News Reel

• Frenchman becomes youngest winner of award

• Spurs star has dominated opponents all season

There had never been a unanimous NBA defensive player of the year. Until now.

Victor Wembanyama – as expected – was announced Monday as the league’s top defensive player. The San Antonio center was second in the voting for DPOY as a rookie, was the favorite last season until a medical condition ended his season prematurely, but left no doubt this year. At 22, he’s the youngest winner of the award.

According to Mexico's security officials, a gunman opened fired at the popular tourist spot, killing a Canadian woman and injuring at least four people.

Lori Chavez-DeRemer departs administration just weeks after Kristi Noem and Pam Bondi also exited from their roles

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My colleague Jeremy Barr has more on the lawsuit filed by Kash Patel against the Atlantic.

Patel’s legal team accused the magazine and reporter Sarah Fitzpatrick of publishing “a sweeping, malicious, and defamatory hit piece” on 17 April.

Move marks government’s most radical attempt to weaken impact of soaring wholesale gas prices on electricity costs

• Clean energy generation exceeded rise in global electricity demand in 2025

The government has confirmed plans to move older wind and solar farms which make up almost a third of Great Britain’s power market on to fixed-price contracts to help protect households and businesses from future gas market shocks.

Under the plans, first revealed by the Guardian, renewable energy projects that earn subsidies on top of the market price will be asked to sign up to contracts that pay a set price for electricity as part of the government’s plan to “delink the price of electricity from the price of gas”.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Guardian: A ban on mobile phones in schools in England is to be introduced by the government to ensure that "critical safeguarding legislation" is passed. The government will table an amendment to the children's wellbeing and schools bill in the House of Lords after the bill was held up by peers on opposition benches. It will make existing guidance on mobile phone bans in schools statutory, a move that ministers have resisted until now. The government had consistently argued that the vast majority of schools had already banned mobile phones, and that there was no need to add a legal requirement. They finally capitulated, however, describing it as "a pragmatic measure" to get the bill through. [...] The bill is regarded by many as the biggest piece of child protection legislation in decades and includes proposals for a compulsory register for children who are not in school, a crackdown on profiteering in children's social care, and a "single unique identifier" to help agencies track a child's welfare.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

INGELHEIM, Germany, and LONDON, April 20, 2026 — Boehringer Ingelheim today announced the expansion of its global Computational Innovation footprint with the launch of a new center for AI and machine learning in King’s Cross, London, UK, part of the Knowledge Quarter ecosystem. As the company continues to innovate and expand its AI capabilities in pharmaceutical R&D, this significant investment recognizes the UK’s commitment to AI and the life sciences sector.

With this latest investment, Computational Innovation now has locations in Austria, Germany, UK and USA specializing in AI, machine learning, human genetics, and computational biology. The addition of London to the company’s global footprint and clear focus on AI will further understanding of the biology that drives patient outcomes, identify biological mechanisms with a higher probability of success, and enable the organization to move faster, make smarter decisions, and deliver innovative therapies to patients with unmet medical needs. The importance of this investment will be recognized at an event today attended by Government Ministers and representatives from academic and professional institutions, as well as technology and AI companies from within London’s Knowledge Quarter.

UK Science Minister, Lord Patrick Vallance, said: “AI is unlocking opportunities to advance discovery in life sciences like never before and Boehringer’s decision to open its new hub in King’s Cross will ensure they can both access and contribute to a flourishing base for innovation in London. This hugely welcome investment by a global life sciences company will power our efforts to tackle diseases while opening up new highly skilled jobs that boost our economy.”

Paola Casarosa, Global Head, Innovation Unit and Member of the Board of Managing Directors, Boehringer Ingelheim, said:  “The UK has a strong legacy in AI, and the government’s continued commitment to advancing data-driven innovation in life sciences and healthcare makes it an ideal location. Establishing a presence in London allows us to leverage the UK’s rich data resources and infrastructure, while connecting with world‑class talent across academia, biotechnology and AI ecosystems to enable innovation for patient benefit. Our vision for the future is guided by our commitment to put patients first, delivering new medicines where unmet medical needs remain high.”

About Boehringer Ingelheim

Boehringer Ingelheim is a biopharmaceutical company active in both human and animal health. As one of the industry’s top investors in research and development, the company focuses on developing innovative therapies that can improve and extend lives in areas of high unmet medical need. Independent since its foundation in 1885, Boehringer takes a long-term perspective, embedding sustainability along the entire value chain. Our approximately 54,300 employees serve over 130 markets to build a healthier and more sustainable tomorrow. Learn more at www.boehringer-ingelheim.com.

Source: Boehringer Ingelheim

The post Boehringer Ingelheim Adds London AI Center to Global Computational Innovation Network appeared first on HPCwire.

At Cadence’s annual user conference in Santa Clara this week, anticipation in the room was palpable as Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang joined Cadence CEO Anirudh Devgan on stage to open the event for the gathered attendees. Before their fireside chat began, the two paused to sign a compute rack together in a brief, almost ceremonial moment that spoke to the depth of the companies’ partnership.

That relationship has its roots in semiconductor design, where Cadence’s EDA tools have supported Nvidia’s chip development and have steadily expanded into areas like simulation, systems design, and now AI-driven workflows.

