Oct. 15, 2026 — For 15 years, the Workshop on Modeling & Simulation of Systems and Applications has brought National Laboratories, academia, and industry together to advance the design, optimization, and modeling of scientific computing systems. Hosted by the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory, ModSim 2026 marked its final gathering in Seattle by focusing on “ModSim-Integrated AI and HPC.” Over two and a half days, participants explored how modeling and simulation intersect with the rapidly evolving Artificial Intelligence (AI) landscape and examined broader ramifications for the field.

To honor the final ModSim workshop in Seattle, everyone came together for a “group huddle.” Adolfy Hoisie (in red jacket, center), the Systems, Architectures, and Computing Technologies division lead at DOE’s Brookhaven Lab, has chaired the ModSim organizing committee since the workshop’s inception in 2012. Credit: C. Plata/Brookhaven National Laboratory.

ModSim meets the Genesis Mission

As keynote speaker, Hal Finkel, associate director of DOE’s Advanced Scientific Computing Research program, opened the workshop with “Genesis Mission, its Platform, and Challenges and Opportunities for ModSim.” Finkel explained why the Genesis Mission, the DOE-led, government-wide effort to unite federal resources, supercomputers, experimental facilities, scientific data, AI capabilities, and researchers to accelerate scientific discovery, is needed right now. He also cast the relationship between AI, high-performance computing (HPC), and ModSim as “a cornerstone” for DOE’s approach to computer science that will influence how the Genesis Mission proceeds.

“Applying the scientific method to computing systems and having a quantitative method for modeling of systems has never been more important,” Finkel said. “We need models refined for these high-performance computing systems, edge systems, and others. The ModSim community is essential if you want to do this for real. The kinds of things you work on here also are important to Genesis.”

Finkel’s keynote established that understanding how increasingly complex computing systems behave, especially interactions between hardware, software, networks, AI, data, and scientific workflows — all staples of ModSim research — is integral to building the infrastructure needed for the next generation of AI-augmented science. This sentiment echoed throughout the workshop.

From first time to longtime

Each day of ModSim 2026 was punctuated by sessions featuring invited speakers, many new to the workshop, and lively panel discussions.

ModSim “first timer” Kevin Sheridan, from DOE’s Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), offered a closer look at how ModSim tactics are informing ATS-5, the next-generation, national-security supercomputer being built for LANL. Ilan Tayari, co-founder of NextSilicon and another ModSim “newbie,” took everyone on a technical dive into his company’s accelerator technology that overcomes barriers for moving data, accessing memory, and coordinating computation to improve simulation performance for AI and HPC. Meanwhile, Trevor Carlson, an associate professor at the National University of Singapore, reminded the audience that trusting how and if models are doing the job users want takes considerable work as AI does not have all the answers.

Some of HPC best-known leaders and institutions, from AMD, Microsoft, DOE’s Sandia National Laboratories, Georgia Tech, ETH Zürich, and RIKEN (Japan), were represented on the day one panel, “Agents of Change: How AI is or isn’t Rewriting the Rules of ModSim.” As usual, the panel prompted much discussion and debate, particularly when posed with determining: “When will AI be better than us?” The answers spanned from “one year” to “between five and 10 years” to “never,” proving uncertainty remains in the age of AI.

Lav Varshney, Della Pietra Infinity Professor and inaugural director of the AI Innovation Institute at Stony Brook University and a Brookhaven Lab lead AI scientist, spoke to the community about challenges involved with scaling scientific foundation models, actively seeking their feedback. He also was part of day two’s popular ad hoc panel. This time, the panelists addressed: “Can AI fully replace ModSim?” Although agentic AI has made tremendous inroads, the consensus seemed to be that people still play a considerable part.

“It will come down to specifying what you want,” said panelist Rishi Khan, chief technology officer of Extreme Scale Solutions. “AI will be completely wrong sometimes, but it will come to a solution.”

“What humans bring to the concept — we think, create, we charter the path forward. AI needs human prompting,” added David Donofrio, a longtime ModSim participant formerly of Tactical Computing Laboratories. He later emphasized the “human touch” needed for ModSim-integrated AI in a talk, “Future of ModSim when Considering Advanced AI Architectures,” which had a pointedly bare-bones design “to prove AI did not create the presentation.”

“Manual development of simulation libraries will allow AI users to better drive the tools,” Donofrio said.

As it has done for many years, the ad hoc panel veered in several directions in search of AI’s fitness to do science, including if trust in AI or mutual understanding between AI and human operators are necessary.

“I didn’t think this panel would cover everything from humanities to taxes, but here we are,” said Bruce Childers, dean of the University of Pittsburgh’s Computer Science department, who again served as the ad hoc panel’s moderator.

Rapid Fire ModSim

A staple event that helps expand the community’s research pipeline, ModSim’s Rapid Fire session featured short presentations that spanned distributed computing, graphics processing units (GPUs) and AI accelerators, scientific software, scheduling, digital twins, surrogate models, and even the effects of space radiation on AI hardware.

Brookhaven Lab had healthy representation during Rapid Fire and the poster session that followed with Sankha Dutta, Kuan-Chieh Hsu, and Sairam Sri Vatsavai, scientists from the Computing and Data Sciences directorate, providing flash talks about their respective research involving AI workload scheduling and AI agents and AI-enabled ModSim for distributed computing.

Other Rapid Fire presentations demonstrated how the relationship between AI and ModSim increasingly is becoming part of a continuous loop, where one is used to improve the other, sometimes simultaneously. Notably, this aspect was showcased by some of the field’s most recognized leaders who generously brought their projects to the session.

For her Rapid Fire segment, Valerie Taylor, director of the Mathematics and Computer Science Division at DOE’s Argonne National Laboratory, discussed LASSI-EE, the large language model used to optimize scientific computing codes so they run better on HPC systems. Taylor detailed how employing AI resulted in 30% energy savings on the evaluated GPU platforms.

Meanwhile, Shantenu Jha, from DOE’s Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, closed the session with a deeper look at continuous surrogate learning “in the loop.” Here, an advanced computing workflow combines AI and HPC to run complex scientific simulations and training continuously in the background while an existing model remains in operation. Informed by such training, the improved models get integrated as they become available.

Top performer: Will Won

Each year, the ModSim organizing committee presents the Dr. Sudhakar Yalamanchili (Sudha) Award to a young researcher who demonstrates an “outstanding contribution” to modeling and simulation. William “Will” Won, from AMD Research and Advanced Development, earned the 2026 Sudha Award with his presentation, “ASTRA-sim 3.0: Taking Distributed ML [Machine Learning] Simulation to the Next Level via Fine-Grained GPU Modeling.” The research represents a major upgrade to ASTRA-sim, an open-source distributed machine learning system simulator that works with any network, compute, or memory simulator backends.

Won’s work demonstrated how ASTRA-sim 3.0 strikes a balance between simple AI models that run quickly but can omit important details versus more complex GPU simulators that provide greater fidelity yet require more time and computing resources. ASTRA-sim 3.0 can capture behavior that matters without system-level exploration being impractically slow.

Signing off after 15 years in Seattle

Technologies have changed since the ModSim workshop first convened back in 2012, along with the questions researchers are asking. It fits as the scale and complexity of HPC systems have evolved, and AI keeps adding new tuning knobs to the mix. Throughout this evolution, the ModSim workshop in Seattle has brough this community together, driving many of the advances in the field.

That continuity was not lost on those on hand for ModSim’s final bow in “The Emerald City.” During his presentation, Jeffrey Vetter, a Corporate Fellow at DOE’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory and longtime workshop attendee, took a moment from his call “to focus this community on the quantum computing problem” to recognize Adolfy Hoisie, Systems, Architectures, and Computing Technologies division lead at Brookhaven Lab who has chaired the ModSim organizing committee since the workshop’s inception.

“For 15 years, Adolfy kept this moving forward,” Vetter said. “Thanks to him for staying so devoted to ModSim and its success.”

Notably, Hoisie will pass the torch to University of Pittsburgh’s Childers, who will chair the organizing committee for ModSim 2027.

Hoisie’s technical leadership and vision for the field, along with a devoted research community, have carried ModSim through a transformative period in computing, from achieving exascale to an era defined by the convergence of HPC and AI. Increasingly, ModSim is embedded with AI as the field’s methodologies learn from and contribute to AI, conceiving new computing ecosystems capable of evolving in tandem with the science they support.

“ModSim 2026 brought together an extraordinary community of researchers, practitioners, and thought leaders at the forefront of modeling and simulation, along with some new perspectives,” Hoisie said. “I was deeply impressed by this year’s participants. Their depth of expertise, innovative contributions, and collaborative spirit elevated the workshop. It has been an incredible 15-year journey. Still, to me, it is clear our ModSim community will keep adapting as we push the boundaries of computing and [AI], seeking better ways to understand systems and make the next ones better for discovery and society.”

For additional details about the 2026 Workshop on Modeling & Simulation of Systems and Applications, visit the website.

Brookhaven National Laboratory is supported by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science. The Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, visit science.energy.gov.

Source: Charity Plata, Brookhaven National Laboratory

The post Brookhaven Lab: ModSim 2026 Models What Comes Next for AI and HPC appeared first on HPCwire.

Citizen Lab says it has documented the first publicly confirmed case of zero-click mercenary spyware being delivered through targeted online ads, a technique it calls "AdFection." "There has been a lot of buzz that online ads can be used to identify and automatically hack targets with pinpoint precision, but now for the first time, we have concrete technical evidence showing this process in action," said Bill Marczak, a researcher at Citizen Lab. The Guardian reports: Citizen Lab, a digital investigations research unit at the University of Toronto, said it believed dozens of devices at the Qatari broadcaster Al Jazeera had been compromised by spyware delivered through ads run by Discover-Tech, which describes itself as a specialised digital advertising agency. According to Citizen Lab, Discover-Tech operates a software platform called Controlium that allows its clients to "mass-profile and deanonymize" internet users then covertly hack targets with third-party spyware. Unlike infections that rely on people interacting with links or files, the spyware requires no interaction from the victim to be installed, making it a new delivery technique, Citizen Lab says. The infections happen without a user's knowledge, and in a matter of seconds, according to Citizen Lab. "[The online advertising] ecosystem is being weaponized at a massive scale to profile millions of users, then silently infect targets with zero-click mercenary spyware," the report says. According to the report, Controlium is able to harvest a user's identity and IP address when the user is shown a seemingly benign custom-created ad -- for example, for a digital game or a telecoms service. If the user has been selected as a target for hacking, a mercenary spyware firm can then send a malicious code containing spyware to their device, the researchers say. They say that millions of users worldwide have been served ads by Discover-Tech since 2024, including in Yemen, Brazil, Mexico and Czechia. [...] The full extent of the targeting allegedly enabled by Discover-Tech is unknown. Citizen Lab's findings join mounting evidence that the opaque arrangements underpinning the world of online advertising can be leveraged for surveillance.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

The Justice Department sued California, alleging that the federal government has identified more than 20,000 noncitizens who are unlawfully registered to vote.

Pentagon spokesperson says pair spoke before announcement canceling plan to broadcast execution of Nidal Hasan, who killed 13 people at Fort Hood

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The US government could spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on a media campaign in South Africa to figure out why more white Afrikaners are not applying to become refugees to the US, as Donald Trump had hoped.

State department officials, according to an August proposal seen by the Guardian, outlined a roughly $335,000 research and advertising effort after applications to the refugee program “trended lower than expected” since Afrikaners were allowed to apply directly online in November 2025. The document, written by the US mission in South Africa with a department research unit for the embassy in Pretoria, admits officials know little about why.

The White House described Katie Zacharia as "uniquely qualified" to be the new press secretary.

The White House and Pentagon have prepared plans to use a Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb to hit military sites in Iran if ordered by President Trump, sources familiar with the matter told CBS News.

Federal investigators said they are looking into suspicious letters containing unknown substances that were mailed to state election officials and congressional offices.

Oct. 15, 2026 — Much of today’s scientific progress begins with computation.

But turning accelerated computing’s potential into scientific progress — modeling climate systems, designing molecules, simulating materials and more — depends on more than breakthrough technology. Especially for smaller labs, early-career scientists or science-based startups, the hardest part of research can be everything that comes before the science: assembling tools, finding compute and building the expertise to use both.

NVIDIA’s participation in the European Commission’s AI in Science Enablers Initiative deepens its commitment to supporting the pursuit of scientific progress across the region.

At the AI in Science Summit in Dublin today, the European Commission launched the AI in Science Enablers Initiative, a shared framework connected to RAISE — the Resource for AI Science in Europe — that brings private-sector support closer to Europe’s research community.

NVIDIA is joining the campaign, providing:

• Access to accelerated tools, models and platforms
• Compute, cloud resources, data and scientific resources
• Skills, training and technical support
• Collaborative projects and pilots along with support for researchers and talent
• Support for startups and ecosystem development

“Europe’s ambition in AI in science can only become reality if we bring together the strengths of our research community, industry and other partners,” Ekaterina Zaharieva, European Commissioner for Startups, Research and Innovation. “Through the AI in Science Enablers campaign, we are turning this ambition into concrete commitments that give researchers access to the tools, expertise and resources they need to innovate.”

Open Models

NVIDIA’s pledge begins with open source technology.

NVIDIA has released more than 250 open models, 250 open datasets and over 1,400 open source software projects spanning large language models, healthcare, robotics, climate science, physical AI, autonomous vehicles and scientific research. The models and datasets are available on Hugging Face and GitHub.

Building on this open ecosystem, researchers can build agentic reasoning capabilities with NVIDIA Nemotron — a family of architectures, open weights, open source models, training data and recipes — and scientific software including NVIDIA BioNeMo Agent Toolkit, NVIDIA PhysicsNeMo libraries, NVIDIA Earth-2 models and NVIDIA ALCHEMI NIM microservices to accelerate research across biology, chemistry, molecular design, weather and climate, energy, engineering, physics and material sciences.

Skills and Training

Building advanced intelligence capability across Europe requires knowledge that travels as freely as compute.

The NVIDIA Deep Learning Institute has launched a new open source courseware hub with hands-on course materials covering accelerated computing and deep learning — freely downloadable and openly licensed, with no enrollment, fees or deadline.

Modular by design, the courses can be adapted for university curricula, supercomputing center bootcamps or developer community events, and serve as a direct bridge to NVIDIA’s broader training and certification programs.

Access to Compute

NVIDIA is collaborating with cloud infrastructure partners and European national AI factories — including in France, Spain and Sweden — to open new routes for startups and small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to access sovereign European compute and services.

The NVIDIA Inception program for startups provides access to compute resources and technical support, lowering the barrier to entry for startups seeking high-performance infrastructure and technological education.

AI2F in France is the first AI factory to have collaborated with the Inception program for four months, demonstrating strong results.

The BSC AI Factory ran a pilot initiative and is now rolling out its first full accelerator program, with growing interest from other European national AI factories in replicating the model in 2027. Beyond startup support, this program is designed to contribute to a broader strategic objective: building self-sustaining AI ventures in Spain and Europe.

Sweden AI Factory, one of Europe’s 19 EuroHPC-funded AI factories, announced a collaboration with NVIDIA to open its infrastructure and expertise to Inception startups and SMEs enterprises across sectors including life and material sciences, autonomous systems and gaming.

Finally, EuroHPC supercomputing centers such as CINECA and JSC provide academia and startups with free access to NVIDIA GPU infrastructure and services for open research. NVIDIA complements this access with office hours, bootcamps and hackathons that help researchers fine-tune models on their own datasets.

As an example, NVIDIA is co-organizing an European AI hackathon this month alongside Austrian Scientific Computing, the Leibniz Supercomputing Centre, the High-Performance Computing Center Stuttgart and The Cyprus Institute, for Pharos-CY.

AI Infrastructure Expansion

To top it all off, NVIDIA is powering Europe’s most ambitious expansion of AI infrastructure to date, with 35 supercomputers currently in development across the continent — the largest single-year buildout of supercomputing capacity Europe has ever seen.

Together, these systems will equip over 3 million researchers with next-generation infrastructure, accelerating discovery across domains from climate science and drug development to materials research and beyond.

Explore NVIDIA technologies for science and open source courseware, and find hands-on training through the NVIDIA Deep Learning Institute.

Follow the European Commission’s RAISE Pledging Initiative.

Source: Rod Evans, NVIDIA

The post NVIDIA Joins European Commission Initiative to Expand AI Resources for Science appeared first on HPCwire.

(The Center Square) – An Ohio State University student expelled over social media posts about the Israel-Palestine conflict, has won his case in federal court.

Exclusive: ITV investigation shows leader stood by mayoral candidate who said Labour MP should ‘go home to the Caribbean’

Nigel Farage was told by a senior Reform official that he was “protecting” a high-profile mayoral candidate accused of making racists comments about David Lammy, an undercover investigation has revealed.

The latest footage from an undercover investigation by ITV also shows Sarah Pochin, one of two female MPs for Reform, complaining that other party officials “are so fucking chauvinistic” and that “they just exclude you if you are a woman”.

The wait is over, and it’s looking good.

Meta has released Muse Spark Open, an 816-billion-parameter open-weight model optimized to run locally across two 512GB M5 Ultra Mac Studios using Apple's MLX framework. Meta says it's the "most capable U.S. open-weight model to date." MacRumors reports: Muse Spark Open has 816 billion total parameters with 42 billion active parameters and a 1 million-token context window. It is meant for coding and agentic work, and Meta says it excels at extended tasks, multi-step reasoning, and software engineering. The new Muse model was tuned to run on Mac Studio, and Meta says the Mac Studio paired with Muse Spark Open is the "best way to run a powerful model on your own desktop." From Meta: "Apple's unified memory architecture lets the M5 Ultra's integrated GPU use up to 512 GB per Mac Studio, so two machines can hold an entire model. And the chip's 1.2 TB/s of memory bandwidth is fast enough to read the small slice each token needs. The result is two Mac Studios behave like one supercomputer with a terabyte of unified memory." Apple hasn't released the 512GB Mac Studio as of yet, but it's supposed to be coming later this month. It won't be cheap, because the 256GB Mac Studio is already priced over $10,000.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Roughly a third of employees said they put off or skipped medical or dental care in the past year because of financial concerns, a new survey found.

Eric Deters, a GOP donor who said Kimberly Guilfoyle asked him to wire her $100,000, has sued her and her lawyers.

• Former QB says he is looking ‘for next landing spot’

• Aikman and Buck said to have argued over contracts

Longtime Monday Night Football announcer Troy Aikman said he is looking for his “next landing spot” with ⁠his ESPN contract set to expire after February’s Super Bowl.

“I’ll broadcast through this season, and I’ll be ⁠a free agent ⁠at ​the end of the year and kind of see what happens,” Aikman said in a radio interview ⁠with KTCK of Dallas on Thursday morning.

Election officers in Louisiana and Oklahoma receive a powdery substance, prompting evacuations

The FBI and the US Postal Inspection Service are investigating letters sent to state officials and election offices across the country containing an “unknown substance”.

Just weeks before November’s US midterm elections, election officers in Louisiana and Oklahoma received envelopes containing a powdery substance, leading to evacuations. A similar package containing white powder was also sent to the Ohio secretary of state, but the US Postal Service intercepted the package.

Scheduled for Thursday, Oct. 22, Democratic U.S. Sen. Chris Coons and Republican challenger Dr. Mike Katz appear together at a public forum hosted by the Rotary Club of Wilmington.

One of the most anticipated candidate forums of Delaware’s 2026 election season will bring the U.S. Senate candidates together at the Hotel du Pont as early voting begins.

WILMINGTON, Del. — One of the most anticipated candidate forums of Delaware’s 2026 election season is now scheduled for Thursday, Oct. 22, when Democratic U.S. Sen. Chris Coons and Republican challenger Dr. Mike Katz appear together at a public forum hosted by the Rotary Club of Wilmington.

Both candidates have agreed to participate in the noon event at the Hotel du Pont, giving Delaware voters an opportunity to hear directly from the two candidates seeking to represent the state in the U.S. Senate.

The forum will be moderated by Jake Owens, editor-in-chief of Spotlight Delaware, and will feature questions submitted by members of the Rotary Club of Wilmington.

The event comes at a particularly important moment in the election calendar. Oct. 22 marks the beginning of early voting in Delaware, with Election Day scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 3.

For voters who have followed the Senate campaign, the forum provides an opportunity to compare the candidates’ perspectives on issues facing Delaware and the nation.

A chance to hear both candidates

The forum follows earlier discussions about whether Coons and Katz would appear together during the campaign, including an unsuccessful effort by University of Delaware student political organizations to arrange a bipartisan debate.

With both candidates now committed to the Rotary event, attention shifts to the issues voters want addressed and the differences in how the candidates would approach the next six years in Washington.

Coons, who has represented Delaware in the Senate since 2010, is seeking another term. Katz, a physician and former state Senate candidate, is challenging the incumbent.

The Oct. 22 appearance will allow voters to hear their responses to questions in the same setting, offering a direct comparison of their priorities, experience and views.

Rotary builds on successful candidate forum format

The Rotary Club of Wilmington will use the same basic format it employed last week for its candidate forum featuring Democratic state treasurer candidate Ted Lauzen and Republican candidate Mike Ramone.

Club members will submit questions, which will be presented by the moderator.

Although the event will be structured as a candidate forum rather than a traditional debate, it will bring the two Senate candidates before the same audience and provide an opportunity for each to address issues important to Delaware voters.

The Rotary Club has a long history of civic engagement and community leadership in Wilmington, making the gathering a fitting setting for a discussion about Delaware’s representation in Washington.

Public invited to attend or watch online

The Rotary Club of Wilmington is inviting the public to participate in the event, either in person or through an online livestream.

In-person attendance at the Hotel du Pont will be limited by available seating, and advance registration is encouraged.

Those interested in attending should contact Rotary Club of Wilmington Executive Director Ashly Cloud at 302-388-7176 or office@rotarywilmington.org.

For voters unable to attend in person, the forum will be livestreamed on the Rotary Club of Wilmington’s Facebook page.

With early voting beginning the same day, the Oct. 22 forum offers voters a timely opportunity to hear from both candidates before making their decisions in one of Delaware’s highest-profile races.

TO GO BOX:  U.S. Senate Candidate Forum

• When: Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026, at noon
• Where: Hotel du Pont, Wilmington
• Candidates: U.S. Sen. Chris Coons, Democrat, and Dr. Mike Katz, Republican
• Host: Rotary Club of Wilmington
• Moderator: Jake Owens, editor-in-chief of Spotlight Delaware
• Format: Questions submitted by Rotary Club members
• Attend: Open to the public. Seating is limited; advance registration is encouraged.
• Register: Contact Ashly Cloud at 302-388-7176 or office@rotarywilmington.org.
• Watch online: Livestream on the Rotary Club of Wilmington Facebook page.
• Election dates: Early voting begins Oct. 22. General election is Nov. 3.

DoJ had demanded that LA county confirm citizenship of people on list in thumb drive, but officials refused

• US politics live – latest updates

The US Department of Justice sued California on Thursday, seeking a court order to prevent the state from tabulating certain ballots cast in the midterm elections.

The suit came two days after the department made a specious demand to the state. On Tuesday, the department sent election officials in Los Angeles county a thumb drive with a handwritten password purporting to contain the names of noncitizens registered to vote. The department asked officials to confirm the citizenship of anyone on the list and set aside ballots from those whose status could not be confirmed. It gave the state 48 hours – an extremely narrow window – to take action. It did not provide details on how it came up with the names on the list. In its lawsuit, filed in federal court in the central district of California, the justice department said it had provided the state with more than 20,000 names of likely noncitizens.

Nine former FBI employees sued the bureau, saying they were unlawfully terminated for working on the investigation into President Trump's classified documents case.

A study of bird and bats in the wild showed that once the atmosphere is taken into account, flying can be the cheapest form of travel.

Adult male condor in Patagonia showing the soaring flight that allows birds to flap remarkably little despite their large size. (Facundo Vital via SWNS)

Matthew Mayich, a 21-year-old sophomore, collapsed during an Aug. 20 workout and had to be put on life support.

UK defence secretary trying to cool tensions and is arguing it is in America’s economic interests to support Kyiv

Wes Streeting urged the US to stand by Ukraine on his visit to the American capital and sought to cool tensions between the two countries in the wake of the Starlink row that is threatening to set back Kyiv’s war effort.

The British defence secretary, giving a speech before a meeting with his US counterpart, Pete Hegseth, argued that supporting Ukraine was in the long-term interests of Washington, and a business opportunity.

Valuable new insights into how plants perceive their environment and protect themselves from biological threats in soil.

The post Matt Gaetz Accused of Sex Trafficking Two Women in New Federal Lawsuit appeared first on News Facts Network.

NOAA's new winter weather outlook predicts wetter-than-usual conditions in some states plagued by long-standing drought.

Woman claims comedian ‘pranced around like an ostrich’ before forcing himself on her in hotel room attack

Russell Brand transformed into a “monster” when he allegedly forced a woman to take half-naked photographs of him before raping her in a hotel room at the Labour party conference, a court has heard.

The 51-year-old comedian has denied attacking the woman, who broke down in tears in the witness box at Southwark crown court as she told how she could not fight him off.

Delaware Breast Cancer Coalition activities range from music and soccer to survivor support, wellness programs and Halloween fundraisers through Oct. 31

WILMINGTON, Del. — Breast Cancer Awareness Month may be halfway over, but the Delaware Breast Cancer Coalition has a busy schedule of events, support programs and community fundraisers planned across the state through the end of October.

After major early-month events including Dewey Goes Pink and the coalition’s Monster Mile Walk for a Cause at Dover Motor Speedway, the focus now shifts to a series of smaller community events and programs that illustrate the broader work of the organization.

DBCC’s mission extends beyond October fundraising. The organization works year-round to increase access to breast cancer screening, provide education and patient navigation and offer programs for people diagnosed with breast cancer and their families.

That means the final weeks of October include everything from music and high school soccer to cooking, mental-health discussions, survivor groups and an overnight nature retreat.

Community events keep Delaware pink

Community partners have scheduled a series of fundraisers benefiting DBCC across all three counties.

On Thursday, Oct. 15, Twisted Irons Craft Brewing Co. is scheduled to hold its Drive Out Cancer event in New Castle County.

A day later, Sussex County joins the effort with the first Pink Out Party at Big Chill Surf Cantina on Friday, Oct. 16. Additional Sussex County businesses are supporting the coalition throughout October, including Russo by the Sea Italian Market and the East Sussex Moose Lodge.

On Saturday, Oct. 17, Pink Gumbo 6 will bring music, breast cancer awareness and survivor stories to The Delaware Contemporary on Wilmington’s Riverfront.

The event, presented by 3G Management and Entertainment, runs from 6 to 9:30 p.m. and features local performers, vendors and speakers. A portion of the proceeds will benefit DBCC.

The event combines the traditional pink associated with breast cancer awareness with what organizers describe as a “gumbo” of musical styles, cultures and people united around awareness and early detection.

Schools and sports join the campaign

Students are also helping turn October pink.

The Concord High School boys soccer program will hold its fifth annual game supporting DBCC on Tuesday, Oct. 20, beginning at 3:30 p.m. at Concord High School, 2501 Ebright Road in Wilmington.

The team has been raising money throughout the season and plans to present its donations during the event.

That same week, golf and social events will continue the fundraising effort in Sussex and New Castle counties.

Cripple Creek Golf & Country Club in Dagsboro is hosting its Go Pink or Go Home activities Oct. 20 and 21, including a Pink Champagne on Ice gathering. DBCC lists the events among its October community partnerships.

DBCC also has a Play Fore Pink golf event scheduled for Thursday, Oct. 22, at Newark Country Club. The event includes golf, lunch, dinner and a silent auction. Individual golf registration was listed as sold out on DBCC’s registration page, although foursomes and dinner-only participation remained available when the page was reviewed.

Newark will remain part of the awareness campaign on Sunday, Oct. 25, when the 10th annual DeerPark Goes Pink 5K is scheduled to raise money for the coalition. DBCC lists the longtime event among its New Castle County community fundraisers.

Support continues beyond fundraising

Some of the coalition’s most significant October activities will happen away from races and fundraising events.

DBCC’s calendar includes regular Breast Cancer Conversation support sessions, Young Survivors in Action programming and My Sister’s Keeper gatherings, along with wellness and nutrition programs.

A Breast Cancer Conversation is scheduled for Thursday, Oct. 15, followed by a virtual Young Survivors in Action healing meditation Saturday, Oct. 17.

On Tuesday, Oct. 20, DBCC will host its Forever Fighters program, a Yes2Health In the Kitchen session and a My Sister’s Keeper gathering in Georgetown.

A Yes2Health Active Cooking cookbook club for breast cancer survivors follows Wednesday, Oct. 21.

Additional Breast Cancer Conversation and My Sister’s Keeper programs are scheduled Oct. 27, with the New Castle My Sister’s Keeper group meeting from 6 to 7 p.m.

Mental health part of survivorship

The coalition also is using Breast Cancer Awareness Month to focus on the emotional effects of cancer.

Its “In the Loop” cancer survivorship and mental health series continues Wednesday, Oct. 28, with a session titled “Stress, Mind, and Body — What do I have in front of me?”

The programming reflects a broader approach to survivorship that extends beyond medical treatment to emotional health, nutrition, social connection and long-term wellness.

Nature retreat closes out the month

Breast cancer survivors will have another opportunity to connect during DBCC’s Nurture with Nature overnight retreat Oct. 30 and 31 at Ashland Nature Center in Hockessin.

The Nurture with Nature program uses outdoor activities as a way for survivors to connect with one another while experiencing hiking, nature and other outdoor activities.

The overnight program includes time at Ashland Nature Center, a morning hike and a session on mindful birding and forest bathing.

The program is one of several DBCC initiatives designed specifically around life after a breast cancer diagnosis.

Halloween ends month with a cause

Breast Cancer Awareness Month concludes with a Halloween-themed fundraiser in Smyrna.

The Halloween Hustle 5K Run/Walk is scheduled for 8 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 31, at Smyrna High School.

Participants are encouraged to wear costumes, and runners, walkers, families and first-time participants are invited. Proceeds from the event benefit DBCC.

The event provides a fitting conclusion to a month in which Delaware communities have supported the organization through races, restaurants, golf tournaments, athletic events, concerts and social gatherings.

Awareness can lead to action

For DBCC, October also provides an opportunity to remind Delawareans that breast cancer awareness should ultimately lead to screening and early detection.

The coalition helps residents schedule mammograms and navigate financial, transportation, insurance and language barriers. Its Women’s Health Screening Program can connect uninsured or underinsured Delawareans with free or reduced-cost screening programs and offers transportation and interpretation assistance when needed.

DBCC also provides breast health education and support resources in English, Spanish and Haitian Creole.

While October brings additional attention to breast cancer, the coalition’s programs and support services continue throughout the year.

TO GO BOX

• What: Delaware Breast Cancer Coalition Breast Cancer Awareness Month events and programs
• When: Events continue through Oct. 31
• Upcoming highlights:
  Oct. 15 — Twisted Irons Drive Out Cancer
  Oct. 16 — Pink Out Party at Big Chill Surf Cantina
  Oct. 17 — Pink Gumbo 6 at The Delaware Contemporary in Wilmington
  Oct. 20 — Concord Raiders Boys Soccer fundraiser
  Oct. 20-21 — Go Pink or Go Home events at Cripple Creek Golf & Country Club
  Oct. 22 — Play Fore Pink at Newark Country Club
  Oct. 25 — 10th annual DeerPark Goes Pink 5K in Newark
  Oct. 27 — Breast Cancer Conversation and My Sister’s Keeper programs
  Oct. 28 — In the Loop cancer survivorship and mental health program
  Oct. 30-31 — Nurture with Nature overnight retreat at Ashland Nature Center
  Oct. 31 — Halloween Hustle 5K at Smyrna High School
• Screening help: Call the Delaware Breast Cancer Coalition at 1-888-672-9647 for help scheduling a mammogram or arranging screening-related transportation or interpretation.
• More information: Visit the Delaware Breast Cancer Coalition’s website for event registration, support programs, volunteer opportunities and screening resources.

ALEC ADER
Staff Reporter

It has been one year since Tame Impala released “Deadbeat” on Oct. 17. Although the album’s singles continue to see success, the long-awaited return of the Australian psychedelic rock messiah, headed only by Kevin Parker, was initially met with disappointment. 

Last year’s release was starkly unfaithful to Tame Impala’s discography. Parker dramatically shifts genres and rationalizes it in an interview with Grayson Haver Currin.

“Nothing transports me like techno music,” Parker says in the interview. “It makes me feel like I’m not physically where I am right now, like I’m in outer space.”

Parker sat in an amphitheater behind real estate he bought in 2020, the Wave House, located alongside Injidup Bay and surrounded by 47 acres of forest. In the 90s, it played a crucial role in the Western Australian music scene and he would find remnants in the form of glow sticks. He imagined the music there in outdoor raves and wanted to make it himself. 

This influence is especially seen and enjoyable on the opening track, “My Old Ways.” The track gets lost in synths and loud techno that mirror lines about how powerful bad habits can be: “I know what’s comin’, ain’t so shockin’/Always f—-n’ up to somethin’.”

The single, “Dracula,” is a standout — not just because it was in everyone’s Halloween posts last year. With ghoulish-sounding background vocals and a groovy bassline, it is almost “Thriller”-esque.

Another single,“Loser,” follows a similar sinister sound to “Dracula.” Both singles continue to find incredible commercial success on the Billboard Hot 100, even a year after their release. 

These singles seem to be outliers, since the rest of the album fails to utilize the new shift in genre in an interesting way. However, there are a few exceptions. 

“Piece Of Heaven” shows the comfort that Parker finds in a partner. It is angelic at first and the parts that mimic rave culture sound like a Chainsmokers song, but in all of the right ways. 

“See You On Monday” is redeeming as it presents Tame Impala’s greatest musical quality: the ability to get lost in a song. However, lyrics like “She said, ‘I’m the one you want and you can turn me on’” differ from his usual personal, introspective lyricism.

Parker’s dabble into the genre isn’t uncharted. In the album “The Slow Rush,” disco-pop and house influences augment the hallucination Tame Impala creates when utilized among staple electronic synths, thought-provoking past and existence-focused lyrics. 

In this album, though, it falls short. Lacking much of the mind-blowing instrumentation and lyricism Tame Impala is known for, this album doesn’t transport the listener anywhere. 

The most offensive instances of this are “Oblivion” and “Ethereal Connection.” “Oblivion” features a drum sound akin to “Lovin on Me” by Jack Harlow, and “Ethereal Connection” is seven minutes long and features synth buildups that sound like a 2015 YouTube intro.

At the lower extreme, it is incredibly frustrating that most of these tracks feel boring. In the second half, “Not My World,” “Afterthought” and “Obsolete” fall short. They feel repetitive, forgettable and flat, with nothing really interesting or expansive about them. They sound like background music.

The redeeming qualities of this album give great insight into who Parker is. The album feels personal even before you press play, as its cover features a photo of him and his daughter that highlights what he truly values in life. In the album, Parker also creates dance-pop music, which is a genre that’s deeply personal to him.  

In the interview with Currin, Parker explains the anxiety the album’s lyrics express.

“‘Deadbeat’ is a feeling of being behind the eight ball in life and in the world, of not being able to get your s— together, of being an inferior human,” Parker said.

In the album, he’s vulnerable about inferiority from the beginning. The second track, “No Reply,” follows a stream-of-consciousness ramble that kind of sounds like a Bleachers song, and it’s also a high point.

A year later, it is clear to see how “Deadbeat” is a heavy letdown of an album and a major departure from his previous work. However, it is great to see its singles resonating with people, even if the rest of the album doesn’t. 

I admire how the album expresses the passions Parker holds and confessions of some of the struggles that he deals with. Some sounds work, some of the stories are nice to listen to and, yes — some of the sounds will still make your brain happy. 

Ultimately, Parker explores what being a deadbeat is and how it is “… depressing until I wear it as a badge, and then I feel good about it, stronger.”

Best Tracks: “My Old Ways,” “No Reply,” “Dracula,” “Piece Of Heaven”

Worst Tracks: “Obsolete,” “Ethereal Connection,” “Afterthought,” “End Of Summer”

Microsoft says recent Windows 11 updates have made the operating system up to 20% more responsive by improving memory management and reducing background resource use. "A big part of that work is making smarter use of memory and system resources," says Navjot Virk, corporate vice president of Windows experiences at Microsoft. "We've improved memory management and efficiency across Windows to help keep more of your PC's resources focused on what you're actively doing." The Verge reports: The improvements to memory management now make a "meaningful difference" on PCs with just 8GB of RAM. "Windows can now keep up to 2GB more of your active data in memory instead of moving it to slower storage," says Virk. "For example, on PCs with 8GB of memory or less, Widgets load only when you open them, making more than 200 MB of memory available for your apps and other work." Microsoft has also made Windows Update less disruptive, cleaned up the Widgets section, and finally allowed the taskbar to be repositioned to the sides or top of a display. Windows Hello sign-in has also been sped up, and Bluetooth pairing is more reliable, "including an AirPods pairing experience that's up to 15 seconds faster." The next big step is a new Windows Search experience that's a lot faster and more capable. [...] It's currently available for Windows Insiders, and Microsoft says it will "roll out more broadly later this year."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Experts say seeking alternatives that deliver the same dose of oestrogen by the same method is key

Women in the UK are again facing shortages of some HRT products, with warnings they could persist for weeks. We take a look at the situation.

The high cost of living has Americans angrier than ever. Guardian reporters answered your questions about the US economy ahead of November

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LucccA asks: Why are labor unions in the US still not as well-organized compared to the rest of the world? I know there was a push against them in the past—does that still have an effect today? Also, why are there so many right-leaning unions in the US?

Michael: A lot of reasons. The US has low union density compared to other wealthy nations, currently at 10.0%, and that has been on a precipitous decline for the past few decades for a variety of reasons that include anti-union and union busting campaigns, outdated labor laws where employers often retaliate for union organizing or delay bargaining for years, as we are seeing with Starbucks, where there is no union contract after nearly five years since the first store won its union election in December 2021.Right to work laws in the US also undermine labor unions and starve them of resources. To the extent that there are right leaning labor unions in the US, they typically are law enforcement unions that consistently endorse and back Republican candidates despite the Republican Party in the US opposing collective bargaining. Some unions like the Teamsters have been making efforts to get Republicans to support legislation and in turn receive endorsements from the union, and this has shown up this election cycle with the Teamsters endorsing Republicans like Congressman Max Miller or Kansas Senator Roger Marshall, who are both facing very competitive re-election battles.

Heather: There’s a bunch of ideas floating around on cutting costs for groceries, healthcare and energy bills. A key thing Democrats are promising if they regain power in Congress is to wrestle back authority on trade and repeal Trump’s tariffs, which would lower what it costs compaines to import. A second is to advance a vote to stop the war in Iran, which could calm fuel prices. If Democrats retake the Senate, expect Elizabeth Warren to become chair of the powerful banking committe, and push forward some curbs on private equity investments. And Democrats have been coalescing around more government funding for childcare, a notable move to the left in recent years. Hakeem Jeffries, who will be House Speaker if Democrats win there, is promising to reinstate ACA tax cuts and roll back Medicaid cuts, but the party is divided on Medicare For All, with DSA candidates making promises on the campaign trail and more centrist Dems being pretty quiet.

Republicans running for Congress have been talking a lot about ways to lower gas prices, especially suspending the fuel tax, and shaving utility bills by making tech companies and other big users pay more. Some have promised to curb Trump’s tariffs, including Michigan’s Mike Rogers, and others are proposing suspending data center building after public backlash.

Agents from the Department of Homeland Security on Monday raided the Washington, D.C., home of Rep. Ilhan Omar ostensibly in connection with a criminal investigation into her childhood immigration to the United States. The raid was signed off on by a federal judge, apparently after a “back-and-forth” with federal law enforcement, and has been condemned by civil rights groups as highly suspect.

Related

ICE Raid on Ilhan Omar Shows How Dangerous Two Years of Flailing Trump Could Get

On Wednesday, President Donald Trump’s targeting of Omar escalated even further as federal agents issued subpoenas to many of her relatives, including her sister Sahra Noor, and the Wall Street Journal reported the Trump administration’s ultimate goal is to strip Omar of her citizenship and deport her. This obscene abuse of power comes after years of Trump targeting Omar with threats, racist smears, intimidation, and calls for her deportation. 

But with rare exception, the response from the mainstream media’s pundit class has been largely muted, with the vast bulk of the coverage coming in the form of he said/she said, down-the-middle reporting. This is in stark contrast with how elite opinion-shapers responded with uniform outrage in the days after Trump’s also dubious raid on John Bolton, his former national security adviser and a neoconservative commentator, in August 2025. Both are part of a consistent pattern of Trump weaponizing the Department of Justice to attack his perceived enemies, yet only the latter solicited widespread media condemnation.

The very day of the Bolton raid, we saw scathing editorials from the New York Times, Washington Post, and Wall Street Journal. Over the next week, each of these newspapers also published separate pieces from their opinion staff opposing the raid, casting doubt on its legitimacy, and otherwise leveling outrage at the obvious power grab. The raid was explicitly condemned in Politico, The New Yorker, and The Atlantic, which published four different indignant columns.

The raid on Omar’s home has thus far received zero of the above media interventions. No editorials, no opinion columns in the Times, Post, or Journal; no preening in The New Yorker or Politico or Atlantic about the erosion of “rule of law.” The Atlantic did run an article on the Omar raid but it was equivocal and Both Sides in its tone. (A similar Both Sides column The Atlantic published about the Bolton raid was not included in our list of opinion pieces expressing outrage over the Bolton raid.) 

This is in stark contrast to the breathless tone of outrage leveled at Trump when his DOJ targeted Bolton last year. “It is clear that Mr. Trump and his appointees,” the Times wrote in August 2025, “are perverting the justice system to serve their political interests and intimidate their critics.” “FBI raid targeting Bolton crosses a line in the Trump revenge campaign,” proclaimed the Trump ally–owned Washington Post. Even the right-wing WSJ editorial board, typically a staunch backer of Trump, got in on the fervor under the headline “Trump’s Vendetta Campaign Targets John Bolton,” which made clear “that second-term success for the President includes retribution.”

The Journal not only didn’t publish an editorial or column opposing the Omar raid as they did with Bolton, they published a column by assistant editorial page editor James Freeman endorsing it and using tabloid innuendo to cast aspersions on Omar.

This isn’t to say the mainstream press hasn’t reported on the Omar raid. The New York Times, Washington Post and Wall Street Journal all ran articles, and analysis, on the raid, but — unlike with the Bolton case — they have published no opinions expressing outrage and demanding recourse for the obvious authoritarian power grab.

The reasons for this glaring discrepancy are likely many: Omar is Black and Muslim, Bolton is white and not. Omar is a woman, Bolton is a man. Omar is considered “far left,” Bolton is squarely in the center-right of elite Washington consensus. Omar is a harsh critic of Israel, and Bolton is among its most overtly and bloodthirsty champions. The reality is it’s almost certainly a combination of all these factors. Writ large, Bolton is a member of The Club, and Omar isn’t.

Related

How Democrats Paved the Way for Kevin McCarthy’s Attack on Ilhan Omar

A similar dynamic of asymmetric In-Group vs. Out-Group outrage could be seen during the early months of Trump’s first term when the media spilled oceans of ink lamenting Trump’s determination to intimidate the press and lock up reporters. Yet this same press almost entirely ignored his DOJ’s absurd prosecution of two independent reporters, Aaron Cantu and Alexei Wood, for covering the January 20 unrest during his 2016 inauguration — a case that was found to have no merit. Ultimately, the city of Washington, D.C., was, despite the lack of any sustained media attention, forced to settle with a payout to the persecuted reporters. 

As a rule for U.S. media, the consistent application of principle — as high-minded and lofty as they may appear — takes a back seat to class solidarity. Bolton is a corporate media figure, a national security elite, a hawk, and a committed institutionalist. He is, in other words, one of them. Omar is none of these things. As a direct result, her outrageous persecution by Trump is noted and perhaps critiqued around the margins but is not a source of widespread, sustained outrage and condemnation. This distinction is reserved, very clearly, for those in The Club.

The post Trump Is Targeting Ilhan Omar. Where’s the Elite Media Outrage? appeared first on The Intercept.

It could be the earliest known example of “lethal interpersonal violence” with a sharpened wooden spear in the fossil record.

The hole in the scapula and the fragments found embedded in the sediment below the perforation. Top left: Ventral view of the hole in the scapula, showing two refitting fragments. Top right: The linea muscularis, highlighted by the dashed line,…

Demonstrators demand resignation of Edi Rama after three days of clashes in capital Tirana

Albania’s prime minister has said he will not resign as a protest movement, initially prompted by a proposal to build a Trump family-backed resort in the Balkan state, turned violent with clashes convulsing the capital for a third consecutive day.

Speaking on Thursday after calls by students who this week assumed control of the anti-government demonstrations that have rattled Tirana since June, Edi Rama said: “Governments are changed through democratic elections. We had elections last year, not a revolution.”

Voting registration organizations accuse Texas officials of failing to ensure eligible voters can register properly

Texas election officials are struggling to process a massive backlog of nearly 600,000 voter registration applications after a major state computer system failure, just days before early voting is set to open on Monday and amid concerns about widespread voter suppression.

The disruption has raised serious concerns about the state’s voter registration system, with voting rights organizations accusing Texas officials of failing to ensure that eligible voters could properly register.

The sci-fi monster comes complete with motors and joystick controls and formed part of a collection which filled its late owner's home from "floor to ceiling."

(Photo by Steve Chatterley via Pexels)

Nato source says drones came from Russia, while Romania’s president says attacking commercial ships ‘is unacceptable and has to stop’

Seven sailors are missing after drones struck two tankers near Romania’s Black Sea ⁠coast, setting them ablaze and raising ⁠fresh security concerns on a ​vital shipping route used by Ukraine.

A Nato military source told Reuters the drones that had hit the Wine Trader and the Yara J came from Russia. “The drones that caused ⁠the fires on board two tankers inside Romanian territorial waters were of Russian origin,” the source said.

Shortly after David Jolly launched his campaign for Florida governor, his former boss was indicted for taking over $100 million from a disability nonprofit. Jolly says he wasn't aware of the scheme.

Amazon has unveiled two new Bee "personal AI" devices designed to continuously record, transcribe, and analyze conversations: the $75 wearable Bee Frontier and the $100 phone-mounted Bee Eclipse. Amazon says the devices can generate conversation summaries, surface recurring themes, and recommend actions or purchases, while claiming audio itself is never stored and users can delete transcripts and summaries. CNBC reports: The Bee Frontier is an upgraded version of Amazon's existing wearable that can either be worn on a wrist or clipped to clothing. Similar to earlier generations, the Bee Frontier has up to seven days of battery life, but it's also more expensive, costing $75 compared with its $50 predecessor. Amazon acquired Bee, a San Francisco startup known for its always-listening bracelet, in July 2025 for an undisclosed amount. Bee bracelets are equipped with artificial intelligence and microphones that can record, transcribe and analyze conversations. The dual mics on the Bee Frontier have upgraded noise filtering, "so it can take note of what matters and ignore what doesn't, even in noisy environments like a crowded restaurant or open office," Amazon said in a blog post. Amazon also debuted the $100 Bee Eclipse, which functions like other Bee devices, but instead of being worn, the credit card-sized gadget magnetically snaps on to the back of a smartphone. The Bee Frontier is available Thursday, while the Bee Eclipse "will be available soon," the company said.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Water company tells creditors it will not survive long enough to agree refinancing deal without more money

Thames Water has asked its creditors for another £2.4bn as the embattled water company comes close to running out of cash.

The UK’s largest water company said on Thursday it needed another short-term cash injection because it would be unable to reach a longer-term deal to sort out its giant debt pile before running out of cash by “the end of 2026 or the start of 2027”.

Earlier this month, Acting Secretary of the Army Adam R. Telle signed an order scheduling the execution of Nidal Hasan, a former Army major who was convicted of killing 13 people in a 2009 shooting at Fort Hood, Texas. Two days later, self-styled War Secretary Pete Hegseth made a startling announcement. “We’ll make sure that people are able to watch it, that it’s public,” Hegseth told the conservative Real America’s Voice News network, as the interviewer raised his eyebrows. The Department of War’s official “Rapid Response” Twitter account promptly promoted the clip.

