themes of murder, cannibalism and vengeance, the funny one-liners, the actors’ deliveries of the scenes and occasional upbeat songs made the show less intense, which I really appreciated. My friends and I decided to go together, and it was so difficult to keep our mouths shut until after the show when we could discuss everything that happened.
In previous HTAC shows that I have seen, the theater has been filled with laughter, sometimes so loud that I could barely hear the actors in front of me. This time, however, you could hear a pin drop, especially during some of the more intense or emotionally compelling scenes.
I enjoy both types of experiences, but for this specific show, the quiet, on-the-edge-of-your-seat nature was palpable in the auditorium and made the show even more powerful.
As always, the show was wonderfully done. Everything from the set to the lighting to the actors was incredible. Every time I leave an HTAC production I consider it my favorite one yet, and this show was no exception.
I cannot wait to see HTAC’s upcoming shows, especially after having enjoyed “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” so much.
Longtime Slashdot reader SchroedingersCat writes: Chuck Norris, known for his roles in action films and as Texas Ranger Cordell Walker on the TV show "Walker, Texas Ranger," passed away on March 19, leaving behind a legacy of inspiring millions around the world. He was 86. He became Internet phenomenon after "Chuck Norris Facts" went viral online with such wildly hyperbolic statements as, "Chuck Norris had a staring contest with the sun -- and won," and, "When Chuck Norris does push-ups, he doesn't push himself up, he pushes the Earth down." His death was announced by his family through his official Instagram account, but no further details were immediately available. He was hospitalized earlier that day in Hawaii after experiencing a medical emergency, the family said.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
If I unplug the battery, does that stick brick the board even with the GTV upgrade?
The announcement comes as NATO faces criticism from President Trump, who's seeking military assistance in securing the key Strait of Hormuz.
The statute of limitations can expire on old debt, but that doesn't mean creditors lose their ability to collect.
Several Minnesota families saw justice served on Thursday morning after five young women were killed in a high-speed crash two summers ago in Minneapolis.
Experts warn that surging energy costs are likely to ripple through U.S. supply chains, resulting in higher prices online and in stores.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., is a critic of President Donald Trump’s military track record and his decision to attack countries across the Middle East, parts of Africa and Venezuela without congressional approval. In a Senate floor speech, Warren criticized Trump’s explanations for beginning the Iran war and for backtracking on a campaign promise.
"He said he would be a president to stop wars, not start them. And Americans believed him. But now we face an ugly reality: In the modern era, no American president has ordered more military strikes against as many different countries as Donald Trump," Warren said March 3. "None."
We wondered if Warren’s statement was accurate, and how she defines the "modern era." When we reached out to Warren’s office for her evidence to support her statement, a spokesperson sent PolitiFact several news stories, including:
A March 2 Axios article with an opening that nearly matches Warren’s statement: "No president in the modern era has ordered more military strikes against as many different countries as Donald Trump." The Axios story defines "modern era" as presidents post-9/11: George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Trump and Joe Biden.
An article from The Washington Post about Trump’s 2025 military strikes, including those against alleged drug smugglers in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific. The Post reported that Trump authorized almost as many military strikes in 2025 as Biden did over his four-year term.
An Instagram graphic posted by The Recount, a politics-focused news organization, listing various countries, including in the Middle East, Africa and Venezuela, and faces of the 21st century president who ordered bombs there; Trump’s face appears next to each country. The outlet shared the graphic on Feb. 28, after Trump announced the U.S. and Israel’s Iran strikes.
After reviewing these sources and additional reporting, we found that Trump has authorized the highest number of strikes and targeted the most countries compared with other 21st century presidents.
So how many countries did each president target for military strikes?
Trump’s count is the highest, according to many news sources.
From the start of his first term to now, Trump struck 10 countries. Since starting his second term in January 2025, he has struck seven countries and boats in the Caribbean Sea and Eastern Pacific Ocean.
Biden’s military strikes hit five countries.
Obama’s strikes hit seven countries over two terms.
Bush’s strikes hit five countries over two terms.
For context, Bush launched long-running wars in Afghanistan and Iraq after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. Obama ended the Iraq military operation in 2011, but introduced new military operations in Iraq and Syria after the rise of the Islamic State. The Afghanistan war continued through Trump’s first term, with Biden ending it — amid a chaotic withdrawal and suicide bombing that killed 13 U.S. military members — in 2021.
Most presidents’ military strikes have been focused on counterterrorism, including Trump’s 2025 strikes against groups such as the Islamic State in Syria and the Houthis, an Iran-backed military group in Yemen, according to the Council on Foreign Relations.
Here are the countries targeted by each president:
Trump: Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen, Pakistan, Somalia, Libya, Syria, Venezuela, Nigeria, Iran.
Biden: Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, Syria, Yemen.
Obama: Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen, Libya, Syria.
Bush: Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen, Pakistan, Somalia.
Mark Cancian, a senior adviser with the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ Defense and Security Department, said the countries targeted were not surprising, even if Trump’s tactics were. For example, presidents have criticized Iran and Venezuela for years.
"It's been unpredictable, although his targets have been long discussed, both by him and by previous presidents," Cancian said.
Cancian recommended looking at the number of ground troops in combat zones as a more revealing metric of a president’s military use.
Trump has — so far — kept military activities to mostly air attacks. Cancian said the 1991 Gulf War and the 2003 Iraq invasion were much larger military operations compared with Trump’s activities in Yemen, Venezuela and Iran. The U.S. deployed more than 150,000 troops at the outset of the Iraq invasion.
Warren mentioned "more military strikes against as many different countries," so we compared the presidents’ strike numbers.
Military strikes encapsulate various tactics, including unmanned drone and precision missile strikes and air strikes, which requires dropping bombs or ballistic missiles from a manned aircraft.
During Trump’s first term, he drastically increased airstrikes on Somalia and Yemen compared with Obama, who already increased strikes on those nations significantly during his presidency.
Trump carried out more drone strikes during his first term than each of Obama and Bush’s presidencies.
In 2017, Trump authorized over 10,000 more bombings on Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan than Obama and Bush did in each of their years with the highest military activity, 2016 and 2003, according to the U.S. Air Forces Central Command.
Biden was involved in the least military activity, authorizing 694 air and drone strikes during his four-year term, significantly fewer than those in Trump’s first term and slightly more than the number of 2025 Trump strikes.
Warren said, "In the modern era, no American president has ordered more military strikes against as many different countries as Donald Trump."
From the start of his first term to now, Trump has ordered strikes on 10 countries, which is three more than the next-highest president in the 21st century, Obama.
We rate Warren’s statement True.
Chief Correspondent Louis Jacobson contributed to this fact-check.
Wait times at major U.S. airports continue as TSA officer callouts mount after employees missed their first full paycheck last week.
 | Working on off-road speed confidence with my daughter… she hit 25 mph As we enter the upcoming race season, I prepare my daughter for comfort at speed. What she lacks in speed she makes up for in technical skill. Practice makes progress and this is her first stepping stone toward being a well rounded rider. What do you do to level up your Skill speed? [link] [comments] |
Here's how to watch Timothée Chalamet's Oscar-nominated performance.
The first Marine Expeditionary Unit, which is coming from the Pacific, is still making its way toward the region.
Mediahuis suspends Peter Vandermeersch, who says he ‘fell into trap of hallucinations’, after investigation by newspaper where he was once editor-in-chief
The publisher of the Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf and the Irish Independent has suspended one of its senior journalists after he admitted using AI to “wrongly put words into people’s mouths”.
Peter Vandermeersch, the former head of the Irish operations at Mediahuis, said he “fell into the trap of hallucinations” – the term for AI-generated errors – when using the technology.
Continue reading...There's almost nothing you can't make in the air fryer, but cooking directions and recipes aren't always a one-to-one match. Here's what you need to know before converting.
This live blog is now closed, you can read more of our European news coverage here
Meanwhile, French president Emmanuel Macron has confirmed the seizure of the tanker, which he said belonged to the Russian shadow fleet.
In a strongly worded post on X, he said:
“The French navy boarded this morning in the Mediterranean a new vessel from the shadow fleet, the Deyna.
The war in Iran will not divert France from its support for Ukraine, where Russia’s war of aggression continues.
Continue reading...Started a ride as usual, accelerate at a medium pace since there’s a few people nearby. About 8 seconds in when I was starting to get to speed, I fully nose dive.
I didn’t feel pushback, but my first thought was maybe I was just leaning into it a bit much but didn’t notice somehow. After a few seconds of groaning I checked the board to see it was turned off. No record of this crash in the app.
I’ve got the pint S motor which is usually pretty solid at accelerating, and I don’t think I did anything unusual.
I turn it back on and it’s roughly 60% which isn’t full, but I was probably only giving it 50% push. When it hop back on to slowly muster home, it’s hitting pushback at around 5mph, and and every little bump/hill I slow down to walking speed. Then after a little bit it seems fine?
I checked the bolts to see if they’re tight (since that’s given me early pushback before) and it seems good.
Anyone know how to proceed with looking into this. Though I originally thought user error it seems doubtful, and now I’m a bit scared to ride.
If you're on a current AT&T plan, it might cost you more to switch to one of the new ones.
Amazon is reportedly developing a new AI-focused smartphone that doesn't rely as heavily on traditional apps. "The phone is seen as a potential mobile personalization device that can sync with home voice assistant Alexa and serve as a conduit to Amazon customers throughout the day," reports Reuters. From the report: As envisioned, the new phone's personalization features would make buying from Amazon.com, watching Prime Video, listening to Prime Music or ordering food from partners like Grubhub easier than ever, the people said. They asked for anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss internal matters. A key focus of the Transformer project has been integrating artificial intelligence capabilities into the device, the people said. That could eliminate the need for traditional app stores, which require downloading and registering for applications before they can be used. Alexa would likely be a core feature but not necessarily the primary operating system of the phone, the people said. When Amazon launched the Fire Phone in 2014, it aimed to compete directly with offerings from Samsung and Apple. Instead, the device received mixed reviews and failed to impress reviewers, leading Amazon to abandon the effort just over a year later.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
SAN JOSE, Calif., March 20, 2026 — Nscale has signed a letter of intent with Microsoft to provide 1.35 gigawatts of AI compute capacity, setting up the West Virginia Monarch AI campus as a global flagship deployment of NVIDIA’s next-generation Vera Rubin GPUs as Vera Rubin NVL72 systems engineered with the NVIDIA Vera Rubin DSX AI Factory reference design.
Nscale this week also announced the acquisition of American Intelligence & Power Corporation (“AIPCorp”), sponsored by Fidelis New Energy and 8090 Industries, which includes the Monarch Compute Campus, a site with up to 2,250 acres in Mason County, West Virginia, and the United States’ first state-certified AI microgrid with a power runway scalable to over eight gigawatts.
Under the collaboration with Microsoft, Nscale will construct and operate advanced AI data center infrastructure to host this large-scale GPU deployment based on the latest generation NVIDIA Vera Rubin NVL72 GPUs and future technologies. The deployment will be delivered across multiple tranches beginning in late 2027, creating one of the largest dedicated AI compute installations in the world.
The planned infrastructure will operate under a long-term framework that includes an initial multi-year compute services term alongside a long-term data centre lease structure, reflecting the scale and strategic importance of the facility. This positions the campus to be a cornerstone facility for next-generation AI training and inference capacity in the United States.
“This collaboration with Microsoft marks a pivotal milestone both for Nscale and the development of the Monarch Campus,” said Josh Payne, CEO of Nscale. “By integrating our specialized AI infrastructure with Microsoft’s global platform, we are creating a foundation for innovation that can scale alongside the most ambitious AI models in the world”.
This acquisition and collaboration comes at a crucial moment. AI is forecast to drive a sharp increase in global data center demand, but estimates suggest existing supply is constrained by the pace at which power and new capacity can be brought online. McKinsey estimates AI-related data center capacity demand could reach 156 GW by 2030. The Monarch Compute Campus will build on Nscale’s current capacity of over 1GW.
The expansion capabilities of this site — which has the potential for a total power draw of 8GW — will allow Nscale to develop power capacity rapidly while supporting one of the largest announced AI compute deployments in the market today.
The campus is also expected to provide high-speed fiber connectivity to some of the nation’s largest AI hubs. Its close proximity to major centers of AI and cloud infrastructure, including Ashburn and Chicago, will offer customers low latency and minimal delays for AI workloads.
“Microsoft’s datacenter approach is to build the best global infrastructure informed by near-term and long-term demand,” said Jon Tinter, President, Business Development and Ventures at Microsoft. “Our investments blend owned datacenters, leased facilities, and strategic collaborations. This collaboration with Nscale and NVIDIA is an important step to deliver meaningful AI innovation to our customers.”
“AI is becoming essential infrastructure for every industry,” said Nico Caprez, Vice President, Global AI Infrastructure Growth, NVIDIA. “With this large-scale NVIDIA DSX AI Factory Blueprint, Nscale is building the infrastructure required to produce intelligence at industrial scale and power the next wave of global innovation.”
Power Collaboration with Caterpillar
Through a strategic collaboration with Caterpillar, Nscale will deploy Caterpillar G3500 series natural gas generator sets at sufficient scale to achieve two gigawatts of power generation by the first half of 2028, powering the NVIDIA Vera Rubin DSX AI Factory reference design.
“This collaboration reflects Caterpillar and our dealers’ continued focus on supporting customers that require primary, continuous-duty power at scale through our broad energy solutions portfolio,” said Melissa Busen, senior vice president of Electric Power, Caterpillar. “Projects like Monarch demonstrate how Caterpillar’s natural gas generation platforms are being deployed as core infrastructure for data centers and other power intensive applications where reliability, speed of deployment, and lifecycle performance are critical.”
The G3500 series units provide Nscale with a proven, rapid-deployment power solution that collapses traditional infrastructure timelines and accelerates the path from site to live compute.
Providing Positive Community Impact
Nscale is working closely with state and local officials and community partners to ensure the development delivers lasting value for the region. The campus is being designed with local and environmental resources in mind. Power will be generated on-site as the facility operates independently of the local grid, eliminating the burden on existing utility customers and protecting ratepayers’ bills. The microgrid is also designed to enable future tie-in to the grid for export of power back to the grid.
Nscale is also pursuing carbon sequestration to offset emissions, with access to significant sequestration capacity in West Virginia. Even at full 8GW capacity, the campus will use a high-efficiency design that consumes less water with no impact on municipal water supply or residential users.
About Nscale
Nscale is building the global hyperscaler engineered for AI infrastructure. Through vertically integrated AI solutions and modular, first-principles datacenter design across Europe and North America, Nscale delivers the compute foundation for enterprise AI training, fine-tuning, and inference at scale.
Source: Nscale
The post Nscale Targets 1.35GW AI Deployment with Microsoft at Monarch AI Campus appeared first on HPCwire.
DoorDash is launching tasks as a way for drivers to earn more money, but some jobs are specifically designed to train AI models.
Joe Kent, a top counterterrorism official in the Trump administration, resigned Tuesday citing his opposition to the ongoing war in Iran.
Kent’s resignation came as the most recent and perhaps most consequential of a series of rifts opening on the far right over the war in Iran. While most of the defections had come from MAGA media figures, Kent’s departure from his role as director of the National Counterterrorism Center was the first major defection from the administration.