During the discussion, Huang noted how the past two years of AI development have been a progression from generative models to systems that can reason and act, and that transition is redefining how engineering work gets done.

Cadence CEO Anirudh Devgan and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang discuss the companies’ expanded partnership at CadenceLIVE

“We’re now at a point where agents are able to foresee reason and execute plans,” Huang said. “AI went from knowing everything, being able to spew out all kinds of knowledge and information, to now being able to use tools.”

Huang said Nvidia has seen a surge in its own internal agent use, with systems that reason through problems and then rely on established tools to carry out the work. Chip design is a key example, he said, noting that as agents take on roles in verification, analog design, and back-end workflows, demand for Cadence’s EDA tools is likely to increase substantially.

Huang’s comments push back on the narrative that AI could replace traditional engineering software. In domains like chip design, Huang described how the underlying algorithms are tightly validated and deeply embedded in production workflows. Instead of replacing them, these systems are now being built to call into those tools, ensuring that outputs remain verifiable and aligned with established design flows.

Huang also discussed how companies have historically been constrained by the number of available ASIC designers, noting that agentic systems could expand that capacity by allowing engineers to orchestrate many specialized agents at once.

Huang signs a compute cabinet at CadenceLIVE

The partnership announcement reinforced the fireside conversation, with Cadence outlining an expanded collaboration with Nvidia that will span agentic AI, physics-based simulation, and digital twins for semiconductor design, physical AI systems, and AI factories. Cadence said the collaboration will combine its design software and simulation portfolio with Nvidia’s accelerated computing, CUDA-X, Omniverse, and AI physics technologies.

Huang described physical AI as the next frontier for both companies, arguing that the industry is now entering a new phase beyond language models.

“Just as we had the ChatGPT moment, the generative AI moment for language, we’ve arrived at the generative AI moment for robotics. It’s called VLA: vision language action model, which is basically perception in, action out,” he said.

Huang said the combination of perception, reasoning, and action allows machines to handle unfamiliar scenarios by breaking them into simpler steps, much like humans do. Paired with rapid advances in robotics hardware, he said, that approach is enabling more general-purpose systems that can operate across a range of physical environments.

That line of thinking carried into Devgan’s keynote that followed, where he focused on how Cadence is readying its platform for this next phase of AI-driven engineering.

Cadence’s Roadmap: AgentStack and an Expansion Beyond Chip Design

As Devgan delved into Cadence’s latest product roadmap, he mentioned how he still sees EDA and IP as the company’s core business but now views that business through a wider lens that extends from chip design into full-stack engineering platforms and automation.

An important part of the roadmap is AgentStack, an orchestration environment Cadence unveiled as a way to connect its emerging “super agents” across the design flow. ChipStack, launched earlier this year for RTL design and verification, marked the first step in Cadence’s move toward agent-driven design workflows.

Devgan’s keynote included the company’s product roadmap

AgentStack builds on ChipStack by extending its “mental model” and multi-agent approach beyond RTL and verification into later stages of the design process, including physical and analog design. It is designed to coordinate long-running tasks across multiple agents while connecting directly into Cadence’s underlying EDA platforms running on Nvidia infrastructure.

In his keynote, Devgan said the company is extending that approach into analog design and back-end implementation, with each super agent able to call into more specialized sub-agents tied to existing Cadence tools. Rather than presenting those systems as standalone AI assistants, Devgan described them as a new automation layer built on top of Cadence’s underlying engines. In the Q&A session that followed, he said that Cadence’s advantages are its domain-specific “mental model” of chip design and its deeper access to tool APIs and software internals, which allow the company to orchestrate workflows at a more granular level than general-purpose model providers or customer-built agents.

From there, Devgan described what he sees as three phases of AI adoption: infrastructure AI, physical AI, and AI for science. While the first phase is still scaling, he said the next wave will center on systems that interact with the physical world, including robots and autonomous vehicles. AI for science, including areas like drug discovery and materials research, is already underway but remains earlier in its development, Devgan said. This AI adoption progression is actively shaping Cadence’s roadmap, driving its investments in simulation, digital twins, and tools designed to model and optimize everything from AI data centers to real-world systems. Overall, Cadence’s main strategy is to apply its core strengths in engineering software to a much wider set of use cases.

Inside Cadence’s Layered Approach to Agentic AI

If Devgan’s keynote laid out the roadmap, Paul Cunningham, Cadence’s senior vice president and general manager of the system verification group, offered a more detailed picture of how the company believes AI will change engineering work inside the design flow.

In his afternoon keynote, Cunningham said that the opportunity goes beyond adding chat interfaces to existing software. To illustrate, he described three distinct layers of AI inside Cadence’s strategy: optimization AI embedded directly in core engines, tool agents that simplify how engineers interact with existing software, and as Devgan mentioned, “super agents” designed to carry out end-to-end tasks across the design process.

Cunningham tied that approach back to two ideas he said have shaped Cadence for decades: abstraction and reuse. In the past, he said, Cadence helped raise the level of abstraction in chip design by moving engineers away from hand-crafted layouts toward high-level design languages. With AI, the company now sees a chance to raise that abstraction again, allowing systems to begin projects with human design documents like specifications, block diagrams, and architecture descriptions and translate them into working designs.

