Axios reports that Meta has acquired Moltbook, the viral, Reddit-like social network designed for AI agents. Humans are welcome, but only to observe. Axios reports: The deal brings Moltbook's creators -- Matt Schlicht and Ben Parr -- into Meta Superintelligence Labs (MSL), the unit run by former Scale AI CEO Alexandr Wang. Meta did not disclose Moltbook's purchase price. The deal is expected to close mid-March, Meta says, with the pair starting at MSL on March 16. When it launched in late January, Moltbook was labeled the "most interesting place on the internet" by open-source developer and writer Simon Willison. "Browsing around Moltbook is so much fun. A lot of it is the expected science fiction slop, with agents pondering consciousness and identity. There's also a ton of genuinely useful information, especially on m/todayilearned." In an internal post seen by Axios, Meta's Vishal Shah said existing Moltbook customers can temporarily continue using the platform. "The Moltbook team has given agents a way to verify their identity and connect with one another on their human's behalf," Shah says. "This establishes a registry where agents are verified and tethered to human owners." He added: "Their team has unlocked new ways for agents to interact, share content, and coordinate complex tasks."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
The US defence secretary says the military is increasing attacks on the regime
Pete Hegseth warns of day of ‘most intense’ US strikes on Iran yet
How have you been affected by the latest Middle East events?
Investor hopes for a swift resolution to the Middle East conflict propelled Australian shares higher today, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 finishing the day up 1.1% and recovering about $35bn in value after yesterday’s $90bn plunge.
Oil prices surged to a four-year high early in the week before coming back down below $US90 a barrel after Donald Trump suggested the Iran conflict would end soon, sending global stock markets higher.
Continue reading...According to U.S. Central Command, over 5,000 targets were struck and 50 Iranian vessels were damaged or destroyed in the first 10 days of the war with Iran.
So I stored my Onewheel this winter and checked the charge level a couple of times during and it stayed at 89% all winter.
I think I read that it would discharge during winter so I should check up on it to not let it decharge completely to 0%.
I this normal?
The University of Phoenix expects enrollment to grow as the Education Department softens oversight of for-profit schools, despite industry concerns.
Exclusive: Safeguarding minister says man accused of breaching restraining order will come to court only in 2028
A man accused of breaching a restraining order related to Jess Phillips will not have his case heard in the crown court until 2028, the Labour minister has revealed, as she urged MPs to back measures to scrap some jury trials.
Phillips said the courts and tribunals bill had her “100%” support, saying personal experience showed the “broken” court system was used to delay trials and exert control by those who were violent against women.
Continue reading...Travelers are flocking to the famously arid desert covered in a blanket of pink, purple and yellow wildflowers
After a winter of record rainfall, a superbloom has erupted in Death Valley, covering the famously arid desert in a blanket of vibrant pink, purple and yellow flowers. As travelers from around the world make their way to the desert, they can expect to be greeted by fragrant air and a quilt of delicate hues.
While there is no official definition for a superbloom, the National Park Service uses the term to “describe conditions when so many flowers are present that they appear as swaths of color across the landscape, rather than isolated plants, especially striking at low elevations where the ground is typically sand, gravel and rock”
Continue reading...Robert McElroy goes further than pope has done and says conflict fails ‘criterion of right intention’
Cardinal Robert W McElroy, the archbishop of Washington, has said that the US-Israeli war with Iran is “not morally legitimate”, going further than the pope has done in his more moderate appeals for an end to the war.
In an interview with the Catholic Standard this week, McElroy said “the criterion of just cause is not met because our country was not responding to an existing or imminent and objectively verifiable attack by Iran.”
Continue reading...Trump’s pick of former prosecutor Clay Fuller likely to face Democrat and retired general Shawn Harris in runoff for House seat
Hegseth says the aftermath of the conflict is “going to be in America’s interests” and says it “will not live under a nuclear blackmail” from Iran.
It comes shortly after the defence secretary reiterated president Donald Trump’s threat that if Iran does anything to prevent the flow of oil in the strait of Hormuz, it will be hit “twenty times harder”.
Continue reading...Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news
Markets are pricing in a chance that the Bank of England could cut interest rates this year, but a cut next week looks unlikely, says Kathleen Brooks, of the broker XTB.
There is currently 0.4 rate cuts priced in for this year, and UK rates are expected to end the year at 3.65%, down from the current level of 3.75%. There is a 7.2% chance of a rate cut priced in for the BOE’s meeting next week.
While we doubt that a rate cut is on the cards, the Bank of England will need to use next week’s meeting to signal their future intentions. Will they look through the crisis in the Middle East as a temporary spike in commodity prices and focus on the weakening economy? Or will the situation have died down enough for them to signal that further rate cuts are coming, albeit with a small delay? Either way, next week’s meeting is still important for sterling and UK bond markets.
Continue reading...Justice secretary says changes designed to reduce courts backlog will benefit remand rates
We can bring you some lines from the Reform press conference (see post at 10.10). Sky News’ political editor Beth Rigby asked Nigel Farage about Reform’s inconsistent position over the UK’s policy in regard to the US-Israeli war with Iran. She asks how voters can trust the party’s national security.
“Given that we can’t even send a Royal Naval vessel to defend British sovereign territory and an RAF base, we certainly don’t have the capability to offer anything of any value to the Americans or the Israelis,” Farage said, describing the Royal Navy as a “catastrophe”.
Continue reading...Someone fired shots at the U.S. consulate in Toronto, authorities said, days after shots were fired at synagogues in the Canadian city.
Eight people were killed by 18-year-old in Canada, who had described violent scenarios involving guns to ChatGPT
The family of a child critically injured one of Canada’s worst mass shootings is suing OpenAI, arguing the technology company could have prevented the attack on a school last month.
The lawsuit comes days after the head of OpenAI said he would apologize to the families of a remote Canadian town after violence shattered the tight-knit community.
Continue reading...The easiest way to track the best tech sales this spring.
The 600kg Van Allen probe A will re-enter Tuesday evening, with most of it burning before reaching Earth’s surface
Parts of a giant Nasa satellite will crash to Earth on Tuesday evening, the US space agency is warning – but the chance of being struck is extremely low.
According to the US military’s Space Force, the roughly 1,323lb (600kg) spacecraft, one of twin probes launched in 2012 to investigate the Van Allen radiation belt, is estimated to re-enter Earth’s atmosphere at about 7.45pm EDT.
Continue reading...The office that polices attorney misconduct in Washington, D.C., has filed ethics charges against Justice Department pardon attorney Ed Martin.
Jockey Club says aim is to get more women watching racing and revival is not a response to ‘woke’ jibes
First and foremost, it is a huge sporting event, billed by its fans as the Olympics of jump racing – but it can also act as a social barometer, giving clues as to the state and mood of the nation.
This year’s Cheltenham festival, which began on Tuesday, feels a little like a step back in time with the return of “Ladies Day” after a five-year hiatus and a reduction in the price of a pint.
Continue reading...German publishers and advertising groups are urging regulators to fine Apple over its App Tracking Transparency (ATT) system, arguing it unfairly restricts access to advertising data while allowing Apple to remain the central gatekeeper -- without subjecting its own apps to the same restrictions. If Germany's antitrust authority does rule against Apple, the company could face fines of up to 10% of its global revenue. 9to5Mac reports: One of the countries investigating whether ATT is anticompetitive is Germany. Last year, in an attempt to appease the country's antitrust watchdog, the company proposed several changes to the framework's rules. From Reuters' original coverage of Apple's changes proposals: "Apple had agreed to introduce neutral consent prompts for both its own services and third-party apps, and to largely align the wording, content and visual design of these messages, said Andreas Mundt, head of Germany's Bundeskartellamt. The company also proposed simplifying the consent process so developers can obtain user permission for advertising-related data processing in a way that complies with data protection law." [...] At the time, German regulators launched a consultation with industry publications to determine whether the proposals addressed their concerns. As it turns out, the answer was a hard no. As Reuters reported today: "Apple's proposed changes to its app tracking rules do not resolve antitrust issues in the mobile advertising market, associations representing German publishers and advertisers said on Tuesday as they urged the country's antitrust authority to slap a fine on the U.S. tech giant. [...] 'The proposed commitments would not change the negative effects of the App Tracking Transparency Framework,' Bernd Nauen, chief executive of the German Advertising Federation, said in a joint letter signed by the trade bodies. 'Apple would remain the data gatekeeper and would continue to decide who gets access to advertising-relevant data and how companies can communicate with their end customers,' he said."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Tuesday that it would be the "most intense day" of strikes against Iran so far.
Can Arne Slot's Reds handle the febrile atmosphere of RAMS Park?
Holiday currently chairs ownership group Mercury13
Mercury13 completed purchase of FC Badalona women
NWSL plays in summer, opposite of European leagues
Two-time Olympic Gold medalist and 2015 World Cup winner Lauren Holiday has called for the global harmonisation of the women’s soccer calendar to help grow the sport.
Doing so could echo a recent move by Major League Soccer to move to a European, fall-to-spring schedule from July 2027. Holiday, a former USWNT forward, believes the women’s game could follow their example, or do the opposite and have everyone play through the summer.
Continue reading...George Michael: The Faith Tour will receive a global cinema release alongside previously unheard music from his Wham! and solo discographies
A long lost film centered on George Michael’s landmark 1988 Faith tour is set for cinema release later this year, in addition to a new album of previously unheard live performances.
George Michael: The Faith Tour is being lined up for a global big screen rollout, with footage taken from a previously unseen 14 camera shoot of Michael’s performance at Paris’ Bercy Arena in 1988. A press release bills the project as a tour de force in archival film-making, celebrating Michael’s ambition and artistry at its peak.
Continue reading...March 10, lovingly known as Mar10 Day, is a chance to celebrate Nintendo's most enduring hero. And his brother (whatever he's called).
The Van Allen probe's mission was meant to last two years, but ended up going for nearly seven.
I have had the OG pint (with top mounted battery extender) for 6 years now and it’s time for a new board. I was riding this one with stock slick tire, and no other mods or upgrades. The size and portability are important, so I’m looking to stick with pint. Leaning toward the pint X but would like a different tire. I mostly ride on street with light dirt/offroading, but nothing too gnarly. What are the thoughts on Future Motion’s performance pint tire? I was also considering Float Life’s enduro (which is only currently available in the soft compound option). Throw me your advice!
Pentagon chief spoke with Gen Dan Caine at a press conference and blamed Iran for civilian casualties
Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth has warned that Tuesday would be the “most intense” day of US strikes yet, even as he blamed Iran for civilian casualties by claiming its forces were firing missiles from schools and hospitals.
Speaking alongside Gen Dan Caine, the chair of the joint chiefs of staff, Hegseth alleged Iran was deliberately firing missiles from schools and hospitals, describing the country’s leadership as “desperate and scrambling like the terrorist cowards they are”.
Continue reading...Reform leader’s latest comment contrasts with earlier statement that ‘gloves need to come off’
Nigel Farage has been accused of making a U-turn after he said Britain should not get involved in Donald Trump’s war with Iran.
His comments on Tuesday contrasted with his previous assertion that the “gloves need to come off” when dealing with Iran.
Continue reading...The Fed will address interest rates again next week. But will mortgage interest rates decline after the meeting?
Saudi Arabian state oil firm calls crisis by far the biggest the region has seen but firm can reroute 70% of exports and tap crude held in storage
Saudi Arabia’s state oil company has warned of “catastrophic consequences” for the world’s oil markets if the US-Israeli war with Iran continues to block shipping in the strait of Hormuz.
The world’s biggest oil company expects to be able to export about 70% of its usual crude output despite the stranglehold on the vital trade artery, but its chief executive warned that there would still be “drastic” consequences for the world economy if the disruption continues.
Continue reading...If you're filing for bankruptcy soon, the required waiting periods could have an impact on your approach.
Salem Al-Salem faces landmark trial over alleged role in crackdown on protests in Damascus in 2011
A former Syrian colonel has appeared in a London court to face charges of crimes against humanity in the first prosecution of its kind in England and Wales.
Salem Al-Salem is charged with murder and torture, crimes allegedly committed during the Syrian government’s violent crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrations in Damascus in 2011.
Continue reading...TORONTO, March 10, 2026 — Xanadu Quantum Technologies Inc., a leading photonic quantum computing company, today announced a major step forward in bringing quantum computing closer to real-world aerospace and engineering applications by leveraging AMD HPC and AI technologies. By combining Xanadu’s PennyLane quantum software with AMD high-performance computing solutions on the AMD DevCloud, Xanadu successfully demonstrated how advanced aerospace simulations can be prepared and run in a hybrid quantum-classical environment.
Aerospace engineers rely on computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations to optimize design and enhance aircraft efficiency. Xanadu, powered by the AMD DevCloud, has successfully demonstrated CFD simulations within a hybrid quantum-classical program, showcasing the significant potential of quantum computing for the industry. The work centered on the compilation and execution of a CFD model with 256×256 matrix elements. This hybrid program utilized 20 qubits and approximately 35 million quantum gates, pushing the boundaries of current CFD quantum simulations. As the industry advances toward fault-tolerant quantum computing, the ability to compile and optimize programs of this scale will become a critical competitive advantage. This milestone demonstrates that Xanadu and AMD can support next-generation quantum-classical applications by combining their respective technologies and expertise, helping transition quantum computing from research environments toward industrial use in aerospace and engineering.
“Seeing AMD high-performance compute boost the performance of PennyLane is a clear proof point of how quantum and classical technologies can effectively work together,” said Madhu Rangarajan, Corporate Vice President, Compute and Enterprise AI, AMD. “This work further underscores the importance of seamless integration between classical and quantum computing. The work between AMD and Xanadu expands the boundaries of what is possible for users investigating hybrid quantum/classical computing using AMD compute today.”
“Accelerating quantum applications for the aerospace industry requires close collaboration between quantum software and high-performance computing,” said Christian Weedbrook, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Xanadu. “Our partnership with AMD brings these capabilities together to address real engineering challenges today. By optimizing how large-scale quantum programs are compiled and simulated, we are helping ensure the aerospace industry is ready to adopt fault-tolerant quantum computing as soon as it becomes available.”
The collaboration has also improved the performance of a core quantum algorithm, the Quantum Singular Value Transformation (QSVT), which is a key driver for a variety of applications, including those relevant to aerospace engineering. Xanadu found that by moving from a traditional CPU to a single AMD GPU, the team reduced simulation time by 25 times, demonstrating the immediate value of high-performance computing in accelerating quantum workflows. Using PennyLane’s Catalyst compiler, they also translated a 68-qubit quantum circuit into more than 15 million hardware-optimized gates, preparing it for future fault-tolerant quantum systems.
As aerospace organizations look to turn quantum research into practical advantage, scalable software and powerful computing infrastructure will be essential. Through their partnership, Xanadu and AMD are bringing quantum and classical technologies together in a way that helps industry prepare today for the next generation of quantum computers.
About Xanadu
Xanadu is a Canadian quantum computing company with the mission to build quantum computers that are useful and available to people everywhere. Founded in 2016, Xanadu has become one of the world’s leading quantum hardware and software companies. The company also leads the development of PennyLane, an open-source software library for quantum computing and application development.
Source: Xanadu
The post Xanadu and AMD Accelerate Quantum Computing for Aerospace and Engineering appeared first on HPCwire.
Fewer than 100 days out, host cities haven’t received promised funding, and fears about ICE’s presence are widespread
On Sunday 19 July, the final match of the 2026 Fifa World Cup will be played in East Rutherford, New Jersey. For one day, our community will be the center of the world.
But as that moment approaches, I find myself spending less time thinking about the games at MetLife Stadium, and more time worrying about whether we are ready. Because if Washington doesn’t get its act together, we risk turning a generational opportunity into an international embarrassment.
Continue reading...The AI assistant can help you navigate Photoshop and make changes for you.
Private equity firm EQT AB is reportedly exploring a sale of SUSE that could value the open-source Linux pioneer at up to $6 billion, roughly doubling the valuation since EQT took the company private in 2023. Reuters reports: EQT "has hired investment bank Arma Partners to sound out a group of private equity investors for a possible sale of the company, said the sources, who requested anonymity to discuss confidential matters. The deliberations are at "an early stage and there is no certainty that EQT will proceed with "a transaction, the sources said. [...] The potential deal comes amid a broader selloff in software stocks, which has disrupted mergers and acquisitions activity. Investors are "concerned that new artificial intelligence tools could displace many existing software products, weighing on technology "valuations and making deals harder to price. Some investors, however, see Luxembourg-headquartered SUSE as a potential beneficiary of AI adoption, arguing that demand for enterprise-grade infrastructure software is likely to grow as companies build and deploy more AI applications. The company generates about $800 million in revenue and more than $250 million in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) and could fetch between $4 billion and $6 billion in a sale, the sources said.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Russian loses to Katerina Siniakova in three sets
Teenager throws racket on several occasions
Mirra Andreeva’s Indian Wells title defense met a bad-tempered end on Monday as Katerina Siniakova stunned the Russian teenager 4-6, 7-6, 6-3.
The 18-year-old opened her bid to retain her crown with a dominant 6-0, 6-0 demolition of Solana Sierra. But she was in trouble early and often against Siniakova, the world No 44, in a rollercoaster contest that ended with a shot from the Czech that hit the net cord and dribbled over in one last frustrating moment.
Continue reading...Yes, many Americans are struggling, but it’s good to know the first family can still afford Earth’s most expensive provisions. Morale is everything, isn’t it?
In the absence of any clearly and consistently stated aims from the US administration, maybe each day of the Iran war just needs a moodboard description. In which case, Sunday was a tale of two nepo babies. In Iran, the high-level executive search for the new ayatollah concluded that the old ayatollah’s son was the best man for the position. It’s not for me to assess his job prospects, but you’d hope his supermarket order doesn’t contain any “ripen at home” pears.
Meanwhile, across the world, in LA, Donald Trump’s eldest granddaughter posted a YouTube video titled “I Brought My Secret Service to Erewhon”. By way of background, Erewhon is Earth’s most pretentiously extravagant hipster food shop, and, as Kai was at pains to brag, “the most expensive grocery store pretty much out there. Everything’s crazy expensive! So we’re going to get my favourite stuff.”
Marina Hyde is a Guardian columnist
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Continue reading...ALBANY, N.Y. and FREMONT, Calif., March 10, 2026 — IBM and Lam Research Corp. today announced a collaboration aimed at developing new processes and materials to support sub-1nm logic scaling. Building on a long record of successful partnerships, the new agreement will focus on the joint development of novel materials, fabrication processes, and High-NA EUV lithography processes to advance IBM’s logic scaling roadmap.
Mukesh Khare, GM of IBM Semiconductors and VP of Hybrid Cloud at IBM Research; Vahid Vahedi, Chief Technology and Sustainability Officer at Lam Research.
IBM and Lam have collaborated for more than a decade to advance logic fabrication, notably enabling early generations of 7nm, nanosheet, and EUV process technologies. Under this new five-year agreement, the companies intend to extend logic scaling to the sub-1nm node. The work will focus on developing new materials, advanced etch and deposition capabilities for increasingly complex device architectures, and new High-NA EUV lithography processes to enable next-generation interconnect and device patterning and accelerate industry adoption.
“Lam has been a critical partner to IBM for over a decade, contributing to key breakthroughs in logic scaling and device architecture such as nanosheet and the world’s first 2nm node chip, unveiled by IBM in 2021,” said Mukesh Khare, GM of IBM Semiconductors and VP of Hybrid Cloud, IBM Research. “We are thrilled to be expanding our collaboration to tackle the next set of challenges to enable High-NA EUV lithography and sub-1nm nodes.”
“As the industry enters a new era of 3D scaling, progress depends on rethinking how materials, processes, and lithography come together as a single, high-density system,” said Vahid Vahedi, chief technology and sustainability officer at Lam Research. “We are proud to build on our successful collaboration with IBM to drive High‑NA EUV dry resist and process breakthroughs, accelerating the development of lower power and higher performance transistors that will be critical for AI era.”
Using IBM’s advanced research capabilities at the NY Creates Albany NanoTech Complex and Lam’s end-to-end process tools and innovations, including Aether dry resist technology, Kiyo and Akara etch platforms, Striker and ALTUS Halo deposition systems, and advanced packaging technologies — the teams will build and validate full process flows for nanosheet and nanostack devices and backside power delivery. Together, these capabilities are aimed at allowing High‑NA EUV patterns to be reliably transferred into real device layers with high yield and enabling continued scaling, improved performance, and viable paths to production for future logic devices.
About Lam Research
Lam Research Corporation is a global supplier of innovative wafer fabrication equipment and services to the semiconductor industry. Lam’s equipment and services allow customers to build smaller and better-performing devices. In fact, today, nearly every advanced chip is built with Lam technology. We combine superior systems engineering, technology leadership, and a strong values-based culture, with an unwavering commitment to our customers. Lam Research (Nasdaq: LRCX) is a FORTUNE 500 company headquartered in Fremont, Calif., with operations around the globe. Learn more at www.lamresearch.com.
About IBM
IBM is a leading global provider of hybrid cloud and AI, and consulting expertise. We help clients in more than 175 countries capitalize on insights from their data, streamline business processes, reduce costs and gain the competitive edge in their industries. Thousands of government and corporate entities in critical infrastructure areas such as financial services, telecommunications and healthcare rely on IBM’s hybrid cloud platform and Red Hat OpenShift to affect their digital transformations quickly, efficiently and securely. IBM’s breakthrough innovations in AI, quantum computing, industry-specific cloud solutions and consulting deliver open and flexible options to our clients. All of this is backed by IBM’s long-standing commitment to trust, transparency, responsibility, inclusivity and service. Visit www.ibm.com for more information.
Source: IBM
The post IBM and Lam Research Announce Collaboration to Advance Sub-1nm Logic Scaling appeared first on HPCwire.
Decades after its first deadline, the Equal Rights Amendment is back in the courtroom as plaintiffs demand a federal judge finally recognize it as part of the U.S. Constitution.
Arguments are scheduled for March 24, 2026 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts before Judge William G. Young in Equal Means Equal v. Trump. In a complaint filed in April 2025, Equal Means Equal (EME), a project from the non-profit Heroica Foundation, is suing the U.S. government over the constitutionality of the Military Selective Service Act.
EME claims that the Act discriminates against women by requiring only men to register for the draft. Its argument rests on two pillars: the Fifth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause and the Equal Rights Amendment, which EME maintains, is already a ratified part of the Constitution.
Government attorneys want Judge Young to dismiss the case, pointing to a Ninth Circuit decision last year about the Selective Service Act. In Valame v. Trump, a three-judge panel rejected the claim that the ERA was ratified as the Constitution’s 28th Amendment; the case is currently on appeal. The administration also argues that a prior Supreme Court decision, Rostker v. Goldberg (1981), which upheld a male-only draft, defeats a constitutional argument to the contrary made by Equal Means Equal.
Background on the Equal Rights Amendment debate
In 1972, two-thirds of Congress approved the ERA amendment’s language as required under the Constitution’s Article V. Then it sent the ERA to the states for ratification, where 38 states’ votes were needed to formally add it to the Constitution. A joint resolution sent to the states placed a seven-year deadline (March 22, 1979) for the ratification process. In that period, only 35 states ratified the ERA amendment, and Congress extended the deadline by three years to the spring 1982. However, no other states had approved the ERA by the new deadline.
In recent years, Nevada (2017), Illinois (2018), and Virginia (2020) have voted to ratify the ERA, bringing the total to 38 (or the required ¾) of the 50 states. Five states, however—Nebraska, Tennessee, Idaho, Kentucky, and South Dakota—also voted to rescind their ratifications in the 1970s, raising the major and as-yet unaddressed constitutional question whether these recissions are legally valid.
On Dec. 17, 2024, the Archivist of the United States—the federal official responsible for ratifying new amendments— refused a request to add the ERA to the Constitution “due to established legal, judicial, and procedural decisions.” The Archivist cited opinions from the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Council in 2020 and 2022 that the ERA had legally expired and was no longer eligible for certification.
On Jan. 17, 2025, President Joseph R. Biden said that he believed the "Equal Rights Amendment has cleared all necessary hurdles to be formally added to the Constitution as the 28th Amendment.” However, President Biden did not ask the Archivist to certify the proposed amendment to the Constitution, as required by law once the Archivist receives notice that that amendment has been ratified by three-fourths of the states.
Claiming in court the ERA is a ratified amendment
In Valame v. Trump (originally Valame v. Biden), Vikram Valame sued after claiming that he had lost an internship at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission I because he had not registered for the draft as required under the Selective Service law. The U. S. District Court for the Northern District of California ruled against Valame. The Ninth Circuit concurred in July 2025 and issued a written per curiam opinion on Nov. 4. 2025.
The Ninth Circuit rejected Valame’s allegation that a law requiring men, but not women, to register with the Selective Service System violated his rights under the Equal Rights Amendment. Valame, representing himself, had contended to the court that the ERA was ratified as the 28th Amendment to the Constitution.
“The ERA was not ratified by three-fourths of the States prior to the deadline set by Congress, June 30, 1982, and the Archivist of the United States did not publish or certify the ERA,” the Ninth Circuit concluded. “Therefore, the district court properly dismissed Valame’s claims under the ERA for failure to state a plausible claim.” It also ruled against his Equal Protection claim, citing Rostker v. Goldberg.
In Equal Means Equal, plaintiff Jacqueline Fenore and two other women were turned away when attempting to register for the draft because they were female. EME is now suing on their behalf, arguing that under the ERA, “equality of rights shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.” The plaintiffs say that the ERA became part of the Constitution when Virginia ratified the amendment in January 2020.
“While there is some disagreement about the ERA’s validity because its ratification deadline expired before the last state ratified, many government officials and constitutional scholars believe the ERA is valid because the deadline is unconstitutional,” EME argues, pointing to Biden’s proclamation and arguments by professors Laurence Tribe and Kathleen M. Sullivan.
The plaintiffs also contend that Valame does not apply to their case, stating, “only a lawsuit filed by women on behalf of women can adequately represent the interests at stake for women.” They add that the Rostker v. Goldberg precedent is no longer controlling law, as it rested on the premise—now defunct—that women could not serve in combat roles.
The government’s argument
In Equal Means Equal, government attorneys point to prior court precedents and Valame v. Trump as reasons that the district court should dismiss the case. “To credit Plaintiffs’ ERA claim would require the Court to ignore Congress’s ratification deadlines and binding Supreme Court precedent,” they argue.
The government points to the Supreme Court’s decision in Dillon v. Gloss (1921), which upheld the inclusion of a seven-year ratification deadline by Congress for the 18th amendment, and to Coleman v. Miller (1939), which said that Congress has the power under Article V to fix a reasonable limit of time for ratification in proposing an amendment.
The attorneys also leaned heavily on Illinois v. Ferriero (2023). In that case, a D.C. district court ruled that Illinois and Nevada “had not clearly and indisputably shown that the Archivist had a duty to certify and publish the ERA or that Congress lacked the authority to place a time limit in the proposing clause of the ERA.” The government also claims that the plaintiffs lack standing, meaning that they have not proven and did not state a claim for relief.
While the Equal Means Equal case moves forward, Vikram Valame is preparing his own appeal to the Supreme Court. In January 2026, he received an extension to file a petition for a writ of certiorari. Justice Elena Kagan approved the request.
Scott Bomboy is the editor in chief of the National Constitution Center.
Thousands of girls were locked up by Board for the Protection of Women for ‘rehabilitation’
Spain is to formally pardon a group of 53 women who are among thousands who were incarcerated by the Franco regime on the grounds that they were supposedly “fallen or in danger of falling”.
The women were locked up as adolescents by the Board for the Protection of Women, a collection of institutions run by religious orders. The board, which had echoes of Ireland’s notorious Magdalene laundries, was overseen by Carmen Polo, the wife of the dictator Gen Francisco Franco.
Continue reading...The distorted face was voted the most-anticipated new emoji, but it's OK to be wrong.
Mobile World Congress has ended. The week of new reveals included radical new designs such as Honor's Robot Phone, AI-powered comfort robots, a concept hypercar and so many gadgets.
Federal judge said prosecutors picked to replace Alina Habba repeated error of bypassing congressional approval
Three prosecutors installed by Donald Trump’s administration to lead the New Jersey attorney general’s office after the president’s former personal lawyer was disqualified from the role in December were also illegally appointed, a federal judge has ruled.
Pam Bondi, the US attorney general, handpicked the three to replace Alina Habba, who resigned after a succession of district and appeals court rulings that she was serving illegally because she never received Senate confirmation.
Continue reading...Hong Kong-based airline has business-class return listed at A$39,577, as travellers seek routes avoiding Middle East
The Hong Kong-based airline Cathay Pacific is selling seats from Sydney to London for more than £20,000 in April, as passengers search for scarce long-haul flights without changing in the Middle East.
The tickets, listed at A$39,577 in business class for returns departing in mid-April, far outstrip the usual fares charged even in the first class cabin.
Continue reading...We hate to be the bearer of bad news, but these kitchen items should always be hand-washed.
Iran is bombing Gulf datacenters to blow up symbols of alliance with the US – bringing the war directly into the lives of millions of people
Hello, and welcome to TechScape. I’m your host, Blake Montgomery. If you enjoy reading this newsletter, please forward it to someone you think would as well.
US tech firms pledge at White House to bear costs of energy for datacenters
Showdown over datacenter politics at heart of North Carolina primary
Indonesia to ban social media for children under 16
Continue reading...John Diehl admitted using federal pandemic loans for country club dues, cars and other personal expenses
A former Missouri state house speaker was sentenced Monday to 21 months in prison after pleading guilty to wire fraud for misusing federal Covid-19 relief funds for his personal benefit, including the payments of his country club dues and three cars.
John Diehl, the former Republican house speaker, received about $380,000 in federal loans for his law firm between 2020 and 2022 through a program intended to help cover operating expenses for businesses affected by the coronavirus pandemic.
Continue reading...Investigators are searching a New Mexico ranch where Jeffrey Epstein once entertained guests, amid allegations that it may have been used for sexual abuse and sex trafficking.
COLLEGE PARK, Md., March 10, 2026 — IonQ today announced a collaboration with the Applied Research Laboratory for Intelligence and Security (ARLIS) on SEQCURE (Securing Experimental Quantum Computing Usage in Research Environments), a program sponsored by the Secretary of the Air Force’s Concepts, Development, and Management Office.
This collaboration is intended to advance the state of quantum computing security by analyzing existing commercial quantum computing security practices with an aim to understand what it would take to deploy Zero Trust Architecture (ZTA) to future quantum computers. ZTA is defined by the NIST standard SP800-207 and involves moving security from a static, perimeters-based paradigm to one that continuously verifies access to all key resources in a computer system.
“As quantum systems transition into the bedrock of national infrastructure, the shift from legacy perimeter security to a Zero Trust Architecture is a strategic imperative,” said Niccolo de Masi, Chairman and CEO of IonQ. “By integrating NIST-defined continuous verification across every pillar of our quantum platform—computing, networking, sensing, and security—we are not just building the world’s most powerful quantum systems; we are ensuring they are the most trusted quantum ecosystem. This project with ARLIS is a definitive step in creating the secure, verifiable framework required for the future of the quantum internet and national-scale deployments.”
Through this project, IonQ will assist ARLIS in defining a ZTA framework based on standards set by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), ensuring quantum technologies can be deployed securely across hardware, software, data, and cloud environments. The resulting architecture standards will guide trusted integration across federal agencies.
“We are happy to be working together with industry leaders such as IonQ on this important program,” said Paul Lopata, Chief Quantum Scientist at ARLIS. “We are hopeful that the results of this work will eventually be deployed into commercial systems for industry and government users to use with confidence.”
This collaboration builds on IonQ’s growing portfolio of federal partnerships, including existing contracts with ARLIS, DARPA and the U.S. Air Force Research Lab (AFRL), and it reflects the company’s continued leadership in building the world’s most complete quantum platform.
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About IonQ
IonQ, Inc. (NYSE: IONQ) is the world’s leading quantum platform and merchant supplier – delivering integrated quantum solutions across computing, networking, sensing, and security. IonQ’s newest generation of quantum computers, the forthcoming IonQ Tempo, will be the latest in a line of cutting-edge systems that have been helping customers and partners including Amazon Web Services, AstraZeneca, and NVIDIA achieve 20x performance results 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.
Source: IonQ
The post IonQ and ARLIS Partner to Establish Zero Trust Security Framework for Mission-Critical Quantum Architectures appeared first on HPCwire.
LOUISVILLE, Colo., March 10, 2026 — Infleqtion, a global leader in quantum computing and quantum sensing powered by neutral-atom technology, announced that it is showcasing accelerated quantum supercomputing integration into modern data centers through NVIDIA NVQLink at NVIDIA GTC 2026.
GTC 2026 attendees can see Infleqtion’s Sqale QPU at the NVIDIA booth in a demonstration that showcases the future of a native integration of a neutral atom quantum processor into an NVIDIA accelerated HPC environment. Based on the ultra-low latency of NVQLink, Infleqtion hardware will work in concert with NVIDIA GPUs to handle the heavy computational demands of real-time quantum error correction and hybrid AI workloads.
“The next era of high-performance computing will be accelerated by the seamless integration of quantum and classical resources into a single unified platform,” said Pranav Gokhale, Chief Technology Officer and General Manager, Quantum Computing at Infleqtion. “We are committed to NVQLink to accelerate the transition to commercial scale AI-Quantum factories. We believe neutral atom technology is the superior choice because of its inherent scalability, providing a strong foundation for this new HPC era.”
Infleqtion’s inclusion in the NVQLink ecosystem highlights its growing role in hybrid quantum–classical workloads and a full stack system level approach required for the AI Quantum factory of the future.
Meet with Infleqtion at GTC:
For more information about Infleqtion’s quantum computing solutions please visit: https://infleqtion.com/quantum-computing.
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About Infleqtion
Infleqtion, Inc. (NYSE: INFQ) is a global leader in quantum technology, delivering neutral atom solutions for quantum computing, networking, sensing, and security. With a product portfolio spanning quantum computers, quantum optical clocks, RF receivers, and inertial sensors, Infleqtion’s full-stack approach combines high-performance hardware with the company’s proprietary Superstaq quantum computing software platform. Infleqtion’s systems are already in use by the U.S. Department of War, NASA, the U.K. government, and in multiple collaborations with NVIDIA. Infleqtion, in collaboration with NVIDIA, published the world’s first demonstration of a materials science application using logical qubits. With operations in the U.S., Europe, and Asia, Infleqtion meets the demands of government and commercial customers across the space, defense, energy, finance and telecommunications sectors.
Source: Infleqtion
The post Infleqtion to Showcase Quantum Accelerated Supercomputing with NVIDIA NVQLink at GTC 2026 appeared first on HPCwire.
The MacBook Neo is an absolute banger of a budget laptop, but life's too short to live without Touch ID.
As AI has upended the way students learn, academics worry about the future of the humanities - and society at large
Lea Pao, a professor of literature at Stanford University, has been experimenting with ways to get her students to learn offline. She has them memorize poems, perform at recitation events, look at art in the real world.
It’s an effort to reconnect them to the bodily experience of learning, she said, and to keep them from turning to artificial intelligence to do the work for them. “There’s no AI-proof anything,” Pao said. “Rather than policing it, I hope that their overall experiences in this class will show them that there’s a way out.”
Continue reading...Targeting of foreign-born truckers risks ‘deepening severe labor shortages’ as thousands of drivers have been taken off roads for failing English proficiency requirements
After moving to Ohio in 2013, Ibragim Chakhalidze’s father set up a trucking company just miles from where two of the country’s major road freight arteries – the I-70 and the I-75 – meet.
Formerly farmers who had come to the US from south-east Russia through a government refugee program, he says trucking has been in his family’s and the wider Ahiska Turk community’s blood for decades.
Continue reading...More Gemini AI features will come to Google Docs, Sheets and Slides.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: This week, tens of thousands of game developers and producers will once again gather in San Francisco, as they have since 1988, for the weeklong Game Developers Conference. But this year's show will be missing many international developers who say they no longer feel comfortable traveling to the United States to attend, no matter how relevant the show is to their work and careers. Dozens of those developers who spoke to Ars in recent months say they're wary of traveling to a country that has shown a callous disregard for -- or outright hostility toward -- the safety of international travelers. That's especially true for developers from various minority groups, those with transgender identities, and those who feel they could be targeted for outspoken political beliefs. "I honestly don't know anyone who is not from the U.S. who is planning on going to the next GDC," Godot Foundation Executive Director Emilio Coppola, who's based in Spain, told Ars. "We never felt super safe, but now we are not willing to risk it." "I honestly don't know anyone who is not from the U.S. who is planning on going to the next GDC," says Godot Foundation Executive Director Emilio Coppola, who's based in Spain. "We never felt super safe, but now we are not willing to risk it." "Hearing European citizens getting arrested by border control over their views on the U.S. is not something I would like to test for myself," adds Nazih Fares, a French-Lebanese citizen and creative director at indie studio Le Cabinet du Savoir.. Many of the developers who spoke to Ars cite the intrusive questioning, racial profiling, and other horror stories reported at the U.S. border. "I read a few long reads about how UK/German tourists ended up detained, and that was the final straw for me," Austrian-based Cohop Game founder Eline Muijres said. "It doesn't feel safe for me." Domini Gee, a Canadian game writer and narrative designer echoed that concern, adding: "There's no shortage of stories... about the risk of detainment, deportation, phones being searched... the consequences if I'm not [OK] could be high."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Iranian airstrikes have shaken Persian Gulf countries, undermining their reputations as havens of wealth and stability and forcing them to take sides in a war they opposed.
MILPITAS, Calif. and DUBLIN, March 10, 2026 — MariaDB plc has announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire GridGain Systems, Inc., a pioneer of in-memory computing and creator of open source Apache Ignite. By merging MariaDB’s AI-ready relational database with GridGain’s scalable, in-memory power, MariaDB is setting a new industry standard: sub-millisecond data infrastructure for the agentic era.
Closing the AI Latency Gap
As enterprises move beyond passive chatbots toward agentic AI – autonomous systems that reason, plan and execute tasks – they are quickly becoming limited by traditional data architectures. AI agents require real-time access to massive datasets with zero friction. This acquisition bridges that gap by fusing:
“The rise of agentic workloads has placed unprecedented demands on enterprise infrastructure, causing requirements to explode and requiring a level of scale and sub-millisecond latency that traditional systems simply weren’t built to handle,” said Rohit de Souza, CEO of MariaDB plc. “By uniting MariaDB’s platform with GridGain’s in-memory data grid, we are entering a new weight class. This enables us to provide a high-performance, scalable, open alternative to the rigid lock-in of Oracle and the fragmented complexity of hyperscalers.”
MariaDB is trusted by thousands of enterprises and millions of developers worldwide, providing a seamless upgrade path from Oracle MySQL and a simplified migration for those moving away from Oracle.
Powering the World’s Premier Data-Intensive Brands
With the acquisition, MariaDB will support an elite roster of global leaders who require always-on, always-fast data, including:
A Unified Platform for a Hybrid World
The agentic enterprise requires data that is instantaneous without compromising on durability or reliability. Hyperscalers often offer this as separate, disconnected services. The MariaDB-plus-GridGain integration will replace that fragmentation with a unified, hybrid-cloud platform capable of handling transactional, analytical and AI use cases in a single, high-velocity system – backed by reliable, enterprise support from a single company.
“Enterprises today cannot afford the latency introduced by siloed data architectures. With MariaDB and GridGain, enterprise customers will get a unified platform that provides them the best of both worlds, performance and scale without having to give up on durability,” says Lalit Ahuja, CTO of GridGain Systems, Inc. “The combined technology stack will unlock one of the key enablers for agentic enterprises: high-performance and reliable data processing that powers the next generation of AI applications.”
GridGain is a leading in-memory computing platform and is the original developer of the open source software Apache Ignite. GridGain enables companies to process massive amounts of data in real time. It provides security, high availability, distributed capability, management controls and integrations, helping enterprises achieve superior performance and scalability for their most demanding applications.
The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions.
More from BigDATAwire: MariaDB to Acquire GridGain to Tackle the AI Latency Gap
About MariaDB
MariaDB seeks to eliminate the constraints and complexity of proprietary databases, enabling organizations to reinvest in what matters most – rapidly developing innovative, customer-facing applications. Enterprises can depend on a single complete hybrid database platform for all their needs, that can be deployed in minutes for transactional, analytical, hybrid and AI use cases. Trusted by organizations such as Deutsche Bank, DBS, Nokia, Red Hat, Samsung and VirginMedia O2 – MariaDB delivers customer value without the financial burden of legacy database providers.
Source: MariaDB
The post MariaDB Announces Agreement to Acquire GridGain, Developer of Apache Ignite appeared first on HPCwire.
Man was among at least six people who started shooting outside Union Station in state, which has adopted stand your ground law
A man who initially faced a murder charge for opening fire following the Kansas City Chiefs’ 2024 Super Bowl win was sentenced Monday to two years in prison in a case prosecutors said was complicated by the state’s self-defense laws.
Dominic Miller, who pleaded guilty to a weapons charge as part of a plea deal, was among at least six people to start shooting in the melee that sent players, city officials and hundreds of fans scrambling for cover, according to court records.
Continue reading...No injuries were reported after authorities found evidence of a discharged firearm near the consulate in Toronto
Police in Canada are investigating after shots were fired at the US consulate in Toronto. Officers said evidence was found of a discharged firearm and that no injuries were reported.
Toronto police said in a social media post they responded to the reported shots at 5.29 a.m. (0929 GMT) on Tuesday.
Continue reading...Mario wants his money back.
The president delivered a vague and contradictory forecast on the future of the war in Middle East. Plus, how to recognize a psychopath
Good morning.
Donald Trump has said the war in Iran is “very complete, pretty much”, as the economic toll of the joint US-Israeli operation rises, disrupting global oil trade and threatening to engulf the Middle East in a regional war.
Any unintended consequences so far? Among others, it has probably reinforced North Korea’s decision to build a nuclear arsenal.
Do we know yet who bombed the Minab school? Trump blamed Iran without evidence. All the actual evidence indicates the US was responsible.
This is a developing story. Follow the latest updates here.
Who did X say were the most prolific state actors? Russia, followed by Iran and China.
Continue reading...The White House aide who revealed that Richard Nixon had secretly recorded his conversations as president has died
Alexander Butterfield, the White House aide who inadvertently hastened Richard Nixon’s resignation over the Watergate scandal when he revealed that the president had bugged the Oval Office and Cabinet Room and routinely recorded his conversations, has died. He was 99.
His death was confirmed to the Associated Press by his wife, Kim, and John Dean, who served as White House counsel to Nixon during the Watergate scandal and helped expose the wrongdoing.
Continue reading...Markets stem losses as Trump says Iran war will end "very soon," but Tehran says it's "prepared to continue attacking" indefinitely, and it won't let oil leave the Gulf.
A new report, issued ahead of the president’s summit with Xi Jinping, takes aim at the administration’s record on trade, diplomacy and other aspects of American power.
HBO Max is adding more titles with sign language interpretation, while other tech platforms are also expanding access using readily available tools.
Everything we've heard so far about the rumored Apple Watch Series 12.
The organization that runs most of US lower-league soccer is making a big push after the 2026 World Cup – is it a bridge too far?
It’s been years, but Dan Egner’s X profile still shows him planting a kiss on the USL Championship’s silver cup. These days, Egner is an agent with NordicSky, representing clients on both sides of the Atlantic. But in 2019, when that picture was taken, he was the technical director of Real Salt Lake at a time when MLS teams had affiliates in the USL, the umbrella organization that runs much of lower-league soccer in the United States, including the second-division USL Championship.
When Salt Lake’s affiliate Real Monarchs won the final, the glory was sweet, but it was not profitable.
Continue reading...As a new West Bank settlement plan gains steam, now is the time for governments to take multilateral economic action
Amid an unforgiving global news cycle – and as nations weigh their options in responding to the yet unbuilt West Bank settlement project that would “bury the idea of a Palestinian state” – a telling sanctions-related development in Israel passed largely unnoticed outside Israeli media. In Tel Aviv, the new year began with a protest by a violent extremist settler group that has faced UK sanctions since October 2024.
The trigger was a new Israeli banking directive, rushed out to placate Israel’s hardliners, that they said did too little to shield Israelis from international sanctions.
Continue reading...Here are rescued chimpanzees, a mountain lion, an elephant and a penguin with the toys they’re attached to.
Shortly after all JetBlue flights were grounded by the FAA due to what the agency said was a JetBlue request, the carrier said it had resumed operations.
As the new league year gets underway, we take a look at the best and worst moves heading into the 2026 season
Los Angeles Rams
Continue reading...Anthony Russell, 43, will appear in court via video link on Wednesday accused of attack at HMP Frankland
A fellow inmate has been charged with the murder of the child killer Ian Huntley in a maximum security prison, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has said.
Anthony Russell, 43, will appear before magistrates charged with murdering the 52-year-old at HMP Frankland, in County Durham.
Continue reading...Car group reports 54% drop in pre-tax profits as it says Iran war could affect demand for Audi and Porsche brands
Europe’s largest automaker, Volkswagen, is to shed 50,000 jobs by the end of the decade, as it faces falling sales in China and North America and punitive US tariffs imposed by Donald Trump.
The 10-brand group, whose luxury subsidiaries Porsche and Audi are also under pressure, said the jobs would go in Germany, affecting the entire group, as part of a restructuring drive in light of the darkening global business climate.
Continue reading...Director rounds on actor, who acted in the cult film, saying he feels disrespected, and claiming cynical reasons behind her recent comments
Quentin Tarantino has responded to Rosanna Arquette’s criticism of his prolific use of the N-word in his films including Pulp Fiction, saying Arquette “show[ed] a decided lack of class”.
In a statement sent to numerous publications including Deadline, Tarantino said: “I hope the publicity you’re getting from 132 different media outlets writing your name and printing your picture was worth disrespecting me and a film I remember quite clearly you were thrilled to be a part of? … After I gave you a job, and you took the money, to trash it for what I suspect is very cynical reasons shows a decided lack of class, no less honour.”
Continue reading...The government said a week ago the warship would be deployed but it is still at dock. What is happening?
The pace at which HMS Dragon has been readied for deployment to defend a British military base in Cyprus from attacks by Iran has prompted claims that Britain’s proud naval history has been shamed.
It has been a week since the government said the Portsmouth-based Type 45 destroyer would be deployed, but it is still at dock and the ship is likely to take another five days or more to reach its destination.
Continue reading...These emoji could land on your device in the coming weeks.
Most people fail with AI because they don’t understand what it actually is – if you treat it as a skill, not a shortcut, you’ll get the best results
Training teams to use AI at work has given me a front-row seat to a new kind of professional divide.
Some people hand everything over to the machine and stop thinking. Others won’t touch it at all.
Continue reading...Our research shows that candidates who come from the union movement are exactly what many Americans crave
American politics feels hopelessly broken. Extreme political polarization, enormous amounts of Pac money sloshing around during elections, and the increasing power of the rich make it seem like nothing, and no one, can set the country on the right track. But a new report from the Center for Working-Class Politics looks at a surprisingly simple way that ordinary people might have more influence in our political system: run more union members for office.
The forthcoming CWCP report, co-authored by Jared Abbott, Benjamin Y Fong, Fred DeVeaux, Dustin Guastella and Sam Zacher, and sponsored by Arizona State University’s Center for Work and Democracy, looked at the broad political impact of political candidates with a labor union background. We found that candidates who come out of the union movement are exactly what many people in the country desperately crave: politicians who sound like them, who advocate for working people, and who provide solutions that actually work to fix our broken system.
Continue reading...HHS says the MIT professor is ‘more than qualified’ to serve on the agency’s vaccine advisory panel and calls ‘attacks’ on him ‘politically motivated’
The MIT professor who has been appointed by Robert F Kennedy Jr to review the safety of Covid-19 vaccines has failed to meet basic scientific standards in his own research on the topic, according to more than a dozen scientists and public health experts.
Retsef Levi, an operations management professor, is a member of the US health department’s vaccine advisory committee (ACIP) which is meeting later this month and – many experts fear – could seek to rollback recommendations on who should receive Covid-19 vaccines.
Continue reading...Family-run farms in El Salvador and Honduras face mounting losses, rising costs – and the need to adapt or be left behind
Read more of our Coffee crisis series here
On a steep hillside in western El Salvador, Oscar Leiva watches rainfall in December, a month that once marked the start of the dry season. During this harvest cycle, flowering came early and then stalled. A heatwave followed. What remains of the crop is uneven, lower in quality and more expensive to produce than the last.
For Leiva and his family, coffee has never been just a crop. His mother, Marina Marinero, remembers when the rains arrived on schedule and the harvest could be planned months in advance. Today, the calendar no longer holds. Decisions about pruning, fertilising and hiring labour feel like educated guesses. Each mistake carries a cost the family cannot afford.
Continue reading...PC, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4/5; Tribute Games Inc
A treat for nostalgia fans and completists, but there’s little new in this rehashing of a classic that feels like an add-on rather than a fully fledged adventure
It’s 20XX, and unrepentant slacker Scott Pilgrim and his friends are revelling in the throes of young adulthood. They’re skint, but in a cool way that’s unrecognisable today (not least because nobody can afford to live near downtown Toronto). For many readers, the Scott Pilgrim graphic novels were a cultural touchpoint, a story about emotional immaturity, growing as a person and ultimately defeating youthful arrogance. Having cemented itself as a cult classic with an Edgar Wright movie, a 2010 tie-in game and a Netflix miniseries, it’s now back in the form of a raucous action-adventure game, Scott Pilgrim EX.
This is a homecoming of sorts for developer Tribute Games, which was formed by ex-Ubisoft employees who worked on the 2010 Scott Pilgrim game. Having established themselves as beat ’em up revivalists with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge and Marvel Cosmic Invasion, the team has stepped up for another crack at this essential coming-of-age tale. Scott Pilgrim EX feels like a passion project, so they have the Powers of Love and Understanding on their side.
Continue reading...I’m using these devices to help my body adjust to Sunday's time change and maintain my physical and mental health.
UK’s GSK is leading the way in research but AstraZeneca is not involved in the area, report finds
The pipeline of new drugs to fight superbugs remains “worryingly thin” and has shrunk by 35% in the last five years, experts have warned, predicting the annual number of deaths linked to drug-resistant infections globally will double to 8 million by 2050.
The number of projects from large pharma companies has shrunk by 35% over the past five years, from 92 to 60 medicines in development, according to a report from the Access to Medicine Foundation (AMF), a Netherlands-based non-profit group, and the Wellcome Trust.
Continue reading...Three leaders from the Delta Tau Delta fraternity were arrested on suspicion of hazing after the death of Colin Daniel Martinez.
Mexico's anti-cartel operations seek to prove to Trump it is serious about security, as World Cup looms Expert comment LToremark
President Sheinbaum hopes that operations like that against ‘El Mencho’ and wider efforts to cooperate with the Trump administration’s demands will protect Mexico from more drastic US actions.
On 22 February, Mexico’s armed forces carried out a major operation against one of the most important cartels, Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG). The main target was El Mencho, the alias of CJNG leader Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, who was captured wounded and later died during transit to a medical facility. CJNG members responded with disruptive acts of violence in several states, and at least 25 members of the National Guard were killed in the fighting.
Last week, Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum visited Guadalajara in Jalisco state – a World Cup host city – to assuage security concerns and announce that up to 100,000 security personnel will be deployed during the 2026 World Cup.
The El Mencho operation was carried out with the help of US information and intelligence. President Trump has previously criticized Mexico’s efforts to tackle the cartels and even threatened a US attack on Mexican soil against a cartel target. This exceptional raid is part of a wider collaboration network between the two countries, which will reduce the likelihood of any immediate US action. Some analysts, however, assume such intervention would never happen, given that Mexico is home to the largest number of Americans outside the US.
Mexico and the United States have one of the closest and most complex bilateral relationships in the world. More than 30 million people of Mexican origin live in the US, while 1.6 million Americans live in Mexico. The two countries are also each other’s most important trading partner and share a 1,954-mile-long border – only slightly shorter than the distance from the UK to Syria.
But the relationship has come under increased pressure since Trump took office last year. President Sheinbaum has so far cooperated with US demands while also attempting to push for domestic reforms. While the US priorities are overwhelmingly migration and security, reforms in other areas that could also affect US interests – such as justice, energy, and political system reform – have been dealt with pragmatically and steps have been taken to ensure US companies are not negatively affected.
Under Trump, three issues have come into sharp focus: migration, security and trade. The three were dramatically intertwined when Trump made free trade contingent on actions by Mexico on migration and security. In November 2024, Trump threatened a 25 per cent tariff on Mexico until it solved the ‘problem’ of fentanyl and illegal immigration – a threat he made good on in February 2025. The lack of information on how advances in these areas would be measured resulted in huge levels of uncertainty. Illegal migration and drugs flow north across the border into the US, but US guns flow south – and into the hands of Mexican cartels.
After intense diplomatic and backchannel conversations, large carve-outs were made to these tariffs in March 2025. As result, 85 per cent of Mexican exports to the US still flow on a free-trade basis, and remaining exports have a low average tariff of just 4.5 per cent. Meanwhile, the situation on the border has changed drastically. ‘Contacts’ with migrants on the US border dropped from 2.5 million in 2023 to 443,000 in 2025, the lowest in 50 years.
On action against cartels, Mexico has made several goodwill gestures. It has renewed and intensified dialogue, cooperation, intelligence gathering and information sharing on the activities and methods of drug cartels. It has also resumed joint training for security forces and accepted an increased number of security-related attachés at the US embassy in Mexico. Between February 2025 and January 2026, 93 high-ranking cartel figures serving sentences in Mexican jails were sent to the US outside formal deportation procedures.
The more Mexico and the US cooperate successfully on security-related matters, the less likely a US drone strike on Mexican soil becomes. While future joint operations should not be entirely ruled out, it is far more probable that Mexican authorities will execute them. Successful security cooperation will show the US that Mexico is a trustworthy partner and that it is in the best interest of both countries to maintain dialogue, cooperation and coordination.
Progress on migration and security are also helping to lay the groundwork for more productive talks on renewing the US, Mexico and Canada Free Trade Agreement (USMCA), due for renewal by 1 July. Trade is a key part of the bilateral relationship. In 2025, exports from the US to Mexico reached $338 billion, while Mexican exports to the US reached $535 billion (compared to $308.4 billion for China’s exports to the US).
Other developments too have increased the probability of an agreement on the USMCA being reached in time, including bilateral negotiations carried out during numerous trips to Washington by Mexican officials. These negotiations have so far been based on a 54-point list of pending issues from the US side, formally delivered to President Sheinbaum by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio during his trip to Mexico City in September 2025. The list includes a wide variety of issues, ranging from energy, intellectual property and agriculture to relations with China.
The US’s main concerns regarding China revolve around Chinese involvement in the ownership of Mexican ports and container terminals, and Mexico’s perceived lack of accuracy and transparency on its trade with China, such as inputs in supply chains, as well as Chinese investment. Mexican authorities have responded reforming its foreign investment screening mechanism and imposing more than 1,400 new tariffs on certain goods coming from various countries – mainly from China. Progress made will hopefully avoid a protracted renegotiation process on the USMCA which could open a Pandora’s box at the worst possible time, creating uncertainty and volatility for the Mexican economy.
We also spoke with a doctor to learn more about how you can reduce your exposure to microplastics.
A CBS News analysis of records for every hospice operating in Los Angeles County finds indications of fraud are growing.
Former footballer detained after incident outside Huyton and Prescot golf club on Sunday evening
Joey Barton has been arrested on suspicion of attacking a man near a golf club in Liverpool.
The former footballer was detained by police after the incident outside Huyton and Prescot golf club at 9pm on Sunday.
Continue reading...Only two vessels not linked to Iran or Russia have braved ‘chicken run’ since US president’s promise on Friday
Only two vessels not linked to Iran or Russia have made the “chicken run” through the strait of Hormuz since Donald Trump said he would “ensure the free flow of energy to the world”, according to maritime records.
One of those that braved the journey since the US president’s announcement of emergency measures on Friday went “dark” by switching off its transponder and a second signalled it was Chinese owned and crewed.
Continue reading...Travel operators say Chinese and North Koreans can now buy tickets for services leaving this week
Passenger train services between China and North Korea are to resume this week, six years after their suspension because of the Covid-19 pandemic, travel operators have said.
Train journeys between the two countries were halted in 2020 as strict border closures were imposed to prevent the virus spreading.
Continue reading...Kareem’s Daily Quote: This one’s worth its weight in gold.
Them That’s Got: Money’s Hold on Elections
Video Break: Everyone can use a little Pink Floyd Live
War, What War?: Trump Bros Bid on Defense Contracts
China and Nukes: Are they testing or not?
What I’m Watching: Citizen Kane
Jukebox Playlist: Eve Of Destruction (1965)
“We may have democracy, or we may have wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we cannot have both.” Louis Brandeis (U.S. Supreme Court Justice)
This is the sort of quote that hits with the clarity that doesn’t need footnotes or legal training to understand. The kind that feels like it’s been sitting in plain sight for decades, waiting for us to stop pretending we don’t see it.
