Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann pleaded guilty to seven counts and admitted guilt in the death of an eighth woman.
Valve has released a native Steam Link beta for Apple Vision Pro, letting users stream their existing Steam games onto a large virtual screen in visionOS. It supports up to 4K resolution and will let you dynamically adjust the curve of the display. The Mac Observer reports: Steam Link does not support VR titles in this beta, and Valve clearly states that the app is limited to 2D game streaming, but this still opens up a large library of games that users can play on a massive virtual screen inside Vision Pro. At the same time, Vision Pro already handles 2D media very well, and this update builds on that strength by turning the headset into a portable gaming display that connects directly to your existing setup without needing extra hardware. You can join the Steam Link beta through TestFlight right now, and this early release shows how Apple Vision Pro continues to expand beyond media into more practical and everyday use cases like gaming.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Debt collectors have more power than many borrowers realize, but can they try to collect from two directions?
Israeli strikes pounded the Lebanese capital, killing dozens of people in an aerial barrage hours after the U.S.-Iran ceasefire took hold.
Architect admitted to strangling eight women, whose remains were mostly found along Long Island’s coast
Rex Heuermann, a Long Island architect accused of seven murders known as the Gilgo Beach killings dating back to 1993, pleaded guilty on Wednesday – and added an eighth murder to his gruesome tally.
Heuermann, who has been held in custody since he was arrested on a Manhattan street in July 2023, appeared in court in Riverhead, Long Island, and changed his plea to guilty in the murders of women whose remains were found years after they disappeared.
Continue reading...Lebanese PM says Israel is killing unarmed civilians as US president says country is not included in provisional ceasefire
A genocidal threat, and then the US president, Donald Trump, blinked – without any apparently meaningful concessions from Iran. As in so much concerning the second Trump administration, the two week ceasefire “deal” that will see the strait of Hormuz reopened – if it can be described as such – is maddeningly vague and short on detail, apparently kicking the can on key issues down the road.
Iran’s nuclear issue, Trump said, would be solved “perfectly.” “It was a big day for world peace”, Trump posted on Truth Social. “Iran can start reconstruction” he added. “Big money” could be made. Yada. Yada. Yada.
Continue reading...What began as a search for one missing woman — Shannan Gilbert — led to multiple bodies and the capture of Rex Heuermann.
PM will meet leaders in the region to discuss diplomatic efforts to support the ceasefire agreed between the US and Iran
OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, is proposing the extension of the four-day working week, as a response to AI taking over some of the work done by humans. But for the Conservative party the four-day working week, at least in the public sector, is viewed as a menace. Officially, that’s a value-for-money position, but it also overlaps with their opposition to civil servants working from home, which has some of the traits of a culture war obsession.
Today the Conservatives have announced that, if they were in government, they would ban councils from letting staff work a four-day working week on full pay. Explaining why, the Tories say in a news release:
The four-day working week, as introduced by Liberal Democrat-run South Cambridgeshire district council, has left residents with more council tax for less public service. Bin collectors and social housing officials receive 100 per cent of their pay for around 80 per cent of their originally contracted hours.
The Labour government have failed to act. As communities secretary, Angela Rayner scrapped [Whitehall opposition to the South Cambridgeshire policy]. Labour are refusing to legislate against a four-day week, giving councils an effective green light to get away with charging more for less work. Consequentially, Labour-run Cambridge City Council has become the second council to sign up to the four-day week.
Those areas which saw a statistically significant improvement include: the percentage of calls answered by the contact centre; the average number of days taken to update housing benefit and council tax support claims; the average number of weeks for householder planning applications to be decided; the percentage of planning applications (both large and small) decided within target or agreed timescales; the percentage of council house repairs complete within 24 hours; [and] the percentage of complaints responded to on time.
If performance variations caused by Covid are discounted, every single service monitored either got better or stayed the same.
Continue reading...US vice-president says on visit to Budapest ‘we had to show’ support for Viktor Orbán, as opposition leads polls
JD Vance has pushed back against claims that the US is interfering in Hungarian politics, describing the accusations as “darkly ironic”, as a set of polls suggested the opposition Tisza party could win a supermajority in the upcoming elections.
After spending his first day in Budapest excoriating the EU and accusing it of being behind one of the “worst examples” of foreign interference, the US vice-president spent part of Wednesday morning speaking at a thinktank and educational institution linked to Hungary’s leader, Viktor Orbán.
Continue reading...The lawsuit alleges that Amazon bypassed YouTube protections to collect content for its generative AI video system.
Analysts expect only limited increase in shipping as vessels will still need to seek Iranian permission to transit
There will be no “mass exodus” of ships through the strait of Hormuz, shipping analysts say, despite a two-week conditional ceasefire being agreed between the US and Iran with provision for the temporary reopening of the crucial maritime channel.
Tehran said on Wednesday that it would offer safe passage in coordination with its armed forces, though its coastguards warned any ship trying to transit without permission would be “targeted and destroyed”.
Continue reading...Iran says Israel is violating the ceasefire deal President Trump announced, and Tehran appears to still have control over shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.
Vice President JD Vance visited Hungary to show support for Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, a self-proclaimed proponent of "illiberal democracy."
Anas Sarwar says scheme would be part of overhaul of arts funding in Scotland
Labour has pledged to spend £30m on giving Scottish artists and musicians a living wage, mirroring a similar scheme in Ireland guaranteeing artists a basic income.
Anas Sarwar, the Scottish Labour leader, said the scheme would be part of a deeper shake-up of cultural funding in Scotland by integrating arts and culture into the Scottish government’s economic strategies if his party won power in next month’s Holyrood election.
Continue reading...‘We need a permanent end to Donald Trump’s reckless war of choice,’ says Hakeem Jeffries as he calls for immediate vote
Pete Hegseth repeated Donald Trump’s social media comments that Iran will cease uranium enrichment – a condition that Tehran has previously refused to budge on.
“Any material they should not have, will be removed right now,” Hegseth said. “The president has been clear from the beginning, there will be no Iranian nuclear weapons.”
Continue reading...Insurance company seeking almost £300,000 for protests at UK offices, during which red paint was daubed on buildings
One of the world’s largest insurance companies is suing six people alleged to have taken part in Palestine Action protests against the company.
Allianz is seeking damages of almost £300,000 for protests at its UK offices in October 2024 and March 2025, in what is believed to be the first civil case brought against people accused of involvement in direct action with the protest group.
Continue reading...Former Attorney General Pam Bondi will not appear before the House Oversight Committee next week to answer questions about Jeffrey Epstein, the panel said.
NEW YORK, April 8, 2026 — ACM, the Association for Computing Machinery, today named Matei Zaharia as the recipient of the ACM Prize in Computing for his visionary development of distributed data systems and computing infrastructure, which has enabled large-scale machine learning, analytics, and AI at global scale.
ACM, the Association for Computing Machinery, today named Matei Zaharia as the recipient of the ACM Prize in Computing for his visionary development of distributed data systems and computing infrastructure, which has enabled large-scale machine learning, analytics, and AI at global scale.
The ACM Prize in Computing recognizes early-to-mid-career computer scientists whose work has had broad and lasting impact. The award carries a $250,000 prize, with financial support provided by an endowment from Infosys Ltd, a global leader in next-generation digital services and consulting.
Zaharia’s work addressed a central challenge in computing: how to work with and analyze rapidly growing volumes of data efficiently, and at a scale previously accessible only to the largest technology companies. Early distributed data systems were limited in speed and poorly suited to emerging workloads such as machine learning and interactive analysis. Through a sequence of open-source systems, each targeting a distinct bottleneck, Zaharia changed what any organization could do with massive datasets.
As a doctoral student at UC Berkeley, Zaharia started Apache Spark, a new approach to distributed computing that reliably leverages memory to accelerate computations. This design made Spark dramatically faster than existing frameworks for the kinds of iterative computations essential to machine learning, while its unified architecture allowed batch processing, streaming, graph computation, and interactive queries to run within a single system. Spark quickly moved from research into widespread use and is now the de facto standard for large-scale data analytics, deployed across tens of thousands of organizations and integrated into major cloud platforms. Zaharia’s doctoral dissertation on Spark received the ACM Doctoral Dissertation Award in 2014.
With the shift to the cloud, Zaharia turned to a different problem: the lack of reliability and consistency in sprawling cloud data lakes – or the massive, centralized, and often unmanaged repositories storing vast amounts of raw data. He co-developed Delta Lake to bring transactional guarantees and principled data management to cloud object stores, making data pipelines more dependable and enabling a new class of architecture – the data lakehouse – that combines the flexibility of data lakes with the reliability of traditional data warehouses. Delta Lake is now widely adopted across industries, handling exabytes of data daily.
The growing use of machine learning introduced additional complexity. Zaharia started MLflow, another open-source platform to address fragmentation in machine learning and AI workflows, where teams struggled to track experiments, reproduce results, and deploy models consistently. MLflow provided a structured framework for managing the machine learning lifecycle – from experiment tracking and model versioning to deployment across diverse tools and environments – and has become a leading platform for operationalizing AI at scale. Together, these systems reshaped how data is leveraged in practice.
By building tools that any organization could freely use and extend, Zaharia ensured that the benefits of scalable computing became accessible to researchers, nonprofits, and enterprises across every industry. As investment in artificial intelligence accelerates, the infrastructure he built remains key to how data is processed, managed, and used to train and deploy AI applications and agents.
Today, Zaharia is focusing research on AI development, specifically how to build and scale reliable agents. He is a co-author on recent open source research, including DSPy and GEPA, which focus on auto-optimizing prompts and models to improve agent quality for specific tasks.
“Matei Zaharia’s work has had a lasting impact on how data is used at scale,” said ACM President Yannis Ioannidis. “By addressing key limitations in earlier systems, he developed technologies that quickly became standard tools for data analytics, machine learning, and artificial intelligence. Matei’s open-source philosophy has been essential: he made these tools accessible to all. His contributions continue to influence both research and industry, and I look forward to seeing where his current work on AI systems takes us next.”
Salil Parekh, Chief Executive Officer, Infosys, said, “Matei Zaharia’s contributions have helped define how organizations work with data and AI today. His systems are widely used across industries and have enabled teams to build, deploy and scale AI applications more effectively. Infosys is proud to support the ACM Prize in Computing since its origination in 2007.”
Biographical Background
Matei Zaharia is an Associate Professor of EECS at the University of California, Berkeley, and a Cofounder and CTO of Databricks. He started the Apache Spark open-source project during his PhD at UC Berkeley in 2009, and has worked broadly on other widely used data and AI software, including Delta Lake, MLflow, Dolly and ColBERT. He currently works on a variety of research projects in cloud computing, database management, AI and information retrieval. Zaharia’s honors include the 2014 ACM Doctoral Dissertation Award, an NSF CAREER Award, the SIGOPS Mark Weiser Award, and the US Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE).
Zaharia will be formally presented with the ACM Prize in Computing at ACM’s annual Awards Banquet, which will be held on Saturday, June 13 at The Palace Hotel in San Francisco.
About the ACM Prize in Computing
The ACM Prize in Computing recognizes an early to mid-career fundamental innovative contribution in computing that, through its depth, impact, and broad implications, exemplifies the greatest achievements in the discipline. The award carries a prize of $250,000. Financial support is provided by an endowment from Infosys Ltd.
About ACM
ACM, the Association for Computing Machinery, is the world’s largest educational and scientific computing society, uniting computing educators, researchers, and professionals to inspire dialogue, share resources, and address the field’s challenges. ACM strengthens the computing profession’s collective voice through strong leadership, promotion of the highest standards, and recognition of technical excellence. ACM supports the professional growth of its members by providing opportunities for life-long learning, career development, and professional networking.
Source: ACM
The post ACM Prize in Computing Honors Matei Zaharia for Foundational Contributions to Data and Machine Learning Systems appeared first on HPCwire.
Anne Mae Demegillo, 20, was charged with murder in death of infant; Anthony was charged with murdering her child in 2008 but acquitted
A 20-year-old woman charged with killing her newborn daughter had images of Casey Anthony on her phone, suggesting “searches on the death of a child and subsequent investigation”, the Flagler county, Florida, sheriff’s office alleged this week.
Anne Mae Demegillo, who was arrested on 6 March, was indicted on Monday on charges of first-degree premeditated murder, aggravated child abuse, and failure to report death of a person with intent to conceal the death or alter the evidence or circumstances surrounding such death, in the death of her infant.
Continue reading...A court-ordered bank levy doesn't disappear just because your balance is zero. Here's what can happen next.
With Washington and Tehran each claiming victory, the agreement raised the prospect of some respite after nearly six weeks of bombing.
Oil heads for biggest daily fall since pandemic as Iran says it will reopen strait of Hormuz under its management
Oil prices tumbled on Wednesday and global stock markets rallied sharply after the US and Iran agreed a two-week conditional ceasefire.
Investors hailed the news that Donald Trump had held off on his threat to bomb Iran into “the stone ages”, with Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, saying passage through the strait of Hormuz would be allowed for the next two weeks, under the management of Iran’s military.
Continue reading...Keeping $10,000 in a traditional savings account instead of a CD is a mistake often worth avoiding now. Here's why.
Investors cheered the announcement of a two-week ceasefire, which President Trump said is contingent on the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.
Earnings at renewable energy division expected to soar to between $200m and $700m in first quarter
Shell is expected to report “significantly higher” profits from its trading desks in the first quarter of this year after weeks of market volatility triggered by the Iran crisis.
The surge in energy commodity markets over recent weeks is expected to drive up trading results at Shell’s chemicals and products unit, which includes its main oil trading desk.
The standfirst of this story was updated to clarify that Shell predicted higher earnings at its renewable energy division
Continue reading...Australian federal police say they are working with tiny nation to respond to threat of online scam centres
Timor-Leste is vulnerable to “infiltration by foreign organized crime”, the country’s president, José Ramos-Horta, has warned.
His comments come as Australian federal police confirmed to the Guardian the force is providing support to local law enforcement in Timor-Leste, including a December 2025 visit from the agency’s digital forensic and cyber experts.
Continue reading...An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Apple earned the lowest grades in a report on laptop and smartphone repairability released today by the consumer advocacy group Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) Education Fund. The report, which looks at how easy devices are to disassemble and how easy it is to find repairability information, gave Apple a C-minus in laptop repairability and a D-minus in cell phone repairability. For its "Failing the Fix (2026): Grading laptop and cell phone companies on the fixability of their products" report, PIRG analyzed the 10 newest laptops and phones that were available via manufacturers' French website in January. [...] Apple leads the list of laptop repairability losers, largely due to it having low disassembly scores. Apple, along with Dell and Samsung, also lost a full point for being members of TechNet and the CTA. Lenovo had the second-worst grade with a C-minus. Like Apple, Lenovo had low disassembly scores. It also lost 0.5 points for failing to properly post PDFs explaining the French repair scores for some of its newest laptops sold in the region, as required in France. This is especially noteworthy because Lenovo got an F in last year's report for missing this information on at least 12 laptops. At the time, Lenovo director of communications David Hamilton provided a statement to Ars saying that the missing information was "due to a backend web compatibility issue that temporarily prevented the display of repairability scores on our Lenovo France website" that was "widely resolved." However, it appears that over a year later, Lenovo still isn't providing sufficient information to meet France's requirements "While Lenovo has improved somewhat with their compliance with French consumer law by providing more repair score PDFs on their website, we urge the company to resolve this multi-year issue," this year's report says. PIRG's report concluded that "laptops are pretty stagnant in terms of repairability" across many of the eight most popular laptop brands in the US. However, Proctor noted to Ars that consumers' access to parts, tools, and information that vendors have has improved, but improvements around ease of disassembly "take longer to realize." He also praised vendors' efforts to release more repairable designs, such as Apple's MacBook Neo. For its repairability index, PIRG weighed physical ease of disassembly most heavily, while also considering the availability of repair documentation, spare parts, spare-parts affordability, and other product-specific criteria. It then adjusted company grades by deducting points for membership in trade groups that oppose right-to-repair laws and adding small bonuses for manufacturers that supported right-to-repair legislation. Acer stood out as the only laptop vendor that avoided the 0.5-point trade-group penalty, since it was not listed as a member of TechNet or the Consumer Technology Association.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Defense secretary spoke to reporters in first press briefing since Trump announced ceasefire deal after 40 days of war
After 40 days and 40 nights of war, Pete Hegseth, the US defense secretary, on Wednesday pointed to divine providence while telling reporters that Iran’s weapons factories had been reduced to rubble, its military rendered ineffective for years and its supreme leader left wounded and disfigured, all for a temporary ceasefire.
“Iran begged for this ceasefire, and we all know it,” Hegseth said at the Pentagon’s first press briefing since Donald Trump announced a two-week pause in hostilities Tuesday night. “Operation Epic Fury decimated Iran’s military and rendered it combat ineffective for years to come.”
Continue reading...Cameras on some Chevrolet Malibus can display blank or distorted images, posing a risk to drivers, according to safety regulators.
KNOXVILLE, Tenn., April 8, 2026 — The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory have jointly recruited Deep Jariwala, a nationally recognized leader in quantum materials and next-generation electronic devices, as the UT-ORNL governor’s chair for quantum devices.
Deep Jariwala named UT-ORNL governor’s chair for quantum devices
The recruitment was led by the University of Tennessee-Oak Ridge Innovation Institute, which manages the UT-ORNL governor’s chair program and works to align the strengths of both institutions to advance research and talent development in areas of importance to Tennessee and our nation.
Jariwala will hold a joint appointment between UT and ORNL, with his academic home in the nationally ranked Tickle College of Engineering. He joins from the University of Pennsylvania, where he is an associate professor and the Peter and Susanne Armstrong Distinguished Scholar in electrical and systems engineering and materials science and engineering. Jariwala will officially join UT and ORNL in January 2027 and is already connecting with researchers at both institutions, with visits planned in the coming months.
Jariwala is widely recognized for his work at the intersection of novel materials, microelectronics and computing systems. He has published more than 180 journal articles with more than 26,000 citations and holds multiple patents. His research focuses on developing new materials and device architectures that enable next-generation computing, sensing and optoelectronic systems — key building blocks for quantum devices and advanced computing technologies.
“The Governor’s Chair program is truly special in its structure,” Jariwala said. “It gives a scholar the rare chance to wear two hats and experience the best of both worlds — academia and a national lab. On one hand, you have a leading research university with world-class facilities at UT Knoxville. On the other, ORNL is one of the largest Department of Energy national laboratories, with arguably the world’s best infrastructure for novel materials and computing research. Considering my recent research endeavors, national priorities and the global research landscape at the nexus of quantum materials, microelectronics and computing hardware, this truly is a once-in-a-generation opportunity. I’m thrilled to take it and push my research in new and strategically important directions.”
The recruitment marks a significant step in expanding UT-ORNL’s partnership in quantum science and engineering, particularly in quantum devices that bridge materials discovery and computing applications. Jariwala plans to advance this work by establishing a materials deposition and characterization laboratory at UT’s Institute for Advanced Materials and Manufacturing. The lab will be located at the UT Research Park at Cherokee Farm, a hub for collaboration among UT, ORNL and industry partners.
“Deep Jariwala is one of the top emerging leaders in quantum materials and advanced electronics,” said UT System President Randy Boyd. “Recruiting him to Tennessee reflects the strength of the UT-Oak Ridge partnership and our shared commitment to leading in technologies that will define the future economy.”
Jariwala’s expertise will strengthen ORNL’s ongoing work in quantum science and advanced materials.
“ORNL is at the forefront of quantum science and advanced materials, and Deep’s expertise will further strengthen our capabilities in this critical area,” said ORNL Director Stephen Streiffer. “His work will heighten collaboration across UT and ORNL and help accelerate progress in quantum research and applications.”
The hire aligns with UT Knoxville’s efforts to expand research capacity and attract top faculty.
“Recruiting governor’s chairs and other preeminent faculty is central to our efforts to elevate the University of Tennessee, Knoxville,” said Chancellor Donde Plowman. “This appointment strengthens our ability to grow in emerging areas like quantum science while leveraging our partnership with ORNL to create opportunities for students and faculty that no other university can offer.”
The hire also reflects UT-ORII’s strategy to build world-class, joint research teams across UT and ORNL.
“Deep’s recruitment is a major step in building a world-class, joint UT-ORNL capability in quantum devices,” said Brynn Voy, UT-ORII’s interim executive director. “This is exactly the kind of talent that allows us to scale our partnership and accelerate both research and talent development in areas critical to the nation’s future.”
UT and ORNL are building a comprehensive quantum research ecosystem that spans materials discovery, computing and talent development. Researchers from both institutions collaborate through major initiatives such as DOE’s Quantum Science Center, a $125 million effort to develop quantum-accelerated high-performance computing and advance U.S. leadership in quantum technologies. By combining UT’s academic strength in quantum materials with ORNL’s world-leading capabilities in supercomputing, neutron science and large-scale user facilities, the partnership is accelerating discovery and helping position Tennessee at the forefront of next-generation quantum technologies.
The UT-ORNL governor’s chair program, now celebrating its 20th anniversary, has recruited leading scientists to Tennessee for two decades. Jariwala joins 12 other UT-ORNL governor’s chairs working across priority research areas. UT-ORII expects to add at least one other governor’s chair in the near future.
About the University of Tennessee-Oak Ridge Innovation Institute
The University of Tennessee–Oak Ridge Innovation Institute (UT–ORII), launched in 2021 by the University of Tennessee System and Oak Ridge National Laboratory, builds on an 80-year partnership to advance joint research and joint doctoral education programs that drive innovation, workforce development and economic growth.
UT-ORII leads five convergent research initiatives: fusion technology and materials for extreme environments; radiopharmaceutical therapies; transportation; circular bioeconomy systems; and advanced manufacturing for affordable building construction. The institute has hired nearly 50 joint researchers, with plans to add 50 more. UT-ORII manages the UT-ORNL governor’s chair program, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary and continues to recruit world-class researchers to Tennessee, including in emerging areas such as quantum devices.
UT–ORII supports nearly 250 Bredesen Center and other UT Knoxville graduate students working alongside UT and ORNL researchers. In addition, the institute is expanding the state’s talent pipeline through STEMOVATE, a statewide initiative delivering hands-on STEM learning to sixth-grade students. Together, these efforts are helping position Tennessee as a national leader in nuclear innovation, quantum science and other critical fields.
To learn more about UT-ORII, please visit www.utorii.com.
About the University of Tennessee
The University of Tennessee is a statewide system of higher education with campuses in Knoxville, Chattanooga, Pulaski, Martin and Memphis; the UT Institute of Agriculture with a presence in every Tennessee county; and the statewide Institute for Public Service. The UT System manages Oak Ridge National Laboratory through its UT-Battelle partnership; enrolls nearly 65,000 students statewide; produces more than 15,000 new graduates every year; and represents almost 497,000 alumni around the world.
Source: University of Tennessee
The post University of Tennessee, ORNL Add Deep Jariwala to Expand Quantum Devices Research appeared first on HPCwire.
As Iran and US agree fragile ceasefire, Israel’s conflict has turned out to be a bust and, say opponents, ‘a political disaster’
In a war where there have been no winners, Israel’s prime minister looks set to be the biggest loser entering a fragile and vague ceasefire with Iran.
After years of Benjamin Netanyahu’s threats against Iran, his stunts at the UN’s general assembly, the dodgy dossiers endlessly wafted under the noses of the world’s media, and diplomatic pressure on successive US presidents to agree to a war against Iran, Israel’s conflict has turned out to be a bust.
Continue reading...Delta, United and JetBlue hiked rates even as Delta announced $1bn pre-tax profit in quarter ending June
Several major US airlines have raised their baggage fees in recent days, blaming ongoing volatility in oil markets caused by the US-Israeli war in Iran that has almost doubled jet fuel prices.
On Tuesday, Delta followed the lead of United Airlines and JetBlue, which announced last week that they were hiking baggage prices because of the ongoing war.
Continue reading...Figures gathered from children’s services and health trusts show 31 deaths were suicides, including six in under-18s
More than 50 young asylum seekers in the UK have died in the past decade, the majority by suicide, according to data compiled for the first time.
Of 54 deaths of unaccompanied children and young people who claimed asylum between 2015 and 2024 in the care system, 31 were suicides, seven were homicides and eight were fatal accidents. Six deaths were due to health issues and in two cases the cause of death was unknown.
Continue reading...With former ministers and party heavyweights being dragged into court, the country is once again confronting the unresolved legacy of political graft and shady backroom deals
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Easter will not have been a particularly celebratory time for Spain’s two biggest political parties. In a quirk of judicial fate, both the ruling Spanish Socialist Workers’ party (PSOE) and the conservative People’s party (PP) are bracing themselves after two high-profile trials involving former senior figures from each party began in Madrid this week.
Though vastly different, both cases have the potential to seriously dent each party’s claims of having zero-tolerance for corruption as voters in Andalucía, Spain’s most populous autonomous community, prepare for next month’s regional election. That will be followed by a general election next year.
Continue reading...Got a pair you swear by? Take our People's Picks survey to help us find a winner.
Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the U.S. military has consumed nearly 1 million gallons of coffee and an unspecified amount of nicotine.
Many employees expect to retire later as mounting expenses strain budgets, while others hunker down at work as part of the "great stay."
Our seasoned traveller braved obstacles and mud to put the best cabin bags to the test – from hard-shell to budget, wheeled to lightweight
• The best travel pillows, tested
Let’s start by saying that if you can avoid taking a flight, that would be best. Aviation accounts for 2.5% of global carbon emissions – and the levels released by aircraft could double or triple by 2050.
Regrettably, you can’t always reach your destination by rail, sea or hot-air balloon. If flying is unavoidable, one way to reduce your carbon footprint is to take a cabin bag, rather than hold luggage. This encourages you to pack less, so your baggage is lighter, and less fuel is required to spirit it through the stratosphere. If that doesn’t move you, consider that you’ll also pay lower fees to the airline.
Best cabin bag overall:
July Carry On luggage
Best budget cabin bag:
Tripp Holiday 8 cabin suitcase
MEGAN MCGRATH
Staff Reporter
Casa Kahlo, a restaurant in the Newark Shopping Center on East Main St., has lost its ability to sell alcohol for 60 days. This suspension comes as a result of a string of violations from the establishment.
The Newark City Council voted to suspend its special use permit to sell alcohol in a hearing on March 9.
After Caffe Gelato in 2018, it is now the second business to break the 2016 ordinance that established a point system to hold disorderly bars accountable.
The system applies to all establishments in Newark that sell alcohol—besides liquor stores. The city tracks violations, and businesses receive points for each infraction. If an establishment surpasses 10 points in 12 months, they meet with the police department and city planning staff to discuss potential punishment.
Each violation has a different point value; for example, serving underage patrons is worth six points, compared to pedestrian issues, which are only worth one point.
Despite Casa Kahlo having accumulated well more than 10 points when police and code enforcement first met with them last summer, no punishment was imposed.
“Since we hadn’t talked to them yet, we wanted to give them an opportunity,” Tom Coleman, Newark city manager, said. “‘Hey, normally we would have caught this sooner, but you got so many so fast that we were a little bit behind the eight ball.’”
Since then, it has only received more. In just under 12 months, Casa Kahlo had accumulated a total of 66 points.
“It was around Halloween that there was another flurry of incidents between then and Christmas,” Coleman said.
On Oct. 31, a 17-year-old female victim reported an assault in the Casa Kahlo bathroom by other female suspects. The victim confirmed that on Halloween, she, along with a friend, were allowed into Casa Kahlo, despite being underage.
Just a month later, on Nov. 30, a sexual assault involving a 19-year-old female victim by a security guard for the establishment, who had previously bought her alcohol, was reported to the police from Casa Kahlo.
In addition to the two assaults, the business received points for a variety of other issues, including two noise violations, six counts of sales to minors and two building and overcrowding infractions.
After this, the police department reported the violations to the city and recommended that the council suspend Casa Kahlo’s permit to serve alcohol. The hearing was repeatedly delayed due to the holiday break and two snowstorms.
In the time between the initial report and the actual hearing on Jan. 23, Casa Kahlo served two underage witnesses alcohol, who were working with the Newark Police Department and the Delaware Division of Alcohol and Tobacco Enforcement on a compliance check.
As a result, the council imposed a significant consequence.
“We’re not trying to put anybody out of business,” Coleman said. “But we also can’t have situations where people are being served underage and sexually assaulted.”
Although there was pushback from Casa Kahlo’s attorneys about potential impacts on the business, the council ultimately decided to enforce a 60-day suspension. However, the council permitted the restaurant to serve alcohol at two pre-planned events: a quinceañera and a wedding, both in April.
The restaurant’s owners have already begun to work to make their restaurant safer by buying new ID scanners and hiring and training new staff to follow the rules.
If it has any further infractions, it is likely to face more fines and suspensions. While the highest suspension permitted in Newark is only one year, this could have substantial consequences on the restaurant’s income.
Long term, the council is looking at other options to decrease these kinds of issues, most importantly by creating more entertainment venues in the city.
“When I was in college here, we had the Stone Balloon, and it was a tavern,” Coleman said. “They had a band stage, they had seven bars, there wasn’t any food served really, but it gave somewhere for students to go and do things that they were doing at Casa Kahlo, but in an environment that was designed to do that.”
The council recognizes that a contributing factor to Casa Kahlo’s popularity, and subsequent violations, is the lack of safe, legal options for people under and over 21.
They plan to have further discussions on the matter and have some changes in place, either toward the end of this year or the beginning of next year. This will change the rules, but for students and residents to truly see the change, businesses need to adjust their operations to take advantage of it.
“It could be a little while before we see, you know, another Stone Balloon, for example,” Coleman said. “But we are serious about wanting to do it, and wanting to show that we’re making progress and are taking steps.”
For now, students and residents can still enjoy Casa Kahlo’s food and non-alcoholic beverages, as they continue to closely follow city ordinances.
Looking ahead, the council hopes for Casa Kahlo to begin serving alcohol safely following their suspension, in addition to encouraging other forms of entertainment on Main St.
Casa Kahlo did not provide a comment to The Review.
There are only two days left in NASA's historic mission. Here's everything that's happened so far, including stunning photos from the crew's lunar flyby.
A highly alarming New Yorker feature on the machinations of Sam Altman drove me to test his AI for myself. The results were, well, highly alarming
A corollary of the truism “don’t sweat the small stuff” is, by implication, “do sweat the big stuff”, but it can be hard to pick which big stuff to sweat. For example: since the 1970s, as the world has worried about inflation and rolling geopolitics, the big stuff we should have been sweating more urgently was the climate crisis. Last year, the top trending search on Google in the US was “Charlie Kirk”, with several terms relating to the threat posed by Donald Trump also popular, when the focus should arguably have been the threat posed by AI.
Or, per my own Googling this week after reading Ronan Farrow and Andrew Marantz’s highly alarming lengthy piece in the New Yorker about the rise of artificial general intelligence: “Will I be a member of the permanent underclass and how can I make that not happen?”
Emma Brockes is a Guardian columnist
Continue reading...Atlanta’s Reynaldo López, LA’s Jorge Soler throw punches
Benches and bullpens clear in fifth inning
The two had played together on the 2024 Braves
Atlanta Braves pitcher Reynaldo López and Los Angeles Angels designated hitter Jorge Soler were ejected after getting into a brawl Tuesday night.
Soler homered off López in the first inning, then was hit by a 96-mph fastball from the right-hander his next time up. In the fifth, Soler charged the mound after López threw a high-and-inside wild pitch that tipped off catcher Jonah Heim’s mitt.
Continue reading...US–Iran ceasefire: Early analysis from Chatham House experts Expert comment jon.wallace
What does the ceasefire mean for the Islamic Republic, President Trump, Israel, the UK, the region and the world?
The US, Israel and Iran announced a ceasefire on 7 April, leading to an end to attacks by each side and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.
The announcement came shortly before a deadline set by US President Donald Trump for Iran to reopen the Strait. The president had previously threatened to bomb Iran ‘into the Stone Ages’ and destroy its ‘whole civilization’ if it did not comply.
Both Washington and Tehran hailed the ceasefire, negotiated by Pakistan, as a victory. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the ceasefire did not apply to Israel’s operations in Lebanon.
Here Chatham House experts provide their early analysis on the implications of the ceasefire, for the US, the region and the world.
The ceasefire will be welcomed as a necessary step back from the brink after days of escalating strikes, mounting threats against Iranian and Gulf infrastructure, and continued disruption to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.
All of these elements underscored that this had become a war that no side was clearly winning and in which the costs were rising faster than any achievable gains. The most difficult issues will now have to be worked through in detail by negotiators in Islamabad:
Can the United States offer credible assurances against renewed strikes and be trusted to uphold them? And is Iran willing to accept limits on its ability to threaten shipping in the Strait?
Crucial to a lasting agreement is that Tehran demonstrates a willingness to compromise on its nuclear programme, through for instance a new inspection regime. Equally important is that Washington is willing to structure sanctions relief in a way that makes de-escalation politically sustainable on both sides.
Meanwhile, there is a real risk that regional considerations are sidelined. Iran has pushed for the ceasefire to extend to Lebanon, viewing the conflict there as part of the same confrontation. Yet Israel has made clear that its campaign against Hezbollah is not covered by the truce and is prepared to continue operations.
Gulf states, meanwhile, are seeking assurances that they will not remain exposed to repeated pressure on their infrastructure and shipping routes. Israel remains deeply sceptical of any arrangement that leaves Iran’s missile, nuclear and regional capabilities intact.
These are difficult issues that will not be easily resolved in a matter of weeks. With US forces still building up in the region and the risk of renewed escalation never far away, there remains a real possibility that tensions could resurface, whether through further threats, resumed pressure on the Strait, or the need to extend negotiations beyond their initial timeframe.
If the talks in Islamabad focus too narrowly on American and Iranian priorities, they may succeed in stabilizing the immediate crisis while leaving the broader regional order fragile – and exposed to revived escalation.
This ceasefire has been obtained under the threat of a massive attack against Iran’s civilian infrastructure. US President Donald Trump threatened to bomb Iran ‘back to the Stone Ages’ and to permanently erase its civilization.
This may have been a further example of bluster and brinkmanship on the part of the president. Yet the threats raise further, profound questions about the credibility of international law as a tool of constraining the most powerful countries.
US service-members and their commanding authorities who carried out the president’s threats would have exposed themselves to allegations of grave breaches of the law of armed conflict – although Iran, Israel and the US are not subject to the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court at The Hague.
Crucially, international law develops through the practice of states. When states violate key tenets of the law, or credibly threaten to do so, it is the response of the rest of the world that decides whether this will create a new pattern of practice going against the established rules.
In this instance, once again, there was no immediate chorus of condemnation from other countries in reply to President Trump’s threats, even as they challenged the humanitarian legal order at its core. It was left to Pope Leo XIV, an American, to speak out, declaring the threats against the people of Iran ‘unacceptable’.
The world will need to learn to resist such challenges to the legal order, if it does not want to awake one day in a lawless and dangerous world where others routinely copy such behaviour.
Meanwhile, serious immediate challenges to international law remain: Iran has shown it has the ability to choke off some 20 per cent of the global oil supply by blocking the Strait of Hormuz.
However, instead of fully opening the Strait in exchange for the ceasefire, it insists, at least for now, on maintaining its control. That leaves the risk that Iran may continue to exclude ‘unfriendly’ flag states from passage through the Strait and subject others to inspections, delays and exorbitant fees.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer rightly called the temporary ceasefire agreed between the US and Iran a ‘moment of relief’. The reprieve is welcome, but a conclusive resolution remains out of reach. Iranian proposals for a long-term peace agreement still reportedly include demands the US will find difficult to accept, from Iran controlling or imposing tolls on the Strait of Hormuz, to sanctions on Iran being lifted.
Starmer’s government will continue to be pulled into efforts to resolve the crisis. But they will also need to confront deeper questions about the UK’s alliance with the US – while planning for the likely prolonged economic effects of the war.
Immediately, this is likely to mean continued regional diplomacy. Starmer has travelled to the Gulf on Wednesday to meet regional leaders. And the UK held a meeting of more than 40 countries last week to discuss ways to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
For the UK, these efforts are intended to manage the effects of the crisis and signal to the US and others it is playing a crucial role. But they are also an exercise in building coalitions with countries who badly need basic international norms – including principles on the use of force and freedom of navigation through international waterways – to hold.
The Trump administration’s erratic behaviour is making the kind of default Atlanticism that has driven UK foreign policy for decades less and less tenable. Decisions about whether to allow the US to use UK bases during the conflict have split UK political debate. And the question of how to build a defence and security architecture which is less dependent on the US has grown more urgent.
For now, Starmer’s cautious position – allowing the use of bases by the US for defensive purposes but not offensive ones – seeks to carefully distance the UK from the conflict while recognizing it still has fundamental interests in defending regional allies, UK bases, and international shipping from the actions of Iran.
In the longer term, the crisis will create new urgency in defence and security cooperation with European nations and with the EU. It should also force greater honesty with the public about the defence spending and planning needed to deal with a world where the UK’s principal defence partner has become unpredictable – and where basic security and diplomatic norms are becoming fragile.
But the potential price shocks at home – from immediate fuel shortages and damage to critical shipping infrastructure in the region – may make exactly these decisions harder to sell to a weary public.
Starmer has seen a very small uptick in his approval ratings during the course of the war – he will need to cling onto that momentum to manage its consequences.
Marist poll shows that 48% of city residents approve of Mamdani’s performance while 55% view him favorably
As New York City’s mayor, Zohran Mamdani, approaches his first 100 days in office, a new survey shows that roughly half of city residents approve of his performance so far.
The poll, conducted by the Marist Institute for Public Opinion and released on Wednesday morning, found that 48% of residents say they approve of the job Mamdani, 34, is doing, while 30% disapprove and 23% remain unsure.
Continue reading...Wednesday's briefing came after President Trump announced late Tuesday that he had agreed to "suspend the bombing and attack of Iran for a period of two weeks."
Bonjour la team,
je dois changer le pneu de mon GT pour la seconde fois.
Mais j'ai les 2 vis du bumper, celle de devant, qui tournent dans le vide.
J'ai les Flared Footpads Lowboy GT, et j'ai le sentiment que l'embout femelle en laiton du pad tourne dans le vide.
Avez vous déjà un ce souci, et surtout avez vous une solution ?
The new Firefox VPN is available now. Here's everything you need to know about putting it to use.
New administration reverses expropriation of property founded by ex-Nazi Paul Schäfer, leaving victims in limbo
With its Germanic crosses and colourful toy-town facades, the village square of the tiny Chilean settlement of Villa Baviera gives little indication of the horrors of its past.
Until 1991, this cattle town of a few hundred people was a compound known as Colonia Dignidad. Its leader, Paul Schäfer, a former Nazi and weapons smuggler, bought a swathe of land in the valley in 1961, eventually holding as many as 300 people in a fenced enclave with minimal contact with the outside world. He sexually abused and even tortured the children in the camp.
Continue reading...RIYADH, Saudi Arabia and PARIS, April 8, 2026 — Pasqal, a global leader in neutral-atom quantum computing, today announced a strategic collaboration with True Nexus, a computational intelligence company focused on making protein functionality programmable for real-world food applications. Pasqal recently announced plans to go public through a combination with Bleichroeder Acquisition Corp. II.
The collaboration will apply Pasqal’s quantum computing technology to one of the most persistent challenges in the alternative protein and food industries: accurately modeling and predicting protein functionality; particularly gelatin, texture, and overall behavior in complex food systems.
“For decades, the industry has been constrained by a lack of true computational understanding of protein behavior,” said Dominik Grabinski, CEO of True Nexus. “Partnering with Pasqal allows us to model protein functionality at a level of fidelity that simply hasn’t been possible before. This is the breakthrough that can shift the entire sector from trial-and-error to true design.”
As part of the collaboration, Pasqal and True Nexus are working to build the first fully vectorized, dynamic 3D model of protein gelation, one of the most critical functional properties in food systems.
The model integrates multiple layers of data, including:
Pasqal’s neutral-atom quantum processors will enable the model to capture interactions and variables at a level of precision not achievable with classical computing alone.
“Quantum computing allows us to tackle complexity that has limited innovation for decades,” said Wasiq Bokhari, CEO of Pasqal. “Together with True Nexus, we’re helping enable a more scalable, design-driven approach to sustainable protein development.”
The long-term goal of the collaboration is to establish a reference model for protein functionality that food and ingredient companies can use to guide seed development, crop optimization, and precision fermentation when existing proteins fall short.
The inability to consistently match animal-protein functionality has been a major barrier to adoption of alternative proteins. By making protein behavior predictable and programmable, the collaboration between Pasqal and True Nexus addresses a key gap that has slowed industry progress.
About Pasqal
Pasqal is a leader in the industrialization of neutral-atom quantum computing, transforming Nobel Prize-winning research into real-world solutions for industry, science, and governments. Since its founding in 2019, Pasqal has built high-performance quantum systems and cloud-ready software designed to address complex challenges in optimization, simulation, and artificial intelligence.
Pasqal, headquartered in France, employs over 275 people and serves over 25 clients, including CMA CGM, OVHcloud, Thales, IBM (Pasqal is part of the IBM Quantum Network), and Sumitomo. Backed by more than USD 300 million to date in total funding from international investors, Pasqal seeks to accelerate the adoption of scalable, high-performance quantum computing worldwide.
Source: Pasqal
The post Pasqal Partners with True Nexus to Apply Quantum Computing to Next-Gen Food Protein Design appeared first on HPCwire.
Can Viktor Orbán lose Hungary’s high-stakes election? Expert comment jon.wallace
Perhaps, but change will not mean transformation.
Hungary’s parliamentary election on 12 April has implications reaching well beyond Budapest. After 16 years in power, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is facing a sustained, credible challenge from Péter Magyar, whose Tilza Party is ahead in most independent polling (though it is not beyond reach).
The outcome of the contest will shape Hungary’s internal trajectory, the European Union (EU)’s ability to act cohesively, and the balance of influence between Russia and the West in Central Europe. It will also stress test President Donald Trump’s emerging network of like-minded political allies in Europe.
Vice President JD Vance’s visit to Hungary this week, in open support of Orbán, marks an unusually direct form of US political engagement in a European election – and deepening division between Washington and its traditional transatlantic allies.
From a purely domestic perspective, this election is less a simple choice between continuity and change than a test of how deeply a political system has been embedded.
Over the past decade, Hungary has developed a model characterized by strong centralization and an active role for the state in the economy.
This has translated into concrete policies: caps on energy prices, direct support schemes for households, and a state-led approach to strategic sectors. At the same time, economic pressures have become more visible. Inflation has eroded purchasing power, and public finances are tighter than in previous electoral cycles.
Another crucial aspect of Hungary’s model is a political narrative centred on sovereignty and resistance to external constraints. Órban’s relationship with the EU has been one of continuous, deepening dispute: over issues ranging from the rule of law and migration to the war in Ukraine.
Nearly €20 billion in EU funds remain frozen as a result. Delays or conditions attached to EU funding are now visible in Hungary: infrastructure projects have been postponed. Fewer development grants are being issued to businesses. And there is more limited room for public spending.
Having made confrontation with the EU a central point of its project, the Orbán system now sees that strategy turning back on itself – manifesting in delayed funds, tighter budgets, and fewer policy options. The political price could be deadly.
The election matters for the EU’s internal dynamics. Hungary has repeatedly used its position to delay or reshape collective decisions, particularly on financial support for Ukraine. This has created friction within the EU, where unanimity remains necessary on key foreign policy issues.
Election victory for Orbán would likely intensify calls by Germany and others to introduce qualified majority voting in the EU – to minimize Budapest’s spoiling power.
A change in leadership could reduce Hungarian blockages. However, it would not automatically align Hungary with all mainstream EU positions. On migration, for example, popular opinion within the country would likely remain cautious.
On Ukraine and Russia, Hungary has maintained a distinctive position within the EU, combining formal alignment with sanctions and NATO commitments with a more cautious – at times opportunistically pragmatic – approach towards Moscow. This has included continued energy cooperation with Russia, and a more restrained stance on military support for Ukraine.
Recent unverified reports that Orbán told Vladimir Putin, during a 2025 telephone conversation, that ‘I am at your service’, will reinforce concerns in European capitals about Hungary’s relationship with Russia, and its implications for EU cohesion. So too will a Politico report of government efforts to deepen ties with Moscow through a 12 point plan.
A government led by Péter Magyar might recalibrate this balance. But the underlying constraints any Hungarian government will face – geographic, economic, and political – would not disappear overnight.
The prospect of change needs to be framed with caution here. Péter Magyar is not an outsider seeking to dismantle the system from the ground up, but a political insider who understands how it operates.
His campaign has deliberately avoided presenting the election as a clash between two irreconcilable ‘Hungarys’. That positioning matters. It points to a scenario in which any change is likely to be selective and progressive rather than systemic and outright.
Some areas could shift relatively quickly. Relations with Brussels may stabilize, unlocking parts of EU funding. And the tone of foreign policy may adjust, not least towards Kyiv and Moscow.
But other elements are more deeply embedded: the central role of the state in the economy, or more importantly, the significance of large-scale energy projects.
The war in the Gulf brought energy security back to the forefront of the campaign.
Energy policy choices are often presented as purely political, but they are also shaped by structural constraints.
Hungary’s Paks nuclear power plant generates around half of the country’s electricity. The construction of new reactors relies on Russian technology and financing through Rosatom, the Russian state energy company. And Hungary’s gas infrastructure has historically been oriented towards Russian supply routes.
Recent events have underlined the vulnerability of this infrastructure. At the weekend, explosives were discovered in Serbia near a pipeline that supplies Russian gas to Hungary.
Ukraine claims the incident may amount to a Russian false-flag operation. Although not improbable, that remains unproven. But the episode illustrates that energy dependence is not only an economic issue, but a strategic one.
Diversifying away from dependence on Russian energy is possible. But it requires years of investment in alternative pipelines, grid upgrades, and regional coordination – limiting any government’s room for manoeuvre in the short term.
EU expectations should be calibrated accordingly. Under a Magyar government the likely trajectory is not a clean break with Russia, but a gradual rebalancing shaped as much by practical constraints as by political intent.
The conduct of the election campaign itself has also attracted attention. Journalists and NGOs have alleged practices that blur the line between policy and political mobilization – particularly in economically vulnerable areas.
The government is accused of distributing material benefits and public employment schemes to secure the votes of key voters, and organizing transport to polling stations to facilitate their support.
This is often described in political debate as ‘vote buying’. But the more substantiated pattern points to localized patronage networks and forms of dependency, rather than systematic cash-for-votes schemes at scale.
This might not be enough to invalidate the electoral outcome. However, it does indicate that competition is taking place on an increasingly uneven playing field, shaped in part by clientelist practices – in which Orbán is likely to mobilize all available resources until the very end
What emerges from all this is a picture of constrained choice rather than clear alternatives. Hungary’s economic policy is shaped by limited fiscal space and conditional external funding. Energy strategy is influenced by long-term infrastructure and existing dependencies. Foreign policy sits at the intersection of EU membership, NATO commitments, and pragmatic considerations.
Earning NVIDIA Exemplar Cloud validation, Vultr demonstrates operational excellence and sophisticated scaling architecture that significantly boosts throughput and efficiency across key AI training benchmarks
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla., April 8, 2026 — Vultr has announced that it is among the first to become an NVIDIA Exemplar Cloud, achieving the performance standards of the NVIDIA reference designs on NVIDIA Blackwell GPUs. Vultr’s Exemplar Cloud achievement reinforces its position as the company building the infrastructure for the next generation of AI-native applications.
Vultr’s participation in the NVIDIA Exemplar Cloud Initiative entailed a comprehensive examination of its performance on NVIDIA accelerated computing. Tests were run on a 512-node NVIDIA HGX B200 cluster, using benchmarking recipes for AI training workloads, using 11 models including NVIDIA Nemotron-H, Nemotron-4 15B and 340B; Grok-1 314B; Llama 3.1 8B, 70B and 405B; Qwen3 30B and 235B and DeepSeek-v3-TorchTitan 671B.
As organizations and developers across the globe expand their strategic AI initiatives, they require sound guarantees that their cloud providers will reliably support real-world AI workloads. However, architecture varies across providers, creating variance in performance and total cost of ownership (TCO) that can complicate the process of choosing a vendor and, by extension, delay innovation. The NVIDIA Exemplar Cloud initiative was launched to provide rigorous, standardized benchmarking across cloud platforms, ensuring transparency and reproducibility of results, ultimately making it easier for AI innovators to choose the right cloud provider for their needs.
“Our NVIDIA Exemplar Cloud validation confirms Vultr’s ability to deliver industry-leading performance for today’s most demanding AI workloads,” said J.J. Kardwell, CEO of Vultr. “This recognition reflects the strength of our infrastructure design and our commitment to providing enterprises with reliable, production-ready AI compute.”
The Vultr Cloud GPU platform unlocks the raw power of NVIDIA AI infrastructure for cloud-native AI at an affordable price point. Beyond GPUs, Vultr offers a full practical stack that includes Kubernetes enablement, GPU-enabled images, and container repositories and model workflows to accelerate AI development from prototype to production.
To explore Vultr’s NVIDIA-accelerated cloud infrastructure offerings, visit the Vultr Cloud GPU product page.
For more information about Vultr’s full suite of enterprise cloud solutions, go to vultr.com.
About Vultr
Vultr is on a mission to make high-performance cloud infrastructure easy to use, affordable, and locally accessible for enterprises and AI innovators around the world. Vultr is trusted by hundreds of thousands of active customers across 185 countries for its flexible, scalable, global Cloud Compute, Cloud GPU, Bare Metal, and Cloud Storage solutions. In December 2024 Vultr announced an equity financing at a $3.5 billion valuation. Founded by David Aninowsky and self-funded for over a decade, Vultr has grown to become the world’s largest privately-held cloud infrastructure company.
Source: Vultr
The post Vultr Named NVIDIA Exemplar Cloud for Achieving Performance Targets on NVIDIA Blackwell GPUs appeared first on HPCwire.
US vice-president has praised Orbán and criticised EU and UK energy policies in speech at private school in Budapest
Oh, you can see where this is going to go.
In his second question, the moderator tries to bait JD Vance into criticising Ukraine, as the chair asks about what he says are “Ukrainian intelligence services attempting to influence” elections in the US or Hungary.
“I’ve also been told that the vice-president of the United States coming and saying that Viktor Orbán is doing a good job and is a helpful statesman to the cause of peace, that’s foreign influence.
But what’s not foreign influence is when the European Union threatens billions of dollars withheld from Hungary because you guys protect your borders; that’s apparently not foreign influence.
“We would never do that because we respect the Hungarian people enough to respect their sovereignty. The fact that so many foreign actors, whether they’re transnational organisations like the bureaucrats in Brussels or whether it’s foreign governments, are literally threatening the Hungarian people vote this way or we’re going to exact our revenge on you – that should make you very angry.”
Continue reading...Erick Valencia Salazar, aka "El 85," formed the Jalisco New Generation Cartel with "El Mencho" who was killed by the Mexican army in February.
Vice President JD Vance made the remarks in Hungary, where he is supporting Prime Minister Viktor Orbán Tuesday ahead of Orbán's reelection bid.
Republican Clay Fuller faced Democrat Shawn Harris in a Georgia runoff election after Marjorie Taylor Greene stepped down from her House seat.
The companies are starting on-road testing of the autonomous ID Buzz vehicle in Los Angeles.
The next wave of Razr phones could come in new colors with improved cameras. Here's what we have heard so far.
Jabra's flagship headset leaves off the boom microphone and has a remarkably slim design. A significant upgrade over the Evolve2 Series, it earns a CNET Editors' Choice award.
Samsung may be gearing up to launch a sequel to its rugged smartwatch this summer. Here's everything we know so far.
Lawyers for Robert Morales’s family said chatbot ‘may have advised the shooter’ on how to carry out shooting
The family of a man who was killed at Florida State University last year plans to sue ChatGPT and its parent organization, OpenAI, for allegedly telling the accused gunman how to carry out the mass shooting.
Lawyers for the family of Robert Morales wrote in a statement they had learned the shooter was in “constant communication with ChatGPT” ahead of the shooting, and that the chatbot “may have advised the shooter how to commit these heinous crimes”.
Continue reading...Yes, you should absolutely marathon them.
Iran must negotiate in 'good faith' during the two-week ceasefire, said the US vice-president, JD Vance, as he called it a 'fragile truce'.
The US and Iran agreed to a two-week conditional ceasefire on Tuesday evening, which includes a temporary reopening of the strait of Hormuz, after a last-minute diplomatic intervention led by Pakistan, cancelling an ultimatum from Donald Trump for Iran to surrender or face widespread destruction
Continue reading...Executive complaints unit finding relates to broadcast of N-word during awards ceremony
The BBC breached its editorial standards by broadcasting a racial slur during the Bafta film awards ceremony in February, the corporation’s executive complaints unit (ECU) has found.
Tourette syndrome campaigner John Davidson could be heard shouting the slur as Sinners stars Michael B Jordan and Delroy Lindo presented the award for special visual effects during the ceremony at London’s Royal Festival Hall.
Continue reading...As real astronauts vanish behind the moon, games have long tried to evoke the fragile quiet of drifting through space
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Last week’s launch of the Artemis II space mission was a stunning spectacle, the 17-storey-high rockets erupting into cacophonous life before wrenching the craft through the Earth’s atmosphere. But the images that have come since hold just as much impact: the tiny Orion craft and its four-person crew drifting silently through space, further and further from home.
In his autobiography, the Apollo astronaut Michael Collins described this feeling perfectly. Left in the command module as Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin touched down on the lunar surface, he wrote: “I am alone now, truly alone, and absolutely isolated from any known life. I am it. If a count were taken, the score would be three billion plus two over on the other side of the moon, and one plus God knows what on this side.”
Continue reading...Expert stresses importance of staying alert for unusual activity, as hackers could ‘take you to fake sites’
Russian hackers are exploiting commonly sold internet routers to harvest information for espionage purposes, the UK’s cybersecurity agency has said.
The hack could allow attackers to obtain users’ credentials, redirect them to fake sites, and potentially access other devices on their home network such as phones and PCs, said Alan Woodward, a professor at the University of Surrey.
Continue reading...A proposal to make Bible stories required reading in Texas public schools is putting the state at the center of another contentious battle over the role of religion in classrooms.
In an act transcending politics, tens of thousands successfully banded together to make the case against executing Charles ‘Sonny’ Burton in Alabama
With all of his appeals exhausted, Charles “Sonny” Burton had already chosen the last meal he would have before being put to death by nitrogen gas at Alabama’s Holman correctional facility: barbecue chicken, banana cake with ice cream, and sweet tea – all things he hadn’t been able to enjoy in years with his diabetes.
The writing seemed to be on the wall. His fate was in the hands of Kay Ivey, Alabama’s governor and a staunch supporter of capital punishment who has presided over more than 25 executions – more than any other Alabama governor since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976. Her office had been repeating the same line for weeks: “Governor Ivey has no plans to grant clemency.” But on the morning of 10 March, just two days before Sonny was to be put to death, Ivey commuted his sentence to life without parole.
Continue reading...Investing in a smart home gym? Check out our favorite setups before spending a penny.
alternative_right quotes a report from the New York Post: The CIA used a futuristic new tool called "Ghost Murmur" to find and rescue the second American airman who was shot down in southern Iran, The Post has learned. The secret technology uses long-range quantum magnetometry to find the electromagnetic fingerprint of a human heartbeat and pairs the data with artificial intelligence software to isolate the signature from background noise, two sources close to the breakthrough said. It was the tool's first use in the field by the spy agency -- and was alluded to Monday afternoon by President Trump and CIA Director John Ratcliffe at a White House briefing. "It's like hearing a voice in a stadium, except the stadium is a thousand square miles of desert," a source briefed on the program told The Post. "In the right conditions, if your heart is beating, we will find you." The relatively barren landscape made for "an ideal first operational use" of Ghost Murmur, the first source noted. "Normally this signal is so weak that it can only be measured in a hospital setting with sensors pressed nearly against the chest," the source said. "But advances in a field known as quantum magnetometry -- specifically sensors built around microscopic defects in synthetic diamonds -- have apparently made it possible to detect these signals at dramatically greater distances." "The capability is not omniscient. It works best in remote, low-clutter environments and requires significant processing time," this person added.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
President Trump announced that the U.S. and Iran had agreed to a two-week ceasefire that was contingent on the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.
Average price dips back below £300,000 after higher energy costs have knock-on effect on mortgage rates
UK house prices fell in March, as the housing market lost momentum amid uncertainty over the conflict in the Middle East and the impact on the economy and interest rates.
Figures from Halifax, which is part of Lloyds – Britain’s biggest mortgage lender – showed property prices dipped by 0.5% in March compared with a month earlier. As a result, the average price of a home slipped back below £300,000, to £299,677, after first crossing the milestone in January.
Continue reading...Donald Trump abandons threat for Iran to surrender or face destruction. Plus, why some people are ‘bad texters’
Good morning.
The US and Iran agreed to a two-week conditional ceasefire deal on Tuesday evening, which includes a temporary reopening of the strait of Hormuz.
How does the ceasefire affect Israel and Lebanon? The Israel prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said Israel backed the US ceasefire with Iran – but that the deal did not cover fighting against Hezbollah in Lebanon. Israeli attacks have killed more than 1,500 in Lebanon.
What has Trump said about the Iranian 10-point plan? He has called it a “workable basis on which to negotiate”. Here’s what’s in it.
Follow our liveblog for the latest developments.
How much of a margin do Republicans have in Georgia? The GOP currently holds the state House with a three-vote margin.
Continue reading...Colleagues left anti-Islam leaflet in locker belonging to Parmjit Bassi, who is not a Muslim, and accused him of knife attack
A Network Rail worker has won a race harassment case after his colleagues left an anti-Islam English Defence League [EDL] leaflet in his locker.
Parmjit Bassi, who is not a Muslim, was found to have been the victim of a racist attack when his co-worker stuffed an EDL leaflet in his locker that asked “what individuals were doing to protect their children from Islam”.
Continue reading...Amazon's genre bin has some solid sci-fi treats.
The party establishment rushed to condemn the Twitch streamer after news of his alliance with a Michigan Senate candidate
Gas has topped $4 a gallon for the first time since 2022. The president’s approval rating just fell below 40%. The war in Iran is entering its sixth week, with thousands dead and no end in sight. The strait of Hormuz is blockaded, food prices are climbing and US households are staring down hundreds of dollars in added living expenses.
So naturally, the Democratic party has found something truly urgent to focus on: a Twitch streamer.
Continue reading...Maine family was on vacation when Ryan Jennings died saving his son and daughter from rip current off Juno Beach
A Maine family is grieving after a father died recently saving his son and one of his daughters from drowning off the coast of Florida, where they were on vacation.
The selfless nature of Ryan Jennings’ actions has gained widespread attention online – and inspired his widow, Emily, to write a heartbreaking social media post which read: “His last gift to me was returning my children alive.”
Continue reading...Flock Safety surveillance equipment is appearing in neighborhoods across the country. I spoke with experts about the tech, laws and privacy issues at play.
The eventual ask of Congress is likely to fall to between $80 billion and $100 billion, officials said, less than half the amount of an earlier proposal to offset costs of the conflict.
Announcement of deal met with relief and calls for strait of Hormuz to be reopened and permanent end to hostilities
European leaders have welcomed the US-Iran ceasefire deal while calling for the reopening of the strait of Hormuz and a permanent end to hostilities, including in Lebanon.
The US and Iran agreed a two-week conditional ceasefire on Tuesday, including a temporary reopening of the strait of Hormuz, after last-minute diplomacy from Pakistan. The Israeli military said on Wednesday it was continuing “fighting and ground operations” in its war against the Lebanese militia Hezbollah, despite a statement from Pakistan that Lebanon was included in the ceasefire.
Continue reading...US is in weaker position than before war as Tehran has shown capacity to inflict pain on Trump administration
The announcement of a two-week ceasefire has allowed Donald Trump to hail the reopening of the Hormuz strait as a victorious dawn of a new golden age, but it is Iran that enters peace talks with the stronger hand.
The Tehran regime goes to the negotiations planned for Friday in Pakistan bloodied but intact. It still holds a stockpile of highly enriched uranium (the original crux of the conflict with the US, Israel and allies), and it now claims at least part-control of the strait, having demonstrated its power to close the narrow waterway and hold the world to ransom.