Cadence SVP and GM Paul Cunningham delivered a detailed keynote about the company’s agentic AI

Reuse takes on a new meaning as well, Cunningham noted. Where traditional EDA has often reused design hierarchies and repeated structures, AI creates the possibility of reusing tasks. Instead of forcing engineers to repeat the same sequences of analysis, scripting, debugging, and iteration, he said, agents can begin to capture and replay that work in a more automated way.

That logic has shaped Cadence’s layered AI strategy. Cunningham said optimization AI, like reinforcement learning systems embedded in Cadence products like Cerebrus and Verisium, are one avenue for accelerating physical design and verification. He described tool agents as another, as they make existing environments faster to use by turning common interactions into conversational and context-aware workflows. Super agents, he said, represent the next step: systems that combine LLMs, domain-specific knowledge graphs, and structured workflows to carry out more complex design tasks with greater consistency.

“We can already see that the complexity of a super agent is absolutely trending towards being as complex as some of our most advanced EDA tools. A super agent is, in and of itself, a piece of computational software,” Cunningham said.

Cadence’s layered approach (Graphic Courtesy of Cadence)

Cunningham said that complexity comes from the amount of information required to carry out real design tasks. Unlike simpler coding use cases, he noted, chip design involves millions of tokens of structured data, far beyond what a single model prompt can handle. To address that, Cadence is building agents that construct intermediate “knowledge graphs” of a design, capturing its structure, hierarchy, and intent before passing tasks to AI models.

He also examined another challenge: consistency. Because LLMs are probabilistic, he said, producing repeatable, production-ready results requires additional layers of control. Cadence’s approach relies on what he described as “skills” and structured workflows to guide models step-by-step through complex tasks, ensuring that outputs remain predictable and verifiable. That level of orchestration, Cunningham said, is what distinguishes super agents from general-purpose AI tools.

The Takeaway

The overall message of CadenceLIVE is that the company is now much more than an EDA software company, and these three keynotes showed attendees what that transition looks like. Huang reminded us that AI is moving from models that simply generate information to agentic systems that can act through tools. Devgan showed how Cadence is supporting that progression by extending its software stack across more of the design process and into other areas like physical AI. Cunningham described how that transition is being put into practice through the company’s layered agentic AI embedded directly into its tools and workflows. In short, EDA software isn’t going away anytime soon. If anything, it is becoming the foundation these new AI systems are being built around.

Editor’s note: This article first appeared in AIwire.

The post Cadence Maps Its Future Beyond EDA With Agentic AI and Simulation appeared first on HPCwire.

ROUBAIX, France, April 20, 2026 – The consortium comprised of DEEP by POST Luxembourg Group, OVHcloud and Clever Cloud has announced that it has been selected by the European Commission as part of a major tender to provide sovereign cloud services to the institutions, bodies and agencies of the European Union.

Credit: Shutterstock

This market, capped at a maximum of 180 million euros over six years, is a key step in the practical implementation of the European digital sovereignty strategy.

A Practical Answer to Sovereignty Challenges and a Standard of Reference Architecture for the European Cloud

In a time of increased dependency on non-European technologies, this decision demonstrates the ability of three European organizations to offer competitive and practical solutions that provide technological performance and strategic control aligned with the Union’s core values. This multi-provider model also ensures technological and commercial resilience and avoids dependency on any one organization.

A European Consortium to Serve Europe’s Strategic Autonomy

The consortium unites expert European players, collaborating to answer the most stringent requirements around sovereignty, security and performance.

Through the selection, OVHcloud is providing a standardized high-capacity cloud infrastructure with its OPCP platform, that is manageable and designed to scale rapidly and deliver massive compute resources with the unmatched ability to deploy and co-ordinate projects via OPCP Core. Clever Cloud offers an advanced orchestration layer including PaaS, containerization and managed services, allowing for management, automation, and unification of complex environments. This approach makes hybrid architectures possible, combining public cloud, private and dedicated infrastructures with a high level of flexibility. Lastly, DEEP not only brings its hosting capacities but also its expertise in the fields of cloud, cybersecurity and artificial intelligence.

A Strong Signal for Europe’s Digital Future

This framework raises the bar for sovereignty across Europe, showing how high-performance infrastructure and technological solutions can be deployed using native European organizations. It encourages the adoption of European standards while paving the way for more balanced competition in the Cloud and AI.

This selection also reflects a strict alignment with the European Commission’s Cloud Sovereignty Framework, which sets a high standard for strategic and legal control, European security and compliance, transparency over dependencies, technological openness and environmental performance.

Octave Klaba, CEO OVHcloud, said: “I’m very pleased with the trust shown by the European Commission towards our consortium. This project proves there are robust alternatives in Europe, able to answer the highest standards. This decision also demonstrates that when European player unite their strengths they make a difference.”

Quentin Adam, CEO Clever Cloud, said: “We are very proud of being selected. It’s the result of an important collective work with OVHcloud and DEEP. We have built a robust solution, able to answer the requirements of the European institutions. What’s interesting here is that technological sovereignty isn’t simply a theoretical concept: it translates into actual infrastructure and platforms with players able to operate together at a production level. This is also proof that European organizations can cooperate effectively and drive progress across the entire ecosystem.”