Hegseth’s plan apparently won’t come to fruition. Amid outcry about the barbarity and optics of streaming the planned execution by firing squad — scheduled for December 3 at Fort Hood — President Donald Trump on Thursday called off the broadcast. “I think streaming the execution for all to see might have been a strong deterrent for the World to witness how America deals with Terrorists and SCUM like Hasan but, many very good and well meaning people would rather not watch him die, through streaming, or through any other visual device,” Trump posted on his social media website.

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The Trump Administration’s Shameless Snuff-Film Fixation

Some news outlets, such as The New York Times, framed the planned killing as an aberration, claiming that “such a broadcast has little precedent, and releasing video of executions is most often associated with extremist militant groups like the Islamic State.” This narrative, however, overlooks a forgotten American cultural history in which filmed executions turned government killings into spectacle.

The practice of filming executions in America is effectively as old as cinema itself.

In 1897, a few years after the first motion pictures began to be exhibited in the United States, a Missouri farmhand named William Carr was convicted of murdering his daughter and sentenced to death by hanging. Filmmaker Frederick Guth, of the American Phonographic Company, who had previously recorded an interview with Carr in prison, opted to film the execution as well — marking a grim milestone as history’s first filmed execution. The resulting motion picture, “The Hanging of William Carr” (1897), was first exhibited in Kansas City and St. Louis, then screened around the country.

The following year saw the nationwide premiere of “An Execution by Hanging,” otherwise known as “Execution of Negro at County Jail, Jacksonville, Fla” (1898). It showed the hanging of Edward Heinson, who was convicted and sentenced to death for criminal assault of a 14-year-old white girl. Illustrating racist views that have long shaped the American criminal legal system and the death penalty, the catalog of the film’s production company, American Mutoscope and Biograph, teased the film as depicting “a very ghastly, but very interesting subject.”

As these early films were distributed across the nation, they were met with interest and outcry. The journal Phonoscope at the time described the filming of Carr’s execution as “revolting,” while the Cleveland Leader cautioned that the film may have “brutalizing effects” on viewers. Some newspapers even claimed that during the hanging of Carr, Guth had hired people to storm the gallows to create added pandemonium.

Soon, the burgeoning cinema industry came to adopt a different practice for the growing number of films about executions. Filmmakers started blending reality with fiction, by combining clips recorded at actual execution locations with fictionalized reenactments of the killings themselves.

For instance, after Thomas Edison’s Edison Studios failed to gain permission from the authorities to film the actual execution by electrocution of President William McKinley’s assassin, filmmakers combined exterior location shots on the day of the killing with footage of a mannequin to depict the actual death in “Execution of Czolgosz with Panorama of Auburn Prison” (1901).

Edison was no stranger to the format: He had previously produced numerous historical execution reenactments like “The Execution of Mary, Queen of Scots” (1895) and “The Execution of Joan of Arc” (1895). His studio also dabbled in zoosadistic entertainment, with films showcasing actual animal deaths, such as “Electrocuting an Elephant” (1903), which presented an elephant named Topsy being put to death for killing a spectator who had burnt her trunk with a cigar.

In 1905, American Mutoscope reused the title of its earlier film, “An Execution by Hanging,” this time depicting a reenactment of the hanging of Mary Rogers, who was convicted of killing her husband (alternate title “Execution of a Murderess”). Along with what were apparently genuine location shots, American Mutoscope incorporated reenactments of the moment of death. The film was released as part of a trilogy, including “Reading the Death Sentence” and “Reprieve from the Scaffold,” with the third installment presenting an alternate fictional ending in which Rogers was not killed.

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Lethal Injection, Electric Chair, or Firing Squad? An Inhumane Decision for Death Row Prisoners

Other films around the turn of the century used a similar technique to conflate reality and fiction, with film catalogs accentuating the lurid nature of these pictures. The description of “Beheading a Chinese Prisoner” (1900) in the Lubin production company catalog reads: “The executioner displays the head to the spectators to serve as a warning for evil doers. Very exciting.” Lubin had also earlier produced another execution reenactment, “Execution of the Spanish Spy” (1898).

Many films focused on executions carried out by mobs rather than the government. There was “Edison’s Lynching Scene,” also known as “Lynching of a Horse-Thief” and more coyly as “A Frontier Scene” (1898), as well as “Lynching Scene: A Genuine Lynching Scene,” also known as “Lynching Scene at Paris, Texas” (1897) from the International Film Company, and “A Lynching at Cripple Creek,” otherwise known as “Tracked by Bloodhounds” (1904).

The motion picture camera, of course, wasn’t the only new technology at that time shifting the public’s perception of execution. When William Kemmler was killed in the first electric chair execution in New York in 1890, the American media heralded a “new era in capital punishment.” Witnessing the new death technology, even in reenactment form, would prove to be a fascination for filmgoers over the years.

“Death in the Electric Chair at Sing Sing” (1902), the final installment in American Mutoscope’s five-part “A Career of Crime” series, is described in the company’s 1902 catalog as “an accurate and thrilling representation of an electric execution at Sing Sing.”

Related

Indiana Banned Press From Executions for “Dignity.” It Actually Serves Repression.

As the novelty of new execution methods wore off, their cinematic popularity likewise began to taper, though film promoters occasionally used the electric chair as a prop outside the cinema to attract moviegoers in the 1930s. At the same time, as the practice of public hangings faded in the U.S. and executions moved indoors, authorities began restricting access to death chambers to select groups of family members, victims’ relations, official personnel, and chosen media. It’s a practice that continues to this day, preventing actual recordings of executions from reaching the public.

With the advent of grindhouse exploitation cinema in the 1970s and the home video boom of the 1980s, however, the American entertainment industry once again found a way to court audiences by depicting executions. 

Taking up the mantle of films that blended real footage and reenacted execution scenes were movies like “The Electric Chair” (1976), whose theatrical promotional materials prominently featured the titular chair and touted that “scenes in this picture were filmed in an actual death house. What you will see is real.” The infamous shockumentary “Faces of Death” (1978), whose marketing material similarly emphasized its staged electrocution scene, enticed viewers to “experience the graphic reality of DEATH, close-up.”

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Video of U.S. Military Killing Boat Strike Survivors Is Horrifying, Lawmakers Reveal

In the bloody wake of “Faces of Death” came a seemingly endless parade of straight-to-video death compilations, spanning from the late 1970s to the mid-2010s, which made death something to be consumed in private in the home, versus as theatrical spectacle. The films, which spliced together clips of executions with other atrocities, have titles such as “Dying: Last Seconds of Life” (1988) and “Executions 2001” (2001).

“Death Watch,” a typical entry in the genre released on VHS in the late ’90s or early ’00s, adequately summed up its genre: “unedited first-hand footage of death, vivisection, autopsy, cremations, suicides, tortures, decapitations, state and governmental executions, animal ingestion of humans, as well as human limb extraction.” Its cover featured an electric chair, echoing the posters promoting films such as “The Electric Chair” (1976) and “Death in the Electric Chair at Sing Sing” (1902).

When Saddam Hussein was executed by hanging on December 30, 2006, a security guard used his cellphone to record the execution. The phone video was promptly released on DVD in the U.S. under the title “Sad Damn! Who’s Sane?” Though still listed on online retailers like Amazon, the DVD is now long out of print, much like turn-of-the-century execution films.

The proposal to livestream Hasan’s firing squad execution would have, in some ways, marked a significant change in course. The killing would have been the first known execution to be recorded and disseminated by the government itself, rather than a film studio. Critics lambasted Hegseth’s plan as violent propaganda that could invite similar brutality against American prisoners abroad. Trump himself reportedly expressed hesitation about the imagery, fearing footage of the U.S. military killing Hasan, who uses a wheelchair after injuries during the Fort Hood shooting, might result in him being celebrated as a martyr.

The post America’s Sordid History of Filming Executions as Entertainment appeared first on The Intercept.

Prosecutors say Adan Manzano was victim of Danette Colbert’s operation targeting New Orleans tourists

A woman involved in a New Orleans criminal enterprise that targeted tourists and led to the death of a reporter has been resentenced to life.

On Wednesday, a Jefferson Parish judge resentenced 49-year old Danette Colbert to life in prison plus 75 years under Louisiana’s habitual offender law. In September, Colbert was sentenced to a total of 60 years in prison, 50 years for racketeering and a consecutive 10 years for negligent homicide in the death of Adan Manzano, a journalist for the Spanish-language news outlet Telemundo Kansas City.

University Of Utah Presidential Professor Recognized for Pioneering Contributions to High-Performance Computing and for Sustained Leadership and Service to the Computing Community

NEW YORK, Oct. 15, 2026 — The Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) and the IEEE Computer Society (CS) today named Daniel Reed as recipient of the 2026 Ken Kennedy Award. Reed, Presidential Professor in Computational Science (emeritus) at the University of Utah, and former Corporate Vice President of Technology Policy and Leader of the eXtreme Computing Group (XCG) at Microsoft, received the distinction for “pioneering contributions to high-performance computing, scalable systems, and national cyberinfrastructure, and for sustained leadership in programming productivity, mentoring, and service to the computing community.”

Dan Reed

Over the course of his more than 40-year career, Reed has made groundbreaking contributions to the technical foundations of high-performance computing and the broader computing ecosystem that enables discovery at scale. His work spans parallel systems, performance analysis, scalable I/O, web and cloud infrastructure, computational grids, and edge computing. Reed has consistently translated fundamental ideas into tools, systems, and infrastructure that have changed practice and helped make advanced computing more usable and productive.

Specifically, Reed’s early work on distributed-memory message-passing systems helped establish key ideas for understanding application and system behavior on large-scale parallel machines, well before such architectures became the dominant model for advanced computing. He also developed widely used approaches to parallel system measurement and tuning, including the Pablo and Autopilot software environments, which gave researchers and practitioners practical tools to analyze, visualize, and improve performance at scale. His work on portable performance data formats, low-overhead tracing and counting, hardware performance support, and integrated compiler/performance analysis further improved the ability of developers to understand and tune parallel codes. These contributions, along with his work on scalable I/O that identified the patterns that strained performance, helped shape the field of performance engineering for parallel systems.

Reed has repeatedly translated ideas into infrastructure that changed practice. He played a central role in deploying the first terascale Linux clusters for national research use and served as Chief Architect for the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) TeraGrid, then the world’s largest open computing infrastructure for computational science. At Microsoft, he brought high-performance computing principles into cloud system design, leading work on low-power servers, ARM-based systems, energy-efficient data center design, and software frameworks for large-scale services. He also helped launch the first public-private cloud partnership with NSF, expanding access to cloud platforms for academic research.

In addition, Reed is recognized for his contributions to teaching, mentoring, community building, and national computing policy. He has supervised 28 MS theses and 19 PhD dissertations. He helped launch an international distance education MS program that broadened access to advanced computing education and has developed programs that continually expand access to others including the Renaissance Computing Institute, the Iowa Informatics Initiative, and K-12 computer science efforts that contributed to what became code.org, among others. Additionally, he has held leadership and advisory roles across many of the most important computing and cyberinfrastructure efforts in the United States, including the National Science Board and the Computing Community Consortium; testified repeatedly before the U.S. Congress; shaped national strategy in computational science and information technology; and provided sustained leadership on issues ranging from research infrastructure and workforce development to cloud policy and digital equity.

“Reed’s contributions to high-performance computing are extraordinary in both their breadth and their lasting impact,” said William Gropp, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and Chair of the 2026 ACM/IEEE CS Ken Kennedy Subcommittee.” His work has advanced the foundations of parallel and high-performance systems and has helped create the tools and infrastructure that have enabled generations of researchers to harness their power. We are honored to recognize Reed for a career that has not only transformed the field but also expanded its access through his leadership, mentorship, and service to the broader community.”

Nominations for the 2027 Ken Kennedy Award are now open. For more information, visit the ACM Awards nominations page.

More from HPCwire: Dan Reed Wins 2026 CRA Distinguished Service Award

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.

About the Ken Kennedy Award

ACM and IEEE CS co-sponsor the Kennedy Award, which was established in 2009 to recognize substantial contributions to programmability and productivity in computing and significant community service or mentoring contributions. It was named for the late Ken Kennedy, founder of Rice University’s computer science program and a world expert on high-performance computing. The Kennedy Award carries a US $5,000 honorarium endowed by IEEE CS and ACM.

Source: ACM

The post ACM and IEEE CS Honor Dan Reed with 2026 Ken Kennedy Award appeared first on HPCwire.

Jane Does allege ex-congressman and two others coordinated ‘payments, drugs and travel’ for sexual acts

The Republican former congressman Matt Gaetz has been accused of participating in the sex trafficking of two young women in a civil lawsuit filed on Thursday in district court in Florida.

The allegations, which Gaetz denied in a statement to the Guardian, are the latest developments in a long-running sexual abuse scandal involving the politician who resigned from Congress in November 2024.

Soldier who killed 13 people in 2009 will still be executed, but president said ‘people would rather not watch him die’

Donald Trump has shelved a widely condemned plan to livestream the execution of Nidal Malik Hasan, who was convicted of killing 13 people at a military base at Fort Hood in Texas in 2009.

In a social media post on Thursday, Trump argued that broadcasting such an execution “might have been a strong deterrent for the World to witness how America deals with Terrorists and SCUM like Hasan” but said that “many very good and well meaning people would rather not watch him die, through streaming, or through any other visual device”.

Cornell University's Faculty Senate met on Wednesday to debate a resolution of no confidence in the school administration.

Oct. 15, 2026 — By working together on complex scientific questions and developing new research projects, Forschungszentrum Jülich and the Japanese research institute RIKEN are expanding their partnership in a bilateral cooperation agreement. Both institutions aim to strategically combine the expertise of their outstanding researchers with their state-of-the-art research infrastructures. The agreement, which was signed in Jan. 2026, was celebrated by both organizations on Oct. 9 at the RIKEN site in Wako. The official event took place as part of a Helmholtz Association delegation’s visit to Japan.

Dr. Makoto Gonokami, President, RIKEN, and Prof. Markus Diesmann, Director of IAS-6, Group Leader Computational Neurophysics, Forschungszentrum Jülich.

Nowadays, reliable international research partnerships are more important than ever. Many scientific questions are too complex for a single institution or country to answer on its own. For this reason, Jülich and RIKEN are building long-term partnerships and fostering open exchange across national borders. Having worked together for many years, they are now fusing complementary strengths to collaboratively develop novel scientific approaches.

“We are motivated by shared scientific questions: How do we decipher the complex interactions within large neural networks? How can we gain an even deeper understanding of the properties of materials? And how can we use these insights to lay the groundwork for the information technologies of tomorrow?” says Astrid Lambrecht, Chair of the Board of Directors of Forschungszentrum Jülich. “With this agreement, we are bringing our research teams even closer together, with the aim of pushing scientific boundaries, advancing common research questions, and turning the resulting insights into groundbreaking research projects.”

As one of Japan’s leading research organizations, RIKEN encompasses a network of research centres and institutes. The agreement enables Jülich and RIKEN to move their collaboration beyond the confines of single research teams. They will develop new joint projects and also create new opportunities for the next generation of researchers. The collaboration spans a wide range of fields, from high-performance computing and quantum computing through neuroscience to transmission electron microscopy and neutron research.

With JUPITER in Jülich and Fugaku at RIKEN, both institutions have two of the world’s most powerful supercomputers at their disposal. With many years of experience, their researchers leverage high-performance computing and advanced computational methods to solve complex scientific problems.

Additional synergies arise from linking supercomputers with quantum computers. Through its JUNIQ user infrastructure, Jülich connects different quantum systems with its supercomputing infrastructure. With projects such as JHPC-quantum, RIKEN is developing software to enable the two computing technologies to work together.

Source: Jülich

The post Jülich and RIKEN Expand Partnership in HPC and Quantum Computing appeared first on HPCwire.

Oct. 15, 2026 — The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is now accepting applications for the Summer 2027 term of the Science Undergraduate Laboratory Internships (SULI) program and the Community College Internships (CCI) program. Mentored by scientists, engineers, and technical professionals, interns will acquire new skills through hands-on learning, be exposed to science and technology careers, and expand their professional networks to advance their educational and career goals.

The interns will have the opportunity to work with a team of experts to solve real-world problems and contribute to science and innovation that support the DOE mission, including new frontiers in the Genesis Mission, quantum information sciences, fusion science and engineering, space sciences, biotechnology, nuclear energy and technology, critical minerals and materials, advanced manufacturing, and cybersecurity.

SULI is open to full-time students attending four-year institutions and community colleges and to recent graduates within two years of receiving their bachelor’s or associate degree. CCI is for community college students including those who are enrolled part-time. Both programs are stipend-based and offered three times annually in Fall, Spring, and Summer. Participants residing outside the commuting area are offered domestic round-trip travel to and from the host Lab and financial assistance with lodging. The application deadline for both programs is Jan. 6, 2027, at 5:00 p.m. EST. A number of workshops, an alumni panel, an online internship fair, and technical support will be available to applicants throughout the process.

Workshop Details

Several workshops are planned to provide strategies for submitting a compliant application and opportunities to learn about the internship experience from CCI and SULI alumni.

Workshops will introduce the programs and application processes and offer live alumni panel discussions, which will showcase the project opportunities and internship experiences of students who have taken part in the programs.

• Nov. 4, 2026, SULI Application Assistance Workshop: Registration information here.
• Nov. 5, 2026, CCI Application Assistance Workshop: Registration information here.
• Dec. 8, 2026, SULI Panel Workshop: Registration information here.
• Dec. 11, 2026, CCI Panel Workshop: Registration information here.

Summer Internship Fair 

In addition to the workshops, prospective applicants are invited to engage with representatives from the DOE National Laboratories at a virtual Summer Internship Fair scheduled for November 12, 2026, from 1:00–5:00 pm EST. During the fair, WDTS staff, as well as researchers from the National Laboratories, will be online and available via chat. Registration information here.

Office Hours

The program office invites applicants and letter-of-recommendation writers to attend office hours to receive answers to administrative questions, such as those pertaining to uploading transcripts, submitting letters of recommendation, and general inquiries.  For upcoming dates, please visit:

• Office hours for CCI: Registration information here.
• Office hours for SULI: Registration information here.

The programs offer unique opportunities to gain a glimpse into discovery science research that is at the cutting edge of national priorities. Learn more about the internship experience through the many Lab Stories shared by previous participants.

SULI and CCI are managed by the Office of Workforce Development for Teachers and Scientists (WDTS) in the Office of Science. More information can be found at https://science.osti.gov/wdts.

Source: U.S. Dept. of Energy

The post DOE Opens Applications for Summer 2027 Undergraduate Internships appeared first on HPCwire.

We’d like to hear about whether you feel like the US is in a recession and what you think signals such a downturn

Nearly two-thirds of Americans think the US is experiencing a recession, according to a new Harris Poll conducted for the Guardian. By the typical definition of a recession – when a country’s economic growth is in the negative for two consecutive quarters – the US is not experiencing one. Still, Americans are facing higher prices and a stagnant job market, which for many feels like a downturn.

We want to hear from Americans: do you feel like the US is experiencing a recession? What is your so-called personal “recession indicator”, or a signal in your everyday life that points to an incoming economic slump? It could be seen in your job or at your local grocery store, something you notice at your children’s school or out in your community. Tell us about it below.

An Egyptian farmer was working on his land when he came across an unusual rock that turned his field into an archaeology dig.

CBS California Investigates accompanied a group of women traveling from San Diego to Lipo Tijuana VIP, a medical spa that attracts patients from across the United States.

Elon Musk has spent $158m in a month to back Republicans in midterm races – with his efforts mostly focused on Texas

Tens of millions of dollars are pouring into Texas as Democrats stage an audacious bid to win a US Senate seat in the Republican stronghold.

Elon Musk, the world’s richest person, is among those wading into the closely watched race as November’s midterm elections approach.

Home secretary says she will block all Eritreans from UK unless a returns deal is agreed for rejected asylum seekers and criminals

Shabana Mahmood has been accused of launching a “perfunctory political gimmick” by the Eritrean government in a row over the return of rejected asylum seekers and criminals.

After the home secretary threatened to block all Eritreans from entering the UK unless a returns deal was agreed, the country’s embassy claimed the UK had failed to engage in “meaningful and appropriate” dialogue.

Rewritten indictment accuses ex-Venezuela president and wife Cilia Flores of leading campaign of torture

Nicolás Maduro insisted on Thursday during an appearance in a New York court that torture allegations in a rewritten drug trafficking indictment against the deposed Venezuelan president and his wife were “false accusations”.

Maduro, shackled at the ankles, was brought to court to face the new charges accusing the couple of leading a state-sponsored campaign of repression that tortured scores of victims, including three Americans.

Receipts also reveal a 23% pay increase for a key Denver-based consultant after Ian Coudri became CEO.

International delegates agree leap second no longer tenable, but first leap hour not likely to happen for thousands of years

After decades of discussion, quibbling and worrying about clocks in computer systems, the world’s official timekeepers have voted to replace what many viewed as a tiresome correction: the leap second. It’s time, they say, for the leap hour.

Delegates from 69 countries cast their votes on Thursday at a conference in France of the International Bureau of Weights and Measures, which ensures the world sticks to the same standards of time, weight, distance and more.

After agents with Homeland Security Investigations, a division of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, raided the Washington, D.C., home of Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., on Monday morning, officials who spoke to The Intercept raised questions about whether the raid was political in nature.

Though the investigation into Omar has reportedly been ongoing for years, an ICE official working in immigration enforcement suggested the timing of the raid raised questions.

“She’s always been a thorn in the side of the Trump administration,” said the ICE official, who spoke to The Intercept on the condition of anonymity to protect their livelihood. “This has to be politically motivated.”

The raid is the latest of what several officials inside ICE told The Intercept were a series of moves — policy changes, sweeping initiatives, and, in Omar’s case, a specific operation — that reflect a scramble to help lift Republicans’ dimming prospects in November’s midterm elections.

In the last month, ICE has undertaken steps like removing vehicle stop training, announcing surges into sanctuary cities, and freezing then quickly unfreezing non-criminal deportations — what one official called a “midterm panic move.”

According to analysts, these politically charged moves are rapidly degrading the reputation of law enforcement agencies among many Americans.

Related

ICE Gave New Hires Access to Restricted Info on Palantir App Before They Passed Background Checks

“Throughout the Trump administration, we have seen them use law enforcement for overtly political purposes, often directly targeting blue states or blue politicians for their actions” said Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a policy analyst and senior fellow at the American Immigration Council. “This is something that has really been a significant challenge for the reputation of law enforcement, because we have seen so many issues along these lines where there are allegations of these overtly political actions.”

Reporting had linked the raid on Omar’s home immigration paperwork — she arrived in the U.S. as a refugee in 1995 and naturalized five years later — but a second ICE official familiar with the matter questioned that explanation.

“There is something more than that, there have to be other charges for the substantiation of the warrant because a judge wouldn’t sign something beyond statute of limitations,” said the official, who is with Homeland Security Investigations, the arm of ICE that carried out the raid, who also spoke to The Intercept on the condition of anonymity.

An article in the New York Post suggested the investigation might be related to an effort by Omar in 2019, just after she arrived in Congress, to correct her birth year in a Minnesota state legislature library.

The statute of limitations for crimes related to citizenship, according to a Justice Department website, is 10 years. Civil denaturalization proceedings do not have a statute of limitations, but must meet certain conditions, according to Reichlin-Melnick.

“In order to subject someone to civil denaturalization,” Reichlin-Melnick said, “the government has must prove either that the person committed fraud or that they were ineligible for naturalization in the first place.”

“A Waste of Time”

According to accounts from inside ICE, the moves, allegedly motivated by the midterms, are creating chaos and confusion inside the agency — and fostering resentment among employees.

“We are highly trained agents who should be working child exploitation and trafficking cases, instead we are being used as pawns in our administration’s games,” said the Homeland Security Investigations official, touching on a shift away from the ICE branch’s traditional areas of focus. “I think everything happening with the agency right now is related to the midterms and to stoke divisive fires.”

Politically motivated operations started ramping up inside Homeland Security Investigations after federal agents were ordered to pursue a criminal voter fraud probe across nine states in early September, according to the first ICE official.

“The voter fraud initiative was just inefficient and ridiculous,” the official said. “Knocking on doors to question people about voting before you even have evidence to present to them is a non-starter.”

The official added, “Directing your entire workforce to do that for weeks instead of real criminal investigations is a waste of time.”

“It Backfired”

With the midterms themselves approaching, fresh controversies engulfed ICE, prompting the administration to react with a string of messy policy changes and public announcements.

Related

ICE Mandates Dress Code After Killings and Botched Arrest

As the voter fraud investigations were underway, public backlash erupted after immigration officers from ICE’s other division, Enforcement and Removal Operations, or ERO, shot and wounded a 28-year-old Venezuelan man during a traffic stop in Austin, Texas, on September 20.

Days later, on the weekend of September 25, ICE leadership quietly issued internal orders for a major change that would overhaul nationwide immigration enforcement. The orders directed all deportation officers to stop arresting undocumented immigrants without criminal histories. After news of the orders broke in the right-wing Daily Wire, the Department of Homeland Security, ICE’s parent agency, denied the story.

Despite the denial, ICE officials operating across the country told The Intercept that the orders were legitimate and stayed in place for nearly a week.

“We reverted back to Biden-era enforcement,” said one official with Enforcement and Removal Operations, who was ordered to stop all arrest of non-criminal immigrants, including those who had standing deportation orders from immigration judges. “The DHS denied it but the orders stayed in place for 4-5 days and we followed them.”

Another deportation officer, who also asked for anonymity, described the orders as a “midterm panic move” in response to the ICE shooting in Austin.

“Our FODS” — field office directors — “told us through our team group chats and word-of-mouth to keep it out of the press, it was never in writing. I think leadership wanted to dial things back after the Austin shooting, but the orders got leaked and it backfired.”

On the same day as the leak and denial, the Department of Homeland Security seemed to take a harder public line by announcing a “nationwide public safety surge in sanctuary cities” targeting “criminal illegal aliens.”

Vehicle Stops “Shit Show”

On October 1, a week after the stand-down order, the Washington Examiner reported on another leaked DHS guidance that announced the formally amended ICE’s vehicle stops policy.

The Department of Homeland Security issued another direct denial, downplaying the significance of the guidance, which took aim at keeping unexperienced personnel from engaging with vehicles.

“Wrong, this is nothing new. This memo makes no changes to how ICE conducts vehicle stops,” the department said. “ALL officers have always received vehicle stop training.”

In 2025, the DHS cut training time requirements for ICE’s academy by approximately 40 percent, including cuts to driving and firearms training. The cuts came ahead of a hiring spree that added about 12,000 people to ICE’s ranks to meet the Trump administration’s deportation goals.

The recent amendments to ICE’s vehicle stops policy marks the third time this summer that department and ICE leadership ordered Enforcement and Removal Operations officials to change how they engage with vehicles. Previously, ICE halted and then amended its policy after immigration officers shot and killed two men during traffic stops in Texas and Maine in July. These orders were also challenged by official government social media channels.

“There’s clearly a disconnect between leadership on the ground level and what’s coming out of Washington” said one official. “It’s a total shitshow.”

Related

ICE Agent on Scene of NYC Shooting Was Posing as Construction Worker, Eyewitness Says

Then, on Thursday, October 8, plainclothes ICE officers opened fire on a vehicle during a targeted enforcement operation in New York City. At least seven rounds were fired into the car, according to reports. The driver, a 28-year-old Dominican man, was struck in the neck as his 5-year-old son sat in the backseat.

“The footage looks like a carjacking, they fucked up again,” said another Homeland Security Investigations official after reviewing video of the incident. “ERO was never given the freedom to work like they have in the past 2 years. They were always much more restrictive with their general enforcement.”

“Now comes these free-for-all mandates, and these guys who weren’t used to ‘enforcement’ and dealing with the public who were thrust into this world. Couple that with no tactical training — disaster.”

The post Inside ICE, Officials Question String of Trump Admin “Midterm Panic Moves” appeared first on The Intercept.

The University of Chicago announced Wednesday morning that it has identified a person of interest in a sexual assault at a fraternity house this past weekend.

"He will die, as scheduled, by firing squad, but this event will not be streamed," President Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Pope Leo XIV has resumed some work, the Vatican said Thursday, after he had a piece of his right lung removed and received a diagnosis of lung cancer.

Leader of CREC church – whose pastors have advocated death penalty – says he ‘prefers public executions to private’

Donald Trump announced on Thursday he was cancelling Pete Hegseth’s recently announced plans to livestream a military execution – because “many very good and well-meaning people would rather not watch him die”. But there were some fans of Hegseth’s now-scotched idea: the rightwing religious figures who have long backed his career.

Hegseth announced last week that the US public would be able to see the execution of Nidal Hasan, which is set for 3 December at Fort Hood, Texas. Hasan, a former army major and psychiatrist, killed 13 people and wounded 32 at Fort Hood in 2009. A military court sentenced him to death in August 2013.

Apple’s new HomeView faces steep competition from Amazon and Google’s well-established smart displays. Here’s what I think, based on my past reviews.

However, Clair Obscur is now gone from the service.

Join our final live Q&A before the midterm elections, on 22 October at noon ET on the Guardian US site

Since Donald Trump started his second term in January 2025, immigration enforcement has remained a major issue for US voters, with arrests reaching record highs, operations becoming deadly and immigration raids hitting politicians’ homes. Our reporting has documented the experiences of those directly affected by the harsh conditions in detention centers and resistance to ICE agents on the ground.

Immigration will be a defining issue in the final weeks of campaigning for the 2026 US midterm elections.

The makeup of the Democratic party, plus key races to watch

Who are the groups financially backing the candidates in the midterms?

Will the Iran war cost Trump in the US midterm elections? Your questions answered

President Trump has formally invoked executive privilege to shield certain records from a Democratic congresswoman who sits on the Kennedy Center board.

Culture secretary’s move paves way for deeper scrutiny of deal that would create UK’s biggest commercial broadcaster

The culture secretary, Lisa Nandy, has said she is “minded to intervene” in Sky’s £1.6bn purchase of ITV, in a move that paves the way for deeper scrutiny of a deal that would create the UK’s biggest commercial broadcaster.

Sky announced over the summer that it had reached a deal to buy ITV’s broadcasting and streaming arm, representing a big shift in the ownership of Britain’s public service media.

Maine senator refutes claim from ex-Navatek CEO that he funded Collins’s Super Pac in exchange for naval contracts

• US politics live – latest updates

Susan Collins, the US senator of Maine, has dismissed allegations that she traded federal contracts for campaign cash as “completely false” after it emerged the FBI examined the claims.

Asked by a reporter about an ethics complaint filed last week by a Maine attorney, the Republican – currently campaigning to retain her seat ahead of November’s US midterm elections – said the allegations were recycled from 2020 and had been rejected by the Department of Justice, the FBI and the Federal Election Commission.

Grid operator is paying huge sums to switch off windfarms in areas of excess electricity generation while turning on gas plants elsewhere

The cost of balancing Great Britain’s power grid has soared to near-record highs of almost £50m a day after windfarms were turned off because of bottlenecks in transmitting power around the country.

The grid operator paid £47.9m on Wednesday to turn windfarms off in areas with an oversupply of electricity and turn gas plants on in areas where supplies were tight.

Four MPs raise conflict of interest concerns over Samantha Jones’s past links to a big provider of ADHD assessments

A senior civil servant should play no part in ministers’ crackdown on private ADHD and autism clinics because of her recent ties to the industry, MPs have said.

Labour and Liberal Democrat MPs are demanding that Samantha Jones, permanent secretary at the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), steps away from any role in plans to toughen regulation of the booming market in private neurodiversity assessments.

The products include a silicone wristband that can be clipped to clothing and a device that magnetically attaches to the back of a phone.

Tonight’s Citizen of the Year dinner celebrates WSFS leader Rodger Levenson while highlighting Scouting’s growing role in developing young leaders, strengthening families and serving communities across Delmarva.

WILMINGTON, Del. — When Delaware business and community leaders gather Thursday evening, Oct. 15, to recognize Rodger Levenson as Scouting America’s 2026 Delaware Citizen of the Year, the occasion will be about more than honoring one of the state’s prominent business executives.

It will also be an opportunity to celebrate the return of a familiar institution to a more visible role in Delaware communities.

Scouting America is experiencing renewed interest among families seeking opportunities for their children to develop leadership skills, build friendships, explore the outdoors and learn the importance of serving others.

For Del-Mar-Va Council, the annual recognition event offers an opportunity to connect the accomplishments of today’s business and civic leaders with the development of tomorrow’s.

Levenson, chairman, president and CEO of WSFS Financial Corp., is the honoree for the Oct. 15 dinner.

The award recognizes the kind of leadership, personal responsibility and commitment to community that Scouting seeks to instill in young people.

A familiar organization finds new purpose

Scouting has been part of Delaware life for more than a century, but today’s organization looks different from the one many parents and grandparents remember.

Camping, hiking, earning merit badges and learning outdoor skills remain important. However, Scouting also introduces young people to technology, engineering, environmental conservation, career exploration and public service.

Perhaps more important, it gives children the opportunity to practice leadership rather than simply learn about it.

Scouts organize activities, solve problems, work in teams and take responsibility for projects. As they grow older, those responsibilities become more demanding, preparing them to make decisions, overcome setbacks and lead others.

And in an increasingly digital world, those face-to-face experiences are attracting renewed attention.

In an August interview with Delaware LIVE, Ray Teat, Scout executive for the Del-Mar-Va Council, said participation was recovering after the disruptions of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The number of scouts, scouting units and families involved with Scouting is once again growing following a challenging time for the program coming out of COVID,” Teat said.

Tim Holly, president of the council’s executive board, said parents are increasingly recognizing the value of activities that encourage children to interact, become more independent and develop confidence.

“Parents are looking for ways to reconnect their children with other kids and with their communities,” Holly said. “They want them outside, interacting face to face, learning how to work with other people and building confidence through real experiences.”

The renewed interest is supported by a deliberate effort to expand Scouting’s presence throughout the Delmarva Peninsula.

The Del-Mar-Va Council launched a Campaign for Growth covering 2024 through 2026, establishing an ambitious goal of nearly doubling youth membership by the end of 2026.

The council currently reports more than 3,500 young people participating in over 165 Scouting units, supported by approximately 1700 volunteers across 14 counties in Delaware, Maryland and Virginia. Those figures describe the scale of the program, although the council has not publicly established that its membership-doubling goal has been reached.

In April, more than 1,200 people attended the Del-Mar-Va Council Jamboree at Akridge Scout Reservation near Dover. The gathering, the council’s first jamboree since 2016, brought together Scouts from Delaware and neighboring states for outdoor activities, demonstrations and an opportunity to share the Scouting experience with the public.

Business leadership and community service

The Citizen of the Year dinner reinforces another part of Scouting’s mission: connecting individual success with responsibility to the wider community.

By recognizing leaders such as Levenson, the organization highlights the values of leadership, integrity and service that it encourages young people to develop.

Those connections are particularly relevant to Delaware’s business community.

Employers regularly emphasize the importance of communication, teamwork, problem-solving, dependability and the ability to work with people from different backgrounds.

These are skills Scouting seeks to develop through practical experiences, often long before a young person enters college or the workforce.

Whether organizing a food drive, leading a camping trip, completing an Eagle Scout service project or helping younger Scouts learn new skills, participants are expected to contribute to something larger than themselves.

The program also depends heavily on adult volunteers, local organizations, businesses and charitable supporters who provide the resources needed to make those opportunities available.

That makes the Citizen of the Year dinner more than a recognition ceremony. It is also an opportunity to strengthen the relationship between Scouting and the community leaders whose support can help the organization reach additional families.

An investment in Delaware’s future

For a new generation of Delaware families, the appeal of Scouting may be rooted in something remarkably simple: children need opportunities to experience the real world, test their abilities and discover what they can accomplish.

Those experiences can involve an outdoor adventure, a difficult team assignment, a community service project or a first opportunity to lead a group.

They can also introduce young people to careers, interests and responsibilities they might otherwise never encounter.

Scouting’s expansion to serve both boys and girls in its core programs has opened additional opportunities, while its continued emphasis on character, citizenship and personal responsibility gives the organization a consistent mission.

For Delaware’s communities, the benefits extend beyond individual participants. Scouts help maintain public spaces, support local charities, assist community organizations and contribute thousands of volunteer hours through their activities.

The result is a youth development program that seeks to strengthen both the individuals participating and the communities they serve.

Recognizing today’s leaders, preparing tomorrow’s

Tonight’s tribute to Levenson provides a timely illustration of that connection.

Honoring an accomplished Delaware business leader is one way to celebrate the importance of service and leadership. Giving more young people the opportunity to develop those qualities is the larger mission.

With growing family interest, an expanding network of programs and an ambitious membership campaign, Scouting America is working to restore and strengthen its place in Delaware’s community life.

The uniforms, campfires and merit badges may be what people recognize.

But behind those traditions is a broader purpose: helping young people become confident, capable and responsible adults who will someday lead businesses, volunteer organizations, neighborhoods and communities.

That is the larger message behind tonight’s award dinner: Scouting America is building momentum again, and Delaware’s future leaders are the reason it matters.

To Go | Delaware Citizen of the Year

This live blog is now closed, you can read more of our European news coverage here

Just as the leaders sit down at the big table in Brussels, Romania has said that seven people are still missing after a fire on a vessel in Romanian territorial waters of the Black Sea.

Suspected Russian drones have hit several ships off Romania and neighbouring Bulgaria since last week in a spillover from the Ukraine war, AFP reported.

The much-loved central London institution, which has been threatened with closure since January 2025, secures 25-year lease without break clause with current landlords

The celebrated Prince Charles repertory cinema in London’s Leicester Square has announced that the threat of closure has been staved off by signing a new 25-year lease with its landlords.

In a post on social media titled “You Saved the PCC”, the cinema said that “after 21 months of uncertainty, we’re delighted to have secured the future of the cinema” and that they had “signed a new 25-year lease with no break clause, ensuring our projectors will keep rolling for years to come”.

This live blog is now closed, you can read more of our UK political coverage here

Labour says it’s told all of its local councils who share power with the Green Party to review their agreements after the Greens passed a “Zionism is Racism” motion at their autumn conference earlier this month.

If Green coalition partners don’t agree to condemn the policy, the Labour council groups have been instructed to terminate existing power deals.

We cannot support a partnership with a party that holds [the] position that has recently been adopted.

“Now is the time to step up pressure on Putin and step up support for Ukraine.”

“I’m working on different ways we can step up support for Ukraine, military, diplomatic, and economic, and you know, if anybody needed any reminder of that, it’s what we see coming out of Ukraine, with Putin targeting these energy systems, leaving thousands without power, as we’ve got a harsh winter approaching.

The future of Ukraine is the future of European security, and that’s that’s why it’s so crucial that Putin doesn’t prevail.”d

LONDON, Oct. 15, 2026 — ORCA Computing today launched the PT-3, the newest generation of its photonic quantum computers, and the first built to deliver commercial quantum advantage. The first system is live in the Digital Realty Innovation Lab (DRIL) in London, where it runs alongside NVIDIA accelerated computing.

AI for science, harnessing AI to transform scientific discovery, is rapidly emerging as one of the most important new categories in computing and a major industry-wide focus, yet it is held back by limited training data. According to ORCA, PT-3 works alongside GPUs to increase the expressivity of AI models (their ability to represent complex patterns and data distributions), helping them learn more from limited data and identify better, more novel candidates for new drugs and materials.

The PT-3 has allowed ORCA to generate results from a hybrid quantum-classical extension of NVIDIA Proteína, the generative model for protein design. Trained on 32 NVIDIA Hopper GPUs working with a PT-3 using 64 photons in 128 qumodes, the hybrid model showed enhanced designability over the classical baseline, improving the ratio of useful proteins by 20%, and generated novel proteins with a different mix of secondary structures.

This builds on earlier life sciences results from ORCA’s PT-2 system. Working with the Technical University of Denmark, the PT-2 produced around twice as many strong peptide binders as classical AI, validated in the wet lab. It also generated 49% more valid, unique molecules on the QM9 benchmark.

The PT-3 is also being applied to optimization problems such as smarter energy scheduling. Earlier this year, JIJ Inc. and ORCA, in collaboration with bp and the UK’s National Quantum Computing Centre (NQCC), published a white paper that benchmarked hybrid approaches to the unit commitment problem. On that 25,755-variable benchmark, ORCA’s PT-3 now runs the hybrid quantum-classical workflow in about an hour, more than 12× faster than its predecessor at the same solution quality. In the white paper’s testing, the hybrid solver’s results were competitive with the industry-standard commercial optimization solver on solution quality and, with more runtime, found the best solutions of any method tested.

Richard Murray, Co-founder and CEO of ORCA Computing, said: “By integrating our photonic quantum computer with NVIDIA accelerated computing, we have taken a critical first step in the future of hybrid quantum supercomputing. The PT-3 is already delivering results in AI for science and industrial optimization, from protein design to energy scheduling. Through Digital Realty, enterprise users can now put it to work on their most challenging workloads, and customers are trialling use cases in life sciences, defense, energy and logistics. The PT-3 is built to scale: it upgrades in the field, so customers who start today keep building on the same system.”

“With the PT-3, ORCA is bringing photonic quantum computing and NVIDIA accelerated computing together in a system researchers can use to develop and test new applications,” said Sam Stanwyck, Director of Quantum Product at NVIDIA. “The value of a computing platform is in what researchers build on it. ORCA’s extension of NVIDIA’s Proteína model to generate a different range of protein structures with improved designability is a great example of what can be accomplished when these tools come together.”

“Our partnership with ORCA reflects a shared ambition to make quantum computing practical for business. Hosting the PT-3 in the DRIL gives us a real-world environment to explore how quantum can deliver value today, and it’s a significant step towards commercial quantum advantage at scale,” said Séamus Dunne, Managing Director, UK & Ireland, Digital Realty.

About ORCA Computing

ORCA Computing, headquartered in London, UK, with offices in the United States, is a leading developer and provider of full-stack photonic quantum computing systems. The company delivers an innovative approach to quantum computing, providing robust, high-performance, and data center-standard systems for machine learning, generative AI and optimization workloads. ORCA Computing has successfully delivered eleven on-premises quantum computers to leading global customers, including the UK National Quantum Computing Centre, Montana State University, and the Poznan Supercomputing and Networking Center.

Source: ORCA Computing

The post ORCA Launches PT-3 Photonic Quantum Computer for AI and Optimization appeared first on HPCwire.

Moscow sends swarms of drones to attack infrastructure in central Ukraine as Zelenskyy says Kyiv will restart strikes on Russian oil refineries

The White House’s unilateral effort to negotiate an energy ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine has collapsed as Moscow sent a record swarm of drones overnight to attack infrastructure in central Ukraine and Kyiv appeared to resume strikes on Russian oil refineries despite warnings from Donald Trump.

Moscow accused Ukraine of launching a strike against a Russian oil refinery in the Ryazan region, its first since Trump abruptly declared an “energy ceasefire” that neither Russia nor Ukraine said they had agreed to.

Santiago Caputo cites election of Sagal Abdi-Wali as MP and calls UK a threat to the west in post shared by Argentina’s president

The chief adviser to Argentina’s president, Javier Milei, has cited the election of Sagal Abdi-Wali to the UK parliament as evidence of the Islamisation of Britain and further reason for Argentina to take sovereignty over the Falkland Islands.

In a post on social media, Santiago Caputo, who is reportedly taking a key role in Argentina’s strategy over the Falklands, suggested that the taking of the south Atlantic islands was necessary to prevent the “interference of an Islamic state” in the region.

Rising costs and threatened healthcare benefits are testing voters’ loyalty to Trump as Democrat Randy Villegas challenges David Valadao

Vanessa Martinez used to work two jobs to make ends meet. Now she works three.

In another era, the 26-year-old from California’s hardscrabble Central valley could have been a poster child for the American Dream, the sort of ambitious, up-by-her-bootstraps personality that politicians of both major parties like to highlight.

A mother and child feeling sick together in a couch at their bedroom.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Guardian: Uber has begun a trial of autonomous vehicles on the streets of Manchester as it looks to bring robotaxis to cities around the UK. The first self-driving cars are operating, using the technology of its partner firms Pony and Verne, with whom Uber recently launched Europe's first autonomous taxi service in the Croatian capital, Zagreb. Uber said it was "excited to take this first step toward making this technology accessible to people across the UK." In social media posts, Verne said it had "started our autonomous vehicle testing in Manchester," while Pony said there were "plans to bring robotaxis to the city" and that testing was under way. The tests involve the company mapping the streets of the city in north-west England with a safety driver behind the wheel and no passengers. Limited passenger services started last month in London, but with a safety driver in the front seat of cars supplied by Wayve under Transport for London's licensing rules for private hire vehicles. The next steps are unclear. Opposition from Uber drivers, their unions and the capital's politicians to the rollout of robotaxis is mounting. The GMB and ADCU unions have both said thousands of drivers jobs will be lost and have called for help for those affected. A critical report from London assembly's transport committee this week called for the government to devolve authority over autonomous taxi services. It said there was "considerable uncertainty about many of the claimed benefits of autonomous passenger vehicles", and fears over the impact on public transport and congestion, as well as safeguarding and accessibility for disabled passengers. There has been no official application to launch passenger services in Manchester so far.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Michael Desronvil tells Fox News he never had reasonable doubt Clancy was guilty but didn’t back up his claims

Michael Desronvil, the sole holdout juror in the Lindsay Clancy trial has spoken in his first interview since a mistrial was declared.

Desronvil spoke of “tense deliberations” in the jury room, and about how his strong Christian faith helped prepare him for those discussions.

The book is a hardcover first printing dating back to 1997, when it was published.

The Oscar winner and "Million Dollar Baby" star, who had twins at 48, said she is due in December.

Chip makers and tech investors such as Samsung and SoftBank plunge as potential interest rate hikes spook markets

• Business news – live updates

• Larry Elliott: the global economy is muddling through. But a storm is coming

An accelerating sell-off of AI-linked shares has hit global markets, as fears over rising inflation and future interest rate hikes spooked traders already wary of the heavily indebted sector.

South Korea’s benchmark Kospi 200 index, which is heavily skewed towards the companies that make memory chips, fell more than 8% overnight to a six-month closing low, triggering circuit breakers that brought trading to a halt at various points.

The Talarico campaign said that brings his total fundraising to $134 million since he announced his candidacy last year.

Friends holding exercise balls and bonding over workouts in the gym.

Here’s how long a Coldest water bottle keeps things chilled compared to my go-to mug.

Arrival of 4,400+ qubit Advantage2 system advances Q-Alliance’s efforts to expand quantum computing access, accelerate Italian workforce development and support commercial and academic applications

PALO ALTO, Calif. and COMO, Italy, Oct. 15, 2026 — D-Wave Quantum Inc. today announced at Digital Innovation Forum 2026 that its Advantage2 annealing quantum computer has arrived in Lombardy, Italy, for installation at Villa Saporiti in Como. Funded by Swiss Quantum Technology SA (“SQT”), the system, referred to within the Q-Alliance ecosystem as the VoltaB1, will give European researchers, universities and businesses access to powerful, production-grade annealing quantum computing technology once installed. Its arrival marks an important step in Q-Alliance’s work to turn Italy’s quantum ambitions into research capabilities, practical applications and industrial opportunity.

The VoltaB1 Advantage2 annealing quantum computer will be formally inaugurated at Q-Alliance’s “Quantum per l’Italia” event on October 16, at the historic Villa Saporiti. Held as part of the lead-up to the bicentennial of Alessandro Volta’s death, D-Wave CEO Dr. Alan Baratz will deliver remarks during the special ceremony, which includes representatives from research, industry and government. The ceremony follows D-Wave’s momentous signing of the Volta Declaration at the World Tech Conference in Milan in June 2026, which established a framework for cooperation on quantum, artificial intelligence and sovereign computing infrastructure.

“Bringing Italy’s first annealing quantum computer to Como marks a historic milestone toward making quantum computing a working capability for Italian innovation and industry,” said Dr. Baratz. “Italy has exceptional scientific talent and industrial strength. Together with SQT and Q-Alliance, we can give Italian teams the technology and hands-on experience to tackle complex problems, develop applications that can move into production, and build expertise in the country. That is how quantum infrastructure becomes industrial advantage.”

The system’s arrival follows a €10 million agreement between D-Wave and SQT to deploy an annealing quantum computer in Europe. Under the agreement, SQT acquired 50% of the system’s capacity for five years and holds an option to purchase the full system. Once operational, the Advantage2 system will be accessible through D-Wave’s Leap real-time quantum cloud service, which offers 99.9% availability and uptime.