Continue reading...Revelations about a 2024 call offering assistance raise questions about Hungary’s ties to Iran as the Trump administration backs Prime Minister Viktor Orban for reelection.
Here are hints and the answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle for April 8 No. 562.
More than 400,000 Arizonans have lost their SNAP benefits since July — the largest decline in the nation by a wide margin — as an underfunded state agency administered changes called for in President Donald Trump’s so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
The drop represents nearly 47% of the state’s participants in the program better known as food stamps and includes about 180,000 children, according to the Arizona Department of Economic Security, which administers the program.
On Wednesday, the nonpartisan Center on Budget and Policy Priorities released data through February showing that the reduction in Arizona has far outstripped other states. After Arizona, the largest loss of participants was in Florida, where less than 16% of recipients lost benefits since July, according to the center’s analysis.
Arizona officials attribute the plunging caseload to swift implementation of policy changes forced by the bill, including new work requirements.
But interviews suggest that Arizona’s efforts to comply, combined with cuts to the agency that runs the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, have contributed to the decline — making it more difficult to apply and causing people who are eligible to be denied. The state’s drop has exceeded previous projections.
“Arizona is just the alarm bell,” said Joseph Palomino, executive director of the Arizona Center for Economic Progress, a nonpartisan advocacy organization. “This is likely going to happen in every state.”
The bill, which places a larger share of the program’s costs onto states, expanded work requirements for some recipients and eliminated work exemptions for others, such as people who are homeless or aging out of foster care.
In addition, the bill mandates that states reduce their payment error rates — which measure the accuracy of eligibility and payment determinations — or face millions in penalties. Although some changes don’t fully take effect until the fall, experts say Arizona’s experience suggests people are already going hungry as a result of the legislation’s changes.
Charisma Garcia, a 25-year-old mother of two, has tried for months to obtain an interview to complete a SNAP application. After weeks calling the agency only to get a recorded message, she woke before sunrise recently to wait in line at an Arizona Department of Economic Security office in south Phoenix.
A security guard told her the agency wasn’t doing in-person interviews, so she headed to a food bank instead. She needed to feed her children, ages 3 and 6.
“I need to do the thing that gets me the food,” she said.
Brett Bezio, a spokesperson for DES, said the agency is focusing on reducing the state’s error rate to ensure “the program remains a stable resource for vulnerable Arizonans.” Although Arizona’s rate of 8.8% is below the national average, the new federal regulations require that it be brought down to 6%. If officials don’t reduce the rate, Arizona could face penalties of $195.4 million in two years, which is more than double the amount it pays to operate the program. The department said it expects participation to stabilize in the months ahead.
The choices Arizona is making are “a reality that every state is facing,” said Katie Bergh, a senior policy analyst with the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Congress created a “terrible incentive” by requiring states to reduce their error rate and shoulder more of the program’s costs, she said.
Nationwide, SNAP enrollment plummeted 8% from December 2024 to December 2025, according to estimates from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which runs SNAP. Trump has touted it as a success.
“We lifted 3.3 million Americans off of food stamps,” he said, referencing figures since he took office. “That’s a record.”
The state showed monthly drops after the bill became law on July 4.
Asked about the sharp decline in SNAP participants, Gov. Katie Hobbs’ press secretary, Liliana Soto, blamed Trump administration policies, which have “increased bureaucracy and red tape on states across the country, and forced DES to take difficult but necessary steps to reduce the state’s payment error rate.” Hobbs’ administration is taking these steps “to avoid staggering fines of hundreds of millions of dollars that would further endanger food assistance for vulnerable Arizonans,” Soto said in a statement.
But other factors have aggravated Arizona’s situation. In 2021, the state Legislature and then-Gov. Doug Ducey, a Republican, passed a flat 2.5% income tax largely benefiting the wealthy, which has forced more than $1 billion in spending cuts and fund swaps to balance the state budget in subsequent years. (Ducey has defended the flat tax as necessary to ensure the state continues to be competitive and “a jobs magnet and generator of opportunity.”)
Last summer, DES also laid off about 500 employees in response to the elimination of federal grants and in anticipation of additional federal cuts. Officials said that about 160 eligibility specialists lost their jobs, a 40% decline since July 2024.
In December, Hobbs, a Democrat, allocated $7.5 million to DES, most of which was used to hire more than 100 workers and increase overtime to handle SNAP cases. A spokesperson said applications are also slowed by “1980s technology” it uses to administer benefits.
Hobbs asked for an additional $48.4 million in her 2027 budget proposal to help the department administer SNAP. The most recent federal data, from 2023, shows that the state spends $70 million to operate the $2 billion program.
Meanwhile, some seeking SNAP assistance told ProPublica that their applications remain in limbo, sometimes for months.
Garcia, the mother of two, said she will keep trying to obtain the benefits. She’s looking for work as a cook after being laid off from a car wash in January. Her family is living with her grandparents, where groceries are shared among six people.
Sometimes, her 3-year-old pats his belly when he’s hungry for his favorite fruits like strawberries. At times, she hasn’t received fruit in the boxes she receives from the food bank.
“I’m in a pinch,” she said. “I’m struggling.
The post “The Alarm Bell”: Arizona’s Drop in SNAP Participation Signals Potential Nationwide Impact of Trump Legislation appeared first on ProPublica.
The Office of Personnel Management is asking insurers that cover federal employees and retirees to hand over details about their medical visits, their pharmacy claims, and more.
“Magawa was one of the best rats we’ve ever had,” said Michael Raine, who works for Apopo, a nonprofit that trains animals to detect land mines.
Israeli military announces further action against Hezbollah, contradicting statements from Pakistan and Iran
Israel has said its military operations in Lebanon will continue despite Donald Trump’s ceasefire announcement, with Israeli forces carrying out strikes and telling civilians in the south of the country to leave the areas they are targeting.
The office of the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said that Trump’s two-week pause “does not include Lebanon” amid reports of continued artillery and drone strikes, directly contradicting statements made by Iran and Pakistan, which has been mediating in the conflict.
Continue reading...The president said he had received a 10-point proposal from Iran that formed a “workable basis” for negotiations. But Israel said the ceasefire “does not include Lebanon.”
Footage from inside Iran showed crowds of people celebrating in Tehran after the US and Iran agreed to a two-week ceasefire, barely an hour before Donald Trump’s Wednesday deadline to obliterate the country and its infrastructure. Iranian state media announced that the country forced the US 'to accept its 10-point plan'
Continue reading...This model comes with creatively designed stickers and a special look for Pixel's 10th anniversary.
Orla Wates, 19, who died after incident on popular Ha Giang loop, described as ‘beautiful, independent and very funny’
The family of a British teenager have paid tribute to their daughter who died after a motorcycle crash on a popular route in Vietnam.
The incident occurred on the Ha Giang loop in the country’s north, and Orla Wates, 19, died at the Viet Duc university hospital in Hanoi, according to Viet Nam News.
Continue reading...Qarsoq Høegh-Dam aims to use his seat in Danish parliament to shift power from Copenhagen to Nuuk
It’s not the standard motto for a newly elected parliamentarian, but Qarsoq Høegh-Dam is adamant: if he does his job properly, there will soon be no need for it. “I want to make myself as obsolete as possible,” he said.
Last month, Høegh-Dam, a Greenlandic politician, became the first member of the pro-independence Naleraq to be elected to the Danish parliament. The new MP is clear that if all goes to plan, the largely autonomous Arctic territory will be the sole responsibility of the parliament in Nuuk, the island’s capital. And there will no longer be any need for two seats representing Greenland in Copenhagen, its former colonial ruler.
Continue reading...PM to meet regional leaders to discuss effort to ‘support and sustain ceasefire’ and reopening the strait of Hormuz
Keir Starmer is travelling to the Gulf to meet leaders in the region to discuss diplomatic efforts to support the ceasefire agreed between the US and Iran.
The prime minister’s visit on Wednesday comes hours after a two-week ceasefire was agreed on Tuesday evening, canceling a self-imposed deadline by the US president, Donald Trump, for Iran to surrender or face widespread destruction.
Continue reading...BrianFagioli writes: Artificial intelligence has now run directly on a satellite in orbit. A spacecraft about 500km above Earth captured an image of an airport and then immediately ran an onboard AI model to detect airplanes in the photo. Instead of acting like a simple camera in space that sends raw data back to Earth for later analysis, the satellite performed the computation itself while still in orbit. The system used an NVIDIA Jetson Orin module to run the object detection model moments after the image was taken. Traditionally, Earth observation satellites capture images and transmit large datasets to ground stations where computers process them hours later. Running AI directly on the satellite could reduce that delay dramatically, allowing spacecraft to analyze events like disasters, infrastructure changes, or aircraft activity almost immediately. "This success is a glimpse into the future of what we call Planetary Intelligence at scale," said Kiruthika Devaraj, VP of Avionics & Spacecraft Technology. "By running AI at the edge on the NVIDIA Jetson platform, we can help reduce the time between 'seeing' a change on Earth and a customer 'acting' on it, while simultaneously minimizing downlink latency and cost. This shift toward integrated AI at the edge is a technological leap that can help differentiate solutions like Planet's Global Monitoring Service (GMS), providing valuable insights for our customers and enabling rapid response times when it matters most."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
US president abandons threat for Iran to surrender or face destruction with last-minute intervention led by Pakistan
The US and Iran agreed to a two-week conditional ceasefire on Tuesday evening, which included a temporary reopening of the strait of Hormuz, after a last-minute diplomatic intervention led by Pakistan, canceling an ultimatum from Donald Trump for Iran to surrender or face widespread destruction.
Trump’s announcement of the ceasefire agreement came less than two hours before the US president’s self-imposed 8pm Eastern time deadline to bomb Iran’s power plants and bridges in a move that legal scholars, as well as officials from numerous countries and the pope, had warned could constitute war crimes.
Continue reading...
Why Should Delaware Care?
As Delaware families grapple with rising costs, the House of Representatives members is considering two parallel bill that each would increase the Child and Dependent Care tax credits for those who are income-eligible.
Two pieces of legislation that would each expand tax credits for Delaware parents have seen action in the statehouse in recent weeks.
One is a Democratic bill that proposes to double the amount of money that parents could receive from a Delaware childcare tax credit. The other, which has bipartisan sponsors, would expand the credit for lower-income parents and allow them to redeem more money than they pay in.
The sponsors of each bill says their measure is designed to ease the burden of inflation on working families. Both bills have also received backing from various business groups.
While neither proposal has drawn outright opposition, there is uncertainty around whether either will pass during what is expected to be a hard-fought budget season.
Rep. Melanie Ross Levin (D-Brandywine Hundred) first introduced House Bill 274 in January as a means to ease financial pressure on parents in need of childcare.
Last month, a revised version of her bill – which would increase Delaware’s match of the federal Child and Dependent Care Credit from 50% to 100% – passed the House Revenue and Finance Committee.
The federal Child and Dependent Care Credit allows working parents to reduce their tax liability if they pay for childcare.
During testimony at the committee hearing, Ross Levin noted that her proposal was not in Gov. Matt Meyer’s recommended budget in January. Still, she called the bill “fiscally, potentially doable,” noting that the credits are designed so that taxpayers do not receive more cash from the government than what they pay in taxes.
Ross Levin also said her bill is not a silver bullet to fix rising costs for parents, but noted she has a “few other childcare bills up my sleeve.”
Following the testimony, several lawmakers expressed general support for the bill. None voiced opposition to it. The bill, if passed, would cost the state government more than $6 million annually, according to legislative estimates.
Also awaiting consideration in the same committee is House Bill 284.
Sponsored by Rep. Lyndon Yearick (R-Dover), the bill would double the childcare and dependent care expense tax credit for single individuals with an income of less than $60,000 and would make the credit refundable – meaning beneficiaries could receive payments even if they own little in taxes.
Married couples with an income of less than $120,000 would also be eligible for the increase. The tax credit would remain the same for those who earn more.
But because of its refundability, Yearick’s bill is likely to be more expensive for the state than Ross Levin’s parallel legislation. Delaware’s legislative staff members have not yet publicly posted its estimated cost to the state.
Late last month, Yearick introduced a substituted version of the bill, which now awaits consideration.
In an interview, Yearick said his bill is designed to attract “a qualified workforce” to the state by making childcare more accessible to parents who do not qualify for programs, such as Purchase of Care or Head Start.
Among the additional and co-sponsors of the bill are two Democrats — Rep. Alonna Berry (D-Milton) and Sen. Kyra Hoffner (D-Leipsic).
Both Yearick’s and Ross Levin’s bills have gained support from the Delaware Association for the Education of Young Children. In a statement, the association’s president, Kim Bryda, said she appreciates the bills’ focus on early care and education affordability, but asserted that “families need relief on a daily basis.”
Other leaders in Dover have not yet made their stances publicly known.
A spokeswoman for Democrats in the House of Representatives said lawmakers will examine both bills in a “holistic manner” to ensure the best option is put forward.
“We look forward to continued discussions on both pieces of legislation,” the statement said.
A spokeswoman for Delaware’s Senate Democrats declined to comment for this story.
The post Two bills call for expanding Delaware’s childcare tax credit appeared first on Spotlight Delaware.
Why Should Delaware Care?
The Delaware LGBTQ+ Commission advises the governor and legislature on policy changes and emerging issues concerning the community. Previously, the commission faced scrutiny over a lack of diversity and what some saw as a lack of advocacy experience. In March, Gov. Matt Meyer appointed six new members to the body to fill that gap.
Delaware’s LGBTQ+ Commission officially welcomed six new members during its monthly meeting on Tuesday — a long-awaited move aimed at addressing what advocates have called a diversity gap within the body.
Gov. Matt Meyer announced the addition of the six new members in March, about nine months after the newly appointed commission faced scrutiny from community members who criticized a lack of diversity and advocacy experience among its members.
“Now more than ever, it is vital that our government institutions reflect and promote the diverse experiences and perspectives of the constituents we serve,” Gov. Meyer said in a statement announcing the new members on March 26.
Meyer previously made nominations to the commission about a year ago — around the time that federal policies impacting the LGBTQ community began to limit of access to gender-affirming care, to eliminate diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, and to cut funding for HIV prevention programs.
“The clock is ticking. We need to be serious, we need to be aggressive, and we need to be ready.” Stephan Browne-Blackman, one of the new commissioners, told Spotlight Delaware.
The commission was first formally created in early 2025, when then-Gov. Bethany Hall-Long, who served a two-week stint as governor, signed an executive order creating the body.
The order directed the commission to advise the governor and the General Assembly on the ways in which state policy could affect the challenges and needs of LGBTQ+ people.
Before she left office, Hall-Long appointed four of the current commissioners. Gov. Matt Meyer then appointed the remaining five members last June to complete the original nine-member commission.
Shortly after the appointments, some LGBTQ+ advocates raised concerns about the makeup of the group. The rollout of the commission also resurfaced tensions between Meyer and Hall-Long over gubernatorial appointments.
Asked about the group’s policy work since then, Cora Castle, chair of the commission, pointed to a letter the commission sent to the General Assembly opposing Senate Bill 215, which would require student athletes to play on sports teams associated with their gender determined at birth.
Vienna Cavazos, vice chair of the commission, noted that the group spent its early months building its structure and operations — a process that they said took time. They also said the commission began turning to substantive policy issues in late fall.
“We had to build from scratch. There wasn’t a specific format that was given to us. So a lot of our early months were spent sort of setting up how we function,” they said.
Most of the commission’s work happens within its subcommittees, which include health and human services; youth and education; justice, labor, and housing; intersectionality; outreach; and the executive subcommittee.
Cavazos told Spotlight Delaware that many of the subcommittees have been receiving testimony from various community organizations about different issues, such as protections for transgender youth and inmates, LGBTQ+ homelessness, and gender-affirming and mental health care access.
Castle stressed that the commission has focused heavily on gender-affirming care after options for youth in Delaware became limited. She said the commission is looking at ways to improve access and identify potential funding sources.
“Aligning all of these things is extremely complicated, but we do think that we have some ideas,” Castle said.
The commission’s executive committee is set to meet within the next 30 days to begin drafting its first budget, which contains $20,000 in state funding, and start work on its first annual report.
The commission’s newest members come from backgrounds in public health, education, advocacy, and community organizing.
Stephan Browne-Blackman, the second youngest commissioner at 24 years old, works on the communications team for Delaware’s House of Representatives. He previously graduated from Delaware State University, where he was involved in organizing and advocacy within the Black community.
Trisha Danah, a Deaf and queer advocate, serves as the state’s programs coordinator for individuals who are Deaf or hearing impaired at the Delaware Office for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. She previously held administrative roles at schools serving students who are deaf or visually impaired in other states.
Sequoia Rent is chief of the Bureau of Health Equity and deputy health equity officer for the Delaware Division of Public Health. She previously served as president of Kent Kids Coalition, a coalition of organizations focused on improving community health in Kent County and nearby areas.
Kaelea Shaner is a law student at Temple University. She previously served as the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Officer for the Delaware Courts.
Dr. Keonna Watson is a mental health therapist and founder of the FreeLee Integrated Health Wealth, who has been advocating for queer rights in the state since 2005.
Zach Workman is president and CEO of Delaware Pride Inc and has been in that role since 2023. He also currently works for Inspire Health, according to his LinkedIn.
The post Following criticism surrounding diversity, LGBTQ+ Commission welcomes new members appeared first on Spotlight Delaware.
President Trump said he has agreed to a "double sided CEASEFIRE" with Iran, less than two hours before his deadline for Iran to either cut a deal with the U.S. or face massive strikes on its power plants.
If the president’s first term didn’t inoculate the American body politic against tyranny, there is no guarantee that a second dose will work
Donald Trump is a despot and the US is a democracy. These things can be true simultaneously but not indefinitely. There is now deadlock in the struggle between a president who would be king and a constitution drafted in repudiation of monarchy. But it is a battle to the death. Tyranny will either break the spirit of the republic or be quelled by it.
Since the US is the world’s paramount power, the outcome of this contest has epic consequences for countries, such as the UK, that depend on Washington for security.
Rafael Behr is a Guardian columnist
Guardian Newsroom: Can Labour come back from the brink?
On Thursday 30 April, join Gaby Hinsliff, Zoe Williams, Polly Toynbee and Rafael Behr as they discuss how much of a threat Labour faces from the Green party and Reform UK – and whether Keir Starmer can survive as leader. Book tickets here or at guardian.live
Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for April 8.
Category 3 cyclone is moving south of Fiji towards New Zealand, with winds at centre in excess of 150km/h
Tropical Cyclone Vaianu forming in the Pacific could bring life-threatening winds and heavy rain to New Zealand later this week, forecasters have said, with strong wind watches issued for the entire North Island.
The category 3 cyclone is moving south of Fiji towards New Zealand, with winds around the centre in excess of 150km/h, MetService said on Wednesday.
Continue reading...Students who participate in sports are a third less likely to be chronically absent, according to a study released by the American Enterprise Institute.
More than 33GW of battery capacity approved for Turkish grid since 2022 compared with 12-13GW in Germany
Turkey has given the green light to more batteries to buffer its electricity grid than any EU member state, a report has found, in a further sign of rich countries losing steam in the race to a clean economy.
More than 33GW of battery capacity have been approved in Turkey since 2022, according to the climate thinktank Ember, while the total planned and operational capacity in European frontrunners that started deploying them earlier, such as Germany and Italy, is 12-13GW.
Continue reading...The Iran war risks not just an energy Shock—but also a debt crisis.
A Shared Enemy, but Diverging Views of Its Motives and Character.
Two-week ceasefire comes after Trump spoke to Pakistan’s leaders, with China also believed to be exerting influence over Tehran
The US and Iran agreed to a two-week ceasefire on Tuesday barely an hour before Donald Trump’s deadline to obliterate Iran was set to expire, with Tehran agreeing to temporarily reopen the strait of Hormuz.
Israel also agreed to the ceasefire, the White House said. As Trump announced he was suspending his plans to escalate attacks across Iran, the US president said he had received a 10-point proposal from Iran which was a “workable basis on which to negotiate”.
Continue reading...When it’s hard or impossible to identify trustworthy sources, you can choose to believe whatever you find comforting, invigorating or infuriating
In early March, a week after the first US-Israeli strikes on Iran, the White House posted a video of real American attacks mixed with clips from popular movies, television series, video games and anime.
Iran and its sympathisers responded to the strikes by flooding social media with outdated war footage allegedly from the current conflict alongside AI-generated content depicting attacks on Tel Aviv and US bases in the Persian Gulf.
Continue reading...An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: A group of Russian government hackers have hijacked thousands of home and small business routers around the world as part of an ongoing campaign aimed at redirecting victim's internet traffic to steal their passwords and access tokens, security researchers and government authorities warned on Tuesday. [...] The hacking group targeted unpatched routers made by MikroTik and TP-Link using previously disclosed vulnerabilities according to the U.K. government's cybersecurity unit NCSC and Lumen's research arm Black Lotus Labs, which released new details of the campaign Tuesday. According to the researchers, the hackers were able to spy on large numbers of people over the course of several years by compromising their routers, many of which run outdated software, leaving them vulnerable to remote attacks without their owners' knowledge. The NCSC said that these operations are "likely opportunistic in nature, with the actor casting a wide net to reach many potential victims, before narrowing in on targets of intelligence interest as the attack develops." Per the researchers and government advisories, the Russian hackers hacked routers to modify the device's settings so that the victim's internet requests are surreptitiously passed to infrastructure run by the hackers. This allows the hackers to redirect victims to spoof websites under their control, then steal passwords and tokens that let the hackers log in to that victim's online accounts without needing their two-factor authentication codes. Black Lotus Labs said that Fancy Bear compromised at least 18,000 victims in around 120 countries, including government departments, law enforcement agencies, and email providers across North Africa, Central America, and Southeast Asia. Microsoft, which also released details of the campaign on Tuesday, said in a blog post that its researchers identified over 200 organizations and 5,000 consumer devices affected by these hacking operations, including at least three government organizations in Africa. The Justice Department said Tuesday it neutralized compromised routers in the U.S. under court authorization. As the DOJ put it, the FBI "developed a series of commands to send to compromised routers" to collect evidence, reset settings, and prevent hackers from breaking back in.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
I know it can toggle to red, but when it's white, it's an odd shade and you get some of that kind of chromatic aberration look. Just to be clear: Can you select a color of LED headlight in the app? I didn't see any option for that.
American journalist Shelly Kittleson is being released on the condition that she leave Iraq immediately, an Iranian-backed militia in Iraq says.
 | will this gt fender work on my xrc?? [link] [comments] |
did something happen to Oak City Electrolytes? Every time I try to go to their website it doesn't work and I can't find anything recently about it. I would love to get electrolytes for my GTS but I can't even see the price.
I was dumb (uneducated?) and left my 267 miles-young Pint unused & unplugged for a few months during a chaotic move….so naturally the battery is bricked now.
After a few more months I decided to set aside my resentment with FM and want to ride again. But instead of paying for shipping/repair, I kinda just want to upgrade (yeah yeah I know, fool me twice). Anyway do I just take this thing to the dump, or are has anyone had luck selling units like these for cheap to people who would be down to do the repair?
Taylor defeated conservative rival Maria Lazar, providing another gauge of Democrats’ durability in midterms
Wisconsin voters sent another liberal justice to the state supreme court, with Chris Taylor beating conservative Maria Lazar and giving liberals a 5-2 edge on the high court.
The retirement of Justice Rebecca Bradley, a conservative, gave liberals a chance to further consolidate their hold on the high court ahead of the next presidential election, when the swing state is sure to see challenges to election results.
Continue reading...This blog is now closed. Follow the latest ceasefire news and updates in our Iran war live blog here.
During a press conference in Budapest with Hungary’s prime minister Viktor Orbán, vice-president JD Vance is asked how the military goals in Iran can be achieved if the US continues its attacks on the country.
Vance was also asked about reports about US attacks on Kharg Island. The vice-president said the plan was to hit “some military targets” there and “I believe we have done so.”
Continue reading...  | Anybody got a workaround or something my friend can print to be able to use fenders with dubtails? This is a cut crop top but it’s rubbing. I was gonna try the flightfins with the XL shield and zip tie it secure if needed but won’t see them for a month to try. They would like to be able to use a full fender if there is a way. I saw the older posts with TFL drop top but in the picture it doesn’t look locked in like it would come off during a wipe out and they like to race figured they might be scrambling for it. Hoping someone has come up with something since then? 🤞 [link] [comments] |
Chuck Schumer attacks president’s ‘ridiculous bluster’ while Republicans cast decision as shrewd tactical move
Political leaders and many Americans breathed a sigh of relief on Tuesday evening, when Donald Trump announced a provisional ceasefire deal hours after threatening to destroy Iran’s “whole civilization” if Tehran failed to reopen the strait of Hormuz by his self-imposed deadline.
The announcement of the agreement came roughly 90 minutes before the 8pm ET deadline by which Trump pledged to bomb Iran’s power plants and bridges in a move legal and military scholars said would be considered a war crime. But a last-minute intervention by Pakistan led Trump to back off, at least temporarily, his ultimatum for widespread destruction.
Continue reading...In his first official visit to a tiny North Carolina town devastated by Hurricane Helene, new Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin reassured locals he intends to reform FEMA — not eliminate it.
Iran bombed US bases and allies’ facilities soon after Russian satellites mapped them, according to Ukrainian assessment. What we know on day 1,505
Russian satellites made detailed imagery of military facilities and critical sites across the Middle East including US bases and other targets that were attacked by Iran soon afterwards, according to a Ukrainian intelligence assessment. Reuters reported that the assessment cited at least 24 surveys of areas in 11 Middle Eastern countries from 21-31 March, covering 46 “objects” including US and other military bases and airports and oilfields. Within days of being surveyed, military bases and headquarters were targeted by Iranian ballistic missiles and drones, the assessment said.
Russian satellites were actively surveying the strait of Hormuz, according to the Ukrainians. Reuters said a western military source and a separate regional security cited their own intelligence in backing up the claims. Reuters said the Iranian foreign ministry had no immediate comment and the defence ministry in Russia did not respond to a request for comment.
Reuters said its regional security source confirmed a specific incident where a Russian satellite imaged Prince Sultan airbase in Saudi Arabia days before Iran struck the facility on 27 March, hitting a sophisticated US E-3 Sentry airborne warning and control system aircraft. The next day a Russian satellite passed over again to assess the damage, the assessment said. The Ukrainian report also alleges Russian and Iranian hackers were collaborating in the cyber domain.
The Ukrainian military said it had struck Russia’s Ust-Luga oil terminal in the Leningrad region on Tuesday. The general staff said on Telegram it had preliminary confirmation of damage to three storage tanks belonging to the Transneft-Baltika company.
Crude oil exports from Russia’s Sheskharis terminal in the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk were suspended after a big drone attack and a fire, two sources told Reuters on Tuesday. The terminal, which typically loads 700,000 barrels a day of crude oil, is Russia’s key oil outlet in the Black Sea. Its suspension will add to the strain on Russian infrastructure, which has been repeatedly attacked.
Moscow’s troops targeted two buses in the eastern Dnipropetrovsk region, its governor, Oleksandr Ganzha, said on Telegram. A drone smashed into a bus approaching a stop in Nikopol’s city centre, he said, and later another bus was hit in a neighbouring community. Four people were killed in Nikopol and at least 16 injured, officials said. In the southern city of Kherson, a Russian attack on a residential area that lasted half an hour killed four elderly people and injured seven more, said the regional governor, Oleksandr Prokudin. Other deadly Russian strikes took place in Zaporizhzhia and Sumy oblasts, said Ukrainian officials.
Ukrainian drone strikes killed five civilians including a 12-year-old boy and his parents in Russia and Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine, Russian officials said on Tuesday. Reuters could not independently verify the officials’ statements, and Ukraine denies deliberately targeting civilians.
Continue reading...Carlos Ivan Mendoza Hernandez hospitalized after shooting in rural Patterson as officials say investigation under way
Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents shot a man in a vehicle in northern California on Tuesday.
ICE agents conducted a vehicle stop in Patterson, a rural agricultural town in California’s Central Valley about 80 miles east of San Jose, to arrest Carlos Ivan Mendoza Hernandez, ICE director Todd Lyons said in a statement.
Continue reading...I’ve been trying to drive less and take the train more so i got a onewheel to cover the first and last mile of my commute.
It’s such a fun ride but oof my feet and calves are screaming after about half a mile.
Trump announces two-week conditional ceasefire after last-minute diplomatic intervention led by Pakistan – key US politics stories from Tuesday 7 April at a glance
It appears Iran’s whole civilization will not die tonight.
With less than two hours before his self-imposed deadline for Iran to surrender or face annihilation, Donald Trump announced that the US and Iran had agreed to a two-week conditional ceasefire after a last-minute diplomatic intervention led by Pakistan.
Continue reading...Lynette Hooker's daughter, Karli Aylesworth, described her mother as an experienced swimmer who has been sailing for over 10 years.
Use the settlement website to select your preferred payment method, and you may end up $100 richer.
After meeting with Marco Rubio, foreign minister Winston Peters says he made sure US understands ‘significant economic impacts on New Zealand and Pacific’
New Zealand has called on the US to send fuel tankers to the Pacific to help alleviate some of the significant economic and fuel pressure caused by the war in the Middle East.
Winston Peters, New Zealand’s foreign minister, met the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, in Washington on Tuesday, where they discussed bilateral relations, the war in Iran and the Pacific.
Continue reading...Here are hints and the answer for today's Wordle for April 8, No. 1,754.
Here are hints and answers for the NYT Strands puzzle for April 8, No. 766.
Here are some hints and the answers for the NYT Connections puzzle for April 8, No. 1032.
Republicans in Congress largely stayed silent, while dozens of Democrats called for President Trump to be removed from office after he threatened "a whole civilization will die tonight."
I no longer wish to live in a country where performative cruelty has become the guiding principle of government
When not firing off social media posts threatening potential war crimes against 93 million Iranians, Donald Trump is busy quietly killing the so-called American dream. With gasoline at US$4 a gallon, credit card debt hitting a record US$1.28tn, and stagnating wages, Americans are struggling to detect the prosperity their president promised them. Regardless, Trump plans to spend a record $1.5tn on the military in 2027 – a 40% increase for the Pentagon at a time when farm bankruptcies have increased by 46%.
But if Trump’s illegal war on Iran has taught us anything, it is this: Americans will pay any price for freedom, except if it increases the price of groceries or gasoline. People in the Maga heartlands tolerated the erosion of civil liberties, democracy and the rule of law during the first year of Trump’s second presidency but they will be unforgiving if their standard of living declines.
Continue reading...US president says he will hold off using ‘destructive force’ following talks with Pakistan; Tehran says negotiations with US to start Friday in Islamabad
Trump says ‘a whole civilisation will die’ if Iran ignores demands
Democrats outraged at Trump: ‘A threat to commit a war crime’
Here are some of the latest images coming in from the Middle East as the war continues in week six.
The Israeli military has just warned the people of Iran not to use trains, saying that doing so “endangers your life”.
Dear Citizens, for the sake of your security, we kindly request that from this moment until 21:00 Iran time, you refrain from using and travelling by train throughout Iran.
Your presence on trains and near railway lines endangers your life.
Continue reading...Cepheus-1-108Q validates Rigetti’s proprietary chiplet-based scaling architecture and is now generally available to Rigetti’s customers and partners via the Rigetti Quantum Cloud Services platform and through Amazon Braket.
BERKELEY, Calif., April 7, 2026 — Rigetti Computing, Inc., a pioneer in full-stack quantum-classical computing, today announced the general availability of its 108-qubit quantum computing system, Cepheus-1-108Q, now accessible to customers and partners via the Rigetti Quantum Cloud Services (QCS) Platform and through Amazon Braket, the quantum computing service by AWS.
Cepheus-1-108Q is Rigetti’s highest qubit-count system to date and the industry’s largest modular quantum computing system, based on Rigetti’s proprietary chiplet-based architecture. The system comprises twelve interconnected 9-qubit chiplets, tripling the number of qubits and chiplets from Rigetti’s previous 36-qubit system, Cepheus-1-36Q.
The system is currently performing at a 99.1% median two-qubit gate fidelity with a gate speed of ~60 ns and a 99.9% median single-gate fidelity. Rigetti is releasing Cepheus-1-108Q now in response to growing customer interest, and will continue to improve the system performance throughout 2026 as the Company advances on its roadmap.
“Cepheus-1-108Q is a milestone that validates our ambitious approach to scaling quantum computers,” said Dr. Subodh Kulkarni, Rigetti CEO. “Our proprietary chiplet-based architecture is paving the way toward higher fidelity, higher qubit systems that will ultimately enable fault-tolerant quantum computing.”
“We are proud of the progress we have made in delivering a system at this scale. The innovations we’ve developed while designing this system give us confidence in our vision and approach to building the next generation of quantum computers. We will continue to improve fidelity as we scale to higher qubit counts and deploy new systems as we reach important performance milestones while maintaining gate speeds that are roughly 1,000-10,000 times faster than other modalities such as trapped-ion and neutral-atom systems.”
“The addition of Cepheus-1-108Q to Amazon Braket gives our global customers another choice as they research quantum computing applications in materials science, optimization, and quantum simulation. As the first gate-based device on Braket with over 100 qubits, Cepheus-1-108Q delivers improved fidelities that allow customers to push to wider and deeper circuits,” said Eric Kessler, General Manager, Amazon Braket. “Rigetti was a launch partner for Amazon Braket, and we’re excited to deepen that relationship with this launch. With Cepheus-1-108Q, we bring the third generation of Rigetti devices to our customers, following Aspen and Ankaa. We remain committed to providing researchers and enterprises around the world with access to the latest quantum hardware.”
Key Technical Advancements
The new system features several significant engineering improvements designed to maintain fidelity and performance as qubit counts grow:
During system development, Rigetti refined its architecture to mitigate coupling interactions between tunable couplers that become more pronounced beyond 100 qubits. These design improvements shifted the primary performance limitation from coupler behavior to coherence time, a key factor the Company continues to address through innovations in materials and fabrication.
Roadmap
Rigetti plans to continue to improve the fidelity of its individual chiplets and expects Cepheus‑1‑108Q to reach a median 99.5% two‑qubit gate fidelity later this year. Rigetti intends to update its technology roadmap later this year, once it has incorporated the results of this work, including how the Company plans to reach quantum advantage in about three years.
For more information on Amazon Braket, please visit https://aws.amazon.com/braket.
About Rigetti
Rigetti (Nasdaq: RGTI) is a pioneer in full-stack quantum computing. Rigetti quantum computers are based on superconducting qubits, which are widely believed to be the leading qubit modality given their maturity, clear path to scaling, and fast gate speeds. Current Rigetti quantum computing systems achieve gate speeds of 50-70ns, which is about 1,000 times faster than other modalities such as ion traps and neutral atoms.
The Company operates quantum computers over the cloud through its Rigetti Quantum Cloud Services (QCS) platform, enabling global enterprise, government, and research clients to pursue R&D. The Company’s proprietary quantum-classical infrastructure provides high-performance integration with public and private clouds for practical quantum computing.
Rigetti sells on-premises 9-108 qubit quantum computing systems, supporting national laboratories and quantum computing centers. Rigetti’s 9-qubit Novera QPU supports a broader R&D community with a high-performance, on-premises QPU designed to plug into a customer’s existing cryogenic and control systems.
Rigetti developed the industry’s first multi-chip quantum processor for scalable quantum computing systems. Leveraging this proprietary technology, Rigetti deployed the industry’s largest multi-chip quantum computer in 2025 with Cepheus-1-36Q, based on four 9-qubit chiplets tiled together. The Company designs and manufactures its chips in-house at Fab-1, the industry’s first dedicated and integrated quantum device manufacturing facility. Learn more at https://www.rigetti.com.
Source: Rigetti
The post Rigetti Announces General Availability of 108-Qubit System appeared first on HPCwire.
PARIS, April 7, 2026 — The PyTorch Foundation, a community-driven hub for open source AI under the Linux Foundation, today announced that it has welcomed Helion as its newest foundation-hosted project alongside DeepSpeed, PyTorch, Ray, and vLLM. This contribution by Meta addresses a critical layer of the AI stack, making kernel authoring a first-class part of PyTorch by strengthening custom kernel creation and reducing manual coding effort through autotuning.
Helion joins the Foundation as AI model development expands from training to an inference boom, elevating the importance of serving models at scale. In this landscape, in which hardware, software, and model architectures are shifting simultaneously, engineering teams face significant hurdles in cross-platform compatibility. Helion eliminates bottlenecks associated with model architectures and execution, providing developers with radically simpler kernels, automated ahead-of-time autotuning, and greater hardware performance portability.
“Helion joining the PyTorch Foundation as its newest project reflects where the open AI ecosystem needs to go next: higher-level performance portability for kernel authors,” said Matt White, Global CTO of AI at the Linux Foundation and CTO of the PyTorch Foundation. “Helion gives engineers a much more productive path to writing high-performance kernels, including autotuning across hundreds of candidate implementations for a single kernel. As part of the PyTorch Foundation community, this project strengthens the foundation for an open AI stack that is more portable and significantly easier for the community to build on.”
Helion is a Python-embedded domain-specific language (DSL) for authoring machine learning kernels, designed to compile down to multiple backends for hardware heterogeneity (Triton, TileIR, and more coming soon). Helion aims to raise the level of abstraction compared to kernel languages, making it easier to write efficient kernels while enabling more automation in the autotuning process.
In addition to Helion joining the Foundation, ExecuTorch is becoming part of PyTorch Core. Started at Meta, ExecuTorch continues to extend PyTorch model functionality for on edge and on-device environments under the Foundation, ensuring that ecosystem and technical decisions are made in an open, community-guided manner.
Developers and contributors interested in participating in the PyTorch project ecosystem are encouraged to join the community onsite at upcoming events like PyTorch Conference China (Shanghai, September 8-9) and PyTorch Conference North America (San Jose, October 20-21).
About the PyTorch Foundation
The PyTorch Foundation is a community-driven hub supporting the open source PyTorch framework and a broader portfolio of innovative open source AI projects, including DeepSpeed, Helion, PyTorch, Ray, and vLLM. Hosted by the Linux Foundation, the PyTorch Foundation provides a vendor-neutral, trusted home for collaboration across the AI lifecycle—from model training and inference, to domain-specific applications. Through open governance, strategic support, and a global contributor community, the PyTorch Foundation empowers developers, researchers, and enterprises to build and deploy AI at scale. Learn more at https://pytorch.org/foundation.
About the Linux Foundation
The Linux Foundation is the world’s leading home for collaboration on open source software, hardware, standards, and data. Linux Foundation projects are critical to the world’s infrastructure, including Linux, Kubernetes, LF Decentralized Trust, Node.js, ONAP, OpenChain, OpenSSF, PyTorch, RISC-V, SPDX, Zephyr, and more. The Linux Foundation focuses on leveraging best practices and addressing the needs of contributors, users, and solution providers to create sustainable models for open collaboration. For more information, please visit us at linuxfoundation.org.
Source: PyTorch Foundation
The post PyTorch Foundation Welcomes Helion as New Project for AI Kernel Development appeared first on HPCwire.
Security agencies say municipalities should watch out for unusual activity, especially in water and energy sectors
Top government security agencies issued a warning of Iran-affiliated cyber-attacks on critical infrastructure across the US on Tuesday. In a joint statement, the agencies said municipalities, especially in the water and energy sectors, should be on the lookout for unusual activity.
“Cyberattacks on drinking water and wastewater systems directly threaten public health and community resilience,” Jeffrey Hall, an assistant administrator for enforcement and compliance assurance for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), said in a statement. “A single breach can disrupt treatment or introduce contaminants, damage equipment, and erode public trust.”
Continue reading...Cox Communications and Grande Communications win legal victories in music copyright cases.
If the rumor proves true, the 5G Galaxy Watch Ultra would rival the 5G-enabled $799 Apple Watch Ultra 3 that debuted last fall.
April 7, 2026 — The NVIDIA GB200 NVL72 and NVIDIA GB300 NVL72 systems, featuring NVIDIA Blackwell architecture, are rack-scale supercomputers. They’re designed with 18 tightly coupled compute trays, massive GPU fabrics, and high-bandwidth networking packaged as a unit.
Figure 1. Diagram of NVLink spine that explains the relationships between the NVLink and IMEX domains and NVLink Partition.
For AI architects and HPC platform operators, the challenge isn’t just racking and stacking hardware—it’s turning infrastructure into safe, performant, and easy-to-use resources for end users. The mismatch between rack-scale hardware topology and scheduler abstractions is where most of the operational complexity lives. Left unaddressed, schedulers operate on a flat pool of GPUs and nodes, overlooking the system’s hierarchical and topology-sensitive design.
This is the gap that a validated software stack, such as NVIDIA Mission Control, is designed to bridge. Mission Control provides rack-scale control planes for NVIDIA Grace Blackwell NVL72 systems. With a native understanding of NVIDIA NVLink and NVIDIA IMEX domains, it integrates with workload management platforms like Slurm and NVIDIA Run:ai. These capabilities will also be supported for the NVIDIA Vera Rubin platform, including for NVIDIA Rubin NVL8.
This post demonstrates how Mission Control, Slurm, and NVIDIA Run:ai turn advanced GPU architecture concepts—such as NVLink and IMEX domains—into an operational AI factory that is scalable, schedulable, and easy to manage.
The Core Challenge: Rack-Scale Topology Meets AI Workload Scheduling
At a physical level, GB300 NVL72 and GB200 NVL72 systems are powerful, sophisticated systems. Each delivers a dense GPU fabric connected by NVLink switches, supports NVIDIA Multi-Node NVLink (MNNVL) within the rack, and includes IMEX-capable compute trays that enable shared GPU memory across nodes.
Schedulers, however, don’t operate at the level of switches and fabrics. They require:
Figure 2. NVLink core concepts and highlights.
Under the hood, the NVLink topology of a Grace Blackwell NVL72 rack is reflected up the software stack through a pair of system-level identifiers: cluster UUID and clique ID.
These identifiers encode a GPU’s position in the NVLink fabric—across domains or racks—in a way that system software, schedulers, and higher-level tooling can reason about.
The mapping is straightforward:
A shared cluster UUID means that systems—and their GPUs—belong to the same NVLink domain and are connected by a common NVLink fabric. On Grace Blackwell NVL72, this UUID is consistent across the entire rack: all GPUs in the same NVL72 rack report the same cluster UUID.
The clique ID provides a finer-grained distinction. GPUs that share a clique ID belong to the same NVLink Partition within that domain. When a rack is carved into multiple NVLink partitions, the cluster UUID remains the same—because the GPUs live in the same physical NVLink domain—but the clique IDs differ to reflect the logical partitioning of the fabric.
From an operational perspective, this distinction matters:
Figure 3. Example of how NVIDIA Mission Control centralizes the view of cluster UUID and clique ID across a managed environment.
These identifiers form the connective tissue between hardware topology and scheduling logic. They enable platforms like Slurm, Kubernetes, and NVIDIA Run:ai to align job placement, isolation, and performance guarantees with the actual structure of the NVLink fabric, without exposing that complexity directly to end users.
Figure 4. Cluster UUID and cliqueID on a NVIDIA Grace Blackwell compute tray.
Scheduling Multi-Node NVLink Workloads with Slurm
Once you start running multi-node workloads on Blackwell-based NVL72 systems, placement becomes as important as GPU count. A 16-GPU job spread across the wrong nodes can behave very differently from the same job confined to a single NVLink fabric.
This is where Slurm’s topology/block plugin becomes essential, enabling Slurm to recognize that not all nodes are equal.
On Grace Blackwell NVL72 blocks of nodes with lower-latency connections map directly to NVLink partitions—groups of GPUs that share a high-bandwidth NVLink fabric.
Consider a simple example with two NVL72 racks. Both racks may belong to the same Slurm partition (queue), but that doesn’t mean jobs should freely span them. From a performance standpoint, each rack—or each NVLink partition carved from it—is a distinct high-bandwidth block.
Figure 5. NVL racks consumed as blocks in Slurm. Two racks are grouped under a common Slurm partition.
By enabling the topology/block plugin and exposing NVLink partitions as blocks, Slurm gains the context it needs to make better decisions. Jobs are placed within a single NVLink partition (or block) by default, preserving MNNVL performance. Larger jobs can span blocks when necessary, but the tradeoff becomes explicit rather than accidental.
Figure 6. Individual racks that are separate blocks to Slurm.
In practice, this means:
Figure 7. Multiple NVLink partitions within a rack, each mapped to Slurm blocks and partitions.
IMEX Management with Slurm: From Rack-Level Service to Per-Job Isolation
For multi-node NVIDIA CUDA workloads that rely on MNNVL, IMEX enables GPUs on different compute trays to participate in a shared-memory programming model.
Figure 8. How IMEX service runs on compute trays at the OS level, and how NVSwitches enable IMEX to create MNNVL connections.
From an application’s point of view, using MNNVL looks deceptively simple. Under the hood, however, Mission Control ensures a few things line up when running MNNVL jobs with Slurm:
Figure 9. Per-job IMEX in Slurm, where two jobs share an NVL72 rack and NVLink partition but use separate IMEX domains.
IMEX is a system-level daemon running in the host OS of every compute tray. It provides memory-sharing and synchronization mechanisms that CUDA libraries build on. If IMEX is mis-scoped, left running too broadly, or fails noisily, multi-node workloads quickly become fragile.
Extending Multi-Node NVLink Support to Kubernetes and NVIDIA Run:ai
Just as Slurm needs help understanding NVLink fabrics to schedule Grace Blackwell NVL72 jobs optimally, Kubernetes also lacks native awareness of rack-scale high-bandwidth interconnects like NVLink.
To address this, the NVIDIA ecosystem combines ComputeDomains (via the NVIDIA Dynamic Resource Allocation (DRA) GPU driver) and NVIDIA Run:ai integration—lifting NVLink and IMEX concepts into domain-aware, scheduler-ready primitives.
In Kubernetes, dynamic resource allocation (DRA) provides an API for flexible, fine-grained management of specialized hardware.
The NVIDIA k8s-dra-driver-gpu implements this API for GPUs and ComputeDomains. The driver includes separate kubelet plugins for GPU allocation, and for ComputeDomains, and when enabled, manages GPU multi-node NVLink domains—grouping GPUs across nodes into secure, high-bandwidth, memory-coherent domains for HPC and AI workloads.
Kubernetes: From Flat Schedulers to NVLink-Aware Placement
In Kubernetes, the core challenge is similar to Slurm. Kubernetes pods need to be placed on nodes that share high-bandwidth connectivity. Kubernetes by itself doesn’t understand NVLink domains, so workloads might be scattered across nodes that lack the required fabric connectivity for efficient multi-node execution.
The solution is the ComputeDomains concept provided by the NVIDIA DRA driver for GPUs. A ComputeDomain:
By doing this, ComputeDomains make the high-performance fabric first-class in scheduling. ComputeDomains also ensure that underlying resources like IMEX channels are properly instantiated and scoped for the workload.
How NVIDIA Run:ai Simplifies Distributed Workloads on NVLink Domains
NVIDIA Run:ai builds on Kubernetes and ComputeDomains to make Grace Blackwell NVL72 systems usable without exposing users to NVLink topology, IMEX domains, or low-level scheduling mechanics. Users request distributed GPUs. NVIDIA Run:ai handles the rest.
Figure 10. Topology-aware scheduling keeps workload 2 within a single rack by considering resources and job requirements.
Under the hood, NVIDIA Run:ai automates several critical pieces:
Automatic Topology Detection with Topograph
All of these approaches rely on accurate knowledge of the underlying hardware and network topology. For platform engineers, manually defining NVLink domains, rack boundaries, or network hierarchies does not scale in large or frequently changing environments. This is where Topograph, an open source NVIDIA tool, fits into the picture.
Topograph automatically discovers cluster topology by collecting node-level and infrastructure metadata and translating it into scheduler-consumable representations. It can detect how nodes are connected—across racks, switches, or fabric hierarchies—and reveals this structure through APIs that higher-level systems can consume. Instead of assuming a flat cluster, schedulers gain a concrete view of proximity and bandwidth relationships.
When combined with Slurm and Kubernetes—along with ComputeDomains and NVIDIA Run:ai—Topograph enables a fully automated flow. Topology is discovered rather than hand-modeled, nodes are labeled consistently, and topology-aware placement decisions can be made with minimal operator intervention. This closes the gap between physical infrastructure and logical scheduling abstractions.
Learn More About Advanced AI Operations
Check out the Mission Control Administrator Guide or User Guide to learn more about implementation.
Watch an on-demand NVIDIA GTC 2026 session with Eli Lilly & Company and learn how they went from rack-scale hardware to schedulable AI infrastructure with powerful, intelligent software.
Source: Ryan Prout, NVIDIA
The post NVIDIA: Running AI Workloads on Rack-Scale Supercomputers appeared first on HPCwire.
Warning comes as tensions over hostilities in the Middle East boil over.
Global availability, standout titles, live events, gaming and reliability make Netflix a winner.
Apple may have a supply problem on its hands with the MacBook Neo... The laptop reportedly relies on "binned" A18 Pro chips with one GPU core disabled, and demand is so strong that the supply of those cheaper leftover chips could run out before the next model is ready. That leaves Apple choosing between lower margins, shifting production plans, or changing the lineup to keep its $599 hit product in stock. MacRumors reports: The all-new MacBook Neo has been such a hit that Apple is facing a "massive dilemma," according to Taiwan-based tech columnist and former Bloomberg reporter Tim Culpan. [...] In the latest edition of his Culpium newsletter today, Culpan said the MacBook Neo is selling so well that Apple's supply of the binned A18 Pro chips with a 5-core GPU will "run out" before the company is able to fully satisfy demand for the laptop. Apple's initial plan was to have suppliers build around five to six million MacBook Neo units before ceasing production of the model with the A18 Pro chip, he said, but it sounds like demand is so strong that Apple might run out of A18 Pro chips to put in the MacBook Neo before the second-generation MacBook Neo with an A19 Pro chip is ready next year. Apple is unlikely to mark the MacBook Neo as temporarily sold out, so it may be forced to take action, but profit margins might be affected. A18 Pro chips are manufactured with TSMC's second-generation 3nm process, known as N3E, and Culpan said TSMC's N3E production lines are currently operating at maximum capacity. As a result, he said that Apple may have to pay a premium to restart A18 Pro chip production for the MacBook Neo, which would lower its profit margins. Apple would have to disable a GPU core on these chips to ensure that they have only a 5-core GPU, like all other MacBook Neo units sold to date. Alternatively, Culpan said that Apple could reallocate some of its chip production that was originally planned for other devices, but he said the cost would still be higher than what it paid for its initial batch of A18 Pro chips. Culpan speculated that Apple could also opt to discontinue the $599 model with 256GB of storage, leaving the $699 model with 512GB of storage and a Touch ID button as the only configuration available. This is unlikely to happen any time soon, in our view, given how heavily Apple has been promoting the MacBook Neo's affordability. Apple might also be able to move up the release of a MacBook Neo with the iPhone 17 Pro's A19 Pro chip, but that too would be a costlier option, at least until the company achieves a sufficient stockpile of binned A19 Pro chips with a 5-core GPU. In any case, Apple could opt to keep the starting price of current and future MacBook Neo models at $599 and simply accept lower profit margins on the laptop, especially given that it attracts customers to the macOS and broader Apple ecosystem.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Hi all, this will be my third pint (I have a type) and while I've done VnR and battery mods to stock electronics, I've never gone the VESC route until now. Tax returns are a beautiful thing. I am buying a lightly used OG pint for this. My use case is 90% on-road/pavement, 10% offroad (grass). I LOVE the pint, just need a little more speed to keep up with everyone in my group who's rocking GTs.
Proposed parts:
Battery: CHI-VE PINT X 20.1 P50B - $299
BMS: Stoked Stock BMS - $99
PintV Power Kit - $459
OneWheel PintX Box - CNC Aluminum - $165
So, some questions... I see the VESC kit comes with a dumb BMS, is there any way to NOT get that and save some money? I understand the BMS is only good for 15s, and I want to roll with the 20s 21700 pack for the range and speed bump. Also, is there any other option to the battery box? I'm sure the aluminum one is very nice, but frankly my plastic pint battery box has held up for 900 miles and I plan on installing some skid plates too, so it's a bit overkill. Any experience with printed battery boxes, or a lead on where to get used pintX battery boxes? Finally, I'm a bit worried about the motor. Any long term pint V users out there not blowing up the supposedly 750 watt motor after sending 3500+ to it?
Thanks for the help
Exclusive: Former UN climate chief to co-chair Lancet Commission examining how sea-level rise is reshaping health, wellbeing and inequality
What are the health impacts of sea-level rise, and who should pay?
Christiana Figueres: Sea-level rise is a health crisis and we must hold polluters accountable
Countries are being “held hostage” by their reliance on fossil fuels, a former UN climate chief has warned, describing the health impacts of climate change as “the mother of all injustices”.
Christiana Figueres, an international climate negotiator who helped deliver the Paris agreement signed in 2016, made the comments as she was announced on Wednesday as co-chair of a Lancet Commission examining how sea-level rise is reshaping health, wellbeing and inequality.
Continue reading...Two days of deep technical insight on emerging JEDEC memory standards and system designs
ARLINGTON, Va., April 7, 2026 — JEDEC Solid State Technology Association today announced that it is hosting a Mobile/Client/Edge Forum on Tuesday, May 12 and a Server/Cloud Computing/AI Forum on Wednesday, May 13 in San Jose, California. Advance registration is required and space is limited. For more information and registration, visit the JEDEC website.
The Forums offer an impressive lineup of influential speakers covering a diverse range of cutting-edge topics, including keynote presentations from AMD, Dell, Google, Intel, Meta, Microsoft, Samsung, and SK Hynix. Speakers from Advantest, Cadence, Eliyan, Everspin, FuturePlus Systems, Keysight, Micron, MIPI Alliance, MPS, Super Micro and Synopsys round out the agenda.
From mobile and client computing to AI, servers, cloud computing and edge technologies, there’s something for everyone looking to stay ahead in this dynamic field. Examples include presentations such as “Unlocking the Potential of Edge AI: Trends, Opportunities, and Growth for Memory”, “AI-Driven Memory, Memory-Driven AI: LPDDR6-PIM’s Journey to Market” and “Navigating System Design Challenges Amid the Rapidly Evolving Memory Landscape”.
Mian Quddus, Chairman of the JEDEC Board of Directors, said: “We are delighted to invite industry professionals to join us for a front-row seat to the future of computing.” He added, “Supporting the industry through educational outreach is an integral part of JEDEC’s mission, and we look forward to welcoming attendees to the JEDEC Forums next month.”
About JEDEC
JEDEC is the global leader in the development of standards for the microelectronics industry. Thousands of volunteers representing over 380 member companies work together with more than 100 JEDEC technical committees and task groups to meet the needs of every segment of the industry, manufacturers and consumers alike. The publications and standards generated by JEDEC committees are accepted throughout the world. All JEDEC standards are available for download from the JEDEC website. For more information, visit www.jedec.org.
Source: JEDEC
The post JEDEC Announces May Forums on Next-Gen Memory for AI, Server, Cloud, and Mobile Computing appeared first on HPCwire.
The emotional moment was streamed by NASA moments after the crew made history.
SAN JOSE, Calif., April 7, 2026 — Cisco today announced the release of its latest annual industrial research report, the State of Industrial AI Report, examining how critical infrastructure like factories, utilities, and transportation systems are accelerating their direct deployments of AI. The report provides a data‑driven view into how industrial organizations are adopting AI, the challenges they face as AI moves into live operations, and the opportunities created as AI becomes embedded in physical systems, infrastructure, and workflows.
State of Industrial AI Report: Two‑thirds of industrial organizations have moved to active AI deployments in live operational environments.
The double-blind global study surveyed more than 1,000 operational technology (OT) decision‑makers across 19 countries and 21 industrial sectors. The findings show that AI is now delivering measurable operational benefits in use cases such as process automation, automated quality inspection, predictive maintenance, logistics, and energy forecasting. However, many organizations are increasingly constrained by readiness gaps in networking infrastructure, cybersecurity, and IT/OT operating models as AI shifts into real‑time, production‑grade use in physical environments.
“Industrial AI is moving from experimentation into production, where AI systems sense, reason, and act in the real world,” said Vikas Butaney, SVP/GM of Secure Routing and Industrial IoT at Cisco. “At this stage, success is no longer determined by models alone, but by whether networks, security, and teams are ready to support AI at the edge, in motion, and at scale. The research shows that organizations confident in scaling AI are those treating infrastructure, cybersecurity, and IT/OT collaboration as foundational, not optional.”
Key Takeaways from the Report
The survey shows industrial AI has moved from a future consideration to active deployment, with 61% of organizations now using AI in live industrial operations where performance, reliability, and security have direct physical consequences, and 20% reporting scaled, mature deployments. Across manufacturing, transportation, and utilities, AI is powering machine vision, robotics, mobility, and safety‑critical operations. Most organizations plan to increase AI spending (83%), and nearly nine in ten expect meaningful outcomes within the next two years (87%). Yet as adoption accelerates, many are struggling to sustain and expand deployments, with readiness across network infrastructure, security, and skills increasingly determining whether AI can scale consistently across core physical environments.
Background:
Additional Resources:
About Cisco
Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) is the worldwide technology leader that is revolutionizing the way organizations connect and protect in the AI era. For more than 40 years, Cisco has securely connected the world. With its industry leading AI-powered solutions and services, Cisco enables its customers, partners and communities to unlock innovation, enhance productivity and strengthen digital resilience. With purpose at its core, Cisco remains committed to creating a more connected and inclusive future for all.
Source: Cisco
The post Cisco Research: Industrial AI Moves into Physical Operations, Readiness Gaps Determine Scale appeared first on HPCwire.
Man born in El Salvador has been fighting removal to series of ‘third’ countries after mistaken deportation last year
US government attorneys on Tuesday told a federal judge the Department of Homeland Security still intends to deport Kilmar Ábrego García to Liberia, despite a new agreement with Costa Rica to accept deportees who cannot legally be returned to their home countries.
The Salvadorian national’s case has become a focal point in the immigration debate after he was mistakenly deported to El Salvador last year. Since his return, he has been fighting a second deportation to a series of African countries proposed by homeland security officials.
Continue reading...The Chicago-born pope suggested fellow Americans call their congressional representatives and ask for peace, not war.
"Anthropic has unveiled Claude Mythos, a new AI model capable of discovering critical vulnerabilities at scale," writes Slashdot reader wiredmikey. "It's already powering Project Glasswing, a joint effort with major tech firms to secure critical software. But the same capabilities could also accelerate offensive cyber operations." SecurityWeek reports: Mythos is not an incremental improvement but a step change in performance over Anthropic's current range of frontier models: Haiku (smallest), Sonnet (middle ground), and Opus (most powerful). Mythos sits in a fourth tier named Copybara, and Anthropic describes it as superior to any other existing AI frontier model. It incorporates the current trend in the use of AI: the modern use of agentic AI. "The powerful cyber capabilities of Claude Mythos Preview are a result of its strong agentic coding and reasoning skills... the model has the highest scores of any model yet developed on a variety of software coding tasks," notes Anthropic in a blog titled Project Glasswing -- Securing critical software for the AI era. In the last few weeks, Mythos Preview has identified thousands of zero-day vulnerabilities with many classified as critical. Several are ten or 20 years old -- the oldest found so far is a 27-years old bug in OpenBSD. Elsewhere, a 16-years old vulnerability found in video software has survived five million hits from other automated testing tools without ever being discovered. And it autonomously found and chained together several in the Linux kernel allowing an attacker to escalate from ordinary user access to complete control of the machine. [...] Anthropic is concerned that Mythos' capabilities could unleash cyberattacks too fast and too sophisticated for defenders to block. It hopes that Mythos can be used to improve cybersecurity generally before malicious actors can get access to it. To this end, the firm has announced the next stage of this preparation as Project Glasswing, powered by Mythos Preview. Given the rate of AI progress, it will not be long before such capabilities proliferate, potentially beyond actors who are committed to deploying them safely. "Project Glasswing is a starting point. No one organization can solve these cybersecurity problems alone: frontier AI developers, other software companies, security researchers, open-source maintainers, and governments across the world all have essential roles to play." Claude Mythos Preview is described as a general-purpose, unreleased frontier model from Anthropic that has nevertheless completed its training phase. The firm does not plan to make Mythos Preview generally available. The implication is that 'Preview' is a term used solely to describe the current state of Mythos and the market's readiness to receive it, and will be dropped when the firm gets closer to general release.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Attacks on Iran increase and Israel tells Iranians to avoid train travel as deadline to reopen strait of Hormuz looms
Donald Trump has warned that Iran’s “whole civilisation will die tonight” if Tehran did not comply with his demands, as the world braced to see if the president would deliver on his latest threat to order the mass destruction of Iranian power plants and bridges in the absence of a deal by 8pm EDT (1am BST).