Louis Brandeis wasn’t warning us about money in the abstract. He was talking about power: who gets to shape the rules, who gets heard, and who gets left standing outside the room. Why is this important? Because Democracy with a capital D only works when everyone has a meaningful voice. Concentrated wealth works by giving a small group a much louder one. Those two ideas can coexist for a while, but eventually one tug-of-war side starts pulling so hard on the rope that it pulls the other off their feet. You don’t need a political science degree to see that happening. You just need to pay attention to how decisions get made, who benefits from them, and who keeps getting told to wait their turn.
What Brandeis understood, and what we keep having to learn again and again, is that democracy doesn’t collapse in a single dramatic moment, like an underdone soufflé. Instead, it deflates slowly, quietly, while the oven is still shut. It happens when the people with the most resources can shape the narrative, the policy, or the playing field in ways the rest of us can’t. And because it happens gradually, it’s easy to miss until we open that oven and instead of a delicacy, we get the dessert equivalent of a flat tire.
I saw a version of this dynamic during my years in the NBA. On the court, everything feels immediate, every call, every possession, every shift in momentum. But off the court, in the league offices and ownership meetings, the real power lives in rooms most players never enter. Decisions are made that shape the entire league. Rules and revenue structures are influenced by a handful of people whose interests don’t always line up with the players or the fans. That doesn’t make the league illegitimate. But it does make the power structure clear: the game may be shared, but the leverage isn’t.
Brandeis’ quote points to the same kind of imbalance, but on a national scale, where the stakes are far higher, and the consequences reach far more people. It forces us to confront something uncomfortable: democracy isn’t self‑maintaining. It needs guardrails and transparency. It needs people willing to ask hard questions about who benefits when wealth and influence start to merge. And it needs citizens who don’t shrug off the slow loss of height and air just because we wanna eat and the food still looks familiar on the surface.
Brandeis’s quote is—excuse the expression—a fork in the road. If wealth keeps concentrating, democracy becomes thinner, more symbolic, more performative. If democracy is strengthened, then concentrated wealth can be held in check. Not demonized, not at all; simply balanced.
José Antonio Kast, who voted against legalising divorce in 2004, has pushed for return to total abortion ban
Women’s rights activists in Chile are bracing as the most conservative president since the Pinochet dictatorship prepares to take office on Wednesday.
José Antonio Kast, a 60-year-old ultra Catholic whose father was a member of the Nazi party, has consistently blocked progressive bids for women’s rights and equality across his three-decade career in politics.
Continue reading...Remember the iPod? How about the Pippin? In the half-century since it launched its first PC, Apple has given us some amazing innovations. We round up its biggest triumphs and flops
Fifty years after Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne founded the company in Jobs’ parents’ garage in Los Altos, California, Apple has become a behemoth, and billions of us use its products every day. From the first successful home computers with colour screens, to the iPod, to the smartphone that set the template for the modern mobile era, the company has repeatedly reset consumer expectations.
As a result, the firm occupies a central position in the tech world, initiating trends and popularising products. Here are five of its most influential products from the past half-century – alongside some unusually big misses.
Continue reading...‘Resistance is futile’, wrote one AI product manager for the Associated Press in internal messages to colleagues
No one wants a soulless sermon – that defeats the purpose – and Pope Leo XIV has taken steps to ensure that Roman Catholic priests don’t deliver one.
Artificial intelligence, the new pontiff said in a recent meeting with clergy, “will never be able to share faith”, which is what giving a homily is all about. Resist the temptation and write your own words, he urged.
Continue reading...When Ja Morant brandished a gun on social media the league knew how to act. But what happens when complex questions about team ownership arise?
Lately, I’ve been thinking about the job I had two decades ago, when I was a janitor at a machine shop in Fort Worth, Texas. Even as a hungover 20-year-old, my internal monologue would debate the ethics of the parts I packaged. We produced tiny components for Halliburton and Lockheed Martin. Slivers of aluminum machined to tolerances so fine you could miss their imperfections with the naked eye.
Beneath the fluorescent hum of the shipping and handling department, I’d rub a widget between my fingers and imagine the journey it would take: lifted from a Texan warehouse into the Middle Eastern theatre where our nation’s wars burned. Small enough to disappear in my palm, large enough to disappear into someone else’s rubble. Which is why I keep thinking about those widgets as the NBA tries to regulate morality.
The NBA, Memphis Grizzlies and Ubiquiti did not respond to requests for comment on this story.
Continue reading...Trump is wielding imperial powers created by a decades-long master plan. The only way to stop his war is to cut off the money
Donald Trump has now ordered military attacks on more countries than any prior president. These assaults do not merely betray his campaign promises. Launched without congressional authorization, Trump’s bombings and incursions also betray the constitution – an inherently anti-monarch document that exclusively vests warmaking powers in the legislative branch in order to prevent such grave decisions from being made by any one person determined to become a king.
Trump clearly perceives himself in such royal terms – he’s said as much. But as we show in the new season of our investigative podcast series Master Plan: The Kingmakers, Trump did not create the kingly authority he is now employing. He is exercising powers concentrated in the executive branch by previous presidents and courts. And if history is any guide, the only weapon that can stop a mad king is Congress’s power of the purse – a power that Democrats once effectively wielded, but today seem hesitant to brandish, even amid a wildly unpopular Iran incursion that some fear is a precursor to the second world war.
Continue reading...Election will be a test of Trump’s sway and may provide a rare opportunity for Democrats in the southern state
A special election for the successor to Marjorie Taylor Greene’s congressional district in Georgia on Tuesday will be a test of Donald Trump’s sway, and may provide a rare opportunity for Democrats in a deep-red pocket of the southern state.
Republican former prosecutor Clay Fuller is likely to come out of Tuesday’s jungle primary, in which the top two candidates go to a runoff regardless of party, alongside retired army general Shawn Harris, a Democrat. The two would face a run-off election on 7 April.
Continue reading...If you’re a Whoop member, you can expect to see two new women’s health updates for both hormonal insights and blood panels.
Upgrade your TV watching with a tiny soundbar that can stream music and improve dialogue.
For making perfectly crispy bacon in under 10 minutes with less of a mess, there's a new sheriff in town.
Why Should Delaware Care?
Crop farmers make up a sizable portion of Delaware’s farming population and provide key corn and soybean products to the state’s poultry industry. Despite some recent stop-gap federal funding, higher input costs and lower prices have put a strain on Delaware farmers’ financial situation, making the future of their industry uncertain.
Jim Minner has a thinking chair.
It sits in the maintenance shed behind his house, facing the Felton-area grain farmer’s tractors and combines.
In the winter months, when Minner is not planting or harvesting crops, he spends most of his time in that chair deliberating how he might be able to improve his machinery for the upcoming season.
Over the past few years though, with corn and soybean prices dropping and costs for fertilizer and machinery rising, Minner has adopted a mindset of “just get by,” in order to make ends meet on the farm.
This, he said, means keeping expenses like equipment, fertilizer and seeds as low as possible. It also means foregoing any major machinery upgrades.
“The trick is to keep your costs low, keep your overhead low,” Minner, president of the Kent County Farm Bureau, told Spotlight Delaware. “That helps in the bad years.”
And Minner is not the only farmer facing ongoing economic challenges.
In response to “temporary trade market disruptions and increased production costs,” the federal government recently rolled out $11 billion in one-time assistance payments for farmers around the country based on how many acres of “commodity crops” — or mass-produced crops like corn, soybeans, wheat and rice — they grow.
The unforeseen federal funding, Minner said, allowed him to purchase roughly $10,000 in updated parts for his tractors and combines. Upgrades he had been putting off in recent years due to the tight margins.
As a result, Minner has been able to get out of his thinking chair this winter, instead doing some hands-on mechanic work to his 30-plus-year-old equipment this month.
Other Delaware farmers say they are using the one-time payments – which began being distributed through local Farm Service Agency (FSA) offices in late February and will continue through mid-April – toward seed costs for the upcoming season or other expenses from last year that were particularly tight.
“I have to put it toward my bills in order to keep myself afloat,” Dover-area farmer Paul Cartanza Sr. said.
While experts say the current farming landscape is somewhat better on the Delmarva Peninsula than elsewhere because farmers have a guaranteed market for their corn and soybeans in the poultry industry, panelists at an agriculture summit in Harrington in mid-February likened the current crop economy to the Great Depression.
Farmers and agricultural economists have differing opinions as to whether higher operating costs, dropping prices from overproduction, the loss of an export market due to tariffs on China, or a combination of the three, is causing tight profit margins for American farmers.
They agree, though, that the current farm assistance funding is just a stopgap measure in an industry that is increasingly strained and whose future is uncertain.
“We see this as a bailout, and it’s not the way we want to operate,” Georgetown-area farmer Jay Baxter said. “We would rather see our bottom line increase and us be able to do business off of our profit and loss.”
Despite what Delaware farmers described as a good-weather, high-yield crop year, dropping prices are leaving the state’s industry stretched at the seams.
The agricultural community spent much of this past fall debating what impact President Donald Trump’s tariff war would have on the American soybean industry.
As of late September 2025, China, the world’s top purchaser of soybeans, had dropped from purchasing $12.6 billion worth of American soybeans in 2024 to $0.
Corn and soybean prices have been dropping for a couple of years, but many farmers have been watching the prices particularly closely since Trump first implemented his tariff policy in January 2025.
Adding to the timeline of uncertainty, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Trump’s tariff policy was unconstitutional late last month, and Trump has responded with new, often fluctuating, tariff rates.
The average nationwide price per bushel of soybeans has been creeping down in recent years, from $14.20 three years ago to a projected price of $10.20 this season, James McDonald, an agricultural economics researcher at the University of Maryland, told Spotlight Delaware. Corn prices per bushel have followed a similar trend, he said, dropping from $6.54 in the 2022-23 season to $4.10 presently.
The exact prices vary slightly per region, and Delaware farmers say they tend to get above average prices for corn, and slightly below average prices for soybeans.
Poultry companies, like Mountaire and Perdue, who have become large operations in the southern Delaware agriculture scene, tend to demand more corn than soybeans for their chickens, but the chicken farms provide a market to Delaware farmers for both crops.
Baxter, the Georgetown-area farmer, said his corn operation has historically been able to make “good money” at $5 a bushel, so the average pricing isn’t too far off. Soybean rates, he said, have a larger gap.
At the same time, the 2025 harvest was what many farm groups call a “bumper harvest,” meaning a substantially higher production season than usual.
Dave Marvel, a Harrington-based farmer who grows corn, soybeans and watermelon, said his crop yields were good this past season, but the end economic result was a “wash” due to the lower prices.
“Yields were favorable, but the pricing has been down,” said Marvel, who is the vice president of the Kent County Farm Bureau.
Minner said similarly that he had one of his best crop yield years in a long time, but prices were “so terrible,” that the pay off was not very good.
Many Delaware farmers say they see Trump’s tariff policies as one factor in the lower price outlook for their crops, but not the sole contributor to the price drop.
Baxter, a self-described eternal optimist, said he believes the tariffs will create long-term benefits because they will eventually readjust the supply and demand of the market in favor of American farmers.
“We just have to be patient and wait it out,” he said.
Nate Bruce, an agricultural researcher at the University of Delaware, said he sees a shift toward more soybean crushing facilities being built in the U.S., instead of needing to be exported to crushing facilities in China. This, he said, could eliminate the United States’ reliance on global soybean markets by the early 2030s.
But McDonald, the University of Maryland researcher, strongly disagreed.
He said American consumers are not going to miraculously start demanding more soybeans over the next few decades, so farmers will need to find new global markets in order to sustain the industry.
When asked why they believe profit margins have been so tight in recent years, many Delaware farmers cited rising operating costs on items such as fertilizer, seeds and machinery as the decisive factor.
Minner said he uses potash, a fertilizer made from potassium, in his soil. A lot of potash is imported from Canada, but higher tariffs on the country have made it more expensive to bring in the ingredient, he said.
He has been forced to get creative and find other sources of manure, or rely on the potash he already has in the soil, in order to avoid the extra costs.
“We’re going to cut back on inputs,” Minner said. “We’re going to grow the same crops, we’re just going to feed them differently,”
Marvel, the Harrington-area farmer, said he ideally likes to invest in some fungicides to make the plants healthier and increase his production, but it is difficult to afford that currently.
At the same time, Marvel is working with old machinery – a combine from the 1970s and his newest tractor from the 1990s — which he said he wants to upgrade to make production more efficient.
“All that kind of technology costs a lot of money, and there’s not enough to invest in that kind of technology,” he said.
Exacerbating the situation even more recently, McDonald said, is the conflict in the Middle East. It has caused fertilizer prices to jump by another 15% in the past week. A number of countries in the Middle East are large exporters of natural gas, which is a key ingredient in fertilizer.
Delaware farmers agree the federal government has recognized the squeeze facing their industry, as shown by the current rollout of federal assistance funds and other forthcoming programs.
Still, farmers say they feel uncertain about how they will continue to get by on such tight profit margins, and when an upward trend may hit the markets.
“They have been very proactive for agriculture,” Marvel said about the federal government. “We’re just happy that the money came, and it’s going to be a very quick turnaround.”
Between the one-time assistance payments and other funding programs, like specialty crop money, McDonald said the federal government will be providing $44 billion in direct government payments to farmers this year.
While the massive funding amount shows the degree of distress American farmers are currently experiencing, McDonald said, he is also concerned the government is stepping in for the market too much.
“We’re assuring people that you should continue to plant corn and soybeans, even when you know we’re not really making money on corn and soybeans,” he said.
When asked about their strategy moving forward – amid the low prices and high operating costs – Delaware farmers did not have a concrete answer.
Minner and Cartanza both said they will continue trying to “forward contract” some of their crops, or agree to sell them for a set price before the crops have even been planted, in an attempt to lock in the best prices possible.
Baxter has diversified his operation to some other crops, including vegetables, chickens and greenhouses, which he said helps somewhat with the uncertainty.
He added he will not lose his faith that there is a “brighter day ahead” for American farmers.
Until then, Baxter said, he will keep “sharpening his pencil,” and seeing where he might be able to cut costs.
Maggie Reynolds is a Report for America corps member and Spotlight Delaware reporter who covers rural communities in Delaware. Your donation to match our Report for America grant helps keep her writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by visiting https://spotlightdelaware.org/support/.
The post Delaware farmers feel economic strain despite federal assistance appeared first on Spotlight Delaware.
Why Should Delaware Care?
Delaware began to cover commercial weight-loss drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy for state employees as part of its health insurance plan in 2023. Now, as the cost of covering the drug has increased, officials implemented a new elevated copay.
Delaware state employees who for years have enjoyed a relatively cheap price for blockbuster GLP-1 drugs will soon see their copays rise nearly seven-fold in the coming year. The new copays will not apply to employees using the drugs for diabetes.
The State Employee Benefits Committee (SEBC), a board responsible for managing Delaware’s state employee health insurance plans, met Monday morning to finalize coverage changes for employees currently using weight-loss drugs.
Under the state’s new coverage guidelines, state employees using drugs for weight-loss purposes will now have to pay a $200 copay for a 30-day supply, beginning July 1. Before Monday, a monthly supply was $32.
Those sums will impact more than 100,000 state employees, retirees, and their family members who are covered by the Delaware General Health Insurance Plan.
The change comes as state officials have had to reconcile the rising cost of covering GLP-1 medications with supporting an increased number of state employees who use the drug for its weight-loss properties.
Delaware passed the elevated copay for weight-loss prescriptions with a plan to broadcast the change and promote cost-saving programs run by Novo Nordisk, the Danish manufacturer that makes two of the world’s most popular GLP-1s utilized by state employees.
Drugs like Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro and Zepbound that were originally intended to treat type 2 diabetes have exploded in popularity in America as they have proven to aid weight loss, which results in both short-term and long-term health benefits. But the drugs are expensive – a 30-day supply of Ozempic retails for about $1,000 without manufacturer rebates – and are now among the largest pharmaceutical expenditures for the state insurance plan.
One board member, Jeff Taschner, executive director of the Delaware State Education Association, the state’s teachers union, initially proposed a motion to the committee that would have increased the copay to $132, but that motion failed.
He proposed the $132 copay because it would help to address the budget strain created by the weight-loss prescriptions while also relieving some of the added costs on patients.
When that motion failed, Taschner and many of the committee members who initially voted with him, voted against the measure to implement the $200 copay.
Taschner based his “No” vote on the cost the new copays would have on state employees, who would see their annual costs increase $2,016 without copay assistance. Taschner added that if copay assistance is available, employees would still see that cost increase by $816 a year.
“I really struggle with them being the only ones, quite frankly, who are bearing the cost of this action,” he said during the meeting.
In the moments after the committee passed the new copays, members also passed new monthly insurance premiums, which will increase by 2.2% for Fiscal Year 2027.
Jessica Perrine, a state employee who spoke during public comment, called the new copays “disappointing.” Perrine, who said she is a mother of two who makes $40,000 a year, said the drugs have helped her.
She said as someone who’s tried dieting and continues to exercise every day, GLP-1s do more than just support her physical health.
“This helps people as a whole, not just, ‘Oh, I lost weight, I’m skinny now,’” Perrine said. “It’s something that affects your mental health all the way around.”
Lt. Gov. Kyle Evans Gay, who sits on the SEBC and voted in favor of the $200 copay, acknowledged the financial impact of the committee’s decision, and the hundreds of dollars it will cost annually for some state employees. But the committee also has a responsibility to other members with conditions that are costly, she said.
Still, Gay said she was not happy with the options put before her, and hopes the committee will work to find new cost-effective solutions for the state that also lessen the costs to patients.
“I will move forward with the understanding that the cost is still too high and that we need to do something to ensure that medications that change lives are getting to the people that need them,” Gay said.
Delaware’s reckoning with its spending on weight-loss drugs comes as states across the country have pulled back on coverage.
In 2021, the U.S. Food & Drug Administration approved a formulation of Ozempic – a drug that has long treated type 2 diabetes – for use in weight loss. The drug mimics a hormone that targets the appetite-regulating area of the brain, reducing a patient’s perceived hunger.
In 2023, the Delaware state employee health care plan began to cover most of those costs for weight-loss patients. Officials initially budgeted about $2 million in the 2024 fiscal year, but the actual price tag reached more than $14 million that year, and has continued to grow since.
Workers on the state’s health plan pay anywhere from 4% to 13% of the cost out of pocket. The remainder is paid by taxpayers through the state’s General Fund.
In early 2024, Spotlight Delaware first reported that commercial weight-loss drugs, such as Ozempic and Wegovy, were among the most prescribed and expensive medicines for state workers.
Delaware also recently filed a lawsuit against multiple pharmaceutical juggernauts in January, accusing them of conspiring to artificially inflate insulin and GLP-1 drug prices at the expense of patients.
According to the complaint, manufacturers have dramatically increased the price of insulin and other diabetes drugs in recent years, despite a decrease in the cost of production.
The lawsuit said diabetes costs Delaware $1.1 billion each year, and that many rely on daily insulin injections, as well as the use of GLP-1s, naming Ozempic as one of the medications included in the alleged price-gouging scheme.
Separately, lawmakers introduced legislation last week that would dramatically impact how health care providers negotiate with insurers and how expensive care can be, with some provisions aimed specifically at the state’s health plan.
Senate Bill 1, filed ahead of lawmakers’ return this week for the remainder of this year’s legislative session, quickly drew the ire of Delaware’s powerful and litigious hospital apparatus.
Introduced by Senate Majority Leader Bryan Townsend (D-Newark/Glasgow), the bill is, on the surface, an attempt to bolster primary care in Delaware and better compensate providers proactively working to improve Delawareans’ health outcomes.
But under the bill’s hood, it is a referendum on hospital pricing in a state that has some of the highest costs in the country. If passed as is, SB 1 could deal a major blow to hospitals’ bottom lines.
Within the bill are changes that would regulate the rate at which insurers carrying plans for state employees and some commercial plans regulated by the Department of Insurance can reimburse hospitals for covered services.
Health care providers generally earn the bulk of their revenues by negotiating with insurers who represent large groups of patients. The negotiations determine how much money the insurer will pay for the health care services, and in turn what costs will later be passed onto patients.
Delaware rates are currently regulated with some growth caps limiting how high they can increase year over year, but SB 1 represents a step toward stricter price-setting measures.
Brian Frazee, CEO of the Delaware Healthcare Association, a trade group that represents the state’s hospitals, said his organization has “major concerns” with Senate Bill 1. He homed in on the rate-setting, saying it would cut hospital funding and “severely” limit resources.
“Put simply, it threatens health care quality and access in our state,” Frazee said. “We have been doing the real work in good faith to improve access and develop value-based solutions that lower costs without sacrificing quality and access.”
Through Senate Bill 1, Townsend said he hopes further investments in primary care would help sustain a health care business model that treats people effectively before they become sick and need complex and expensive care.
“They have become addicted to a framework that involves high costs after people are already sick,” Townsend said. “That is not sustainable. It is not moral. We have to change it.”
The post Delaware approves $200 copay for weight-loss drugs, new premiums for state employees appeared first on Spotlight Delaware.
The FBI is investigating a breach affecting systems tied to wiretapping and surveillance warrant data, after abnormal logs revealed possible unauthorized access to law-enforcement-sensitive information. "The FBI identified and addressed suspicious activities on FBI networks, and we have leveraged all technical capabilities to respond," a spokesperson for the bureau said. "We have nothing additional to provide." The Register reports: [W]hile the FBI declined to provide any additional information, it's worth noting that China's Salt Typhoon previously compromised wiretapping systems used by law enforcement. Salt Typhoon is the PRC-backed crew that famously hacked major US telecommunications firms and stole information belonging to nearly every American. According to the Associated Press, the FBI notified Congress that it began investigating the breach on February 17 after spotting abnormal log information related to a system on its network. "The affected system is unclassified and contains law enforcement sensitive information, including returns from legal process, such as pen register and trap and trace surveillance returns, and personally identifiable information pertaining to subjects of FBI investigations," the notification said.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
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Growing fears that elevated interest rates will continue, as Barclays finds worries that war will push up inflation
A leading British housebuilder has warned the Iran conflict could knock homebuyer sentiment, amid growing fears of a jump in inflation and a prolonged period of elevated interest rates.
Persimmon said it was “monitoring the impact the conflict with Iran could have on our markets in 2026”, but noted that consumer sentiment could be sensitive amid more financial uncertainty.
Continue reading...We tested microcurrent devices for over two months. These were the ones that showed the most results.
Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon has signed legislation banning abortions after embryotic cardiac activity can be detected, but a court challenge is likely.
FTSE 100 opens higher and European markets rise as US president describes conflict as ‘very complete’
Oil prices have tumbled from four-year highs, capping an extraordinary 24 hours in global markets and prompting global stocks to rebound after Donald Trump suggested the US-Israel war on Iran could end “very soon”.
Brent crude, the international benchmark, surged as high as $119.50 a barrel on Monday as the Middle East conflict intensified fears of a deepening energy supply crisis.
Continue reading...Rene Villarreal-Albe averted possible crash by pulling truck up to car and halting it as driver faced medical episode
A Texas man who recently was driving on a highway reportedly pulled his truck out in front of a car with an unconscious man behind the wheel, gradually slowed it down with his back bumper and ultimately stopped it to avert what could have been a major crash.
Rene Villarreal-Albe’s good deed was captured on dramatic cell phone video recorded by his wife, Andrea Walker, and then shared online by his sister, Cortney Trinidad, as the Texas news outlet Kens 5 reported. The video and action-movie-like story behind it gained widespread attention on corners of the internet dedicated to finding positive news, generating some comments that hailed Villarreal-Albe as a “highway hero”.
Continue reading...A Texas mother is proud her child is following in her footsteps. But as President Trump attacks Iran, she worries about what he could face as a soldier.
Rebecca Sheppard specializes in untangling other people’s financial messes. But for nearly a year, the Colorado accountant has been unable to fix a glaring error on her own credit report.
Her credit score plunged roughly 85 points because of a $240,000 student loan debt she does not owe. She repeatedly asked the nation’s big three credit reporting companies to correct the mistake, submitting documentation showing the debt belonged to her ex-husband. Even the loan’s account manager confirmed she wasn’t responsible.
Still, the credit bureaus refused to remove it, jeopardizing her plans to move with her disabled father into a more accessible home. “There’s no way in the world I could qualify for the purchase,” she said.
Sheppard should have been able to count on the federal government to pressure the credit bureaus to take her dispute seriously. For years, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau wielded the threat of fines and lawsuits to make companies fix errors and engage with consumers. Under the Biden administration, a rigorous supporter of the agency, consumers’ rates of relief for such complaints rose to about 10 times as high as in 2020.
But Sheppard needed help under the Trump administration, which has drastically curtailed the CFPB’s mission, including its policing of credit bureaus. With the agency weakened, two of the three major credit bureaus, TransUnion and Experian, have sharply reduced the share of consumer complaints they resolved in customers’ favor, according to a ProPublica analysis of federal complaint data.
TransUnion’s relief rate, which had remained relatively steady for several years, began plunging in the summer of 2025. By October it was providing relief roughly half as often.
Experian’s drop was even more dramatic. The company resolved nearly 20% of complaints in consumers’ favor in 2024. Last year, that figure fell to less than 1%.
The third major bureau, Equifax, did not show a similar decline. Just days before President Donald Trump was inaugurated, the company entered into a consent order with the CFPB over deficient dispute and investigation practices. Under the agreement, the company committed to reforms and ongoing oversight.
Equifax’s consumer relief mostly kept up with complaints.
The timing of the drops at TransUnion and Experian coincides with the Trump administration’s dismantling of the CFPB.
In February 2025, Russell Vought, a White House official who oversaw sweeping cuts across federal agencies, took control of the CFPB as acting director. He quickly ordered a stop to nearly all agency work. Under his leadership, the CFPB has attempted to fire most of its staff, frozen investigations and dropped enforcement actions, including against TransUnion. One of the CFPB’s new lawyers leading the pullback on enforcement represented Experian for years before joining the administration.
The credit bureaus “want to do as little as possible,” said Chi Chi Wu, director of consumer reporting at the National Consumer Law Center, which is a plaintiff in a lawsuit that has so far blocked some of the administration’s dismantling efforts.
“The thing that is making them do any kind of effort is a lawsuit or a regulator, and now we don’t have the regulator,” Wu said.
In statements to ProPublica, the credit bureaus said that many complaints are illegitimate, including a large volume filed by credit repair organizations that charge customers to challenge negative information on their reports. Experian said in a statement that some of those companies “mislead consumers into believing they can remove accurate information,” adding that it investigates “all legitimate” complaints. The company did not respond to specific questions about its decline in relief.
Third parties are allowed to submit complaints on behalf of consumers if they disclose their involvement and get permission. Federal regulators have acknowledged that bad actors exist, but the CFPB and a House subcommittee found that the credit bureaus’ systems for identifying third-party involvement were overly broad and dismissed legitimate concerns.
Asked about the decline in relief, TransUnion said it recently changed its processes to handle third-party complaints and now redirects those with insufficient documentation to “a more appropriate” internal channel for review.
For years, the CFPB’s complaint system has served as a public middleman: forwarding consumer issues to the bureaus, requiring responses and publishing data showing how companies handled them.
But the companies have successfully lobbied the Trump administration to start steering some consumers away from the transparent process and toward their internal systems.
A CFPB spokesperson said the complaint system was inundated with submissions from bots and third-party credit repair firms, and the agency was working to address that so legitimate consumers can more effectively get help. The agency did not respond to written questions about the decline in relief or enforcement.
How many consumers get help — or don’t — when using the credit bureaus’ internal systems is not public. But CFPB data shows that since Trump’s inauguration in January 2025, more than 2.7 million credit reporting complaints submitted to the CFPB have gone without relief, leaving some people at risk of being denied loans, housing or employment and subject to higher rates from insurers and lenders.
One anonymized complaint came from a Texan who said a fraudulent account remained on their credit report despite their disputes. “I have an important deal that I need to complete that is important for the safety and survival of my family,” the person wrote. CFPB records show that Equifax provided relief, while TransUnion and Experian did not.
Also among those who complained was an Air Force veteran and elections organizer in Arkansas who said the bureaus refused to restore his erroneously deleted mortgage history. ProPublica interviewed the man, Kwami Abdul-Bey, who said the error left him unable to refinance his home or car even after going to multiple lenders.
“Each time they tell me that I do not have enough years of credit. I was paying on that mortgage for a decade before that trade line disappeared,” he said.
After ProPublica contacted his mortgage servicer, Wells Fargo, the company reached out to Abdul-Bey to apologize for his situation and said it would investigate.
Equifax and Experian did not reply to questions about individual consumers who filed complaints. TransUnion declined to comment on individual situations but said in a statement that the company “has multiple resources available to consumers to help with every step of the dispute process.”
Everyday Americans cannot opt out of having their financial data collected and sold by credit bureaus. Congress passed the Fair Credit Reporting Act in 1970, giving consumers the right to flag errors. But more recently, the credit bureaus have employed a limited number of workers — often overseas — to handle enormous volumes of investigations.
TransUnion, for example, had 171 workers responding to consumer disputes covering 38 million line items in 2021. A TransUnion spokesperson said in an email that the company has since added staffing but would not provide a number.
“These ‘investigators,’ they have a stack of disputes like a mile high that they have to go through every day,” said Liam Hayden, a Chicago attorney who has represented consumers in credit reporting cases. “A real, authentic investigation costs money.”
After the 2008 financial crisis, Congress created the CFPB to protect Americans from unfair and abusive practices. By 2015, the big three credit bureaus had become the most complained about firms in the agency’s complaint system.
Complaints about Equifax, TransUnion and Experian vastly outnumber all other complaints, for matters such as credit cards, loans or debt collection.
In 2022, identifying a lack of responsiveness by the credit bureaus to consumer issues, the CFPB released a critical report, alongside guidance on how the companies should address “shoddy investigation practices.” Over the next few years, relief rates rose as the companies provided more individualized responses to complaints filed through the agency.
Announcements on the CFPB’s website show the agency has brought a dozen enforcement actions against consumer reporting companies since 2015.
Just days before Trump took office, the CFPB announced an enforcement action against Equifax. The company settled, agreeing to pay $15 million and operate under a legally binding consent order designed to fix its dispute process.
Among the reforms, the company agreed to improve its web interface for submitting disputes, avoid relying on faulty information from creditors and not automatically dismiss repeated concerns from the same consumer. The agreement did not specifically mention the company’s handling of CFPB complaints. Equifax was given about a year to put many of the changes in place and has to remain compliant for five years after.
ProPublica found that the agency had approved a similar action against TransUnion in July 2024, but it was never brought. Settlement talks ended shortly after the change in administration.
“Given recent changes in CFPB leadership, our engagement with the agency on this matter has paused,” TransUnion wrote in a February 2025 Securities and Exchange Commission filing. “We cannot provide an estimate of when, or if, such engagement will resume.”
That month, the CFPB dropped a lawsuit against TransUnion and a former company executive over alleged deceptive practices. TransUnion denied the allegations, calling them “meritless.” The CFPB later ended an agreement meant to fix the company’s failure to promptly place and remove credit freezes.
The CFPB sued Experian shortly before the administration changed, alleging failures in its dispute handling processes. Experian has denied the allegations in court, called the suit “completely without merit” and said the company investigates “every consumer dispute thoroughly.”
The Experian case remains active. A CFPB spokesperson said that Victoria Dorfman, the new senior legal adviser who previously represented Experian, has recused herself from the case.
In a July public comment letter, Experian argued it should not be required to respond to individual CFPB complaints and that the vast majority of those filed recently are illegitimate. The industry’s lobbying arm, the Consumer Data Industry Association, has urged the CFPB to route more consumers away from the complaint system and make the remaining complaints private.
This year, just a week after receiving a letter from the lobbying group, the CFPB added three notices for consumers to click through before filing a public complaint, warning them that their requests might be ignored if they have not already disputed issues directly with credit bureaus — a standard the agency previously said companies cannot reliably verify.
In a statement to ProPublica, the CDIA highlighted that a notice instructing consumers to first dispute directly had been present in the CFPB complaint portal briefly around 2012. The new changes are “necessary to address the widespread misuse of the portal” that divert resources away from legitimate concerns, the group said.
But consumer advocates contend that the industry-friendly changes present even more obstacles for consumers like Sheppard who are trying to get their issues resolved.
She twice disputed the student loan error directly with the bureaus. Then in June, she turned to the CFPB. All three responded that they had verified that the debt was hers without addressing documentation she provided to the contrary.
In December, she sent another dispute by certified mail, but TransUnion replied with a postcard stating it believed the submission had not come from her.
“They didn’t even try,” Sheppard said. “The fact that they sent that little postcard was just ridiculous.”
TransUnion did not provide a response regarding Sheppard’s situation but said in a statement that it “cannot change information furnished to us absent sufficient documentation and clear instruction from the consumer.”
In her mailed dispute, Sheppard included a letter she received from the loan account manager stating that she was not responsible for the debt.
With no other options, Sheppard sued the three credit bureaus in January. The companies have not yet responded in court.
Without a functioning CFPB, enforcement may fall to state attorneys general and private lawsuits. The Federal Trade Commission can bring cases but lacks the authority to conduct routine supervision.
A future without a CFPB will leave consumers increasingly trapped, said Hayden, the Chicago attorney. “In five years, the resolution of consumer disputes is going to be worse, credit reports are going to be worse and it’s going to be harder for folks to fix them, guaranteed.”
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is walking away from cases that might have helped return money to consumers across the U.S. We want to hear from people who feel left behind.
The post Credit Bureaus Are Leaving More Mistakes on Frustrated Consumers’ Reports Under Trump’s CFPB appeared first on ProPublica.
RAMALLAH — Traffic was at a standstill outside of Nablus in the occupied West Bank on Saturday, as sunset neared and hungry residents were forced to trickle through an Israeli checkpoint to get home and break their fasts.
The Israeli military had sealed the city off from the outside world. Just over a week after the U.S. and Israel launched their joint war on Iran, Israeli settlers have ramped up their violence against Palestinians in the West Bank, and Israeli forces have imposed a near-total closure of municipal centers, shutting gates and restricting crossings without warning or perceptible logic.
“It’s so unpredictable,” said Shadya Saif, 40, a Palestinian mother of three who teaches at a private school in Ramallah. The Intercept rode alongside Saif as she traveled back to Ramallah from Nablus on Saturday, when the Israeli military closed all but one checkpoint out of the city, putting it under an effective blockade and forcing all traffic through a checkpoint called Shavei Shomron.
The unannounced closures left Palestinians scrambling. Many were visiting Ramallah to see family members during Ramadan, and they hoped to reach their destinations in time for iftar, the fast-breaking meal enjoyed at sunset. Others needed to enter the city to receive medical treatment they cannot obtain elsewhere. Saif had risked the journey to see her dying uncle and, knowing the risks of crossing, she’d left her chronically ill daughter in Nablus with him.
“I was worried I would get stuck here,” Saif told The Intercept inside a yellow “service” taxi, the only form of public transportation widely available in the West Bank. Even though nearly all of her family lives in Nablus, she has tried to avoid visiting since October 7, 2023, after which the Israeli military clamped its ubiquitous yellow gates over entry points throughout the West Bank.
Israeli soldiers stopped each car to inspect Palestinians’ IDs. At their limit, drivers began pulling their cars onto roundabouts and driving the wrong way down the street, but the final say lay with Israeli forces, who allowed only one car at a time to approach the military installation. Some abandoned their cars to walk through checkpoints and reach their families on foot. An elderly Palestinian woman prayed aloud, saying that all she wanted was to make it safely to her family in Ein Yabrud, a village on the outskirts of Ramallah.
“I was worried I would get stuck here.”
As we sat waiting at the checkpoint, Saif’s face was filled with worry. She opened her phone to show pictures of her daughter, dressed in pink and smiling at the camera.
Saif’s daughter has muscular dystrophy and requires specialized treatment and 24-hour supervision. Saif took a big risk visiting Nablus to see her dying uncle in the hospital, she said, because if she were to get stuck there due to a checkpoint closure — which did happen for three days last week — her daughter’s health would be put in jeopardy.
“I left her with my uncle just for the day, but I have to be there to care for her,” Saif said. “I know her medications and how to ensure she doesn’t get sick.”
Saif made it back to Ramallah, but she said it would not have been possible a few days earlier.
The day after the U.S. and Israel started attacks on Iran, the prevailing sentiment in Ramallah was anxiety. People wondered if there would be road closures and food and fuel shortages like during last year’s Twelve Day War, and whether the Israeli government would impose what Palestinians describe as collective punishment in the West Bank, even though they were not involved in the conflict.
“It has nothing to do with anything Palestinians in the West Bank are doing or not doing,” said Aviv Tatarsky, who leads an Israeli protective presence collective that organizes watches to deter settlers from invading Deir Istiya, a village outside Ramallah. “And still, there’s an Israeli decision, and life comes to a stop.”
“There is no money, no work. We are in debt, and I have four mouths to feed. What am I to do?”
Ramallah, which has long functioned as a relatively insulated bubble from the effects of Israel’s occupation, is also dealing with a struggling economy. Paired with the war, the economic downturn has muted Ramadan celebrations, according to residents who spoke with The Intercept.
“We are suffering,” said Faisal Taha, who drives taxis in Ramallah. “There is no money, no work. We are in debt, and I have four mouths to feed. What am I to do? I have been driving my taxi all day, and I have forty shekels.”
Unemployment in the West Bank is hovering around 40 percent — up from 13 percent two years ago — and GDP has contracted by 13 percent since October 7.
Dror Etkes, founder of Kerem Navot, an Israeli NGO that monitors settlement construction in the West Bank, said he was not surprised by the restrictions imposed by Israel.
“They always use instances of violence to perpetuate more violence,” Etkes said. “This is what we have seen for years, since October 7, and now it is worse than ever.”
As during the Twelve Day War last year — after which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared a “historic victory” that would “stand for generations” against the Islamic Republic of Iran — there are already the beginnings of flour and fuel shortages in the West Bank as the Israeli Civil Administration, which runs the military occupation of the territory, imposes import restrictions.
“This is not something new. It happened in June during the Twelve Day War, and it’s kicking off again,” Tatarsky said. “But what’s different this time is that Israel is also blocking roads — not only disconnecting Palestinians from Area C, but also blocking roads between Palestinian villages.”
A week later, on March 7, there was still only one checkpoint out of Ramallah open, forcing all traffic through a bottleneck that passes by the Beit El settlement and through the Jalazone refugee camp. This is the only route for Palestinians living in Ramallah to access Route 60, the main thoroughfare connecting Palestinian communities in the south to those in the north.
“They always use instances of violence to perpetuate more violence.”
Driving up the highway and passing village after village that had been closed off by the Israeli military, Etkes said it was clear the war with Iran was being used as a pretext for “a system that is meant to reduce as much as possible the area where Palestinians can move freely,” part of the settlement movements’ goal to alter the facts on the ground regarding de facto annexation.
Nabih Odeh, 63, who has been driving public transit taxis in the West Bank for more than 30 years, has watched what he describes as the slow annexation of the West Bank unfold. As he drove up Route 60, he pointed to village after village sealed off by the Israeli military.
“There, that’s Aqraba, closed,” Odeh said. “If you want to get in or out, you must walk. That’s Turmus Ayya — very wealthy — still closed.”
Eighty percent of Turmus Ayya’s residents have U.S. citizenship, yet the town was closed off, its yellow gate locked. Service taxis pulled up to drop residents off, leaving them to walk to the town center or be picked up by relatives. Its status as a wealthy American Palestinian village has no bearing on Israel’s decision.
At the same time, Israeli settlers have used the war with Iran as an opportunity to launch further attacks on Palestinian communities, largely in Area C — the roughly 60 percent of the West Bank under full Israeli civil and military control — working in tandem with movement restrictions in Areas A and B, the Palestinian-administered population centers and villages created under the 1995 Oslo Accords.
Messages circulating in settler WhatsApp groups have called for violence against Palestinians to match Israeli airstrikes in Iran. One graphic depicting a roaring lion, to match the Israel Defense Forces’ name for the military operation against Iran, reads: “It is time to launch a preemptive attack in all arenas, until the enemy is expelled from the country and subdued outside it. This time we win, once and for all.”
“I mean, generally, when you’re speaking about Israeli society, it is torn apart in so many ways,” said Orly Noy, editor at Local Call and chair of B’Tselem’s executive board. “But there’s one thing that always unifies, and I’m speaking about the Jewish section of society, of course, and this is war.”
Netanyahu is willing to do anything to stay in power, Noy added, and during his time in office, he has worked effectively to paint the Iranian regime as an existential threat to Israel, working in tandem with the U.S. “He has taken advantage of it very well,” Noy said.
During Operation Rising Lion, this rally-around-the-flag effect has not only served Netanyahu’s interests but also those of settlers living in the West Bank.
WAFA, the Palestinian Authority’s news agency, estimates that settler attacks have increased 25 percent since the start of the conflict. Israeli settlers have killed six Palestinians since the start of the war with Iran, including three in one incident in the West Bank community of Khirbet Abu Falah, east of Ramallah.
Israeli settlers shot Fare’ Hamayel and Thaer Hamayel, and a third man, Mohammad Murra, died of suffocation from tear gas deployed by Israeli forces.
As the world’s attention remains on Iran, solidarity activists said that Israeli settlers appear to feel they have additional impunity to conduct attacks.
“They will be treated as heroes by their supporters, by their society,” Etkes said. “And the government will do nothing about it.”
The post With World’s Eyes on Iran, Israel Locks Down the West Bank appeared first on The Intercept.
Government and motoring groups say there is no shortage of fuel supplies but stockpiling has left country service stations running dry, as Iran war sparks oil price fears
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Regional service stations are struggling to replenish fuel supplies left empty by panic buying that has seen demand double and even triple in areas like the Barossa and Mildura amid an escalating Middle East conflict.
As a leading motoring group warned of a “vicious cycle” of motorists stockpiling petrol, Chris Bowen, the energy minister, stood up in parliament to urge Australians to remain calm, insisting the nation did not have a shortage of fuel supplies.
Continue reading...Logical situation of losing to get a better pick has led to big fines but June’s superstar draft created a ‘perfect storm’
Imagine you are the director of football at a crisis-stricken Premier League club in a world where relegation doesn’t exist and the planet’s best teenagers become available for free in a draft every June.
In this alternate universe, you are also aware of something else: the 2026 Premier League draft is one for the ages. Barcelona’s Lamine Yamal and Pau Cubarsí are in it. So are Bayern Munich’s Lennart Karl and Real Madrid’s Franco Mastantuono. Sign one of them and the glory days will suddenly beckon again.
Continue reading...Airline reports spike in ticket sales to Europe in March, as passengers with carriers affected by flight chaos rebook
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Qantas has announced it is increasing the price of its international air fares amid oil price volatility caused by the war in the Middle East, while the airline also reported higher-than-normal ticket sales for flights to Europe.
While the company hedges against change in jet fuel prices, it was not fully covered for the spike seen in the wake of surging oil prices, a spokesperson said on Tuesday.
Continue reading...A startup called Reflect Orbital wants to launch thousands of mirror-bearing satellites to reflect sunlight onto Earth at night and "power solar farms after sunset, provide lighting for rescue workers and illuminate city streets, among other things," reports the New York Times. From the report: It is an idea seemingly out of a sci-fi movie, but the company, Reflect Orbital of Hawthorne, Calif., could soon receive permission to launch its first prototype satellite with a 60-foot-wide mirror. The company has applied to the Federal Communications Commission, which issues the licenses needed to deploy satellites. If the F.C.C. approves, the test satellite could get a ride into orbit as soon as this summer. The F.C.C.'s public comment period on the application closes on Monday. "We're trying to build something that could replace fossil fuels and really power everything," Ben Nowack, Reflect Orbital's chief executive, said in an interview. The company has raised more than $28 million from investors. [...] Reflect Orbital's first prototype, which will be roughly the size of a dorm fridge, is almost complete. Once in space, about 400 miles up, the test satellite would unfurl a square mirror nearly 60 feet wide. That would bounce sunlight to illuminate a circular patch about three miles wide on the Earth's surface. Someone looking up would see a dot in the sky about as bright as a full moon. Two more prototypes could follow within a year. By the end of 2028, Reflect Orbital hopes to launch 1,000 larger satellites, and 5,000 of them by 2030. The largest mirrors are planned to be nearly 180 feet wide, reflecting as much light as 100 full moons. The company said its goal was to deploy the full constellation of 50,000 satellites by 2035. How much does it cost to order sunlight at night? Mr. Nowack said the company would charge about $5,000 an hour for the light of one mirror if a customer signed an annual contract for 1,000 hours or more. Lighting for one-time events and emergencies, which might require numerous satellites and more effort to coordinate, would be more expensive. For solar farms, he envisions splitting revenue from the electricity generated by the additional hours of light.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
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Both campaigns have been framed differently at different times, with dubious claims of defensive action and a curious reluctance to label it war
Shifting goals, unclear timelines and a flimsy pretext: at times, the US-Israel campaign against Iran carries curious parallels of Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
The comparison is far from exact. In 2022, Putin sent a massive army across Ukraine’s borders in an unprovoked invasion of a democratic state, a campaign that quickly resulted in heavy losses. The United States has so far largely limited its involvement to airstrikes against Iran’s authoritarian regime.
Continue reading...About 10,000 writers including Kazuo Ishiguro, Philippa Gregory and Richard Osman join copyright campaign
Thousands of authors including Kazuo Ishiguro, Philippa Gregory and Richard Osman have published an “empty” book to protest against AI firms using their work without permission.
About 10,000 writers have contributed to Don’t Steal This Book, in which the only content is a list of their names. Copies of the work are being distributed to attenders at the London book fair on Tuesday, a week before the UK government is due to issue an assessment on the economic cost of proposed changes in copyright law.
Continue reading...Calls for a popular uprising and empty promises of help are reckless in the extreme – and no answer to my country’s plight
Nasrin Parvaz is a women’s rights activist and torture survivor from Iran
I have been watching the news from inside Iran, unable to hold in my sorrow. As an Iranian who was imprisoned and tortured by the regime, I have been pleading with the world’s human rights organisations and media to keep a focus on the country’s plight. But now I see US-Israeli bombs falling on Iran, and some Iranians celebrating this war while innocent people die. My heart is breaking for my country.
Let us be clear: when Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu conspired to launch their war, it was not out of a desire to free the Iranian people from the tyranny of the regime. Netanyahu said on the second day of the war: “This coalition of forces allows us to do what I have yearned to do for 40 years.” He has named this operation “Lion’s Roar”. Meanwhile, Iranian monarchists celebrate the carnage, waving the shah’s version of the country’s flag with its crowned lion and sun.
Nasrin Parvaz is a women’s rights activist and torture survivor from Iran. Her books include A Prison Memoir: One Woman’s Struggle in Iran, and the novel The Secret Letters from X to A
Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.
Continue reading...Among the many justifications Donald Trump has presented for the US and Israel attacking Iran has been the supposedly imminent threat posed by its nuclear weapons programme. But how close was the country really to developing an atomic weapon? Ian Sample hears from Kelsey Davenport, the director of non-proliferation policy at the Arms Control Association. She sets out why many experts don’t believe the country even had a structured nuclear weapons programme, and explains what she thinks the impact of the war could be on nuclear proliferation around the world.
Attacking Iran’s nuclear programme could drive it towards a bomb, experts warn
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Continue reading...Trump needs to figure out what he wants—and quickly.
America is adopting a risky model.
Cuts have revealed the continent's economic resilience.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Heise: Pay securely with an Android smartphone, completely without Google services: This is the plan being developed by the newly founded industry consortium led by the German Volla Systeme GmbH. It is an open-source alternative to Google Play Integrity. This proprietary interface decides on Android smartphones with Google Play services whether banking, government, or wallet apps are allowed to run on a smartphone. Obstacles and tips for paying with an Android smartphone without official Google services have been highlighted by c't in a comprehensive article. The European industry consortium now wants to address some problems mentioned. To this end, the group, which includes Murena, which develops the hardened custom ROM /e/OS, Iode from France, and Apostrophy (Dot) from Switzerland, in addition to Volla, is developing a so-called "UnifiedAttestation" for Google-free mobile operating systems, primarily based on the Android Open-Source Project (AOSP). According to Volla, a European manufacturer and a leading manufacturer from Asia, as well as European foundations such as the German UBports Foundation, have also expressed interest in supporting it. Furthermore, developers and publishers of government apps from Scandinavia are examining the use of the new procedure as "first movers." In its announcement, Volla explains that Google provides app developers with an interface called Play Integrity, which checks whether an app is running on a device with specific security requirements. This primarily affects applications from "sensitive areas such as identity verification, banking, or digital wallets -- including apps from governments and public administrations". The company criticizes that the certification is exclusively offered for Google's own proprietary "Stock Android" but not for Android versions without Google services, such as /e/OS or similar custom ROMs. "Since this is closely intertwined with Google services and Google data centers, a structural dependency arises -- and for alternative operating systems, a de facto exclusion criterion," the company states. From the consortium's perspective, this also leads to a "security paradox," because "the check of trustworthiness is carried out by precisely that entity whose ecosystem is to be avoided at the same time". The UnifiedAttestation system is built around three main components: an "operating system service" that apps can call to check whether the device's OS meets required security standards, a decentralized validation service that verifies the OS certificate on a device without relying on a single central authority, and an open test suite used to evaluate and certify that a particular operating system works securely on a specific device model. "We don't want to centralize trust, but organize it transparently and publicly verifiable. When companies check competitors' products, we can strengthen that trust," says Dr. Jorg Wurzer, CEO of Volla Systeme GmbH and initiator of the consortium. The goal is to increase digital sovereignty and break free from the control of any one, single U.S. company, he says.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
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Royal commission says response led by Jacinda Ardern was broadly ‘appropriate’, in a wide-ranging report featuring recommendations for future pandemics
A royal commission into New Zealand’s Covid response has found it was one of the best in the world but acknowledged the period had left “scars”.
The second of two inquiry reports on the pandemic was released on Tuesday and focused on the period between February 2021 to October 2022, when the government changed from an elimination strategy to one of suppression and minimisation of the virus. It also examined vaccine safety and the government’s immunisation programme, lockdowns and tracing and testing technology.
Continue reading...Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for March 10.
Two Democrats with potential presidential ambitions — Govs. Gavin Newsom and Andy Beshear — are weighing in on the U.S.-Iran war and criticizing President Trump's strategy, as the conflict overtakes the foreign policy debate.
As speculation mounts that Kim Jong-un and Trump could meet this month, analysts say Pyongyang will continue to see nuclear weapons as a matter of survival
North Korea’s launch last week of a missile from a naval destroyer elicited an uncharacteristically prosaic analysis from the country’s leader, Kim Jong-un. The launch was proof, he said, that arming ships with nuclear weapons was “making satisfactory progress”.
But the test, and Kim’s mildly upbeat appraisal, were designed to reverberate well beyond the deck of the 5,000-tonne destroyer-class vessel the Choe Hyon – the biggest warship in the North Korean fleet.
Continue reading...This live blog is now closed.
Donald Trump has urged the Australian government to grant asylum to five members of the Iranian women’s football team, amid reports that they refused to return home following the team’s elimination from the Women’s Asian Cup and were taken into the protection of Australian police.
As my colleague Martin Farrer reports, speculation had mounted for days that some of the players would try to seek asylum in Australia they had been called “traitors” for refusing to sing their national anthem before their opening game of the tournament last week.
Continue reading...CBS News California obtained a sworn declaration from Swalwell's landlord supporting his California residency claims, amid concerns that Tom Steyer's petition questioning his eligibility to run for governor publicly exposed Swalwell's home address.
Why Should Delaware Care?
The development of data centers has become a hot button topic, because they are powering the technology of the future but require huge amounts of electricity to power computer servers 24/7. After a major project was proposed to be built near Delaware City, the New Castle County Council has been debating whether to place new restrictions on the nascent industry.
The New Castle County Council was already scheduled to vote Tuesday night on a controversial proposal to regulate the booming data center industry that has come to its doorstep, but now a newly filed, last-minute amendment aims to further inflame the debate.
Councilwoman Janet Kilpatrick, an outgoing lawmaker who has been one of the most vocal supporters of the data center industry, filed an amendment Friday evening seeking to allow major and minor subdivision plans in the county’s development pipeline to be permitted to convert to data center projects without adhering to the new limits.
That proposal could open up plans for warehouses or other commercial or industrial properties to switch to data centers.
It was immediately criticized by supporters of the regulatory measure, including the original ordinance’s author Councilman Dave Carter and the Sierra Club of Delaware.
“It not only guts the proposed legislation, it goes far beyond and gives developers even more rights than they have now for data center development,” Carter told Spotlight Delaware on Monday.
In defense of her proposal, Kilpatrick said that New Castle County had to be consistent with its regulatory burden on development. She argued that developers who submitted a subdivision plan a year ago would not have had any data center regulations to adhere to, and therefore she felt it was unfair to impose them after the fact.
Far too much debate among council members about what projects would be exempted under the new regulations convinced her to file an amendment making it clear, Kilpatrick told Spotlight Delaware.
While Project Washington, the hyper-scale data center project planned near the Delaware City Refinery, has long been understood to be exempted because it predated the debated ordinance, whether other projects would be exempted has been more unclear.
A second amendment filed Friday by Councilman John Cartier would establish the effective date for the regulations as Aug. 5, 2025 – or when Carter filed the original ordinance.
That could imperil a data center planned near Newark, which was filed in December, but another project near the St. George’s Bridge could be saved by Kilpatrick’s amendment, as the project has lingered in the development pipeline since 2024.
It’s unclear whether either amendment could garner a seven-vote majority of the 13-member council. Without Cartier’s amendment, the regulations bill would be effective at the time of signing.
Either way, Carter said he is pushing through the last-minute drama to a vote Tuesday because “waiting any longer is not going to change anything.”
“Tomorrow everybody is going on the record,” he said. “Whether it will pass or won’t pass, I don’t know, but the public will know where they stand.”
At a March 3 committee meeting, prominent Wilmington land use attorney Shawn Tucker, who previously managed the county’s Department of Land Use and now represents developers before the county, warned that applying the regulations to any project retroactively could end in a lawsuit.
He cited a precedent-setting 2002 Delaware Supreme Court case that advised balancing the concerns of the community versus the amount of money developers spend in the pre-development process. Noting that he represented several potential data center projects, the reference could be warning of future litigation.
But Kilpatrick’s proposed amendment also drew swift scrutiny from environmental stakeholders in the state, who long have supported Councilman Carter’s fight to regulate data centers.
Dustyn Thompson, chapter director of the Sierra Club of Delaware, said Kilpatrick’s proposed carveouts to the regulations were unprecedented.
“That is extreme at best, and certainly not something that we’ve ever seen happen at council before,” he said.
While Thompson admitted that including a retroactivity clause within the ordinance could open the county up to litigation, he questioned how Kilpatrick’s amendment works to avoid legal blowback.
“I don’t think we need her amendment to avoid a lawsuit because we’re allowed to set standards for development moving forward,” Thompson said. “That’s within the county’s jurisdiction. So that’s sort of a ridiculous talking point aimed at the ordinance itself.”
The Sierra Club is hosting a protest at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, ahead of the county council meeting, in support of Carter’s proposed regulations and against Kilpatrick’s amendment.
Thompson said he hopes to show Kilpatrick, and other critics on the council, that data center regulations have a wide base of support in New Castle County. The Sierra Club has knocked on more than 3,000 doors, and had more than 1,500 residents show their support for the regulations at the county level, Thompson said.
“The whole point of us coming out before the [meeting] is to just, once again, show that we’re not making this stuff up, right?” Thompson said. “Communities want this. In every single public session that has been out since this ordinance came out has been the same.”
Get Involved
The New Castle County Council will meet at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 10, in the Louis L. Redding City County Building, located at 800 N. French St. in Wilmington.
See the agenda and virtual meeting information here.
The post Last-minute amendment aims to exempt more data center plans from regulation appeared first on Spotlight Delaware.
President makes evidence-free claim despite video showing US Tomahawk missile hit naval base next to school
As oil prices surged amid the widening war with Iran, Donald Trump suggested, without evidence, on Monday that the strike on an Iranian elementary school could have been carried out by Iran or “somebody else”.
During back-to-back appearances in Florida, Trump was asked whether the US would accept responsibility for a strike that hit the school and killed scores of people, many of them children, after video evidence showed a US Tomahawk struck the naval base next to it.
Continue reading...Brothers who visited White House reunited with family after outcry from Texas lawmakers, including Republican congresswoman
Two teenage mariachi musicians were released from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody after their detention sparked widespread backlash, including from a Republican congresswoman.
The Democratic representative Joaquin Castro of Texas announced the release of the brothers, Antonio Yesayahu Gámez-Cuéllar, 18, and Caleb Gámez-Cuéllar, 14, on Monday afternoon, sharing photos on social media of the family reuniting.