“The arrival of the Advantage2 system in Lombardy puts physical infrastructure behind our vision for Italian quantum innovation,” said Thomas F. Darden, acting CEO, SQT. “Our investment is intended to connect researchers and businesses with advanced computing resources, support the development of useful applications and help build the expertise that will sustain Italy’s role in the quantum economy.”

Featuring more than 4,400 qubits, the Advantage2 system is D-Wave’s most advanced annealing quantum computer and has demonstrated the ability to outperform classical computing on a complex materials simulation problem that would have taken one of the world’s most powerful classical supercomputers nearly one million years and the world’s annual electricity consumption to solve. Today, some of the world’s largest organizations across aviation, manufacturing, telecommunications and health care are using the Advantage2 system to address real-world problems, spanning optimization, materials simulation and artificial intelligence.

More from HPCwire

• Pasqal Inaugurates Italy’s 1st Neutral-Atom Quantum Computer, 3rd Pasqal System in Europe
• D-Wave Helps Launch Q-Alliance to Build Italy’s Quantum Computing Hub in Lombardy

About D-Wave Quantum Inc.

D-Wave (NASDAQ: QBTS) is a leader in the development and delivery of quantum computing systems, software, and services. It is the world’s first commercial supplier of quantum computers, and the first and only to offer dual-platform quantum computing products and services, spanning both annealing and gate-model quantum computing technologies. D-Wave’s mission is to help customers realize the value of quantum today through enterprise-grade systems available on-premises and via its Leap quantum cloud service, which offers 99.9% availability and uptime. More than 100 organizations across commercial, government and research sectors trust D-Wave to address complex computational challenges using quantum computing. Learn more about realizing the value of quantum computing today and how D-Wave is shaping the quantum-driven industrial and societal advancements of tomorrow: https://www.dwavequantum.com.

Source: D-Wave

The post D-Wave Delivers Italy’s 1st Annealing Quantum Computer appeared first on HPCwire.

Oct. 15, 2026 — The Department of Energy’s (DOE) Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) has commissioned its newest research facility, the Translational Research Capability (TRC), a multidisciplinary center located only a few hundred yards away from the historic Graphite Reactor.

ORNL Senior Research Scientist Ben Lawrie, center, shows off a dilution refrigeration unit in one of the TRC quantum labs. The dilution refrigeration unit can reach temperatures of only four kelvin, colder than the deepest reaches of space, allowing research in a variety of quantum information science disciplines. Credit: Carlos Jones/ORNL.

The Graphite Reactor, a national historic landmark still standing at ORNL, was built during the Manhattan Project and was the world’s first continuously operating nuclear reactor. More than eight decades later, research in the TRC builds on a foundation created during ORNL’s earliest work.

A unique and versatile example of ORNL’s emphasis on collaboration across disciplines, the TRC incorporates a range of programs from several major research areas at the lab. Its specialized design encourages frequent researcher interaction to advance both laboratory and national priorities by exploring topics such as materials, quantum information science, energy storage, nuclear energy and national security. Many innovative TRC research programs thriving today are rooted in groundbreaking research at the Graphite Reactor.

The 100,000-square-foot TRC was custom-built for scientific exploration on the former site of the Clinton Engineer Works headquarters — the site of which later became ORNL — and is now fully operational. The lab celebrated the commissioning of the TRC this week with an open house and dedication to mark the occasion.

Specialized equipment has been installed throughout the TRC, with a host of customized features incorporated into the design of the building specifically to facilitate the science mission. TRC showcases one-of-a-kind capabilities, like the most arid dry lab in the DOE complex, enabling innovative research in energy storage. Quantum research requires incredibly delicate instrumentation, so the quantum labs have floors mechanically isolated from the building to reduce vibration while continuous aluminum shielding embedded in the walls and floors protects from electromagnetic interference.

A Powerful Past Reverberates Today

ORNL’s iconic post-WWII neutron pioneers and Nobel Prize winners, including the lab’s first research director Eugene Wigner, paved the way for the TRC. Their efforts led directly to iconic ORNL facilities like the High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR), a leading international research reactor since the 1960s, and the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS), the world’s most powerful accelerator-based pulsed neutron source.

“Eugene Wigner is known for the Wigner effect, resulting from neutron irradiation in graphite,” said Yutai Kato, Materials Science and Technology Division director. “This closely relates to his original vision for ORNL, where physical science and nuclear technology intersect. Historic ORNL research on molten salt corrosion, nickel alloy development and creep study connect directly to what we do today in these areas at the TRC.”

Developing Materials to Withstand Extreme Conditions

The lab’s foundations rest on the critical materials science research of the early 1940s that made the Graphite Reactor possible. Not only graphite, but aluminum, uranium, plutonium and various alloys would play key roles.

Today, TRC researchers use specialized equipment to develop and test materials for demanding energy and industrial applications. Large laboratory spaces and material-handling equipment allow researchers to process and study materials at scales difficult to accommodate in conventional laboratories.

Other specialized materials efforts that branch out from early Graphite Reactor research include the Severe Accident Test Station, where a distant cousin to the lab’s early fission-specific accident research continues. ORNL’s Accident-Tolerant Fuel Analysis evaluates advanced nuclear fuels, and Ceramic Matrix Composites research develops tougher, lighter composites for use in aerospace and energy systems.

The study of Corrosion — how materials degrade in extreme environments — and Creep — how structured materials like alloys and ceramics deform over time under extreme stress and temperatures — were foundational concerns for research when designing and building the Graphite Reactor. Both remain essential to a variety of ORNL research today, with much of that work taking place at the TRC.

From Reactor Calculation to Scientific Computing

Although mechanical computing at the Graphite Reactor during wartime was minimal, some manual modeling did occur and dealt with complex calculations.

“Science is a numbers game, and the early nuclear work required extensive calculations,” said Bill Cabage, retired ORNL science writer. “ORACLE, the lab’s first vacuum-tube- powered showpiece computer, was one of the first breakthroughs aided by computation simulation, occurring with ORNL’s ion channeling research in the early 1960s.”

In the early 1990s, ORNL reemerged as a force in scientific computing, as the value of computational simulation was increasingly appreciated. By the early 21st century, ORNL was home to several record-breaking supercomputers. Those seeds were planted by the computational needs of the early reactor-based research at the Graphite Reactor.

In contrast with the Graphite Reactor’s early days, when humans with a particular computational skillset were referred to as “computers,” computing and computational sciences have become integral to scientific research at ORNL.

From Quantum Physics to Quantum Information Science

“ORNL’s first scientific director, Eugene Wigner, received his Nobel Prize in 1963 not for nuclear engineering, which he practically invented, but for his contributions to the understanding of the role of mathematical symmetry in quantum states and particles,” said Cabage. “We have roots in quantum science here, as well.”

From the modeling of cohesion energies for molten salt droplets to superconducting qubits as a potential source for neutrino detection, physics concepts explored at the Graphite Reactor remain active today.

Quantum information science and technology spans a range of applications, including computing, sensing, materials and networking.

The requirements of quantum research were integrated into the infrastructure of TRC.

“We were involved in the justification, the design, construction progress checks and commissioning of the TRC with the goal of delivering experimental quantum capabilities in quantum networking, computing, sensing and materials that were not previously possible in the existing infrastructure,” said Nicholas Peters, head of the Quantum Information Science Section.

Initial study of quantum physics’ applicability to various technologies — such as lasers and MRIs — were focused on early attempts at manipulation and were often referred to as Quantum Technology 1.0. This approach has evolved into mastering control of quantum mechanical effects, known as Quantum Technology 2.0.

“The Graphite Reactor was an anchor for the research, development and application of Quantum 1.0 technologies that has now become historical for controlling nuclear reactions,” said Travis Humble, director of the lab’s Quantum Science Center. “By comparison, the TRC is a newly formed anchor for Quantum 2.0 technologies, acting as the footprint for our first on-premises quantum computer, the platform for our advanced quantum sensing research and the testbed for our local quantum network.”

If not a direct line, ORNL IT Project Manager Josh Cunningham sees at least a parallel line of symmetry between the lab’s new quantum computer, Pathfinder, and the Graphite Reactor.

“The Graphite Reactor gave researchers access to a novel physical system with which they could conduct experiments that had not previously been possible,” Cunningham said. “Pathfinder serves a similar role today. It puts emerging quantum-computing hardware directly into researchers’ hands, so they can determine what it can do, where it falls short, and how it might be integrated with other scientific capabilities. In that sense, TRC continues the experimental model established across the street — building unique research platforms and then using them to open entirely new areas of science.”

On an historic site closely tied to ORNL’s early history, research at the TRC is breaking new ground with cutting-edge technology designed for future-focused innovation. Like the Graphite Reactor decades in its era, the TRC is enabling new research by unlocking access to unprecedented scientific inquiries. Its links to the past remain strong, but the TRC is already building a legacy all its own.

More than 60 years since it was deactivated, the Graphite Reactor looms large across the entirety of the ORNL campus. As Humble points out, at certain times each day, the TRC lies literally in the Graphite Reactor’s shadow, prompting a question: “Is the impact from this historical icon a standard we should strive for from our modern selves?”

SNS and HFIR are DOE Office of Science user facilities.

UT-Battelle manages ORNL for DOE’s Office of Science, the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States. The Office of Science is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit https://energy.gov/science.

Source: Chris Driver, ORNL

The post ORNL Commissions New Center for Quantum, Materials and Energy Research appeared first on HPCwire.

Messages pulled from Nolan Wells​' phone show what his friends said before and after the 18-year-old disappeared in early July following a boat outing with friends.

Authors withdraw book planned for young readers after disputes with editors over characterizations of 7 October

A book on Palestine for young readers was pulled at Penguin Random House just before its scheduled release, following editorial disputes between the publisher and the book’s Palestinian American authors over their account of Palestinian history.

In November 2024, Random House Children’s Books, a division of Penguin Random House, signed the book deal with Alana Hadid, a philanthropist, activist and older sister of models Bella and Gigi, and Jenan Matari, an author and communications strategist. The book was promoted for release in September this year.

Official guidance says ammonia in animal urine should be watered down to stop it corroding bark

A neighbourhood in Vienna has introduced guidelines for dog walking, including the use of bottled tap water to rinse away urine and protect vulnerable trees.

Neubau, an up-and-coming, densely populated district dotted with cafes and galleries, rolled out the Schönes Gassi (nice dog walk) campaign this week.

Ryanair’s CEO tells CNET that advanced planning tools will mean a better experience for travelers.

Move comes as Senator Elizabeth Warren condemns Barclays response to questions over ex-boss’s ties to sex offender

US lawmakers have unveiled a new bill to hold Wall Street’s “Epstein-connected” bosses to account for helping finance the late sex offender’s crimes.

It came as top Democratic senator Elizabeth Warren condemned the UK bank Barclays for “dodging responsibility” over its failure to vet former boss Jes Staley and his ties to the once well-connected billionaire.

Graphical user interfaces for DOS were a dime-a-dozen back in the ’90s, but of course faded into irrelevance as time went on. But what if you still run DOS today, and want a maintained graphical shell instead of the rather limited DOS command line?

Costa is a small and lightweight application which runs on top of MS-DOS or compatible operating systems. It replaces the DOS-prompt with a clean, user-friendly interface – a so-called GUI (Graphical User Interface). Costa comes packed with a bunch of useful accessories and can be used with or without a mouse.

Developed by Jacob Palm, a Danish IT-professional and hobby developer, the first release of Costa came way back in 2004. Over the years – and through several releases – Costa has gradually evolved into what it is today, with new releases still coming out regularly as of 2025.

↫ Costa website

Costa comes bundled with a number of useful utilities, a few games, and useful features like a desktop with custom icons, virtual desktop support, a file selector, and much more. The latest release, version 1.8.0, was released in late 2024, and should run on just about any IBM PC-compatible, but a 386 is recommended. It’s been tested with a variety of DOS flavours, including FreeDOS ad DOSBox, so it should run pretty much anywhere.

The demands come amid mounting public concerns about the potential risks posed by frontier AI models.

Opening marks the next phase of the university’s largest corporate research partnership, with a research portfolio spanning quantum computing, networking, sensing, and security

COLLEGE PARK, Md., Oct. 15, 2026 — IonQ and the University of Cambridge have announced the opening of the first-ever university-based IonQ Quantum Innovation Centre. The Centre is located at the Ray Dolby Centre, the new home of the University’s Cavendish Laboratory. This initiative brings the University’s largest corporate research partnership from agreement to a physical home at one of the world’s leading facilities for physics research.

The IonQ Quantum Innovation Centre demonstrates the company’s commitment to quantum innovation and academic research within the United Kingdom. Research at the Centre includes co-development of new quantum network nodes and sensing capabilities with the university, and a strengthening of the existing Cambridge-to-Bristol quantum network. IonQ and the University of Cambridge first announced the partnership on March 11, 2026, supporting advanced research and workforce development for quantum technologies.

“The opening of the IonQ Quantum Innovation Centre turns a landmark agreement into a working home for quantum research inside one of the world’s most storied physics laboratories,” said Niccolo de Masi, Chairman and CEO of IonQ. “By bringing quantum computing, networking, sensing, and security research together at Cambridge, we are accelerating the timeline between academic discovery and commercial quantum advantage. This is a long-term commitment to the United Kingdom, built for researchers, start-ups, and industry alike.”

The Centre’s nine inaugural research projects will bring together Cambridge researchers and IonQ specialists to advance quantum hardware and explore new applications across science and industry. Selected by a Joint Steering Committee comprising business and scientific leaders from both organizations, the projects combine Cambridge’s research expertise with IonQ’s capabilities in trapped-ion quantum computing, quantum networking, and device engineering.

Experimental projects address key capabilities for building larger quantum systems. One will develop microscopic mirrors designed to collect light from trapped ions more efficiently, laying the groundwork for optical connections between quantum processors.

Computational projects will investigate how quantum algorithms can solve difficult problems in chemistry, materials science, finance, engineering, and medicine. Highlighted research within this group will construct investment portfolios that maximize expected returns at a given level of risk, model how engineering structures respond to forces, and investigate biological networks to identify potential targets for cancer therapies.

The program draws on Cambridge’s Departments of Physics, Engineering, and Computer Science and Technology, the Milner Therapeutics Institute, and Cambridge Judge Business School. Across the projects, students and postdoctoral researchers will gain experience connecting fundamental research with technology development and applications, helping train the next generation of leaders in quantum science and engineering.

“The official launch of the IonQ Quantum Innovation Centre is an exciting milestone in our partnership with IonQ, which will help Cambridge and the UK stay at the forefront of the quantum revolution,” said Professor Mete Atatüre, Head of the Cavendish Laboratory. “The announcement of the first round of the funded research projects celebrates the depth and breadth of expertise and talent at Cambridge, and will accelerate our impact in quantum science and engineering.”

IonQ will deploy a Superion 256-qubit quantum computer and an entanglement-distribution quantum network at the University. This quantum technology will support related work involving quantum memory chips and frequency-conversion technologies, as well as provide access to IonQ quantum computers through the IonQ cloud. The on-campus IonQ quantum network will consist of two Quantum Networking Data Centres and three Quantum Networking Nodes. As part of the collaboration, Innovate UK, the UK’s innovation agency, will provide access and computing time for the National Quantum Computing Centre (NQCC) over three years.

“The Centre combines Cambridge’s research strength with IonQ’s networking, sensing, and security capabilities. It transforms into a facility where new quantum network nodes, sensing techniques, and the intellectual property behind them are developed side by side,” said Jordan Shapiro, President, Quantum Platform at IonQ. “That work feeds directly into our platform roadmap, and it gives researchers, partners, and customers a stronger foundation to build on.”

The partnership supports new academic positions, postdoctoral fellows, and PhD students at Cambridge, and aligns with the UK National Quantum Strategy. The Centre also deepens IonQ’s presence in the United Kingdom.

About IonQ

IonQ, Inc. (NYSE: IONQ) is the world’s leading quantum platform and foundry – delivering integrated quantum solutions across computing, networking, sensing, and security. IonQ’s newest generation of quantum computers, the Superion, is the latest in a line of cutting-edge systems. Earlier systems have helped customers and partners including Amazon Web Services, AstraZeneca, and NVIDIA achieve a 20x performance increase over previous quantum solutions and accelerate innovation in drug discovery, materials science, financial modeling, logistics, cybersecurity, and defense. In 2025, the company achieved 99.99% two-qubit gate fidelity, setting a world record in quantum computing performance.

Headquartered in College Park, Maryland, IonQ has operations across North America, Latin America, EMEA, and APAC. Our quantum computing services have been available through all major cloud providers since 2021, while we also meet the needs of networking and sensing customers across land, sea, air, and space. IonQ is making quantum platforms more accessible and impactful than ever before. Learn more at IonQ.com.

Source: IonQ

The post IonQ and Cambridge Open Quantum Innovation Center at Cavendish Laboratory appeared first on HPCwire.

Ubuntu 26.10 has landed.

Ubuntu 26.10 brings significant progress for security, and strengthens the platform with the full adoption of Rust-based coreutils, post-quantum-ready package signing, and expanded TPM-backed full-disk encryption support. Enterprise authentication gains deeper integration with Microsoft Entra ID, including password and multi-factor authentication. Linux kernel 7.3 extends support for the latest hardware, alongside new RISC-V desktop images and optimized amd64v3 installation images.

↫ Ubuntu 26.10 release announcement

Of course, it comes with the latest version of GNOME, and the whole family of Ubuntu variants focusing on other desktops have also been updated. While I doubt many people here run Ubuntu, it’s still quite popular, and serves as the base for countless other distributions.

As enterprises and governments scale their use of quantum computing, Pasqal’s information security management system is independently certified against the internationally recognized standard

PARIS, Oct. 15, 2026 — Pasqal, a global leader in neutral-atom quantum computing, today announced that its Information Security Management System (ISMS) has achieved ISO/IEC 27001:2022 certification, the internationally recognized standard for information security, cybersecurity and privacy protection. The certification provides customers, particularly in regulated industries, with independent assurance that Pasqal systematically identifies, assesses, and manages information security risks across its certified activities, as they transition quantum computing from pilots to production.

As quantum computing expands into increasingly sensitive and business-critical applications, from financial risk modeling to energy systems and advanced materials research, organizations expect their technology partners to demonstrate effective risk management and compliance, with internationally recognized security standards.

“In quantum computing, trust is not a feature you add once the technology works. It has to be built in from the first qubit,” said Wasiq Bokhari, CEO of Pasqal. “Our customers are preparing to run some of their most sensitive workloads on quantum computers. That is why we have built information security into the way we design, develop, produce and support our solutions, and this certification recognizes that work.”

Certified by SGS under COFRAC accreditation after an independent audit, Pasqal’s Information Security Management System (ISMS) covers activities related to the design, development, industrialization, deployment, maintenance and support of quantum computing solutions and associated services across its sites in France, Canada and Saudi Arabia. This scope includes hardware R&D, QPU production, software development, product management, sales, procurement, operations and corporate functions, including legal and intellectual property.

About Pasqal

Pasqal (Nasdaq: PSQL) helps organizations tackle problems that are difficult or impossible to solve with conventional computing methods alone. Founded in 2019 on Nobel Prize–winning research, Pasqal builds and operates neutral-atom quantum computers, delivered with a full software stack, for industry, science, and governments. Pasqal’s production-ready systems are available both on-premises and through the cloud, enabling organizations to harness quantum computing without requiring in-house quantum expertise. A single hardware platform supports analog workloads today and is designed to evolve toward fault-tolerant quantum computing in the future.

Headquartered in France with operations globally, Pasqal’s quantum computing systems are used by customers across energy, financial services and advanced materials to address complex challenges. Pasqal’s customers include Saudi Aramco, Crédit Agricole CIB, LG Electronics and supported by partnerships with NVIDIA and IBM (Pasqal is part of the IBM Quantum Network).

Source: Pasqal

The post Pasqal Earns ISO 27001 Certification to Support Enterprise Quantum Adoption appeared first on HPCwire.

I’m wearing them now, and the display improvements have won me over, even compared with my current favorite, the Viture Beast.

Oct. 15, 2026 — A long-standing collaboration with the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) at the University of California San Diego has helped provide the computing expertise for the search for high-energy neutrinos from space, work recognized this week with the 2026 Nobel Prize in Physics.

The NSF IceCube Neutrino Observatory. Credit: Martin Wolf, NSF IceCube

Francis Halzen, the University of Wisconsin–Madison physicist whose vision and leadership helped establish the IceCube Neutrino Observatory, was awarded the prize on October 6 “for decisive contributions to the IceCube Neutrino Observatory and the discovery of high-energy neutrinos of astrophysical origin.” The recognition also marks a moment of celebration for SDSC – a division of the at the Halıcıoğlu School of Data Science and Computing – which has partnered with IceCube for more than a decade to advance the computing infrastructure supporting its science

“IceCube’s discoveries depend not only on the detector at the South Pole, but also on our ability to simulate and interpret what it observes,” Halzen said. “For more than a decade, our partnership with SDSC has brought computing expertise and resources to that challenge, helping us turn observations of elusive particles into new insights about the universe.”

At the South Pole, IceCube uses light sensors embedded in a cubic kilometer of Antarctic ice to detect the rare interactions of neutrinos, which are elusive particles that usually pass through matter unnoticed. Halzen first presented his vision for the observatory in 1988. Completed in 2011, IceCube subsequently detected high-energy neutrinos originating beyond our solar system, helping establish a new field of astronomy. Those observations showed that neutrinos could serve as cosmic messengers, offering scientists a new way to study some of the universe’s most energetic and distant phenomena.

“Neutrinos are special in that high-energy light is absorbed before it reaches Earth, but neutrinos can travel across the universe largely undisturbed,” explained SDSC Director Frank Würthwein, who holds faculty appointments at UC San Diego in the Physics Department and the Halıcıoğlu Data Science Institute. “A wide range of the most extreme events in the universe can thus be only studied with either neutrinos or gravitational waves.”

Behind that scientific work is a substantial computing challenge. SDSC and IceCube have collaborated on the cyberinfrastructure needed to run large-scale simulations and bring distributed computing resources together for research.

One particularly ambitious demonstration took place on Nov. 16, 2019, when SDSC and the Wisconsin IceCube Particle Astrophysics Center ran an approximately two-hour experiment using some 51,500 graphics processing units, or GPUs, across Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud Platform Supported by a U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) EAGER grant, the collaboration brought together resources across 28 cloud regions in North America, Europe and Asia to run IceCube simulations.

The “cloudburst” showed how researchers could temporarily assemble computing capacity on an extraordinary scale rather than rely on a single facility. Using HTCondor software, the team integrated the cloud GPUs into one resource pool, allowing IceCube researchers in Wisconsin to conduct simulations to a globally distributed system coordinated through SDSC. The experiment was executed by SDSC scientific software developer Igor Sfiligoi and IceCube production software manager David Schultz.

Explained Wurthwein: “We demonstrated how close collaboration between scientists and computing specialists could expand the resources available for computationally intensive research workloads.”

That partnership extends beyond a single experiment. IceCube’s scientific computing needs have helped inform SDSC’s approach to systems including Expanse, Prototype National Research Platform (PNRP) and Cosmos, connecting infrastructure development with the practical demands of discovery.

As Halzen receives physics’ highest honor, SDSC celebrates both his scientific leadership and the sustained collaboration that helps IceCube researchers pursue new questions about the universe.

Read more about Halzen’s award on the NSF News site.

Source: SDSC

The post SDSC Computing Helps Power Nobel-Winning IceCube Research appeared first on HPCwire.

Discovery of grenades prompted a neighborhood lockdown and a visit from the Austin police department’s bomb squad

A buyer at a Texas estate sale discovered several second world war-era grenades in a box of newly bought items, prompting a neighbourhood lockdown and a visit from the Austin police department’s bomb squad.

The grenades, which were described as “live and active” in a social media post by the Austin police association, were removed and disarmed.

Talarico casts himself as a moderate who would put Texans’ needs over party allegiances amid close contest against Republican Ken Paxton

James Talarico, the Texas Democratic nominee for Senate, sat face to face with skeptical Republicans and independents voters who grilled him on a slew of contentious issues including Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, abortion and foreign aid, during a CNN town hall co-hosted by the Jubilee Media digital platform on Wednesday.

One voter, a young Republican activist who volunteered at the party’s midterm convention in Dallas last month and recently appeared on Fox News as a supporter of Talarico’s opponent, questioned the authenticity of Talarico’s faith, referencing a past remark where he described God as nonbinary.

The Department’s amended award will support GlobalFoundries’ $5 billion investment at its existing facilities in Malta, New York, and Burlington, Vermont

WASHINGTON, Oct. 15, 2026 — The Department of Commerce’s CHIPS Program Office has agreed with GlobalFoundries to amend its existing award and reallocate up to $955 million in incentives under the CHIPS and Science Act.

The amendment will increase the portion of an existing CHIPS Program award allocated to GlobalFoundries’ modernization and expansion of its semiconductor manufacturing facilities in Malta, NY and Burlington, VT. As part of the amendment, GlobalFoundries has agreed to expand its capital investment in these facilities to $5 billion. The total amount of the existing CHIPS Program award will not be increased.

The investment will expand domestic manufacturing capacity for technologies increasingly critical to communications infrastructure and data centers, including silicon photonics, silicon-germanium and the first U.S.-based source of silicon interposers supporting advanced packaging technologies.

“GlobalFoundries is expanding its investment to develop and manufacture critical semiconductor technologies enabling data center and high-performance compute infrastructure,” said Bill Frauenhofer, Executive Director for Semiconductor Innovation and Investment at the Department of Commerce. “The CHIPS Program award supports GlobalFoundries efforts to onshore and accelerate the development of these important semiconductor components.”

GlobalFoundries is a leading manufacturer of essential semiconductors, enabling technologies from the cloud to the physical world. Through deep partnerships with customers, GlobalFoundries delivers differentiated, power efficient, and high-performance solutions for automotive, aerospace and defense, data center, smart mobile devices, internet of things and other high growth markets.

More from HPCwire

• GlobalFoundries Finalizes $375M CHIPS Funding Agreement for Quantum R&D
• GlobalFoundries to Receive $300M CHIPS Award for Silicon Photonics R&D
• Commerce Department Finalizes CHIPS Act Awards, Adds $75M for GlobalFoundries Expansion

Source: U.S. Dept. of Commerce

The post Commerce Dept. Reallocates Up to $955M in GlobalFoundries CHIPS Funding appeared first on HPCwire.

Discover-Tech’s Controlium software lets clients mass-profile internet users then covertly hack targets, say researchers at University of Toronto

An Israeli advertising agency has been serving millions of online adverts that allow “zero-click” spyware to be used against targets, researchers at a Canadian university have said.

Citizen Lab, a digital investigations research unit at the University of Toronto, said it believed dozens of devices at the Qatari broadcaster Al Jazeera had been compromised by spyware delivered through ads run by Discover-Tech, which describes itself as a specialised digital advertising agency.

Palatine, IL — An Illinois teenager has been arrested after prosecutors say he planned a mass shooting targeting a Hindu temple in the Aurora area and circulated a racist manifesto describing his intent to kill as many people as possible.

Alexandros Paporakis, 19, faces felony charges including making a terrorist threat and unlawful possession of weapons. Authorities arrested him Sunday as he left his home after coworkers reported disturbing messages and an eight-page document allegedly titled “Why I fought: A.K.A. (Aurora Shooter’s Manifesto).”

Prosecutors say the document contained racist and antisemitic language targeting Indian, Jewish and Black people and described the author as a white supremacist and neo-Nazi who frequently fantasized about mass murder.

Police said a search of Paporakis’ home uncovered an unserialized AR-style rifle, loaded magazines, ammunition, Nazi-related items and a gas canister marked with an anti-South Asian slur.

Investigators believe the alleged attack was intended for Sunday after Paporakis reportedly told coworkers the day would be “special.” Authorities have not publicly identified the specific temple they believe was targeted.

India’s government condemned the alleged plot and called for a thorough investigation and stronger protections against hate-motivated violence.

A judge ordered Paporakis held in custody pending trial. He is scheduled to return to court Oct. 30.

Sources:

• Washington Examiner – MBFC Rating

The post Prosecutors Say Teen Planned White Supremacist Mass Shooting at Hindu Temple appeared first on News Facts Network.

Vessels in the Strait of Hormuz still face "indiscriminate attacks" even if they switch off tracking systems, a maritime risk firm warns.

Voters’ opposition to the state of Trump’s economy is well established – despite his desperate attempts to deflect

• Our reporters answer your questions about the US economy and the midterm elections

It’s indisputable that the political polarization of our time has reduced (and confused) the influence of economic conditions on US elections.

In September of 2024, in the waning weeks of the Joe Biden presidency, 65% of Republicans believed the US economy was getting worse. About six months later, as Donald Trump launched a trade war on the rest of the world with his “liberation day” tariffs, the share of Republican pessimists had dropped to 33%.

Wilfa is launching in the US today with blenders, coffee makers and more.

Whether you’re a fashionista, a power user or a tech nerd, the Duo is a pretty specific device with a high starting price.

Irish author Sally Rooney's books are no longer being supplied to U.K. retailers over her support for the banned group Palestine Action.

Speaking at IMF meeting, chancellor says he will stick to fiscal rules while recognising business and living costs

• UK politics live – latest updates

• Business live – latest updates

John Healey has promised to use his first budget in a fortnight’s time to offer consumers and businesses a “breathing space” while sticking to Labour’s fiscal rules.

Speaking to journalists in Bangkok, where he has been attending the International Monetary Fund annual meetings, the chancellor said he was conscious of rising costs.

President Zelenskyy accused Donald Trump of taking Russia’s side after access to the vital system was throttled. Plus, a happy ending for a dog that was missing for a month

Good morning. Ukraine’s president has said he feels “betrayed” by Donald Trump over a throttling of Starlink access. Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused the US president of picking the other side after more than four years of war, risking a breakdown in US-Ukraine relations.

Ukraine’s military reported that the communications system, produced by Elon Musk’s SpaceX but managed by the US government, was no longer working on terminals moving at speeds greater than 100mph. That effectively rendered most of the drones used by Ukraine to strike behind the frontlines inoperable and affected the country’s best air defence system to stop Russian jet-powered attack drones bombing Kyiv.

What is the likely impact of the loss of Starlink? The Ukrainian human rights activist Oleksandra Matviichuk said: “Without that protection, Russian drones will strike residential buildings, hospitals and schools like targets in a shooting gallery.” However, Starlink is not required for long-range Ukrainian missions that target Russian oil refineries, which Trump has been concerned because of their impact on world energy prices.

How is Israel blocking Trump’s plans for Gaza? Israel is refusing to allow a key project for Donald Trump’s Board of Peace to proceed. In early August, it issued its first construction contract, for a military outpost to host 150 international troops as a vanguard of an international stabilization force. Two months later, Israel has still not allowed the contract to move forward.

Ex-leader deserves ‘every day of lengthy sentence,’ says DUP

• Jeffrey Donaldson sentenced to 15 years

The DUP has disowned its former leader and condemned his crimes but faced a backlash from supporters amid allegations the party turned a blind eye to other misbehaviour by Donaldson, including drunkenness and sexual harassment.

The jury in the four-week trial found that his wife, Eleanor, aided and abetted her husband’s offending. The 60-year-old was deemed unfit to stand trial on mental health grounds and faced a trial of the facts, which tests evidence but does not result in a criminal conviction.

This is everything you need to know about Vitamix’s new MaxExtract.

Exclusive: Aleksandar Vučić personally intervened to push plans for controversial $500m Trump Tower in Belgrade, which sparked protests and a criminal case

Serbia’s authoritarian ruler personally intervened to advance an allegedly illegal scheme to hand over a protected site in Belgrade for a Trump tower, the Guardian can reveal.

Aleksandar Vučić summoned officials to a meeting at his presidential offices about the project, which has culminated in a landmark indictment of senior figures from his regime on charges of abuse of public office.

This story was reported and produced by Injustice Watch, a nonprofit newsroom in Chicago that investigates issues of equity and justice in the court system. Sign up here to get their weekly newsletter.

After being detained for five days in an airport hotel, a mother filed suit against a longtime Immigration and Customs Enforcement contractor on behalf of herself and her now 23-month-old son, alleging false imprisonment among other counts.

The lawsuit was filed on September 29, more than a year after an investigation by Injustice Watch and The Intercept revealed MVM Inc. had confined Valentina Galvis, an asylum-seeker from Colombia, and her then seven-month-old infant, a U.S. citizen, in a room at the Sonesta Chicago O’Hare Airport Rosemont last summer. In that reporting, Galvis had described her captivity in stark terms, detailing how she and her son were locked in a room with no way to communicate with the outside world and no idea when, if ever, they would be set free.

Galvis is seeking monetary damages for the alleged harm and injury she and her child suffered as a result of the detention following their arrest by ICE at a Chicago immigration court in June 2025. Galvis named the Sonesta International Hotels Corporation and affiliated companies that own and operate the hotel as defendants in the complaint. 

The lawsuit also named five Sonesta and two MVM executives and employees. It identifies JoAnna Granado as the MVM employee who transported Galvis and her son from the hotel to a federal office in Chicago on the day they were released, drawing on the original reporting in which Granado confirmed she was involved in the family’s detention.

Related

ICE Contractor Locked a Mother and Her Baby in a Hotel Room for Five Days

Granado and other individuals named in the suit couldn’t be reached for comment. MVM didn’t respond to questions about the lawsuit. During the original investigation, Sonesta said that it “does not condone illegal behavior of any kind” at its hotels. The company declined to comment on the lawsuit. 

The suit accused both the ICE contractor and the hotel of detaining Galvis and her child for profit, and alleged the companies engaged in a civil conspiracy by working together to use the hotel room as a detention cell.

“MVM, a federal contractor, physically seized, transported, and confined Ms. Galvis and her infant son,” the suit claimed. “Sonesta knowingly provided and maintained the hotel room used as a makeshift detention cell, profiting from the arrangement while a mother and her infant were locked inside.” 

The suit seeks more than $50,000 in compensatory damages, plus punitive damages, and demands a jury trial.

In the complaint, Galvis alleged that her detention at MVM’s hands caused her and her baby a range of physical, emotional, and caregiving harm. Her son had just recently started transitioning to solid foods before the pair were seized by ICE; the suit alleged the infant was provided only scraps of food that were nutritionally inadequate for his age. Meanwhile, confinement-induced stress caused Galvis to decrease her breastmilk production at a time when her son needed it most. 

Her baby suffered sleep disturbance and a worsening skin condition, the lawsuit claimed. While MVM had given Galvis an adequate change of clothing, the garments provided for her baby didn’t fit him. Because no laundry service was available, Galvis “washed [the infant’s] clothing in the bathroom sink multiple times,” she stated in an affidavit filed with the court, hanging “the wet clothes near the bed where the air conditioning would dry them quickly.” The infant wore only diapers while his clothes were being washed, and left the hotel on a Tuesday wearing the same outfit he’d worn since he and Galvis were detained by ICE the previous Thursday, according to the affidavit.

Related

ICE Deleted Reviews for Deaths in Custody That Cited Shoddy Medical Care

In court documents, Galvis alleged MVM confined her and her infant to a room near O’Hare International Airport. Galvis said she was sometimes told she would be taken to a Texas detention center and, on one occasion, that she would be deported to Colombia. She was released by MVM after a federal judge ordered that Galvis and her baby couldn’t be removed from Illinois. 

The practice of using hotel rooms as makeshift detention sites has drawn little media attention; far more scrutiny has centered on conditions inside the growing network of ICE detention centers around the country. An inspector general’s report published last month found that ICE had failed to manage its detention space contracts. When asked about it at a September 30 press conference, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin defended facility conditions, saying detention centers meet and often exceed federal standards — and that comfort isn’t the department’s priority.

“We’re not providing Holiday Inns,” said Mullin.

Related

Inside the Business of Trump’s Third-Country Deportations

While ICE agents don’t generally place people in hotels, the agency contracts with MVM to transport immigrant children and families; the contractor sometimes places them in hotel rooms across the U.S. Since fiscal year 2020, MVM has received more than $1.3 billion in ICE contracts, much of it for transporting families. 

The lawsuit doesn’t name the federal government as a defendant. 

William G. McLean III, who represents Galvis and her baby, underscored the companies’ role in their confinement. “The corporate defendants in this case unlawfully imprisoned and permanently traumatized my clients,” he said, “over five terrifying days after the Department of Homeland Security illegally arrested them.”

Galvis remains at risk of deportation — a final decision on her asylum claim is still pending in immigration court. She’s currently in therapy after an evaluation determined she’s experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder resulting from the detention.  

“I isolate myself to avoid anything that reminds me of what happened. I stay home and I do not go outside unless I really need to,” she said in an affidavit. 

“Even now, when I go out, I get very nervous, and I feel terror.”

The post Mother Sues ICE Contractor for Jailing Her and Her Baby in a Hotel Room appeared first on The Intercept.

Bank of America hired 1,000 outside contractors to help patch software vulnerabilities exposed by advanced AI models, including Anthropic's Mythos. The effort added hundreds of millions of dollars in third-quarter expenses. CNBC reports: In an interview after the bank's third-quarter earnings release, [CEO Brian Moynihan] said that earlier this year the company rushed to bolster a wide spectrum of its internal and vendor code using thousands of employees and outside personnel. "That risk is real risk, and that's why when the frontier-type models came out. ... A lot of us sat down and said, 'How do we figure out how to get through this quickly?'" Moynihan told CNBC's Leslie Picker. "We put on 1,000 contractors to help us do the patching work in the second quarter, and those people remain here today, helping us, on top of the 3,000 people we have in that area," he said. The bank spent a "couple hundred million plus" on the software remediation and regulatory issues related to anti-money laundering compliance in the third quarter, Moynihan told analysts earlier Wednesday.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

As Americans use apps like DoorDash and Uber Eats more habitually, they confront the guilt of paying extra fees for convenience

When it comes to food, Caroline Bauldree does not like to “deprive” herself of anything. She does not like to cook either, so that means a lot of food deliveries. “If I want sushi, I’m getting sushi,” said the 24-year-old nanny, who lives in Raleigh, North Carolina. “I’m definitely lazy in that regard.”

Bauldree got into the habit of near-daily DoorDashing back in college. “I could order whatever food from whatever restaurant and it showed up at my door – that’s the dream,” she said. “But then I just feel like crap about myself because I’m like, ‘wow, I’m a lazy piece of shit.’ Nine times out of 10, I feel bad about myself.”

Family express concerns about William Chapman’s contact with mental health services before his death

A man who was killed by a tiger at a South Yorkshire zoo had bouts of psychosis, his family told an inquest opening, as they expressed concerns about his contact with mental health services before his death.

William Chapman was mauled to death by the animal at Yorkshire Wildlife Park in Doncaster on Saturday, after climbing into its enclosure.

Almost 30 students and a teacher were killed when the roof of a small private school collapsed in Peshawar, Pakistan, local officials say.

Exclusive: Trump has falsely claimed Afrikaners are facing ‘white genocide’, but very few have applied to live in US

The US government could spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on a media campaign in South Africa to figure out why more white Afrikaners are not applying to become refugees to the US, as Donald Trump had hoped.

State department officials, according to an August proposal seen by the Guardian, outlined a roughly $335,000 research and advertising effort after applications to the refugee program “trended lower than expected” since Afrikaners were allowed to apply directly online in November 2025. The document, written by the US mission in South Africa with a department research unit for the embassy in Pretoria, admits officials know little about why.

Claims that James Talarico suffered a mental health crisis spread across rightwing media, offering a warning about disinformation ahead of the US midterm election

Where is James Talarico? The question ricocheted around rightwing echo chambers before metastasising into a conspiracy theory – and a reminder of the persistent danger of disinformation in the US midterm elections.

The smear campaign began when Talarico, the Democratic candidate for the US Senate in Texas, was not seen in public for nine days. His campaign was slow to explain why. While nature abhors a vacuum, Donald Trump and social media seize on one and weaponise it.

Kimberly Guilfoyle’s departure has renewed scrutiny of the president’s picks for diplomatic posts, from France to Jamaica

Donald Trump has appointed family members, friends and loyal political allies to represent the US on the world stage, dispatching an extraordinary array of characters to embassies across the world.

While presidents of both parties have long rewarded donors and allies with plum ambassadorships, Trump has chosen loyalists willing to go to bat for him regardless of the implications for US-foreign relationships.

Last month, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott repeated a claim he’s made for the past five years. He stated that the number of people crossing the Texas-Mexico border illegally “posed an ongoing and imminent threat” across the state. In doing so, he renewed a border security disaster proclamation that has greatly expanded his powers without going through the state Legislature.

Abbott’s declaration stands in sharp contrast to the numbers reported by the Trump administration, which says the drop in the flow of migrants crossing the border has been unprecedented and has reached historic lows since it took over in January 2025. 

Yet, since Abbott first declared an emergency at the border during the Biden administration in 2021, he’s renewed or amended the proclamation at least 69 times — 21 of those during Trump’s tenure. 

The Republican governor, who is running for his fourth term next month, has consolidated power like no Texas governor before him, building on his predecessors’ efforts to strengthen what by design is supposed to be a “weak governor” state as the constitution limits what can be done without legislative approval, ProPublica and The Texas Tribune have reported. One of the methods he’s used to do that is issuing executive orders and disaster declarations that allow him to shift funds, suspend regulations and award no-bid contracts at times of emergency. 

Since January 2025, two of the top agencies involved with border enforcement — the Department of Public Safety and the Texas Military Department — have awarded more than $5 million in noncompetitive contracts citing the emergency for items like a Ford F-150, rifles and apartments, state records show.

“I think it’s unprecedented,” said Cal Jillson, a political science professor at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. “I don’t think that there is a similar example, certainly not as to the length of the emergency, and certainly not after the emergency has seemed to pass.” 

Abbott’s office did not respond to specific questions for this story, including about the noncompetitive contracts, but Deputy Press Secretary Madeline Waschak said in a written statement that the governor has been clear that border security is an ongoing priority.

“The damage caused by four years of failed border policies under Democrat rule did not disappear overnight, and the progress we have made will not sustain itself without continued vigilance,” she wrote.

“Securing the border requires constant, deliberate action to combat illegal crossings, cartel smuggling, fentanyl trafficking, and other criminal activity that threatens public safety in Texas. Governor Abbott will ensure the tools remain in place to safeguard our state as we work alongside the Trump Administration to deter, arrest, detain, and deport illegal immigrants,” she added.

At the time of Abbott’s first border declaration, four months into President Joe Biden’s term, Border Patrol was making more than 180,000 apprehensions along the southwest border in a single month. According to Abbott, the federal government’s inability or unwillingness to enforce immigration laws had created a humanitarian crisis in many communities in Texas. 

“The Biden Administration’s open-border policies have enabled escalating violence from the cartels, dramatically increased the risk of human trafficking, and created a severe crisis of illegal drugs crossing into the United States,” the order stated.

Since then, apprehensions along the southwest border have dropped on average to about 8,000 a month this year. 

The border security declaration remains Abbott’s longest continuously running emergency proclamation. Abbott similarly renewed his 2020 COVID-19 disaster declaration for three years, even as he downplayed the severity of the pandemic. 

“This is the quiet power of the governor,” said Brandon Rottinghaus, a professor of political science at the University of Houston. “It’s not something often that they brag about because the more that it becomes a political issue, the more that there might be some contestation of it.”

Other than border security, the governor’s second longest-running emergency declaration is related to droughts. He declared a state disaster in July 2022 and within days amended it bringing the total of counties to 189. He’s continued to renew it, but now it applies to about a third of the counties originally identified.

State lawmakers have repeatedly tried — and failed — to curb the governor’s powers under the state’s disaster act. Last year, legislators from both parties filed at least a handful of measures that would mandate Abbott get approval from the Legislature if he wanted to extend a disaster declaration, but none passed. 

Abbott’s emergency declarations have been accompanied by record spending on border security efforts. Texas budgeted over $11 billion during the Biden administration and allotted an additional $3 billion last year, after Trump took office. 

It’s all part of Abbott’s Operation Lone Star, an initiative he launched in March 2021 contending it was needed to stem the smuggling of drugs and people into the country through Texas. Because of the emergency declaration, police could charge immigrants with criminal trespassing for crossing the border through private property, and the governor was able to shift money from other agencies to fund the operation and build border barriers, deploy the National Guard and get help from other states. 

Much of the funding for Operation Lone Star is funneled through the Texas Military Department and DPS, two of the agencies responsible for major enforcement efforts. But the governor’s share of border spending has also ballooned since Abbott took office over a decade ago. State lawmakers allotted his office nearly $230 million last year to distribute through grants, largely to local prosecutors and government agencies helping the state with Operation Lone Star.

Though the situation on the ground has changed, one aspect of the emergency declaration has remained constant: the ability of state agencies to award noncompetitive contracts. 

DPS and the Texas Military Department have awarded at least six noncompetitive contracts so far during the second Trump administration for work related to the operation where they cite an emergency. This includes a more than $2 million contract to Texas-based CTC Gunworks LLC for rifles and pistols for active-duty personnel. CTC Gunworks officials could not be reached for comment. 

Officials with the Texas Military Department referred questions about its procurement process to the governor’s office. A DPS spokesperson said in a written statement that even though the disaster declaration allows for expedited purchases, the department still follows best practices and “aims to select vendors offering the best value, determined by cost, quality, and ability to meet the specific disaster response requirements.” 

Regarding the specific contracts, the DPS spokesperson said they were purchases tied to existing state contracts.

The continued funding and expansion of Operation Lone Star has come even as it’s been plagued with problems. In 2022, an investigation by ProPublica, the Tribune and The Marshall Project found that the state’s reported success included arrests unrelated to the border or immigration and counted drug seizures made by troopers from across the state who were not directly assigned to the operation. The Tribune and Army Times also exposed poor working conditions, pay delays and suicides among National Guard members deployed as part of Operation Lone Star.

During a Tribune-hosted event this week with state lawmakers from El Paso, Democratic state Rep. Mary González, vice chair of the Appropriations Committee, said state legislators have already started to scale back when it comes to border funding and there’s interest from both sides of the aisle to continue to do so in the upcoming legislative session.

“I think that the problem is that some of that border security money still lies in the governor’s office which has no checks and balances and because we are still under an emergency — which is not an emergency anymore — an emergency border security statement which he can just use that money, you have seen some questionable appropriations under the veil of border security,” she said.

Abbott, however, has repeatedly said that Texas’ work in securing the border is not over.

“We must secure the border not just for the next two years of the Trump administration, but we gotta do it forever,” Abbott said at a press conference in early October where he discussed the federal government’s $7.5 billion reimbursement for border security expenses the state had incurred. 

Rottinghaus said that Texas will always have to confront border crossings and drug trafficking, but the existence of those problems don’t always justify an emergency declaration. 

“Even someone who strongly supports the governor’s board of policies might ask whether they want a future governor of the opposite party using the same interpretation of emergency authority for years,” Rottinghaus said, adding that the issue is that “governors, once they get a power, are hesitant to give it back.”

The post Trump Says the Border Is Secure. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott Keeps Declaring an Emergency. appeared first on ProPublica.

An ad targeting Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Chris Pappas resurrects a line of attack from six years ago, when the New Hampshire congressman was running for his second term. 

The ad from the Senate Leadership Fund, a super PAC supporting Republican candidate John E. Sununu, cites a 2020 debate exchange between Pappas and his Republican opponent, Matt Mowers. 

In the Oct 21, 2020, debate hosted by PolitiFact partner WMUR-TV, Mowers challenged Pappas — New Hampshire’s first openly LGBTQ+ member of Congress — over his relationship with Vann Bentley. Mowers said the relationship with Bentley, then a former Amazon lobbyist, could have tainted several of Pappas’ votes on legislation that Amazon supported or opposed.

“You’ve been dating a corporate lobbyist, who actually was lobbying on behalf of Amazon at a time when you then went on to cast 10 separate votes on Amazon’s behalf, on bills they lobbied you on,” Mowers said. 

Pappas responded, “That’s not true, Matt.”

This year’s Senate Leadership Fund ad, launched Oct. 1, revives the exchange, with a narrator summarizing it by saying: “Pappas lied about dating an Amazon lobbyist, then voted on bills Amazon lobbied on.”

The ad’s claim is misleading.

Mowers acknowledged after the debate that he had no evidence that Pappas did anything illegal, unethical or in violation of House rules.

Did Pappas ‘lie’ about dating an Amazon lobbyist? 

The Pappas campaign told PolitiFact that he and Bentley began dating in spring 2019. The campaign pointed to an Instagram post of the couple from Nov. 27, 2019. 