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards signalled they were also ready to escalate the war with a threat to retaliate “beyond the region” and “to deprive the US and its allies of oil and gas in the region for years”, suggesting Iran would target oil and gas production facilities in the Gulf and elsewhere, potentially sending the world into a recession.
Continue reading...President says on Truth Social he will annihilate country if government ignores deadline to reopen strait of Hormuz
Donald Trump on Tuesday morning threatened to annihilate the entirety of Iranian civilization should the country’s government ignore his 8pm ET deadline to reopen the strait of Hormuz.
The president’s own words, posted publicly and tied to a specific deadline and set of demands, provide unusually direct evidence of intent to violate international law, and were being met with shock and dismay by Democrats and a growing number of prominent conservatives.
Continue reading...NEW YORK, April 7, 2026 — Today the AI Alliance, a non-profit AI research and open-source technology coalition with more than 200 member organizations, launched Project Tapestry to empower open and sovereign AI development globally. Project Tapestry will build a new open-source platform to enable distributed, globally federated training of frontier open models.
Project Tapestry Architecture
With Project Tapestry, the AI Alliance aims to create a new path for advanced AI development, one in which institutions, industries, and nations can join together to contribute to build more capable open base models, while retaining control of their data and the ability to build on the base to produce sovereign derivative models aligned to their own priorities, industries, culture, laws, and values.
Alongside Project Tapestry, the AI Alliance announced that Yann LeCun, Turing Award laureate, Chairman of AMI Labs, and one of the most influential figures in modern artificial intelligence, will join as Chief Science Advisor to the AI Alliance. In that role, LeCun will help guide the scientific direction of the AI Alliance focusing on Project Tapestry as it advances from initial architecture into technical implementation and global collaboration.
“As AI is fast becoming part of the common infrastructure, there is a need for foundation models to be open so as to enable sovereignty and cultural diversity,” said Dr. Yann LeCun, Chairman of AMI Labs, Professor at NYU, and Chief Science Advisor to the AI Alliance. “As a key component of our information and knowledge infrastructure, AI should not be controlled by a handful of private entities through proprietary products. Some of the most important advances in science and technology have come from open science, open-source software, and open technology platforms at a broad scale. Project Tapestry is an ambitious effort to bring that model to AI — to create the conditions for open, distributed progress on systems of real capability.”
Frontier Open Models Without Centralizing Data and Compute
Today, the development of the most capable AI models is increasingly concentrated within a small number of companies and regions. Open-weight models have expanded access, but core decisions about training data, model objectives, architecture, and evaluation typically remain concentrated within the institutions that originate them. At the same time, many sovereign AI model efforts face steep barriers in compute, funding, data access, and specialized talent.
Project Tapestry offers a more powerful alternative: a collaborative approach to AI model development in which participants can help build a shared open foundation without surrendering their data, strategic autonomy, or downstream control. Its long-term vision is to develop an open global model — a shared open source base foundation model that can draw on broader pools of expertise, compute, and domain knowledge than any single organization can typically assemble alone — while enabling participants to create sovereign derivative models tailored to their own societal, industrial, scientific, or mission-specific needs, and aligned to their own governance frameworks, languages, values, and priorities.
“Until now, many sovereign and sector-specific AI efforts have faced steep barriers in compute, data access, funding, and specialized talent,” said Dr. Christopher Nguyen, Chief Architect of Project Tapestry, Board Member of the AI Alliance, and CEO & Co-Founder of Aitomatic. “Project Tapestry is designed to overcome that constraint through federated collaboration. The idea is simple but powerful: build a shared global base openly, then enable each participant to extend it in ways they fully own and control.”
From Launch to Global Technical Mobilization
Over time, the Alliance expects Project Tapestry to foster a vibrant and enduring ecosystem of collaborative, sovereignty-preserving model and application development. The AI Alliance’s 501(c)(3) nonprofit research organization will serve as the community home for Project Tapestry. It will host and support the Tapestry platform and open source technical assets including models that the AI Alliance develops with the platform. Project Tapestry will be governed by a board of representatives from major contributing organizations globally.
The AI Alliance is convening a workshop in Paris on May 7-8, bringing together technical leaders from around the world to define Project Tapestry’s architecture, roadmap and model development priorities. Additional announcements are expected over the coming months.
“The AI Alliance was founded on the principle that open innovation can produce AI that is more capable, more accountable, and more broadly beneficial,” said Dr. Anthony Annunziata, Chairman of the AI Alliance and Director of AI Open Innovation at IBM. “Project Tapestry is an ambitious step toward making that principle real in infrastructure form: a path for the world to build the most advanced and capable AI collaboratively, but without giving up sovereignty.”
Learn more: https://events.thealliance.ai/tapestry.
About the AI Alliance
The AI Alliance is a global nonprofit research and technology organization dedicated to advancing open, safe, and responsible AI through innovation, collaboration, and advocacy. Operating through both a 501(c)(3) public-benefit organization and a 501(c)(6) industry association, the Alliance brings together more than 200 collaborating organizations across 29 countries spanning industry, academia, startups, research, and government.
The Alliance supports open initiatives across AI data, models, agents, safety, and governance. Its technical projects and community collaborations provide part of the foundation on which Project Tapestry is being developed.
Source: The AI Alliance
The post AI Alliance Announces ‘Project Tapestry’ and Appoints Yann LeCun as Chief Science Advisor appeared first on HPCwire.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said DHS employees affected by the government shutdown will be paid through the recent pay periods by the end of the week.
It's another week and another bunch of rumors about the company's first foldable phone.
Staff Sgt. Matthew Blank said he brought his wife, Annie Ramos, 22, to his base so that she could begin the process to receive military benefits and take steps toward a green card.
Annie Ramos, who came to US from Honduras as a toddler, was detained last week at husband’s base in Louisiana
The wife of a US soldier who was detained last week by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents at her husband’s Louisiana military base was released from federal custody on Tuesday.
“All I have ever wanted is to live with dignity in the country I have called home since I was a baby,” Annie Ramos said in a statement following her release.
Continue reading...The US chipmaker signs on to help SpaceX, xAI and Tesla make hardware in Texas.
"This is a potentially huge market event like no other. It's a known unknown with a clock," one investment adviser said.
UALink Consortium Achieves Key Milestones, Underscoring Industry Momentum for Open AI Scale-Up Interconnect Technology
BEAVERTON, Ore., April 7, 2026 — The UALink Consortium, the industry standards organization developing the open scale-up interconnect for next-generation AI workloads, today announced the ratification of the next UALink Specification, which encompasses three major additions – In-Network Compute, Chiplet Definition, and Manageability. The new specifications support the deployment of UALink solutions in multi-workload environments, while simultaneously helping improve UALink technology efficiency, performance for AI workloads and ease of implementation.
The UALink Consortium provides a standardized foundation for accelerator connectivity at scale, helping drive innovation, increase deployment flexibility and support the rapidly growing performance demands of next-generation AI workloads. The new specification update is facilitated through UALink Consortium’s open governance model, which fosters innovation while enabling a robust, multi-vendor supply chain, providing system designers and cloud providers with the necessary flexibility to deploy interoperable solutions without vendor lock-in.
“As AI workloads continue to outpace traditional interconnect timelines, we are pleased to deliver an essential update to the UALink Specifications,” said Kurtis Bowman, UALink Consortium Board Chair. “The advancements to UALink technology introduced in this release will enable the industry to quickly and efficiently integrate UALink solutions into their architectures. The UALink Consortium remains committed to advancing AI infrastructure through open industry standard technology that facilitates next-generation AI applications to the market.”
New UALink Specifications
All of the UALink specifications are available for public download here.
As UALink technology continues to advance, the Consortium plans to introduce interoperability and compliance programs designed to support a robust, multi-vendor ecosystem. Companies interested in advancing UALink technology and contributing to the development of these programs are encouraged to join the Consortium and help shape future UALink specifications. For membership information or to join, visit www.UALinkConsortium.org or contact admin@ualinkconsortium.org.
About Ultra Accelerator Link Consortium
The Ultra Accelerator Link (UALink) Consortium, incorporated in October 2024, is the open industry standard group dedicated to developing the UALink specifications, a high-speed, scale-up accelerator interconnect technology that advances next-generation AI & HPC cluster performance. The consortium is led by a board made up of stalwarts of the industry: Alibaba, AMD, Apple, Astera Labs, AWS, Cisco, Google, HPE, Intel, Meta, Microsoft, and Synopsys. The Consortium develops technical specifications that facilitate breakthrough performance for emerging AI usage models while supporting an open ecosystem for data center accelerators. For more information on the UALink Consortium, please visit www.UALinkConsortium.org.
Source: UALink Consortium
The post UALink Consortium Publishes 4 Specifications Defining In-Network Compute, Chiplets, Manageability and 200G Performance appeared first on HPCwire.
Chad Bianco of Riverside county obtained warrants to seize ballots cast for state’s successful redistricting referendum
A California sheriff’s decision to seize about 650,000 ballots based on specious allegations of fraud has raised considerable alarm bells that similar efforts to undermine confidence in the electoral system could materialize this fall.
The episode underscores how sheriffs and other officials can transform shoddy claims about voter fraud into law enforcement actions. Executing a warrant to seize ballots disrupts the chain of custody that is critical to maintaining ballot integrity, and also plants the idea in the public’s mind that a crime has occurred.
Continue reading...Chrome is finally adding built-in vertical tabs, "which will move the tabs to the side of the browser window, making it easier to read full page titles and manage tab groups," reports TechCrunch. The company is also introducing an immersive reading mode for a distraction-free, text-focused experience. From the report: The company notes that the new vertical tabs can be enabled at any time by right-clicking on a Chrome window and selecting "Show Tabs Vertically." The company says there's no hard limit on the number of tabs that can be opened (beyond what would be limited already by the user's hardware). The vertical tabs work just as the horizontal tabs do, meaning you can have different Chrome windows with their own set of tabs or tab groups. [...] Alongside the launch of vertical tabs, Chrome is also rolling out a new Reading Mode experience, which will offer a full-page interface to make it even easier to reduce on-screen clutter to focus on the text. This will be the new default experience for Chrome users, and arrives at a time when web pages, particularly those on news sites, have become cluttered with ads and prompts to subscribe to newsletters.
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A group of Iranian American women in elected office and civic life released a letter Tuesday calling for an immediate end to the U.S.–Israeli war on Iran as the deadline for President Donald Trump’s macabre threat to kill “a whole civilization” loomed.
“We believe democracy cannot be delivered through missiles, and freedom cannot emerge from destruction and more death of innocent lives,” they said in the previously unreported letter.
The signers included Rep. Yassamin Ansari of Arizona, the first Iranian American Democrat elected to Congress.
Women have been at the forefront of demonstrations against the Iranian government in recent years, including the “Woman, Life, Freedom” protests of 2022 that were met with a deadly crackdown. The international protest movement was set off by the Iranian government’s killing of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini for allegedly failing to wear the mandatory headscarf properly.
The Iranian government’s suppression of that protest and another anti-government protest wave earlier this year have been cited as justification for the war that Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu launched in February.
“Remember the great women march,” Trump said at an April 6 press conference at the Pentagon, going on to describe government snipers suppressing protests by shooting demonstrators. In a speech justifying last June’s Israeli-led war against Iran, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu invoked the Women, Life, Freedom movement by name in Farsi.
The Iranian American women who signed the letter, however, said that the war is only encouraging further crackdowns.
“The Iranian people must not become casualties of geopolitical rivalry or instruments of foreign agendas,” the signatories wrote. “We refuse the false choice between repression at home and devastation from abroad. Both deny Iranians the right to determine their own future.”
Trump has given mixed signals as to whether he hopes to pursue regime change in the conflict.
The Iranian diaspora is deeply divided over the war, but a recent poll suggests Iranian Americans may be turning against it.
Despite the polarized exile politics, many groups responded with horror to Trump’s threat that a “whole civilization will die tonight” if Iran does not reopen the Strait of Hormuz. He has also threatened to destroy civilian infrastructure such as bridges and power plants, which would be a war crime; the U.S. and Israel have already launched scores of attacks targeting civilian sites across the country.
Ansari, the letter’s most prominent signer, said Monday that she plans to file articles of impeachment against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth for “repeated war crimes,” including the bombing of a school that killed scores of young girls.
“As the daughter of Iranian immigrants who fled the brutal Islamic Republic, and the first Iranian-American Democrat elected to Congress, I stand in strong opposition to this illegal war,” Ansari said in a statement. “Iranians deserve freedom and democracy. That cannot be delivered through bombs and destruction of civilian infrastructure. Iran’s future must be determined by Iranians alone — free from war and authoritarian rule.”
The 14 signers of the letter included women serving as city councilmembers, state legislators, and Democratic Party delegates.
The post Iranian Women Elected to Office in U.S. Reject Trump’s Iran War appeared first on The Intercept.
On X, accounts focused on the Iran war shared a video of a supposed U.S. service member crying, with smoke rising and a vehicle stalled in the background.
"An American soldier cries intensely and says: We are tired... we didn't want this and we didn't choose it. I just want to go home," an April 4 X post read. " I don't want this war... I want peace."
"I really, I really miss home. I miss my family every single day," the woman in the video appeared to say. "But I’m still here, serving my country."
Other X accounts also shared the video, as did accounts on Instagram, YouTube and TikTok. One X post gained 4.4 million views.
But it’s a fake clip made with artificial intelligence.
Artificial intelligence is more likely to change the nature of work than to supplant masses of workers, according to researchers.
The budget Neo laptop is proving to be so popular that Apple could face a shortage before next year's update arrives.
Raising a child through age 18 is most expensive in Hawaii, where a family would spend an estimated $412,661 in 2026, LendingTree found.
For the better part of the last two years, we’ve been sold a bill of goods regarding the “AI PC.” Microsoft stood on stage and promised us a revolution, but what they delivered was a glorified search bar and a “Recall” feature that was so poorly executed it became a security nightmare before it even launched. The industry has been flailing, trying to figure out why users aren’t rushing to upgrade their hardware for a chatbot they can already access in a browser tab.
The problem wasn’t the AI; it was the architecture. We’ve been treating the PC as a terminal for cloud AI rather than an autonomous intelligent entity. That changes now. At HP Imagine 2026, HP just dropped HP IQ, and it is the first time I’ve seen a vendor actually understand that the “AI” in AI PC needs to live on the edge, not in a data center in Virginia.
HP IQ isn’t just another Windows app; it’s what HP calls a “workplace intelligence layer.” Think of it as a sophisticated, context-aware interface (branded as Visor) that sits between the user and the operating system. Unlike Microsoft’s Copilot, which effectively functions as a middleman for Azure, HP IQ is powered by a locally-running 20-billion-parameter model.
The genius here is in the NearSense capability. By using proximity-based discovery, your laptop doesn’t just know who you are; it knows where you are and what’s around you. If you walk into a conference room, HP IQ identifies the HP camera and the polycom units and configures them instantly. It’s the seamless “it just works” experience that Apple fans have bragged about for years, finally brought to the enterprise PC.
IT shops are currently bleeding cash on cloud AI tokens. Every time an employee asks a cloud LLM to summarize a 50-page PDF, a meter runs in the cloud. When you multiply that by 10,000 employees, the ROI vanishes.
Endpoint AI implementations like HP IQ save money in three critical ways:
HP isn’t alone in this race. At CES 2026, Lenovo introduced Qira, and the two efforts are remarkably similar in spirit. While HP IQ focuses heavily on the “Workplace Intelligence” and IT management side, Lenovo Qira is more of a personal ambient intelligence that follows you across Lenovo and Motorola devices.
There is a beautiful synergy here. Lenovo is proving that the “Personal” in PC is back, while HP is proving the “Professional” utility. If you’re a multi-vendor shop, the emergence of these “Intelligence Layers” suggests we are moving toward a standard where the hardware vendor provides the local “brain” that manages the OS. I don’t see these two efforts as conceptual competitors even though the companies clearly are so much as two ends of the same bridge over the “Cloud Gap.”
Microsoft tried to build a “Cloud PC” and call it an “AI PC.” They focused on features like Recall – which basically took screenshots of your life—instead of features that actually helped you work. It was invasive rather than assistive, leading to significant security pushback and deployment delays.
Microsoft should have launched with a layer like HP IQ: a tool that manages your local environment, handles your local files securely, and uses the NPU for something other than blurring your background in a Teams call. HP is essentially doing Microsoft’s job for them by fixing the user interface through the Visor overlay. If Windows 11 was the engine, HP IQ is the self-driving system that actually makes the car useful.
Here is the controversial take: Microsoft might be the wrong partner for the future of the AI PC. While Microsoft is bogged down in legacy Windows code, MediaTek and Google are building a leaner, more efficient “Android PC” ecosystem.
MediaTek’s NPUs are arguably more optimized for high-efficiency edge AI than the current X86 offerings. Furthermore, Google Gemini is proving to be a better enterprise fit than ChatGPT. Why? Integration.
In five years, we won’t be “using” AI; we will be working within it. An HP IQ-enabled future means your PC anticipates your needs. You walk into a meeting, and your PC has already pulled up the relevant brief, connected to the room’s display, and started a local, encrypted transcript.
For IT shops, this is a dream. Instead of managing a thousand different AI plugins, you manage one Workplace Intelligence Layer. You gain centralized control over what the AI can see and do, without the nightmare of managing cloud permissions for every individual user.
The era of the “General Purpose AI” is ending, and the era of the “Contextual Endpoint AI” is beginning. HP IQ is the first real evidence that hardware manufacturers are ready to take the reins back from the cloud providers. By focusing on local 20B models, proximity-based connectivity via NearSense, and an enterprise-first management layer, HP has finally given us a reason to care about the NPU in our laptops.
The AI PC isn’t a chatbot in a window. It’s a PC that finally has the IQ to understand its owner.
About the author: As President and Principal Analyst of the Enderle Group, Rob Enderle provides regional and global companies with guidance in how to create credible dialogue with the market, target customer needs, create new business opportunities, anticipate technology changes, select vendors and products, and practice zero dollar marketing. For over 20 years Rob has worked for and with companies like Microsoft, HP, IBM, Dell, Toshiba, Gateway, Sony, USAA, Texas Instruments, AMD, Intel, Credit Suisse First Boston, ROLM, and Siemens.
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The post Beyond the Cloud Hype: Why HP IQ is the Local Intelligence Layer That Finally Makes the AI PC Profitable appeared first on HPCwire.
Alarm among military observers after president says ‘whole civilization will die tonight’ if Iran ignores demands
Donald Trump’s Tuesday morning comments threatening that “a whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again” in Iran have raised alarms among military observers and retired officers, who called them “likely war crimes”.
“I have to hope that this is bluster, and a negotiating tactic on his part,” said retired admiral Michael Smith, who commanded a carrier strike group in the US navy. “He must understand that those types of threats themselves are likely war crimes.”
Continue reading...Markwayne Mullin visits Asheville to survey Hurricane Helene recovery in first big trip since Kristi Noem’s ouster
Markwayne Mullin, the US homeland security secretary, used a visit to Asheville, North Carolina to call for a fundamental shift in the role of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema), arguing that states and local governments – not the federal agency – should lead disaster response.
“We shouldn’t look at Fema as being a first responder, but look at Fema as supporting the first responders you already have,” Mullin told reporters at a roundtable discussion.
Continue reading..."It's the greatest honor of a lifetime, and if President Trump chooses to keep me as acting, that's an honor," Blanche said. "If he chooses to nominate me, that's an honor."
The defending champion is a lot more relaxed but ‘just as motivated’ this year after finally winning at Augusta
On the Tuesday of last year’s Masters, Rory McIlroy dined with Justin Rose in the clubhouse at Augusta. He arrived right around the time that all the guests at Scottie Scheffler’s champions dinner were having cocktails on the balcony. “I was pulling up Magnolia Lane,” McIlroy says. “And I’m like, well, do I go and park way over at the parking lot? Because I’m not going to park in the champions parking lot.’”
Not when there’s Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods and everyone else looking down. “I didn’t want to get out and use a valet because they were going to see me and it was going to be weird. So I had this really awkward moment,” McIlroy says with a laugh. “Thankfully that was the last time that I needed to do that.”
Continue reading...Benjamin Torres, son of Valerie Mack, files suit before Rex Heuermann reportedly set to change plea to guilty
The accused serial killer Rex Heuermann is being sued along with his former wife and their daughter, by the son of one of his alleged victims.
Benjamin Torres, the son of Valerie Mack, one the alleged victims in the case against Heuermann, claims his mother was “tortured ferociously, and her body dismembered”.
Continue reading...Staley says she has ‘great deal of respect’ for UConn coach
Auriemma had issued apology to South Carolina staff
South Carolina women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley says it is time to move past her Final Four skirmish with UConn coach Geno Auriemma that became the talk of the tournament.
Staley released a statement on South Carolina’s X account on Tuesday in which she expressed her respect for Auriemma and said the two have spoken since South Carolina’s 62-48 victory in the Final Four on Friday night. The season ended with UCLA’s runaway 79-51 win over South Carolina in Sunday’s national championship game.
Continue reading...The astronauts aboard Artemis II are the first humans to see some parts of the far side of the moon with the naked eye.
Kittleson, a freelancer for several U.S. outlets, was seized last week in Baghdad by Kataib Hezbollah, a Shiite militia aligned with Iran.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from TorrentFreak: Following on the heels of the landmark Cox v. Sony ruling, the Supreme Court has vacated the contributory copyright infringement verdict against ISP Grande Communications, ordering the Fifth Circuit to reconsider its decision in light of the new precedent. [...] The order (PDF) effectively removes the case from the Supreme Court docket, urging the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals to take another look at its decision in light of the new ruling. Given the similarities between the two cases, it is no surprise that the Supreme Court came to this conclusion. It is now up to the Fifth Circuit to revisit whether Grande's conduct meets the intent threshold that was established in Cox. That is a significantly higher bar than the one applied in the original verdict, which found that continuing to provide service to known infringers was enough to establish material contribution. The music companies previously said they sent over a million copyright infringement notices, but that Grande failed to terminate even a single subscriber account in response. However, without proof of active inducement, these absolute numbers carry less weight now. Whether this translates into a win for Grande on remand remains to be seen. For now, however, the original $47 million verdict is further away than ever.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Lawmakers call for use of 25th amendment after president brazenly threatens to commit war crimes in Iran
As Donald Trump unleashes curse-filled threats against Iran, Democrats are raising alarm over his mental stability and calling for his removal from office – while Republicans remain conspicuously silent.
Democrats are escalating their rebukes as the 79-year-old president delivers rambling, incoherent speeches, hurls puerile insults at US allies and brazenly threatens to commit war crimes. He used an Easter Sunday social media post to warn Iran to “Open the Fuckin’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell”.
Continue reading...Prediction market bets on the fate of U.S. service members are "morally corrupt and completely unacceptable," one lawmaker said.
The US was founded on a pledge to limit the damages of war, even if it has often failed to uphold its commitment
Far from expressing remorse for his threat to bomb civilian infrastructure, Donald Trump is doubling down as we approach his deadline for Iranian submission: 8pm ET on Tuesday.
It’s not enough for the US to achieve a military victory – one that continues to elude him, with his stated goals for the war still unmet. Instead, “a whole civilization will die, never to be brought back again,” as he posted on social media. He then added that we are approaching “one of the most important moments in the long and complex history of the World”.
Continue reading...After smartphones were cleared by NASA for space missions, the crew members of the Integrity spacecraft are beaming back lots of iPhone photos.
As the US vice-president wades into a heated campaign, Hungary’s leader faces the real possibility of defeat
Even before the plane carrying JD and Usha Vance had landed in Budapest, the Hungarian government had hailed their two-day visit as a new golden age in the relationship between Washington and Budapest.
What came next was a whirlwind of politics in which the US vice-president waded directly into the country’s heated election campaign, just days before Hungarians cast their ballots.
Continue reading...Politicians warn party’s pledge to ‘punish’ countries seeking justice for slavery will harm and isolate Britain
Commonwealth politicians say they will not back down from seeking reparations as UK public figures, including a former Reform insider, warn the rightwing party’s pledge to “punish” countries seeking justice for slavery would harm and isolate Britain.
This week, Reform UK said they would halt visas for nationals of countries formally demanding reparations from Britain if they took power.
Continue reading...PM’s most senior civil servant now has task of rewriting civil service code and ‘making it recognised for improved productivity’
Antonia Romeo, Keir Starmer’s most senior civil servant, has been given a powerful new mandate to deliver his priorities, while Darren Jones, the No 10 chief secretary, has shifted to a role more focused on wider Whitehall reforms.
Romeo, who was promoted last month, took over the job of cabinet secretary and head of the civil service after an unsuccessful year in charge by her predecessor, Chris Wormald, who was not considered effective enough by No 10.
Continue reading...These charts track prices consumers pay for groceries and other goods now compared to five years ago.
Comments by US president’s son seen as gesture of support for ousted pro-Russian leader Milorad Dodik
Donald Trump’s eldest son has criticised the EU as “a little bit of a mess” during a visit to Bosnia’s Republika Srpska widely seen as a gesture of support for the ousted pro-Russian leader Milorad Dodik.
Donald Trump Jr travelled to the Serb-run region’s de facto capital, Banja Luka, as the guest of Dodik’s son Igor. The visit coincided with remarks by JD Vance in Budapest, who accused the EU of meddling in an election in Hungary, even as the US vice-president said he had travelled to Budapest to “help” Viktor Orbán win Sunday’s vote.
Continue reading...Royal Navy type 45 destroyer deployed to reinforce security around RAF base in Cyprus to undergo short maintenance stop, says MoD
HMS Dragon has docked in the eastern Mediterranean after suffering technical problems with its water systems.
The UK’s prime minister, Keir Starmer, announced on 3 March that the type 45 destroyer would be deployed to reinforce security around RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus, two days after the base was struck by a Shahed 136 drone.
Continue reading...President Donald Trump threatened to commit genocide in Iran, ahead of warnings of a wave of attacks on civilian infrastructure on Tuesday night. “A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again,” he wrote on Truth Social on Tuesday. This followed a drumbeat of similar threats of wanton and criminal destruction. “The entire country could be taken out in one night. And that night might be tomorrow night,” he said on Monday, having recently warned he would bomb Iran “back to the Stone Ages.”
“President Trump has repeatedly threatened war crimes in Iran and now he is expressing genocidal intent,” said Sarah Harrison, an associate general counsel at the Pentagon’s Office of General Counsel, International Affairs during Trump’s first term. “Every single lawmaker and national security leader needs to stand against this and make clear to the U.S. military that these are unlawful orders and if carried out they will someday face criminal prosecution.”
This interpretation was echoed by Rebecca Ingber, a former State Department lawyer and now a law professor at Cardozo Law School. “The U.S. understanding of the definition of genocide in the Genocide Convention requires a ‘specific intent’ to destroy a group — such as a national or ethnic group as relevant here,” she told The Intercept. “That is an intentionally high bar, and one that explicitly would not cover unintended consequences of armed conflict. If acted upon, the President’s statement would be evidence of that required specific intent.”
Trump has repeatedly threatened to obliterate Iran’s civilian infrastructure should the nation’s leaders not heed his demands. “We have a plan because of the power of our military where every bridge in Iran will be decimated by 12:00 tomorrow night,” he said on Monday. “Where every power plant in Iran will be out of business, burning, exploding, and never to be used again.” This echoed an Easter morning missive. “Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran. There will be nothing like it!!!” Trump ranted on Truth Social. “Open the Fuckin’ Strait [of Hormuz], you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell.”
Asked on Monday if he was concerned that his threat to bomb power plants or bridges amounts to war crimes, Trump replied “No, not at all,” and said in another interview, “I’m not worried about it.”
“There is no gray area on this under international law.”
“What President Trump is describing as the destruction of ‘a whole civilization’ would be a war crime, plain and simple,” said Sarah Yager, the Washington director at Human Rights Watch and a former senior adviser on human rights to the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff. “There is no gray area on this under international law.”
Civilian infrastructure has been a frequent target since the U.S.–Israeli war on Iran began on February 28. “Strikes on critical infrastructure and industrial sites have disrupted basic services including electricity, water and telecommunications, also leading to increasing immediate and longer term environmental and health risks,” wrote the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, or OCHA, in a brief report issued last week. Airports, cultural heritage locations, hospitals, industrial sites markets, residential areas, and schools have also been struck, including the civilian international airport in Tehran, a power plant in Khorramshahr, and water reservoirs in Fars and Khuzestan. Last week, the U.S. attacked the newly constructed B1 highway bridge, which killed 8 people, who were, according to the deputy governor of Alborz province, not military targets but nearby villagers celebrating Nowruz, the Persian new year.
The International Atomic Energy Agency has confirmed strikes affected multiple nuclear sites, including Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant. Rafael Grossi, head of the nuclear watchdog, warned on Monday that “continued military activity near the BNPP — an operating plant with large amounts of nuclear fuel — could cause a severe radiological accident with harmful consequences for people and the environment in Iran and beyond.”
Trump claimed that the Iranian people actually want the United States to attack their civilian infrastructure, citing “numerous intercepts” of communications. “‘Please keep bombing,’” Trump said on Monday of these supposed pleas. “And these are people that are living where the bombs are exploding. And when we leave, and we’re not hitting those areas, they’re saying, ‘Please come back.’”
In actuality, Iranians have been fleeing from Tehran and other major urban areas under attack. Almost a month ago, UNHCR — the U.N. refugee agency — reported that as many as 3.2 million people were already displaced inside Iran due to the conflict. While casualty counts are fragmentary, more than 2,100 civilians had been killed in the war by the end of last month and around 28,000 injured, according to Iranian Ministry of Health and Medical Education. This included 216 children killed and 1,881 injured, as of April 3.
Yager noted that Iranians who have already suffered severe government repression, including the mass killings of protesters earlier this year, now face obliteration by America. “They’re being told their entire society could be destroyed by the president of United States, with the power of the U.S. military at his fingertips. His previous threats to bomb their power plants and bridges are threats to the systems that keep people alive, their electricity, water, and health care,” she told The Intercept. “Even before anything happens, that kind of rhetoric creates deep anxiety and fear for millions of civilians who have no control over these decisions but who will bear the consequences.”
Almost 115,200 civilian homes, commercial properties, and other civilian sites have been damaged in the war, according to the Iranian Red Crescent Society. This includes 763 schools. The highest profile of these strikes was the U.S. attack on the Shajarah Tayyebeh elementary school. The attack killed around 175 civilians, most of them children. A preliminary Pentagon report concluded the strike was conducted by U.S. forces, directly contradicting assertions by Trump that Iran struck the school.
The Iranian Red Crescent also reported that more than 334 medical, health, pharmaceutical, and emergency centers have been damaged, including 18 of its own centers. Twenty-four health workers have been killed and 116 injured, according to Iran’s Ministry of Health and Medical Education.
Around 400,000 people are also facing food insecurity in Tehran alone, according to local authorities. Inflation for groceries is at almost 113 percent, severely curtailing people’s purchasing power, according to OCHA.
The post With Trump Threatening Genocide in Iran, Military Must Disobey His Orders, Former Pentagon Officials Say appeared first on The Intercept.
Game Pass Premium subscribers are getting a handful of games, including the remastered Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion.
A New York Times analysis found Google's AI Overviews now answer questions correctly about 90% of the time, which might sound impressive until you realize that roughly 1 in 10 answers is wrong. "[F]or Google, that means hundreds of thousands of lies going out every minute of the day," reports Ars Technica. From the report: The Times conducted this analysis with the help of a startup called Oumi, which itself is deeply involved in developing AI models. The company used AI tools to probe AI Overviews with the SimpleQA evaluation, a common test to rank the factuality of generative models like Gemini. Released by OpenAI in 2024, SimpleQA is essentially a list of more than 4,000 questions with verifiable answers that can be fed into an AI. Oumi began running its test last year when Gemini 2.5 was still the company's best model. At the time, the benchmark showed an 85 percent accuracy rate. When the test was rerun following the Gemini 3 update, AI Overviews answered 91 percent of the questions correctly. If you extrapolate this miss rate out to all Google searches, AI Overviews is generating tens of millions of incorrect answers per day. The report includes several examples of where AI Overviews went wrong. When asked for the date on which Bob Marley's former home became a museum, AI Overviews cited three pages, two of which didn't discuss the date at all. The final one, Wikipedia, listed two contradictory years, and AI Overviews confidently chose the wrong one. The benchmark also prompts models to produce the date on which Yo Yo Ma was inducted into the classical music hall of fame. While AI Overviews cited the organization's website that listed Ma's induction, it claimed there's no such thing as the Classical Music Hall of Fame. "This study has serious holes," said Google spokesperson Ned Adriance. "It doesn't reflect what people are actually searching on Google." The search giant likes to use a test called SimpleQA Verified, which uses a smaller set of questions that have been more thoroughly vetted.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
US vice-president rails against ‘bureaucrats in Brussels’ interfering in Sunday’s vote during Budapest visit
JD Vance has railed against the EU, accusing it of blatantly interfering in Hungary’s upcoming elections, even as the US vice-president said he had travelled to Budapest to “help” Viktor Orbán win Sunday’s vote.
Speaking to reporters shortly after landing in Budapest on Tuesday, Vance’s tone was combative as he alleged that the EU was responsible for “one of the worst examples of foreign election interference” he had ever seen.
Continue reading...Rapper had been booked to play at festival in London, prompting outcry over his past antisemitic remarks
The Wireless music festival has been cancelled after the artist formerly known as Kanye West was banned from entering the UK amid a deepening political row over his previous antisemitic statements.
West, legally known as Ye, was due to headline all three days of the festival in July and made an application to travel to the UK via an electronic travel authorisation (ETA) on Monday, but this was blocked by officials.
Continue reading...You're probably all set, but you should still probably check and update if necessary.
April 7, 2026 — Anthropic has signed a new agreement with Google and Broadcom for multiple gigawatts of next-generation TPU capacity expected to come online in 2027. This significant expansion of Anthropic’s compute infrastructure will power frontier Claude models and help the company serve extraordinary demand from customers worldwide.
“This groundbreaking partnership with Google and Broadcom is a continuation of our disciplined approach to scaling infrastructure: we are building the capacity necessary to serve the exponential growth we have seen in our customer base while also enabling Claude to define the frontier of AI development,” said Krishna Rao, CFO of Anthropic. “We are making our most significant compute commitment to date to keep pace with our unprecedented growth.”
Demand from Claude customers has accelerated in 2026. Anthropic’s run-rate revenue has now surpassed $30 billion—up from approximately $9 billion at the end of 2025. When Anthropic announced its Series G fundraising in February, the company shared that over 500 business customers were each spending over $1 million on an annualized basis. Today that number exceeds 1,000, doubling in less than two months.
The vast majority of the new compute will be sited in the United States, making this partnership a major expansion of Anthropic’s November 2025 commitment to invest $50 billion in strengthening American computing infrastructure.
The partnership deepens Anthropic’s existing work with Google Cloud—building on the increased TPU capacity announced last October—as well as Anthropic’s relationship with Broadcom.
Anthropic trains and runs Claude on a range of AI hardware—AWS Trainium, Google TPUs, and NVIDIA GPUs—which means workloads can be matched to the chips best suited for them. This diversity of platforms translates to better performance and greater resilience for customers who depend on Claude for critical work.
Amazon remains Anthropic’s primary cloud provider and training partner, and the company continues to work closely with AWS on Project Rainier. Claude remains the only frontier AI model available to customers on all three of the world’s largest cloud platforms: Amazon Web Services (Bedrock), Google Cloud (Vertex AI), and Microsoft Azure (Foundry).
More from HPCwire
About Google Cloud
Google Cloud is the new way to the cloud, providing AI, infrastructure, developer, data, security, and collaboration tools built for today and tomorrow. Google Cloud offers a powerful, fully integrated and optimized AI stack with its own planet-scale infrastructure, custom-built chips, generative AI models and development platform, as well as AI-powered applications, to help organizations transform. Customers in more than 200 countries and territories turn to Google Cloud as their trusted technology partner.
About Anthropic
Anthropic is an AI research and development company that creates reliable, interpretable, and steerable AI systems. Anthropic’s flagship product is Claude, a large language model trusted by millions of users worldwide. Anthropic’s flagship product is Claude, a family of foundational AI models purpose-built for business tasks. Visit www.anthropic.com for more information.
Source: Anthropic
The post Anthropic Signs Google, Broadcom Deal to Add Multi-Gigawatt TPU Capacity appeared first on HPCwire.
Parents face child endangerment charge after their kid suffered a minor injury at ZooAmerica in Hersheypark
The parents of a toddler who suffered a minor injury at a Pennsylvania theme park zoo after squeezing through a fence near a wolf enclosure and making contact with one of the animals have been charged with endangering the welfare of children, with police accusing them of paying attention to their cellphones at the time.
In a news release, police said that the parents both walked about 25ft to 30ft (7.5 meters to 9 meters) away from the child to a seating area with benches and appeared to be paying attention to their cellphones when they noticed what was happening Saturday at ZooAmerica in Hersheypark.
Continue reading...Baby was delivered during Caribbean Airlines flight from Kingston to the US; nationality of child to be determined
A routine passenger flight from Jamaica landed at New York’s John F Kennedy international airport with one more person than it took off with after a woman gave birth in midair, potentially setting up a tricky situation over the newborn’s citizenship.
The “medical event” occurred on a Caribbean Airlines flight from Kingston on Saturday, according to a news release from the carrier.
Continue reading...Lib Dems, Greens and some Labour MPs demand UK block US from using its airbases for Iran missions
Keir Starmer is facing increasing pressure to limit US access to British airbases after Donald Trump threatened “a whole civilisation” would die if Iran ignored his demands, comments that Downing Street has not directly criticised.
No 10 has allowed US forces to use UK bases only for defensive missions against Iran, such as targeting missile sites, ruling out involvement in attacks on civilian infrastructure such as power stations, which the US president has threatened.
Continue reading...Freelancer Shelly Kittleson was reportedly held by Iran-backed militia which says she must now leave country
The US journalist Shelly Kittleson, who was kidnapped from a Baghdad street corner last week, has been released, according to an Iraqi official with direct knowledge of the situation.
Kittleson was freed in the afternoon, said the official, who spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment publicly. He did not share her current whereabouts but said that before her release, she had been held in Baghdad.
Continue reading...Missing the April tax deadline doesn't have to spiral into a crisis, but you'll want to know what your options are.
Anthropic says its annualized revenue run rate has surpassed $30 billion and disclosed plans to secure roughly 3.5 gigawatts of next-generation Google TPU compute starting in 2027. Broadcom will supply the key chips and networking gear for the effort, the company announced. The Register reports: News of the two deals emerged today in a Broadcom regulatory filing that opens with two items of news. One is a "Long Term Agreement for Broadcom to develop and supply custom Tensor Processing Units ("TPUs") for Google's future generations of TPUs." Google and Broadcom have collaborated to produce custom TPUs. Broadcom CEO Hock Tan recently shared his opinion that hyperscalers don't have the skill to create custom accelerators and predicted Broadcom's chip business will therefore win over $100 billion of revenue from AI chips in 2027 alone. Working on next-gen TPUs for Google will presumably help to make that prediction a reality. So will the second part of Broadcom's announcement: a "Supply Assurance Agreement for Broadcom to supply networking and other components to be used in Google's next-generation AI racks through up to 2031." Broadcom's filing also revealed one user of Google's next-gen TPU will be Anthropic, which starting in 2027, "will access through Broadcom approximately 3.5 gigawatts as part of the multiple gigawatts of next generation TPU-based AI compute capacity committed by Anthropic."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
This is how the four astronauts sleep, use the bathroom and work out during their 10-day mission to the moon and back.
Watchdog finds allegations against City of Sanctuary UK were misleading after complaint from Tory MP
A refugee charity subjected to vicious social media attacks over a migrant welcome project in schools has been cleared of wrongdoing after watchdogs found allegations it encouraged pupils to send Valentine’s Day cards to asylum seekers were misleading and false.
City of Sanctuary UK came under fire last year after rumours spread online that under its schools programme, children were being “forced” to write heart-shaped welcome cards to adult migrants, including cards addressed to “my fiance”.
Continue reading...President Masoud Pezeshkian says 14m people ‘declared their readiness to sacrifice their lives’ for defence of Iran
Iranians officials called on young people to form human chains around the country’s power plants and people in Tehran stocked up on basic provisions, as the clock ticked down on Donald Trump’s deadline for Iran to open the strait of Hormuz or face massive strikes on civilian infrastructure.
Iranian media showed people gathering outside electricity stations, waving Iranian flags and holding up banners, including at the country’s largest power plant, near Tehran, and in Tabriz in the north-west. In Dezful in the south-west, people gathered on a bridge said to be 1,700 years old.
Continue reading...The threat posed by a new space race is real. But so is the wonder of humankind’s reaching for the skies
“Everything we need, Earth provides. And that is somewhat of a miracle, and one that you can’t truly know until you’ve had the perspective of the other.” This is how the US astronaut Christina Koch summed up her experience of travelling to the far side of the moon on Monday. The feeling of a deepened appreciation for home recalls statements by an earlier generation of space travellers. The famous Earthrise photograph, taken on the Apollo 8 mission in 1968, has been credited as one of the drivers behind the environmental movement. Such was the power of the first images of the “blue planet” captured from space.
The hope that such journeys can foster global cooperation and appreciation for life was also the theme of the prize-winning novel Orbital, which is set on a space station among a multinational crew. But if it was ever possible to overlook the darker side of space travel, it definitely isn’t today. In the 1960s, the American and Soviet programmes were projections of the two blocs’ military strength. In the 2020s, the tech billionaires Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk are key players in a dramatically revived US industry, while a post-terrestrial geopolitical battle between the US and China takes shape. Nasa aims to put a nuclear reactor on the moon by 2030.
Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.
Continue reading...After a long wait, Apple has unveiled the AirPods Max 2. Here's my full skinny on all the performance and feature upgrades the new model offers.
Smart rings are popular, but they're not created equally. This is my favorite one so far.
The resulting text will smooth out what you said, removing the inevitable ums and uhs.
Spaniard confident resolution with DP World Tour is close
Rahm paired with Gotterup and Åberg at Masters
Jon Rahm has declared he will play for Europe in next year’s Ryder Cup, with the Spaniard confident of ending his standoff with the DP World Tour by this September. Rahm’s sentiment from Augusta National will raise Luke Donald’s confidence that he will be able to call on one of his key team members for Europe’s Ryder Cup defence.
Rahm has been subject to fines reaching seven figures for participating on the LIV Tour without consent from the DP World Tour, of which he is still a member. Rahm dropped his appeal over the sanctions recently, which leaves him in default to the DP World Tour and unavailable for Ryder Cup selection. He also turned down a deal which would have seen the situation resolved in return for playing six designated DP World Tour events.
Continue reading...A bank levy can disrupt everything, including your ability to cover your bills. So what happens during the process?
Non-profits are scaling back programs, raising fears of worsening violence in historically underserved communities
Sergio Diaz knows how to make people feel comfortable. It is a skill he learned from his years as a salesman selling shoes, cellphones and lawn care hardware in the San Francisco Bay Area. He is no longer a salesman, but relating to others is still crucial in Diaz’s work as a gun violence prevention specialist for the Oakland non-profit Youth Alive.
Every day, the 34-year-old goes to trauma centers, like Highland hospital in East Oakland, and meets with people who are recovering after being shot. He talks with them at their bedsides to figure out what they need to redirect them away from retaliation – whether it’s help applying for medical benefits or getting a driver’s license. Beyond his way with words, he says he is able to build relationships with his clients, many of whom are immigrants from Central America, because he understands their circumstances.
Continue reading...While not revolutionary, these changes give you more freedom to make your browser windows look how you want them.
Cloudflare is accelerating its post-quantum security plans and now aims to make its entire platform fully post-quantum secure by 2029. "The updated timeline follows new developments in quantum computing research that suggest current cryptographic standards could be broken sooner than previously expected," reports SiliconANGLE. From the report: The decision by Cloudflare to move its post-quantum security roadmap forward comes after Google LLC and research from Oratomic demonstrated significant advances in algorithms and hardware capable of breaking widely used encryption methods such as RSA-2048 and elliptic curve cryptography. [...] The company said progress across three key areas -- quantum hardware, error correction and quantum algorithms -- is advancing in parallel and compounding overall capability. Improvements in areas such as neutral atom architectures and more efficient error correction are reducing the resources required to break encryption, while algorithmic advances are lowering computational complexity. [...] Cloudflare has already deployed post-quantum encryption across a large portion of its network and reports that more than half of human traffic it processes now uses post-quantum key agreement. The company plans to expand support for post-quantum authentication in 2026, followed by broader deployment across its network and products through 2028. By 2029, Cloudflare said, it expects all of its services to be fully post-quantum secure, with those services being available by default across its platform, without requiring customer action or additional cost as part of the company's commitment to security upgrades. Google said it plans to accelerate its post-quantum encryption migration target to 2029.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
US vice-president claims ‘the bureaucrats in Brussels have tried to destroy the economy of Hungary’
… and here they are!
JD Vance and Usha Vance off the Air Force Two, welcomed by Hungarian foreign minister Péter Szijjártó as they begin their two-day trip to the Hungarian capital.
Continue reading...There is no question that Trump’s threats, if carried out, would amount to war crimes. The international justice system is positioned to act
Donald Trump is openly threatening war crimes in Iran because he apparently thinks he can get away with them. Sadly, the US supreme court has given him reason to believe in his impunity within the United States. But there are international options for prosecution that lie beyond the court’s lawless license. They are not easy to exercise, but the terrible precedent of the world’s most powerful president openly flouting international humanitarian law should compel action.
There is no doubt that Trump is contemplating war crimes. As part of his plan to bomb Iran “back to the stone ages” and wipe out a “whole civilization”, Trump has threatened to destroy such civilian infrastructure as desalination plants, electrical-generating facilities and bridges.
Continue reading...The kea package has moved all services to run as a dedicated kea user (instead of root) for improved security. This change requires permission updates to the runtime files created by the kea services.
Users upgrading from an existing kea installation should therefore run the following commands after the upgrade:
chown kea: /var/lib/kea/* /var/log/kea/* /run/lock/kea/logger_lockfile
systemctl try-restart kea-ctrl-agent.service kea-dhcp{4,6,-ddns}.service
Accounts that need to interact with kea services files (e.g. lease files under /var/lib/kea, log files under /var/log/kea or configuration files under /etc/kea) should be added to the kea group.
Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation has asked a court to halt the separatist push, arguing it would violate their treaty rights
A First Nation in Alberta has said that a separatist push for the province to secede from Canada is “consummately irresponsible and dishonourable” and should be shut down, arguing in court that a proposed referendum would violate their treaty rights.
A minority of residents of the oil-rich province have long argued that the province’s woes are due to the structure of payments to the federal government and a perceived inability to get their vast fossil fuel reserves to market.
Continue reading...First, Spotify let you customize the music its AI recommends. Now, you can discover new podcasts with prompts.
Oil prices swing and stock markets tense on approach to Trump’s deadline for Iran to reopen strait of Hormuz
The oil and gas crisis triggered by the blockade of the strait of Hormuz is “more serious than the ones in 1973, 1979 and 2022 together”, the head of the International Energy Agency (IEA) has said.
Speaking as Donald Trump’s deadline for Iran to reopen the waterway approached, Fatih Birol told Le Figaro newspaper that the impact of the Middle East conflict on the oil market was larger than the combined force of the twin shocks of the 1970s and the fallout from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Continue reading...The vice president traveled to Budapest as Trump’s deadline for an Iran deal loomed Tuesday, backing the administration’s closest ideological ally in Europe.
A pair of organizations filed a lawsuit challenging the Justice Department's determination that a presidential records law is unconstitutional.
The defense secretary’s rosy portrayal of U.S. success in the conflict risks misinforming the public and the president, observers worry.
Gas prices in the U.S. could near a record high later this month if the Strait of Hormuz remains sealed, energy industry experts warn.
Later this year, you'll be able to hail a robotaxi through the Lyft app as well.
 | What are yall using for charge port covers? Loving every minute of this board. [link] [comments] |
Acrobat Student Spaces lets you create custom study guides, flashcards, quizzes, podcasts and video overviews.
Pheap Rom was one of 15 people sent to prison in African kingdom last year despite completing US sentences
A Cambodian man deported by the US said he would have accepted being sent to Cambodia, but instead ended up imprisoned in Eswatini, a country he knew so little about that when he first read the name he thought it was another immigration detention centre in Louisiana.
Pheap Rom, who had been convicted of attempted murder, was one of 10 deportees sent to Eswatini by the US in October 2025. They joined a group of five men, from Cambodia, Cuba, Jamaica, Vietnam and Yemen, who were deported to the small southern African country in July. All were sent to a maximum-security prison. Rom was deported from Eswatini to Cambodia in March.
Continue reading...Donald Trump says the US will bomb Iran’s power plants and bridges if Tehran fails to meet his latest deadline to reopen the strait of Hormuz. The US president says he is ‘not at all’ concerned that such attacks on civilian infrastructure could amount to war crimes and a ‘whole civilisation will die tonight’ if Iran doesn’t agree to a deal.
But will Trump follow through on the threat? And what could it mean for the war in the Middle East? Lucy Hough is joined by senior international correspondent Julian Borger
Continue reading...Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square claims world’s biggest music company has suffered because of delay of US listing
Billionaire Bill Ackman’s hedge fund has offered to buy Universal Music Group (UMG) in a deal that values the world’s biggest music company at about €55bn (£48bn).
Pershing Square, the New-York based hedge fund, has made a bid for the business, which is home to artists including Taylor Swift and Elton John, with a cash and stock deal that would move its stock market listing from Amsterdam to New York.
Continue reading...Bill Gates will appear before the House Oversight Committee as part of the panel's investigation into Jeffrey Epstein, according to a source familiar with the plans.
Delta is the third major U.S. carrier to hike its bag fees, as airlines face surging jet fuel costs and other headwinds from the Iran war.
President Trump posted on social media that "a whole civilization will die tonight," adding "but I don't want that to happen, but it probably will."
President Donald Trump said the United States would target “every” Iranian bridge and power plant. Experts say such blanket action violates international law.
 | Woke up at 5am today just to get 2 hours of riding in before work. ADDICT! [link] [comments] |
An anonymous reader quotes a report from the New York Times: President Javier Milei of Argentina promoted a cryptocurrency last year that quickly skyrocketed in value then cratered just as fast, costing investors millions of dollars and setting off a scandal and an investigation. Mr. Milei said he was simply highlighting a private venture and had no connection to the digital coin called $Libra. New evidence is now raising questions about his assertion. Phone logs from a federal investigation by Argentine prosecutors into the coin's collapse show seven phone calls between Mr. Milei and one of the entrepreneurs behind the cryptocurrency on the night in 2025 when Mr. Milei posted about $Libra on X. The contents of the calls, which took place before and after Mr. Milei's post, are not known. But the phone logs -- which were obtained by The New York Times and first reported by a local cable news channel, C5N -- suggest a greater degree of communication between Mr. Milei and the entrepreneurs who launched the token than what the president has publicly acknowledged. Newly uncovered messages also suggest Mr. Milei received regular payments from one of the entrepreneurs while he was a congressman. Mr. Milei has not publicly commented on the call logs and other documents, and he did not respond to a request for comment. He is named as a person of interest in the federal prosecutor's continuing investigation into the digital coin, according to court documents reviewed by The Times, but has not been formally charged with any crime. The latest revelations have revived a scandal that threatens the very foundation of a president who rose to power and was elected president in 2023 by attacking a political class he called corrupt.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Heavyweight quarterfinal clash sees Los Blancos host the German giants at the Bernabéu.
Authorities launch investigation after human remains found at DeForest Park in Long Beach
The discovery of a human skull during an Easter egg hunt near Los Angeles has prompted authorities to launch an investigation.
At about 5pm on Sunday a family discovered the human remains during an egg hunt at DeForest Park in Long Beach, California, according to local reports.
Continue reading...It's a lot of money for a camera, but over a year and 40,000 photos later, I'm still glad I bought my Leica Q343.
The Reform UK leader says he is ‘shocked’ by the remarks which were ‘over the top in every single way’
The Green party is backing resident doctors who are on strike. This morning the party issued a statement on the dispute from its co-deputy leader, Mothin Ali, saying:
Rather than shifting goalposts or arm twisting resident doctors with threats over training places, Wes Streeting needs to get serious about resolving resident doctors long term concerns over pay, training and working conditions. The government’s 10-year plan for the NHS will go nowhere if the workforce feels unappreciated, devalued and demotivated.
I think I’m going to stay out of the selection of music by different bands. We live in a free country; people are going to say things. Let’s just let people listen to the music they want to.
People should choose their music and they don’t really they need advice from John Swinney unless they want to listen to The Jam or Amy McDonald.
Well, the government should go on and take their decisions within their powers, but I’m not going to give a running commentary on music taste.
Continue reading...This series of profiles features noteworthy people over the past 250 years who have shaped the American constitutional tradition in various ways. In this post, National Constitution Center content fellow Anna Salvatore looks at the life of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who helped organize the Seneca Falls Convention of 1848, which launched the movement for women’s rights.
Elizabeth Cady Stanton was born into a prominent family in Johnstown, New York on November 12, 1815, where she lived with her parents, five siblings, and as many as 12 servants in a mansion on the town square. Her father, Daniel Cady, was a distinguished lawyer and politician, and her mother, Margaret Cady née Livingston, ran the house with what her daughter called “queenly and magnificent sway” and “the soul of independence and self-reliance.” They ensured their daughter had a stronger education than most young women of her era. Elizabeth studied debate, Greek, and mathematics at the Johnstown Academy before attending Troy Female Seminary, where she felt the first stirrings of a lifelong distrust of religious revivalism and its constraining effects on young women.
Her political education took place at her cousin Gerrit Smith’s house in upstate New York. Smith, who would help fund John Brown’s raid on Harper’s Ferry, invited a constant stream of abolitionists, temperance advocates, and Native Americans to his stately home on the Underground Railroad. It was there that she met her future husband, Henry Stanton, whom she married just before they visited London for the World Anti-Slavery Convention in 1840. Though women were forbidden to participate, Stanton watched the proceedings closely and befriended fellow spectator and suffragist Lucretia Mott.
Video: Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Women’s Suffrage, and the Legacy of the 19th Amendment
In 1847, at age 31, Stanton moved to Seneca Falls, New York, already the mother of three children. She would go on to have four more between 1951 and 1959. Nearly all of the burdens of housekeeping and childrearing fell to her. Henry, absorbed in his law practice, was also active in the formation of the abolitionist Free Soil Party at the time. Exhausted and isolated by housework, which prevented her from traveling and writing as widely as she would have liked, Stanton expressed her “long-accumulating discontent” to Mott, a Quaker, and other Quaker women in the community in the summer of 1848. They resolved to organize a women’s rights convention in Seneca Falls a few days later.
This gathering, known as the Seneca Falls Convention, took place in the town’s Wesleyan Chapel from July 19–20, 1848. Among the attendees, nearly all of whom were white and female, was the abolitionist Frederick Douglass, who defended Stanton’s controversial resolution in favor of women’s suffrage. She was also the principal author of the Declaration of Sentiments, a remodeling of the Declaration of Independence that placed women’s equality at its center. She listed women’s political grievances against men (“he has compelled her to submit to laws, in the formation of which she had no voice”) in much the same way that American colonists had listed their grievances against King Charles III.
Historic Document: Seneca Falls Declaration (1848)
The Declaration of Sentiments concluded with an urgent demand: “In view of this entire disfranchisement of one-half the people of this country... and because women do feel themselves aggrieved, oppressed, and fraudulently deprived of their most sacred rights, we insist that they have immediate admission to all the rights and privileges which belong to them as citizens of these United States.” It was signed by 100 of some 300 attendees to the convention and reprinted in abolitionist newspapers across the country.
Stanton met the women’s rights reformer Susan B. Anthony in 1851, forming an enduring friendship and partnership that would last the rest of their lives. Anthony excelled at organizing, while Stanton excelled at speeches and written pronouncements. Together they began to link the demands of the temperance and suffrage movements, arguing that liberalized divorce laws would allow women and children to escape subordination by alcoholic fathers. They also played leading roles in the New York Anti-Slavery Society in the 1850s while Henry Stanton helped organize the Republican Party in opposition to the expansion of slavery into western territories.
Stanton had long used slavery in her speeches and writings as a metaphor for women’s subordination to men, but during the Civil War, she increasingly referred to slavery as an evil in itself. In 1861, she joined a speaking tour to call for immediate and unconditional emancipation and “no compromise with slaveholders.” She co-authored an “Address to the Women of the Republic” with Anthony that urged northern white women to defend the war’s “ultimate purpose,” and in 1863, they founded the Women’s National Loyal League to campaign for a constitutional amendment to end slavery. It is considered the first national women’s political organization in U.S. history.
After President Abraham Lincoln’s assassination in 1865, the elections of 1866 brought dramatic wins for Republicans in the House and Senate. Reformers proposed legislation to grant suffrage and the other rights of citizenship to African American men, declaring that it was “the Negro’s hour.” Stanton expressed concern that the 14th Amendment would introduce sex-based distinctions into the Constitution to explicitly exclude women from these rights. In heated debates with other suffragists and abolitionists, she began to display the racism and nativism that would ultimately taint her legacy, declaring boldly that she “would not trust” the Black man with her rights if he were enfranchised first.
In 1870, Stanton and Anthony advanced a legal theory called the “New Departure.” They argued that a constitutional amendment for women’s suffrage was not necessary because the 14th Amendment’s definition of citizenship already implicitly guaranteed women the right to vote. The Supreme Court rejected this strategy in the 1875 decision Minor v. Happersett, ruling that women were citizens, but that suffrage was not one of the rights of citizenship.
In the final years of her life, Stanton collaborated with Anthony on a multi-volume history of the women’s movement. She also published an intensely controversial Women’s Bible, which rewrote and reinterpreted passages of the Bible that had long positioned women as inherently subservient to men. Her activism in this period, she said, was grounded by her understanding of women’s “birthright to self-sovereignty.” Stanton often expressed her resentment that African Americans and immigrants possessed more rights than educated white women, and in the 1890s, she advocated for literacy tests so that “chiefly foreign” labor agitators would not have access to the ballot.
Stanton did not live long enough to see her dreams of enfranchisement fulfilled. She died of heart failure in New York City on October 26, 1902, 17 years before the 19th Amendment was ratified, granting women the right to vote.
Anna Salvatore is a Content Fellow at the National Constitution Center and a graduate of Princeton University.
A major music festival featuring the rapper formerly known as Kanye West was canceled after the U.K. government blocked Ye from entering the country.
Guardian journalist among those to get surprise request, though Farage denies party are ‘begging’ people to stand
Reform UK has been cold calling people asking them to become “paper” candidates for the party at the local elections, as parties dash to sign up enough names before Thursday’s deadline.
Nigel Farage’s party has been ringing members of the public asking them to stand despite apparently knowing very little about them except that they have signed up for Reform’s email updates.
Continue reading...In a patch of desert in Isfahan province, personnel clear the site where just hours earlier two C-130 planes and two helicopters were destroyed
The small farming community of Parzan near the city of Shahreza in Iran’s Isfahan province had been largely spared from the US-Israeli war now in its second month – until several US aircraft landed on a dirt airstrip near their village.
The site of the destroyed aircraft in Isfahan province
Continue reading...  | waiting on new kneepads and my stormtrooper get up will be complete. this is a local hot spot of homeless activity. i clean the waterways thats my jam float on friends ! [link] [comments] |
Minister says change for plan 2 and 3 loans in England and Wales will protect borrowers from impact of global conflict
Millions of graduates will have the interest on their student loans capped at 6% from September as a temporary measure to protect them from the risk of rising inflation driven by war in the Middle East.
Ministers acted after months of criticism over the loans becoming a “debt trap” that often leave graduates in England and Wales paying tens of thousands more than the original loan amount.