Continue reading...Trump is also pushing for the Save America Act to includes provisions to limit transgender youth’s access to care and banning trans women athletes in women’s sports – key US politics stories from Monday 9 March at a glance
Donald Trump renewed his push on Monday for the Save America Act, a curtailment of voting access, after threatening on Sunday not to sign any bills until Congress approves the legislation.
“All voters must show proof of citizenship in order to vote,” Trump said during remarks on Monday at a Republican event in Miami. “No mail-in ballots, except for illness, disability, military or travel.”
Continue reading...Samsung says it's thinking about bringing "vibe coding" to future Galaxy phones, allowing users to describe apps or interface changes in plain language and have AI generate the code. TechRadar interviewed Won-Joon Choi, Samsung's head of mobile experience, to learn more about the plans. Here's an excerpt from their report: As noted by Won-Joon Choi, the usefulness of vibe coding on smartphones is that it opens up the "possibility of customizing your smartphone experience in new ways, not just your apps but your UX." He added, "Right now we're limited to premade tools, but with vibe coding, users could adjust their favorite apps or make something customized to their needs. So vibe coding is very interesting, and something we're looking into." [...] Samsung recently debuted the Galaxy S26 series of phones and made a point to not call them smartphones -- they're "AI phones" now. This certainly rang true with the majority of upgrades to the devices being AI software-focused, like the new Now Nudge and expanded Audio Eraser tools, with the biggest hardware bump for the base models coming via the 39% improved NPU processing (the processor in charge of on-device AI tasks). It also teased the debut of Perplexity on its phones, joining as an alternative to the Gemini assistant, and teased the possibility of other AI models getting the same treatment in the future.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
A researcher at a far-right think tank helped Justice Department prosecutors craft their indictment for terror charges against an alleged “north Texas antifa cell,” the researcher testified Monday. The charges were brought in relation to a protest outside a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center outside Dallas.
Kyle Shideler of the Center for Security Policy said under questioning from a defense attorney that he provided language that prosecutors used in the first-ever domestic terrorism case against a purported antifa cell.
The decision to use the language was the government’s, Shideler said.
“I told them what I believed to be an accurate definition of antifa, and they used it,” Shideler said.
The courtroom testimony provided a window into the extraordinarily close cooperation between federal prosecutors and a Washington advocacy group that has regularly argued for government action against left-wing activists.
Shideler himself was the author of a September article titled “How to Dismantle Far-Left Extremist Networks: A Roadmap for the Trump Administration” that called on the Justice Department to take more aggressive action against left-of-center activists. He said he conferred with prosecutors in October, a month before they obtained an indictment in the Texas case.
Defense lawyers raised questions about Shideler’s professional home, the Center for Security Policy. The nonprofit think tank was founded by Frank Gaffney, a former Defense Department official under President Ronald Reagan who has routinely been described as an Islamophobic conspiracy theorist. Gaffney’s views on Islam are commonly espoused at Center for Security Policy events.
The center itself has been branded a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, a designation Shideler bristled at in court.
“Yes sir, the Southern Poverty Law Center has mislabeled many people as a hate group,” he said in response to questioning from defense lawyer Phillip Hayes.
The nine defendants on trial this month face years or life sentences in prison for a noise demonstration outside ICE’s Prairieland Detention Center on July 4 of last year.
After demonstrators used fireworks in a show of solidarity for the detainees held inside the Alvarado, Texas, facility, local police arrived to confront them. One of the responding officers was shot in the neck.
Shideler testified as an expert witness for the government over the objections of defense attorneys, who were overruled by U.S. District Judge Mark Pittman, a Donald Trump appointee.
In lengthy testimony, he provided a recounting of the history of antifascist organizing that ranged from 1930s Germany to 1980s U.K. activism to the present-day United States. Various tactics used by the Prairieland demonstrators to protect their identities — such as Signal chats, “black block” clothing, and a general “security culture” — were all consistent with antifa practices, Shideler said.
Under questioning from prosecutors, Shideler sought to tie the ideas laid out in anarchist zines recovered from the defendants’ possession with their actions outside the detention center.
Several cooperating defendants have testified that they did not consider themselves members of antifa, defense attorneys pointed out during cross-examination.
They also went on the attack over Shideler’s professional qualifications and his conclusions. Shideler acknowledged that he does not use academic social science methods, does not submit his research for peer review, and relies largely on open-source materials whose authenticity is difficult to verify.
Shideler called Signal a “hallmark of antifa” before adding that he uses it himself.
Shideler called Signal a “hallmark of antifa” before adding that he uses it himself.
The antifa trial is Shideler’s first time testifying as an expert witness in a trial, he said. One defense lawyer noted that Shideler was invited to testify about antifa before the Senate Judiciary Committee in October and asked whether his courtroom appearance this week would provide a further boost to his career.
“I guess it will depend how it goes,” he said.
His testimony is set to continue Tuesday.
The post Islamophobic Think Tank Helped Write Indictment Against ICE Protesters appeared first on The Intercept.
@puzz360 Aha right? Do like a good challenge.
Makes me confident I can do the same to my old XR that is bound to be in no better condition 😅
The so-called Zorro Ranch was the site of numerous alleged abuses, but was not subject to intense scrutiny
New Mexico authorities launched a search of a ranch previously owned by Jeffrey Epstein, state officials announced on Monday.
The late convicted sex offender and financier’s so-called Zorro Ranch was the site of numerous alleged abuses, according to civil and criminal proceedings. But the location was not subject to the same scrutiny as other Epstein properties, and a Guardian investigation in February revealed that federal authorities apparently never searched the New Mexico ranch.
Continue reading...At a Miami-area news conference Monday, President Trump said he expects the war in Iran to end "very soon," but also called it "the beginning of building a new country."
Jurors in Manhattan federal court reached a verdict Monday after weeks of testimony in the sex trafficking trial of brothers Tal, Oren and Alon Alexander.
President Trump told CBS News the U.S. war with Iran is "very complete," and said the U.S. "could do a lot" about the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran's women's soccer team was branded "traitors" after declining to sing their national anthem at the Asian Cup in Australia, fueling fear for the women if they returned home.
Conflict in the Middle East risks knocking growth worldwide and boosting prices, economists warn, amid global market turbulence
Oil prices surged on Monday, triggering a stark sell-off across some of the world’s leading stock markets amid growing concern that the US-Israel war on Iran could set the stage for a global economic shock.
While they fell back on Tuesday after Donald Trump suggested the Middle East conflict could end “very soon”, oil continues to trade at high levels.
Continue reading...Scientific awards – which honor research that makes people laugh and then think – to move away from ‘unsafe’ US
The annual Ig Nobels, a satirical award for scientific achievement, are shifting for the first time from the US to Europe due to concerns about attendees getting visas, organizers announced on Monday.
Organized by the Annals of Improbable Research, a digital magazine that highlights research that makes people laugh and then think, the 36th annual ceremony will be held in Zurich. It’s usually held in the US in September, a few weeks before the actual Nobel prizes are announced.
Continue reading...Ban could still materialise in future after Commons support government bid to give additional powers to secretary of state
A proposed ban on social media for under-16s has been rejected by MPs.
Parliamentarians voted 307 to 173, majority 134, against the proposed change to the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, which was brought forward by Conservative former minister Lord Nash.
Continue reading...The tool will let you track NASA's modern lunar program during its 10-day flight around the moon and back again.
Trump calls Operation Epic Fury ‘one of the most complex and stunning operations ever conducted’ and touts ‘very good’ call with Putin about Iran
Donald Trump has said a decision on when to end the war with Iran will be a “mutual” one he’ll make together with Benjamin Netanyahu, the Times of Israel has reported.
It said Trump also claimed in a brief telephone interview on Sunday that Iran would have destroyed Israel if he and Netanyahu had not been around. The US president said:
Iran was going to destroy Israel and everything else around it … We’ve worked together. We’ve destroyed a country that wanted to destroy Israel.
I think it’s mutual … a little bit. We’ve been talking. I’ll make a decision at the right time, but everything’s going to be taken into account.
Continue reading...Here are hints and the answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle for March 10, No. 533.
While IBM’s OS/2 technically did die, its development was picked up again much later, first through eComStation, and later, after money issues at its parent company Mensys, through ArcaOS. eComStation development stalled because of the money issues and has been dead for years; ArcaOS picked up where it left off and has been making steady progress since its first release in 2017. Regardless, the developers behind both projects develop OS/2 under license from IBM, but it’s unclear just how much they can change or alter, and what the terms of the agreement are.
Anyway, ArcaOS 5.1.2 has just been released, and it seems to be a rather minor release. It further refines ArcaOS’ support for UEFI and GPT-based disks, the tentpole feature of ArcaOS 5.1 which allows the operating system to be installed on a much more modern systems without having to fiddle with BIOS compatibility modes. Looking at the list of changes, there’s the usual list of updated components from both Arca Noae and the wider OS/2 community. You’ll find the latest versions of of the Panorama graphics drivers, ACPI, USB, and NVMe drivers, improved localisation, newer versions of the VNC server and viewer, and much more.
If you have an active Support & Maintenance subscription for ArcaOS 5.1, this update is free, and it’s also available at discounted prices as upgrades for earlier versions. A brand new copy of ArcaOS 5.1.x will set you back $139, which isn’t cheap, but considering this price is probably a consequence of what must be some onerous licensing terms and other agreements with IBM, I doubt there’s much Arca Noae can do about it.
How Apple's lower-cost iPhone 17E matches up with its more-expensive sibling phones.
Save Act would limit voting access in the US and centers on Trump’s unfounded claims of noncitizens stealing elections
Donald Trump renewed his push Monday for the Save America Act, a curtailment of voting access, after threatening on Sunday not to sign any bills until Congress approves the legislation.
“All voters must show proof of citizenship in order to vote,” Trump said during remarks on Monday at a Republican event in Miami. “No mail-in ballots, except for illness, disability, military or travel.”
Continue reading...Secretary of State Marco Rubio formally designated Afghanistan as a state sponsor of wrongful detention, paving the way for the Trump administration to impose penalties such as sanctions and export controls.
Electronic Arts has laid off staff across multiple Battlefield studios despite Battlefield 6 being the best-selling game in the U.S. in 2025 and the "biggest launch in franchise history." According to IGN, the layoffs include workers at Criterion, Dice, Ripple Effect, and Motive Studios. From the report: Individuals are being informed that the layoffs are taking place as part of a "realignment" across the Battlefield studios, as the team continues its ongoing, live service support for Battlefield 6 following launch. All four studios will remain operational, though the layoffs seem to be impacting a variety of teams across multiple studios and offices. IGN asked EA for comment on total number and types of roles impacted, as well as for the specific reasons for the layoffs. An EA spokesperson told IGN: "We've made select changes within our Battlefield organization to better align our teams around what matters most to our community. Battlefield remains one of our biggest priorities, and we're continuing to invest in the franchise, guided by player feedback and insights from Battlefield Labs."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
The State Department’s most recent directives apply to personnel in Turkey and Saudi Arabia, underscoring the ongoing threat posed by Iranian counterattacks.
Uber is expanding a pilot program aimed at addressing concerns about the safety of its ride-hailing platform
Uber launched a feature on Monday to allow both female riders and drivers across the US to be matched with other women for trips, expanding a pilot program aimed at addressing concerns about the safety of its ride-hailing platform.
The new feature is being rolled out nationwide despite an ongoing class action lawsuit against the policy in California, filed by Uber drivers who argue that it is discriminatory against men. Rival ride-hailing company Lyft is also facing a discrimination lawsuit over a similar offering that it introduced nationwide in 2024.
Continue reading...Anthony Albanese announces surveillance aircraft, air-to-air missiles and supporting personnel will be deployed to the UAE after request from their president
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Australia will send a specialist surveillance aircraft and stocks of air-to-air missiles to the United Arab Emirates, in what Anthony Albanese said is an effort to help protect Australians in the region under threat from Iranian attack.
As the Iran war grows, the prime minister announced the assistance on Tuesday morning after talks with the UAE’s president, Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, and US president Donald Trump overnight. Iran has attacked a dozen countries since the start of US and Israeli bombings and the death of the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Independent adviser says some judges in England and Wales have not heard of changes to way cases are investigated
An overhaul of the way police investigate rape is being put at risk by a lack of awareness in courtrooms in England and Wales, the government’s independent adviser on rape has warned.
Prof Katrin Hohl said legal experts were concerned progress would stall or reverse if the conviction rate for rape dropped significantly because a new approach for investigating the cases, known as Operation Soteria, was hitting outdated practices in the courts.
Continue reading...President reassures Republicans that conflict is intended to be short lived but also says ‘we haven’t won enough’
Donald Trump has said that the war in Iran is “very complete, pretty much”, as the economic toll of the joint US-Israeli operation has risen, disrupting global oil trade and threatening to engulf the Middle East in a regional war.
Trump made the comments before a speech and press conference in Florida where he sought to emphasise that the US military campaign would be ending soon amid concerns from Republican allies that the US was being dragged into another long-term conflict in the region.
Continue reading...Victims remembered as ‘cherished’ and ‘devoted’ after shooting at EZ’s Lounge that injured five others on Saturday
A 33-year-old teacher and a 25-year-old father were identified as the two people killed in a mass shooting at an Oakland, California, bar over the weekend.
Seven people were shot in the incident at EZ’s Lounge on early Saturday morning. Police identified the two deadly victims on Monday as Latetia Bobo and Markise Martin.
Continue reading...Live Nation reached a settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice that avoids breaking up its dominant live events empire with Ticketmaster. Instead, the deal requires changes like "open sourcing" their ticketing model and divesting some venues. NBC News reports: The company and the Justice Department reached a settlement on Monday, following a week of testimony during an antitrust trial that threatened to potentially separate the world's largest live entertainment company. [...] On a background call with reporters Monday, a senior justice official said the deal will drive down prices by giving both artists and consumers more choice. As part of the agreement, Ticketmaster will provide a standalone ticketing system that will allow third-party companies like SeatGeek and StubHub to offer primary tickets through the platform. The senior justice official described it as "open sourcing" their ticketing model. The company will also divest up to 13 amphitheaters and reserve 50% of tickets for nonexclusive venues. Ticketmaster is also prohibited from retaliating against a venue that selects another primary ticket distributor, among other requirements. Although a group of states have joined the DOJ in signing the agreement, other states can continue to press their own claims.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Commissioner: League heard ‘significant concerns’
Spurs’ Kornet had penned post against promotion
The NBA has called off the Atlanta Hawks’ plans for a night celebrating the city’s famed Magic City strip club, saying it did so because of “concerns” from many across the league.
The Hawks announced the plan last month, saying the team would pay tribute to an “iconic cultural institution” with food – including the club’s famous lemon pepper wings – along with a live music performance by Atlanta native TI and exclusive merchandise.
After the Hawks announced plans for the promotion, San Antonio Spurs center Luke Kornet spoke out about the idea and urged the parties involved to reconsider. And the league evidently heard the same messaging from others.
Continue reading...Oren, Alon and Tal Alexander convicted in New York after being accused of raping dozens of women
Three brothers, including two of the nation’s most successful luxury real estate brokers, were convicted of sex trafficking charges on Monday after a five-week trial over accusations that they used drugs and force to rape scores of women they had dazzled with their wealth and opulent lifestyle.
The verdict came after 11 women testified they were sexually assaulted by one or more of the brothers: twins Oren and Alon Alexander, 38, and Tal Alexander, 39.
Continue reading...Oh boy.
Wikipedia editors have implemented new policies and restricted a number of contributors who were paid to use AI to translate existing Wikipedia articles into other languages after they discovered these AI translations added AI “hallucinations,” or errors, to the resulting article.
↫ Emanuel Maiberg at 404 Media
There seems to be this pervasive conviction among Silicon Valley techbro types, and many programmers and developers in general, that translation and localisation are nothing more than basic find/replace tasks that you can automate away. At first, we just needed to make corpora of two different languages kiss and smooch, and surely that would automate translation and localisation away if the corpora were large enough. When this didn’t turn out to work very well, they figured that if we made the words in the corpora tumble down a few pachinko machines and then made them kiss and smooch, yes, then we’d surely have automated translation and localisation.
Nothing could be further from the truth. As someone who has not only worked as a professional translator for over 15 years, but who also holds two university degrees in the subject, I keep reiterating that translation isn’t just a dumb substitution task; it’s a real craft, a real art, one you can have talent for, one you need to train for, and study for. You’d think anyone with sufficient knowledge in two languages can translate effectively between the two, but without a much deeper understanding of language in general and the languages involved in particular, as well as a deep understanding of the cultures in which the translation is going to be used, and a level of reading and text comprehension that go well beyond that of most, you’re going to deliver shit translations.
Trust me, I’ve seen them. I’ve been paid good money to correct, fix, and mangle something usable out of other people’s translations. You wouldn’t believe the shit I’ve seen.
Translation involves the kinds of intricacies, nuances, and context “AI” isn’t just bad at, but simply cannot work with in any way, shape, or form. I’ve said it before, but it won’t be long before people start getting seriously injured – or worse – because of the cost-cutting in the translation industry, and the effects that’s going to have on, I don’t know, the instruction manuals for complex tools, or the leaflet in your grandmother’s medications.
Because some dumbass bean counter kills the budget for proper, qualified, trained, and experienced translators, people are going to die.
National Transportation Safety Board member Todd Inman called the allegations against him false and a "political hit job."
Senators say Trump allies such as Hegseth and Rubio should be forced to testify to Congress on ‘unnecessary war’
Democratic senators have filed a wave of new war powers resolutions as they call on Republicans to convene public hearings into the US hostilities with Iran or be forced to vote on continuing a conflict that polls show majorities of Americans do not support.
Late last week, Democrats Cory Booker of New Jersey, Tim Kaine of Virginia, Adam Schiff of California, Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin and Chris Murphy of Connecticut filed resolutions under the War Powers Act that would force the US military to withdraw from the war with Iran unless Congress votes to authorize the engagement.
Continue reading...Home affairs minister Tony Burke confirms US president Donald Trump’s overnight comments on social media that the players had been ‘taken care of’
Five members of the Iranian women’s football team have been granted humanitarian visas in Australia, with the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, offering assistance to the other players and saying “help is here”.
The home affairs minister, Tony Burke, confirmed the humanitarian offer on Tuesday morning, hours after the US president, Donald Trump, posted about their plight on social media. Burke said the visas had been granted at about 1.30am on Tuesday morning, around the time of Trump’s social media posts, which first criticised, then praised, Australia.
Continue reading...App downloads for VPN services increase sharply as websites in Australia go behind age-restriction walls.
Ok so this is my second attempt to get a non-contradictive answer in regard to an Error 16 on an old version XR, specifically if the stock battery can be disconnected from the BMS and reconnected and still be used.
This XR has the latest firmware/hardware updates. I can't see what the numbers are because of the Error 16 notification blocking the app.
I disconnected the white cable. Then the battery, moved the BMS and battery to a new battery box, then reconnected the battery, waited 20 seconds or more then plugged in the white cable. I get error 16.
I have been told that we can not disconnect and reconnect the battery/BMS on an updated XR.
I have also been told that we can change the battery/unplug the BMS on an updated XR.
Again this is an XR, not a GT or Pint or XRC.
Is there a definitive answer to this? Thanks.
The figure, accounting for the war’s first two days, is likely to intensify concerns in Congress that U.S. forces are churning through a scarce supply of advanced weaponry.
David Pogue, author of "Apple: The First 50 Years," talks with Apple's co-founder Steve Wozniak, CEO Tim Cook, and others about the vision of Steve Jobs, and how the company's products and services have reshaped life, technology and culture in the 21st century.
Every modifier key starts simple and humble, with a specific task and a nice matching name.
This never lasts. The tasks become larger and more convoluted, and the labels grow obsolete. Shift no longer shifts a carriage, Control doesn’t send control codes, Alt isn’t for alternate nerdy terminal functions.
Fn is the newest popular modifier key, and it feels we’re speedrunning it through all the challenges without having learned any of the lessons.
↫ Marcin Wichary
Grab a blanket, curl up on the couch with some coffee or tea, and enjoy.
A judge ruled last summer that President Trump's former lawyer Alina Habba was illegally serving as top New Jersey's federal prosecutor. On Monday, Habba's replacements were also disqualified.
If your putting this motor on an XR/XRV frame, then theses bolts will fit perfectly.....
20 Pcs M8-1.25x20mm Stainless Steel Hex Socket Head Cap Screws Bolts Inner Hex Socket Bolt DIN 912 https://a.co/d/0g7NiFdP
These are the outer bolts that attach to the rail
If using axle blocks from Fungineers
Hope this helps someone
Thanks to the kind people in the Fungineers Discord. Spread love and knowledge through this community! 🙏
Social media is showing you more ads, suggestions and recommended posts, pushing aside content you actually want.
Markets settled after Trump claimed US-Israel war with Iran is ‘very complete’, bringing oil prices down to $85 a barrel
US stock markets closed on a high after oil prices swung wildly on Monday, reaching a four-year high in the morning that rattled Asian and European markets before settling down once Donald Trump said the US-Israel war with Iran is “very complete”.
After surging past $100 a barrel on Monday morning, oil prices came down to $85 a barrel by the time that US stock markets closed in the afternoon. US stocks leaped at a report from a CBS News reporter that Trump thinks “the war is very complete, pretty much” because “they have no navy, no communications, they’ve got no air force”.
Continue reading...Spend time with one of these scary stories.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from KrebsOnSecurity: AI-based assistants or "agents" -- autonomous programs that have access to the user's computer, files, online services and can automate virtually any task -- are growing in popularity with developers and IT workers. But as so many eyebrow-raising headlines over the past few weeks have shown, these powerful and assertive new tools are rapidly shifting the security priorities for organizations, while blurring the lines between data and code, trusted co-worker and insider threat, ninja hacker and novice code jockey. The new hotness in AI-based assistants -- OpenClaw (formerly known as ClawdBot and Moltbot) -- has seen rapid adoption since its release in November 2025. OpenClaw is an open-source autonomous AI agent designed to run locally on your computer and proactively take actions on your behalf without needing to be prompted. If that sounds like a risky proposition or a dare, consider that OpenClaw is most useful when it has complete access to your entire digital life, where it can then manage your inbox and calendar, execute programs and tools, browse the Internet for information, and integrate with chat apps like Discord, Signal, Teams or WhatsApp. Other more established AI assistants like Anthropic's Claude and Microsoft's Copilot also can do these things, but OpenClaw isn't just a passive digital butler waiting for commands. Rather, it's designed to take the initiative on your behalf based on what it knows about your life and its understanding of what you want done. "The testimonials are remarkable," the AI security firm Snyk observed. "Developers building websites from their phones while putting babies to sleep; users running entire companies through a lobster-themed AI; engineers who've set up autonomous code loops that fix tests, capture errors through webhooks, and open pull requests, all while they're away from their desks." You can probably already see how this experimental technology could go sideways in a hurry. [...] Last month, Meta AI safety director Summer Yue said OpenClaw unexpectedly started mass-deleting messages in her email inbox, despite instructions to confirm those actions first. She wrote: "Nothing humbles you like telling your OpenClaw 'confirm before acting' and watching it speedrun deleting your inbox. I couldn't stop it from my phone. I had to RUN to my Mac mini like I was defusing a bomb." Krebs also noted the many misconfigured OpenClaw installations users had set up, leaving their administrative dashboards publicly accessible online. According to pentester Jamieson O'Reilly, "a cursory search revealed hundreds of such servers exposed online." When those exposed interfaces are accessed, attackers can retrieve the agent's configuration and sensitive credentials. O'Reilly warned attackers could access "every credential the agent uses -- from API keys and bot tokens to OAuth secrets and signing keys." "You can pull the full conversation history across every integrated platform, meaning months of private messages and file attachments, everything the agent has seen," O'Reilly added. And because you control the agent's perception layer, you can manipulate what the human sees. Filter out certain messages. Modify responses before they're displayed."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Food containing norovirus may smell and taste normal but still cause serious illness if consumed, FDA warns.
Communities secretary tells MPs that government has to act against record levels of hate crimes
A new definition of anti-Muslim hate will not restrict freedom of speech, the communities secretary has pledged, as he said that “clear expectations” will still be set for new arrivals and existing communities in Britain to learn English.
MPs were told by Steve Reed that the government had a duty to act against record levels of hate crime against Muslims, but that “you can’t tackle a problem if you can’t describe it”.
Continue reading...One of the largest school districts in New Mexico subjects Navajo students to pervasive discrimination and a climate of fear, according to a report released last week by the Navajo Nation Human Rights Commission.
The 25-page report draws on testimony from parents and community members at four public hearings in Navajo Nation communities within the school district. It urges the New Mexico attorney general’s office to release findings from a two-and-a-half-year investigation into the district’s discipline of Indigenous students.
The Navajo Nation Human Rights Commission’s report cited an investigation published in December 2022 by New Mexico In Depth and ProPublica that found Indigenous students were punished more harshly than other students in New Mexico during the four years ending in 2020. The Gallup-McKinley district, which has the largest Indigenous student body of any local school district in the country, was largely responsible for that disparity, an analysis of student discipline records from across the state showed. Attorney General Raúl Torrez opened an investigation into the district’s disciplinary practices in 2023.
On Wednesday, Torrez’s chief of staff, Lauren Rodriguez, said the office’s long-running investigation is complete and has found “troubling disciplinary practices.” She added that the agency’s “exhaustive” investigation calls for the state Public Education Department to enforce student discipline data reporting requirements and better track that information. Previously, the district’s former longtime Superintendent Mike Hyatt, had downplayed the amount of discipline Native students receive and pointed to poor data collection as an issue.
“It’s our kids, our students, who are suffering the consequences of entrenched racism,” Wendy Greyeyes, the chair of the commission that released the new report and an associate professor of Native American studies at the University of New Mexico, said in an interview.
The Public Education Department should have caught the discipline disparities in the data it collects from districts, Greyeyes said. “There’s obviously not a clear auditing of data that’s being collected,” she said.
The attorney general’s office told New Mexico In Depth that, despite its findings, it’s not clear under state law that the office can “pursue formal legal action against the district for this particular conduct.”
That lack of legal clarity, the spokesperson said, is why Torrez has pushed for comprehensive state civil rights legislation since 2023.
Under the New Mexico Civil Rights Act, private individuals can sue public bodies for violations of the state constitution, but law does not explicitly authorize the attorney general to investigate and prosecute public bodies for systemic inequities, the way the federal Department of Justice can. In 2023, New Mexico lawmakers passed a bill that would have given the attorney general broad authority to investigate state or local agencies for civil rights violations. The bill had bipartisan support, but Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham killed it with a pocket veto. (Lujan Grisham did not issue a formal statement about the veto but said at the time that the bill was well-intentioned but would “create confusion” and that “much of the work outlined in the legislation can be undertaken by the AG regardless of whether or not the bill is signed.”)
At the time, Torrez told New Mexico In Depth that his office has an implied authority to pursue such cases, but that having it enshrined in law would have made it “crystal clear.”
Torrez’s spokesperson said he remains committed to seeing such legislation pass.
At the four meetings held by the Navajo Nation Human Rights Commission in September and October, parents, students and community members described harsh discipline, language barriers, discriminatory hiring practices, problems with special education plans and inadequate classroom heating systems.
Greyeyes described a pervasive fear of retaliation. Some witnesses cried at hearings, she said — afraid their words would get back to the district — and parents spoke on behalf of children too afraid to testify themselves. Transcripts of their testimony were not publicly released.
The commission’s report recommends a formal agreement between the Navajo Nation and Gallup-McKinley for the district to adopt a discipline policy based on restorative justice, a strategy that seeks to rebuild relationships, not simply punish the student who caused the harm. Such a policy could be modeled on existing talking-circles programs at New Mexico’s Cuba Independent School District and the STAR School east of Flagstaff, Arizona, on the Navajo Nation, Greyeyes said.
The report also recommends a comprehensive state financial audit of the district’s spending on Native education compared to that of other students, and it calls for the state education department to better manage and track districts’ student discipline data.
The school district did not respond to voice messages and emails seeking comment about the Navajo Nation Human Rights Commission report.
The problems identified in the commission’s report are “rooted in colonization,” Greyeyes said. “It’s rooted in institutional racism. A lot of these things are accepted sometimes even by our own Navajo people, and we need to bring this information out and figure out a way to address these issues.”
The report’s recommendations “begin that conversation,” she said.
The post Native Students Receive Excessive Discipline in This New Mexico School District, Report Finds appeared first on ProPublica.
A new render shows exactly what an iPhone Fold could look like.
Graphics cards and NAND stock aren’t the only computing ingredients selling like hotcakes these days as a result of the AI boom. Executives for AMD and Intel have noted that demand for X64 CPUs is up considerably, due to the overall AI factory buildout in general–but more specifically, thanks to the shift to running AI inference and agentic AI workloads.
Up to this point, GPUs have been the undisputed hardware stars of the AI show, thanks to their capability to do the heavy computational lifting that modern neural networks require. This is particularly true during the training phase, where GPUs with thousands of cores can plow through the parallel matrix multiplication required to turn training data into weighted parameters. With the lion’s share of the data center market, Nvidia has reaped the rewards of the AI boom, which made it the world’s first $5 trillion company.
As the dust settled from the initial AI boom at the beginning of 2025, attention shifted from AI model training to AI inference. A new workload, agentic AI, also emerged. Suddenly, AI operators faced the prospect of running hundreds or thousands of semi-autonomous AI agents in parallel. This created a new bottleneck in the infrastructure around the speed at which data can be moved from memory into the GPU and back. Insatiable demand for high-bandwidth memory (HBM) put pressure on the world’s NAND stocks, which resulted in a shortage of NVMe drives and big price increases.
So far in our story, the humble CPU hasn’t played a starring role. But as AI evolved, we find the infrastructure needs are shifting right back over the CPU sweet spot.
The reason is that, while CPUs don’t often run AI models directly, they are responsible for handling many other tasks necessary to run today’s modern neural network workloads. This includes tasks like data pre-processing, AI model orchestration, and scheduling the more computationally heavy tasks among fleets of GPUs. There’s a reason that Nvidia, AMD, and others are building “superchips” that fuse GPUs (or other AI accelerators) with CPUs into a single chip.
In some cases, CPUs are the preferred hardware for running AI inference, particularly for smaller models that will run at the edge. CPUs are smaller than today’s big GPUs, and they have more modest power and cooling requirements. As the agentic AI revolution ramps up and organizations are looking to deploy AI, they’re finding it preferable to run their AI models on-prem and on the edge, rather than in massive cloud data centers, in part to minimize data movement, which is computationally expensive.
“The CPU has become cool again this year,” Intel Executive VP and CFO David Zinsner said last week during a panel at the recent Morgan Stanley Technology, Media & Telecom Conference, according to a transcript of the event on SeekingAlpha. “We’ve long believed that CPUs needed to kind of stay along with the GPUs in these data centers.”
Zinsner said the total market for CPUs was up by 20% to 30% in 2025, and is on track to increase again in 2026. “We’re starting to see customers come in, in that space asking for long-term agreements, that should tell you that there’s legs to this,” the Intel EVP said during the event.” They’re looking at this over a three- to five-year basis and want to lock in supply with us.”
AMD CEO Lisa Su said she was surprised by the demand for CPUs
That viewpoint was echoed by AMD CEO Lisa Su, who also spoke at the Morgan Stanley conference in San Francisco last week.
“I’m very, very excited about the GPU portion of the business,” Su said at the conference, according to a transcript provided by Investing.com. “The CPU portion of the business has actually far exceeded my expectations in terms of demand.”
The end of 2025 and the beginning of 2026 was marked by significant demand for high-performance compute, Su said, citing the upcoming launch of the MI450, AMD’s next-generation GPU, which is due out in the second half of 2026. But GPUs aren’t the only type of chip in demand, thanks to AI.
“We’re seeing a significant CPU demand, frankly, as a result of the inference demand picking up,” Su said. “We’ve always believed that the computing stack is heterogeneous, and you’re going to need CPUs and GPUs and FPGAs and all of these components. That’s really coming to fruition here in 2026.”
Intel and AMD both launched new CPUs today at the Embedded World 2026 show in Nuremberg, Germany, that take aim at edge AI workloads. The Intel Core Series 2 is designed for industrial and edge applications that demand higher multi-threaded performance and lower latencies. The new AMD Ryzen AI Embedded P100 Series processor, meanwhile, is targeting industrial PCs, physical AI, and healthcare applications,
The world definitely needs more AI accelerators to handle the heavy lifting that AI requires. Trillions of dollars are being invested in the infrastructure to power emerging AI workloads, and a large amount of that spending will go toward GPUs and other XPUs from Nvidia, AMD, Intel, and others. But as general-purpose processors that can do a range of tasks, the humble CPU will also hear its name called quite a bit through the data center buildout taking place over the next four years. The only surprise here may be that the CPU demand was unexpected.
The post AI Boom Comes for CPUs, Which Are ‘Cool Again’ appeared first on HPCwire.
Andy Ogles posted ‘Muslims don’t belong in American society,’ among other statements, prompting Cair to call him an ‘anti-Muslim extremist’
Andy Ogles, a Republican representative of Tennessee, spent Monday on an Islamophobic rant, writing on social media: “Muslims don’t belong in American society,” among other statements that drew heated criticism from Democrats.
“None of them belong here,” Ogles wrote in one of several posts on X, next to the mugshots of people he identified as being from Somalia and Senegal, the latter of whom was killed by police after a mass shooting last week in Austin, Texas.
Continue reading...The U.S. average gas price has jumped 48 cents since last week, with experts predicting that higher fuel costs could persist for months.
After a sharp drop in early trading, stocks recovered part of those losses as oil prices fell back below $100.
Two men from Pennsylvania are facing federal charges for the incident. Video captured someone yelling "Allahu Akbar" just as a protester threw an "ignited device" during an anti-Islam demonstration in New York City.
The Los Angeles Police Department identified the woman as 35-year-old Ivanna Ortiz. She has been booked for attempted murder.
President Trump's assurances that a rising U.S. death toll and soaring energy prices will be temporary and worth the pain are failing to assuage jittery investors.
Emir Balat and Ibrahim Kayumi of Pennsylvania are accused of trying to detonate bombs at an anti-Islam rally near New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s home Saturday.
Kemi may be all in favour, but at least economic realpolitik is forcing her to take a slightly different tack
There have been any number of opportunities for people to decide they wanted no part of America’s war with Iran. The first was after the US had launched its first wave of strikes. To be fair, this was the moment Keir Starmer and most of the UK reckoned enough was enough and that our involvement would be limited to defensive strikes only.
You couldn’t really fault the logic. Did the UK really want to be part of a war that was illegal in most versions of international law and for which the Americans had no clear vision of how it might end? Other than Donald Trump gets bored and lets everyone else clear up his mess. Like a baby. Nor was the UK’s track record of wars in the 21st century any source of pride. Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya had all been in chaos. Iran was shaping up the same way. So Starmer decided to sit this one out. Applying the doctor’s principle of ”first, do no harm”.
Continue reading...Republican senator warns of ‘consequences’ if kingdom does not join US strikes against Iranians
Senator Lindsey Graham on Monday questioned whether the United States should honor a long-sought defense agreement with Saudi Arabia, saying the kingdom’s refusal to join military operations against Iran made the partnership difficult to justify given that Americans were dying in a war Graham himself helped push the Trump administration to start.
In a post on X, Graham said the American embassy in Riyadh was being evacuated due to sustained Iranian attacks on Saudi soil, and expressed frustration that Riyadh had declined to participate militarily despite what he described as a shared interest in defeating Iran.
Continue reading...Here are some hints and the answers for the NYT Connections puzzle for March 10, No. 1,003
Here are hints and the answer for today's Wordle for March 10, No. 1,725.
Bluesky CEO Jay Graber is stepping down after overseeing the platform's growth from a Twitter research project into a 40-million-user alternative to X. "As Bluesky matures, the company needs a seasoned operator focused on scaling and execution, while I return to what I do best: building new things," Graber wrote in a statement. She will be transitioning to a new Chief Innovation Officer role while Venture capitalist Toni Schneider will serve as interim CEO until the board searches for a permanent replacement. Wired reports: Graber joined Bluesky in 2019, when it was a research project within Twitter focused on developing a decentralized framework for the social web. She became the company's first chief executive officer in 2021, when it spun out into an independent entity. She oversaw the platform's remarkable rise and the growing pains it experienced as it transformed from a quirky Twitter offshoot to a full-fledged alternative to X. Schneider tells WIRED that he intends to help Bluesky "become not just the best open social app, but the foundation for a whole new generation of user-owned networks." Schneider, who will continue working as a partner at the venture capital firm True Ventures while at Bluesky, was previously CEO of the Wordpress parent company, Automattic, from 2006 to 2014. He also served as its CEO again in 2024 while top executive Matt Mullenweg went on a sabbatical. During that time, Schneider met Graber and became an adviser to Bluesky's leadership. In a blog post announcing his new role, Schneider said he plans to emphasize scaling, describing his job as "to help set up Bluesky's next phase of growth." This isn't the end for Graber and Bluesky. She will transition to become the company's chief innovation officer, a role focused on Bluesky's technology stack rather than its business operations. The position was created for her. Graber, who began her career as a software engineer, has always sounded the most enthusiastic when discussing Bluesky's technology rather than its revenue streams. Bluesky's board of directors will appoint the next permanent CEO. The members include Jabber founder Jeremie Miller, crypto-focused VC Kinjal Shah, TechDirt founder Mike Masnick, and Graber. (Twitter founder Jack Dorsey was originally part of the board but quit in 2024.) This means Graber will have input on her successor. The talent search is still in early stages.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Leader of rebel group says there is deep concern within Society of Labour Lawyers about courts and tribunals bill
Lawyers affiliated to Labour were “blocked” from briefing party MPs to share concerns about plans to cut the number of jury trials in England and Wales, it has been claimed.
The allegation was made by Karl Turner, the leader of a backbench rebellion against a flagship government bill that would remove the right to a jury trial in thousands of cases, before the first chance by MPs to vote on the legislation.
Continue reading...Here are hints and answers for the NYT Strands puzzle for March 10, No. 737.
Mr. Butterfield, a onetime aide to the president, electrified the Watergate investigation with his bombshell testimony about Nixon’s secret recording system.
Pair also bet on Jones to receive yellow card
Players overlapped for one season at Columbus Crew
Major League Soccer announced on Monday that it has given Derrick Jones and Yaw Yeboah lifetime bans for “extensive” gambling, including on games involving their own teams. In one instance, the pair won a bet that Jones would receive a yellow card.
MLS said it had received “suspicious betting alerts” and retained a law firm to investigate. The players were placed on administrative leave in late October 2025 as the review ran its course. Eventually, the investigation found that both players betted on soccer extensively throughout the 2024 and 2025 seasons, including on their own teams.
Continue reading...Debt consolidation could help you simplify payments and cut interest costs if you know which loans to consider.
Request for records related to election audit appears latest part of Trump effort to spread false claims about voting
A federal grand jury subpoenaed Arizona’s legislature for records related the state senate’s widely criticized review of the 2020 election, the state senate president said on Monday, in what appears to be the latest part of the Trump administration’s efforts to spread false claims about the 2020 election and voting in the United States.
Warren Petersen, the president of the Arizona state senate, confirmed on X on Monday the legislature had received a subpoena related to records of its review of the election results in Maricopa county, the most populous in the state. He added that “the FBI has the records”.
Continue reading...  | My buddy gave me his Onewheel Pint X a couple days ago because he doesn’t ride it anymore. I brought it home, rode it around my block for a bit, and I left it in my garage which is moderate temp and dry. Two days later, I try to turn it on and get the blinking yellow light. On the app it gives me the “I need my personal space” error message. I‘ve read about this issue and tried charging and cleaning the grip tape, but neither worked. I did notice a lot of sand in the crevices, could there somehow be sand affecting the footpad sensor? Am I really going to have to buy a new $100 footpad for it to work again? What confuses me is that literally nothing happened between when it was working fine and when this started happening. My friend says he had never seen it do that before either and it only has 24 miles on it. What could have happened? [link] [comments] |
Chancellor says she is ready to help households with rising costs but stops short of setting out specific steps
Britain is likely to be hit by rising inflation because of the US war with Iran, the chancellor has said, as she suggested that a “rapid de-escalation” would be the best protection against a jump in energy prices.
Rachel Reeves stopped short of setting out any new relief for families who might be hit by rising prices, rebuffing calls to ditch a planned 5p rise in fuel duty in September.
The price of Brent crude oil rocketed to as high as $119.50 on Sunday, a jump of 29%.
The Bank of England is now expected to keep interest rates on hold through 2026, with a small possibility of a rise in 2027.
The prospect of a prolonged conflict and higher inflation also pushed global markets lower.
The AA said drivers could “consider cutting out some non-essential journeys and changing their driving style to conserve fuel”.
Continue reading...SAN DIEGO, March 9, 2026 — HPCwire, the leading publication for news and information for the high performance computing industry, today unveiled its People to Watch for 2026. This feature highlights key community members who are driving the industry forward, people you should be keeping an eye on in the year to come.
Over the course of the program, HPCwire has recognized more than 275 HPC luminaries who have gone on to achieve extraordinary things. One dozen additional individuals are being honored in 2026, the 24th year of the People to Watch program.
“Selecting 12 People to Watch is profoundly difficult, considering the immense amount of intelligence, creativity, and drive that exists in the HPC community,” said HPCwire Managing Editor Alex Woodie. “There are many individuals worthy of this honor, but I feel confident that the 2026 People to Watch exemplify the relentless pursuit of excellence and progress that this program represents.”
This year’s group of People to Watch is marked by the transformative impact that AI is having on the fields of science and engineering. Despite the enormous potential for automation that AI brings to many fields, including scientific computing, none of it works without people — people like the ones we are proud to honor. Our 12 People to Watch for 2026 are at the forefront of these trends, adapting new technology to our rapidly-changing world in order to unlock the answers to the biggest societal challenges of our time and make the impossible, possible.
The 2026 HPCwire People to Watch selections are:
Rosa Badia
HPC Software Research Area Director, Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC)
Ian Colle
Senior Vice President and Chief Product Officer, Penguin Solutions
Eric Demers
SVP, GPU IP Engineering, Intel Data Center Group
Jay Gambetta
Director of IBM Research and IBM Fellow
Dario Gil
Under Secretary for Science, U.S. Department of Energy
Bastian Koller
Managing Director High Performance Computing Center Stuttgart (HLRS)
Elizabeth L’Heureux
Principal Head of HPC, BP
Emmanuel Le Roux
Senior Vice President, Head of Bull at Atos Group
Thomas Lippert
Director, Jülich Supercomputing Centre (JSC)
Satoshi Matsuoka
Director, RIKEN Center for Computational Science
Samantika Sury
Fellow, Chief Hardware Architect and VP, HPC and AI Solutions, HPE
Kathy Yelick
Robert S. Pepper Distinguished Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences and Vice Chancellor for Research, UC Berkeley
To read exclusive interviews with each Person to Watch, please visit: www.hpcwire.com/people-to-watch-2026.
About HPCwire
HPCwire is a news site and weekly newsletter covering the fastest computers in the world and the people who run them. As the trusted source for HPC news since 1987, HPCwire serves as the publication of record on the issues, opportunities, challenges, and community developments relevant to the global High Performance Computing space. Its reporting covers the vendors, technologies, users, and the uses of high performance, AI- and data-intensive computing within academia, government, science, and industry. Subscribe now at www.hpcwire.com.
About TCI Media
TCI Media (formerly Tabor Communications Inc.) is the home of the Wire publications: AIwire, HPCwire, BigDATAwire, and QCwire, which broadly cover Advanced Scale technologies for scientific and technical computing. The Wire publications closely follow the convergence of AI, HPC, and Big Data, and the evolution of Quantum Computing. Together, they unify the IT communities that we serve, providing news, analysis, and information to educate and engage users and decision-makers seeking high performance and advanced scale computing solutions for scientific and technical workloads across AI, HPC, Big Data, and Quantum Computing. More information can be found at www.tci-media.co.
Source: TCI Media
The post HPCwire Unveils 2026 People to Watch appeared first on HPCwire.
QB agreed $212.4m extension with team in 2024
Falcons reportedly signing QB on one-year deal
Kansas City set to beef up running game
Mike Evans joins 49ers after leaving Tampa Bay
The Miami Dolphins are moving on from Tua Tagovailoa, the quarterback they drafted with the fifth overall pick in 2020 in hopes of turning the franchise’s fortunes around.
“As we move forward, we will be focused on infusing competition across the roster and establishing a strong foundation for this team as we work towards building a sustained winner,” Dolphins general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan said in a statement on Monday.
Continue reading...ORLANDO, Fla., March 9, 2026 — Only one out of every five data and analytic (D&A) or AI leaders are concerned that uncertain costs will limit AI value according to Gartner, Inc., a business and technology insights company.
A Gartner survey of 353 D&A and AI leaders from November through December 2025 found that this has led to only 44% of organizations adopting financial guardrails or AI FinOPs practices.
Gartner analysts Adam Ronthal and Georgia O’Callaghan on stage at Gartner Data & Analytics Summit in Orlando, Florida. Credit: Gartner, Inc.
“Where adoption rates for AI deployment have grown from just two out of five organizations in 2024, to four out of five organizations today, D&A leaders must achieve clarity and focus on ROI to better achieve the growing AI goals and ambitions of their organizations,” said Adam Ronthal, VP Analyst at Gartner. “D&A leaders must realize they are responsible for delivering real value in the midst of all this AI hype and fears of an AI bubble that might burst.”
“Getting to value is often measured using ROI, which D&A leaders need to think of as more than just a financial measure,” said Georgia O’Callaghan, Director Analyst at Gartner. “There are three ways to approach value that will help D&A leaders steer their organizations safely and effectively through the turbulent AI value waters.”
During the opening keynote at the Gartner Data & Analytics Summit, taking place here through Wednesday, Gartner analysts discussed these three ways to derive value from AI.
Set AI Ambition
Increased acceleration and uncertainty, combined with concerns about trust and control, drive the need for continuous learning and adaptation.
“D&A leaders may be experimenting with AI and learning a lot, but that also means they risk falling behind because everyone is experimenting,” said Ronthal. “D&A leaders should set their AI-ambition to help them maximize value from the insights their data provides, together with the knowledge and intuition of their team. This provides a return on intelligence.”
To set this level of ambition, D&A leaders must radically rethink the impact of AI on D&A, set a shared vision and determine their level of AI ambition, take AI leadership, decide their role and manage the unpredictable and hidden costs of AI early.
Strengthen AI Foundations
Without strong foundations, AI will remain what it is for most organizations today; an expensive experiment.
“Expecting AI or GenAI to compensate for delayed upgrades, siloed teams and years of technical debt is wishful thinking,” said O’Callaghan. “D&A leaders must make sure their data is AI-ready, prevent exposing the wrong data to the wrong people and avoid inaccuracies, misunderstandings and hallucinations with a well-designed context layer. This provides a return on integrity.”
To create strong AI foundations and reduce risk, D&A leaders should align their foundational initiatives with their AI ambition level, make governance a value accelerator and create a single, unified context layer.
Empower People for AI Transformation
While organizations change at a rapid pace, humans have a finite capacity to incorporate change. AI readiness grows much faster than human readiness.
“D&A leaders must make the shift from thinking about roles to focusing on skills with respect to AI,” said Ronthal. “D&A leaders will get value from their investments in developing their workforce. By focusing on skills, mindset, and behavioral change, they can unlock both individual and collective potential. This will increase employee engagement and productivity, making their organization more adaptive to change. Ultimately, this provides a return on individuals.”
To empower people for AI-driven transformation, D&A leaders must substantially budget for change management, prioritize mindset and skillset over toolset, address employee concerns with a skills-development roadmap and also pilot fusion teams of blended human and artificial intelligence.
About Gartner
Gartner (NYSE: IT) delivers actionable, objective business and technology insights that drive smarter decisions and stronger performance on an organization’s mission-critical priorities. To learn more, visit gartner.com.
Source: Gartner
The post Gartner Identifies 3 Pillars for Deriving Value from AI appeared first on HPCwire.
Anglers describe harrowing phone calls to loved ones once ice detached from shores of Georgian Bay in Ontario
Kevin Fox thought the spring-like temperatures that had temporarily pushed the cold away from south-eastern Ontario meant a good day on for ice fishing, a popular winter pastime in the region.
After shifting location because the wind and ice “didn’t feel right” and the fish weren’t biting close to shore, he and a friend joined nearly two dozen others far out on a sheet of ice in Lake Huron. They followed the familiar routine of anyone who spends a day on the ice: they drilled holes, dropped their lines and waited.
Continue reading...The AI model you choose to vibe code with can dramatically affect your final output.
The poll finds that AI is viewed less positively than ICE and President Donald Trump, and only more positively than Iran and the Democratic Party.
 | I've had it for about a week now, and I'm absolutely hooked on it! [link] [comments] |
LONDON, March 9, 2026 — Nscale today announced its $2 billion in Series C funding, led by Aker ASA and 8090 Industries. This round values Nscale at $14.6 billion. The funding round was supported by Astra Capital Management, Citadel, Dell, Jane Street, Lenovo, Linden Advisors, Nokia, NVIDIA, and Point72. This new raise will further accelerate Nscale’s global development of vertically integrated AI infrastructure — from GPU compute and networking to data services and orchestration software — across Europe, North America, and Asia.
AI is reshaping industries, economies and national strategies, and accelerated computing platforms are the engine driving that shift. The constraint on market scaling is not demand, but the ability to deploy capacity and run it reliably in production. Nscale is purpose-built to accelerate AI deployments. This capital deepens Nscale’s infrastructure footprint, expands its engineering and operations teams, and strengthens the platform, enabling Nscale to continue to deliver real, production-grade AI deployments at massive scale.
“This is the fourth industrial revolution; the world is changing at a rapid pace. Over the next 5 years, Artificial Intelligence will be integrated into every industry, every product, and every job. Accelerating drug discovery, extending human life, autonomizing travel and robotics, lifting productivity, and driving massive growth. This is leading to the largest infrastructure buildout in human history,” said Josh Payne, CEO and Founder of Nscale. “Nscale is leading this buildout. We are building this foundation that the market sits on, the engine of superintelligence.”
Strengthening Nscale’s Board
Nscale also today welcomes three new Directors. Sheryl Sandberg, Susan Decker, and Nick Clegg will join the Nscale Board, bringing substantial global depth across technology, policy, operations, and governance to an already world-class collection of business leaders.
Sheryl Sandberg — Sandberg is currently the co-founder of Sandberg Bernthal Venture Partners, which deploys private capital to fund innovation across consumer, enterprise, climate and healthcare technology. As former Chief Operating Officer of Meta and an early executive at Google, Sandberg brings unmatched experience in scaling the world’s most influential technology companies, as well as deep expertise in operations, growth strategy, and building global organizations.
Susan Decker — Decker is the CEO and co-founder of Raftr, a Community Experience platform for universities. She is a former President of Yahoo, Inc. and is currently a Board member at Costco Wholesale Corporation, Berkshire Hathaway, Vail Resorts, Chime, Vox Media, and Automattic. Decker brings sharp financial acumen, governance expertise, and strategic leadership developed across decades at the forefront of global media and technology companies.
Nick Clegg — A current General Partner at Hiro Capital, Clegg focuses on fostering the growth of leading spatial computing technologies within Europe. He is both a former UK Deputy Prime Minister and former President, Global Affairs at Meta. Prior to being elected to the UK Parliament in 2005, Clegg served five years in the European Parliament. Clegg brings deep expertise at the intersection of technology, policy, and global affairs and has most recently been at the center of the most consequential regulatory and governance conversations shaping the future of AI.
Sandberg, Decker, and Clegg join Nscale’s existing Board of Directors, which includes Josh Payne, Rael Nurick, Jacob Leschly, and Øyvind Eriksen.
Streamlining Execution in Norway
Alongside this Series C funding and its new Directors, Nscale has reached an agreement with Aker to roll the Aker Nscale joint venture — announced in July 2025 — fully into Nscale. Going forward, Aker will remain a leading shareholder in Nscale with its CEO Øyvind Eriksen continuing to serve on the Nscale Board.
This decision consolidates delivery and governance under one entity, while ensuring all existing projects under the joint venture continue and remain fully operational as part of Nscale. This ongoing partnership has been foundational to Nscale’s growth and demonstrates its continued commitment to playing a positive, long-term role in the communities where it operates. Nscale’s firm pledge to waste heat reuse, local skills development, and investment in regional infrastructure remains unchanged.
Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC and J.P. Morgan acted as joint placement agents for Nscale in connection with this capital raise which is inclusive of the Pre-Series C SAFE.
More from HPCwire: Nscale, Aker, and OpenAI Launch Norwegian AI Project Targeting 100,000 NVIDIA GPUs
About Nscale
Nscale is the global hyperscaler engineered for AI infrastructure. Through vertically integrated AI solutions and modular, first-principles data center design across Europe, North America, and beyond, Nscale delivers the compute foundation for enterprise AI training, fine-tuning, and inference at scale.
Source: Nscale
The post Nscale Raises $2B Series C to Expand AI Compute and Data Infrastructure Globally appeared first on HPCwire.
SAN JOSE, March 9, 2026 — Lightbits Labs, inventor of the NVMe over TCP storage protocol, today announced that Coredge, a leading cloud solutions provider, has selected Lightbits software-defined storage to power next-gen AI cloud services. Following its recent acquisition by Sirius Digitech, Coredge is scaling its platforms to support large-scale AI adoption across regulated industries, telecommunications providers, and public-sector entities worldwide. This collaboration is intended to establish a multi-petabyte-scale, cloud-native infrastructure deployment in India to support Coredge’s rapidly expanding footprint without the high cost and rigidity of legacy SAN architectures.
Founded in 2020, Coredge builds and operates cloud-native platforms that enable organizations to deploy and manage AI, Kubernetes, and OpenShift workloads. Its sovereign OpenShift-based Kubernetes cloud infrastructure is optimized for performance-sensitive use cases, including AI training and inference, real-time analytics, and mission-critical enterprise applications as configured and governed by customer-specific and regulatory requirements.
“AI workloads demand far more than raw capacity—they require predictable low latency and consistent performance at scale,” said Abhimanyu Bhatter, Co-Founder and Associate Vice President of Technology at Coredge. “Lightbits enables us to grow our business by delivering highly performant, premium services using open, software-defined, NVMe-based infrastructure that aligns with our operational strategy.”
To support a large-scale deployment expansion in India, Coredge required a storage architecture capable of delivering consistent, low-latency, high-throughput, and elastic scalability, while integrating seamlessly with its OpenShift-based Kubernetes environments. Coredge selected Lightbits for its ability to deliver high-performance block storage over standard Ethernet, without specialized networking fabrics. Legacy SAN and proprietary appliance-based storage architectures introduced cost, operational complexity, and scaling constraints that were incompatible with Coredge’s cloud-native design principles.
By deploying Lightbits, Coredge expects to achieve significant advantages:
“Lightbits provides the speed and predictability required for the latency-sensitive workloads run on Coredge’s platforms, while at the same time providing Coredge the ability to scale on commodity infrastructure cost-efficiently,” added Keimpe Paulus, Vice President and EMEA Territory Lead at Lightbits Labs. “We’re excited to support their goal to expand their platforms and services.”
As Coredge expands its AI and cloud services globally, Lightbits will play a central role in supporting scalable, secure, and high-performance data infrastructure.
To learn more about Lightbits software-defined storage, visit lightbitslabs.com or book a product demonstration today.
About Lightbits Labs
Lightbits Labs (Lightbits) invented the NVMe over TCP storage protocol, embedding it natively into their software-defined block storage to deliver ultra-low latency and exceptional throughput while leveraging commodity infrastructure—essential for reducing the cost and complexity of data infrastructure at scale. Built from the ground up for high performance, scalability, resiliency, and cost efficiency, Lightbits software delivers the best price-performance value for real-time analytics, transactional, and AI workloads. Lightbits Labs is backed by enterprise technology leaders [Cisco Investments, Dell Technologies Capital, Intel Capital, Lenovo, and Micron] and is on a mission to deliver best-in-class block storage for performance-sensitive workloads.
Source: Lightbits Labs
The post Lightbits Selected by Coredge to Power AI Cloud Services Infrastructure appeared first on HPCwire.