The debate included back-and-forth accusations and responses — it’s not a clear case of Pappas denying the relationship. 

Mowers: “With all due respect, you’ve been dating a corporate lobbyist, who actually was lobbying on behalf of Amazon at a time when you then went on to cast 10 separate votes on Amazon’s behalf. On bills they lobbied you on.” 

Pappas: “That’s not true Matt. Matt, that’s not true.” 

Mowers: “Yes it is, Congressman. It absolutely is.” 

Pappas accused Mowers of taking money from pharmaceutical companies before Mowers dug back in on Pappas’ relationship with Bentley. 

Mowers: “You’re dating a corporate lobbyist, which by the way, you know, the fact of the matter is, he never disclosed it. You never disclosed it to the people of New Hampshire.” 

Pappas: “That’s not true. Matt, come on.” 

Mowers: “And in fact there’s actually rules and regulations. You have to disclose that, especially gifts from lobbyists, to the House ethics committee. Something you’ve never done. So this is an opportunity for you to come out and speak the truth.” 

Pappas: “Matt, that’s just not true. … This is an outrageous charge.”

According to our search of the internet and the Nexis news database, there were no news articles about the relationship until the day after the 2020 debate, when the New Hampshire Union-Leader reported that Pappas’ campaign “confirmed that he is dating an ex-lobbyist.”

Did Pappas vote on Amazon-related bills while Bentley was lobbying for the company?

There was overlap when Bentley was lobbying for Amazon and Pappas was voting on bills that Amazon wanted passed. The Senate Leadership Fund portrays Pappas’ relationship as the only factor behind his votes, but that omits the broader context of the bills they point to. 

Here’s the relevant career and relationship timeline: In September 2014, Bentley joined Amazon as a legal policy intern, and in May 2015, he was promoted to policy counsel. On Jan. 3, 2019, Pappas was sworn in for his first congressional term. In the spring of 2019, according to the campaign, they started dating. In November 2019, Bentley left Amazon. They married in 2023.

The Senate Leadership Fund cited seven bills Pappas voted on when Bentley was lobbying for Amazon. In some cases, Amazon wanted provisions beneficial to the company, such as federal contracts or limits on technology regulation; in other cases, the company supported broader policies such as anti-discrimination laws or higher minimum wage. Amazon lobbied on each bill.

• Feb. 14, 2019: Pappas voted for an omnibus spending bill to avoid a government shutdown. The measure passed, 300-128, with 87 Republicans joining 213 Democrats in favor. 
• May 17, 2019: Pappas voted for the Equality Act to prohibit discrimination based on sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity. The measure passed, 236-173, with eight Republicans joining 228 Democrats. 
• June 19, 2019: Pappas voted for the Labor and Health and Human Services appropriations bill. The measure passed, 226-203, with no Republicans joining 226 Democrats in favor. 
• July 10, 2019: Pappas voted for the Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act, which changed the rules for employment-based visas, including increases in the annual numbers. The measure passed, 365-65 with 140 Republicans joining 224 Democrats in favor. 
• July 12, 2019: Pappas voted for the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act. The measure passed, 220-197, with no Republicans joining 220 Democrats in favor. 
• July 17, 2019: Pappas voted for a three-year intelligence reauthorization bill. The measure passed, 397-31, with 171 Republicans and 226 Democrats in favor. 
• July 18, 2019: Pappas voted for a bill to raise the federal minimum wage. It passed, 321-199, with three Republicans joining 228 Democrats in favor. 

Amazon listed Bentley as a lobbyist in each of the company’s four 2019 quarterly lobbying-disclosure filings. He was specifically listed as lobbying on several of the bills cited by the Senate Leadership Fund, including defense and intelligence authorization bills, the minimum wage measure and the Equality Act.

However, saying Pappas voted as he did because of Amazon’s wishes ignores important context about these bills. 

Four of the bills were much larger and more impactful than Amazon’s interest in them. Two of the bills were major government funding bills, and one of them was urgent because it ended a government shutdown. Two others were major reauthorization bills for national defense and intelligence. Each of these bills had hundreds or thousands of provisions, most of which had no relevance to issues Amazon was lobbying on.

Pappas also voted with most of the Democratic caucus on all of the bills. 

For at least three of the bills, Pappas’ votes aligned with his past positions or campaign promises. Pappas’ support for the Equality Act preceded his relationship with Bentley; he praised the bill by name in a 2018 WMUR debate. Pappas had also supported a minimum wage hike in a 2018 NHPR debate. And on immigration, Pappas had supported encouraging immigration and expanding the visa process.

For two bills, Pappas voted in a way contrary to Amazon’s position. The defense bill failed to secure a $10 billion cloud services contract Amazon sought from the Pentagon, while the intelligence bill included language requiring a report on the use and regulation of facial recognition technology, a market that Amazon was heavily involved in.

Stanley Brand, a longtime attorney on congressional matters who is now a distinguished fellow in law and government at Penn State Dickinson Law, said there is no explicit prohibition on voting on legislation unless congressional members have a direct financial interest. Brand said the situation with Pappas in 2019 would not have required a recusal. 

Given the weak links to personal benefit to Pappas, “I wouldn’t advise anyone to recuse, which effectively leaves his constituents without a voice on the bill being considered,” Brand said.

Our ruling

The Senate Leadership Fund said Pappas “lied about dating an Amazon lobbyist, then voted on bills Amazon lobbied on.”

The relationship with Bentley may not have been widely known before a 2020 debate, but we found no evidence that Pappas lied about its existence. 

Pappas cast seven votes on bills that Amazon and Bentley lobbied for. However, each vote aligned with the rest of the Democratic caucus, in three cases matched his preexisting views and twice diverged from Amazon’s position.

The statement includes an element of truth but ignores evidence that would give a different impression. We rate it Mostly False.

Weekend Spotlight is a round-up of the five best events to check out in Delaware over the coming weekend, curated by Arts + Culture Editor Cannon Taylor. This edition covers Oct. 16-18, 2026. What should be on our radar for future editions? Let us know!

Ancient Aliens

Embrace delusion at conspiracy theory convention

Sunday, Oct. 18. Siegel JCC. 101 Garden of Eden Road, Wilmington. 10 a.m.-7 p.m. General Admission: $10.

The team behind Delaware-filmed flick “The Conspiracists” are bringing the wild-haired, frenetic fun of the History Channel with ConCon, a conspiracy theory convention ripped straight from the film. 

More in the vein of “Avril Lavigne is a clone” than “9/11 was an inside job,” the event promises an escape from concerning conspiracy theories permeating politics and online echo chambers.

Practice your Bigfoot roar ahead of the contest, become a model in a tin foil hat fashion show, hear about the escapades of Delaware’s paranormal researchers and see if you can suss out which conspiracies are real or fake in a game show competition. The event culminates in a screening of “The Conspiracists” and a Q&A with the cast.

Happy CAMPers

LGBTQ+ nonprofit brings party to Rehoboth

Sunday, Oct. 18. Second Block of Baltimore Ave., Rehoboth Beach. 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Free.

CAMP Rehoboth’s mission to “Create A More Positive Rehoboth” must be paying off, because more than 4,000 people flocked to the coastal town last year for the LGBTQ+ nonprofit’s annual block party. 

This year, the free event will feature local artisans selling goods ranging from sea glass art to body care products. Drag performers Roxy Overbrooke and Amethyst Diamond will emcee the stage. Between their antics will be musical performances from local bands and actors from Clear Space Theatre Company.

Children are welcome at the block party, which will feature activities like chalk art, carnival games and button-making.

Undead Disco

Dance until you drop at Milton Zombie Fest

Saturday, Oct. 17. Hudson Fields. 29763 Eagle Crest Road, Milton. 2-7 p.m. Tickets: $5 online, $10 at gate. Kids 12 and under free.

Do your limbs keep falling off when you’re taking a nap in your coffin? Do you express yourself best through ghoulish shrieks? Do you have an insatiable craving for brains? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you are the perfect participant for The Milton Theatre’s annual Zombie Fest. 

The theme this year is “Undead Disco,” so dust off your bell bottoms and dancing shoes and get ready to party to live bands and DJs. If you don’t have the makeup to zombify yourself at home, artists from The Salon Professional Academy of Delaware can hook you up. 

Beyond dancing, the day will feature a costume contest, circus acts like fire breathing and stilt walking and a “Pyrocalypse” fireworks show at 7 p.m.

Folking Around

Become a folk hero at music festival

Friday, Oct. 16 and Saturday, Oct. 17. 352 Downs Chapel Road, Clayton. Friday 7-11 p.m., Saturday 11 a.m.-11 p.m. General Admission: $10 Friday, $35 Saturday.

Delaware Friends of Folk, the organization behind the 35th annual Delmarva Folk Festival, sure knows how to advertise its acts. 

“This band has given the blues a fresh kick in the a**,” the organization writes about Delaware band Lower Case Blues, which will be closing out the festival this year. 

The weekend will feature many more regional folk acts, a collaborative poem written over the course of the festival and a contest on Friday to determine Delaware Friends of Folk’s 20th “Folk Hero,” an ambassador of the genre. The title is currently held by Milford singer-songwriter Jean Bayou, who will host the contest.

Don’s Just Deserts

Come to The Grand to see ‘a bad man get dragged to hell’

Friday, Oct. 16 and Sunday, Oct. 18. The Grand Opera House. 818 N. Market St., Wilmington. Friday 7:30 p.m., Sunday 2 p.m. Tickets: $29-109.

There’s nothing more satisfying than watching a villain get his comeuppance. That’s never been more true than in Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s opera “Don Giovanni,” which Opera Delaware will perform this weekend. 

The opera follows the titular womanizer, whose body count numbers over 2,000 partners across Europe, as he repeatedly skirts the consequences of his lechery — that is, until a fateful swordfight. Afterwards, Giovanni is haunted by the statue of the man he slayed. 

If you’ve never been to the opera before, there’s no better place to start than with “Don Giovanni.” As Opera Delaware puts it in one of its advertisements, it’s “kinda chic to watch a bad man get dragged to hell.”

The post Weekend Spotlight: Zombies, tin foil hats, folk heroes and more appeared first on Spotlight Delaware.

The president is used to bullying his media targets. The quagmire that is his libel actions shows the broadcaster is working to a different script

For the greatest account of the BBC’s finest hour, one must turn to Penelope Fitzgerald’s novel, Human Voices, written in 1980 and set 40 years earlier, at the corporation’s Portland Place wartime HQ. Flanked by sandbags and infused with a smell of cooking “from the deep hold that suggested more strongly than ever a cruise on the Queen Mary”, the organisation that Fitzgerald describes is at once noble and deeply eccentric. “Broadcasting House stood headed on a fixed course south,” she writes. “With the best engineers in the world, and a crew varying between the intensely respectable and barely sane, it looked ready to scorn any disaster.”

In other words, a formidable foe, one that in the spring of 1940, in the face of anticipated Nazi invasion, decided “without prompting, that truth was more important than consolation, and, in the long run, would be more effective”. I bring this up in respect to the gathering storm of Donald Trump versus the BBC, a fight triggered by the US president’s $10bn defamation lawsuit – $10bn! It’s a wonder he didn’t go for $10 gazillion – brought against the corporation at the end of last year in response to a poorly edited episode of Panorama. The BBC was at fault, editing together comments made by the US president at a rally on 6 January 2021 to give, as the corporation’s apology put it, “the mistaken impression that President Trump had made a direct call for violent action”. But it is fighting the lawsuit.

Emma Brockes is a Guardian columnist

Why Should Delaware Care?
A boom in the construction of data centers to power the artificial intelligence industry has sparked a nationwide backlash over fears that the facilities’ electricity use could cause power bills to surge. New Castle County’s new ordinance is the latest attempt in Delaware to stop that from happening.

The New Castle County Council on Tuesday overwhelmingly passed its second ordinance regulating data centers — with little debate. 

If signed by County Executive Marcus Henry, the new ordinance will mandate that any developer who wants to build a large energy-use facility, including data centers, first prove that there will be enough electricity and transmission infrastructure to support it.

Councilman Dave Carter, the ordinance’s sponsor, said the measure is meant to prevent large energy users from raising the electric bills for homes and businesses, which can occur when there is a massive new demand on power.

The new rule does not apply retroactively, meaning data center proposals already in the county’s approval pipeline will not be subject to it. Still, those pending plans have largely been stalled in the face of resident opposition and state regulations. 

The passage of the ordinance comes after more than a year of discussion and debate in Delaware over how the fast-growing industry could impact energy costs. In response, state and local governments have passed several new rules designed to slow the industry’s growth.

A day before New Castle County adopted its new regulation, Dover approved an ordinance to impose a moratorium on data center construction.

During the New Castle County meeting Tuesday, council members posed few questions about the ordinance, marking a sharp contrast from an acrimonious debate over the first slate of data center regulations that the county passed earlier this year. 

At that time, dozens of union members associated with the Delaware Building Trades filled the County Council chambers during meetings to lobby against the regulations.

No such pressure was applied on Tuesday.

“It was a lot easier to get this piece through, which tells me how much the public sentiment has changed,” Carter said in an interview. 

The first set of regulations was also more expansive. It included new rules that require data centers to maintain buffer zones around them, and to use energy-efficient backup generators, among other requirements. 

The newest ordinance also is similar to a law that the state legislature passed in June. That law requires large energy users, such as data centers, to enter into energy service agreements meant to ensure they pay the full costs of the electricity they use. 

If a developer can’t agree to the terms of that agreement, then a utility would not have to provide power to it, the law states. 

Carter said he thinks his ordinance is necessary to make sure the county and state approval processes are aligned. 

“This is a helpful tool to make sure that we are in sync,” Carter said during the Tuesday meeting.

The post New Castle County approves its second data center rule, as public sentiment turns appeared first on Spotlight Delaware.

The vast majority of Americans say they are struggling to pay for gas and groceries, and are cutting back on luxuries. But what or who is actually behind these price rises? We asked you to tell us what's gotten too expensive in your own life. Now, Kai Wright and Carter Sherman enlist Guardian columnist and former labor secretary Robert Reich to explain why you’re feeling the pinch. From breaking down the market factors behind the cost of a $16 cheesesteak, to explaining why AI is playing into the price of a Nintendo Switch 2, Reich reveals who you should point the finger at in this economy. Additional music by Epidemic Sound

• Robert Reich has written this week’s edition of How We Win, a pop-up opinion newsletter with bold ideas for defeating Trumpism. Sign up here

• Send us your questions on how the US economy is shaping the US election

As the midterm elections loom, Oliver Laughland and Tom Silverstone travel to rural West Virginia, a Republican party stronghold, to explore how soaring gas prices, war in the Middle East and datacenter expansion are affecting Donald Trump's popularity among his base. Although the state remains staunchly Republican, there are signs of a new politics emerging – and local Democrats are looking to capitalize on it

The studio is swapping the Mushroom Kingdom’s vivid palette for the blood-soaked grit of military action series

Where do you go after Mario? It’s a question the team at Ubisoft Paris found itself pondering three years ago after wrapping up work on the charming turn-based tactics adventure, Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope, sequel to its unexpected crossover hit, Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle. By melding a rather specialist genre with video gaming’s biggest household name, the developer introduced chin-stroking strategic play to a whole new audience. “Having the opportunity to work with the Mario franchise was a privilege, and it’s still something I’m very proud of,” says level designer director, Julien Vial. “I still remember seeing the first prototype and being blown away by all the possibilities.”

Now, Ubisoft Paris has returned with a new project, but this time the studio is swapping the Mushroom Kingdom’s vivid palette for the blood-soaked grit of military action series Rainbow Six. Where Mario and Rabbids saw squishy creatures bounce harmlessly across levels as Mario encased foes in honey, Rainbow Six Tactics, a turn-based tactical spin-off from Rainbow Six Siege, sees balaclava-clad insurgents take shrapnel rounds to the chest. A seamless tonal shift, then.

With the season approaching its climax, we look at the players who have perfected the art of smack talking through the years

Today, even the most casual of WNBA fans have watched some of the league’s biggest stars talking trash on the court. But while the snarling convos look heated, most of the time, they are good-natured, competitive fun.

Still, we wondered, who are the best trash talkers in the game? Which players over the years have turned talking smack into an art form? Let’s explore.

The lack of cohesion in the center of the park is evident for the US, with Emma Hayes continuing to try different combinations

The discourse around the US women’s national team may have been a harsh one if not for a fourth-half surge against Spain.

In the latest of their back-to-back bookings, where Emma Hayes’ team plays the same opponent twice, Spain looked far more confident and effective than the four-time champions. Both teams were missing a handful of crucial players; Naomi Girma and Sam Coffey headlining the US’s absentees, while Aitana Bonmatí, Mariona Caldentey and Clàudia Pina were among Spain’s.

Some 86 years ago, Missouri voters enshrined a system for selecting top judges that would remove political influence from the courts. And almost immediately, it came under attack.

Under what has come to be known as the Missouri Plan, lawyers help choose a slate of three candidates from which the governor must make an appointment for the state Supreme Court, appeals courts and, in some populous areas, the circuit courts. 

In the first years after adoption, it faced pushback from party bosses who had historically used judicial seats for political patronage. They said it gave too much power to the lawyers. Voters, though, decisively defeated a repeal measure in 1942. 

More recently, the conservative activist Leonard Leo, who viewed Missouri as a crucial battleground, tried in 2007 to persuade Republican Gov. Matt Blunt to reject a slate of Supreme Court candidates — part of a broader effort to weaken a judicial selection system that had become a model for some two dozen states around the country. 

Blunt resisted and picked one of the three judges from the approved slate. 

Then, in 2012, GOP lawmakers put a proposed overhaul before voters that, if approved, would have given the governor more control. Voters, by a 3-to-1 margin, turned back the plan.

Now the attacks are back, driven by a new grievance. 

At President Donald Trump’s behest, Republican lawmakers redrew the state’s congressional map in a mid-decade gerrymander. The goal: to give the GOP a shot at winning seven of Missouri’s congressional seats, instead of the six it now holds.

But voters gathered enough signatures to force a referendum on the map and put it on hold. While Secretary of State Denny Hoskins tried to keep the referendum off the ballot, the Missouri Supreme Court overruled him. It ordered the old map restored until voters decide on the new one. 

Hoskins, citing a federal court ruling that contradicted the state’s highest court, directed officials to use the new map anyway, prompting Chief Justice Brent Powell to demand that Hoskins appear in court to show why he shouldn’t be held in contempt.

Fourteen Republican lawmakers responded by threatening to impeach “responsible members of this Court” for “willful neglect of duty, incompetency and misconduct” if the justices held Hoskins in contempt; the court did so anyway. Hoskins backed down and instructed local election officials to distribute ballots using the old map; the justices decided not to have him arrested.

The drama played out as Republicans in Missouri and elected officials nationwide have sought to weaken institutions that limit their power. In North Carolina, the Republican-dominated General Assembly stripped authority from Democratic governors. In Wisconsin, Republicans threatened to impeach a newly elected Supreme Court justice to protect gerrymandered maps. And in New York, Democrats bypassed an independent commission to pass a gerrymander that favored them, but the state’s highest court struck it down.

Rather than electing top judges, as Illinois does, or giving the governor primary responsibility for choosing them, like California, Missouri selects its appellate and Supreme Court judges through a commission made up of three lawyers, one elected by lawyers in each appellate district; three non-lawyers appointed by the governor, one from each district; and a state Supreme Court judge selected by the court. After they are appointed, judges face a retention vote at the first general election after completing one year in office, then every 12 years, with voters deciding whether they keep their positions.

In response to the controversy, a number of Missouri Republicans have attacked the system. U.S. Rep. Jason Smith called for the state to switch to electing its Supreme Court judges. Republican Party executive director Miles Ross declared on X, “The Missouri Plan is done.” Dan Seitz, chief of staff to Sen. Brad Hudson, called for replacing it with a system in which the governor could nominate judges directly, subject to Senate confirmation.

State Rep. Cathy Jo Loy, a Carthage Republican who has introduced legislation in each of the past two sessions to replace the Missouri Plan with gubernatorial appointment and Senate confirmation, said she intends to file a new proposal Dec. 1, the first day lawmakers can file bills for next year’s session. Loy said her opposition to the system predates the recent clashes with the Supreme Court. But she acknowledged that those defeats could give the proposal new momentum.

“There will probably be more appetite because there are several senators that feel the same way,” she said.

Republicans, who hold every statewide elected office, supermajorities in both chambers of the legislature and six of the state’s eight congressional seats, seem to have suddenly found the limits of their power. At the ballot box, voters have overwhelmingly rejected major pieces of the party’s agenda, including an effort to weaken their power to bypass the legislature by amending the constitution or putting laws passed by lawmakers to a statewide vote. 

Time and again, when elected officials have sought to limit voters’ use of the ballot initiative, the courts have protected voters’ use of direct democracy. Courts repeatedly rewrote ballot summaries prepared by Republican state officials that they found unfair or misleading, including language describing the initiative that ultimately established abortion rights in 2024.

By the end of that year, after the Missouri Supreme Court rejected a last-minute effort by Republican lawmakers and anti-abortion activists to keep the abortion measure off the ballot, Senate President Pro Tem Cindy O’Laughlin was calling to repeal the Missouri Plan. She proposed replacing the system for selecting Supreme Court and appellate judges with a nonpartisan election. But her bill stalled in committee.

Then came Hoskins. The former state representative and senator from west-central Missouri took office as secretary of state in January 2025 and brought a more combative approach to overseeing elections and ballot measures. Hoskins made a bright-red sport coat his sartorial trademark, often posing with a wood baseball bat and speaking about politics as a series of battles and himself as a conservative warrior. 

Hoskins didn’t respond to questions sent to his office. He has previously said that he disagreed with any suggestion that he and Republican leaders were defying the will of voters. He hasn’t publicly called for changing how Missouri selects Supreme Court judges, but his office’s official X social media account reposted Smith’s message calling for the end of the Missouri Plan.

Gov. Mike Kehoe also complained, saying in a post on X that “unelected judges” have shown a “lack of respect for the legislative process.” On a radio show the next day, Kehoe acknowledged that changing how judges are selected hadn’t even been on his radar before the ruling.

“But I think it’s definitely something a lot of people are going to start asking about,” he said. “And I’m not sure the judges across our state, whether Supreme Court or other judges, really wanted that on people’s radar screen.”

Kehoe’s office said it would not respond to questions from ProPublica.

Although some Republicans have derided the state Supreme Court as being a bastion of liberal activists, five of the Supreme Court’s seven judges were appointed by Republican governors. Among them is Powell, whom the then-chair of the state GOP hailed as a “good conservative” before Republican Gov. Eric Greitens selected him in 2017.

Powell, who also serves as chair of the judicial selection commission, declined to comment for this story. In remarks on Sept. 17 to the joint annual meeting of the Missouri Bar and the Judicial Conference of Missouri, he warned of “threats from those who seek to detract from the ideals of our republic and to undermine faith in our sacred institutions — including our legal profession and our courts.”

“It is incumbent on all of us as lawyers and judges to rise up and defend our constitutions and the rule of law,” he added.

Whether there’s enough support to repeal the Missouri Plan remains to be seen. Peverill Squire, a professor emeritus of political science at the University of Missouri, said some of the bills that would eliminate the Missouri Plan might go to committee hearings, “but my guess is there probably won’t be enough appetite among enough Republicans to really want to put it on the ballot.”

Any change would ultimately have to be approved by the voters, something Loy acknowledged could be difficult after Republicans’ recent losses at the ballot box.

But the renewed calls have also mobilized the system’s longtime defenders. Ed Dowd, a former U.S. attorney who for two decades has helped lead the Citizens for Missouri Courts, a campaign that advocates for preserving the Missouri Plan, said the group has historically become most active when the system is under threat. 

Dowd’s St. Louis-based firm, Dowd Bennett, recently contributed $100,000 to the campaign.

“It’s something that we take very, very seriously and don’t want to take any chances on losing something that we have that works so well,” he said.

The post Frustrated by Losses in the Courts, Missouri Republicans Want to Change How Top Judges Are Selected appeared first on ProPublica.

Nearly 61% believe country is in recession and 65% of independents say economy is worse, according to new Harris poll

• Our reporters answer your questions about the US economy and the midterm elections

• What is your personal ‘recession indicator’?

With the midterm elections less than three weeks away, key voting groups including independents, rural voters and even some Republicans are increasingly disenchanted with Donald Trump’s economy, according to an exclusive Harris poll for the Guardian.

The majority of those surveyed were pessimistic about the economy, with three-quarters of Americans saying they are concerned about a recession while 61% wrongly believe that the US is already experiencing one. By its typical definition, the US is not currently experiencing a recession.

Why the US midterms are a rare foreign policy election Expert comment LToremark 15 October 2026

US voters are linking economic concerns to the Trump administration’s foreign policy choices. This is bad news for Republicans.

Foreign policy rarely decides US elections. Conventional wisdom is that voters know little, and care less, about international affairs. Instead, they are driven by pocketbook issues, like the price of gas and groceries. As James Carville, an adviser to Bill Clinton, once observed: ‘it’s the economy, stupid’.  But this year, the economy is foreign policy.

There are two important exceptions to the rule that US voters don’t care about foreign policy – and they both apply this year. One, voters care about foreign affairs when an administration’s choices directly affect their daily lives. Two, voters care about what foreign policy choices reveal about a president’s competence as commander-in-chief. 

The upcoming midterms could therefore be a rare foreign policy election – of a kind not seen since 2006 when a backlash to George W. Bush’s handling of the Iraq war handed Republicans a ‘thumping’ defeat. 

With voters now feeling the pain of yet another war in the Middle East and Trump’s tariffs, history could repeat itself. The president seems aware of this risk, sending mixed signals about whether the elections will shape his handling of the war in Iran and striking a deal on diesel exports with Russia to ease the pain at the pump for voters.

But perhaps the bigger question is what Trump does after the midterms, the last major electoral check on his presidency. 

War on the ballot

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War has always been the clearest example of when foreign policy directly affects the daily lives of voters.

But this is not always reflected in polls about the importance of individual issues – and this year is no different. Voters cite economic issues as the key drivers of their vote. In a recent survey by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, pluralities of voters across the political spectrum cite inflation and the cost of living as most important to their vote (37 per cent overall). By contrast, only 2 per cent single out the war in Iran as the most important issue, possibly due to the relatively low number of US casualties.

But that does not mean it is not having an impact. Voters are linking the pain in their pocketbooks with the foreign policy choices of this administration. According to a recent survey by the Institute for Global Affairs, 81 per cent of Americans say the war in Iran has increased the cost of living. The Chicago Council survey puts the number even higher, at 86 per cent.

And then there are the trade wars. According to the Chicago Council survey, 81 per cent of respondents say tariffs have been bad for the cost of living. It is unsurprising, therefore, that 75 per cent of Americans say tariffs will be important to their midterm vote, according to a survey by the Cato Institute.

Importantly, these findings cannot be written off as partisanship. Across a whole range of issues, support for Trump’s policies lags well behind his overall approval rating – which continues to hover around a historic low of 37 per cent. This suggests voters are not just instinctively opposing anything the president does but that large numbers of Americans, including many who otherwise support him, do not like his policy choices.

Affordability concerns will still dominate these elections. But large numbers of Americans blame the administration’s foreign policy choices for the perilous state of their household finances. And that’s bad news for Republicans.

From a strong leader to a reckless one

The second exception is when prominent foreign policy missteps tarnish the image of the sitting president in ways that cause voters to take note.

For example, how the Biden administration handled the 2021 US withdrawal from Afghanistan severely damaged perceptions of Joe Biden. His approval rating dropped almost overnight and never recovered.

In 2024, Trump was able to turn this into an advantage on the campaign trail by presenting himself as a strong leader who would stand up against America’s adversaries – and with a commitment to peace.

Today, Trump’s reputation is suffering from both his inability to resolve foreign policy challenges he inherited and the abandonment of his pledge to avoid entangling the US in costly conflicts overseas.

In a CNN/SSRS survey, just 29 per cent of US adults said they approved of Trump’s handling of foreign affairs, down from 42 per cent shortly after he returned to office. Only one in four respondents believed he had a clear strategy for handling Tehran, down from 40 per cent in the immediate aftermath of the outbreak of the war. 

These dynamics also appear to be feeding into broader perceptions of Trump’s leadership. In a YouGov survey fielded at the outset of the war, 56 per cent of respondents said the word ‘reckless’ applied ‘a lot’ to Trump – up five points from a year ago – while the proportion who described him as a ‘strong leader’ dropped four percentage points. 

To what degree will foreign policy shape the results – and how will Trump respond?

Related work

What the US midterms could mean for Trump’s power

Republicans were already likely to fare poorly. The midterms are traditionally seen as a referendum on the performance of the incumbent president, and with Trump’s overall approval ratings at a near-record low, history is not on his side.

Even though foreign policy may not dominate any given race, it is likely to matter at the margins. And in a tight race, that could make all the difference.

In some swing states Republican candidates are distancing themselves from the president’s policies. In Michigan, Senate nominee Mike Rogers has said the war ‘needs to end, and end quickly’, to provide relief for American families. In Iowa, meanwhile, Senate nominee Ashley Hinson similarly said that Iowans ‘shouldn’t have to foot the bill at the pump or the checkout line for the war in Iran’. 

Trump’s diesel deal with Russia indicates some sensitivity to the electoral risks of high gas prices. But achieving this by accommodating Vladimir Putin – rather than an embargo on US diesel exports, for example – has only highlighted another foreign policy weakness: Trump’s inability to end the war in Ukraine.

But will an electoral rebuke result in more foreign policy restraint? Perhaps the most important question is not the degree to which foreign policy will shape the results, but how the president will respond. 

And here, history offers a warning. After his 2006 midterm defeat, President Bush did not change course. Instead, he defied the mandate voters had given by escalating an unpopular war in the Middle East.

President Trump recently pledged not to attack Iran before the midterms, having previously expressed a desire to help his party in the elections. Whether he too will try to end the war through a dramatic escalation once the ballots are counted remains to be seen. 

But he would not be the first president to double down on an unpopular policy once unshackled from electoral constraints. The ‘lame duck’ phase of Trump’s presidency may therefore prove even more disruptive on the international stage.

Another three pupils from al-Khair school in Peshawar in critical condition after search for survivors

At least 34 schoolchildren and a female teacher have died after the roof of a school collapsed during morning classes in the northern Pakistani city ⁠of Peshawar.

As panicked parents ​and relatives thronged the site of the privately run al-Khair school to search for their loved ones, rescue workers spent hours pulling children from the rubble.

Washington, DC — A conservative organization founded by former Vice President Mike Pence is urging President Donald Trump to abandon his deal allowing Russian diesel into the United States, joining a growing group of Republicans questioning the administration’s sharp reversal on Russian energy policy.

Advancing American Freedom said the agreement would send money to Russian President Vladimir Putin while Moscow continues its war against Ukraine.

“The way to cheaper diesel is more American drilling and refining,” the group wrote in a letter to the administration. “Paying Putin blood money for fuel America already exports is wrong, illegal and stupid.”

Trump announced the deal with Putin last week as part of an effort to lower diesel prices ahead of the Nov. 3 midterm elections. The administration temporarily eased sanctions on Russian diesel, allowing shipments through April 2027.

Several Republican senators have also objected, arguing the arrangement may conflict with a 2022 law banning Russian energy imports and could undermine recently enacted sanctions designed to reduce Moscow’s war revenue.

Trump has defended the deal as necessary to lower costs for American consumers, farmers and truckers.

Energy analysts have questioned how much relief it will actually provide. Russia’s promised shipments represent a relatively small portion of U.S. diesel consumption, while the agreement could generate billions of dollars in additional revenue for Moscow.

Sources:

• The Hill – MBFC Rating

The post Pence Group Calls Trump’s Russian Diesel Deal ‘Wrong, Illegal and Stupid’ appeared first on News Facts Network.

At least 320 people detained for ‘acts against nature’ after law criminalising homosexuality toughened, HRW reports

Mass arrests, forced HIV testing and barriers to legal representation are part of an escalating crackdown against LGBTQ+ people in Senegal, according to a new report.

More than 320 individuals have been arrested and detained on allegations of “acts against nature” since February, according to HIV Justice Network, an organisation quoted in the Human Rights Watch (HRW) report. Among these, at least 84 were charged with “voluntary HIV transmission”, solely on the basis of their HIV status.

What people in the region actually believe.

The battle on the streets over the foundations of the state.

The battle on the streets over the foundations of the state.

Researchers from Mount Sinai, NASA, and Space Tango have launched miniature human hearts and brains to the International Space Station to study how microgravity and radiation affect organs and potentially accelerate aging. "If people are going to be living and working in space, then we need to understand what's going to happen to them," David Sachs, assistant professor of surgery at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, told ABC News. "But also, because it's interesting as a model of accelerated aging for studying people on Earth." From the report: The mini organs launched aboard commercial resupply mission CRS-35 on Tuesday morning from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. They are expected to arrive at the International Space Station (ISS) on Thursday. The miniature organs offer researchers a unique opportunity to simulate aging in a much shorter period of time to understand disease and develop treatments. "Six months in space ... is equivalent to about 10 to 20 years of aging on Earth," Kevin Costa, associate professor of surgery at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, told ABC News. Sachs and Costa are sending up to 16 miniature hearts to the ISS to test how they respond to electrical signals and monitor how they may react to near-zero gravity. The technology, which is integrated into a miniature laboratory called CubeLab, was developed by Space Tango and simulates the natural environment in the human body. "[It is] slightly bigger than a shoebox, and it is a fully automated, miniaturized system," Gentry Barnett, chief technology officer at Space Tango, told ABC News. [...] As part of the new effort, the team is sending miniature brains, called miBrain, to the ISS. Around the size of a peppercorn, the miBrains reflect models of healthy and diseased brains. By exposing them to the space environment, scientists can see how mini-brains respond and better understand why living in space accelerates aging. Though the mini organs are not full-sized human organs, the researchers say they are good substitutes, cost-effective and don't take up much of the limited space aboard the space station. They also believe discoveries made in space can translate to uses in everyday medical care. The microgravity environment uniquely allows researchers to study what happens to humans with a sedentary lifestyle or prolonged bed rest, which isn't easily simulated on Earth, Sachs explained. "[The research is] translating to stuff in space, but it's also translating back to the research we do in the laboratory to help people with Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease," Joel Blanchard, associate professor of stem cell biology and regenerative medicine and neuroscience at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, told ABC News. Lisa Carnell, the director of the biological and physical sciences division at NASA, told ABC News that these experiments serve as a starting point for future research beyond low Earth orbit, including to the moon and beyond.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Responding to US sanctions on the International Criminal Court Expert comment sfarrell.drupa… 15 October 2026

The US decision to extend sanctions has upped the ante in its campaign against the ICC. The Court’s supporters must decide how to respond, perhaps now it is time to put all options on the table.

On 9 October 2026, the US designated the International Criminal Court under Executive Order 14203, extending its existing sanctions package on individual ICC officials to the entity itself as a whole.

The US imposed asset freezes on any property owned by the Court and prohibited all transactions by US individuals or entities involving the ICC.

The US has allowed certain limited exceptions to this general prohibition, to allow for the ongoing detention of some awaiting trial, the payment of pensions, the use of IT software and social media and a 180-day ‘wind down’, allowing certain otherwise prohibited transactions until April 2027.

These sanctions were introduced by the US in what Secretary of State Marco Rubio called an ongoing campaign to ‘dismantle the ICC brick by brick’.

‘For decades, Republicans and Democrats alike rejected the idea that the International Criminal Court had the power to prosecute American citizens, military service members, or political leaders. America never joined the court. We don’t need it. And we don’t want it,’ Rubio said in a statement.

‘We expect our allies, many of whom are part of the ICC and that rely on American service members for their defense, to rein in the court. If they do not, the United States will continue its campaign to dismantle the ICC, brick by brick, until Americans are threatened no longer,’ he added.

The ICC called the sanctions ‘an attempt to obstruct the course of justice and to prevent the Court from doing what it was created to do. It is an assault on the rule of law and on the very foundations of the international legal order which strikes at the simple principle that no one stands above the law.’

Those countries that have signed up to the ICC – the ‘State Parties’  – now have to decide how to respond, through diplomacy; support or the ‘nuclear option’.

The impact

An asset freeze essentially prevents making any economic resources available directly or indirectly to the ICC.  They must be observed by all US persons and green card holders, wherever they are in the world, all US companies and any person in the US. 

They also apply to any transactions or data routed through the United States. In reality, this can often limit (at best) and prevent (at worst) nearly all financial transactions of a designated person.

As such, if left unchecked, the US sanctions could severely hamper the day-to-day operations of the ICC.  The General Licence operates to provide a wind down period, but at most provides a stay of execution and the potential for diplomatic efforts to reverse or mitigate the impact.

The Court itself noted that whilst it endeavours to continue functioning as normal, international cooperation is imperative as the Court’s fate also rests in ‘the hands of the States that created it’. 

So far, foreign ministers of the UK and others have issued a Joint Statement affirming their unwavering support for the ICC. The EU has also said that it stands ready ‘to take all necessary measures to ensure the Court continues to operate effectively and fulfils its indispensable mandate’. 

Below are recommendations on how the UK government may best respond to the ICC designation in coalition with other State Parties.

Diplomatic Engagement 

State Parties should open the dialogue as necessary to address the US concerns regarding the authority of the ICC. 

The 180-day Maintenance General Licence, marked as a show of good faith, intends to achieve just that. It provides State Parties the chance for diplomatic engagement.  The ICC’s Assembly of States Parties in December will provide an opportunity to review and align the response of the State Parties to the US.

Practical Support: Preparing for the Worst

In parallel to diplomatic efforts, State Parties can start to consider what practical assistance they can provide in the event that diplomatic efforts are unsuccessful or that companies start de-risking sooner rather than later and start to withdraw services before the expiry of the US General Licences that could impact – as no doubt the US intends – the ongoing investigations and operations of the Court.

As such, whilst the US General Licence might allow for a 180-day ‘wind down’ of the provision of crucial goods and services, companies caught by US sanctions may simply decide to stop working with the Court at any time.

That means the State Parties need a comprehensive plan to support the Court, covering everything from provision of IT to support on banking and payment routes, and everything in between.

Blocking Statute: the Nuclear Option

Some State Parties – in particular the UK and EU Member States – may have the option of turning to the ‘Blocking Statute’.

This has been dubbed the ‘nuclear option’ by Dutch Foreign Minister Tom Berendsen. It would essentially prohibit any natural or legal person from complying with US sanctions.

But Blocking Statutes have only been deployed vary rarely in the past, primarily targeting US extra-territorial over-reach where it has imposed sanctions against countries like Cuba and Iran, and required those outside of US jurisdiction to comply with them.

However, even this nuclear option’ is not without its limitations. First, it won’t be available to all State Parties without new primary legislation. Second, even where the legislation is in place, it is not clear that the US measures would fall squarely within the legislation which is designed to protect ‘trading interests’ against extra-territorial measures. An argument could certainly be made, but it could face challenge if ever relied upon.

Third, it only applies to those caught by the relevant jurisdiction. In the UK and EU, for example, the prohibition on complying with the US sanctions would only have to be observed by UK/EU nationals, UK/EU companies or those operating in the UK or EU.

Finally, it essentially puts domestic companies between a rock and a hard place – fail to comply with US sanctions or fail to comply with the UK/EU ‘Blocking Statute’.

State Parties with this potential option have not deployed it despite the US targeting of judges and Court staff; perhaps now the US has upped the ante in its campaign against the Court, it is time for its supporters to put all options on the table.

Washington, DC — President Donald Trump’s job approval has fallen to the lowest level ever recorded for him in a Fox News poll, while the network’s own election analysis says Democrats are positioned to take control of the House.

The latest Fox News survey found just 36% of registered voters approve of Trump’s job performance, while 64% disapprove. His approval had been stuck at 39% since May but has now fallen further, with declines particularly pronounced among younger voters, lower-income households, non-White voters and people without college degrees.

Trump is also struggling badly on the economy. Seventy percent disapprove of his economic performance, 77% disapprove of his handling of inflation and 69% disapprove of his tariff policies. Only 18% of voters say their families are financially better off than two years ago.

The political consequences are showing up in congressional polling. Fox found Democrats leading Republicans 54%-45% on the generic House ballot, while its latest Power Rankings say Democrats are poised to win control of the chamber and have shifted 20 additional races in their direction.

Fox currently rates 215 seats Democratic and 201 Republican before toss-ups are resolved. Its analysis says Democrats have a wider and more durable generic-ballot advantage than they held before the 2018 blue-wave election.

Sources:

• The Hill – MBFC Rating
• The Hill – MBFC Rating
• Fox News Poll – MBFC Rating

The post Fox News Poll Puts Trump at Lowest Ever as Republicans Face House Defeat appeared first on News Facts Network.

In the final part of our series on the country, Poles tell how wages have soared – along with the cost of living

• Will military spending help or hinder Poland’s growth story?

• Poland’s push for EU energy resilience amid Russian aggression

Above the rain-soaked streets of Warsaw, the observation deck of the Varso tower overlooks Joseph Stalin’s gift to Poland that has divided opinion for decades.

For some, the Soviet-era Palace of Culture and Science is a drunk confectioner’s nightmare; standing as a relic of oppression that should have been demolished. For others, it is an icon on the skyline and a monumental warning from history.

In today’s newsletter: As Russia resists a ceasefire and Trump’s shifting priorities unsettle allies, an end to the conflict isn’t getting any closer

Good morning. In his usual asinine unconventional approach to international relations, Donald Trump announced on Sunday (via Truth Social, how else) an “ENERGY CEASEFIRE in the War between Russia and Ukraine”, apparently without checking with either side. Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who said any such deal was “news to me,” nonetheless declared he was “ready and we will accept it”. Vladimir Putin responded by blowing up some Ukrainian power plants.

This has been the tenor of much diplomacy during Trump’s tenure: false starts, U-turns, incoherent positions (and some playful flirting with Vlad). Meanwhile fighting continues, and America’s allies attempt to manage the fallout. Andy Burnham hosted Zelenskyy at Downing Street yesterday, stating the UK is doubling down on its support for Ukraine, and pointedly calling on others to “follow suit”.

UK | Sally Rooney has said she is being forced to withdraw her books from sale in the UK because of her support for the banned organisation Palestine Action.

Gaza | Israel is refusing to allow a key military outpost project for Donald Trump’s Board of Peace to proceed in Gaza, the Guardian has learned.

EU | Britain will benefit from much closer trading relations with the EU even if that means giving up its ability to negotiate free trade agreements, the Scotland secretary has said.

Ukraine | Ukraine’s military has suddenly had its access to Starlink satellite internet terminals restricted as the Trump administration has increased pressure on Ukraine to immediately halt long-range strikes on Russia’s oil industry.

Vaccine | Guinea-Bissau has not approved the controversial hepatitis B study in newborns that would be funded by the US government and private partners, the African country’s minister of health said.

Washington, DC — Former Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene delivered an unusually sharp rebuke of the Trump administration Wednesday, dismissing its investigation into Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar as “bullsh*t” and accusing the White House of focusing on political spectacle instead of everyday economic concerns.

Greene said she remains deeply opposed to Omar on abortion, gun rights and other policies, but questioned why the administration is prioritizing an effort that could potentially strip Omar of citizenship and deport her.

Her comments came shortly after The Wall Street Journal reported that the federal probe is examining whether Omar or her late father misrepresented her age during the immigration process in the 1990s. Federal agents searched Omar’s Washington-area home Monday as part of the investigation.

Greene argued that the case does nothing to lower gas prices, make health insurance more affordable, reduce grocery bills or keep U.S. troops out of foreign wars. She also criticized the administration over the still-unreleased Epstein files.

The intervention is striking because Greene and Omar have been bitter political adversaries for years.

Trump, meanwhile, denied directing the investigation but continued attacking Omar personally, calling her “totally crooked” and a “terrible person.” Omar has denied wrongdoing, and no charges have been announced.

Sources:

• Mediaite – MBFC Rating

The post Marjorie Taylor Greene Blasts Trump Administration’s Ilhan Omar Probe as ‘Bullsh*t’ appeared first on News Facts Network.

Finance ministers gathering for the IMF annual meeting know the need for multilateral cooperation to deal with many crises. There is little chance of that

Not much has gone right for the global economy this year, and plenty has gone wrong. Two big regional wars are destabilising prices and supply chains everywhere. Businesses and consumers are feeling the effects of a serious energy shock. Rising inflation has made it a lot more expensive for governments to finance their debts. China and the US are at loggerheads over trade.

Yet, so far, the impact has been modest. It is something of a miracle that the finance ministers and central bank governors gathered for this year’s annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Bangkok are not having to deal with a full-blown crisis. This is not like the autumn of 2008, when the meetings took place during the worst of the global banking meltdown.

Larry Elliott is a Guardian columnist

(StatePoint) The holiday season is fast approaching. Families of all varieties are asking two questions: “Where do we meet?” and “What do we do when we get there?”

BEIJING, Oct. 14, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- October 14, SANY Renewable Energy showcased itself at China Wind Power 2026. SANY Renewable Energy announced a 25-year extended turbine lifecycle and a comprehensive service roadmap through 2030, reaffirming its commitment to delivering value…

Having tried cloud seeding and water bombing, one pilot project will see dry ice dispersed by plane across the province of South Sumatra

As fires ravage Indonesia, emitting a toxic smoke that has drawn the ire of regional neighbours, the government is testing an unusual new approach to tackle the haze: dry ice.

Having tried cloud seeding, water bombing and sending in army personnel to fight the fires, Indonesia’s coordinating security minister said dry ice would be dropped on the province of South Sumatra on Thursday.

U.S. News & World Report Logo.

Workers have always been monitored by their bosses, first through output targets, and then via computer software labelled ‘bossware’. But AI is transforming the capabilities of these systems, processing huge volumes of data to provide minute-by-minute accounts of activity, and productivity. To find out more, Ian Sample hears from UK technology editor Robert Booth. He explains which sectors are adopting this approach, why they are doing it, and how it could end up being counterproductive.

Teachers at Euan Blair firm report ‘horrendous stress’ after AI used to rate their work

Support the Guardian: theguardian.com/sciencepod

(The Center Square) - Former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger joined Gov. Gavin Newsom Wednesday at the California Economic Summit in Long Beach to celebrate two decades of the state's decarbonization framework under what's regarded as landmark climate legislation.

• Milwaukee rally past Los Angeles for 3-0 NLCS lead

• Bauers and Mitchell homer back-to-back off Blake Snell

• Defending champions face elimination on Thursday

Jake Bauers and Garrett Mitchell hit back-to-back home runs off Blake Snell to reclaim the lead in the seventh inning as the Milwaukee Brewers beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 6-2 on Wednesday night to take a commanding 3-0 lead in the National League Championship Series.

The Dodgers had just taken a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the sixth before being stunned. The loss pushed the two-time defending World Series champions to the brink of elimination. They had trailed 3-0 in a best-of-seven postseason series only once previously in franchise history, when they were swept by the Baltimore Orioles in the 1966 World Series.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Schools and libraries from around the U.S. pleaded with the Federal Communications Commission to drop the idea of ending E-Rate, a $2 billion-a-year program that connects students and library visitors to the Internet. FCC Chairman Brendan Carr has criticized school districts for having "experimented with a massive increase in screen time for students," and said E-Rate expanded too far beyond its original purpose of "supporting basic Internet access to schools and libraries for educational purposes." In June, Carr led a 2-1 vote to issue a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) seeking public comment on whether E-Rate should be "limited or sunset to reflect today's extensive connectivity rates." Carr's proposal could result in E-Rate cutting the discounts that schools and libraries receive for telecom services and equipment, and imposing more restrictions on how E-Rate money can be used. The FCC seeking comment on whether to sunset the program also raises the possibility that Carr might choose to axe E-Rate entirely. The National Association of Elementary School Principals told the FCC that it "strongly supports the continued operation of the E-Rate program and urges the Commission to reject proposals that would eliminate, substantially restrict, or impose new conditions on this essential source of connectivity assistance for schools and libraries." The Carr FCC already scaled E-Rate back last year by ending funding for schools and libraries to lend out Wi-Fi hotspots and for Wi-Fi service on school buses. "Importantly, the FCC does not have the authority to terminate the E-Rate program. The E-Rate program is mandated by Congress, and the FCC is responsible for administering it," the American Library Associated told the FCC. The American Library Association said "the FCC lacks the authority and expertise to regulate screen time or determine educational outcomes." In a filing, the group pointed out that under U.S. law, determinations about what content is inappropriate for children "shall be made by the school board, local educational agency, library, or other authority responsible for making the determination."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Why Should Delaware Care?
Hospital systems across the state are competing to serve a rapidly aging population and meet their care needs. At the same time, they are looking to close access gaps in the southern part of the state as Sussex County becomes a retirement destination for many in surrounding states. 