In his letter of resignation, Kent condemned the war as a violation of the president’s campaign promises to steer clear of foreign wars, criticizing what he described as Israeli pressure as a catalyst for dragging the U.S. into a deadly potential quagmire.
“I cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran,” wrote Kent in a letter posted to X, where it had received nearly 100 million views as of Friday morning. “Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation, and it is clear that we started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby.”
Kent is not the only government national security professional disaffected by Donald Trump’s war in Iran, according to advocates for conscientious objection who say they’re fielding nonstop calls from distressed service members. Many service members could refuse to take part in the war, either by refusing outright — and risking punishment — or by declaring as conscientious objectors, according to Mike Prysner, executive director of the Center on Conscience and War, a group that counsels members of the military on their rights in objecting to participation in or support of combat operations.
“This is the kind of thing that really resonates: seeing respected people in positions of power validating what many service members feel, which is that this is bad and people shouldn’t take part in it,” Prysner said. “There are a lot of people who may be inspired by what Kent did.”
Prysner said that in the weeks since the war began with joint U.S.–Israeli airstrikes on February 28, the group’s phones have been ringing around the clock. Active-duty military personnel and military families are scrambling, he said, to figure out what their rights might be in refusing to take part in the war. His group has helped dozens of service members explore or start applications to declare as conscientious objectors.
“We’ve started more people in the CO process in the past two weeks than we typically do over the period of a year,” Prysner said.
Prysner said the group has spoken with service members occupying ranks from major to private, including three fighter pilots.
Prysner’s numbers could not be independently confirmed, and representatives of the Army, the Navy, and the Air Force did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding the number of new applications for conscientious-objector status.
Kent, an Army veteran who later served in the CIA before running as a hard-right House candidate in Washington state, is the most senior member of the administration to resign over the war in Iran. Until Tuesday, he served under Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence and herself a former critic of pressure to the U.S. and Israel to carry out regime change in Iran.
The resignation came amid a broader split in the MAGA movement, with some Trump loyalists backing up the president’s decision to go to war while others, perhaps most notably conservative pundit Tucker Carlson, questioning the logic of attacking Iran in concert with Israel. In the wake of Kent’s announcement, Trump called his departure “a good thing,” while White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said the letter was brimming with “false claims.” Kent, according to media reports, was the subject of a leak investigation by the FBI.
The U.S. military offers service members avenues to avoid combat or even be discharged from the ranks if they can prove that they hold religious, moral, or ethical objection to “war in any form.” The practice in the U.S. of declaring as a conscientious objector goes back as far as the U.S. military, although the regulations around it and the reasons cited by would-be conscientious objectors have expanded over time, and in the current, all-volunteer military, regulations require that one’s believes have “crystalized” since signing on.
“It’s totally valid for people to cite a specific conflict in their CO application, as long as that leads them to the broader realization that they cannot participate in any war,” Prysner said. “It’s absolutely valid for service members to look at the war in Iran and make the conclusion that they can’t be part of this in any form.”
Prysner is himself a veteran who served in the Iraq War, and came to anti-war activism after his deployments there. He said he began to question the violence unleashed in Iraq after coming into contact with Iraqis. In the age of the internet, however, the horrors of war can be quickly beamed into people’s phones and social media, potentially spurring more members of the military to question their role in that violence.
That dynamic was on display in Iran, Prysner told The Intercept. The surprise nature of the U.S.–Israel attack caused the families of service members to reach out to loved ones stationed abroad, while numerous active-duty members who reached out had been motivated by the clear and devastating impact of the war on civilians, notably a U.S. airstrike on February 28 that killed 168 people, most of them children, at a school in the Iranian city of Minab.
“By far the most common thing we’ve heard from people for a specific thing that caused them to reach out was the Minab school massacre,” Prysner said. “It’s not wanting to be a part of what they see as crimes against people they have no reason to hurt.”
Hundreds of service members resisted participation in the Iraq War, including many who successfully applied as conscientious objectors. But many had a difficult time successfully proving that their opposition to war was not simply a fear of serving overseas. Others went AWOL, with at least 200 service members fleeing to Canada to avoid fighting.
Some, such as former Marine Stephen Funk, served jail time for refusing to deploy. Funk also faced discrimination in the Marines as a then-closeted gay man and spent months in the brig for his refusal to ship off to Iraq. In the years after his discharge, he worked with anti-war groups like Iraq Veterans Against the War and Veteran Artists to promote peace and work with other vets to reintegrate.
Funk told The Intercept he has been horrified to see the U.S. yet again charging into a war that has already killed hundreds of civilians and stands to kill, injure, and morally compromise members of the U.S. military. He urged service members facing a crisis of conscience to listen to their heart.
“I would say go for it, the sooner the better,” Funk told The Intercept. “You don’t want to have injuries, or moral injuries, that you’ll carry for the rest of your life.”
Correction: March 20, 2026, 12:25 p.m. ET
Due to an editing error, this story contained an errant reference to Mike Prysner’s military service; he did not serve in Syria.
The post Joe Kent’s Resignation Could Bolster a Wave of Conscientious Objectors to Trump’s Iran War appeared first on The Intercept.
The number of parents and children booked into the country’s only immigrant family detention center, in Dilley, Texas, plummeted in February by more than 75% compared with a month earlier, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement data obtained by ProPublica.
Between April 2025, when President Donald Trump started sending families there, and January of this year, the number of people sent into detention with their families averaged around 600 per month. In February, those so-called books-ins fell to 133. As of mid-March, they dropped again to just 54.
This week there were only around 100 people in family detention at Dilley, compared with an average daily population in January of over 900, the data shows.
Current and former ICE officials and lawyers with clients in Dilley said they were unable to explain the reason for the sharp decline. However, they said the shift followed weeks of mounting public pressure generated in part by the widespread publication of letters written by several of the detained children in which they described the conditions inside Dilley and their despair at being ripped from their homes and schools.
ProPublica published several of those letters on Feb. 9 after visiting the facility — about an hour south of San Antonio — in mid-January. The letters set off a storm of outrage in Washington and across the country. They were raised in congressional hearings and pasted on posters in anti-ICE demonstrations.
Rep. James Walkinshaw, a Democrat from Virginia, read the letters aloud to ICE’s acting director, Todd Lyons, during a congressional hearing on Feb. 10, pressing him for answers about whether the children’s detention could cause adverse psychological effects. He pointed to one drawing by a 5-year-old Venezuelan girl named Luisanney Toloza of her family.
“My son’s 5. He can’t write many words, but he can communicate through drawings like this,” Walkinshaw said, making special note of the expressions on the family’s faces. “None of the faces are smiling.”
It was another 5-year-old who first triggered public attention to children being detained at Dilley. Liam Conejo Ramos was picked up on Jan. 20 in Minnesota and sent to the facility with his father. A photograph of him at the time of his detention, wearing a blue bunny hat, went viral.
Detainees, emboldened by the attention, organized a protest in a yard at the facility that was captured in an aerial photograph and widely published on social media. Lawmakers demanded multiple visits to push for the release of Ramos and others. Nearly 4,000 doctors, nurses and health professionals sent a letter to the Trump administration calling for the immediate release of all children currently in immigration detention. This month, social media personality Rachel Accurso, an educator better known as Ms. Rachel, who makes popular children’s programming, posted a video conversation with one of the kids detained at Dilley to her 4.9 million Instagram followers, garnering more than 3,700 comments.
Rep. Joaquin Castro, a Democrat from Texas, has been at the forefront of a push by legislators from his party to shut down Dilley and for the administration to find alternatives to family detentions. When told about the drop in the number of families being held at Dilley, he said, “That trailer prison is no place for children, and I’m glad to hear that the numbers continue to decline,” adding, “It’s a reminder that people can make a difference by speaking up.”
The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, said in a statement that custody decisions are made “daily, on a case-by-case basis,” adding that the “administration does not make immigration decisions based on public opinion. We follow the rule of law.” In the past, the agency has said that Dilley offers families a safe environment equipped with access to educational materials, child care necessities and round-the-clock medical and mental health care. Meanwhile, CoreCivic, the private prison company operating the facility, said in a statement it does not have “any say whatsoever” in whether detainees are deported or released. In previous statements, it has said that the health and safety of detainees is its “top priority.”
Dilley first opened as a family detention facility under former President Barack Obama in 2014, mostly for recent border crossers. Trump kept the facility running during his first term, but President Joe Biden stopped holding families in 2021, arguing the United States shouldn’t be in the business of detaining children.
Soon after taking office a second time, Trump resumed family detentions at Dilley. As border crossings have dropped to record lows, more of the families being held there have been arrested inside the United States and have been in the country long enough to lay down roots and build networks of relatives and friends. The children detained there have ranged in age from newborns to older teenagers. The vast majority of adults held at Dilley had no U.S. criminal record.
Following the protests and the publication of children’s letters, detainees and attorneys interviewed by ProPublica said guards took away crayons, colored pencils and drawing paper during recent room searches. This week, ProPublica learned the facility had cut off access to video calls in common areas.
The Trump administration said in a recent court filing that personal property had not been destroyed at Dilley and items confiscated during searches were “limited to materials identified as protest-related and not authorized under facility rules.” CoreCivic “vehemently” denied staff confiscated or destroyed children’s personal artwork or supplies. DHS said the restrictions were put in place on video calls following the livestreaming of recorded calls online “that resulted in the unauthorized dissemination of law enforcement sensitive information.” The agency added the video calls are still available in private rooms, as is access to in-person visitation and phones.
While a long-standing legal settlement, known as the Flores agreement, holds that children should generally not be detained for more than 20 days, the data ProPublica obtained showed the average days in custody was longer than that for every month since family detentions resumed at the facility last year. In each month between November and February, the average stay in family detention was over 50 days.
DHS has said in the past that the Flores agreement, in place since the 1990s, is outdated and should be terminated because newer regulations address the needs of children in detention.
One Egyptian family, Hayam El Gamal and her five children ranging in age from 18 to 5-year-old twins, has been at Dilley for nine months. They were taken into custody after the father, Mohamed Soliman, was charged over an alleged antisemitic attack in Boulder, Colorado, that killed one person and injured 13 others. The family said it had no knowledge of his plans. DHS said it is still investigating.
One 13-year-old Guatemalan boy named Edison was released from Dilley with his mom this week. During his 92-day detention, Edison had cried in video calls to his father back in Chicago, saying he felt like he was being treated like a criminal. (His father asked that his son’s last name not be used.) Then in the early hours of Wednesday morning, a guard came to their bunk room and told him and his mom to start packing their belongings. By that night, they were on a plane to Chicago to be reunited with Edison’s dad. “We don’t understand why they were released,” his dad said. “All I can tell you is it was a miracle from God.”
As soon as they landed, the family went home to enjoy a seafood dinner, one of Edison’s favorites.
The post The Number of Families Being Held at Dilley Detention Center Has Plummeted appeared first on ProPublica.
March 20, 2026 — Under Canada’s Defence Industrial Strategy, the NRC is investing over $900 million to develop aerospace defense capabilities, support Canadian small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) developing technologies for civilian and military purposes, and accelerate quantum technologies and defense applications.
Credit: Novikov Aleksey/Shutterstock
Accelerating Quantum Science and Biomedical Technologies and Defense Applications
In addition to its ongoing investment in quantum science and technology, the NRC is investing more than $161 million over 5 years to advance Canada’s leadership in quantum technology for defense and security applications.
This includes funding for industry, academia and government researchers to advance leading-edge solutions in quantum sensing, quantum internetworking and quantum-safe communications.
The NRC is investing $28 million to improve the ability to respond quickly to biological threats, high-consequence pathogens and pandemics that could affect national health security.
Key initiatives:
Through these investments under Canada’s Defence Industrial Strategy, the NRC is strengthening Canada’s ability to develop and produce the critical technologies that safeguard sovereignty, preserve Canada’s national security and create lasting economic benefits for Canadians.
Source: National Research Council Canada
The post Canada’s NRC Allocates C$161M to Quantum Tech Within Broader C$900M Defense Plan appeared first on HPCwire.
Actor who rose to fame after starring in Bruce Lee’s The Way of the Dragon also became a TV fixture with Walker, Texas Ranger
Chuck Norris, the former world karate champion who used his fight prowess to become the star of a string of low-budget but financially successful action movies, has died aged 86.
His family posted a message on social media saying Norris had died on Thursday, adding: “While we would like to keep the circumstances private, please know that he was surrounded by his family and was at peace.”
Continue reading...Scranton beat NYU to end three-year win streak
Violets’ bid for third straight NCAA title falls short
Peper scores 19 as dynasty run ends in Virginia
New York University’s historic 91-game winning streak is over after a 60-52 loss to Scranton in the Final Four of the Division III NCAA Tournament on Thursday night, ending one of the longest unbeaten runs in college basketball history.
The Violets (29-1) had the second-longest winning streak in NCAA history, trailing only UConn’s 111-game run between 2014 and 2017, and were seeking a third consecutive national championship. Instead, Scranton (32-0) advanced to the title game, holding off a late NYU rally.
Continue reading...SAN JOSE, Calif., March 20, 2026 — Nutanix has announced the Nutanix Agentic AI solution, a full software stack purpose built to help customers accelerate adoption of Agentic AI for business transformation.
With the shift to Agentic AI, enterprise adoption has hit a tipping point where the barrier to success is no longer the model or building individual agents, but the complexity of managing the infrastructure required to securely run thousands of agents at scale. Infrastructure and platform teams need better solutions to build and operate AI factories, and provide shared access to their resources while maximizing performance, security, and compliance with sovereignty requirements. In addition, data scientists and Agentic AI developers expect easy access to tools and services to run and fine-tune models, build agents, and securely connect them to enterprise data.
“Contrary to AI infrastructure for model training that was optimized to run ‘one big job,’ production Agentic AI infrastructure needs to handle scale and high rates of change for thousands of AI services, agents, and concurrent users and developers. Nutanix Agentic AI extends our AHV hypervisor, Flow Virtual Networking, Nutanix Kubernetes Platform, and Nutanix Enterprise AI to deliver a cloud operating model to enterprise AI factories, enabling infrastructure and platform teams to simply build, operate, and govern AI factories while providing Agentic AI developers with the performance and rich set of models and AI platform services they need,” said Thomas Cornely, Executive Vice President of Product Management at Nutanix.
The solution integrates with NVIDIA AI Enterprise at the Agent Builder layer and orchestrates the NVIDIA-certified ecosystem of AI factories for supported configurations. It enables customers with dynamic, multiuser AI environments to build, run, and protect agentic AI applications with a full suite of infrastructure orchestration and security software coupled with AI Platform Services (PaaS) and Models-as-a-Service (MaaS) for data scientists and Agentic AI developers. Nutanix and NVIDIA are also working together to build the foundation for autonomous agents in the enterprise through integration with the NVIDIA Agent Toolkit including the NVIDIA OpenShell open source runtime.