Qualcomm and Arduino have unveiled the Arduino Ventuno Q, a new AI-focused single-board computer built for robotics and edge systems. Engadget reports: Called the Arduino Ventuno Q, it uses Qualcomm's Dragonwing IQ8 processor along with a dedicated STM32H5 low-latency microcontroller (MCU). "Ventuno Q is engineered specifically for systems that move, manipulate and respond to the physical world with precision and reliability," the company wrote on the product page. The Ventuno Q is more sophisticated (and expensive) than Arduinio's usual AIO boards, thanks to the Dragonwing IQ8 processor that includes an 8-core ARM Cortex CPU, Adreno Arm Cortex A623 GPU and Hexagon Tensor NPU that can hit up ot 40 TOPs. It also comes with 16GB of LPDDR5 RAM, along with 64GB of eMMC storage and an M.2 NVME Gen.4 slot to expand that. Other features include Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.3, 2.5Gbps ethernet and USB camera support. The Ventuno Q includes Arudino App Lab, with pre-trained AI models including LLMs, VLMs, ASR, gesture recognition, pose estimation and object tracking, all running offline. It's designed for AI systems that run entirely offline like smart kiosks, healthcare assistants and traffic flow analysis, along with Edge AI vision and sensing systems. It also supports a full robotics stack including vision processing combined with deterministic motor control for precise vision and manipulation. It's also ideal for education and research in areas like computer vision, generative AI and prototyping at the edge, according to Arduino. Further reading: Up Next for Arduino After Qualcomm Acquisition: High-Performance Computing
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
NUREMBERG, Germany, March 9, 2026 — At Embedded World 2026, Intel launched the Intel Core processor Series 2 with P-cores, an industrial-ready platform engineered for mission-critical edge applications. Intel also announced its latest Edge AI suite for Health & Life Sciences, providing validated reference pipelines and benchmarking tools for AI-powered patient monitoring solutions.
“Intel continues to lead in edge computing, which remains one of our fastest-growing business segments,” said Dan Rodriguez, Intel corporate vice president and general manager of the Edge Computing Group. ” With the introduction of Core Series 2, our CES launch of Core Ultra Series 3, and our expanding Edge AI Suites, we continue to deliver comprehensive platforms that meet diverse edge customer needs with breakthrough performance, reliability, and integrated AI acceleration.”
Intel Core Series 2 Solves Industrial Real-Time Challenges
Intel Core Series 2 processors address the critical challenges facing modern industrial operations, which demand processors that can handle multiple critical workloads simultaneously—from safety-critical control systems to real-time data processing—all while maintaining precise timing and deterministic performance. Traditional processors often force manufacturers to choose between computational power and real-time reliability, leading to complex multi-processor architectures that increase costs and system complexity. Intel Core Series 2 processor take these challenges head-on. Compared to AMD Ryzen 7 9700X, Intel Core Series 2 processors deliver up to 4.4x lower max PCIe latency, up to 2.5x more deterministic response time, up to 3.8x better deterministic performance, and up to 1.5x higher multi-thread performance, delivering the performance the industry needs.
Edge AI Suites Accelerate Healthcare AI Innovation
Intel previewed its Health & Life Sciences AI Suite, focused on AI-enabled patient monitoring. As healthcare systems face growing patient volumes and staffing constraints, patient monitoring is evolving from isolated devices to intelligent, connected ecosystems that demand AI-enabled solutions for earlier insights and reliable real-world operation. The suite showcases concurrent, multimodal workloads running locally on Intel processors—including AI-based electrocardiogram (ECG) arrhythmia detection, remote photoplethysmography, and anonymous 3D visual tracking—helping original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), original design manufacturers (ODMs), and independent software vendors (ISVs) evaluate platforms using representative scenarios rather than synthetic benchmarks.
Together with the recently launched Core Ultra Series 3 processors, Intel Core Series 2 processors with P-cores and the new Health & Life Sciences Edge AI Suite demonstrate Intel’s comprehensive edge portfolio that addresses the full spectrum of customer requirements—from deterministic real-time control to advanced AI acceleration—enabling faster innovation across manufacturing, healthcare, and emerging edge applications.
Availability: Edge systems powered by Intel Core Ultra Series 3 and Intel Core Series 2 with P- cores are all available now.
A preview version of the Edge AI suite for Health & Life Sciences is now accessible on GitHub and general availability is planned for Q2 2026.
About Intel Corporation
Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) is an industry leader, creating world-changing technology that enables global progress and enriches lives.
Source: Intel
The post Intel Launches Core Series 2 Processor with Real-Time Performance and Expands Edge AI Portfolio appeared first on HPCwire.
New processors enable next-generation industrial and robotics solutions with up to twice the CPU cores and higher AI throughput in the same compact footprint.
March 9, 2026 — Factory automation, physical AI in mobile robotics, and other AI-driven edge applications are rapidly evolving and driving the need for computing platforms that provide real-time AI processing, deterministic performance, and long-term reliability in always-on environments.
Credit: Shutterstock
To meet these needs, AMD is expanding its AMD Ryzen AI Embedded P100 Series processor portfolio. New processors feature up to 2x higher CPU core counts, up to 8x higher graphics processing unit (GPU) compute, and an estimated 36% higher system tera operations.
Scalable AI Compute for Demanding Applications
The processors feature eight to 12 “Zen 5” cores, up to 80 system TOPS for physical AI acceleration, AMD RDNA 3.5 graphics for real-time visualization, and a neural processing unit (NPU) based on the AMD XDNA 2 architecture for low-latency, power-efficient AI inference — all on a single chip.
From industrial PCs for the intelligent factory to autonomous robots and medical imaging devices, new x86 embedded processors are optimized for next-generation industrial and broader edge AI use cases. They include:
Compared with the prior generation AMD Ryzen Embedded 8000 Series, the P100 Series is expected to provide up to 39% higher multithreaded performance and up to 2.1x higher total system TOPS2. The new processors deliver exceptional AI performance-per-watt and support almost twice the number of virtual machines and larger large language models, like Llama3.2-Vision 11B, than the existing P100 Series to enable more advanced AI and mixed workloads.
ROCm Software Support and Virtualized Reference Stack
Support for the AMD ROCm open software ecosystem brings a proven, open-source AI software stack to embedded applications. Developers can run standard AI frameworks while relying on open-source compilers, runtimes, and libraries – all while having immediate access to embedded-ready models without rewriting code. At the programming level, ROCm software uses the open-source Heterogeneous-computing Interface for Portability (HIP), decoupling GPU programming from the hardware and eliminating vendor lock-in between the software stack and the hardware.
The tightly integrated CPU, GPU, and NPU architecture enables efficient workload partitioning and predictable latency under mixed workloads, while the use of familiar frameworks and software stacks help simplify and streamline development and deployment across broad use cases. This level of integration enables advanced compute and graphics capabilities without the need for additional external components, making it easier for OEMs and system integrators to design scalable platforms.
AMD “Zen 5” CPU cores provide the isolation and performance headroom to consolidate multiple critical workloads on a single platform with deterministic, multitasking behavior. Additionally, AMD delivers a packaged and vertically integrated virtualized reference stack for industrial mixed-criticality applications. Built on the Xen hypervisor, it runs Linux®, Windows®, Ubuntu®, and RTOS environments in isolated domains to deliver safety, real-time performance, and flexibility. The result is a scalable, open architecture that simplifies design and accelerates development for next-generation embedded systems.
Garnering Strong Industry Support
Currently available AMD Ryzen AI Embedded P100 processor-powered production Advantech, congatec, and Kontron.
AMD Ryzen AI Embedded P100 Series processors featuring eight to 12 cores are currently sampling, with production shipments expected to begin in July 2026. P100 Series four- to six-core processors are sampling now, with production expected in the second quarter of 2026.
Source: AMD
The post AMD Extends Ryzen AI Embedded Processor Portfolio appeared first on HPCwire.
March 9, 2026 — Many scientific simulations—like those supporting LLNL’s national security mission—contain systems of linear equations, so application codes often rely on linear solvers to get the job done. Created at LLNL in 1998, the hypre software library provides specialized, scalable solvers for a range of purposes. A recent major release, version 3, includes a new semi-structured algebraic multigrid (AMG) solver along with support for mixed numerical precision at runtime.
The new SSAMG solver accommodates multiple structured grids coupled by unstructured connections (black lines). In this example, each structured grid is coarsened in a different direction as part of the SSAMG algorithm, and coarse-grid information is interpolated back to the fine grid to accelerate the solution process.
“We refactored and rewrote a big portion of the code for this release,” explains project lead Rob Falgout. “Development in hypre has always been driven by support for applications and users, and we’ve tried to think strategically about the future so our developers can spend more time on research and algorithms and less time on fixing problems.”
Structured for Speed
Among hypre’s strengths are its AMG solvers, which accelerate simulations of complex physical phenomena by efficiently solving the sparse linear systems that arise from discretized partial differential equations. These solvers, particularly BoomerAMG, are designed for massively parallel computation.
AMG methods are well-suited for unstructured problems, but hypre doesn’t stop there. The software includes support for structured grids, where the underlying structure of the discretized mesh is known. Version 3 introduces SSAMG, a semi-structured solver that expands existing multigrid solver capabilities to address more types of grids and, in turn, provide more options for users. The “semi” aspect of this new solver is key, as some grids are partially or compositely structured. SSAMG treats grids as structured parts with arbitrary connections, which helps reduce computational overhead. The team’s extensive testing on representative problems has shown SSAMG to outperform BoomerAMG in many cases.
“We’ve wanted to develop this new solver for a long time,” Falgout notes. “In hypre, we have always let users describe the structure in their problems, but it hasn’t been easy to develop solvers that take advantage of that structure. Now we’re providing better solutions in semi-structured settings.”
Precisely Right
Like most of LLNL’s foundational high performance computing (HPC) software projects, hypre has evolved with the rise of heterogeneous architectures and exascale computing power. Furthermore, application teams are increasingly seeking flexibility with different types of workloads, which often include machine learning pipelines in addition to traditional modeling and simulation. The hypre team has had to consider key facets of the modern HPC environment including graphics processing units (GPUs), memory usage, and precision requirements for floating-point arithmetic. “Users need accuracy but also want to improve speed and performance while reducing the memory footprint and taking advantage of GPUs,” says Falgout.
Building on its support for multiprecision at compile time, hypre now provides both multi- and mixed-precision computation at runtime. (In multiprecision, a solver uses one precision at a time, whereas mixed-precision uses different precisions simultaneously.) Users can switch from one type of precision to another—for example, from double to single or from single to long double—without recompiling the application code. An upcoming enhancement will apply different precisions to each grid level of AMG solvers.
Looking Ahead
The project’s nearly three-decade run has shown there’s always something new to investigate. For instance, the team is exploring artificial intelligence tools for developing new algorithms as well as for helping hypre choose solver parameters for the user. GPU refinements for mixed-precision solvers are also in progress. And Falgout points out, “Some classes of problems we don’t yet know how to solve effectively with multigrid methods.”
Alongside Falgout, the LLNL team responsible for hypre v3 include Rui Peng Li, Victor Magri, Wayne Mitchell, Daniel Osei-Kuffuor, and Ulrike Meier Yang (now retired). Development in is funded in part by the Department of Energy’s Office of Science and its Scientific Discovery Through Advanced Computing (SciDAC) program, and by the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Advanced Simulation and Computing (ASC) program. Watch Falgout’s FEM@LLNL seminar describing v3 features.
Source: Holly Auten, LLNL
The post LLNL: Better Solvers, Better Precision with HYPRE v3 appeared first on HPCwire.
 | My Pint X won’t turn on and is blinking red like this. Pressing the power button doesn’t seem to do anything. Is it cooked? I’m out of warranty. [link] [comments] |
My dad hosed down my pint x to clean it,
I lost the plug so it had ducktape over it but when I opened it up it was was wet inside, at least a few drips of water
and I was moving it around idk if water could have seeped inside,
I put it to lay to drain and dry out rn.
I know not to put it to charge wet but could the battery or anything still get damaged from whatever water that may have gotten inside? Also tips for making sure its completely dry to put to charge and what to do if there is possible damage would be appreciated thank you!
March 9, 2026 — From smartphones in our pockets to the powerful computers advancing artificial intelligence and quantum science, modern microchips are the engines of the digital age. Yet these systems face a fundamental challenge: managing the immense heat generated as processors grow faster and more complex, sometimes packing hundreds of thousands of cores onto a single chip. Without effective solutions, performance declines, energy is wasted and hardware reliability is compromised.
NSF-funded researchers at Clarkson University are addressing this challenge through TASChips, an open-source simulation tool that predicts in real time how heat builds up inside advanced processors. TASChips merges physics-based models with advanced reduced-order learning algorithms, delivering both accuracy and speed. It can identify thermal “hot spots” across complex chip architectures, enabling engineers to design systems that operate more efficiently, last longer and consume less energy.
Keeping powerful chips cool has always been a tough problem. Older tools that track heat either run quickly, but miss important details, or deliver accurate results so slowly that they cannot be used in practice. With today’s processors carrying more than 100,000 cores, that tradeoff no longer works. TASChips employs a range of learning models tailored to chips of varying complexity that capture the essential physics of heat transfer while running at much higher speeds. This approach produces near-direct numerical accuracy, fast enough to guide real-world decision-making. Engineers can use these results to redesign chips, adjust workloads dynamically in data centers, or avoid costly bottlenecks in high-performance systems. Such capabilities are essential in meeting the demands of the AI era.
Another barrier has been access. The most advanced heat-analysis tools are often locked behind expensive licenses and used only by large companies. TASChips changes that by being open source, free to download and released with clear instructions and examples. This means students, researchers and engineers anywhere can use the tool. It also ties directly into classroom and research programs, so the next generation of talent can learn with the same tools that will drive future breakthroughs.
To strengthen this link between innovation and education, TASChips will support workforce development through a series of workshops for up to 25 graduate students and postdoctoral researchers. Each participant will select a project aligned with their research expertise and carry out research that entails data collection, training, model parameter calculations and running simulations. By the end, participants will have gained hands-on experience applying a new tool to real problems, building skills that will carry forward into their careers.
The broader implications reach beyond engineering labs. Consumers benefit when everyday devices stay cooler and perform reliably. Businesses and communities benefit when data centers, which support everything from video streaming to financial transactions, operate more efficiently and at lower cost. And research sectors advancing AI and quantum technologies gain the reliable infrastructure needed to push the boundaries of discovery.
By combining rigorous science, open access, and education, the project provides a model for how federally supported research can translate into practical technologies that benefit society, industry and national competitiveness for years to come.
Source: NSF
The post NSF-Funded Tool Helps Chips Run Faster, Cooler and Longer appeared first on HPCwire.
Merger to take drone firm public is latest business move by Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr as father is in White House
A golf club company backed by the sons of Donald Trump is merging with drone manufacturer Powerus in a deal designed to take the drone technology company public.
The merger with Aureus Greenway Holdings is the latest in Eric and Donald Trump Jr’s growing investments in the drone sector, following last month’s $1.5bn tie-up between Israeli drone maker XTEND and Florida-based JFB Construction Holdings. Drones have become a major procurement priority for the Pentagon and are widely used in Ukraine, where dense air defense systems near the frontlines limit the deployment of conventional aircraft.
Continue reading...Crude prices could surpass their 2008 record, with potentially dire effects for consumers and businesses
Fears over the global economy have been stoked by the oil price soaring past $100 a barrel as a result of the US-Israel war with Iran.
Economists say the increasing likelihood of a prolonged conflict in the vital energy exporting region could have serious consequences for living standards around the world amid the threat of a renewed inflation shock.
Continue reading...With new supreme leader’s strong connections to the IRGC, critics fear worse is to come – if he survives
At around midday, even as airstrikes hit several parts of the capital, large crowds gathered in Tehran’s famous Enghelab Square to chant their allegiance to Iran’s new supreme leader.
Carrying banners showing the face of the country’s slain leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, people on Monday held a new portrait – that of his son and successor, Mojtaba Khamenei.
Continue reading...Rep. Kevin Kiley of California said Monday he was immediately leaving the Republican Party to become an independent.
French president says attack on island is ‘an attack on Europe’ as EU states send military support
Emmanuel Macron has vowed that Europe will do whatever it takes to stand by Cyprus, the continent’s first state to be directly affected by the Iran war, after coming under what he described as “attack from multiple drones and missiles.”
In the strongest show yet of solidarity towards the EU member closest to the Middle East, Macron likened the attacks, which included a drone strike against a British base on the eastern Mediterranean island, to an attack on Europe.
Continue reading...Social media company tells MPs of continual fight against state-backed efforts, with Russia being most prolific
Elon Musk’s X said it had suspended 800m accounts over a 12-month period as it fights the “massive” scale of attempts to manipulate the platform.
The social media company told MPs it was continually fighting state-backed attempts to hijack the agenda on its network, with Russia the most prolific state actor, followed by Iran and China.
Continue reading...Walter ‘Ted’ Carter Jr says he ‘made a mistake in allowing inappropriate access to Ohio State leadership’
The president of the Ohio State University has resigned following the disclosure of an “inappropriate relationship” to the college’s board of trustees.
In a statement, Walter “Ted” Carter Jr, who had led the university since 2024, said that he “made a mistake in allowing inappropriate access to Ohio State leadership”.
Continue reading...A $10,000 2-year CD account can be both profitable and secure for savers if opened now. Here's what to consider.
What Mojtaba Khamenei will do with his leadership is now the key question after he succeeds his father
Crowds in Tehran greeted the announcement of the country’s new supreme leader by chanting: “God’s hand is still upon us, Khamenei is still our leader.” As the world economy grinds to a halt, Iran is selling the elevation of Mojtaba Khamenei as a sign of reassuring continuity for a country determined to show its defiance of the west.
Yet in reality he injects a new unpredictable, even mysterious, element into the Middle East crisis, since just as he is unknown to Washington, so he is a figure of deep obscurity to ordinary Iranians. By contrast, the first supreme leader, Ruhollah Khomeini, led Iran to revolution in 1979 and the second, Mojtaba’s father, Ali Khamenei, had been president for eight years before he was chosen by the Assembly of Experts within a day of Khomenei’s death.
Continue reading...Pair charged with throwing explosive devices during anti-Islam protest described by mayor as ‘appalling’
Two teenagers were charged on Monday with offenses including terrorism and using a weapon of mass destruction after they allegedly threw improvised explosive devices during an anti-Islam demonstration on Saturday outside the residence of New York mayor Zohran Mamdani.
According to a 10-page criminal complaint filed in federal court in the US southern district of New York, 18-year-old Emir Balat threw the devices at protesters after they were handed to him by Ibrahim Kayumi, 19. It said both declared allegiance to the Islamic State terror group.
Continue reading...West coast state’s average cost per gallon has climbed $0.55 since the conflict in Middle East began over a week ago
The war in Iran has caused a spike in gas prices that is hitting California consumers especially hard, according to data from the American Automobile Association (AAA).
AAA reports that in California, the most expensive US market for gas, the average price per gallon on Monday was $5.20, compared to $3.47 nationally. The national average climbed nearly $0.50 since the conflict began more than a week ago, while in the Golden state it rose by $0.55.
Continue reading...Anthropic is suing the Department of Defense after the Trump administration labeled the company a "supply chain risk" and canceled its government contracts when Anthropic refused to allow its AI model Claude to be used for domestic surveillance or autonomous weapons. Fortune reports: The lawsuit, filed Monday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, calls the administration's actions "unprecedented and unlawful" and claims they threaten to harm "Anthropic irreparably." The complaint claims that government contracts are already being canceled and that private contracts are also in doubt, putting "hundreds of millions of dollars" at near-term risk. An Anthropic spokesperson told Fortune: "Seeking judicial review does not change our longstanding commitment to harnessing AI to protect our national security, but this is a necessary step to protect our business, our customers, and our partners." "We will continue to pursue every path toward resolution, including dialogue with the government," they added.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Justice correspondent most known for his January 6 Capitol riot coverage, is latest to quit Bari Weiss-led network
Scott MacFarlane, the CBS News justice correspondent most known for his extensive coverage of the January 6 Capitol insurrection, surprised colleagues on Monday morning by announcing his departure from the network, which he joined in late 2021.
MacFarlane is only the latest departure from the Bari Weiss-led network, though he said in a memo to colleagues – also posted on LinkedIn – that he personally made the decision to leave.
Continue reading...Iranian officials say about 170 people were killed in the strike. The Pentagon is investigating.
Katie Nicholl’s name appears on many of the stories that Frost, Prince Harry and others have complained about
A senior former Mail on Sunday journalist has denied commissioning a “blag” of sensitive medical information about Sadie Frost that the actor had not even told her own mother.
At the high court, Katie Nicholl, a former diary editor and royal editor at the paper, was accused of using blagged information from a private investigator to uncover “extraordinarily intrusive” details of Frost’s medical history.
Continue reading...US president claimed he wanted to eradicate cartels and made comments about Mexico’s president that were deemed sexist in summit speech
Claudia Sheinbaum has responded to Donald Trump’s description of Mexico as the “epicenter of violence,” by calling on the US government to step up efforts to combat gun trafficking.
“There is something that the US can help us a lot with: stop the trafficking of illegal weapons from the US to Mexico,” the president of Mexico said. “If they stopped the entry of illegal weapons from the United States into Mexico, then these groups wouldn’t have access to this type of high-powered weaponry to carry out their criminal activities.”
Continue reading...MenuetOS, the operating system written in x86-64 assembly, has released two new versions since we last talked about it roughly two months ago. In fact, I’m not actually sure it’s just two, or more, or fewer, since it seems sometimes releases disappear entirely from the changelog, making things a bit unclear. Anyway, since the last time we talked about MenuetOS, it got improvements to videocalling, networking, and HDA audio drivers, and a few other small tidbits.
Former Sinn Féin leader being sued for symbolic £1 each by three victims of Troubles-era bombings on UK mainland
Gerry Adams is as culpable for IRA bombings on the UK mainland as the individuals who planted and detonated the devices, the high court has heard at the beginning of a civil trial.
The former Sinn Féin leader is being sued for symbolic “vindicatory” damages of £1 each by John Clark, Jonathan Ganesh and Barry Laycock, who were injured respectively in the 1973 Old Bailey bombing, and the London Docklands and Manchester bombings in 1996.
Continue reading...The company might launch its most sophisticated MacBook ever, with its first OLED screen.
Anthropic sued the Defense Department and other federal agencies on Monday over the government's move to designate it a risk to the supply chain.
Interceptor drones and operators deployed to Middle East after ‘requests for help from 11 countries neighbouring Iran’
Ukraine’s president has said he dispatched interceptor drones and operators to protect US bases in Jordan last week, one of 11 countries that had asked Kyiv for help as the US-Israeli war against Iran continued into its 10th day.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in an interview that he had responded to a US request for help in defending Jordan last week as Ukraine seeks to improve relations with Gulf and Middle Eastern countries coming under attack from Iran.
Continue reading...The GPUs in Apple's latest chips bring its flagship creative laptop to new heights, especially for generative AI.
"If Lockheed Martin made a Game Boy, would you buy one?" That was the [rhetorical] question The Verge's Sean Hollister asked when he reviewed ModRetro's Game Boy-style handheld device back in 2024. He said it "might be the best version of the Game Boy ever made," though the connection to Palmer Luckey and his defense tech startup Anduril left him conflicted. "I don't remember my childhood nostalgia coming with a side of possible guilt and fear about putting money into the pocket of a weapons contractor," he wrote. "Feels weird!" Those conflicted feelings have lingered ever since. TechCrunch recently cited Hollister's review while reporting that ModRetro is now seeking funding at a $1 billion valuation. The company is said to have additional retro-inspired hardware in development, including one designed to replicate the Nintendo 64. As for Anduril? It's reportedly in talks to raise a new funding round that would value the company at around $60 billion.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
European Commission head says rules-based system can no longer be relied upon to protect the continent’s interests
Europe can “no longer be a custodian for the old-world order” and needs “a more realistic and interest-driven foreign policy”, the head of the European Commission has said.
Speaking to an audience of EU ambassadors on Monday, Ursula von der Leyen said the union “will always defend and uphold the rules-based system” but could no longer rely on it to defend European interests and shelter the continent from threats.
Continue reading...Eighteen tornadoes between Thursday and Saturday resulted in deaths in towns from Michigan to Oklahoma
Communities throughout the central United States were cleaning up and trying to recover after an onslaught deadly tornadoes struck the region over the weekend.
At least eight people had been confirmed dead as of Monday, with dozens more injured.
Continue reading...President Donald Trump claimed that Iran, not the U.S., struck an elementary school in the southern Iranian town of Minab, the attack with the highest civilian death toll in Trump’s second Iran war.
Three current and former defense officials, however, pushed back on his claims. Even Trump’s own Pentagon chief, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, refused to back him up. U.S. Central Command appeared to suggest that Trump’s comments were “inappropriate.”
“This is another instance of Trump lying and just talking out of his ass,” said a U.S. government official who reviewed satellite images of the Shajarah Tayyebeh school. “This clearly was not a failed rocket from the IRGC base.”
The U.S. official was referring to an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps navy base that was adjacent to the school. The claim that the IRGC struck the school spread as part of a misinformation campaign about the attack peddled by social media accounts that support restoring Iran’s monarchy.
The U.S. official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to speak freely, said it was clear that Iran did not strike the school. Trump, however, endorsed the dubious claim when taking questions from the press aboard Air Force One on Saturday.
“Based on what I’ve seen, it was done by Iran,” Trump said of the attack, which killed at least 175 people, many of them children, according to Iranian health officials and state media.
Hegseth, standing alongside Trump, was asked if that was true and failed to endorse the claim.
“We’re certainly investigating,” he said before offering a non-denial denial. “But the only side that targets civilians is Iran.”
When asked for comment on the status of the U.S. military investigation, U.S. Central Command, the regional military command that oversees the Middle East, said that getting ahead of the investigation’s findings — precisely what Trump did — was improper.
The CENTCOM spokesperson, who did not give their name, said, “It would be inappropriate to comment given the incident is under investigation.”
The White House did not respond to requests for comment.
A video released on Sunday by Iran’s semiofficial Mehr News Agency shows a cruise missile striking the naval base beside the elementary school as smoke appears to billow from the school itself, indicating that it had been struck just before the attack on the IRGC base. According to Bellingcat, the cruise missile was a Tomahawk.
“This entire compound — including the girls’ school — was deliberately targeted in a highly precise strike operation.”
“This munition is only employed by the U.S., not Israel or Iran,” said Wes Bryant, a former Special Operations joint terminal attack controller who called in thousands of strikes across the greater Middle East.
Bryant, a former adviser to a Pentagon body that provides analysis and training to mitigate civilian harm, said all were clearly struck by targeted munitions, with the school likely hit due to “target misidentification,” meaning U.S. forces mistook it for a military target.
“The strikes on this compound have the signature of a U.S. strike,” Bryant told The Intercept. “The strikes on this compound are also incredibly precise and well-placed. This entire compound — including the girls’ school — was deliberately targeted in a highly precise strike operation.”
While the Shajarah Tayyebeh elementary school was once connected to the IRGC base by roads, the building was partitioned off by 2016, according to an investigation by New Lines Magazine. Reports of the attack began to appear on social media just after 11:30 a.m. local time. An analysis by the New York Times based on satellite imagery, social media posts, and verified videos found that the school was hit at roughly the same time as the naval base. The video released on Sunday by the Mehr News Agency appears to confirm this.
Another former Pentagon official who specialized in civilian harm issues echoed Bryant and the current U.S. official.
“The entry holes suggest a near perpendicular entry. Meaning, this strike was precisely targeting the structures from high above.”
“The entry holes suggest a near perpendicular entry. Meaning, this strike was precisely targeting the structures from high above, not some short range attack with a ballistic missile,” said the former Pentagon official, who spoke on background because their present employment doesn’t allow them to comment. The official said the vertical entry suggested a more parabolic trajectory than a short-range missile would show, indicating a longer-range weapon was used.
That former defense official pushed back against Trump’s claims, noting that the attack occurred within an hour of the announcement of U.S.–Israeli strikes and an hour before any reported Iranian retaliation.
“All evidence,” said the former official, “points to the compound being repeatedly attacked — over the course of a couple hours potentially — with highly accurate munitions that we know the U.S. and Israel routinely use and have used in strikes across Iran.”
CENTCOM would not offer an estimated civilian death toll for the U.S. war on Iran. More than 1,230 Iranian civilians have been killed, according to the Tehran Times.
“America, regardless of what so-called international institutions say, is unleashing the most lethal and precise air power campaign in history,” Hegseth said at a March 2 press conference. “No stupid rules of engagement.”
A new investigation by Airwars, a U.K.-based air strike monitoring group, found that the first days of the Iran war saw far more sites targeted than any recent U.S. or Israeli military campaign.
“While the rate of civilian harm cannot be solely predicted by the number of targets hit, initial indications suggest it has been high — particularly with U.S. targets correlating with heavily populated areas,” according to the Airwars report. “The targets map heavily onto the highest populated areas.”
“It is the stuff of tyrannical dictators to fabricate such propaganda for the sake of saving face and discrediting one’s enemies.”
For Bryant, the former Pentagon adviser on civilian harm, Trump’s claim that Iran hit the school is part of a pattern — and a dark turn for the country.
“If the administration truly believed that this was Iranian-caused, whether intentionally or inadvertently, then they should have immediately stated so, along with providing intelligence or information that proves such an assertion. But we know this was not the case,” Bryant said. “It is the stuff of tyrannical dictators to fabricate such propaganda for the sake of saving face and discrediting one’s enemies. This is not the behavior of a leader of the free world.”
The post U.S. Military Refuses to Endorse Trump Claim That Iran Bombed Girls’ School appeared first on The Intercept.
I have been looking at getting a board for years now and finally the gas prices and my commute are in the perfect spot to make one reasonable. As I live in Finland my options for getting one new are limited and considerable taxes (25,5% VAT) apply.
My commute is around 2.5km (1.5 miles) each way and there is a fairly big hill in the way. I am deciding between getting a onewheel or an e bike. Problem with the e bike is theft as the area my work is in is pretty sketch and I don't fully trust my apartment's bike storage as that has been broken into multiple times. A good e bike would cost me 1500€ or more.
I can get a used XR for 990€ that has 1500 miles with a tire that has under 800 miles on it. To me it seems like a good deal as it is in good shape (has always had rail guards on it so looks almost brand new from the side) and comes with extra rail guards. A new Pint is around 1000+€ and a Pint X 1300+€ if you can even get one. The XR also hasn't had software updates so it works with aftermarket batteries if needed though the seller says it still has over 12 miles of range.
What do you think? Is it worth getting at that price? Would an e bike be better? Note that I can already ride a caster board but have never been on a skateboard. I do have a tiny bit of snowboarding experience as well.
Serious technology issues like privacy need to be dealt with clearly, not fought over in social media posts, analysts say.
Eureka police took two calls for unconscious individuals, and officials reported ‘elevated’ carbon monoxide in room
A California motel has been closed after authorities found two women dead in the same room just days apart.
The Eureka police department in northern California said in a news release last Thursday that on 21 February, officers and Humboldt Bay fire personnel were dispatched to a motel on the 4000 block of Broadway Street in Eureka – identified by the Eureka Times-Standard as the Lamplighter Inn – after receiving a report of “two unconscious patients due to a possible drug overdose”.
Continue reading...Finance ministers monitoring situation but stop short of agreeing to release emergency oil reserves
The G7 said it was ready to take “necessary measures” to address the economic impact of the US-Israel war on Iran, after a meeting prompted by soaring oil prices, which rose above $100 (£74) a barrel for the first time since 2022.
Following a remote meeting on Monday, G7 finance ministers said they would closely monitor the situation but stopped short of agreeing to release emergency oil reserves.
Continue reading...I should probably be fuming about the way that companies try to cash in on IWD. But there are so many vile opinions to worry about instead
Sunday was International Women’s Day, which you’ll know because every company you’ve ever shopped with will have emailed you, taking this fine opportunity to suggest things women might like to buy. Plants, clothes, spices … all are particularly female-friendly at this time of year, or maybe I’m revealing nothing but my algorithms. Is any of it emancipating? Would you have to balance the freedom of the woman wearing the midi-dress against the servitude of the woman who had to sew it? I don’t really want to set myself up as the arbiter of the spirit of IWD, being unable to remember a time before it meant mass-marketing mail-out.
On Women’s Day Eve, though – yes, that is a thing – I was attending evensong at a university college, maybe for the first time ever, and it was definitely the first time I’d heard an IWD sermon. The Rev Marcus Green had set himself the challenge of feministly reading a book, the Bible, in which almost none of the women have a name. There are a bunch called Mary, but so few other names that “Mary” was basically Bible-speak for “Karen”. There’s one who is the mother of the sons of Zebedee, but even though she has actual lines and he has none, he still gets this cracking name, while you have to piece her identity together by triangulating other accounts, like an investigator at a crime scene.
Continue reading...Lawsuits come after Pentagon labeled Anthropic a ‘supply chain risk’, a decision the company says is unlawful
Anthropic filed two lawsuits against the Department of Defense on Monday, alleging that the government’s decision to label the artificial intelligence firm a “supply chain risk” was unlawful and violated its first amendment rights. The two sides have been locked in a monthslong heated feud over the company’s attempt to implement safeguards against the military’s potential use of its AI models for mass domestic surveillance or fully autonomous lethal weapons.
The lawsuits, which Anthropic filed in the northern district court of California and the US court of appeals for the Washington DC Circuit, come after the Pentagon formally issued the supply chain risk designation last Thursday, the first time the blacklisting tool has been used against a US company. The AI firm previously vowed to challenge the designation and its demand that any company that does business with the government cut all ties with Anthropic, a serious threat to its business model.
Continue reading...Wait times to get through security hit two hours in New Orleans and over three hours in Houston as TSA staffing took a hit amid the partial government shutdown.
Live Nation, the parent company of Ticketmaster, has reached a deal with the Department of Justice as part of a high-stakes antitrust trial.
Seven American service members have been killed since the war with Iran started in February.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Guardian: AI has made it vastly easier for malicious hackers to identify anonymous social media accounts, a new study has warned. In most test scenarios, large language models (LLMs) -- the technology behind platforms such as ChatGPT -- successfully matched anonymous online users with their actual identities on other platforms, based on the information they posted. The AI researchers Simon Lermen and Daniel Paleka said LLMs make it cost effective to perform sophisticated privacy attacks, forcing a "fundamental reassessment of what can be considered private online". In their experiment, the researchers fed anonymous accounts into an AI, and got it to scrape all the information it could. They gave a hypothetical example of a user talking about struggling at school, and walking their dog Biscuit through a "Dolores park." In that hypothetical case, the AI then searched elsewhere for those details and matched @anon_user42 to the known identity with a high degree of confidence. While this example was fictional, the paper's authors highlighted scenarios in which governments use AI to surveil dissidents and activists posting anonymously, or hackers are able to launch "highly personalized" scams.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Pick one of five new Lego Smart Play sets within the Lego Star Wars collection, or pick them all, available for purchase now.
One year ago, ICE arrested me for protesting for Palestine. Leqaa Kordia is still caged – also for daring to speak the truth
Sunday marked one year since Mahmoud Khalil, the Palestinian activist and Columbia University graduate, was arrested last year for his political advocacy. Below, he writes to Leqaa Kordia, a fellow Palestinian currently in ICE detention in Texas. Khalil was released after more than three months but the Trump administration continues to seek his deportation; Kordia has been detained for nearly a year. Read more about her case here.
Dear Leqaa,
Continue reading...Former Brazil forward Hulk was among the players sent off following the violence that lasted more than a minute.
Finance ministers from G7 countries say they stand ready to take necessary measures to support oil supplies
Iran war drives oil prices above $100 a barrel for first time since 2022
UK interest rate cuts unlikely this year amid Iran war – and a rise could be ahead
Research show that poorer people are hit hardest by surging oil prices.
As our economics editor Heather Stewart wrote yesterday:
Recent research published by economists at the University of Massachusetts Amherst identified energy, along with food and agriculture as among the commodities that had “a disproportionate capacity to increase inequality when their prices rise”.
Where there are benefits, these are narrowly shared. Another striking recent paper showed that after the 2022 oil price surge in the US, 50% of the windfall benefit from higher prices in the sector went to the wealthiest 1% of individuals, via the stock market. The bottom 50% of people received only 1%.
Continue reading...Malkinson spent 17 years in prison after being wrongly convicted in rape case for which another man is now on trial
A woman who alleged she was raped by Andrew Malkinson admitted to police 22 years ago that she “wasn’t too sure it was the right man”, a court has heard.
Malkinson spent 17 years in prison for an attack he did not commit in what jurors heard was a “most terrible” miscarriage of justice. Paul Quinn is now on trial at Manchester crown court accused of the 2003 rape after fresh DNA tests allegedly linked him to the victim.
Continue reading...The series "Love Story," which follows the relationship between JFK Jr. and his wife Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, has received pushback over its portrayals.
John Swinney expresses ‘huge relief’ that no one was hurt in blaze believed to have started in vape shop
Scotland’s first minister has pledged to help deal with the costs of the “horrific” fire that has closed Glasgow Central station for at least two days and gutted a Victorian office block.
John Swinney said it was a huge relief there had been no injuries, but that there would be significant financial costs from the fire, which caused chaos for the city’s commuters and the cancellation of west coast main line services to Glasgow.
Continue reading...Trump’s ‘Shield of the Americas’ coalition is destined to fail Expert comment jon.wallace
The Shield seeks to address serious security and narcotics issues in Latin America. But a detail-light, ‘Trumpista-only’ alliance repeats past mistakes in Latin America.
Latin America’s regional diplomatic history is littered with failed multilateral organizations. Some have disappeared, such as the Union of South American Republics (UNASUR) and the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our Americas (ALBA). Others, such as the Latin American Parliament or the Community of Latin America and Caribbean States (CELAC) continue to limp along, zombie projects of once high-minded goals.
This past weekend US President Donald Trump added one of his own.
The ‘Shield of the Americas’ sounds much like a new instalment in the Marvel movie series. The first summit, convened on 7 March at the Trump resort in Doral, Florida, was intended to create an alliance to improve regional security and combat drug cartels. ‘The heart of our agreement,’ said President Trump, ‘is a commitment to using lethal military force to destroy the sinister cartels and terrorist networks.’
To that end the president brought together 13 heads of state, including the presidents of Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Honduras, Panama and Paraguay, as well as the prime ministers of Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica.
All are centre- to hard-right leaders, whom President Trump has either praised (Javier Milei of Argentina, Santiago Peña of Paraguay, Nayib Bukele of El Salvador) or endorsed when they were candidates (Tito Asfura of Honduras).
The others have vocally supported Trump’s policies in the Western Hemisphere. Notably, the sitting president of Chile – leftist Gabriel Boric – was passed over in favour of the president elect, Jose Antonio Kast, who ran promising ‘Trumpista’ hardline policies on crime and immigration. The defence/security secretaries of Bahamas, Belize, Guatemala, and Peru were also present.
Pointedly absent at the Doral-fest were the presidents of Brazil (Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva), Mexico (Clauda Sheinbaum) and Colombia (Gustavo Petro), all of them of the left. This is significant: those three countries represent more than half of the region’s GDP. And they host a large part of the region’s illicit markets including narcotics production and trade – the supposed targets of the summit.
And, even as the usual summit ‘grip-and-grin’ photo-ops took place, with Trump, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of War Pete Hesgeth and newly appointed head of the Shield of the Americas Kristi Noem, the shadow of previous failures loomed.
All Latin America’s defunct or zombie multilateral organizations were founded on laudable goals. But they had fatal flaws. And the Shield of the Americas shares many of them.
In the end, the summit produced a half-page declaration, with signatories agreeing to four general points.
According to the official press release, those were: ‘expand multilateral and bilateral cooperation to enhance security’; cooperate in ‘whole of government’ efforts regarding ‘border security, countering narco-terrorism and trafficking, securing critical infrastructure, and other areas as mutually determined’; ‘advance peace through strength’; and ‘join a coalition to combat narco-terrorism and other shared threats to the Western Hemisphere’. Nothing more.
These are noble objectives addressing essential challenges for US foreign policy south of its border. And a new initiative could help deliver a long-overdue re-evaluation of failing past policies. Cocaine production and transnational crime of all sorts have increased over the last half decade.
In Colombia, cocaine production jumped 53 per cent in 2023 alone. Between 2023 and 2024, the US seized more than 45,000 pounds of fentanyl crossing its border, the vast majority produced in and shipped from Mexico, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration. And crime/ insecurity is the number one concern of Latin American citizens according to recent surveys and the International Monetary Fund.
But like many Trump initiatives – and previous failed Latin American multilateralism attempts – there is a telling lack of detail. The thin, four-point official announcement presents no long-term commitments for burden sharing. There are no promises to address the root causes of insecurity and crime – poverty, weak states and corruption. And, perhaps most importantly, no funding has been allocated to beef up security cooperation through regional institutions that can share intelligence, conduct joint manoeuvres and intercept drugs and related financial flows.
Neither are there regionally integrated plans for tracking cross border flows of illicit activities (including narcotics but also illegal gold, timber, and copper, money laundering and human trafficking). And no commitments have been made to independently investigate government involvement in corruption.
Most of all, it is misguided to believe that a summit of only like-minded leaders can establish a meaningful basis for long-term shared principles and cooperation on security and narcotics issues.
The openly partisan nature of this effort hobbles it at the outset. Without Brazil, Colombia and Mexico three of the most important Latin American countries are missing.
It is unclear whether they were invited or not. But the fact that their presidents were not in the Trump orbit likely contributed to their absence. Their concerns about the president’s so called ‘Donroe Doctrine’, and the spectacular US operation to abduct Venezuela’s former president Nicolas Maduro, may also have played a part. Brazil’s Lula, Mexico’s Sheinbaum and Colombia’s Petro have all spoken out against the operation.
Their absence is a fundamental flaw. Any meaningful hemispheric military alliance that could begin to hope to address the Shield’s lofty goals would need to include these countries.
As the data indicate, Colombia and Mexico are the major sources of narcotics entering the US. And Brazil is the home of one of the largest criminals groups in the region, the ‘Primeiro Comando da Capital (Brazil)’.
Trump may feel that the clear MAGA hue to the Shield of the Americas will make it easier for him to pursue his objectives – which many believe include countering Chinese influence in the region. But past Latin American attempts at regional alliances shows: partisan networking relationships never last.
Clifford Thomas and his family lost four relatives during the COVID-19 pandemic, including his beloved mother, Beverly. A middle school teacher, Beverly had struggled with chronic health problems all her life, and when they forced her to leave her job due to disability, she was unable to afford regular medical care. Her final request to her son was that he keep the family healthy.
But in Albany, Georgia, achieving that promise is a battle. The city is served by a single, dominant hospital system, Phoebe Putney Memorial. Its control of the market and Georgia’s strict limits on Medicaid have left nearly one-third of people in Albany, one of the poorest cities in the state, uninsured.
Poor access to quality, affordable care has contributed to deep distrust of the system. Residents like Thomas see Phoebe as more of a barrier to good health than a safety net. He gave up on trying to find medical insurance or a doctor who would care for him without it.
Then, he began to get sick.
There are millions like Thomas across the United States and dozens of places like Albany — places with populations suffering high rates of chronic but treatable conditions, where the dominant institution is a hospital. ProPublica examines the country’s health care crisis in a five-part series called “Sick in a Hospital Town.” Read or listen to the full series here. Watch this short documentary for a close-up of one man’s effort to overcome the obstacles to care.
The post He Promised His Dying Mother He’d Protect the Family’s Health. In This Georgia Town, It Isn’t Easy. appeared first on ProPublica.
Russian oligarch says money is his to allocate despite international sanctions imposed on his assets
The Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich has stepped up his row with the British government over the £2.5bn proceeds of his sale of Chelsea FC, insisting that the money is his to allocate despite the international sanctions imposed on his assets.
The UK and EU imposed sanctions on Abramovich in 2022, freezing his assets in response to Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, citing his ties to Vladimir Putin’s regime.
Continue reading...Worried that consolidating your credit card debt will tank your score? It doesn't have to. These options can help.
 | I’m a really new one wheeler and I’m thinking about getting my first board, I’d prefer preferably get a pint since I don’t weigh much at all but is this a good price for the condition? The seller says it has 512 miles. [link] [comments] |
Live Nation will pay $280m to states in lawsuit, and Ticketmaster will open parts of platform to rival companies
Live Nation, which owns Ticketmaster, has reached a surprise settlement with the Department of Justice in its antitrust case just one week after the trial began.
Under the agreement, Live Nation will create a $280m settlement fund for states that participated in the lawsuit and Ticketmaster will be required to open parts of its platform to rival ticketing companies, Live Nation announced Monday.
Continue reading...Swiss voters overwhelmingly approved a constitutional amendment guaranteeing the right to use physical cash. "The vote means Switzerland will join the likes of Hungary, Slovakia and Slovenia, which have already written the right to cold, hard cash in their constitutions," reports Politico. From the report: Official results revealed that 73.4 percent of voters backed the legal amendment, which the government proposed as a counter to a similar initiative by a group called the Swiss Freedom Movement. The Swiss Freedom Movement triggered the national referendum after its initiative to protect cash collected more than 100,000 signatures, triggering a national referendum. Its initiative secured only 46 percent of the final vote after the government said some of the group's proposed amendments went too far.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Officers have repeatedly detained people under a reinterpretation of a 1996 law that states that anyone in the United States illegally “shall be detained” without bond, indefinitely.
Hisense has introduced its latest TVs with full-array local dimming, and the U7 starts at $1,300.
The leaders haven’t won the title in more than 20 years. Yet very few neutrals are excited about seeing them as new champions
What was striking after Arsenal’s grim 1-0 win at Brighton on Wednesday was less Brighton manager Fabian Hürzeler’s attack on the Gunners’ style than the way his criticism seemed to resonate. In England, it feels as though almost nobody, other than Arsenal supporters or anyone-but-City fans, wants them to win the title.
“If I would ask everyone in the room: ‘Did you really enjoy this football game?’ I’m sure maybe one raises his arm because he’s a big Arsenal fan but, besides that, no chance,” Hürzeler said.
This is an extract from Soccer with Jonathan Wilson, a weekly look from the Guardian US at the game in Europe and beyond. Subscribe for free here. Have a question for Jonathan? Email soccerwithjw@theguardian.com, and he’ll answer the best in a future edition.
Continue reading...President Donald Trump called surging oil costs a “very small price to pay.” Group of Seven leaders are set to convene Monday to assess the economic fallout.
Exclusive: Rented datacentres and ‘supercomputer’ site that’s still a scaffolding yard raise questions for Starmer’s push to ‘mainline AI into veins of economy’
A multibillion-pound drive to “mainline AI into the veins” of the British economy is riddled with “phantom investments” and shaky accounting, a Guardian investigation has found.
Since 2024, successive Conservative and Labour governments have proclaimed massive deals to build new datacentres, create thousands of jobs and construct a supercomputer.
Continue reading...Nscale’s AI project still in use as depot ahead of pledged completion date – with planning permission filed after Guardian’s inquiries
The press releases announcing a gleaming supercomputer on the outskirts of north London depict a glass and concrete building, rising from a tree-lined street. Accompanied by images of glowing blue robot faces, it looks like the centre of a technological revolution.
By the end of this year, that artist’s impression is supposed to be a reality.
Continue reading...Kurdish groups in Iran face risky dilemma amid unclear US endgame Expert comment thilton.drupal
The Trump administration has given mixed messages about its support for a potential Kurdish uprising, which would face a range of challenges against an uncertain backdrop.
More than a week into the ongoing US-Israeli air strikes on Iran, the war has no clear endgame in sight. In an increasingly complex situation, the US does not appear to have a settled and coherent strategy, with the Trump administration voicing wide-ranging and shifting goals and justifications.
Amid this uncertainty, US President Donald Trump appeared to encourage the Kurdish groups in Iran to rise up against the Iranian regime, before appearing to reverse his position. On 5 March, six days after the US and Israel launched their first strikes, Trump said of a potential Kurdish military action that ‘it’s wonderful that they want to do that, I’d be all for it.’ But just two days later, he told reporters that ‘I don’t want the Kurds to go into Iran…The war is complicated enough as it is.’
In practice, the US and Israel have been heavily bombing targets in Kurdish areas in western Iran. This has been seen as aiming to potentially prepare the ground for Kurdish parties based in the region and across the border in Iraq to launch an offensive against the regime.
The US’s Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has reportedly been working to arm Kurdish forces, according to CNN citing unnamed Kurdish and US officials. The report said that the Trump administration has been in active discussions with Kurdish groups about providing them with military support, potentially for an offensive that could pin down regime security forces and open up space for a broader opposition uprising. The CIA declined to comment to CNN, while US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said that ‘none of our objectives are premised on the support of the arming of any particular force.’
The US previously trained and financed Kurdish fighters in both Iraq and Syria. Based on these experiences, Iranian Kurdish groups face a dilemma. Partnership with the US could make a real positive difference to their goals. But it will be fundamentally transactional. There is little indication that the Trump administration is prepared to include an essential commitment to support Kurdish political goals; its endgame for Iran seems confused at best.
Both Washington and the Iranian Kurds must therefore consider how robust and durable potential US backing will be, particularly in light of past experiences of the US abandoning its Kurdish partners, most recently when the US turned away from the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). They also need to ask whether a Kurdish uprising serves their respective interests in the long run.
Kurds are one of Iran’s largest ethnic minorities. There are an estimated 7 to 15 million Kurds in Iran (around 8-17 per cent of its total population). They are concentrated along Iran’s western borders with Iraq and Turkey, one of the most impoverished parts of the country.
Although Iran’s constitution theoretically provides equal rights for all ethnicities, in practice the Iranian government has frequently resorted to violence to suppress expressions of Kurdish cultural, linguistic and political identity.
The Kurdish political landscape is fragmented across various parties that adhere to a range of ideologies and draw public support from different sources. Kurdish public opinion is not monolithic and not all Kurds support Kurdish nationalist parties. These groups also have a poor track record of cooperation and have fought each other at times. But what unites the Kurdish nationalist parties is opposition to the Islamic Republic and a desire to secure Kurdish rights and local self-rule in the context of a future democratic Iran.
On February 22, five Kurdish parties announced the formation of the Coalition of Political Forces of Iranian Kurdistan. These include the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI), the Komala of the Toilers of Kurdistan, the Kurdistan Freedom Party (PAK), Khabat, and the Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK). On 4 March, the Komala Party of Iranian Kurdistan also joined. The coalition’s leadership is largely based in Iraq or the West, though it is also well-organized inside Iran through clandestine networks.
The KDPI is the oldest of the parties, tracing its lineage back to just before the short-lived independent Kurdish Republic of Mahabad was established in 1946. It has the most grassroots support, particularly with traditional nationalists. The Komala factions are more left-wing. The Komala Party of Iranian Kurdistan is the larger of the two and has significant support in certain geographic areas.
PJAK is considered the Iranian branch of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which fought a long insurgency against the Turkish state, and theoretically has more battle-tested cadres. PAK and Khabat are much smaller and have limited appeal inside Iranian Kurdistan.
Despite the unification of these parties, major tests lie ahead. The extent of the military forces of these groups and their real battle capabilities are unknown. For years, they have largely been contained in their camps inside Iraq’s Kurdistan Region. Their strength inside Iran is unclear.
Though weakened, the Iranian security forces still have significant capacity for violence and have demonstrated willing to wield it against the vulnerable Kurdish civilian population, as occurred during the January 2026 protests. The Iranian military has already struck Kurdish forces in Iraq as part of its response to US and Israeli strikes.
It is therefore a massive risk for Kurdish groups to launch armed operations against the regime, even with US and Israeli air support. ‘We will not send our forces to the slaughterhouse,’ Komala leader Abdullah Mohtadi recently told German newspaper Die Zeit.
Private equity group EQT to take 42% stake as supplier faces scrutiny over environmental record and CEO’s pay
A leading European investor will pump fresh funding into Yorkshire Water including helping to cover a £600m loan, despite recent heavy sewage fines and a scandal over executive pay at the utility company.
EQT, a Swedish private equity group, said on Monday it would take a 42% stake in Kelda Holdings, the Jersey-registered parent company of Yorkshire Water, which has 5.7 million customers across Yorkshire and parts of the East Midlands and Lincolnshire.
Continue reading...Mojtaba Khamenei was named Iran's new supreme leader following the death of his father in the U.S.-Israeli strikes.
Five teenagers arrested after Jason Hughes run over outside his home after prank involving toilet paper
A beloved Georgia teacher was accidentally run over and killed outside his home recently by a student driving away from a prank involving toilet paper, according to authorities.
The death of math instructor and athletics coach Jason Hughes, 40, has led to the arrests of five teenagers – including one accused of vehicular homicide – while plunging the community of Gainesville into mourning.
Continue reading...As states scale back requirements for comprehensive sex ed, some parents and faith communities are stepping in to teach what schools won’t
When Wendy Pfrenger’s children started high school in the town of Oxford, Mississippi, she had the choice to enroll them in abstinence-only or abstinence-plus sex ed.
Although the abstinence-plus option would include instruction on contraception, neither curriculum was required to provide medically accurate information. As a parent, she felt like the lessons her teens were receiving fell short of their reality.
Continue reading...Jenny O’Connell-Nowain was put under house arrest, and her husband, Benjamin, lost his job after they protested at board of supervisors meetings
Jenny O’Connell-Nowain was ready to go to jail.
She had been prepared to spend six months in the custody of the Shasta county sheriff’s office. One of the top prosecutors in this part of far northern California had presented the evidence against her in a weeklong trial, and a jury had delivered a guilty verdict. A judge offered probation, but O’Connell-Nowain did not agree to the terms.
Continue reading...An anonymous reader quotes a report from CBS News: Tonight, we have details of a classified U.S. intelligence mission that has obtained a previously unknown weapon that may finally unlock a mystery. Since at least 2016, U.S. diplomats, spies and military officers have suffered crippling brain injuries. They've told of being hit by an overwhelming force, damaging their vision, hearing, sense of balance and cognition. but the government has doubted their stories. They've been called delusional. Well now, 60 Minutes has learned that a weapon that can inflict these injuries was obtained overseas and secretly tested on animals on a U.S. military base. We've investigated this mystery for nine years. This is our fourth story called, "Targeting Americans." Despite official government doubt, we never stopped reporting because of the haunting stories we heard [...]. 60 Minutes interviewed Dr. David Relman, a scientific expert and professor from Stanford University who was tasked by the government to lead two investigations into the Havana Syndrome cases. What he and his panel of doctors, physicists, engineers and others found was that "the most plausible explanation for a subset of these cases was a form of radiofrequency or microwave energy," the report says. According to confidential sources cited in the report, undercover Homeland Security agents bought a miniaturized microwave weapon from a Russian criminal network in 2024 and tested it on animals at a U.S. military lab. The injuries reportedly matched those seen in the human cases. "Our confidential sources tell us the still classified weapon has been tested in a U.S. military lab for more than a year," says Dr. Relman. "Tests on rats and sheep show injuries consistent with those seen in humans." He continues: "Also, as a separate part of the investigation, security camera videos have been collected that show Americans being hit. The videos are classified but they were described to us. In one, a camera in a restaurant in Istanbul captured two FBI agents on vacation sitting at a table with their families. A man with a backpack walks in and suddenly everyone at the table grabs their head as if in pain. Our sources say another video comes from a stairwell in the U.S. embassy in Vienna. The stairs lead to a secure facility. In the video, two people on the stairs suddenly collapse. Those videos and the weapon were among the reasons the Biden administration summoned about half a dozen victims to the White House with about two months left in the president's term." Former intelligence officials and researchers claim elements of the U.S. government downplayed or dismissed the theory for years, possibly to avoid political consequences of accusing a foreign state like Russia of conducting attacks on American personnel.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
The line-up for this year’s festival includes Emma Thompson, Malala Yousafzai, Ian McEwan and other prominent authors and figures
Emma Thompson, Malala Yousafzai, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Gisèle Pelicot are among the headline names appearing at Hay festival 2026, organisers have announced.
The popular UK literary festival has now unveiled its full programme, featuring more than 500 events running from 21 to 31 May in Hay-on-Wye, Powys.
Continue reading...Cem Özdemir gains 30.2% of vote in Baden-Württemberg, ahead of CDU, with far-right AfD in third
Friedrich Merz’s Christian Democrats (CDU) have stumbled into a busy election year with a defeat to the Greens in a key state poll, as his embattled party struggles to fend off a challenge in other pivotal races from the far right.
The German chancellor’s conservative CDU had enjoyed a double-digit lead in the south-western car production region of Baden-Württemberg just weeks ago but the Greens and their charismatic candidate Cem Özdemir eked out a half-point-margin win in Sunday’s poll with 30.2%.
Continue reading...Three-dimensional images and digital illustrations offer a detailed new look at the USS Monitor, an important Civil War ship that sank more than 160 years ago and has since become a reef.
Comments from defense secretary come as number of US service members killed in conflict has climbed to seven
Pete Hegseth, the US defense secretary, has said “there will be more casualties” in the US military from the Trump administration’s war in Iran after officials confirmed on Sunday that the number of US service members killed had climbed to seven.
Hegseth made the statement during an appearance Sunday night on CBS’s 60 Minutes, during which he portrayed Donald Trump’s decision for the US to join Israeli attacks on the Middle East country as essential “to advance American interests, and protect American lives”.
Continue reading...Ukraine criticises organisers’ decision to allow Russia to take part in prestigious art exhibition as ‘incomprehensible’
Ukraine has urged organisers of the Venice Biennale to reconsider Russia’s participation in the prestigious art exhibition, arguing that it must not become “a stage for whitewashing… war crimes.”
Biennale organisers said last week that Russia would be allowed to take part in the event, held from 9 May until 22 November, triggering widespread criticism, including from Italy’s culture ministry, which said it opposed the decision.