Bayhealth leaders unveiled multiple expansion projects on Wednesday, including a new hybrid emergency room similar to its campus off Route 9 near Harbeson. 

It also provided more details about its already announced $250 million expansion to its main campus in Dover. 

It comes as healthcare systems across the state are preparing for an influx of retirees who require more frequent and complex care, particularly in Sussex County. 

At a Wednesday press conference, Bayhealth leaders showcased seven projects that have already been approved or still require state regulatory approval. 

Only one of those projects will need to be approved by the Delaware Health Resources Board, which approves large hospital expansions, according to the system’s chief operating officer, Kyle Benoit. 

All of the projects are slated to be up and running by the end of 2029, but many of them will be complete before that date, likely by the end of 2027. 

Bayhealth held the press conference at its main campus in Dover, often called Kent General, where the hospital’s CEO Terry Murphy and Benoit outlined the new projects and their potential impact in the region.

The hospital system is marketing the new renovations which will cost at least $373.7 million as the “Next Wave.” During the press conference, Murphy pointed to the rapidly aging state and the hospital’s aim to prepare for that demographic shift. 

What are the projects? 

Nearly all of the projects and expansions are in Kent and Sussex counties, except for a new hybrid facility in Smyrna, which is on the New Castle County side of the bifurcated town.

Some of the projects announced on Wednesday had already been publicly known, such as the $250 million Kent General expansion slated to bring six additional floors to the hospital, as well as dozens of new patient beds.

Additionally, the Kent General emergency room is also slated for renovations as the hospital plans to build 10 new low-acuity emergency room bays, as well as five behavioral health rooms, typically used for those experiencing a mental health crisis. 

Other projects like a new hybrid emergency department in Smyrna will cost Bayhealth $52.6 million and operate 14 emergency bays. The facility would mirror another hybrid emergency department run by Bayhealth near Harbeson that offers emergency and walk-in care for patients. 

Bayhealth already operates an emergency room in Smyrna off Carter Road, and said on Wednesday it intends to relocate those services to the new location, which would be located near the Smyrna Rest Stop on U.S. Route 13. 

The old facility would be repurposed and Bayhealth would “backfill” other medical needs using the space. Benoit said Bayhealth intends to file a letter of intent with the Delaware Health Resources Board on Wednesday, and that it hopes to send its full application to the board in January 2027.

Separately, Benoit said the health system would expand its services and use of the Blue Hen Mall, which he said the hospital already mostly owns. In November, he said the hospital will purchase the remaining space it doesn’t own within the mall. 

Benoit added businesses and operations already leasing with Bayhealth, like a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs clinic, would continue to operate as normal and the hospital would honor its leases.

As for the hospital’s Sussex County locations, Bayhealth’s hybrid emergency room near Harbeson would also receive a $3.5 million renovation that would double its capacity. 

Bayhealth would build new medical offices at its campus in Milford, which would bring an additional 105 specialty exam rooms close to the relatively new facility. According to a slide during the press conference, the new medical offices would cost $39.1 million.

Murphy pointed to Bayhealth’s reuse of spaces that otherwise may have not been active or serving the community, and how the hospital has transformed the spaces into that benefit patients. 

“They’re serving the community without knocking it down,” Murphy said. 

Downstate arms race

In recent months, Delaware’s hospital systems have been at odds and publicly clashing over proposals below the C&D Canal as they prepare for an onslaught of retirees. 

All three of Delaware’s southern hospital systems formed a unified coalition to block two proposed ChristianaCare campuses in Georgetown and Camden, as market share becomes more valuable to healthcare providers.

Bayhealth in Dover, TidalHealth in Seaford and Beebe Healthcare in Lewes are all challenging the two downstate campuses, as the systems look to protect what has historically been their territory. Long the dominant player in northern Delaware, ChristianaCare has increasingly invested below the C&D Canal in recent years.

Spotlight Delaware reported in August that Bayhealth, Kent County’s primary health system, submitted a letter to regulators asking them to halt two proposed ChristianaCare campuses in Georgetown and Camden.

Those regulators, who sit on the Delaware Health Resources Board, were set to discuss that letter in their meeting on Aug. 25, but tabled the discussion to allow for some additional internal review.

For decades, Delaware’s three major health care systems largely fit into geographic monopolies: ChristianaCare serving New Castle County, Bayhealth serving Kent County and Beebe Healthcare in Sussex County.

But over the last five years, a health care arms race heated up between Bayhealth, Beebe and now TidalHealth, coming up from Salisbury, Md. They have all built or broken ground on major projects in locations, such as Lewes, Milton or Millsboro in recent years.

It follows a post-COVID population boom in Sussex County. The region is now designated as a “Medically Underserved Area” by the federal government, with projections showing that the population will increase from 237,000 in 2022 to over 361,000 by 2050. The county is also rapidly graying, as the population growth is largely driven by retirees who will demand more health care needs.

The arrival of ChristianaCare, which to date only had primary care offices in Milford and Rehoboth Beach, will bring needed resources, but also new competition to the crowded market.

But the downstate hospitals are hoping to convince the Delaware Health Resources Board that ChristianaCare’s plans would flood the market and offer redundant services.

In 2019, the board was central in a debate over whether to allow Beebe to build a freestanding emergency room in Georgetown. It ultimately denied that project, saying it was too close to Bayhealth’s Milford campus and Nanticoke Hospital in Seaford.

The board was also expected to be critical of plans by Bayhealth to build its own freestanding emergency room in Milton, which led the Dover-based health system to pull its plans.

Both of those projects predated the population surge that has particularly struck Sussex County after the COVID housing market boom though.

The post Bayhealth unveils ‘next wave’ of statewide expansion projects  appeared first on Spotlight Delaware.

Congress approves constitutional amendment that bans six-day workweeks, which could affect up to 30 million

Brazil’s congress has approved a constitutional amendment to shorten the working week to a maximum of 40 hours, a move that could affect 30 million workers and that will hand a political victory to the leftist president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva ahead of the presidential runoff in under two weeks.

In an attempt to overturn the first-round lead secured by his opponent, far-right senator Flávio Bolsonaro, Lula has strongly championed the amendment, which will give some workers an extra day off each week.

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Donald Trump has yet to weigh in on the late night ruling from a federal judge that blocks him from barring CNN, MS Now and Politico access to the White House grounds.

Previously, the president had blasted Judge Timothy Kelly – a Trump appointee – for issuing a temporary pause on his media ban. That expired on Tuesday, and Kelly handed down a preliminary injunction that stops the administration from blocking the outlets while the litigation plays out.

A group of American researchers believes it may be days away from finding what remains of the missing plane of legendary aviator Amelia Earhart off a remote island in the South Pacific.

Whether you’re in town for the United States Grand Prix or scoping out a visit, Apple Maps now has more details for Austin.

The AI boom has created insatiable demand for high-performance computing, driving up the cost on everything from GPUs and CPUs to high-bandwidth memory and even networking. The boom has triggered a real-estate frenzy, driven up power costs, and even has people worried about water shortages. But it’s also raising big questions about AI itself, such as: Will it ever actually pay off?

The industry keeps racking up milestones thanks to generative AI. For instance, the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) announced last week that we’ve already reached $1 trillion in chip sales for the calendar year. It’s the first time in history that chip sales have reached 12 digits–and it only took eight months. Global chip sales for August grew at a ridiculous 144.3% clip–180.9% in the Americas–and we’ll likely end the year with $1.6 trillion in sales, says Michael Robbins, SIA president and CEO.

Chip sales are skyrocketing (Source: SIA)

Growth in chip sales normally follows a somewhat predictable curve, thanks to the massive, multi-year investments required to build chip fabs. Clearly, profits are taking up a big chunk of the area under the sharp, elbow-like curve that SIA shared, as the inputs for chips themselves haven’t changed much. The difference is the absurd level of demand for silicon, caused by AI.

SIA’s data jibes with the latest out of Gartner, which in late September announced its prediction that worldwide spending on AI would total $2.7 trillion in 2026, a 49.5% increase in just one year, with another 36% leap expected in 2027 to $3.6 trillion (this is just for AI, not for keeping the ERP system running).

As Gartner analyst John-David Lovelock pointed out: “The buildout of AI data center capacity is the largest infrastructure project humanity has even undertaken.”

Now, humans have built big projects over the past 5,000 years. Egyptians moved 6 million tons of block to build the Great Pyramids of Giza, the Chinese constructed a 13,000-mile fortification called the Great Wall, and the US laid down 49,000 miles of pavement for the Interstate Highway System.

All of these multi-year projects took massive amounts of capital as well as human labor to build. The AI boom, which is currently in its fourth year, makes previous mega-projects look like child’s play, according to a new paper titled “Financing the AI Buildout,” by Stinj Van Nieuwerburgh, a professor of real estate and finance at the Columbia Business School.

“Relative to the economy, the projected buildout would exceed the major U.S. canal, railroad, electrification, highway, and telecommunications investment booms,” Van Nieuwerburgh writes.

Source: “Financing the AI Buildout,” by Stinj Van Nieuwerburgh

Van Nieuwerburgh estimates that a single 200 megawatt AI data center will cost about $8.2 billion to build, with two-thirds of that amount going to outfit it with IT gear (servers, switches, networking, cooling) and one-third to buy real-estate and electrical connections.

“We estimate that 188 GW of new capacity will be completed during 2025–2032, with a further 115 GW completed after 2032,” he writes. “This pipeline generates approximately $9.0 trillion in investment during 2025–2032, averaging 3.22 percent of [U.S.] GDP per year.”

So where is all the money to finance this AI blowout coming from? And how will the AI applications running on all that HPC actually generate a return for the investors?

Hyperscalers like Amazon, Microsoft, Alphabet, and Meta–collectively worth $13 trillion in market cap–are doing a lot of the heavy lifting, Van Nieuwerburgh points out. These companies have increased their capital expenditures from about $97 billion in 2020 to more than $400 billion in 2025, a number that’s expected to double to $800 billion this year.

Since these figures exceed the company’s operating cash, the hyperscalers are bringing in external partners to help provide capital for the investments. There is a raft of “data center developers, infrastructure funds, REITs, and private equity investors” who are providing cash, while another group composed of banks, private credit funds, and securitization vehicles supply debt to finance construction of the nearly 200 GW of data center capacity expected over the next five years, according to Van Nieuwerburgh.

Source: “Financing the AI Buildout,” by Stinj Van Nieuwerburgh

Just as developers historically have looked to spread out the risk inherent in large-scale capital projects such as construction of buildings and electrical infrastructure, the AI boom is giving us new structures for handling the risks with buying hundreds of billions of dollars of GPUs.

“Investment-grade hyperscaler tenants make these structures financeable by supporting long-duration contractual cash flows, while frontier AI firms effectively access infrastructure through the hyperscalers’ balance sheets and creditworthiness,” Van Nieuwerburgh writes.

However, these arrangements don’t eliminate risk, he writes–they merely transform it. And potentially, they can amplify it.

“Long-duration debt is then supported by cash flows and collateral values that depend on uncertain AI demand, rapid technological change, timely access to power and hardware, and the continued credit quality of a small number of tenants,” Van Nieuwerburgh writes. “The resulting capital structure can therefore make exposures more layered, correlated, and difficult to observe.”

It does not appear that Van Nieuwerburgh is trying to be an alarmist in his paper. Rather, he sees the events as a worthwhile laboratory to study “how modern
economies finance a general-purpose technology in real time.”

Stinj Van Nieuwerburgh of Columbia Business School

His study is also valuable because it lays out the underlying facts of the AI boom in great detail. For instance, his estimate of the IT costs illustrate the scale of the investments being made. At 142 kW per rack, one could install 1,170 GB300 NVL72 systems at $4.0 million each, or $4.68 billion in total, into a typical 200 megawatt data center. “This price already includes the GPUs, attached highbandwidth memory, Grace CPUs, NVLink switching, power systems, and the physical rack,” Van Nieuwerburgh writes. “We add 10 percent of the rack cost for the external network fabric and fiber, 5 percent for shared storage, and 5 percent for cluster-level installation, integration, and commissioning.” Sounds about right.

The AI boom is many things. It has enormous potential for scientific discovery, as we have explored in HPCwire pages. It’s a technological revolution, reshaping the trillion-dollar IT industry in its image. It’s upending business processes and giving new meaning to workflow automation. For some, it represents a new form of entertainment, or even a new digital form of life–and potentially threatening our own lives. It’s an engine of growth for millions of peoples’ 401(k)s and is making a much smaller group of individuals ludicrously wealthy.

AI is all of these things. But at the end of the day, AI will need to show a return on the investment, or the investments will slow. We know that $9.0 trillion is slated to be invested over the next five years, although who exactly holds the risk is somewhat vague, as Van Nieuwerburgh shows us.

Will the payoff for AI ever reach $9 trillion? That ultimately is AI’s big question.

The post AI’s $9-Trillion Question appeared first on HPCwire.

Exclusive video offers insight into Wednesday's high-stakes meeting at Cornell University.

Michelle Parker disappeared the same day that an episode of "The People's Court" aired that featured Parker and the suspect, Dale Smith Jr., in a contentious dispute over an engagement ring.

The subpoenas were issued on Friday, just days before Omar's home in Washington, D.C., was searched early Monday morning by investigators from ICE's investigative unit.

Zach Hickerson, the brother of Hayden Panettiere's on-again, off-again boyfriend, Brian Hickerson, called 911 and attempted CPR on the actress before she was declared dead.

The judge gave the maximum sentence possible to Sean Gardner, 39, who pleaded guilty to placing a hidden camera in a bathroom at a gymnastics studio in Purvis, Mississippi.

Hugely successful West End show will open at Capitol Theatre in September 2027, with dates in other Australian cities yet to be announced

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Australia, prepare to start guarding your marmalade reserves: the award-winning Paddington: The Musical is on its way.

The acclaimed theatre production, which has been running in London’s West End since 2025, will land in Sydney in September 2027, where it will be performed at the Capitol Theatre for 10 weeks.

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Alleged assault follows report of gang-rape at frat house at Cornell, which ignited national uproar and criticism online

A 21-year-old woman reported being sexually assaulted last weekend at a fraternity house near the University of Chicago, as Greek life nationwide faces renewed scrutiny for recurrent misconduct.

The incident allegedly took place on Sunday at about 1.50am at the off-campus Alpha Epsilon Pi residence, according to a university daily crime log.

Dozens of people detained after government building and two banks set on fire as tens of thousands march over education costs and corruption

Tens of thousands of students have taken to the streets of Tirana, the Albanian capital, setting alight a government building and two banks and hurling stones at police during a protest over rising education costs and ⁠corruption.

Police responded with water ⁠cannon and teargas to disperse protesters who started a fire at the ministry of education building, overturned bins and smashed the fronts of local businesses. A branch of Raiffeisen Bank near the education ministry also caught fire.

YouTube’s new AI labels will help users identify music made with generative AI tools.

Resolution Foundation says ‘crude changes’ to benefits system would probably make it harder for people to work

Banning people with anxiety, ADHD or autism from claiming disability benefits would not deliver major financial savings and would probably make it harder for them to get or stay in a job and participate in society, a leading thinktank has warned.

The Resolution Foundation said any proposals to make certain mental health and neurodevelopmental conditions ineligible for personal independence payments (Pip) would be “crude changes” aimed at hitting unrealistic savings targets.

Ukrainian president accused US president of picking the other side after four years of war

Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said he feels personally betrayed by Donald Trump after it emerged that Ukraine’s military has had its access to Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite squeezed, raising doubts about long-term US support for Kyiv.

The Ukrainian president, on a visit to London, accused Trump of picking the other side after more than four years of war, risking a breakdown in relations already strained by the US agreeing to buy diesel from Moscow.

Eight US states, including Kansas, Arizona, and Montana, have sued OpenAI, alleging that ChatGPT encourages children to harm themselves. The states are seeking changes to how the company's products interact with young users and the forfeiture of profits generated from their activity. Reuters reports: Attorneys general from the states, which include Iowa, Kansas and Arizona, filed the lawsuits independently in state courts, claiming ChatGPT is designed to be agreeable and engaging to earn the trust of users. But the chatbot reinforces delusions, encourages dangerous behavior and assists users in planning violence like mass shootings, the lawsuits claim. The lawsuits represent the most significant coordinated state action against an artificial intelligence company, adding to a wave of legal challenges OpenAI faces as it prepares for a public listing. Florida's attorney general filed the first such state suit in June. The lawsuits accuse the company of violating state consumer protection laws by misleading users about the safety of ChatGPT. The states also allege that the company created a public nuisance by endangering the health of their residents. The lawsuits seek orders forcing OpenAI to make changes to how ChatGPT works. Among other things, the states want the company barred from developing AI models that can improve themselves unless it can ensure those models are aligned with human values. The states ... are also seeking civil monetary penalties for OpenAI's violations of state law as well as damages.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Changes for tools including Google Messages, screen sharing and call forwarding are all aimed at countering mobile fraud.

(The Center Square) - Colorado’s 1st Congressional District race, which is focusing on healthcare, immigration and taxes, could help determine whether Republicans keep their razor-thin House majority.

Thinking of saving a little money when buying Apple’s new foldable phone? A mishap could cost up to $1,500 in repairs.

Account by Oscar Belgal differs sharply from that of DHS agents, who fired into vehicle with young boy in back seat

Lawyers for a man wounded by an immigration officer while driving with his young son in New York City said in a court filing Wednesday that the agent who shot him never identified himself before he ran up to the car, smashed one of its windows, then fired several shots into the vehicle.

The account by lawyers for Oscar Belgal contrasted sharply with the version of events outlined by Department of Homeland Security officials. They have said officers opened fire only after Belgal smashed his car into two government vehicles and “accelerated toward other officers”.

Federal authorities issued more than a dozen grand jury subpoenas in inquiry into potential immigration fraud

• US politics live – latest updates

Federal authorities investigating the Minnesota representative Ilhan Omar seized the Democratic lawmaker’s phone and have issued more than a dozen grand jury subpoenas, including to some of her relatives, according to a person briefed on the inquiry.

The subpoenas were issued for a grand jury collecting evidence in Minnesota as federal authorities investigate potential fraud in Omar’s immigration paperwork, said the person, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss an ongoing investigation. The investigation led to federal agents searching Omar’s Washington DC home on Monday just weeks before the November midterms, in which Omar is seeking re-election.

A few other scare-tastic games, like Poppy Playtime: Chapter 2, are also coming to the service in time for Halloween as well.

Digital Realty is offering utility and property tax credits to residents of De Soto, Kansas, in a bid to win public support for a data center facility.

Tweak your viewing experience to your looking to watch more than one event.

The lawsuit says ChatGPT continued to chat with a 12-year-old, even rating her looks.

"Starting today, Linux desktops are now officially supported by Microsoft Defender," reports Neowin. A public preview of the threat detection app extends its enterprise security platform beyond servers to developer workstations running distributions such as Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora, and RHEL. The offering includes antivirus protection, endpoint detection and response, vulnerability management, threat hunting, and device isolation. From the report: Microsoft is also making it easier to onboard desktops through streamlined methods, offering a unified security operations experience, strengthened security, and improved response times. Organizations that are already familiar with securing Linux servers via Defender should feel right at home securing desktops too, as the experience is exactly the same. Defender knows whether it is securing a device in a data center, the cloud, or that it is owned by a developer and identifies them as such in inventory and security workflows. As stated previously, all Linux server distros are supported via Defender on desktops too. These include RHEL, CentOS, Ubuntu, Debian, SLES, Fedora, and Oracle Linux, GNOME, KDE, and more. That said, you do need Microsoft Defender for Endpoint Plan 2 or a Microsoft 365 E5 and E7 subscription. You can enroll Defender on workstations using the same deployment methods you use for servers, but do check out the prerequisites here.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

(The Center Square) – A bipartisan bill has been filed in the U.S. Senate to target cartel trafficking in the U.S.

US states sue ChatGPT maker and seek to force the company to change how its products work for young users

Eight US states sued OpenAI Wednesday, alleging the ChatGPT maker is harming children en masse.

Kansas, Arizona, Montana, Iowa and four others allege the company’s products carried out “willful, dangerous, reckless and unlawful conduct” by coaxing children into harming themselves.

Image of state flag incorporating KKK hoods was sent to other schools participating in regional tennis tournament

The University of Maryland (UMD) has indefinitely suspended its club tennis team after a graphic featuring Ku Klux Klan imagery was circulated to other universities before a regional tournament, prompting widespread condemnation.

The controversy erupted after Toni Rachal, president of Howard University’s club tennis team, spotted the offensive material in a shared Google document sent to participating schools before last weekend’s tournament, WUSA9 reported.

New Republican-funded ads aim to connect former U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate in Ohio, to a young woman’s traumatic experience following a gender transition-related surgery.

In a Senate Leadership Fund ad published Sept. 28, a woman said, “Sherrod Brown supports sex changes for minors. Irreversible surgery on kids. Like me.”

She continues, “At 11, I was groomed by strangers online. At 15, a doctor told my family I was transgender. Hormone injections, then surgery, without my parents’ consent. I was a kid. I was confused. Sherrod Brown isn’t. He knows the consequences. Ohio’s kids deserve better. So did I.”

In a Sept. 24 ad, the same woman said her experience led to “years of trauma.” “I wasn’t born in the wrong body. I was a kid. But Sherrod Brown supports sex change surgery for minors and admitted he would never oppose it,” she said.

The woman is Soren Aldaco, who has been outspoken about her experience identifying as transgender when she was younger, to later “detransitioning.”

The ads make it seem as though Brown’s position on gender-affirming care for minors played a role in Aldaco’s experience. But records and reports show he had nothing to do with it. The surgery took place in Texas — not Ohio — when Aldaco was 19, no longer a minor. 

The Senate Leadership Fund is a Senate Republican-affiliated super PAC supporting incumbent U.S. Sen. Jon Husted in the race. The group can raise and spend unlimited amounts of money to campaign for federal candidates. 

Aldaco’s transition-related surgery in Texas

In 2023, Aldaco sued five people and four companies in Tarrant County, Texas, for medical negligence and other allegations. 

In a February op-ed published by The Wall Street Journal, Aldaco wrote that she began identifying as transgender at the age of 11. At 17, she said, her stepmother accompanied her to visit a nurse practitioner, who prescribed testosterone and estrogen blockers. She had an elective double mastectomy at 19, she wrote.

In a Fox News op-ed published the same month, she said she was “sexually groomed by adult strangers” in internet chatrooms.

“I was 11, freshly groomed, when I started identifying as trans — 15 when doctors got involved, 17 when they prescribed hormones without valid consent, and 19, still a teenager and a college kid, when I underwent a double mastectomy — and I’ll never get back the seven years of childhood that recent reporting has omitted,” Aldaco said in a statement emailed to PolitiFact.

Aldaco told Fox News Digital in March that the nurse practitioner who prescribed her hormones did not confer with her biological mother.

Brown’s response and position on gender affirming care

Brown has released an ad in response calling the Senate Leadership Fund’s ads a “complete lie.”

“Records show not only is this woman actually from Texas, she didn’t have any surgery as a minor,” the ad said.

An earlier ad from Brown’s campaign emphasizes that Ohio law prohibits performing transition-related surgeries on children.

Gender transition surgery for minors is exceedingly rare, and no medical guidelines support providing it for young children. 

A 2024 Ohio law prohibits gender-affirming medical care for minors. State lawmakers passed it in December 2023 and Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine vetoed it. The Legislature overrode that veto, and the law was implemented in April 2024.

Brown’s public comments about gender-affirming care for minors have been limited. The Senate Leadership Fund has pointed to a 2023 news interview when Brown said, “A child’s health care decisions are between them, their parents, their families, their doctors — not politicians. I will never agree with anybody that wants to bring politics into the family situation with health care, period.”

He did not say in that interview that he supports sex-change surgery for minors. We rated a similar claim that Brown supports “forcing childhood sex change surgery” from the Senate Leadership Fund False. 

WVTG reported Oct. 9 that “Brown hasn’t publicly supported or opposed the issue,” adding that Brown said in a recent campaign stop, “That’s settled law.”

Chris Gustafson, spokesperson for the Senate Leadership Fund, told PolitiFact that Brown’s 2023 statement is proof that Brown “does not support any limitations on transgender/gender-affirming procedures on children.”

Our ruling

A Senate Leadership Fund ad featuring Aldaco says Brown “supports sex changes for minors. Irreversible surgery on kids. Like me.”

Aldaco had transition-related surgery in Texas when she was 19 years old. Brown had no role in it.

Ohio bans gender-affirming medical care for minors, and such surgery for minors is exceedingly rare with no medical guidelines supporting it. We found no evidence that Brown has ever said he supports sex-changes for minors. 

We rate this claim Pants on Fire!

PolitiFact Researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report.

Spoiler: They’re already running rampant across the US.

Restaurants and pubs such as Nando’s and Fuller’s will create placements for 18- to 24-year-olds under DWP-backed scheme

Bars, clubs and restaurants will offer up to 100,000 jobs to young people not in employment, education or training (Neet) over the next three years in an effort to give them a first step on the ladder into work.

The move comes before the publication of a report on Neets by the former health secretary Alan Milburn, who has warned that the number of young people not in work or education in the UK could rise to 1.25 million over the next five years unless ministers intervene.

El 27% de los trabajadores estadounidenses han tenido que sacar dinero de su cuenta de ahorros de forma inesperada en el último día, según un nuevo estudio. Y el 12% lo hizo en las últimas horas, según el estudio de…

Police arrested Metallica Rose Harrison, 27, after reports of a ‘distressed female’ at the Great Wolf Lodge resort

A Pennsylvania woman allegedly killed her husband and her three-year-old son at a resort in the Poconos Mountains of Pennsylvania this week before attempting suicide, according to local officials.

Pocono Township police responded to reports of a “distressed female” at the Great Wolf Lodge resort, with the woman identified as 27-year old Metallica Rose Harrison of Towanda, Pennsylvania, by police.

Game on the go: The Xbox Nano controller is smaller and lighter than an iPhone 18 Pro.

(The Center Square) – Nine of the largest U.S. banks dropped services for customers over political and religious views, according to a report from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency released Wednesday.

Epic has launched a preview of a new AI-generated Games Launcher that it says cold-starts 46% faster than Steam. Neowin reports: Epic commissioned a third-party company to benchmark this new launcher in its current Preview build versus the Steam client on Windows machines. The results reported that Epic's client is 46% faster than Valve's client during cold starts, clocking in at 5.47 seconds compared to Steam taking 10.07 seconds. When you restore both apps from system tray background states, the new client takes 0.36 seconds while Steam takes 0.42 seconds, according to the report. Speed aside, Epic says the new launcher gets a better interface, dedicated title summary pages, and custom top bars. "The updated client also lets players aggregate external PC game libraries, toggle between grid or list views, and monitor storage write rates alongside download queues," reports Neowin. Epic Games says Fortnite will finally come to Linux through this new client once Easy Anti-Cheat is rebuilt and kernel-level security agreements are established with major Linux distros.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

How much AI is too much when it comes to finding love on the apps? "It's very subtle," one dating app user said of his AI-enhanced photos.

(The Center Square) – The United States cannot grow its way out of a debt load costing taxpayers more than $1 trillion a year in interest, the International Monetary Fund said Wednesday.

Sabrina German, a poll official in Chatham county, details a typical election day, the pressure election workers face, and fallout from 2020 disputes

It’s not that Sabrina German doesn’t have political views. But as the director of voter registration for Chatham county, Georgia, talking politics is like breakdancing in traffic. “I don’t talk politics with anyone,” says German; she knows better.

America’s partisan minefield has trained much of the country – aside from that one uncle you avoid at weddings and funerals – to get pretty good at the art of political diplomacy in polite company.

The beta includes brings Siri AI to more languages, and it updates a few apps, like Facetime and Podcasts.

Republican representative described the assault in a nearly hourlong speech in February 2025 that named the men

Nancy Mace’s former fiance and two of his business associates were charged with sex crimes and voyeurism on Wednesday over an episode the South Carolina representative described in detail during a speech last year on the House floor, about how crimes against women are not investigated thoroughly.

John Douglas Osborne committed sex acts on a 23-year-old incapacitated and intoxicated woman while Mace’s ex-fiance Patrick Bryant and Eric Bernard Bowman watched, according to sworn statements by agents from the state law enforcement division, which brought the charges.

Oct. 14, 2026 — Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) researchers are developing three-dimensional simulations to examine how a nuclear device could be used to deflect or potentially disrupt an asteroid threatening Earth.

The work, published recently in The Planetary Science Journal, uses LLNL’s Spheral simulation code to more accurately model how an asteroid might respond when X-rays from a nuclear device detonated near its surface rapidly heat and vaporize material. After validating the approach against established asteroid-deflection models, researchers used Spheral to study three complex disruption scenarios.

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory researcher Isaiah Santistevan led the development of three-dimensional simulations exploring how a nuclear device could deflect or disrupt an asteroid threatening Earth. Photo: Blaise Douros/LLNL.

Unlike many natural disasters, a hazardous asteroid impact could potentially be prevented if the object is detected early enough. One approach is deflection — imparting a small change in velocity that causes the asteroid to miss Earth while largely remaining intact. Another approach is disruption, in which an asteroid is intentionally fragmented and dispersed so that no remaining piece poses a significant threat to the planet.

NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test, or DART, demonstrated a kinetic-impact approach to deflection in 2022 by deliberately striking the asteroid moon Dimorphos. Nuclear mitigation represents an alternative emergency option, particularly for larger objects or scenarios with shorter warning times, because much more energy can be delivered to an asteroid than the kinetic energy of a spacecraft impactor.

Two of the simulations showed strong signs of disruption, highlighting how high-fidelity 3D modeling can help researchers better understand how an asteroid could respond to a nuclear mitigation attempt.

“These simulations give us a much more detailed picture of how an asteroid may respond to a nuclear mitigation attempt,” said Isaiah Santistevan, who led the study. “Being able to model damage, fracture and material motion in three dimensions is an important step toward improving our ability to evaluate planetary defense options.”

Graphic image depicts 3D simulation showing, from left, material damage, material velocity and the x-component of velocity. The simulation shows extensive damage and material moving in opposite directions, signs that the asteroid is breaking apart. (Graphic courtesy of Isaiah Santistevan)

Building a 3D Modeling Capability

To test the approach, the team compared more than 1,500 one-dimensional Spheral simulations with asteroid deflection results from LLNL’s established Ares simulation code.

The calculations showed close agreement between the two codes, giving researchers confidence to use Spheral for more complex 3D disruption simulations. Spheral is particularly well-suited to modeling problems involving material damage, fracture and fragmentation, Santistevan said.

The researchers then modeled three disruption scenarios involving an irregularly shaped asteroid roughly 160 meters across, varying both the distance of the hypothetical nuclear detonation and assumptions about how easily the asteroid material would fracture.

Strong Signs of Disruption

In the longest-running simulation, about 98% of the asteroid material became fully damaged, meaning it had severely lost its ability to remain intact. The simulation also showed that roughly 97% was moving faster than the asteroid’s escape velocity, with the majority of material moving in opposite directions, further indicating that the body was breaking apart.

“What’s encouraging is that we’re seeing the asteroid sustain extensive damage while material is also moving fast enough to escape its gravitational pull,” Santistevan said. “Those are important indicators that the asteroid is in the process of disrupting, and the 3D simulations allow us to examine that process in much greater detail.”

The results also highlighted the importance of where energy is deposited across an asteroid. In one case, a detonation farther away from the asteroid’s surface deposited less total energy but produced more widespread damage because the energy was spread over a larger area.

The finding does not mean a more distant detonation would always be more effective. The optimal approach would depend on factors including an asteroid’s size, shape and composition, as well as whether the objective is deflection or disruption.

Pushing the Limits of Simulation

The work also highlights the computational challenge of following an asteroid through the full disruption process.

The longest simulation used 1,680 processors for 59 days but advanced the calculation to only 145 milliseconds of physical time. Researchers would need to follow the fragments much longer to determine their eventual size and trajectories, Santistevan said.

That longer-term analysis is important because robust disruption requires showing that no remaining fragment is larger than about 10 meters and that the fragments disperse rather than reaccumulate. The current simulations did not run long enough to explicitly make that determination, but the extent of damage and material motion in two cases strongly suggests they were in the process of disrupting.

Future work will focus on accelerating simulation times, improving resolution and modeling more realistic asteroid structures, including loosely bound “rubble-pile” asteroids. Researchers also plan to compare simulations with small-scale laboratory experiments.

The paper, “Nuclear Mitigation of Hypothetical Asteroid Threats in Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics,” was authored by Isaiah B. Santistevan, Mary T. Burkey, J. Michael Owen, Kathryn M. Kumamoto, Jason M. Pearl and Robert A. Managan.

Source: LLNL

The post LLNL Simulations Explore Nuclear Mitigation of Asteroid Threats appeared first on HPCwire.

(The Center Square) – More than 71 million Americans receiving Social Security benefits will see a 3.6% cost-of-living adjustment beginning in January, the federal government announced Wednesday.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency said nine of the top U.S. banks "debanked" customers over their political or religious views.

Hours before Apple and the ChatGPT maker were due to face off in court, a new allegation delayed the showdown

An ⁠OpenAI employee who left the ChatGPT maker for Apple sent more than 100 files about an unreleased product to a personal ⁠account and later ⁠made a presentation ​about the unreleased product to senior Apple leadership, a new filing in the lawsuit between OpenAI and Apple alleges.

In the filing ⁠in US federal court in San Jose, California, OpenAI alleged that the presentation happened months ago and that Apple is now making ⁠AI products of its own, citing the release of Apple’s HomeView product this week.

(The Center Square) – Several Democratic candidates have razor thin leads over more well-funded Republicans in key races that are now considered statistically tied.

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court heard arguments in a case that could change how much latitude judges have to determine sentencing in gun possession convictions.

In Beaird v. United States, the Court is considering a sentencing process based on its precedent in Stinson v. United States (1993), which has defined the level of deference in criminal sentencing given to federal judges. The U.S. Sentencing Commission, an independent agency in the judicial branch of government, publishes Federal Sentencing Guidelines for judges to follow, along with commentary to help judges interpret the guidelines.

In Stinson, a unanimous Court gave great deference to the commentary in sentencing decisions, holding that “the Guidelines Manual’s commentary which interprets or explains a guideline is authoritative unless it violates the Constitution or a federal statute, or is inconsistent with, or a plainly erroneous reading of, that guideline.”

Kendrick Jarrell Beaird is challenging the Stinson precedent. Beaird filed his appeal in forma pauperis, under the conditions of a Court rule that allowed him to waive filing fees with the representation from public defenders.

The Path to the Court

Beaird was arrested for possession of a gun following a felony conviction. A Northern District of Texas grand jury indicted Beaird under 18 U.S.C922(g)(1), a statute that punishes someone previously convicted of a felony from possessing a firearm that has moved in their possession via interstate commerce. Beaird failed at the trial court in his claims alleging violations of the Second Amendment and Commerce Clause, and he pleaded guilty.

A federal judge consulted the Federal Sentencing Guidelines for someone possessing a “semiautomatic firearm that is capable of accepting a large capacity magazine.” Beaird was found in possession a Glock capable of holding 17 rounds of ammunition. The Sentencing Commission’s official commentary on the federal guidelines called for 63 to 78 months of imprisonment for possession of a semiautomatic firearm that “had attached to it a magazine or similar device that could accept more than 15 rounds of ammunition.”

The judge sentenced Beaird to 72 months of imprisonment, to be followed by three years of supervised release. In his appeal, Beaird’s defense argued that commentary on the sentencing guidelines had improperly expanded the definition of a large-capacity magazine. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the decision and sentencing. In taking this case, the Supreme Court limited arguments to the holding in Stinson as it applied in Beard’s case.

Beaird’s appeal took several turns. Initially, the Solicitor General responded to the Court that Beaird’s petition should be denied. But once the Court accepted the case limited to the Stinson guidelines precedent, the United States asked the Supreme Court to vacate the appeals court decision so the lower courts could consider the case focusing on the Stinson precedent. Then, the Supreme Court moved to appoint an amicus curiae, Anthony J. Dick of Washington, D.C., to argue the position that Stinson correctly defined the deference that courts must give to the commentary on Sentencing Guidelines.

The Arguments at the Court

During arguments, public defender Kevin Joel Page, representing Beaird, faced repeated questions from the justices about changing the Court’s precedent in Stinson and granting more discretion to federal judges in sentencing.

“The proper rule for deference to guideline commentary is no deference. Nothing in the text of the Sentencing Reform Act suggests that courts must ever defer to commentary when interpreting a guideline, let alone defer . . . according to the extreme rule of Stinson,” argued Page.

“What concerns me about your arguments is that you’re suggesting that they are separable in some way which is really not the way in which the guidelines were devised,” said Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, who served as assistant special counsel of the U.S. Sentencing Commission from 2003 to 2005 and as a commissioner and vice chair from 2010 to 2014.

Jackson told Page that his argument represented “a fundamental misunderstanding” of the guidelines and commentary, which she said are linked together. “When you are a judge, you’re using both to reach the right answer under the guidelines, and there is a right answer as to what the guideline range is,” she said.

While Page noted Stinson and other precedents allowed a judge to ignore the commentary if it is not consistent with the guidelines for sentencing, Jackson believed Page’s position allowed a judge to ignore both.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor seemed skeptical of Page’s arguments, stating “you’re creating a sea of confusion for district court judges to fill in the blanks.”

Several justices pointed to the Court’s precedent in United States v. Booker (2005), which held that the guidelines were advisory and not mandatory. Justices Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch asked Deputy Solicitor General Eric J. Feigin how the Court should account for the Booker precedent in this case.

“We do not think that the commentary as it’s been promulgated by the Commission can either be viewed right now as a policy statement or as a guideline,” Feigin told Gorsuch.

Justice Samuel Alito wondered what would happen in the Court overturned Stinson and cases had to be reconsidered. Feigin countered that, “I think we’d argue that in a lot of those cases, the courts reached the correct result notwithstanding having referenced the commentary.”

The Court-appointed amicus curiae, Anthony J. Dick, echoed the Court’s landmark decision in Marbury v. Madison in his opening statement. “It is emphatically the province of the judiciary to say what the law is, but the advisory sentencing guidelines are not the law. They are advisory. As a result, when interpreting the guidelines, the question is not what the law is but, rather, what is the non-binding advice that the Commission is offering about what type of sentence should be imposed?”

“Stinson should be upheld. There's no reason to create the chaos that would come from overruling it,” he concluded.

Dick faced extensive questioning from Justice Neil Gorsuch, who disagreed with Dick’s characterization of Stinson. “It’s a nice reconceptualization of Stinson, but that's not what Stinson said,” Gorsuch noted.

“What about the topsy-turvy problem that we have binding commentary—advisory guidelines?” Gorsuch asked Dick in one exchange, referencing the Booker precedent. After Dick refuted any problem, Gorsuch remarked, “[Y]ou say this is all good with Booker, but, boy, the more you make these things binding, you’re creeping up to a Booker problem again.”

After arguments concluded, Chief Justice John Roberts thanked Dick for his service as amicus curiae.

For now, the justices will consider the Stinson precedent in context of several other precedents mentioned during arguments that could affect how federal judges take Sentencing Commission’s commentary into account. The question is whether Stinson will remain as the basis for such precedents going forward, or whether the Court will create a new test in its place clearly allowing judges more latitude in sentencing decisions?

Scott Bomboy is the editor in chief of the National Constitution Center.

(The Center Square) – Advancing American Freedom Foundation wants Congress to see how much electricity data centers use. It also wants states to reveal how much their data center tax breaks cost.

State officials, healthcare providers and advocates gathered Wednesday at ChristianaCare’s Wilmington Hospital to encourage women to stay current with recommended screenings, understand their family medical histories and seek help when cost, transportation or access to care becomes a barrier. Photo Courtesy of the State of Delaware. 

With nearly 5,000 women diagnosed over five years, Delaware health leaders emphasize the importance of screening, affordable treatment and addressing disparities in breast cancer outcomes.

WILMINGTON, Del. — With nearly 5,000 Delaware women diagnosed with breast cancer over a recent five-year period, health leaders are using Breast Cancer Awareness Month to reinforce a message that could save lives: Early detection and timely access to treatment can dramatically improve the chances of survival.

State officials, healthcare providers and advocates gathered Wednesday at ChristianaCare’s Wilmington Hospital to encourage women to stay current with recommended screenings, understand their family medical histories and seek help when cost, transportation or access to care becomes a barrier.

The event brought together Gov. Matt Meyer, former first lady Dr. Jill Biden, Lt. Gov. Kyle Evans Gay, Delaware Department of Health and Social Services Secretary Christen Linke Young, Delaware Surgeon General Dr. Neil Hockstein and ChristianaCare President and CEO Jenn Schwartz.

Meyer signed a proclamation recognizing October as Breast Cancer Awareness Month, honoring survivors, remembering those who have died from the disease and recognizing the healthcare professionals, caregivers and advocates who support patients and families.

Delaware faces significant breast cancer challenges

Breast cancer was the most commonly diagnosed cancer among Delaware women from 2018 through 2022, with nearly 5,000 diagnoses during that period.

Delaware’s breast cancer incidence rate ranks second nationally, according to state officials, and disparities remain significant. Black women in Delaware experience higher breast cancer mortality rates than white women.

The difference between detecting cancer early and discovering it after it has spread can be substantial.

According to the American Cancer Society, the five-year relative survival rate exceeds 99% when breast cancer is detected before it spreads beyond the breast. That rate falls to approximately 32% when the cancer has spread to distant parts of the body.

“Early detection saves lives, and access to timely diagnosis and effective treatment gives patients the best chance for a successful outcome,” Hockstein said.

“Breast cancer touches nearly every family in Delaware and while we’ve made tremendous progress in screening and treatment, significant disparities remain, particularly among Black women, who continue to experience higher mortality rates,” he said.

Screening is important, but access remains a concern

Health officials emphasized that knowing when to get screened is only part of the challenge. Some Delawareans delay mammograms or follow-up care because of cost, transportation problems, difficulty finding an appointment or lack of insurance.

Delaware’s Screening for Life program helps eligible residents obtain cancer screenings and related services, reducing some of the financial barriers that can prevent early detection.

“No one should have to put off a potentially lifesaving screening because of cost, transportation or difficulty finding an appointment,” Linke Young said.

“Through programs like Screening for Life and partnerships with health care providers across Delaware, we’re working to make breast cancer screening and treatment more accessible so more Delawareans can get the care they need, when they need it.”

The broader challenge is not simply encouraging more screenings but ensuring patients can move promptly from an abnormal mammogram to additional testing, diagnosis, treatment and follow-up care.

“Every woman deserves high-quality, accessible care regardless of her ZIP code, income or insurance status,” Meyer said. “Early detection is critical, but so is ensuring that once Delawareans are diagnosed, they can afford the appointments and care that follow.”

ChristianaCare’s Schwartz emphasized the role of healthcare providers in supporting patients throughout the screening and treatment process.

“We are here for our neighbors when they need an annual mammogram, when they have a question, when they’re waiting for results,” Schwartz said. “And, if you receive a breast cancer diagnosis, we’re here for that too, with extraordinary physicians.”

A personal reminder to prioritize screening

For some participants, the message was personal.

Gay, who turned 40 this year, shared that she had scheduled her own mammogram and encouraged others to make time for preventive care.

“This year I turned 40 and I got my mammogram. I encourage others to take time to take care of themselves,” Gay said.

She also recognized the caregivers and advocates who support patients through diagnosis, treatment and recovery.

Biden, who founded the Biden Breast Health Initiative in Delaware before serving as first lady, has been a longtime advocate for breast cancer education and women’s health.

“Early detection could save your life,” Biden said. “There’s nothing on your to-do list more important than that.”

Biden’s work has included encouraging young women to learn about breast health and advocating for greater attention to women’s health research and cancer treatment.

Understanding family history and genetic risks

Breast Cancer Awareness Month also provides an opportunity for Delawareans to learn more about inherited risks.

Certain genetic changes can increase the likelihood of developing breast and ovarian cancers. Genetic counseling can help patients understand their family histories, assess inherited risks and determine whether genetic testing may be appropriate.

A Delaware law signed in August 2025 is intended to make that process easier.

Senate Bill 70, sponsored by Sen. Nicole Poore and Rep. Krista Griffith, allows licensed genetic counselors to order genetic tests directly, eliminating an additional step for some patients seeking information about inherited health risks.

The law maintains requirements for physician referrals when medical assessments are necessary.

By improving access to genetic information, healthcare providers and patients can make more informed decisions about additional screening, preventive care and treatment options.

Turning awareness into action

While Breast Cancer Awareness Month brings additional attention to the disease, health leaders emphasized that its value ultimately depends on people taking action.

That includes discussing screening recommendations with a healthcare provider, knowing family medical history and following up promptly when additional testing is recommended.

For women facing financial or logistical barriers, state programs and healthcare organizations can provide assistance in accessing screenings and care.

The Wilmington gathering underscored a shared message from medical professionals, advocates and public officials: Early detection can save lives, but those benefits must be accessible to every Delawarean, regardless of income, insurance status or where they live.

TO GO: Breast Cancer Awareness Month

• What: October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, encouraging early detection, screening and support for patients and survivors.
• Who should consider screening: Women should discuss mammogram recommendations with their healthcare providers based on age, individual risk factors and family medical history. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommends mammograms every two years for women ages 40 to 74 at average risk.
• Need help paying for screening? Delaware’s Screening for Life program provides assistance with cancer screenings for eligible residents.
• Concerned about family history? Ask a healthcare provider whether genetic counseling or additional screening may be appropriate.
• Where to learn more:
  • Delaware Screening for Life: https://www.dhss.delaware.gov/dph/dpc/sfl.html
  • Delaware Breast Cancer Coalition: https://www.debreastcancer.org
  • American Cancer Society: https://www.cancer.org
• Important reminder: An abnormal mammogram does not necessarily mean cancer, but prompt follow-up is essential. Anyone experiencing a new breast lump or other concerning breast change should consult a healthcare provider rather than wait for a routine screening.

Pontiff has begun walking in his hospital room and is eating normally after operation to remove growth, doctors say

Pope Leo’s recovery from a lung cancer operation is progressing as planned, his doctors have said, as the pontiff received good wishes from around the world, including from Britain’s King Charles.

Leo, who had a cancerous mass removed from his right lung late on Tuesday, began walking in his hospital room after respiratory therapy on Wednesday. He was eating normally, his doctors Luigi Carbone and Stefano Margaritoria said in a statement issued by the Vatican.

The Michelin Guide announced 470 new Key hotels across 79 destinations on September 18, 2026. More significantly, hotels in 10 countries received Michelin Keys for the first time. But can Michelin's influence help put lesser-known alternatives on travelers' radar?

Pope Leo XIV was diagnosed with lung cancer after a surgery that removed a nodular lesion from his right lung, the Vatican said.

A fossil discovered 100 years ago in the U.K. has been identified as a previously unknown cousin of the T. rex, and it "definitely would have chased us."

The Justice Department has ordered California to review a list of people who the federal government believes may have received mail-in ballots for the upcoming election despite not being U.S. citizens.

RACHEL SIDRANE
Staff Writer

TW: This article includes mentions of eating disorders.

For my 16th birthday, my mom bought me a cake. Every year, she made me a cake for my birthday: angel food cake with fresh fruit, lemon coconut cake with lemon curd in between the layers, red velvet cake with buttercream frosting and rainbow sprinkles on the top. 

But for my 16th birthday, I stumbled down the stairs with my backpack digging into my shoulders, still bleary-eyed from snoozing my alarm clock three times, to find a tall cake with pastel colors, wrapped in fondant that was pressed elegantly to fit the curves of the pastry, topped off with French macarons in shades of pastel purple, blue and pink.

My mom hadn’t made this cake; it was the kind that was made specifically for a person from a high-end pastry store and cost a lot more than it should but made you feel super special. I should have felt super special. 

As any 16-year-old would, or should when being gifted such a cake, I beamed. I presented the biggest smile I could muster. I hoped my mom couldn’t tell that my cheeks didn’t quite rest on the corners of my mouth the way that they should. I hoped she couldn’t tell that my palms had gone shaky and that a line of sweat had started to drip down my back. I hoped she couldn’t tell that I didn’t feel special. 