Optimizing Performance, Security, and Cost of AI Apps and Factories
The Nutanix Agentic AI solution reduces complexity, delivers optimized performance and security, and is designed to enable lower, predictable token costs by providing the following:
The Nutanix Agentic AI solution comprises products that are either already generally available or currently in early access and are expected to be available soon. More information about the solution can be seen here. More information about AI at Nutanix can be seen here.
About Nutanix
Nutanix is a hybrid multicloud computing leader, offering organizations a unified software platform for running applications, deploying enterprise AI workloads and managing data anywhere. With Nutanix, organizations can simplify operations for traditional and modern applications, freeing them to focus on business goals. Trusted by more than 30,000 customers worldwide, Nutanix helps empower organizations to transform digitally and power hybrid multicloud environments consistently, simply, and cost-effectively. Learn more at www.nutanix.com or follow us on social media.
Source: Nutanix
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A 31-year-old Georgia woman has charged with murder by police who say she took pills to induce an abortion.
The Reform UK leader has belatedly clocked that most British people really don’t like the US president on whose coat-tails he has spent the past decade riding
At last, the culture has thrown up a split more nauseatingly up itself than Gwyneth Paltrow’s from Chris Martin. It is Nigel Farage’s attempt to consciously uncouple from Donald Trump, a man up whose backside he’s spent the past decade most firmly lodged. Nigel’s made such a massive, self-satisfied show of his real estate in the presidential large intestine for 10 years now that I actually don’t think non-surgical extraction is possible at this stage. He doesn’t just get to walk away whistling. The only way out is a full Faragectomy. I’ll give the president a piece of drone fuselage to bite down on.
Anyway: conscious uncoupling. Back in the day, you’ll remember, Gwyneth and the Coldplay singer deployed this particular phrase when announcing their marital split. Did the public love it? They did not. The general vibe – as with so much of Her Vajesty’s output – was that she would do even marriage failure more smugly and unachievably than mere plebs could ever. The pivot from gushing about her perfect marriage to gushing about her perfect divorce felt like mere days.
Marina Hyde is a Guardian columnist
What a Time to be Alive! by Marina Hyde (Guardian Faber, £20). To support the Guardian, order your signed copy at guardianbookshop.com. Delivery charges may apply.
Continue reading...Researchers develop an AI for Science framework that extracts and fuses cross-disciplinary expert knowledge with experimental data to accelerate alloy discovery and scientific insight
March 20, 2026 — High-entropy alloys are promising advanced materials for demanding applications, but discovering useful compositions is difficult and expensive due to the vast number of possible element combinations. Now, researchers have developed a novel AI-driven framework that integrates experimental data, computational modeling, and cross-disciplinary expert knowledge extracted from scientific literature. By combining these sources in a way that accounts for uncertainty, their approach can make reliable predictions even for poorly studied alloy compositions, outperforming conventional data-driven machine learning methods that rely on training data alone.
This study presents a hybrid framework that integrates materials data with AI-extracted scientific knowledge, enabling uncertainty-aware discovery. Evidence about elemental substitutions in alloys is collected from two independent sources: material datasets, where alloy pairs with matching properties indicate substitutable elements, and large language models queried across five scientific domains. These “evidence streams” are combined using Dempster-Shafer theory to evaluate candidate alloys while explicitly quantifying prediction confidence versus uncertainty, guiding researchers toward promising candidates while flagging regions where current knowledge is insufficient. Credit: JAIST.
Progress in modern technologies relies on advanced materials, such as alloys used in aircraft engines and components capable of resisting corrosion and heat in industrial settings. In this context, high-entropy alloys (HEAs) have emerged as one of the most promising areas of study in materials science. By combining several elements in near-equal amounts, these materials can achieve exceptional strength, stability, and durability. However, discovering useful HEAs is exceptionally difficult and expensive, as each additional element dramatically increases the number of possible combinations. With growing demand for sustainable energy technologies and next-generation electronics, accelerating the discovery of advanced materials has become increasingly urgent.
Researchers worldwide have turned to artificial intelligence (AI) as a powerful aid in materials research– but this comes with its own limits. Most machine learning models are good at interpolation, meaning they can make predictions for materials that closely resemble those already in their training data. When researchers move beyond familiar territory and consider truly new compositions, the models’ accuracy drops. Meanwhile, decades of expert knowledge about how elements interact and substitute for one another in HEAs are buried across the scientific literature, with no clear way to integrate that expertise into data-driven AI tools.
Against this backdrop, a research team led by Professor Hieu-Chi Dam from the Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (JAIST) has developed a new AI-driven framework for HEA discovery. Their study, published in the journal Digital Discovery on December 19, 2025, was co-authored by JSPS’s Researcher Dr. Minh-Quyet Ha and doctoral student Dinh-Khiet Le at JAIST, Dr. Viet-Cuong Nguyen from HPC Systems, Japan, Professor Hiori Kino at the Institute of Statistical Mathematics, Japan, and Professor Stefano Curtarolo from Duke University, USA. The team set out to combine experimental and computational materials data with cross-disciplinary expert knowledge extracted directly from scientific papers, creating a system designed specifically to work in data-scarce and unexplored regions.
At the core of the approach is a well-known idea in alloy design called elemental substitution. Under the optimal conditions, chemically similar elements can substitute one another without significantly affecting a material’s properties and stability. The researchers first identified substitution patterns directly from large materials datasets by comparing alloys that differ by just one element. They then used state-of-the-art large language models (LLMs), including GPT-4o, GPT-.5, Claude Opus 4, and Grok3 to extract expert judgments in the literature pertaining to five key scientific disciplines: metallurgy, solid-state physics, materials mechanics, materials science, and corrosion science.
Each source of information provided a piece of evidence rather than a final answer, and these pieces were combined using a mathematical framework known as Dempster-Shafer theory. Unlike standard probability methods, this framework can explicitly represent uncertainty and even ignorance, as Prof. Dam explained, “Traditional classifiers force binary ‘yes-or-no’ predictions even when information is insufficient. Our approach explicitly quantifies uncertainty, allowing ‘we cannot tell’ as a legitimate scientific outcome.” Simply put, the proposed system does not pretend to know more than it does when exploring unknown territory.
When tested on several alloy datasets, the team’s framework consistently outperformed conventional machine learning models, especially when little information was available. Most strikingly, it was able to predict the behavior of alloys containing elements that were completely absent from the training data, achieving accuracy rates ranging from 86% to 92%. The researchers also validated their approach against 55 experimentally confirmed quaternary alloys from the literature and showed that it outperforms far more computationally expensive methods, such as free-energy models. Beyond individual predictions, the proposed method can produce compositional maps that show where predictions are reliable and where uncertainty remains high. This enables researchers to focus experiments on the most promising and informative regions of the compositional space.
According to Prof. Dam, the broader significance of this work lies in showcasing how AI can be used for scientific discovery. “LLM-based extraction combined with formal evidence fusion can transform decades of dispersed expert knowledge into searchable, comparable, and quantitatively usable resources, which are particularly valuable for interdisciplinary problems where relevant insights span multiple fields,” he said. Notably, the same approach used in this study could accelerate drug discovery, guide battery development, and help optimize catalysts. In each case, the framework’s ability to quantify uncertainty would help research teams prioritize the most informative experiments, potentially reducing discovery timelines and costs.
Overall, this work demonstrates a path forward for AI in scientific discovery– one where machine learning serves not to replace expert judgment, but to systematically extract and combine it with experimental evidence to accelerate innovation across disciplines.
Source: JAIST
The post Researchers Develop AI Framework Combining Expert Knowledge and Data to Accelerate Alloy Discovery appeared first on HPCwire.
The ASSESS Summit in Atlanta gathered people who want simulation to operate as a core capability of engineering organizations rather than as a specialist service on the side.
Over two days, the most substantive material came from NAFEMS‑led projects and practitioner case studies. Those sessions focused on the structures that make simulation credible at scale: shared data, clear requirements, and governance that management can understand and fund.
From the outset, NAFEMS and ASSESS leadership framed the summit as part of a longer‑running program. They emphasized that simulation already sits behind many decisions about safety, sustainability, and profitability, yet senior recognition of its role remains uneven. At the same time, the surrounding ecosystem of software and data is becoming more complex, while vendor consolidation is reducing the competitive tension that used to drive innovation.
NAFEMS CTO Ian Symington
In response, ASSESS set out four strands of activity: leadership discussions to set direction, concrete technical projects, working sessions to define new projects, and an international community to share experience. The aim is to move beyond general statements about “the future of simulation” and create specific artifacts that organizations can use.
That intent was visible in NAFEMS CTO Ian Symington’s update on data‑driven benchmarks. Rather than talk about artificial intelligence in the abstract, his project starts from a simple structural problem that most analysts know well: a plate with a hole, with the region around the hole acting as a stress concentrator.
The team built several families of models by varying load, thickness, plate length, and hole position, then generated finite‑element results that capture principal stresses and concentration levels. They have made these datasets available in industry tool formats and through an open portal, with documentation and QR‑code access so that engineers can download them without a long setup process.
Symington did not present this as a polished showcase. He described training geometric deep‑learning models that performed well on some datasets and failed on others, and how understanding those failures required the same care analysts traditionally apply when checking a mesh or boundary condition. For teams that are curious about data‑driven surrogates but wary of investing months in bespoke training cases, this benchmark offers a controlled way to experiment, anchored in a problem whose physics and finite‑element behavior are already well understood.
A second project tackled interoperability.
Rather than start from particular standards, the NAFEMS team worked from the situations engineers encounter when moving models, meshes, and results between tools. They examined where information is lost, where manual workarounds are required, and where results become hard to trust.
For each situation they identified the data that must be preserved, the existing standards or technologies that address parts of the need, and the gaps where current mechanisms are weak or absent. The result is not a new standard, but a requirements‑centered description of what effective interoperability looks like in practice.
That gives engineering groups a clearer way to assess their current tool chains and a more concrete vocabulary to use when they push vendors on roadmap priorities.
Márton Gróza’s update on simulation for certification brought a similar level of specificity to regulated environments.
Márton Gróza, technical officer at NAFEMS
His team interviewed experts across sectors about where simulation is already used in certification contexts, what regulators accept, and where the friction lies. Several patterns emerged. Many authorities still look first to physical tests when they weigh evidence, even when simulation has been integral to the engineering work. Simulation outputs are seldom compiled in a way that supports outside review; documentation tends to be written for internal use.
There is wide agreement that verification, validation, and uncertainty quantification need to be tied more systematically to simulations that feed into certification decisions. At the same time, probabilistic metrics and risk‑based framing remain unfamiliar to many of the managers and engineers who must ultimately sign off on risk.
The project has produced a report that summarizes these themes and points to concrete examples, such as railway braking‑distance work in which probabilistic methods are being used to compare traditional test‑based processes with routes that rely more heavily on simulation. The next step will be direct engagement with regulators and certification engineers, using the interview findings as a basis for discussion. That is slow, detailed work, but it is exactly the sort of work a neutral organization is well placed to do.
The industry‑perspective talks added another layer, showing how organizations are applying data‑driven methods to specific workflows.
In one case, a Rescale‑supported project for a high‑performance vehicle manufacturer relied on explicit forming simulations to predict wrinkles, thickness changes, and fiber orientations in carbon‑fiber monocoques. These forming simulations then fed into structural crash analyses.
The turnaround time was long, sometimes eight to 10 weeks for a full cycle across many parts. By identifying forming and mapping to structural meshes as the main bottlenecks, the team was able to train a surrogate model on a carefully chosen set of high‑fidelity runs. That surrogate now predicts forming outcomes from process parameters and initial layup, within a defined design envelope. It can be used by design engineers to explore variants more quickly, and by manufacturing engineers to understand how changes in diaphragm pressures, temperatures, and friction will affect forming, without immediately resorting to full explicit analysis.
In a different example, Kinetic Vision presented a packaging case built on Siemens Simcenter Physics AI.
Over more than a decade, a client had accumulated over 100,000 bottle simulations, including critical top‑load studies. Those results had been archived in lightweight files. Physics AI learns directly on meshes from this archive, and once trained it can provide predictions for new geometries without meshing at the inference stage. In one instance, a model trained on forty‑five simulations in under four hours could generate a prediction in less than twenty seconds for a case that would otherwise take two to four hours to run.
That makes it realistic to screen many design candidates and reserve full simulations for the most promising designs. The speaker was explicit that such an approach is worthwhile only when there is an ongoing need to explore large design families; it would not be appropriate for one‑off studies.
The Caterpillar keynote from Darrel Meffert pulled many of these threads together into a long‑term enterprise narrative. Meffert has spent more than twenty years at Caterpillar and led its central simulation strategy for almost a decade.
He described how, around 2012, a group of mid‑level and senior managers concluded that Caterpillar’s physics‑based analysis was strong, but product leaders still preferred to wait for tests before making key decisions. Rather than wait for a directive from above, they pooled funding and brought in an internal strategist to help them shape an enterprise simulation strategy.
Several elements of that strategy stand out. The team identified and quantified real bottlenecks, such as constrained compute capacity and duty cycles that did not match actual machine usage. They used consolidated data and external benchmarks to make a case for more HPC investment directly to the chief information and technology officers. They paired application engineers with data scientists to derive duty cycles from telematics, so that simulations reflected how equipment is used in the field. They created joint projects between test and simulation teams, selecting problems that neither group could solve alone and requiring shared leadership. They provided constrained, comparative simulations in the environments where design engineers work, leaving detailed high‑consequence assessments to specialists. And they cataloged hundreds of simulation types on single‑page summaries, coupled with a structured way to express confidence in each piece of evidence.
Over time, that combination of capacity, better data, closer collaboration, and clearer communication shifted Caterpillar toward simulation‑led development in many areas. Meffert reported that, today, the annual savings associated with the enterprise simulation strategy exceed 10 times the total investment over nine years.
Across all of these sessions, I heard the same message over and over – the most important developments in simulation are not only new algorithms, but the scaffolding around them. These are the shared datasets, well‑defined requirements, structured links to certification processes, and enterprise strategies that treat simulation as a managed capability.
NAFEMS and ASSESS are positioned between users, vendors, and regulators, and in Atlanta they used that position to good effect. The work presented there will give organizations concrete models to draw on as they decide how to develop their own simulation roadmaps in the years ahead.
About the author: Kevin Jackson is an analyst at Intersect 360 Research, a market intelligence, research, and consulting advisory
practice focused on HPC data center trends, AI, cloud, big data, and hyperscale. He is the former editor of AIwire.
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Film screening: ‘Facing War’ 23 April 2026 — 5:00PM TO 6:30PM Anonymous (not verified) Chatham House
Join us at Chatham House for this screening documenting the final year in office of former NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg – who headed the organisation from 2014 to 2024 – as he dealt with Russia’s full‑scale invasion of Ukraine.
Join us at Chatham House for this screening documenting the final year in office of former NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg – who headed the organisation from 2014 to 2024 – as he dealt with Russia’s full scale invasion of Ukraine.
Facing War offers an unprecedented, inside look at the fraught closing months of the Norwegian diplomat’s tenure, at a time when the crisis had pushed the alliance to its most serious test since the Second World War. Filmed with rare access to NATO’s inner decision‑making spaces, the documentary immerses viewers in the high‑stakes diplomacy shaping Europe’s security as the alliance sought to balance promises of support to Ukraine with concerns about triggering an escalation of the conflict.