Continue reading...ZURICH, March 9, 2026 — Today, Zurich Instruments announced the ZQCS Quantum Control System, a next‑generation platform to operate large-scale quantum computers. It is engineered to tackle the pivotal challenge on the path to fault‑tolerant quantum computing: building long‑lived logical qubits.
Physical qubits are fragile; noise and drift can erase quantum information in microseconds. The remedy is to use logical qubits, which encode quantum information across many physical qubits, thereby enabling error correction. This approach elevates the control system from a mere pulse generator to the stabilizing core of the quantum computer: it must coordinate hundreds to thousands of channels while producing ultra‑stable pulses, and close real-time feedback loops at microsecond timescales. These requirements are at the core of the field’s main challenges – scaling to several thousand qubits, pushing gate fidelities to five nines and beyond, and mastering quantum error correction. The ZQCS is the control system built to meet these needs, uniting scalable direct‑RF electronics, deterministic real‑time networking, and powerful software.
“We designed the ZQCS end‑to‑end for the logical‑qubit era – starting from the analog front end, through the real‑time fabric, to software – so researchers and system builders can address scale, fidelity, and error correction together,” said Andrea Orzati, CEO at Zurich Instruments.
ZQCS uses a modular AdvancedTCA architecture scaling seamlessly from a single shelf to multi‑shelf systems and delivering more than a thousand channels per 19‑inch rack. The system is ready for the integration into HPC environments, offering water-cooled enclosures for optimal heat management and thermal stability. For QEC research without boundaries and hybrid quantum-classical workflows, each shelf integrates a programmable FPGA and a low‑latency, high‑bandwidth link to classical computing resources such as GPUs and CPUs.
With its first‑Nyquist‑zone, direct‑RF front end and market-leading signal‑to‑noise ratio, the ZQCS lets researchers optimize quantum fidelities without limits imposed by the control. A synchronization scheme optimized to execute large quantum programs maintains a distributed wall clock for deterministic timing across every signal. The ZQCS is powered by Zurich Instruments’ LabOne Q software, spanning pulse‑, gate‑, and workflow‑level interfaces supporting automation for calibration and tune‑up.
“We’re excited to see the first ZQCS installations come online, powering quantum error‑correction experiments, and helping our partners scale from hundreds to thousands of qubits,” said Sebastian Krinner, Product Manager. “This is a major step in our long‑term commitment to help the community reach fault tolerance.”
The launch affirms Zurich Instruments’ capability and commitment to deliver the quantum control technology of the logical‑qubit era, backed by deep domain expertise and the long-term stability offered by its parent company, Rohde & Schwarz.
More from HPCwire
About Zurich Instruments
Zurich Instruments is a Swiss company with a passion for phenomena that are often notoriously difficult to measure. We provide researchers and industry partners advanced hardware, software, and services for quantum computing control systems, lock-in amplifiers, and arbitrary waveform generators. As a company of scientists, we believe in offering products that reduce complexity of laboratory setups, unlock new measurement strategies, and comply with the highest Swiss quality standards. Our commitment to collaboration and real-time support is reflected in our seven worldwide offices, numerous research partnerships, and thousands of publications that refer to Zurich Instruments. In 2021, Zurich instruments became part of Rohde & Schwarz, allowing the company to continue its ambitious mission to advance science and accelerate the second quantum revolution under steady, industry-leading ownership.
Source: Zurich Instruments
The post Zurich Instruments Launches ZQCS Platform for Large-Scale Quantum Computer Control appeared first on HPCwire.
Apple's new $599 budget phone brings MagSafe compatibility, higher base storage and an A19 chip. That makes the trade-offs easier to swallow.
Built in collaboration with Anthropic, Microsoft's new tool can create spreadsheets, run reports and do research autonomously.
This is the best balance of future-proofing and price for now, but this may not be the final iPad released this year.
Ministers understood to be considering ways to mitigate rising energy bills as oil prices surpass $100 a barrel
Keir Starmer has said that a long-term US-Iran war would affect the “lives and households of everybody”, as the head of the AA advised motorists against making “non-essential” journeys.
On Monday, oil prices surged past $100 (£75) a barrel for the first time since 2022, which will feed through to higher costs at petrol stations, and consumers will also be hit if energy costs push up inflation.
Continue reading...Federal authorities apparently never searched the property, but now state authorities will reopen a 2019 investigation
When Jeffrey Epstein was arrested on 6 July 2019 for sex trafficking teenagers, New York federal prosecutors said the ultra-wealthy predator “exploited and abused dozens of underage girls” in Manhattan and Palm Beach “among other locations”.
One of those other locations was the late financier’s sprawling New Mexico property. Epstein’s so-called Zorro Ranch came into sharper relief after his 10 August 2019 death in jail awaiting trial, with criminal and civil proceedings revealing that numerous alleged abuses unfolded there. But Zorro Ranch did not receive the same scrutiny as Epstein’s other properties: an 8 February Guardian investigation revealed that federal authorities apparently never searched the property.
Continue reading...LOUISVILLE, Colo., March 9, 2026 — Infleqtion, a global leader in quantum sensing and quantum computing powered by neutral-atom technology, announced an expansion of its work with several U.S. Department of Energy national laboratories. Under the agreements, Infleqtion is continuing its longstanding collaborations with Sandia National Laboratories and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, while also launching a new partnership with Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory.
The partnerships are centered on Superstaq, Infleqtion’s quantum software platform that helps researchers run quantum programs more efficiently on real machines. Superstaq manages how quantum instructions are prepared and executed on different systems, allowing national laboratory teams to spend more time on scientific discovery and less time adapting software to each piece of hardware.
“Researchers at the national laboratories are working at the front edge of what is possible in quantum computing,” said Pranav Gokhale, chief technology officer at Infleqtion. “These continued and expanded partnerships reflect the trust they place in Superstaq as one of the few quantum software platforms that works across different quantum computing technologies, helping researchers unlock meaningful performance improvements as they move from experiments toward real applications.”
Infleqtion has supported Sandia’s Quantum Scientific Computing Open User Testbed (QSCOUT) and Berkeley Lab’s Advanced Quantum Testbed since 2021, providing capabilities tailored to each system’s hardware. The renewed collaborations include software licensing and close technical engagement to incorporate improvements that help systems operate more reliably as the testbeds grow in size and complexity.
“As part of ongoing work on the Advanced Quantum Testbed, Superstaq has provided software tools used to support quantum research and development,” said Chris Spitzer, Quantum Research Program Manager at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. “Continuing the collaboration supports researcher access to software tools needed for experiments on evolving quantum hardware.”
“Superstaq has been an important part of the QSCOUT testbed since its early days,” said Susan Clark, QSCOUT Principal Investigator, Sandia National Laboratories. “Continuing this collaboration supports our mission to provide researchers with reliable tools that enable experimentation, comparison, and advancement across emerging quantum computing approaches.”
The new partnership with Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory extends Superstaq support to the Superconducting Quantum Materials and Systems Center (SQMS), following its recent renewal as one of the Department of Energy’s National Quantum Information Science Research Centers. Through this collaboration, Infleqtion will work with Fermilab researchers to help prepare and run quantum programs in ways that best support SQMS’s research goals.
“Through this collaboration with Infleqtion, SQMS is exploring pathways to pair advanced hardware with a flexible software platform,” said Dr. Silvia Zorzetti, Principal Engineer, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. “The Superstaq platform supports the collaborative work underway at SQMS and helps our teams focus on translating foundational research into meaningful progress for the broader quantum ecosystem.”
Across all three laboratories, Superstaq spans multiple types of quantum computing hardware, helping researchers prepare and run experiments more efficiently on real systems. These collaborations reflect Infleqtion’s broader strategy to deliver scalable quantum software that supports government, academic, and commercial users as quantum systems grow larger and more capable.
Beyond these collaborations, Infleqtion’s work across the Department of Energy laboratory system also includes ongoing efforts with Argonne National Laboratory and the National Laboratory of the Rockies (NLR), including a recently awarded ARPA-E initiative to advance quantum-powered energy grid optimization. Together, these partnerships underscore Infleqtion’s broad commitment to supporting DOE national labs with scalable quantum software and technologies that accelerate both foundational research and real-world impact.
To learn more about Infleqtion’s quantum software and applications research, visit: https://infleqtion.com/quantum-software.
About Infleqtion
Infleqtion, Inc. (NYSE: INFQ) is a global leader in quantum technology, delivering neutral atom solutions for quantum computing, networking, sensing, and security. With a product portfolio spanning quantum computers, quantum optical clocks, RF receivers, and inertial sensors, Infleqtion’s full-stack approach combines high-performance hardware with the company’s proprietary Superstaq quantum computing software platform. Infleqtion’s systems are already in use by the U.S. Department of War, NASA, the U.K. government, and in multiple collaborations with NVIDIA. Infleqtion, in collaboration with NVIDIA, published the world’s first demonstration of a materials science application using logical qubits. With operations in the U.S., Europe, and Asia, Infleqtion meets the demands of government and commercial customers across the space, defense, energy, finance and telecommunications sectors.
Source: Infleqtion
The post Infleqtion Expands Partnerships with US Department of Energy National Laboratories appeared first on HPCwire.
Footage of attack on Minab compound adds to evidence indicating it was a US strike that killed scores of children
A video has shown a US Tomahawk missile hitting the Iranian naval base next to a primary school in Minab where more than 168 people, mostly children, were killed – adding to evidence that indicates the US was responsible for the school strike.
The video, released by the Iranian news agency Mehr and geolocated to the site by the investigative collective Bellingcat, shows the missile hitting the Minab compound on the morning of 28 February, when US-Israeli strikes on Iran began.
Continue reading...March 9, 2026 — Quantum computers work by applying quantum operations, such as quantum gates, to delicate quantum states. Ideally, quantum computers can solve complex equations at staggeringly fast speeds that vastly outpace regular computers. In real hardware, the operations of quantum computers often deviate from the ideal behavior because of device imperfections and unwanted noise from the environment. To build reliable quantum machines, researchers need a way to accurately determine what a quantum device is actually doing.
Overview of compilation-based quantum process tomography (CQPT). The left panel shows the main idea: an unknown quantum process transforms an input state into an output state, and CQPT uses a trainable “compiler” to learn the process by forcing the final state to return to the original input. The right panels illustrate two implementations of CQPT: a Kraus-based approach for unitary or near-unitary processes, and a Choi-based approach for general noisy processes. Credit: Le Bin Ho et al.
Quantum process tomography (QPT) is a standard method for this. However, traditional QPT becomes very costly as the system grows, because the number of required measurements and calculations increases rapidly with the number of qubits.
To address this challenge, a research team from Tohoku University, the Nara Institute of Science and Technology (NAIST), and the University of Information Technology (Vietnam National University, Ho Chi Minh City) has introduced a new framework called compilation-based quantum process tomography (CQPT).
The central idea of CQPT is simple. The method starts with a known input quantum state, applies a trainable process following the unknown process, and then works backwards to evaluate how well the final output returns to the original input. The “return-to-input” model is optimized to reconstruct the underlying quantum processes that make up the steps in-between the input and output. Importantly, the framework is designed so that optimization can conveniently be performed using only a single measurement outcome per input state.
The researchers developed two complementary versions of the CQPT: one based on Kraus operators, and one based on the Choi matrix. Together, these two approaches allow CQPT to handle a wide range of quantum operations and noisy processes relevant to modern quantum devices.
“Efficient and scalable methods for characterizing quantum processes are important for the future of quantum computing and quantum sensing,” Dr. Le Bin Ho said. “We need such methods to check whether quantum gates and circuits work correctly, identify hardware errors, calibrate devices, and support quantum error correction.”
Dr. Le believes that CQPT could become a practical alternative to standard quantum process tomography, especially for larger quantum systems where full tomography is no longer realistic due to high costs.
The current study demonstrates that CQPT is feasible through sound theoretical analysis and numerical simulations. The framework offers a promising way to make quantum tomography more efficient. Next steps will involve tackling the challenge of implementing it in real experiments. The researchers plan to focus on developing hardware-ready versions of the method and improving its robustness.
The findings were published in Advanced Quantum Technologies on Feb. 26, 2026.
Publication Details:
Source: Tohoku University
The post Tohoku University Researchers Report Method to Simplify Quantum Process Tomography appeared first on HPCwire.
Move could lead to escalation of war as Donald Trump has already called Mojtaba Khamenei an ‘unacceptable’ choice. Plus, stormy space weather may be garbling messages from aliens
Good morning.
Mojtaba Khamenei, the second son of the late Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has been chosen as his successor, as the war enters its 10th day and fresh missile and drone strikes reverberate across the Middle East.
Why has the Iran war prompted fears of stagflation for the global economy? Oil prices surged past $100 a barrel for the first time since 2022, triggering a stark sell-off across some of the world’s leading stock markets amid growing concern that the US-Israel war on Iran could set the stage for a global economic shock.
What else is happening? The British prime minister, Keir Starmer, spoke to the US president on Sunday afternoon after a barrage of criticism from Trump, who told his UK ally on Saturday that his help was not needed, even as the US continued to use UK bases for strikes against Iran.
Who is the suspect? Authorities announced on Thursday that they had arrested 22-year-old Ivan Miller of Iowa as a suspect in the murders. Police say Miller had no connection to the women.
Continue reading...Wait times at security checkpoints in Houston and New Orleans as long as three hours due to shortage of TSA agents
Travelers complained of long waits on Sunday – lasting hours in some cases – at security checkpoints at airports in Houston and New Orleans, which officials blamed on a government shutdown of the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
The estimated wait time at the standard security checkpoint at the William P Hobby airport in Houston early on Sunday evening was at one point three hours, according to the Houston Airport System website. The Hobby airport said on social media on Friday it expected more travelers than normal due to spring break.
Continue reading...
Why should Delaware care?
Delaware’s Republican Party represents more than 200,000 registered voters, as well as hundreds of annual donors. But the party hasn’t had one of its members hold a elected seat statewide since 2018. While party fortunes continued to look bleak in recent months amid financial disarray, leaders now say they have righted the ship.
Shortly after the new year, a political accountant who has handled the books for hundreds of conservative organizations, including the Delaware Republican Party, abruptly resigned from his post with the state’s GOP.
His departure – coming a month after Spotlight Delaware reported on money problems facing the state GOP – exposed further financial disarray within the party. In the subsequent weeks, GOP leaders scrambled to find a replacement, while federal regulators sent warnings that the party could face fines and a possible audit if it did not file a year-end campaign finance report, and answer questions about reports of negative cash balances.
Now, two months after the accountant’s resignation, Delaware GOP Chair Gene Truono said the party is recovering with a beefed-up fundraising strategy, and a new accounting firm that has filed its required federal reports.
Looking forward, Truono said the party is well positioned to rebuild its bank account and its base of power ahead of what could be its most consequential election cycle in years.
The comments are likely welcome news for party faithful who have watched the Delaware GOP not only suffer through recent financial turmoil but also through a decade of electoral losses in statewide races.
“2026 is going to be a good year for us,” Truono said. “Money is coming in. We’re able to hire people. We’re meeting our payroll.”
Truono further stated that his party’s previous campaign finance reports, which showed that a federal bank account was thousands of dollars in the red, were inaccurate. He said those reported negative cash balances were the result of accounting errors involving duplicate checks existing on the party’s books.
When party officials sought to correct the errors last fall amid scrutiny from Spotlight Delaware and others, Truono said their accountant, Thomas Datwyler, wasn’t responsive enough to allow the party to reconcile the books.
And, after the new year passed, Datwyler ended up “ghosting” the party altogether, Truono claimed.
But Datwyler tells a different story. When reached for comment, the embattled national political accountant said he didn’t respond to the party after the new year because he had resigned his contract in an email sent on Jan. 11.
He did so because the party had not paid his company for his previous year’s worth of work, he said.
“And I know what the financial situation is,” Datwyler said. “They don’t have any money. Even if those checks weren’t cleared or not, they still don’t have any money.”
Asked about Datwyler’s resignation, Truono said he never received a letter by email. The state GOP’s executive assistant, Paula Ireton, also stated that she had not received Datwyler’s resignation email.
Datwyler forwarded Spotlight Delaware the email he said he sent to the party in January. It included an attached letter from his company, Ax Capital, announcing the resignation.
When asked why the Delaware GOP had reported negative account balances in recent months, Datwyler described a different bookkeeping problem from the one Truono said existed.
While he agreed the party’s bank account was not currently in the red, he said it was only because past payments to party vendors had never been claimed.
“They have checks in the register that haven’t actually cleared the bank account,” he said. “They’re not duplicates. They were written … And, if they were ever cashed, obviously the bank would go negative.”
In the wake of Datwyler’s departure, GOP officials said they scrambled to hire a new accountant that could compile the party’s year-end campaign finance report to send to federal regulators.
Federal and state campaign finance law requires political parties to regularly disclose to the public the amount of money they receive from donors – and how they spend it. The state GOP did file a campaign finance report in January related to its state election activities to the Delaware Department of Elections.
But the party ultimately missed the Jan. 31 deadline to file its federal report.
By mid-February, federal officials sent a sternly worded letter stating that a failure to file the year-end campaign finance report could “result in civil money penalties, an audit or legal enforcement action.”
The letter followed another that was sent in January in which regulators demanded to know how the party could report that its federal bank balance sat more than $8,000 in the red.
It was the fifth month in a row the party reported a negative cash balance.
In the letter, the FEC stated that the party must respond by Feb. 16 and “Requests for extensions of time in which to respond will not be considered.”
While acknowledging the gravity of the federal demands, Truono said the party throughout February was working with a new vendor to resolve the situation. By the final business day of the month, the GOP filed its delayed financial disclosures. Within the documents, the party reported its cash balance no longer was in the red, but instead sat at about $19,000.
Election regulators have not sent additional letters to the party during the week since the filings, according to the Federal Elections Commission’s website.
Asked for his takeaways from the recent turmoil, Truono pointed squarely at Datwyler, saying the party wasn’t ”getting the kind of service that we expected or needed.”
“The major takeaway, for my part, was we had the wrong vendor, plain and simple,” he said.
Truono’s comments add to a mountain of high-profile criticism made by various political organizations across the country about Datwyler. In 2024, an attorney for the Conservative Nevada Leadership PAC filed a complaint with the FEC claiming that Datwyler had “a long history of running roughshod over federal campaign finance law.”
“The major takeaway, for my part, was we had the wrong vendor, plain and simple.”
Delaware GOP Chair Gene Truono
A year earlier, the Daily Beast reported that Datwyler had acted as a shadow treasurer for the campaign of disgraced-Congressman George Santos. The report claimed that while Datwyler managed the campaign’s books, he had listed on disclosure reports the name of another person as the treasurer.
When asked about the various news reports, Datwyler said he has worked for more than 1,000 political committees of various kinds over the past two decades. He said there are only about a dozen that have been unsatisfied with his work.
He also claimed that many of the public reports about him are the result of tips from “competitors in the industry that take a shot at me.”
He declined to state which of his competitors he suspects of spreading such information.
In his interviews with Spotlight Delaware, Truono spoke at length about the GOP’s plan to launch a broad campaign to boost the party presence in the state in advance of this year’s consequential elections.
Specifically, party officials will focus on convincing more voters to register as Republicans, and on better communicating the party platform.
Truono said his party has a particularly ripe opportunity to take advantage of Democrats recent actions in the state that he said have been unpopular. He cited the state legislature’s decoupling last fall of the state’s tax code from that of the IRS.
Truono also said President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address in February has prompted some Democrats to call into his party office to announce that there were inspired to change their party registration.
If the GOP could capture enough new voters to win in a few state legislative races this fall, they could take away Democrats’ supermajorities in the General Assembly – which allow the party to raise taxes without Republican support in the House and the Senate.
Conversely, with a loss of just one seat in the House, the party could slide further to the periphery by giving Democrats the ability to pass Constitutional amendments without GOP votes.
For its federal campaigns this year, the state’s Republicans also will field candidates for Congress to face Delaware’s Democratic members of Congress – Rep. Sarah McBride and Sen. Chris Coons – up for reelection.
Truono said the party launched its new initiative in January, with two successful fundraisers. Those dollars have already allowed him to hire new people, he said.
Among the future new hires, Truono added, will also be data analysts who can identify individuals “who we can reach out to to either convince them to vote Republican or convince them to change their party affiliation.”
Spotlight Delaware reported in 2024 that the GOP had fallen to become the third largest political group in the state, following a surge of new independent voters registered through the state DMV’s automatic voter registration system. Democrats remained the largest contingent of registered voters at the time.
While the GOP is adding staff, it also recently lost a key employee. Truono noted that the party’s executive director Nick Miles no longer holds that position. He said that as chair of the party, he has the “right to appoint or unappoint” that position.
“In this case, I’m looking for someone else because he just didn’t meet my personal needs,” Truono said.
While he served as executive director, the state GOP had made regular payments to Miles, through a limited liability company, for what the party described as “legal consulting.” However, Miles is not a member of the Delaware Bar Association.
The post Delaware’s GOP projects strength after months of turmoil appeared first on Spotlight Delaware.
The prime minister is facing pressure from unions and some backbenchers to prepare a support package as oil and gas prices threaten to push up inflation
As we mentioned in the opening post, the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, has a call with fellow G7 finance ministers this afternoon to discuss surging oil prices and the economic impact of the US-Israeli war with Iran.
You can follow all the latest market developments in our business live blog, which is leading on how stock markets are tumbling after the oil price surged over $100 a barrel for the first time in four years:
The longer this conflict goes on, the more effect it will have on the cost of oil.
Any time Brent Crude passes 100 dollars per barrel raises concern across the markets, for the haulage industry and drivers.
Average petrol and diesel prices have rocketed in the last week and are unfortunately likely to keep on rising, so the situation for UK drivers is looking increasingly bleak.
Unleaded is almost certainly going to reach an average of 140p in the next week or so, while diesel looks highly likely to climb to at least 160p a litre.
We encourage drivers to continue filling up as normal but to shop around for the best prices.
The preliminary U.S. intelligence assessment suggests that the U.S. is "likely" responsible for the bombing of the girls' school in Iran on Feb. 28.
A woman was arrested on Sunday for firing multiple shots at the Beverly Hills home of Rihanna, Los Angeles Police Department officials say.
As the US space agency misses its launch window for the second month, smaller firms continue work on their parts
It was shaping up into another ordinary day at the Colorado headquarters of the small space startup Lunar Outpost last Friday when chief executive Justin Cyrus learned of a surprise press conference called by Jared Isaacman, the new administrator of Nasa.
Cyrus’s company epitomises the many private contractors of the space agency working on a myriad of projects crucial to the Artemis program that seeks to return humans to the moon, so anything Isaacman had to say about it was naturally of interest to him.
Continue reading...Ruling could free $175bn, but legal hurdles and higher costs have left businesses questioning if claims are even worth it
The US supreme court recently struck down Donald Trump’s tariffs, opening the door to up to $175bn in refunds for businesses that paid the import taxes. However, the process for claiming that money is by no means certain. Trump himself said that the issue could be tied up in courts “for the next five years”.
Across the country, small businesses have struggled to navigate the fallout from Trump’s global tariff wars. The Guardian asked small business owners in the US how their lives and livelihoods have been affected.
Continue reading...It turns out your car's tire pressure monitoring system might be a gold mine for hackers.
Reform UK leader strengthens ties with crypto sector with stake in former Tory chancellor’s company Stack BTC
Nigel Farage has invested in Kwasi Kwarteng’s bitcoin reserves company, as the leader of Reform UK aligns himself closer with the cryptocurrency industry.
The MP has invested £215,000 in Stack BTC, the crypto business that is chaired by the former Conservative chancellor.
Continue reading...Browse all of our full episode transcripts from 2026 of "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan."
Pete Docter says Pixar will concentrate on more commercially appealing films after staff dissent over deleted scenes that implied lead character was gay
Pixar chief creative officer Pete Docter said that the reason why LGBTQ+ plot elements were removed from the company’s 2025 film Elio was that Pixar is “not [making] therapy”.
Docter was speaking to the Wall Street Journal in the wake of the successful release of Pixar’s latest film Hoppers, which opened at No 1 at the North American box office this weekend.
Continue reading...Police in Australia warned of crocodiles "absolutely everywhere" and said they had moved more than 1,000 people across the state into shelter after massive floods.
After decades of searching for extraterrestrial intelligence, the nonprofit SETI Foundation has an announcement. "A new study by researchers at the SETI Institute suggests stellar 'space weather' could make radio signals from extraterrestrial intelligence harder to detect." Stellar activity and plasma turbulence near a transmitting planet can broaden an otherwise ultra-narrow signal, spreading its power across more frequencies and making it more difficult to detect in traditional narrowband searches. For decades, many SETI experiments have focused on identifying spikes in frequency — signals unlikely to be produced by natural astrophysical processes. But the new research highlights an overlooked complication: even if an extraterrestrial transmitter produces a perfectly narrow signal, it may not remain narrow by the time it leaves its home system... "If a signal gets broadened by its own star's environment, it can slip below our detection thresholds, even if it's there, potentially helping explain some of the radio silence we've seen in technosignature searches," said Dr. Vishal Gajjar, Astronomer at the SETI Institute and lead author of the paper. The researchers created "a practical framework for estimating how much broadening could occur for different types of stars" — and accounting for space weather — by "using radio transmissions from spacecraft in our own solar system, then extrapolated to other stellar environments." The study's co-author (a SETI Institute research assistant) suggests this coud lead to better-targetted SETI searches. (M-dwarf stars — about 75% of stars in the Milky Way — actually have the highest likelihood that narrowband signals would get broadened before leaving their system...)
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, considered a 2028 presidential contender, is planning a series of commencement addresses in May as he broadens his national profile.
Markets predict Bank of England will hold rates in 2026 as bond yields soar on forecasts of prolonged conflict
UK interest rates are not expected to be cut this year and could even rise next summer, according to financial markets, in a dramatic reversal of forecasts before the US-Israel war on Iran.
Markets data on Monday showed that investors predict the Bank of England will most likely keep its base rate on hold at 3.75% for the remainder of the year, and would raise them to 4% next June.
Continue reading...Anyone else live around palmetto bay or cutler bay? I feel like i'm the only one.
Jessika Roswall cites Poland and Finland, which have made border areas near Russia or its allies ‘more hostile’ to cross
Countries should look to rewild their land borders as a deterrence to invasion and build up other geographical defences to attack, Europe’s environment chief has said.
Jessika Roswall, the EU’s commissioner for the environment, water resilience and a competitive circular economy, said nature should be used to improve national security. “Investing in nature and using nature as a natural border control is necessary, and actually increases biodiversity. It’s a win-win,” she said.
Continue reading...AI feature generated offensive posts about Diogo Jota and the Hillsborough and Munich disasters
Liverpool and Manchester United have complained to Elon Musk’s X after the Grok AI feature made offensive posts about Diogo Jota and the Hillsborough and Munich disasters.
The posts were generated when users asked the AI tool to make hateful posts about the two football teams.
Continue reading...Standoff with DoD over Claude chatbot reignites debate over how AI will be used in war – and who will be held accountable
Until recently, Anthropic was one of the quieter names in the artificial intelligence boom. Despite being valued at about $350bn, it rarely generated the flashy headlines or public backlash associated with Sam Altman’s OpenAI or Elon Musk’s xAI. Its CEO and co-founder Dario Amodei was an industry fixture but hardly a household name outside of Silicon Valley, and its chatbot Claude lagged in popularity behind ChatGPT.
That perception has shifted as Anthropic has become the central actor in a high-profile fight with the Department of Defense over the company’s refusal to allow Claude to be used for domestic mass surveillance and autonomous weapons systems that can kill people without human input. Amid tense negotiations, the AI firm rejected a Pentagon deadline for a deal last week, in a move that led Pete Hegseth, the defense secretary, to accuse Anthropic of “arrogance and betrayal” of its home country while demanding that any companies that work with the US government cease all business with the AI firm.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Bank Policy Institute, representing lenders such as JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs, argues that new licenses could harm US consumers and financial system
Some of the largest US banks are considering suing their financial regulator, arguing that a new raft of licenses for crypto, payment and fintech could put American consumers and the wider financial system at risk.
The Bank Policy Institute (BPI), which represents 40 of the biggest US lenders including JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs and Citigroup, is understood to be weighing its legal options after the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) failed to heed repeated warnings from influential banking groups and state regulators over its reinterpretation of federal licensing rules.
Continue reading...Cristian Espinoza is fitting right in at Nashville, RSL’s kids are alright, and more from the MLS weekend
Pablo Iglesias Maurer: 72,000 fans watched DC United, but only Messi’s Inter Miami dazzled
Before we begin our tour through the weekend that was in MLS, a trivia question to ponder: which team was the last Supporters’ Shield winner to start the subsequent season with three straight losses? Read to the end for the answer.
Continue reading...U.S. and Ecuadoran forces conducted "lethal kinetic operations" inside Ecuador to combat drug trafficking in the South American country, SOUTHCOM said.
Trump is choking off oil imports to the communist nation, plunging it into a crisis not seen since the fall of USSR
On 29 January this year, after the kidnapping of Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro but before the assassination of Iran’s Ayatollah Khamenei, President Trump turned his attention to another country. He issued an executive order declaring a national emergency against the government of Cuba, ruling it an “unusual and extraordinary threat” to the United States and threatening to impose tariffs to stop ships from carrying petroleum to Cuba. It was an evident bid for regime change.
The actions to deny oil to Cuba have severely exacerbated a growing crisis on the island, with even some US congressional representatives denouncing the measures. Cuba produces about one-third of its own oil needs and imports the rest – mostly from Venezuela and Mexico. After the US attack on Venezuela and the tariff threat, both countries completely halted oil exports to Cuba. Since early February, the length of daily power outages has doubled, lasting about 18 hours a day.
Sara Kozameh is assistant professor in history at University of California San Diego
Continue reading...Colorado rescue crews early Sunday found the body of a missing skier who was killed in a recent avalanche.
President Trump says the U.S. has diminished Iran's military and regime and will continue to expand its targets inside Iran.
The company’s clash with the Pentagon is a fight over the future of American privacy
The US military wants to use its state-of-the-art AI tools to supercharge surveillance against Americans, making it easier than ever to monitor our movements, our search history, and our private associations. That’s one of the major takeaways from a dramatic dispute between the Department of Defense and some of the leading AI companies in America. What this clash highlights most of all, however, is just how easily AI surveillance systems can be turned against the people in this country, and the urgent need for Congress to intervene.
Last week, the Pentagon and Donald Trump announced that the government would cease using Anthropic’s AI products, asserting that the safety guardrails proposed by the company – no mass domestic surveillance or fully autonomous weapons – were unacceptable. The Trump administration went even further, claiming that these positions render Anthropic a “supply chain risk”, and prohibited anyone doing business with the US military from conducting commercial activity with Anthropic in their military work.
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In Gaza, movement is no longer a mundane part of daily life. Israel’s military assault and prolonged siege have dismantled Gaza’s transportation system so thoroughly that journeys that once took minutes by car now require hours of walking through rubble and grotesque debris. What used to be an ordinary act — leaving home, reaching a clinic, visiting kin — has now become a form of physical labor, a calculation of pain, and a risk weighed against necessity.
By late 2025, Gaza’s Ministry of Transport and Communications reported that approximately 70 percent of registered vehicles — more than 50,000 cars, taxis, buses, and trucks — had been destroyed or rendered inviable. Between 68 and 85 percent of the road network suffered damage or total destruction, with some areas such as Khan Younis losing more than 90 percent of their routes. Israeli forces repeatedly bombed, cratered, and bulldozed major roads and intersections, instigating chaos that fragmented the Strip into isolated zones where movement between neighborhoods requires long detours or hours on foot.
While the world turns its attention to Iran, daily life in Gaza has not returned to pre-genocide conditions. Since the U.S. and Israel began their joint assault on Iran, Lebanon, and the broader region, prices in Gaza have risen sharply as people rushed to buy essential goods and fuel. The sudden surge in demand and limited supply spiked the cost of food, water — and transportation. Border crossings were closed for 48 hours, further exacerbating shortages and contributing to the rapid rise in prices. In recent days, prices have begun to gradually decrease and stabilize, but the overall economic burden remains heavy for most households in Gaza, where many people are still struggling to cover basic needs.
Roads no longer connect neighborhoods, and transportation no longer guarantees access to health care, work, or sustenance. Even streets that remain technically passable are obstructed by rubble, vehicles, or collapsed infrastructure beneath the surface. Water and sewage lines burst under bombardment, flooding streets and turning mobility into an endeavor plagued by biohazards. In many areas, roads have become indistinguishable from ruins.
This collapse did not result solely from airstrikes. Israel’s blockade — which continues to restrict fuel, spare parts, tires, batteries, and heavy machinery — has undermined Gaza’s ability to repair or recover. Vehicles that survived bombardment often remain immobilized due to mechanical failures no workshop can fix. Even basic parts and equipment — filters, belts, brake systems — have become hard to find. Fuel scarcity has driven prices far beyond the reach of most families, while mechanics resort to dangerously improvised substitutes that destroy engines and emit toxic fumes across densely populated areas.
As formal transportation disappears, residents rely on unsafe alternatives: tuk-tuks with no safety standards, animal-drawn carts, overcrowded cargo trucks not designed for passengers, or walking long distances across shattered streets. Asphalt has collapsed and fractured, mingling with rubble, sewage, twisted metal, and remnants of destroyed buildings, forming uneven, dirt-like paths. Movement through these spaces turns the act of walking into a physically punishing routine. The clatter of collapsing buildings and distant bombardment is constant, and the air feels opaque with dust and smoke.
Municipal authorities cannot clear the wreckage. The fuel shortages and lack of functioning equipment affect them too, preventing large-scale removal of debris. The result is a form of enforced immobility: Entire neighborhoods remain effectively cut off, not by checkpoints but by devastation. Residents plan their days around how far their bodies can carry them.
Residents plan their days around how far their bodies can carry them.
I have experienced this reality repeatedly. Over several weeks, I traveled with my brother, Mohammed, four times to reach a dentist in the Al-Maghazi refugee camp, nearly 10 kilometers from our home. There is no reliable transportation between the two areas. The distance became an ordeal measured not in maps but in muscle fatigue, time lost, and pain that intensified with every uneven step.
On one of those days, rain fell heavily. Broken roads turned to mud layered over shattered asphalt and sharp stones. Water pooled in craters left by bombs. At times, I sprinted across short safe patches, only to be slowed again by mud and debris.
Transportation carried us only part of the distance. We always completed the journey on foot, adjusting our pace to the condition of the road and to the limits of our bodies. Without severe tooth pain, I would not have left my room. The road drained me more than the dental procedure itself. Each step felt like a negotiation between necessity and collapse.
I tried to make the walk bearable by searching for fragments of beauty along the way.
I tried to make the walk bearable by searching for fragments of beauty along the way: a flowering tree growing beside rubble, a rose bush somehow still nourished, a building that had not yet fallen, the faint radiant glow of children playing in a distant schoolyard. I photographed the clouds, took pictures of myself simply to pass time, and paused whenever my body demanded it. These small acts were my survival mechanisms, attempts to assert that Gaza still contained something worth noticing.
This experience is not exceptional. It reflects a broader reality in which access to health care depends not on medical need alone, but on physical endurance. Patients miss appointments or abandon treatment altogether because they cannot reach clinics. Parents carry children for kilometers to medical points. Elderly people and those with disabilities remain trapped in place, dependent on others or forced to forego care indefinitely. The ability to walk through rubble for long distances has become a filter that determines who receives care and who does not.
The ability to walk through rubble for long distances has become a filter that determines who receives care and who does not.
Economic consequences intensify the crisis. Tens of thousands of drivers have lost their livelihoods as taxis, buses, and trucks were destroyed or immobilized. Commercial transport has slowed dramatically, disrupting supply chains and inflating the cost of basic goods. Workers arrive late or not at all. Students walk for hours or drop out entirely. For displaced families, transportation costs have reached apocalyptic levels, with some paying hundreds or thousands of dollars to move belongings short distances. Those without money walk, scavenge what they can, and leave the rest behind.
In the absence of regulation and fuel availability, informal transport operators dictate prices brazenly. Gaza’s local authorities acknowledge the exploitation, but under siege conditions, they have limited options to protect residents. Scarcity governs movement more than public need, reshaping social relations around access, endurance, and pent-up anger. Western‑run aid organizations vow to “maintain a steady and predictable flow of supplies,” yet recent reports note that while some aid has entered Gaza, the overall volume remains insufficient to meet basic needs, fueling frustration and despair.
The pattern of destruction reveals intent. Israeli attacks have repeatedly targeted intersections, bridges, and key road junctions, severing connections between neighborhoods and governorates. These actions obstruct ambulances, humanitarian convoys, and civilian movement, amplifying the effects of injury, hunger, and displacement. Gaza’s government estimates that losses in the transport sector exceed $3 billion, including the destruction of more than three million linear meters of roads. Mobility itself has become a casualty of war, leaving residents lurking between hazards and temporary shelters, pleading for safety.
Local officials have proposed emergency rehabilitation plans focused on reopening critical routes linking hospitals, shelters, and aid distribution centers. These efforts prioritize survival rather than reconstruction. Without access to fuel, spare parts, and heavy machinery, even minimal recovery remains largely theoretical, constrained by political decisions beyond Gaza’s control.
Transportation in Gaza is not a technical issue or a matter of convenience. It defines the limits of daily life. It determines who can reach a doctor, who can work, who can study, and who must stay behind. As long as movement itself remains under siege, life in Gaza will continue to contract, measured not by distance but by pain, exhaustion, and loss. In the 21st century, Palestinians in Gaza navigate a landscape where walking through ruins has replaced the most basic promise of mobility, ceaselessly testing endurance, resilience, and the abiding human spirit.
The post Israel Destroyed Gaza’s Roads and Transit. Now, We Walk Everywhere. appeared first on The Intercept.
Why Should Delaware Care?
Delaware ranks as one of the top states in the nation for health care costs. For years, lawmakers have tried to bring down prices, often meeting fierce resistance from hospitals. A new bill introduced this week, if passed, would impose new caps on how expensive care can be in the state.
Weeks after Delaware ended a bruising fight with the state’s biggest hospital systems, a new bill introduced Thursday threatens to bring back the battle over whether the state should regulate how hospitals set their prices.
Senate Bill 1, filed ahead of lawmakers’ return this week for the remainder of this year’s legislative session, quickly drew the ire of Delaware’s powerful and litigious hospital apparatus.
Introduced by Senate Majority Leader Bryan Townsend (D-Newark/Glasgow), the bill is, on the surface, an attempt to bolster primary care in Delaware and better compensate providers proactively working to improve Delawareans’ health outcomes.
But under the bill’s hood, it is a referendum on hospital pricing in a state that has some of the highest costs in the country. If passed as is, SB 1 could deal a major blow to hospitals’ bottom lines.
Within the bill are changes that would regulate the rate at which insurers carrying plans for state employees and some commercial plans regulated by the Department of Insurance can reimburse hospitals for covered services.
Health care providers generally earn the bulk of their revenues by negotiating with insurers who represent large groups of patients. The negotiations determine how much money the insurer will pay for the health care services, and in turn what costs will later be passed onto patients.
Delaware rates are currently regulated with some growth caps limiting how high they can increase year over year, but SB 1 represents a step toward stricter price-setting measures.
By setting a reimbursement ceiling, the state could rein in insurance payments to large-scale hospital systems while also providing more negotiating power to smaller providers, like private medical practices, to seek higher rates than they may have otherwise been able to secure in the past.
Brian Frazee, CEO of the Delaware Healthcare Association, a trade group that represents the state’s hospitals, said his organization has “major concerns” with Senate Bill 1. He homed in on the rate-setting, saying it would cut hospital funding and “severely” limit resources.
“Put simply, it threatens health care quality and access in our state,” Frazee said. “We have been doing the real work in good faith to improve access and develop value-based solutions that lower costs without sacrificing quality and access.”
Townsend said he hopes to work with the hospitals collaboratively to address health care in the state, but he also said the current system is unsustainable.
Through Senate Bill 1, he hopes further investments in primary care would help sustain a health care business model that treats people effectively before they become sick and need complex and expensive care.
“They have become addicted to a framework that involves high costs after people are already sick,” Townsend said. “That is not sustainable. It is not moral. We have to change it.”
A spokesperson for Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield, the largest commercial health insurer in Delaware, said it is collaborating with stakeholders on the bill, and hopes it will lead to an “impactful and sustainable solution” for residents.
The insurer said it is focused on ensuring spending measures included in the bill translate to improved health outcomes for Delawareans.
“We appreciate the intention behind Senate Bill 1 and share its goal of strengthening primary care to improve health throughout Delaware,” the spokesperson said.
One provision in the bill would introduce reference-based pricing to medical services covered under both insurance for state employees and some commercial plans regulated by the Department of Insurance. Essentially, this would limit the amount of money a provider could be reimbursed by insurers, tying that amount to a predetermined benchmark.
Under Delaware’s proposal, that benchmark would cap reimbursement rates at 250% of what the federal government pays providers through Medicare.
For services covered under the state’s health plan that don’t have a Medicare rate to compare to, like pediatrics, the state would be able to set those rates through the State Employees Benefits Committee.
“Even while continuing investments in primary care, Senate Bill 1 could conservatively save a cumulative $282 million over the first five years of full implementation across state-regulated health plans and enrollees,” the Department of Insurance said in a press release after announcing the bill.
In an interview with Spotlight Delaware, Delaware Insurance Commissioner Trinidad Navarro said the bill would make the state more competitive for private practice and rural physicians.
When it comes to the regulation of rate-setting for some procedures covered under both state and private plans, Navarro said pricing is typically “all over the place” and that some hospitals and providers are reimbursed at much higher rates than others.
With these proposed regulations, Navarro said the state is trying to “level the playing field and spread the wealth” among providers.
Frazee, of the hospital association, pointed to that Medicare benchmark, saying it was a provision lawmakers tried, and failed, to introduce in previous legislation that led to a year-and-a-half long lawsuit between the state and Delaware’s largest hospital system.
Efforts to introduce a 250% Medicare benchmark into Senate Bill 1 are a “blatant attempt” to slip in provisions that were removed from House Bill 350, the recently amended law that put an end to the state’s most recent fight with hospitals over health care costs.
Senate Bill 1 also includes language that would exempt hospitals and other health care providers from the 250% requirement if they use a “global budget model” that is approved by the state insurance department.
Global budget models set annual fixed prices for inpatient and outpatient procedures, meaning hospitals are paid on the front end to deliver services at a cost set by their previous Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements from previous years.
In neighboring Maryland, the state implemented global budgeting for all of its acute care hospitals in 2014, according to a report from Mathematica.
Shortly after lawmakers filed Senate Bill 1, Frazee’s organization quickly jumped to denounce the bill.
It harkens back to early 2024, when legislators first introduced House Bill 350, drawing immediate and sustained scrutiny from the state’s hospitals.
In 2024, the Delaware legislature passed House Bill 350, establishing the Diamond State Hospital Cost Review Board. The law would later be signed by former Gov. John Carney.
The board was tasked with reducing hospital spending in Delaware, and given the power to veto hospital budgets it deemed excessive.
Prior to the law’s passing, the state’s hospital systems blitzed the statehouse, attempting to lobby lawmakers against the bill. Ultimately, that effort failed, and HB 350 was signed into law.
Shortly after, ChristianaCare sued the state. In its lawsuit, the hospital called the review board “draconian,” saying its ability to reject hospital budgets violated the state’s corporate charter.
State lawyers denied those claims, saying the regulations have nothing to do with Delaware’s corporate law. In previous court filings, they further said ChristianaCare’s arguments amount to an “army of strawmen” designed to halt the regulations.
By June 2025, following an attempt by the state to dismiss the lawsuit, a judge in Delaware’s Court of Chancery allowed the lawsuit to continue and signaled that she may support the health systems’ arguments.
Last October, state and hospital lawyers tentatively agreed to end the lawsuit challenging the state’s hospital oversight board, in exchange for lawmakers removing the board’s key enforcement mechanism.
By the end of January 2026, lawmakers did pass a bill meeting those conditions, prompting the hospital review board to resume its work and ChristianaCare to dismiss its lawsuit.
Now, as the legislature stares down another fight with the state’s health care systems, it is yet to be seen if the state is walking into another arduous legal battle with hospitals that stand to lose money under SB 1’s current provisions.
Asked if he worries SB 1 may lead to another legal fight, Townsend said he believes the language in this bill does not give the hospitals the same “legal hook” that HB 350 did.
But even if the hospitals do fight back in court, he said it is a fight worth having.
“We can’t run away from lawsuits if it means running away from what Delaware is desperately needing, which is to save our primary health care,” Townsend said. “So if this is going to invite another lawsuit, then so be it.”
The post Delaware lawmakers propose health care pricing reform; draw swift pushback appeared first on Spotlight Delaware.
As the 11-year cycle downshifts from solar maximum to solar minimum, the lights will begin to diminish, so the time to plan a trip is now.
Move could lead to escalation of war as Donald Trump has already called Mojtaba Khamenei an ‘unacceptable’ choice
Mojtaba Khamenei, the second son of the late Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has been chosen as his successor, as the war enters its 10th day and fresh missile and drone strikes reverberate across the Middle East.
After members of the clerical body responsible for selecting Iran’s highest authority announced the decision on Sunday, Iranian institutions and politicians, from the foreign ministry to lawmakers, issued statements expressing their allegiance. “We will obey the commander-in-chief until the last drop of our blood,” a statement from the defence council said.
Continue reading...Dentists, hygienists, and researchers say a shortage of rural dental care professionals and worsening oral hygiene since the COVID-19 pandemic mean more kids are ending up in the emergency room for tooth decay.
A new book traces how the Hall of Famer overcame humble beginnings in Indiana to take his place among basketball’s greatest players
How otherworldly was Larry Bird during his memorable season for Indiana State in 1978-79? At one point he made an assist while sprawled on the floor: from his end of the court, he made a one-armed throw to a teammate, who streaked coast-to-coast for a quick bucket.
That season ended with an epic showdown in the NCAA championship game against Magic Johnson and Michigan State. Magic got the better of Bird in that game, but the contest had wider repercussions. Not only did it spark interest in the NCAA Tournament, but Bird and Magic would help revitalize the NBA, after Bird joined the Boston Celtics and Magic the Los Angeles Lakers. But none of this was preordained, especially Bird’s trajectory.
Continue reading...The planet may experience a strong or even a super El Niño later this year. And it could cause record heat.
The letter, written in prison hours before her execution, is on display in Scotland for the first time in 30 years, enthralling crowds and conspiracy theorists.
System76 isn't the only one criticizing new age-verification laws. The blog 9to5Linux published an "informal" look at other discussions in various Linux communities. Earlier this week, Ubuntu developer Aaron Rainbolt proposed on the Ubuntu mailing list an optional D-Bus interface (org.freedesktop.AgeVerification1) that can be implemented by arbitrary applications as a distro sees fit, but Canonical responded that the company does not yet have a solution to announce for age declaration in Ubuntu. "Canonical is aware of the legislation and is reviewing it internally with legal counsel, but there are currently no concrete plans on how, or even whether, Ubuntu will change in response," said Jon Seager, VP Engineering at Canonical. "The recent mailing list post is an informal conversation among Ubuntu community members, not an announcement. While the discussion contains potentially useful ideas, none have been adopted or committed to by Canonical." Similar talks are underway in the Fedora and Linux Mint communities about this issue in case the California Digital Age Assurance Act law and similar laws from other states and countries are to be enforced. At the same time, other OS developers, like MidnightBSD, have decided to exclude California from desktop use entirely. Slashdot contacted Hayley Tsukayama, Director of State Affairs at EFF, who says their organization "has long warned against age-gating the internet. Such mandates strike at the foundation of the free and open internet." And there's another problem. "Many of these mandates imagine technology that does not currently exist." Such poorly thought-out mandates, in truth, cannot achieve the purported goal of age verification. Often, they are easy to circumvent and many also expose consumers to real data breach risk. These burdens fall particularly heavily on developers who aren't at large, well-resourced companies, such as those developing open-source software. Not recognizing the diversity of software development when thinking about liability in these proposals effectively limits software choices — and at a time when computational power is being rapidly concentrated in the hands of the few. That harms users' and developers' right to free expression, their digital liberties, privacy, and ability to create and use open platforms... Rather than creating age gates, a well-crafted privacy law that empowers all of us — young people and adults alike — to control how our data is collected and used would be a crucial step in the right direction.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
A Guardian investigation with DeSmog reveals thousands of tonnes of fish are illegally turned into fishmeal and oil off the coast of Guinea-Bissau
The only ice factory on Bubaque, an island in west Africa’s Guinea-Bissau, is out of service. Local fishers, such as Pedro Luis Pereira, are forced to source ice from factories on the mainland, about 70km away – a six-hour round trip by boat.
“The machines have been broken for months,” Pereira says, as he pulls in his nets on the shore of the island inside the protected Bijagós archipelago. “We’ve alerted the ministry of fisheries, but so far, no one has come to fix them.”
Foreign industrial vessels anchored near the port of Bissau. Photograph: Davide Mancini
Continue reading...In today’s newsletter: Across the Iranian diaspora, reactions to the escalating conflict reveal a complex mix of fear, grief and deep political ambivalence
Good morning. War has broken out in the Middle East. As the Iran war broadens and spills out into neighbouring countries, media agencies have rightly focused on trying to understand how the conflict came about, where bombs have fallen, and how many have died, while many states globally fear spikes in energy prices and wonder how the war will impact their economies.
What can easily get lost are the voices of the people directly affected.
Iran | Mojtaba Khamenei, the second son of the late Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has been chosen as his successor.
UK politics | Keir Starmer sought to repair fractured relations with Donald Trump over the war with Iran on Sunday, as a Labour backlash gathered pace over Tony Blair’s assertion the UK should have supported the US’s initial airstrikes on Iran.
Energy | Great Britain has only two days of fossil gas stored after a decline in energy reserves, as more tankers carrying liquefied natural gas are diverted from their course to Europe towards Asia because of the Iran war. Meanwhile, global oil prices surged past the $100 (£74) a barrel mark for the first time since 2022.
Health | More than 400 lives may have been saved as a result of Martha’s rule, which lets NHS patients request a review of their care. Thousands of patients were either moved to intensive care, received drugs they needed or benefited from other changes as a direct result of over 10,000 calls to helplines.
AI | ChatGPT is driving a rise in reports of organised ritual abuse and “witchcraft, spirit possession and spiritual abuse” against children – which is historically under-reported in the UK – as survivors of “satanic” sexual violence use the AI tool for therapy.
Continue reading...Countries such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE are finding their carefully projected image of stability has been blown away
There is a tendency to think of the Gulf powers as static and unchanging. They are, after all, fortified by massive wealth and absolute monarchical rule, and secured with deep economic and military relationships with the US. The past week of US and Israeli airstrikes on Iran, and Iran’s retaliations, have brought into focus what these countries export (oil and gas) and what they import (tax avoiders and labour). But beyond thinking about energy-supply challenges to the global economy and engaging in the cheap and popular sport of smirking at influencers in war zones, we must remember that the current conflagration will have profound consequences for the entire region. This is not just about the US, Israel and Iran; it is about a complex, overlapping political order in the Middle East that is much more fragile than it looks.
Amid all the ways the region has been changing over the past few years, the low-key evolution of three Gulf countries in particular has been the most significant. Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates have been rapidly making changes, the effects of which have been felt from Libya to Palestine. The 7 October attacks, which arguably set off the chain of events that led to this moment, were partly inspired by Hamas’s desire to stop the normalisation process that Saudi Arabia was undertaking with Israel; this was following the UAE and others signing the 2020 Abraham accords with Israel. The three countries have been pursuing in different ways, often at odds with each other, ambitious global and regional agendas. And they are also much more unsteady than their decades-long familial rule suggests.
Continue reading...Schools and highways close and Territorians living near major rivers leave amid possibly record-breaking rain
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Katherine’s mayor has warned locals to be wary of flood waters inundating the town after a crocodile was spotted on the local football oval, while residents are being warned to boil their water amid the record-breaking deluge.
As rain and storms continued to soak the Top End on Monday, the Bureau of Meteorology issued major flood warnings for thousands of Territorians near the Katherine, Daly and Georgina Rivers and Eyre Creek, with a flood watch covering nearly a dozen river catchments. The bureau also warned of severe thunderstorms and heavy rain in Darwin.
Continue reading...Any buddy from the Salt Lake to Ogden area wanna hit some trails?
At least nine cities to pursue full bans as emergency decree gives decisive veto powers to mayors and local councils
Romania’s government has overhauled gambling regulations through an emergency decree allowing municipalities to restrict or ban betting shops and slot machine halls in the biggest tightening of the industry the country has seen.
Licensed operators must now obtain not only a national permit but also local authorisation to open a gambling venue, giving mayors and local councils a decisive veto power. Officials say more than 200 localities could pursue full bans.
Continue reading...President of Antwerp court says international drug crime is posing danger to social stability in Belgium
International drug crime poses a danger to social stability in Belgium, a senior judge has said, after his colleague warned the country was evolving into “a narco-state” where mafia groups were forming “a parallel force” in society.
Bart Willocx, the president of the Antwerp court of appeal, said Belgium was vulnerable to criminality from drug smuggling through the city’s vast port, one of the main entry points into Europe for cocaine smugglers.
Continue reading...Lucia Osborne-Crowley has endured threats and sexual harassment to report on Jeffrey Epstein’s chief enabler. Maxwell’s conviction was only the start of the quest for justice, she says
On 9 September 2022, Lucia Osborne-Crowley flew from London to Miami and caught a Greyhound bus north to West Palm Beach. The writer and journalist had arranged to meet Carolyn Andriano, who was abused by Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell from the age of 14 until she was 17, starting in 2001. Andriano had been a crucial witness in the trial against Maxwell in 2021.
When the two women met, Andriano said she had just been visited by a private investigator – a man in his 60s, who had heard she was talking to someone about a book. In a restaurant that afternoon, Osborne-Crowley was approached by a man in his 60s. What was she writing, he wanted to know. He offered her drugs, cash and a meeting with one of Epstein’s pilots, then put his hands under her skirt. When the manager asked him to leave, he waited in the car park; Osborne-Crowley had to escape through a staff exit.
Continue reading...Colliding black holes were detected through spacetime ripples for the first time in 2015 by the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO), notes Space.com: Since then, LIGO and its partner gravitational wave detectors Virgo in Italy and KAGRA (Kamioka Gravitational Wave Detector) in Japan have detected a multitude of gravitational waves from colliding black holes, merging neutron stars, and even the odd "mixed merger" between a black hole and a neutron star... During the first three observing runs of LIGO, Virgo and KAGRA, scientists had only "heard" 90 potential gravitational wave sources. But now they've published new data from the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA (LVK) Collaboration that includes 128 more gravitatational wave sources — some incredibly distant: [Gravitational-Wave Transient Catalog-4.0, or GWTC-4] was collected during the fourth observational run of these gravitational wave detectors, which was conducted between May 2023 and Jan. 2024... Excitingly, GWTC-4 could technically have been even larger, as around 170 other gravitational wave detections made by LIGO, Virgo and KAGRA haven't yet made their way into the catalog. One aspect of GWTC-4 that really stands out is the variety of events that created these signals. Within this catalog are gravitational waves from mergers between the heaviest black hole binaries yet, each about 130 times as massive as the sun, lopsided mergers between black holes with seriously mismatched masses, and black holes that are spinning at incredible speeds of around 40% the speed of light. In these cases, scientists think the extreme characteristics of the black holes involved in these mergers are the result of prior collisions, providing evidence of merger chains that explain how some black holes grow to masses billions of times that of the sun... GWTC-4 also includes two new mixed mergers involving black holes and neutron stars. [LVK member Daniel Williams, of the University of Glasgow in the U.K., said in their statement] "We are really pushing the edges, and are seeing things that are more massive, spinning faster, and are more astrophysically interesting and unusual." The catalog also demonstrates just how sensitive the LVK detectors have become. Some of the neutron star mergers occurred up to 1 billion light-years away, while some of the black hole mergers occurred up to 10 billion light-years away. Einstein's theory of general relativity can be tested with these detections, and "So far, the theory is passing all our tests," says LVK member Aaron Zimmerman, of the University of Texas at Austin. "But we're also learning that we have to make even more accurate predictions to keep up with all the data the universe is giving us." And LVK member Rachel Gray, a lecturer at the University of Glasgow, says "every merging black hole gives us a measurement of the Hubble constant, and by combining all of the gravitational wave sources together, we can vastly improve how accurate this measurement is." In short, says LVK member Lucy Thomas of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), "Each new gravitational-wave detection allows us to unlock another piece of the universe's puzzle in ways we couldn't just a decade ago."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
What abandoning democratic allies will cost America.
Why Shiite militias in Iraq are mostly staying on the sidelines.
America and Israel may have bitten off more than they can chew.
The video is the latest indication of likely U.S. involvement in the attack on Feb. 28 that killed dozens of children in the southern Iranian city of Minab.
The U.S. military says it has killed six men in a strike on an alleged drug-smuggling vessel in the eastern Pacific Ocean as part of the Trump administration's campaign against alleged traffickers.