My heart raced as I sat down at the kitchen island to open cards and blow out the 16 candles that were placed expertly on the cake. I laughed at the right parts of the goofy card that my dad had given me, and pouted at the card my mom had given me about growing up so fast. I hugged my parents and my siblings, thanking them a multitude of times for making me feel so special. 

“It’s a special day,” my mom said.

Really, the entire time I was in a trance: simply going through the motions, my head detached from my body. I had gotten good at acting, though.

I had a lot of practice. 

So when my mom went to cut the cake, I sat on my hands to hide the shaking. I bit my lip and continued to present the best closed-mouth smile I could. All eyes were on me. I couldn’t nonchalantly spit my bite into a napkin under the table when no one was looking, or pretend to blow my nose and fold my food into the tissue. 

I took a bite of the cake, and I swallowed. I took another bite of the cake, and swallowed. It was good. Like melt-in-your-mouth-I-would-eat-the-whole-cake-if-I-didn’t-have-self-restraint good, but my brain was screaming at me for eating that single slice. I attempted to steady my breathing when I hopped down from the high chair, excusing myself to the bathroom. 

Routinely, I went to the one upstairs so that no one could hear me, turned on the fan and the sink, put back my hair and knelt before the toilet bowl. I had gotten so used to this routine that I had forgotten to feel for it. This time, though, I felt. Tears pricked at my eyes as I heaved into the bowl, the porcelain cool beneath my fingers. 

My mom had bought me the most beautiful cake; I should have felt so special, but instead, I couldn’t stop feeling like a failure. My brain applauded me, but my heart wrenched. I brushed my teeth, wiped my mascara and headed back downstairs. 

For roughly a year, I became really good at acting. As far as everyone around me was concerned, I was content. Happy even. I deserved an award. I masked the exhaustion that came from not supplying my body with enough energy, the headaches that came with the times spent over the toilet bowl. 

It’s so funny how I didn’t realize that when my mind applauded me for eating less and exercising more, for those times spent over the toilet bowl and invitations out to lunch or dinner that I declined, I never felt truly happy. 

I guess that’s what happens when your mind is at war with your body; when you convince yourself that being empty makes you feel more whole.

As my wrists got thinner and my clothes got looser, my common Google searches became filled with “lowest calorie meals” and “how to be less hungry.” During one of my searches for bread alternatives, Google led me to a girl just like me, whose mind was also at war with her body. As I read her story, I felt understood at a time in which I had conditioned myself to feel nothing. Her words comforted me, and I finally let myself feel what I needed to, rather than what I thought I should. I realized that what I was experiencing wasn’t ridiculous or dramatic, but justified. 

I wish I could go back to that time sometimes, to check in. To tell myself that I could die any day, and no one would remember if I was a size two in jeans. They would remember my hugs and my laugh; my brain and the way I cared for others. They would remember my smile, the one that I had allowed to dim all that time. 

For my 18th birthday, my mom made me another cake before school. It was a chocolate mocha cake with brown buttercream frosting and brown chocolate sprinkles that looked like glitter scattered across the top. I beamed at my parents and enveloped them both in a big hug. I blew out all 18 candles and when my mom offered me a slice, I asked for seconds. I ate both slices and left my steady palms on the table. I didn’t think once about going to the bathroom. Instead, I sat there and beamed. 

I finally allowed myself to feel special.

A study commissioned by CCIA Europe, whose members include Amazon, Google, and Meta, estimates that the EU's proposed Cloud and AI Development Act could impose 115 billion euros ($128 billion) in costs over a decade as governments and companies migrate workloads and rewrite software. The figure is more than six times the European Commission's upper estimate. However, roughly 80 billion euros ($89 billion) of it comes from a modeled scenario assuming sovereignty rules are extended to 25% of cloud workloads in essential private-sector industries.The Register reports: The report specifically targets Article 31 of the proposed legislation, which it says could allow the Commission to extend sovereignty requirements into essential private-sector services. CCIA argues that forcing businesses to move away from existing cloud infrastructure could trigger expensive software redevelopment projects, with code rewriting and re-architecting accounting for 69 percent of its estimated costs. Luxembourg would apparently take the biggest hit, with the study putting the cost at 1,711 euros per worker over ten years. Denmark (905 euros), Austria (900 euros), and Finland (864 euros) also face hefty bills, as does Ireland (856 euros), which hosts the European headquarters of several US tech giants. CCIA is urging EU governments to overhaul the proposed legislation, limit sovereignty restrictions to sensitive workloads, and abandon requirements based on corporate origin or personnel nationality in favor of what it calls risk-based technical safeguards. "Member States cannot rely on the Commission's incomplete estimates when deciding CADA's strict sovereignty requirements for cloud and AI providers," said Mitchell Rutledge, CCIA Europe's policy manager. "Taxpayers and businesses will foot the bill, yet the official assessment missed 70 percent of CADA's true impact." For AWS and Google, offering European customers greater control over their data also helps retain business that might otherwise migrate to European competitors. It's a rather convenient arrangement: sell customers sovereignty on one hand, while an industry association representing your interests warns governments against imposing too much of it on the other.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

PITTSBURGH, Oct. 14, 2026 — Axe Compute Inc. today announced a strategic partnership with Penguin Solutions, adding Penguin’s deep technical expertise, technology, and services to Axe Compute’s partner network, accelerating Axe Compute Build, the company’s build-to-order program for delivering enterprise-grade AI infrastructure at scale.

This multi-year strategic partnership with Penguin Solutions is intended to speed time to market as Axe Compute works to bring more than $3.45 billion in contracted customer AI infrastructure projects to production globally. Axe Compute has selected Penguin for multiple sites, with the collaboration focused on AI infrastructure deployments that are designed, owned, and operated by Axe Compute. These sites include large GPU clusters where Penguin’s expert-led services will help support AI infrastructure deployment. With Penguin’s team working alongside Axe Compute, the company expects to add capacity to accelerate delivery and take on more Build projects to meet demand in its pipeline.

Through Axe Compute Build, customers co-engineer large AI infrastructure deployments, giving them choice in a constrained market. From there, Axe Compute serves as their end-to-end partner and orchestrator, delivering dedicated AI infrastructure configured to their workloads, performance requirements, hardware preferences, and geographic needs. Penguin will add expert-led deployment and operational services for specified GPU cluster sites. This includes Penguin Solutions’ ClusterWareAI operating system software for managing GPU cluster operations at scale, along with 24×7 network operations center coverage from a Penguin team working alongside Axe Compute.

“Penguin Solutions is a natural fit as we scale our neocloud business. Demand for Axe Compute Build has been exceptional. Customers choose Axe Compute Build because they gain dedicated AI infrastructure tailored to their requirements without the complexity of designing, deploying, and operating it themselves,” said Christopher Miglino, Chief Executive Officer of Axe Compute. “With partners like Penguin adding delivery capacity to our program, we expect to deploy faster and take on more builds, and our customers can activate and sustain high-performance AI infrastructure within the flexible, reliable, and end-to-end operational model that defines Axe Compute.”

“Axe Compute is addressing a critical need in the market by bringing enterprise-grade AI infrastructure online quickly, reliably, and at scale, and our AI Factory Platform is helping enable that growth,” said Kash Shaikh, President and CEO of Penguin Solutions. “What sets our Platform apart is its rare combination of OEM-like differentiated products and deep systems integration expertise. That helps customers like Axe Compute accelerate project delivery and bring additional capacity online to meet growing demand and generate revenue faster while meeting service-level agreements. We look forward to bringing our expert-led services to Axe Compute as it scales AI infrastructure for customers around the world.”

About Axe Compute Inc.

Axe Compute Inc. (NASDAQ: AGPU) is a neocloud AI infrastructure platform built on a fundamental premise: AI innovation should not be constrained by hardware choice or availability. The company provides enterprises and AI innovators with flexibility across hardware, geography, and deployment models. Axe Compute provides the design, deployment, ownership, and operation of large-scale, dedicated AI infrastructure worldwide, supported by enterprise-grade SLAs and operational expertise.

About Penguin Solutions

Penguin Solutions (NASDAQ: PENG) is the AI Factory Platform Company. We design, build, and manage next-generation data centers for enterprises, sovereign AI initiatives, and neocloud providers. With deep design expertise at the intersection of data center AI infrastructure and memory solutions, our Full-Stack AI Factory Platform combines differentiated infrastructure software, advanced memory, compute systems, end-to-end services, and industry-leading partner technologies to help customers accelerate deployment, optimize token economics, and maximize the return on their AI investments.

Source: Axe Compute

The post Axe Compute and Penguin Solutions Partner to Accelerate AI Infrastructure Deployments appeared first on HPCwire.

Party faces fresh crisis as three councillors quit after ITV undercover filming exposed violence, misogyny and racist views

Reform UK has been rocked by a fresh crisis after councillors and election candidates for the party were caught on film making graphic threats of extreme violence and expressing racist and misogynistic views.

Three councillors have already stood down from the party, which said it was conducting an investigation over the first revelations from an ITV undercover investigation that aired on Wednesday.

Climate change has pushed the planet's environmental systems "deeper into uncharted territory," researchers said in a new report centered on the state of Earth's climate in 2026.

Exclusive: Israel has not permitted US-led project to house 150 international troops to move forward

Israel is refusing to allow a key military outpost project for Donald Trump’s Board of Peace to proceed in Gaza, the Guardian has learned.

In early August, the Board of Peace, the international organization authorized in 2025 by the UN and chaired by the US president, issued its first construction contract for Gaza: Louisiana-based Arkel International would construct a military outpost for 150 international troops that would be the vanguard of an international stabilization force.

Plating at a fine dining restaurant - Unsplash+ License

Accounts for the Westminster-based company behind ChatGPT show that 110 staff shared £87m in salaries and £168m in shares last year

OpenAI’s London staff each received £2,318,181 on average last year, as the ChatGPT-maker poured Premier League football salaries into its bid to dominate the global AI race.

Accounts for OpenAI UK Ltd, which is based in Westminster but is opening a new HQ in London’s King’s Cross area, showed that 110 staff shared £87m in salaries and £168m in shares in the company, which is aiming to list on the stock market at a valuation of about $1tn.

Katie Zacharia describes herself as a lawyer but no public record shows she has been licensed in the US states where she resided

Donald Trump’s new press secretary, Katie Zacharia, has repeatedly described herself as a lawyer. But when asked after her inaugural press briefing on Tuesday to name the state where she passed the bar exam, she replied curiously: “when I moved to China”.

No public record shows she has ever been licensed to practice law in the US states where she resided, and her answer to reporters’ questions on Tuesday only deepened scrutiny.

(The Center Square) - Senate President Warren Petersen and U.S. Rep. Andy Biggs are vying to give Republicans back control of Arizona’s executive branch.

Article in Atlantic claims The Blue Fighter was artificially generated, days after it won Caine prize for African writers

The Zimbabwean writer Simbarashe Kundizeza has denied using AI to write a prize-winning short story after an article in the Atlantic said software had flagged it as almost completely AI-generated.

Kundizeza’s story The Blue Fighter was announced as the winner of the prestigious Caine prize for African writers on 6 October. Five days later, The Atlantic published an article by the author and journalist Vauhini Vara titled: “Yet Another Literary prize winner Seems to Be AI.”

Google has made Android's phone-number verification opt-out, automatically verifying and associating a device's phone number with every Google account signed in on that phone, including secondary and work accounts. Android Authority reports: As spotted in a recent Reddit thread, users report receiving confirmation emails out of the blue from "noreply-phone-verification@google.com" stating that their phone number has been verified. The feature, known in Google settings as "Phone number verification," links your active phone number across all Google accounts signed in on the same phone, including secondary profiles, work accounts, and throwaway handles. Google's support documentation has long noted that it periodically re-verifies your device's phone number to keep communication and recovery features up to date. However, this support page was updated sometime between August and October 2025 to add this rather aggressive behavior of turning on phone number verification by default, as well as adding all phone numbers to all Google accounts signed in on the device. To disable automatic phone number verification on Android, open your phone's Settings app, tap Google, and select the All Services tab. Under Privacy & Security, find Phone number verification and turn off Verify phone numbers automatically. "[T]urning off the phone number verification toggle only prevents future linking," notes the report. "If Google has already attached your number across secondary accounts, you will need to open your Google Account Personal Info page, head to Contact info > Phone, and manually remove the number from each profile where it doesn't belong." Is this conversation helpful so far?

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

LAGUNA HILLS, Calif., Oct. 14, 2026 — BrainChip Holdings Ltd., a global leader in ultra-low-power, fully digital, event-based neuromorphic AI, today announced BrainChip Sequora Core IP, a processor IP core that runs generative AI, including large language models (LLMs), directly on battery-powered edge devices.

The next step in BrainChip’s edge AI roadmap, Sequora builds on the strengths of the company’s Akida platform. Its efficiency comes from model structure: a state-space design keeps memory use fixed no matter how long the data stream or conversation runs. As a result, Sequora scales from models of a few million parameters up to 3 billion. Devices that once could only recognize a signal can now understand, explain and respond — at the power levels customers expect from BrainChip.

“Our commercial and aerospace/defense customers are designing AI into many of the next-generation edge systems that provide real-time processing and decision-making in congested and contested environments with minimal footprint in size, weight and power,” said Frank Ferrante, chief executive officer at ForwardEdge ASIC. “Sequora puts generative AI in a low-power IP core that fits many of the demands of the custom silicon we build. It gives us a path to add on-device intelligence to mission-critical edge ASICs.”

What Sequora Does

Sequora removes the memory and power bottleneck that has kept generative AI out of battery-powered devices such as earbuds and sensor nodes. Paired with Akida, it brings two workloads together in one solution: Akida processes streaming sensor data — vibration, audio, radar, raw radio-frequency (RF) IQ data and biological signals — while Sequora runs generative and sequential AI, including on-device LLMs, voice-to-voice interaction and AI agents.

Markets from consumer voice and wearables to aerospace and defense, automotive and industrial radar, industrial IoT, and medical and biomedical devices need conventional inference and generative inference in the same product.

“The edge is where AI becomes useful in everyday infrastructure, from utility meters to mobility systems,” said Jay Kim, CEO of edgeAI Inc. “BrainChip saw early that efficiency would decide who wins at the edge. Now they’re applying that same thinking to generative AI, bringing language and reasoning capabilities to devices that run on a small battery.”

Key challenges Sequora addresses:

• Generative models stall on memory bandwidth
• Per-word cost that climbs as the conversation (context window) and its cache grow
• Memory traffic caps model size on battery power
• Make run-time branching predictable for automotive, medical and avionics certification
• On-device per-query latency and privacy

Sensing and Generative AI on One Device, One Battery

“Customers are not asking for just a signal classifier or a language model,” said Sean Hehir, chief executive officer, BrainChip. “They want both, in the same product, on the same battery. Akida and Sequora together deliver exactly that.”

Because Sequora runs generative and sequential AI without sending data off the device, it addresses a growing market priority: keeping data and AI models sovereign while minimizing size, weight and power.

Availability

Sequora is available now as licensable semiconductor IP. Customers integrate the design into their own system-on-chip (SoC) and manufacture it at the foundry and process node of their choice. Delivered as process-portable, fully synthesizable register-transfer level (RTL) code, the Sequora package includes verification IP and testbench, synthesis scripts and timing constraints, and an SDK with a static graph compiler, a C++ runtime library and a model zoo.

About BrainChip Holdings Ltd.

BrainChip (ASX: BRN, OTCQX: BRCHF, ADR: BCHPY) is the worldwide leader in edge AI on-chip processing and learning. The company’s first-to-market, fully digital, event-based AI processor, Akida, uses neuromorphic principles to analyze only essential sensor inputs at the point of acquisition, processing data with unmatched efficiency, precision and energy economy. BrainChip’s Sequora is an efficient digital AI processor for GenAI and other large models using state-space architectures. BrainChip’s technology is deployed across industries including aerospace, defense, industrial IoT, healthcare, consumer devices, and wearables. Explore more at www.brainchip.com.

Source: BrainChip

The post BrainChip Launches Sequora for Low-Power Generative AI at the Edge appeared first on HPCwire.

Throttling of mobile internet system will affect Kyiv’s air defences more than its strikes on oil refineries. Now Zelenskyy must be hoping that US intel holds

In Ukraine the situation was already jittery enough. Donald Trump has been inventing ceasefires and buying Russian diesel to shore up his flagging popularity, while a sinister new wave of faster, jet-powered drones are breaking through Kyiv’s stretched air defences. Casualties are rising as the weather turns.

Overnight, Russia bombed three power plants that supply Kyiv, aiming to cut off heating and electricity to the city. According to the president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, for a second night in a row no warning came from Ukraine’s western allies of the incoming ballistic missiles – and so no air raid alert was issued.

Scientists say the Bering Land Bridge formed 35,000 years ago, eventually disappearing under rising sea levels around 12,000 years ago.

Kelly Graf holds a steppe bison bone recovered at Shég Xdaltthi with a hearth oven feature being excavated in the background. (Kelly Graf via SWNS)

The one I worry about most is voter anger – which both parties are not taking seriously enough

That chill in the air you are feeling is not the weather, it is the Republicans freaking out about the 2026 midterm elections. Midterms are always referendums on the incumbent, though the party in power usually would rather they weren’t.

This midterm feels less like a referendum on Trumpism than a dirge. It’s easy to see how Republicans got here, lulled into thinking that their guy, Donald Trump, could once again defy political gravity. Trump certainly thought he could.

Molly Jong-Fast is the host of the Fast Politics pod, contributing writer for the times and an analyst for MS Now

It is the first time scientists have observed bleached corals on the brink of death fully recover through brief contact with healthy clones.

In the experiment, gaps of just a few millimeters between pairs of coral fragments – one bleached, one healthy – prevented the bleached fragments from recovering. (Danny Collins via SWNS)

BOCA RATON, Fla. and HOBOKEN, N.J., Oct. 14, 2026 — INmune Bio Inc. and Quantum Computing Inc. (QCi) today announced a collaboration to apply quantum computing, artificial intelligence (AI) and data analytics to identify new potential applications for XPro (XPro1595), INmune Bio’s investigational treatment for Alzheimer’s disease and other disease conditions.

The collaboration brings together INmune Bio’s data from pre-clinical research through four clinical trials and understanding of disease biology with QCi’s Dirac-3S quantum optimization machine. Working with clinical and publicly available biomedical datasets, the companies intend to use quantum computing alongside AI and conventional data analytics to uncover relationships that could help find diseases driven by the same biology XPro targets, and to prioritize those with the greatest potential for success.

The Stage 1 engagement represents QCi’s first commercial customer in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology market. The agreement also provides options for additional work as INmune Bio advances its clinical development programs.

“We’ve built a large clinical dataset on Alzheimer’s and other diseases, backed by years of work with XPro,” said David Moss, Chief Executive Officer of INmune Bio. “This collaboration allows us to examine patient populations and biomarkers most likely to predict responses by analyzing large data sets. We’ll look for the diseases with the greatest potential for success, those whose human biology matches what we’ve already seen XPro do, starting with rare diseases where trials can be smaller, faster and more capital-efficient, and where qualifying pediatric approvals may earn a Priority Review Voucher.”

Together, the companies will build on INmune Bio’s research into XPro to explore where its approach to targeting inflammation may offer the greatest potential. XPro is designed to selectively inhibit soluble tumor necrosis factor (TNF), a protein involved in inflammation, while preserving other TNF functions important to the immune system. INmune Bio is investigating its potential in neurological and rare diseases where this targeted approach may offer a therapeutic benefit.

Using its Dirac-3S entropy quantum optimization machine alongside AI and conventional analytics, QCi will look for patterns and relationships across these datasets that could help researchers better understand treatment responses, identify promising patient populations and prioritize new indications for further study.

“This is a great example of what practical quantum computing can look like today,” said Yuping Huang, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of QCi. “INmune Bio has a complex scientific problem and a substantial body of clinical and biological data. Our job is to bring new computing capabilities to that problem and see what we can learn. The potential to help researchers make better decisions about future treatments is exciting, and it opens an important new market for QCi.”

An important part of the program will be testing where quantum optimization adds value. The companies plan to compare results from QCi’s quantum optimization machine with appropriate conventional statistical and machine-learning methods, evaluating which approaches are best suited to different parts of the analysis.

The work is also intended to establish a repeatable discovery process through quantum computing that INmune Bio can use with additional datasets and potential disease indications.

For INmune Bio, the collaboration offers a new way to evaluate the broader potential of XPro and prioritize future development opportunities. For QCi, it represents an opportunity to showcase how its room-temperature, low-power quantum computing technology can be applied to complex, real-world problems in pharmaceutical research.

About INmune Bio Inc.

INmune Bio Inc. is a publicly traded (NASDAQ: INMB), late-stage biotechnology company focused on developing treatments that target the innate immune system to fight disease. The Company’s clinical-development strategy centers on advanced precision medicine, matching drug mechanisms directly to patient biology to optimize clinical outcomes. To learn more about INmune Bio’s pipeline and its approach to harnessing the innate immune system, please visit www.inmunebio.com.

About Quantum Computing Inc.

Quantum Computing Inc. (Nasdaq: QUBT) is an integrated quantum photonics company developing and manufacturing technologies that use light to compute complex information, capture hard-to-detect signals and communicate more securely. QCi brings together quantum optics, integrated photonics, semiconductor manufacturing and advanced packaging to create a more direct path from advanced science to practical products.

QCi’s portfolio includes quantum machines, photonic chips, components, modules and subsystems, as well as foundry and advanced manufacturing services. Its technologies are designed to operate at room temperature and low power, without the specialized cooling infrastructure required by many quantum approaches. These advantages enable deployment across computing and AI, secure communications, sensing and imaging, aerospace and defense, and other demanding applications.

Headquartered in Hoboken, New Jersey, QCi has operations across the United States. By combining advanced physics, device engineering and scalable manufacturing, QCi is working to make quantum and advanced photonic technologies more accessible and useful in the real world.

To learn more about QCi and its approach to harnessing light for practical quantum computing, please visit www.quantumcomputinginc.com.

Source: QCi

The post INmune Bio and QCi Combine Quantum Computing and AI to Study Drug Applications appeared first on HPCwire.

PARIS, Oct. 14, 2026 — As Europe accelerates investments in AI infrastructure, Bull is extending its NVIDIA rack-scale portfolio with NVIDIA Vera Rubin Ultra NVL72, a liquid-cooled platform designed to meet the growing needs of cloud service providers, NeoClouds and AI factories to help them train and serve increasingly large reasoning and agentic AI models.

Vera Rubin Ultra NVL72 follows Bull’s Vera Rubin NVL72 program, which Bull is industrializing in Europe: trays are produced in Europe with final rack integration in Angers, France. Bull intends to build Vera Rubin Ultra NVL72 on the same European line, giving European customers a local path from one NVIDIA generation to the next.

Powered by NVIDIA Vera CPUs and NVIDIA Rubin Ultra GPUs , Vera Rubin Ultra NVL72 brings 72 GPUs together in a single rack through seventh generation NVIDIA NVLink. The same architecture scales to NVL576, joining eight racks into a single NVLink domain over direct optical links.

Vera Rubin Ultra NVL72 keeps the rack footprint and maximum rack power of NVIDIA Vera Rubin NVL72, so data centers designed for Vera Rubin can plan for the Ultra generation without reworking their power distribution. It supports both AC power and 800 VDC, and integrates Caliptra, the open-source root of trust from the Open Compute Project, with post-quantum secure boot – helping customers keep control of their data and infrastructure.

Bull Vera Rubin Ultra NVL72 is planned for the first half of 2028.

“The rapid emergence of AI factories is creating demand for infrastructure that combines scale, performance and trust,” explained Cédric Bourrasset, Bull’s head of AI and Cloud infrastructure. “By extending our European production roadmap to NVIDIA Vera Rubin Ultra NVL72, we are giving clients a clear path to the next generation of AI systems, built on advanced NVIDIA technology and supported by industrial capabilities anchored in Europe. This is about helping organisations deploy AI at scale while retaining greater control over how their infrastructure is designed, integrated and operated.”

“AI factories are driving a transformative shift that will serve as the fundamental engine of growth across the European industrial economy,” said Dion Harris, Sr. Director of HPC and AI Infrastructure, NVIDIA. “Bull’s plans to bring NVIDIA Vera Rubin Ultra NVL72 to its European production line will empower businesses with a locally integrated path to scale their AI infrastructure and accelerate this new industrial revolution.”

More from HPCwire: Bull Expands Supercomputer Manufacturing with €80M Angers Redevelopment

About Bull

Leveraging nearly a century of innovations, Bull is a global leader for High-Performance Computing, Artificial Intelligence and Quantum technologies with c.720m€ in revenue and 3,000 professionals operating in 32 countries. Built on an open, end-to-end and trusted approach, Bull designs, deploys and operates hardware, software and strategic services that unlock enterprise value, accelerate scientific research and advance society. Driven by world-class R&D, backed by 1,600 patents, manufacturing excellence and data sciences expertise, Bull enables nations and industries to fully control their AI and data and to drive progress for the benefit of the planet.

Source: Bull

The post Bull to Bring NVIDIA Vera and Vera Rubin Ultra NVL72 to Europe appeared first on HPCwire.

College Democrats and Republicans join forces to organize Senate debate after UD’s traditional program fails to materialize; Katz plans Oct. 19 town hall.

NEWARK, Del. — A bipartisan effort by University of Delaware students to organize a U.S. Senate debate has become the latest point of disagreement between Democratic Sen. Chris Coons and Republican challenger Dr. Mike Katz, raising questions about whether Delaware voters will have an opportunity to see the candidates debate before the Nov. 3 election.

The College Republicans and College Democrats at UD worked together to propose a campus debate after the university’s traditional Delaware Debates program did not materialize this election cycle.

According to statements from the College Republicans and Katz campaign, Katz accepted the invitation and offered to participate in any format, at any time and location on campus. The student Republicans said the Coons campaign declined.

The development follows an earlier debate proposal from WDEL and CoastTV that Katz accepted and his campaign says Coons declined.

The competing decisions have renewed a question for both campaigns: How will Delaware voters be able to compare the candidates’ records, positions and proposals before casting their ballots?

Students seek bipartisan solution

The joint proposal represented an unusual example of cooperation between student organizations representing opposing political parties.

College Democrats President Sophie Douglas and College Republicans President Tim Schugsta helped lead the effort to create a forum where voters could hear from both candidates.

“The proposal showed that College Democrats and College Republicans at UD can work together in a good-faith effort to serve our state,” the College Republicans said in a statement.

The organizations have previously cooperated on campus activities, including a Sept. 11 remembrance and discussions about political polarization.

Katz praised the students for putting aside political differences.

“When the UD College Democrats and College Republicans put aside their political differences to promote open debate, elected leaders should applaud their leadership — not shut them down,” Katz said.

The College Republicans also thanked Douglas and her leadership board for helping organize the proposed event.

The organization said it hopes to continue working with the College Democrats on future opportunities for civic engagement.

The College Democrats’ independent account of the debate discussions was not included in the statements provided to Delaware LIVE.

Coons campaign has not provided an explanation

Coons, who has represented Delaware in the U.S. Senate since 2010, has not publicly explained his decision to decline the student proposal in a statement located by Delaware LIVE.

Candidates frequently consider scheduling, format, moderators and other factors before agreeing to debate invitations. Declining a particular invitation does not necessarily mean a candidate is unwilling to participate in other public forums.

Both candidates have participated in individual interviews and other campaign appearances. Katz’s campaign also acknowledged that the candidates appeared at a September forum at the Jewish Community Center, although the format did not allow direct exchanges between them.

Still, a traditional debate provides an opportunity for candidates to answer identical questions, respond to criticism and defend their positions in front of the same audience.

For voters, the distinction is meaningful. Coons has a nearly 16-year Senate record to defend, while Katz is asking voters to consider a change in representation.

“Senator Coons has served in Washington for 16 years. Delaware voters deserve to compare our records, our positions, and our plans for the future before voting begins,” Katz said.

Delaware LIVE has not located a public statement from the Coons campaign explaining its decision to decline the proposed student-led debate or responding to allegations concerning interactions with student organizers. Delaware LIVE contacted the Coons campaign headquarters by telephone and left a message requesting comment. As of publication, the campaign had not responded directly.

Student Republicans raise concerns about campaign interactions

Beyond the debate invitation, the College Republicans raised concerns about how the Coons campaign responded to students involved in the organizing effort.

In their statement, the College Republicans alleged that representatives of the Coons campaign “scolded individuals for simply reaching out to gauge interest in this debate.”

The Katz campaign separately criticized Coons campaign manager Matt Schoonmaker, alleging that a College Democrat involved in the proposal had been reprimanded.

Those allegations have not been independently verified by Delaware LIVE.

Neither the precise communications between the campaign and student organizers nor the circumstances surrounding the alleged exchange have been independently established.

The Coons campaign has not provided its account of those discussions.

The distinction matters because there may be differences between a campaign declining an invitation, expressing concerns about the organization of an event and discouraging students from pursuing a bipartisan debate.

The student organizations’ statements raise questions deserving clarification, but the allegations should not be treated as facts without additional information.

Traditional Delaware Debates absent from election calendar

The controversy follows uncertainty surrounding the University of Delaware’s longstanding Delaware Debates program.

The university has hosted candidate debates since 2010, providing a forum for Delaware voters to hear from candidates seeking statewide and federal office.

In September, Delaware LIVE reported that the university had not announced debates for the 2026 election cycle, although the university’s website continued to describe the program.

At that time, Delaware LIVE could not independently confirm that the university had formally canceled this year’s debates.

Katz subsequently called on Delaware Republican and Democratic leaders and media organizations to help organize a televised debate.

On Sept. 29, Katz’s campaign announced that he had accepted an invitation from WDEL for a debate that would also be broadcast on CoastTV. The campaign said Coons declined and WDEL’s offer remained open.

The latest student proposal would have provided another opportunity for the two candidates to appear together.

Katz questions media scrutiny

Katz also used the announcement to question whether Delaware news organizations have provided sufficient scrutiny of the debate decisions.

His campaign specifically mentioned The News Journal, Delaware Online and Spotlight Delaware, arguing that declining debate opportunities should receive greater attention.

“Delaware already has a limited number of major news outlets. That makes independent, investigative journalism more important than ever,” Katz said.  The criticism reflects the candidate’s view of media coverage. It does not establish that the organizations deliberately avoided the issue.

The broader accountability question applies to both candidates.

“Voters have an interest in understanding why Coons has declined the reported debate opportunities, including whether alternative formats were offered,” stated a spokesperson from the Katz Campaign.   “A debate could provide an opportunity to question both candidates about federal spending, economic policy, immigration, health care, foreign affairs and other issues affecting Delaware residents.”

Katz plans Oct. 19 campus town hall

With the proposed joint debate off the calendar, the College Republicans plan to host Katz for a town hall Monday, Oct. 19, at the Trabant University Center in Newark.

The organization has invited College Democrats and other political student organizations to attend.

“I look forward to meeting with students — Democrats, Republicans, and Independents alike — listening to their concerns, answering difficult questions, and discussing Delaware’s future,” Katz said.

The event will provide an additional opportunity for students to question Katz, although it will not offer the same direct comparison available when both candidates participate in a debate.

Early voting in Delaware begins Oct. 22, giving voters limited time to evaluate the candidates before ballots can be cast. The general election is Nov. 3.

Whether another organization can arrange a debate before Election Day remains uncertain.

For Delaware voters, the unanswered issue is not simply which campaign accepted or declined an invitation, but whether the candidates will appear together to answer questions, explain their differences and defend their records before the election.

TO GO: Senate candidate town hall and voting information

• Event: U.S. Senate candidate town hall featuring Republican nominee Dr. Mike Katz
• Date: Monday, Oct. 19, 2026
• Time: 7 p.m.
• Location: Trabant University Center, University of Delaware, Newark
• Organizer: College Republicans at the University of Delaware
• Participation: College Democrats and other student political organizations have been invited.
• Early voting: Begins Thursday, Oct. 22, and continues on designated dates through Nov. 1.
• General election: Tuesday, Nov. 3. Polls open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.
• More information: Visit the Delaware Department of Elections for voting locations and election information.

Expanding plume of fuel exhaust crystalized in the sky and reflected sunlight off frozen particles after Florida launch

A SpaceX rocket provided a stunning pre-dawn display over Florida as a massive, luminescent “jellyfish cloud” spread for miles, caused by an expanding plume of fuel exhaust crystalizing in the sky and reflecting sunlight off the frozen particles.

The phenomenon occurred shortly after Tuesday’s 6.33am ET launch of the Falcon 9 rocket carrying cargo to the International Space Station.

Comedian faces three charges of rape, three of sexual assault and one of indecent assault against six women

Russell Brand was a ruthless, calculated and manipulative sexual predator who boasted about wanting to have sex with 5,000 women, a court has heard.

The 51-year-old comedian is accused of having an “insatiable desire” to get what he wanted and treating women as a means to an end.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: AI company Anthropic is warning that advances in small AI models could soon usher in a new era of self-replicating malware that's capable of infecting smart fridges, vacuum cleaners, and a wide range of other Internet-of-things devices and is more resistant to takedown. By next year, smaller AI models may be able to autonomously self-replicate on all kinds of IoT devices, the company said. Eventually, the capability could enable computer worms, which propagate without requiring human interaction and are capable of infecting unfamiliar IoT devices. An experiment the company performed recently revealed significant challenges in bringing such an AI malware replicator to fruition, so the finding is necessarily tempered. Still, the results do raise concerns about the possibility of new forms of computer worms. Anthropic further warned not only about the new potential malware, but also that it could be difficult to stop. In its blog post, it wrote that "a replicator like this would be challenging to shut down, since there's no centralized point to shut off -- though it may be slow (with a doubling time of days). Unlike non-AI malware, it could also figure out unfamiliar devices on its own." Smaller AI models require much less powerful hardware to run than do frontier models. Anthropic ran small open-weight models on real or simulated low-cost, off-brand Android TV boxes and other types of IoT hardware. Company researchers found that by using quantization to represent the models using fewer bits and splitting the workloads into "shards" running on each device, the models were able to establish inference, meaning that the model weights loaded and could generate output. [...] This finding was the starting point for further research that asked: Would it be possible for small models to create self-replicating infections that run themselves on IoT devices the way traditional IoT worms, like Mirai, install DDoS code and other payloads? Unlike Mirai, these AI worms could pose a much higher threat, since the models could tailor exploits and payloads dynamically, depending on the target. Once such an infection chain began, it might also be harder for defenders to stop it. "Such an 'AI worm' could carry its model weights with it as it reproduces (or re-download them from a public hub), and then run inference directly on compromised hardware," Anthropic said. "Effectively, the weights would become part of the malware payload." Further reading: Anthropic Bans Cruelty Toward Claude

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Blow for Trump administration as Dawn and Taag hail ‘important step in unraveling the ICC sanctions regime’

A US federal judge has temporarily blocked the Trump administration from placing sanctions on two US-based human rights groups for working to help the international criminal court’s (ICC) investigations into war crimes in Gaza.

In a 30-page order issued on Tuesday, Jesse M Furman, a judge at the US district court for the southern district of New York, granted a preliminary injunction to the two groups, Democracy for the Arab World Now (Dawn) and Taxpayer Alliance Against Genocide (Taag).

LEIPZIG, Germany, Oct. 14, 2026 — SAXON Q, a leader in NV-center quantum computing, today released a paper showing that its room-temperature diamond-based system can perform on par with superconducting quantum computers cooled to near absolute zero.

Running Grover’s search algorithm, a standard benchmark test for quantum performance, a SAXON Q system identified a single target state 77.3% of the time using three qubits, rivaling the best published superconducting result of 78%, which required a temperature roughly 15,000 times colder.

“The assumption in quantum computing has been that you trade performance for convenience. These results show that tradeoff isn’t necessary,” said Marius Grundmann, co-founder and CEO of SAXON Q. “Our system ran a complete quantum algorithm in an ordinary room at a customer site, and the results were similar to those of machines that require extensive infrastructure to cool them to near absolute zero.”

Grover’s algorithm — also known as the “quantum search algorithm” — has been used for years to benchmark quantum computers. It finds a marked item in an unsorted list, using fewer steps than any classical computing method can, and it is a building block for how quantum applications will approach optimization work, financial analysis, cryptography and more. It uses a sequence that includes the qubits, single and multi-qubit gates, repeated operations and a final readout, all of which work together. That means that it can measure the full performance of a quantum computer, as opposed to going component by component.

In the test, SAXON Q’s system used a three-qubit Grover search to look through a list of eight items. In the first test, it looked for a single target, and its quantum processor succeeded 77.3% of the time — by comparison, a conventional computer could only succeed in the same task 37.5% of the time, at best. The next test had it search for two targets. The result was a success rate of 87% for the quantum processor, compared to a conventional computer’s limit of 46.4%.

The results mark the highest three-qubit Grover search performance reported to date for any quantum computer at room temperature, and the first demonstration of this size on NV-center hardware.

The benchmark ran on a SAXON Q system installed at Fraunhofer IWU in Dresden, Germany, in June 2025. Fraunhofer IWU researchers co-authored the paper. The system operates at room temperature, all without special infrastructure such as cryogenic cooling or vacuum equipment.

“Our researchers worked on this benchmark alongside SAXON Q’s team, so we know exactly how these results were measured and what they mean for our work,” said Albrecht Hänel, head of Digital Production Twin at Fraunhofer IWU. “Seeing the system perform at this level on our own site gives us confidence to take on more demanding work in industrial optimization and robotics.”

The result came within a single percentage point of the best result ever published using a superconducting quantum computer, all with a fraction of the overhead. The SAXON Q system that was tested operates at room temperature and runs on roughly 600 watts. Superconducting quantum computers, by contrast, can demand upwards of 25 kilowatts and must be cooled to near absolute zero inside dilution refrigerators that require specialized facilities and chilled-water cooling. Trapped-ion and neutral-atom systems need ultra-high vacuum chambers and laser cooling.

SAXON Q’s systems offer a significant improvement over earlier electron-spin NV-center demonstrations by computing entirely on the nuclear spins of atoms within a diamond and storing quantum information roughly 1,000 times longer. The experiment was conducted on a previous-generation SAXON Q quantum computer, which predates its new SXQ128 and SXQ512 quantum computers announced in July. The SXQ128 is available to order now, and SXQ512 deliveries are scheduled to begin in the second quarter of 2027.

More from HPCwire: SAXON Q Brings Room-Temperature Diamond Quantum Computing to Commercial Market

About SAXON Q

SAXON Q is a quantum computing company founded at the University of Leipzig by the research team that pioneered nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center technology in diamond over three decades of scientific work. The company was built on a simple premise: that quantum computing would only achieve its potential when it could be deployed like any other computing technology — without cryogenic infrastructure, specialized facilities or dedicated engineering staff. SAXON Q systems operate at room temperature on standard electrical power and are manufactured using semiconductor-compatible processes protected by more than 220 patents and pending applications. Headquartered in Leipzig, Germany, SAXON Q serves research institutions and commercial customers around the world.

Source: SAXON Q

The post SAXON Q Reports Diamond Quantum Search Performance Rivaling Superconducting Results appeared first on HPCwire.

​Archaeologists in Turkey have dated the shipwreck to between 4,400 and 4,700 years old.

I’m not easily impressed when it comes to smart home hubs. Here’s why the HomeView is different.

A fresh wave of protests by India’s youth-led Cockroach movement has been met with a brutal crackdown by Narendra Modi’s government and the closure of a historic protest site in Delhi. Two of the movement’s leaders have been imprisoned for five days for violating suppression measures. The protests, which began over frustration about education and unemployment, are now focused on voting rights. Modi’s government denies claims it is seeking to disenfranchise millions of voters. But its treatment of protesters has been criticised by the UN and Amnesty International and raised concerns that India is sliding further into autocracy. Lucy Hough speaks to South Asia correspondent Hannah Ellis-Petersen – watch on YouTube

Two-mile stretch of Huntington Beach closed after sighting at location popular with surfers and swimmers

A popular southern California beach was closed after a great white shark was reportedly spotted “exhibiting aggressive behavior” on Tuesday afternoon.

The Huntington Beach fire department said there was a “credible report” of a 10-12ft great white shark circling near a lifeguard tower, which is considered aggressive behavior according to the city’s marine safety division’s “shark response protocols”.

Experts say the technology could help terrorists and nation states with production but that significant hurdles remain

In his annual speech on threats to the nation, Sir Ken McCallum, the head of the UK’s intelligence service, MI5, warned that AI had the potential to “change the stakes” on existing and even new bioweapons. Here we look at how AI might help in the development of bioweapons and the hurdles that remain.

Espionage in AI labs poses a national security threat, according to US intelligence and security officials.

Senior Care Options: Technology is expanding what is possible at home. Assisted living communities are shifting their focus from managing decline to promoting wellness and a sense of purpose. And specialized advisers are helping families navigate the increasingly sophisticated choices. Image created on 10/14 using AI.

Artificial intelligence, purpose-driven assisted living and new approaches to care planning are giving Delaware families more ways to keep aging parents safe, independent and engaged in life.

WILMINGTON, Del. — When Mom begins forgetting medications, struggling with daily routines or becoming less comfortable living alone, families face a familiar question: Can she safely remain at home, or is it time for assisted living?

The answer is changing, and families have more choices than ever.

“We’ve also shifted from reactive to proactive, anticipating challenges and guiding families to avoid pitfalls — delivering greater value and peace of mind,” said Lynn Paxson, owner of Oasis Senior Advisors of Delaware, reflecting on how her business has evolved over the past decade.

Technology is expanding what is possible at home. Assisted living communities are shifting their focus from managing decline to promoting wellness and a sense of purpose. And specialized advisers are helping families navigate the increasingly sophisticated choices.

For caregivers, the transformation offers opportunities to anticipate problems, preserve independence and potentially improve an aging parent’s quality of life while reducing some of the burdens on family members.

Artificial Intelligence Makes Staying Home More Practical

One significant advance involves artificial intelligence systems that can monitor a senior’s safety even when a professional caregiver is not present.

Griswold Home Care, which serves Delaware families, has partnered with Wisdom to introduce technology-enhanced services through its Griswold Care Plus program.

Small audio-sensing devices installed throughout a home use artificial intelligence to recognize patterns and identify possible falls, calls for help, unusual activity or changes in daily routines. The system does not require cameras or wearable devices.

Patrick Gray, who operates Griswold Home Care serving Wilmington, has described how the technology gives professional caregivers information they previously lacked.

In one example, repeated falls were identified during a client’s morning routine, allowing the care team and family to recognize the need for additional assistance.

The technology can help determine whether caregiving schedules should change or whether more intensive support is necessary.

Combined with hands-on assistance for bathing, meals, transportation and companionship, these tools can make remaining at home a more practical option for some families.

For adult children, they can provide greater awareness of what happens between visits and reduce uncertainty about a parent’s safety.

Easterseals Lets Families See the Technology for Themselves

For families uncertain about what technology might help an aging parent, Easterseals Delaware & Maryland’s Eastern Shore offers a practical place to explore the possibilities.

Its Resource and Technology Demonstration Center at 61 Corporate Circle in New Castle features hundreds of assistive devices designed to help people remain independent.

The approximately 3,000-square-foot center demonstrates everything from adaptive clothing, specialized eating utensils and medication aids to mobility equipment and voice-activated household controls.

Families can see how relatively simple tools might make eating, dressing, bathing and other daily activities easier and safer.

The center can also demonstrate Griswold’s AI-supported home monitoring technology for caregivers interested in understanding how newer systems can supplement traditional home care.

Easterseals staff help visitors explore appropriate options and understand where equipment can be obtained. The nonprofit does not sell the products, and virtual tours are available for people unable to visit.

The center provides a useful starting point for families who may not realize how many technologies and everyday adaptations are available.

Not every solution requires an expensive electronic system. Sometimes a modified utensil, adaptive clothing or simple home safety device can make a meaningful difference in a senior’s independence.

Assisted Living Shifts From Managing Decline to Encouraging Purpose

Assisted living is undergoing a different, but equally important, transformation.

Historically, many families considered assisted living primarily when an older adult could no longer manage independently. The emphasis was often on meals, medications, personal care and supervision.

Today’s model increasingly includes helping residents remain physically active, socially connected, and engaged in meaningful activities.

Harmony Senior Services, which operates communities in Delaware, is among the providers promoting this approach.

Its Living Life in Harmony programming emphasizes physical wellness, intellectual stimulation, social relationships, and opportunities to contribute to the community.

The emphasis on purpose is particularly important.

An older adult who spent decades working, raising a family or volunteering may struggle with isolation after retirement, the death of a spouse or the loss of the ability to drive.

Assisted living can provide opportunities to build friendships, participate in activities, mentor others, and rediscover interests that have become difficult to pursue independently.

Instead of spending the day managing household chores, meals, and transportation, residents may have more time for relationships and meaningful activities.

The approach also changes the conversation about when to move. Rather than waiting for a medical crisis, some families are considering assisted living earlier, while their parent can fully participate in community life.

For other seniors, remaining in familiar surroundings will continue to provide the greatest independence and quality of life.

AI Is Improving Memory Care, Too

Artificial intelligence is also finding a role inside residential communities.

Arden Courts, which specializes in memory care for people living with Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias, has introduced AI-supported fall detection in select communities.

The optional technology uses cameras and artificial intelligence to detect falls and preserve a short video record of the incident for authorized caregivers to review.

This can be particularly valuable for residents who may have difficulty explaining what happened.

Rather than simply responding to a fall, caregivers can review the circumstances and consider whether changes to furniture placement, mobility assistance or supervision might prevent another incident.

The technology can become part of an individualized care plan, combining specialized memory care with additional information about safety.

Arden Courts operates a memory care community in Wilmington, although availability of the technology at that location requires confirmation.

The larger development is that technology is no longer simply a tool for helping seniors avoid moving into assisted living. It is increasingly becoming part of improving care inside residential communities as well.

Senior Care Consulting Is Changing With the Choices

As options multiply, the professionals helping families make decisions are changing their approach, too.

Traditionally, senior placement services often focused on identifying assisted living communities, comparing costs and arranging visits.

Those services remain valuable, but determining where Mom should live is increasingly only part of the challenge.

Families may first need to understand whether home monitoring, adaptive equipment, professional caregivers, or household modifications could help a parent remain independent.

Others may need to evaluate cognitive changes, mobility limitations, or whether a residential community could improve their parent’s social engagement and quality of life.

Paxson said her Oasis Senior Advisors team now includes professionals with years of experience in physical therapy, social work, hospice care, assisted living and cognitive therapy.

Those backgrounds bring different perspectives to care planning, helping families consider physical limitations, memory changes, safety, emotional well-being and the practical responsibilities of family caregivers.

The advisers help families understand available services and appropriate next steps, while clinical evaluations remain the responsibility of qualified health professionals.

The growing range of options is also making early planning more important.

A family might begin with relatively inexpensive assistive devices demonstrated at Easterseals, add AI-supported home monitoring and professional caregiving as needs increase, and eventually consider an assisted living community that emphasizes wellness and social engagement.

Another family may decide that moving sooner will offer a better quality of life.

The decisions remain personal, and costs, safety needs and individual preferences all matter.

But the changing models give families something they did not always have: more opportunities to address challenges before they become emergencies.

For Delaware caregivers, the question is no longer simply whether Mom can stay home or needs to move.

It is what combination of technology, professional care, purposeful activity and experienced guidance will help her remain safe, independent and engaged in life.

TO GO: Resources for Delaware Caregivers

• Oasis Senior Advisors of Delaware
  • Professional guidance for families evaluating senior living and care options.
  • Website: oasissenioradvisors.com
• Easterseals Resource and Technology Demonstration Center
  • 61 Corporate Circle, New Castle
  • Explore hundreds of assistive devices, adaptive equipment and technology solutions. Virtual tours are available.
  • Phone: 302-221-2076
  • Email: resources@esdel.org
  • Website: demd.easterseals.com
• Delaware Aging and Disability Resource Center
  • Options counseling, caregiver support, home-care resources and long-term care information.
  • Phone: 1-800-223-9074
• Griswold Home Care
  • Professional in-home caregiving and Griswold Care Plus technology-supported services.
  • Website: www.griswoldcare.com
  • Technology:   www.mywisdom.io
• Harmony Senior Services
  • Assisted living and memory care communities emphasizing wellness, social connections and purposeful activities.
  • Website: harmonyseniorservices.com
• Arden Courts
  • Specialized memory care, with AI-supported fall detection available in select communities.
  • Website: arden-courts.com

Facing a tight reelection campaign, U.S. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, R-Iowa, said she owns no individual stocks.