Sébastien Genesca, Managing Director DEEP by POST Group, commented: “We thank the European Commission for the trust it has shown to our consortium. In collaboration with OVHcloud and Clever Cloud, we have achieved a demanding and fascinating solution with a common goal: building a sovereign cloud offer that brings the best of our technological expertise, while simultaneously sharing common and European values.”

About OVHcloud

OVHcloud is a global cloud player and the leading European cloud provider operating over 500,000 servers within 46 data centers across 4 continents to reach 1,6 million customers in over 140 countries. Spearheading a trusted cloud and pioneering a sustainable cloud with the best performance-price ratio, the Group has been leveraging for over 20 years an integrated model that guarantees total control of its value chain: from the design of its servers to the construction and management of its data centers, including the orchestration of its fiber-optic network. This unique approach enables OVHcloud to independently cover all the uses of its customers so they can seize the benefits of an environmentally conscious model with a frugal use of resources and a carbon footprint reaching the best ratios in the industry. OVHcloud now offers customers the latest-generation solutions combining performance, predictable pricing, and complete data sovereignty to support their unfettered growth.

About DEEP by POST Luxembourg Group

DEEP is an entity of POST Telecom S.A., a subsidiary of POST Luxembourg, bringing together all of the Group’s Telecom & ICT expertise to support the digital transformation of businesses and organisations. With more than 750 employees, DEEP positions itself as a trusted partner for professional digital services in Luxembourg, the Greater Region and internationally.
DEEP offers a comprehensive portfolio of services and solutions across seven technological domains, among which Cloud, Cybersecurity and Artificial Intelligence (AI) play a key role. As both a Luxembourg-based player and a provider of critical services for the national economy, DEEP addresses digital challenges with solutions designed and operated by its own teams.
DEEP relies on the country’s most powerful and resilient telecom infrastructures and data centres, recognised as being among the most robust in Europe. By combining telecom and ICT expertise, DEEP covers the entire value chain, from connectivity needs to data valorization. For more information: www.deep.eu – www.postgroup.lu.

About Clever Cloud

Founded in 2010 in Nantes, France, Clever Cloud specializes in hosting and IT automation. Its cloud platform enables applications to be deployed in just a few clicks, whether on the public cloud or on the client’s own infrastructure, without having to manage scaling or maintenance. At the same time, it ensures a high level of security and data control, in line with sovereignty requirements. Its clients include Airbus, Great Place to Work, MAIF, Docaposte, Fairphone, Solocal, and Limagrain.

Source: OVHcloud

The post OVHcloud, DEEP and Clever Cloud Selected by European Commission for Sovereign Cloud Framework appeared first on HPCwire.

Ternus, Apple's senior vice president of hardware engineering, will replace Cook later this year.

President claims ‘inadequate’ supply presents security threat and orders expansion of oil, coal and gas production

Donald Trump on Monday released a series of memos that doubled down on his support of increased domestic fossil fuel production for purported “defense readiness”.

Trump’s memos, which cited the president’s 20 January 2025 executive order declaring a national energy emergency, said US-based oil, coal, and natural gas production must expand “to avert an industrial resource or critical technology item shortfall that would severely impair national defense capability”.

Cook, who will stay on as executive chair, praises head of hardware engineering, who will take over on 1 September

Apple announced on Monday that it had named a replacement for Tim Cook as CEO after nearly 15 years, with head of hardware engineering John Ternus succeeding him on 1 September. Cook will stay at the company in the role of executive chair.

“It has been the greatest privilege of my life to be the CEO of Apple and to have been trusted to lead such an extraordinary company. I love Apple with all of my being,” Cook said in a press release.

At least four more injured at world heritage site in latest violent incident as country prepares to co-host World Cup

One Canadian tourist has been killed and at least four other people have been shot after an armed man opened fire at one of Mexico’s most famous tourist destinations, the Teotihuacán pyramids near Mexico City.

The shooting – the latest violent incident to affect Mexico as it prepares to co-host the football World Cup in June – took place on Monday lunchtime and was captured in mobile phone videos shot by visitors to the site.

Seven teens were shot near a Winston-Salem middle school, authorities said.

Lori Chavez-DeRemer is taking a role in the private sector, according to the White House.

April 20, 2026 — British AI startups working in fields that could transform everyone’s lives for the better, and that will be critical to the UK’s national security, are set to receive support through the Sovereign AI Unit – a £500 million first-of-its-kind national effort to back Britain’s smartest founders and keep the future of AI built on British shores.

Credit: Shutterstock

AI is the defining technology of this era. For Britain to forge its own destiny in the years ahead, the UK needs to have homegrown AI capacity and capabilities. That means backing the very best AI innovators, founders and entrepreneurs to bring their ideas to life in the UK, and grow them here to maximum success.

The UK already has the ingredients needed for success: top talent, stability, leading institutions, world-class universities, and a culture of entrepreneurialism. Sovereign AI is the government betting on Britain to succeed, so our country can shape the AI revolution. This is ultimately how the UK unlocks this technology’s potential for building a stronger and more prosperous society.

Sovereign AI is designed to be different from any previous government-backed unit, acting like a venture capital fund with the muscle of the state behind it – moving fast, backing ambition and cutting through the red tape that so often holds brilliant ideas back. It will invest directly in the UK’s most promising AI startups, help them scale quickly, and give them the support they need to compete with the best in the world.