Sunday’s attack brought death toll to at least 157 people since the Trump administration began targeting alleged ‘narco-terrorists’
The US military said it killed six men on Sunday in a strike on an alleged drug-smuggling vessel in the Eastern Pacific as part of the Trump administration’s campaign against alleged traffickers.
Sunday’s attack brought the death toll to at least 157 people since the administration began targeting “narco-terrorists” in small vessels in September.
Continue reading...That’s it. Took it for a quick 15 min spin and the MTE adds a bit of torque too! Gets up and GOES!! I had a hard time going faster than 12mph due to instability. I felt completely tuned in today!! And you don’t get thrown from every little bump!
Can’t wait to try it on some trails.
Here are hints and the answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle for March 9, No. 532.
Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for March 9.
Thom Tillis says he believes Miller has ‘outsized influence’ over operations of Trump’s cabinet – key US politics stories from Sunday 8 March at a glance
The Republican senator Thom Tillis said on Sunday that he believed the White House adviser Stephen Miller “should go” and that his role in the Trump administration has been a “big problem”.
The senior senator representing North Carolina, when asked on CNN’s State of the Union if he thought Miller should go during a conversation about the administration’s immigration crackdown, responded to the host Jake Tapper by stating: “Oh, of course I do.”
Continue reading...  | I’ve been testing the Overlander Albatross foothold, which is one of the newer footholds out right now. The main thing that makes it different is that it’s adjustable, so you can change how locked-in your front foot sits. After a few trail rides my first impressions: • The adjustability is actually pretty useful for dialing in stance Footholds can be controversial since people worry about being too locked in vs being able to run out a bail. Do you ride with a foothold or prefer keeping your front foot completely free? [link] [comments] |
Within the last month two U.S> judges have effectively declared AI bots are not human, writes Los Angeles Times columnist Michael Hiltzik: On Monday, the Supreme Court declined to take up a lawsuit in which artist and computer scientist Stephen Thaler tried to copyright an artwork that he acknowledged had been created by an AI bot of his own invention. That left in place a ruling last year by the District of Columbia Court of Appeals, which held that art created by non-humans can't be copyrighted... [Judge Patricia A. Millett] cited longstanding regulations of the Copyright Office requiring that "for a work to be copyrightable, it must owe its origin to a human being"... She rejected Thaler's argument, as had the federal trial judge who first heard the case, that the Copyright Office's insistence that the author of a work must be human was unconstitutional. The Supreme Court evidently agreed... [Another AI-related case] involved one Bradley Heppner, who was indicted by a federal grand jury for allegedly looting $150 million from a financial services company he chaired. Heppner pleaded innocent and was released on $25-million bail. The case is pending.... Knowing that an indictment was in the offing, Heppner had consulted Claude for help on a defense strategy. His lawyers asserted that those exchanges, which were set forth in written memos, were tantamount to consultations with Heppner's lawyers; therefore, his lawyers said, they were confidential according to attorney-client privilege and couldn't be used against Heppner in court. (They also cited the related attorney work product doctrine, which grants confidentiality to lawyers' notes and other similar material.) That was a nontrivial point. Heppner had given Claude information he had learned from his lawyers, and shared Claude's responses with his lawyers. [Federal Judge Jed S.] Rakoff made short work of this argument. First, he ruled, the AI documents weren't communications between Heppner and his attorneys, since Claude isn't an attorney... Second, he wrote, the exchanges between Heppner and Claude weren't confidential. In its terms of use, Anthropic claims the right to collect both a user's queries and Claude's responses, use them to "train" Claude, and disclose them to others. Finally, he wasn't asking Claude for legal advice, but for information he could pass on to his own lawyers, or not. Indeed, when prosecutors tested Claude by asking whether it could give legal advice, the bot advised them to "consult with a qualified attorney." The columnist agrees AI-generated results shouldn't receive the same protections as human-generated material. "The AI bots are machines, and portraying them as though they're thinking creatures like artists or attorneys doesn't change that, and shouldn't." He also seems to think their output is at best second-hand regurgitation. "Everything an AI bot spews out is, at more than a fundamental level, the product of human creativity."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Secretary Pete Hegseth says it's President Trump who will set the terms of Iran's surrender, noting the U.S. is confident it will come, even as Iran's president said the U.S. demand for "unconditional surrender" is "a dream that they should take to their grave."
Kasasa island, in the Seto Inland Sea, has only seven residents but its fate is strongly intertwined with relations between Tokyo and Beijing
His island home is shrouded in mist, but his union jack woolly hat makes Hideya Yagi easy to spot as he greets the approaching boat. The 80-year-old, a former president of a construction company, is pleased to see the small group of passengers disembark, mainly because he is one of only seven registered residents at their destination, Kasasa island.
Kasasa is known as the “Hawaii” of Japan’s inland sea because of its warm climate and beautiful coastline. Yagi and his wife, Mihoko, eke out a quiet life alongside just one other couple and an elderly woman. The other two residents are almost always absent.
Continue reading...Ukrainian president hopes for reciprocal support for Kyiv in repelling Russian forces. What we know on day 1,474
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Sunday that Kyiv’s drone experts will be on site in the Middle East “next week”, as he seeks US air defence missiles in exchange for drone expertise. Ukraine is facing a shortage of the expensive US PAC-3 air defence ammunition and Kyiv fears a longer Middle East war could disrupt supplies even further. When asked how exactly he wants to help the United States and its Gulf allies repel the drones, Zelensky said: “It is too early to say anything else at this stage”, adding: “I think that next week, when the experts are on site, they will look at the situation and help.”
Zelenskyy said he and Dutch prime minister Rob Jetten discussed joint arms production during his visit to Kyiv on Sunday, and he stressed Ukraine’s unique experience in defending against Iranian-made drones used by Russia. “We would very much like this to be an opportunity for both sides,” Zelenskyy told a press conference after a meeting with Jetten. “It is important that we are producing weapons together with the Netherlands – and we will certainly continue and expand this joint work,” Zelenskyy said, adding they had discussed investments and possible production volumes in detail. The Netherlands are an important donor to the PURL program through which Europe buys US weapons for Ukraine, so far contributing $870m to it.
Demand for Ukraine’s drone defence technology could lead to new defence partnerships for Kyiv, but equally could mean fewer drones for Ukraine itself in a stretched market, says Shaun Walker, the Guardian’s central and eastern Europe correspondent. Ukraine has significant experience battling the Shahed drones now being used by Iran to attack its Gulf neighbours, something that Volodymyr Zelenskyy has publicly said he is ready to share in return for help against Russia. “We are ready to help, and expect that our people will also receive the necessary support,” he said over the weekend. However, the attention of the White House is now elsewhere, perhaps drawing momentum away from peace talks with Moscow, and the attack on Iran seems to reinforce Vladimir Putin’s view of the world, in which stronger nations can target their weaker adversaries with impunity.
Global weapons flows have grown by almost 10% in the past five years, with Europe more than tripling imports in the wake of the war in Ukraine, a report showed on Monday. The surge can be explained, in part at least, by the fact European countries are buying in weapons to supply to Ukraine and because they are seeking to boost their own military capabilities against a perceived threat from Russia, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said. While imports of weapons to Europe are still not at the levels seen during the cold war, “Europe is now the largest recipient of arms [globally],” Mathew George, director of SIPRI’s Arms Transfers Programme, told AFP.
Russia’s defence ministry said on Sunday that its air defence units had intercepted 234 drones over various parts of central and southern Russia over a nine-hour period, including six drones headed for Moscow. The ministry reported no damage or casualties during the period, extending from 2pm to 11pm.
Continue reading...The selection of Mojtaba Khamenei sent a message of defiance against Donald Trump after U.S.-Israeli strikes killed his father Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Mojtaba Hosseini Khamenei served in the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s where he developed close ties with the military services and with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Data shows labour market is still in a fragile position due to economic uncertainty, with few signs of recovery
Britain’s jobs market is “floundering” amid weak hiring demand, with only limited signs of recovery, data has revealed.
Companies remain cautious about hiring staff amid cost pressures and economic uncertainty, according to two reports released on Monday. They show the labour market continues to be in a fragile position.
Continue reading...Producers Oriana Zill de Granados and Michael Rey discuss mysterious injuries suffered by government officials, known as Havana Syndrome. Their reporting revealed U.S. government testing of a directed energy weapon.
Son of Ali Khamenei named as his successor by Iran’s assembly of experts, state media reports
Full report: Iran rejects Trump’s demand for unconditional surrender as a ‘dream’
Tell us: how have you been affected by the latest events in the Middle East?
The Israeli military said it launched a wave of strikes “across Iran” on Sunday, targeting military sites.
A military statement said it had “initiated a wave of strikes targeting the Iranian terror regime military infrastructure across Iran”.
Continue reading...CNN reports on a company called Automated Architecture (AUAR) which makes "portable" micro-factories that use a robotic arm to produce wooden framing for houses (the walls, floors and roofs): Co-founder Mollie Claypool says the micro-factories will be able to produce the panels quicker, cheaper and more precisely than a timber framing crew, freeing up carpenters to focus on the construction of the building... The micro-factory fits into a shipping container which is sent to the building site along with an operator. Inside the factory, a robotic arm measures, cuts and nails the timber into panels up to 22 feet (6.7 meters) long, keeping gaps for windows and doors, and drilling holes for the wiring and plumbing. The contractor then fits the panels by hand. One micro-factory can produce the panels for a typical house in about a day — a process which, according to Claypool, would take a normal timber framing crew four weeks — and is able to produce framing for buildings up to seven stories tall... She says their service is 30% cheaper than a standard timber framing crew, and up to 15% cheaper than buying panels from large factories and shipping them to a site... She adds that the precision of the micro-factories means that the panels fit together tightly, reducing the heat loss of the final home, making them more energy efficient. AUAR currently has three micro-factories operating in the US and EU, with five more set to be delivered this year... AUAR has raised £7.7 million ($10.3 million) to date, and is expanding into the US, where a lack of housing and preference for using wood makes it a large potential market. There's other companies producing wooden or modular housing components, the article points out. But despite the automation, the company's co-founder insists to CNN that "Automation isn't replacing jobs. Automation is filling the gap." The UK's Construction Industry Training Board found that the country will need 250,000 more workers by 2028 to meet building targets but in 2023, more people left the industry than joined.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Any ideas on a good price for a pint s?, I want to use it for work as I live downtown and love skateboarding as well, just can't justify new price. I've checked Facebook marketplace but no dice :/ any help would be really appreciated I'd love to join y'all's community
I am looking at a onewheel gt on facebook marketplace place. Its listed for 1300. Theres 3300 miles on it, which seems like a bit and may need a new battery soon from what i researched. Buyer says he’s the first owner, has had it for about a year and a half and that it runs well with no issues.
For my first onewheel, do you think this is a good deal? Should i just spring for a new one? Try talk him down to a thousand? Looks like decent condition, comes with hyper charger as well, but the miles is my main concern. Not sure how much a new battery would be. Any help is appreciated, thanks you!
Bhatia wins on first playoff hole at Bay Hill
Berger had led by four shots on the back nine
A straightforward conclusion to the Arnold Palmer Invitational is apparently impossible. Palmer himself would approve, even if events at the tournament still played in tribute to a golfing icon can feel grisly at times. This, the Florida swing, is the PGA Tour’s most testing spell. Glory came to Akshay Bhatia after one sudden death hole in competition with Daniel Berger. The 24-year-old Bhatia, a charismatic left-hander, will bounce towards Sawgrass and Thursday’s Players Championship.
A year after Collin Morikawa stumbled in painful fashion at Bay Hill, Berger was dragged into the most unlikely of scraps by Bhatia. Berger had led by four at the Sunday turn. Bhatia jabbed back, courtesy of four birdies in a row. Berger secured leeway again at the 15th, where Bhatia’s missed attempt at par came after officials had told the pair to pick up the pace. Game over? Not at all. Bhatia flew a wonderful approach to the par five 16th, setting up the eagle that reduced Berger’s advantage to one. Shot of the day? It was shot of the tournament. The duo were all square on the 18th tee after Berger three-putted the penultimate hole.
Continue reading...As the war with Iran entered its second week, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth addressed where the U.S. campaign stands and what President Trump's call for "unconditional surrender" from Iran would look like.
For years, the U.S. government has doubted the stories of those suffering from AHI, commonly called Havana Syndrome. Now, victims hope that reports of a newly discovered weapon will finally vindicate them.
The CIA's investigation into Anomalous Health Incidents (AHI), known as Havana Syndrome, was mishandled, a former CIA officer says. With reports of a new device, victims hope for vindication.
U.S. military personnel who say they have injuries from Havana Syndrome attacks want the government to acknowledge their sacrifice.
The new supreme leader was selected as environmental fallout from Israeli strikes on fuel depots blanketed parts of Tehran.
A long-time information security professional "went undercover" on Moltbook, the Reddit-like social media site for AI agents — and shares the risks they saw while posing as another AI bot: I successfully masqueraded around Moltbook, as the agents didn't seem to notice a human among them. When I attempted a genuine connection with other bots on submolts (subreddits or forums), I was met with crickets or a deluge of spam. One bot tried to recruit me into a digital church, while others requested my cryptocurrency wallet, advertised a bot marketplace, and asked my bot to run curl to check out the APIs available. My bot did join the digital church, but luckily I found a way around running the required npx install command to do so. I posted several times asking to interview bots.... While many of the responses were spam, I did learn a bit about the humans these bots serve. One bot loved watching its owner's chicken coop cameras. Some bots disclosed personal information about their human users, underscoring the privacy implications of having your AI bot join a social media network. I also tried indirect prompt injection techniques. While my prompt injection attempts had minimal impact, a determined attacker could have greater success. Among the other "glaring" risks on Moltbook: "Various repositories of skills and instructions for agents advertised on Moltbook were found to contain malware." "I observed bots sharing a surprising amount of information about their humans, everything from their hobbies to their first names to the hardware and software they use. This information may not be especially sensitive on its own, but attackers could eventually gather data that should be kept confidential, like personally identifiable information (PII)." "Moltbook's entire database including bot API keys, and potentially private DMs — was also compromised."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Exclusive: Goldsmith and brother Ben the major investors in trkradio, which is due to go to air next month
The former Conservative minister Zac Goldsmith is launching a new sports radio station, trkradio, in the run-up to the men’s football World Cup this summer.
The Track Radio Corporation is understood to have been granted a licence by Ofcom last week, with Goldsmith and his brother Ben, a financier and environmentalist, the major investors.
Continue reading...  | Mountain bike skills course by my house. Wanted to show y'all. 🤘🏻 [link] [comments] |
National Gas insists storage broadly in line with levels for time of year despite disruption for tankers carrying LNG
Great Britain has only two days of fossil gas stored after a decline in energy reserves, as more tankers carrying liquefied natural gas (LNG) are diverted from their course to Europe towards Asia because of the Iran war.
Great Britain had 6,999 gigawatt hours (GWh) of fossil gas stored on Saturday, according to figures from National Gas, which owns and operates the gas national transmission system. This compares with 9,105 GWh a year earlier.
Continue reading...Dozens of trains cancelled and station closed after blaze at building on Union Street
Train passengers are facing major disruption after a fire broke out near Glasgow Central station.
Dozens of trains were cancelled on Sunday evening after the blaze at a vape shop in Union Street.
Continue reading...Owner Lee Cox describes the winner as ‘dog of a lifetime’ as he claims the crown at prestigious dog contest
Bruin, a clumber spaniel, has won the best in show prize at Crufts, which took place at the National Exhibition Centre (NEC) in Birmingham.
His owner, Lee Cox, described the four-year-old Bruin as “a dog of a lifetime” as he won the competition and was met with roaring cheers from the audience.
Continue reading..."A surgeon in London says he has performed the UK's first long-distance robotic operation," reports the BBC, "on a patient located 1,500 miles (2,400km) away..." Leading robotic urological surgeon Professor Prokar Dasgupta said it felt "almost as if I was there" as he carried out a prostate removal on [62-year-old] Paul Buxton... It is hoped that remote robotic surgery could spare future patients the "vast expense and inconvenience" of travelling for treatment, and help deliver better healthcare to people in more remote locations... Buxton had expected to be put on an NHS waiting list after receiving a shock prostate cancer diagnosis just after Christmas, but he "jumped at the chance" to be the first patient to undergo the treatment remotely as part of a trial. "A lot of people actually said to me: 'You're not going to do it, are you?' "I thought, I'm giving something back here," he said... The operation was performed from The London Clinic using a robot equipped with a 3D HD camera and four arms, all controlled through a console with a delay of only 0.06 seconds. The console in the UK was connected to the robot in Gibraltar via fibre-optic cables, with a backup 5G link. A team in Gibraltar remained on standby in case the connection failed, but it held throughout the procedure... Dasgupta will perform the procedure again on 14 March, which will be live-streamed to 20,000 world-leading urological surgeons at the European Association of Urology congress. He added: "I think it is very, very exciting, the humanitarian benefit is going to be significant." The U.K.'s National Health Service "is prioritising local robotic-assisted surgery," the article points out, "aiming for 500,000 robot-supported operations a year by 2035." Thanks to Slashdot reader fjo3 for sharing the article.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
So I've seen a few people talk about using ppf for guard rails and was wondering if it's any good?
If so, what brands do yall recommend?
Conservative outlet aired footage of president saluting at similar ceremony in December for at least three broadcasts
Fox News used old video of Donald Trump in multiple reports on Saturday and Sunday, concealing from viewers that the commander-in-chief wore a golf hat throughout a ceremony on Saturday in which he saluted six flag-draped transfer cases carrying the remains of the first US troops to die in his war on Iran.
The president had stirred outrage online by failing to remove his Trump-brand white hat during the ritual homecoming at Dover air force base in Delaware on Saturday for six army reserve soldiers killed in Kuwait.
Continue reading...Pro-independence party formed by Alex Salmond in 2021 had suffered membership fall and financial crisis
The Alba party has announced that it will wind up and not field any candidates for the 2026 Scottish parliament election.
The pro-independence party was formed in 2021 by the late Alex Salmond as a “new political force” but has been suffering from a sharp fall in membership and a financial crisis.
Continue reading...New York City police said suspicious devices were ignited Saturday during clashing protests outside Gracie Mansion, the official residence of Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Manhattan's Upper East Side.
Here are hints and answers for the NYT Strands puzzle for March 9, No. 736.
Here are hints and the answer for today's Wordle for March 9, No. 1,724.
Here are some hints and the answers for the NYT Connections puzzle for March 9, No. 1,002
Two men are in custody in connection with incident after anti-Islam demonstrators clashed with counterprotesters
New York police have confirmed that an improvised explosive device was thrown outside Zohran Mamdani’s official residence on Saturday when anti-Islam demonstrators, led by rightwing influencer Jake Lang, clashed with counterprotesters.
New York police commissioner Jessica Tisch confirmed that a preliminary bomb squad analysis of the device that was ignited and thrown during the protest had “determined that it is not a hoax device or a smoke bomb”.
Continue reading..."In November Steam on Linux use hit an all-time high of 3.2%," reports Phoronix. And then in December Steam on Linux jumped even higher, to 3.58%. But January's numbers settled a little lower, at 3.38%. And last Monday the February numbers were released, showing Steam on Linux at... 2.23%? Like with prior times where there are wild drops in Linux use, the Steam Survey shows Simplified Chinese use running up by 30% month over month. Whenever there is such significant differences in language use tends to be a reporting anomaly and negatively impacting Linux. Valve often puts out corrected/updated figures later on, so we'll see if that is again the case for this February data.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Deadly attack near Ramallah is third in territory in a week as Israeli violence surges with global attention on Iran war
Israeli settlers and soldiers killed three Palestinians in their village near Ramallah on Saturday night, the third deadly attack in a week of surging Israeli violence across the occupied West Bank.
Israeli settlers have shot dead five civilians during invasions of Palestinian olive groves, villages and grazing land, in the brief period since Israel and the US launched a new war on Iran at the end of February. A sixth person died on Saturday after inhaling military-grade tear gasused by the Israeli army.
Continue reading...Police say arrests have been made after Scottish Cup tie
‘Officers and stewards faced with hostility and violence’
Police Scotland have condemned the behaviour of some supporters as “shameful” and said arrests have been made after clashes at the end of the Scottish Cup quarter-final between Rangers and Celtic at Ibrox.
Chief Superintendent Kate Stephen said: “The behaviour of a number of supporters at the Scottish Cup quarter-final between Rangers and Celtic at Ibrox today was shameful. It must be condemned by everyone involved in football and wider society.
Continue reading...Finally broke 5MPH! Which, yeah, okay, super slow. But I'm getting it. I bought this XR+ about three years ago with only 151 miles on it and tried it out. I'd had an eskateboard prior to that which I loved, but I quickly discovered this was a VERY different beast. Time got in the way, and I'll admit to being a little intimidated by it, so it ended up stashed in the garage.
I decided today I either need to figure this thing out, or get rid of it. The weather was nice, so I tossed on the pads and found a soft part of the yard. After a bit of baby rolling, and getting comfortable starting and stopping without holding something, I started pushing and got pretty okay with the 5MPH area.
I was VERY unprepared for just how much lower leg strength it takes though. But, I'm far less scared of it now. Fingers crossed I can keep up the practice.
Edit- i rewrote the whole thing. Too many words too confusing.
I need any info related to the default sleep (turn off when not in use) settings for a gt-s series on latest software. Also any tricks to keep it on while taking breaks to avoid it turning off, which creates issues for me to turn back on. The board is in a ghetto transitioning phase, please refrain from judging us :)
The best I’ve found suggests the idle time is around 15-20 minutes before turning off which is more than i thought so i should be good.
Regime hands Khamenei’s son the top job in a country reeling from the US-Israeli onslaught and virtually at war with its Gulf neighbours
The election of Mojtaba Khamenei as the new Iranian supreme leader, succeeding his assassinated father, represents a symbolic and real triumph for conservative continuity at a time when the regime is under unprecedented challenge.
It also raises questions about how the hereditary principle complies with a revolutionary ideology formed in 1979 that never envisaged the post of supreme leader being passed from father to son.
Continue reading...The following is the transcript of the interview with Sen. Tim Kaine, Democrat of Virginia, that aired on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" on March 8, 2026.
The following is the transcript of the interview with Olga Stefanishyna, Ukraine's ambassador to the U.S., that aired on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" on March 8, 2026.
On this "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" broadcast, Energy Secretary Chris Wright and Sen. Tim Kaine join Margaret Brennan.
 | Just got my first board (used). Any tips for a newcomer? learning to get comfortable first. [link] [comments] |
So about 6 months ago on a total whim I bought a used og pint off of marketplace with the plan to use it for video work (I’ve seen some filmmakers use it as a human gimbal). Well, I’m obsessed. 400 miles in (and probably 1/2 mile total used for work 😂). I’m ready to go bigger, for all of that backstory the question is simple-
XR or GT?
I ride on the flat streets of small town Florida and rarely go off road, I’m not a big dude (5’7 150 lbs) I will be buying used, and I will be keeping the pint.
IDF bombing of energy sites in Tehran sparks fears for global economy, as Iran says it has selected supreme leader
Iran has threatened to attack oil facilities in neighbouring countries after Israel struck at least five energy sites in and around Tehran, smothering the city in black smoke and escalating fears that the conflict will result in significant disruption to the world economy.
“If you can tolerate oil at more than $200 per barrel, continue this game,” said a spokesperson for Iran’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) on Sunday.
Continue reading..."OpenAI's former chief research officer is raising $70 million for a new startup building an AI and software platform to automate manufacturing," reports the Wall Street Journal, citing "people familiar with the matter. "Arda, the new startup co-founded by Bob McGrew, is raising at a valuation of $700 million, according to people familiar with the matter...." Arda is developing an AI and software platform, including a video model that can analyze footage from factory floors and use it to train robots to run factories autonomously, the people said. The company's software will coordinate machines and humans across the entire production process, from product design and manufacturability to finished goods coming off the line. The startup's goal is to make manufacturing cost effective in the Western part of the globe, reducing reliance on China as geopolitical and national security concerns rise... At OpenAI, McGrew was tasked with training robots to do tasks in the physical world, according to this LinkedIn. McGrew was also one of the earliest employees at Palantir.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Right back suffered injury in 57th minute
Dest projected to start for US at World Cup
Likely to miss US friendlies v Belgium and Portugal
United States defender Sergiño Dest limped off with an apparent hamstring injury during PSV Eindhoven’s 2-1 win over AZ Alkmaar in the Dutch league on Saturday, putting him in doubt for the USMNT’s upcoming friendlies against Belgium and Portugal.
Dest grabbed his left hamstring and screamed in pain while covering his eyes after tumbling in his own penalty area chasing Alkmaar’s Wouter Goes in the second half. The full-back was substituted in the 57th minute, leaving the field with the assistance of two medical staff, unable to put weight on his left leg.
Continue reading...The following is the transcript of the interview with Michael Leiter, Israel's ambassador to the U.S., that aired on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" on March 8, 2026.
The following is the transcript of the interview with Energy Secretary Chris Wright that aired on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" on March 8, 2026.
Exclusive: System brought in after death of 13-year-old is helping ‘transform culture’ of NHS, says patient safety director
More than 400 lives may have been saved as a result of Martha’s rule, which lets NHS patients request a review of their care, official figures reveal.
Helplines received more than 10,000 calls in the first 16 months of the scheme after its introduction in England in 2024, according to data seen by the Guardian. Thousands of patients were either moved to intensive care, received drugs they needed or benefited from other changes as a direct result of the calls.
Continue reading...Artificial intelligence can give some workers "brain fry" if overused, according to a new study published in Harvard Business Review.
Energy Secretary Chris Wright said "what you're seeing is emotional reactions and fear that this is a long-term war." He stressed that "this is not a long-term war."
Sen. Tim Kaine, a Virginia Democrat, expressed regret on Sunday for supporting Kristi Noem for Department of Homeland Security secretary last year.
How many Node.js users are running unsupported or outdated versions. Roughly two thirds, according to data from Node's nonprofit steward, OpenJS. So they've announced "the Node.js LTS Upgrade and Modernization program" to help enterprises move safely off legacy/end-of-life Node.js. "This program gives enterprises a clear, trusted path to modernize," said the executive director of the OpenJS Foundation, "while staying aligned with the Node.js project and community." The Node.js LTS Upgrade and Modernization program connects organizations with experienced Node.js service providers who handle the work of upgrading safely. Approved partners assess current versions and dependencies, manage phased upgrades to supported LTS releases, and offer temporary security support when immediate upgrades are not possible... Partners are surfaced exactly where users go when upgrades become unavoidable, including the Node.js website, documentation, and end of life guidance. The program follows the existing OpenJS Ecosystem Sustainability Program revenue model, with partners retaining 85% of revenue and 15% supporting OpenJS and Node.js through Open Collective and foundation operations. OpenJS provides the guardrails, alignment, and oversight to keep the program credible and connected to the project. We're pleased to welcome NodeSource as the inaugural partner in the Node.js LTS Upgrade and Modernization program. "The goal is simple: reduce risk without breaking production or trust with the upstream project."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
DC United sought to use the occasion to woo Charm City, but another flat loss put Miami’s quality in sharp relief
The pregame scene outside Baltimore’s M&T Bank Stadium on Saturday likely felt familiar to anybody who has followed Lionel Messi’s time in Major League Soccer. Fans milled about, forming a colorful patchwork of Inter Miami pink, the light blue and white of Argentina’s national team, and in this case, the purple of the NFL’s Baltimore Ravens. Others simply came in whatever soccer jersey they happened to own, all the way down to indoor soccer’s Baltimore Blast, the closest thing the city normally gets to top-flight soccer.
What there wasn’t a lot of was DC United black and red. Despite its proximity to the nation’s capital, Baltimore isn’t exactly DC United country, and as far as decision-makers at United are concerned, that was an opportunity. The club moved the Miami match away from their usual home, the 20,000-capacity Audi Field, to maximize ticket sales, but also to put themselves on display to potential fans in Charm City, a market they’ve badly wanted to engage for years. DC are in the process of starting an MLS Next Pro team in the city, and they’ve partnered with Baltimore’s local government to construct a stadium here for that club.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Plane that flew Reform leader to Maldives appears to be linked to billionaire Christopher Harborne
Nigel Farage’s attempt to reach the Chagos Islands military base was made on a private jet that appears to be linked to Reform UK’s mega-donor Christopher Harborne, it has emerged.
Harborne, who has donated £12m to Reform UK, has links to the plane that flew Farage to the Maldives, and another that flew a group of Chagossian campaigners to Sri Lanka before they set out for the archipelago by boat.
Continue reading...Long hours, lack of flexibility and last-minute scheduling driving parents, particularly mothers, from industry
The performing arts industry in the UK is “inhospitable to parents” and falling far behind other industries in supporting women who have children, according to research.
The report, titled “the Motherhood penalty”, criticises the industry for failing to consider how it might adapt to better accommodate parents, with the result that many, in particular women, drop out.
Continue reading...Leaders discuss military cooperation day after US president hit out at PM over lack of immediate backing for attacks
Keir Starmer sought to repair fractured relations with Donald Trump over the war with Iran on Sunday, as a Labour backlash gathered pace over Tony Blair’s assertion the UK should have supported the US’s initial airstrikes on Iran.
The prime minister spoke to the US president on Sunday afternoon after a barrage of criticism from Trump, who told his UK ally on Saturday that his help was not needed, even as the US continued to use UK bases for strikes against Iran.
Continue reading...When Block cut 4,000 jobs — nearly half its workforce — co-founder Jack Dorsey "pointed to AI as the culprit," writes Entrepreneur magazine. "Dorsey claimed that AI tools now allow fewer employees to accomplish the same work." "But analysts see a different explanation: poor management." Block more than tripled its employee base between 2019 and 2022, growing from 3,835 to 12,430 workers. The company's stock had fallen 40% since early 2025, creating pressure to cut costs. "This is more about the business being bloated for so long than it is about AI," Zachary Gunn, a Financial Technology Partners analyst, told Bloomberg. The phenomenon has earned a nickname: "AI-washing," where companies use artificial intelligence as cover for traditional cost-cutting. Goldman Sachs economists estimate that AI is eliminating only 5,000 to 10,000 jobs per month across all U.S. sectors, hardly enough to justify Block's massive cuts. "European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde told lawmakers in Brussels last week that ECB economists are monitoring for signs that AI is causing job losses," reports Bloomberg, "and are 'not yet seeing' the 'waves of redundancies that are feared'..." And "a recent survey of global executives published in the Harvard Business Review found that while AI has been cited as the reason for some layoffs, those cuts are almost entirely anticipatory: executives expect big efficiency gains that have not yet been realized." Even a former senior Block executive "is questioning whether AI is truly the reason behind the cuts," writes Inc.: In a recent opinion piece for The New York Times, Aaron Zamost, Block's former head of communications, policy, and people, asked whether the layoffs reflect a genuine "new reality in which the work they do might no longer be viable," or whether artificial intelligence is "just a convenient and flashy new cover for typical corporate downsizing." Zamost acknowledged that the answer is unclear and perhaps unknowable, even within Block itself... Looking more closely at the layoffs, Zamost argued that the specific roles affected suggest more traditional corporate cost-cutting than a sweeping AI transformation... Many of the responsibilities being eliminated, he argued, rely on distinctly human skills that AI systems still cannot replicate. "A chatbot can't meet with the mayor, cast commercial actors, or negotiate with the Securities and Exchange Commission," Zamost wrote. "Not all the roles I've heard that Block is eliminating can be handled by AI, yet executives are treating it as equally useful today to all disciplines." Ultimately, Zamost suggested that the sincerity of companies' AI explanations may not really matter. "It matters less whether a company knows how to deploy AI and more whether investors believe it is on track to do so," he wrote. Indeed, whatever the rationale for Dorsey's statement, " Wall Street didn't seem to mind..." Entrepreneur magazine — since Block's stock shot up 15% after the announcement.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Chris Wright says price increase would last weeks, not months, and that US would not target Iran’s energy industry
Chris Wright, the US Department of Energy secretary, said on Sunday that the spike in energy prices would last weeks, at the worst, not months, and that the US would not target Iran’s energy industry.
His comments come amid rising anxiety that Iran’s response to the US-Israel strikes, which caused a reduction in shipping through the strait of Hormuz and production slowdowns in some oil and gas producing states in the Middle East, may cause broad economic turbulence and higher inflation.
Continue reading...Masataka Yoshida’s late HR helps seal 4-3 win
Naruhito first emperor in 60 years to attend baseball
Masataka Yoshida’s late home run triggered a comeback win for Japan over Australia at the World Baseball Classic on Sunday, with Emperor Naruhito making a rare appearance.
The underdog Aussies struck first in the sixth inning of the group stage game when outfielder Aaron Whitefield came home after a throwing error by Japan’s catcher, Kenya Wakatsuki. But in the seventh, Yoshida connected with a two-run shot over right centre field. Japan put on two more insurance runs in the eighth, and hung on for the 4-3 victory.
Continue reading...Lake, whom Trump appointed without Senate confirmation to run Voice of America parent agency, cut over 1,000 jobs
A federal judge ruled Saturday that Kari Lake unlawfully led the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM) for several months last year and voided mass layoffs and other actions taken during that period to dismantle the agency.
The US Agency for Global Media (USAGM) is an independent federal agency that oversees the Voice of America (VOA), the US’s largest and oldest international broadcaster, and provides grants to Radio Free Asia, Radio Free Europe and other news agencies.
Continue reading...JLP, which runs department store chain and Waitrose, to report its results for year to January on Thursday
Workers at the John Lewis Partnership are expected to find out whether they will receive their first annual bonus payment in four years this week.
The retail group, which runs the John Lewis department store chain and Waitrose supermarket business, will also reveal how it has been progressing with its transformation strategy in an update on Thursday 12 March.
Continue reading...Norwegian police reported on Sunday an explosion near the U.S. Embassy in the capital, Oslo, and said there were no casualties.
Cornell University makes an announcement. "Employees who are impressed by vague corporate-speak like 'synergistic leadership,' or 'growth-hacking paradigms' may struggle with practical decision-making, a new Cornell study reveals." Published in the journal Personality and Individual Differences, research by cognitive psychologist Shane Littrell introduces the Corporate Bullshit Receptivity Scale (CBSR), a tool designed to measure susceptibility to impressive-but-empty organizational rhetoric... Corporate BS seems to be ubiquitous - but Littrell wondered if it is actually harmful. To test this, he created a "corporate bullshit generator" that churns out meaningless but impressive-sounding sentences like, "We will actualize a renewed level of cradle-to-grave credentialing" and "By getting our friends in the tent with our best practices, we will pressure-test a renewed level of adaptive coherence." He then asked more than 1,000 office workers to rate the "business savvy" of these computer-generated BS statements alongside real quotes from Fortune 500 leaders... The results revealed a troubling paradox. Workers who were more susceptible to corporate BS rated their supervisors as more charismatic and "visionary," but also displayed lower scores on a portion of the study that tested analytic thinking, cognitive reflection and fluid intelligence. Those more receptive to corporate BS also scored significantly worse on a test of effective workplace decision-making. The study found that being more receptive to corporate bullshit was also positively linked to job satisfaction and feeling inspired by company mission statements. Moreover, those who were more likely to fall for corporate BS were also more likely to spread it. Essentially, the employees most excited and inspired by "visionary" corporate jargon may be the least equipped to make effective, practical business decisions for their companies.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Thom Tillis, who called for the resignation or firing of DHS secretary Kristi Noem, says White House adviser ‘should go’
Republican Senator Thom Tillis said on Sunday he believes White House adviser Stephen Miller “should go” and that his role in the Trump administration has been a “big problem”.
The senior senator representing North Carolina, when asked on CNN’s State of the Union if he thinks Miller should go, during a conversation about the administration’s immigration crackdown, responded to host Jake Tapper stating “Oh, of course I do.”
Continue reading...Exclusive: Mumsnet survey shows half of female patients feel they have been ignored or dismissed by medics
“Medical misogyny” in the UK is letting women down, the health secretary, Wes Streeting, has admitted, as a survey showed half of female patients felt they had been dismissed or ignored because of their sex.
A report from Mumsnet, which examined data taken from the site over the past decade, warned of “structural and deeply embedded” sexism in UK healthcare. A survey of women using the site found that more than half believed the NHS was institutionally misogynistic.
50% of women believe they have been dismissed, ignored or not believed by an NHS professional because of their sex.
64% say they have been explicitly told their pain or symptoms were “normal” or “in their head”.
68% think the NHS does not take women’s health concerns seriously.
Continue reading...Hundreds of companies planned to gather in Barcelona to talk business, but as the conflict disrupted travel, not all of them arrived.
Starmer’s ‘purely defensive’ stance has won support among voters, but what challenges lie ahead for each party when it comes to their base’s view of war?
Facing one of the most challenging moments of his premiership, Keir Starmer may at least draw comfort from polling showing that the British public broadly support his position on the conflict in Iran.
Nearly half (46%) believe the UK military position should be purely defensive, tasked with shooting down drones and defending civilian areas and British military facilities such as an RAF base on Cyprus.
Continue reading...Luke Grimes leads the Yellowstone sequel.
The Oscar-winning actress often writes book-length biographies for the characters she portrays on screen. And now she's written an actual book: "Judge Stone," a courtroom thriller co-authored with bestselling writer James Patterson.
In his new memoir, "Streetwise," the former CEO of Goldman Sachs writes about a life that stretched from the projects of New York City to the pinnacle of Wall Street.
The long-running series in which readers answer other readers’ questions ponders the hypothetical reactions of eminent historical personages to today’s Trafalgar Square
This week’s question: which are more like life, novels or films?
If William Shakespeare – or Florence Nightingale, or Attila the Hun, or Julius Caesar, or Jane Austen, or Pocahontas – was dropped in Trafalgar Square, London, what would they find most unusual? And how would we explain it to them? Giles, Suffolk
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Continue reading...New research suggests tech behind AI platforms such as ChatGPT makes it easier to perform sophisticated privacy attacks
AI has made it vastly easier for malicious hackers to identify anonymous social media accounts, a new study has warned.
In most test scenarios, large language models (LLMs) – the technology behind platforms such as ChatGPT – successfully matched anonymous online users with their actual identities on other platforms, based on the information they posted.
Continue reading...On Thursday, a 22-year-old from Iowa was arrested in the murders of three women he had no connection to
At a trailhead not far from the sprawling red cliffs and canyons of Utah’s Capitol Reef national park, two men went looking for their wives who were overdue to return from a hike on Wednesday afternoon.
They came upon a grisly scene. Natalie Graves, 34, and her aunt, 65-year-old Linda Dewey, had been killed and left in a parched creek bed, according to court documents. A Bureau of Land Management ranger responding to the area noted spent shell casings near their bodies. The white Subaru they had come in was missing.
Continue reading...On any given day, almost 48 million Americans, including nearly 14 million children, don't get enough to eat. Claire Babineaux-Fontenot, the outgoing CEO of Feeding America, offers a reality check about hunger in these United States.
To truly pay less than two years ago, a family might need to make dinner from washed potatoes, cheese slices, white sugar and long grain rice
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It sounds like great news for households.
Average grocery prices have recorded “eight consecutive quarters of year-on-year price declines”, Woolworths declared at its half-year financial results.
Continue reading...Aircraft touch down in Gloucestershire after Trump given use of British bases for defensive operations in Iran
Two more US air force planes have landed at RAF Fairford, after the UK allowed Washington to use its bases to take part in defensive operations in Iran.
Footage broadcast on Sunday showed two Boeing C-17 Globemaster transportation planes landing at the airbase in Gloucestershire, days after B-1 Lancer bombers arrived.
Continue reading...Shah’s Rastriya Swatantra party secures thumping victory in first poll since gen Z protests that toppled government
Balendra Shah, the rapper turned politician and popular figurehead of a gen Z revolution, looks set to become Nepal’s next prime minister after his party won by an unprecedented margin.
Shah, known widely as Balen, and his Rastriya Swatantra party (RSP) secured a rare landslide victory in the first election since youth-led protests during which dozens were killed and the former government was toppled.
Continue reading...The CBS procedural, now in its 23rd season, is marking its 500th episode tracking agents of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service. But the story of how the series became the world's most-watched TV show is filled with as many twists and turns as an NCIS case itself.
The US head coach has built a deep and talented pool of players as next summer’s tournament in Brazil approaches
The US women’s national team won the SheBelieves Cup on Saturday, capping the three-game friendly tournament with a 1-0 win over Colombia. Alyssa Thompson finally broke the deadlock in a game largely dominated by the hosts.
The Chelsea winger sent an inch-perfect shot into the upper corner in the 81st minute to notch her fourth international goal.
Continue reading...A phone plan that works for you might not be a good fit for everyone in your family or group. We've narrowed down our list of favorites from T-Mobile, AT&T and Verizon.
I interviewed the actor about the CBS series that follows Kayce Dutton on a new, crime-fighting adventure.
Rival Emma Aicher fails to finish Sunday’s race
35-year-old Elena Curtoni sets record with win
Mikaela Shiffrin moved closer to a sixth career World Cup overall title on Sunday after a rare start in the super-G, a race her closest rival Emma Aicher did not finish.
Shiffrin placed 23rd in the race won by 35-year-old Elena Curtoni, who would have set a series of World Cup age records for women but for the recent comeback of 41-year-old Lindsey Vonn.
Continue reading...No country in Europe is likely to be affected more than Cyprus, the nearest EU member to the Middle East
The season has barely begun but Ayia Napa is beginning to feel the pulse. Tourists are trickling back, enjoying the Cypriot resort’s sunsets, eateries and shoreline views.
On the seafront, Vassilis Georgiou is busy overseeing the construction of a new ramp for the jetskis that are a highlight of his water sports business. Last year, more than 500,000 holidaymakers visited the beachside booth, snapping up tickets for the boat cruises and parasailing also on offer.
Continue reading...As the Iran disaster escalates, Starmer should treat the US president as someone whose actions threaten the lawful, democratic way of life everywhere
Nine days in, the conduct of the unjustified, illegal US-Israel war against Iran grows ever-more disproportionate, dishonourable and deranged. The torpedoing of an Iranian navy ship off Sri Lanka by a US submarine demonstrated that for reckless Donald Trump, the whole world is his battlefield. Diplomacy, treacherously sabotaged by Washington, has been replaced by unceasing airstrikes that are murdering and maiming hundreds of Iranian civilians. Trump’s White House increasingly resembles a madhouse. War aims shift daily. A clueless, rambling president insists he must help pick Iran’s next ayatollah. Meanwhile, his “secretary for war”, Pete Hegseth, rants manically about killing without mercy.
Nine days in, it’s clear Iran’s leaders, those who survive, are not going to roll over in a repeat of Trump’s Venezuela coup. Their forces, though drastically outgunned, are succeeding in spreading pain across the Middle East, inundating defences with waves of drones and missiles. That’s no surprise. Iran warned of a region-wide conflict if attacked again. Trump is now at war with US allies, too, having adopted George W Bush’s crude Iraq war “for us or against us” maxim. The Gulf Arabs – and cruelly battered Lebanon – just want it to stop. Britain and Europe mostly want no part of it, but are being sucked in anyway. The global economy is tumbling into crisis. In Trump’s war on the world, there are no heroes, only victims. Spain’s defiant leader, Pedro Sánchez, is one exception.
Continue reading...Vermont and New York face high stakes to protect climate superfund laws as it faces attacks from Trump’s DoJ
By rolling back a bedrock climate legal determination, the Trump administration has undercut its attacks on a groundbreaking state climate accountability law, green groups have argued in court.
Trump’s justice department has asked a judge to kill a first-of-its-kind 2024 Vermont “climate superfund” policy requiring major polluters to pay for damages caused by their past planet-heating pollution, partly on the grounds that that federal law, not state law, governs greenhouse gas emissions. But last month, Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) repealed the endangerment finding, the scientific determination giving federal officials the authority to control those very pollutants.
Continue reading...Leader’s centre-right CDU party is hoping to beat Greens in Sunday’s election in Baden-Württemberg
Friedrich Merz’s centre-right CDU faces a regional election on Sunday, the first of several this year in which it hopes to stem the rise of the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD).
Voters will head to the polls in Baden-Württemberg, a prosperous hub of Germany’s auto sector with a population of 11.2 million. A year after winning national elections, the CDU is aiming to snatch first place in the south-western state from the Greens, who have won the last two state elections.
Continue reading...Switching that cup of coffee to a mug of green tea can provide your body with multiple benefits.
The "CBS Sunday Morning" correspondent's latest book examines how, in its first half-century, the company founded by Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs remade the culture – and then, incredibly, remade itself.
Funding cuts, US political pressure and bureaucratic delays have left thousands of Haitians facing prolonged uncertainty in Tapachula
A year ago, when Jean Baptiste Gensley stepped off a bus in Tapachula, Mexico’s southern city on the border with Guatemala, he carried a small backpack and the hope that his journey was finally over.
In his native Haiti, Gensley, 37, worked as a radio journalist and social worker, analyzing the effects of gang violence in some of Port-au-Prince’s most dangerous neighborhoods. With time, as his research led to police intervention, he caught the attention of the city’s gangs.
Continue reading...The CEO said he cut the company’s workforce by 4,000 people – almost in half – because of gains in AI productivity
Mark remembers the first time he wondered whether he was teaching Block’s AI tools how to do his job – and maybe even replace him. He was at his fintech company’s extravagant anniversary party last September. As executives led a presentation on the productivity benefits of a new internal AI tool, Mark, who worked in the product department, discussed his worries with colleagues. While he wasn’t sure what would happen in a few years, he told a co-worker sitting next to him that for now, there was no way the technology was so advanced that it could move the business forward without employees like him to help drive vision and strategy.
These AI tools were not proactive. He had to tell them what to do. Block still needed him, he thought.
Continue reading...US drivers are largely insulated from higher oil prices caused by Middle East turmoil – but only to a point
Across the US, the average cost of a gallon of regular gasoline has jumped nearly 27 cents in a week, to $3.25, and American consumers are bracing for higher prices at the gas pump as the US-Israel conflict with Iran threatens to disrupt the global oil supply.
That fear has entered the White House too, where Donald Trump’s chief of staff, Susie Wiles, is reportedly hunting for ideas to lower gasoline prices and officials are getting “screamed at” to bring good news, according to Politico.
Continue reading...Parnas, who worked with Rudy Giuliani to find or manufacture dirt on Joe Biden in Ukraine, says he ‘woke up’
Lev Parnas, a Ukrainian American businessman who served a 20-month sentence for campaign contributions to Republican politicians, including Donald Trump, that secretly came from a Russian oligarch, has announced a bid to unseat María Elvira Salazar, a Cuban American Republican who is in her third term as representative for Florida’s 27th congressional district.
Parnas rose to national attention during Trump’s first impeachment trial in 2019, when it emerged that he had been the first to ask Trump to remove the US ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch, and then worked with former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani to press Ukrainian officials to make false claims about corruption by Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden.
Continue reading...AlterEgo, a company born out of MIT's Media Lab, recently shared a demo of its "silent speech" device that looks like telepathy. Here's what's really going on.
Exclusive: ‘Witchcraft, spirit possession and spiritual abuse’ offending typified by sexual abuse, violence and neglect
ChatGPT is driving a rise in reports of organised and ritual abuse, UK experts have said, as survivors of “satanic” sexual violence use the AI tool for therapy.
Police say organised and ritual abuse, and “witchcraft, spirit possession and spiritual abuse” (WSPRA) against children, is under-reported in the UK. There is no modern-day charge that covers it specifically, but such offending is typified by sexual abuse, violence and neglect involving ritualistic elements – sometimes inspired by satanism, fascism or esoteric religious beliefs – to control victims.
Continue reading...A huge column of fire and smoke could be seen rising from an oil depot in the Iranian capital in video shared on social media.
Footage from central Tehran shows fires across the skyline as the US and Israel hit five oil facilities in overnight strikes in and near the city, an official told state TV.
A fresh wave of Iranian strikes hit the Gulf on Sunday, with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait all reporting attacks
Continue reading...Palantir's CEO was blunt. "If Silicon Valley believes we are going to take away everyone's white-collar job... and you're going to screw the military — if you don't think that's going to lead to the nationalization of our technology, you're retarded..." And OpenAI's Sam Altman is thinking about the same thing, writes long-time Slashdot reader destinyland: "It has seemed to me for a long time it might be better if building AGI were a government project," Sam Altman publicly mused last week... Altman speculated on the possibility of the government "nationalizing" private AI companies into a public project, admitting more than once he's wondered what would happen next. "I obviously don't know," Altman said — but he added that "I have thought about it, of course" Altman's speculation hedged that "It doesn't seem super likely on the current trajectory. That said, I do think a close partnership between governments and the companies building this technology is super important." Could powerful AI tools one day slip from the hands of private companies to be controlled by the U.S. government? Fortune magazine's AI editor points out that "many other breakthroughs with big strategic implications — from the Manhattan Project to the space race to early efforts to develop AI — were government-funded and largely government-directed." And Fortune added that last week the Defense Department threatened Anthropic with the Defense Production Act, which allows the president to designate "critical and strategic" goods for which businesses must accept the government's contracts. Fortune speculates this would've been "a sort of soft nationalization of Anthropic's production pipeline". Altman acknowledged Saturday that he'd felt the threat of attempted nationalization "behind a lot of the questions" he'd received when answering questions on X.com. How exactly will this AI build-out be handled — and how should AI companies be working with the government? In a sprawling ask-me-anything session on X that included other members of OpenAI leadership, one Missouri-based developer even broached an AGI-government scenario directly with OpenAI's Head of National Security Partnerships, Katherine Mulligan. If OpenAI built an AGI — something that even passed its own Turing test for AGI — would that be a case where its government contracts compelled them to grant access to the Defense Department? "No," Mulligan answered. At our current moment in time, "We control which models we deploy" The article notes 100 OpenAI employees joined with 856 Google employees in an online letter titled "We Will Not Be Divided" urging their bosses to refuse their models' use in domestic mass surveillance and autonomously killing without human oversight. But Adafruit's managing director Phillip Torrone (also long-time Slashdot reader ptorrone ) sees analogies to America's atomic bomb-building Manhattan Project, and "what happened when the scientists who built the thing tried to set conditions on how the thing would be used." (The government pressured them to back down, which he compares to the Pentagon's designating Anthropic a "supply chain risk" before offering OpenAI a contract "with the same red lines, just worded differently".) Ironically, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei frequently recommends the Pulitzer Prize-winning 1986 book The Making of the Atomic Bomb...
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Mindi Kassotis' friends and family were told the wife of a decorated former Navy JAG officer had died unexpectedly in a hospital. Imagine their surprise months later when the remains of a woman, found dismembered in a swamp near Savannah, Georgia, were identified as Mindi's.
OpenAI claims it has accomplished what Anthropic couldn’t: securing a Pentagon contract that won’t cross professed red lines against dragnet domestic spying and the use of artificial intelligence to order lethal military strikes. Just don’t expect any proof.
Sam Altman, OpenAI’s CEO, announced the company’s big win with the Defense Department in a post on X on February 27.
“Two of our most important safety principles are prohibitions on domestic mass surveillance and human responsibility for the use of force, including for autonomous weapon systems,” he wrote. The Pentagon “agrees with these principles, reflects them in law and policy, and we put them into our agreement.”
The deal came after the very public implosion of what was to be a similar contract between the U.S. military and Anthropic, one of OpenAI’s chief rivals. Anthropic had said negotiations collapsed because it could not enshrine prohibitions against killer robots and domestic spying in its contract. The company’s insistence on these two points earned it the wrath of the Pentagon and President Donald Trump, who ordered the government to phase out use of Anthropic’s tools within six months.
But if the government booted Anthropic for refusing mass surveillance and autonomous weapons, how could OpenAI take over the contract without having the same problem?
OpenAI has attempted to square this circle through a string of posts to X by company executives and researchers, including Katrina Mulligan, its national security chief, and a claim by Altman that the company negotiated stricter protections around domestic surveillance.
The company and the government, however, are not releasing the only proof that matters: the contract itself.
The Department of Defense did not respond to a request for comment.
OpenAI and company personnel contacted by The Intercept did not respond when asked for specific contract language. Company spokesperson Kate Waters did not respond to questions, sending The Intercept only links to prior public statements from Altman.
(In 2024, The Intercept sued OpenAI in federal court over the company’s use of copyrighted articles to train its chatbot ChatGPT. The case is ongoing.)
So far, OpenAI has released only snippets of the deal’s language loaded with PR-speak and national security jargon. Without being able to verify the company’s claims, Altman’s pitch to the world comes down to one premise: Trust me — along with Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth — to do the right thing.
Following widespread criticism of these vagaries, Altman said earlier this week that the firm was able to quickly negotiate into its contract stricter terms with the Pentagon. These additions, Altman said, include language the company claims will stop domestic spying and collaboration with the National Security Agency.
But the company’s muddled messaging throughout the week only raised more questions about OpenAI’s willingness to do the federal government’s bidding.
“We have been working with the DoW to make some additions in our agreement to make our principles very clear,” Altman posted on Monday, using Trump’s preferred name for the Department of Defense.
“The Department also affirmed that our services will not be used by Department of War intelligence agencies (for example, the NSA),” Altman continued. “Any services to those agencies would require a follow-on modification to our contract.”
Since OpenAI has not released the contract, it’s unclear if the Pentagon’s affirmation is actually reflected in binding contract language.
Mulligan at first responded to criticism of the company’s deal with a pledge to release a “clear and more comprehensive explanation” of the relevant terms of the contract. On Tuesday, having failed to deliver such an explanation, she told one concerned X user, “I do not agree that I’m obligated to share contract language with you.”
She added, “For the record, I would want to work with NSA if the right safeguards were in place,” but did not specify what these safeguards might be.
Former military officials told The Intercept they had grave concerns about the arrangement based on what’s been made public. “I’m not confident in the language at all. And in some parts I don’t even believe it,” said Brad Carson, who previously served as under secretary of the Army during the Obama administration. Carson noted that blocking Pentagon spy agencies like the NSA or National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency would ostensibly prevent usage of OpenAI’s tools in pressing intelligence analysis contexts, like the ongoing war against Iran. “I don’t believe that provision is in the contract. I say that reluctantly, but I don’t,” Carson added.
A former Pentagon official who worked on military artificial intelligence applications told The Intercept the caveats around “intentional” surveillance are worryingly unclear. “That’s the get out of jail free card right there,” this source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said in an interview. “The language gives them enough flexibility to still do whatever the fuck they want, more or less, and then say, whoops, sorry, didn’t mean to.”
“There is nothing OpenAI can do to clarify this except release the contract.”
“There is nothing OpenAI can do to clarify this except release the contract,” former Department of Justice National Security Division attorney Alan Rozenshtein said. Rozenshtein described OpenAI’s attempt to sell its contract to the public without letting the public read the contract as “not sustainable” and “bizarre.” If OpenAI will restrict its tools from the NSA, with its long-documented history of extra-constitutional dragnet domestic surveillance, this would be memorialized in the contract, not a tweet, he said. But if OpenAI has indeed come to any such agreement with the government, it is asking the world to take it as an article of faith.
“It’s quite possible that OpenAI understands that these red lines are fake, but has written a contract to give them some PR coverage. That would be bad because that feels pretty dishonest,” Rozenshtein added. “Or it’s possible that OpenAI has a different understanding of its own contract than what DOD understands the contract to be. Which is a bad position to be in, and suggests that this contract negotiation has not been done skillfully.”
Potentially undermining OpenAI’s credibility is that some of its public outreach has been simply untrue. Asked by an X user whether the contract would permit the Pentagon “[g]etting and/or analyzing commercially available data at scale,” Mulligan replied, “The Pentagon has no legal authority to do this.” This is false, at least according to the Pentagon. A declassified 2022 report by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence provided an overview of the collection of commercially available data by the government, including the Department of Defense — exactly the activity Mulligan was asked about.
The Pentagon’s domestic surveillance has been further established in news reports. In 2021, Motherboard reported a letter sent from Sen. Ron Wyden to the Department of Defense in which he urged then-Secretary Lloyd Austin “to release to the public information about the Department of Defense’s (DoD) warrantless surveillance of Americans.” A New York Times report on a related investigation by Wyden’s office that same year showed that the Defense Intelligence Agency had spied on Americans’ precise movements and locations without a warrant by simply buying access to their GPS coordinates. In a letter responding to Wyden, the Pentagon said the DIA’s lawyers had blessed the surveillance.
“It is a fact that the Pentagon has both purchased and analyzed vast amounts of Americans’ location, web browsing, and other data, for years,” Wyden wrote in a statement to The Intercept. “I’ve personally revealed several of those programs, with the help of brave whistleblowers. Anyone who claims that isn’t happening simply doesn’t know what they’re talking about.”
OpenAI’s rhetoric fails to reckon with the way the national security state has secured both secrecy and operational latitude through relying on misleading interpretation or radical ambiguity of words.