It shows tense negotiations with world leaders including US President Joe Biden, who had persuaded Stoltenberg to stay on for one more year to deal with the crisis; President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan; and Prime Minister of Hungary Viktor Orbán. The film captures urgent discussions over how to support Ukraine and a year defined by fragile unity and geopolitical friction at a time when the crisis had pushed the alliance to its most serious test since the Second World War.
Filmed with rare access to NATO’s inner decision‑making spaces, the documentary immerses viewers in the high‑stakes diplomacy shaping Europe’s security as the alliance sought to balance promises of support to Ukraine with concerns about triggering an escalation of the conflict.
It shows tense negotiations with world leaders including US President Joe Biden, who had persuaded Stoltenberg to stay on for one more year to deal with the crisis; President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan; and Prime Minister of Hungary Viktor Orbán. The film captures urgent discussions over how to support Ukraine and a year defined by fragile unity and geopolitical friction.
Why Should Delaware Care?
On Thursday, Secretary of Education Cindy Marten announced her recommendation to revoke the Bryan Allen Stevenson School of Excellence’s charter, and State Board of Education members voted to approve her recommendation. As a result of the vote, the charter school will close its doors at the end of the 2025-26 school year. The vote marks Delaware’s first charter school closure by state regulators in a decade.
Delaware education officials announced Thursday that the state will move forward with closing a Georgetown charter school due to persistent struggles with low enrollment.
The Bryan Allen Stevenson School of Excellence (BASSE) will close its doors at the end of this school year, leaving roughly 120 students from throughout Sussex County to find placements in new schools.
During a Thursday State Board of Education meeting, members voted to confirm Delaware Education Secretary Cindy Marten’s recommendation – also made that day – to close the school.
The decision came one day after BASSE students advocated for their future by holding a moment of silence in support of their school. They also lined the hallway with posters that said “We are BASSE strong,” and “Let us learn at BASSE.”
During the Thursday meeting, Marten cited concerns relating to enrollment and economic viability at the school. In her comments made at the meeting, she referenced a 2025 audit of the school, which stated that “auditors were unable to obtain sufficient information to assess the school’s financial condition.”
Also during the meeting, State Board of Education Vice President Deborah Stevens noted BASSE staff and families had passionately fought for their school’s survival. Still, she said the reality is that Delaware’s public education funding formula relies on the number of students enrolled in a school.
“When there is a lack of students, there’s also a lack of funding, and it really does put a school in jeopardy as a result,” she said.
Speaking during the meeting’s public comment period, BASSE Board of Education Secretary Katherine Cauley noted that Marten’s December announcement of a state investigation into the school came just as prospective students were sending in applications for attendance the following year.
She indicated that the timing of the announcement amounted to state officials not giving the schools “a fair chance” to boost its enrollment.
During a February meeting between BASSE and Delaware’s Charter School Accountability Committee, school officials also argued that Marten’s announcement caused some parents to feel uncertain about their kids’ future at the school.
Named after the prominent civil rights attorney who was born in nearby Milton, the Bryan Allen Stevenson School of Excellence was founded in 2018.
Shortly after the announcement of the closure on Thursday, BASSE released a statement calling the decision troubling, “given that the Secretary has never visited the school or spoken directly with its leadership.”
The decision marks the first Delaware charter school closure in seven years and the first to be closed by state regulators in a decade. It also leaves Sussex County with just two charter schools, compared to six in Kent County and 15 in New Castle County.
In 2016, the state Board of Education revoked the charter of the Delaware STEM Academy. In recent years, most troubled charter schools have voluntarily closed, rather than face a forced closure.
Charter schools are publicly funded but independently operated by their own board of directors. They are not eligible to receive taxpayer dollars for facilities and capital projects, but do receive state funding for each enrolled student.
The tuition-free schools feature specialized missions or academic curricula that differ from traditional public schools, and that requires them to maintain certain enrollment levels and reporting duties to the state Department of Education, which issues their founding charters.
While BASSE will close largely because of low enrollment, many students and parents told Spotlight Delaware on Wednesday that they value the school because of its small learning environment, which they say has benefited students’ learning outcomes.
BASSE is made up of students from throughout Sussex County, where many school districts grapple with overcrowded schools.
One eighth-grade student named Bella said the small-school environment has helped her improve her reading, writing, and public speaking skills because she gets more quality time with her teachers.
Bella previously attended the Laurel School District, which is at 76% capacity, according to the Delaware Department of Education.
Bella said she wants to become a special education teacher when she grows up, and believes that the tight-knit community at BASSE has helped show her “what it actually takes to be a spec ed teacher.”
BASSE special education teacher Sherri Webster, who started working at the school at the end of September, also said the school’s small environment helps her develop close bonds with her students.
In the past, Webster has worked at middle schools where caseloads of 50 special education students caused some to “fall through the cracks.” At BASSE, she typically works with just 18 students — less than half of her previous caseload.
Webster also said she has seen more success with her students at BASSE than anywhere else she has worked.
“Here, you’re able to really see your work and how you’re impacting these kids. It’s tremendous,” she said.
Multiple students also told Spotlight Delaware about their experiences with bullying in previous schools.
BASSE, they said, is a safe space for them.
Lizzie, a ninth grader, said she was bullied at two previous schools before coming to BASSE midway through the 2024-25 school year. She called the charter school her “last hope.”
Ultimately, she met another ninth grader, Maddie, who she says has become “like a sister.”
Aside from close bonds, Lizzie also said BASSE is the first place where she has been able to advocate for herself in the classroom. She has an individualized education plan (IEP) to help with her speech, and says she was able to sit in on an IEP meeting with school staff and her mom — something she never had the opportunity to do before.
“I really like to advocate for myself in those types of situations,” she said. “I love to be there in the conversation.”
While parents on Wednesday did not know whether their school would reopen for the next school year, some said they knew for certain that their children would not return to traditional school districts.
Megan Wharton said her son went to a Christian school for years before deciding he wanted something different. He then enrolled in a traditional public school where he had an “awful” experience with bullies.
Wharton then enrolled her son at BASSE at the start of this school year, where his life has changed, she said. He is now even on the honor roll.
Wharton said she had been praying that BASSE would not close, and she had already enrolled her son at the charter for the next school year.
She knew one thing for sure. Her son would not go back to his regular school district for the eighth grade.
“I will do whatever I have to do … but never back into (traditional) public school,” she said.
The post State will close Georgetown charter school at end of academic year appeared first on Spotlight Delaware.
An investigation by journalists working with Republik magazine may have struck a nerve by suggesting the company has failed in Switzerland
It was over beers on an autumn evening in Zurich in 2024 that a group of journalists with an independent Swiss research collective began to discuss investigating Palantir, one of the world’s biggest tech companies.
Three years earlier, Palantir had advertised that it was setting up a “European hub” in the Swiss municipality of Altendorf, a sleepy town of roughly 7,000 people on the shores of Lake Zurich.
Continue reading...After a trip back out to the launch pad, NASA's Artemis II rocket will be readied for a historic flight to the moon.
Democrats are fighting hard against the Republican-backed Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, or SAVE America Act, saying it would erect roadblocks for Americans seeking to register to vote or cast a ballot.
As the Senate began several days of debate about the bill March 17, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., emphasized the problems he said the legislation would cause.
The act "would force Americans to register (to vote) only in person, something only 5% of Americans do today," he told reporters.
Schumer is correct that the act would require documentary proof of citizenship be presented in person to register to vote. But he’s wrong about the percentage of Americans who register to vote in person, according to federal data. Federal surveys show it’s higher than that.
With President Donald Trump’s strong support, the House passed the SAVE America Act in February following years of falsehoods and exaggerations about noncitizen voting, something that rarely occurs.
The bill says someone seeking to register to vote "shall not be registered to vote in an election for federal office unless the applicant presents documentary proof of United States citizenship in person to the office of the appropriate election official" by the registration deadline.
Eliza Sweren-Becker, deputy director for the voting rights and election program at the liberal Brennan Center for Justice, said this requirement would apply not only to new registrants and those registering in a new state, but also to potentially a lot of people who don’t consider themselves new registrants.
For instance, depending on how a state interpreted the bill’s language, moving to a new county within a state or to a new voting precinct could count as a new voter registration and trigger the citizenship proof requirement.
States’ decisions on how to classify residential moves will affect whether the documents are needed, Sweren-Becker said.
The law is also vague about who qualifies as "an election official," she said. Would that mean only election workers? Or would an employee of a motor vehicle agency — where many voting registrations are made — qualify?
Data from the federal Election Assistance Commission shows the percentage of voters who register in person is significantly higher than Schumer’s count.
A Schumer spokesperson told PolitiFact the senator referred to a report by the liberal Center for American Progress that used data from a 2022 survey by the Election Assistance Commission. The report said 5.9% of voters registered in person at election offices.
But the data Schumer cited, which is not the most recent available, excludes in-person registration at other government offices and at polling places.
Every two years, the Election Assistance Commission compiles the Election Administration and Voting Survey. The most recent edition reflects 2024 election cycle data, including the methods Americans used to register to vote during the two years before the 2024 election.
The survey tracked at least six ways voters would have registered in person: at election offices (6%); at polling places and voting sites (2.2%); at public assistance offices (1%); at disability services offices (0.1%); at armed forces recruitment offices (0.1%); and at other public facilities, such as libraries (1.8%).
Collectively, these add up to 11.2%.
"Clearly, more than the 5% or 6% going to elections offices are registering in person," said Matthew Weil, vice president for governance at the Bipartisan Policy Center, a think tank.
An even larger share of voter registrations — 30.7% — came from motor vehicle agencies. Federal law allows voters to register to vote when they get driver’s licenses or do other automobile-related tasks. (For another 8.7% of voters, the registration method was not recorded.)
Because some states allow voter registration online through motor vehicle agencies, and states’ policies on voter registration at those agencies vary, it’s unclear what share of that 30.7% is occurring in person versus online. The data doesn’t specify, a spokesperson for the Election Assistance Commission told PolitiFact.
But voting administration experts said it was highly likely that many such registrations required an in-person visit.
So the percentage of-in person voter registrations before the 2024 election was between 11% (if all motor vehicle agency registrations were online, which is unlikely) and 42% (if every motor vehicle agency interaction was in person).
The survey listed four categories that do not require registering in person, and collectively they accounted for almost half of all voter registrations before the 2024 election. Automatic voter registration — an option in some states where voters are registered automatically unless they opt out — accounted for 25.2%. Online registration accounted for 13.9%; mail, email and fax registrations accounted for 8.3%; and voter registration drives accounted for 2%.
"A sizable share of Americans do register online and by mail, sharing their drivers license information for identity verification or showing ID when they vote," said Lisa Bryant, a political scientist at California State University-Fresno. "These convenient options will very likely disappear if SAVE were passed."
Schumer said the SAVE America Act "would force Americans to register only in person, something only 5% of Americans do today."
The bill under consideration in the Senate would require documentary proof of citizenship be presented in person to register to vote.
However, Schumer significantly understated the percentage of people who register in person; before the 2024 election, it was between 11% and 42%, depending on how many registrations stemmed from in-person visits to motor vehicle agencies, a data point that is not being collected.
The statement is partially accurate but leaves out important details, so we rate it Half True.
Senior correspondent Amy Sherman contributed to this article.
CLARIFICATION, March 20, 2026: The story was updated to more accurately characterize 2022 data Schumer referred to.
RELATED: President Trump wants to slash voting by mail. About 1 in 4 Republicans voted that way in 2024
Should the Gulf Arab states join the war against Iran? Expert comment jon.wallace
Saudi Arabia and the UAE have capable air forces that could complement Israeli and US strikes on Iranian missile and drone infrastructure. But the risks are considerable.
Despite getting struck repeatedly by Iranian missiles and drones, the Gulf Arab states have shown remarkable restraint in the war between the US/Israel and the Islamic Republic. Collectively, so far, they have chosen to pursue a defensive strategy.
The chances of the Gulf Arab states reconsidering and going on the offensive are low. But they could go up should Iran escalate its attacks against critical infrastructure and civilian areas, causing casualties and more serious economic damage.
As always with states contemplating the use of force, it’s a matter of willingness and ability. Some Gulf Arab states – namely, Saudi Arabia and the UAE – are capable of joining the fight against Iran using their formidable air power assets. But would doing so make a difference in the war, or be strategically wise? Neither is clear.
The Royal Saudi Air Force (RSAF) operates 449 aircraft including some of the best air power platforms in the world, such as advanced versions of the American F-15, Eurofighter Typhoon, and Tornado, armed with a variety of missiles. And it performs a range of missions – aerial and ground combat, airborne early warning and control, electronic intelligence, and tanker and transport operations. The Kingdom has a slew of Chinese drones too.
The Saudi aerial arsenal is superior to Iran’s in terms of modernity, flexibility, and lethality – and is in fact the envy of many advanced air forces around the world including those of NATO countries. However, it is how the RSAF has employed this tremendous equipment that leaves much to be desired.
The RSAF has some experience in conventional air and ground combat. During the 1980-1988 Iran–Iraq War, the RSAF played primarily defensive and deterrent roles, especially against the Iranian military.
The RSAF didn’t pursue offensive strike missions inside Iran or Iraq. Rather, it was merely entrusted with defending Saudi airspace and regional maritime security.
For the most part it did well, establishing an air defence identification zone over parts of the Gulf (also known as the ‘Fahd Line’) to secure its airspace. This was during a tense period in the Iran–Iraq War where the belligerents targeted each other’s merchant shipping and in particular oil tankers.
One famous incident in June 1984 saw two Saudi F-15s intercept a small formation of Iranian F-4 Phantoms near Arabi Island in the Gulf. The Saudi fighters reportedly shot down either one or two of the Iranian aircraft, which were allegedly crossing into or near the Saudi air defence identification zone. Iran responded by dispatching 11 more F-4s into the skies over the Gulf, but after a brief standoff they returned home.
The RSAF’s first extensive operational experience was in Desert Storm in 1991, flying combat missions from day one. That mattered a lot symbolically and politically, although less so operationally for the US campaign. The RSAF flew 6,852 sorties (ranking second to the US Air Force) and struck Iraqi targets in Kuwait and southern Iraq.
Saudi crews engaged in air-to-air combat and achieved several kills, which was an impressive achievement. But two Tornado jets were shot down either by an Iraqi Mig-29 or by Iraqi air defences during low-level strike missions.
After Desert Storm, Saudi Arabia began to deepen its security cooperation with the United States, with the RSAF a major beneficiary. Today, the RSAF and the US Air Force engage in bilateral drills with various mission sets on a periodic basis, including regular participation in the famous US Red Flag exercise in Nevada.
The RSAF’s most recent combat experience, during the Yemen intervention of 2015-2022, was not successful. In its campaign against the Iran-backed Houthis, it struggled tremendously with its targeting techniques, causing significant collateral damage and bringing heavy international opprobrium against Riyadh.
But that would be the wrong example to consider. In Yemen, the RSAF had to locate and strike mobile targets that were hiding among civilians and inside mountains. Even the most capable NATO air forces face difficulties with such dynamic targeting.