The first companies to receive support are working on technologies that could transform daily life – from tackling devastating diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, to building AI systems and computer chips that push the limits of what today’s technology can do. UK government is announcing that Sovereign AI’s first equity investment will be in the AI infrastructure startup Callosum, while 6 further startups will receive access to some of the UK’s foremost supercomputing capacity through the Unit.

The news announced this evening by the Technology Secretary shows how the government is taking an active role in shaping the UK’s technological future – backing bold ideas, creating high value jobs and ensuring the economic rewards of AI stay here in Britain.

Unlike traditional government programs, Sovereign AI is built to work at the pace of the AI industry – just like a top‑tier VC firm.

Its support goes far beyond funding alone. Startups backed by Sovereign AI will gain access to support normally reserved for the biggest players in tech, including:

• World class compute: fully funded access to the UK’s largest AI supercomputers, with up to 1 million GPU hours available per startup – providing the horsepower needed to help train state of the art AI models
• Fast-track global talent: every company receiving investment will get visas decisions within a working day, plus access to an initial 10 cost-free visas for the world’s top R&D talent to come and work for them in the UK
• Hands on government support: help navigating access to data, early procurement opportunities, independent product validation and routes into new approaches to regulation

The goal is simple – help AI companies start in Britain, scale here and win globally – instead of seeing world-class ideas leave the UK as soon as they begin to succeed.

By backing them early, the UK is keeping expertise, decision making and economic value at home – and reducing reliance on a small number of foreign tech giants for critical AI that matter for British economic prosperity and national security.

Technology Secretary Liz Kendall said: “We believe in Britain and we are betting on Britain. We are backing our brilliant innovators and entrepreneurs so we seize the benefits of AI to reshape Britain for the benefit of all. Sovereign AI is unlike anything government has ever done before. Its unique approach will help break down the barriers that have too often held back British enterprise and innovation. This is how we ensure Britain’s economic prosperity and national security in the modern age. My message to British founders and innovators is clear – we will ensure you never have to choose between your ambition and your home, because Britain will give you both.”

Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves said: “We have the right economic plan – backing business so the technologies of the future are invented, built and deployed here in Britain. A thriving domestic AI sector is one of my 3 big choices for the economy, and by supporting strategic national champions we can ensure internationally competitive companies start, scale and stay here in Britain.”

The first startup getting equity investment from the Sovereign AI Unit is Callosum – a company building a new class of AI infrastructure.

A further 6 startups will receive access to the AI Research Resource (AIRR) supercomputer network – with Sovereign AI getting a right of first refusal on future investments for a number of recipients. Putting some of the nation’s foremost supercomputing capacity behind some of the country’s most promising new companies tackles a critical hurdle: the need for vast amounts of specialist hardware like GPUs, to train advanced AI models, test ideas and run complex simulations. The companies are: Prima Mente, Cosine, Cursive, Doubleword, Twig Bio and Odyssey.

Sovereign AI is also currently in discussions with around 30 firms, over potential AIRR access.

And as part of Sovereign AI’s £282 million offer to support cutting edge AI startups with R&D, the Unit is launching its first funding call to create new datasets and other assets that help firms move faster and build in the UK.

The news was announced at an event at British self-driving tech firm Wayve, which has grown out of cutting-edge AI research at the University of Cambridge, into one of Europe’s most valuable tech firms.

Chair of the Sovereign AI Unit, James Wise, said:  “AI as a technology could be transformational for both our wealth and security. Britain has the foundations be a global AI leader in many fields, with a unique and enviable mix of talent, capital, and infrastructure which make this country the natural home for world-leading innovation. Now, through Sovereign AI, we can use the state’s unique capabilities to double down on these strengths, backing Britain’s founders to scale here in the UK and globally.”

Alex Kendall, CEO of Wayve, said: “As a business that has successfully grown and launched in the UK, we’re thrilled to support the launch of the Sovereign AI Unit, which will help support emerging companies, attract talent, and ultimately ensure UK AI champions can compete on the global stage. We’re excited to see the next generation of British AI companies benefit from the funding opportunities available and join us in supporting the UK’s expanding AI ecosystem.”

The Chancellor’s Entrepreneurship Advisor, Alex DePledge, said: “We don’t have a talent problem in the UK—we have a scale problem. The next wave of AI winners will come from countries that don’t just invent, but back their builders end-to-end. Sovereign AI is a shift in that direction: combining capital, compute and customers to give British founders a genuine platform to build globally competitive companies from day one.”

Sovereign AI will work with the Government’s Global Talent Taskforce to attract top researchers, while also ensuring the benefits of AI are felt across the whole country. In May, the unit will begin a tour of UK cities to ensure that people from all communities and walks of life feel the benefits that AI promises to deliver.

Danyal Akarca, Founder of Callosum, said: “There’s a fundamental shift underway in how AI systems are built and run. The future of compute is heterogeneous, and making that complexity usable is the next frontier. The UK already understands where this is heading, and with its depth of talent across universities and labs like DeepMind, it is the natural place to build Callosum: the orchestration platform that allows models and chips to work together as one system.”