Continue reading...Reuters uncovers that the TSA shared more than 31,000 traveler records with ICE for immigration enforcement
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested more than 800 people following tips shared by federal airport security officials from the start of Donald Trump’s second presidency through February 2026, according to internal agency data reviewed by Reuters – a figure far above what was previously publicly known.
The leads came from the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), which supplied ICE with records on more than 31,000 travelers for possible immigration enforcement, the data showed.
Continue reading...Silver can play a critical role in a diversified portfolio. Here's how much it costs per ounce right now.
People in Iran say they could be left to pick up the pieces if President Donald Trump destroys the country’s infrastructure and economy.
Mortgage rates are holding firm overall after last week's market chaos, but one loan type just got cheaper.
Shahid Bagheri leaking fuel towards Hara mangrove forest, home to migrating birds and endangered turtles
An oil slick from a stricken Iranian ship threatens to contaminate one of the Middle East’s most important wetlands, satellite image analysis suggests, making it one of a number of spills posing a risk to the livelihoods of coastal communities in the Gulf.
The Shahid Bagheri, a drone carrier, began leaking heavy fuel oil in Iranian territorial waters near the strait of Hormuz after it was hit by a US warplane in the first few days of the US-Israel attack on Iran.
Continue reading...theodp writes: "Gates Computer Science Building renamed Peter Thiel Center for Panoptic Computing" reads the headline of an April Fools' Day story that ran in the Humor section of The Stanford Daily (with the further disclaimer that "This article is purely satirical and fictitious"). The story begins: "Following revelations that the billionaire founder of Microsoft, Bill Gates, had a longstanding relationship with convicted child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, Stanford has announced it will strip Gates' name from the William H. Gates Computer Science Building and instead honor alumnus Peter Thiel B.A. '89, JD '92. Gates, who is not a Stanford alumnus, gave an initial gift of $6 million toward the building's construction in 1992." While fictional, the story does make one wonder what may become of the academic and institutional buildings worldwide named after Bill Gates in the blowback over his past ties to Epstein, which have already played a factor in the breakdown of his marriage to Melinda French Gates and friendship with Warren Buffet. In addition to The Gates Computer Science Building at Stanford, this includes the Bill and Melinda Gates Computer Science Complex at the University of Texas at Austin, Bill and Melinda Gates Hall at Cornell, The Bill & Melinda Gates Center for Computer Science & Engineering at the University of Washington, and The William H. Gates Building at MIT's Stata Center. Buildings named after Gates' parents include Mary Gates Hall and William H. Gates Hall at the University of Washington, and The William Gates Building at the University of Cambridge (UK). Aside from the Thiel angle, The Stanford Daily's April Fools' Day story may not be as far-fetched as it may seem -- many universities' naming policies include provisions allowing donors' names to be removed from buildings, programs, or other facilities under extraordinary circumstances. For example, the University of Washington's Regent Policy No. 50 states, "The University reserves the right to revoke and terminate any naming on reasonable grounds not limited to the revelation of corporate or individual acts detracting from the University's mission, integrity, or reputation." Then again, UW notes that Bill's parents and siblings served as UW Regents for decades, so one expects Bill will be granted some leeway here for what he has characterized as 'foolish' choices on his part.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
April 7, 2026 — A key bottleneck in today’s leading approaches to quantum error correction is the need to repeatedly pause and measure the quantum processor mid-computation, a process that is slow, technically demanding, and itself a significant source of errors. Now, a joint team from the University of Innsbruck, RWTH Aachen University, Forschungszentrum Jülich and spin-off Alpine Quantum Technologies (AQT) has demonstrated fault-tolerant quantum computation without any such interruptions.
Credit: kritsak permrit/Shutterstock
In a study published in Nature Communications, the team presents a complete toolbox of fault-tolerant quantum operations that eliminates so-called mid-circuit measurements and feed-forward control entirely. Rather than stopping the computation to read out error information and classically deciding on a correction, the new approach processes error information coherently.
“That happens entirely within the quantum computation itself, using only standard quantum gate operations,” said Friederike Butt. “This makes the method faster and potentially less error-prone than conventional schemes, and particularly well-suited to hardware platforms where measurements are especially costly.”
To put their approach to the test, the researchers implemented Grover’s quantum search algorithm fault-tolerantly on three logical qubits encoded across eight physical qubits of a trapped-ion quantum processor. The experiment clearly identified the correct solutions, providing a compelling proof-of-concept.
“For the first time, we have shown that a complete fault-tolerant quantum algorithm can be executed without mid-circuit measurements with feed-forward control,” said Ivan Pogorelov from the Department of Experimental Physics at the University of Innsbruck.
“This is a new paradigm for quantum error correction, and this experiment is a first, important step toward realizing its full potential,” said team leader Thomas Monz.
The theoretical framework was developed by Friederike Butt and Markus Müller at RWTH Aachen University and Forschungszentrum Jülich, while the experimental implementation was carried out by Ivan Pogorelov and others at the University of Innsbruck. Their findings demonstrate the practical feasibility of measurement-free protocols and mark an important first step toward exploring this largely uncharted direction in quantum computation.
The work was supported by the European Union, the Austrian Science Fund FWF, the Austrian Research Promotion Agency FFG, the Federation of Austrian Industries Tyrol and other funding bodies.
Publication: Demonstration of measurement-free universal logical quantum computation. Friederike Butt, Ivan Pogorelov, Robert Freund, Alex Steiner, Marcel Meyer, Thomas Monz & Markus Müller. Nature Communications (2026) 17:995. DOI: 10.1038/s41467-026-68533-x
Source: University of Innsbruck
The post Researchers Execute Fault-Tolerant Quantum Algorithm Without Mid-Calculation Measurements appeared first on HPCwire.
IMF head warns Middle East war will lead to higher inflation and slower global growth while IEA director says oil and gas crisis ‘more serious than the ones in 1973, 1979 and 2022 together’
Brent crude has now fallen 1.8% to $107.86 a barrel.
“For now, the absence of a clear path forward is keeping markets volatile and indecisive,” said Daniela Hathorrn, senior market analyst at Capital.com.
Markets are once again on edge as the US–Iran conflict enters a critical phase, with investors effectively trading against another countdown clock set by the Trump administration. The situation has evolved into a near-term binary outcome: either escalation through direct strikes on Iranian infrastructure, or a last-minute de-escalation that could trigger a sharp reversal in risk assets.
Recent developments suggest that tensions remain high. Despite intermittent headlines hinting at negotiations or potential off-ramps, rhetoric from Washington has remained aggressive, while Iran continues to hold firm on its position, particularly around control of the strait of Hormuz. That chokepoint remains the central issue in the conflict, and neither side appears willing to concede easily. While escalation would be damaging for both, the strategic incentives are misaligned: the US is trying to restore stability and energy flows, while Iran is leveraging disruption as a deterrent. That dynamic keeps the risk of further escalation elevated.
Investors realise that recession is once again on the table.
The attacks on energy infrastructure and disruptions to shipping in the Persian Gulf are weighing even more heavily on people’s minds than they did four weeks ago.
Continue reading...Union rejected 4.9% pay rise for resident doctors, who are on six-day strike, but offered its own staff 2.75%
The British Medical Association has been accused of the “height of hypocrisy” for offering its own staff below-inflation pay rises while demanding a 26% increase for resident doctors.
Tens of thousands of medics walked out of the NHS in England on Tuesday, the 15th time they have staged industrial action since March 2023 in their campaign for “full pay restoration”.
Continue reading...Nasa astronauts begin journey home having collected eagerly awaited images of impact craters and ridges
Nasa’s Artemis II astronauts have described the powerful emotion felt when soaring over the moon as they photographed impact craters, cracks and ridges and began their long journey home.
Among the eagerly awaited images captured by the crew, who worked in pairs at the Orion capsule windows, are those of the Earth rising from behind the moon, a solar eclipse and parts of the 590-mile (950km) wide Orientale impact basin that have never been observed with the naked eye.
Continue reading...Rosedale residents considering car licence plate-scanning Flock system in bid to tackle property crime
A row has broken out in one of Canada’s wealthiest neighbourhoods over plans to use an AI-powered surveillance system to create the country’s first “virtual gated community” to combat surging property crime.
Crime rates in Toronto as a whole are dropping but residents of Rosedale have been left on edge by a sustained rise in home invasions, with robbers targeting the tree-lined neighbourhood at a rate more than double the city average. Break-ins and thefts remain the third highest per capita in Toronto.
Continue reading...Kara Voorhies, a little-known contractor, worked closely with top aide Corey Lewandowski and had wide influence over contracts under Noem’s leadership.
From 2024, but still accurate and interesting:
Plan 9 is unique in this sense that everything the system needs is covered by the base install. This includes the compilers, graphical environment, window manager, text editors, ssh client, torrent client, web server, and the list goes on. Nearly everything a user can do with the system is available right from the get go.
↫ moody
This is definitely something that sets Plan 9 apart from everything else, but as moody – 9front developer – notes, this also has a downside in that development isn’t as fast, and Plan 9 variants of tools lack features upstream has for a long time. He further adds that he think this is why Plan 9 has remained mostly a hobbyist curiosity, but I’m not entirely sure that’s the main reason. The cold and harsh truth is that Plan 9 is really weird, and while that weirdness is a huge part of its appeal and I hope it never loses it, it also means learning Plan 9 is really hard.
I firmly believe Plan 9 has the potential to attract more users, but to get there, it’s going to need an onboarding process that’s more approachable than reading 9front’s frequently questioned answers, excellent though they are. After installing 9front and loading it up for the first time, you basically hit a brick wall that’s going to be rough to climb. It would be amazing if 9front could somehow add some climbing tools for first-time users, without actually giving up on its uniqueness. Sometimes, Plan 9 feels more like an experimental art project instead of the capable operating system that it is, and I feel like that chases people away.
Which is a real shame.
Analysis shows developing economies more likely to experience higher interest rates and currency shocks
Emerging economies are at greater risk of higher interest rates and currency shocks resulting from the Iran war because of increased reliance on market investors such as hedge funds, the International Monetary Fund has warned.
The IMF’s analysis shows that a cumulative $4tn flowed into emerging markets last year from outside the formal banking sector – including from hedge funds and investment funds.
Continue reading...Upgrade to Brent Spence Bridge linking Kentucky and Ohio clouded by concerns about cost overruns, pollution and housing
Connecting manufacturers in the industrial north to booming southern cities in Georgia and beyond in the south, the Brent Spence Bridge that spans the Ohio River is a debacle to all who know it.
Built and designed in the early 1960s to accommodate a maximum of 85,000 vehicles a day, today twice as many cars and trucks traverse it along the Interstate-75, a 1,785-mile (2,873km) route that stretches from the border with Canada in the north to the Florida Keys. Its narrow lanes, curved approaches and absence of emergency access lanes meant that, following frequent accidents, drivers could find themselves stuck for hours.
Continue reading...How will Mr. Charles react to Fisk's latest devious move? Tune in as we hit the halfway mark for this season.
A CBS News investigation found one Los Angeles County hospice physician's name, Dr. Rajiv Bhuva, on Medicare claims for nearly 2,800 patients across 126 hospices in a single year.
Astronauts had a call with the US president from space after setting record for the farthest-traveled humans from Earth
The crew of Artemis II phoned home from above the moon on Monday night after their record-breaking day, to find Donald Trump musing about how he had saved the US space agency, Nasa, from closing down and telling the astronauts how much they deserved the honor of the president seeking their autographs.
The intermittently uncomfortable 12-minute Earth-to-space call, facilitated by the Nasa administrator and Trump acolyte, Jared Isaacman, featured a lengthy period of silence, several references by the president about his friendship with the retired Canadian ice hockey player Wayne Gretzky, and how “America is the hottest country in the world right now”.
Continue reading...The US constitution should make it possible to remove a president who’s not fit for office. But we’re going to need another way out
For the past few months, I have been waging a cold war with a neighbour who constantly puts out their rubbish on the wrong day. And by “cold war” I mean complaining incessantly to my longsuffering wife while the neighbour goes about their business blissfully unaware that we are mortal enemies. But enough is enough. Last week I decided to end this situation via a strongly worded letter. “Tuesday will be Explosions Day in your house, neighbour!” I wrote. “There will be nothing like it!!! Put out your Fuckin’ Rubbish properly, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell – JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah.”
I am sorry to drag Allah into this obviously imaginary exchange, but I’m just channelling the US president. I’m sure you’ve already seen Donald Trump’s profanity-laden Easter Sunday warning to Iran, where he threatened to carry out the mass bombing of civilian infrastructure – but if you haven’t, then go read it and weep. The days where Trump’s outbursts were amusing (remember “covfefe”?) are long gone. There is nothing funny about endless stream-of-consciousness screeds from a man who is not just destroying the US, but dragging the whole world down with it. If a civilian acted like the president routinely does, they’d find themselves fired very quickly.
Continue reading...Elon Musk’s aerospace to AI company will host summer event to try to convince buyers it is worth $2tn
SpaceX will kick off the marketing for its highly anticipated stock exchange debut by hosting an event in June for 1,500 retail investors, as executives set out to convince buyers that the aerospace to artificial intelligence group should be valued at $2tn.
In an unusual move, the company has earmarked a large portion of its shares – potentially up to 30% – for non-professional, non-institutional investors, banking on the popularity of its chief executive, Elon Musk, to help it raise $75bn (about £56bn) in what is expected to be the largest public offering in history.
Continue reading...
Q: I read this on FB. Is it true? The U.S. Treasury just declared the U.S government is insolvent.
A: No. That’s the conclusion of an opinion piece that cited a Treasury report showing the government’s liabilities outweigh its assets. But that’s been the case for decades, and unlike an insolvent business, the government can levy taxes.
Two economists — Steve Hanke at Johns Hopkins University and David Walker, a former comptroller general of the U.S. — published an opinion piece in Fortune last month advocating bills aimed at reining in the national debt. In support of this, they pointed to the U.S. Treasury’s financial report on fiscal year 2025, noting that the liabilities for the U.S. government far outweighed the assets and characterizing the government as “insolvent.”
The headline on the March 23 piece — “The Treasury just declared the U.S. insolvent. The media missed it” — became a viral claim on social media, suggesting that there’s been a major new development in the government’s financial position.
But there hasn’t been. One reader asked us about a post that suggested President Donald Trump was to blame.
“The U.S. Treasury did not declare the U.S. government insolvent,” said Kent Smetters, faculty director of the Penn Wharton Budget Model, who told us that he agreed with the larger point of the opinion piece — that the government’s fiscal policy is imbalanced and in need of change.
The writers cited the most recent annual report from the Treasury, released in March, that listed the government’s total assets for fiscal year 2025 — including cash on hand, federal land and loans owed — as just over $6 trillion. It listed the total liabilities as almost $48 trillion.
From that, they concluded, “The U.S. government is insolvent. That’s not hyperbole — it’s the conclusion drawn directly from the Treasury Department’s own consolidated financial statements for fiscal year 2025, released last week to near-total media silence.”
The economists likened the federal government to a household with liabilities totaling much more than its assets could cover. “Uncle Sam, by any accounting standard, is insolvent,” they wrote.
But Jessica Riedl, a budget and tax fellow at the Brookings Institution, told us that the economists are using the methodology of a business, rather than a government — which, importantly, has the authority to levy taxes. The Treasury report does, indeed, confirm that the government could not pay off the federal debt and cover its commitments by selling its assets. “If they didn’t have the power to tax, that would be a problem,” Riedl said.
The Treasury report, itself, makes this point, too. “Due to its sovereign power to tax and borrow, and the country’s wide economic base, the government has unique access to financial resources through generating tax revenues and issuing federal debt securities,” it said. “This provides the government with the ability to meet present obligations and those that are anticipated from future operations and are not reflected in net position.”
Smetters said something similar. “The government’s assets are beyond just its holdings of property and buildings and things like that. It’s really the fact that it has access to a tax base that’s still pretty large in present value.”
Steve Ellis, president of the nonpartisan budget watchdog Taxpayers for Common Sense, told us in an email, “I don’t think insolvency is the right term for the federal government. Except for a short time in Andrew Jackson’s presidency the country has always been in debt. Even when there was brief surplus in late 90s, early aughts, there was still debt.”
All three of the experts we spoke to, though, agreed with the larger premise of the opinion piece, which is that the federal budget is unsustainably imbalanced.
The debt held by the public, which excludes money the federal government owes to itself, was $31.4 trillion as of April 3. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates that the fiscal year 2026 deficit will be $1.9 trillion, and in 2036, the annual deficit will be $3.1 trillion.
“The real problem facing the government,” Smetters said, “is that we currently have a fiscal policy path that is itself imbalanced. Specifically, the present value of future spending far exceeds the present value of future tax revenue. To create balance, we would either need to raise all federal income taxes, including payroll taxes, immediately and forever by 30%, or cut all federal spending, including entitlement programs, immediately and forever by 25%, or some combination.”
But the Treasury has not revealed any new insolvency. The government’s liabilities have been larger than its assets in the Treasury’s annual reports going back decades.
Editor’s note: FactCheck.org does not accept advertising. We rely on grants and individual donations from people like you. Please consider a donation. Credit card donations may be made through our “Donate” page. If you prefer to give by check, send to: FactCheck.org, Annenberg Public Policy Center, P.O. Box 58100, Philadelphia, PA 19102.
The post The U.S. Treasury Didn’t Declare the Country ‘Insolvent’ appeared first on FactCheck.org.
Anos is a modern, opinionated, non-POSIX operating system (just a hobby, won’t be big and professional like GNU-Linux) for x86_64 PCs and RISC-V machines.
Anos currently comprises the
↫ Anos GitHub pageSTAGE3microkernel,SYSTEMuser-mode supervisor, and a base set of servers implementing the base of the operating system. There is a (WIP) toolchain for Anos based on Binutils, GCC (16-experimental) and Newlib (with a customlibgloss).
It’s written in C, runs on both x86-64 and RISC-V, and can run on real hardware too (but this hasn’t been tested on RISC-V just yet). For the x86 side of things, it’s strictly 64 bit, and requires a Haswell (4th Gen) chip or higher.
ZIELONA GÓRA, Poland and ESPOO, Finland, April 7, 2026 — IQM Quantum Computers, a global leader in superconducting quantum computing, today announced a commercial milestone to deploy a hybrid integrated quantum computer at Galaxy Systemy Informatyczne Sp. z o.o., marking its first deployment in a private enterprise worldwide.
Credit: IQM
Galaxy has been implementing innovations in security, digitisation, and hardware infrastructure while providing IT solutions, supporting HPC infrastructure to shape Poland’s economy based on data and artificial intelligence.
The 54-qubit Radiance system will also be the most advanced quantum computer in Poland, and Galaxy, a provider of technological solutions, will become the first private company in the world to own and operate such quantum infrastructure.
The system, which will be installed at Galaxy’s headquarters in Zielona Góra in the fourth quarter of 2026, will feature industry-leading fidelities, enabling Galaxy to execute quantum algorithms across various application areas, including supporting calculations related to space technologies and within the financial and energy markets.
“The deployment of our quantum computer at Galaxy demonstrates that we are building enterprise-ready products enabling customers to build their own capabilities,” said Jan Goetz, CEO and Co-founder of IQM Quantum Computers. “Every quantum computer we deploy makes the future more tangible for our customers who gain experience on their own infrastructure. Building such an ecosystem is based on Poland’s recognized, rich traditions in the fields of quantum physics, mathematics and computer science.”
The machine will serve a broad range of users, from the industry to academia, while strengthening Poland’s position within the European quantum ecosystem.
“The installation of the IQM Radiance 54-qubit quantum computer in our data center is a turning point not only for Galaxy, but for the entire Polish digital economy. By choosing IQM’s superconducting technologies, we are committing to full technological sovereignty—having such advanced infrastructure on-site in Poland allows us to become independent of external cloud providers and guarantees the highest level of security for processed data as well as the development of algorithms and applications,” said Jacek Michalski, CEO of Galaxy Systemy Informatyczne. “Thanks to the development of quantum technologies, research laboratories will be established for business and science in the broadest sense.”
With this deployment, IQM continues to demonstrate its commercial leadership to deliver real quantum computers to customers and build local quantum ecosystems with open and transparent hardware and software.
The company has sold 21 quantum systems to 13 customers globally to date, more than any other manufacturer.
About IQM Quantum Computers
IQM Quantum Computers is a global leader in superconducting quantum computers, delivering full-stack quantum systems and cloud platform access to research institutions, universities, high-performance computing centres, and national laboratories worldwide. IQM’s on-premises deployment model gives customers direct ownership and control of their quantum infrastructure. Founded in 2018, headquartered in Finland, it has over 350 employees. IQM operates across Europe, Asia, and North America and has announced its plans to become the first publicly listed European quantum company on a major U.S. stock exchange with a dual listing on the Helsinki Stock Exchange also under consideration.
About Galaxy Systemy Informatyczne
Galaxy Systemy Informatyczne sp. z o.o. has been operating in the IT market for 30 years; the experience gained over the years helps us create projects in various fields of IT, security, defense, energy, finance, and space technology. Our experience in designing high-performance computing (HPC) clusters has allowed us to bring together many talented individuals who create and implement ideas on a global scale of modernity.
Source: IQM
The post IQM Installs 54-Qubit Quantum Computer at Poland’s Galaxy in 1st Enterprise Deployment appeared first on HPCwire.
I had a nosedive one time due to having “Disable Moving Faults” turned off. I always leave it on now and have not had a problem. I can’t think of any good reason to leave that setting turned off.
Female journalists’ accounts of harassment trigger avalanche of allegations reaching as far as government
Juanita Gómez was reporting on an international assignment for Caracol, a Colombian television channel in 2015, when an older colleague attempted to forcibly kiss her by inside a lift.
She only managed to break free from him by pushing him away several times. Fearing any complaint would come down to the word of a “girl” against that of a senior presenter, she did not report the incident.
Continue reading...City released video of January shooting after charges against two Venezuelan men involved were dropped
The city of Minneapolis released a video on Monday that undermined the initial Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) account of a shooting involving an agency officer and two Venezuelan men in January.
The video, from a city-owned security camera, captured federal officers chasing one of the men to his residence. Another Venezuelan man who lives there was shot during the confrontation, which eventually led to the suspensions of two federal officers involved in the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in Minnesota, the so-called Operation Metro Surge.
Continue reading...A family of three was found alive by the U.S. Coast Guard, seven days after they went missing on a small boat in the western Pacific Ocean.
This year sees 35 years since 2.11BSD was announced on March 14, 1991 – itself a slightly late celebration of 20 years of the PDP-11 – and January 2026 brought what looks to be the venerable 16-bit OS’s biggest ever patch!
Much of the 1.3 MB size is due to Anders Magnusson, well-known for his work on NetBSD and the Portable C Compiler. Since 2.11BSD’s stdio was not ANSI compliant, he’s ported from 4.4BSD.
↫ BigSneakyDuck at Reddit
There’s an incredible amount of work in here on this old variant of BSD, including fixes for old bugs and tons of other changes. This, the 499th patch for 2.11BSD, is so big, in fact, that vi on 2.11BSD can’t handle the size of the files, so you’re going to need to cut them up with sed, for which instructions are included.
It’s quite unique to see such a big update on the 35th anniversary of an operating system.
Derby striker was stretchered off after awkward landing
25-year-old had scored for US in friendly v Belgium
US national team striker Patrick Agyemang will miss this summer’s World Cup after suffering a “serious” achilles tendon injury during Derby County’s 2-0 win over Stoke City on Monday, the club said.
The 25-year-old, who is in his first season at Derby, rose to settle a ball in the 37th minute and landed awkwardly. Play stopped for five minutes before he was stretchered off by medical staff.
Continue reading...After putting 12 different air purifier models in a smoke chamber, we found the best one for capturing viruses so you don't breathe them in.
The $499 Moto G Stylus gains new stylus tricks, but now costs the same as Google's Pixel 10A.
Like the ultra-customized feel of a Tubi rec? The streamer aims to make it even more personalized.
It's a way to introduce baseball and softball to the next generation of fans.
We liked this meal delivery service and smart oven for individuals, but here's how the new family meals compare.
Lawmakers led by Elizabeth Warren in scathing letter say system used to track detainees ‘increasingly unreliable’
A group of 36 lawmakers says the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has created “disappearances” on US soil, due to the “increasingly unreliable” online system used to track people detained by immigration authorities, according to a letter shared with the Guardian.
The lawmakers, led by Senator Elizabeth Warren, are urging that the DHS inspector general’s office open an investigation into the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) “online detainee locator system” (ODLS), which has been used for years by family members, attorneys and journalists to track people in the federal immigration detention system.
Continue reading...I spent months testing nine robot lawn mowers in my tricky backyard. Here are the five that handled it best.
Federal regulators said the windshield wipers could fail, reducing the driver's visibility and increasing the risk of a crash.
Madrid and Basque government leaders call each other ‘provincial’ in dispute over the artwork
A row has broken out between the Madrid and Basque regional governments in Spain over the latter’s request for Guernica, probably Picasso’s most celebrated work, to be housed temporarily in the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao to mark the 90th anniversary of the bombing of the Basque town.
The work has hung in the Reina Sofía museum in Madrid since 1992 and repeated requests for it to be moved to the Basque Country have been refused.
Continue reading...Voters in Georgia's 14th Congressional District will choose between Republican Clay Fuller and Democrat Shawn Harris.
They have degrees, expertise and years of experience – but can’t find work. For many Americans, AI training has become a last refuge in a brutal job market
When Patrick Ciriello lost his job and couldn’t find work for nearly a year, his family’s foundation crumbled.
“You hear about people who hit rock bottom,” Ciriello told the Guardian. “Well, I was there.”
Continue reading...The Trump ‘library’ and an attack on the Presidential Records Act have more in common than it might seem
Last week, the Trump administration proudly published two pieces of news which, at first sight, could not be more different: one a dry 52-page legal opinion from the justice department declaring the 1978 Presidential Records Act unconstitutional; the other an AI-generated clip of Trump’s planned “presidential library”, a waterfront skyscraper in Miami. Both sent the same message, though: the legal opinion – authored by a jurist heavily involved in attempts to overturn the 2020 election – leaves Trump free to destroy evidence of wrongdoing; the building envisaged for Biscayne Bay appears to be less of a library than a hotel complex. As the president reassured anyone suspecting that he might fill a glitzy edifice with boring papers and books: “I don’t believe in building libraries or museums.” These are clear signals about wanting to avoid accountability; it is not too early to devise strategies to counter politically motivated amnesia.
In what jurists widely saw as an opinion of breathtakingly bad faith, T Elliot Gaiser, the Ohio-based election denier and a former clerk of Samuel Alito, asserted that Congress had no right to ask the president to preserve records; the imperative to create and keep documents served “no legislative purpose” and could “impede” the day-to-day “performance” of the head of the executive. The act had been crafted in the wake of the misdeeds of Richard Nixon, who had wanted discretion over which of his tapes and papers to destroy; in response, Congress first passed the Presidential Recordings and Materials Preservation Act in 1974, making the government take custody of Nixon’s materials. Nixon sued; the supreme court rejected the view that the separation of powers had been violated; the justices also took the occasion to affirm the importance of “the American people’s ability to reconstruct and come to terms with their history”. Congress then passed the more general Presidential Records Act, which no one up until Trump appeared to have experienced as remotely burdensome.
Continue reading...Subscribers can also explore a Soulslike game that just got a big update.
Scale AI gig workers describe desperation of using people’s personal profiles and copyrighted work to train AI
Tens of thousands of people have been paid by a company part-owned by Meta to train AI by combing Instagram accounts, harvesting copyrighted work and transcribing pornographic soundtracks, the Guardian can reveal.
Scale AI, 49%-controlled by Mark Zuckerberg’s social media empire, has recruited experts across fields such as medicine, physics and economics – putatively to refine top-level artificial intelligence systems through a platform called Outlier. “Become the expert that AI learns from,” it says on its site, advertising flexible work for people with strong credentials.
Continue reading...A shootout with Turkish police outside the Israeli Consulate in Istanbul left one gunman dead and two others wounded, the local governor says.
Transcript reportedly details Hungarian leader offering whatever assistance he can to his Russian counterpart
Hungary’s Viktor Orbán offered to go to great lengths to help Vladimir Putin, telling the Russian leader “I am at your service” in an October call, it has emerged, prompting further scrutiny of Budapest’s ties to the Kremlin just as JD Vance arrived in the city.
Air Force Two landed in Budapest on Tuesday morning carrying the US vice-president and his wife, Usha Vance, as Hungary reaches the final, heated days of a hard-fought election campaign that has played out against a backdrop of scandals regarding the relationship between Budapest and Moscow.
Continue reading...London festival will feature an intimate Styles performance as well as appearances from Warpaint, Kamasi Washington, Devonté Hynes and more
Harry Styles has announced the lineup of artists he has curated for this year’s Meltdown festival, held at London’s Southbank Centre.
As well as performing a solo concert on 16 June at Royal Festival Hall, sandwiched amid his run of 12 dates at the considerably larger Wembley Stadium, Styles has brought together a diverse range of artists spanning jazz, pop, indie rock and electronic music.
Continue reading...American hedge fund Pershing Square announced it's offered to buy Universal Music Group in a merger, saying it believed the world's biggest music label was undervalued by stock markets.
The Trump administration’s pushing of the war in Iran reflects a sporting culture driven by clipped-up content, shameless tribalism and a lust for escalation
Among the more surprising continuities of 2026 has been the visual kinship between the Winter Olympics and the US’s illegal and unprovoked war in Iran. High-speed camera drones were a highlight of TV coverage of the recent Games in Milano Cortina, bringing viewers within kissing distance of the action as Olympic athletes hurtled down the slopes and around the tracks in the skiing and sliding events. The incessant screech of the drones aside, the introduction of quadcopter-borne cameras felt like a real step forward in coverage of the winter sports, bringing a (literal) new perspective to events that had become, over recent decades, fairly static as a viewing experience.
No sooner had the Olympics finished than aerial video was back on our screens – only the footage, in this case, was of a far darker variety. In place of the ludicrous hip flexibility of the slaloming skiers and the high-speed cornering of the monobobbers, for the past month our feeds have been flooded with satellite and drone imagery of the US military blowing Iranian aircraft, ships, vehicles, munitions buildings, and citizens to smithereens. The aerial perspective that brought the strength and speed and elasticity and joy of Olympic competition to our screens now transmits the daily horrors of war in easily snackable, two-minute clips on to our phones. In the era of the milkshake duck, it’s almost expected that anything positive in our culture will eventually turn sour – and technology, of course, is ethically agnostic, a tool that can be used for both good and evil ends. But even in a culture as depraved and hypocritical as ours, the seamless transition from drone-supplied footage of Olympic excellence to drone-supplied footage of war crimes has felt genuinely jarring.
Continue reading...Rachel Waters gave morphine to her dying mother to ease her in her final hours. Then came the murder charge
Rachel Waters was in her apartment in Queens, watching food reviews on YouTube, when a nurse called: her mother was dying.
She needed to get to the memory care facility in Evans, Georgia, immediately. A physician had said Marsha could pass within hours.
Continue reading...Licensed school teacher and one-time police officer among those participating in riot-style gatherings as experts warn of threat to public safety
A network of militant neo-Nazi active clubs from around the US has been participating in riot-style combat events with other white nationalist groups in Virginia as part of what their founder called a “tip-off point for a fascist cultural revolution”.
Social media posts and group chats show members of so-called active clubs from Texas, Tennessee and Pennsylvania have in recent weeks and months travelled to Lynchburg, Virginia to train together at a secretive compound. The compound is run by the Wolves of Vinland, which the civil rights watchdog the Southern Poverty Law Center identifies as a neopagan white nationalist hate group. Also present were members of the white supremacist hate group Patriot Front and the neo-Nazi skinhead group known as the Hammerskins.
Continue reading...LinkedIn is facing allegations that it quietly scans users' browsers for installed Chrome extensions. The German group Fairlinked e.V. goes so far as to claim that the site is "running one of the largest corporate espionage operations in modern history." "The program runs silently, without any visible indicator to the user," the group says. "It does not ask for consent. It does not disclose what it is doing. It reports the results to LinkedIn's servers. This is not a one-time check. The scan runs on every page load, for every visitor." PCMag reports: This browser extension "fingerprinting" technique has been spotted before, but it was previously found to probe only 2,000 to 3,000 extensions. Fairlinked alleges that LinkedIn is now scanning for 6,222 extensions that could indicate a user's political opinions or religious views. For example, the extensions LinkedIn will look for include one that flags companies as too "woke," one that can add an "anti-Zionist" tag to LinkedIn profiles, and two others that can block content forbidden under Islamic teachings. It would also be a cakewalk to tie the collected extension data to specific users, since LinkedIn operates as a vast professional social network that covers people's work history. Fairlinked's concern is that Microsoft and LinkedIn can allegedly use the data to identify which companies use competing products. "LinkedIn has already sent enforcement threats to users of third-party tools, using data obtained through this covert scanning to identify its targets," the group claims. However, LinkedIn claims that Fairlinked mischaracterizes a LinkedIn safeguard designed to prevent web scraping by browser extensions. "We do not use this data to infer sensitive information about members," the company says. "To protect the privacy of our members, their data, and to ensure site stability, we do look for extensions that scrape data without members' consent or otherwise violate LinkedIn's Terms of Service," LinkedIn adds. [...] The statement goes on to allege that Fairlinked is from a developer whose account was previously suspended for web scraping. One of the group's board members is listed as "S.Morell," which appears to be Steven Morell, the founder of Teamfluence, a tool that helps businesses monitor LinkedIn activity. [...] Still, the Microsoft-owned site is facing some blowback for not clearly disclosing the browser extension scanning in LinkedIn's privacy policy. Fairlinked is soliciting donations for a legal fund to take on Microsoft and is urging the public to encourage local regulators to intervene.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Washington DC has the highest unemployment rate in the US
Alicia Contreras was in Tunisia, working as the deputy country representative for Libya for USAID, when she received the news: she was fired. The Trump administration had ceased the cooperation agency’s operations and terminated most overseas staff. What she didn’t expect back then was that after a double major, an MBA and 17 years of experience as a public servant, she wouldn’t be able to find a job back at home.
Contreras moved back to the Washington DC area last September and immediately started her job search. She looked for positions in both the public and private sectors, in-person, hybrid and remote. She focused her search mostly on the US capital city and its two nearby states, Maryland and Virginia, because of her family commitments: she has two children, ages three and six. Six months later, none of her close to 100 applications have been successful.
Continue reading...The US president has threatened to bomb power plants and bridges unless Iran reopens the strait of Hormuz. Plus, the US origins of Mexico’s toxic waste problem
Good morning.
Israel has told Iranians their lives will be at risk if they use the country’s railways on Tuesday, after Donald Trump’s threats to destroy Iran’s bridges and power plants unless a deal is reached by Tuesday evening.
How are negotiations to end the war going? They appeared to be faltering. Iran, which has submitted its own 10-point peace plan, said it wanted a permanent end to the war, not a ceasefire.
What is the latest on oil prices? Oil traded at more than $110 a barrel on Tuesday.
This is a developing story. Follow our liveblog for updates.
Continue reading...Ex-CIA director David Petraeus says Ukraine has offset its disadvantages against Russia through its innovation in its unmanned systems.
Ben Roberts-Smith was awarded the Victoria Cross in 2011, a medal reserved for only the most courageous wartime exploits.
Viktor Orban, who has built strong ties to the MAGA movement and the Kremlin, faces a tough electoral challenge from center-right candidate Peter Magyar on April 12.
Atlanta-born rapper Offset is hospitalized after a shooting at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida, just outside Miami, police and his representative say.
Richard Walker, Iceland’s chair, says Walker Smith is ‘welcome to a job with us’ as public fundraiser hits £7,500
Keir Starmer’s cost of living tsar, who is the chair of Iceland, has offered a job to a worker who was sacked from Waitrose after trying to stop a shoplifter.
Waitrose faced public outcry over its treatment of Walker Smith, who was fired two days after he stopped the shoplifter taking items from the Easter egg display, including Lindt chocolate bunnies.
Continue reading...Kareem’s Daily Quote: Success, without all the noise
Medical Concerns Mount: Is the president cognitively impaired? Or simply out of control?
Video Break: What a difference a minute makes!
The Cuba Playbook: Hurt first, justify later.
The Win That Showed What Bruins Are Made Of: Definition of excellence
What I’m Watching: The Plastic Detox
Jukebox Playlist: Miles Davis
“Success is peace of mind that comes from knowing you did your best to become your best.” — John Wooden
We live in a world that measures everything. Followers. Views. Rankings. Salaries. Awards. It’s easy to start believing that success is something handed to you by other people. But the truth is, the most important part of success is internal. It’s personal and private. It’s between you and the mirror.
Did you give your best today?
Did you stretch yourself?
Did you move closer to the person you’re trying to become?
If the answer is yes, then you’re already succeeding, even if nobody claps for you.
That’s why I’ve always loved Coach Wooden’s quote: “Success is peace of mind that comes from knowing you did your best to become your best.” It’s simple, deceptively so, but the more the years pass, the more I realize how much truth is packed into that one line. We spend so much of our lives chasing the version of success that other people can see— the job title, the trophy, the applause, the numbers on a screen—that we forget the version that actually lets us sleep at night.
Because here’s the thing. You can “win” in the eyes of the world and still feel completely empty. You can hit every external milestone and still feel like you’re sprinting on a treadmill, going fast but going nowhere. But when you know—truly know—that you showed up with everything you had, that you pushed yourself honestly, that you didn’t cut corners or hide from the hard parts, something shifts. You get that quiet, steady feeling in your chest that says, I honored the work.
That’s the peace the quote is talking about.
And peace is underrated. We talk a lot about ambition, hustle, achievement, but peace? That’s the real luxury item.
Coach’s definition of success puts the focus back where it belongs: on the process, not the outcome. You can’t control everything. You can’t control the market, or the judges, or the bounce of the ball. But you can control your effort. You can control your preparation. You can control the way you show up when no one is watching.
That’s where the real growth happens, in the quiet, unglamorous moments when you’re choosing to get a little better instead of staying exactly the same.
And here’s the beautiful part: when you chase that kind of “unglamorous” success, the external stuff tends to follow anyway. Not always immediately, not always in the way you expect, but eventually. Because people can feel the difference between someone who’s performing for approval and someone who’s grounded in purpose. One is loud. The other is steady. And steady wins more often than people think.
So maybe the real challenge isn’t to “be the best.” Maybe it’s to become your best—whatever that looks like today, whatever that looks like ten years from now. That’s a moving target, and that’s okay. Growth is always on the move.
Success, in the end, comes from knowing you didn’t hold back, didn’t coast and didn’t pretend. You showed up fully. You tried honestly. You grew intentionally.
Everything else is just noise.
Eighty-five countries have sought a roadmap to phasing out fossil fuels. A conference this month offers hope they could unite
This article is published as part of the global journalism collaboration Covering Climate Now
The Iran war is also a climate war. Beyond its terrible human costs, the war’s disruptions of oil, gas, fertilizer and other shipments is another reminder of the risks inherent in basing the world economy on fossil fuels. The war’s jets, missiles and aircraft carriers, and the tankers, refineries and buildings they blow up, represent millions of tons of greenhouse gas emissions that further imperil a climate system that is already “very close” to a point of no return, scientists say, after which runaway global warming could not be stopped. Nevertheless, petrostate leaders around the world continue doing their utmost to stave off a desperately needed course correction.
Now, a little noticed ray of hope may be peeking over the horizon.
Mark Hertsgaard and Kyle Pope are co-founders of the global journalism collaboration Covering Climate Now
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Why Should Delaware Care?
Months after Delaware received nearly $160 million from the federal government to bolster its rural health care infrastructure, one of its principal proposals to build a medical school now has multiple applicants.
Two Philadelphia powerhouses have entered the running to operate Delaware’s first medical school, which will be funded by hundreds of millions of dollars awarded by the federal government.
Thomas Jefferson University and the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine (PCOM) both submitted bids to the state late last month to operate the proposed medical school.
In its request for a partner institution to run the school, the state hopes that by the fall of 2028 it would have at least 40 students enrolled and attending classes. It does not specify a location or county where the state would like to house the operation.
However, the medical school would be expected to stand up a program that takes advantage of clinical resources that already exist in the state.
“The program will leverage Delaware’s existing health care infrastructure and clinical training sites in communities across the State of Delaware to prepare physicians for rural practice,” the bid said.
Prior to the bidding process, Delaware and Jefferson signed a non-binding agreement, where Jefferson said it hopes to build a branch campus of its Sidney Kimmel Medical College somewhere in the state.
That agreement, which was signed prior to an announcement by the state that it was pursuing the federal funds, said Delaware will “provide all necessary and appropriate financial resources for the development, implementation, and sustainability of the branch campus.”
In November, a spokesperson for Gov. Matt Meyer’s office said the non-binding agreement would have no bearing on the competitive procurement process.
Delaware applied for the funding through the “Rural Health Transformation Program,” a provision of the Trump administration’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act that earmarks $50 billion for states to improve their rural health care infrastructure.
In late December, Delaware was awarded $157 million in its first batch of funding through the program. According to the state website dedicated to the program, Delaware intends to spend $42.5 million of its first-year-award on the medical school.
In total, four vendors applied to run Delaware’s first medical school.
Two of the larger applicants, Jefferson and PCOM, already are established regional medical schools. Another applicant – a medical school in Puerto Rico – seems unexpected, but a representative from the school said it has a track record of success in standing up and operating branch campuses.
The final applicant is the global consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, which appears to be angling for a role where it would handle reporting requirements to the federal government.
Jefferson already has a sizable footprint in Delaware’s medical education landscape with clinical and educational relationships with ChristianaCare, Beebe Healthcare and Nemours Children’s Hospital in Wilmington.
The university’s non-binding agreement with the state said the pair would work toward the “enhancement” of Jefferson’s current branch campus in Delaware, in which third- and fourth-year students work at ChristianaCare.
Jefferson also has an agreement with Delaware’s Institute of Medical Education and Research, which reserves seats in out-of-state medical schools for Delaware residents. Jefferson reserves 20 seats annually for Delawareans.
Like Jefferson, PCOM reserves 10 seats for Delawareans looking to enter its osteopathic medicine program.
Earlier this year, PCOM announced a collaboration with Delaware’s two largest health systems to “attract more physicians to practice in central and southern Delaware.”
That partnership between Bayhealth, ChristianaCare and PCOM would place five third-year medical students in hospitals in the state’s lower counties to work clinical rotations.
PricewaterhouseCoopers, which applied under the name PwC US Consulting LLP, is a London-based consulting firm. It is one of the largest firms in the world, and is likely applying to serve as a vendor that would manage project oversight and required reporting to the state health department and the federal government.
Ponce Health Sciences University, which applied under the name “Tiber Health Public Benefit Corporation,” is a private Puerto Rican medical school.
Kenira Thompson, vice president of research at the university, said many of Puerto Rico’s rural health needs mirror those of Delaware’s, specifically provider shortages.
When asked why it was a better candidate to run the medical school compared to the more established regional options, Thompson pointed to a branch campus the university operates in St. Louis, that she said has been successful.
“We’ve done this successfully,” Thompson said. “We have been able to prove that our students perform well.”
Thompson also pointed to Delaware’s designation as a state eligible for the Institutional Development Award (IDeA), through the federal government. The IDeA program funds states that have had “historically have had low levels” from the government to do medical research.
Puerto Rico shares this designation, Thompson said. She said with Ponce’s experience with the IDeA program, it could set Delaware’s medical school apart when it comes to research.
None of the other three vendors returned a request for comment on this story, nor did Gov. Matt Meyer’s office.
The state announced in November it would fund 15 programs with money from the Rural Health Transformation Program. The program was created to court Republican senators hesitant to support more than $900 billion in cuts to Medicaid, which could disproportionately impact rural communities and their health care facilities.
In February, Meyer’s office released an initial batch of requests for potential vendors to carry out programs that will be funded by a federal payout aimed at improving rural health across the country. Some of those bids include funding a new medical school, creating a “Food is Medicine” program, as well as operating rural health hubs in Sussex and Kent counties.
It came weeks after the state received its first award from the federal government totaling more than $157 million. The full award amount for the state remains unclear, but the state will receive at least $500 million from the multi-year federal program.
The initial award represents the first batch of funding Delaware hopes to receive over the next five years, which could increase or decrease on a yearly basis depending on how much money is spent.
Delaware also intends to build two homeless shelters in Kent and Sussex based on Hope Center New Castle County. According to the state’s website for the Rural Health Transformation Program, Delaware intends to spend more than $26 million of its first-year-award on the shelters, but has yet to put out bidding requests.
The post Two Philadelphia health giants enter race for Delaware medical school appeared first on Spotlight Delaware.
Marcos Orellana, a special rapporteur, found lax environmental standards and lack of oversight allowed pollution to accumulate
Mexico is facing a “toxic crisis” and has become a “garbage sink” for the US, exposing Mexican communities to dangerous pollution, a UN expert has warned.
In an interview with the Guardian and Quinto Elemento Lab, an investigative outlet, Marcos Orellana, an environmental specialist, said pollutants ranging from imported waste to dangerous pesticides were affecting people’s right to live healthy lives.
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Why Should Delaware Care?
Wilmington is filled with dozens of corner stores and bodegas, giving residents convenient access to necessities when larger grocery stores are out of reach. But concerns over loitering, criminal activity and limited healthy food options have sparked a new city ordinance that could change the city’s future landscape.
New corner convenience stores may soon be prohibited from opening in Delaware’s largest city.
Last week, the Wilmington City Council unanimously passed an ordinance that would place a moratorium on the businesses. The measure now awaits a signature from Mayor John Carney, whose office has not revealed whether he will support it.
Carney’s spokeswoman, Caroline Klinger, said that the mayor is generally supportive of the bill, but his team will still need to look it over before a decision is made.
“As is standard with every piece of legislation, the mayor and members of our team will review the details of the bill in its entirety, and that process will begin once it is delivered to our office by the City Clerk,” Klinger said in a statement to Spotlight Delaware.
Nevertheless, the City Council’s passage of the ordinance reflects growing concerns among city leaders that an overconcentration of corner stores is contributing to issues related to crime and public health.
The concerns add to those around smoke shops in Wilmington, which prompted city leaders to approve a similar moratorium on those businesses in February.
Councilwoman Shané Darby said a moratorium on corner stores would give city officials time to conduct a formal assessment of the societal impacts of corner stores, many of which are located in Wilmington’s lower-income neighborhoods.
Darby — who sponsored the corner store ordinance — asserted that many corner stores attract illegal activity, including groups of people who loiter outside them. She also noted that the stores sell relatively unhealthy products, such as processed foods, alcohol, tobacco, and lottery tickets.
“I think that our focus as a council should be … looking at these properties and saying, ‘how do we create healthy food options, grocery stores, cafes,’” Darby said about the formal “equity assessment” that would be completed if the ordinance is signed into law.
Darby’s ordinance states that policy changes that could result from the equity assessment could include requirements to create buffer zones between stores, capping the number of corner stores in a neighborhood, or prioritizing city approvals for businesses that bring in healthier foods.
Last fall, Spotlight Delaware spoke with several residents and convenience store owners across Wilmington about the corner store proposal. Many echoed the concerns raised by Darby and other members of the council.
“I hope that they never open up another corner store in our neighborhood,” said Joyce Woodlen, a Hilltop resident and local hair boutique owner, who previously dealt with a loitering issue caused by a convenience store across the street from her shop.
Several corner store owners noted that they understand residents’ concerns. Some said they have tried offering healthier options but claimed there was little demand for them. Others noted that they have little control over loitering and public safety issues outside their stores.
“We can’t do anything about it. If we call the cops, cops don’t come—only 30 to 40 minutes later,” said the store manager at Young’s Sub Shop, who provided his name as Muhammad.
The council’s passage of the corner store moratorium comes more than a month after the city approved a similar moratorium on smoke shops.
Like Darby’s ordinance, the smoke shop moratorium was designed to give city officials time to assess the impact of the stores on communities.
Unlike Darby’s ordinance, the smoke shop moratorium does not come with a fiscal note, which is an estimated cost to the city of the proposed legislation.
According to a city estimate, the Wilmington Department of Land Use and Planning would be in charge of completing the corner store “equity impact assessment” at a cost of $250,000.
During Thursday’s City Council discussion of Darby’s corner store legislation, Councilmembers Chris Johnson and Alex Hackett expressed concerns about why it included a fiscal impact while the smoke shop moratorium did not.
In a response during the council meeting, Darby claimed that the steep cost estimate came from the Carney Administration’s dislike for certain council members.
“They use this as a weapon. I’m telling this to the public. They’ll use fiscal impact notes as a weapon so that you can’t get things passed through,” Darby said.
Asked why Darby’s bill carried such a hefty fiscal impact, officials said the city recently updated its process for preparing fiscal notes through a city council ordinance, with the Delaware Office of Management and Budget now responsible for all legislation.
Johnson’s ordinance was completed during that transition period.
Carney spokeswoman Caroline Klinger said with the new process underway with OMB, the city is “committed to ensuring all ordinances are accompanied by a proper fiscal impact statement in accordance with this new law.”
While Carney’s office has not indicated whether the mayor will sign off on the corner store moratorium, Klinger highlighted concerns last fall around the capacity of land use officials to carry out the equity assessment, as well as the potential costs of the measure.
Klinger also asserted that the mayor wants to see healthier food options in the city and is willing to work with city council.
“If these stores are the most accessible food option for residents, making them healthier could be more impactful than eliminating the establishment of new ones,” Klinger said in the city’s statement in September.
Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to include new comments received from Mayor John Carney’s office on April 8.
The post Wilmington City Council passes corner store moratorium appeared first on Spotlight Delaware.
The astronauts of Artemis II flew further from Earth than any human beings before them, breaking Apollo 13’s distance record at 1.57pm ET on Monday.
Across a six-hour flyby, on the sixth day of a lunar mission that has reinvigorated Nasa’s space exploration programme, the crew of the Orion spacecraft captured views of the moon’s far side that have never been seen before
Continue reading...Even potato chips aren’t safe from the ripple effects of President Donald Trump’s war, which is disrupting supply chains across Asia.
I spoke with allergists to find out what we can do to reduce allergies before May -- the worst month for allergy sufferers.
 | Looking for solutions for charging my GT-S while roadtripping and camping. Pleased with my car charger for my XR while driving in between rides (slow charge, but it gets the job done). They don’t make car chargers for the GT-S. Any inverter options I can use to charge WHILE driving? From my past experience, the inverter only worked on my wall charger while connected to the car battery, it wouldn’t work through the 12v “cigarette lighter” socket. Anyone have experience with charging with a portable power station with solar charging like pictured (or one that isn’t so expensive)? [link] [comments] |
Mass-produced coffee is hit or miss. I whipped out my pot and brewed beans from 20 roasters to find the best grocery store coffee to make your morning java.
The actor whose husband is charged with child sexual abuse says she believes ‘his side of the story’ is ‘the truth’
Melissa Gilbert contends she is “neither naive nor … complicit” having married and deciding to stand by her fellow actor Timothy Busfield amid numerous allegations of sexual misconduct, saying she exclusively has “heard his side of the story” and that it is “the truth”.
“I know this man in my bones,” the former Little House on the Prairie cast member remarked in an interview on Monday’s edition of Good Morning America. “No one knows him better than I do.”
Continue reading...Across the country, Republican-led state legislatures are passing a slate of laws that effectively shield oil and gas companies from legal claims that they are responsible for the destruction and mounting toll caused by climate change. Fifteen laws have either been passed or are currently being debated in 11 states. Together, they threaten to remove long-standing tools for the public to hold corporations accountable.
A ProPublica investigation has found that most of these bills are part of a coordinated effort, orchestrated by a constellation of groups that share staff or have funding ties to the prominent conservative activist Leonard Leo, who is credited with placing conservative justices on the U.S. Supreme Court. These groups have drafted state legislation, planned its dissemination and engaged a well-connected lobbying firm to get them signed into law.
The effort is unfolding as courts are weighing more than 30 significant lawsuits by states, counties and municipalities accusing fossil fuel companies of misrepresenting the risks their products posed to consumers and seeking to recoup the costs of disasters and other climate impacts like wildfire losses or coastal flooding that their products helped cause. A goal of the legislation is to block these cases from going forward and prevent new ones from being filed.
The strategy to establish state laws that will make it all but impossible to sue oil and gas companies was laid out in detail by a group of lobbyists and political operatives in December, during a panel presentation at the annual States and Nation Policy Summit of the American Legislative Exchange Council — the influential organization that brings together state lawmakers, corporate leaders and conservative activists to draft and promote legislation.
During the session, one of the panelists, Will Hild, the executive director of a nonprofit called Consumers’ Research, described the climate cases as a liberal effort to use the judicial system to exact a new tax on energy companies in the form of civil judgments. Another panelist, Oramel H. Skinner, the former solicitor general for Arizona and the executive director of the nonprofit Alliance for Consumers, warned that those judgments will trickle down to make citizens’ lives less affordable and ultimately make many of their choices — whether to own pickup trucks or purchase a side of beef — illegal.
ProPublica reviewed an audio recording of the event obtained by the nonpartisan watchdog group Documented.
Hild and Skinner had come to the session with a ready-made fix: a set of pre-written bills and plenty of funding.
Consumers’ Research and the Alliance for Consumers are both funded by organizations connected to Leo. ProPublica examined lobbying records across 25 states, federal tax disclosures for more than a dozen organizations and notes from other closed-door strategy sessions among ALEC members and found that several Leo-supported groups are part of a national strategy to give legal immunity to companies for their climate emissions.
Since 2021, Leo has been deploying a $1.6 billion gift through a series of nonprofits and other organizations that obscure the source and the recipients of donations — so-called dark money groups. Much of that money has been routed through a nonprofit judicial advocacy group Leo founded — now called The 85 Fund — which both receives and disseminates Leo’s funding. Many of these nonprofits are increasingly focused on issues related to climate change.
The panel session’s moderator, Michael Thompson, is a senior vice president at CRC Advisors, Leo’s for-profit Virginia-based political and corporate consulting firm. He also sits on ALEC’s Private Enterprise Advisory Council. Hild’s organization, Consumers’ Research, received more than 65% of its funding in 2024 through a dark money group called Donors Trust. The 85 Fund contributed more than $67 million to Donors Trust in 2024. Consumers’ Research also works closely with — and contracted more than $670,000 of work in 2024 to — CRC Advisors. Another panelist, Paul N. Watkins, was a legal fellow at Consumers’ Research. According to tax filings, his law firm received more than $2.2 million in 2024 from the group. As recently as 2024, Skinner was also counsel for Leo’s 85 Fund, according to the nonprofit’s tax filings.
“For decades, the left has leveraged immense resources to capture the institutions that shape our society — the legal system, universities, medical and scientific bodies, the entertainment industry, and our biggest corporations,” Leo wrote to ProPublica in a text message. “That takeover resulted in a radically woke culture that does not reflect the will of the American people, or the pillars of limited constitutional government that made our country great. That is why our enterprise supports organizations that are committed to crushing liberal dominance and restoring balance in the institutions that shape society.”
At the ALEC session, Skinner presented a model bill that would effectively bar cities and towns from bringing public nuisance lawsuits against corporations and others when the issue is a broad public harm like climate change. In several cases, plaintiffs have argued that the impacts of climate change — the buckling of a road from extreme swings in temperature, for example — are a “nuisance” caused by fossil fuel companies.
Nuisance claims are common in the American legal system, giving individuals, companies or communities a way to sue when someone else’s actions damage their property, degrade the health or safety of the environment around them or interfere with their rights. Under these laws, parties can ask for financial compensation or seek court orders to remedy problems, such as pollution. Skinner, however, argues that nuisance laws should only be used to address local, easily fixable problems, like excessive noise from a bar. His bill would curtail the use of public nuisance suits in climate cases by limiting liability for manufacturers and other businesses and giving state attorneys general the sole authority to bring them.
“Think really hard about every lever you have in your states to shut off the ability for this woke lawfare machine to churn,” Skinner told the audience. “The left’s goal is to reshape society around you using the courtroom.”
The second draft law, called the Energy Freedom Act, was produced by the policy nonprofit associated with Hild’s organization. It would, among many provisions, shield businesses from liability related to emissions of greenhouse gases if those releases did not violate the federal Clean Air Act.
Critics of the bills say they subvert the rights of local communities. They send the message that “you can pollute with impunity,” said Carly Phillips, a senior scientist with the Union of Concerned Scientists. “It’s really a thumb in the eye of places that are affected by climate change.”
The push to block climate suits across the states comes as several of the cases against the oil industry approach, or have already entered, the perilous legal phases of discovery, when plaintiffs will have the opportunity to seek confidential industry documents and depose oil executives. The stakes for oil companies are enormous. By some estimates more than $10 trillion in damages can be attributed to U.S. emissions.
There’s a reason why state and local governments have increasingly brought these suits. The frequency and cost of climate-influenced disasters, including severe storms, drought and flooding, continues to mount — between $350 billion and $450 billion in each of the last three years — stretching government budgets. Significantly, the science that makes it possible to attribute how much any one disaster was influenced by climate change has steadily advanced. To cite one example, the March heat waves across the U.S. would have been virtually impossible without the emissions that have caused climate change, according to the European science group World Weather Attribution, and were about four times as likely to happen as they were a decade ago.
Boulder, Colorado, is among the places facing increasing droughts, more extreme precipitation and larger wildfires — all of which are significantly propelled by climate change linked to the emissions from the use of fossil fuels. The state has estimated the costs of these perils will run into the many hundreds of millions of dollars. In 2018, Boulder County sued Exxon Mobil and the Canadian oil company Suncor Energy, accusing the companies of “intentional, reckless and negligent conduct.”
Among its claims, the county alleged the oil companies engaged in a conspiracy to mislead the public and violated consumer protection rules by mischaracterizing the dangers of their products. They accused the oil companies of creating a public nuisance by altering the environment and leaving the county to pay to abate growing hazards such as the flooding that tests roads and bridges. Exxon Mobil and Suncor Energy have never filed a response in Colorado but asked for the case to be dismissed.
Ever since, the lawsuit has been mired in a dispute over whether Colorado courts were the correct venue, with the state Supreme Court ultimately ruling last May that they were. Suncor filed to the U.S. Supreme Court to reconsider, and this fall it will weigh the company’s petition asking whether federal environmental law preempts the state law.
The high-profile national court case is just one facet in an increasingly tense fight over liability for the fossil fuel industry. In January, the American Petroleum Institute, the largest fossil fuel industry group in the United States, said fighting the climate liability lawsuits was one of its top priorities in 2026. Lobbying records for the group from last year show that it advocated for legislation to protect oil producers from climate lawsuits at the state level. The Trump administration; other industry groups, including the Chamber of Commerce; and several of the nonprofit advocacy groups associated with Leo have argued that state courts are the wrong venue for claims that ultimately concern emissions that drift widely across borders, and they wish to see other cases moved or dismissed. They say that because the federal government already has the authority to regulate those emissions, the federal courts, not the states, should hear the claims.
In an interview, Hild told ProPublica that he sees the suits as an illegitimate effort to enact policy through the courts and to “regulate the entire U.S. economy from a single state.”
In an email, Skinner wrote: “Our effort is not one focused on climate change. But it is true that left-wing activists and their dark money donors have put vast sums of money and years of groundwork into pushing a coast-to-coast campaign of climate-focused public nuisance lawsuits.”
Neither Watkins nor Thompson responded to requests for comment.
When Skinner and Hild finished their presentation at ALEC they made a QR code available to download the language of the model bills and directed the audience to a woman named Catherine Gunsalus, who was in the back of the room. She would be able to answer any questions, they said.
Gunsalus until recently worked for the Heritage Action Fund, the political and lobbying arm of the Heritage Foundation, the Trump-aligned think tank that is most recently known for promoting the Project 2025 agenda. Records show that Gunsalus has also lobbied in collaboration with another Leo-affiliated group, Americans for Public Trust.
In April 2025, she formed a lobbying firm called Varidon Strategies and began registering in states almost immediately afterward, according to records. By mid-summer, Varidon was representing Alliance for Consumers Action Fund; Consumers’ Research; The Honest Election Project, an affiliate of The 85 Fund; as well as other Leo entities in 25 states. In the majority of those filings, Varidon used an email address at the domain of Holtzman Vogel, a Virginia-based law firm that is often retained by Leo’s organizations.