In Iran, the RSAF would be tasked with striking fixed and open targets. And Iranian air defences have been massively degraded by US and Israeli fighters.
The UAE Air Force has less operational experience than Saudi Arabia, but it fared better in Yemen and other conflict zones. And UAE pilots train intensively, participating in Red Flag since 2009.
The UAE has utilized US military assistance over the years more effectively than any other US Arab partner. That showed in combat operations in Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, Iraq, and especially in Yemen.
Against the Houthis, the UAE’s F-16 Block 60 fighters (more advanced than US F-16s) were more lethal and precise than any in the Saudi-led coalition, leveraging superior intelligence with the help of NATO-certified Emirati Joint Terminal Attack Controllers on the ground, which the Saudis didn’t have.
If Riyadh and Abu Dhabi give the order to their militaries to retaliate against Iran, their air forces are capable of operating as part of a US-led coalition – striking military facilities and energy installations in Iran and flying back to their bases.
But what would their objectives be? And what are the risks?
For the Gulf Arab states, the immediate goal of fighting back would be to force Iran to stop its attacks against them, and in the long term to establish a modicum of deterrence against future Iranian strikes.
After all, if Gulf Arab states continue to rely exclusively on defence, they are essentially signalling to Tehran that it can cause them tremendous harm without suffering any consequences.
Equally, playing defence will exhaust their defensive systems well before Iran runs out of drones and missiles. The US can replenish Gulf defences, but Israel is a US priority and according to reports it is facing a shortage in interceptors.
Economic strain is also an important factor: it costs Iran a lot less to wage war with cheap missiles and drones than it does the US, Israel and Gulf Arab states to defend against them. Economic attrition is core to Iran’s strategy in this conflict.
For these reasons, going onto the offensive makes strategic, economic, and operational sense for Gulf states.
However, the risks are considerable.
First, it could lead to more intense Iranian bombing of the very assets the Gulf Arab states are trying to protect including oil fields, airports, data centres, and desalination plants.
Second, President Donald Trump could yet decide to stop military operations against Iran and declare ‘victory’, leaving Israel and the Gulf Arab states alone in the fight and reducing the likelihood of the Iranian regime falling.
Third, joining the war against Iran will tremendously complicate if not completely sever relations between Iran and the Gulf Arab states. Those relations were never built on trust to begin with, and Iran will have a lot to answer for whenever the dust settles, but a direct military confrontation will deepen mistrust.
Fourth, going to war is never an easy proposition for any nation, let alone politically fragile ones as the Gulf Arab states. Internal political stability is paramount for those authoritarian countries. Fighting an external enemy could strengthen patriotism. But some countries like Bahrain, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia have to worry about entities and cells that can be activated by Iran and threaten their internal security.
Perhaps the greatest security risk in joining the war is that it would mean choosing to fight alongside Israel. Even before the war in Gaza, any such move would have been politically perilous for a Gulf leader. Choosing to join this fight, alongside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, could fatally undermine leaders’ credibility with swathes of their populations. That factor more than any other may enforce restraint.
If Iranian strikes against the Gulf Arab states escalate, a defence-only approach to security could quickly become unsustainable. But if the Gulf Arab states decide to join the US-Israeli campaign, it could backfire.
This is an incredibly hard decision, fraught with risks, and one the Gulf Arab states feel they have to make on their own – with little confidence that Washington can be counted on as it once was.
Why Should Delaware Care?
From unrest over the leadership of its police chief to intense division over a proposed panhandling ordinance, the city of Dover has seen its fair share of controversy in recent months. Adding to this series of events is the city council’s decision to discreetly place a top city employee on administrative leave.
The city of Dover quietly put its top administrative employee on leave earlier this month — the first step toward permanently removing him from the position.
Dover City Council unanimously voted to place City Manager Dave Hugg on a paid leave beginning March 2, Spotlight Delaware has learned through conversations with multiple city officials. According to the city’s charter, that leave is a first move toward officially firing him.
City officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations, said long-simmering tensions between Hugg and city council members recently boiled over. Elected leaders, they said, grew tired of Hugg not promptly informing them about relevant issues, often leaving council members “blindsided” when matters were brought to their attention months later.
Two officials pointed to a recent controversy surrounding city council members’ decision not to allocate money to the People’s Church homeless shelter as illustrative of the broader issue. The officials said Hugg failed to inform council members for months about a series of complaint letters the city had received about the shelter, as well as a threat of legal action from a neighboring resident.
When asked about Hugg’s absence, a city spokesperson confirmed he was on leave but would not say why, citing the matter as a “personnel issue.”
According to Dover’s city charter, a city manager must be given a public hearing and a “written statement of the reasons alleged for their removal” before the city council can take a final vote on removing them.
And Anthony Delcollo, a lawyer representing Hugg, said a public hearing is exactly what the city manager wants. Hugg did not directly respond to Spotlight Delaware’s multiple requests for comment.
“As Mr. Hugg was not provided any information regarding purported wrongdoing or performance issues prior to being advised that the City felt it was time to move on from his employment, our client looks forward to the opportunity to present his position in this hearing,” Delcollo said.
But it remains unclear when that required public hearing will take place.
As of Wednesday afternoon, no item referencing a hearing for Hugg was listed on the agenda for the city council’s next meeting scheduled for Monday, March 23. There also is no timeline in the city charter for how long a city manager can be on administrative leave, or when their public hearing must take place.
Dover City Solicitor Dan Griffith declined to comment on the decision to place Hugg on administrative leave, and the status of scheduling a public hearing.
Hugg has served as Dover’s city manager since early 2022. He first joined the city on a contracted basis in 2017, and ended up staying on with the city and rising to the role of city manager over the next five years.
The most recent example of Hugg’s alleged tension with city council members played out at city council’s Committee of the Whole meeting on Feb. 26. During that meeting, council members discussed whether to approve $47,000 in funds for workforce development programs at a homeless shelter in downtown Dover.
Council President Fred Neil asked if any of his colleagues had been told about the pile of complaint letters Hugg received about the shelter back in December – they said they had not.
Prior to the start of that same meeting, council members discussed Hugg’s performance during an executive session, or a meeting of elected leaders not open to the public. When council returned to public session, they voted unanimously to “accept the recommendation of the city solicitor on the personnel matter.”
Multiple city officials confirmed to Spotlight Delaware that the “recommendation” was to place Hugg on administrative leave.
At subsequent city council meetings, Assistant City Manager Sharon Duca has taken over Hugg’s typical duties, including providing city manager’s announcements and providing additional information on ordinances up for consideration.
Council’s decision to place Hugg on administrative leave comes after a tumultuous nine months for the capital city.
Council members, police officers and even the mayor have been entangled in a controversy over Police Chief Thomas Johnson’s leadership since last summer, and a hotly contested panhandling ordinance first introduced last fall exposed divisions among the city’s elected officials.
Now, the move to oust Hugg marks the latest disagreement involving one of Dover’s highest paid employees and the city’s elected officials.
Hugg previously served as Smyrna’s town manager for 14 years and was said to be retiring from public service when he stepped down from that position in late 2016, according to reporting from the Daily State News.
Shortly after retiring from Smyrna, though, Hugg was hired as the acting director of planning and city development for Dover on a temporary, contract basis in early 2017.
At the time, city officials told the Daily State News he would only work for six months, and Hugg would not be a candidate for the position of city planner.
But Hugg ended up continuing in that position as the director of planning and community development for five years. He then was chosen by city council members to fill the permanent position of city manager in early 2022.
The post Dover moves to oust city manager, tensions revealed appeared first on Spotlight Delaware.
Why Should Delaware Care?
Delaware ranks as one of the top states in the nation for health care costs. For years, lawmakers have tried to bring prices down, often meeting fierce resistance from hospitals. A new bill hoping to tackle the issue cleared its first hurdle toward becoming law this week, but it still faces powerful and well-funded opposition.
Delaware senators held their first debate Wednesday — during an abnormally packed committee hearing — over a bold health care reform proposal that would prioritize investments for primary care and is aimed at preventing costly trips to emergency rooms.
But even though the bill made it out of committee, it still must overcome powerful and well-funded opposition.
Delaware’s hospital systems descended on the statehouse in protest of Senate Bill 1, the primary care reform bill that would also implement price caps on how high they can negotiate costs with insurers, claiming the bill would decimate revenues and lead to job losses.
Multiple lawmakers decried the hospitals’ projected job loss claims, saying they are using health care workers as “pawns” in an effort to maintain profits.
“Your campaign of fear, threatening the elimination of 4,000 jobs, is just disgraceful,” said State Sen. Ray Seigfried (D-Wilmington), who is a former ChristianaCare employee and executive of 25 years.
The bill, introduced by Senate Majority Leader Bryan Townsend (D-Newark/Glasgow) earlier this month, has the support of the state’s insurance department, the Medical Society of Delaware and the Mid-Atlantic Association of Community Health Centers.
At the center of the hospital systems’ campaign against SB 1 is a provision that would regulate the rate at which insurers carrying plans for state employees and some commercial plans regulated by the Department of Insurance can reimburse hospitals for covered services. Those changes would also apply to the state’s Medicaid plan.
Essentially, the state is seeking to drive down its own health care spending by capping how much money insurance providers will pay hospitals, which hold a majority of the market share in the state, for their services.
If passed as is, it could save the state hundreds of millions of dollars on medical costs.
By taking aim at how high Delaware health care providers can negotiate their prices with insurers in addition to making those insurers spend 11.5% of their medical costs on primary care, the state hopes to better compensate providers proactively working to improve Delawareans’ health outcomes.
One physician, who has practiced in Delaware for more than 35 years, said the state’s primary care infrastructure is in “dire straits.”
Dr. Jim Gill said independent primary care physicians are currently reimbursed far below the proposed price caps, and that SB 1 is not about giving primary care doctors more money.
Instead, he said the law allows primary care doctors to receive higher reimbursements for care they do during office visits, as well as care they do in between visits, which he said goes frequently unreimbursed.
“Let’s face it, no one went into primary care for the money, but we need enough funding to fully care for the people of Delaware,” Gill said.
During Wednesday’s committee hearing, a rift also emerged between doctors working in hospital systems and independent practitioners.
Independent doctors and the Medical Society of Delaware, which represents all licensed state physicians, said they were in support of the bill because primary care is underfunded, while hospital doctors said they were against the bill because of the impacts it could have on their programs.
After a nearly three-hour hearing, senators moved the bill out of committee. It will next be heard in the Senate Finance Committee, but is likely to see a vote by the full Senate.
A spokesperson for Gov. Matt Meyer did not respond to a request for comment on his stance on SB 1. He has yet to publicly comment on the bill.
Wednesday’s hearing opened with testimony from private practice physicians, the state’s insurance commissioner, outside experts and some hospital representatives.
Richard Henderson, of the Medical Society of Delaware, said SB 1 comes after years of discussion about how to improve primary care in the state. While he said the bill is “not perfect,” he said it would bring down costs and improve people’s health.
“The data both then and now is clear and unequivocal,” Henderson said. “Independent primary care practices improve outcomes and reduce the overall cost of care.”
Henderson also said the bill is “critical” to the survival of independent practices and will create an environment that attracts physicians to the state.
Dr. David Tam, the CEO of Beebe Healthcare in Lewes, also testified at the committee meeting. He aimed his criticism of the bill at the impact it would have on his hospital because of its share of Medicare patients.
Under SB 1, hospitals and providers would be barred from charging more than 250% of what the federal government reimburses for Medicare. But Medicare typically underpays physicians for their services.
Since his hospital serves a large share of Medicare patients from a growing elderly population in Sussex County, Tam said the new price cap on other insurance would make it difficult to cover losses from treating Medicare patients.
During the hearing, multiple legislators admonished the Delaware Healthcare Association, a lobbying group for the state’s hospitals, because of messaging it has used to oppose SB 1.
Specifically, the lawmakers homed in on statistics the group has used threatening the loss of 4,000 health care jobs if the bill passes.
During the hearing, Townsend also said the Delaware Healthcare Association had handed out maps to legislators with dots representing where health care workers lived in their districts. While he said he does not know if the hospital systems knew about this, he called the move “inappropriate” in an interview after the hearing.
Still, he said the needs of their constituents and the precedent set in other states by similar legislation is something that supersedes some of that opposition.
“I think that [the] need of everyday Delawareans who are suffering from high health care costs trumps a map that a lobbyist wants to put in our face,” Townsend said.
Brian Frazee, CEO of the Delaware Healthcare Association, said his organization was not “using” the workers. He said health care employees “understand the impact of these different policies” and advocated with the organization.
When asked about the maps, he told Spotlight Delaware the group did share those maps with legislators, but that it is not uncommon. He said the intent of the maps was to show that there were people in their districts paying attention to the issue.
“We have a lot of health care workers that are very important,” Frazee said. “And like other advocacy groups, we wanted legislators to understand the impact of some of these decisions on their constituents.”
Delaware’s hospital industry is one of the state’s largest employers. Frazee said in a text message after publication that staffing accounts for 60% of hospital budgeting, and that the hospitals don’t want to be put in a position where they have to make cuts.
What’s in the bill?
One provision in the bill would introduce reference-based pricing to medical services covered under both insurance for state employees and some commercial plans regulated by the Department of Insurance. Essentially, this would limit the amount of money a provider could be reimbursed by insurers, tying that amount to a predetermined benchmark.
Under Delaware’s proposal, that benchmark would cap reimbursement rates at 250% of what the federal government pays providers through Medicare.
For services covered under the state’s health plan that do not have a Medicare rate to compare to, like pediatrics, the state would be able to set those rates through the State Employees Benefits Committee.
The bill would “conservatively” save the state more than $280 million over the first five years of implementation, the Department of Insurance said in a press release after announcing the bill.
Frazee, of the hospital association, pointed to that Medicare benchmark, saying it was a provision lawmakers tried, and failed, to introduce in previous legislation that led to a year-and-a-half long lawsuit between the state and Delaware’s largest hospital system.
Efforts to introduce a 250% Medicare benchmark into Senate Bill 1 are a “blatant attempt” to slip in provisions that were removed from House Bill 350, the recently amended law that put an end to the state’s most recent fight with hospitals over health care costs.
Senate Bill 1 also includes language that would exempt hospitals and other health care providers from the 250% requirement if they use a “global budget model” that is approved by the state insurance department.
Global budget models set annual fixed prices for inpatient and outpatient procedures, meaning hospitals are paid on the front end to deliver services at a cost set by their previous Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements from previous years.
In neighboring Maryland, the state implemented global budgeting for all of its acute care hospitals in 2014, according to a report from Mathematica.
After being voted out of committee, SB 1 now awaits consideration in the Senate Finance Committee. A hearing date for that committee has not been set.
Editor’s Note: This story originally reported that SB 1 would next head to a State Senate floor vote, but the bill actually will first head to another committee hearing. We regret the error.
The post Delaware holds hearing on hotly contested primary care reform bill appeared first on Spotlight Delaware.
On March 17, the Senate began debate on the SAVE America Act, a Republican-backed voter identification and registration bill that passed the House last month. Here, we answer several questions about the legislation, many of them asked by our readers.