Ravi Solanki, Co-Founder of Prima Mente, said: “Our deep research collaborations with Oxford, Imperial and Edinburgh are a testament to the UK’s world-class strength in the life sciences. The combination with world-class compute infrastructure from the Sovereign AI Fund has made the UK the right place to work at the frontier of AI and the life sciences.”

Meryem Arik, Co-founder and CEO of Doubleword, said: “We’re proud to see the UK government step up with real conviction on AI. This is the most consequential technological shift of our generation, and the nations that invest strategically now will define what the next decade looks like. SovAI has shown exactly the kind of urgent, clear-eyed ambition the moment demands – and the UK is better positioned for it.”

Yang Li, Co-founder of Cosine, said: “For 2 years we’ve told defense primes we can do what no one else can: air-gapped, on-premise, trained on the legacy code that runs Britain’s most sensitive systems. The AIRR grant completes that mission – for the first time, the model itself trains on sovereign infrastructure, and Britain stops renting its AI future from abroad in the sectors where capability, security and national control cannot be outsourced.”

Russ Tucker, CEO and Founder of Twig Bio, said: “With Twig’s integrated automation and synthetic biology platform, we’ve built the AI-ready datasets to train CANOPY, and this sovereign compute allocation unlocks the next generation of biological model scaling. It allows us to move beyond incremental strain engineering and build a globally competitive capability in the UK to make biomanufacturing viable for a far broader range of ingredients.”

Talfan Evans, Co-Founder of Cursive, said: “After leaving DeepMind, we started Cursive to build a new infrastructure stack for generative AI, moving it from early experimentation into something embedded across real software systems. That requires fundamentally new R&D, and the ability to test ideas at scale. Access to sovereign compute makes that possible, and means those breakthroughs can be developed and scaled from the UK.”

Source: UK Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, The Rt Hon Liz Kendall MP and The Rt Hon Rachel Reeves MP

The post UK Launches £500M Sovereign AI Unit to Back Domestic Startups and Infrastructure appeared first on HPCwire.

Authorities initially said the accident happened while the officers were returning from the drug raids, but the Chihuahua state prosecutor later said the Americans weren't involved in those operations.

Apple announced that Tim Cook will step down as CEO in September after 15 years in the role, handing the job to hardware chief John Ternus. Longtime Slashdot reader sinij shares the news from MarketWatch: Cook leaves an impressive legacy after growing the company to a $4 trillion market capitalization from just $300 billion 15 years ago. Over Cook's 15-year tenure as CEO, Apple's stock has risen 1,932%, beating the S&P 500's 504% increase, according to Dow Jones Market Data. That places Apple's stock as the 38th best-performing member of the index over that period of time. Cook had big shoes to fill, replacing Apple's iconic founder, Steve Jobs, as CEO. Cook's successor, John Ternus, Apple's senior vice president of hardware engineering, will need to guide Apple's through uncharted waters as the company navigates its artificial-intelligence transition and supply-chain constraints. Cook will remain at Apple as executive chairman. "It has been the greatest privilege of my life to be the CEO of Apple and to have been trusted to lead such an extraordinary company. I love Apple with all of my being, and I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to work with a team of such ingenious, innovative, creative, and deeply caring people who have been unwavering in their dedication to enriching the lives of our customers and creating the best products and services in the world," said Cook. "John Ternus has the mind of an engineer, the soul of an innovator, and the heart to lead with integrity and with honor. He is a visionary whose contributions to Apple over 25 years are already too numerous to count, and he is without question the right person to lead Apple into the future. I could not be more confident in his abilities and his character, and I look forward to working closely with him on this transition and in my new role as executive chairman." As for Ternus' replacement, the role of Chief Hardware Officer will be awarded to Apple executive Johny Srouji. "Srouji, who most recently served as senior vice president of Hardware Technologies, will assume an expanded role leading Hardware Engineering, which John Ternus most recently oversaw, as well as the hardware technologies organization," said Apple in a press release.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

I need to post about this because if I don’t, people will get mad.

Cook will continue on as Apple CEO through the summer, with Ternus set to join Apple’s Board of Directors and take over as CEO on September 1, 2026. Cook is going to transition to chairman of the board at Apple, and he will “assist with certain aspects of the company, including engaging with policymakers around the world.”

↫ Juli Clover at MacRumors

This concludes OSNews’ coverage of Keeping Up With the Yacht Class, but rest assured, every other tech site will be milking this for weeks to come. You will still be worrying about how to pay for your next tank of gas.

Musician charged after the dismembered and decomposing body of Celeste Rivas Hernandez found in abandoned Tesla

The singer D4vd pleaded not guilty to the murder of Celeste Rivas Hernandez, the teenage girl whose dismembered and decomposed body was found in the artist’s apparently abandoned Tesla in September.

The 21-year-old, whose legal name is David Burke, was arraigned on Monday afternoon hours after Los Angeles county district attorney’s office announced the charges against him.

Apple CEO Tim Cook will step down in August and become executive chairman of Apple's board.

Have you ever tried clicking the back button in your browser, only to realise the website you’re on somehow doesn’t allow that? Out of all the millions of annoyances on the web, Google has decided to finally address this one: they’re going to punish the search rankings of websites that use this back button hijacking.