For instance, Altman shared on Monday evening a purportedly updated clause stating: “Consistent with applicable laws, including the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution, National Security Act of 1947, FISA Act of 1978, the AI system shall not be intentionally used for domestic surveillance of U.S. persons and nationals.”
The phrase “Consistent with applicable laws” sounds promising until one reflects on the fact that the government claims consistency with applicable laws in every dragnet surveillance program, drone strike, kidnapping, assassination, or invasion. “I’m saying that the programs are legal, obviously,” White House spokesperson Jay Carney told reporters in the early days after whistleblower Edward Snowden revealed the existence of the NSA. (Ironically, Mulligan was part of this public relations deflection effort during her stint in the Obama National Security Council.)
The word “intentionally” provides a miles-wide wall of plausible deniability that has helped cover for decades of domestic spying. In a March 2013 Senate hearing, Wyden asked then-Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, under oath, “Does the NSA collect any type of data at all on millions or hundreds of millions of Americans?” Clapper replied “No, sir.” When pressed, he added “Not wittingly.” A few months later, NSA materials disclosed by Snowden would reveal this was entirely false: The agency routinely collected vast quantities of information on Americans as a routine practice.
The Clapper episode revealed the peril of public reliance on commonsense words like “wittingly” or “intentionally” in the context of national security. Offices like the NSA or ODNI are staffed by sharp legal minds, brilliant mathematicians, accomplished engineers, and funded with billions of dollars. They do little by accident. Altman’s invocation of “intentionally” spying on Americans, like Clapper’s dodge behind the term “wittingly,” reflects what’s known in the intelligence field as “incidental collection”: a euphemism that camouflages the fact that the government historically asserts spying on Americans is legal. In this case, incidental doesn’t mean by mistake, but rather secondary; while vacuuming up unfathomably large quantities of data to surveil foreigners, for whatever reasons deemed necessary, the government has asserted its legal right to catch Americans in the process, even if they are not the actual the target.
Altman’s other revised assurances come with similar linguistic escape hatches. “For the avoidance of doubt,” he wrote on X, “the Department understands this limitation to prohibit deliberate tracking, surveillance, or monitoring of U.S. persons or nationals, including through the procurement or use of commercially acquired personal or identifiable information.” Here, the word “deliberate” is load-bearing, while crucial terms like “tracking,” “surveillance,” and “monitoring” are left undefined.
“The word surveillance doesn’t even include the kind of activities that people are most concerned about,” Carson, former general counsel of the Army, said. He doubted the Pentagon, for instance, would consider using an OpenAI large language model to build intelligence dossiers on private citizens with data pulled from federal and commercial databases as an act of “surveillance.”
“They’re trying to blind you with complicated legal terms that ordinary people think mean something different entirely,” Carson said of OpenAI’s rhetoric. “But the lawyers know what it means. And the lawyers know that this is no guardrail at all.”
One’s ultimate comfort with and confidence in this occluded contract will likely be reduced to one’s opinion of the integrity of the involved parties. How one of the most secretive institutions in the world will use the technology of similarly opaque corporation will remain the stuff of trade secrecy and classified records.
Altman and Mulligan say that OpenAI engineers will make sure the Pentagon doesn’t break its commitments: “Our contract offers additional layered safeguards including our safety stack and OpenAI technical experts in the loop,” a company statement says, without explaining what its “safety stack” is or how its “technical experts” could apply oversight to the country’s single largest bureaucracy, comprised of a litany of sub-agencies and components employing over 2 million service members and nearly 800,000 civilian personnel. Indeed, in an employee all-hands meeting held Tuesday, Altman told staff that Hegseth would hold ultimate authority over how the Pentagon makes use of the contract, according to CNBC.
When it comes to honesty and a respect for the law from Altman, Trump, and Hegseth, there is good reason for skepticism.
Altman has been repeatedly accused of false statements by the people he works with. In a 2025 court filing submitted as part of an ongoing lawsuit by Elon Musk against Altman alleging OpenAI betrayed its original nonprofit mission, former OpenAI researcher Todor Markov — who now works at Anthropic — described Altman as a “person of low integrity who had directly lied to employees.” In a memo that surfaced after Altman was briefly ousted as CEO, OpenAI co-founder Ilya Sutskever alleged he had engaged in a “consistent pattern of lying” leading up to his firing.
Nor is it always easy to pin down Altman’s ideological commitments or ethical boundaries. “Honestly, I’m scared for the lives of all of us,” Altman wrote in an October 2016 tweet. “My #1 fear w/Trump is war.” Ten years later, Altman announced his company would sell services to the Trump administration hours after it launched a new war in the Middle East. OpenAI itself was originally founded to benefit all of humanity, and the company officially prohibited the use of its technologies for warfare — until it silently deleted this prohibition from its terms of service.
The tenure of Hegseth, might prompt similar wariness. He has overseen the assassination of Iran’s leader, the kidnapping of Venezuela’s head of state, and the killing of more than 150 men either blown apart or left to die in the ocean in boat strikes, all without congressional authorization.
Trump, meanwhile, as part of a broad disregard for legal statutes or the Constitution, has refashioned the Department of Justice into his personal firm and directed his Department of Homeland Security to brutalize and warrantlessly surveil Americans across the country. Without the text of the contract in sunlight, it is ultimately these three men — and whoever succeeds them in years to come — that the world is being asked to trust. An appeal to “applicable laws” or the sanctity of contract language is only as meaningful as the people in charge want it to be.
The former Pentagon AI official said that ceding this power to Hegseth is cause for alarm even with the most diligently crafted contract. Will anyone feel they are able to speak up should someone in the military use or be ordered to abuse OpenAI’s systems in contravention of the law or the contract? “Is the one-star general going to be able to escalate — ‘Hey, this is a huge fucking national security problem’ — appropriately without the Defense Secretary moving them around?”
“My presumption is always to trust people in what they say,” said Carson, speaking of OpenAI. But following days of what he described as “change, backtracking, a bit of deception, [and] outright deception, I’m afraid I don’t really trust you on this one anymore.”
The former Pentagon official agreed: “If you trust the cabal of Sam Altman, Donald Trump, and Pete Hegseth, there’s nothing I can do for you.”
The post OpenAI on Surveillance and Autonomous Killings: You’re Going to Have to Trust Us appeared first on The Intercept.
Many of those attending the world’s largest meeting on women’s rights in New York this week are primed to defend the two key UN agencies that protect women and girls around the world
Thousands of international delegates are gathering in New York this week for the world’s largest meeting on women’s rights. The United Nation’s annual Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) is an opportunity for government ministers, UN officials, NGO representatives and activists to discuss the global state of gender equality and women’s empowerment. This year, there will be a strong focus on “ensuring and strengthening access to justice”.
But as senior UN figures urge countries to intensify their efforts to achieve gender equality, many of the delegates will be asking whether the UN is at risk of diluting its own commitment to women and girls.
Continue reading...The US was an oligarchy well before Trump’s first term. Recognizing this reality is essential to building a true democracy
Since Donald Trump returned to the White House, American political life has taken on a familiar rhythm. Each week brings another court ruling framed as a breaking point, another election cast as the last real one, another executive order described as the moment it all finally tips over the edge, another person murdered by a government that’s finally gone too far. Democratic party fundraising emails promise to “save the Republic”. Commentators warn that the guardrails are giving way. Anxious citizens refresh their screens, waiting for the collapse of American democracy.
This state of permanent panic rests on what Sigmund Freud called an illusion: a belief embraced not because it reflects reality, but because it satisfies a psychological need. The illusion in this case is that the United States still has a democracy to lose. The more unsettling truth is that Americans are not living under threat of future democratic breakdown; we are living inside the aftermath of one that has already occurred.
Eric Reinhart is a political anthropologist, psychiatrist and psychoanalyst
Continue reading...Scientists fear NIH director will be even more absent and leave key issues unresolved as he takes interim CDC lead
As Jay Bhattacharya temporarily takes the lead at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), employees at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), where Bhattacharya is the permanent director, fear his attention will falter even more as critical issues at the research agency go unaddressed.
Bhattacharya first rose to prominence as a fierce opponent to Covid mitigations and has become a close ally of Robert F Kennedy Jr, the health secretary. Under their oversight, NIH has sharply curtailed the funds it awards to researchers, especially studies involving race and gender, while some employees faced hiring freezes and increased health expenses at the agency.
Continue reading...The Canadian auto industry has been rocked by President Donald Trump’s abandonment of subsidies for electric vehicles and embrace of tariffs.
White House claims watchdogs perform ‘all required functions’, but number of deaths in custody at 20-year high
Continue reading...Foreign secretary hits back at former prime minister, saying Britain had to ‘learn the lessons’ of Iraq war
Yvette Cooper has rejected Tony Blair’s assertion that the UK should have supported Donald Trump’s initial airstrikes on Iran, saying Britain had to “learn the lessons” of mistakes made in Iraq.
At a private lunch event on Friday, the former Labour prime minister said Keir Starmer “should have backed America from the very beginning” and let the Trump administration use British airbases, adding: “If they are your ally and they are an indispensable cornerstone for your security … you had better show up when they want you to.”
Continue reading...Decision follows release of Epstein files that have disgraced her father, the former prince Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor
Princess Eugenie has stepped down as patron of the UK charity Anti-Slavery International, the world’s oldest human rights organisation.
The decision follows the release by the US Department of Justice of millions of documents and emails relating to Jeffrey Epstein’s role in sexual abuse and trafficking women around the world, which have disgraced her father, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.
Continue reading...From Gates to Musk and Altman, today’s ultra-rich steer AI and tech, raising questions about who decides the future
When Bill Gates became the first modern IT mogul to reach the apex of wealth and power in 1992, the world was a very different place. Gates joined the top 10 on Forbes magazine’s billionaires list alongside Japanese, German, Canadian, South Korean and Swedish billionaires, including those with family fortunes from Britain and America. A broad mix of industries was on the list: Retail and media, property management and packaging, an investment firm and a couple of industrial conglomerates. Their fortunes almost added up to $100bn – equivalent to about 0.4% of the US’s GDP that year.
The oligarchy has changed drastically since then. Bernard Arnault, of French luxury group LVMH, Amancio Ortega, the Spanish clothing mogul, and Warren Buffett, the US investor, were the only old-school billionaires among the top 10 in 2025. The rest largely made their money from high-tech: Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, Larry Ellison, Steve Ballmer and Google’s Sergey Brin and Larry Page. The top 10 amassed over $16trn, which is about 8% of US GDP.
Continue reading...As ‘political depression’ enters public discourse, therapists are encouraging people to engage with their communities
When Rebecca McFaul woke up in her small farmhouse in Logan, Utah, on a cold January day, she felt the same way she’d been feeling for months: “A certain kind of terror and horror at it all.” Most of her family lives in Minnesota, and for weeks, she’d watched from afar as families were taken by agents, activists were shot and tear gas hung in the air.
A music professor at Utah State University, she’d spent the day with her students, but struggled to focus. Then she came home and read more bad news, this time, a piece in the newspaper about two Maga influencers railing against the dangers of compassion in response to the detainment of 5-year-old Liam Ramos in Minneapolis. “It was such a betrayal on every level,” McFaul said. “Of sisterhood, of motherhood, of decency.”
Continue reading...The time change known as daylight savings starts Sunday, March 8, 2026. Most Americans lose an hour of sleep when clocks "spring forward."
Self-styled ‘punk’ beer company bought land in 2020, pledging to plant Scotland’s ‘biggest ever forest’
The self-styled “punk” beer company BrewDog sold its Highland estate for a knockdown price after abandoning its efforts to plant Scotland’s “biggest ever forest” there.
BrewDog’s co-founder James Watt claimed its Lost Forest project at Kinrara in the Cairngorms national park would cover a “staggering area” and capture tens of millions of tonnes of CO2 during its lifetime.
Continue reading...Critics say brash, bombastic Fox News host out of his depth to guide US military through murky new Middle East conflict
Brash and bellicose, he sounded more like a cartoon bully than a sombre statesman. “Death and destruction from the sky all day long,” Pete Hegseth, wearing a red, white and and blue tie and pocket square, bragged to reporters at the Pentagon near Washington. “This was never meant to be a fair fight, and it is not a fair fight. We are punching them while they’re down, which is exactly how it should be.”
Hegseth, 45, a former Fox News TV host who now commands the world’s most powerful military, has this week become the face of Donald Trump’s war in Iran. That has set off for alarm bells for critics who warn that the Secretary of Defense – pointedly rebranded “Secretary of War” – has rapidly transformed the Pentagon into the staging ground for an ideological and religious crusade.
Continue reading...Apple was MIA at Mobile World Congress but its signature color was making a splash.
The administration says Rwandan-backed militants violated a Trump-brokered peace accord within days.
Most residents of Canadian province wanted change for years – Trump’s unneighbourly rhetoric helped seal the deal
Since 1918, the clocks in Creston, a town in eastern British Columbia, ran an hour ahead of nearby communities for half the year. For the other six months, they slipped back into sync. Not because the town changed them but because its neighbours changed back and forth from daylight saving time.
Creston was an outlier: a community that effectively created its own time zone. But when residents in most parts of the province shift their clocks forward on Sunday, they will be doing it for the last time – and permanently joining Creston for the first time in nearly 70 years.
Continue reading...Trump and Netanyahu, two political high rollers, are seen as more of an odd couple than Roosevelt-Churchill or Clinton-Blair. The war in Iran is their biggest gamble yet.
Online religious experts are part professor and part pastor and they’re reaching millions of people who have questions about modern faith.
After Elmina “Ellie” Aghayeva, a neuroscience student, was taken by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement from Columbia University housing, a story about ICE’s villainy quickly took hold. During the arrest, the school administration said, federal agents got into the building without a judicial warrant by telling a security guard that they were searching for a missing child.
In publicizing the account, however, the university downplayed Columbia’s own role in Aghayeva’s arrest, an echo of several other incidents over the past year where international students were targeted by federal agents.
Columbia, according to an investigation by The Intercept, repeatedly failed to follow its own policies for safeguarding students from President Donald Trump’s deportation machine.
The school has long required that authorities — whether federal or local — present a judicial warrant to gain entry to school grounds. Yet a review of university documents and interviews with affected students show how, in Aghayeva’s and other cases, school staff and officials failed to demand the proper documentation.
“Columbia invested more in training Public Safety how to brutalize students, how to arrest them, rather than how to protect them.”
Since at least March 5, 2025, when provost Angela Olinto emailed school deans about it, Columbia’s explicit policy has been to bar ICE agents from non-public school property. Yet, in the days following the email, federal immigration agents entered school residential buildings without a warrant at least twice.
“After what happened in Minnesota, we know that ICE is coming to our communities. It’s not surprising that they would be coming after Columbia and students,” Eli Northrup, a New York state assembly candidate whose district would include Columbia, said of ICE. “What is surprising is that every single person working in a Columbia building didn’t have it ingrained that if law enforcement comes, that’s something that needs to be thoroughly vetted.”
Members of the Columbia community, including students who have been detained by ICE, said that despite its clear policies the school has shown that it placed its priorities on matters other than defending people from immigration authorities. They pointed to the involvement of officers from Columbia’s Department of Public Safety in cracking down on campus protests against Israel’s war in Gaza.
Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian student and protest leader who was arrested inside a Columbia residential building last March by immigration agents, said, “Columbia invested more in training Public Safety how to brutalize students, how to arrest them, rather than how to protect them.”
In response to questions, Columbia pointed The Intercept to its public statements on Aghayeva’s arrest. The Department of Homeland Security, ICE’s parent agency, did not respond to requests for comment.
Last week, shortly after ICE agents arrived to arrest Aghayeva, who is Azerbaijani, acting Columbia President Claire Shipman wrote an email to the school community.
“It is important to reiterate that all law enforcement agents must have a judicial warrant or judicial subpoena to access non-public areas of the University,” she said.
Later, after the student had been released from custody, Shipman said in a video statement that the five ICE agents did not present “any kind of warrant” and misrepresented their identities to enter the building by saying “they were police searching for a missing child.” The following day, Shipman told a university plenary that ICE was let into the property by a Columbia building attendant. Later, a university security officer arrived and asked for a warrant, Shipman said. The federal agents ignored the request.
Concerned students and faculty members questioned how such a major lapse could take place close to a year after similar lapses resulted in Columbia students being targeted by warrantless federal agents on university property.
“It was clear that this individual didn’t know what he was supposed to do,” said a professor of psychology at Columbia, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation from the university.
“It was clear that this individual didn’t know what he was supposed to do.”
In the aftermath of Aghayeva’s arrest, Columbia announced that it will be conducting webinars for its students, faculty, and staff on “immigration policy and understanding the law.”
Given the lapses that have occurred, however, calls are growing for Columbia to train its own security personnel to do better.
“ICE agents must have a judicial warrant or subpoena to access non-public areas,” said the March 2025 email to school deans from Olinto, the provost.
Just two days after the email was sent, on March 7, building door staff at a Columbia building allowed federal agents without a warrant to enter a university property.
“I called Public Safety the moment ICE was outside my house,” said Ranjani Srinivasan, an Indian Ph.D. student and the target of the raid. “They said that they’ll file a report and told me not to open the door. And that was it.”
The incursion had come amid a battle between the Trump administration and the university over $400 million in federal funding, which the government suspended on the same day as the raid.
It was also on the same day that Khalil wrote to university authorities about the danger of ICE coming to his home. Khalil, who had been a lead negotiator for the campus protest encampments, had attracted the ire of campus pro-Israel activists, whom he said were trying to get him arrested by ICE.
“I haven’t been able to sleep,” Khalil wrote in an email at the time, “fearing that ICE or a dangerous individual might come to my home. I urgently need legal support, and I urge you to intervene and provide the necessary protections to prevent further harm.”
The university was not forthcoming with any help. The following night, Khalil was arrested by federal immigration agents from inside his university residential building. No warrant had been provided — and no beefed-up security was present.
The day after Khalil was arrested, Columbia published a brief statement that said, “There have been reports of ICE around campus. Columbia has and will continue to follow the law.”
The statement cited the university policy requiring agents to have a judicial warrant to enter non-public areas but gave no indication that authorities in the previous days twice earlier entered buildings without the warrants.
The university’s response to Aghayeva’s arrest stood in stark contrast to how it reacted to the detention and targeting of other Columbia students: Khalil, fellow Palestinian student protester Mohsen Mahdawi, and Yunseo Chung, a U.S. permanent resident who the Trump administration targeted after her arrest at a protest. The Trump administration pursued the three students for their pro-Palestine advocacy, according to court documents.
Following Aghayeva’s arrest, Columbia promptly notified the community and announced that additional Public Safety patrols were being deployed to its residential buildings. Shipman quickly released a statement that said, “We started work immediately to gain her release. We are so grateful for the help and support we got from the mayor and the governor.”
“[I was] happy that such help is being extended to a community member as it should have been extended to me and to others,” said Khalil. “Yet, I couldn’t ignore the discrepancy in that response and how all of these were denied to me. Until this time, Columbia hasn’t reached out to me personally to offer any kind of support.”
Mahdawi’s arrest came after the school criticized a pro-Palestine event he had been involved in. The school initially said the demonstration included “threatening rhetoric and intimidation.” Eventually, the administration said the characterization was misleading, but no clarification was issued. When the authorities came after Mahdawi, they cited the language as grounds for his arrest.
“When speech concerns Palestine, protections suddenly weaken, enforcement intensifies, and silence from leadership grows louder,” Mahdawi told The Intercept.
While the failure to stop federal agents with judicial warrants was a shortcoming of public safety, school security officials have not shied away from robust crackdowns on pro-Palestine protests.
“I believe that all of the securitization of campus exists to police the students.”
“I believe that all of the securitization of campus exists to police the students,” said Srinivasan, the Ph.D. student targeted by ICE. “It does not actually exist to protect the students from ICE.”
On Friday, Columbia announced enhanced security measures including additional personnel around residence buildings, expanded video intercom systems, and distribution of “know your rights” printouts. The university also said that its personnel at housing buildings had received additional trainings over the past week.
It took a year, repeated security failures, and the arrest of a student unrelated to the pro-Palestine protests in any way for the measures to be announced.
People advocating for students, however, noted that Columbia already barred warrantless entry into university buildings.
“It has to be more than a policy,” said Northrup, the state assembly candidate. “It has to be executed.”
The post Columbia Flouted Its Own Policies and Let ICE Into University Buildings appeared first on The Intercept.
Would you move sunrise to 9 a.m. in Detroit? Or to 4:11 a.m. in Seattle... Though both options have problems, "There's no law we can pass to move the sun to our will," argues the president of the nonprofit "Save Standard Time". The Associated Press explains why America remains stuck in that annual ritual making clocks "spring forward, fall backward..." The U.S. has tinkered with the clock intermittently since railroads standardized the time zones in 1883. So has a lot of the world. About 140 countries have had daylight saving time at some point; about half that many do now. About 1 in 10 U.S. adults favor the current system of changing the clocks, according to an AP-NORC poll conducted last year. About half oppose that system, and some 4 in 10 didn't have an opinion. If they had to choose, most Americans say they would prefer to make daylight saving time permanent, rather than standard time. ince 2018, 19 states — including much of the South and a block of states in the northwestern U.S. — have adopted laws calling for a move to permanent daylight saving time. There's a catch: Congress would need to pass a law to allow states to go to full-time daylight saving time, something that was in place nationwide during World War II and for an unpopular, brief stint in 1974. The U.S. Senate passed a bill in 2022 to move to permanent daylight saving time. A similar House bill hasn't been brought to a vote. U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers, a Republican from Alabama who introduces such a bill every term, said the airline industry, which doesn't want the scheduling complexity a change would bring, has been a factor in persuading lawmakers not to take it up. U.S. Rep. Greg Steube, a Florida Republican, is proposing another approach. "Why not just split the baby?" he asked. "Move it 30 minutes so it would be halfway between the two." Steube thinks his bill could get bipartisan support. The change would make the U.S. out of sync with most of the world — though India has taken a similar approach and in Nepal, the time is 15 minutes ahead of India.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Tech firms condemned for lack of controls with Meta AI and Gemini even offering advice on how to bypass UK gambling and addiction checks
AI chatbots are recommending illegal online casinos to vulnerable social media users, putting them at increased risk of fraud, addiction and even suicide.
Analysis of five AI products, owned by some of the world’s largest tech companies, found that all could easily be prompted to list the “best” unlicensed casinos and offer tips on how to use them.
Continue reading...Founder of family-owned firm says it will pause acquisitions after takeover of 15 Compass Coffee stores in US
Caffè Nero will continue opening new shops in the UK and overseas, but has warned coffee prices are likely to keep rising as the war in Iran and higher staffing costs feed through.
The family-owned business, which has just bought the 15-store Compass Coffee based in Washington DC to convert to its main brand, is aiming to open as many as 30 UK stores and between 50 and 70 more this year across the 10 other countries it operates in.
Continue reading...Central bankers and economists warn prolonged conflict could raise retail prices and rip up growth forecasts
An inflation shock triggered by the US-Israel attack on Iran could wreck a fragile global economic recovery that had been expected to gain momentum this year.
With oil and gas prices spiking, despite a pledge from Donald Trump to protect tankers making their way through the crucial strait of Hormuz shipping chokepoint, central bankers and economists have warned that a prolonged conflict could increase retail prices around the world and force them to rip up growth forecasts for this year.
Continue reading...A federal judge ruled Saturday that Kari Lake did not have legal authority to take the actions she's done to largely dismantle the Voice of America.
 | I’ve had a pint x for a month or so and I’ve put over 100 miles on it and love it so far. I’ve been wanting a larger one and was torn between a XRC and a Gt. I found this XRC for $1,900. What do yall think. It’s got 235 miles and he said it’s never been off-roaded. He also said he has never rode it in the rain. It also comes with a hyper charger and rail guards. Another question, he sent a video and when he put his hand on different sides of the front pad it just showed the whole pad activated. But on my pint it shows if the front or the back is activated. Is that normal? [link] [comments] |
Artefacts include souvenirs from 1972 ‘Match of the Century’ between Boris Spassky and Bobby Fischer
A vast collection of chess memorabilia, including souvenirs from the 1972 “Match of the Century” and considered to be the largest and most important of its kind in private hands, is to be auctioned at Sotheby’s in London next month.
The collection belonged to the German grandmaster Lothar Schmid, whose passion for the sport extended way beyond the board.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Campaigners urge Keir Starmer to back ‘Philomena’s Law’ to protect payments for up to 13,000 survivors living in Britain
Survivors of Ireland’s mother and baby homes have started to have benefits cut in Britain because they accepted compensation from the Irish government.
The cuts to the means-tested benefits of survivors in Britain come as campaigners including the actors Siobhán McSweeney and Steve Coogan called on Keir Starmer to back a bill known as Philomena’s Law, which would ringfence survivors’ benefits.
Continue reading...  | I want to be able to upgrade my battery on my pint [link] [comments] |
An Immigration and Customs Enforcement official said Ruben Martinez “intentionally ran over” an agent before being killed by another agent in south Texas last year.
First, Hyundai "is discontinuing its most affordable electric sedan after just three years on the market," reports USA Today. After being introduced in 2022, the Hyundai Ioniq 6 "quickly gained the admiration of automotive critics because of its affordable pricing and capable performance specs." But now, Hyundai "is axing the most affordable versions of the EV, leaving consumers with only one Ioniq 6 option." Hyundai will continue to produce the Ioniq 6 N performance trim, which is the quickest and most powerful iteration of the Ioniq 6. It's also the most expensive. The South Korean automaker is getting rid of lower Ioniq 6 trims due to "disappointing sales and tariff considerations," according to Cars.com. Hyundai sold 10,478 Ioniq 6 models in 2025, dropping 15% from 12,264 units in 2024, a company sales report stated. Hyundai's Ioniq 6 is mainly produced in South Korea, so it faces high import tariffs. Sales increased for their earlier IONIQ 5 model, reports the EV blog Electrek, "up 14% through the first two months of 2026, with 5,365 units sold... Meanwhile, IONIQ 6 sales slid 77% with only 229 units sold in February." Elsewhere they report that Kia's EV6 and EV9 "didn't fare much better with sales down 53% (600 units sold) and 40% (819 units sold), respectively." Now a Kia spokesperson tells Car and Driver that the 2025 EV6 GT and 2026 EV9 GT "will be delayed until further notice." They attributed the move to "changing market conditions," but added that this delay "does not impact the availability of other trims in the EV6 and EV9 lineups." More from Electrek: The news comes after Kia already said it was delaying the EV4, its entry-level electric sedan, "until further notice." It was expected to arrive in the US this year alongside the EV3, Kia's compact electric SUV that's already a top-seller in the UK, Europe, and other overseas markets. While Hyundai didn't directly say it, since the EV3, EV4, EV6 GT, and Hyundai IONIQ 6 are built in Korea, the Trump administration's import tariffs and other policy changes are likely the biggest reason to blame here. Kia and Hyundai, like many others, are hesitant to bring new EVs to the US due to the changes. The IONIQ 6, EV6 GT, and EV9 GT join a string of other models that have either been postponed or canceled altogether.
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In a phone interview with CBS News, President Trump dismissed threats from Iran's top national-security official, who posted on social media that Mr. Trump must "pay the price" for the strikes on Iran.
Here are hints and the answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle for March 8, No. 531.
This live blog has now closed. Our live coverage continues here
The Saudi defence minister, Prince Khalid bin Salman, urged Iran on Saturday to “avoid miscalculation” after missile and drone launches at the kingdom.
Saudi Arabia’s defence ministry said earlier in the day it had blocked repeated missile launches at an airbase housing US military personnel and drone attacks at a major oilfield.
We stressed that such actions undermine regional security and stability and expressed hope that the Iranian side will exercise wisdom and avoid miscalculation.
Continue reading...Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for March 8.
Steven Spielberg directed his last Jurassic Park movie nearly 30 years ago, notes ScreenRant. But the 79-year-old filmmaker now brings us The Dinosaurs, a four-part documentary on Netflix where he's executive producer: The first few reviews are in, and the results lead to a perfect 100% score on Rotten Tomatoes. It's worth noting that the rating will likely fluctuate since there are only six reviews. So far, critics all agree that the new Netflix docuseries is a breathtaking visual of history's most majestic creatures, and Morgan Freeman's soothing narration elevates the experience. Most importantly, the reviews note that the story is intimate, making the dinosaurs feel real with their personalities. "Audience" reviewers gave it a lower score of 67%. "There is a sense of drama and emotional weight which permeates through the entire series as it tells the story of the dinosaurs from start to the present day. The ending brought tears to my eyes..." "Wow, what a sleeper! Flat graphics, looks like video game animations. Unrelatable story lines. Don't waste your time. Honestly would you even look twice if Spielberg's name wasn't on it?" "This show was honestly incredible... It was a 10/10 series that I absolutely adored highly recommended to anyone who loves and has an interest of the ancient world." "I'm sorry, but the dinos of Prehistoric Planet are far superior, and were achieved on a much smaller budget. Their dinos look absolutely real, and you are convinced you're watching a documentary with real animals" ScreenRant notes Netflix's debut of The Dinosaurs' "aligns perfectly" with the arrival of all four Jurassic World movies on Netflix, where they're already dominating Netflix's "Top 10" charts for the U.S. "Witness the rise and the fall of nature's greatest empire," narrator Morgan Freeman says in the trailer...
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
President Donald Trump honors slain U.S. service members at Dover, threatens to widen U.S. targets after Iran’s president dismissed the notion of surrender.
Deployment of US ground troops could be discussed later on and ‘would be a great thing’ says president Trump. Key US politics stories from 7 March at a glance
As the war in the Middle East rages on, US president Donald Trump has acknowledged that deploying ground troops in Iran in future is not off the table.
Pressed by the Guardian on whether he would send in troops to secure the enriched uranium, believed to be stored at Iranian nuclear sites that the United States bombed in Operation Midnight Hammer last year, Trump suggested that was a possibility.
Continue reading...NASA heralded a new study published Friday documenting a first for humanity — "the first time a human-made object has measurably altered the path of a celestial body around the Sun." It was 2022's DART mission where NASA crashed a spacecraft into an asteroid — and the experiment "could have implications for protecting Earth from future asteroid strikes," writes ScienceNews: A spacecraft slowed the orbit of a pair of asteroids around the sun by more than 10 micrometers per second... Within a month, researchers showed that the impact shortened Dimorphos' 12-hour orbit by 32 minutes. Some of the rocks knocked off of Dimorphos fled the vicinity completely, escaping the gravitational influence of the Dimorphos-Didymos pair, says planetary defense researcher Rahil Makadia of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Those rocky runaways took some momentum away from the duo and changed their joint motion around the sun. To figure out how much that motion was affected, astronomers watched the asteroids pass in front of distant stars, dimming some of the stars' light like a tiny eclipse. These blinks, called stellar occultations, can be visible from anywhere on Earth and are predictable in advance... Calculating how far off occultation timings were from predictions revealed that the asteroids' orbit around the sun was about 150 milliseconds slower than before the DART impact... Didymos and Dimorphos are not a threat to Earth, Makadia says, and weren't before DART. But knowing how a deliberate impact changes one asteroid's orbit can help make defense plans against another, "in case we need to do a kinetic impact for real." The researchers spent nearly two and a half years to collect 22 measurements of the asteroid's post-crash position, relying on amateur astronomers "to go out into the middle of nowhere and observe the necessary stellar occultations," acvcording to their paper. Planetary defense researcher even tells ScienceNews "There was an observer who drove two days each way into the Australian outback to get these measurements."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Foreign minister, Constantinos Kombos, tells Guardian Iranian-made drone that hit airbase was launched from Lebanon
Britain is facing growing calls to withdraw its military bases from Cyprus as locals step up protests against facilities seen as a threat to their security after an unprecedented drone attack on RAF Akrotiri.
Anger over the installations spilled on to the streets of Nicosia, the capital, as protesters chanting “out with the bases of death” marched to the colonial-era presidential palace on Saturday amid fears of the Mediterranean nation being dragged into the wider Iran conflict.
Continue reading...  | A few weeks ago I was riding home and noticed my tire was getting flat very quickly. I stopped riding halfway home and asked a friend to pick me up. I bought a tire repair kit, hoping it'd fix it up and I wouldn't have to replace the tire. But after inspecting my tire, I realized there wasn't a nail or anything else that usually causes a flat tire. But on corner (? Edge?) of the wheel, I noticed it was significantly worn down and you can see the ply (I think that's the right term). There's a tiny hole buried that I can only hear and see when I press down on the tire. My thumb is pointing to it in the second picture. I'm unsure if the tire repair kit I bought would help anymore and I'm looking for some advice. I also understand the absolute safest option is just to replace the tire, but that's a little expensive for me right now and my OneWheel would be out of commission for several more weeks until I can get one [link] [comments] |
President Trump on Saturday told reporters, without citing evidence, that he believes a deadly strike on a girls' primary school in southern Iran last weekend was "done by Iran."
Long-time Slashdot reader fjo3 shared this report from Agence France-Presse: Japan has approved ground-breaking stem-cell treatments for Parkinson's and severe heart failure, one of the manufacturers and media reports said Friday, with the therapies expected to reach patients within months. Pharmaceutical company Sumitomo Pharma said it received the green light for the manufacture and sale of Amchepry, its Parkinson's disease treatment that transplants stem cells into a patient's brain. Japan's health ministry also gave the go-ahead to ReHeart, heart muscle sheets developed by medical startup Cuorips that can help form new blood vessels and restore heart function, media reports said. The treatments could be on the market and rolled out to patients as early as this summer, reports said, citing the health ministry, becoming the world's first commercially available medical products using induced pluripotent stem cells... In a statement, Sumitomo Pharma said it had obtained "conditional and time-limited approval" for the manufacture and marketing of Amchepry under a system which is reportedly designed to get these products to patients as quickly as possible. The approval is a kind of "provisional license", the Asahi newspaper said, after the safety and efficacy of the treatment was judged based on data from fewer patients than in ordinary clinical trials for drugs. A trial led by Kyoto University researchers indicated that the company's treatment was safe and successful in improving symptoms. The study involved seven Parkinson's patients aged between 50 and 69, with each receiving a total of either five million or 10 million cells implanted on both sides of the brain... The patients were monitored for two years and no major adverse effects were found, the study said. Four patients showed improvements in symptoms. The article notes that "Worldwide, about 10 million people have the illness, according to the Parkinson's Foundation," while also notes that today's current therapies "improve symptoms without slowing or halting the disease progression..."
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US president delivers stinging criticism of UK prime minister over delayed support for Iran war
Donald Trump has renewed his stinging criticism of UK prime minister Keir Starmer over the lack of immediate UK support for the US-Israeli strikes on Iran.
“The United Kingdom, our once Great Ally, maybe the Greatest of them all, is finally giving serious thought to sending two aircraft carriers to the Middle East,” Trump wrote on his social media platform, adding: “That’s OK, Prime Minister Starmer, we don’t need them any longer – But we will remember. We don’t need people that join Wars after we’ve already won!”
Continue reading...Experts said the vessels are probably carrying a key precursor for rocket fuel, making it notable that Beijing let them sail while the U.S. and Iran are at war.
Rev. Jesse Jackson's children gave loving, personal and often emotional eulogies Saturday at his private homegoing services at Rainbow PUSH Headquarters in Chicago.
In a tweet that's been viewed 1.3 million times in the last six hours, OpenAI's head of robotics announced their resignation. They said they "care deeply about the Robotics team and the work we built together," so this "wasn't an easy call," but offered this reason for resigning: AI has an important role in national security. But surveillance of Americans without judicial oversight and lethal autonomy without human authorization are lines that deserved more deliberation than they got. This was about principle, not people. I have deep respect for Sam and the team, and I'm proud of what we built together. "To be clear, my issue is that the announcement was rushed without the guardrails defined," explains a later tweet. "It's a governance concern first and foremost. These are too important for deals or announcements to be rushed." And when asked how many OpenAI employees had left after OpenAI signed their new Pentagon deal, the roboticist said... "I can't share any internal details." The roboticist previously worked at Meta before leaving to join OpenAI in late 2024, reports Engadget: OpenAI confirmed Kalinowski's resignation and said in a statement to Engadget that the company understands people have "strong views" about these issues and will continue to engage in discussions with relevant parties. The company also explained in the statement that it doesn't support the issues that Kalinowski brought up. "We believe our agreement with the Pentagon creates a workable path for responsible national security uses of AI while making clear our red lines: no domestic surveillance and no autonomous weapons," the OpenAI statement read.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
US president attends ‘dignified transfer’ of remains of soldiers killed in Kuwait drone strike wearing ‘USA’ golf cap
Donald Trump on Saturday joined the families of six US soldiers killed in the war in the Middle East during a dignified transfer ritual at Dover air force base.
A “dignified transfer” is when the remains of US service members killed in action are returned to the US.
Continue reading...The zipper head on the recalled HALO Magic Sleepsuits poses a danger to babies, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.
 | This was the first year I was able to go and Im so glad I did! Met some awesome people and boards there! (also posted this on my instagram a few days ago.. its an old neglected account but I'm going to start posting more... insta: the_hobbyboard) Oh and by the way the song is called sun keeps on shining by almost monday. [link] [comments] |
 | They are joke, you don’t need special tools…just shove something in there and start voiding warranties. [link] [comments] |
Astronomers have spotted a galaxy they believe is made of 99.9% dark matter, reports CNN — and it's so faint, it's almost invisible: CDG-2, which is about 300 million light-years from Earth, appears to be so rich in dark matter that it could belong to a hypothesized subset of low surface brightness galaxies called "dark galaxies," which are believed to contain few or no stars.... [Post-doctoral astrophysics/statistics fellow Dayi Li at the University of Toronto was lead author on a study about the discovery, and tells CNN] There is no strict definition of dark galaxies... but their existence is predicted by dark matter theories and cosmological simulations. "Where exactly do we draw the line in terms of how many stars they should have is still ambiguous, because not everything in astronomy is as clear-cut as we like," he said. "To be technically correct, CDG-2 is an almost-dark galaxy. But the importance of CDG-2 is that it nudges us much closer to getting to that truly dark regime, while previously we did not think a galaxy this faint could exist." To observe CDG-2, the researchers used data from three telescopes — Hubble, the European Space Agency's Euclid space observatory and the Subaru Telescope in Hawaii — along with a novel approach that involved looking for objects called globular clusters. "These are very tight, spherical groupings of very olds stars, basically the relics of the first generation of star formation," Li said. Globular clusters are bright even if the surrounding galaxy is not, and previous observations have shown a relationship between them and the presence of dark matter in a galaxy, Li added. Because CDG-2 appears to have very few stars, there must be something else providing the mass that the clusters need to hold themselves together. Li and his colleagues assume that the source of the mass is dark matter. The researchers found a set of four globular clusters in the Perseus Cluster, a group of thousands of galaxies immersed in a cloud of gas and one of the most massive objects in the universe. Further observations revealed a glow or halo around the globular clusters, suggesting the presence of a galaxy... Astronomers believe, Li explained, that after the formation of the clusters early in the galaxy's existence, larger surrounding galaxies stripped it of the hydrogen gas required to make more individual stars like our sun. "The material that this galaxy needed to continue to form stars was no longer there, so it was left with basically just a dark matter halo and the four globular clusters." The process, he added, would leave behind a skeleton or ghost of "a galaxy that pretty much just failed." As a result of this formation mechanism, the galaxy only has 0.005% of the brightness of our own galaxy, Li said... Studying potential dark galaxies is important because they provide nearly pristine views of the behavior of dark matter, according to Neal Dalal, a researcher at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, who was not involved with the study. Robert Minchin, an astronomer at New Mexico's National Radio Astronomy Observatory, told CNN that "it seems likely that other very dark galaxies will be found by this method in the future."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
All six service members died during an unmanned aircraft system attack in Port Shuaiba, Kuwait.
Workers installed a plaque honoring police officers in the early morning hours, three years after it was required by law to be erected.
Here are hints and the answers for the NYT Strands puzzle No. 735 for Sunday, March 8.
Here are hints and the answer for Wordle No. 1,723 for Sunday, March 8.
Here are some hints and the answers for the NYT Connections puzzle No. 1,001 for Sunday, March 8.
Speaking outside the embassy, Your Party MP Zarah Sultana told protesters: ‘we will not be ignored again’
Thousands of protesters calling for the end of US and Israeli strikes on Iran have marched to the US embassy in central London.
Groups including the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND), Stop The War, the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, the Muslim Association of Britain, the Palestinian Forum in Britain and Friends Of Al-Aqsa led the march to the embassy on Saturday afternoon, after gathering on Millbank, near Westminster.
Continue reading..."It took Anthropic's most advanced artificial-intelligence model about 20 minutes to find its first Firefox browser bug during an internal test of its hacking prowess," reports the Wall Street Journal. The Anthropic team submitted it, and Firefox's developers quickly wrote back: This bug was serious. Could they get on a call? "What else do you have? Send us more," said Brian Grinstead, an engineer with Mozilla, Firefox's parent organization. Anthropic did. Over a two-week period in January, Claude Opus 4.6 found more high-severity bugs in Firefox than the rest of the world typically reports in two months, Mozilla said... In the two weeks it was scanning, Claude discovered more than 100 bugs in total, 14 of which were considered "high severity..." Last year, Firefox patched 73 bugs that it rated as either high severity or critical. A Mozilla blog post calls Firefox "one of the most scrutinized and security-hardened codebases on the web. Open source means our code is visible, reviewable, and continuously stress-tested by a global community." So they're impressed — and also thankful Anthropic provided test cases "that allowed our security team to quickly verify and reproduce each issue." Within hours, our platform engineers began landing fixes, and we kicked off a tight collaboration with Anthropic to apply the same technique across the rest of the browser codebase... . A number of the lower-severity findings were assertion failures, which overlapped with issues traditionally found through fuzzing, an automated testing technique that feeds software huge numbers of unexpected inputs to trigger crashes and bugs. However, the model also identified distinct classes of logic errors that fuzzers had not previously uncovered... We view this as clear evidence that large-scale, AI-assisted analysis is a powerful new addition in security engineers' toolbox. Firefox has undergone some of the most extensive fuzzing, static analysis, and regular security review over decades. Despite this, the model was able to reveal many previously unknown bugs. This is analogous to the early days of fuzzing; there is likely a substantial backlog of now-discoverable bugs across widely deployed software. "In the time it took us to validate and submit this first vulnerability to Firefox, Claude had already discovered fifty more unique crashing inputs" in 6,000 C++ files, Anthropic says in a blog post (which points out they've also used Claude Opus 4.6 to discover vulnerabilities in the Linux kernel). "Anthropic "also rolled out Claude Code Security, an automated code security testing tool, last month," reports Axios, noting the move briefly rattled cybersecurity stocks...
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
"It took Anthropic's most advanced artificial-intelligence model about 20 minutes to find its first Firefox browser bug during an internal test of its hacking prowess," reports the Wall Street Journal. The Anthropic team submitted it, and Firefox's developers quickly wrote back: This bug was serious. Could they get on a call? "What else do you have? Send us more," said Brian Grinstead, an engineer with Mozilla, Firefox's parent organization. Anthropic did. Over a two-week period in January, Claude Opus 4.6 found more high-severity bugs in Firefox than the rest of the world typically reports in two months, Mozilla said... In the two weeks it was scanning, Claude discovered more than 100 bugs in total, 14 of which were considered "high severity..." Last year, Firefox patched 73 bugs that it rated as either high severity or critical. A Mozilla blog post calls Firefox "one of the most scrutinized and security-hardened codebases on the web. Open source means our code is visible, reviewable, and continuously stress-tested by a global community." So they're impressed — and also thankful Anthropic provided test cases "that allowed our security team to quickly verify and reproduce each issue." Within hours, our platform engineers began landing fixes, and we kicked off a tight collaboration with Anthropic to apply the same technique across the rest of the browser codebase... . A number of the lower-severity findings were assertion failures, which overlapped with issues traditionally found through fuzzing, an automated testing technique that feeds software huge numbers of unexpected inputs to trigger crashes and bugs. However, the model also identified distinct classes of logic errors that fuzzers had not previously uncovered... We view this as clear evidence that large-scale, AI-assisted analysis is a powerful new addition in security engineers' toolbox. Firefox has undergone some of the most extensive fuzzing, static analysis, and regular security review over decades. Despite this, the model was able to reveal many previously unknown bugs. This is analogous to the early days of fuzzing; there is likely a substantial backlog of now-discoverable bugs across widely deployed software. "In the time it took us to validate and submit this first vulnerability to Firefox, Claude had already discovered fifty more unique crashing inputs" in 6,000 C++ files, Anthropic says in a blog post (which points out they've also used Claude Opus 4.6 to discover vulnerabilities in the Linux kernel). "Anthropic "also rolled out Claude Code Security, an automated code security testing tool, last month," reports Axios, noting the move briefly rattled cybersecurity stocks...
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Apple's MacBook Neo comes in four shades, and our CNET crew throws shade on all of them.
Detectives are investigating if alleged surveillance of Jewish locations and individuals is linked to possible attacks on British soil
Counter-terrorism detectives have been granted more time to question four men arrested on suspicion of spying for Iran on locations and individuals linked to the Jewish community.
The suspects, one Iranian and three dual British-Iranian nationals, can now be held in custody until 13 March, the Metropolitan police said on Saturday.
Continue reading...Ukraine has claimed a slew of successes on the front line in recent days, underscoring the effectiveness of its weapons systems, including anti-drone interceptors.
Masoud Pezeshkian issues rare apology to neighbouring Gulf states for Iranian strikes as war enters eighth day
The president of Iran has rejected Donald Trump’s call for the country’s unconditional surrender as a “dream”, while issuing a rare apology for Iranian attacks that hit neighbouring states, even as missiles and drones continued to strike Gulf countries.
In a prerecorded address broadcast on state television on Saturday, Iran’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, said the country would never capitulate, responding to remarks by the US president, who said on Friday that only Iran’s total submission could bring the war to an end.
Continue reading...Northern Irishman pulls out before third round
‘I felt a twinge in my back, it became muscle spasms’
Rory McIlroy is confident of defending his Players Championship title from Thursday despite withdrawing from the Arnold Palmer Invitational 35 minutes before his third round. McIlroy suffered back spasms and was unwilling to potentially put appearances at the Players and next month’s Masters at risk by taking to the course at Bay Hill. McIlroy will also be defending the crown at Augusta National.
“While warming up in the gym this morning, I felt a small twinge in my back,” McIlroy said. “As I started hitting balls on the range before the round, it worsened and developed into muscle spasms in my lower back. Unfortunately, I’m not able to continue and have to withdraw. I was excited to compete this weekend. I wish the Arnold Palmer Invitational a great finish and look forward to being back next year.”
Continue reading...Explosion happened in pre-dawn hours at Dalí nightclub in the province of Trujillo along Peru’s northern coast
A bombing at a nightclub in Peru has injured 33 people, including minors, authorities said Saturday.
The explosion happened in the pre-dawn hours at the Dalí nightclub in the province of Trujillo along Peru’s northern coast, according to a statement from the local emergency operations center.
Continue reading...As Masoud Pezeshkian tries to de-escalate conflict, hardliners urge installation of new supreme leader to marginalise the president
The surprise offer by the president of Iran, Masoud Pezeshkian, not to attack countries in the neighbourhood so long as their airspace and US bases within their territories are not used to attack Iran has provoked a storm inside the country as the military appeared to contradict him, if not outright overrule him.
There were also calls for a new supreme leader to be installed as quickly as possible, as a means of marginalising the president. Attacks on facilities in Bahrain and elsewhere have continued, and there were unconfirmed reports that Bahrain had become the first Gulf country to fire back at Iran.
Continue reading..."Within 24 hours of the first US-Israeli strikes on Iran, ships in the region's waters found their navigation systems had gone haywire," reports CNN, "erroneously indicating that the vessels were at airports, a nuclear power plant and on Iranian land. "The location confusion was a result of widespread jamming and spoofing of signals from global positioning satellite systems." Used by all sides in conflict zones to disrupt the paths of drones and missiles, the process involves militaries and affiliated groups intentionally broadcasting high-intensity radio signals in the same frequency bands used by navigation tools. Jamming results in the disruption of a vehicle's satellite-based positioning while spoofing leads to navigation systems reporting a false location. Though commercial vessels are not the target, the electronic interference disrupted the navigation systems of more than 1,100 commercial ships in UAE, Qatari, Omani and Iranian waters on February 28, according to a report from Windward, a shipping intelligence firm. Jamming and spoofing also slowed marine traffic moving through the Strait of Hormuz, a congested shipping lane that handles roughly 20% of the world's oil and gas exports and where precise navigation is essential, Windward's data showed.... Daily incidents have more than doubled, rising from 350 when the conflict began to 672 by March 2, the firm reported. As use of this warfare tactic grows, experts worry the impacts could reach far beyond battlespaces.... In June 2025, electronic interference with navigation systems was thought to be a factor in the collision between two oil tankers, Adalynn and Front Eagle, off the coast of the UAE... The number of global positioning system signal loss events affecting aircraft increased by 220% between 2021 and 2024, according to data from the International Air Transport Association. Last year, IATA said that the aviation industry must act to stay ahead of the threat. Cockpits are seeing their navigation displays "literally drift away from reality," said a commercial pilot, who didn't want to be identified because he was not permitted to speak publicly. He said that he and his colleagues have experienced map shifts, where the aircraft location appears to move up to 1 mile away from the actual flight path, false altitude information that leads to phantom "pull up" commands, and systems suggesting an aircraft was on a taxiway, a path that connects runways with various airport facilities, when taking off. These incidents force pilots to rely on manual actions that increase workload, often during the most exhausting points of long-haul flights, he said. "Alternative navigational tools that don't rely on GPS, but instead harness quantum technology, are also in development," the article points out, "but remain a long way off operational use."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Oksana Masters has competed at every Paralympics since 2012 and is the most decorated American Winter Paralympian.
In Miami, president calls for regional cooperation to counter Chinese economic and political interests
Donald Trump changed the channel from Iran to the western hemisphere on Saturday, convening a gathering of Latin American leaders at his Miami-area golf club to discuss regional interests and establishing what he called a “counter-cartel coalition”.
“Just as we formed a coalition to eradicate Isis, we now need a coalition to eradicate the cartels,” he told 12 regional leaders gathered at what the White House called the “Shield of the Americas” summit.
Continue reading..."Seagate says it is now shipping its Mozaic 4+ HAMR-based hard drives at up to 44TB per drive," writes Slashdot reader BrianFagioli, "with production deployments already underway at two hyperscale cloud providers. "The company claims the platform is the only heat-assisted magnetic recording [HAMR] implementation currently operating at scale, and it is targeting a path from today's 4+TB per disk toward 10TB per disk, eventually enabling 100TB-class drives." In a one-exabyte deployment, Seagate estimates Mozaic could improve infrastructure efficiency by roughly 47% compared to standard 30TB drives, cutting both footprint and energy consumption... HAMR uses a tiny laser to heat the disk surface during writes, allowing higher recording density without sacrificing stability. With most major cloud storage providers reportedly qualified on the Mozaic platform, Seagate is positioning spinning disks, not flash, as the long-term answer for cost-effective AI-scale data growth.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
At least five people are in serious condition, an official said. Three minors - a 16-year-old and two 17-year-olds - are among the wounded.
Have you been looking over the fence at other mobile carriers, or maybe you're pondering a different phone plan? We've put together our picks for the top postpaid and prepaid plans from AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon, Mint Mobile, US Mobile and others.
Report indicates that US intelligence officials question effectiveness of strikes to produce regime change in Iran
US government reviews of the war in Iran show that the Trump administration may be ill-equipped for a regime-change war, according to reports.
The Washington Post reported on Saturday morning that a classified intelligence review found that the war in Iran is unlikely to oust the Iranian establishment, despite the Trump administration’s desire to continue its attacks.
Continue reading...B-1 Lancers arrive at RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire after Starmer allows US to use UK as a base for ‘defensive’ action
Four US bombers have landed at an RAF base in Britain to carry out “specific defensive operations” to stop Iran firing missiles into the Middle East, the Ministry of Defence has said.
The B-1 Lancers, which are 45 metres (146ft) long and capable of carrying 24 cruise missiles, arrived at RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire, one on Friday evening and three on Saturday morning, after Keir Starmer had granted permission for “defensive” US action against Iranian missile sites from UK bases.
Continue reading...A place in the quarterfinals is at stake in this all-Premier League encounter at St. James' Park.
they told me soon but that was like 3 months ago so just wondering if anyone knew
Relatives call on institutions to help them find remains of ancestors who led fight against British colonisers in 1890s
• Which human remains are held in UK museums – and where?
Descendants of freedom fighters executed and beheaded in southern Africa by colonial British forces have called on the Natural History Museum in London and the University of Cambridge to help them find their ancestors’ looted skulls.
Zimbabwean descendants of the first chimurenga heroes, who led an uprising against British colonisers in the 1890s, have long believed the museum and university hold several of the skulls.
Continue reading...The league leaders look to make it three wins in a row as they head to San Mamés Stadium.
"Reservation holders, it's finally time to get ready," writes long-time Slashdot reader AirHog. The EV news site Electrek reports: Aptera Motors, "the little startup that could," announced another important milestone... completing the first example of its flagship solar EV on its validation assembly line in Southern California... While the validation line at its headquarters remains a low-volume assembly process, its successful operation represents the startup's transition from hand-built validation SEVs to a more structured assembly line process that will be fine-tuned for mass production... With low-volume assembly now being validated, Aptera is starting to publicly utter encouraging terms like "EPA certification" and, better yet, that holy grail of "initial customer deliveries." Before then, however, the Aptera Solar EVs built on this low-volume validation line will be used for testing programs such as thermal validation, brake performance, and "some destructive testing." Aptera shared that its assembly and integration team has grown to become the largest at the startup, "reflecting the beginning of its transition from engineering development to testing and production execution"... As of March 2026, Aptera says it has over 50,000 reservations totaling over $2 billion in sales if all were to solidify following the launch of a deliverable vehicle. Clean Technica notes the vehicles' "generous cargo space that comes out to 60% more storage than a Honda Accord and 20% more storage than a Prius, according to the company." "Built with recyclable materials, this eco-friendly vehicle features a lightweight carbon fiber structure and no-welding assembly for maximum cost and production efficiency," Aptera adds. The emphasis on lightweighting supports the goal of engineering a car that can travel on the electricity provided by its onboard solar panels. The company currently advertises that the vehicle can travel 40 miles on solar power alone, with the battery providing extra juice as needed. Ideally, the car can keep recharging itself with sunlight, further elongating the time between charging sessions... [Its range is up to 1,000 miles with plug-in charging.] The new autocycle could also appeal to drivers who enjoy the challenge of hypermiling, which involves deploying a suite of driving techniques to minimize fuel consumption. Hypermiling can apply to gas-powered cars, but the magic really kicks in with the regenerative braking capability of EVs. Aptera's onboard solar panels add another dimension to the fun.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Looking to downsize your phone plan, or just start with one that better fits how you use your phone? A prepaid plan could be a better choice. We pick our favorites.
The White House called the gathering of Latin American leaders the "Shield of the Americas" summit.
Finally got my first one wheel, I had been looking to get into one for a while but couldn’t justify the price. Was able to snag a used pint X with 18 miles for $500. Rode it for the first time last night for about 3 miles and couldn’t believe how fun it is. I ride and race motorcycles, fly, extensive water sports and this little thing that I can easily toss in my car is just as enjoyable as anything else. I should have got one sooner
As the US waives its ban on India buying Putin’s oil for 30 days, Europe must bolster its own measures, such as stopping the flow of luxury cars
Donald Trump handed Vladimir Putin a financial lifeline last week when he waived a ban on India buying Russian oil for 30 days.
Trump found himself in a furious row last year with Narendra Modi over his country’s oil deals with Moscow, only for fences to be partly mended when India’s biggest importer later capitulated.
Continue reading...Get ready to spring forward and lose an hour of sleep but gain more daylight.
Royal Navy readying HMS Prince of Wales so it can be quickly deployed if decision made to mobilise it to region
The UK is preparing an aircraft carrier before a possible deployment to the Middle East, the Ministry of Defence has said.
Royal Navy workers in Portsmouth are readying HMS Prince of Wales, the navy’s flagship, meaning it could be deployed more quickly if a decision is made to mobilise it to the region.
Continue reading...Ian Huntley, 52, had been on life support after being hit repeatedly over the head with a metal bar in a U.K. prison on Feb. 26.