Previous versions of the bill, called only the SAVE Act, died in the Senate, where the measure hasn’t garnered 60 votes to overcome a filibuster and force a final vote. The new legislation could well face a similar fate — eventually — but the Republican leadership is holding a weeklong (or so) debate in an effort to attract support.
David Becker, founder and executive director of the nonpartisan Center for Election Innovation & Research, which works with election officials throughout the country, said in a March 18 media briefing that it was “extremely unlikely, if not impossible, that this passes.” He predicted that “next week, we’re not going to be talking about this.”
But this week, the Senate is going to be talking about it a lot. On the opening day of debate, Senate Majority Leader John Thune called the bill “a package of commonsense measures” that was about “ensuring that those who are registered to vote are eligible to vote – and that those who show up to vote at polling places are … who they say they are.” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called it “in every sense a voter suppression bill” that could “disenfranchise” millions of American citizens.
The SAVE America Act (or Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act), passed the House on Feb. 11. The bill aims to prevent voting in federal elections by people who aren’t U.S. citizens — something that election experts say is a rare occurrence. Unlike last year’s SAVE Act, the bill also would require voters to present photo identification before casting a vote, whether by mail or in person. And states would have to use a Department of Homeland Security system to check the citizenship status of people on their voter rolls.
President Donald Trump has demanded that other measures be added to the legislation, including abolishing most mail-in voting.
We’ll explain more about the bill below.
There’s no requirement in the bill for all registered voters to reregister. However, if a voter did need to reregister for other reasons, such as moving or changing their name, they would have to show documentation proving their citizenship. “Under any method of voter registration in a State, the State shall not accept and process an application to register to vote in an election for Federal office unless the applicant presents documentary proof of United States citizenship with the application,” the legislation says.
Ceridwen Cherry, legal director of VoteRiders, a nonpartisan group that helps people get an acceptable form of identification so they can vote, told us that “any change to the registration would require documents to prove citizenship under the SAVE America Act. The statute is drafted broadly enough to encompass all changes to registration.”
VoteRiders’ mission is “to eliminate ID barriers to the ballot box so every eligible voter can cast a ballot that counts,” and as such, it opposes this legislation.
Becker, who said the legislation would “expansively … alter voting in every single state,” costing “tens, perhaps hundreds of millions of dollars,” said voters would need to prove citizenship under the bill “any time you conduct what we call a registration transaction, which usually comes from a life event, a move or a change of name.” (He also said that “in talking with election officials across the country, I have yet to find really any election official who supports this on either side of the aisle. It would make their jobs extremely more difficult” while primaries are occurring and months away from the general midterm elections.)
Current federal law requires those registering to vote to attest that they are citizens under penalty of perjury. The SAVE America Act would require people to present citizenship documents in person to election officials, even if they are registering by mail.
For most Americans registering to vote, proving citizenship would mean presenting either only a U.S. passport, or a certified birth certificate along with a driver’s license or other government-issued photo ID. The legislation lists requirements the birth certificate must meet, such as including the full names of at least one parent, the signature of an authorized government official, and the seal of the state or local/tribal government that issued it.
The Bipartisan Policy Center noted in a March 16 post that not all birth certificates include all of the criteria. About 53% of the U.S. population has a U.S. passport, according to Department of State data.
These are other types of documents besides a passport that would suffice to prove citizenship under the bill: a REAL ID driver’s license that indicates citizenship (five states have such “enhanced” driver’s licenses that include citizenship); a military ID and service record that says the person was born in the U.S.; or a government-issued photo ID that shows a U.S. birthplace. If presenting a government-issued photo ID that doesn’t say the person was born in the U.S. or has citizenship, a registrant would also need either the certified birth certificate or a hospital birth record, adoption decree, a consular birth report, a naturalization certificate, or an American Indian card with the classification “KIC,” which designates U.S. citizenship for Mexican-born members of the Kickapoo tribes of Texas and Oklahoma.
The Bipartisan Policy Center analyzed the 2024 Survey on the Performance of American Elections conducted by the MIT Election Data + Science Lab and found that 12% of registered voters lacked either a passport or a birth certificate along with a government-issued photo ID — the most common ways people would prove citizenship under this bill. The analysis also found that “wealthier and more highly educated voters are more likely to have documentary proof than others.” It found that “registered Democrats are more likely to have a valid passport than registered Republicans” and “Republicans are more likely to have a birth certificate than Democrats.”
According to a 2023 survey by New York University’s Brennan Center for Justice and other groups, more than 9% of Americans of voting age, or 21.3 million people, didn’t have easy access to citizenship documents, meaning they wouldn’t be able to “quickly find” such documents if they “had to show it tomorrow.” The percentage was 11% for Americans who did not identify as white.
In a summary of the bill, the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service explains that if people lack valid documents, “the bill would require states to establish a process whereby applicants could submit other documentation and sign an attestation under penalty of perjury that the applicant is a U.S. citizen and eligible to vote in federal elections.” If the person lacks documentation, the bill also would require the election official to sign an affidavit saying the registrant sufficiently demonstrated citizenship.
We received several questions from readers who are married, or divorced, and have changed their names, asking about how they can prove citizenship and ensure they can vote, should this bill become law. We wrote about these concerns last year as well. The bill includes a provision on name discrepancies, requiring states to establish a process for those registrations. (Again, voters who are already registered wouldn’t need to prove citizenship under legislation unless they needed to reregister.)
Cherry, with VoteRiders, told us that “if a voter has experienced a name change they would not be able to use their birth certificate as their only proof of citizenship as this document does not get updated if someone changes their name through marriage or divorce. They also could not use any of the other listed documents (e.g. passport) as their sole proof of citizenship if their name on the document does not match their current legal name.”
The bill requires states to set up a process to accommodate this. “Voters will either be able to provide ‘additional documentation as necessary to establish that the name on the documentation is a previous name of the applicant’ or ‘an affidavit signed by the applicant attesting that the name on the documentation is a previous name of the applicant,'” Cherry said. “The bill text does not lay out exactly what this process will be or what additional documentation would be accepted. It also leaves open the possibility for inconsistent rules between states.”
In general, the bill calls for the federal Election Assistance Commission, an independent, bipartisan agency, to issue guidance to states on implementing the legislation within 10 days of its enactment.
When we wrote about the SAVE Act last year, Wendy Weiser, vice president for democracy at the Brennan Center, raised concerns about criminal penalties in the bill for election officials. That provision remains in this year’s legislation. Weiser told us, “Any state process would be severely undercut by another provision in the bill making it a federal crime for election officials to register anyone who does not present ‘documentary proof of citizenship.’ How many election officials would be willing to risk incarceration and steep fines to register someone whose documentation does not match their current name?”
In a statement to us last year, Republican Rep. Chip Roy of Texas, who introduced the SAVE Act in the House and this year’s SAVE America Act, said concern over married women not being able to register to vote was “absurd armchair speculation.” He said the bill “provides a myriad [of] ways for people to prove citizenship and explicitly directs States to establish a process for individuals to register to vote if there are discrepancies in their proof of citizenship documents due to something like a name change.”
New in this year’s legislation is a nationwide voter photo ID requirement. Those voting in person would need to present “a valid physical photo identification” in order to cast a ballot. Those voting by mail would need to provide a copy of the photo ID.
Those who don’t have an ID for in-person voting could cast a provisional ballot and then would have three days to present their ID to election officials — or sign an affidavit “attesting that the individual does not possess the identification required … because the individual has a religious objection to being photographed.”
For by-mail voters, they also could submit the last four numbers of their Social Security number and an affidavit “attesting that the individual is unable to obtain a copy of a valid photo identification after making reasonable efforts to obtain such a copy.”
A valid photo ID for this purpose includes: a state-issued driver’s license or ID card issued by the motor vehicle agency that includes a photo and expiration date, a U.S. passport, a military ID, or a photo ID issued by a tribal government that includes an expiration date.
The National Conference of State Legislatures, which tracks state legislation, has said that these voter ID requirements “are stricter than those that exist in most states.” In a Feb. 19 post, NCSL staff wrote, “While 36 states currently have voter ID requirements to vote, state approaches vary. Just 10 states fall into the strict photo ID category, as defined by NCSL.”
An acceptable ID for these 36 states “often includes student IDs, hunting and fishing licenses or other state-specific identification cards.” Thirteen states accept non-photo identification, such as a bank statement. That’s broader than what the SAVE America Act would accept.
There are exceptions to the by-mail ID requirements for overseas uniformed services members and those who have the right to vote absentee via the Voting Accessibility for the Elderly and Handicapped Act.
We’ve written about this issue a few times. Last April, we explained that detailed audits of voting records by some states had found instances of noncitizens casting votes to be relatively rare. In some cases, officials in those states found hundreds of noncitizens on voter registration rolls, a fraction of whom also voted.
Noncitizens convicted of voting in federal elections face fines, jail time and deportation.
“The evidence is that the number of noncitizens illegally voting in federal elections is extremely low, not high enough to have changed the party outcome of any federal election in recent years,” Walter Olson, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute told us. “Audits and investigations in states like Ohio, Nevada, and North Carolina have found the numbers to be tiny in relation to votes cast. … The consistent experience has been that very few persons in this category mistakenly or deliberately vote.”
For instance, the Ohio Secretary of State announced in May 2024 that it found 137 people on the state’s voter registration rolls who had twice confirmed their noncitizenship status to the state motor vehicles bureau. The announcement didn’t say whether any had tried to actually vote. A grand jury indicted six people who legally and permanently immigrated to the U.S. for voting illegally as noncitizens between 2008 and 2020. In Georgia, a 2022 review found that 1,634 people had attempted to register to vote between 1997 and 2022 and could not be verified as citizens. None had voted. In October 2024, the Associated Press reported that Georgia election officials said 20 out of the 8.2 million on the state’s voter registration rolls were not U.S. citizens, and that nine had voted in previous elections.
The Bipartisan Policy Center analyzed a database of fraud cases compiled by the conservative Heritage Foundation and found “only 77 instances of noncitizen voting between 1999 and 2023.”
Last April, we were writing about unsupported claims from Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency to have found evidence of large-scale voting by noncitizens. DOGE said it provided data to federal prosecutors for investigation. But nearly a year later, nothing has been made public about that investigation.
More recently, a systematic review of claims about noncitizen registrants and voters in all 50 states by the Center for Election Innovation & Research, updated in February, found that “sweeping allegations about noncitizen registrations or voting appear to arise from misunderstandings, mischaracterizations, or outright fabrications about complex voter data. In every examined case, when claims about large numbers of noncitizens on voting rolls are subject to scrutiny and properly investigated, the number of alleged instances falls drastically.”
Numerous states recently have used a Department of Homeland Security program called the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements, or SAVE, to check the citizenship status of people on their voter rolls — something that the SAVE America Act would require. The bill says that states should use the system “for the purposes of identifying individuals who are not citizens of the United States and taking the necessary steps to remove such individuals who are not citizens from the official list, after notice is given to such individuals and such individuals are given the opportunity to provide documentary proof of United States citizenship.” The legislation doesn’t provide more information on how these notices and opportunities to fix a mistake would be carried out.
Recent reporting shows the SAVE database has flaws.
According to a January New York Times article, 49.5 million voter registrations have been checked in several states, and the Department of Homeland Security referred about .02%, or 10,000 cases, to investigators. The Times found that when some counties began looking into the cases, it turned out that only a fraction of them were potentially noncitizens. There was no indication of how many of those who may have improperly registered to vote actually voted.
Texas, too, found there were errors in DHS’ SAVE database. In October, the state said the database identified 2,724 potential noncitizens in its voter rolls of more than 18 million people, and it referred the cases to Texas counties. Many of those counties found U.S. citizens were among those flagged.
In February, ProPublica and the Texas Tribune wrote that their examination of the SAVE system “reveals that DHS rushed the revamped tool into use while it was still adding data and before it could discern voters’ most up-to-date citizenship information.
“As a result, SAVE has made persistent mistakes, particularly in assessing the status of people born outside the U.S., data gathered from local election administrators, interviews and emails obtained via public records requests show. Some of those people subsequently become U.S. citizens, a step that the system doesn’t always pick up,” the news organizations wrote.
Yes, according to a February Harvard CAPS/Harris poll, which found that 71% of the registered voters surveyed said that they supported the SAVE America Act, including 91% of Republicans, 69% of independents and 50% of Democrats.
The online poll conducted Feb. 25-26 asked 1,999 registered voters, “Do you support or oppose the proposed SAVE America Act that would: Require proof of citizenship to register to vote, Require voter ID, Require states to remove non-citizens from their voting rolls, Require states to share unredacted voting rolls with the Department of Homeland Security.”
Three out of the four proposals mentioned in that description of the bill appealed to an even larger group. A press release about the results of the Harvard CAPS/Harris poll said, “The majority of voters support specific requirements of the Act, including proof of citizenship (75%), voter ID (81%), states removing non-citizens from voter rolls (80%), and states sharing redacted voting rolls with the Department of Homeland Security (61%).”
Past polls have revealed similar levels of support for some of those policies.
A Pew Research Center poll from August found that 83% of those asked were in favor of a requirement for everyone to show government-issued photo identification before voting, including 95% of Republicans and 71% of Democrats.
In addition, a Gallup poll from October 2024 found that 84% of surveyed adults supported “[r]equiring all voters to provide photo identification at their voting place in order to vote,” while 83% backed “[r]equiring people who are registering to vote for the first time to provide proof of citizenship.” About two-thirds of Democrats supported both ideas, more than 8-in-10 independents did, and nearly all Republicans were on board with each.
Becker, of the Center for Election Innovation & Research, noted that the results of these surveys depend on what questions are asked. “If you just ask the regular question in polls, do you support voter ID, you do see vast majorities of Americans say yes, including majorities of Democrats. If you ask people, should eligible voters without voter IDs be disenfranchised, you get very different responses.”
The Harvard CAPS/Harris poll also asked, “Which of the following is more important?,” giving two choices. A little more than half, 54%, said, “That we do everything possible to stop voter fraud and illegal immigrants from voting,” and 46% said, “That eligible citizens aren’t denied the ability to vote.”
Trump has proposed that the final version of the bill also eliminate mail-in voting with limited exceptions.
“We don’t want mail-in ballots,” Trump said while talking about his proposal during an interview with a Cincinnati news station on March 11. “We don’t want to have ballots coming from all different corners of the world. We want to have it accurate, and you can’t do that with mail-in ballots.”
In multiple posts on social media in March, the president has written, “NO MAIL-IN BALLOTS (EXCEPT FOR ILLNESS, DISABILITY, MILITARY, OR TRAVEL!).”
As is, the House-passed bill would not abolish mail-in voting, but it would require identification to both request and submit a mail-in ballot.
As we’ve reported, mail-in voting is used widely throughout the U.S. Eight states and Washington, D.C., conduct their elections mostly by mail, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. In addition, 28 states allow “no excuse” mail-in voting, which means that voters don’t need to provide a reason when requesting a mail-in ballot.
In the August Pew Research Center poll, 58% of respondents said they supported allowing any voter to vote by mail.
Elections experts have told us for years that while fraud is slightly more prevalent with mail-in voting than in-person voting, it is still relatively rare and not widespread.
More recently, Trump has said that he wants the legislation to address two non-election-related issues.