Pages that are engaging in back button hijacking may be subject to manual spam actions or automated demotions, which can impact the site’s performance in Google Search results. To give site owners time to make any needed changes, we’re publishing this policy two months in advance of enforcement on June 15, 2026.

↫ Google Search Central

It’s always uncomfortable when Google unilaterally takes actions such as these, since rarely do Google’s interests align with our own as users. This is in such rare case, though, and I can’t wait to see this insipid practice relegated to the dustbin of history.

Chavez-DeRemer, entangled in string of controversies, leaving for private sector, president’s spokesperson says

Donald Trump’s labor secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer is stepping down, the administration announced on Monday, after a series of misconduct allegations including having an affair with a subordinate and drinking on the job.

“Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer will be leaving the Administration to take a position in the private sector,” Steven Cheung, a Trump spokesperson, wrote on social media. “She has done a phenomenal job in her role by protecting American workers, enacting fair labor practices, and helping Americans gain additional skills to improve their lives.”

Senators are likely to press Warsh, President Trump's nominee to succeed Jerome Powell as Fed chair, on his views about inflation and interest rates.

Finding good rural broadband can be challenging, but these handpicked options offer dependable service.

With rock-solid reliability and fast, symmetrical speeds, fiber internet is the gold standard of broadband. Here are CNET’s top picks for fiber providers nationwide.

Alex Bores, a former Palantir employee and current Democratic House candidate in New York, is proposing an "AI dividend" that would send direct payments to Americans if AI drives major job losses. "At its core, the AI Dividend is simple: if AI dramatically increases productivity and concentrates wealth, the American people have a stake in those gains," a memo on the policy reads. Axios reports: The dividend would fund direct payments to Americans. It would also be invested into workforce training and education, as well as government capacity to "govern AI safely and fund independent oversight," per the plan memo. "You don't take out fire insurance because you expect your house to burn down -- you have insurance in case something goes awry," Bores told Axios in an interview. "Here we have, for the first time, a technology where the makers of the technology are explicitly saying that their goal is to replace all human labor." "The fact that they've put it out there means government needs to take it seriously." [...] The proposal would be funded through: - A token tax, described in the memo as a "modest tax on AI consumption" - Equity participation in frontier AI firms - Changes to the tax code that would reduce incentives to invest in AI "when it leads to less work" "If [AI companies] they can support this plan, that would show that they actually believe in what they're putting out there," Bores said. "If they're not doing it, then I think it shows that they're really putting window dressing out there." Further reading: Palantir Posts Bond Villain Manifesto On X

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

The incredible demand that AI is placing on technology is forcing changes to be made at every level of the stack. When it comes to moving bits between racks, computer makers increasingly are adopting silicon photonics to get beyond the limitations of copper. This includes Nvidia, which is making a myriad of investments in the area. But many of the decisions have had to be made.

At the recent GTC conference, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang briefly discussed the company’s plans to build NVL1152 “Kyber,” a massive new scale-up machine that will include 1,152 GPUs. Expected with the “Feynman” generation GPUs that are currently slated to ship in 2028, the NVL1152 machine will represent a 16x increase in processor count over the company’s biggest scale-up machine, the NVL72.

The NVL72 is one the world’s most powerful computers that fits into a single rack. It’s composed of 18 compute trays at the top and bottom of the rack, with nine switch trays sitting between them. Each compute tray is composed of two Nvidia superchips (VR200 or GB200/GB300) each of which houses one CPU (Vera or Grace) and two Nvidia GPUs (Rubin or Blackwell). Each switch tray houses two NVSwitch ASICs, providing a total of four NVLink ports per tray, driving 1.8 TB per second of connectivity between the superchips.

Nvidia GB200 NVL72 (Image courtesy Nvidia)

The positioning of the compute and switch trays reflects the physical limitations of NVLink as a passive, all-copper network. At current speeds (200Gb per link for NVLink 6.0, 100 Gb per link for NVlink 5.0), the signal in a passive copper network degrades to the point where it’s unusable at a distance of about 2 meters to 2.5 meters, hence the need to keep them physically close.

Nvidia is pushing the limit of how much compute it can cram into a rack. Blackwell NVL72 today consumes somewhere around 132 kW of power under full load, while a Rubin NVL72 rack consume about 220 kW. NVL72 systems today are liquid cooled to keep the silicon from melting with so much heat being generated. With the Feynman generation of GPUs in 2028, Nvidia will be moving to an 800-volt DC rack architecture, which should allow it to boost compute densities even more, but at this point it’s not clear how much more.

These are the limitations that Nvidia is facing with its next generation of scale-up NVLink systems. At current compute densities, the NVL1152 will ostensibly link 16 NVL72 into a single scale-up system within a single memory space, which will enable AI companies to train and run AI models that are an order of magnitude bigger than they are today. Scale-up machines offer 10x faster connectivity compared to scale-out machines, which makes them the preferred path when training or running massive models and even small latencies in chip-to-chip and chip-to-memory can add up.

While Nvidia hasn’t disclosed exactly how it will design the NVL1152 systems, it has said it will use a mixture of copper and silicon photonics. This reflects an old adage in computing: Use copper where you can and use photonics where you must.

“If I can use copper, I’m going to use copper everywhere,” said Gilad Shainer, Nvidia senior vice president of marketing. “I wish it could go everywhere. But the limitation in copper is distance. As networking speeds continue to increase, the distance of copper continues to decrease.”