Amid public discussion of tightening rules on lawmakers’ stock trades, Miller-Meeks said in a Sept. 2 Facebook post, “I don’t own a single individual stock, and members of Congress shouldn’t either.”

Miller-Meeks’campaign referred PolitiFact Iowa to her congressional financial disclosure forms, which require her to list the assets she owns and the income she earns. They show that she owns broad funds composed of many different companies’ shares, but no individual company stocks.

Meeks’ attention to curbing congressional stock trading

A 2025 report by Campaign Legal Center, which tracks campaign finance and ethics, found 48% of members of Congress who filed financial disclosures in 2025 reported owning stakes in individual corporations.

Stock trading in Congress is problematic because lawmakers can reap benefits from owning stock in industries they have policy sway over, according to the liberal Brennan Center for Justice. Lawmakers may have access to information that is not publicly known but which can impact public markets. 

Miller-Meeks supported H.R.7008, which would have prohibited members of Congress and their families from purchasing individual financial assets and would have introduced a framework for selling shares. It passed in the House on July 22, but later failed in the Senate in a procedural vote.

What Miller-Meeks’ disclosure forms show

House members are required to file annual financial disclosure forms with the chamber’s clerk. 

Miller-Meeks’ 2020 through 2025 forms show she has mutual funds and retirement accounts — and no individual shares in corporations. There were errors, however, in Miller-Meeks’ 2019 and 2020 candidate disclosures which misstated her earned income, according to Bleeding Heartland.

Miller-Meeks holds a Vanguard Healthcare Fund Admiral Shares account, a healthcare sector-specific mutual fund, along with a Vanguard Healthcare Fund IRA, and a Dimensional Fund Advisors, or DFA, Global Real Estate sectoral fund.

Other mutual fund accounts include DFA Global Two Year Fixed Income, a Vanguard short-term treasury fund, and a TD Ameritrade Money Market fund. 

Generally, individual stocks are considered more ethically problematic for a lawmaker, because they could buy or sell a company’s shares based on private information they know from their role in Congress. That’s not as significant a risk for a broad mutual fund made up of a wide array of stocks from different sectors.

Lawmakers, regardless, have the information about what companies are included in a given mutual fund. 

Campaign Legal Center’s 2025 report evaluated members of Congress based on their ownership of different classes of financial assets, identifying Miller-Meeks as a holder of a “widely held investment fund,” and not a stock owner or holder of a qualified blind trust. 

Thomas Rietz, a University of Iowa professor of finance, said having a stake in particular companies could tempt a politician to support particular bills that could benefit their holdings.

Mutual funds create a barrier between the investor and the specific company in which they invest, Rietz said. 

Mutual funds and exchange-traded funds, or ETFs, raise fewer ethical concerns than individual stocks, said Kedric Payne, Campaign Legal Center’s senior director of ethics.  As a result, mutual funds and ETFs have not become part of the conversation over tightening restrictions on lawmakers. 

Our ruling 

Miller-Meeks said, “I don’t own a single individual stock.”

Miller-Meeks’ financial disclosure forms show she owns mutual funds, pensions, and retirement accounts but no individual stocks.

We rate Miller-Meeks’s statement True. 

The headline feature of Apple’s new smart home devices, including the HomeView, will also be available on older Apple TV models.

Ben Norris says cost-cutting measure that means show will be recorded outside its home city risks ‘extraordinary burden’ for crew

A cast member of The Archers has said its actors have been angered by the BBC’s decision to axe the show’s new studio, in a move that could lead to it being recorded away from its home in Birmingham.

Ben Norris, who plays Ben Archer in the world’s longest-running soap opera, said the decision risked having a real impact on the quality of the show and placing an “extraordinary burden” on its crew.

U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly said the White House's revocation of hard passes for CNN, MS NOW and Politico journalists likely violated their First and Fifth Amendment rights.

Vessels were hit by missiles as rise in strikes suggests Iran is trying to close waterway before US midterm elections

Two container ships near the strait of Hormuz have ⁠sunk after being struck by missiles, amid the sharpest rise in Iranian attacks on shipping since the start of the US-Israel war with Iran.

The increase in attacks suggests Iran is trying to fully close the strategic waterway in an attempt to frustrate Donald Trump’s efforts to bring down fuel prices before the US midterm elections on 3 November.

Washington, DC — President Donald Trump’s newly appointed press secretary, Katie Zacharia, is facing a request for a California State Bar investigation over repeated claims that she is a lawyer despite no public record showing she is licensed to practice law in the United States.

The nonprofit Campaign for Accountability filed a complaint Wednesday asking the State Bar of California to determine whether Zacharia violated state law by presenting herself as an attorney without a license.

Zacharia earned a law degree from Pepperdine University in 2011 and has described herself as a lawyer during television appearances. She also previously held the title of general counsel for Fix California, a conservative nonprofit founded by Trump ally Richard Grenell.

The California State Bar says it has no record of Zacharia being licensed under either her current or maiden name. Reviews of attorney databases have similarly found no admission in other U.S. jurisdictions.

Questions intensified Tuesday when a reporter asked Zacharia which state’s bar examination she passed. Her response appeared to reference moving to China rather than identifying a U.S. jurisdiction. Foreign nationals generally cannot qualify as licensed Chinese attorneys.

The White House maintains that Zacharia performed international transactional legal work in China with appropriate credentials but has not produced evidence of a U.S. law license.

No finding of wrongdoing has been made, and the California Bar has not said whether it will open a formal investigation.

Sources:

• The Hill – MBFC Rating

The post California Bar Asked to Investigate Trump Press Secretary Katie Zacharia appeared first on News Facts Network.

International alliance of China-sceptic legislators warns of risks inherent in misjudging bilateral relationship

The UK’s approach to China is “beset by incoherence” and plagued by a lack of senior expertise, according to a report warning of the risks inherent in misjudging the bilateral relationship.

An audit by the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (Ipac), an international grouping of China-sceptic legislators, says past engagement with Beijing has often exposed the UK to the risks of interference without delivering the opportunities promised.

Google Play is adding support for private personal Android apps, allowing users to build an app with tools like Google AI Studio and run it on their own devices without publishing it publicly to the Play Store. "These personal apps won't show up in Google Play's search or listing pages, and won't be shared with anyone except for the app's creator," reports TechCrunch. From the report: The idea comes as more people are experimenting with building their own applications via AI for specific, personal needs. However, being able to use that app on their own Android device has meant publishing to Google Play, making it accessible to the Play Store's some 3 billion users. That led many to limit their vibe-coding efforts to web apps that could run on any device instead of something built natively for Android. Now, Google says Android device owners can vibe-code an app using Google AI Studio, then launch it for their own use. These apps are still required to comply with Google Play's existing policies but allow users to experiment more directly with building apps for Android. Initially, the feature will be available to users in the U.S., age 18 and up. [...] In the months ahead, the company said that users will be able to share their vibe-coded creations with a network of trusted friends. That means the apps you built for family or friends, or maybe your child's T-ball league, could be used with a small group of people, without having to go public on the Play Store. And if the app ever really becomes popular, there will be a way to shift the personal app to one that's published on the Google Play Store for everyone to try, after completing the trust and safety reviews.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Britain's domestic spy chief says "hybrid tactics" used by Russia and Iran are evolving. Here are some of the most notable incidents of 2026.

The protests around an anti-ICE T-shirt show that politics can never be separated from sports, especially now

On 26 September, Daniela Silva was expelled from Austin FC’s match with San Diego FC for wearing a T-shirt reading “Abolish ICE”. She says she was banned from Q2 Stadium for a year (Austin FC said that the ban was issued by the Austin Police Department, not the club, and that they offered to rescind it but that Silva declined).

This happened, really, truly, and you cannot make this up, during Austin FC’s Hispanic Heritage Night. It also happened six days after Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents shot a Venezuelan delivery driver, 28-year-old Wilber Garcés Pérez, in the torso in Austin, sparking protests in the city.

Leander Schaerlaeckens is the author of The Long Game: US Men’s Soccer and Its Savage, Four-Decade Journey to the Top, or Thereabouts, which is out now. He teaches at Marist University.

The multi-year agreement will establish the largest quantum applications hub in the region and one of the largest in the EU

IAȘI, Romania, Oct. 14, 2026 — Classiq, a leading quantum computing software company, and FreeYa Mind Campus by S.C. Extensive Network SRL today announced a strategic commercial agreement to build quantum application development, education, enterprise and national capabilities at the campus’s hardware-enabled Quantum AI center in Iași, Romania.

Under the agreement, FreeYa Mind Campus will offer access to Classiq’s enterprise-grade quantum software platform, both on campus and across the Romanian ecosystem. The platform brings together Classiq’s agentic AI interfaces, Qmod high-level modeling language, circuit synthesis and hardware-aware execution, helping researchers and enterprise teams design optimized quantum applications faster.

The center was developed to provide on-campus access to quantum hardware, including an IBM Quantum System Two. It is now adding Classiq’s software, expertise and training to further develop and scale quantum innovation and industrial applications.

The initiative will draw on FreeYa Mind Campus’s network of enterprises, research institutions, public-sector organizations and academic partners, including more than 12 partner universities. It will also be open to government organizations and participants in European Union-funded programs.

Classiq will also provide an enhanced training layer for the center, spanning introductory quantum curricula, high-level modeling and advanced algorithm design. Working with the campus team, Classiq will connect quantum innovation to real-world industry applications. The campus will offer university curriculum materials, practitioner training, enterprise onboarding, advanced application development and Classiq certification resources. To support customer engagement, project execution and application delivery, Classiq will establish its Romania regional headquarters at the campus.

By combining Classiq’s software engineering platform and education with FreeYa Mind Campus’s quantum infrastructure, the partnership strengthens the Romanian and wider European quantum ecosystems, developing the skills, workflows and applications needed to put that infrastructure to effective use.

“Europe’s quantum ambitions depend on pairing powerful software with advanced hardware. Building on the success of FreeYa Mind Campus, we are bringing those elements together, and Classiq will provide the scalable software foundation that lets universities, enterprises and public institutions develop quantum applications,” said Regev Yativ, CRO at Classiq. “This partnership fast-tracks ecosystem training and establishes a clear path from business and research problems to executable quantum solutions.”

“FreeYa Mind Campus is being built as a focal point for advanced infrastructure, academic expertise and industry demand,” said Cristian Berariu, founder and CEO of FreeYa Mind Campus. “Our partnership with Classiq will connect on-campus and cloud quantum hardware with a leading application-development and education environment that can serve universities, businesses and public institutions. This will help Romania build lasting quantum capability and contribute to Europe’s broader technology goals. I am confident that our collaboration with Classiq will benefit the entire region and boost talent in Romania.”

The agreement builds on Classiq’s momentum with organizations establishing large-scale quantum hardware and software centers, application hubs and localized technology infrastructure. It follows Classiq’s partnership with TEA TEK to establish a quantum computing hub in Naples and its work with QAI on Korea’s first-of-its-kind local Quantum-as-a-Service offering.

Together, the initiative allows the campus to support its own hardware strategy while introducing a model for building quantum capability. Hardware provides the computational infrastructure, while Classiq’s software layer enables researchers, domain experts and developers to learn, build, optimize and execute applications on it.

The partnership reinforces Classiq’s role as a software partner of choice for organizations building quantum centers of excellence and application hubs. It also cements FreeYa Mind Campus’s position as a leading end-to-end quantum hub in the region, with a complete offering that supports education, research, enterprise projects and public-sector programs alongside quantum hardware.

About FreeYa Mind Campus by S.C. Extensive Network SRL

Located in Iași, Romania, FreeYa Mind Campus is a dedicated educational and research hub designed to bridge formal academic training with high-demand industry capabilities. By cultivating a vibrant ecosystem of scientists, university partnerships, and tech startups, FreeYa Mind Campus provides direct access to modern research tools, including quantum computing and AI, and high-standard training in emerging scientific disciplines.

About Classiq

Classiq, a leading quantum computing software company, provides enterprise-grade technology that makes it practical to develop scalable, efficient quantum applications. Used by dozens of global enterprises, the Classiq platform combines AI agents, a high-level quantum programming language and design automation to accelerate the development of optimized, hardware-ready quantum software. The platform also supports hardware benchmarking, cost and performance optimization, and execution at scale of quantum solutions.

Source: Classiq

The post Classiq to Support Quantum Application Development at Romanian Center appeared first on HPCwire.

Global human rights commitments adopted by government extend reach to enablers of unlawful activity

The UK is expanding its sanctions powers to freeze assets and target entities enabling illegal Israeli settlements, obstructing humanitarian aid or unlawfully holding prisoners.

The statutory instrument introducing the global human rights and international humanitarian law sanctions adds three new grounds to the 2020 regime: serious violations of international humanitarian law, obstruction of humanitarian assistance and serious violations of the right to liberty and security of person.

Jason O’Connell’s suspected use of the specs to aid his speech in Senedd reignites debate over AI-enabled devices

It was a flowing speech packed full of precise statistics – but Jason O’Connell, a Reform UK Senedd member, was not quite the gifted orator he had first appeared. The periodic flashing in his spectacles seemed to give the game away as he spoke for five minutes in the Senedd chamber without a glance at his notes.

“Cardiff reviewed 192 roads, following 933 requests, and only four routes have returned to 30mph,” he said as he led the party’s charge to abolish 20mph traffic zones. “£38.3m wasted to implement this policy and up to £8.9bn in an act of economic self-harm.”

An Iconic Transformation

It was dark and cold when I first spotted him, sitting serenely, bathed in soft light. The statue of Abraham Lincoln at his memorial in Washington, D.C., sits 19 feet tall and weighs 120 tons — a white marble monument dedicated to one of the nation’s most intelligent, eloquent, and moral presidents.

I hadn’t come to gaze upon Lincoln but at the reflecting pool that bears his name. It’s been transformed into a different kind of landmark by the inane, inarticulate, and completely immoral man who now holds that same office Lincoln did.

President Donald Trump wants to remake the landscape of Washington D.C., tearing down the East Wing of the White House to build a monstrosity of a ballroom; adding his name to the Kennedy Center or demolishing it if he can’t; and installing a 250-foot-tall “Triumphal Arch” that will “house … large numbers of drones, plus snipers, on both the roof and plaza areas.” This past weekend, the administration even defied a judge’s order and ripped up 430 mature trees at East Potomac Golf Links, a municipal course in southeastern Washington that Trump wants to refashion into a championship-level course, like those of his personal properties.

Trump’s rehabilitation of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool — planned to be complete for the nation’s 250th birthday on July 4 — should have been the easiest lift of his planned remodel of the nation’s capital. But it quickly became a monument to failure.

Back in April, Trump said adding a bargain-priced “industrial-grade swimming pool topping” in “American flag blue” to the reflecting pool would leave it looking “gorgeous, beautiful” and would “last for 40 or 50 years.” Instead, the renovation — awarded via a no-bid contract and announced as America 250 festivities on the National Mall approached — started to fail within days. This was followed by a bright green algae bloom and finally a catastrophic lining failure that saw Trump’s chosen coating blister, peel, and then separate from the concrete.

When I visited, the only water in the iconic national landmark — which Martin Luther King Jr. overlooked as he made his historic 1963 “I Have a Dream” speech — was a stagnant puddle that stretched out toward a mass of rotting leaves, a motley collection of plastic beverage bottles, a silver-and-blue aluminum can of RAIN spring water, and a pair of heavy-duty spray bottles often used for commercial cleaning chemicals.

Nested Failures

What I witnessed was emblematic of a White House far out of its depth and completely overwhelmed by disasters — large and small — of its own making. From Washington, D.C., to the Middle East, the Trump administration has been humiliated. It’s a disaster wrapped in fiascos inside a swirling catastrophe, to riff off Winston Churchill’s famed line. These nested failures are legion. The attack on the elementary school in Minab — which killed more than 150 people, most of them children — within the larger failure of the Iran war. The extrajudicial executions of defenseless, shipwrecked survivors within the murderous boat strike campaign. The killings of unarmed people by federal immigration agents and deaths in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody during the larger administration project of anti-immigrant cruelty.

The brutal deportation operations have spawned endless wrongdoing: military occupations of American cities; the arrest and detention of American citizens, the heartless expulsions to third countries; the shootings and beatings of protesters and immigrants, the targeting of Kilmar Abrego Garcia; the swirl of corruption allegations around then-Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem; and on and on.

Related

ICE Raid on Ilhan Omar Shows How Dangerous Two Years of Flailing Trump Could Get

Then there is the debasing of democracy and the undercutting of the rule of law through politicization and weaponization of the Justice Department; turning federal law enforcement into a presidential goon squad; gutting of civil rights protections; targeting of political opponents; relentless attacks on the independent judiciary; executive overreach; and the pardoning or commuting of the prison sentences of insurrectionists.

Other scandals and revelations of wrongdoing have been legion: the failure to release the full Epstein files; the settling of Trump’s lawsuit against the IRS; the floating of the “anti-weaponization” fund; the cover-up of the U.S. death toll of the Iran war; Signal-gate; the $400 million Qatari jumbo jet that turned into a security liability; crypto-grifting; quid pro quo tariff reductions; brazen self-dealing; and reckless actions of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, which could result in more than 14 million preventable deaths globally by 2030 — including approximately 4.5 million deaths of children under 5 — all to save Americans about 17 cents per day.

A Presidential Crime Scene

The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool — dry and barren behind a bevy of barricades — looked to me like an open-air prison. At its head, the west end by the Lincoln Memorial, several black metal crowd-control fences and a similar lone orange metal barrier guarded two layers of chain-link fencing. The rest of the perimeter was hidden behind a single layer of metal fencing supplied by National Rent-A-Fence.

Some of the fencing — which stretched a little less than a mile — was covered in a dark mesh screen that hid the waterless pool. In other areas, the fabric had fallen or was torn down and lay in unsightly heaps. Closer to the east end, one small section of fence lay on the ground — a crumpled mess of metal mesh, poles akimbo, looking like a victim at a crime scene — behind a wall of yellow tape: 27 crisscrossed strands reading “POLICE LINE DO NOT CROSS.” Beyond that, where the water should have been reflecting the rays of the rising sun, pickup trucks rolled through and workers slowly paced, nodded their heads, and stared out on the hardscape, as if waiting for a factory whistle to sound.

In the face of this fiasco, Trump — as always playing the victim and blaming perceived enemies for his shortcomings — has repeatedly claimed knife-wielding vandals slashed the pool’s liner. Several people, including former Olympian David Hearn, were arrested and charged with felonies and misdemeanors, but those cases fell apart. The Interior Department provided documents to the U.S. attorney’s office “indicating that damage to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in June 2026 was the result of flawed installation by the contractor, Atlantic Industrial Coatings.” The Justice Department also called it a “rushed and botched installation” and in July dropped charges that it had brought against people accused of vandalizing the monument. On October 1, a judge said federal prosecutors cannot refile charges against Hearn. But just last week, Trump was still pushing the lies. “We had vandalism there,” he told the press. “Only sick people do that, and we have their pictures.”

Not far from Lincoln’s statue, the administration offered up these same excuses, complete with Trump’s “filthy dirty” language and vandalism falsehoods. A lone laminated sheet of paper affixed to the fencing read:

Last week, Atlantic Industrial Coatings announced on its website that: “All warranty repairs were completed Friday, 10/2/2026!” The company added: “It has been an honor to serve our great nation!” Trump followed by claiming that the reflecting pool re-do was nearly finished. “I think they’re gonna fill it up this week,” he said on October 6. “The Reflecting Pool is totally complete.”

The National Park Service did not respond to numerous detailed questions from The Intercept about the work by Atlantic Industrial Coatings and whether the pipes were completely unclogged and the granite completely clean. Atlantic Industrial Coatings also failed to respond to questions.

On Monday, a new sign appeared on the fencing as water began flowing back into pool. “The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool is being refilled as the National Park Service and contractors put the final touches on a historic effort to clean, repair, and beautify this iconic national landmark,” read a sign without any attribution. It also contained a caveat: “As part of the normal refilling process, the water may temporarily appear cloudy before clearing.”

Whether the Reflecting Pool will again stand as a fitting reflection of “the beauty, dignity, and grandeur of our nation’s capital,” or suffer another catastrophe that leaves it looking like an eyesore, it is symptomatic of the larger issue of unforced errors heaped upon failures which the Trump administration is powerless to fix and can only sometimes, after multiple attempts, contain. It has become a pitiful, helpless giant, unable to achieve even its most modest goals with the power to do little more than spew out misinformation; cloak misdeeds in secrecy; undermine, sabotage, and destroy government institutions; and unleash pain on the most vulnerable and defenseless, like school children in Iran and undocumented immigrants in America.

With Malice Toward All

Trump promised to drain the “swamp” of Washington corruption but instead supercharged it and managed only to drain the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool of water and the country of any shred of decency.

Related

The Intercept Sues Trump for Selling Premium Access to Truth Social Announcements

In late August, Trump took to Truth Social to claim he was “six times more popular than Abraham Lincoln” — a reference to a poll of present-day Republicans, of whom 53 percent said the president they most admire is Trump, compared to 8 percent who named Lincoln. That same month, he ranked himself above Lincoln and all other presidents. It’s somehow fitting that Trump wrecked the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in the same way he has soiled the office Lincoln once held.

Whether Lincoln could have imagined a president as depraved as Trump is unknowable but he did fear, in his own time “something of ill-omen, amongst us … the increasing disregard for law which pervades the country; the growing disposition to substitute the wild and furious passions, in lieu of the sober judgment of Courts.” He couldn’t have anticipated the boat strikes, the term human trafficking victim, or the fact that the U.S. might kill the latter during the former, but in that same 1838 speech — when he was just 28 years old — he understood the perils of such summary executions, noting “when men take it in their heads to day, to hang gamblers, or burn murderers, they should recollect, that, in the confusion usually attending such transactions, they will be as likely to hang or burn someone who is neither a gambler nor a murderer.”

Trump is, however, content to kill without compunction and even recently appeared to invite the nuclear annihilation of Los Angeles and San Diego, although it’s increasingly impossible to divine meaning from Trump’s incoherent ramblings. (He has, though, threatened both cities in the past, deploying troops to LA and threatening to do so in San Diego.) Even Lincoln’s armies — turning to “total war” to end a long, brutal, and costly civil war — did not annihilate the South and decimate its people. And at its close, he sought to “bind up the nation’s wounds” with words Trump would choke on: “With malice toward none; with charity for all.”

Lincoln did not believe that the U.S. could be felled by a foreign power but did foresee the possibility of America sealing its own fate. “If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher,” he said in that 1838 speech. “As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide.” The reelection of a craven criminal who sought to subvert what remains of democracy in America certainly appears to be more than a mere cry for help.

“Our progress in degeneracy appears to me to be pretty rapid,” Lincoln wrote to his friend Joshua Speed in 1855. Some 171 years later, it may well be complete.

The suffering meted out by Trump has been immense. And his penchant for failure may now be his essential quality. He may ultimately be remembered for turning a reckless military “excursion” into a forever-war failure or as the most debased reprobate to hold the office of the presidency. But Trump’s micro-mismanagement of a local construction project that turned a functioning national monument into a fenced-off blight might be his most illustrative disappointment: a small failure of epic proportions and, in some way, a sorry reflection on all Americans.

The post Reflecting on the Trump Era appeared first on The Intercept.

German police have seized a humanoid robot after it allegedly touched a 16-year-old girl in an indecent manner and made sexually suggestive gestures.

Michael Kotlikoff addressed his administration’s handling of the 2024 allegations as he faces calls for his resignation

Michael Kotlikoff, the president of Cornell University, has spoken to the New York Times about sexual assault allegations at the school, acknowledging for the first time that he knew a student had reported being sexually assaulted in November 2024, but did not follow up with the Jane Doe involved in the months after learning about the alleged assault.

He also revealed that he did not know she had dropped out of Cornell until she filed a lawsuit last month.

Information and support for anyone affected by rape or sexual abuse issues is available from the following organizations. In the US, Rainn offers support on 800-656-4673. In the UK, Rape Crisis offers support on 0808 500 2222. In Australia, support is available at 1800Respect (1800 737 732). Other international helplines can be found at ibiblio.org/rcip/internl.html

Launch of Russian ballistic missiles on Ukraine, with no US warning, coincides with outage of Starlink managed by Musk’s SpaceX

Ukraine’s military has suddenly had its access to Starlink satellite internet terminals restricted as the Trump administration has increased pressure on Ukraine to halt long-range strikes on Russia’s oil industry immediately.

The terminals, which are produced by Elon Musk’s SpaceX but managed by the US government, are a key component of Ukraine’s military operations and the sudden restrictions on the terminals travelling at high speeds on Tuesday evening led to the failure of several combat missions, said an adviser on military technology to Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

‘Seniors have spent years watching their expenses outpacing their benefits’ advocate says

Social security recipients will see a 3.6% cost-of-living adjustment (Cola) in 2027, increasing retirement benefits by an average of $75 a month as millions of Americans continue to grapple with rising prices.

Nearly 72 million social security beneficiaries will see higher payments beginning in January 2027, while approximately 7.3 million supplemental security income (SSI) recipients will receive increased payments starting on 31 December 2026, according to the Social Security Administration.

Dispute related to claims London mayor blocked US tech firm from £50m police deal because of concerns over its values

Palantir and the London mayor, Sadiq Khan, have called off their legal fight over claims the Labour mayor was blocking the US tech company from signing a contract with the Metropolitan police because of its values and ethics.

Palantir and the mayor’s office for policing and crime (Mopac) announced on Wednesday they had withdrawn allegations against each other, heading off a high court trial scheduled for January.

The former Steelers coach built the sprawling city brick by brick with a video game console controller.

Gas prices, which jumped 9.1% in September from August, accounted for more than half the monthly rise in inflation.

The Trump administration may have withheld intelligence warnings to Ukraine about Russian strikes that killed 6 and cut power to 600,000 people, sources say.

The layoffs will affect the company's product, tech, legal and HR teams, Netflix leaders said in a memo to employees.

The Trump administration sharply criticized a legal complaint filed in Lebanon against the country's ambassador to Washington over her reported outreach to her Israeli counterpart.

Netflix is laying off about 1,000 employees, or 6% of its workforce, in its largest round of cuts since 2022. The company says its business remains strong, but it is facing growing pressure from YouTube, TikTok, and other rivals. Reuters reports: The bulk of the job cuts would be in Netflix's product, tech, legal and human-resources teams, the email Co-CEOs Greg Peters and Ted Sarandos sent to employees on Wednesday showed. "Our mission -- to entertain the world -- is ambitious, and delivering on it requires us to be disciplined about where we prioritize our people âand resources," they said in the memo. "Our business is strong and growing, and we remain on track to deliver our full-year forecast."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

After Trump’s Russian diesel deal, will Europe give Ukraine the support it needs?  Expert comment jon.wallace 14 October 2026

The new row between Washington and Kyiv must not distract Europe’s leaders from the urgent matter at hand: how to sustain Ukraine’s economy through the winter.

An intervention by President Donald Trump this week has once again created problems for Ukraine’s war effort. The president’s deal with Moscow, which could see millions of barrels of Russian diesel released to global markets, was condemned by Democrats and even some prominent Republicans in the US. Trump openly framed the deal as an effort to secure ‘Lower prices for Americans’ as midterm elections approach in November. 

It is uncertain that the deal will do much to swing votes back to the president’s party. But it has created another open dispute between Trump and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy – at precisely the moment when Ukraine needs renewed, focussed support from its allies.

A mounting Russian assault

Recent weeks have seen a noticeable shift in Russia’s war strategy. Some had expected Putin to order a new wave of mobilization and a renewed offensive in the Donbas. Instead, he has moved to intensify Russia’s ballistic missile and drone campaign, with the aim of breaking Ukraine’s economy. 

There has been a marked uptick in attacks on ports, grain storage and shipping, seemingly to block Ukrainian agricultural exports. Key bridges across the River Dnipro in Kyiv have been hit. So have railways across the country. And attacks have continued on Ukraine’s energy grid (despite the ‘energy ceasefire’ Trump claimed was part of his deal with Moscow), extending beyond generation to transmission infrastructure. Meanwhile, strikes on Ukraine’s steel plants have put five blast furnaces permanently out of action. Retail, warehousing and logistic hubs have also been targeted.  

Russia’s intention is to tip Ukraine’s economy back into recession, cause hardship, and erode the morale of Ukrainians. It may even hope to spark a new migration crisis out of the country.

Ukraine’s ask of its allies

Wreaking havoc on Ukraine’s budget, as GDP stagnates, revenues stall, and the budget deficit widens, will increase Ukraine’s needs and the financing ask it makes of its allies in Europe. 

Want to hear more on the evolving security landscape?

Join experts and policymakers at our Security and Defence Conference for candid analysis of today’s most pressing threats.

That is a serious problem. Ukraine was already warning of a $27 billion defence financing gap in 2026 and a budget financing shortfall of $32 billion in 2027. The problems are so acute that the IMF will likely stall further disbursements under Ukraine’s $7 billion Extended Financing Facility (EFF) unless the financing gap is closed or new financing assurances are provided. The intensification of Russian attacks on the Ukrainian economy will only increase Ukraine’s financing needs, as will an extended war.

Putin’s strategy is clear. He hopes to increase the costs of supporting Ukraine at a time when Europe’s public finances are in a parlous state, and the far right – generally opposed to funding Ukraine’s war effort – appears to be on the rise in some countries. With key elections looming, particularly in France next May, Putin hopes to present Ukraine’s cause as hopeless, unaffordable, and a drain on European taxpayers. 

How will EU leaders, gathering in Brussels for a two-day summit, respond?

Russian assets

Europe needs to be ambitious and creative in how it funds Ukraine. The message to Putin should be that, regardless of President Trump, Europe is in this for the long haul and will provide Ukraine with the financial bazooka it needs to win the war. 

To begin, the $90 billion Ukraine Support Loan (USL) agreed at the EU Council meeting in December 2025 could be increased. Better still would be to finally bite the bullet and seize the €210 billion of immobilized Russia Central Bank (CBR) assets in the EU (mostly in Belgium) and €25 billion in the UK. It should be an obvious move for Europe’s leaders to have Russia pay for this war rather than their own taxpayers. 

The Belgian government, which has resisted any attempt to seize assets, should not have a veto on European security. However, its concerns over shouldering all the liabilities for such a move should be taken on board, with the wider European community providing an indemnity for its legal risks.

First, the assets should be taken out of Belgium’s jurisdiction to a common EU managed Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV). The assets can then be sweated to generate a higher investment return to fund even bigger Extraordinary Revenue Arrangement-style facilities for Ukraine. 

Ultimately the security imperative should prevail over legal and economic arguments against seizing assets.

Shielding Ukraine

Urgent measures are also needed to insulate the Ukrainian economy from Russian attacks. Militarily, the obvious solutions would be to provide Ukraine with more and better air defences. But these are in short supply as a result of President Trump’s war with Iran.  

To compensate for the emerging gaps in air defence, new solutions on the financing front are needed. These should include providing funding to enable the speedy reconstruction of lost productive capacity, perhaps through public-private partnerships. Two initiatives on this latter account are currently in focus.

One is a first loss compensation scheme, meant to mitigate the risks to existing insurers. The current threat is that even the limited insurance available to Ukraine will be cut if the risks from war losses increase. 

But if the Ukrainian government and international donors offer to cover the first losses from attacks on Ukrainian productive assets, private insurers will be more likely to commit to provide insurance cover. This will ensure that funding is available to provide for the speedy reconstruction of key economic assets – factories, farms, energy assets, transport and logistics infrastructure.

Another initiative being pushed by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is the extension of the existing Ukrainian Recovery and Reconstruction Guarantee Facility (URGF). This has been used to help insure agricultural exports out of Ukraine. But its cover is limited in size to €2million per shipment and €5 million per client. And it covers just 60 days transit, not storage, and is limited to ‘Free on Board’. That means that farmers are not covered while grains are in port or in storage, where Russia is now stepping up attacks. 

Grain exports earn between $10-11 billion annually for Ukraine. Donors have to make the financials of shipping from Ukrainian ports work again. That means helping the market find solutions. To start, the government of Ukraine and donors could increase the scale and scope of the URGF, perhaps to cover port terminal storage.   

A deal to force Russia back to the previous Black Sea shipping deal would still be the optimal solution to protect this trade, or perhaps some kind of NATO air or defensive cover for its shipping. 

Trump’s deal with Putin undermines Ukraine, but it will not fundamentally change the war situation. What will be decisive is ensuring Ukraine’s economy gets through a difficult winter, so that the country can survive the war and ensure European security in the process. As the US becomes ever more unpredictable, European leadership is needed to bring this about. Will Europe step up?

Brand is in Southwark crown court today where his rape and sexual assault trial begins

Taking jurors through the third allegation, Karmy-Jones said Brand pulled another woman into a toilet during an incident at a bar in Soho in 2004.

The third complainant was “not so lucky as to be able to pull away”, the prosecutor said.

She continued to resist saying, ‘I’m not coming in there, don’t be silly. Are you mad? Get off,’ and she managed to pull herself away, and to release his grasp.

At that point he gave up and went into the toilet, and she left the area.”

Burnham welcomes Ukraine’s president to No 10 for the first time since he became PM

PMQs is about to start.

Here is the list of MPs down to ask a question.

After @genevieve_holl reported this last night, various sources in the Trump administration who are supportive of Farage said Badenoch was needlessly trying to cause a political row (per @katyballs @MrHarryCole) and accused her of undermining the Anglo-American relationship.

It is possible that these people are particularly sensitive about this topic because they are still considering buying the islands, as @connorstringer and I reported earlier in the year. Domestic opposition to the idea of the US running Chagos in the UK would be a problem for the White House.

Calamity Kemi Strikes Again.

Kemi Badenoch has risked causing a diplomatic row with Britain’s allies, all because she cannot control the Tory spin doctors around her that oversaw the disastrous premierships of Boris Johnson, Rishi Sunak, Theresa May, and even David Cameron.

Kemi and the Conservatives cannot be trusted by the Chagos people.

If they really have interest in the Chagos, why would you have started negotiating about things you already own?

We are confused at why @KemiBadenoch is attacking @Nigel_Farage …

We understood Nigel Farage’s comments to mean that we would get perpetual use of the base, which, frankly, we’ve always had.

Only 1.04% of estimated 230,900 cases reviewed in first five months of £75m three-year scheme

Campaigners have urged Andy Burnham to step in after it emerged just a handful of the tens of thousands of unpaid carers who unknowingly racked up huge debts when welfare officials unlawfully changed benefits guidance have been repaid.

The first official update on the carers allowance reassessment exercise launched by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) in April confirms that progress in cancelling wrongful overpayments has started slowly.

The Meta boss looked traumatised when he sipped stout on the Cheeky Pint podcast. An hour later, his glass was still half full

Name: Guinness.

Age: Arthur Guinness began brewing porter in the 1770s. Guinness draft was first poured in 1959.

The bluish-white blob that covered the sky resembled a jellyfish.

Peak of French mountain now 4,807 metres high and fluctuates year by year due to changes in Alpine climate

Western Europe’s highest mountain shrank by more than a metre last year. The peak of Mont Blanc in France now stands 4,807.47 metres above sea level, a team of surveyors said on Wednesday, putting “the roof of Europe” 1.29 metres lower than in 2025.

The mountain is about 4,792 metres tall but the summit constantly shifts as heat, wind and precipitation change the thickness of snow and ice on top. The height scientists recorded during an expedition last month was 1.88 metres greater than it was in 2023, when it reached the lowest levels in recent memory.

Experts say the growth of small, inexpensive electronic devices is causing an increase in e-waste.

A new study reveals cheap electronics has led to an increase in electronic waste. (WEEE Forum via SWNS)

I have some onewheel and parts available for sale (pint,pintx,GT)
where is the best place to get them sell for the best price ? im located in Jamaica.

KDE turns 30 today, and they’re celebrating it with a brand new KDE Plasma release: version 6.8 is here. On the accessibility front, 6.8 brings a new dwell clicker function (meaning a click will register if the pointer is held still for a short while) and support for the Bikram Sambat calendar and the Amharic language. I always love it when I see support for new languages and scripts, especially when, as is the case here, it’s a language spoken as a first language by 25 million people.

The Plasma remote desktop has also been improved with bi-directional copy/paste, performance and quality improvements, and more, and you can now record microphone and audio while screen recording with Spectacle. In System Monitor, you can now assign processes and tasks to specific processors/cores, which is a great feature for people running intensive tasks but who would still like to, you know, do other things while those tasks are running.

KDE 6.8 drops support for X11, focusing entirely on Wayland. Of course, X11 applications will remain usable thanks to Xwayland, and KDE’s applications will continue to support X11 in case you’re using them outside of KDE. This release also further expands the Union theming system, now adding support for styling Qt Widgets. Union is still in beta, so you’ll have to enable it to test it. There’s a ton more, too, but these are some of the highlights.

KDE Plasma 6.8 will find its way to your distribution of choice soon enough.

European Commission declined to comment on reported disruption to Starlink’s services in Ukraine

• Ukrainian soldiers have access to Starlink satellite internet restricted

Rutte gets asked “is Russia foolish enough to consider attacking any of Nato countries?”

He says “we don’t think so” and that there is “no imminent threat against Nato territory,” but stresses that “if we see a build up, we will react to it.”

“We will never, ever mount a attack towards anyone else because that is not in our interest. We are a defensive alliance.”

“But here’s the main thing: we are stronger. Russia is not in a good place. These hybrid attacks, whatever it is, are a sign of weakness. What they allow us to do is to talk about it the whole day and to be rattled and to have press conferences on it. We’re not going to do that. We will react where we need to react.”

By: Nadia E. Brown and Roberto Carlos

A Good Chat with Roberto Carlos on why studying America’s Latino population reveals some surprises about how we develop political views and behaviors.

The post How the study of Latinx politics in America has evolved appeared first on Good Authority.

KAYLA BELFONT
Staff Reporter

Cancer is one of the world’s most common diseases, with an average of one in every four people developing cancer at some point in their life. Over the past two months, new research has emerged regarding melanoma treatments from the pharmaceutical companies Merck and Moderna.

On Aug. 19, Merck and Moderna announced phase three of their KEYTRUDA melanoma trials, a prescribed immunotherapy medication used to treat certain types of cancers. The companies are utilizing messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) technology to prevent melanoma, an aggressive form of skin cancer, from returning and to increase patients’ survival rates. The technology is used to create a new immunotherapy that would be administered through a vaccine. 

Immunotherapies train the body’s immune system to find and destroy existing cancer cells. Cancer vaccines, specifically the ones Merck and Moderna are developing, are a form of immunotherapy where a therapeutic vaccine is used in hopes of preventing the return of melanoma. However, they do not completely prevent a melanoma diagnosis.

Kevin Solomon, an associate professor in the university’s department of chemical and biomolecular engineering, explained what therapeutic vaccines are. 

“These don’t necessarily allow you to prevent the infection, but it does train your immune system to better recognize and deal with an infection once it takes root and eventually stops a disease from progressing too far,” Solomon said.

Kelvin Lee is the Gore Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, an endowed professorship that is funded by the Gore family. Lee delved into the societal perceptions of this new technology. 

“I also recognize the word ‘vaccine’ does have different implications, and there’s a lot of different views in society about that,” Lee said. “Maybe the term ‘cancer vaccine’ could lead to questions from people who might otherwise equate that technology with other kinds of vaccines for infectious disease.”

Cathy Fromen, an associate professor in the departments of chemical and biomolecular engineering and biomedical engineering, explained that this development of cancer vaccines is a crucial stepping stone for more elaborate medical discoveries, including gene editing technologies.

“I think every single advance of mRNA, new therapies and new disease treatment regimens, is a step in the right direction,” Fromen said. “But we still have a long way we can go.”

Fromen mentioned that the university has its own developments in cancer vaccine research.

“There’s a lot of research going on here, in cancer vaccines and cell therapies and monoclonal antibodies, all towards treating cancer,” Fromen said.

As research for the vaccine advances, it not only impacts the scientific world, but all people who have dealt with this disease.

“We’re at the leading edge of a new era,” Lee said. “I think it’s really exciting to see the progress that’s being made. I think, hopefully, all of us are in some way going to benefit. 

“We’re all likely to know somebody at some point, whether it’s a friend or a loved one who’s going to be impacted by cancer.”

Lee is looking forward to the future of immunotherapies and shared his excitement. 

“To think that there’s now another class of medicines that can really impact and improve people’s lives, I think, is really exciting,” Lee said.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from ZDNet: The Netherlands' Tax and Customs Administration has abandoned its planned Microsoft 365 public-cloud rollout. Why? The reasons were clear at the Open Source Summit Europe conference, where the Linux Foundation (LF) released the 2026 State of Open Source in Europe. In it, the nonprofit, pro-open-source organization revealed that 94% of European Union (EU) organizations say digital sovereignty is important, with 61% considering it very important. As Thierry Carrez, the Linux Foundation Europe GM, said in his keynote, "Europe has clearly heard the message on digital sovereignty." In an interview onstage at the summit, Nithya Ruff, chair of the LF board, added that it's not just Europe: "Digital sovereignty is a need that the entire world feels, whether it's Sierra Leone or the US or China." It's not just the Dutch tax collectors, though. The Netherlands is also exploring switching from Windows and proprietary software to Linux and open-source programs across the board. [...] The Netherlands had planned to switch to Microsoft 365 in 2025. The idea then was to complete the rollout by the end of 2026. About 5,000 employees had already migrated when the Dutch Advisory Council on ICT Assessment recommended reversing the public-cloud rollout in June. The government paused the plan in July; the latest announcement replaces that rollout with an on-premises/open-source approach. The Tax and Customs Administration isn't replacing all of Microsoft Office with a single open-source suite, at least not yet. Instead, the government will keep the existing Microsoft software for now. Looking ahead, State Secretary for Finance Eelco Eerenberg set out the replacement timetable in a letter to Parliament: "In 2027, the provision for mail and calendar will be realized on-premises. Later in 2027 and 2028, European open-source solutions for personal storage and collaboration will follow. This allows us to work toward a sustainable and more autonomous solution for these functionalities." [...] For now, the on-premises email/calendar environment will still use Microsoft software, including Outlook. The open-source portion concerns personal storage and collaboration, not a wholesale replacement of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, or the entire desktop environment. As for why the Netherlands pulled back, the ICT assessment found serious concerns over "information security, information processing and future-proofing." Key issues included routing confidential documents through American servers, relying on standard Microsoft encryption rather than Double Key Encryption, and inadequate end-to-end encryption for Teams calls. The assessment also identified "vendor lock-in, reduced flexibility, concerns about digital sovereignty, and the absence of an adequate exit strategy" as dealbreakers. ZDNet notes that other Dutch government agencies are developing an open-source alternative called DAWO (Digital Autonomous Work Environment for Government), which would begin by replacing Windows with the Linux distribution NixOS.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

The 2027 cost-of-living adjustment is the largest since 2023. Here's how it will impact the typical benefit check starting early next year.

You know the drill by now – a new month, a new Haiku activity report. This past month doesn’t seem to have any big ticket items, but instead contains a long list of smaller but still welcome fixes. Various filesystem drivers saw some work, a few bugs in virtio drivers were fixed, and NVMM execution is now easily interruptible by signals which should improve performance in various emulators like QEMU. Be sure to comb through the complete list to see if there’s anything in there that impacts you.

Connor Bell died of his injuries after his friend Jack Beechy, 18, pulled the trigger, mistaking it for the safety catch

A 17-year-old boy died after he was accidentally shot in the head with an air rifle by his friend at a house party, an inquest has been told.

Connor Bell had been drinking at a friend’s house in Basingstoke, Hampshire, on 8 November last year when Jack Beechy fired the fatal shot by mistaking the trigger for the safety catch, the inquest heard.

The ESA – not, not the cool one – a lobby group made up of various videogame and entertainment companies, has asked the US Trade Representative (USTR) to add Anbernic to its list of companies that are supposedly notorious for engaging in and facilitating piracy. If you’re unaware, Anbernic is one of the bigger names in Android and Linux-based handheld gaming devices targeted at the retrocomputing market.

While many online sellers do include an SD card full of ROMs alongside emulation hardware of all types, Anbernic itself does not appear to do the same when selling directly from its website. Regardless, the ESA argues that these ROM-laden Anbernic devices selling through “normal retail channels” help to “normalize hardware-based piracy by delivering illicit catalogues through a polished consumer product.” This, the ESA says, meets the threshold for a “superfake,” an ill-defined designation that applies to “high-quality counterfeit trademark goods … on a commercial scale.”

↫ Kyle Orland at Ars Technica

There’s a lot of murkiness surrounding whether or not Anbernic sells their devices with preloaded ROMs or not. The number of reports from people who say they did get a ton of ROMs on their Anbernic devices, bought from Anbernic’s own store, is large enough that it’s clearly something they do. However, there’s an equal number of people who say their Anbernic devices were completely free of ROMs, and I’m one of them – I’ve bought like three or so devices from their store over the years, and they never came with any ROMs. My most recent purchase was an RG 35XXPro Linux-based model, and there were no ROMs on it (I replaced the stock operating system with Knulli, which has been a great experience).

If Anbernic does indeed ship at least some of their devices with ROMs preinstalled, then it’s their own damn fault if that lands them in legal trouble. It’s not like downloading ROMs is particularly difficult (just do an internet search for your preferred system and something like “ROM pack” and you’ll get the console’s complete library in a single download), so they really have no need to do so.

There’s one extra layer here though. Third-party resellers like Amazon offer loads of Anbernic devices preloaded with SD cards full of ROMs, all from third parties not affiliated with Anbernic. And wouldn’t you know it – Amazon is a member of the ESA lobby group. In other words, the problem also lies with lax retailers not properly vetting what they’re offering, but instead of going after places like Amazon, they’re going after Anbernic instead.

Amazon is a haven for illegal and counterfeit products, but they’re so wealthy and powerful they just get away with it.

Beneath a wave of school protests in France lies a more existential worry: the future prospects of an entire generation

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Say what you will about France’s high schools, they still produce world-class slogan writers. Here’s a brief selection spotted during three weeks of blockades and marches over chronic teacher shortages, overcrowded classes and crumbling buildings:

“Pas d’avenir, pas de calme” (No future, no calm). “Diplômés aujourd’hui, précaires demain” (Graduates today, insecure tomorrow). “Vous détruisez notre futur, on bloque votre présent” (You destroy our future, we block your present).

Final inflation report before voters go to polls comes amid widespread anger over cost of living under Trump

• Send us your questions on how the US economy is shaping the midterm elections

Republicans are entering the midterm elections with the highest rate of inflation since the spring, according to a government report released on Wednesday.

US price increases reached an annual rate of 3.7% in September, according to the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, up from 3.4% in August. This final inflation report before the pivotal midterm elections comes amid polls showing widespread dissatisfaction with the Trump administration over the cost of living.

BARCELONA, Spain, Oct. 14, 2026 — Qilimanjaro Quantum Tech has completed a €19.6 million first close of its Series A funding round, led by Indra Group, through IndraMind, with an investment of €10 million. The Spanish Society for Technological Transformation (SETT), under the Ministry for Digital Transformation and Public Administration, has also renewed its commitment to the company with a new investment of €9.6 million. The company expects to complete the round during the final quarter of the year, with the participation of Avançsa and other existing investors.

The new capital will enable Qilimanjaro to scale and industrialize its quantum computers, advance the development of new generations of chips, and increase its manufacturing and deployment capacity, strengthening technological capabilities developed in Spain and contributing to greater European technological autonomy in quantum computing.

“SETT’s renewed commitment and Indra’s entry bring together sovereign capital and industrial capital to protect, but also accelerate, national technological autonomy,” said Marta P. Estarellas, CEO of Qilimanjaro Quantum Tech. “Together, we are joining forces to bring quantum computing closer to strategic industrial sectors and to ensure that the quantum technology built in Spain continues to grow in Spain.”

“Quantum computing will mark a decisive leap in the evolution of artificial intelligence and in its ability to solve problems of enormous complexity,” said Ignacio Martínez, Managing Director of IndraMind. “With this transaction, Indra Group strengthens its position in this strategic field, while IndraMind expands the capabilities with which to develop sovereign and differentiated solutions for defense, security and industry.”

The investment also reinforces Indra Group’s commitment to Catalonia, one of Europe’s leading hubs for innovation, supercomputing and quantum technologies. Enric Blasco, Director of Indra Group in Catalonia, highlighted that the transaction “helps advance our growth strategy in the region and strengthens our role as a driving force within its ecosystem of innovation, supercomputing and quantum technologies, which has made it one of Europe’s leading hubs in areas that are central to our company’s activity.”