“I added on no men playing in women’s sports, and I added in no transgender surgery, the mutilation of our children,” Trump said from the Oval Office on March 16, referring to his proposed ban on transgender women playing in women’s athletics and gender-affirming surgery for minors.
Those are the last two of Trump’s five-point plan for the bill, and Republican Sen. Eric Schmitt of Missouri has introduced an amendment to include all five parts in the final legislation.
“I’ve worked closely with President Trump and the White House to introduce a substitute amendment that will save our elections, save women’s sports, and save our children from gender mutilation surgeries. It’s time to get this done,” Schmitt said in a March 17 statement.
In all, Schmitt said his amendment would: “Require all voters to show ID,” “Require proof of citizenship to vote,” “End mail-in balloting with exceptions for military, illness, travel, and disability,” “Keep men out of women’s sports,” and “Protect children from transgender mutilation surgeries.”
Robert Farley contributed to this article.
Clarification, March 20: We made clear that the REAL ID “enhanced” driver’s licenses available in five states indicate citizenship.
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To secure critical minerals supply governments need to take a stake in industry Expert comment jon.wallace
To establish some measure of control of minerals supply, market-oriented governments are starting to directly invest in mining projects. Governments that don’t are placing their manufacturing sectors, energy security, and national defence at risk.
The scramble to secure critical minerals has reignited a wave of resource nationalism, with states intervening in private entities across the mining sector.
This is part of a decisive shift, as market-oriented economies move from incentivizing private actors towards taking a direct financial stake in their operations – in order to influence supply.
The traditional drivers of state intervention have been to protect the mining industry, get projects off the ground, or expectations that governments can benefit economically from extraction.
New drivers of intervention are far more concerned with control over minerals flows – to address vulnerabilities caused by the dominance of China in supply chains and the volatility emanating from intervention from other players.
The US is acting with remarkable urgency to increase production and secure supply. That means that governments that do not have an equity stake in supply chains risk being left behind in the race for material security, placing their manufacturing jobs, many of which rely on supply of minerals, in jeopardy – consigning themselves to trajectories of deindustrialization.
Countries like the UK and blocs like the EU are following Washington’s example by accepting the need for relatively risky minerals investments. In doing do, they must be guided by a desire for control as much as – if not more than – a search for the best value, especially given current low prices.
The geopolitical vulnerability of minerals supply is clear. China is the world’s biggest miner and dominant processor of critical minerals. Beijing’s use of export controls, soft barriers to trade such as export licensing requirements, and trade dumping to reduce prices mean that consistent supply is no longer guaranteed.
US action to counter this dominance will mitigate their own supply risks, but at high cost. The US is leveraging several funding mechanisms, including $15 billion in letters of interest from its Export Import bank EXIM, and $7 billion in loans from the department of energy. The pentagon has also committed $2.8 billion in equity and debt to eight mining and refining projects.
The US is distinct from other partners as they have a higher risk appetite, and they are strategically leveraging Gulf State sovereign funds. Their goal is control, via significant shareholding in mining concerns, seats on their boards, and through that the ability to control flows of critical minerals.
For example, the agreement for the US Development Finance Corporation (DFC) and UAE-backed Orion consortium’s 40 per cent share of Glencore’s copper operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) was tied to them being able to choose the export destination for the copper.
Similarly, the US Department of War provided support measures lasting over a decade to MP Metals for Neodymium-Praseodymium oxide and manufactured magnates – while including an offtake agreement to ensure that it could have access to the finished product.
This US policy is a major political risk. Even if these efforts mitigate supply risks, they will still fall far short of overtaking China as a dominant producer of critical minerals.
Other countries, such as the UK, EU countries and others, cannot match the scale of what the US is attempting and have a difficult ask of their taxpayers; to pour money into an industry with low project success rates and high environmental costs.
But government investment is what is required to get mining projects off the ground and establish some measure of control over mineral supply flows. That in turn will ensure national access to industry-critical materials and protect jobs. But it will also likely cause further volatility, as states pressure companies to serve national needs in addition to market forces.
State involvement can influence companies’ decision making. In February 2026 French firm Imerys Lithium placed its project in Cornwall, UK, on care and maintenance due to financing constraints. At the same time, the Banque des Territoires, acting on behalf of the French government, acquired a minority stake in another Imerys Lithium project located in France. The French project with state support pulled through.
The UK’s National Wealth Fund has similarly put money into domestic critical minerals projects. That includes Cornish Lithium, a separate project close to the Imerys site.
However, to genuinely protect supply, the scale of financing must increase, and equity ownership strategies cannot only take place within national borders. Countries like the UK must mobilize politically guided capital instruments to gain direct influence in mining operations across the global supply chain.
Funds such as British International Investment should seriously consider taking investment positions overseas that complement other instruments such as UK Export Finance – so that the UK has a stake in – and access to – mineral production it cannot achieve domestically.
If the UK and EU are serious about improving minerals access, then they must also seek to increase control through equity.
There is precedent: shared private/ government ownership structures are commonplace in the oil industry. The mining industry is moving towards this model, and governments should take advantage of the shift. Representatives of national oil companies that sit on boards and engage in corporate governance as non-operating partners bring significant skills and knowledge. For the UK, EU and others, there is a need to bring technical skills into government, that can then be deployed into such positions.
Government investment at an early stage has other benefits: It can de-risk mining projects by providing patient capital and committing to purchase a portion of the mine’s future production. This can make projects more economically viable and attractive to others. But governments must also go into projects with their eyes open. They are not picking winners seeking short term gains. Rather, they are giving projects an improved chance of long-term success.
Countries like the UK and EU member states can also provide important means for greater democratic oversight of Environmental, Social and Governance criteria and responsible performance standards in the mining sector. They can also be important representatives of indigenous peoples’ rights, while promoting environmental protections, and pushing for more sustainable practice.
However, government intervention should not be guided by a desire for profit or job creation. A measure of long-term control of supply chains should be the objective for industrial EU countries and the UK, serving the more pressing need: to protect critical industries and manufacturing jobs that depend on mining sector products.
Governments that take stakes in critical minerals ventures in developing countries must strike a careful balance. In many cases their investments will be welcome, as the financial liability of investing in mining is even greater for developing nations and is normally not the most effective way to invest their money. But international partners should work to build triangulated state-backed joint ventures, balancing their desire for security of supply with exporting countries’ demands for control over national resource wealth.
Why Should Delaware Care?
Roughly a quarter of Delaware’s land mass is made up of wetlands – marshy ecosystems saturated with water that improve water quality, prevent floods and store carbon. But not all wetland types are afforded the same legal protections. Environmental rule changes at the federal level are prompting state lawmakers to find local solutions to protect some of the most vulnerable — and valuable — wetlands left behind.
As the Trump administration continues efforts to roll back environmental regulations, a gap in policies at the state level could leave some of Delaware’s most vulnerable wetland habitats protected only by the owners of the land where they are found.
State Sen. Stephanie Hansen (D-Middletown) is hoping to change that.
For months, the chair of the Senate’s Environment, Energy & Transportation Committee has been workshopping a bill that would create a new regulatory committee tasked with developing a program within the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC) that would oversee the state’s nontidal wetlands – the kinds of marshy ecosystems found across the state that are not connected to rivers or bays but can still help improve water quality and prevent floods.
“This is a bill that’s going to set the bones of a wetlands program for the state of Delaware,” Hansen said.
The idea, she added, is to combine the state’s existing tidal wetlands program — for marshes that do connect with rivers or bays — with a yet-to-be-created non-tidal program.
While it will be up to a regulatory advisory committee to actually create the new program, the idea is that it would govern how non-tidal wetlands are identified and protected if, say, a development were being proposed for the same spot.
These marshy areas can be home to some of the rarest state species, like the Eastern tiger salamander in northern Delaware, but also can be found on the fringes of some of the state’s southern farmlands.
But Hansen’s proposal could fall squarely in the midst of a decades-long struggle between environmentalists and private land owners.
Generational Delaware farmers like Jay Baxter understand what is at stake. The father of four said some of his best times are spent with his boys exploring the outdoors. But he also worries about state regulators overstepping future farming and property rights. Farmers and developers alike have raised alarms about giving DNREC too much additional regulatory discretion.
And since marshy spaces are widespread in a coastal state like Delaware, figuring out exactly how to appropriately regulate — and even how to accurately identify and rank — certain types of wetlands means contending with those competing land use interests.
Not only do wetlands provide habitats to unique plants and animals, but they also can act as sponges during storms to absorb floodwaters and filter pollutants. That has become increasingly important as more and more of the state, particularly in Sussex County, sees increased development and greater flood risks due to increased impervious surfaces, climate change and rising sea levels.
But Sussex County has historically fought more stringent protections along its waterways. In 2008, the county sued state regulators who tried to set buffers along Inland Bays waterways as part of a pollution control strategy. The county prevailed in court, with the Delaware Supreme Court ruling it was up to the county to develop land-use policies.
At the federal level, the Trump administration has nixed efforts by Democratic predecessors to apply more protections to “Waters of the United States” under the Clean Water Act. The public comment period for the newly proposed rule, which would exclude protections for many of America’s seasonal and nontidal wetlands, closed in early January.
This also is not the first time Hansen has introduced a freshwater wetlands program bill. In 2024, she introduced Senate Bill 290 to regulate non-tidal wetlands, but it did not make it out of committee.
That bill’s fiscal note ranged from about $1.5 million to $3 million annually to create, grow and administer a program that would have processed an estimated 700 permit applications each year.
Securing funding may not be the only hurdle this new bill would face. During stakeholder group meetings about the issue, local farmers and developers have continued to raise concerns about future regulatory restraints that could apply to how they have already been using the land for years.
“Work needs to be done to make it something palatable,” said Baxter, who grows a variety of vegetables, including corn and soy, and chickens.
He pointed to historic drainage pathways as being a potential sticking point in the proposed legislation. Such areas, which fill with water in storms but may otherwise be dry, were a major sticking point for critics of the federal WOTUS rule.
“This is very important to future generations of agriculture in the state of Delaware,” Baxter said after a late January meeting. “We must have proper drainage. The rules as they stand don’t allow us to maintain drainage.”
In Delaware, state-level protections are already afforded to tidal marshes — those connected to tidally influenced bodies of water like rivers or the Delaware Bay — as well as large freshwater wetlands with over 400 contiguous acres, which largely only applies to the Great Cypress Swamp stretching across Delaware’s southernmost border into Maryland.
County-level protections can be more stringent. Both Kent and New Castle counties have mandatory buffers for all waterways and wetlands.
In Sussex, there’s a maximum 100-foot buffer required for developers building along tidal waterways. Delaware is also alone in the mid-Atlantic region when it comes to its lack of state-level protections. Maryland, New Jersey, Virginia and even Pennsylvania all have varying levels of non-tidal wetland programs.
Meanwhile, most of Delaware’s wetlands are on private land; only about 20% are owned by the state or federal government, according to DNREC.
“The analogy is we’re standing out in the middle of the woods naked as it relates to our protection of non-tidal wetlands here in Delaware,” said Christophe Tulou, executive director of the Delaware Center for the Inland Bays, which advocates for the protection of the Rehoboth, Indian River and Little Assawoman bays in Sussex County.
Tulou said efforts to protect Delaware’s freshwater wetlands date back decades, even before he formerly served as DNREC secretary in the 1990s.
“This is not new,” he said. “And the reason it’s not new is because people have known for a long, long time that freshwater wetlands are hugely important.”
Editor’s Note: An earlier version of this story used an outdated figured for Sussex County’s required waterway buffers. It was extended to 100 feet in 2022.
Transparency Notice
Maddy Lauria previously worked for the Delaware Center for the Inland Bays from 2020 to 2021. She is currently an independent journalist based in Dover.
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Brexit was ‘a colossal mistake’, says President Stubb of Finland – but Europe should build a flexible partnership with the UK News release jon.wallace
During a speech at Chatham House the president outlined why the EU must embrace ‘flexible integration’ to forge closer relations with the UK and countries like Ukraine.
President Alexander Stubb visited Chatham House on 17 March 2026 to discuss EU–UK relations, EU enlargement, ‘flexible integration’, Brexit and other issues. Describing a world in which Europe is squeezed between an aggressive Russia and a US in transition, he addressed the impact of Brexit and the opportunities for Europe and the UK.
After outlining his personal links to the UK, President Stubb said:
‘I think Brexit was a colossal mistake… I do think it’s not only shooting yourself in the foot,’ he said, ‘but it’s like amputating your leg without a medical reason for doing it’.
But, he added, there was ample space to forge a more flexible partnership between the EU and the UK.
‘We need to get out of the mindset which I quite often see on extremes on the continent and here – whereby you need to continue to punish the UK for having this self-inflicted pain.’
He said there was a need for a pragmatic closening of ties in areas such as security, technology and the economy, including customs and the internal market.
‘Get out of the mindset that the UK should not be part of the customs union or the UK should not be part of the internal market. Think about a flexible way of dealing with it,’ he added.
President Stubb speaks at Chatham House.
‘The world is changing, our interests in Europe and the UK are the same. Our values in Europe and the UK, are the same. We need a UK voice in Europe – we really miss you guys, I’m serious, we really do. On the internal market, on competition, on reform, all on these things – on climate change. That’s why I think we should be pragmatic.’
During his speech, President Stubb also discussed the end of an era of peace in Europe, the weaponization of trade, energy and currency, Ukraine peace negotiations – and how best to exploit the EU’s changing economic and political power.
Tinubu’s UK state visit: diplomacy alone won’t fix Nigeria’s problems Expert comment thilton.drupal
The Nigerian president’s visit is his latest high-profile foreign policy moment on the world stage. But his diplomatic engagements have not produced concrete benefits for most ordinary Nigerians.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s state visit to the UK this week is the first by a Nigerian leader since General Ibrahim Babangida in 1989.
Hosted by King Charles III, a state visit is the UK’s highest level of diplomatic visit and uses royal ceremony to signal and strengthen relations with key partners. It is being framed in Abuja as a landmark moment, showcasing the ‘unique bond’ between the two countries and inaugurating ‘a new era of cooperation’.
Tinubu’s visit will provide an opportunity to further operationalize the Nigeria-UK Strategic Partnership, signed in November 2024 during Foreign Secretary David Lammy’s visit to Nigeria, and the February 2024 Enhanced Trade and Investment Partnership (ETIP).
The visit is also in line with Tinubu’s embrace of a foreign policy approach that centres high-profile meetings and visible diplomacy. Tinubu’s foreign policy has been rhetorically polished and sometimes strategically astute; it reflects Nigeria’s profile as a regional power and a key Commonwealth state, and has opened channels for deeper economic and security cooperation.
But nearly three years into Tinubu’s presidency, the key question is whether this visibility-driven foreign policy has delivered domestic gains. So far, the president’s prominent international profile has not largely translated into improvements in material conditions for most Nigerians.
Tinubu has engaged in frequent presidential travel, maintaining a visible presence at summits across Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Africa. His trips – and those of senior officials – have drawn criticism for their cost amid rising poverty, hunger and falling purchasing power back home.