Gunsalus did not reply to a detailed list of questions.
In the four months since the ALEC summit, there has been substantial activity in the states where Varidon has registered. On Jan. 5, representatives in Missouri introduced the loosely related Eliminate Criminal Profiteering Act, which could stop revenues flowing to law firms from settlements in the sort of nuisance suits often used in climate cases. Two days later, legislators took up the Public Nuisance Reform Act, which proposes narrowing the definition of what could be considered a nuisance.
That same month, similar bills were introduced in Indiana, Oklahoma and Tennessee. In February, eight more followed in Oklahoma, Iowa, South Carolina, Utah, Louisiana and Kansas. Skinner, who is registered to lobby in Kansas, was invited to testify in a hearing about that state’s bill and launched a new “End the Lawfare” website targeting the “left-wing” agenda. As of April 2, versions of the model legislation offered at the ALEC meeting have been introduced across 11 states altogether. In Utah, the governor has signed two related bills into law, and in Tennessee and Indiana, bills are awaiting their governors’ signature.
The more states there are with some sort of waiver in place, the narrower the pathway for cities and states to seek redress as environmental conditions worsen, and the costs continue to rise. Hild and Skinner and the Leo network’s bills also serve another purpose: teeing up a conflict that pits states against one another, a conflict that only the Supreme Court or Congress can finally resolve.
As Hild put it at the ALEC gathering, “This is economic civil war.”
The post “Economic Civil War”: States Push Laws to Shield Oil and Gas Companies From Accountability appeared first on ProPublica.
President Trump's deadline for Iran to reach a deal to end the war or face punishing strikes on its bridges and power plants is less than 24 hours away.
No phones, no littering, no cheering bad shots – ‘patrons’ face strict rules at Augusta, but what a contrast to last year’s disgraceful Ryder Cup
It is easy to poke fun at the prissy traditions of the Masters. Golfers, never mind spectators, enter a state of panic over what horrible fate may befall them should they break the rules inside Augusta National. It is preposterous in so many ways; adults consumed by fear over missteps at a golf tournament. People do not typically feel this way inside the Sistine Chapel.
This year, there are reasons to be grateful for Augusta’s unapologetic approach. The Masters provides a welcome break from the ear-bashing noise of the modern world. The United States is an especially fractious place. This major also offers a timely escape from the racket within golf itself. Brief serenity should be appreciated.
Continue reading...Longtime Slashdot reader walterbyrd shares a report from Fuel Cells Works: China says the AEP100, a megawatt-class hydrogen-fueled turboprop engine developed by the Aero Engine Corporation of China, has completed its maiden flight on a 7.5-ton unmanned cargo aircraft in Zhuzhou, Hunan. The 16-minute test covered 36km at 220km/h and 300 meters altitude, with the aircraft returning safely after completing its planned maneuvers. State media described it as the world's first test flight of a megawatt-class hydrogen-fueled turboprop engine. [...] The Aero Engine Corporation of China (AECC) says the result shows China now has a full technical chain for hydrogen aviation engines, from core parts to system integration, which is the kind of capability needed before any industrial rollout can begin. You can watch a video of the test flight here.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
This is Michigan's second NCAA title in school history, and the win ends a 26-year national championship drought for the Big Ten.
UN assists in emergency vaccination drive as country battles worst surge in cases in years amid fall in vaccination rates
Bangladesh is battling its worse measles outbreak in years, with more than 100 children dead amid a rise in unvaccinated infants.
The government, in partnership with the United Nations, has begun conducting an emergency measles-rubella vaccination drive for children across the country, after more than 900 cases were confirmed since March.
Continue reading...Experts have been alarmed at the growth of deep misogyny dressed up as self-help on social media. We profile seven men from across the continent who are gaining traction
It is not just Europe and the US that are grappling with a growing landscape of misogynistic influencers online. While Andrew Tate, Myron Gaines, Sneako and other voices grow in toxicity in the manosphere of the west, across Africa – which has more than 400 million people aged between 15 and 35 – several individuals are gaining traction.
The manosphere is a loose network of communities that claim to address men’s struggles such as dating and fitness, but often promote harmful misogynistic attitudes. Sunita Caminha, who leads UN Women on ending violence against women and girls in east and southern Africa, first started noticing its presence in Africa about five years ago, and believes it is on the rise. “Research and data that keeps coming out is very consistent [in] showing this is an alarming issue in different countries and contexts across the continent.”
Continue reading...so i had a issue with my pint footpad and it kicked my butt to finally rule it out. anyways, was riding 8mph and the board dumped me. not a overload since it did not loose power fully, the board would just jerk and drop. started the process of whats wrong and started with the controller, makes the most sense. nothing wrong, no smells, no visible damage so u was stumped and started attacking wires. get to the footpad abd see the expoxy holding it place seperated from the sensor and seperated. i didnt believe that was the issue so i swapped out the footpad and no more issues. my question is, i get the footpad is a vital piece is the board but why not have it come to a stop so abruptly instead of limping to a stop like a overcharge fault? has anyone encountered this issue and had a hard time accepting that a damaged or dissconnected footpad can just dump you like a very toxic relationship?
US president acknowledges ‘significant’ 10-point peace plan submitted by Tehran but says it is ‘not good enough’
Diplomatic negotiations aimed at halting the war in the Middle East appeared to be faltering a day before a deadline imposed by Donald Trump with a threat to destroy Iran’s bridges and attack its power plants.
Mediators from Pakistan, Egypt and Turkey want both sides to agree to a ceasefire and reopen the strait of Hormuz, to be followed by a period of detailed negotiations intended to reach a more complete peace agreement.
Continue reading...The Artemis II crew flew farther from Earth than any humans in history as they passed over the far side of the moon on Monday night.
Exclusive: Call for nudity-detection tech on phones as number of under-18s reporting blackmail attempts rises by 34%
• ‘I felt ashamed and scared’: how an online friendship became a sextortion nightmare
Children are reporting online sextortion attempts in record numbers in the UK, as campaigners urge tech companies to do more to stamp out the crime.
The Report Remove service, which allows children to flag intimate images or videos of themselves that have appeared, or could appear, online, said it received 394 reports from under-18s last year of blackmail attempts after sending sexual images to predators. The figure is 34% higher than in 2024.
Continue reading...Hungary’s prime minister has conducted a systematic attack on independent media. The parallels with the US are chilling
During his state of the nation address earlier this year, Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orbán, outlined a chilling vision of the country’s future. Signalling a new level of aggression in his campaign against the truth if he is returned to power in elections on 12 April, Orbán vowed to purge the country of “bought journalists” and “fake civil society organisations”.
Media repression isn’t just a Hungarian problem. According to the V-Dem Institute in Sweden, a leading democracy monitor, it is the most commonly used weapon in the authoritarian arsenal. Strikingly, its latest report finds that US democracy is now at its worst level since the 1960s, marked by a sharp decline in media freedom.
Amrit Singh is professor of practice and founding faculty director of the Rule of Law Lab at NYU School of Law
Continue reading...Wars in Gaza, Iran, and elsewhere have sunk Washington’s reputation—maybe for good.
Cooperation is necessary—and possible.
Trump can’t end a war with a real estate transaction.
With the UAE under fire from Iranian missiles, wealthy investors are turning to Italy’s flat-tax haven
Just over a month ago, Dubai was the obvious destination for wealthy Britons in search of a new home. Few cities allow you to earn vast sums tax-free and spend them across any number of luxury hotels, restaurants and shops.
But as the United Arab Emirates comes under Iranian fire, Dubai’s reputation – in part created by emigrant influencers – as a haven for the global elite is eroding. Super-rich UK nationals are now looking for a route back to Europe; and Milan, the financial centre of Italy, is climbing to the top of the list.
Continue reading...Claims explosives found near pipeline come before election in which PM Viktor Orbán is trailing in most polls
Hungary has placed the gas pipeline that straddles the Serbian border under military protection, the prime minister, Viktor Orbán, has said, as accusations of a false-flag operation continued to swirl before a crunch election at the weekend and an official visit on Tuesday from the US vice-president, JD Vance.
Orbán travelled to Hungary’s southern border with Serbia on Monday, one day after Serbia said it had found “explosives of devastating power” near a pipeline that carries Russian natural gas to Hungary and beyond.
Continue reading...California gas prices are the nation's highest. The candidates in the 2026 governor's race weighed in on the role of state policy, global supply risks, refinery closures, and how each would address rising gas prices.
Elliot Cadeau scored 19 points and won Final Four MOP
Foul trouble haunts Huskies in low-scoring affair
As it happened: Read Beau Dure’s live play-by-play
High-scoring Michigan had to get down and dirty to dig out the national title Monday, making only two three-pointers all night but still muscling its way to a 69-63 victory over stingy, stubborn UConn.
Elliot Cadeau led the Wolverines with 19 points, including the team’s first basket from beyond the arc, which came 7:04 into the second half. He was later named Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four.
Continue reading...  | It’s a pint x with wtf rails and some lighting effects. :) [link] [comments] |
Elliot Cadeau scored 19 points as the Wolverines held off a late rally by UConn to capture their first title since 1989. Read Beau Dure’s live play-by-play
UConn 4-9 Michigan, 15:42 left, first half: Solo Ball works inside to get two for UConn, but then he gets called for blocking at the other end. Questionable call, to be honest. He seemed set.
Cadeau misses a three, but Michigan get a second and third chance. Johnson converts the tip-in.
Continue reading...An anonymous reader quotes a report from Reuters: A federal appeals court ruled on Monday that New Jersey gaming regulators cannot prevent Kalshi from allowing people in the state to use its prediction market to place financial bets on the outcome of sporting events. A three-judge panel of the Philadelphia-based 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 (PDF) in finding that the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission has exclusive jurisdiction over the sports-related event contracts that Kalshi allows people to trade on its platform. The ruling marked the first time a federal appeals court has ruled on what has become the central issue in an escalating battle over the ability of state gaming regulators to police the activity of prediction market operators. Kalshi and companies like it allow users to place trades and profit from predictions on events such as sports and elections. States argue that firms like Kalshi are operating without required state licenses, in violation of gaming laws, including bans on wagers by those under 21. Those states include New Jersey, which last year sent Kalshi a cease-and-desist letter stating that its listing of sports-related event contracts on its platform violated state gambling laws that prohibit betting on collegiate sports. Kalshi sued the state, arguing its event contracts qualify as "swaps," a type of derivative contract, that under the Commodity Exchange Act can only be regulated by the CFTC, which had granted the company a license to operate a designated contract market (DCM). A lower-court judge had sided with New York-based Kalshi and issued a preliminary injunction, prompting New Jersey to appeal. But a majority of the judges on the 3rd Circuit panel concluded the Commodity Exchange Act likely preempted state law. "Kalshi's sports-related event contracts are swaps traded on a CFTC-licensed DCM, so the CFTC has exclusive jurisdiction," U.S. Circuit Judge David Porter wrote. The ruling was in line with the position advanced in other litigation by the CFTC under President Donald Trump's administration. The regulator last week sued Arizona, Connecticut and Illinois to prevent them from pursuing what it called unlawful efforts to regulate prediction markets.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
President Trump praised the crew of NASA's Artemis II mission in a brief chat late Monday, saying they had "inspired the entire world" after they looped around the moon in a record-breaking voyage.
This blog is now closed – our live coverage continues here
A Japanese shipping firm said on Monday that an Indian-flagged tanker owned by its subsidiary had passed through the strait of Hormuz and was en route to India.
A spokeswoman for Mitsui O.S.K. Lines told AFP that the Green Asha – a liquefied petroleum gas tanker – had crossed the waterway.
Pakistan stands in solidarity with the brotherly people of the UAE and reiterates the urgent need for restraint and de-escalation in the region.
Continue reading...Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for April 7.
I have a onewheel GT that has mustache rails, nimrodz and a few other floatlife modifications as well as a new tire. I also have all original parts a supercharger and a regular charger as well as a stand, an unused badger kit and various tools and a lock.
the board itself has rougly 3k mi on it.
I dont even know where to start as far as what to ask if I want to sell it, what is this worth?
if anyone could help with this id appreciate it.
Markwayne Mullin questions why city governments don’t enforce federal immigration policies during interview with Fox News
Donald Trump has endorsed the Republican former Fox News host Steve Hilton in the California governor’s race, a move that could dash Republican hopes of locking Democrats out of the November runoff.
Trump announced his backing on Monday on Truth Social, writing that Hilton “has my COMPLETE & TOTAL ENDORSEMENT” and pledging federal support for his candidacy. “Steve can turn it around, before it is too late, and, as President, I will help him to do so,” he wrote.
Continue reading...Trump claims Iranians welcome US strikes and lower court judges challenge Trump’s ‘war on rule of law’ – key US politics stories from Monday 6 April at a glance
Donald Trump was asked at a press conference on Monday if his war on Iran was winding down or ramping up. His response: “I can’t tell you.”
The US president’s comments came as diplomatic negotiations aimed at halting the war in the Middle East appeared to be faltering.
Continue reading...  | Surprisingly no nose dive but I felt my impending doom. Don't recommend this 😭 [link] [comments] |
 | I've been having some issues with my plus and over voltage errors. finally decided to get into it and noticed the BMS charges fine until 3.45v and then only cell 1 and cell 14 accept charge according to OWCE rising all the way to 4.23v. Now there's no way that's actually happening because it would have burned down by now, I've been charging to 3.45 for all cells to circumnavigate this issue for a few months. I finally got around to taking apart the board and getting down to the BMS and I noticed corrosion in several places. I cleaned it off but obviously it's probably eaten into a connection enough to change resistances. Is there anyone in the community that's knowledgeable on this that I could ship my BMS to? I'm assuming there's a few capacitors that need resoldered. Anything is worth a shot, as a last ditch effort I will try a Daly BMS but I don't even want to begin with the wiring harness for balance connectors so this is a much easier option for me. Also I would love to buy anyone's used BMS board for the OG plus, if I can't fix it. If it ends up being unfixable I know guess I could probably just XRV but I'm just so entwined in the 58v standard now with external packs and everything I just kind of want to keep it OEM plus. thanks onewheel bros and gals hope y'all come through for me! [link] [comments] |
Anyone know if Land-Surf is going to make more of these? I'm waiting for them to come back into stock, but in the interim my board's in pieces...
Someone fired into the home of Indianapolis city council member Ron Gibson, who favors plans to build a data center, and left a note on his porch. No one was hurt.
Here are some hints and the answers for the NYT Connections puzzle for April 7, No. 1031.
Here are hints and answers for the NYT Strands puzzle for April 7, No. 765.
Here are hints and the answer for today's Wordle for April 7, No. 1,753.
The Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department said officers found evidence of gunshots and believe it was "an isolated, targeted incident."
Shipping companies would take at least two months to resume operations in the Persian Gulf following a ceasefire in the region, according to the Eurasia Group.
An American woman disappeared in the Bahamas on Saturday, after her husband said she fell from their dinghy and was swept out to sea.
America's middle class is shrinking, but not because people are getting poorer. Instead, more households are climbing the ladder, new research suggests.
An investigation is underway in Long Beach after human remains were discovered in the area near DeForest Park and Wetlands on Sunday afternoon, according to police.
The president has given Iranian officials until 8 p.m. Tuesday to make a ceasefire deal or face widespread destruction. Tehran on Monday reasserted its rejection of U.S. demands.
Anyone remember the KDE 4.0 themes Oxygen and Air? Well, several KDE developers have been working tirelessly to bring them back, which means they’re patching it up, fixing bugs, and generally making these classic themes work well in the current releases of KDE Plasma 6.
The last post regarding work on fixing Oxygen was a month and a half ago. With all that’s happened in between, it feels like so much more time has actually passed. With this post, I’d like to do a sort of mid-term update summing up all of the improvements done so far. These improvements are not just my work, but also, as you’ll see, the work of the lead Oxygen designer Nuno Pinheiro, of several seasoned KDE developers, and of new contributors to Oxygen as well.
↫ Filip Fila
The effort to bring these themes back go much beyond just making them nominally work; the developers and designers are also making sure the themes work properly with all the new features that have come to KDE since the 4.x and 5.x days, like adaptive and floating panels, various forms of blur, and a ton more – which includes making sure the themes are fully compatible with Wayland, which introduced a slew of new visual glitches and issues to these old themes in recent years.
They are also working on improving, updating, and expanding the Oxygen icon set, which should surely bring back a ton of memories. This work involves not just designing new icons for applications and other things that didn’t exist back when Oxygen was current, but also fixing old icons that look blurry on modern setups, addressing cases where monochrome and colourful icons mismatch, and so on. They’re clearly taking this very seriously.
It seems to be an organic effort more and more people got involved with as time passed, and they’re aiming to have these themes ready for Plasma 6.7, to be released in June of this year. You can already try the current versions today, but they do require the absolute latest version of KDE Plasma to work properly. More improvements are planned for the coming weeks.
This whole thing brings a massive smile to my face, and is such a perfect illustration of why I love the KDE project and its approach and spirit. At this point in time, I personally can’t imagine using any other desktop environment.
LEUVEN, Belgium, April 6, 2026 — ‘SPINS’ (Semiconductor Pilot Line for Industrial Quantum NanoSystems), one of six European quantum pilot lines, has been launched. Coordinated by imec, the consortium brings together 25 European RTOs, industry partners, and academic research groups to strengthen Europe’s leadership and sovereignty in this strategically important domain. The €50 million SPINS project is co-funded by the European Union’s Chips Joint Undertaking (Chips JU) and national and regional authorities across participating member states.
SPINS project partner overview. Credit: Fraunhofer IPMS.
Quantum computing is increasingly viewed as a strategic domain, with growing economic and societal relevance. Potential applications range from drug discovery and materials science to secure communications and advanced navigation systems.
However, a gap remains between current research and the ability to manufacture quantum processors at scale. Increasing the number of stable qubits is considered a key step toward building reliable, fault-tolerant quantum computers.
Given the technological complexity of quantum hardware—including cryogenic operation, ultra-precise control electronics, and specialized fabrication processes—and its strategic importance, the EU Chips Act has established six complementary quantum pilot lines. Each focuses on a distinct hardware platform, collectively advancing technologies across quantum computing, communications, and sensing. Within this portfolio, SPINS is dedicated to semiconductor-based spin qubits, with a primary focus on developing quantum chips.
Imec is coordinating the pilot line and leading a European consortium of 25 partners, including RTOs such as Fraunhofer, VTT, and CEA-Leti; industry participants ranging from large enterprises like Infineon and Siltronic to SMEs and startups; and academic institutions including TU Delft and the University of Jyväskylä. The effort aims to translate the EU Chips Act’s strategic framework into concrete actions.
The SPINS consortium’s initial efforts focus on process and design optimization to establish a foundation for scalable, stable, and high-performance spin qubits across three technology platforms: Si/SiGe, Ge/GeSi, and SOI. The project also aims to create a lab-to-fab pathway through Multi-Project Wafers (MPW) and standardized quantum Process Design Kits (PDKs), lowering entry barriers for startups and SMEs working on semiconductor-based quantum technologies and supporting the development of European expertise.
“Scaling qubits requires an extremely controllable environment and solid manufacturing processing, in view of the extreme sensitivity of qubits to environmental noise,” said Kristiaan De Greve, SPINS coordinator. “These challenges require both the accuracy and control that is only present in state of semiconductor cleanroom infrastructure, combined with the research and innovation mentality to adjust such an environment to address these sensitive qubits. At imec, we’ve been creatively addressing complex problems with advanced semiconductor manufacturing for over 40 years. By bundling the expertise of our European consortium partners in this quantum pilot line, we will speed up the development of high-TRL semiconductor qubits and thereby enable larger-scale quantum systems made in Europe.”
Complementary European quantum efforts alongside the semiconductor-based pilot line include photonics for quantum (‘P4Q,’ coordinated by the University of Twente, Netherlands, with imec also contributing), ion-trap qubits (‘CHAMP-ION,’ coordinated by Silicon Austria Labs, Austria), superconducting qubits (‘SUPREME,’ coordinated by VTT, Finland), diamond-based quantum chips (‘DIREQT,’ coordinated by the National Research Council of Italy), and neutral atom systems (‘Q PLANET,’ coordinated by Pasqal, France).
More from HPCwire
About imec
Imec is a world-leading research and innovation hub in advanced semiconductor technologies. Leveraging its state-of-the-art R&D infrastructure and the expertise of over 6,500 employees, imec drives innovation in semiconductor and system scaling, artificial intelligence, silicon photonics, connectivity, and sensing.
Imec’s advanced research powers breakthroughs across a wide range of industries, including computing, health, automotive, industry, consumer electronics, aerospace and security. Through IC-Link, imec guides companies through every step of the chip journey – from initial concept to full-scale manufacturing – delivering customized solutions tailored to meet the most advanced design and production needs.
Imec collaborates with global leaders across the semiconductor value chain, as well as with technology companies, start-ups, academia, and research institutions in Flanders and worldwide. Headquartered in Leuven, Belgium, imec has research facilities in Belgium, across Europe, the USA and the GCC region, and representation on three continents. In 2024, imec reported revenues of €1.034 billion.
Source: imec
The post SPINS Launches €50M EU Pilot Line for Semiconductor Spin Qubit Development appeared first on HPCwire.
At least 432 ebike fires and 147 e-scooter fires recorded in 2025, up 38% and 20% respectively on previous year
Ebike and e-scooter fires in the UK reached a record high last year, an investigation has found, renewing concerns over the use of lithium batteries and unregulated marketplaces.
Fire brigade figures obtained by the Press Association show there were at least 432 ebike fires recorded across the UK in 2025, up 38% from 313 the previous year and more than five times higher than the 84 recorded in 2021.
Continue reading...Republican Tony Gonzales ended re-election bid in March after admitting to having affair with a different aide
A second former female staffer for Tony Gonzales, a Republican congressman from Texas, has come forward claiming Gonzales sent her sexually explicit messages.
The San Antonio Express-News first reported the text messages on Monday and NBC News later confirmed the report.
Continue reading...OpenAI is proposing (PDF) sweeping policy changes to help manage the societal disruption caused by advanced AI, including taxes on automated labor, a public wealth fund, and experiments with a four-day workweek. The company said the policy document offered a series of "initial ideas" to address the risk of "jobs and entire industries being disrupted" by the adoption of AI tools. Business Insider reports: Among the core policy suggestions is a public wealth fund, which would see lawmakers and AI companies work together to invest in long-term assets linked to the AI boom, with returns distributed directly to citizens. Another is that the government should encourage and incentivize employers to experiment with four-day workweeks with no loss in pay and offer "benefits bonuses" tied to productivity gains from new AI tools. The policy document also suggests lawmakers modernize the tax system and shift the tax base to corporate income and capital gains, rather than relying on labor income and payroll taxes that could be hit by a wave of AI-powered job losses. It also recommends taxes related to automated labor. OpenAI also called for the accelerated expansion of the US's electricity grid, which is already feeling the strain from a wave of data center construction and energy demand for training ever more powerful AI models.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Four astronauts become Earth’s farthest travelled and exceed a 1970 record on the fifth day of the mission
Artemis II astronauts broke Apollo 13’s distance record at 1.57pm eastern time on Monday, hugging each other in the cramped capsule as they made history for being the first four humans to travel the farthest from Earth than anyone before them.
Before hitting the record, the quartet dimmed the lights in their capsule and positioned themselves by the windows in preparation to set the long-distance record as they fly by the moon without stopping – with plans to ultimately swing around for planet Earth.
Continue reading...President’s press conference after White House Easter egg roll did little to dispel fears he has lost touch with reality
Donald Trump began his day standing with a person in a giant bunny costume and boasting about the Iran war to an audience of children.
The annual Easter egg roll on the White House South Lawn conjured a fitting Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland image for a US president who has disappeared down what many would call a rabbit hole.
Continue reading...Announced by President Trump less than six months ago, the Department of Energy’s Genesis Mission is now up and running, and it’s moving quickly. The effort to accelerate AI for science and engineering has already made hundreds of millions of dollars available for projects. But interested parties should act fast, as the phase one deadline for applying for a funding opportunity announcement (FOA) is at the end of the month.
The DOE formally announced its Genesis Mission Request for Application (RFA) on March 17. Dubbed “Transforming Science and Energy with AI,” the DOE is making $293.76 million available for research projects exploring the use of AI in science and engineering among government labs, universities, industry partners, and non-profit organizations.
The DOE has highlighted more than two dozen national challenges that it wants to tackle in the areas of advanced manufacturing, biotechnology, critical materials, nuclear energy, and quantum information science. It’s ready to fund efforts to use AI to tackle science and engineering topics with titles like “Discovering Quantum Algorithms with AI” and “Scaling the Biotechnology Revolution.” You can read the full list of 26 challenges in the Genesis Mission National Science and Technology Challenges document.
“The goal is to double the productivity and impact of science and engineering within a decade,” Rian Bahran, the DOE’s deputy assistant secretary for nuclear reactors, said during an introductory webinar last week. “That’s the level of ambition the Genesis Mission executive order and direction has provided to us.”
During the March 26 presentation, titled “Genesis Mission: Request for Applications (RFA) Webinar,” Bahran and his colleague Bindu Nair, the associate director of the Basic Energy Sciences Program, provided some practical information for researchers who are interested in applying for government funding as part of the Genesis Mission.
Genesis Mission researchers can apply for phase one and phase two projects. In phase one, the government is offering to fund teams with between $500,000 to $750,000 over a period of nine months. Phase one projects that pan out may move on to phase two, which awards teams from $6 million to $15 million over a three-year project period. Researchers can also directly apply for phase two funding if the project is sufficiently fleshed out.
Parties that are interested in proposing a phase one project must submit their application by midnight Eastern Time on April 28. The application does not have to be long; a five-page document will suffice, Nair said. Parties that are interested in proposing a phase two projects are asked (but not required) to mail a letter of intent by 5 p.m. ET on April 28, with the final deadline for an application three weeks later. The DOE is still nailing down some of the details for phase two projects.
There are restrictions on who can apply for a Genesis Mission FOA. In phase one, each proposal must include a representative from two out of three categories: A DOE or National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) National Laboratories; a for-profit institution or industrial partner; and an institution of higher education or non-profit organization. “You have to have two out of the three,” Nair said. “We’re hoping for actually all three.” All three categories are eligible to serve as lead institutions. Other federal agencies and international entities can also be partners in projects, but they cannot be lead institutions, per the DOE requirements.
The 26 National Challenges of the Genesis Mission’s “Transforming Science and Energy with AI” RFA
There are no letters of intent or pre-applications for phase one projects, Nair said. “The first time we will hear from you is when you submit to us your full awards,” she said.
Phase one projects are staffed by small teams of three to four principle investigators who have “come together to design and demonstrate a clear and tangible research workflow that incorporates AI with concrete evaluation of the potential for AI advantage,” Nair said. “What that means is that we need you to tell us how you want us to measure you, that you have demonstrated, or that you are on a path to demonstrating AI advantage, and then show us where in your research or technology development workflow AI is supporting you.”
The DOE wants phase one researchers to pick one area to focus on and stick to it. Researchers should not apply for multiple awards with the same general research. PIs for one project cannot be PIs on another project, although senior investigators can be part of multiple projects. There’s no limit on the number of projects a lab, university, company, or non-profit organization can be involved in.
Phase two projects are composed of much larger teams, consisting of up to 20 investigators and perhaps crossing into multiple focus areas. While the DOE would like phase two projects to stem from phase one projects, it’s willing to accept phase two projects right away for projects that are demonstrating AI advantage. “I will remind you that phase two proposals are hard,” Nair said. “The barrier is higher. So if you are unsure, we recommend that you actually put forward a phase one proposal.”
The DOE is asking phase one submitters to describe the resources they’ll need to complete the work, including computing, networking, and data resources. While the RFA is not an application for computing resources, the DOE would like to know what will be needed. Preferably, the researchers will bring their own computing resources to bear on the project.
“We will try to help you also if you are selected,” Nair said. “But…we expect our computing and data storage resources to be oversubscribed, so we’re not going to promise anything. We will do the best we can to allocate as we can.” Phase one proposals do not need a data management plan, but phase two projects are required for phase two applications.
The Genesis Mission Consortium is also going to play a role in the DOE’s research projects, including by contributing computing power, AI tokens, technical expertise, and other support. The DOE is counting on Genesis Mission Consortium to connect industry and academic organization with the DOE and NNSA labs, to catalize data flows, and promote novel data applications. Research groups do not need to be members of the Genesis Mission Consortium under this RFA, and participation in the RFA does not grant them membership in the consortium.
The DOE is holding a series of webinars to discuss the specific research its interested in pursuing. There have been four webinars so far, and three more are planned, with the next one occurring April 7 at 2 p.m. ET. You can see the full list of Genesis Mission webinars here.
Related Items:
Dario Gil at GTC: DOE’s Genesis Mission Moving from Vision to Execution
Rick Stevens on the Genesis Mission and the Future of AI for Science
The post Genesis Mission Now Accepting Applications to Fund AI-for-Science Projects appeared first on HPCwire.
U.S. and Iraqi officials say they believe freelancer Shelly Kittleson was kidnapped last week by Kataib Hezbollah, a paramilitary group with links to Iran.
Neither Josh Hartnett nor Ewan McGregor were there, but the way the mainstream media is telling it, they might as well have been. The Sunday morning rescue of a U.S. airman shot down over Iran launched a thousand breathless tick-tock retellings from the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, CBS News, and many, many more — helpful water-carrying for an administration prosecuting a deeply unpopular war without a clear end in sight.
“The rescue had unfolded with near‑perfect precision. Under cover of darkness, U.S. commandos slipped deep into Iran, undetected, scaled a 7,000‑foot ridge and pulled a stranded American weapons specialist to safety, moving him toward a secret rendezvous point before dawn on Sunday,” Reuters’ report on the rescue opens. “Then everything stopped.”
The operation was a “harrowing race against time,” according to the Times. As Politico put it, citing an anonymous senior administration official, it was “the ultimate ‘needle in a haystack’” mission, made possible by a CIA “deception campaign” in the country disseminating the misinformation that the airman had already been located and was being extracted by ground to confuse the Iranians’ search.
The White House frequently hosts widely attended “background briefing” calls for large groups of reporters. Maybe that’s how Axios chimed in with the same evocative “needle in a haystack” line, which it also attributed to a senior administration official.
“This was the ultimate needle in a haystack but in this case it was a brave American soul inside a mountain crevice, invisible but for CIA’s capabilities,” the unnamed source told Axios.
CBS News called locating and extracting the service member, who was aboard a craft known by the call sign “Dude 44,” “a herculean U.S. government effort.” Even The Associated Press characterized the mission as “a daring rescue,” and multiple publications reported that when the airman was able, they radioed the line “God is good” just ahead of Easter Sunday — a plot point that would make even devotees of the show “24” groan.
As government sources are telling the tale to eager reporters at national publications, the F-15E Strike Eagle was the first jet shot down Friday over enemy territory in this war on Iran. After coming under Iranian fire, the two-man crew ejected themselves, and the aircraft’s weapons systems officer was separated from the pilot, who was “quickly” rescued, according to the Journal.
While the initially missing service member’s identity has not been revealed, Trump said he is a colonel who was injured but managed to hide out in a mountain crevice to await rescue. Two Black Hawk helicopters involved in the search were also hit by incoming fire; in another incident, an A-10 Warthog was hit and crashed in a neighboring allied country, where the pilot was rescued.
“A lot of great things happened.”
“When airmen go down, you can’t get them in very tough countries, like in Vietnam,” Trump told the Journal, in a revealing comparison.
“He was able to climb, climb up as wounded as he was, he was able to climb up into a crevice,” Trump went on. “A lot of great things happened.”
To say it would be naive to take the Trump administration at face value is an understatement. Yet the complete lack of any skepticism of this Hollywood story from mainstream news would make even Breitbart writers blush.
Even the timing of the premiere was perfect for the Trump administration, which is acutely aware of how unpopular this war is at home. Is America winning this war? Don’t worry about that, check out this action sequence.
One of the ironies of all this is that it exposes exactly why the Trump administration can’t be trusted. Just two days before the fighter jet was shot down, Trump was blustering about how U.S. strikes had left Iran with “no anti-aircraft” capabilities. The daring rescue, however, is predicated on the very clear fact that Iran absolutely still has the ability to shoot down American planes.
The U.S. can certainly bomb Iran “back to the Stone Age” — a line both Trump and Hegseth deployed — but all that hellfire rained down on civilian targets won’t yield the political dividends they so desperately desire.
It’s all eerily reminiscent of the way the media covered the lead-up to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, when papers of record like the Times and The Atlantic and respected broadcast outlets like “Meet the Press” were more than happy to launder the Bush administration’s quarter-baked intelligence to make the case for war to the American public.
Even voices from the emergent, supposedly left-wing media — like the wonks making their name through a new format called “blogs” — were overjoyed to fall in line with the war effort. After all, the logic seemed to go, how could you be taken seriously if you were reflexively anti-war — the province of far-left nuts who are cast into the political wilderness? It was far safer and, in the long term, professionally beneficial to sell out any principles you had to enlist as junior partners in the pro-war coalition.
Even if, in this moment, the media is vaguely more skeptical of the war with Iran, national reporters simply couldn’t resist retelling the story of a Great American Rescue Mission, consequences, or the broader truth, be damned. Americans’ memories, especially for failing wars, are short.
As the fog clears and a fuller picture emerges, maybe we’ll see whether it shakes out the same way these serial liars sold it to huge swaths of the media.
The post The Media Just Can’t Help Turning Iran Fighter Jet Rescue Into “Black Hawk Down” appeared first on The Intercept.
Education department will no longer enforce schools from California to Delaware to comply with US civil rights law
The US education department said on Monday it had terminated agreements that previous administrations reached with five school districts and a college aimed at upholding rights and protections for transgender students.
The decision means the department will no longer play a role in enforcing those agreements, which called for schools to take steps to comply with federal civil rights law. The districts affected are Cape Henlopen school district in Delaware, Fife school district in Washington; Delaware Valley school district in Pennsylvania; and La Mesa-Spring Valley school district, Sacramento City Unified and Taft College in California.
Continue reading...Major companies, including Huawei and Hikvision, could see the last of their import orders cut off from the US within 30 days of implementation.
Is it the season for changing your wireless provider or picking a different phone plan? We've put together our picks for the top postpaid and prepaid plans from AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon, Mint Mobile, US Mobile and others.
Two more drug-making giants, Abbvie and Genentech, will start selling popular medications on the White House's discounted pharmaceutical site as soon as Monday.
TEL AVIV, Israel, April 6, 2026 — Q-Factor, a neutral atom quantum computing company, today announced $24 million in seed funding. The round was led by NFX and TPY Capital, with participation from Intel Capital, Korea Investment Partners, Deep33, and the Matias family, along with a grant from the Israel Innovation Authority. The Technion – Israel Institute of Technology and Weizmann Institute of Science are also shareholders in the company, which was founded to commercialize decades of foundational research in atomic physics conducted in their labs.
Founded by four leading physicists from the Weizmann Institute and Technion, Q-Factor is developing neutral atom tech to break through quantum computing’s scaling barriers. Credit: Intel Capital.
Neutral atoms have rapidly emerged as one of the most promising approaches to quantum computing. They are naturally inert, capable of holding quantum information for extended periods, yet precisely controllable using light alone, without the need for extreme cooling or complex wiring. However, current quantum computers across all modalities remain too small by orders of magnitude to deliver real commercial value. Breaking past a few thousand qubits to the hundreds of thousands or millions required for useful computation demands not incremental improvement, but a fundamental architectural leap.
Q-Factor was founded to tackle this challenge. The company brings together four physicists whose research spans decades at the forefront of neutral atom science. Three lead labs at the Weizmann Institute and the Technion that have pioneered the building blocks of neutral atom systems, including ultracold atoms, controlled atomic interactions (Rydberg physics), atom transport, and advanced laser techniques; the fourth brings extensive technical leadership building and scaling deep tech ventures. The founders closely analyzed the limitations of current neutral atom quantum computing, and have identified the architectural bottlenecks that prevent current platforms from scaling beyond a few thousand qubits. Q-Factor has developed an approach to overcome them and scale to over one million.
“The quantum computing industry needs a revolution, not an evolution,” said Prof. Ofer Firstenberg, co-founder and chief scientist of Q-Factor. “Current systems are too small to deliver on the promise of quantum computing, and incremental improvements alone aren’t going to close that gap. We’ve developed an architecture designed for continuous scalability, a Moore’s Law-like trajectory that can take neutral atom systems from thousands of qubits to millions and beyond.”
Q-Factor was founded by Prof. Nir Davidson, a world-renowned authority in ultracold atoms with 280 published papers and former dean of physics at the Weizmann Institute of Science; Prof. Ofer Firstenberg of the Weizmann Institute, an expert in quantum optics and Rydberg atoms, formerly of Harvard and MIT; Prof. Yoav Sagi of the Technion, a leading authority in neutral-atom manipulation, formerly of JILA and the University of Colorado; and Dr. Guy Raz, a physicist with 20 years of technical leadership for multiple deep tech startups.
“It’s rare to find a team with this combination of scientific authority and commercial instinct,” said Gigi Levy-Weiss, Partner at NFX. “Four Talpiot graduates with hundreds of published papers in the fields directly underlying this technology, and real experience bringing deep science to market. They are uniquely positioned to execute on one of the most ambitious goals in quantum computing.”
“Neutral atoms are emerging as the leading modality for scalable quantum computing, and Q-Factor is entering the race with a distinct architectural advantage,” said Dekel Persi, Partner at TPY Capital. “TPY has been investing in quantum computing for seven years and have evaluated dozens of companies across modalities and geographies. What the Q-Factor team achieved stood out immediately. Their architectural approach to scale made this a clear must-do for us.”
“Q-Factor’s founding team combines world-class scientific depth with a clear-eyed understanding of what it will take to build a commercially viable quantum computer,” said Lisa Cohen, Investment Director at Intel Capital. “They’ve watched the field evolve, learned from the challenges others have encountered, and assembled the right expertise to tackle the hardest remaining problem in quantum computing: scale.”
Source: Intel Capital
The post Q-Factor Emerges from Stealth with $24M to Advance Scalable Neutral Atom Quantum Systems appeared first on HPCwire.
The risky rescue of two American service members from Iranian territory sounds like the plot of an action movie, with a colonel stranded in the country for almost two days after he and a pilot ejected from an F-15E fighter jet that Iranian forces shot down. The two-man crew was later rescued in two different missions. But so far, the U.S. military has not released images from either operation — and artificial intelligence is responsible for the cinematic rescue scenes spreading on social media.
The pilot’s April 3 rescue involved the deployment of 21 military aircraft that faced heavy fire, President Donald Trump said a few days later. The injured colonel, who landed miles away from the pilot, had to climb treacherous mountain terrain, waiting close to 48 hours before U.S. special forces could extract him, Trump said.
Purported images of their rescues drew awed responses online. One showed a smiling man wearing a combat uniform and holding an American flag surrounded by other service members in what looks like a military plane.
"I’ll never forget this picture on each & every Easter Sunday. Rescued," read an X post by John Bolaris, a realtor and TV meteorologist, with over 791,000 views.
A Facebook user posting the image said, "Here is the photo of the honorable Colonel being rescued yesterday."
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., shared and then deleted the photo on their X accounts.
Conservative commentator David J Harris Jr., shared another image April 5, claiming to show the rescue of the American pilot from Western Iran. But this photo was also fabricated using artificial intelligence.
One of the X posts sharing the photo of the colonel has a "Made with AI" label.
Neither U.S. Central Command nor the U.S. government have released images of the rescued service members.
V.S. Subrahmanian, a Northwestern University computer science professor, and Marco Postiglione, a postdoctoral researcher who works with Subrahmanian, told PolitiFact the image of the colonel with a flag was likely generated with artificial intelligence.
(Screenshot of a purported image of a U.S. colonel's rescue has some visual inconsistencies indicating it was created using AI.)
Subrahmanian and Postiglione also noticed some visual inconsistencies in the photo. A person’s uniform on the left, for example, bears a flag patch that sits at an unusual angle and position on the sleeve. Standard military regulations specify that the flag should be worn on the right shoulder, centered and typically a half-inch below the shoulder seam, they said. Another flag patch on the man to the right of the purported colonel appears on the front of his chest.
Some other anomalies:
The colonel’s hand on top of the American flag appears to have an extra finger and looks distorted.
The image is grainy and the background is blurred.
The stripes of the flag are not folding the way they would on a real flag.
Hive Moderation, an AI-detection tool, said the picture was likely generated by GPT Image 1.5., Open AI’s image generation model.
(Screenshot of Facebook post)
We ran the pilot photo through Hive Moderation as well. These programs are imperfect, but it concluded that it was "99.9% likely to contain AI-generated or deepfake content." It said this image was likely generated using the AI-image generator Stable Diffusion XL.
We rate claims these are authentic photos Pants on Fire!
Electric bag sealers use heat to reseal bags of chips, cereal and other pantry items. I tested two of the best-rated on Amazon to see if they earn the CNET seal of approval.
A teardown video of LG's never-released Rollable phone helps explain why rollable phones never became a real product category: they were likely too expensive, fragile, and complicated to manufacture at scale. "The complexity of the internals would have made the Rollable extremely expensive to manufacture, and it would have demanded a high price tag," reports Ars Technica. "Durability is also a big concern. There's just a lot going on inside this phone, with multiple motors, springy arms, tracks, and a screen that has to loop around the back. [...] It seems unlikely the LG Rollable could have survived daily use for multiple years." From the report: The LG Rollable is just one of several rollable concept phones that appeared throughout the early 2020s. Flexible OLED screens had finally become affordable, leading to foldable phones like the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold. Although, "affordable" is relative here. Foldables were and still are very expensive devices. Based on what we can see of the complex inner workings of the LG Rollable, these devices may have commanded even higher prices. Noted YouTube phone destroyer JerryRigEverything managed to snag a working prototype LG Rollable. It may even be the unit LG demoed at CES 2021. The device looks like a regular phone at first glance, but a quick swipe activates the motor, which unfurls additional screen real estate from around the back. This makes the viewable area about 40 percent larger without the added thickness of a foldable. The device expands with the aid of two tiny motors, which are attached via straight teeth to an internal track. The screen assembly has zipper-like teeth that keep it locked into the frame as it moves. The motors make a surprising amount of noise when operating, so LG designed the phone to play a musical chime to hide the sound. While the motor does the heavy lifting, the phone also has a lattice of articulating spring-loaded arms inside that keep the OLED panel even as the frame slides side to side. The battery and motherboard sit in a tray that allows the back of the phone to expand as the OLED rolls into view. This is a prototype phone, featuring a chunky frame and visible screws. That helped Zack Nelson from JerryRigEverything successfully disassemble and reassemble the phone. So this little bit of mobile history was not destroyed, and the teardown gives us a good look at how LG was hoping to attract new customers before calling it quits.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
April 6, 2026 — On March 5, the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory threw open its doors, both in person and virtually, to share with the public some of the extraordinary research that’s happening here.
Deputy Laboratory Director for Science and Technology, Sean L. Jones, moderates the March OutLoud lecture. Credit: Argonne National Laboratory.
The occasion? The lab’s first OutLoud Public Lecture of 2026. It came as Argonne marks its 80th anniversary, and what better way to kick off celebrations than by showing off some of the lab’s crown jewels — the U.S. national scientific user facilities — while putting the OutLoud audience to the test.
User facilities are cutting-edge tools that serve as the foundation of countless groundbreaking scientific discoveries and advancements. Funded by the DOE, they significantly accelerate research in a wide range of areas. Argonne researchers aren’t the only ones who get the benefit of using these tools. More than 8,000 visitors each year — including scientists and engineers from academia, government and industry — are attracted to Argonne’s user facilities, fostering collaboration across many fields.
Argonne has six user facilities, but during this latest OutLoud lecture, “Beacons of Discovery: Argonne’s User Facilities and Some of Their Greatest Contributions,” the spotlight was on the three most utilized. The night proved to be an educational opportunity wrapped in fun.
More than 500 in-person and virtual attendees participated, welcomed by Laboratory Director Paul Kearns.
“Argonne’s 80th anniversary is a milestone that commemorates eight decades of advancing scientific discovery and innovation for our nation,” said Kearns. “This OutLoud lecture celebrated the impact made possible by our talented researchers and our world-class facilities. Together, they are driving science forward in ways that benefit society today and expand what is possible for generations to come.”
The event was moderated by Sean L. Jones, Argonne’s deputy laboratory director for science and technology. Jones summed up one of the many reasons the lab is so special: “Argonne is fortunate to be one of a handful of national laboratories with interconnected user facilities on the same campus. And by working together, our powerful tools and instruments solve complex challenges that improve our daily lives.”
The evening featured presentations by three Argonne researchers who are authorities on their respective user facilities. The first lesson was centered on the Center for Nanoscale Materials (CNM), introduced by Connie Pfeiffer, user program manager. CNM is where scientists zoom in — way in — to study materials and processes at nanoscale to understand their properties and behaviors.
Audience members listen during the March 2026 OutLoud lecture. Credit: Argonne National Laboratory.
Pfeiffer discussed how CNM’s more than 160 tools and capabilities advance various areas of science, including quantum computing, microelectronics and autonomous discovery.
More specifically, CNM has been used to develop a new qubit platform. Qubits are the basic units of quantum computers. The qubit platform is the hardware system used to create and manipulate those building blocks. CNM has also helped researchers develop digital twin software that can mirror experiment conditions, ultimately helping scientists make efficient use of their time on user facilities.
The next researcher to take the stage, Stefan Vogt, associate director of Argonne’s X-ray Science Division (XSD), gave the audience a glimpse into the Advanced Photon Source (APS), the brightest synchrotron X-ray source in the world. The facility works by accelerating electrons near the speed of light, producing extraordinarily intense X-ray beams that allow scientists to probe the structure of matter in ways conventional X-rays cannot. The results have been nothing short of transformative.
APS data has contributed to three Nobel Prizes in chemistry. Among many other contributions to science, the APS played a pivotal role in determining the protein structures that led to the development of Paxlovid, a drug used to treat COVID-19. The APS has also given engineers unique insight into 3D metal printing, helping them build stronger, more reliable components.
Rounding out the trio was Katherine Riley, director of science for the Argonne Leadership Computing Facility (ALCF), which is home to some of the most powerful supercomputing and artificial intelligence resources in the world.
Riley discussed how scientists are using ALCF resources to pursue high-impact research that is improving aircraft and engine design, accelerating the discovery of new battery materials and advancing efforts to map the human brain. CNM, APS and ALCF are all DOE Office of Science user facilities.
After the presentations, it was time to take things up a notch with a quiz game that put audience members’ newly acquired knowledge to the test. Three guests were invited on stage as contestants — because what’s a night of world-class science without a little friendly competition? All three contestants walked away with bragworthy prizes — exclusive OutLoud and Argonne swag.
The audience also had the chance to engage with the night’s presenters during a Q&A segment, as well as one-on-one after the event.
The OutLoud Public Lecture Series, produced by Argonne’s Office of Community Engagement, is just getting started this year. Future lectures are planned for:
Missed the event? You can watch “Beacons of Discovery: Argonne’s User Facilities and Some of Their Greatest Contributions” on YouTube.
To learn more about the OutLoud Public Lecture Series and to sign up for the email list, visit the OutLoud page.
Source: Courtney Gousman, Argonne National Laboratory
The post Argonne Kicks Off 80th Anniversary Celebrations with 1st OutLoud Public Lecture of 2026 appeared first on HPCwire.
Here are hints and the answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle for April 7, No. 561.
AI experts say we’re living in an experiment that may fundamentally change the model of work
Hundreds of thousands of tech workers are facing a harsh reality. Their well-paying jobs are no longer safe. Now that artificial intelligence (AI) is here, their futures don’t look as bright as they did a decade ago.
As US tech companies have ramped up investments in AI, they have slashed a staggering number of jobs. Microsoft cut 15,000 workers last year. Amazon laid off 30,000 employees in the last six months. The financial-services company Block eliminated more than 4,000 people, or 40% of its workforce, in February. Meta laid off more than 1,000 in the last six months, and, according to a Reuters report, may cut 20% of all employees in the near future. Just this week, the software giant Oracle laid off thousands of workers. Smaller players like Pinterest and Atlassian also made recent cuts, culling about 15% and 10% of their workforces, respectively. Estimates put the total number of tech layoffs in the past year at more than 165,000, according to the tracker Layoffs.fyi.
Continue reading...It's not an April Fools' joke: A new online tracker lets people enter the batch number from their KitKat wrapper.
Home Office will use mapping technology and crime data to identify up to 250 schools in areas of greatest risk
Schools across England are to receive dedicated support to prevent knife crime incidents in a hyper-targeted Home Office programme that uses mapping technology to identify areas of risk down to the level of specific groups of streets.
Under the £1.2m scheme – part of a series of initiatives launched under a government pledge to halve knife crime within a decade – a maximum of 250 schools will receive help.
Continue reading...Two fatalities reported in southern California so far, with warmer spring bringing reptiles out on trails earlier
A sixth person has been bitten by a rattlesnake in southern California’s Ventura county in just under a month, two-thirds of the number of people bitten in all of 2025.
Andrew Dowd, a Ventura county fire department spokesperson, said paramedics responded to a call on Sunday for a man who had been bitten by a rattlesnake. The victim said he had been bitten near California State University Channel Islands.
Continue reading...At a press conference, the US president, Donald Trump, addressed his latest deadline for Tehran to reach a deal (8pm ET on Tuesday), adding: “The entire country can be taken out in one night, and that night might be tomorrow night.” Trump also threatened to jail a journalist – or journalists – who reported that a second US airman was missing after being shot down by Iran on Friday in an effort to identify their source. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for specifics about the media company Trump was referring to. A White House official later said an investigation was under way.
Continue reading...Performer is being extended ‘forgiveness’ over antisemitic remarks, says Melvin Benn, despite calls for ban
The promoter of Wireless festival has stood by the decision to have Kanye West perform at the event, despite an outcry over the rapper’s antisemitic behaviour and calls to cancel his appearance.
West, who is legally known as Ye, has been criticised for making antisemitic remarks including voicing admiration for Adolf Hitler. Last year he released a song called Heil Hitler, a few months after advertising a swastika T-shirt for sale on his website.
Continue reading...  | Took a screen shot while going 30mph on the supercharged X7. Just to show y'all duty cycle etc etc. This thing is unreal! I'm legit drag racing cars out here 😂😂😂 I can't be anymore stoked about this board, it's bar non the coolest most amazing piece of tech I've ever experienced. I don't want to stop riding. Nothing else like it, it's truly magical. Also the ride & feel at this speed seems like nothing for the board, I've never felt safer honestly. [link] [comments] |
The president vowed anew to destroy Iranian bridges and energy sites if a deal to open the Strait of Hormuz isn’t reached.
How will Mr. Charles react to Fisk's latest devious move? Tune in as we hit the halfway mark for this season.
The Associated Press is offering buyouts to U.S. journalists "as part of an acceleration away from the focus on newspaper journalism that sustained the company since the mid-1800s," the not-for-profit outlet reported today. AP says it is making the move from a position of strength, responding to shrinking newspaper revenue and growing demand from digital, broadcast, and tech clients. "The AP is not in trouble," said Julie Pace, executive editor and senior vice president of the AP. "We're making these changes from a position of strength but we're doing so now to recognize our changing customer base." From the report: The news organization is becoming more focused on visual journalism and developing new revenue sources, particularly through companies investing in artificial intelligence, to cope with the economic collapse of many legacy news outlets. Once the lion's share of AP's revenue, big newspaper companies now account for 10% of its income. "We're not a newspaper company and we haven't been for quite some time," [said Pace]. Despite changes -- the company has doubled the number of video journalists it employs in the United States since 2022 -- remnants of a staffing structure built largely to provide stories to newspapers and broadcasters in individual states have remained. That has its roots well back in American history; the AP was started in the mid-19th century by New York newspapers looking to share the costs of reporting outside their immediate territory. The number of AP journalists who will lose jobs is murky, in part intentionally. The AP does not say how many journalists it employs, though it has a large international presence as well as its U.S. staff. Pace said the AP's goal is to reduce its global staff by less than 5%. The Marketing and Media Alliance estimated the AP had 3,700 staffers, but it was not clear when that estimate was made. Since buyouts are being offered now to only U.S. journalists, it stands to reason that the cut among that workforce will be more than 5%. Whether there are layoffs depends on how many people take the offer, Pace said.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Jackie and Shadow’s eaglets emerged from eggs on Easter weekend in Big Bear Valley as watched by thousands online
Over Easter weekend, thousands of people tuned in to celebrate something spectacular unfolding 145 feet up a pine tree in southern California’s San Bernardino national forest – the hatchings of two bald eagle chicks.
Two eaglets were born to Jackie and Shadow, the southern California pair that have become avian celebrities thanks to the webcam that has livestreamed their activities since 2018.
Continue reading...I've done literally everything people have said. cleared caches, used app settings to force quit OW app, etc. the OWCE app can find my board but every single time it says OWCE needs help to connect to your board and tells me to do the shut owce then open ow then close ow and reopen owce. nothing works
You might not be able to see the moon the way the Artemis II team is, but there's an educational Fortnite simulation that will get you onto the celestial body's surface.
President Trump and top national security officials shed new light on the daring rescues of two American airmen who were shot down over Iran last week.
The Education Department is rescinding agreements that required schools to stop discriminating against transgender students. The agency will continue to investigate sex discrimination.
Artemis II has broken the Apollo 13 record for the farthest distance humans have ever traveled from Earth. NASA reports: The Artemis II crew of NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, along with CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen have set the record for the farthest distance from Earth traveled by a human mission, surpassing the Apollo 13 record of 248,655 miles set in 1970. NASA Flight Director Brandon Lloyd, Capsule Communicator Amy Dill, and Command and Handling Data Officer Brandon Borter also marked a lighthearted milestone today by emailing the crew what is now assumed to be the longest person-to-person message ever sent in human history. After breaking the record for human spaceflight, crew also took a moment to provisionally name a couple of craters on the Moon, noting they were able to see them with their naked eye. Just northwest of Orientale basin highlighted above is a crater they would like to name Integrity after their spacecraft and this historic mission. Just northeast of Integrity, on the near and far side boundary, and sometimes visible from Earth, the crew suggested Carroll crater in honor of Reid Wiseman's late wife, Carroll Taylor Wiseman. After this mission is complete, the crater name proposals will be formally submitted to the International Astronomical Union, the organization that governs the naming of celestial bodies and their surface features. On April 1, NASA successfully launched humanity's first crewed trip around the Moon in more than 50 years. A couple of days into the mission, attention turned to a more mundane problem when reports said the astronauts had access to "two Microsoft Outlooks" and neither was working properly. By April 4, the crew had passed 100,000 miles from Earth as they continued deeper into space, and by April 6, they had entered the Moon's gravitational pull and caught their first views of the lunar far side.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Trump targets media to find ‘leaker’ who revealed that a US airman was missing after being shot down by Iranian forces
Donald Trump threatened to jail a journalist – or journalists – who reported that a second US airman was missing after being shot down by Iran on Friday in an effort to identify their source.
The badly injured airman hid in a mountain crevice to avoid capture before being rescued by a US recovery team that received heavy fire. The US president announced on Sunday that the service member had been recovered.
Continue reading...This is a great post, but obviously it hasn’t convinced me:
The folks waving their arms and yelling about recent models’ capabilities have a point: the thing works. This project finished in three weeks. Compare that to Ringspace, a similarly-sized project that took me about six months of nights and early mornings to complete, while not doing my day job or being Dad to an amazing, but demanding toddler. I simply could not have built this project as well or as quickly without help. And as other developers have noted, this is the help that’s showing up.
I’m not entirely onboard with Mike Masnick’s optimistic view of this technology’s democratizing power. I don’t think it’s as easy to separate the tech from its provenance or corporate control. But CertGen, my certificate application, exists now. It didn’t and couldn’t without the help of a tool like Claude Code. Open source in particular needs to reckon with this, because the current situation of demanding developers starve and bleed themselves dry without support isn’t tenable. We need to grapple with this. I’m not yet sure how it all breaks down, and anyone who says they do is lying, foolish, or fanatical.
↫ Michael Taggart
If you disregard that “AI” models are trained on stolen data, that such data was prepared by exploited workers, that “AI” data centres have a hugely negative impact on the environment, that “AI” data centers are distorting the entire computing market, that “AI” models they feed the endless firehose of intentional misinformation, that they are wreaking havoc in education, that they increase your reliance on American big tech companies, that you pay “AI” companies for taking your work, that “AI” models are a vital component in the technofascist wet dreams of their creators, that they are the cornerstone of politicians’ dream of ending anonymity, and that they contribute to racist and abusive policing, then yes, sometimes, they produce code that works and isn’t total horseshit.
It’s a deeply depressing reversed “what have the Romans ever done for us?” that makes me sad, more than anything. I’ve seen so many otherwise smart, caring, and genuine people just shove all of these massive downsides aside for the mere novelty, the peer pressure, the occasional sense that their “lines of code” metric is going up.
It’s the digital equivalent of rolling coal.
Ron Gibson had recently expressed support for a 14-acre, $500m datacenter project in Martindale-Brightwood
An Indianapolis city councilor said his home was fired at on Monday, with a note left behind suggesting he had been targeted over his support of datacenters.
The case involving Ron Gibson – a Democrat on Indianapolis’s city council – comes amid growing bipartisan concern in the US over political violence in the wake of cases such as the September murder of Charlie Kirk, a conservative activist.
Continue reading...It's included on every Netflix plan.
President dismisses concerns that bombing civilian targets would punish ordinary people and could be war crimes
Donald Trump on Monday claimed that Iranian civilians were actively welcoming US strikes on their country’s infrastructure, saying they would be “willing to suffer” the loss of power and basic services in order to achieve freedom from the Islamic Republic.
Speaking to reporters from the White House press room, Trump dismissed concerns that targeting Iran’s power grid and civilian infrastructure would punish ordinary Iranians rather than the regime, saying without evidence that US intelligence had intercepts of civilians near active bombing sites urging American forces to continue.
Continue reading...HANGZHOU, China, April 6, 2026 — A research team led by Zhen-Xing Endowed Professor Jian Yang at the School of Life Sciences, Westlake University, together with collaborators, published their latest findings in Nature on April 1. The study explains a pangenome-informed genome assembly (PIGA) method. By combining a cost-effective hybrid sequencing strategy of long and short reads, the team successfully constructed a pangenome for over a thousand individuals. This achievement breaks through the limitations of previous small-sample pangenomes and provides a critical foundational infrastructure for medical and population genetics research.
Fig. 1. The pangenome-informed genome assembly (PIGA) workflow. Click to enhance.
Since the completion of the Human Genome Project, single linear reference genomes (such as GRCh38) have served as the foundation for biomedical research. However, the genetic backgrounds of human individuals vary significantly, and a single reference genome cannot capture the full extent of genetic diversity across populations. This leads to complex forms of genetic variations, such as structural variants (SVs) and tandem repeats (TRs), being overlooked in traditional analyses. To address this challenge, researchers proposed the concept of a pangenome—a collection of genome sequences representing the genetic diversity of a population.
While advancements in long-read sequencing have enabled the assembly of high-quality diploid genomes, the high costs of sequencing have limited the sample sizes of previous pangenomes to only a few dozen individuals. Such small sample sizes are insufficient to accurately estimate the frequency of genetic variants in populations or to resolve low-frequency variants and high-complexity regions. Therefore, developing a cost-effective pangenome construction strategy for large-scale populations has become an urgent requirement for resolving the functional impact of complex variants and enhancing clinical diagnostics.
Yang’s team has long been dedicated to methodological research in statistical genetics, genomics, and the big data analysis of human complex traits. By developing efficient computational methods, the team has consistently tackled core challenges in processing large-scale genomic data. Analysis tools developed by the team, such as GCTA-GREML, SMR, and gsMap, have been widely adopted globally. To address the challenge in constructing large-scale pangenomes, the research team developed the pangenome-informed genome assembly (PIGA) workflow (Fig. 1). Unlike de novo assembly approaches, which rely on sequencing data from individual samples, PIGA adopts a pangenome-guided framework to integrate sequence information across the entire cohort. It fully leverages a cost-effective hybrid sequencing strategy based on modest-coverage Illumina short-read and PacBio long-read whole-genome sequencing (WGS) data. This approach substantially reduces sequencing costs while enabling the assembly of genomes from modest-coverage data, thereby providing a practical new technical pathway for future population-scale hybrid sequencing studies.