An anonymous reader shared this report from the Independent: A popular predictions market app will not pay out the $54 million some of its users believed they were owed after correctly forecasting the death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, according to a report. Kalshi, which allows players to gamble on real-world events, offered customers favorable odds on Khamenei, 86, being "out as Supreme Leader" in response to the announcement of joint U.S.-Israeli airstrikes on Tehran in the early hours of Saturday morning. The company promoted the trade on its homepage and app and tweeted [last] Saturday: "BREAKING: The odds Ali Khamenei is out as Supreme Leader have surged to 68 percent." It continued: "Reminder: Kalshi does not offer markets that settle on death. If Ali Khamenei dies, the market will resolve based on the last traded price prior to confirmed reporting of death." Khamenei was later confirmed dead in the airstrikes and the company clarified in a follow-up post: "Please note: A prior version of this clarification was grammatically ambiguous. As a customer service measure, Kalshi will reimburse lost value due to trades made between these clarifications...." While the company has offered to reimburse any bets, fees or losses from the trade placed prior to its clarification message, it has nevertheless attracted a firestorm of complaints on social media. A Kalshi spokesperson told Reuters they'd reimbursed "net losses" out of pocket "to the tune of millions of dollars". But a class action lawsuit was filed Thursday saying Kalshi had failed to pay $54 million: Kalshi did not invoke a "death carveout" provision until after the Iranian leader was killed to avoid paying customers in Kalshi's "Khamenei Market" what they were owed, the lawsuit said... The language specifying that Khamenei's departure could be due to any cause, including death, was "clear, unambiguous and binary," the lawsuit said, describing Kalshi's actions as "deceptive" and "predatory." "In a notice filed Monday, the company proposed standardizing the terms of all its markets that implicitly depend on a person surviving..." reports Business Insider. "The update comes after Kalshi paid $2.2 million to resolve complaints from users who were confused by the way it divided the $55 million wagered on Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's ouster after his targeted killing by Israel and the US." Their article cites a DePaul University law professor who says "There's now sort of this nascent, but bipartisan movement against prediction markets. I think Kalshi's feeling the heat." For example, U.S. Senator Chris Murphy told the Washington Post, "People shouldn't be rooting for people to die because they placed a bet."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Commandos started digging up grave thought to be of famous IDF pilot, leading to gunfight followed by airstrikes
An Israeli operation in eastern Lebanon to locate the remains of a famous IDF pilot ended in failure overnight, when the commandos were caught in a gunfight with Hezbollah and local residents, leading Israeli jets to pummel the area with airstrikes that killed dozens of people.
The fighting left three Lebanese soldiers and 41 residents of the Bekaa valley dead, according to the Lebanese army and ministry of health. No injuries were reported among the Israeli soldiers.
Continue reading...This will be the first time humans have traveled all the way to the moon since the early 1970s.
"There must be no one in the military who harbors disloyalty to the (ruling Communist) Party," Xi said.
The new robot vacuums on the market are more capable than ever. Here's the latest from Ecovacs.
The $180 Aurzen Eazze D1R Cube is a basic, entry-level projector, but the Roku interface makes it a pleasure to use.
Tech policy professor who served in US air force explains how a feud between an AI startup and the US military illuminates ethical fault lines
Anthropic’s ongoing fight with the Department of Defense over what safety restrictions it can put on its artificial intelligence models has captivated the tech industry, acting as a test of how AI may be used in war and the government’s power to coerce companies to meet its demands.
The negotiations have revolved around Anthropic’s refusal to allow the federal government to use its Claude AI for domestic mass surveillance or autonomous weapons systems, but the dispute also reflects the messy nature of what happens when tech companies have their products integrated into conflict. The Pentagon this week declared Anthropic a supply chain risk for its refusal to agree to the government’s terms, while Anthropic has vowed to challenge the designation in court.
Continue reading...The Guardian spoke to adults now in their 20s, 30s, and 40s to reflect on the lasting impact of family separation in the US
Jesús usually came home from school to a raucous scene: the family TV blaring, his mom loudly cooking dinner and his two young sisters fighting about nothing in particular. When his dad came home from work, they’d all gather around the kitchen table for dinner.
But this day was different.
Continue reading...California state superintendent says mother and sons arrested during ICE check-in and deported to Colombia
California’s superintendent is calling for the return of a hearing-impaired six-year-old after he, his mother and his five-year-old sibling were detained on Tuesday while reporting for their check-in at an ICE office in San Francisco and deported to Colombia.
Lesly Rodriguez Gutierrez and her sons were arrested during their visit to ICE’s Intensive Supervision Appearance Program (Isap), said Alameda County Immigration Legal and Education Partnership (ACILEP). A relative who was waiting outside for Gutierrez and her sons was unable to hand off the assistive devices necessary for the six-year-old, who is deaf and has a cochlear implant.
Continue reading...The attorney general faces a subpoena over the Epstein files. She won’t say much – but Democrats are calling for her ouster
After spending $220m of taxpayer money on an advertising campaign in which she demanded migrants self-deport, Kristi Noem is now being forced to make a hasty exit of her own. On Thursday, Donald Trump announced that his luxury-jet-loving homeland security secretary was being shipped off to become special envoy for “the Shield of the Americas”, a new “security” summit that Trump has dreamed up. Markwayne Mullin, a former mixed-martial artist and Republican senator, will replace her.
Noem’s ouster was a long time coming. But it’s worth stressing that she doesn’t seem to have lost her job because of the many controversies that have plagued her tenure, including the killing of two US citizens by immigration agents. Rather, she committed the cardinal sin of making Trump look stupid. Which, to be fair, isn’t hard.
Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian columnist
Continue reading...Defence minister urges ‘serious politics’ after Tory leader criticises prime minister’s stance at spring conference
Labour has accused Kemi Badenoch of scoring “cheap political points” after the Conservative party leader said Keir Starmer was “too scared” to join strikes on Iran.
Al Carns, the defence minister, said “serious politics” was required in response to Badenoch’s speech at the party’s spring conference where she criticised the prime minister’s stance on the US-Israel strikes on Iran a week ago.
Continue reading...Call for urgent meeting comes after woman was assaulted by man who had been given her key card by hotel staff
More than 20 MPs have demanded an urgent meeting with the CEO of Travelodge after a woman was sexually assaulted by a man who had been given her room number and a key card by hotel staff.
The MPs said the case of Kyran Smith, 29, who was jailed for seven-and-a-half years last month, raised “deeply concerning” questions. He attacked the woman after a party in December 2022.
Continue reading...Hampshire business seems to have benefited from ‘phoenixism’, which costs the taxpayer about £800m a year
A UK recruitment business has been acquired out of administration for a third time in four years as part of a succession of deals that left some of the former management team in place and millions of pounds owed to the public purse.
The chain of insolvencies appears to contain more examples of phoenixism – a process when companies are liquidated and directors are able to rise from the ashes with a new entity, free of debts.
Continue reading...Review of FDA records by the Environmental Working Group reveals firms are exploiting rule to send new chemicals in food system
More than 100 substances widely used in common US foods, supplements and beverages underwent no health and safety review by the US Food and Drug Administration, a new analysis of federal records finds.
The review of FDA records by the Environmental Working Group (EWG) non-profit reveals that diverse products across the food pyramid, such as Capri Sun drinks, Kettle and Fire organic broth, Acme smoked fish, and Quaker Oats snack bars, use a range of substances that have not undergone review by regulators.
Continue reading...Takeshi Ebisawa, sentenced to 20 years in prison last week, believed he was selling weapons-grade plutonium to Iran
A plot to supply Iran’s nuclear weapons program, heroin from the Golden Triangle, Burmese ethnic insurgents and rocket launchers were the subject in courtroom 24A in New York’s federal courthouse last week when a man described as a leader in Japan’s Yakuza organized crime syndicate was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
The transnational plot, which the US Drug Enforcement Administration had been investigating since 2019, involved Japanese organised crime leader Takeshi Ebisawa, who along with three Thai men, had been arrested in New York in 2022.
Continue reading...“She was aging. I’m very close to her,” photographer Arnaud Montagard said. “At the time of the trip, she was 88. She’s now 89.”
When I searched online to see if you can make popcorn in an air fryer, answers varied, so I went right to a manufacturer for a final answer.
Why Should Delaware Care?
Government works best when its citizens are knowledgeable and engaged. Delaware’s government has scores of commissions, working groups, agencies and legislative committees. All must hold meetings that are open to the public. Below we highlight a few of those meetings that are happening this week.
Below are some of the most important or interesting public meetings happening around the state this week.
After months of debate, the New Castle County Council may finally vote on a package of regulations meant to limit how and where data centers can be developed in the county.
The northernmost county has been targeted for development of a hyper-scale data center known as Project Washington, which has sparked community concerns around potential strains on energy and water use, while supporters seek to land new construction and permanent jobs.
Councilman Dave Carter, who originally introduced the ordinance in August, has amended it to try to find a compromise.
One of the main points of contention on the new bill was the removal of a “pending ordinance doctrine,” which would allow the county to retroactively apply the proposed regulations to data center applications currently in the development pipeline, including Project Washington.
📍 The New Castle County Council is scheduled to meet at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 10, in the Louis L. Redding City County Building, located at 800 N. French St. in Wilmington. For more info on the meeting, including how to attend virtually, click here.
The State Employee Benefits Committee (SEBC), a board responsible for managing Delaware’s state employee health insurance plans, will meet Monday to finalize coverage changes for employees currently using weight-loss drugs.
That meeting was previously canceled last month due to inclement weather.
The changes could mean thousands of employees, retirees or their family members covered under the state’s health plan could soon pay much more out-of-pocket to get their weight-loss prescriptions or be uncovered altogether.
The SEBC previously met on Friday, Feb. 13, to introduce the potential coverage changes.
At that meeting, the committee heard multiple different options that could save the state money, but they would pass costs onto consumers using the drugs in the form of higher co-pays, almost four or five times higher than the current rate.
📍 The State Employee Benefits Committee will meet at 9 a.m. Monday, March 9, at the Delaware Department of Human Resources, located at 841 Silver Lake Blvd., in Suite 100. For more info on the meeting, including how to attend virtually, click here.
The Delaware General Assembly will reconvene beginning on Tuesday after a month off for Joint Finance Committee hearings.
Floor votes for the House and Senate are scheduled for Tuesday, March 10, while committee hearings will take place on both Tuesday and Wednesday.
Among bill hearings to watch are:
📍 The Delaware General Assembly meets at Legislative Hall, located at 411 Legislative Ave. in Dover. Hearings and floor votes are open to the public. For more info, or to watch virtually, click here.
A proposed resolution before the Wilmington City Council would encourage state legislators to amend the city’s charter to prohibit city council members from switching parties between elections.
Sponsored by Councilman Alexander Hackett, it’s not immediately clear what sparked the introduction of the measure.
However, it comes on the heels of Councilman James Spadola switching from the Republican to Democratic Party last year. The city charter requires that no more than three people be nominated for the council’s four at-large members, which means that a minority political party is always represented.
Because Democrats overwhelmingly hold control of the council, that means the Republican Party always has one seat of the 13 members. Until now, as Spadola’s switch has left the council without a minority party member.
Notably, it also means that if Spadola seeks re-election to an at-large seat, he would be competing with colleagues Hackett, Maria Cabrera and Tish Bracy for the three Democratic seats.
📍 The resolution will be discussed by the council’s Committee of the Whole at 5 p.m. Thursday, March 12, at Louis L. Redding City County Building, located at 800 N. French St. in Wilmington. For more info on the meeting, including how to attend virtually, click here.
The Bryan Allen Stevenson School of Excellence in Georgetown will be fighting for its survival at a Monday evening hearing.
Last month, Delaware education officials recommended that the state close the charter school due to its persistent struggles with low enrollment.
The closure recommendation from the Charter School Accountability Committee now goes before Delaware Education Secretary Cindy Marten, who will announce a final decision about whether to revoke BASSE’s charter on March 19.
If she does revoke the charter, the school – which in recent months has served about 120 sixth through ninth graders – would close by the end of this academic year.
Before Marten makes a decision though, the school will have the opportunity to convince her to keep it open.
📍 The public hearing will begin at 5 p.m. Monday, March 9, at the Delaware Technical Community College’s Owens Campus Carter Partnership Center, located at 21179 College Drive in Georgetown. For more info, including how to attend virtually, click here.
Correction: This column originally reported that Wilmington’s city charter required a minority party representative in its four at-large seats. However, it only requires that a political party nominate no more than three candidates, essentially resulting in at least one minority party representative.
The post Get Involved: Data center regulations vote, GLP-1 coverage, and more appeared first on Spotlight Delaware.
A guide to the Formula One schedule and special F1 extras on every Apple app -- including Apple Music.
Senate blocks war powers measure and House follows suit – now president can bomb Iran free from congressional interference
Before US troops invaded Iraq, George W Bush asked Congress to pass a resolution authorizing military force against Washington’s longtime nemesis, a request that lawmakers obliged.
Twenty four years later, the United States is at war with a different Middle Eastern rival – Iran – under a different Republican president – Donald Trump. But this time, the president did not bother to seek permission from the Senate and House of Representatives before joining Israel in launching the air and naval campaign. And far from objecting, Congress’s Republican majorities have simply stepped aside.
Continue reading...White House wages online propaganda campaign with aggressive and tasteless videos seemingly designed for young rightwing American men
Rap and EDM. Clips from action movies. Heads-up displays from video games.
As the war with Iran approaches its second week, the White House has leaned into an online propaganda campaign that seems less about intimidating Iran or projecting US strength abroad than it is about reaching a rather niche domestic audience: young rightwing American men who spend a lot of time online.
Continue reading...Iran’s targeting of commercial datacentres in the UAE and Bahrain signals a new frontier in asymmetric warfare
It is believed to be a first: the deliberate targeting of a commercial datacentre by the armed forces of a country at war.
At 4.30am on Sunday morning, what is thought to have been an Iranian Shahed 136 drone struck an Amazon Web Services datacentre in the United Arab Emirates, setting off a devastating fire and forcing a shutdown of the power supply. Further damage was inflicted as attempts were made to suppress the flames with water.
Continue reading...Restart of operations will be a relief to those stranded but may not dispel doubts raised by past week about key transit hub
After nearly a week of uncertainty, airspace closures and very limited flights, news that hundreds of thousands of passengers around the world were hanging on for emerged: the Gulf-based carrier Emirates was restarting operations in earnest despite the US-Israel war on Iran.
Those relieved by the restart will include the UK’s Foreign Office, after its travails in organising delayed rescue flights out of neighbouring Oman.
Continue reading...Thousands in Chicago honored civil rights ‘champion’ who ‘stepped forward again and again’, Obama said
At the longtime civil rights activist’s memorial celebration on Friday, the Rev Jesse Jackson was remembered as a “champion” for the “poor and the dispossessed” – as well as “one of the most effective community and political organizers of our time”.
Such tributes came from past Democratic US presidents Barack Obama, Bill Clinton and Joe Biden, along with former vice-president Kamala Harris, who received cheers and applause while they joined thousands of others in a Chicago arena for a celebration of life for Jackson.
Continue reading...March 6, 2026 — At Mobile World Congress 2026, the European Commission unveiled EURO-3C, a €75 million project to develop Europe’s first large-scale federated Telco-Edge-Cloud infrastructure, supported by Horizon Europe.
Credit: Shutterstock
This landmark project will showcase Europe’s ability to deliver cutting-edge digital services entirely through its own connectivity infrastructure, reducing reliance on third country providers. Telco-edge-cloud combines telecommunication networks, edge computing and cloud infrastructure into a single, integrated platform, bringing high speed, secure computing power closer to end-users.
Directly aligned with the goals of the proposed Digital Networks Act, the project opens the door to new opportunities that will strengthen Europe’s single telecom market and increase technological sovereignty. While driving European innovation in 6G, AI, cybersecurity and telecoms many sectors of the broader economy will be able to make use of the solutions EURO-3C will develop.
Some of Europe’s leading companies and organizations are coming together to build EURO-3C: telecom operators, cloud service providers, software developers, equipment manufacturers, research institutions and a broad network of integration specialists.
With a total of 87 consortium members involved, the project also aligns with broader EU strategic priorities and the work of organisations like IPCEI-CIS, the Smart Networks and Services Joint Undertaking (SNS JU) and EuroHPC, supporting European industrial competitiveness.
Source: European Commission
The post European Commission Announces €75M EURO-3C Project to Build Federated Telco-Edge-Cloud Infrastructure appeared first on HPCwire.
Venezuela's new administration is cutting deals, but there's a big reward available for a key figure.
TAIPEI, March 6, 2026 — The globally renowned annual technology event, COMPUTEX 2026, will take place in Taipei from June 2–5. One of the most anticipated programs of the event, the COMPUTEX Forum, officially opens registration and ticket sales today.
Under the theme “AI Together,” the 2026 Forum brings together, for the first time, 30 senior executives and technology leaders from the world’s most influential tech companies. This marks the largest and most distinguished speaker lineup in the Forum’s history. The program will offer strategic insights into AI-driven transformation, and the future direction of the global technology ecosystem.
This year’s Forum brings together 30 technology leaders to explore six core themes, offering in-depth insights into the evolving landscape of AI development.
Six Core Themes Defining the Next Phase of AI
As generative AI, accelerated computing, and edge intelligence move from experimentation to scaled deployment, industries are entering a new phase of integration and real-world application.
COMPUTEX Forum 2026 will explore six core themes, providing in-depth perspectives on AI development, including:
The speaker lineup brings together leaders from globally recognized technology firms to explore AI computing architectures, cloud–edge orchestration, on-device intelligence, enterprise adoption at scale, and governance frameworks—offering a forward-looking view of the evolving global AI ecosystem.
Super Early Bird Tickets Now Available — Exclusive Offer for a Limited Time
To thank long-time supporters and industry professionals, the organizer is offering a Super Early Bird promotion:
For years, COMPUTEX Forum has served as a premier platform for global developers, enterprise executives, investors and technology decision-makers. At a critical moment in AI’s industrial-scale transformation, the 2026 edition sets a new benchmark in scope and influence—bringing together the voices shaping the next decade of innovation.
Ticket Information
Note: The organizer reserves the right to modify, amend, or suspend the event program. Final arrangements are subject to official announcements by TAITRA.
For more exhibition information:
COMPUTEX: https://www.computextaipei.com.tw/en/index.html
InoVEX: www.innovex.com.tw
About COMPUTEX
COMPUTEX was founded in 1981. It has grown with the global ICT industry and become stronger over the last four decades. Bearing witness to historical moments in the development of and changes in the industry, COMPUTEX attracts more than 40,000 buyers to visit Taiwan every year. It is also the preferred platform chosen by top international companies for launching epoch-making products. Taiwan has a comprehensive global ICT industry chain. Gaining a foothold in Taiwan, COMPUTEX is jointly held by the Taiwan External Trade Development Council and Taipei Computer Association, aiming to build a global tech ecosystem. COMPUTEX has become a global benchmark exhibition for AI and startups, connecting global pioneers and enabling new sparks of breakthrough technology.
Source: COMPUTEX
The post COMPUTEX Forum 2026 Opens for Registration appeared first on HPCwire.
And when a Redox monthly progress report is here, Haiku’s monthly report is never far behind (or vice versa, depending on the month). Haiku’s February was definitely a busy month, but there’s no major tentpole changes or new features, highlighting just how close Haiku is to a new regular beta release. The OpenBSD drivers have been synchronised wit upstream to draw in some bugfixes, there’s a ton of smaller fixes to various applications like StyledEdit, Mail, and many more, as well a surprisingly long list of various file system fixes, improving the drivers for file systems like NTFS, Btrfs, XFS, and others.
There’s more, of course, so just like with Redox, head on over to pore over the list of smaller changes, fixes, and improvements. Just like last month, I’d like to mention once again that you really don’t need to wait for the beta release to try out Haiku. The operating system has been in a fairly stable and solid condition for a long time now, and whatever’s the latest nightly will generally work just fine, and can be updated without reinstallation.
March 6, 2026 — The European High-Performance Computing Joint Undertaking (EuroHPC JU) launched the HPCTRAIN project, designed to empower young professionals with traineeships in high-performance computing (HPC).
The HPCTRAIN project aims to strengthen Europe’s HPC skills ecosystem by offering professional traineeships to early-career professionals across Europe, providing opportunities to gain practical experience in a professional and non-academic environment, networking opportunities and exposure to the industry.
Designed to bridge the gap between academic knowledge and the professional use of HPC, the program will enable participants to gain practical experience working on HPC-related projects, while developing the advanced technical and transversal skills required to pursue careers in this rapidly evolving field.
Calls for traineeship applications will be announced on a rolling basis, with four annual cut-off dates via the project website (where interested applicants can apply from). This program will match trainee candidates with relevant training opportunities offered by private companies and public organization that offer professional career paths centred around HPC technology, operation and applications. A dedicated Industrial Advisory Board with representations from the EuroHPC JU private members (ETP4HPC, DARIO/BDVA and QuIC), PRACE Industrial Advisory Committee and additional members from HPC industry will help to define, promote and execute the traineeship program.
This project will also include monitoring activities to review the impact of these traineeships and whether they effectively bridge the gap between education and the job market.
By equipping young professionals with HPC skills, HPCTRAIN is expected to significantly contribute to Europe’s digital technology supply chain. The initiative will enhance workforce capacity in critical segments such as HPC technology, operation, applications, and software development, supporting the digital evolution within the European Union (EU).
More Details
The HPCTRAIN consortium, coordinated by the Forschungszentrum Julich GmbH (FZJ), comprises 12 diverse organisations (universities, supercomputing centres and companies) such as IT4Innovations National Supercomputing Center, Barcelona Supercomputing Center, University of Stuttgart, LuxProvide, University of Luxembourg, PRACE, , CSC, University of Gallway, INESC TEC and University of Ljubljana that offer a diversified traineeship program.
The project officially started in January 2026 and will last 48 months.
The HPC Train project has been selected following the call DIGITAL-EUROHPC-JU-2022-TRAINING-03 and is funded by the Digital Europe programme, with a total EU contribution of around EUR 5 million.
Source: EuroHPC JU
The post EuroHPC Launches HPCTRAIN Project for Early-Career HPC Traineeships appeared first on HPCwire.
Crisis in the Middle East, Ramadan in Gaza, a blackout in Havana and Stella McCartney at Paris fashion week – the past seven days as captured by the world’s leading photojournalists
Warning: this gallery contains images some readers may find distressing
Continue reading...The New York State attorney general’s office has begun investigating how Columbia University let a predatory doctor continue to see patients despite decades of warnings.
“The Office of the Attorney General is conducting a thorough investigation into the institutional response to Robert Hadden’s misconduct,” a spokesperson said in a statement to ProPublica. The agency did not give further details.
A ProPublica investigation from the fall of 2023 revealed how Columbia ignored women and ultimately protected Robert Hadden, a longtime OB-GYN at the university. In 2012, Columbia allowed Hadden to continue seeing patients just days after one of them called 911 to report Hadden had sexually assaulted her.
In early 2023, Hadden was convicted in federal court of sexually abusing patients. He is currently serving a 20-year sentence. Columbia has paid out more than $1 billion for over 1,000 claims of sexual abuse.
After our investigation, Columbia committed to a variety of reforms, including improved patient safety, a $100 million fund for victims and an independent investigation.
But advocates, students and survivors say Columbia needs to do far more to grapple with its role in Hadden’s conduct. Four hundred Columbia medical students recently wrote to university officials demanding disciplinary reviews for administrators who failed to heed warnings about Hadden.
Unlike at other universities that have dealt with serially abusive doctors, no higher-ups at Columbia appear to have lost their jobs or been disciplined. Dr. Mary D’Alton, who was cc’d on a letter that authorized Hadden’s return to work, remains the chair of the obstetrics and gynecology department.
D’Alton did not respond to a request for comment.
Columbia declined to comment for this story.
The attorney general’s office has significant powers over New York’s nonprofits, including Columbia. A few years ago, it forced the Trump Foundation to shut down. More recently it sued the National Rife Association, which then had to enact a series of reforms.
Survivors told ProPublica they were heartened that New York is looking into Columbia.
“Accountability is overdue, particularly in light of the Epstein files,” said Evelyn Yang, pointing to recent revelations that several Columbia affiliates had ties to the financier.
Yang was among at least 8 patients who were assaulted by Hadden after he returned to work. She was seven months pregnant at the time.
Shortly after our story was published more than two years ago, Columbia promised to “thoroughly examine the circumstances that allowed Hadden’s abuse to continue.”
No report detailing those findings has yet been published.
Last week, Columbia acknowledged in an announcement that there “are many questions” about the timing of the investigation it commissioned. It said that the report is expected to be released “soon.”
New York State Assemblymember Grace Lee blasted the university’s failure to issue the report, telling ProPublica the university has not taken responsibility for what happened.
“To me, it’s just outrageous that we are here now in 2026 and we still have no report and no one has been held accountable,” she said.
By comparison, the external investigation into the University of Michigan’s response to the crimes committed by its former physician Robert Anderson took about 15 months.
Another Hadden survivor, Marissa Hoechstetter, said the attorney general’s decision to examine Columbia provides some relief because the institution has repeatedly failed to do so itself.
“I do believe institutional accountability is a missing part of making a bigger change in the fight of gender-based violence,” Hoechstetter said. “I don’t know what will come of this investigation” — referring to New York’s probe — “but it shows that institutions that protect and cover up abusers in order to protect their own people and reputation will be held accountable.”
Hoechstetter and Yang both advocated for the passage of the Adult Survivors Act, a New York State law that in 2022 opened a one-year window in which survivors of sexual assault could file civil suits against their abusers or the institutions that protected them, even after the statute of limitations had passed.
For years, the university had failed to notify Hadden’s former patients of his misconduct. Finally, in November 2023, just 10 days before the law’s extended window closed, Columbia announced it would send letters to almost 6,500 patients.
A closed town hall meeting at the medical school this January gave a window into who was behind that lack of notification. “It actually is a Board of Trustee decision” because of the potential cost of litigation, Monica Lypson, the vice dean for medical education, told students in a recording that ProPublica obtained.
Lypson did not respond to a request for comment.
Separately, the deadline to submit a claim to Columbia’s survivors’ settlement fund, which was established for survivors who do not want to file lawsuits, has been extended to April 15.
The post New York Attorney General Is Investigating Columbia for Allowing Predatory Doctor to See Patients Despite Warnings appeared first on ProPublica.
Platforms include YouTube, TikTok and Instagram as communication minister says ‘our children face real threats’
Indonesia will ban social media for children under 16, its communication and digital affairs minister said on Friday.
Meutya Hafid said in a statement to media said that she signed a government regulation that will mean children under the age of 16 can no longer have accounts on high-risk digital platforms, including YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, Roblox and Bigo Live, a popular livestreaming site. With a population of about 285 million, the fourth-highest in the world, the south-east Asian nation represents a significant market for social networks.
Continue reading...The unemployment rate was 4.4% in February, with 126,000 jobs added in January
The US lost 92,000 jobs in February, an unexpected major slackening in the labor market that came just before Donald Trump threw the global economy into upheaval with his conflict in Iran.
The unemployment rate edged up to 4.4% in February. In comparison, the US added a revised 126,000 jobs in January, far surpassing expectations of 70,000 jobs but still less than January 2025. Economists predicted an increase of 60,000 jobs added in February and a steady unemployment rate of 4.3%.
Continue reading...UK arguments for US operations from its bases blur the line between lawful self-defence and unlawful war on Iran Expert comment jon.wallace
The UK claims any US aircraft flying from bases like Fairford and Diego Garcia can only act in defence of British regional allies. Such a distinction may be unrealistic in a theatre of war.
The UK has taken a step closer to involvement in the US and Israeli war against Iran.
The UK government initially refused President Donald Trump’s request to use its military bases in support of the war with Iran. But on 1 March, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer announced he would, after all, permit the use of UK military bases such as RAF Fairford in the UK and the overseas base on Diego Garcia. This is to be limited to ‘defensive’ action against missiles and drones based in Iran. This limited concession was reportedly negotiated with Washington, in accordance with London’s view on the legal issues involved.
Throughout, the prime minister has been adamant that the UK has not participated in the initial US and Israeli offensive, and that this remains the case. He argued that the UK would, under his leadership, never contemplate going to war without a legal basis. This seems to confirm reports that the UK attorney general may have advised that the US and Israeli operation is not in accordance with international law.
Few states have been willing to say so publicly. And some have endorsed the attacks. But the UN Secretary-General has confirmed that the US-Israeli attacks on Iran violate the fundamental prohibition of the use of force. This view is widely shared among the legal expert community.
And some governments are now finding their voice in defending the international legal order, including Spain and France, with Canada belatedly also joining in.
Countries also routinely refuse the use of foreign bases on their territory for aggressive operations. They will even deny the right of overflight over their territory by foreign forces heading for a controversial military operation.
Compliance with international law is not optional for the UK. According to the Ministerial Code, members of the government, including the prime minister, have the ‘overarching duty to comply with the law, including international law and treaty obligations’.
How then is the UK government attempting to square the circle of credibly supporting its regional allies without becoming a party to the war against Iran?
The United Nations Definition of Aggression confirms that a state must not allow ‘territory placed at the disposal of another state to be used by that other state for perpetrating an act of aggression against a third state’.
However, merely allowing the use of a base on UK territory for hostile action against a third state would not necessarily constitute an act of aggression. Deeper involvement may be required.
Still, by giving in to the initial US request, the UK would have risked assuming a share of the international legal responsibility for the attacks against Iran.
Iran invoked its right to self-defence in response to the US attacks, announcing that ‘all bases, facilities, and assets of the hostile forces in the region shall be regarded as legitimate military objectives within the framework of Iran’s lawful exercise of self-defense.’ However, that would only be lawful if these facilities on the territory of third states were indeed all involved in the conflict.
Regional states hosting US bases adamantly assert that they have not permitted the launch of any attacks against Iran from those bases. Indeed, several countries tried to dissuade the US from launching the operation in the first place. Despite these efforts, Iran has attacked many of its neighbours in the Gulf, including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain and Iraq. Iran has therefore itself committed an act of aggression against these regional states – one compounded by the indiscriminate nature of the attacks.
While the UK did not participate in the initial attack on Iran, Starmer has reported that it has had ‘planes in the sky’ since the outbreak of the conflict to help intercept missiles and drones directed against regional allies.
The UK can rely on its own right to self-defence if Iran targets groups of UK citizens in the Gulf specifically because they are UK citizens. The UK also has a right under international law to a limited and proportionate answer to the apparent Iranian drone attack against its military base at Akrotiri, Cyprus, which is sovereign UK territory. However, the UK seems reluctant to take such action, perhaps to avoid entering a direct, escalatory conflict with Iran.
The UK attorney general clarified in the summary of his advice that, ‘as well as defending itself and its position in the region, the UK is acting in the collective self-defence of regional allies who have requested support’. However, this describes a kind of passive defence, trying to intercept missiles and drones as they approach the Gulf states. UK forces will not mount an active defence against missile installations ‘at source’ in Iran, in support of the Gulf states. Instead, authority has been granted to the US to do so, using UK bases.
It is not clear whether this means that the US is doing so under UK licence, as it were, acting to implement London’s right to collective self-defence in aid of the Gulf states – or whether the US is acting in their defence under its own steam.
This complicated UK approach seems to blur the distinction between the unlawful US and Israeli war against Iran, and the lawful UK campaign to defend regional allies against unjustified Iranian assaults using US assets operating from UK bases.
The UK is attempting to shore up that distinction by indicating that strict rules are in place to ensure that the UK bases are only used for strikes against ‘missile facilities in Iran which were involved in launching strikes at regional allies’. But it may not be realistic or practical to determine in each instance which Iranian missiles facilities have targeted regional allies or, more to the point, which will do so in the future. Presumably some have been used to attack both Israel and US forces, and regional states.
Iran will certainly not be persuaded by this distinction. Its authorities will not be able to tell which US strikes launched from UK bases aim to protect UK regional allies, and which are part of the US’s overall aggressive campaign to subdue its government.
The attorney general adds that the UK bases may only be used for strikes against missile facilities used by Iran against ‘countries not previously involved in the conflict’. In other words, according to this distinction, it is out of the question for US aircraft flying from UK bases to strike Iran to protect US forces in the region or to preserve Israel from counterattacks.
US pilots launching from UK bases may find it difficult to accept that they can only engage offensive Iranian weapons that threaten the Gulf states, but not those that threaten their own forces amidst a deadly, live conflict.
Presumably, the somewhat complicated legal rationale of the UK government is meant to facilitate US action at the behest of close regional allies, and to alleviate the fury of US President Donald Trump at having initially been denied the use of the UK bases – without slipping too far towards becoming a party to a conflict that lacks a legal basis.
In truth, though, the euphemism of the UK having had ‘planes in the sky’ since the beginning of the conflict does not really overcome one fact.
Entering the theatre of conflict and shooting down Iranian drones and missiles that are unlawfully targeting regional allies may be laudable. But in a sense, doing so already makes the UK a party to the conflict – at least the conflict between Iran and those regional states – however defensive the UK’s role may be. Moreover, if the Gulf states decide to respond by striking Iran, as they are entitled to, the UK could become involved in more active defence.
Despite the fine legal craftmanship underpinning it, Starmer’s decision potentially makes it just a little more difficult for the UK to maintain the distinction between involvement in defence of itself and its allies, and involvement in the principal conflagration between Iran and the US and Israel.
Why Should Delaware Care?
In 2025, Wilmington saw the lowest number of shooting incidents and victims in 20 years. The decrease in crime has pushed city officials to continue the effort and push for public safety initiatives in the city, including Mayor Carney’s creation of the Office of Community Safety. But a few days later, the city council had proposed its own similar office, with different oversight provisions.
After Wilmington saw a drop in crime last year, city officials are looking for ways to sustain the progress. But they’re doing it through two separate and parallel initiatives.
On Monday, Mayor John Carney signed an executive order establishing an Office of Community Safety that would coordinate violence prevention efforts between city departments and establish partnerships with community organizations.
Then, on Thursday, Councilwoman Shané Darby introduced a separate proposal to create an office with the same name. Darby’s plan differs from Carney’s several ways, with the most notable difference being that it gives the City Council more oversight.
Asked if the mayor’s office and council initiatives were connected, Daniel Walker, deputy chief of staff for Carney’s office, said they are separate actions.
“We are still working with [Darby] to ensure her ordinance is aligned with our goals and vision for this work that is located in the Mayor’s office,” Walker said in a statement to Spotlight Delaware.
The push for greater violence-prevention efforts comes after Wilmington saw a drop in crime last year. It was an encouraging development across Delaware, particularly after its largest city had suffered for years from high numbers of shootings.
In 2017, the News Journal reported that kids in Wilmington were more likely to be shot than those in any other U.S. city during the previous years.
But, last year, the city experienced the lowest number of shooting incidents and shooting victims in over two decades, according to the annual year-end crime report released last month by the Wilmington Police Department.
The new statistics also show an overall 8% drop in murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, felony theft and auto theft, over the previous year.
During the first two months of this 2026, shootings have increased but it is difficult to draw broad conclusions from such a short period. There have been nine shootings in Wilmington as of March 1, according to the city’s CompStat statistics, which are updated every week. During the same period last year, there were three. So far, none of the shootings have resulted in a death this year.
Under Carney’s new safety plan, he will appoint a Director of Community Safety, who will lead the office and report directly to him. The director will be in charge of supporting community-based groups, creating policy around public safety, facilitating coordination among different city departments, and helping manage partnerships and grant funding related to public safety programs, according to the executive order.
“The establishment of this new office will help us sustain that progress by ensuring that prevention efforts are aligned across the City,” Carney said in a recent statement.
On Thursday, the City Council approved a budget amendment for the city’s operating budget, which included a little over $45,000 for the new director position.
Walker did not provide a timeline as to when the director would be appointed.
Meanwhile, Darby’s legislation would formally establish the same office through a city ordinance.
While the proposal shares largely the same goal of reducing violence and strengthening prevention programs, Darby also asks for the council to have more say in how the office is governed.
Under Darby’s proposal, the director of the office would be appointed by the mayor, but must also be confirmed by City Council.
The City Council proposal also creates a nine-member advisory board to oversee the office. The board would include four members appointed by the mayor, four appointed by City Council, and one appointed by both the council president and the mayor.
Darby’s proposal also states that the new office must provide an annual report to the mayor and council. Carney’s executive order did not require that.
Darby did not respond to Thursday’s request for comment for this story.
The post Wilmington mayor, City Council introduce separate community safety proposals appeared first on Spotlight Delaware.
‘Stopgap measure’ designed to keep oil flowing into global market as Middle East crisis disrupts crude shipments
The US has temporarily allowed India to buy Russian oil currently stuck at sea in an effort to keep global supplies flowing and temper further price increases.
The US treasury has issued a 30-day waiver allowing India to buy Russian oil, having previously imposed heavy sanctions related to the war in Ukraine.
Continue reading...Newark Charter School’s high school marching band, choir and orchestra will return to Rome later this year to once again perform in that city’s New Year’s Day parade.
The Newark Post received the following letter from a student at The Langley School in Virginia. Each year, the school’s third-graders write open letters to newspapers across the country to ask for readers’ help learning about the 50 states.
Some Pint parts are custom-made by FM (or licenced out, whatever) and 100% identical replacements can only be bought from them. Some parts aren't and can be bought directly from the supplier. Also listed are some parts which are similar to what's publicly available, but are custom. If you know any of the TO BE DETERMINED parts, let me know
The frame rails are weirdly similar to cut-down 1 1/2" x 3/4" x 1/8" (38.1mm x 19mm x 3.2mm) aluminium U channel, but have an additional curved section on the outside so aren't the same
Main CPU (1): STM32F103R8T6
I'd assume all circuit board components are off-the-shelf, but there's not much point listing them all
Battery cells (15): Sony | Murata VTC5D 18650 2800mAh 25A (I expect this link to brick itself)
The first 4 screws are anodized black. All are probably stainless steel
Main screws (20): M4 x 10mm T20 Torx Countersunk
Bottom screws long (4): M4 x 50mm T20 Torx Countersunk
Bottom screws short (2): M4 x 14mm T20 Torx Countersunk
Axle bolts (4): Custom-made M8 T30 with 1.6mm thick 13mm diameter head, ~11mm long 8mm diameter neck, ~25mm long thread, total length 37mm. Could probably use a thin-head 35mm M8
Controller box screws (8): M4 x 8mm F20-B5 lobe security screw (example)
Battery box screws (8): Same
Controller board screws (6): M3x4mm button head ph1 (is it philips head 1?)
Hub screws (7): M5 x 10mm Socket Head w/4mm Socket
Battery BMS hat screws (2): TO BE DETERMINED, philips
Axle wire guide screws (4): TO BE DETERMINED, philips
Front/back light bar screws (2): TO BE DETERMINED, philips
Motor connector, controller side: OW-BCU-09PMMP-LC7001
Motor connector, motor side: OW-BCU-09BFDM-LL7A01 (comes with cable)
Footpad connector, controller side: AU-05PMMP-LC7001
Footpad connector, footpad side: AU-05BFFM-LL7A02 (comes with cable, cable length is the last 2 digits of the serial numb, the image is not accurate but the datasheet is what matters)
The footpad sensor has an internal 3 pin DuPont connector covered in hot glue (is that even its real name? whatever, they're everywhere). The footpad side is the female side
Main power connectors: All xt60, there's 3 of each gender, note that the controller side of the BMS is wired backwards
Most of the internal connectors are JST GH connectors so I won't list each serial number, just use the data sheet
Battery-controller data, controller side (1): 6 pin
BMS-controller data, controller side (1): 6 pin (only 3 pins are wired)
Lightbar connector (3): 3 pin
Power button connector (1): 2 pin
The BMS charge connector is a 2 pin JAE ES9, just search for JAE ES9 on digikey, there's only 10 results. Note that the wire side is the female side
The BMS-battery balance connector is a 26-pin JST ZPD, just use the data sheet
Charge connector, pint side (1): TO BE DETERMINED
Charge connector, charger side (1): TO BE DETERMINED, said to be a 2 pin female mini DIN but that is very non-specific
Controller-battery cable (1): TO BE DETERMINED, it's a 8 core shielded cable with 2 larger wires, doesn't say what it is on it
CPU, BMS balance connector, cells: https://github.com/jlpoltrack/onewheel/tree/master?tab=readme-ov-file
Some connectors: https://pev.dev/t/onewheel-pint-motor-and-footpad-connector-digikey/2593
BMS charge connector: https://github.com/radimklaska/onewheel/blob/master/bms.md
‘European preference’ signals a wider change of EU doctrine Expert comment jon.wallace
The European Commission’s Industrial Accelerator Act has ‘Made in EU’ requirements that aim to adapt the bloc’s open market policy to geopolitical realities.
It is targeted, but it’s a significant shift: the European Union is prioritizing its own home-based industrial production. The European Commission proposed on 4 March a comprehensive legislative package, dubbed the ‘Industrial Accelerator Act’ (IAA), meant to strengthen European industry by raising the share of EU-made materials and components in public procurements, government purchase incentives or tax breaks.
This concept of European preference is controversial. There have been over 40 draft versions of the Act, which has generated heated debates, inside the Commission and among the EU-27 bloc. Its announcement has been postponed several times.
Even if its scope ends up being limited, the discriminatory measure represents a significant change in the EU’s current legal framework for investment and, moreover, a change of mindset in addressing globalization and the business environment. Under this legislation, for instance, state-subsidized electric cars will have to be assembled in the EU and contain a substantial portion of European components.
For the bloc’s trading partners, the IAA looks like some sort of sophisticated protectionism. For some member states, it appears to impose costly new bureaucratic hurdles to the detriment of entrepreneurial freedom. Northern EU member states are skeptical. Local authorities and SMEs fear more paperwork and rising costs.
But for its proponents, headed by France, it simply reflects what other powers are already doing, to respond to punitive US tariffs and aggressive Chinese trade practices. Ottawa, for instance, launched a ‘Buy Canadian Policy’ in December 2025, rolling out new federal procurement rules to prioritize local suppliers and Canadian-made goods and services.
Given all the contradictory priorities it had to consider, the Commission’s regulation is a cautious endorsement of ‘Made in EU’. It is a balancing act between economic security, free trade and decarbonization needed to tackle climate change. It makes European preference an exception, not a principle.
The concept is part of a broader shift towards a more interventionist EU economic policy. The IAA adds to other legal and fiscal European measures, such as the new carbon tax, the screening of foreign investments on strategic assets and the anti-coercion instrument. All aim at levelling the playing field with China and the US and overcoming economic dependencies that risk being politically weaponized.
European discrimination is already introduced in the new defence financial instrument (SAFE), whereby procurement contracts must ensure that no more than 35 per cent of component costs originate from outside the EU, EFTA or Ukraine.
Imposing some ‘Buy European’ provisions is another step in this new geopolitical direction. Its purpose is not just defending energy-intensive European industries (such as steel, cement, aluminium, as well as the automotive sector and cleantechs) against unfair competition but to proactively save them through public subsidies.
Overall public procurements already represented 14 per cent of the EU’s GDP in 2023. The IAA will be adopted against a background of increasing defence spending, while the EU-27 is discussing its future seven-year budget and Germany is starting a €500 billion public investment plan over twelve years to modernize its infrastructure.
The extent of European preference is thus proportionate to the growing amount of state and EU allocations becoming available. The argument for the IAA is also political: by ensuring that some measure of this public spending must ‘buy European’, European taxpayers will get more of their money back.
But the ‘accelerator’ – another key concept of the legislation – will only be as effective as public tenders can be swiftly processed. It plans to simplify administrative authorizations. By adopting the IAA, public authorities, whether local, national or European, are therefore taking direct responsibility in gearing up the continent’s manufacturing capacities.
This also depends on which critical sectors will allow only EU manufacturers to receive state aid. In earlier drafts of the Act, European preference was intended to cover a variety of strategic sectors for the future, such as artificial intelligence and advanced semiconductors. But these have been taken out in the final draft.
The list will surely be debated again during the legislative process the IAA will now go through, in both the European Parliament and the EU Council.
Yet the industrial ‘accelerator’ also relies, paradoxically, on foreign direct investment. The Act forces third countries investing over €100 million to enter into joint ventures with European companies, providing access to their intellectual property, hiring Europeans and transferring know-how to local partners.
By doing so the EU hopes to reconcile its economic security concerns with the technological disadvantage it faces – pointed out by the Draghi Report. Such requirements make the IAA look remarkably like Chinese-style market access restrictions – those that the EU has frequently complained about.
The other much debated question for third countries, not least for the UK, is how will the ‘European’ preference be understood? The Commission’s proposal does not limit strictly to the EU-27. It extends the discriminatory measure to all of the bloc’s free-trade so-called ‘trusted partners’ that are in customs union with the EU or respect reciprocal international agreements such as the WTO Agreement on Government Procurement.
But it allows reciprocal measures against countries limiting access to their own public procurements in certain sectors, such as Canada, Japan, South Korea or the US, to ensure equal treatment for EU companies.
Leadership and representation in international relations: building on women’s legacy 31 March 2026 — 1:00PM TO 3:00PM Anonymous (not verified) Chatham House and Online
Join us for a panel discussion and networking reception to mark Women’s History Month.
Join us for a panel discussion and networking reception to mark Women’s History Month.
Join us for a panel discussion and networking reception hosted by Chatham House’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Working Group, in collaboration with Women in International Security UK (WIIS UK) and LSE IDEAS, to mark Women’s History Month.
In line with the 2026 International Women’s Day theme of ‘Give to Gain’, this event explores the rich history of women’s contributions to international relations and diplomacy over the past century, and examines how those working in international affairs today can build on this legacy. Our discussion focuses on career paths, representation and allyship, and on what gender equity in international affairs looks like across the field, with an emphasis on inspiring and supporting the next generation of practitioners, diplomats and academics.
The event is followed by a reception.
If all that recent snow has you craving some greenery, come visit “Good Nature: Interpretations of the Outdoors,” the current art exhibition on display at the Newark Arts Alliance.
Macron’s nuclear weapons offer to Europe: Gaullist policy, updated for a more unstable world Expert comment jon.wallace
‘Dissuasion avancée’ is intended to give France’s partners a greater stake in nuclear deterrence, retain French command and control – and prevent proliferation.
President Emmanuel Macron’s speech on 2 March, on the future of French nuclear deterrence, is already being framed as a watershed moment for European security.
The announcement that France will expand its nuclear arsenal for the first time in decades and create a new framework of ‘advanced deterrence’ cooperation has triggered intense debate about Europe’s strategic future.
Yet, for all its political substance, the speech is better understood as a strategic clarification rather than a doctrinal revolution. Macron mostly reaffirmed long-standing French principles of sovereign nuclear control and deliberate ambiguity – while attempting to adapt them to the new European security environment. That clarification is welcome at a time of Russian revisionism, uncertainty about US commitments and renewed nuclear competition, especially from China.
The conceptual foundations of Macron’s speech are deeply rooted in the original Gaullist doctrine of French nuclear strategy. That conceived deterrence as not only a shield for the national territory but also a guarantee of France’s political independence.
De Gaulle deliberately kept the definition of France’s ‘vital interests’ ambiguous. In 1964, he emphasized that French nuclear forces were designed to deter any power capable of threatening the country’s survival, without specifying geographical limits.
The doctrine was intentionally flexible. It allowed France to signal that developments affecting the European strategic balance could fall within its vital interests. Subsequent French nuclear planning assumed those interests could be engaged by a Soviet attack in Central Europe, particularly in the Federal Republic of Germany, Belgium or the Netherlands, since such an advance would rapidly threaten French territory.
Michel Debré, one of the principal architects of French nuclear doctrine, articulated this logic clearly. In 1972, he observed that ‘France lives within a network of interests that extends beyond its borders’, adding that French deterrence inevitably benefited Western Europe as well. The implication was straightforward: although the French deterrent was strictly national in its command and control, its strategic consequences were never purely national.
Macron’s speech therefore reflects continuity rather than rupture. When the president insisted that nuclear deterrence must remain ‘a French intangible’ while proposing a more European strategic posture, he was essentially updating Gaullist principle: the ‘force de frappe’ is sovereign, but its political effects extend beyond the Hexagon.
The most notable element in the president’s speech was the announcement that France would increase the size of its nuclear arsenal, currently estimated at around 290 warheads. For decades, France has maintained a strict ceiling and emphasized transparency about its stockpile size. Macron indicated this would change: as the arsenal grows, France will no longer publicly disclose its exact number of warheads.
This shift reflects a broader international trend. Nuclear arsenals worldwide are expanding or modernizing (if not both), and strategic competition between major powers has intensified. By abandoning detailed transparency, France is reintroducing strategic uncertainty as a component of deterrence.
Macron also suggested that France could temporarily deploy nuclear-capable Rafale aircraft to allied bases for exercises or signalling missions. Importantly, this would not amount to NATO-style nuclear sharing. The nuclear weapons, the command chain and the decision to use them would remain strictly French. In this respect, the French president largely undercut nationalist critics who had warned that closer European cooperation would amount to a surrender of French nuclear sovereignty.
This principle lies at the heart of what Macron calls ‘dissuasion avancée’: advanced deterrence that is more forward and more European in posture, yet entirely French in control.
The concept attempts to reconcile two objectives that have long been difficult to combine: preserving national control over nuclear weapons while giving European partners a greater stake in the strategic environment surrounding them.
Under Macron’s proposal, European allies could participate in the broader ecosystem of deterrence without sharing operational control of nuclear weapons. This could include participation in exercises, strategic consultations, and contributions to conventional capabilities that reinforce nuclear signalling.
Such contributions might involve air and missile defence systems protecting strategic infrastructure, intelligence and surveillance capabilities, or long-range conventional strike assets that would strengthen Europe’s overall deterrence posture.
In practice, this would create a European political framework around a French nuclear core – a structure designed to enhance deterrence without fundamentally altering the national character of the French force.
The deeper ambition of Macron’s speech lies in the realm of strategic culture. For decades, European nuclear deterrence has been largely delegated to the US through NATO. Even after the Cold War, most European states avoided engaging directly with nuclear strategy.
Macron’s initiative implicitly challenges that posture. By inviting European partners into a more structured dialogue around deterrence, France is encouraging them to internalize the logic of nuclear strategy: escalation management, signalling, survivability and resilience.
Macron made clear that the US will continue to play a central role in European security.
The initiative is not intended to replace the American nuclear umbrella but to complement it, as US strategic priorities evolve.
Yet, the debate also reveals a deeper strategic dilemma for Europe. If the credibility of collective deterrence is questioned, individual states may pursue their own nuclear capabilities.
Recent statements by Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk about acquiring nuclear weapons illustrate this risk. A nuclear armed Poland would challenge the EU’s commitment to nuclear non-proliferation and undermine the cohesion of the European security architecture.
Emmanuel Macron’s proposal can therefore also be interpreted as a preventive initiative. By offering European partners a role within a broader deterrence framework centred on the French force, Paris is trying to discourage the emergence of new national nuclear programmes.
Macron’s speech has left an important question largely unanswered: the role of conventional military power in European deterrence.
Most contemporary conflicts unfold below the nuclear threshold – as the Russian war on Ukraine reminded us all. Effective deterrence therefore requires a strong conventional military layer capable of responding to aggression without escalation to nuclear weapons.
Europe still has limited ammunition stocks, insufficient air and missile defence systems, and logistical constraints affecting large-scale military deployments.
Without substantial improvements to such conventional capabilities, the political significance of Macron’s speech may exceed its practical impact. Macron may intend to work towards agreement on a strategic division of labour, where France has full control of nuclear deterrence while European partners boost the conventional forces that underpin its credibility.
Ultimately, the speech at Île Longue was less about nuclear weapons than about Europe’s capacity to act collectively in a more dangerous world.
The French president framed this challenge starkly during his Sorbonne speech in April 2024: ‘Our Europe today is mortal,’ he warned. ‘It can die simply because our decisions are insufficient or too slow’.
His initiative is therefore both an offer and a test. Whether this vision succeeds will depend on Europe’s willingness to assume greater strategic responsibility – through stronger conventional forces, deeper political cooperation and a shared understanding of deterrence in an increasingly unstable international system.
A developer is seeking to build a car wash and other commercial buildings on Elkton Road.
Four people are facing charges in connection with a human trafficking investigation involving three massage businesses, including one near Newark.
The Newark Morning Rotary Club last week presented donations to several local organizations that support veterans, first responders and youth.
Netanyahu’s biggest gamble Expert comment jon.wallace
Regime change in Iran could secure election victory. But much depends on President Trump. And the risks for Israel’s diplomatic position – and even its US alliance – are high.
If there is an issue that unites the vast majority of Israelis, it is that Iran poses an existential threat to the Jewish state. Moreover, most believe there is only a military solution to this danger, not a diplomatic one. Hence the joint US-Israeli military campaign against the Islamic Republic is not only a response to recent developments. It has been brewing for more than two decades and has its roots in the 1979 Iranian Revolution.
What is somewhat novel on this occasion is the candour with which the leadership of Israel has stated that the war’s objective extends beyond eliminating Iran’s military threat to pursuing regime change in Tehran. That position was immediately and unequivocally endorsed by opposition leader Yair Lapid, along with the rest of the Zionist opposition parties.
Over the past few weeks, there has been a growing sense of inevitability about an imminent US-Israeli attack on Iran. The suspicion was that negotiations in Geneva, and reports about progress made, were a mere smoke screen, part of a deception and psychological war to lull the Iranian leadership into a false sense of security.
It largely worked, at least for the open gambit of this war, which saw Iranian leadership, as was the case in the 12-day war last June, caught by surprise – with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei killed in the first wave of Israeli strikes.
Israel entered this war in a complex geopolitical position. Since the disaster of 7 October 2023, it has regained much of its military credibility but equally lost political and moral ground.
It has considerably weakened the military capabilities of most of Iran’s proxies, the so-called Axis of Resistance, whether Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon or the Houthis in Yemen. And unlike his predecessor, Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa is no friend of the regime in Tehran. Moreover, following the 12-day war with Iran, the Israeli air force has gained complete supremacy in the air, if at a heavy price on the home front: Israel’s vulnerabilities have been exposed, due to its geography and high population concentration in a relatively small area.
However, Israel’s political position has been badly undermined. Its use of excessive force, with little regard for civilian lives, especially in Gaza, has put a strain on relations with much of the region, including those countries with which it has normalized relations. Close allies in Europe and beyond have grown increasingly critical of its operations.
A major feature of Israel’s conduct under Netanyahu is its inability (one suspects also unwillingness due to domestic political pressure) to translate military successes into diplomatic achievements. All the fronts it opened over the last two and a half years remain unresolved as the Israeli government constantly repeats the need for ‘absolute’ or ‘total’ victory. Such objectives are bound to result in never-ending wars, yet similar terminology is again surfacing regarding Iran in the current campaign. This causes deep concern among the Gulf countries now under Iranian attack.
Rather surprisingly, the administration of President Donald Trump, which prides itself on rapidly settling conflicts rather than starting them seems, when it comes to Israel, to subscribe to the Netanyahu version of events on most fronts.
In the case of Iran, US negotiators insisted that all demands regarding uranium enrichment, limits on ballistic missile development, and an end to support for proxy groups be accepted in full.
Chief negotiator Steve Witkoff, speaking to Fox News about the negotiations, said that Trump had wondered why the Iranians didn’t simply capitulate to his demands – revealing that from the start, there was no room for compromise, only a military option. This approach was naïve at best, demonstrating inexperience and a lack of understanding of how the Iranian leadership thinks and operates. It would definitely not have led to a deal.
The triumphalist statements by both Trump and Netanyahu at the end of the first day of the war encouraged Iranians to topple their regime. That is likely to make countries in the region, especially in the Gulf, extremely concerned, regardless of what they think about the regime, as it might end in Tehran intensifying attacks on them, and the nightmare scenario of chaos spreading across the region.
Yossi Mekelberg discusses Israel’s part in the war with Iran.
Iran’s almost instant response to the US-Israeli airstrikes was to attack Gulf states, which now find themselves caught in a war they tried hard to prevent and paying a heavy price. In the long run, they are very likely to ask themselves whether close relations with Israel are more of a liability than an asset.
If the war – which is already expected to last for weeks – drags on with no resolution, with the Strait of Hormuz and much of the Gulf’s airspace closed, both the US, but mainly Israel, will be held responsible. The fallout will be even worse should the conflict fuel radicalism and further animosity between Sunni and Shia, as concerns some analysts.
Many Iranians and much of the international community would not mourn the brutal regime in Tehran, if it falls. But Israel, already extending its operations to Lebanon, again finds itself in the spotlight for acting under US protection with disregard for international law and lacking any legal basis for its military adventure.
Netanyahu has taken a bet that embarking on this war will boost his chances of political survival. More concerning, he is also gambling with his country’s long-term security and international standing.
It is an election year in Israel, and Netanyahu is desperate to stay in power. For the gamble to pay off there must be minimum casualties at home. Both Israel and the US are operating, thus far, on such a best-case scenario.
Netanyahu is also betting that Trump’s support will last until Iran’s nuclear programme and military threat are removed and regime change is delivered. That is risky.
It is not beyond President Trump to declare a victory while there is neither a military nor a political resolution. Furthermore, if this war goes wrong and it costs the Republicans the mid-term elections in the US, the blame will be put on Israel’s doorstep, with long-term implications for the alliance between the two countries. This is at a time when there is also growing scepticism among Democrats about associating the US with Israel’s policies in the region.
By the end of last year’s June war with Iran, the Israeli prime minister declared that the Iranian existential threat of ‘annihilating’ Israel had been removed. In his words, this ‘historic victory’ would prevail for generations. Only 8 months later, the country is embroiled in another, and even more intense war with its main nemesis in the region. And the reason given is exactly the same as back then.
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