Foreign minister Yusuf Tuggar has articulated a ‘4D Foreign Policy’ – built on democracy, development, demography and diaspora – and advocated for Nigeria’s strategic autonomy. But in practice, Nigeria’s diplomatic capacity has lagged behind its rhetoric. Ambassadorial appointments have been slow or seen as politicized, weakening diplomatic capacity to implement the administration’s agenda.
Tinubu’s administration has also sought international validation for its key domestic reforms – fuel subsidy removal, naira devaluation and tax reform. His team cites various policy achievements as proof of success. These include headline inflation falling from above 30 per cent in 2024 to around 15 per cent last month; a stabilizing naira; Nigeria’s removal from the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) grey list; S&P raising its outlook to ‘positive’; and renewed investor interest.
However, for many Nigerians, the combination of subsidy removal, devaluation and tougher taxation with weak safety nets recalls the ‘shock therapy’ of the late 1980s, when IMF-aligned reforms under General Babangida produced lasting social costs.
Poverty remains high, food insecurity has risen, household spending remains weak and credit remains expensive for small firms. Growth is concentrated in capital-intensive sectors such as finance and ICT, while agriculture remain constrained by insecurity and structural bottlenecks. Nigeria’s deficits in education, skills and health are having a more negative impact on future earnings than in other comparable economies.
Tinubu’s London visit will likely focus on leveraging the UK-Nigeria ETIP to attract investment in energy, infrastructure, technology and services – sectors where UK firms are competitive. However, any potential investments are unlikely to fix Nigeria’s struggling economy or reverse the structural drivers of migration, such as rampant insecurity and weak public services.
UK-Nigeria trade is significant, but not top-tier. It reached £8.1 billion in figures for 2025, up 11.4 per cent on the preceding year. Nigeria is the UK’s 36th largest trading partner, with the balance of trade in the UK’s favour. In comparison, Nigeria’s trade with China exceeded $22 billion (around £16.5 billion) between January and October 2025.
The UK is also a major source of FDI and a key destination for Nigerian migrants. Nigerians were one of the largest non-EU nationalities to immigrate to the UK in 2025, and remittances form an important element of Nigeria’s external accounts.
However, much of Nigeria’s non-African commerce is still dominated by hydrocarbons and imported manufactured goods, rather than higher-value non-oil exports. This pattern leaves the country vulnerable to commodity price swings and reflects structural constraints at home: roughly 85 million Nigerians still lack access to grid power. Despite a new Electricity Act in 2023, outcomes remain poor, with frequent outages.
Nigeria’s trade with other African countries also remains low. Nigeria earned roughly $478 million from exports to ECOWAS markets in 2025 – a comparatively modest amount. Despite Abuja’s vocal support for the African Continental Free Trade Agreement and its plans to host the fifth Intra-African Trade Fair (IATF) in 2027, African markets remain underexploited.
While Tinubu may secure UK investment during his visit, these deeper patterns raise doubts about whether this economic diplomacy is reducing Nigeria’s reliance on non-African trade or its exposure to global shocks. Instead, more focus is needed on tackling long-term structural challenges – especially in electricity, education and health.
Security should also be a key focus of the visit. Nigeria remains locked in conflicts across multiple fronts. The jihadist insurgency in the northeast continues, while organized criminality and kidnappings plague the northwest and central Nigeria. Nigeria ranks 6th on the 2025 Global Terrorism Index.
In early February, Nigeria’s Ministry of Defence announced the deepening of defence cooperation with the UK, building on existing training, intelligence, counterterrorism and maritime cooperation. The state visit is expected to formalize and expand this agenda, potentially improving operational capabilities.
So far, security partnerships with the UK and others have improved technical capacity – particularly in maritime security, counter-IED work and some aspects of air operations. But they have not produced discernible improvement in everyday security.
Killings, kidnappings and displacement remain widespread. ACLED data indicates at least 12,860 people were killed in political violence in the past year.
Jose Omar Flores-Penaloza was willing to admit that he had entered the United States illegally. He was ready to be deported, according to his attorneys.
But federal prosecutors would not let him go last spring without making him answer for another crime — one he had never heard of.
Weeks earlier, President Donald Trump, to address what he called a national emergency, ordered a stretch of borderland transferred to the military so that troops could help apprehend unauthorized migrants.
Because prosecutors believed Flores-Penaloza had crossed through that zone, now called a national defense area, they charged him with trespassing on military property under statutes including one enacted in 1909 to keep spies away from arsenals.
The added misdemeanors were unlikely to lengthen his sentence; they typically result in time served and deportation. But Flores-Penaloza maintained his innocence in the face of the allegation that could cast him as a national security threat.
So he awaited trial in a New Mexico jail.
One year into the second Trump administration, federal courts are facing a surge of immigration-related litigation, including a record number of habeas petitions from detainees who say they are being unlawfully held.
In Minnesota last month, after a frustrated judge asked why defendants he had ordered released were still in custody, a government attorney blurted out: “What do you want me to do? The system sucks. This job sucks.”
ProPublica and The Texas Tribune spent four months investigating a persistent source of pressure in border districts — one experts say is taxing the courts and challenging long-standing principles of criminal law.
Since last April, at least 4,700 immigrants already charged with entering the country illegally have faced additional misdemeanor counts accusing them of trespassing on military property. Court records reviewed by the news organizations show that more than 90% of cases have been resolved, and that most did not end in convictions on the trespass charges: About 60% were dropped or dismissed.
At least nine judges in West Texas and New Mexico have found the prosecutions legally deficient. Citing the basic requirement of mens rea — a guilty mind — many ruled that defendants could not be found guilty because they did not know they were trespassing on military land.
Yet prosecutors have continued filing the charges and appealing adverse rulings, arguing that knowingly crossing the border is sufficient to prove criminal intent. More than 20 legal scholars and former prosecutors told reporters they could not identify a conventional law-enforcement or military goal that would justify their persistence.
The strain has been visible in crowded federal dockets.
“We would do jury selection and trial on a misdemeanor case that would have no bearing on the sentence whatsoever?” West Texas District Judge Leon Schydlower asked a prosecutor in June. He noted that there were about 40 similar cases on his docket and asked the prosecutor what she would do if he scheduled all the trials on the same day.
“We would have to be prepared to move to go forward on all 40, Your Honor,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Patricia “Patti” Aguayo replied, prefacing her position by saying she had no choice in the matter.
“We have not been allowed to do anything but move forward.”
Prosecutors were operating under a directive issued by Attorney General Pam Bondi mandating “zealous advocacy” of the administration’s priorities and warning that attorneys who declined to advance them could face discipline or termination.
Senior officials in the U.S. attorney’s offices handling trespass cases declined repeated interview requests, and a spokesperson in the West Texas office asked reporters to stop contacting prosecutors directly. A Justice Department spokesperson noted that one of the charges carries a longer sentence and claimed the prosecutions have “proven to be a significant deterrent to both illegal crossings and cartel activity along the border,” though the department did not provide supporting documentation.
Had prosecutors accepted his offer to plead guilty to illegal entry in exchange for dropping the trespass charge, Flores-Penaloza would have been processed for deportation to Mexico, his public defenders Amanda Skinner and Victoria Trull said.
Instead, he remained in custody for more than a month, in a county jail where guards have been accused of threatening to use Tasers on inmates’ genitals and bursting into sleeping areas with flash-bangs. (In a court filing, attorneys for Doña Ana County denied the first allegation and wrote, about the second, that guards used “specialized equipment during operations” but disputed they were “terrorizing vulnerable detainees.”)
Hours into Flores-Penaloza’s June 17 bench trial before Chief Magistrate Judge Gregory Wormuth, prosecutors could not pinpoint exactly where he had crossed the border or produce a clear map showing the boundaries of the military zone.
“I also don’t dispute,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Randy Castellano conceded, “that we don’t meet the mens rea requirement the court has indicated in a prior opinion.”
Wormuth, who had dismissed dozens of similar charges, grew frustrated. He noted that Flores-Penaloza had been in custody for 40 days largely because of the unproven allegation.
“The United States has come in here and put not a single bit of evidence that would allow me to find that he even entered the national defense area,” Wormuth said. “It is very, very disturbing.”
He acquitted Flores-Penaloza on the trespass counts while finding him guilty of illegal entry. The young man was deported.
But more cases were coming.
Federal law generally bars the military from detaining civilians on domestic soil. But there was a workaround: Troops could capture intruders on their own bases.
Under orders from Trump last April, federal agencies including the Department of the Interior transferred more than 200 miles of riverbank and desert scrub in West Texas and New Mexico to the armed forces, converting the terrain into extensions of Army installations.
Speaking to troops deployed to one of the new national defense areas, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth suggested that anyone entering them would be on notice.
“You’ve got signs like this one all across the border wall facing into Mexico,” he said — “clear English, clear Spanish.”
The plan appeared straightforward. But once cases reached courtrooms, that clarity evaporated.
Detained migrants said they hadn’t seen signs and had no way of knowing they had crossed military land. Prosecutors often couldn’t prove otherwise.
ProPublica and the Tribune identified 1,300 New Mexico district court records in which the government stated how far from these signs migrants crossed the border or were apprehended. The news organizations found that some were arrested more than 20 miles away from a sign, and that most didn’t come within 1,000 feet of any posting. In at least one Texas case, defense attorneys demonstrated how difficult it was to read the 12-by-18-inch sign from about 10 feet away.
A spokesperson for the U.S. attorney’s office in New Mexico said what matters is not where a defendant was apprehended but where they entered the country. In some cases, such as Flores-Penaloza’s, prosecutors lacked evidence of that as well.
These evidentiary gaps snagged most of the cases that reached judges, underscoring an existential question:
“What is your evidence that he knew he was accessing a restricted national defense area?” a federal magistrate judge, Miguel Torres, asked during an El Paso, Texas, jury trial. Adequate notice was essential, he said, “so that we don’t ensnare innocent people that do not know they are violating this specific law.”
Torres ruled against the government at trial, but many cases didn’t make it that far.
In Texas, many defendants pleaded guilty. To fight the trespass charges meant waiting in jail possibly for weeks or months. They chose to go home instead.
But in New Mexico, within weeks of the first cases, judges began throwing out the trespass charges as soon as they were filed for lack of probable cause.
Prosecutors responded with an unusual maneuver. Rather than abandon the cases, they refiled them using a charging document called an information — a tool commonly used for misdemeanors but, according to the legal experts consulted by ProPublica and the Tribune, rarely deployed to revive cases judges had already deemed unsupported.
Prosecutors used informations to resurrect more than 1,600 military trespass cases, the news organizations found.
“If there is no probable cause, the case is supposed to end,” said Meghan Skelton, a former assistant federal public defender and prosecutor. “They are trying to circumvent that in a way that has not been done in the 30 years I’ve been practicing law.”
The tactic kicked off what one defense attorney called a “ridiculous dance.” Judges would separate the immigration and trespass charges, accept guilty pleas on illegal entry and reiterate that there was no probable cause to detain defendants on the military counts. With deportation imminent, prosecutors would then move to dismiss the trespass charges themselves.
Prosecutors who left the U.S. attorney’s offices in the early months of the second Trump administration told reporters they were alarmed to see the lengths their former colleagues were going to pursue dubious cases. “You’re just losing credibility with the court, and on a bigger picture, credibility with the public,” said Marisa Ong, a former assistant U.S. attorney in Las Cruces.
It was the kind of outcome Matilda “Tilli” Villalobos sought to avoid when she saw the zealous advocacy mandate last February and left the district for private practice. “I don’t want to be the one standing up in court in front of a judge advocating for something that I don’t believe is even legal,” said the decorated former sex crimes prosecutor, who now defends immigrants charged with criminal offenses.
Alex Uballez, who served as U.S. attorney in New Mexico before being fired by Trump last year, called the prosecutions a “flustering attempt to create fear and chaos by whatever means necessary.”
“It would be laughable if it wasn’t so cruel and chaotic and dangerous,” he added, “both for the people involved and for the justice system as a whole.”
The national defense areas were supposed to allow active-duty troops to apprehend unlawful border crossers for the first time. So far, that outcome has largely failed to materialize.
According to a spokesperson for Joint Task Force-Southern Border, about 1,500 deployed troops had made just 68 apprehensions as of last week, leaving the Border Patrol still responsible for the vast majority of detentions.
Even so, the administration has continued expanding the zones from California to Texas.
Prosecutors began filing military trespass charges in South Texas last month, starting with a man caught crossing the Rio Grande, in an area now designated an extension of the Joint Base San Antonio. Along the river, warnings of prosecution are written across floating buoys and blared in Spanish from loudspeakers that can be heard in Mexico.
Border Patrol agents ask migrants detained in national defense areas to sign a form acknowledging they entered without permission, placing the documents in their immigration files, then-interim El Paso Border Patrol Sector Chief Walter Slosar said in a news conference last June. “And so the next time they cross the border unlawfully, there’s going to be no issue” about notice.
In New Mexico, prosecutors have used that written notice and previous military trespass charges to help secure 20 guilty pleas from defendants who reentered. Still, the news organizations’ analysis of court records found that nearly every trespassing charge in the state has been dismissed or dropped.
The Justice Department continues to press its legal theory in appellate court. In May, prosecutors filed trespass charges against Komiljon Toirov, a man from Uzbekistan detained in New Mexico. Toirov does not speak English or Spanish and could not have understood posted warnings. Prosecutors maintain that does not matter. They wanted him held in jail for trial, but a judge released him.
For months since then, prosecutors have fought that decision. As the case bounced between the district court and the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, judges openly bristled at the government’s persistence.
“The defense bar and every judge in the Las Cruces district courthouse disagrees with the government,” U.S. District Judge Sarah Davenport wrote in October. A three-judge appellate panel in December noted that prosecutors had produced “little to no evidence” to support their case for jailing Toirov.
The government has now filed notice that it plans to appeal again, indicating that it will seek a higher court ruling supporting its argument that Toirov didn’t need to know about the military zone in order to trespass onto it.
“We remain confident that our interpretation is consistent with the law and U.S. Supreme Court precedent,” a Justice Department spokesperson said in an email.
Ryan Goodman, a national security law professor at New York University, said the government’s persistence was “jaw-dropping.”
“It appears to be prosecutorial abuse by continuing to bring fatally flawed cases,” he said in an email. “This kind of abuse of the Justice Department’s powers has very significant repercussions for the ability of our democracy to survive.”
Meanwhile, the El Paso courthouse has eased into a new normal. On many mornings, shackled migrants plead guilty to military trespass charges rather than remain jailed awaiting trial.
Occasionally, the routine falters.
On Nov. 3, a young man named Brandon David Munoz-Luna spoke up during his plea hearing. “In my case, I did not know that I was entering a military reservation,” he said through an interpreter.
Federal Magistrate Judge Robert Castañeda turned to Assistant U.S. Attorney Adrian Gallegos. He asked, “Does the government insist on making this a charge you’re pursuing?”
“Yes, Judge,” the prosecutor replied. “Pursuant to DOJ policy.”
Minutes later, Munoz-Luna pleaded no contest, and the court moved on.
The post The Trump Administration’s “Disturbing” New Legal Strategy to Prosecute Border Crossers Is Taxing Courts and Testing the Law appeared first on ProPublica.
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