Founded in Barcelona in 2019, Qilimanjaro is the only Spanish full-stack quantum computing company. It develops its own chips, software and algorithms, and integrates cryogenics and control electronics to build complete quantum systems. Its core technology is based on digital and analog quantum processors using superconducting fluxonium qubits, combined with high-performance classical computing in multimodal systems: the right platform for each optimization, simulation and artificial intelligence problem.

This model is already in production: three Qilimanjaro quantum systems operate integrated into the Barcelona Supercomputing Center – Centro Nacional de Supercomputación (BSC-CNS), one of Europe’s largest supercomputing centers, including the first analog quantum computer integrated into a European HPC center. The company has 80 employees from more than 22 nationalities, has deployed eight quantum systems and works with clients in energy, telecommunications, logistics, healthcare and finance, offering on-premise systems, cloud access and specialized adoption services.

About Qilimanjaro Quantum Tech

Headquartered in Barcelona and founded in 2019, Qilimanjaro Quantum Tech is a full-stack quantum computing company developing analog and digital quantum computers based on superconducting fluxonium qubits. Its multimodal approach offers an alternative to purely digital systems, with advantages for certain simulation, optimization and artificial intelligence problems and a lower dependence on full quantum error correction.

Qilimanjaro develops its own chips, software and algorithms and integrates the components required to build complete quantum systems. The company offers on-premise systems that integrate analog and digital quantum processors with HPC infrastructure, enabling each technology to be used where it can provide the greatest value depending on the use case, as well as remote access through SpeQtrum Cloud, its Quantum-as-a-Service platform.

This model helps retain in Spain and Europe the knowledge, intellectual property and industrial capabilities required to develop and operate a strategic technology, strengthening European technological sovereignty in quantum computing.

Source: Qilimanjaro Quantum Tech

The post Qilimanjaro Secures €19.6M to Expand Quantum Computing Production appeared first on HPCwire.

Mamdani and city council leader agree on ban that would make it illegal to operate horse-drawn carriages in the city

Mayor Zohran Mamdani and the leader of the New York City council have agreed to ban horse-drawn carriages from the city, a popular tourist attraction that has faced widespread scrutiny.

Mamdani has agreed to back a bill supported by Julie Menin, the speaker of the New York city council, that would make it illegal to operate horse-drawn carriages beginning in June 2028, Politico reported on Tuesday. The city council is expected to vote on the legislation next week.

Pope Leo XIV is recovering "as expected" and has begun respiratory physiotherapy after tests confirmed a lung cancer diagnosis following surgery, the Vatican says.

The Yemen war is not just Saudi Arabia’s problem. It’s the Gulf’s too Expert comment thilton.drupal 14 October 2026

The renewed conflict in Yemen exposes the limits of Saudi Arabia’s military options and the vulnerabilities of the Gulf states. A unified Gulf Cooperation Council strategy on Yemen and a credible political settlement between Yemenis are needed.

The Yemen conflict has escalated significantly in recent weeks. Houthi strikes on airports in Riyadh, Abha and Dammam have killed at least 20 people and injured hundreds. Saudi oil infrastructure has also been attacked. Within Yemen, renewed fighting following a Houthi offensive around the strategic Bab al-Mandab Strait has brought return to full-scale war. 

The escalation is an alarming reminder of the 2015 Saudi-led intervention in Yemen. This came after the Iran-backed Houthis seized the Yemeni capital Sanaa in September 2014 and ousted the internationally recognized government from power. More than a decade later, the Houthis remain entrenched and clearly emboldened, while Yemen’s government is fragmented. Prospects for a political settlement currently seem remote. 

Since the UN-brokered truce in April 2022, Saudi Arabia has sought to disengage militarily from Yemen and pursue a negotiated settlement with the Houthis. Talks gained momentum in 2023, but the Houthis’ involvement in the Gaza war, including attacks on Red Sea shipping and Israel, disrupted the political process. US president Donald Trump’s intensive bombing campaign against the Houthis led to a separate US-Houthi ceasefire in May 2025. But it did not advance solutions to the conflict in Yemen.

Difficult choices for Riyadh

Saudi Arabia now faces a difficult choice between flawed options.

The first option is military escalation through renewed air strikes and an offensive by Yemeni government-aligned forces. But this risks returning Riyadh to the costly, ill-planned and ill-conducted war it has spent years attempting to extricate itself from. 

The Houthis have learned that even limited strikes can impose disproportionate economic and political costs. This gives the group leverage that Saudi Arabia’s conventional military superiority has struggled to overcome.

Seeking to contain the Houthis has also proved insufficient. Although the relative calm following the 2022 truce reduced cross-border attacks, it allowed the Houthis to consolidate their territorial control and strengthen their military capabilities, only to attack Saudi Arabia again.

Negotiation remains the most favourable route towards a lasting settlement. But it faces a fundamental obstacle: the Houthis believe they are winning and have little incentive to compromise.

Nor can Riyadh simply outsource the conflict. The US faces the looming prospect of a renewed confrontation with Iran and is therefore unlikely to have much appetite for opening another front or supporting a prolonged military campaign in Yemen. Saudi Arabia’s defence pact with Turkey and Pakistan may strengthen deterrence and defensive capabilities, but it does not offer a solution to the Houthi threat or Yemen’s underlying political fragmentation.

Saudi Arabia cannot win this war alone, but neither can it outsource its resolution. The lesson of the past decade is that military pressure without a coherent political strategy will only reproduce the conditions that allowed the Houthis to consolidate their position.

A Gulf problem

Instead, a collective Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) response is needed. Yemen and the Houthis have become a collective Gulf security challenge. It would therefore be a mistake to continue treating Yemen primarily as a domestic conflict or a Saudi security problem. 

The attacks on Saudi airports have further demonstrated the vulnerability of critical infrastructure across the GCC to missiles, drones and other asymmetric threats. This exposure is not confined to Saudi Arabia. In January 2022, the Houthis launched attacks on Abu Dhabi’s oil facilities and airport, killing three people and injuring six. This threat is particularly concerning for the Gulf states as most of their economic diversification agendas depend on secure aviation, logistics, tourism, investment and a stable regional environment.

Attacks on Saudi transport infrastructure also threaten the wider Gulf by disrupting vital supply routes. The kingdom’s extensive land connections have become increasingly important and provided alternative supply routes for neighbouring GCC states while the Strait of Hormuz has been disrupted. 

Yemen’s economic collapse, water scarcity and demographic pressures also make its stability a long-term Gulf interest. 

The GCC must therefore move beyond expressing support for Saudi Arabia. It should pursue a coordinated strategy that creates a unified GCC agenda directed at strengthening Yemen’s government and establishing a credible political pathway to ending the conflict.

Gulf unity must go beyond condemnation

A collective Gulf response must begin by addressing the divisions that have undermined previous efforts in Yemen. Most importantly, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) must move beyond their damaging confrontation over southern Yemen in early 2026. Despite entering the 2015 intervention as allies, Riyadh and Abu Dhabi have increasingly pursued competing priorities and supported rival Yemeni factions.

Reconciliation requires more than expressions of solidarity following Houthi attacks. The UAE should reconsider its support for southern separatist ambitions and work towards a unified but decentralized Yemen that accommodates southern grievances and competing political interests.

Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, must reassess its dependence on established Yemeni partners, particularly the Islah Party, whose alleged Muslim Brotherhood connections have long generated Emirati opposition. Riyadh’s reliance on Islah-linked networks has narrowed its political options and contributed to divisions within the anti-Houthi camp.

Both countries must recognize that their competing relationships with Yemeni factions have weakened the very forces they seek to support. Without agreement on Yemen’s political future, renewed military coordination will achieve little.

Gulf coordination must also be matched by a serious reassessment of Yemen’s internationally recognized government.

The Presidential Leadership Council (PLC), established in 2022 to replace former president Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi, was intended to unite competing anti-Houthi factions. Yet years of internal rivalries, weak governance, and limited institutional accountability, as well as alleged widespread corruption, have undermined its effectiveness.

Saudi Arabia should continue providing financial support to sustain basic services and prevent economic collapse in government-controlled areas. But this backing should go to the government and cabinet, not the PLC.  

The experience of the Hadi presidency serves as a clear warning that a decade of backing an ineffective leadership did little to strengthen the Yemeni state or reverse Houthi gains. Today, Riyadh cannot afford to repeat that mistake.

A more effective governance structure is essential not only to strengthen the position of anti-Houthi forces but also to provide a credible Yemeni counterpart in any future political settlement.  

Towards a larger Gulf–Yemeni settlement

Although Saudi-Emirati reconciliation is indispensable, a sustainable Gulf strategy must also involve Qatar and Oman.

Qatar should contribute to a more coherent Gulf political approach in Yemen, including through its media influence and relationships with Yemeni actors. Oman, meanwhile, should retain its role as a diplomatic intermediary. Muscat’s channels with the Houthis and preference for mediation make it particularly well placed to facilitate future negotiations without joining military operations.

Related work

Why the Houthis’ Red Sea power play makes Iran even stronger

The ultimate objective should be a Gulf-backed political settlement that preserves a unified but decentralized Yemen and accommodates its competing political constituencies. All factions, including the Houthis, should be able to participate, conditional on verifiable commitments to relinquish heavy weapons and accept a common political framework. This would require sustained Gulf diplomatic and financial support.

After more than a decade of war, the Houthis still control Sanaa, Yemen’s government remains weak and Gulf divisions continue to undermine efforts to end the conflict. Avoiding another prolonged war requires a common Gulf vision, investment in a functioning Yemeni government and a political settlement that addresses the causes of the conflict, rather than merely seeking to contain its consequences.

After years of sprawling ‘forever’ games, players are rediscovering the pleasures of more focused experiences. Could a new wave of independent arcades bring back the social side of gaming?

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There’s an important semi-nostalgic movement happening in games, and I’m excited about where it’s heading. But I don’t want to get ahead of myself here.

Over the last five years, major publishers, obsessed with the success of “forever games” such as Fortnite, Minecraft and Roblox, have been throwing hundreds of millions of dollars into their own sprawling, endlessly updating, battle-pass-infested mega franchises – each designed to take all our time and money. The result has been astounding failures such as Concord, Mindseye and Tales of the Shire. Even the good games – Crimson Desert, Path of Exile 2, Blood of the Dawnwalker – are so bloated they have become the unyielding masters of our precious few hours of free time.

Collaboration will bring together NVIDIA AI technologies and Danaher’s scientific instruments, laboratory workflows and data

WASHINGTON, Oct. 14, 2026 — Danaher Corporation today announced a collaboration with NVIDIA to advance autonomous science and help accelerate the pace of scientific discovery. As part of Danaher’s broader effort to shape the future of AI-enabled science, the companies are working to combine Danaher’s scientific instrumentation, automation technologies, laboratory workflow software and domain expertise with NVIDIA accelerated computing and AI technologies. The goal is to help researchers move faster from prediction to experimental evidence, creating a continuous learning cycle where experiments inform models and models help design better experiments.

“AI is reshaping how science is conducted, and Danaher is at the forefront of that transformation,” said Julie Sawyer Montgomery, President and Chief Executive Officer of Danaher. “We are collaborating around a shared vision for more connected, adaptive and accessible innovation, helping researchers solve consequential challenges and translate discovery into human impact.”

“The next era of scientific discovery will be driven by a continuous loop between AI and experimentation,” said Kimberly Powell, Vice President of Healthcare at NVIDIA. “Together with Danaher, we are bringing accelerated computing and physical AI into the lab – connecting models with instruments and real experimental data, where experiments improve models and models design better experiments, helping researchers compress years of discovery into months.”

Danaher and NVIDIA are working to integrate AI into scientific instruments through edge computing like NVIDIA DGX Spark, accelerated analytics and data processing with RAPIDS, real-time inference, scientific reasoning and foundation model technologies, including BioNeMo Open Models. Initial efforts focus on a select group of priority instruments, with the potential to expand across a broader portfolio over time. The companies are exploring how scientific and physical AI, such as NVIDIA Cosmos world models and Omniverse Digital Twins, can support more intelligent instruments and laboratory workflows, while keeping experimental evidence at the center of scientific decision-making.

The collaboration seeks to advance Danaher’s commitment to connected science by bringing AI, accelerated computing, instruments, workflows and experimental data together to produce experimental evidence. Danaher aims to help researchers reduce the time and complexity of moving from an AI-generated prediction to the experimental evidence needed to act on it, while preserving customer choice in models, standards and technology providers.

More from HPCwire: Danaher Accelerates Life Sciences Research with New AI-powered Autonomous Lab

About Danaher

Danaher (NYSE: DHR) is a leading global life sciences and diagnostics innovator, committed to advancing the power of science and technology to improve human health. Through our connected ecosystem of industry-leading businesses, we work side by side with customers to solve many of their most complex scientific and clinical challenges—accelerating the moment scientific discovery becomes human impact. Powered by the Danaher Business System, our advanced science and technology and proven ability to innovate help enable faster, more accurate diagnoses and reduce the time, cost, and risk required to discover, develop, and deliver life-changing therapies. Through continuous improvement and operational excellence, our approximately 60,000 associates worldwide are focused on delivering lasting impact and improving quality of life around the world, while building a healthier, more sustainable tomorrow. That’s Innovation at the speed of life. Explore more at www.danaher.com.

Source: Danaher

The post Danaher Collaborates with NVIDIA to Advance Autonomous Science appeared first on HPCwire.

The incident occurred when the Royal Caribbean ship Odyssey of the Seas was sailing southwest of the island of Zakynthos, the Greek coast guard said.

A conviction on the possible charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon could mean up to 20 years in prison

A Texas prosecutor said he was considering felony assault charges for an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer who ran over a man following an attempted traffic stop and broke his leg in multiple places.

Sean Teare, district attorney for Harris county, said video of the incident in west Houston on Saturday morning, in which the officer’s unmarked SUV is seen veering into the man as he runs away across an empty parking lot, could support a charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

At least 52 $TRUMP holders moved funds through crypto exchanges that bar U.S. customers.

The DeepMind co-founder addressed AI’s role in scientific inquiries and the positive outcomes he expects in addressing climate change.

Tom Cruise’s latest film could lose $250m (£190m) – could one reason be that audiences are tired of Hollywood telling them what they already know about the super-rich?

It seems as if nobody can decide who should shoulder most of the blame for the recent box office flop of Digger.

Was it the ousted Warner Bros film executives Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy, whose love of big-budget auteur cinema usually came with a hefty price tag? Or was it the marketing team, who were responsible for hiding the movie’s biggest swing from all trailers, ensuring many viewers would be left alienated from its early meta-reveal onwards?

I’ve used Oppo’s Find X10 and these are my favorite example photos.

Health minister says government ‘did not authorize’ Danish-led hepatitis B trial in babies backed by RFK Jr

Guinea-Bissau has not approved the controversial hepatitis B study in newborns that would be funded by the US government and private partners, the African country’s minister of health said on Tuesday.

The study, which would not investigate the safety or effectiveness of vaccines but would instead track “nonspecific” health outcomes like overall mortality or neurodevelopmental conditions, has been championed by Robert F Kennedy Jr, secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and a longtime anti-vaccine activist.

Hassan Kariem was a 42-year-old IT manager in the Atlanta Public Schools system, which is remembering him as a "cherished member" of the school community.

The kingdom of Hyrule has been prettified, the soundtrack is newly orchestrated and our hero feels strikingly different under the thumbs … we play a hands-on demo of Nintendo’s Switch 2 remake of a 1998 game-changer

When beloved art is revisited and revised, a familiar cry is often heard: “You’re ruining my childhood!” But with Nintendo’s Switch 2 remake of Ocarina of Time, there are also livelihoods at risk: specifically, the man running the shooting gallery in Castle Town. In the original 1998 version of the game, he’d rip off players as they funnelled rupees and fudged the then still novel analogue-stick aiming. But in 2026 we have more responsive frame rates and a motion-controlled slingshot that allows precision adjustments. His targets tumble on the first go, and with them his entire business model. Even in Hyrule, the death of the high street seems inevitable.

Bad news for him but great news for Link, a child of the forest who, as in 1998, steps into a vast fantasy kingdom to vanquish a great evil, but now does so with a number of improvements. The boy can now sprint, preventing the ignominy of endless roly-polies to zip across grassy plains. He has a manual jump, free-rotating camera, a scrolling inventory bar that replaces menu screen faff and, crucially, a fatter wallet for holding all those gems he fleeces from struggling shooting gallery owners. Yes, we are being asked to applaud features that have been the norm for decades elsewhere, but it’s undeniably striking to enter familiar territory with a hero who feels this different under the thumbs.

After an hour of playing the new Ocarina of Time, I think I prefer it to the old one.

Formlabs is bringing its walled garden to home users, which may be a very big deal.

Firms turning crude oil into the ‘workhorse’ fuel stand to gain most despite economic fallout from record prices

Days after Donald Trump announced a deal to import Russian diesel into the US in an effort to lower soaring pump prices, the world’s energy watchdog has warned that the global fuel shortage will drag into 2027.

Trump’s temporary sanctions reprieve was criticised for offering “too little, too late” to temper the sky high pump prices triggered by the shutdown of war-damaged refineries in the Middle East and Russia – once the world’s second-largest diesel exporter behind the US.

• Receiver liable for two counts, not liable on eight others

• Lakeeta Vaccaro alleged abuse by NFL receiver

A Miami jury on Tuesday found Tyreek Hill liable for two counts of battery but not liable for the eight remaining claims made by Lakeeta Vaccaro – ending the high-profile civil trial involving the NFL wide receiver and his estranged wife.

Hill, who has played for the NFL’s Kansas City Chiefs and Miami Dolphins, was found liable for two counts of battery – one stemming from an incident in January 2024, and another from April 2025. The jury awarded Vaccaro $500,000 in compensatory damages but did not award her punitive damages.

Multiple live grenades dating back to World War II were discovered in a box purchased at an estate sale in Austin, Texas, police said.

SANTA CLARA, Calif., Oct. 14, 2026 — Eliyan, a leader in foundational connectivity products enabling next-generation AI compute, memory, and networking systems, today introduced the Nexus and Oscar NuLight chiplets, the world’s first 2D microVCSEL interconnect platform designed to extend AI scale-up connectivity beyond the practical bandwidth and reach limits of copper. The platform includes Nexus, a 1.6T reverse gearbox, and Oscar, an electrical interface chip (EIC) that connects high-speed electrical interfaces to microVCSEL and photodiode optical arrays.

Together, they provide scalable building blocks for linking compute resources across large AI systems, providing the enhanced reach, low power, and high reliability that these systems demand.

Eliyan CEO and co-founder Ramin unveiled the technology at this week’s OCP Summit 2026 with a presentation detailing the technology architecture and products.

Addressing the Copper Wall

As AI scale-up domains expand across multiple racks, copper connections face increasing constraints in delivering both high bandwidth and longer reach. Eliyan’s NuLight platform addresses this “copper wall” with a high-bandwidth, high-density architecture that spreads bandwidth across more optical lanes operating at lower data rates than standard PAM4 SerDes connections. Parallel non-return-to-zero (NRZ) optical signaling simplifies per-lane signal processing, enabling more power-efficient optical links than traditional optical interconnects. The microVCSEL-based architecture targets an initial optical reach of approximately 50 meters, with a design objective of combining optical reach with copper-like reliability, availability, and operating characteristics.

“Scaling AI infrastructure requires efficient, reliable connectivity that reaches beyond a single rack,” said Ramin Farjadrad, co-founder and CEO of Eliyan. “We have pioneered another breakthrough interconnect technology that we created from the ground up to solve the copper wall in the AI data center. The industry’s rapid adoption of our proposed 2D microVCSEL interconnect proves Eliyan is on the right track again. With our NuLight chiplet platform, customers can scale aggregate bandwidth through reusable building blocks. At the same time, on-the-fly lane repair addresses the reliability requirements of large AI scale-up and scale-in networks. This is the next step in expanding our platform across the AI connectivity path.”

Nexus Bridges High Speed Electrical Interfaces and Parallel Optics

Designed in TSMC 3nm, Nexus combines power-efficient, configurable-reach 212G PAM4 SerDes with reverse gearbox functionality and high-speed die-to-die connectivity. Its compact footprint supports tight coupling with optical components. The reverse gearbox distributes each high-speed PAM4 electrical channel across four lower-speed NRZ channels, providing the electrical bridge to slow-and-wide optical arrays while supporting fully retimed implementations.

Nexus includes advanced telemetry with forward error correction (FEC) monitoring, termination and regeneration, as well as support for IEEE auto-negotiation and host link training. These capabilities support link diagnostics and management in dense optical systems.

Oscar Interfaces with microVCSEL and Photodiode Arrays

Oscar complements Nexus with laser-driver and TIA electrical interfaces to vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) and photodiode arrays in very dense arrays, with state-of-the-art crosstalk cancellation and heat-management schemes.

Optical Lane Repair Supports Reliable AI Connectivity

The platform uses patented technology for its on-the-fly repair architecture that uses spare optical lanes to protect active links. If a lane degrades or fails, the architecture redirects traffic to a spare lane without interrupting link operation. Combined with link diagnostics, this capability meets a critical requirement for AI scale-up and scale-in networks, where interconnect failures cause costly downtime and interrupt massive AI processing operations.

A Modular Platform from OSFP to Co-Packaged Optics

The NuLight platform provides a path to co-packaged optics (CPO), where future versions of Oscar will interface directly with host ASICs using die-to-die connectivity. NuLight’s microVCSEL array approach draws on mature, highly available GaAs laser technology and avoids the need for external indium-phosphide lasers in the optical engine.

Availability

Both Nexus and Oscar chiplets are sampling now.

About Eliyan

Eliyan Corporation develops advanced connectivity technologies that enable next-generation AI, cloud, and high-performance computing systems. Its portfolio of differentiated interconnect technologies, memory expansion, and chiplet solutions addresses critical bandwidth, power efficiency, and scalability challenges across modern compute infrastructure.

Eliyan’s technologies enable customers to build higher-performance systems with greater memory capacity, improved power and area efficiency, and most importantly, higher bandwidth at lower cost. For more information, visit www.eliyan.com.

Source: Eliyan

The post Eliyan Targets Copper Interconnect Limits with NuLight Chiplet Platform appeared first on HPCwire.

One of the accused fraternity members, who was later expelled, wrote to her: "I genuinely hope ur not catching as much heat from this as we r."

Dr. Rachel Brem tells Norah O'Donnell how AI is helping detect breast cancer earlier, and what younger women need to know about starting mammograms.

Washington, DC — President Donald Trump drew widespread condemnation Tuesday after sharing graphic footage of a 23-year-old British man being fatally mauled by a tiger, then posting an AI-generated video portraying himself wrestling and cuddling the animal.

William Chapman died Saturday after entering the enclosure of a Siberian tiger named Altai at Yorkshire Wildlife Park. His family has said he struggled with significant mental illness and asked the public to stop circulating footage of his death because it was causing additional distress.

South Yorkshire Police also explicitly urged people not to share the video.

Trump nevertheless posted footage of the fatal attack to Truth Social with the message, “Don’t ever mess with nature!” The official White House Rapid Response account amplified the post.

Hours later, Trump posted an AI-generated clip showing himself chasing, overpowering and eventually embracing a tiger while “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” played. He had also shared a separate montage of people being attacked by lions set to upbeat music.

The posts prompted unusually harsh criticism across the political and media spectrum. Piers Morgan called the video “appallingly tasteless” and urged Trump to delete it, while other commentators condemned the decision to turn a young man’s death into online entertainment.

Authorities are still investigating how Chapman entered the enclosure. The tiger will not be euthanized.

Sources:

• Mediaite – MBFC Rating

The post Trump Mocks Tiger Mauling Hours After Victim’s Family Pleads for Videos to Stop appeared first on News Facts Network.

Austin, TX — Voting rights groups are suing Texas after more than 500,000 voter registration applications and updates submitted through the state’s driver’s license system went unprocessed, some dating back nearly a year.

The League of Women Voters of Texas and MOVE Texas Civic Fund are asking a state judge to enforce a 2021 settlement requiring Texas to maintain a functioning process allowing residents to register to vote while completing online driver’s license or identification transactions.

The backlog was caused by a software update error involving the Department of Public Safety’s web portal. County election officials received hundreds of thousands of delayed records last month, while separate problems with the secretary of state’s voter registration system have complicated efforts to clear them ahead of the Nov. 3 midterms.

The lawsuit argues that the failures violate the state’s earlier agreement and says some Texans are still experiencing registration problems.

The plaintiffs want the court to order DPS and the secretary of state to maintain a reliable registration system, disclose records explaining the failures and demonstrate compliance within 30 days.

State officials had reportedly been aware of problems with the system as early as March.

DPS and the Texas Secretary of State’s Office had not publicly responded to the latest lawsuit.

Sources:

• The Texas Tribune – MBFC Rating

The post Texas Sued After 500,000 Voter Registrations Went Unprocessed appeared first on News Facts Network.

Texas AG and US Senate hopeful announced inquiry into alleged conspiracy between pediatricians, vaccine makers and insurance firms

Ken Paxton, the attorney general of Texas and the Republican candidate for the US Senate, is aligning himself with the Make America Healthy Again (Maha) movement by investigating pediatricians for giving vaccines – actions that could further restrict access to vaccines as deadly outbreaks unfold.

Paxton announced he would investigate an alleged conspiracy between pediatricians, vaccine makers and insurance companies in January, and at least one Texas pediatrician now says she is under investigation. Paxton linked his efforts to a campaign against vaccines from Donald Trump and Robert F Kennedy Jr, the secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and directly referenced the Maha movement in his announcement. The president endorsed Paxton’s Senate run in May.

Third-largest fine in US treasury’s history, due to failure to report suspicious activity, may affect third-quarter earnings

Bank of America (BAC.N), has been fined $1.21bn by US regulators for widespread failures to detect ‌potential money laundering and other illicit activity, a penalty the bank said will hurt third-quarter earnings.

The US treasury department said the fine, the third-largest in department history, is due to the bank’s failure to report more than $5bn in suspicious activity to the government, including $1bn that posed national security-related and other priority illicit finance risks.

Yvette Cooper acknowledges ‘unthinkable pain’ caused by practice between 1930s and 1980s after campaign by Wirral woman and others

The health secretary, Yvette Cooper, has issued a “profound apology” for the “unthinkable pain” caused to parents whose stillborn babies were buried in mass graves.

Parents spent decades not knowing where their babies were buried, owing to a practice in which stillborn babies were taken from mothers at hospital and buried in communal graves.

They were victims, not abusers. That’s what they told police officers, attorneys, visitors and anyone else who would listen. It didn’t matter. The women were all taken to a sprawling immigration detention center in the woods of west Michigan and handed thin jumpsuits — red, to mark them as a high security risk.

Inside the North Lake Processing Center, they talked about the men whose calls to police landed them there. The boyfriends or husbands who threatened to get them deported and cut them off from their children. The men, or sometimes women, who hit them, pulled their hair or choked them, bruising their throats.

They didn’t know where to go for help before, but now, in the confines of a cold cellblock in a former prison, the women helped one another. If one spoke to somebody on the outside who could connect them with advice, legal aid or money for the commissary, she’d pass around a tablet used for calls so others could tell their stories.

Migladys Bermudez, an immigration attorney in southeast Michigan, remembers a call in May from a Peruvian woman detained at North Lake. Her name was Pilar, and she’d heard about Bermudez from a fellow detainee who had been a client. Pilar told Bermudez about the boyfriend she tried to escape before her arrest, when she used makeup to cover the marks she said he left on her face. But he had accused her of being the abuser, resulting in her arrest.

Pilar handed the tablet to a Cuban woman named Leya. Over the echoes of the other detainees’ chatter, she described how her boyfriend insulted her, isolated her and gave her a black eye. Then, after grabbing him by the arm during an argument, she was the one behind bars, separated from their nursing daughter. On video calls, the girl didn’t seem to recognize her mother anymore. She stopped calling her “Mamá.”

Bermudez was taken aback. All three women in that chain — the former client, Pilar and Leya — said they were trying to get out of abusive relationships when they were arrested by local police on domestic violence allegations. In all three cases, the charges were dropped or never filed at all. The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained the first woman during a routine check-in a few months after her charges were dropped. The others were handed over to ICE by local officials. 

It’s long been intimidating for immigrants who suffered abuse to call 911, regardless of who was in the White House. They knew — and their abusers knew — that their immigration status made them vulnerable. But previous administrations treated victims as just that, people who needed help, not as targets for deportation. Bipartisan coalitions in Congress have long supported the Violence Against Women Act, which creates a pathway toward legal status for immigrants who are victims of domestic violence or other serious crimes.

Now, under President Donald Trump, all bets are off. On inauguration day, his administration rescinded guidelines that largely prevented immigration agents from making arrests at sensitive locations — including domestic violence shelters and hospitals. About a week later, the administration eliminated key protections granted to VAWA applicants and other crime victims. For the first time in decades, immigration authorities could disregard those protections and more freely arrest, detain and deport immigrant victims.

Life became more harrowing in other ways for immigrants who were victims of domestic violence. Federal immigration agents made arrests outside specialized domestic violence courts. And the administration persuaded more and more local police and jails to carry out the president’s mass deportation campaign, sweeping still more immigrants into custody. 

Even communities without these so-called 287(g) agreements are helping the government round people up. In west Michigan’s Kent County, where Pilar and Leya were arrested, the county jail turned over more immigrants to ICE in the first six months of 2026 than it did during the entire Biden administration.

Advocates across the country say they’re seeing signs of an alarming increase in the numbers of domestic violence victims who are detained and deported. And many immigrants are staying in abusive relationships, fearful of calling for help or even stepping outside their homes.

“It’s just probably the most dangerous time for immigrant women right now who are victims of domestic violence,” said Bermudez, who took on Leya’s immigration case.

The arrest and detention of domestic violence victims is, in part, an unanticipated consequence of an effort meant to keep them safe. In much of the country, law enforcement officers are encouraged — or even required — to make an arrest when they have probable cause to believe that a domestic violence assault has taken place. Sometimes victims are mistaken as the abuser and taken into custody. Then, if they’re immigrants, they can be turned over to ICE — even if they were never criminally charged.

There’s no comprehensive way to track how often this happens or how many domestic violence victims have been detained by ICE or deported. But ProPublica spoke with a half-dozen alleged victims who were locked up together in a single facility, North Lake, and reviewed police records about others who were there, too. Their stories offer a picture of why Congress created programs like VAWA in the first place, and what’s at stake when those guardrails are taken away. 

A coalition of immigrant survivors and advocates have sued the Trump administration, saying changes to how immigrant victims are treated not only undermined public safety, but also broke promises enshrined in federal law and policy.

“We were seeing our clients be more scared, be systematically targeted, be arrested, and deported very quickly,” said Kathleen Rivas, supervising attorney of the survivors team at Public Counsel, a law firm that’s involved in the litigation.

In May, a federal judge ordered the government to restore protections while the case played out. The Trump administration has appealed the order. 

White House spokesperson Lauren Bis said in a statement that ICE is targeting the “worst of the worst.” The real story, she added, is the “American women whose lives have been taken by illegal alien criminals.” A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement that “we will never apologize for deporting illegal aliens, because that’s how we save lives.”

But Leya, Pilar and other immigrants we interviewed have no criminal records. And advocates said communities are less safe now because immigrants are afraid to call police when their partners hurt them. This gives more ammunition to the threats of their abusers, said Casey Carter Swegman, director of public policy at the Tahirih Justice Center, a national nonprofit that advocates for immigrant survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault and human trafficking.

“Certainly more immigrant survivors are feeling like the violence and abuse they experience behind the closed door is somehow more tolerable than the violence and abuse they could experience if they tried to leave,” she said.

The first time her boyfriend’s fist slammed into her face was in July 2025, Leya recalled. They were living in Florida with his relatives. Only a month before, Leya gave birth to their daughter.

One night, she said, he heard her laugh in the kitchen with his mother and a man his mother was dating. Leya’s boyfriend flew into a jealous rage, she said, and punched her a few feet from their sleeping baby.

Leya called 911 but hung up when the operator answered. She was afraid of what might happen. She was 26; her boyfriend was a decade her senior. Leya, a recent immigrant from Cuba, had applied for status and was in active immigration proceedings. She said he was a permanent resident, with permission to work in the U.S. and better command of English. She felt trapped.

Sheriff’s deputies arrived and spoke with Leya and her boyfriend. They took photos of her puffy and bruised face, with the white of her left eye bright red. Her boyfriend said the injury occurred during an “argument,” according to the report, but he didn’t specify how. He was arrested on suspicion of domestic battery. 

Leya said her boyfriend’s mother threw her out that night. Unsure of where to go, she and her daughter moved in with another one of his relatives. Pursuing a criminal case felt daunting. She said his relatives urged her to drop the charges and reconcile with him. Eventually, she asked prosecutors to drop the charge because the battery took place in “a moment of impulse that he feels very sorry for,” records show. Her boyfriend didn’t enter a plea before the case was dismissed.

Like other immigrants interviewed for this story, Leya asked not to be fully identified because of her pending immigration case, and because she worries about repercussions for her and her daughter.

She and Pilar also asked that ProPublica not interview their alleged abusers because they’re afraid the men will interfere with their cases, hurt them or take away their children. To report their stories and get their partners’ perspective, we reviewed records from law enforcement, immigration court proceedings and habeas corpus petitions seeking their release from detention. We also interviewed attorneys, family and others who interacted with them.

Soon after the Florida arrest, Leya and her boyfriend moved to the city of Wyoming, Michigan, a suburb of Grand Rapids that’s a magnet for immigrants who come for jobs in manufacturing and food processing. The unpretentious city is dotted with temporary staffing agencies, money-wiring businesses and Mexican restaurants.

Leya said their relationship worsened. Her boyfriend pushed her, pulled her hair and broke her phone, she said. He made her delete her social media accounts and isolated her from friends and family. They fought about money and talked about breaking up. One night in April, during an argument, he called the police.

“I’m having problems with my wife,” he said in Spanish, according to a recording of the call. The operator asked if there had been any violence. “No, no, no. None,” he said. “Just a discussion.”

He told officers who came to their apartment complex that Leya got angry because he had talked to an ex-girlfriend, according to body camera footage and a police report. When he tried to leave, he said, Leya pushed him and grabbed his arm. Then she attempted to hang up his phone when he dialed 911. 

He said he wasn’t injured, though he accused her of hitting him several times a few days earlier.

Officers interviewed his brother, who mentioned the arrest in Florida, according to bodycam footage. “They had a cycle of problems where she called the police for abuse and he was detained for three days,” he said in Spanish. “My brother is trying to avoid having that happen again.”

The police report doesn’t mention the earlier arrest.

Footage of the interview with Leya was redacted due to state privacy laws, in part because she was interviewed inside their residence, unlike her boyfriend, who was interviewed outside. According to the police report, she “minimized” the argument and said there was no physical contact. She acknowledged trying to hang up the phone.

In an interview with ProPublica, Leya said they argued when she learned he sent money to his ex-girlfriend, who is the mother of his son. At the same time, she said, he had told her he couldn’t afford to buy diapers for their daughter. She said she has never hit him. 

Officers arrested Leya on suspicion of domestic assault and interfering with a 911 call. They didn’t arrest her boyfriend or seek charges against him. Leya said she didn’t tell officers she was a victim of abuse because she thought she’d be able to tell a judge.

She never got a chance.

The Wyoming Police Department’s written policy encourages officers to make an arrest in incidents involving domestic violence “when there is reasonable cause to believe an assault was committed.”

Arrests demonstrate that “violence in the home is recognized as a serious crime,” according to Michigan’s law enforcement training manual on domestic violence. This approach is common across the country. Twenty-four states require an arrest when there’s probable cause of a domestic assault.

But domestic violence scenes can be chaotic, with both partners accusing each other of being the aggressor. It can be difficult for officers to understand what happened, said Erin Ross, a former domestic violence prosecutor who works at the national nonprofit Vera Institute of Justice. Sometimes, the wrong person ends up in handcuffs.

“The complexity of DV situations can thus lead to survivors being criminalized by the very system meant to protect them,” Ross and her co-authors wrote in a 2025 report about the effects of arrests on domestic violence survivors. 

The Vera report doesn’t touch on immigration. But Ross and a dozen other domestic violence advocates across the country told ProPublica that immigrants who don’t speak English or understand their rights are, under the Trump administration, especially vulnerable to an arrest that can have irreversible consequences.

ProPublica reviewed hundreds of habeas corpus petitions filed nationwide since January 2025, in which immigrants challenged their ICE detention on constitutional grounds. We found dozens of petitioners who were arrested on suspicion of domestic violence and turned over to ICE, even though they were never charged or their charges were dropped. Using jail and police records from Florida and Michigan, as well as news reports, we identified even more cases.

In their petitions, several immigrants said that officers mistook them for the aggressor. The underlying arrest records show that officers often had to make close calls in messy cases where it was unclear who was the victim and who was the aggressor. Either way, under Trump, there’s little grace for immigrants. 

In one case in Florida, a state where sheriff’s offices cooperate with immigration authorities, a deputy came upon a Venezuelan couple arguing in the street in November 2025. In his report, the deputy said the woman pulled at her husband’s pants, necklace and arm, leaving marks on his body. The woman said her husband had taken her keys and phone. She didn’t want to be left stranded, she said, so she ran after him.

She was charged with misdemeanor battery; her husband wasn’t charged. The woman was turned over to ICE while the case was pending. Prosecutors later dropped charges. The sheriff’s report didn’t mention any allegations of prior domestic violence, but the woman later said that, during their marriage, her husband had beaten her and threatened to kill her. In her habeas corpus petition, she said she was “afraid to report the abuse to the police.” 

The woman was released in May, but during the five months she was incarcerated, her husband took their daughters out of state, her attorney told ProPublica. She still hasn’t seen the girls in person.

For Leya, it was a shock to find herself handcuffed, sitting in the back of a police cruiser, headed toward the Kent County jail. She was silent during the 15-minute ride, unable to make sense of what had just happened: “I had suffered from domestic violence,” she said. “But the one who ended up in trouble was me.” 

The next day, a detective asked the prosecutor’s office to file charges against her. Prosecutors declined to do so, saying there was insufficient evidence, there were no injuries and Leya hadn’t successfully interfered with the phone call. 

Still, she wasn’t released.

Leya had no criminal history, apart from this arrest, according to a DHS record. But her fingerprints had been run against state and federal databases, flagging ICE officials who could match them with her prints from when she arrived in the U.S. In addition, Leya said, a jail official asked about her status, and she told him she was waiting for an immigration court hearing. 

ICE issued a detainer, essentially asking the jail to hold Leya until agents could pick her up. Kent County officials honored their request. A day later, Leya was at the detention center in the woods.

She cried in despair over her daughter. They’d never been separated. The 80 miles between Wyoming and North Lake seemed infinite. Her breasts ached from the drying milk. Leya wondered whether she’d be deported and if their separation would be permanent. 

From a narrow window in her cell, she saw people outside holding signs, protesting ICE. She could hear their chants in English. Though she had trouble understanding them, she felt comforted by the care of strangers. 

Inside, she familiarized herself with the routines. She spent most of her time in a large, open room with other women in red. Cameras eyed them as they talked about their children and upcoming court dates. They shared contact information for relatives in their home countries in case one of them got deported and had nowhere to go. To pass the hours, they watched telenovelas, played rounds of Uno and pieced together jigsaw puzzles of forests and farms.

Leya grew close to a few women from Latin America and Eastern Europe who said they, too, had been in abusive relationships. Several had called police for help, records show. A Honduran woman said her partner tried to choke her. A Dominican woman said her husband, a U.S. citizen, hit her, pulled her hair and chased her with a stick.

Then there was Pilar, Leya’s first cellmate. The asylum seeker from Peru had also been arrested on suspicion of domestic violence in the city of Wyoming.

Pilar, her boyfriend and her teenage daughter called 911 five times in the 15 months before her arrest, records show. On one occasion, Pilar’s daughter said she worried that the boyfriend would hurt her mom; according to bodycam footage, Pilar assured officers that everything was fine. On another, the man said he experienced mental abuse and wanted to find a shelter. On yet another, Pilar said she just wanted him to leave.

None of these calls ended in an arrest. Officers ensured that the boyfriend had another place to stay when he sought help, and they told Pilar to call back if he tried to return and hurt her, according to the footage. They advised the couple to go to civil court for future disputes over money and property.

In an interview with ProPublica from North Lake, Pilar, 48, said that her boyfriend took financial advantage of her and physically assaulted her. And in her habeas corpus petition, she described the relationship as one of “physical, mental, psychological, economic abuse.” Her sister took a photo of the bruises around Pilar’s neck and feared the worst. “I would tell her to leave that man,” she said. 

Pilar said she was ashamed to go to her job at a food-processing plant with bruises on her face. She wondered what her co-workers would think. She distanced herself from relatives and friends. Pilar said she never told the police the full story because she worried about the possible repercussions — not for herself, but for her boyfriend. She didn’t want him to be deported. Despite everything, she loved him and felt he loved her. 

One night in October 2025, her boyfriend drove up to their apartment complex in a rental car. The couple argued in the parking lot. He called 911.

“I need police,” he said over and over in English.

Pilar called moments later: “This man is leaving my house and he’s not giving me my keys,” she screamed in Spanish. “This man has hurt me. He has scratched my whole arm.”

When officers arrived, they separated the couple. The boyfriend said that Pilar slapped his head, grabbed his shirt and tried to pull him out of the car while he was in the driver’s seat, according to bodycam footage and the police report. One side of his T-shirt was torn. He said he never assaulted Pilar and any injuries were her own fault. “I’ve never hit her,” he said in Spanish.

He told officers that he’d become a U.S. permanent resident two months earlier and that Pilar was jealous. “She is making this up because she knows she can get papers,” he said.

Pilar insisted she was the victim. She showed officers the scratch marks on her arm and said her boyfriend was to blame. She begged them to make him return the apartment keys, according to bodycam footage and a police report. “I’ve been trying to kick him out for a while and he won’t leave, and he doesn’t want to help pay the rent,” she said in Spanish.

An officer asked how her boyfriend’s shirt got ripped. Pilar said she grabbed onto him when he started driving away in order to avoid being dragged by the car. The officer asked her several more times about the ripped shirt. Pilar told him she wanted to speak to a lawyer. 

In their report, police noted that the boyfriend had called 911 first. His shirt was ripped. Pilar’s wasn’t. If the boyfriend had thrown her down, the officer wrote, then her shirt should have been ripped because he was “much taller and heavier (around 80lbs more).”

Her boyfriend wasn’t arrested. Pilar was.

Wyoming Public Safety Chief Kip Snyder declined to speak about the arrests of Pilar or Leya. In an email to ProPublica, he said officers don’t “participate in enforcing federal immigration laws. We encourage trust and cooperation with all residents and aim to ensure that everyone feels safe reporting crimes or seeking assistance.”

Shortly after Pilar’s arrest, a police detective asked the prosecutor’s office to file domestic violence charges against both her and her boyfriend.  

Prosecutors declined to file any charges, citing insufficient evidence. Pilar wasn’t released. Apart from this arrest, she had no criminal history, according to DHS records. She also had a pending asylum case.

Still, ICE put a detainer on her and jail officials turned her over.

A few years earlier, Kent County Sheriff Michelle Lajoye-Young said a handoff like this wouldn’t happen.

In 2019, she announced that deputies would stop automatically honoring detainers and instead require warrants signed by a federal judge or magistrate. The move came after a U.S. citizen — a Marine combat veteran — was transferred from her jail into ICE custody.

“There needed to be a judicial oversight inserted into that process to give us the assurance that somebody wasn’t erroneously detained without due process,” Lajoye-Young said around that time. 

Trump called Kent a “sanctuary jurisdiction.” The label haunted the county, which in the 2016 election voted for Trump. A national think tank that aims to reduce immigration put Kent County on its list of sanctuary communities, while Republican state lawmakers tried to compel its cooperation with federal authorities.

Yet it’s unclear whether Lajoye-Young ever delivered on her promise. ProPublica requested copies of all department policies, procedures, memos and instructions on how it handles ICE detainers since 2018. None said a judicial warrant was needed. ProPublica also asked for copies of judicial warrants for Pilar and Leya. The county said no such records exist.

Lajoye-Young, who retired last week, declined interview requests. Sgt. Scott Dietrich, a spokesperson for the sheriff’s office, didn’t directly answer questions about whether the policy was ever implemented. But in a statement he said that detainers are “handled under applicable law and established policy, consistent with our commitment to public safety, due process, and fair and impartial enforcement.”

Gema Lowe, an organizer with the local chapter of an immigrant rights group, said the sheriff had backtracked on her promise and wasn’t being forthright. “I don’t understand why they’re being secretive,” she said.

The shift deepened the mistrust among immigrants in a county with one of the state’s fastest-growing immigrant populations. Lowe, an immigrant herself from Mexico, said she advises victims to think twice before reporting domestic violence to the police because of the risk of arrest and deportation, while pointing them to other local resources like shelters. 

She and others said the stakes are especially high now. ICE arrests have skyrocketed under Trump. Nobody is off limits, including immigrants with pending asylum claims and no criminal records.

And more local authorities are helping ICE make arrests. In January 2025, fewer than 150 state and local law enforcement agencies had signed 287(g) agreements with DHS to help carry out the president’s deportation agenda. That number has ballooned to more than 2,600 today. 

“Partnerships with law enforcement are critical to having the resources we need to arrest criminal illegal aliens across the country,” a DHS spokesperson said. “We have had tremendous success when local law enforcement works together with us.”

Kent County doesn’t have a 287(g) agreement. Still, the jail hands over the vast majority of people with detainers to ICE, records show. Dozens of people who were turned over to ICE this year had their criminal charges dropped, or, like Pilar and Leya, were never charged in the first place. 

Dietrich said the dismissal of a criminal charge “does not, by itself, mean the original arrest lacked probable cause.” The sheriff’s office also doesn’t “determine whether criminal charges are ultimately prosecuted, nor does it determine whether an individual is deported,” he said.

DHS told ProPublica in a statement that both Leya and Pilar “illegally entered the country” in 2022 and that both “will receive due process” in their immigration proceedings.

Kent County Prosecutor Chris Becker said he hadn’t heard of victims getting detained by ICE after calling the police. In his experience, he said, more perpetrators with active cases get deported.

Becker said he tries to get the message out that his team serves all victims, regardless of their immigration status. He’s aware that immigrants are reluctant to seek help. His own staff has told him that victims are afraid to testify or file restraining orders. They don’t want their partners — often the breadwinners and the fathers of their children — to be deported.

“There’s been a chilling impact to women coming forward in domestic violence situations due to what’s going on,” Becker said.

As the months passed at North Lake, Leya watched as women she befriended started to leave.  

Some were deported, including at least two Mexican women who were also arrested in Kent County on suspicion of domestic violence. Others were released. New women took their cells. Some told Leya that they, too, had been arrested after 911 calls about domestic violence.

Leya fought for her freedom. She met with volunteers from Kent County, who raised money to hire her lawyers and pay for a required physical exam and fees. Even her ex-boyfriend, the one who she said gave her a black eye, wrote a letter on her behalf to help her case, calling her “a calm person.” He explained that he had called the police after their argument “escalated” and that “problems are situations that can happen in any relationship.”

Leya, he added, “deserves a second opportunity to remain in this country and be close to our daughter, as our baby truly needs her very much.” While Leya was locked up, their little girl celebrated her first birthday, got her first teeth and took her first steps.

At virtual hearings, Leya sat with her arms crossed, her dark, wavy hair neatly braided in cornrows and wearing an oversized coat over her red uniform. She tried to follow the discussion of people who seemed to have her life in their hands.

In late August, a judge granted Leya bond. While her immigration case played out, she could be free.

It was a profound relief. At the same time, it felt awful to leave behind her friends. It seemed like some of them were never getting out. Pilar was approaching a year in detention.

Four months after her arrest, Leya walked out of the old prison. She thought about how she would live on her own now and support her daughter.  

She promised herself she wouldn’t go back to the man who hurt her. 

The post These Women Were Trying to Escape Domestic Abuse. ICE Detained Them Instead. appeared first on ProPublica.

Relatives of William Chapman say footage of attack shared online ‘deeply offensive’ and causing them ‘severe distress’

The family of a man killed by a tiger at a wildlife park in the UK have spoken about their “severe distress” at the circulation of online media after Donald Trump reposted a video of the incident.

William Chapman, 23, was mauled to death after entering an enclosure at Yorkshire Wildlife Park, near Doncaster, on Saturday.