Applying this method, the research team constructed the world’s largest human pangenome to date, comprising 1,116 diploid genomes with a mean quality value (QV) of 46. The pangenome identified 405.3 million base pairs (Mb) of non-reference sequences absent from current references (GRCh38 and CHM13). Notably, the team annotated 26.2 Mb of these sequences as functional genic and predicted regulatory elements, greatly expanding our understanding of the non-reference sequences in the human genome.
Leveraging the large-scale assembly dataset, the researchers compiled a comprehensive catalog of genetic variation. In addition to 35.4 million small variants, the catalog captured a wide range of complex variants, including 110,530 SVs, 485,575 TRs, and 0.86 million nested variants embedded within non-reference sequences.
Using this catalog, the team characterized medically relevant variations at multiple scales (Fig. 2), including gene-altering SVs, pathogenic TR expansions, gene cluster variations, and HLA gene haplotypes. These findings indicate that the 1KCP variant catalog provides an important reference for the clinical screening of pathogenic mutations.
By integrating gene expression data, the team conducted pan-variant expression quantitative trait loci (eQTL) mapping. They identified 3,256 eQTLs involving complex variants (SVs, TRs, and nested variants), elucidating the regulatory complexity of these diverse variant types.
Together, this study significantly advances our understanding of complex genetic variants and their functional implications, establishing a new paradigm for human health research and pangenome studies in other species.
Ph.D. student Yifei Wang and Research Assistant Professor Zhongqu Duan are the co-first authors of the study. Professor Jian Yang is the last author. This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the National Key R&D Program, the Zhejiang “Pioneer & Leading Goose” Program, and the New Cornerstone Science Foundation. Computational resources were provided by the High-Performance Computing Center at Westlake University.
Professor Jian Yang’s research group is dedicated to developing statistical genetics and bioinformatics methods. By deeply analyzing genomic and multi-omic data from large-scale population cohorts, they aim to uncover the genetic architecture and molecular mechanisms underlying complex diseases, translating these discoveries into novel strategies for disease diagnosis, drug target discovery, and precision medicine.
Related links:
Source: Westlake University
The post Westlake University Applies PIGA Workflow to Construct Large-Scale Human Pangenome Dataset appeared first on HPCwire.
Samsung says it will discontinue its Samsung Messages app in July 2026 and is directing Galaxy users to switch to Google Messages instead. Android Central reports: [...] Samsung says users can switch to Google Messages as their default app to maintain a consistent Android messaging experience. The fine print also states that once the app is discontinued, "sending messages via Samsung Messages on your phone will no longer be possible, except for emergency service numbers or emergency contacts defined in your device." Samsung also notes that users will no longer be able to download the Messages app from the Galaxy Store once it is discontinued. Newer devices, including the Galaxy S26 series, already do not support installing Samsung Messages. It is, however, worth noting that users on Android 11 or older are not affected by this change and will still be able to use the Samsung Messages app on their devices. [...] Samsung also warns that on some devices released before 2022, switching apps may temporarily disrupt ongoing RCS conversations. However, chats should resume once both users move to Google Messages. The company also highlights some of the benefits of the switch, including improved security, RCS support, AI features, and better multi-device connectivity.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
 | Single plate print on Bambu P1S. I think it came out ok. [link] [comments] |
MADRID, April 6, 2026 — Xoople, the data infrastructure company building a global system of record for physical change on Earth, announced it has closed a $130 million Series B, bringing its total raised to $225 million, from investors including Nazca Capital, MCH, CDTI (Government of Spain), Buenavista Equity Partners and Endeavor Catalyst. This capital makes Xoople the top funded company in the category, with satellites capable of producing the most precise, reliable, scientific-grade data sets that will expand enterprise access to physical-world intelligence to power the AI and agentic revolutions as it starts commercialization this quarter after seven years in development.
“Every major computing era creates a new system of record; those that define that system become the economic centers of that era,” said Fabrizio Pirondini, CEO of Xoople. “CRMs gave companies a system of record for customers. Cloud platforms create systems of record for software and data. We are building the system of record for the physical world in the AI era with Xoople. After seven years developing our system in stealth, we are incredibly excited to begin commercialization in Q2 and start scaling up that capability in the market.”
As AI systems increasingly move from analysis to autonomous action through agentic workflows, the need for and ability to easily ingest reliable ground-truth data about the physical world is expected to grow rapidly – optimizing supply chains, managing infrastructure, underwriting risk, responding to disasters, and monitoring geopolitical and security risks. As models become increasingly commoditized, proprietary datasets that connect digital systems to the physical world are emerging as a critical source of advantage. Xoople calls this infrastructure and data layer the “Earth’s System of Record,” and the company expects that it will be transformational in providing AI with a real-time understanding of the physical world.
Since its creation in 2019, Xoople has worked in stealth mode, building its end-to-end system while forging global strategic partnerships to integrate its Earth data layer directly into existing business tools, to allow organizations to seamlessly analyze and act on real-world information.
Xoople’s private preview customers include government agencies and Fortune 500 companies who use the intelligence to enable:
About Xoople
Xoople is a data infrastructure company building a global system of record for physical change on Earth. Its mission is to give organizations access to real-time physical-world intelligence powering the next generation of AI systems.
Source: Xoople
The post Xoople Announces $130M Series B to Build Earth’s System of Record for the Agentic Era appeared first on HPCwire.
Retailer faces public outcry over treatment of Walker Smith, who tackled shoplifter stealing Easter eggs at London store
Waitrose is under growing pressure to reinstate an employee of 17 years who was sacked after tackling a shoplifter who was trying to steal Lindt Gold Bunny Easter eggs.
The retailer has faced public outcry over its treatment of Walker Smith, who was fired two days after he stopped the shoplifter taking items from the Easter egg display.
Continue reading...SUNNYVALE, Calif., April 6, 2026 — Rafay Systems, a leader in infrastructure orchestration for AI and cloud-native workloads, has announced the general availability of Token Factory, a suite of capabilities in the Rafay Platform that deliver token-based access to AI models and services. Token-based access to models and other AI services has quickly become a foundational requirement in the AI industry and is what sets apart AI factory operators from commodity GPU providers.
Rafay’s Token Factory gives AI factory operators and neoclouds the metering, pricing and access-control capabilities needed to monetize token-based access to AI models running on accelerated computing infrastructure. With Token Factory, AI factory operators can immediately deliver token-metered access to AI models as a service through developer-friendly consumption workflows without needing to build the orchestration and monetization stack from scratch.
This general availability announcement arrives as AI consumption is undergoing a fundamental shift. Enterprises and developers are increasingly accessing AI models through agentic frameworks like OpenClaw, the open-source AI agent platform that executes multi-step workflows, calls external tools, and runs continuously to complete real tasks. NVIDIA’s NemoClaw extends that model with policy-based privacy and security guardrails for production and enterprise deployments. Each agentic task consumes significantly more tokens than a conventional AI interaction, driving sustained and growing demand. Today, most of that token spend flows to hyperscalers and foundation model companies. Token Factory enables infrastructure operators to serve that demand in their regions, on their own terms and at attractive prices, turning GPU capacity into a token-based revenue stream.
Transforming GPU Providers into AI Factories
Token Factory changes the competitive equation for neoclouds and sovereign AI clouds. Rather than competing solely on GPU availability and hourly pricing, operators can immediately begin to monetize AI model consumption with a suite of governance, access control and quota management capabilities, all with a consumption model their users already understand. Token Factory becomes the controlled delivery plane for AI models, while frameworks such as OpenClaw and NemoClaw become the token-hungry “applications” that drive consumption.
“Token Factories are the new cellphone companies,” said Haseeb Budhani, CEO and co-founder of Rafay Systems. “Similar to how cellphone companies used to sell pre- and post-paid minute plans, AI factories are beginning to sell pre- and post-paid token plans. Team Rafay is looking forward to supporting the success of a thousand AI factories across the world with our Token Factory offering.”
How Rafay’s Token Factory Works
Token Factory extends the Rafay Platform with a purpose-built monetization and metering layer for AI services. It enables AI factory operators to expose AI models via API endpoints. Endpoints are token-metered and provide a number of price, access management and quota definition capabilities, making it easy for both enterprises and retail users to track token consumption and enforce policies in real time across users, applications and agentic workflows.
Token Factory has been validated to work with OpenClaw and NVIDIA NemoClaw, which are driving the highest-velocity token consumption in the market today. Users with OpenClaw or NemoClaw setups point their rigs to API endpoints made available to them through developer-friendly, self-service workflows, and instantly start consuming AI services through a clean, tokenized interface. The complexity of GPU-based hardware, connectivity, access control, scaling, etc. is invisible to end users.
A Growing Market for Token-Based AI Services
At GTC 2026, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang elevated the concept of “tokenomics” to a keynote theme, describing tokens as a new commodity and envisioning a future in which token-based access becomes the standard way enterprises and developers consume AI. The GPU-as-a-Service market is projected to reach $7.36 billion in 2026 and grow to $26.43 billion by 2031, according to Research and Markets. Meanwhile, sovereign AI investment is accelerating globally, with IDC projecting that by 2028, 60% of multinational firms will split their AI stacks across sovereign zones.
As more organizations build or invest in AI factories, the challenge is shifting from provisioning GPU infrastructure to monetizing it. Token Factory addresses that challenge directly, giving operators a ready-made system to offer consumption-based AI services rather than building one in-house.
Already Deployed with AI Factory Operators Worldwide
Token Factory builds on Rafay’s partnerships with AI factory operators across six continents. The Rafay Platform powers sovereign and neocloud AI deployments for customers including Cassava Technologies, which is deploying Africa’s first NVIDIA-powered AI factories; Firmus Technologies, which has integrated Rafay’s PaaS capabilities into its green-energy-powered Australian AI Cloud; and Telus, which is building a sovereign AI Studio in Canada. Additional deployments span the Middle East, Latin America and Southeast Asia.
Token Factory is available now as part of the Rafay Platform. For more information, visit rafay.co/platform/ai-token-factory.
About Rafay Systems
Rafay Systems is a leading platform provider for modern infrastructure and AI workloads, delivering Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) capabilities that enable organizations to operationalize compute infrastructure with self-service automation, governance and multi-tenancy. The Rafay Platform helps enterprises, cloud providers and sovereign AI cloud operators transform raw infrastructure into fully operational platforms for AI, Kubernetes and cloud-native applications. By simplifying infrastructure orchestration and lifecycle management, Rafay enables organizations to accelerate innovation while maintaining security, consistency and operational control. For more information, visit rafay.co.
Source: Rafay Systems
The post Rafay Systems Introduces Token Factory for Metered AI Model Access appeared first on HPCwire.
Apple included this feature in a previous beta but removed it from the final version.
Commodity Futures Trading Commission has exclusive jurisdiction over sports event contracts, a ‘big win’ for Kalshi
A federal appeals court ruled on Monday that New Jersey gaming regulators cannot prevent Kalshi from allowing people in the state to use its prediction market to place financial bets on the outcome of sporting events.
A three-judge panel of the Philadelphia-based third US circuit court of appeals ruled 2-1 in finding that the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission has exclusive jurisdiction over the sports-related event contracts that Kalshi allows people to trade on its platform.
Continue reading...An expletive-ridden post on social media shamed the office of the US president. Its substantive message, if acted on, would be a war crime
Article 52 of the first additional protocol to the Geneva conventions prohibits attacks on civilian targets. It is on those grounds that the international criminal court has issued arrest warrants for Russian military officers and officials responsible for attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. Such assaults, and the missiles rained on Ukrainian cities and towns in order to terrify and demoralise, constitute war crimes. Exactly the same would apply to the United States, should Donald Trump’s threats to bomb Iran back to the “stone age” this week be carried out.
Such basic tenets of international law bear repeating at a time when Mr Trump and his defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, appear to speak as if from within a bloodthirsty fever dream. Glorying repulsively in his capacity to order death and destruction from the Pentagon, Mr Hegseth, an Evangelical Christian, has presented Operation Epic Fury as a 21st-century crusade “to break the teeth of the ungodly”. On social media at the weekend, Mr Trump topped that by unleashing a stream of expletive-ridden abuse, ranting that unless Iran reopens the strait of Hormuz to shipping, “Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day … Open the Fuckin’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell”.
Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.
Continue reading...Legal experts say attacking Iran’s infrastructure would constitute a war crime – but would military officers be held responsible?
Donald Trump’s threats to carry out mass bombing of civilian infrastructure in Iran present US military officers with a dilemma: disobey orders or help commit war crimes.
It is an urgent matter for the US chain of command. In an expletive-laden threat, Trump set a Tuesday 8pm Washington time deadline for the Iranian government to open the strait of Hormuz or face “Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one”.
Continue reading...An anonymous reader quotes a report from KrebsOnSecurity: An elusive hacker who went by the handle "UNKN" and ran the early Russian ransomware groups GandCrab and REvil now has a name and a face. Authorities in Germany say 31-year-old Russian Daniil Maksimovich Shchukin headed both cybercrime gangs and helped carry out at least 130 acts of computer sabotage and extortion against victims across the country between 2019 and 2021. Shchukin was named as UNKN (a.k.a. UNKNOWN) in an advisory published by the German Federal Criminal Police (the "Bundeskriminalamt" or BKA for short). The BKA said Shchukin and another Russian -- 43-year-old Anatoly Sergeevitsch Kravchuk -- extorted nearly $2 million euros across two dozen cyberattacks that caused more than 35 million euros in total economic damage. Germany's BKA said Shchukin acted as the head of one of the largest worldwide operating ransomware groups GandCrab and REvil, which pioneered the practice of double extortion -- charging victims once for a key needed to unlock hacked systems, and a separate payment in exchange for a promise not to publish stolen data. Shchukin's name appeared in a Feb. 2023 filing (PDF) from the U.S. Justice Department seeking the seizure of various cryptocurrency accounts associated with proceeds from the REvil ransomware gang's activities. The government said the digital wallet tied to Shchukin contained more than $317,000 in ill-gotten cryptocurrency. The BKA believes Shchukin resides in Krasnodar, Russia, where he is from. "Based on the investigations so far, it is assumed that the wanted person is abroad, presumably in Russia," the BKA advised. "Travel behavior cannot be ruled out."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
While Epstein was on work release from a Florida jail nearly 20 years ago, he had sex in a vehicle in the prison parking lot, according to a FBI interview.
I recently wanted to step up my crash gear. I picked up a Bell full-face helmet designed for mountain biking. Very happy with it, the fit, and it's light weight. However, I like to ride with AirPods in, and when I put this bucket on it pops my AirPods out. I've tried Bluetooth speakers designed for motorcycle helmets, but they are just too big. I wear glasses and would love to get the Rayband Metas that have speakers built into the stems, but those are quite spendy. Has anyone else run into this and have any solutions that work?
How Apple's $599 iPhone 17E matches up with its more-expensive sibling phones.
As UK PM resists pressure to back airstrikes, US president invokes British leader known for his policy of appeasement
Donald Trump has appeared to compare Keir Starmer to Neville Chamberlain in his latest disparaging remarks about the prime minister, who has refused to back the US-Israeli attacks on Iran.
The comments, during an Easter Monday event at the White House, underline Trump’s continued annoyance at Starmer’s scepticism about the aims and legality of the conflict, a view that has not been shifted by the US president’s jibes.
Continue reading...Using Samsung's texting app on your Galaxy phone? Get ready to move to something else, like Google Messages.
Pramila Jayapal and Jonathan Jackson denounce ‘collective punishment’ amid vast disruption s from US oil blockade
Two Democratic US lawmakers on Monday called for an end to the “cruel collective punishment” of Cuba after they visited the island to witness the effects of an US energy blockade.
The US House members Pramila Jayapal of Washington and Jonathan Jackson of Illinois met with the Cuban president, Miguel Díaz-Canel, and foreign minister, Bruno Rodríguez, as well as members of Cuba’s parliament during a five-day trip ending on Sunday.
“This is cruel collective punishment – effectively an economic bombing of the infrastructure of the country – that has produced permanent damage,” Jayapal and Jackson said in a statement released on Sunday. “It must stop immediately.”
Continue reading...Nurul Shah Alam, a nearly blind Rohingya refugee, was left alone in a Buffalo parking lot. His death has been ruled a homicide – what now?
On 19 February, the second day of Ramadan, Mohamad Faisal Nurul Amin and his family gathered to pray before sunrise in their apartment on the outskirts of Buffalo, New York. After nearly a year of waiting, they believed their family would be together again. Amin’s father, Nurul Shah Alam, 56, was coming home.
“For the first time since we arrived in America, I felt happy,” said Fatima Abdul Roshid, Shah Alam’s wife, speaking through an interpreter. “I thought my husband would be with our two sons and me for Ramadan.”
Continue reading...More Americans have moved into upper-middle-class incomes over the past several decades (source paywalled; alternative source), with new research suggesting that group has grown sharply while the lower and core middle class have shrunk. The Wall Street Journal reports: In 2024, about 31% of Americans were part of the upper middle class, up from about 10% in 1979, according to a report released this year by the right-leaning American Enterprise Institute. There is no single, standard definition of middle class, or upper middle class, and what counts as a hefty income in one city can feel paltry in another. The AEI report, by Stephen Rose and Scott Winship, classified a family of three earning $133,000 to $400,000 in 2024 dollars as upper middle class. Households earning more were categorized as rich. The analysis looked just at incomes, not assets such as stocks or real estate. [...] The gains span generations. Many baby boomers, born to parents who grew up in the Great Depression, are living well on their savings, aided by steady Social Security checks and decades of stock-portfolio gains that they can now tap. Millennials, who everyone worried would be permanently set back by the 2008-09 financial crisis, are earning solid incomes, buying homes and surpassing their parents. Many families are surprised to find that they have moved into this new economic tier, and see themselves as comfortable, not rich. They tend to have jobs that are white collar but not flashy -- think accountants, not tech founders. This doesn't mean that all Americans are climbing the ladder. Entrenched inflation and higher prices on major necessities have pushed many families closer to the financial edge, or locked them out of homeownership. Those costs weigh on high-earning families too, and for many are the reason they don't feel wealthy. The AEI report divided families into five different groups by income. Three groups were in the middle: lower middle class, core middle class and upper middle class. The authors found that more families now fall into the two highest-earning groups -- upper middle class and rich -- and fewer fall into the three lower-earning categories.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Kyriakos Mitsotakis calls alleged scamming of EU agricultural funds ‘a turning point’
The Greek prime minister has vowed to tackle what he has called a “deep state” he says is plaguing the country, as he sought to address a growing political crisis over a farm fraud scandal that has forced the resignation of multiple government ministers.
In a speech, aired on national TV, Kyriakos Mitsotakis attempted to limit the damage, describing the revelations as “a turning point” that had turbo-charged his commitment to rooting out entrenched corruption.
Continue reading...‘She got ripped away from me,’ army soldier Matthew Blank said after his wife Annie Ramos was detained in Louisiana
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents under the command of the Trump administration have reportedly detained the wife of a US army staff sergeant at his military base in Louisiana amid his preparations to deploy.
The arrest of Annie Ramos, 22, took place last Thursday, just days after she married 23-year-old Matthew Blank, a soldier who has served for more than five years and previously deployed to the Middle East and Europe, the New York Times first reported on Sunday.
Continue reading...Behind some of the viral physiques lies a troubling trend: the use of a powerful drug never approved for humans.
hello all. I have the GT model. the other day i was riding and my one wheel went dead when my phone said 40 percent. AI said that some battery cells aren’t energized and to leave it plugged in for 24-72 hours.
has anybody had this?
will leaving it charged fix the cells?
do yoh think ill need a new battery?
if so how much would that be?
Two-time All-Star had strained relationship with Sky
Free agency opens with more than 100 players on market
Sign up for WNBA 30: a limited run women’s basketball newsletter
The Chicago Sky have traded star forward Angel Reese to the Atlanta Dream, the teams announced Monday.
The trade is the first blockbuster move of the WNBA offseason, which is operating on a condensed timeline after months of negotiations between the league and its players over a new collective bargaining agreement finished last month.
Continue reading...Police say 26-year-old man died at scene outside nightclub in Peckham and two others remain in hospital
Four men have been arrested on suspicion of murder after a man was stabbed to death and two other men were injured outside a nightclub in south-east London.
The Metropolitan police said officers were called at 3.54am on Monday to reports of a disturbance involving a group of people outside a nightclub in Ruby Street, Peckham.
Continue reading...Man had to be airlifted out of mountain in north Phoenix by rescue teams and was transported to hospital
A hiker was taken to a hospital in critical condition after bees stung him more than 100 times on an Arizona mountain trail over the Easter weekend – an emergency which required the help of a helicopter crew.
The man reported “over 100 stings” had left him “unable to continue his descent” from the summit of Lookout Mountain Preserve in north Phoenix at about 10am on Saturday, the local fire department said in a statement.
Continue reading...Looking for a Sora substitute? Try one of these AI programs.
If wage garnishment is shrinking your paycheck, taking these steps can help you regain control of your finances.
April 6, 2026 — An integral part of the SC Conference, workshops provide a forum for in-depth technical exchanges, enhanced by focused presentations, rigorous discussion, and opportunities for interactive engagement. Importantly, workshops support the dissemination of emerging high-performance computing research with live exploration of specialized topics to a diverse, expert HPC community.
Credit: SC
Workshops at SC are organized in two primary formats: mini-conferences, which include peer-reviewed submissions and formal proceedings, and symposia that feature invited talks or panels without published proceedings.
Workshop websites and submission systems will be available in the coming weeks. Submission deadlines are determined independently by workshop organizers and as such will vary. Visit this page for key links as they are published (expected between late April and early May).
Workshops Accepting Paper Submissions for Publishing in the SC Workshop Proceedings
Workshops Accepting Paper Submissions for Publishing in Non-SC Proceedings
Symposium-Style Workshops Consisting of Talks and Panel Discussions
Workshops are scheduled on Sunday, November 15; Monday, November 16; and Friday, November 20, 2026. Workshops are either half- or full-day events. Note that on Friday, November 20, only half-day workshops are scheduled.
Learn more about SC26 workshops here.
Source: Kevin Brown, SC26
The post SC26 Welcomes 50 Workshops to Chicago appeared first on HPCwire.
Bought everything super late Thursday night and my board was supposed to be arriving tomorrow but now it’s saying sometime today it would have only been one full business day.
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Need some advice. Old Onewheel+ (however with only 679 miles) stopped running the other day. Worked fine. Got off. Got on and wouldn’t engage like it was turned off. Looked at the button. Blue light on for about 4seconds then blinks and repeat. Charged it fully. Turned it off and on many times. Same slow blink.
Since this one was recalled anyway, not sure if it’s worth figuring out and fixing. Battery life is pretty bad even when it was working.
TIA
Increased recognition of crime and perpetrators using technology to track victims are behind rise, say experts
The number of stalking offences recorded by police has soared over the past decade, with experts saying the rise has been driven by increased recognition, and technology making it easier for perpetrators to track their victims.
House of Commons library data analysed by the Liberal Democrats found more than 135,000 offences were recorded last year, up from just under 3,000 10 years ago.
Continue reading...With some misgivings, families and aviation enthusiasts bring stepladders and picnics to the perimeter fence
It was a 4.40am start for the Wilkinson family. They packed their car with gear you might take on a trip to the seaside – folding chairs, blankets, a picnic. But instead of heading to the coast, they drove 80 miles from their home in Hampshire to Gloucestershire and set up camp close to the perimeter fence of RAF Fairford to watch American warplanes take off and land.
“It’s definitely cheaper than a trip to a theme park,” said Jonathan Wilkinson, who was there with wife, Katie, and three sons, aged seven to 12. “The sights and sounds are impressive. But it’s a bittersweet thing. These planes are only here because of war. We have to keep that in mind.”
Continue reading...Halter, a New Zealand agtech startup now valued at $2 billion, has raised $220 million to expand its AI-powered cattle management system. "Halter is now valued at $2 billion following the Series E, which was led by Peter Thiel's Founders Fund with participation from Blackbird, DCVC, Bond, Bessemer, and several others," reports Inc. From the report: Halter plans to use the funding to expand its existing footprint in the U.S., Australia, and New Zealand, as well as to grow into new markets such as Ireland, the U.K., and parts of North and South America. The round is one of the biggest to-date in the industry, and comes amid growing adoption of the technology among U.S. ranchers. According to Halter, U.S. ranchers have erected some 60,000 miles of virtual fencing since the company's launch in 2024. Halter's technology works through a system of solar-powered collars and in-pasture towers that collect data -- some 6,000 data points per collar per minute -- from grazing cattle and feed it into a cloud-based platform and app for farmers. The collars are ergonomically designed to be comfortable for the cattle wearing them, and leverage AI to play audio cues or vibrate when it is time to move to a different grazing location or if they step outside of a predetermined zone. The collars can also deliver an electric pulse if an animal does not respond. Halter's app also creates a digital twin of a ranch, which essentially means a digital replica that leverages real-time data to accurately reflect conditions. Farmers can consult the app to check on their herd, or fence, and move cattle with just a few clicks. Halter also has a proprietary algorithm that it calls a "Cowgorithm" trained on seven billion hours of animal behavior. Altogether, this technology is meant to make ranchers' lives easier when herding cattle, help them save money on building physical fencing, and provide insights about pasture management to improve soil health and pasture productivity. Halter says some 2,000 farmers and ranchers currently use its tech worldwide.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Iranian authorities cut access to internet on 28 February leaving many with limited information about war
Iran’s internet shutdown, which began shortly after the first US-Israel strikes in late February, is now the longest national-scale blackout since the Arab spring, monitors have said.
Iranian authorities cut all access to the internet on 28 February, the day the war began, after an earlier shutdown in January during nationwide protests. This current blackout has lasted more than 38 days.
Continue reading...Nasa’s Orion capsule will be just over 4,000 miles above lunar surface, allowing astronauts to see both poles
The four astronauts on Nasa’s Artemis II mission are poised to begin the first flyby of the far side of the moon in more than half a century, bringing them to the furthest point from Earth ever reached by humans.
The crew of three Americans and one Canadian earlier entered the moon’s “sphere of influence”, where its gravity has a stronger pull on the spacecraft than Earth’s.
Continue reading...Minister adds to growing calls from charities and politicians as some urge government to bar rapper from UK over antisemitism
The education secretary has said Kanye West should be barred from performing at Wireless festival because of his “completely unacceptable and absolutely disgusting” antisemitic remarks.
Bridget Phillipson said she could not comment on whether ministers should heed calls to ban West from entering the country, but added that there was “no place for that kind of hatred, bigotry or antisemitism”.
Continue reading...The U.S. sent over 150 aircraft to beat Iranian forces in the race to find the missing F-15E weapons systems officer.
JP Morgan boss warns of risks of higher inflation and interest rates due to Iran war in annual letter to shareholders
The head of the US’s largest bank has pressed the White House to strengthen Washington’s allies economically in order to “avoid truly adverse consequences”, in the latest intervention in an increasingly testy relationship with the Trump administration.
As the Middle East conflict sparked by US and Israeli attacks on Iran enters its sixth week, Jamie Dimon, the chair and chief executive of JP Morgan Chase, said in his annual letter to shareholders that good US foreign policy should put America first “though not alone”.
Continue reading...Lenders are watching home prices and household debt closely. Here's how HELOC requirements could change this year.
i understand nosedive is inevitable.
so what's the best way to take the dive? can someone please share youtube vids or keywords for me to look up?
i nosedived at 5mph while going up the hill and that hurt. i cant imagine falling at 14mph (my normal speed) on asphalt.
US supreme court files brief order vacating lower court ruling that had upheld rightwing media host’s conviction
Steve Bannon, the rightwing media host and ally of Donald Trump, appears likely to have his criminal conviction dismissed.
The US supreme court filed a brief order on Monday that vacated a lower court ruling that had upheld Bannon’s conviction and sent the case back to the US court of appeals for the DC circuit for “further consideration in light of the pending motion to dismiss the indictment”. The Trump administration had moved to dismiss Bannon’s conviction.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Seven of England’s 24 stroke centres still not providing mechanical thrombectomy 24/7 despite ministers’ pledges
The NHS has not made a “life-changing” treatment for stroke available around the clock across England despite ministers repeatedly promising that it would.
The health service was expected to improve stroke care by making a clot removal technique called mechanical thrombectomy available everywhere in the country 24/7 from 1 April.
Continue reading...The cycle of mythic, rare Paradigm cards lets you repeat the spell for free on each of your turns.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: AI skeptics aren't the only ones warning users not to unthinkingly trust models' outputs -- that's what the AI companies say themselves in their terms of service. Take Microsoft, which is currently focused on getting corporate customers to pay for Copilot. But it's also been getting dinged on social media over Copilot's terms of use, which appear to have been last updated on October 24, 2025. "Copilot is for entertainment purposes only," the company warned. "It can make mistakes, and it may not work as intended. Don't rely on Copilot for important advice. Use Copilot at your own risk." Microsoft described the terms of service as "legacy language," saying it will be updated. Tom's Hardware notes that similar AI warnings remain common across the industry, with companies like OpenAI and xAI also cautioning users not to treat chatbot output as "the truth" or as "a sole service of truth or factual information."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Conservationists say move could push species closer to extinction and clearer environmental rules are needed instead
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Conservationists and scientists have warned a mining lobby proposal to use artificial intelligence to speed up national environmental approvals could generate “robodebt-style” failures, putting threatened species at further risk.
The Minerals Council of Australia has asked the government to spend $13m to trial the use of AI to help companies prepare applications and help the federal government make decisions.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Investigation finds alleged Prince Group associates were involved in unusual development in tiny nation on Australia’s doorstep, raising concerns about global spread of online fraud industry
Guests were enticed with the promise of luxury villas overlooking aquamarine seas; a world-first crypto resort where the tech elite could commune over the latest digital innovation in opulent surrounds.
The promotional material from June last year pitched a sprawling, futuristic development that would hug the coastline of Timor-Leste, one of the world’s poorest countries, and donate a percentage of profits to philanthropy.
Continue reading...From the pictures it seems to be in good shape. It has 2400 miles but has a near battery installed by FM
Girl suffered alleged abuse at foster home immigration officials placed her at after separating her from mother
For five months, the young father waited for his three-year-old daughter’s release from federal custody after she crossed the US-Mexico border with her mother, hoping through delays for their safe reunion.
Only when he turned to the courts as a last resort did he learn that the girl had suffered alleged sexual abuse at the foster home where she had been placed after immigration officials separated her from her mother.
Continue reading...It may be the year of the AI agent but Claude's "all-you-can-eat buffet" is over.
Roberto Mazzarella, head of the Mazzarella clan of the Camorra, the Naples-based organized crime group, was one of Italy's most dangerous fugitives, authorities said.
Gold could be a good investment right now, but what should you expect if you invest $25,000 in gold today?
South-east England could reach 24C as settled weather replaces rain and 70mph winds which battered the north
Parts of the UK are forecast to experience the warmest temperatures of the year so far in the wake of Storm Dave, which caused widespread damage and disruption over the Easter weekend.
London and south-east England could reach temperatures of 21C or 22C on Tuesday, rising to 24C on Wednesday, while Manchester could hit 20C, forecasters said, as a short period of settled weather replaced the rain and 70mph winds that battered parts of northern England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Continue reading...Move to back the Republican candidate could dash party’s hopes of locking Democrats out of the November runoff
Donald Trump has endorsed the Republican former Fox News host Steve Hilton in the California governor’s race, a move that could dash Republican hopes of locking Democrats out of the November runoff.
Trump announced his backing on Monday on Truth Social, writing that Hilton “has my COMPLETE & TOTAL ENDORSEMENT” and pledging federal support for his candidacy. “Steve can turn it around, before it is too late, and, as President, I will help him to do so,” he wrote.
Continue reading...The freezer is either your groceries' best chance or their final destination. Here's how to tell the difference.
From September, trans girls, and young trans women who volunteer, will have to hand in their UK memberships
Angela has two daughters, aged 13 and 10, who both attend their local Girlguiding group in the UK. Like many girls their age, they enthusiastically collect their badges, make new friends and attend the organisation’s large summer jamboree every year.
But as of September, Angela’s youngest daughter will have to leave Girlguiding because she is transgender.
Continue reading...Some candidates are making public health a central part of their midterm campaigns amid Trump’s war on science
As public health has become increasingly politicized in the US, with a particularly chaotic year under the Trump administration, some political candidates are pushing back by making public health a central part of their campaigns – and the grassroots organization Defend Public Health has ideas about how to do it.
On Monday, the group launched guiding principles for campaigns to prioritize public health, called the People’s Health Platform, highlighting the importance of ensuring healthcare for all, protecting and expanding sexual, reproductive, and gender-affirming healthcare, preparing for the climate crisis and the next pandemic, and taxing billionaires, among other tenets.
Continue reading...Fake image of crew member surrounded by smiling military members has been reshared more than 21,000 times on X
Republican politicians were hoaxed over the weekend by an image purporting to be a downed US warplane crew member rescued by military special forces in Iran on Saturday, igniting a call for a national “crash course in media literacy”.
Greg Abbott, the Texas governor, Ken Paxton, the state’s attorney general and a US Senate candidate, and Mike Lawler, a New York representative, were all caught out for “liking” a fake picture of the airman, who has not been publicly identified.
Continue reading...The Supreme Court issued an order that paves the way for Steve Bannon to have his contempt of Congress conviction dismissed.
US congressman decried bets on when two crew members on the F-15 jet shot down by Iranian forces would be rescued
After strong criticism from a federal lawmaker, the online betting platform Polymarket stopped accepting wagers on when US warplane crew members who were shot down in Iran might be rescued. It promised to investigate how the market materialized.
The criticism came from Seth Moulton, a Massachusetts Democratic representative who earned two bronze star medals serving with the United States Marine Corps in Iraq from 2003 to 2008 and published an X post describing Polymarket’s acceptance of bets on the downed pilots’ fate as “DISGUSTING”.
Continue reading...Gnomes have become collectors’ items since 2016 debut
2026 edition retailing at $49.50 inside Augusta National
Everyone says goodbye to the Masters eventually. Sandy Lyle, Ben Crenshaw, Ian Woosnam and Bernhard Langer used recent years to wave goodbye. Will 2026 be the end for a renowned Augusta National element of more recent times … the Masters gnome?
Speculation is rising that this Masters will be the final time gnomes will be on sale inside Augusta’s merchandise outlets. On face value, this hardly feels dramatic. The quirk, though, is that the household essential for any golf lover has become a victim of its own success. Augusta National has offered no comment when approached on the gnome’s future but the race feels on to collect the final batches of stock before the 14-inch ceramic doll is consigned to Masters history.
Continue reading...Yesterday I was on the pint with the battery near 90 %.
I had only been riding a few minutes when the alarm on the app went off
It said my battery was something I forget the exact wording but it was only on the app.
All the lights were working properly and almost all of them were full indicating that the level of near 90 on the app was correct.
Nothing happened besides the warning
Was this just a fluke occurrence?
Float on friends
Tougher ethical certification process requires companies to meet standards in every one out of seven categories
Dozens of companies may be at risk of losing their coveted B Corp ethical status after the organisation behind the corporate kite-marking system raised the standards required to qualify.
B Lab, which oversees B Corp certification, launched the biggest overhaul in its 19-year history earlier this month, scrapping a system under which companies must gather enough points across multiple categories to qualify.
Continue reading...The initiative, supported by the Simons Foundation, will accelerate breakthroughs at the intersection of artificial intelligence and astrophysics
April 6, 2026 — Artificial intelligence is rapidly reshaping how scientists explore the universe — turning massive amounts of data into discoveries that were once out of reach. At Carnegie Mellon University, a new initiative will bring together experts in AI, statistics and astrophysics to accelerate that shift.
Barnabás Póczos and Tiziana Di Matteo. Credit: CMU.
Supported by the Simons Foundation, the Keystone Astronomy & AI (KAAI) Visiting Fellows Program will accelerate the use of AI in cosmological and astronomical research through an international, mentored postdoctoral initiative.
KAAI Fellows will participate in a monthlong residency at the McWilliams Center for Cosmology & Astrophysics, where each visiting fellow is paired with two mentors — one in astrophysics and one in AI or statistics — to tackle high-impact problems at the intersection of astronomy and machine learning. Each residency culminates in a hands-on workshop that shares software, datasets and workflows with the broader community. The program aims to cultivate a globally connected cohort of researchers fluent in both astrophysics and modern machine learning while accelerating discovery in this data-rich scientific landscape.
The initiative also provides meaningful opportunities for Carnegie Mellon graduate students, who collaborate with visiting fellows, contribute to shared tools and workflows, and gain direct experience while applying AI to frontier problems in astrophysics.
“AI is changing how we do science, and astronomy is where its impact will be felt first and fastest” said Tiziana Di Matteo, director of the McWilliams Center and the primary investigator on this program. “With KAAI Fellows, we’re turning the McWilliams Center’s cross-disciplinary strength into a global training engine — bringing visiting scholars together with our machine-learning and astrophysics teams to develop methods that move the field and the way science is done.”
The McWilliams Center fosters collaboration within Carnegie Mellon’s Department of Physics, the School of Computer Science, the Department of Statistics & Data Science (SDS) and the Software Engineering Institute and among partner institutions including the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center and the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Pittsburgh.
A key to the program’s strength is the deep cross-disciplinary collaboration among researchers at the McWilliams Center, the Department of Machine Learning and the SDS and the STAtistical Methods for the Physical Sciences Research Center (STAMPS), whose combined expertise forms the backbone of KAAI’s interdisciplinary model.
McWilliams researchers are developing the data science tools needed to process this immense stream of information into scientific breakthroughs that advance astrophysics and enable new technologies in fields like AI, imaging and data infrastructure on Earth.
The KAAI Fellows program will support six visiting fellows for a month each over the next three years. Applications will be open later this spring.
Visiting fellows will be selected for projects that integrate AI with theoretical and computational astrophysics, particularly in areas such as large-scale simulations, computational modeling and data-intensive analysis. By pairing each fellow with dual Carnegie Mellon mentors, the program fosters deep cross-disciplinary collaboration between domain scientists and AI experts.
Barnabás Póczos, associate professor in Carnegie Mellon’s Department of Machine Learning, will serve as the program’s AI and machine learning director. A member of the McWilliams Center, Póczos collaborates with other faculty, postdoctoral researchers and graduate students on shared code, data and computational tools.
“It is exciting to see how the newly developed machine-learning methods are transforming the way we approach science,” Póczos said. “In astrophysics particularly, these tools are reshaping how we explore vast and complex datasets, enabling us to extract subtle signals, identify rare and interesting events, accelerate scientific simulations and test physical theories at unprecedented scale. By augmenting human intuition with data-driven discovery, machine learning has the potential to dramatically accelerate our understanding of the universe and uncover phenomena that would otherwise remain hidden.”
Carnegie Mellon’s Machine Learning Department shares a long history of close collaboration with the McWilliams Center for Cosmology, combining expertise in machine learning, statistical inference and large-scale computation with deep domain knowledge in astrophysics. These sustained partnerships created impactful, collaborative research at the intersection of machine learning and cosmology, and continue to play a central role in advancing data-driven discovery in the physical sciences.
Fellows will leave the program with demonstrated experience applying trustworthy AI to frontier astrophysics and with durable connections that extend beyond astronomy.
A core component of the fellowship is knowledge dissemination. At the end of each visit, each KAAI Fellow will co-organize a weeklong, hands-on workshop showcasing cutting-edge AI methods for astronomy. These workshops will help accelerate the adoption of new tools across the international research community, ensuring the advanced approaches spread well beyond individual projects or institutions. Designed for maximum impact, they also will cultivate a global network of researchers skilled in applying state-of-the-art techniques to fundamental questions about the universe.
“We’re working to develop a global community of international experts in subfields related to AI and astronomy,” Di Matteo said. “Supported by Simons, the workshops will bring together experts from machine learning and astronomy to drive the field forward.”
Source: Heidi Opdyke, Carnegie Mellon University
The post Carnegie Mellon Launches New Effort to Advance AI-Driven Astronomy appeared first on HPCwire.
‘Here we go, ready or not, let’s do the news,’ Guthrie said, two months after the disappearance of her mother, Nancy
Today show co-anchor Savannah Guthrie made an emotional return to the NBC morning show on Monday, 64 days after her mother, Nancy, was believed to be abducted from her home in Tucson, Arizona.
“Welcome to Today on this Monday morning. We are so glad you started your week with us, and it’s good to be home,” Guthrie told viewers.
Continue reading...Leaders say automated mowers’ blades threaten nocturnal animals as studies highlight risks to wildlife
German mayors have called for a nationwide ban on night-time use of robot lawnmowers to protect hedgehogs and other small nocturnal animals from being killed or maimed in the dark.
Recent studies have highlighted the threat lawnmower blades pose to wildlife active between dusk and dawn, prompting growing calls for regulation. Hedgehogs also tend to curl into a ball when threatened rather than running away, making them harder for a robot mower’s sensors to detect.
Continue reading...After testing the stovetop, oven and air fryer, I discovered that one technique produces much crispier results -- with half the mess.
The Polar partnership and $150 price tag had me sold. Then I actually lived with it.
The president has boasted about cutting prices of drugs, housing, food and gasoline. It’s grossly exaggerated nonsense
In recent months, Donald Trump has made some absurd comments about inflation, saying the affordability crisis is “a hoax” and “I won affordability,” a clumsy, questionable claim meaning that he somehow conquered inflation. Trump recognizes that affordability is a huge issue, and with his war against Iran proving to be a big political loser, he seems eager to score some political points by telling Americans that he’s moving boldly to cut living costs. But as with everything Trump says, people shouldn’t be tricked by his slick salesmanship.
Trump has boasted about cutting prescription drug prices, housing prices, food prices and gasoline prices. All that might be great public relations for Trump, but it’s grossly exaggerated nonsense. Trump’s much-ballyhooed efforts to fight inflation are essentially diddlysquat. Many of them are mini efforts that have had mini effects in reducing prices. They’re as meaningful as a degree from Trump University.
Steven Greenhouse is a journalist and author, focusing on labour and the workplace, as well as economic and legal issues
Continue reading...Kaija Saariaho’s Innocence delves into guilt, grief and anger over a phenomenon largely thought of as distinctly American
Gun violence, particularly the high-profile incidents that take place on school campuses, are often seen as a uniquely American phenomenon, one that exemplifies the nation’s deep history and complicated relationship with guns.
But an opera set around a mass shooting at a Finnish international school 10 years ago approaches this topic through a global lens. Innocence, which opens at the Metropolitan Opera in New York on Monday, is performed in nine different languages including English, Swedish and Spanish, and delves into themes like guilt, grief, anger and how time doesn’t always heal the damage done by violence.
Continue reading...Tennessee leads way but experts say offender registry could provide a false sense of security – and identify victims
When Amanda Martin started dating Christopher Cendroski, whose family described him as “big-hearted”, she had no idea he had been arrested for domestic assault. Had she known, she said she never would have become involved with him.
A few months into their relationship, which began in 2011, Cendroski started beating Martin, and in May 2012, he nearly choked her to death, she said. Police arrested Cendroski and helped both Martin and her children get to a shelter.
Continue reading...Antivirus software is only one part of protecting our phones and laptops. You'll need a combination of tools to improve your online security and privacy.
Not everyone needs a big unlimited data plan that locks you into a long-term contract. We pick our favorite prepaid plans.
Liam Conejo Ramos, the 5-year-old whose detention by ICE sparked global outrage, constantly worries about being detained again, his parents told CBS News in an exclusive interview.
"It's finally time," writes Phoronix — since "no known Linux distribution vendors are still shipping with i486 CPU support." "A patch queued into one of the development branches ahead of the upcoming Linux 7.1 merge window is set to finally begin the process of phasing out and ultimately removing Intel 486 CPU support from the Linux kernel." More details from XDA-Developers: Authored by Ingo Molnar, the change, titled "x86/cpu: Remove M486/M486SX/ELAN support," begins dismantling Linux's built-in support for the i486, which was first released back in 1989. As the changelog notes, even Linus is keen to cut ties with the architecture: "In the x86 architecture we have various complicated hardware emulation facilities on x86-32 to support ancient 32-bit CPUs that very very few people are using with modern kernels. This compatibility glue is sometimes even causing problems that people spend time to resolve, which time could be spent on other things. As Linus recently remarked: 'I really get the feeling that it's time to leave i486 support behind. There's zero real reason for anybody to waste one second of development effort on this kind of issue'..." If you're one of the rare few who still keep the decades-old CPU alive, your best bet will be to grab an LTS Linux distro that keeps the older version of Linux for a few more years.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Anutin Charnvirakul encourages measures such as home working and carpooling as country is reliant on oil imports
Thailand’s prime minister, Anutin Charnvirakul, has called on the public to conserve energy, urging work-from-home measures and carpooling, as he warned of the impact of the conflict in the Middle East.
In a statement posted on social media, Anutin said Thailand was exposed to the crisis because of its reliance on imported oil and gas, and the country could not be complacent.
Continue reading...Royer Perez Jimenez was a "hard worker" who immigrated at 15 to "triumph and help his family," his uncle said.
Switching to the latest AT&T Unlimited 2.0 tiers could lower your monthly bill as older plans face price hikes.
Paramount Skydance CEO has repeatedly cited the statistic when laying out the approach that CBS News and potentially CNN would take
During an early March appearance on CNBC, the Paramount Skydance chief executive, David Ellison, cited a statistic he has come to rely on when laying out his editorial approach for CBS News and, potentially, the cable network he has made a deal to own, CNN. The young media mogul said the networks will prioritize reaching “the 70% of Americans and really around the world that identify as center-left, as center-right”.
The idea of an unaddressed center ground is a powerful talking point. In a world of increasingly partisan politics, Ellison’s promise to address the unheard, silent majority packs a punch – and fits nicely with the approach of one of his most high-profile lieutenants, the heterodox commentator Bari Weiss.
Continue reading...In the era of VAR where most goals get picked apart, strikes from distance offered a much-needed immediate emotional hit
In an era where the sport’s biggest moments are scrutinized in slow-motion to find an inch of infraction, the long-range goal has become a necessary thrill. VAR only comes into play if a loitering teammate is caught between the shooter and goalkeeper. They also hatch a comfortingly familiar point of debate: was there anything that could’ve been done to save it?
We can safely count Zavier Gozo’s wonder goal this weekend among the unsaveable. The Real Salt Lake homegrown has been one of the best players in Major League Soccer’s early weeks, a 19-year-old danger down the right flank who can slot in as a winger or wing back with similar impact. He’s quickly become one of the most proven progressive dribblers in the entire US player pool, and has shot up the scouting priority queues of several major European clubs.
Continue reading...Impact of rulings by these judges has been sizable, slowing or halting some of the president’s most extreme policies
District court judges nationwide have been increasingly issuing strong rulings challenging the legality of many of Donald Trump’s policies and executive power grabs, blocking key ones at least temporarily, and sparking angry responses from the president, former judges and prosecutors say.
Since the start of Trump’s second term, lower court federal judges have written sharply critical opinions about his legally dubious policies on immigration, tariffs, Department of Justice (DoJ) prosecutions of political foes and more.
Continue reading...Some cities are cutting ties with firm that provides license plate reader cameras, others are signing new contracts and many are still looking for their footing
In recent city council meetings in Dunwoody, Georgia, a spokesman for Flock Safety, a Georgia-based firm that provides automated license plate readers, has found himself in the hot seat again.
For two months running, some residents of the affluent north Atlanta suburb in the region’s tech corridor have been demanding an end to the city’s contract with the security firm, which has drawn similar protest from California to New York.
Continue reading...New legislation comes amid push from big oil, as critics warn polluters’ profits prioritized over Americans’ health
Utah has made it nearly impossible for residents to hold fossil fuel companies legally accountable for climate damages in a move one advocacy group described as putting “profits for the biggest polluters over communities”, with other states expected to follow suit.
The new state legislation comes as part of a push from big oil and its political allies – including groups tied to rightwing impresario Leonard Leo – for legal immunity in red statehouses and Congress, with a goal of winning state and federal legal immunity similar to the liability waiver granted to the firearms industry in 2005.
Continue reading...I used the Oura Ring and a popular baby monitor to collect our scores over the course of two weeks.
As Americans struggle with rising prices, Lockheed Martin, Shell and other companies are experiencing gains
Two weeks into the US-Israel war with Iran, the White House was fielding heavy criticism that the conflict would drive up gas prices and frustrate voters. Donald Trump turned to Truth Social to appease Americans about gas prices, which were slowly climbing toward $4 a gallon.
“The United States is the largest Oil Producer in the World, by far, so when oil prices go up, we make a lot of money,” he wrote.
Continue reading...  | Used my pintx last summer and added around 1200kms on it. Looking for a board with more battery this season. Help pls! [link] [comments] |
Chuck Schumer accuses president of ‘ranting like an unhinged madman’ in threat to obliterate Iran’s power plants and bridges. Plus, Audrey Hepburn’s son Sean on her movies, marriages, good works and fascist parents
Good morning.
Donald Trump has faced sharp criticism after threatening to wipe out Iran’s power plants and bridges in an expletive-riddled social media post yesterday.
How has Iran reacted? Iran’s parliament speaker responded with a warning that the US president’s “reckless moves” would mean “our whole region is going to burn”.
This is a developing story. Follow the liveblog here.
What will they see? During the flyby, which will last about six hours, the crew will have to observe the celestial body with their naked eyes, along with cameras they have onboard. The journey promises views of the moon’s far side that were too dark or too difficult to see by the 24 Apollo astronauts who preceded them.
Continue reading...Senior US officials consider the PM’s pitch to have been overblown, creating potentially far-reaching consequences for Israel
When Benjamin Netanyahu arrived at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club on 29 December last year, the Israeli prime minister came with an appeal – and a not so subtle inducement.
After months of restocking air defence and other missiles after June’s 12-day conflict in which the US joined in to bomb Tehran’s nuclear facilities, Israel was ready to go again, this time with more substantial objectives.
Continue reading...Three orcas that had not previously been recorded in the Seattle area have delighted whale watchers with several visits.
Residents of Khasab, a sleepy exclave that depends on fishing and tourism, are frustrated by the war in Iran and fearful of what’s next.
Companies using heating oil have already begun rationing their fuel use, says Federation of Small Businesses
Thousands of independent businesses across the UK are braced for their energy bills to more than double owing to the sharp rise in heating oil costs as the war in Iran pushed Europe’s fuel market prices to fresh record highs.
About 7% of all small and medium-sized companies warm their properties and provide hot water using heating oil, which in some cases has more than doubled in recent weeks.
Continue reading...Louisiana v Callais could be the latest brick in a wall under construction for more than a decade, as Jim Crow is rebuilt in modern form
There are moments in American history when the stakes are unmistakable. This is one of them.
The forthcoming decision in Louisiana v Callais will not just be another supreme court ruling in a long line of voting cases. This time the issue is whether the Voting Rights Act (VRA) can still require states to draw electoral maps that give Black voters a meaningful chance to elect representatives.
Continue reading...Heated discourse over Israel and influencer Hasan Piker has created cracks between progressive and establishment Democratic candidates in key swing state
A heated debate over criticism of Israel and the political influencer Hasan Piker’s role on the left has bitterly divided progressive and establishment Democrats in a US Senate race in Michigan, an electorally critical swing state. The ongoing controversy likely marks a preview of things to come as the midterm and 2028 election seasons ramp up, and it is drawing warnings from Arab American leaders in a state where the party’s Israel policy badly damaged Kamala Harris’s campaign.
Mallory McMorrow, a state senator favored by much of the establishment, is locked in a tight three-way race with the progressive Abdul El-Sayed, and Haley Stevens, the US representative who is backed by Aipac. El-Sayed and Piker last week announced plans to rally together. In response, McMorrow, the Anti-Defamation League, the Trump administration, Third Way, Senator Elissa Slotkin and other pro-Israel figures went on the offensive, labeling Piker as antisemitic and seeking to tar El-Sayed over his association with him.
Continue reading...Surely your iPhone means it in a loving way, right?
Prime Video's science fiction options are out of this world.
A dearth of information has been disclosed about the agreements, fueling speculation that the “America First” approach to foreign aid is exploitative.
Military academies and colleges in North Carolina and Indiana will soon accept the Classic Learning Test, embraced by the Trump administration and mainly featuring Western texts.
Why Should Delaware Care?
Wilmington’s city charter requires at least one of the City’s Council four at-large seats to be held by someone from a minority party. In the liberal city, the rule ensures that one member of the City Council will not be a Democrat. After the council’s lone Republican became a Democrat last fall, questions of whether the policy goal has been undone has propelled a debate in recent weeks — one that could have broader political implications.
Months after the sole Republican on the Wilmington City Council abruptly became a Democrat, the issue of party switches on the council is headed to the Delaware legislature.
On Thursday, the Wilmington City Council overwhelmingly passed a resolution asking the legislature to bar future minority-party members from switching their political affiliation during the middle of a term.
A day after the vote, Delaware Rep. Josue Ortega (D-Wilmington) said he would sponsor state legislation to allow the city to write the rule change into its founding charter.
While the proposed change was sparked by Councilman James Spadola’s change of parties last October, it would not impact him because it would not be retroactive.
Still, his party switch was front and center in a City Council debate Thursday that featured claims he had exploited a loophole in the law when changing political parties.
“You caused all of this unnecessary noise,” Councilwoman Zanthia Oliver said to Spadola during the meeting.
Wilmington’s charter prohibits the majority party from nominating more than three candidates for the city’s four at-large council seats. The rule guarantees that at least one at-large council member from a minority political party.
The charter does not explicitly say that council members cannot change their party affiliation while in office.
For his part, Spadola – who was first elected in 2020 and re-elected in 2024 – said his colleagues were misinterpreting the law.
He also lashed out at City Council President Ernest “Trippi” Congo, who had previously said in a letter that Spadola could be removed from his elected council seat if he didn’t switch back to Republican.
Spadola characterized the letter as Congo acting like a king.
“I say firmly, no kings in [Washington] D.C, but no kings in Wilmington either,” Spadola said, referencing recent protests against President Donald Trump.
Also during Thursday’s meeting, multiple residents spoke during public comment in support of Spadola, and in opposition to the resolution prohibiting mid-term party changes.
One also questioned why Democrats on the council would be upset with another member joining their party.
“Focusing on one person’s political affiliation, especially when they decided to align themselves with good people, is not where I expect my elected officials to spend their time or energy,” one resident, Dwayne Randolph, said.
On Friday, Councilwoman Zanthia Oliver told Spotlight Delaware she believes Spadola switched parties to position himself for a run for a higher political office.
She similarly claimed that Congo has plans to run for higher office – in his case for mayor, she said.
When reached for comment about whether he will run for mayor, Congo chuckled, then said, “Oh my goodness. You’re killing me.”
He ultimately did not address the question, but did state that he believes Spadola’s decision to switch parties was “politically motivated.”
Spotlight Delaware also asked Spadola about the claims that his party switch was political. In response, he suggested his colleagues were trying to pick apart his actions, claiming the party switch actually removed any “safe path” to re-election in 2028.
“We’re two and a half years away. It’s a crazy conversation to have,” Spadola said.
When asked in October about future political campaigns in an interview with Delaware Public Media, Spadola said “anything I would do in 2028 would be city-focused.”
The City Council’s resolution about party switches has already gained some traction in Dover.
Ortega told Spotlight Delaware that he is reviewing the resolution and plans to send it to his policy team for them to begin drafting a bill. He said he hopes to introduce a bill in May.
He said it is not fair to voters for council members to change their party affiliation midway through a term.
“If you’re in there as a party, you finish it as that party, and then you can change if you want to after you finish your term,” Ortega said.
Other Wilmington legislators were not as immediately supportive.
Rep. Stephanie Bolden (D-Wilmington), said “no comment” when asked whether she would support Ortega’s upcoming bill. She also stated that council members need to figure out a solution on their own.
State Sen. Dan Cruce (D-Wilmington) told Spotlight Delaware he has not yet decided whether he will support the bill. But he questioned whether the city should even reserve council seats for a member of a minority party, saying his focus in any upcoming debate will be on whether that limits voters’ voices.
“Do we believe that folks, in this case, in the City of Wilmington, does their vote matter?” Cruce asked. “And if it does, then we shouldn’t have a restriction like that in the first place?”
State Sens. Elizabeth “Tizzy” Lockman (D-Wilmington) and Darius Brown (D-Wilmington) did not respond to requests for comment on Friday.
After switching his party registration from Republican to Democrat in October, Spadola told Spotlight Delaware he had considered making the move for the previous five years.
He said he finally did so because of his disagreement with several policies associated with President Donald Trump, including tariffs, ICE enforcement, and federal troop deployments into U.S. cities.
Last fall, the city council’s chief of staff Elijah Simmons said Spadola would be able to finish his term, which ends in 2028. He said the city’s charter contained “no written prohibitions against party affiliation changes while in office.”
After his party switch, the City Council was relatively quiet about the matter.
But last month, Congo told Spotlight Delaware that conversations with other council members, city residents, and various attorneys led him to send his letter in February telling Spadola that he had to change his party affiliation back to Republican.
In response to Congo’s letter, Spadola took to social media to say that council members were trying to remove him from his city office so that they could replace him with an “unelected, handpicked successor.”
Spadola also hired William Larson, an attorney with the firm MG+M. In a subsequent letter to Congo, Larson asserted that the city’s charter does not prohibit Spadola from changing party affiliation.
“We reserve all rights to seek declaratory judgment, an injunction, and additional relief in the Court of Chancery should you take any further action to vacate Councilmember Spadola’s seat,” Larson said in the Feb. 12 letter.
On Friday, Congo told Spotlight Delaware that Council still plans to take further steps to clarify whether Spadola’s party change violated Wilmington’s charter, by taking the matter to Delaware’s Chancery Court.
The post Wilmington clash over Spadola’s party switch heads to Dover appeared first on Spotlight Delaware.
Why Should Delaware Care?
The Court of Chancery is a key part of Delaware’s corporate franchise, which provides the state with more than a third of its general fund revenues. The money has been threatened in recent years because of Elon Musk’s calls for business leaders to follow his lead and move their companies out of Delaware, claiming the state is unfair. A new chapter in the fight could add new fuel to those calls.
With claims of bias looming over her, the chief judge of Delaware’s Court of Chancery on Thursday used a bag of Scrabble tiles to select new judges to preside over cases involving Elon Musk — the world’s richest man.
While the analog method was unusual for the powerful business court, it did leave little doubt that the ultimate selections of Vice Chancellors Nathan Cook and Bonnie David would be insulated from future claims of tampering or bias.
It also followed a decision from the Delaware court last year to begin choosing judges for cases in a random manner.
The selection occurred during a tense, late-afternoon hearing on Thursday after Chancellor Kathaleen St. Jude McCormick had summoned the army of attorneys representing Musk and others to her Wilmington courtroom.
There, McCormick revealed her method of arbitrarily choosing new judges to replace her.
She pulled out a cloth bag containing six scrabble tiles with the letters C, F, L, Z, W and D. The letters represented the first initials of the last names of the Delaware Court of Chancery’s six other judges.
McCormick then began to explain her process, in which one attorney would inspect the tiles before two others would draw one tile each.
As the selection was set to begin, McCormick abruptly looked to Rudolf Koch, an attorney from Wilmington’s Richards, Layton and Finger — a firm representing the electric car maker, Tesla, where Musk serves as CEO.
“Mr. Koch, do you view this as funny?” McCormick asked.
“No,” Koch replied, softly.
The admonition came more than a week after Koch and 10 other attorneys placed their names on a motion calling on McCormick to recuse herself from the Delaware litigation that involved Musk.
It also followed years of claims from Musk himself that Delaware’s courts had treated him unfairly. The sentiment was primarily fueled by McCormick’s past rulings that invalidated billion-dollar pay packages from Tesla to Musk.
In response, Musk in 2024 directed his companies to move their legal homes out of Delaware. He also launched a campaign calling on other business leaders to leave the small state.
For years, Musk’s claims of poor treatment in Delaware had little to substantiate them – beyond unfavorable court decisions. That changed last month when McCormick’s LinkedIn account showed a supportive reaction to a post critical of the billionaire.
After a California jury found Musk liable for more than $2 billion in damages for manipulating Twitter’s stock price in 2022, a consultant who had worked on the lawsuit posted a congratulations to his legal team “for standing up for the little guy against the richest man in the world.”
The post also stated, “Sorry Elon. Sorry Quinn Emmanuel. Thanks $2 billion for your help in this trial.”
The law firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan represented Musk in the California case.
On March 23, McCormick’s LinkedIn account showed that she “supported” the post – a formal designation made by clicking the “like” button, then scrolling to an image of a hand underneath a heart.
When Musk’s attorneys learned of McCormick’s apparent reaction to the post, they filed motions for her to step down from her Delaware cases.
In response, McCormick was defiant.
In a letter sent March 24 to the attorneys, the judge stated that she didn’t believe she had clicked on the ‘support’ icon. If she had, she “did so accidentally,” she said.
McCormick then asserted that she did not believe she had accidentally clicked on the support button — leaving an apparent insinuation that her social media account had been compromised.
McCormick said she reported “the suspicious activity” to LinkedIn.
“Today, my account was locked when I attempted to log in to check the status of my suspicious-activity report,” McCormick said in the letter.
Over the following days, several news sites reported on the fallout surrounding McCormick’s social media activity, including that Musk’s attorneys had asked the judge to remove herself from three shareholder lawsuits.
While still defiant, McCormick ultimately granted the motion to reassign the cases to other judges. Ultimately, they were only after one had been voluntarily dismissed.
In her letter granting the motion, McCormick again stated that she is not biased against Musk, noting that she had “dismissed a suit against Mr. Musk just last year.”
In the letter, she also directed all attorneys who had placed their names on the motion to appear in court “to witness what they requested.”
The post Delaware judge randomly assigns Elon Musk cases using Scrabble tiles appeared first on Spotlight Delaware.
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.
Spring has sprung in Delaware, and many schools across the state along with the General Assembly are not in session this week. Nevertheless, the gears of Delaware’s government apparatus keep turning. Below are some of the most important or interesting public meetings happening around the state this week.
State officials are set to meet on Friday to review draft legislation that would regulate how AI companies are incorporated in Delaware.
Members of the Delaware Artificial Intelligence Commission’s Subcommittee on the Regulatory Sandbox Agenda will review a draft version of the Artificially Intelligent Company Act, or AIC Act, at noon on Friday.
The commission, according to its website, is tasked with providing recommendations to lawmakers and other state leaders about “legislative and executive actions” related to AI in Delaware.
The draft legislation outlines policies and procedures that AI companies would follow if they want to incorporate in the state.
The annual corporate franchise tax these AI companies would be required to pay is not included in the draft legislation.
It is unclear if and when the full AI Commission will review the draft bill. It also is unclear if any lawmakers plan to introduce the AIC Act this year.
📍 The Delaware Artificial Intelligence Commission’s subcommittee is scheduled to meet at 12 p.m. Friday at the FinTech Innovation Hub, located at 591 Collaboration Way in Newark. For more details, including information about virtual attendance, click here.
The Newark Planning Commission is set to meet Tuesday night to review changes to the city’s zoning code that would restrict where new smoke shops could be built in the city.
The proposed changes would require, in most cases, new smoke shops to receive approval from city council in order to be built.
It would also make all current smoke shops considered a “non-transferrable legal nonconforming use.” That means that if a current smoke shop were to be sold to a new owner, that new owner would need to apply for the special city council approval in order to keep operating.
According to a city report, planning department employees recommend these new regulations to “protect the public health, safety, and welfare.”
📍 The Newark Planning Commission is scheduled to meet at 7 p.m. Tuesday inside Council Chambers at the Newark Municipal Building, located at 220 S. Main St. in Newark. For more details, including information about virtual attendance, click here.
Budget season continues across the state this week, with members of the Kent County Levy Court scheduled to host workshops on both Tuesday and Wednesday night to discuss proposed budgets for different county departments.
Tuesday’s workshop will include discussions about the facilitates and community services departments, as well as the county administrator’s office.
Wednesday’s workshop will feature discussions about the sheriff’s office and the register of wills, along with the information technology, human resources and central administration departments.
📍 Kent County Levy Court is scheduled to meet at 6 p.m. on Tuesday and Wednesday inside Caucus Room 230 inside the Kent County Levy Court Building, located at 555 Bay Rd. in Dover. For more details, including information about virtual attendance, click here.
The post Get Involved: AI guidelines, smoke shop regulations, Kent County budgets appeared first on Spotlight Delaware.
Concerns about coming wildfire risk, and temperatures also remain high on other side of Pacific where rare tropical cyclone has formed
After a historically warm winter across nine states in the US, the first month of meteorological spring again brought exceptionally high temperatures, with numerous states recording new all-time high temperatures in March. The remarkable intensity and longevity of the warmth have left much of the mountain snowpack, a crucial source of water for millions in the American west, at critically low levels.
Though precipitation totals tend to increase in spring, the low snowpack has raised concerns about a potentially severe wildfire season if conditions do not improve soon. And with further spells of abnormally warm, dry weather expected this week, the outlook is becoming increasingly worrying heading into the late spring and summer months.
Continue reading...The Trump administration has shut down the CIA World Factbook, and there's much lamenting about the demise of a free, trusted source many people used to check basic facts about countries.
BFI and National Portrait Gallery to mark centenary of the film star’s birth with ‘the summer of Marilyn’
Though often reduced to a sex symbol frozen in time, or a tragic figure at the centre of several scandals, Marilyn Monroe was something far more subversive, according to two exhibitions that will herald what has been nicknamed “the summer of Marilyn”.
To mark the centenary of her birth, Monroe is being celebrated by leading British cultural institutions as a performer of sharp comic intelligence, a canny architect of her own image, and a woman who reshaped the possibilities for female stardom on screen.
Continue reading...From the key matchups to the bold predictions, our writers assess how Connecticut’s system stacks up against Michigan’s size in Monday night’s championship game
The Huskies must lean on discipline and patience to avoid getting dragged into a high-possession shootout. They have to execute their off-ball actions cleanly, force Michigan to defend across the full shot clock and get efficient production from star center Tarris Reed Jr inside. If they can limit the Wolverines’ second-chance points and drill timely threes, the upset is there for the taking. BAG
Continue reading...JT Batson is hopeful the influx of funds and interest around the home World Cup will have a transformative effect on American soccer
US Soccer chief executive JT Batson has set the men’s and women’s national teams the ambitious target of becoming America’s favorite entities in sports.
In an exclusive interview with the Guardian, Batson added mass popularity for Mauricio Pochettino’s and Emma Hayes’s teams to US Soccer’s goals ahead of this summer’s men’s World Cup, a list that already included making soccer the biggest participation sport in every community in the country.
Continue reading...As a cybersecurity reporter at ProPublica, much of my work over the past two years has focused on how the federal government and its IT contractors, like Microsoft, have navigated major technological transitions. The one now in the news every day is artificial intelligence.
This emerging technology has its grip on everyone: Home users, corporations and the federal government are all rushing to use it. President Donald Trump and his Cabinet say AI will transform the nation, making us more prosperous, efficient and secure — if only we can adopt it fast enough.
But this messaging isn’t new. President Barack Obama’s administration used nearly identical language a decade and a half ago as the U.S. barreled into the technological revolution of cloud computing.
I’ve studied how the federal government has handled — and mishandled — this transition over the past two decades, and my reporting offers some cautionary tales and valuable lessons as policymakers encourage the use of AI and federal agencies adopt the technology.
Then: In the early 2020s, a series of cyberattacks linked to Russia, China and Iran left the federal government reeling. The Biden administration called on major tech companies to help the U.S. bolster its defenses. In response, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella pledged to give the government $150 million in technical services to help upgrade its digital security. It also offered a “free” security upgrade for government customers.
Now: Last year, the Trump administration announced a raft of agreements with tech companies that were meant to help federal agencies “purchase enterprise AI tools at government-friendly pricing.” Agencies could use OpenAI’s ChatGPT for $1. Google’s Gemini for 47 cents. Grok by xAI for 42 cents. The administration hoped that the low-cost pricing would make it “easier for federal teams to acquire powerful AI capabilities … to enhance mission delivery and operational efficiency.”
The takeaway: Be wary of freebies. Our investigation into Microsoft’s seemingly straightforward commitment revealed a more complex, profit-driven agenda. After installing the upgrades, federal customers would be effectively locked in, because shifting to a competitor after the free trial would be cumbersome and costly. At that point, the customer would have little choice but to pay for the higher subscription fees. The plan worked: One former Microsoft salesperson told me “it was successful beyond what any of us could have imagined.” In response to questions about the commitment, Microsoft has said its “sole goal during this period was to support an urgent request by the Administration to enhance the security posture of federal agencies who were continuously being targeted by sophisticated nation-state threat actors.”
Agencies looking to buy AI tools at discounted rates today must consider how the costs might balloon down the road. The General Services Administration warns that AI “usage costs can grow quickly without proper monitoring and management controls” and advises agencies to “set usage limits and regularly review consumption reports.”
Then: In the Obama era, the federal government shifted its sensitive information and computing needs to data centers owned and operated by private companies. Acknowledging the potential risks, the administration created the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program, or FedRAMP, in 2011 to help ensure the security of the cloud computing services that it was encouraging U.S. agencies to use.
But in my recent investigation of the program, I found it was no match for Microsoft, which effectively wore down the FedRAMP team over five years as the company sought the program’s seal of approval for a major cloud offering known as GCC High. Despite serious reservations about its cybersecurity, FedRAMP ultimately authorized the product, in part because it lacked the resources to keep going. In response to questions, Microsoft told me: “We stand by our products and the comprehensive steps we’ve taken to ensure all FedRAMP-authorized products meet the security and compliance requirements necessary.”
Now: Today, this tiny outpost within the General Services Administration has even fewer resources to oversee the cloud technology on which the government relies — including AI. FedRAMP says it now operates “with an absolute minimum of support staff” and “limited customer service.” The program was an early target of the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency.
The takeaway: FedRAMP, which a 2024 White House memo said “must be an expert program that can analyze and validate the security claims” of cloud providers, is now little more than a rubber stamp for the tech industry, former employees told me. As federal agencies adopt AI tools that draw upon reams of sensitive information, the implications of this downsizing for federal cybersecurity are far-reaching. A GSA spokesperson defended the program and said FedRAMP now “operates with strengthened oversight and accountability mechanisms.”
Then: The government has long relied on so-called third-party assessors to verify the security claims made by cloud service providers like Microsoft and Google. In theory, these firms are supposed to be independent experts that offer a recommendation to FedRAMP on whether a product meets federal standards. But in practice, their independence has an asterisk: They are paid by the companies they are evaluating.
My recent investigation found that this setup creates an inherent conflict of interest. In the case of Microsoft’s GCC High, two assessors recommended the product despite being unable to fully vet it, according to a former FedRAMP reviewer. One of those firms did not respond to my questions and the other denied this account.
FedRAMP, we found, is well aware of how the financial arrangement between the cloud companies and their assessors can distort official findings about cybersecurity problems. The program even created a “back channel” to encourage assessors to share concerns they might not otherwise raise in their official reports for fear of angering their tech clients and losing business.
Now: With FedRAMP reduced to being a “paper pusher,” as one former GSA official put it, these third-party assessment firms have taken on even more importance in the vetting process. In response to questions from ProPublica, the GSA said that FedRAMP’s system “does not create an inherent conflict of interest for professional auditors who meet ethical and contractual performance expectations.” It did not respond to questions about the program’s back channel.
The takeaway: The pendulum has essentially swung back to the pre-FedRAMP era, when each federal agency was individually responsible for vetting the products it used. The GSA told me that FedRAMP’s job is “to ensure agencies have sufficient information to make these risk decisions.” The problem is that agencies often lack the staff and resources to do thorough reviews, which means the whole system is leaning on the claims of the cloud companies and the assessments of the third-party firms they pay to evaluate them.
The post The Federal Government Is Rushing Toward AI. Our Reporting Offers Three Cautionary Tales. appeared first on ProPublica.
This story was supported by the Pulitzer Center.
Goat meat goes down like big shards of glass when the symptoms set in. The local livestock, the main source of available nutrients, becomes nearly impossible to swallow. It feels, the sufferers say, like deep wounds have been sliced into their throats.
In Kargi, a remote desert village in the far north of Kenya, cancers of the digestive tract plague the population at unusually high rates. The disease most often attacks the esophagus, though stomach cancer is also common. Some patients think it’s a punishment from God.
The evidence on the ground suggests it’s more likely from a multinational oil company. In the 1980s, foreign work crews dressed like astronauts descended on the village of Kargi and the surrounding Chalbi Desert to drill for oil. They spent five unsuccessful years boring nearly a dozen wells thousands of feet into the ground. The men were from Amoco, an American oil company now owned by BP.
The crews then drove off their bulldozers, packed up their protective equipment, and vanished. One of the only traces to mark their presence was a dry white substance scattered on the ground, close to the water wells used by residents and their livestock.
An Intercept investigation drawn from on-the-ground interviews with dozens of Kargi residents, government and corporate reports spanning decades, court filings, and public hearings traces Amoco’s failure to clean up its waste to the ongoing pollution of Kargi. The substance the company left behind contained heavy metals and known carcinogens, but because of a lack of testing and thorough scientific study, it isn’t clear if the waste directly caused cancer in the community.
What is clear is that residents ate it.
Kargi has one of the highest poverty and malnutrition rates in Kenya, and when locals discovered the flaky substance around the wells, many believed it was natural salt and started using it to cook their food.
The water was contaminated. High levels of carcinogenic toxic chemicals, namely nitrates, had seeped into surrounding boreholes and wells — the only water supply in the desert. Animals began dying in the thousands. And people started getting cancer.
By the early 2000s, the cancer rate in the community was three times the national average. The area’s state representative asked the government to investigate the correlation between the disease plaguing his constituents and the drilling waste that had been left behind.
Now, across the manyattas — communities of traditional homes constructed from sticks and patchworks of old clothing — in Kargi and surrounding villages, everybody claims to know someone afflicted by the disease. The “salt” still remains scattered where Amoco, now part of British Petroleum, once searched for oil.
What’s clear now, from court records and environmental tests, is that the white clayey substance collected adjacent to Amoco’s wells was a tool the company used to help drill for oil, that it contained a variety of heavy metals, and that the wells were not properly sealed.
The pollution and disease inspired the first-ever lawsuit filed on the basis of Kenya’s constitutional right to a safe and healthy environment in 2020, when residents of Kargi and other communities in the Chalbi Desert sued the Kenyan national and county governments. They demanded a supply of clean water for people and animals, and they blamed Kenya for failing to police Amoco’s damage to the environment. Six years later, it’s still crawling through the court system.
The Amoco case was the start of a pattern of identifying environmental destruction across the East African country. In the last few years, similar cases have been popping up nationwide, accusing the local and national governments of failing to clean up the waste that other multinational oil companies have left behind, subjecting residents to drink contaminated water.
A lack of adequate testing and general neglect of Kargi and its surrounding areas makes it difficult to directly correlate cancer to the waste Amoco left behind. But high levels of carcinogenic toxins, including nitrates and arsenic — both commonly used in drilling wells — have been found in the area’s drinking water over the years, in sporadic tests conducted by the Kenyan government and nonprofit organizations.
No official cleanup has ever been done. Neither BP nor the Kenyan government responded to repeated requests for comment.
“We were just told to take her back home and wait for her time.”
In Kargi, residents told The Intercept that Amoco’s footprint has left them in a state of constant despair.
Gumathi Galnahgalle, a village elder in his mid-40s, said the community began to notice people falling ill in the years after Amoco left. When his mother stopped being able to swallow food, he took her to the hospital multiple times.
“There was no treatment; we were just told to take her back home and wait for her time,” he said, standing in front of her grave. “There is no manyatta that has not been affected by this disease.”
Amoco’s arrival in the 1980s was met with intrigue and excitement. As helicopters flew over Kargi, foreign crews came into the community to join traditional dances at night.
The company employed locals to cook for their crews. In such a remote area, with few educational opportunities and literacy rates around 25 percent, the work was well-received. Lebeku Mirgichan, now in his early 70s, worked as a cook for Amoco for three years — earning 3,000 Kenyan shillings a month (equivalent to roughly $23 today). “At the time, that was a lot of money,” he told The Intercept.
Oil exploration was a “welcome development for many communities because it came with a lot of promise and opportunity for development,” said Omolade Adunbi, director of the African Studies Center at the University of Michigan. And it wasn’t just Amoco — Chevron and Total had also explored for oil in other parts of Marsabit, the more than 40,000-square-mile county that contains Kargi.
Then-Kenyan President Daniel arap Moi, who commissioned the Amoco project, reportedly visited Kargi to watch the drilling. Amoco’s managing director told Moi that “the rock formation made the prospects for striking oil very encouraging and exciting.” Moi said “he had hope that economically viable oil deposits would be found.”
Amoco, then a Midwest-based company, felt that it was on the cusp of becoming one of the world’s leading explorers and developers of oil — acquiring drilling rights in Mozambique, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, and Burundi. Alfred O. Munk, Amoco’s manager of foreign affairs, told The Chicago Tribune, “Heads of state and competitors alike are coming to the sudden, belated conclusion that Amoco is a major international player.”
With Moi’s blessing, Amoco drilled at least 10 oil wells that reached 10,000 feet deep. But in 1990, after five years and no real sign of oil, the project in Kargi was decommissioned. Amoco’s vehicles, guards, and land rovers abruptly left.
In court records and interviews with the community, dozens said they were never officially informed of the project’s end. And no one came to clean it up.
The failure didn’t seem to affect Amoco’s business. In 1998, British Petroleum bought it in a $48 billion deal, the largest takeover of an American company by a foreign firm at the time. It changed its name to BP Amoco, then just BP in 2001. Most Amoco stations in the U.S. were converted to BP’s brand.
But in Kargi and its surrounding villages, animals were dying. Across the Chalbi Desert — where over https://mohiafrica.org/communities/kargi/90 percent of the population of 30,000 is considered impoverished — most people survive off their livestock, eating only the meat and milk of goats, sheep, and camels. Due to the area’s aridity, there is no piped water, and communities rely on groundwater from boreholes and shallow wells.
In the 1990s, after drinking water from a borehole next to an abandoned well that Amoco had drilled, a flock of sheep and goats died in the neighboring village of Balesa, court records allege.
Then, in the early 2000s, 7,000 sheep and goats died under similar circumstances, residents told The Intercept. According to court records, a water quality report conducted by the government immediately after the mass death confirmed that over 600 animals died within two hours of taking the water. The water was found to contain high levels of nitrates, a type of salt and chemical compound that gets dissolved into drilling material for a variety of purposes: as powerful explosives to locate oil, to stop bacteria from growing in wells, and as an additive to drilling mud to strengthen the walls of a well.
When consumed in high amounts, nitrates can be extremely toxic and stop mammals’ blood from carrying oxygen.
A government team was sent to the area on a fact-finding mission in 2003, according to court documents. They recommended that the community should not give the water to infants and that the veterinary department should carry out toxicology tests in Kargi. It also found that the wells had not been properly sealed. A 2004 government report concluded that “the claims of the presence of esophagus cancer in the region were everywhere the team visited and concern is overwhelmingly evident as reported by medical personnel and local community.”
Subsequent tests commissioned by a local nonprofit organization found that levels of nitrates and arsenic were high in Kargi waters.
Five years later, a prospective report by a Swedish oil company, Lundin, which was planning to look for oil and other mining materials, confirmed that a “white clayey substance used to cool drill bits by Amoco while drilling was collected adjacent to the well.” Lundin tested it and found extremely high alkaline levels — which can cause chemicals to be corrosive and destroy skin when spilled.
The former Amoco cook, Mirgichan, alongside two other community members who also worked for Amoco, told The Intercept that they remember watching workers’ skin start to peel off when they worked with drilling materials.
In its report, Lundin found the substance to be “extremely saline and sodic” and that it was related to “abundant” claims about related health issues by the local communities, including dying livestock and cancer cases.
Between 2007 and 2009, multiple tests on the water found that it was not meeting the World Health Organization recommended standards, according to court records. The Kenyan water resources authority https://nation.africa/kenya/news/area-that-could-be-rich-in-oil-turns-out-to-be-valley-of-death--602790declared that it was not safe for human consumption. A local nonprofit found that high levels of nitrates and arsenic were in the water, and they were the probable cause of the livestock deaths.
By then, people were dying.
In Kargi, where food is scarce, community members kept finding the white substance that Amoco left behind and decided to put it to use, packing it up and using it to cook. The area, littered with salt-like mounds, became so popular with residents that it was named kwa chuvmi, loosely translated to “where there is salt.”
There are conflicting reports over what exactly the “salt” was. According to Kenyan court documents, the salt-like substance was actually two heavy drilling chemicals: barite and bentonite. Barite is a mineral used in large quantities to increase the density of drilling fluids, and bentonite, a clay-like substance often referred to as drilling mud, helps in carrying cuttings to the surface and stabilizing boreholes. The chemicals can have “catastrophic effects,” on the environment and people, said James Njuguna, an engineering professor at Robert Gordon University.
According to tests undertaken by Lundin, Amoco used “a white material that could pass for salt like substance,” but was “essentially a special clay material used to cool the drill bits.” It contained high levels of calcium, magnesium, sodium, and electrical conductivity.
Between 2006 and 2009, records from the only health center in Kargi, a village area with only 10,000 residents, registered 65 cancer-related deaths — which health workers said was largely throat cancer — or a rate nearly three times higher than the national average, according to government reports.
“There are many orphans here. And yet, we still do not understand this disease.”
In 2008, Safi Mirkalkona’s sister died from stomach cancer just after giving birth, leaving behind the baby and four other small children. There was no medicine or treatment available, and she was advised to stay at home. “There are many orphans here,” Mirkalkona told The Intercept. “And yet, we still do not understand this disease.”
The same year, Joseph Lemasolai Lekuton, who represented Kargi and the surrounding area in Kenya’s national assembly, brought the issue to the Parliament.
“Strange diseases started occurring in the specific areas where oil was drilled,” he said. “I do not know how we can possibly explain the sudden emergence of cancer cases.”
“It is really embarrassing that we sit here and … years later people are still dying,” Lekuton continued in his speech. “We have a survey that has revealed shocking statistics of men and women who are ailing from throat cancer and many have died.”
But leaders, including in the energy ministry, were dismissive and said no connection had been found between oil exploration and cancer cases.
By 2009, a community member was dying of cancer every month, according to a https://nation.africa/kenya/news/area-that-could-be-rich-in-oil-turns-out-to-be-valley-of-death--602790local news report. The symptoms and deterioration of residents were similar. The first was an inability to swallow meat. The patients were then referred for a biopsy, “but the majority prefer to go back home and wait to die,” the report said. Some tested positive for esophageal cancer.
Years went by with no answers. In 2013, a documentary titled https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MwWkZb4shxs“Desert of Death” aired on Kenyan national television on throat and stomach cancer patients in the county, suggesting that waste left behind after failed oil prospecting had a connection to the disease. The youngest cancer patient featured was 3 years old. The documentary drew countrywide attention, prompting further discussions in the government.
“I come from Kargi Village, and I have about 150 names of those who have died as a result of that disease,” Godana Hargura, senator of Marsabit, http://www.parliament.go.ke/sites/default/files/2017-05/Thursday_19th_November_2015.pdfsaid in a government hearing in 2015. “The situation is so desperate.”
In Kargi, there is only one health center serving the 10,000 residents. There is no doctor — just a clinical officer, a nurse, and a nutritionist.
“People normally come too late. Most of the people are sick, but they don’t even know that they are sick,” said Abraham Situma, the clinical officer. “We really need more human resources.”
Situma often refers the cases to Marsabit county hospital, a two-hour drive from Kargi. Following that, many patients are then referred to a hospital in Meru, over 300 miles away. But, Situma said, most prefer to just stay in Kargi and pass away at home. So many people have died in their homes that they became https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/article/2000095804/manyattas-of-death-up-to-500-dead-and-counting-as-mystery-cancer-devastates-marsabit-kenyalabeled the “manyattas of death.”
In July 2024, separate from the court case, the community https://eastleighvoice.co.ke/northern-kenya/56911/marsabit-community-petitions-parliament-over-toxic-waste-disposal-claimspetitioned Kenya’s National Assembly to order a comprehensive and independent probe into cancer cases in the region. The community said they had documented close to 1,000 cancer-related fatalities in the last decade, all attributed to the consumption of contaminated water. The fatalities were reported in Kargi and other surrounding areas, but only 100 families had the victims’ health records, because their culture dictated that the dead be buried with documents.
“I call it the social death of the environment,” said Adunbi, the University of Michigan professor. “The practice of extraction in many communities is literally sentencing people to a form of death, and there is no oversight on how many of these corporations have conducted their activities in these spaces.”
“The practice of extraction in many communities is literally sentencing people to a form of death.”
Meanwhile, the case filed in 2020 by the Kargi residents remains ongoing and continuously delayed.
The petition detailed accusations against nine Kenyan and county governments — including the attorney general; ministries of environment, water, and sanitation; as well as the National Oil Corporation of Kenya — of being accountable for failing to ensure that Amoco caused little damage to the environment; disposed of waste oil, salt water, and refuse; and did not cause fluids or substance to escape to the environment.
“The untold pain, suffering and hopelessness is exemplified by the rampant deaths that take place in the manyattas without the residents of Marsabit County having access to medical care, the long distance the resident have to travel seeking medical care and lack of financial capacity to carry the burden of the cancer scourge,” the petition reads.
There were also plans to sue BP, but it has proved to be too legally complex, according to John Mwariri, acting executive director of Kituo Cha Sheria, the Kenyan legal aid group leading the case. The company had also long diverted its interest away from the Marsabit region into more fruitful areas in countries like Angola, Egypt, and Algeria.
In Kargi, the community has lost hope in getting answers. In his manyatta, Galnahgalle, the village elder, awaits the same fate as his mother.
“I keep being told to go home as there is no treatment,” he said. “Amoco should come and explain what they did here.”
The post An American Company Drilled for Oil in Kenya — and Left Behind Soaring Cancer Rates appeared first on The Intercept.
Sales of Chinese electric vehicles and solar panels have surged since the start of the Iran war, companies say.
Russia's "great crackdown" on VPNs — and a clampdown on Telegram's messaging platform — had an unintended side effect, reports Bloomberg. It "triggered the widespread banking outage seen across the country this week, Telegram's billionaire founder Pavel Durov said." "Telegram was banned in Russia, yet 65 million Russians still use it daily via VPNs," Durov said Saturday in a post on Telegram. "The government has spent years trying to ban VPNs too. Their blocking attempts just triggered a massive banking failure; cash briefly became the only payment method nationwide yesterday." Attempts on Friday to limit VPN use could have sparked the disruption affecting banking apps, The Bell and other Russian media reported, citing industry sources who weren't identified. The outage may have been caused by an overload in the filtering systems run by Russia's communications watchdog, according to the reports, with experts warning that major restrictions risk undermining network stability... Separately, payments for Apple Inc.'s app store and other services became unavailable in Russia from April 1, the US company said on its website, without saying why. Earlier, RBC newswire reported that the Digital Development Ministry had asked mobile operators to disable top-ups, which could help limit VPN use.... Durov, who's being investigated in Russia for allegedly aiding terrorist activity, compared the situation in his home country to Iran, where similar restrictions prompted widespread adoption of VPNs instead of the intended shift to state-backed messaging apps. "Welcome back to the Digital Resistance, my Russian brothers and sisters," said Durov, who has lived in Dubai and France in recent years. "The entire nation is now mobilized to bypass these absurd restrictions," he wrote, adding that Telegram would continue adapting to make its traffic harder to detect and block.
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President Trump hailed the rescue of a U.S. airman who was missing almost two days inside Iran — and threatened to hit power plants if Iran doesn't reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
More than half of NHS trusts have cap on availability of products, forcing patients to pay for products themselves
Millions of people across the UK living with incontinence are facing shortages of sanitary products due to supplies being rationed by NHS trusts, according to a coalition of charities.
The shortages are leading to a “pad gap” where people are having to pay for incontinence products themselves, according to an open letter from organisations including the Royal College of Nursing, Prostate Cancer UK, and Bowel and Bladder UK.
Continue reading...Even if motorists can provide evidence they’ve paid for parking, they are threatened with bailiffs and court
Drivers have accused a leading car park management company of issuing “false” parking fines – leaving one mother to defend herself from multiple debt collection agencies sent by the company.
Jane Winder says she was sent letters from five different debt collection agencies each asking her to pay £170 after she was accused of not purchasing a £2.30 parking ticket at a car park in Lancashire managed by Euro Car Parks.
Continue reading...Meta has just lost a multimillion-dollar legal battle over its failure to prevent children being sold on its platforms. Here’s how we uncovered evidence that became part of the case against it
It started with a tipoff. I was reporting on the trafficking and exploitation of migrant workers in the Gulf when a source I had known for more than a decade reached out. They told me that child sexual abuse trafficking in the US was surging. As the Covid pandemic pushed predators online, some were using Facebook and Instagram to buy and sell children.
It was 2021 and I was about to begin an investigation with Mei-Ling McNamara, a human rights journalist, that would lead to the tech company Meta losing a multimillion-pound court case in March this year. The company had not yet rebranded and was known as Facebook, and there had not been any reporting on how children were being trafficked on its platforms. Experts from anti-trafficking nonprofit organisations and an American law enforcement official talked me through the crimes they were seeing.
Continue reading...I am wondering if anybody knows any tips or tricks for buying an original onrwheel. I have a pint and 2 XR's but I would love an original (the one between the Kickstarter and the onewheel +). Things like what to know before buying and best marketplaces to watch. Thank you.
Ignorance and arrogance were his drivers. The idea that the regime plays by different rules, with its own goals, never occurred to him
Five weeks. We are now five weeks in and entering the sixth week of the war on Iran. What was supposed to be a “precise, overwhelming military campaign” to eliminate “an imminent nuclear threat” and urge the Iranian people to “take over” their government is now anything but precise or overwhelming. Gulf countries are seized up with retaliatory Iranian attacks, the strait of Hormuz is shut, and there is no sign of regime collapse either through military degradation or popular takeover. The recovery of two downed US aircrew is celebrated beyond the facts of the matter because nothing else is going to plan. The mistake, as ever, is a combination of hubris and ignorance, flaws made even more serious by the particularities of the Iranian regime.
There is a mental lag at the start of wars. A cognitive delay that means you can’t quite adjust to the fact that dangerous conflict cannot be swiftly contained. That mental lag is even longer when the United States is involved. Because it remains inconceivable to some that a superior military power would not swiftly achieve its objectives. That an inferior power would not immediately succumb. That allies would not fall into line and rally behind the US. Inconceivable that the fallout of a military campaign would not be limited to the territories and peoples targeted.
Continue reading...Japan’s ban on married couples having different surnames has prompted an event to highlight people’s reluctance to change their name
At the very least, the three men and three women calming their nerves on a Friday evening at a venue in Tokyo know they have one thing in common.
Spaced out across booths, they will soon be placed in pairs and given 15 minutes to get to know one another.
Continue reading...NASA's Artemis astronauts are now entering "the lunar sphere of influence," reports NBC News, "meaning the pull of the moon's gravity will become stronger than Earth's." Now as they begin their swing around the moon, the Artemis astronauts "are chasing after Apollo 13's maximum range from Earth," reports the Associated Press, hoping to beat its distance from Earth by more than 4,100 miles (6,600 kilometers). They'll begin their six-hour lunar flyby 14 hours from now (at 2:45 p.m. ET Monday). But in a space-to-earth interview Saturday with NBC News, the astronauts were already describing their first glimpses of the edge of the far side: [NASA astronaut Christina Koch realized] it looked different from what she was accustomed to on Earth. "The darker parts just aren't quite in the right place," she said. "And something about you senses that is not the moon that I'm used to seeing...." [Astronaut Reid] Wiseman called the flight a "magnificent accomplishment" and said the astronauts' ability to gaze at both Earth and the moon from their spacecraft has been "truly awe-inspiring." "The Earth is almost in full eclipse. The moon is almost in full daylight, and the only way you could get that view is to be halfway between the two entities," he said... And while the early photos of Earth and the moon that [Canadian astronaut Jeremy] Hansen and his colleagues have beamed back have been spectacular, the Canadian astronaut said they pale in comparison to the real deal outside their capsule's windows. "I know those photos are amazing," he said, "but let me assure you, it is another level of amazing up here." And their upcoming six-hour lunar flyby "promises views of the moon's far side that were too dark or too difficult to see by the 24 Apollo astronauts who preceded them," notes the Associated Press: A total solar eclipse also awaits them as the moon blocks the sun, exposing snippets of shimmering corona.... At closest approach, they will come within 4,070 miles (6,550 kilometers) of the moon. Because they launched on April 1, the rendezvous won't have as much of the far lunar side illuminated as other dates would have. But the crew still will be able make out "definite chunks of the far side that have never been seen" by humans, said NASA geologist Kelsey Young, including a good portion of Orientale Basin. They'll call down their observations as they photograph the gray, pockmarked scenes. There's a suite of professional-quality cameras on board, and each astronaut also has an iPhone for more informal, spur-of-the-minute picture-taking... Orion will be out of contact with Mission Control for nearly an hour when it's behind the moon. The same thing happened during the Apollo moonshots. NASA is relying on its Deep Space Network to communicate with the crew, but the giant antennas in California, Spain and Australia won't have a direct line of sight when Orion disappears behind the moon for approximately 40 minutes... Once Artemis II departs the lunar neighborhood, it will take four days to return home. The capsule will aim for a splashdown in the Pacific near San Diego on April 10, nine days after its Florida launch. During the flight back, the astronauts will link up via radio with the crew of the orbiting International Space Station. This is the first time that a moon crew has colleagues in space at the same time and NASA can't pass up the opportunity for a cosmic chitchat.
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where should I lock it up? is it just a bad idea to take my onewheel as transportation to school?? I'm wondering if anyone locks theirs up on the bike racks? I know I'm overthinking it but I wanna know if people do things like this and what do you do
An investigation is underway in Long Beach after possible human remains were discovered in the area near DeForest Park and Wetlands on Sunday afternoon, according to police.
The dangerous allure of energy autarky.
How America’s allies in the region can get out of the cross hairs.
Economic ties will be hard to unwind.
This blog has now closed. Our live coverage of the US-Israel war on Iran continues here
Iranian media has claims that a US aircraft was destroyed while searching for the crew member of a missing US F-15 fighter jet.
“An American enemy aircraft that was searching for the pilot of a downed fighter jet was destroyed by the fighters of Islam in the southern region of Isfahan,” the Tasnim news agency quoted Iran’s Revolutionary Guards as saying. The Guardian was unable to verify their claim.
Continue reading...Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for April 6.
I do a lot of off roading and trail and on drops and big declines I get a lot of tail drag on my pint v chi any way to remedy this
The Internet Bug Bounty program "has been paused for new submissions," they announced last week. Running since 2012, the program is funded by "a number of leading software companies," reports InfoWorld, "and has awarded more than $1.5m to researchers who have reported bugs " Up to now, 80% of its payouts have been for discoveries of new flaws, and 20% to support remediation efforts. But as artificial intelligence makes it easier to find bugs, that balance needs to change, HackerOne said in a statement. "AI-assisted research is expanding vulnerability discovery across the ecosystem, increasing both coverage and speed. The balance between findings and remediation capacity in open source has substantively shifted," said HackerOne. Among the first programs to be affected is the Node.js project, a server-side JavaScript platform for web applications known for its extensive ecosystem. While the project team will continue to accept and triage bug reports through HackerOne, without funding from the Internet Bug Bounty program it will no longer pay out rewards, according to an announcement on its website... [J]ust last month, Google also put a halt to AI-generated submissions provided to its Open Source Software Vulnerability Reward Program. The Internet Bug Bounty stressed that "We have a responsibility to the community to ensure this program effectively accomplishes its ambitious dual purpose: discovery and remediation. Accordingly, we are pausing submissions while we consider the structure and incentives needed to further these goals..." "We remain committed to strengthening open source security. Working with project maintainers and researchers, we're actively evaluating solutions to better align incentives with open source ecosystem realities and ensure vulnerability discoveries translate into durable remediation outcomes."
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President shifts deadline again for attacking power plants and bridges in expletive-ridden social media post
Donald Trump issued an expletive-laden warning on Sunday that Tehran had until Tuesday night to reopen the strait of Hormuz or the US would obliterate Iran’s power plants and bridges.
Iran’s parliament speaker responded with a warning that the US president’s “reckless moves” would mean “our whole region is going to burn”.
Continue reading...Chuck Schumer accuses president of ‘ranting like unhinged madman’ in threat to obliterate Iran’s power plants and bridges. Key US politics stories from 5 April
Donald Trump has faced sharp criticism after threatening to wipe out Iran’s power plants and bridges in an expletive-riddled social media post on Sunday.
The US president told Iran: “Open the Fuckin’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell.” He separately suggested there was a “good chance” of an agreement to end the five-week war on Monday, telling US media that negotiations were happening.
Continue reading...Hey, so my onewheel died on me riding on Tuesday. It was reading error 16 and wouldn’t turn off, so I let it just run and the battery died a little bit ago, so I plugged it in, and now the light will turn on for a brief few seconds, and then start flashing and go into error 16 again. Any ideas?
What other parts do I need to buy? I bought all the GtFO shit on the page for GTFO without superflux. Do I need silicone or fish paper or what else? Also whose guide should I fallow for this? Jay doesn’t have a good video on how to remove the stick controller and it’s all broken up. Is there anyone else I should watch before it gets here?
Levy on inherited farms and family businesses worth £2.5m or more comes into force 6 April
A new inheritance tax regime for UK farms and family businesses comes into force on Monday and will present “significant challenges” for those affected, according to accountants.
In October 2024 the government announced plans to levy inheritance tax on farms – prompting an outcry in many quarters.
Continue reading...Here are hints and the answer for today's Wordle for April 6, No. 1,752.
Here are some hints and the answers for the NYT Connections puzzle for April 6 No. 1,030.
Here are hints and answers for the NYT Strands puzzle for April 6, No. 764.
UCLA finished the season 37-1 by defeating the three-time national champion South Carolina Gamecocks.
The NASA astronauts also sent down Easter messages Sunday while gearing up for a historic pass behind the moon Monday.
That leak of Claude Code's source code "revealed all kinds of juicy details," writes PC World. The more than 500,000 lines of code included: - An 'undercover mode' for Claude that allows it to make 'stealth' contributions to public code bases - An 'always-on' agent for Claude Code - A Tamagotchi-style 'Buddy' for Claude "But one of the stranger bits discovered in the leak is that Claude Code is actively watching our chat messages for words and phrases — including f-bombs and other curses — that serve as signs of user frustration." Specifically, Claude Code includes a file called "userPromptKeywords.ts" with a simple pattern-matching tool called regex, which sweeps each and every message submitted to Claude for certain text matches. In this particular case, the regex pattern is watching for "wtf," "wth," "omfg," "dumbass," "horrible," "awful," "piece of — -" (insert your favorite four-letter word for that one), "f — you," "screw this," "this sucks," and several other colorful metaphors... While the Claude Code leak revealed the existence of the "frustration words" regex, it doesn't give any indication of why Claude Code is scouring messages for these words or what it's doing with them.
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Councils urged to crack down on misuse of parking permits that help people with disabilities and health conditions
Councils in England have been urged to crack down on the misuse of blue badge parking permits – legitimate and counterfeit – as the proportion of people holding them has reached one in 15.
The AA called for more to be done to detect offences such as people using fake or stolen badges.
Continue reading...People encouraged to ‘come forward as normal’ when BMA members begin industrial action over pay on Tuesday
The NHS is urging patients not to put off seeking the care they need when resident doctors press ahead with strike action from Tuesday, a stoppage that the health secretary has called “disappointing”.
Tens of thousands of resident doctors in England are to stage a six-day strike after the government took a key part of its offer off the table.
Continue reading...Announcement of eight young futures hubs made as concerns grow over the number of knives on the streets
Eight young futures youth hubs aimed at giving young people support towards work and away from street crime are to open across England, ministers have announced.
The youth centres are supposed to help people aged up to 18 with employment advice, health and wellbeing, and are also aimed at preventing them from falling into a life of crime.
Continue reading...In the Mardi Gras Indian, or Black Masking Indian, tradition, the big chiefs and their crews — spy boys, flag boys, wild men and a big queen — square off in mock battles with other so-called tribes to determine who is, in their words, the "prettiest."
A patchwork of state licensing rules prevents medical volunteers from reaching more patients in need through RAM.
Every year, Black residents of New Orleans don stunning, handmade suits on Mardi Gras day that are sewn in secret for the better part of a year. It's a tradition they say honors ancestors.
A nonprofit called RAM is bringing free health care to Americans who need it. Some patients wait days and sleep in their cars in order to get dental, vision, and medical treatment at RAM clinics.
Americans are driving hundreds of miles and waiting on line for days to get free medical help from RAM.
High-speed rail can be found around the world. Yet so far, the projects haven't tracked in the U.S., where both the public and private sectors have faced ballooning costs and delays.
An ambitious state-run high-speed rail project linking Los Angeles and San Francisco has gone off track.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy provided the following statement for 60 Minutes' report Sunday, "Ghost Train."
The Mardi Gras Indians, or Black Masking Indians, have been around since the 1800s. Members spend months painstakingly handcrafting suits to be worn while marching through New Orleans' neighborhoods.
Hey y'all, I'm getting a weird grinding noise occasionally. I tried making sure the axle bolts were tight, and it has the other bolts that hold it in place on the bottom, not the inside like it shows in the videos I've seen. is there a possibility that something is loose in my motor inside the wheel? like a magnet or something? is it something I can take apart to look at or is it going to come into a million pieces once I open it up? noise seems to be something that can trigger on its own and sometimes it will start or stop by hitting a bump. it's a pretty loud grinding noise almost sounds like a lawn mower engine or something. thanks for the help!
Hundreds of theatres are now showing a new documentary called The AI Doc: Or How I Became An Apocaloptimist. Variety calls it "playful and heady,"edited "with a spirit of ADHD alertness." The New York Times suggests it "tries to cover so much that it ends up being more confusing than clarifying, but parts are fascinating." But the Los Angeles Times calls it an "aggravating soup of information and opinion that wants to move at the speed of machine thought." So while co-director Daniel Roher asks whether he should bring a child into a world with AI, "Perhaps more urgently, should Roher have made an AI doc that treats us like children?" First, he parades all the safety doomers, seeming to believe their warnings that an unfeeling superintelligence is upon us and we can't trust it. Then, sufficiently disturbed, he hauls in the AI cheerleaders, a suspiciously positive gang who can envision only medical miracles and grindless lives in which we're all full-time artists. Only then, after this simplistic setup where platitudes reign, do we get the section in which the subject is treated like the brave (and grave) new world it is: geopolitically fraught, economically tenuous and a playground for billionaires. Why couldn't the complexity have been the dialogue from the beginning, instead of the play-dumb cartoon "The AI Doc" feels like for so long? Maybe Roher believes this is what our increasingly gullible, truth-challenged citizenry needs from an explanatory doc: a flashy, kindhearted reminder that we're the change we need to be. Read more reactions here and here. Mashable warns the documentary's director "will ultimately craft a journey that feels like a panic attack in real time. In the end, you may not feel better about mankind's chances against the rise of AI. But you'll likely feel less helpless in the future before us all." They also point out that the film "shares some ways its audience can more actively be apart of the conversation, and provides a link to the film's website for engagement," where 6,948 people have now signed up for its newsletter. ("Demand a seat at the table," urges its signup button, under a warning that "Government and AI companies are designing our future without us. We need to reclaim our voice in shaping the future of AI...")
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Gabriela Jaquez scores 21 points in rout
Victory margin is third-largest in NCAA history
Gabriela Jaquez scored 21 points, Lauren Betts added 16 and UCLA routed South Carolina 79-51 Sunday to win their first NCAA championship in women’s basketball.
The near-record lopsided victory completed the Bruins’ journey through this year’s March Madness that started after a loss to UConn in last season’s Final Four. The Bruins ran through their opponents this season with their only loss coming in November, to Texas in a Thanksgiving tournament.
Continue reading...Driver treated for burns after truck was carrying 9,000 gallons of gasoline at time of collision outside Fort Worth
An 18-wheel fuel tanker crashed into another vehicle, toppled power lines, then burst into flames outside Fort Worth early Sunday morning, according to local authorities.
The truck was carrying 9,000 gallons of gasoline at the time of the collision.
Continue reading...UCLA win first NCAA title by stunning South Carolina
Gabriela Jaquez leads the Bruins with 21 points
Dawn Staley denied a third title in five seasons
South Carolina 4-9 UCLA, 5:14 1st quarter
After Ta’Niya Latson hits a pair of free throws, Jaquez follows a miss with a rebound and a floater that falls, and she’s fouled!
Continue reading...  | This was my first board, and I kind of destroyed the anodized finish just trying to figure out how to ride the thing. Now that I’m pretty good at riding and will likely be crashing a lot less so I needed to make this finish look nice again. I bought some skateboard grip tape on Amazon, it’s super sticky, and I was able to cut it into strips and lay it down on the frame. I took a sharp utility knife and was able to follow the lines of the frame. I also cut around the X7 and then traced that onto a piece of paper which I then used to cut out this sticky back foam and now I think it looks really good. [link] [comments] |
 | tried out a different park, we've had couple inches of rain so dirt trails are a mess [link] [comments] |
Meet the "journalist" who "uploads press releases or analyst notes into AI tools and prompts them to spit out articles that he can edit and publish quickly," according to the Wall Street Journal. "AI-assisted stories accounted for nearly 20% of Fortune's web traffic in the second half of 2025." And most were written by 42-year-old Nick Lichtenberg, who has now written over 600 AI-assisted stories, producing "more stories in six months than any of his colleagues at Fortune delivered in a year." One Wednesday in February, he cranked out seven. "I'm a bit of a freak," Lichtenberg said... A story by Lichtenberg sometimes starts with a prompt entered into Perplexity or Google's NotebookLM, asking it to write something based on a headline he comes up with. He moves the AI tools' initial drafts into a content-management system and edits the stories before publishing them for Fortune's readers... A piece from earlier that morning about Josh D'Amaro being named Disney CEO took 10 minutes to get online, he said... Like other journalists, Lichtenberg vets his stories. He refers back to the original documents to confirm the information he's reporting is correct. He reaches out to companies for comment. But he admits his process isn't as thorough as that of magazine fact-checkers. While Lichtenberg started out saying his stories were co-authored with "Fortune Intelligence", he now typically signs his own name, according to the article, "because he feels the work is mostly his own." (Though his stories "sometimes" disclose generative AI was used as a research tool...) The article asks with he could be "a bellwether for where much of the media business is headed..." "Much of the content people now consume online is generated by artificial intelligence, with some 9% of newly published newspaper articles either partially or fully AI-generated, according to a 2025 study led by the University of Maryland. The number of AI-generated articles on the web surpassed human-written ones in late 2024, according to research and marketing agency Graphite." Some executives have made full-throated declarations about the threat posed by AI. New York Times publisher A.G. Sulzberger said AI "is almost certainly going to usher in an unprecedented torrent of crap," referencing deepfakes as an example. The NewsGuild of New York, the union representing Fortune employees and journalists at other media outlets, said the people are what makes journalism so powerful. "You simply can't replicate lived experiences, human judgment and expertise," said president Susan DeCarava. For Chris Quinn, the editor of local publications Cleveland.com and the Plain Dealer, AI tools have helped tame other torrents facing the industry. AI has allowed the outlets to cover counties in Ohio that otherwise might go ignored by scraping information from local websites and sending "tips" to reporters, he said. It has also edited stories and written first drafts so the newsrooms' journalists can focus on the calls, research and reporting needed for their stories.... Newsrooms from the New York Times to The Wall Street Journal are deploying AI in various ways to help reporters and editors work more efficiently.... Not all newsrooms disclose their use of AI, and in some cases have rolled out new tools that resulted in errors or PR gaffes. An October study from the European Broadcasting Union and the BBC, which relied on professional journalists to evaluate the news integrity of more than 3,000 AI responses, found that almost half of all AI responses had at least one significant issue. Last week the New York Times even issued a correction when a freelance book reviewer using an AI tool unknowingly included "language and details similar to those in a review of the same book published in The Guardian." But it was actually "the second time in a few days that the Times was called out for potential AI plagiarism," according to the American journalist writing The Handbasket newsletter. We must stem the idea being pushed by tech companies and their billionaire funders who've sunk too much into their products to admit defeat that the infiltration of AI into journalism is inevitable; because from my perch as an independent journalist, it simply is not... Some AI-loving journalists appear to believe that if they're clear enough with the AI program they're using, it will truly understand what they're seeking and not just do what it's made to do: steal shit... If you want to work with machines, get a job that requires it. There are a whole lot more of those than there are writing jobs, so free up space for people who actually want to do the work. You're not doing the world a favor by gifting it your human/AI hybrid. Journalism will not miss you if you leave... But meanwhile, USA Today recently tried hiring for a new position: AI-Assisted reporter. (The lucky reporter will "support the launch and scaling of AI-assisted local journalism in a major U.S. metro," working with tools including Copilot and Perplexity, pioneering possible future expansions and "AI-enabled newsroom operations that support and augment human-led journalism.") And Google is already sponsoring a "publishing innovation award"...
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Sponsors pull out after Keir Starmer calls decision to book rapper who wrote song titled Heil Hitler ‘deeply concerning’
Pepsi and Diageo have said they will withdraw their sponsorship of a UK music festival that is due to be headlined by Kanye West after Keir Starmer joined criticism of the event.
The musician is understood to have not yet made an application to come to Britain and could be blocked under powers allowing the authorities to do so if his presence is deemed not conducive to the public good.
Continue reading...  | My board is GT-V. Everything is stock except Floatwheel's GTV kit dropped in. [link] [comments] |
Board acts like it's about to die. immediate pushback and beeping. app says it has 45% charge but then pops up message that board needs to be charged. i plug in charger and the board flashes green, then white, then blinks off. charger light stays green. Any help is appreciated. thx
first off I wanna say the xrv kit adds a ton of power and for its value especially I was very stoked on it. my buddy was on that board and he got lost and rode it to death (literally). when I got it back the light wouldn't power off and it wasn't taking a charge either. I had already ordered a 20s2p chi battery (they advertise it for an xrv kit) so I wasn't too concerned about it. it was my buddy board anyways, I ride a supercharged x7. so the new battery arrives along with a indy speed bms, I slap them puppies in and take her for a test ride. well it rode like shit, would captain Morgan me going like 10 mph and trying to push through it would dump me at about 18mph at a full charge, so I thought something was up so I scheduled it with a vesc expert in my area to be looked at. it sat for like 2 weeks at 40%ish charge. I go to turn it on and try and stand on it and a here a big crunch and the board dies again, same deal, light on and wont charge. so I'm curious what your guys input might be, im sending the battery back to Chi (praying they warranty it) but do yall think the xrv kit has anything to do with this? thank you for reading if ya got this far 🫡
The crew of NASA's Artemis II mission captured a new image of the far side of the moon, which the agency released Sunday.
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman outlined the most critical moments he expects in the coming days as Artemis II astronauts continue their journey around the far side of the moon.
"Beverly Hills, 90210" actress Tori Spelling was involved in a two-car crash in Temecula on Thursday night, according to her manager and Riverside County Sheriff's Office officials.
The driver was trying to elude the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency's highway patrol on a rural road in southeast Alabama's Pike County when the crash occurred late Friday night.
Rally met with bipartisan support after US border patrol revealed plans for steel wall across parts of beloved parks
The story is co-published with Public Domain, an investigative newsroom that covers public lands, wildlife and government
Thousands of people gathered at the steps of the Texas capitol on Saturday to protest against the construction of a border wall through Big Bend, in a show of bipartisan opposition to the White House’s plans.
Continue reading...Luke Grimes leads the Yellowstone sequel.
PM also criticises business figures and opponents of changes, many of which come into force on Monday
Keir Starmer has used a series of new workers rights that come into force on Monday to attack the Green party, saying a vote for Labour’s rivals puts such progress on sick pay, parental leave and zero-hours contracts at risk.
The prime minister also took a swipe at business figures and opponents of what he described as the biggest strengthening of workers’ rights in a generation, dismissing “vested interests” who had warned against them.
Continue reading...On this "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" broadcast, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman and retired Gen. Frank McKenzie join Ed O'Keefe.
One crime ring scammed 2,000 elderly people of more than $27 million between 2021 and 2023 using tech support/bank impersonation/refund scams. "Victims were in their 70s and 80s," reports the U.S. Attorney's office for California's southern district. Victims were first told they'd received a refund (either online or via phone), but then told they'd been "over-refunded" a massive amount, and asked to return that amount. But 42-year-old Jiandong Chen just admitted Thursday in a U.S. federal court that he was involved in the fraud and money laundering via cryptocurrency — pleading guilty to two charges with maximum penalties of 40 years in prison and a $1 million fine, plus 20 years in prison with a maximum fine of $500,000 or twice the amount laundered. "Chen, a Chinese national, is the second defendant charged in a five-defendant indictment." And what tripped him up seems to be that "Certain members of the conspiracy also did in-person pickups of money directly from victims..." And so YouTube enters the story — when the scammers called pranksters with 1,790,000 subscribers to their "Trilogy Media" channel. In an elaborate three-hour video, the team of pranksters lured the scammer to a rented Airbnb where they're staging a fake funeral with a nun. (One of the men acting in the video remembers "we start doing a prayer... I'm holding the scammer's hand in my nun outfit...") They convince the scammer to collect the cash from a dead man — "Is there anything you'd like to say to him?" Then there's demon voices. The scammer's victim resurrects from the dead. Did the cash mule bring holy water? The end result was a video titled "CONFRONTING SCAMMERS WITH A FAKE FUNERAL (EPIC REACTIONS)". But two and a half years later, their "cash mule sting house" video has racked up over 1.3 million views, 22,000 likes, and 2,979 comments. ("This video is longer than Oppenheimer. Thanks for the laughs fellas.") And the scammer is facing 60 years in prison.
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The old iptables-nft package name is replaced by iptables, and the legacy backend is available as iptables-legacy.
When switching packages (among iptables-nft, iptables, iptables-legacy), check for .pacsave files in /etc/iptables/ and restore your rules if needed:
Most setups should work unchanged, but users relying on uncommon xtables extensions or legacy-only behavior should test carefully and use iptables-legacy if required.
Members reportedly agree a rise of 206,000 barrels a day in May, but move symbolic while strait of Hormuz is effectively closed
Iranian drones have struck Kuwait’s oil infrastructure, causing “severe material damage” that threatens to further disrupt oil supplies already hit by the US-Israel war on Iran.
The drone strikes on Sunday came hours before members of the Opec+ group of major global oil suppliers gathered to discuss how to bolster output despite Iran’s effective closure of the strait of Hormuz shipping route.
Continue reading...Saudi investment shows no sign of reducing LIV’s scale
Plan likely to compete with DP World Tour
Tournaments as opposed to players could become the next key domain in elite golf’s power struggle, with the Saudi Arabian-backed LIV circuit exploring the staging of national opens. Any such approach is likely to cause anxiety within the corridors of power at the DP World, formerly European, Tour given the number of such events already on its schedule.
While the talent drain of elite players from traditional tours towards LIV has stopped, or reversed, the concept of increased competition for prime tournament markets is an intriguing one.
Continue reading...The following is the full transcript of an interview with NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman that aired on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" on April 5, 2026.
11 days ago Apple launched device-level age restrictions in the U.K. There were some glitches, reports the blog 9to5Mac. For me, the experience was an entirely painless one, taking less than 30 seconds. All I had to do was tap a confirm and continue button, and Apple told me that the length of time I'd had an Apple account was used to confirm that I'm 18+. Others, however, experienced difficulties with the process timing out or failing to complete. We summarized some of the steps you can take to try to address this. Apple has since listed additional acceptable ways to verify your age. "You can confirm your age with a credit card, or by scanning a driver's license or one of the following PASS-accredited Proof of Age cards: CitizenCard, My ID Card, TOTUM ID card, or Young Scot National Entitlement Card." If you don't verify your age, then you'll be treated as a child or teenager, meaning that both the web content filter and communication safety features are switched on. Apple is continuing the roll-out in Singapore (population 6 million) and South Korea (population 52 million), the article points out, citing a new Apple support document. South Korea's law actually requires Apple to re-verify someone's age annually.
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Jared Isaacman says odds of evidence we are not alone are ‘pretty high’ four days after Artemis II rocket lifted off
The top official at Nasa says that the chance of alien existence is a factor in how the US space agency plans its missions.
Speaking on Sunday, Nasa administrator Jared Isaacman told CNN’s Meet the Press that investigating the existence of alien life “goes to the heart of many things that we do at Nasa”, adding: “Our job here is to go out and try and unlock the secrets of the universe.”
Continue reading...Retired Gen. Frank McKenzie, a former commander of U.S. Central Command, outlined takeaways on the search-and-rescue mission for a missing U.S. airman on "Face the Nation," and called it a "hard lesson for Iran."
Don Garber spoke to reporters at Miami’s stadium debut
‘It’s going to be a premier event and premier pricing’
The commissioner of Major League Soccer, Don Garber, said Fifa has been “smart” about its ticket pricing strategy for this summer’s World Cup, the effect of which has raised prices significantly across all games of the tournament to be held in the US, Mexico and Canada this summer.
Garber made the comments in Miami, where he attended the inaugural fixture at Inter Miami’s Nu Stadium and spoke to reporters before kick-off. Asked by the Guardian whether high prices resulting from Fifa’s dynamic pricing model undermined the domestic league’s efforts to grow the game and attract new fans, Garber reasoned that the cost attached to tickets matched the event’s exclusivity, and said Americans were used to that.
Continue reading...These are the best USB chargers in the US to keep devices juiced up quickly and safely for all your tech needs
USB chargers power the world. From phones to laptops and even bike lights, the gadgets we use every day increasingly rely on USB connections for power, making chargers an indispensable tool to keep your life running.
Though the U in USB stands for “universal,” you sadly can’t expect every USB charger to work with every USB device. Modern devices use different charging speeds, protocols and ports. That means if you’re still relying on the brick that came with your phone from a decade ago, it’s time for an upgrade. A high–quality USB charger will cover all your bases to charge devices quickly and safely, all in a compact package.
Best overall USB charger:
Baseus PicoGo AE11
Best budget USB charger:
Anker 511 Nano 3
Incident prompts political scrutiny across Hungary as Viktor Orbán trails in polls before next Sunday’s election
Serbia has said it found “explosives of devastating power” near a pipeline that carries Russian natural gas to Hungary and beyond, sparking claims by Hungary’s leading opposition candidate of a possible “false flag” operation aimed at influencing the country’s elections.
On Sunday, Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orbán, said he had been informed by Serbia’s president, Aleksandar Vučić, of the discovery near an extension of the TurkStream pipeline, which transports Russian gas through the Balkans to central and eastern Europe.
Continue reading...  | I built an Xrv and got new foot pads, original FM, but the sensor only works when i stand on it without shoes. as soon as i put shoes on the voltage of both drops to 0. has anybody got an idea what could be wrong ? [link] [comments] |
Marjorie Taylor Greene and Bernie Sanders among those responding with alarm to Trump writing ‘open the fuckin’ strait, you crazy bastards’
Some US politicians have reacted with alarm and questioned the US president’s mental state after Donald Trump issued an abusive, expletive-laden threat to Iran in which he called on the regime to “open the fuckin’ strait [of Hormuz], you crazy bastards”, as he threatened to further attack the country’s energy and transport infrastructure.
The US president wrote on his Truth Social platform: “Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran. There will be nothing like it!!! Open the Fuckin’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell - JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah. President DONALD J. TRUMP.”
Continue reading..."Google has announced that it's currently testing a new feature for Chrome 148 that could speed up day-to-day browsing," reports PC World: [T]he browser can intelligently postpone the loading of certain elements. Why load all images at the start when it can instead load images as you get close to them while scrolling? Chrome and Chromium-based browsers have had built-in lazy loading support for images and iframes since 2019, but this feature would make browsers capable of lazy loading video and audio elements, too. Note, however, that this won't benefit YouTube video embeds — those are already lazy loadable since they're embedded using iframes. Actual video and audio elements are rarer but not uncommon. In addition to Chrome, lazy loading of video and audio elements is also expected to be added to other Chromium-based browsers, including Microsoft Edge and Vivaldi.
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Road and rail travel also disrupted across the UK before weather warnings lifted on Sunday
Storm Dave left thousands of homes across Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland without power and disrupted road and rail travel across the UK before high wind and snow warnings were lifted on Sunday morning.
Winds of up to 93mph were recorded in Capel Curig in north Wales – 20mph higher than forecast – while the Met Office issued a yellow severe weather warning for heavy snow and blizzards across the Scottish Highlands, Argyll and the Western Isles on Saturday.
Continue reading...Three people, including a 10-month-old girl, were killed Sunday when high winds toppled a tree during an Easter egg hunt, German police said.
The following is the full transcript of an interview with retired Gen. Frank McKenzie, former commander of U.S. Central Command, that aired on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" on April 5, 2026.
 | Came to town to play. This I am not quite ready for but soon perhaps? This is my pint I really like her as much as the GT they are just for different things I guess. I like distance on the GT and prefer the pint when it’s crowded. The stick is for balance and has a mirror and bells to warn others I am approaching Namaste my fellow floaters Happy zombie Jesus day too [link] [comments] |
Protesters held on Sunday after joining a Lakenheath Alliance for Peace encampment outside airbase in Suffolk
Seven people have been arrested under suspicion of supporting the banned group Palestine Action after a protest in Suffolk.
They were arrested on Sunday morning after joining a peace encampment to create a blockade outside the main gate of Lakenheath airbase. The protest was organised after media reports that a US fighter jet shot down in Iran on Friday had taken off from the Lakenheath base.
Continue reading...Commentary: Search Party is an unpredictable, layered comedy that subverts the genre and reinvents itself across all five seasons. Buckle up: You've never seen anything like this.
Mayor’s decision to appeal court order that the city must expand its housing voucher program has angered advocates for the homeless
New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani’s decision to appeal a court order that the city must expand its housing voucher program, despite his campaign pledge to implement it, has angered advocates for the homeless population.
Mamdani, who must figure out how to close a $5.4bn budget deficit, explained his decision by citing the cost of the City Fighting Homelessness and Eviction Prevention Supplement (CityFHEPS) program, which helps people staying in shelters or at risk of homelessness find permanent housing.
Continue reading...Under Anne Hidalgo – mayor for 12 years until last week – the French capital added bike lanes, cut traffic and reclaimed public space, but not without resistance
When Corentin Roudaut moved to Paris 10 years ago, he was too scared to cycle. The IT developer had biked everywhere as a student in Rennes but felt overwhelmed by the bustling French capital. Cars were everywhere. Cyclists had almost no protection.
But once authorities carved out space for a segregated bike lane on Boulevard Voltaire near his home in the 11th arrondissement, Roudaut returned to the two-wheel commute and did not look back.
Continue reading...I'm in North Central Kentucky today riding with my grand kids on their 2.5 acre property. There are riding slopes here that my property back North can only wish for. This XL is a beast. It [the property] is like riding on a soggy memory foam mattress (not mud, all grass covered) in large areas with lots of elevation change. I've only had to bail once on a wet upward slope but I think that was more me than the board.
Donald Trump will claim rescue as a triumph but 48-hour drama should be a caution against launching ground operation
Donald Trump will inevitably claim the rescue of the second crew member of the downed F-15 fighter as a propaganda triumph, though the 48-hour drama is a reminder that an undefeated Iran is able to fight back and inflict costs on the US.
It also ought to be a caution for a White House still contemplating whether to launch a ground operation in Iran to seize an island in the Persian Gulf – particularly if there a serious ambition to extract Iran’s highly enriched uranium from deep underground.
Continue reading...Trump gives further details on rescue and threatens to bomb infrastructure if strait of Hormuz is not reopened
The second crew member of a downed F-15E fighter jet has been rescued from an Iranian mountain by US commandos overnight, ending a two-day search after the warplane crashed in south-west Iran.
The crew member, a colonel and weapons systems officer, had been wounded but was successfully rescued from a mountain hideout by US special forces, Donald Trump first announced in a social media post soon after midnight.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Animal welfare charities ‘bitterly disappointed’ UK government plans to backtrack on manifesto promises
This article contains an image of a duck being force-fed that some readers may find upsetting
The UK government is to break a manifesto commitment to ban foie gras imports, and has declined to stop fur imports, after the EU made these red lines in its discussions for a trade deal.
Animal welfare charities say they are “bitterly disappointed” that ministers are failing to use powers granted by Brexit to restrict the import of these “cruel” items.
Continue reading...The energy crisis sparked by the war is making some countries consider ramping up their use of dirty fuels
Not two months in office, as the price of west Texas crude approached $14 a barrel, Jimmy Carter, then president, donned a cardigan to speak candidly about his strategy to face the permanent energy shortage he saw in the nation’s future.
His “fireside chat” is mostly remembered for asking Americans to lower the thermostat to 65F(18C) in the daytime and 55F at night, an idea that didn’t go down too well in the bitter winter of 1977.
Continue reading...Animosity from the White House has taken on new meaning amid an imminent sale to David Ellison’s Paramount Skydance, fueling anxiety among journalists.
Ofcom data points to more passive consumption amid changes to apps and fears about mental health and past posts
Posting significant events in your life, from birthdays to weddings and promotions, is a social media staple. But Jenny, like many other Britons recently, has hesitated over contributing to the infinite scroll.
“I wouldn’t have even posted my wedding really,” she says. “But I had to because … There’s like an etiquette. Nobody else can post your wedding until you’ve posted. So my friends were like: ‘Please post, it’s been like a week.’”
Continue reading...UPDATE: Amazingly the tire shop down the road had a guy there on Sunday morning and even though they were closed he said he would help me out. One side of this tire was considerably thicker along the bead so that was why I was having issues. The other tire I was able to take off at home using a simple bike lever and my hands.
I've been trying to get this tire off for two days now and I can't figure it out.
I have watched the TFL videos and some others but the technique escapes me. Can anyone offer some options I might not be thinking of?
I have no issue breaking the bead, but I cant get any tire levers to pry the tire off while jamming the compressed tire into the depression inside the rim. I would cut it off, but I have a good tires on my bricked boards I want to use.
This is an old Vega tire, and I am actually at the halfway point so to speak. In all the videos the tire comes all the way off and does not get stuck with the rim catching the interior or the tire.
Any tips here would be appreciated. Thanks.
The US president seems to have turned his attention to Cuba in recent weeks, saying that it was 'next'. Officials from both countries have reportedly been in negotiations since February however the content of the discussions remains unclear. The Guardian spoke with professor emeritus of international relations Dr Philip Brenner about what the US might really want with the Island
Continue reading...Use of unmanned ground vehicles has grown exponentially since 2024 turning the war into a technological contest
Victor Pavlov showed off Ukraine’s newest and most versatile weapon: a battery-powered land robot.
The unmanned ground vehicles come in various shapes and sizes. One runs on caterpillar tracks and resembles a roofless milk float. Another has wheels and antennas. A third carries anti-tank mines. Since spring 2024 their use has grown exponentially.
Continue reading...
In a speech to what he called “the single largest gathering of American farmers that the White House has … ever had,” President Donald Trump distorted the facts on the estate tax, soybean exports and more.
The president spoke to farmers gathered on the South Lawn of the White House on March 27.
Trump falsely claimed that “we saved 2 million American farms from extinction by virtually ending the unfair estate tax.” There aren’t even quite 2 million farms in the U.S., and tax experts say the number of small farms that got estate tax relief from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act championed by Trump was vanishingly small.
Here’s what Trump said in his address to farmers:
Trump, March 27: Very importantly, we saved 2 million American farms from extinction by virtually ending the unfair estate tax. We’ve ended the estate tax, or as they call it, the death tax, and you can now keep your family farms in the family. … No, it was a big thing. I would see farmers and they pass away … and the children would get hit with this massive tax bill for the value of the farm. Sometimes the farm is very valuable, but the cash isn’t so readily available. And they go out to a bank and they’d borrow money and they’d borrow and borrow and borrow to pay the tax. They’d be working for 20 years to pay it off. If they had a bad season, they’d lose their farm. … And you’d have, actually, many, many suicides over it. They would actually commit suicide because they couldn’t stand the concept of losing their family farm.
Trump did not end the estate tax, which is a tax on inherited assets over a certain amount. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which Trump signed into law in 2017, doubled the assets threshold that would trigger an estate tax. That decreased, but did not entirely eliminate, the number of people subject to the estate tax. That provision was scheduled to expire at the end of 2025, but the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which Trump signed into law in July 2025, permanently extended the more generous exemptions for the estate tax. For 2026, the thresholds triggering the estate tax are $15 million for individuals and $30 million for married couples.
But more importantly, only a small fraction of farms pays any estate tax.
To back up Trump’s claim, a White House official pointed us to an April 2025 article from the American Farm Bureau Federation, an advocate for farmers, that stated, “The estate tax, also called the ‘death’ tax, turns a time of mourning into a race against time to pay a government bill. Exactly nine months after the death of a family leader, some farm families owe the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) up to 40% of their farm’s value above an exemption limit. Without an act of Congress this year, the estate tax exemption will drop by 50% to $7.61 million on Jan. 1, 2026, putting the future of thousands of farm families at risk.”
The article noted that in 2024, the USDA “estimated that if the estate tax exemption reverts to its pre-TCJA level, nearly twice as many farms in every sales class would have to pay estate taxes.”
That’s true, but according to that USDA estimate, “the share of farm estates estimated to owe Federal estate tax would increase from 0.3 to 1.0 percent.”
“The story he [Trump] tells is dramatic but almost entirely untrue,” Howard Gleckman, a visiting fellow at the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, told us via email.
Although the Tax Policy Center has not modeled the estate tax impact on farms recently, Gleckman noted that “we estimated that a total of 3,960 decedents paid the estate tax in 2023. Those were total deaths, including all occupations. Since the vast majority of family farms are worth much less than $15m/$30m, the impact on farms is vanishingly low, and TPC concludes that zero small family farmers paid the tax.”
“It also is worth noting that any business owner subject to the estate tax has many tools to avoid the tax,” Gleckman said. “For example, they can create trusts or buy life insurance, which effectively pays the tax.”
In an article published in the Iowa Law Review in May 2025, Kathleen DeLaney Thomas, a professor at the University of North Carolina Law School, explored what she called the “myth” of “the threat of taxing family farms out of existence.”
“In the minds of voters, the family farmer is a sympathetic taxpayer who is cash poor but holds valuable property,” Thomas wrote. “Federal taxes that are based upon property values (like a wealth tax or an estate tax), rather than on cash income, appear to pose a risk that the family farm would have to be sold to fund such a tax. Yet, there is no empirical evidence that any family farm has ever been sold in the United States to fund federal taxes.”
As an aside, we weren’t able to find any examples of American farmers who committed suicide because of the prospect of losing their farm due to the estate tax, let alone “many,” as Trump claimed. There was a widely reported case of a man who committed suicide in 2025 due to worry about inheritance tax changes, but that was in the United Kingdom.
Trump falsely said that “American soybeans are now being shipped to China in record amounts,” touting a figure that he said he negotiated with China’s president. But U.S. exports are not on track this year to reach a record. A trade deal the White House announced in November also doesn’t show an agreement for record exports.
“Thanks to our trade deals, you’re now sending over $40 billion in American soybeans to China,” the president said. “I want to thank President Xi of China, because we had a deal at 20, and I said, ‘Could you do me a favor? It’s a big place, could you double it?’ … He said, ‘All right, I’ll do it,’ and you got 40 instead of 20.” Trump went on to make his claim about “record amounts” of soybeans now going to China.
Data from the USDA show that soybean exports to China, as of March 19, are about half the amount they were last year. “We’re not looking at record export sales, at least so far this year,” Chad E. Hart, a professor, extension economist and crop markets specialist at Iowa State University, told us.
Mindy L. Mallory, an associate professor of agricultural economics at Purdue University, similarly said that “we are not even close to normal buying, let alone record buying.”
U.S. soybean exports to China totaled 11.2 million metric tons for the marketing year as of March 19, according to the USDA data. That’s about half the amount exported to China over the same period the year before, which was 21.8 million metric tons. (The marketing year is Sept. 1 to Aug. 31, covering the harvesting of the crop and what happens to it before the subsequent harvest, Hart explained. So, last year would be Sept. 1, 2024, to Aug. 31, 2025, and the current marketing year started Sept. 1, 2025.)
Typically, just over half of U.S. soybean exports go to China, Mallory told us. But exports dropped considerably in 2025, due to Trump’s policy of increasing tariffs on U.S. imports from China and China’s subsequent retaliatory policies for goods it gets from the U.S. For several months, China didn’t import any U.S. soybeans.
In early November, the White House announced that Trump and Xi had made a deal on trade. A Nov. 1 White House fact sheet said: “China will purchase at least 12 million metric tons (MMT) of U.S. soybeans during the last two months of 2025 and also purchase at least 25 MMT of U.S. soybeans in each of 2026, 2027, and 2028.”
Those amounts wouldn’t be records, either. Mallory said 25 million metric tons for a year would be “just below the average of the prior six years.”
In a Nov. 17 paper published on farmdoc daily, a website run by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, other Purdue agriculture economists wrote, “If China purchases at least 25 million tons of U.S. soybeans in each of 2026, 2027, and 2028, that volume would still be 14% lower than the five-year average of 29 million tons of soybean shipments to China from 2020 to 2024. The ten-year average was 27 million tons.” A chart in that paper shows that, over the previous 10 years, annual exports to China only dipped below 25 million metric tons in 2019 (22.6 MMT) and 2018 (8.2 MMT), during another trade disagreement in Trump’s first term.
It’s unclear if Trump is suggesting that he had secured a commitment from Xi for a larger amount of exports than the White House announced. The White House didn’t respond to our request for clarification of how much China had agreed to and when it would import $40 billion of soybeans, as Trump said. When we asked about the president’s claim, a White House official said: “China has agreed to increase its purchases of U.S. soybeans by millions of metric tons, in addition to increasing purchases of other commodities.”
For the marketing year, Hart said, exports to China are typically in the range of $16 billion to $20 billion, depending on prices. He said the president’s $40 billion figure must be a cumulative figure for multiple years, noting that the U.S. announcement concerned export amounts for several years.
Trump said that the price of beef “is starting to come down.” But there’s little to no indication of that. He went on to falsely claim that “the number of cattle was way down” due to an environmental regulation concerning “gas permeating throughout the air,” adding that “we got rid of that one, too.” A White House official said he was referring to the Green New Deal, a nonbinding congressional resolution that didn’t pass.
We’ll start with beef prices. They have been high, due to several factors, which we’ll explain. The price of a pound of ground beef was an average $6.74 in February, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data. That’s down a mere penny from January, and it’s up $1.19 since January 2025. The price had gone up 52 cents from January 2024 to January 2025.
Uncooked beef steaks cost $12.74 per pound in February on average. That’s up 44 cents from January and up $1.83 from January 2025. Uncooked beef roasts were $8.93 per pound on average last month, down from a high of $9.29 in November. But the latest figure is still $1.21 more than the average price in January 2025.
Beef prices “are far from coming down,” Bob Chudy, a consultant for the beef industry, told us in an email. Chudy pointed to USDA figures for choice cutout, which he called “the best measure of wholesale beef prices.” Using a monthly average of weekly prices the USDA provides, Chudy said that choice cutout “jumped from an average of $3.69/lb in February to $3.94/lb in March.” That’s an increase of 25 cents. “And we are going into a period of seasonally stronger demand, with spring and summer grilling season around the corner.”
Chudy said that “beef supplies are historically low. There is nothing this administration can do to reduce beef prices for the balance of 2026 and extending into 2027 and likely 2028. Any short term deviations to the contrary are just that.”
As we’ve explained before, drought conditions in the U.S. over the past few years affected the feed for cattle and led to a slow reduction in the cattle herd, Bernt Nelson, an agricultural economist at the American Farm Bureau Federation, told NBC News last summer. In a February Farm Bureau report drawing on USDA data, Nelson said the U.S. cattle inventory on Jan. 1 was 0.3% lower than in 2025, beginning the eighth year of contraction and “with little opportunity for meaningful expansion until at least 2028.”
“Tighter cattle supplies will contribute to higher prices and volatility for cattle and beef in 2026,” Nelson wrote.
Also, last year, the USDA suspended imports of live cattle from Mexico because of cases of New World screwworm, a parasite that kills host animals. Chudy called that “a huge factor” that “has choked off a valuable supply of animals raised in USA feedlots.”
And there are also demand issues. Altin Kalo, head economist with the Steiner Consulting Group, which focuses on the food industry, told us, “Beef demand has been exceptional in recent years and has been a big contributor to the rise in beef prices in recent years. Indexes that ag economists use to track the shift in demand over time show that in 2025 demand was up 8% vs. previous year and near 27% from pre-COVID levels.” Kalo cited several factors for the increase in demand, including income and employment, high quality of beef products and a shift to higher-protein diets, and consumers eating more meals in restaurants than in the past.
In November, Trump scrapped 50% tariffs he had placed on Brazilian imports, including beef.
After mentioning prices, Trump made his claim about environmental concerns reducing the number of cattle.
Trump: Beef was, it was an amazing thing, I was told by [Agriculture Secretary] Brooke [Rollins]. I said, I don’t really believe it. They wanted to have less cattle in the country for environmental reasons. … These are sick people. No, they want less cattle for environmental reasons. It has something to do with gas permeating throughout the air. And we actually — and that’s what happened. And these, the number of cattle was way down. I said, what happened? They were mandated. They were restricted for that reason. These people are crazy. But anyway, we — we got rid of that one too. That was an easy one.
When we asked what environmental regulation Trump was referring to, a White House official told us: “President Trump is including the insane Green New Scam provision that sought to limit cow herds in order to reduce methane emissions,” linking to a 2019 New York Post article about the Green New Deal resolution, which was introduced by Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez that year.
That resolution, which was nonbinding, never passed. The number of cattle wasn’t “mandated” or “restricted” under the resolution, so there was nothing for Trump to get rid of, either.
The president has made a similar claim about the Green New Deal before, falsely saying in 2019 that it would “eliminate” all cows. Ocasio-Cortez did express concern about greenhouse gas emissions from cows, as have other environmentalists. (Methane emissions from agricultural livestock contribute to greenhouse gas emissions, as the Environmental Protection Agency says.) But as a nonbinding resolution, the Green New Deal was a broad vision for addressing climate change. If it had passed in Congress — which it didn’t then, nor when introduced in later years — lawmakers would have needed to propose separate legislation on steps to take to reach the resolution’s goals for emissions.
As we explained in 2019, the resolution doesn’t say anything about limiting cows. But two FAQ documents from the resolution’s supporters mentioned cows, garnering a lot of attention at the time. A fact sheet said: “We set a goal to get to net-zero, rather than zero emissions, in 10 years because we aren’t sure that we’ll be able to fully get rid of farting cows and airplanes that fast.” A blog post on Ocasio-Cortez’s website expressed a similar idea.
Trump again claimed that $12 billion in aid provided to farmers was paid from increased tariff revenue, but the funding came from regular appropriations.
Trump said: “To further help farmers recovering from the Biden catastrophe, we use money taken from tariffs, the tariffs — we’ve taken in hundreds of billions of dollars from the tariffs, and as I said, we gave you $12 billion in farm relief. And that happened just recently because you were hurt by certain countries unfairly. And I said you were unfairly hurt and we gave you $12 billion and that — that made up for it.”
The $12 billion bailout for American farmers came soon after China slashed its purchase of American soybeans in 2025 following Trump’s imposition of additional tariffs on imports from China.
“The Soybean Farmers of our Country are being hurt because China is, for ‘negotiating’ reasons only, not buying. We’ve made so much money on Tariffs, that we are going to take a small portion of that money, and help our Farmers,” Trump posted on Truth Social on Oct. 1.
But as we have written, the $12 billion was paid for by the Commodity Credit Corporation, a government-owned corporation that provides funding for agricultural programs and gets regular appropriations from Congress, according to a press release from the USDA.
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April 3, 2026 — Yongtao Liu is an R&D staff member at Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences (CNMS). In the Data NanoAnalytics Group, he is helping nanomaterials research move toward experiments that can run with far less handholding. His goal sounds simple but is tough in practice: What changes when an experiment can keep “thinking” after the scientist steps away? He is developing AI-driven “closed-loop” experiments that can plan measurements, read results as they come in and choose the next step, faster than a person could.
Yongtao Liu, an ORNL R&D staff member, uses AI-guided scanning probe microscopy to run experiments and analyze results with less hands-on work. Credit: Carlos Jones/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy.
For Liu, the point is not to take scientists out of the process. It is to remove the slow, repetitive work that keeps good questions waiting in line. His guiding principle is balance. Autonomy should speed up exploration, while expert oversight and clear, explainable reasoning keep results reliable. “Autonomy can help us explore faster,” he said, “but it must stay interpretable. We need to understand its choices and whether we should trust it.”
Liu came to ORNL in 2021 as a postdoctoral scientist and soon took on a leadership role. In 2024 he became project lead for physics-informed and data fusion approach for cross-facility autonomous experiments. The motivation for this work grew from the fact that materials development and scientific discovery rarely depend on a single experiment but instead rely on correlating multiple experiments that provide complementary insights. “This principle also applies to autonomous experimentation” he said.
Turning Nanoscience into a Closed-Loop, Self-Improving Experiment
Many nanoscience experiments follow a manual loop. A researcher sets a condition, measures a response, adjusts and measures again, often hundreds of times. In scanning probe microscopy, a family of microscopes that “feel” a surface with a tiny tip, that loop can become especially repetitive.
Liu’s approach replaces much of that repetition with software. Automation runs the instrument and collects data. A type of AI that finds patterns in data evaluates the results in real time and chooses the next best measurement. The goal is not only to generate more data, faster, but also to create an experiment that adapts as it learns.
“The AI can analyze the results in real time and automatically decide what you can do next,” Liu added. That speed matters, but so does sensitivity. Algorithms can notice small, consistent changes that are easy to miss when a person is staring at a flood of plots and images.
When ‘Novelty’ Might Mean Noise Rather Than New Science
One major thread in Liu’s work is “novelty discovery.” The idea is to teach an autonomous experiment to recognize when something looks truly unusual, not just statistically different. In the best case, novelty points to new physics. It can reveal behavior in materials that existing explanations do not cover.
A concrete example comes from Liu’s earlier work on halide perovskites. These materials are promising for devices like next-generation solar cells and light emitters. They are also known for complex, sometimes unstable behavior. In conductive atomic force microscopy, often called conductive AFM, his team used novelty detection to flag unusual current-voltage “hysteresis” behavior. Hysteresis means the electrical response depends on the path taken, not just the final setting. It is similar to how bending a paperclip one way changes how it behaves when it is bent back.
The algorithm noticed something specific. The opening of the hysteresis loop happened at different voltages depending on the local grain structure of the thin film. Grains are small crystalline regions, and their boundaries can change how electricity flows. Because this pattern was not well understood, the team applied representation learning, a type of analysis that helps reveal hidden structure in complex datasets. The result was a “partial knowledge map” that linked microstructure and electrical behavior. Some patterns fit existing ideas, while others still do not, and they now point to what should be studied next.
That experience shaped Liu’s view of autonomy. Speeding up measurement is only half the job. Autonomous labs also generate massive datasets, and scientists need better tools to interpret them without fooling themselves.
False novelty is a real risk. “The most common false novelty is measurement noise, or experimental artifacts,” Liu said. These are glitches caused by the instrument, the environment, or the sample, rather than true material behavior. AI can shine a spotlight on anomalies, but people still must decide whether the spotlight is on a discovery or a mirage.
From Materials Training to Machine-Guided Discovery
Liu earned his bachelor’s degree at Nankai University and completed his doctorate in materials science and engineering at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. During graduate school, he ran into a problem that many materials researchers face. The material is complicated, and the number of possible experiments can be overwhelming.
A formative moment came while studying halide perovskite thin films. Researchers believed that many nanoscale features could affect how the films absorb light and conduct charge. Those features included grains, grain boundaries, crystal facets and internal “domain walls,” which are borders between regions with different internal structure. The trouble was scale. Manually checking each feature and all their combinations was practically impossible.
“I remember thinking that a better approach would be to explore these structures automatically,” he said, “rather than relying on human search.” That realization pushed him toward AI-driven autonomous microscopy aimed at finding new structures and behaviors that would otherwise be too slow to uncover.
Building Systems That Span Instruments, Disciplines and Time Scales
CNMS is a Department of Energy user facility, where visiting researchers from around the world rely on its tools. Because the same instruments support many different projects, CNMS especially values methods that “travel well” — software and workflows robust enough to work reliably across a wide range of experiments.
Liu’s work sits at the intersection of materials science, instrument engineering and AI. He argues that autonomy works only when those perspectives stay connected. Materials scientists understand what signals are physically plausible and what could be an artifact. Instrument engineers know how measurements can fail or drift. AI researchers build models that can learn from messy, real data without collapsing.
Liu said interdisciplinary teamwork works best when each group brings a complementary strength. Humans define the scientific questions and constraints. AI expands the team’s ability to search. In a closed-loop system, that partnership can scan a vast parameter space — testing countless experimental settings and material variations — so the system can continue exploring and refining its approach autonomously, long after the researcher has left the controls.
Linking instruments across facilities into one learning workflow
Liu also leads efforts to build cross-facility closed-loop experiments that connect different tools into one decision-making chain. Such a workflow might include synthesis tools, such as autonomous pulsed laser deposition, which grows thin films by blasting material off a target with laser pulses. It may also include combinatorial growth systems that produce many material variants in a single run. Those samples can then be studied using autonomous scanning probe microscopy.
The central challenge is timing. Microscopes can make decisions in seconds. Making a new sample can take hours or even days. “It’s like trying to run a loop while some parts respond instantly and others only update once per hour or per day,” Liu said. The engineering problem is to keep the fast tools efficient while still making smart use of the slow ones. He wants the whole system to keep learning, rather than waiting.
Tools for Autonomy That Scientists Can Trust
Two of Liu’s contributions focus on making autonomy practical and trustworthy in the real world. They are AEcroscopy and the Gated Active Learning Framework.
AEcroscopy is a software-hardware system that controls microscopes while standardizing data acquisition, data processing and experiment logging for automated and autonomous runs. In plain terms, it helps turn a long, repetitive measurement routine into a reliable script. Instead of a person changing a setting and taking the same measurement repeatedly, the system can step through conditions automatically, process the results, and record exactly what happened. This improves both speed and reproducibility, which is the ability to repeat an experiment and get consistent results.
The Gated Active Learning Framework addresses a different risk. AI can be fast enough to multiply a mistake. If the system assumes the data should look a certain way, it can misread results that do not fit. For example, the analysis may assume a signal has one clear peak. The real material might produce two peaks under certain conditions. If the AI is not built to notice the mismatch, it can “learn” the wrong lesson and reinforce its own error.
Liu’s gating idea acts like a safety filter. The model is trained only on data that match its assumptions. Strange or out-of-family cases are held back for separate review. In his opinion, this helps autonomy stay honest. “The computer model should do what it can,” he added, “instead of pretending it can do everything.”
What AI Should Never Do, and What It Makes Possible
Liu is direct about the limits. “AI should never hide its reasoning or replace critical scientific judgment,” he says. If a system cannot explain why it chose an experiment, and if humans cannot question and validate the choice, then the lab is moving fast without knowing where it is going.
At the same time, he sees a unique strength in AI. It can explore enormous experimental landscapes systematically and adaptively, learning which paths are promising while the experiment is still running. “It lets us search spaces that are too big for any one person, or even a whole team, to cover by hand,” he said.
His long-term vision is not AI that only predicts — he wants AI that helps scientists reason. In that future, the system proposes tests, spots patterns and challenges assumptions. People keep the work grounded in physical reality.
Training the Next Kind of Scientist
Liu also thinks about what autonomy means for early-career researchers. His advice starts with fundamentals. Build domain knowledge first and learn how the experiment works with your own hands.
“When new students or postdocs enter an AI-enabled lab, the most important mindset is domain-knowledge-driven critical thinking,” he said. Before relying on AI, they should learn to run the measurements themselves. That hands-on experience teaches a researcher to recognize when a surprising result is real, and when it is noise, drift, or a software assumption breaking in the wild.
Outside the Loop
Even in a career built around autonomous science, Liu’s daily work still depends on human choices. He chooses when to focus deeply on coding, when to step back and question a “novelty” and when to bring in collaborators to interpret a confusing result. The end goal may be greatly accelerated, self-driving experiments, but the destination is not science without people. It is science where people spend less time repeating steps and more time asking better questions.
Source: Scott Gibson, ORNL
The post ORNL Work Explores AI-Guided Experiments That Adapt in Real Time appeared first on HPCwire.
New Publication Fills Crucial Need for Rapid Publication of AI Research Results
NEW YORK, April 3, 2026 — ACM, the Association for Computing Machinery, has published the inaugural issue of ACM AI Letters (AILET). AILET aims to be the premier venue for rapid, impactful, and timely AI research. Bridging a crucial gap between traditional conferences and journals, AILET will feature short, peer-reviewed contributions that accelerate knowledge dissemination across academia and industry.
AI research output has grown exponentially, with publication volume increasing by approximately 80% in just three years. Billions of dollars in funding are driving thousands of new papers and submissions each year across an ever-expanding landscape of subfields. Yet the traditional journal and conference cycle, often requiring months from submission to publication, creates a significant lag between discovery and dissemination. This delay can impede the translation of ideas into practice and slow the collective progress of the field.
The style of the new publication is rigorous yet accessible, with a focus on articles that bring contemporary and fast-moving AI research to the fore.
AILET welcomes concise summaries of work in areas including reports on theoretical breakthroughs in AI, descriptions of significant algorithmic and scientific advances, as well as accounts of novel or deployed applications of AI in real-world settings. Applied settings might include areas such as healthcare, finance, robotics, and autonomous systems. Multidisciplinary work is especially welcome.
Complementing its coverage of the technical aspects of the discipline, ACM AI Letters will also include research about how these new technologies are shaping the world. In this vein, the editors are encouraging submissions on societal challenges such as the United Nations Sustainable Developmental Goals, AI ethics, policy, governance, and responsible AI.
With their broader goal of building a vibrant community around AILET, the editors are encouraging researchers to engage with each other by submitting opinions and briefs on public policy, the latest advances in the field, and comparative assessments.
In keeping with ACM’s ongoing commitment to open access publishing, AILET authors will not be charged publication fees for the first three years.
Articles in the inaugural issue of ACM AI Letters include:
The Co-Editors-in-Chief of ACM AI Letters are Nitesh Chawla, University of Notre Dame (USA); Barry O’Sullivan, University College Cork (Ireland); and Richa Singh, IIT Jodhpur (India). AILET is developed with an extensive editorial team which includes 52 Editorial Board Members, 27 Associate Editors, and a 16-member Advisory Board. Reflecting its mission of serving the global AI research community, AILET editorial team members hail from many countries including Austria, Belgium, Canada, China, Czech Republic, France, Germany, India, Italy, Ireland, The Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Vietnam.
About ACM’s Publications Program
ACM publishes more than 60 scholarly peer-reviewed journals in dozens of computing and information technology disciplines. ACM’s high-impact journals constitute a vast and comprehensive archive of computing innovation, covering emerging and established computing research for both practical and theoretical applications. ACM journal editors are thought leaders in their fields, and ACM’s emphasis on rapid publication ensures minimal delay in communicating exciting new ideas and discoveries.
About ACM
ACM, the Association for Computing Machinery, is the world’s largest educational and scientific computing society, uniting educators, researchers, and professionals to inspire dialogue, share resources, and address the field’s challenges. ACM strengthens the computing profession’s collective voice through strong leadership, promotion of the highest standards, and recognition of technical excellence. ACM supports the professional growth of its members by providing opportunities for life-long learning, career development, and professional networking.
Source: ACM
The post ACM AI Letters Journal Publishes First Issue appeared first on HPCwire.
As memory constraints and energy costs are currently testing the limits of AI scaling, compression is becoming one of the industry’s most active areas of research. As we reported earlier this week, Google’s recent TurboQuant release targets the key-value cache, one of the most memory-intensive components of inference. Now, a new startup is aiming to compress the model itself.
PrismML, founded by Caltech researchers, has emerged from stealth this week with a $16.25 million seed round and an open source release of what it describes as a “1-bit” large language model family. The company says its approach can dramatically reduce model size and energy consumption while maintaining performance comparable to standard 16-bit models.
The benchmark scores of 1-bit Bonsai 8B compared to other models in the same parameter class (Credit: PrismML)
The Bonsai model family’s flagship model is Bonsai 8B, an 8-billion-parameter model trained on Google v4 TPUs. According to PrismML, the model achieves competitive performance on benchmark suites including MMLU Redux, MuSR, GSM8K, HumanEval+, IFEval, and BFClv3, but with a memory footprint of roughly 1GB, compared to about 16GB for a typical 16-bit equivalent. PrismML is also releasing 1-bit Bonsai 4B and 1.7B models, with 0.5GB and 0.24GB memory footprint, respectively.
PrismML says its models are fully binarized end to end, with all weights constrained to a single bit across embeddings, attention layers, and MLP blocks, with “no higher-precision escape hatches.” While quantization is widely used, pushing it to 1-bit across the entire network has historically degraded model quality, particularly for reasoning tasks. The company attributes its results to a new mathematical framework developed at Caltech, but has not yet detailed the training methods or stabilization techniques that would be required to make such extreme compression viable.
PrismML CEO Babak Hassibi, a computer scientist and mathematician at Caltech, described the approach as a new paradigm for AI that will adapt to diverse hardware environments. “We spent years developing the mathematical theory required to compress a neural network without losing its reasoning capabilities,” Hassibi said in a release. “We see 1-bit not as an endpoint, but as a starting point.”
PrismML founders from left: Sahin Lale, Babak Hassibi, Omead Pooladzandi, and Reza Sadri (Credit: PrismML)
The company claims its 1-bit models can deliver up to eight times faster processing and reduce energy consumption by as much as 75 to 80% on existing hardware. PrismML also predicts that future hardware optimized for 1-bit operations could further improve efficiency by replacing complex multiplications with simpler arithmetic.
Vinod Khosla of Khosla Ventures, which participated in PrismML’s seed round, described the work as a “mathematical breakthrough” with the potential to reshape how AI systems are deployed.
“AI’s future will not be defined by who can build the largest datacenters. It will be defined by who can deliver the most intelligence per unit of energy and cost. PrismML represents that kind of breakthrough,” he said in a statement.
That perspective reflects the idea that AI will not remain confined to data centers but will instead be deployed across edge devices and local environments. PrismML says its models are designed to run on consumer and edge devices, potentially enabling more capable AI applications in smartphones, wearables, and robotics without relying on cloud infrastructure.
(Aila Images/Shutterstock)
PrismML’s claim that a fully 1-bit model can match the capabilities of higher-precision systems remains unproven outside the company’s own benchmark results. Extreme quantization techniques have historically struggled to preserve accuracy in complex reasoning tasks. Independent third-party benchmarks and real-world deployments will be critical in determining whether PrismML’s approach represents a true breakthrough or a more limited optimization.
In a blog post, PrismML describes what it calls “intelligence density,” a metric that attempts to capture how much capability a model delivers per unit of size. By that measure, the company says its 1-bit models redefine the tradeoff between model size and performance, maintaining competitive results at a fraction of the footprint. However, the metric depends on the company’s benchmark choices and definition of the metric itself, and has not yet been independently validated. Whether it proves to be a meaningful way to compare models or remains a company-specific metric will depend on how it holds up under further scrutiny.
For now, the release is another example of efficiency-driven AI design as the industry looks for alternatives to the escalating costs of scaling model size and infrastructure. While recent research like Google’s TurboQuant focuses on compressing specific components of inference, PrismML’s ambitious model compression could greatly expand where AI models can realistically run and how they are deployed.
The post PrismML Emerges From Stealth With 1-Bit LLM Family appeared first on HPCwire.
Grandson of Reese’s cups inventor claims Hershey faked a pledge to switch back to original chocolate recipes
The grandson of HB Reese, the inventor of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, has accused the chocolate giant Hershey of faking a pledge to investors to switch back the recipes of its popular products – including KitKat – to the original milk and dark chocolate ones.
A confectionery-focused dust-up between Brad Reese and the $42bn Pennsylvania-based company began in February when Reese, 70, accused the company of “quietly replacing” the ingredients – or “architecture” – in his grandfather’s invention with cheaper “compound coatings” and “peanut-butter-style crèmes”.
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Why Should Delaware Care?
Energy experts and lawmakers are scrambling to ensure reliability for Delaware’s electric grid, and some downstate Republicans have pointed to NRG Energy’s Indian River Power Plant as a site that could be part of the solution.
The Indian River Power Plant shut down the last coal-fired energy generators in Delaware a year ago, but the hulking industrial site near Millsboro has emerged at the center of a debate over whether it could factor into the state’s energy future.
As new, high-demand energy users like hyper-scale data centers seek to soak up more electricity while aging infrastructure raises concerns about future power grid reliability, energy experts and elected officials alike are brainstorming ways to meet future demand in a region of declining energy supply.
Inside Legislative Hall, lawmakers have debated the promise of offshore wind, solar farms and even modular nuclear reactors as potential energy generation solutions.
But in recent months, Republicans have repeatedly pointed toward NRG Energy’s now-retired power plant as a potential solution to Delaware’s growing energy woes.
The Indian River plant was Delaware’s only generator of power used to meet everyday demand, known as baseload electricity, until it went offline in February 2025. Whether it could once again become a backbone of Delaware’s energy needs is a question of investment and best uses.
In regulatory filings, NRG blamed economics rather than politics or regulations for the need to close the Indian River power plant, noting that it had incurred financial losses for two consecutive years.
In June 2021, the company announced that it would close three different coal-fired power plants after revenue from the springtime energy auction dropped below $50 a megawatt per day, or a decline of more than 60% from the prior year.
That came at a time of great excess in energy supply when new natural gas-fired plants and renewable energy resources like solar and wind were pushing down costs for now comparatively small energy demands coming out of the COVID pandemic. This was also a time before the current rush to build hyper-scale data centers.
Coal is also a more expensive energy source, from the raw material to operation of the plant and disposal of the coal ash produced in its waste to implementation of scrubbers to reduce air pollution. By operating a coal-fired plant rather than building more efficient plants running on cheaper inputs, NRG was effectively cutting into its revenues – so it pulled the plug.
J. Scott Holladay, an associate professor of economics at the University of Tennessee who is familiar with the Indian River plant, said the demise of coal plants is simple economics.
“On the fuel side, it’s hard to imagine coal competing in the current environment,” he said. “It’s not so much that [coal has] gone up in cost, but that the cost of everything else has gone down.”
The power plant included four generating units, each made up of large pieces of industrial equipment that once burned coal to generate electricity.
Burning coal first created steam. That steam then powered turbines that would spin to generate electricity. It was a less efficient process than modern-day natural gas plants, which act like massive jet engines and no longer rely on steam as a middle man, or solar panels that convert solar energy into useful electrons.
The first two 80-megawatt coal-fired units at the plant went online in the late 1950s, followed by a third 165-megawatt unit in 1970 and a fourth 440-megawatt unit in 1980.
The first three units shut down in the 2010s. The final, most-modern unit shut down in February 2025 after more than four decades in operation.
And while Holladay said it would be unlikely for NRG’s southern Delaware power plant to come back online using coal, he did not rule out the possibility of its resurrection entirely.
“The thing that could save Indian River, and maybe other older plants, is big increases in electricity demand, driven by AI load,” he said.
A spokesperson for NRG Energy declined to comment on future plans for Indian River, saying they currently are “undetermined.”
But the spokesperson, Erik Linden, told Spotlight Delaware restarting the Indian River Power Plant in its original capacity — as a coal-fired operation — is not on the table. The company has no plans to restart any coal units at the facility, he said.
A small, 16-megawatt oil-burning plant remains active at the site as a “peakload” generator, which kicks on only in times of great energy demands. But even that unit is slated for decommissioning this June.
The power plant site spans nearly 1,200 acres, and it once had a total generation capacity of 780 megawatts. That wattage would have supplied just more than half the power demanded by the proposed, hyper-scale Delaware City data center.
According to a recent report from the North American Electric Reliability Corporation, which compiles data from different regional energy transmission authorities including the PJM Interconnection which serves Delaware, future projections show that energy demand will increase while supply decreases.
That is due, in part, to power plants — including the Indian River Power Plant — shutting down while high-energy users, like large-scale data centers, plan to come online.
Republican lawmakers in Dover have wondered if restarting operations at the facility could help close the gap.
State Sen. Bryant Richardson (R-Seaford) has publicly pointed to the site as “an ideal location” for a small nuclear modular reactor, while Senate Minority Leader Gerald Hocker (R-Ocean View) and Senate Minority Whip Brian Pettyjohn (R-Georgetown) “are actively working with stakeholders” to figure out the plant’s future.
Pettyjohn told Spotlight Delaware that he and Hocker plan to meet with NRG officials during the General Assembly’s spring break with the goal of making Indian River a natural gas plant.
According to the National Pipeline Mapping System, the nearest natural gas transmission line is more than 2 miles away on U.S. Route 113. That means that extending service to the Indian River plant would likely cost $10 million or more, based on industry averages of recent projects.
Who would cover that cost and whether Delaware would incentivize it remain open questions about such a solution.
Then there’s the question of whether NRG would invest in new natural gas turbines at the Indian River plant, because they couldn’t just convert the old coal turbines. That investment would likely cost tens of millions of dollars per turbine, and those costs have been rising quickly in recent years as demand for the equipment has risen too.
But Holladay, who specializes in environmental and energy economics, said he is seeing “a lot of cases” of retiring coal plants converting to natural gas.
In Delaware, NRG has already proven that it can be successful.
More than a decade ago, it converted a unit at its Dover Energy Center from coal to combined-cycle natural gas, which captures both the combustion and heat from burning natural gas to spin two different turbines. The Dover plant was hailed as evidence of smart business as well as being environmentally friendly, as it removed significant sums of air pollutants that came from burning coal.
The Markell administration also incentivized that conversion project with a $500,000 grant from the state’s Energy Efficiency Investment Fund.
And while future plans for Indian River remain unclear, Holladay said the site could be ripe for conversion.
The Delmarva peninsula in particular, he said, is a “more isolated” part of the larger PJM electric grid. There are not many electric or natural gas interconnections on the peninsula, but since that access is integral to power plants, the existence of any such infrastructure at the NRG site would be its most valuable asset.
“It’s ruinously difficult to get access to the electricity grid,” he said.
He called the idea of using the Indian River site to house modular nuclear reactors, however, “far-fetched.”
“It’s really hard to justify building a nuclear plant in a floodplain with an unproven technology relative to the other options they have,” Holladay said.
The Indian River site has been in the news more lately because of its proximity to a planned interconnection for the U.S. Wind offshore wind farm that has been hamstrung by lawsuits and opposition by the Trump administration.
The site’s decades-long run as a power plant is exactly what made it so attractive as a place for offshore wind farms to connect to the grid.
“That, to me, is the most valuable asset that Indian River has,” Holladay said.
In fact, NRG was among the first companies interested in offshore wind development along Delaware’s coast. In 2009, NRG Energy acquired Bluewater Wind, an offshore wind developer that sought to build a project that could have produced up to 200 megawatts of electricity. That project was ultimately abandoned.
A substation site on former power plant land along the Indian River has also been identified as the proposed point of interconnection for a different offshore wind project, the 121-turbine US Wind farm that is slated to be built about 10 miles off the Delmarva coast. That project has been embroiled in litigation and efforts from the Trump administration to halt all American offshore wind efforts.
The Indian River Power Plant site is close to integral power grid infrastructure, but it also is directly in the path of rising tides, as Holladay noted.
According to the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC) flood planning tool, much of the Indian River Power Plant sits directly in a flood zone. Its highest points are no more than 30 feet above sea level.
A recent study published by the nonprofit Climate Central and scientists at the University of California estimates some industrial sites pose additional hazards to nearby vulnerable communities as climate change continues to accelerate rising sea levels and exacerbate weather events like coastal storms.
According to Climate Central’s data, the Indian River plant is expected to experience about four flood events annually by mid-century, making it one of the most at-risk industrial sites in the state.
Increased flood risks also mean toxic coal ash storage pits are likely to face future inundation as well. While such toxic waste disposal sites are typically capped and lined to prevent environmental impacts, adding salty water to the mix could test those barriers, Holladay said.
“Flooding concerns would be a big deal, potentially,” he said.
For years, environmentalists have warned that power plant waste landfilled along the river’s edges has already released hazardous chemicals and metals into the nearby waterways and groundwater.
DNREC said in an email, however, that landfills at the site are “in good standing” when it comes to permitting and maintenance.
In 2019, the Environmental Integrity Project released a study about contamination linked to coal-fired power plants across the country, citing problems with coal ash contaminant levels detected specifically at the Indian River site. According to the report, data indicated unsafe levels of arsenic and other heavy metals in area water sources.
The post Could the Indian River power plant be restarted? appeared first on Spotlight Delaware.
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court considered a case that could reshape the concept of birthright citizenship. During two hours of debate, the justices raised several key questions about an executive order’s definition of a right established in the Constitution’s 14th Amendment.
The justices heard arguments in Trump v. Barbara with President Donald Trump in attendance at the court for part of the session. At issue was Trump’s executive order No. 14,160, Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship, which claims birthright citizenship does not apply in several situations traditionally understood to be protected by the 14th Amendment’s Citizenship Clause, which reads that “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.”
One question was the importance of the precedent of United States v. Wong Kim Ark (1898), a long-settled ruling that defines the citizenship rights of people born in territory controlled by the United States. Another was the role of English common law as the basis for the Citizenship Clause—and how best to understand its lessons. And still another was how the definition of birthright citizenship fits in modern times within the contours of the prior two precedents.
The Supreme Court has long interpreted the Citizenship Clause to bestow automatic citizenship on a child born in the territory of the United States regardless of their nationality, with limited exceptions. The clause was meant as a direct rejection of the Supreme Court’s Dred Scott v. Sandford decision from 1857, where Chief Justice Roger Taney held that African Americans had “had no rights which the white man was bound to respect.”
In the Wong Kim Ark case, a divided Supreme Court held that Wong Kim Ark, who was born in San Francisco to parents who were Chinese citizens, automatically became a United States citizen at birth.
The administration argued in briefs that another Supreme Court precedent, Elk v. Wilkins (1884) applied to Barbara. In the administration’s view, Elk and other precedents limited birthright citizenship to children of persons “domiciled within the United States.” The administration also argued key language in the Citizenship Clause—the words “and subject to the jurisdiction thereof”—did not grant U.S. citizenship in situations where children were born in the territory of the United States to parents who were not legally in the country or where the parents were temporary visitors.
The arguments at the Supreme Court
The questioning at the Supreme Court on Wednesday branched out in several directions, from the importance of English common law to the ability of the courts and elected officials today to reconsider citizenship status related to situations that did not exist more than 100 years ago.
Link: Read the arguments transcripts | Listen to the audio
After Solicitor General D. John Sauer’s opening statement, Chief Justice John Roberts asked Sauer about his push to expand the list of birthright citizenship exceptions under the “jurisdiction of the United States.” “You obvious put a lot of weight on the theory of ‘the jurisdiction thereof.’ The examples you give to support that strike me as very quirky, you know, children of ambassadors, children of enemies during a hostile invasion, children on warships, and then you expand it to a whole class of illegal aliens [that] are here in the country,” Roberts commented. “I’m not sure how you can get to that big group from such a tiny list … of idiosyncratic examples.” Sauer pointed to the debates of the Civil Rights Act of 1866 and other evidence supporting his case.
Soon, the subject of the English common law came into play, as first raised by Justice Samuel Alito, who wondered if a general rule based on the common law applied to situations that exist today. Justice Clarence Thomas also asked Sauer if immigration was part of the debate about the 14th amendment when it was considered by Congress.
Justice Elena Kagan noted that Sauer’s court brief sought to revise Wong Kim Ark, which she viewed as a precedent having a clear rationale as “a common law tradition … it came from England, we know what it was, everybody got citizenship by birth except for a few discrete categories.” Sauer did not agree with Kagan’s description of Wong Kim Ark, which he argued did not apply to the children of temporary visitors to the United States.
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson commented that Sauer had “hurdles to clear” to establish a case that the framers and ratifiers of the 14th Amendment were not importing established common law rules when they crafted the amendment’s language.
Cecillia Wang then argued the case for the American Civil Liberties Union—challenging the administration’s executive order. She quickly faced questions from several justices.
Chief Justice Roberts asked Wang why in her arguments she downplayed the importance of the word “domiciled” in the administration’s case when the word was used more than 20 times in the Wong Kim Ark decision. Justice Alito noted that the concept of “permanent domiciles” was included in the opening and closing of the majority opinion in the Wong Kim Ark.
In response to both questions, Wang cited the English common law tradition, and an early Supreme Court decision, The Schooner Exchange v. McFaddon (1812), as establishing that having a domicile was not a factor in establishing birthright citizenship.
Justice Kagan later returned to a question posed by Justice Alito about how the Supreme Court should deal with a problem that did not exist when the 14th Amendment was ratified, and the circumstances of how the Court should consider birthright citizenship for children of persons unlawfully in the United States.
Wang dismissed the executive order’s domicile requirement and argued that it was “crystal clear” from Wong Kim Ark and prior congressional debates that “the framers of the 14th amendment meant to have a universal common law rule of citizenship, subject to a closed set of exceptions.”
Justice Brett Kavanaugh then asked Wang if the idea of considering exceptions to the 14th Amendment was “frozen” at the time that the 14th Amendment was framed and ratified or if the Court should consider exceptions based on “modern circumstances” such as non-citizens unlawfully in the country. Wang cited a case brief that said the government’s position was a challenge to the current rule and not promoting a new rule itself.
As the arguments unfolded, it became clear that the justices were considering the 14th Amendment’s text and history, as well as the context of the Wong Kim Ark’s precedent in modern times and the implications and complications of possibly expanding exceptions to birthright citizenship. Several justices also asked about the ability of Congress on its own to establish birthright citizenship exceptions through legislative action.
Given the complexity of the case, a final decision from the Court is not expected until at least late June 2026.
Scott Bomboy is the editor-in-chief of the National Constitution Center.
Syrian President al-Sharaa on Iran war: ‘Syria will remain outside this conflict’ News release jon.wallace
In his first UK public event, President Ahmed al-Sharaa urged negotiations to resolve the US-Israeli war on Iran – and discussed elections, reconstruction and foreign policy.
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa visited Chatham House on 31 March for a conversation with Director and Chief Executive Bronwen Maddox – his first public event in the United Kingdom. The two discussed Syria’s reconstruction, its foreign policy, and its position on the Iran war, before the president took questions from the audience.
Asked by Maddox about his government’s position on Iran and the war with the US and Israel, President al-Sharaa said that:
‘There is no doubt that Iran… was at the forefront of the conflict led by the [former] regime against the Syrian people. However, after we reached Damascus, we did not have an issue with Iran in Tehran; rather, our problem was with Iran in Damascus, because it was occupying Syrian villages and towns, displacing people, and so on.’
‘We have held back from opening relations with Iran up to this point. Certainly, the war currently under way is negatively affecting the region by disrupting energy and fuel supplies, which in turn affects the global economy… What we had been advising was that they should look for a negotiated solution, rather than resorting to military force, because that carries major risks.’
Asked by Maddox if Syria would remain neutral in the war, he replied:
‘Certainly, unless Syria is subjected to direct attacks by any party, it will remain outside this conflict. 14 years of war are enough for Syria, during which we have paid a very heavy price, and we are not prepared to go through a new experience. Those who have gone through the hardship of war know the value of peace…’
Asked if his government was helping to prevent weapons being transported to Hezbollah in Lebanon, President al-Sharaa said:
‘We, too, have paid the price for Hezbollah’s intervention in Syria over the past 14 years. Hezbollah was also an active partner with the [former] regime in the killing of the Syrian people.
‘Nevertheless, after we reached Damascus, we tried to adopt policies that would not harm the situation in Lebanon. We were keen that the conflict should not extend into Lebanon, while at a minimum protecting our borders. Protecting the borders requires that those responsible for securing them prevent the entry of weapons and cases of smuggling.’
Addressing relations with Israel, he said:
Portrait of President al-Sharaa taken at Chatham House by Ander McIntyre
‘We tried through dialogue and discussion. Indirect negotiations began and then moved to direct negotiations. We reached good points, but at the last moments we always find a shift in the Israeli position.’
Maddox also pressed al-Sharaa on his 2025 promise to hold elections within five years: ‘Are you still on track for that?’ she asked.
‘Certainly, Syria has taken initial steps. We held a national dialogue conference that produced recommendations. After that, we issued a constitutional declaration which stipulated that the first term would be five years as a temporary measure.
‘During this period, we also conducted elections for the People’s Assembly, whose first session will begin next month.
‘Of course, after five years, there will be further steps, as we have reviewed the laws and laid the groundwork for holding free elections in Syria.’
Here is a video clip of President al-Sharaa discussing the US-Israel war on Iran. You can watch the event in full here.
The Trump administration official leading an effort to loosen rules on methane pollution was an unnamed author of key industry arguments against those same rules just four years ago when he was an oil and gas lobbyist.
Aaron Szabo, an assistant administrator at the Environmental Protection Agency, is listed in PDF metadata as the author of a January 2022 comment letter objecting to proposed controls on methane emissions in the oil and gas industry. The letter was submitted to the EPA by the American Exploration and Production Council, which represents some of the industry’s largest emitters of the planet-warming gas, including ConocoPhillips, Diversified Energy and Hilcorp. Szabo’s name does not appear in the document itself, but it can be found in information embedded by the software used to create the PDF file.
Szabo was registered as a lobbyist for one of the AXPC’s lesser-known members, Ovintiv, when he drafted the arguments against the restrictions, which were finalized later in the Biden administration. He has also lobbied for other clients in the oil and chemicals sectors. While he did not hide that work during his confirmation last year as head of the EPA’s Office of Air and Radiation, he described it in terms that avoided any mention of efforts to influence climate policy: “I learned how regulated entities comply with the federal government’s thousands of regulations and policies. I also saw firsthand that the people working in these companies want to ensure the environment is properly protected.”
In his current role overseeing federal climate rules at the EPA, Szabo has been soliciting input and even specific regulatory language from oil industry groups that stand to gain from watered-down methane rules, according to internal emails, calendar entries and records of closed-door conversations reviewed by ProPublica.
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., the ranking Democrat on the Senate’s Environment and Public Works Committee, pointed to Szabo’s previous lobbying as evidence that the EPA had effectively been captured by the oil and gas industry. “Now he can do Big Oil’s dirty work from inside the EPA,” Whitehouse told ProPublica in an email.
As part of its plan to “unleash American energy,” the Trump administration has waged an unprecedented campaign against regulations on fossil fuels, the main cause of global warming. One of its biggest moves was to repeal the “endangerment finding” that classified greenhouse gases as pollutants — the basis for the EPA’s authority to limit emissions at all. Rather than throw out the methane rules entirely, however, Szabo’s office is working to revise them, emails and documents show. It has already delayed many of the compliance deadlines until next year.
Methane, the main component of natural gas, is a climate superpollutant, responsible for one-third of the rise in global temperatures since preindustrial times, according to the United Nations Environment Programme. When it escapes into the atmosphere without being burned for energy, it can trap 80 times more heat than carbon dioxide, research shows. The oil and gas business is the largest industrial source of U.S. methane emissions, in part because of leaks from poorly maintained equipment. If it is uneconomical to collect the gas for sale, companies sometimes intentionally release it in a process known as venting.
To cut down on methane discharges, President Joe Biden’s EPA imposed much stricter controls on oil and gas operations, including requiring increased monitoring for leaks and equipment upgrades. According to agency estimates, the new rules would have lowered the industry’s methane emissions by nearly 80%. And, given that the gas breaks down relatively quickly, this would have been one of the fastest ways to reduce global warming.
Industry groups pushed back. In the January 2022 letter that Szabo helped to draft, the AXPC used the word “burdensome” 10 times to describe the new requirements and pushed for more “flexibility” to allow for less expensive leak-detection methods and less frequent monitoring, among other requests.
The group also cast doubt on the rules’ expected climate and health benefits, highlighting what it called “the importance of communicating the significant uncertainties within the estimates.” The AXPC’s chief executive, Anne Bradbury, added in a later statement that the rules risked “undercutting US production in the near and long-term — which will lead to increased energy costs and reduced energy security.”
The AXPC failed to persuade the Biden administration to change its approach. But it renewed its push after President Donald Trump returned to office and ordered federal agencies to “suspend, revise, or rescind” any “undue burden” on domestic energy production.
Szabo, after two years as a fellow at the Trump-aligned America First Policy Institute, joined the administration on Day 1 as an adviser to EPA chief Lee Zeldin. He immediately signaled that he planned to weaken the regulations he had argued against as a lobbyist. His staff met with AXPC representatives as early as Feb. 6, 2025, less than three weeks after Trump’s inauguration, to discuss its petition to “reconsider” the methane rules, according to emails and calendar entries obtained through public records requests and shared with ProPublica by Fieldnotes, a watchdog group that investigates the oil and gas industry. His staff went on to meet with them at least twice more, and Szabo himself was listed as a required attendee for a meeting with Bradbury last July.
The AXPC didn’t respond to emails from ProPublica seeking comment.
According to records of closed-door conversations reviewed by ProPublica, other oil industry representatives have described their meetings with Szabo and his staff as highly favorable to their interests. “Mr. Szabo assured us that the EPA is focused on these [methane] rules and doing everything that can be done to limit the damage they will cause,” the leadership of a major trade group wrote to its members last year in an internal newsletter.
Lee Fuller, of the Independent Petroleum Association of America, also spoke glowingly about his meeting with Szabo’s office on a conference call with industry representatives last year.
“It was one of the more fascinating meetings that we’ve ever had, just because they were suddenly willing to talk to us,” he said. “And they’re also suddenly willing to talk about things that we’ve been trying to get them to do for years, and they’ve never even let it kind of come onto the radar screen.”
The IPAA declined to answer specific questions from ProPublica but linked to a September 2025 letter in which the group publicly asked the EPA for exceptions to the methane rules.
Szabo’s office has even invited oil industry groups to offer specific wording for the revised rules. “We had a call several weeks back re. pneumatics on temporary equipment,” Mike O’Connor of the American Petroleum Institute wrote to an EPA official, referring to devices that are a major source of methane emissions. “EPA had informally requested input on this topic and any suggested reg. text language. We are providing the attached draft document as informal input to EPA’s inquiry.” The draft called for a number of exemptions.
The shift in priorities under Szabo can also be seen in communications from the EPA itself. In a June 2025 email reviewed by ProPublica, an agency official asked O’Connor to meet and discuss alternative leak-detection methods. Echoing the language in the AXPC comment that Szabo helped to draft, the official spoke of “the additional flexibility we would like to pursue.”
“I think their agenda was, from what I could tell, to do what industry wanted,” one former EPA official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe confidential discussions, said of Szabo and other Trump appointees at the agency.
“Since when is it a bad thing for public officials to ask the public what they think?” the EPA said in an emailed statement, referring to Szabo’s interactions with oil industry representatives. Szabo “fulfilled all his ethical obligations to the letter. He met with EPA career ethics staff when he started at EPA to ensure he is aware of and complies with federal ethics requirements.”
Szabo’s affinities are hardly a secret. He is thanked by name in the EPA chapter of Project 2025, the deregulatory blueprint for the second Trump administration. As part of the nomination process for his appointment at the EPA, he also submitted ethics disclosures listing oil, natural gas and chemicals companies he had lobbied for.
Still, at his confirmation hearing on March 5 last year, he repeatedly declined to elaborate on his role in Project 2025, beyond saying he provided “general advice and thoughts” on the Clean Air Act.
The post The Trump EPA Official in Charge of Methane Regulations Helped Write an Oil Industry Argument Against Those Rules appeared first on ProPublica.
For many young people entering the workforce, the stigma of hands-on jobs is fading. There is a competitive appeal – and they all require human expertise
Gib and Michelle Mouser are proud of their son’s career – just not in the way they once imagined.
Only 23 years old, Cale Mouser already earns well over six figures, and he’ll end up making substantially more. He is an acknowledged expert in a highly specialized field who spends hours in deep thought solving hard problems. He uses a computer, but he’s not stuck behind it.
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