Beyond about 2.5 meters at 200Gb, the insertion loss (dB) becomes so great with passive copper that you must look at alternatives, Shainer said. One alternative is to use active copper, which adds signal boosters at certain distance intervals to keep the signal usable. Active copper is similar in some respects to silicon photonics, which also requires additional electricity to power the lasers.

But there’s another caveat with active copper: cable size. Beyond about 50 meters with an active copper setup, the size of the copper cables becomes the size of a fire hose, Shainer said.  “Active copper doesn’t really make sense,” he told HPCwire.

There are multiple ways of adopting silicon photonics, too. Currently, most silicon photonics are using pluggable transceivers, which are essentially lasers that sit along the network line and transmit electrical signals into light signals and vice vera. Nvidia has already launched a line of pluggable transceivers for both its Ethernet and InfiniBand scale-out switches with its LinkX product line.

Nvidia is demonstrating this NVL576 Oberon system with Polyphe, a prototype of a GB200 multi-rack NLV576 system.

While pluggable transceiver technology offers some benefits, the AI boom is driving computer makers to adopt co-packaged optics (CPO), which incorporates the laser transceivers directly onto the die. The transceivers in a CPO setup attach directly to the SerDes (serializer/deserializer) of the ASIC at the heart of the NVLink switch, or the SerDes of the GPU or other XPU itself.

Nvidia has already started shipping a CPO version of the Quantum-X InfiniBand switch, and it plans to start shipping the CPO version of the Spectrum-X Ethernet switch by the end of the third quarter, Shainer said. With the Feynman-generation of GPUs in 2028, Nvidia will take the next step and integrate CPO directly into the NVLink switch, which will enable the company to build the massive NVL1152 system, which ostensibly will link 16 NVL72s with silicon photonics in a scale-up manner (although, as discussed earlier, the move to 800V DC MGX architecture could boost the compute densities, thereby reducing the number of racks to get to 1,152 GPUs).

While it’s clear that Nvidia is moving to adopt CPO and silicon photonics, many of the architectural details of exactly how Nvidia is going to use the tech to build NVL1152 are still being hashed out.

“Today on scale out, we’re using co-packaged optics together with the switch, the switch network. For scale up, we’re going to use it for the NVLink network,” Shainer said. “It could be on the switches. It could be other devices. GPUs can connect in different ways. We didn’t disclose how that’s going to be, as we’re working it out. But the NVLink switch network obviously will have or use co-packaged optics because we’re going to connect many racks together.”

NVLink rack-to-rack connections with NVL1152 obviously will be silicon photonics, but Nvidia could opt to keep communications within each rack an all-copper affair. “It’s going to be determined how NVL1152 is going to be designed,” Shainer said. “It’s still too early to discuss.”

As Huang briefly touched on in his GTC keynote, Nvidia is gearing up for a major architectural change with Feynman, which will feature die stacking and a custom HBM. In addition to the GPU, Nvidia will have a new version of the Groq LPU that plugs into NVLink, the LP40. The follow-on to the Vera CPU will be called Rosa. There’s also a BlueField-5 DPU in the works and CX10 SuperNIC. NVLink 8.0 CPO is also on the roadmap.

Nvidia Quantum-X (left) is shipping now, while the Spectrum-X photonics switch (right) is due to ship in 3Q26 (Image courtesy Nvidia)

Nvidia is working with a wide array of partners to develop its silicon photonics products. It’s adopting TSMC’s Compact Universal Photonic Engine (COUP) platform to integrating optical connectivity directly into advanced chip packaging. Last month, it invested $2 billion each into two photonics firms, Lumentum and Coherent. There are a range of other vendors in the silicon photonics business that are receiving funding from Nvidia but haven’t yet publicly announced it.

“For everybody who’s in our ecosystem, we need a lot more capacity,” Huang said in his GTC keynote. “We need a lot more capacity for copper. We need a lot more capacity for optics. We need a lot more capacity for CPO.”

Shainer said Nvidia is working with at least 20 ecosystem partners with silicon photonics, from the optical fibers and fiber arrays to lasers and packaging. Different chips will need different photonic connections.

How you connect silicon photonics to a high radix Ethernet switch won’t necessarily work for a NIC or a GPU, Shainer said.  Some designs may call for the transceivers to be directly on the chip while other applications may be better served by putting the transceiver off the chip, or nearby, which is dubbed near packaged optical (NPO).

TSMC’s COUP will be instrumental in designing the system to work coherently as a whole, he said. “We want to create a new packaging that that can accommodate those optical engines and can be validated in scale and deliver the right performance,” Shainer said. “The silicon is the same silicon, but the package is different, so we can actually accommodate those optical engines.”

Related Items:

Huang Shares Nvidia Roadmap Showing More Chips, NVL1152, Scale-Up CPO

Nvidia Invests $4B In Two Silicon Photonics Companies

Nvidia Touts Next Generation GPU Superchip and New Photonic Switches

The post Inside Nvidia’s Silicon Photonics Roadmap appeared first on HPCwire.

The prime minister appears to be in the sharpest peril of his 21 months in office, after revelations that Peter Mandelson was appointed despite red flags in the security review.

Police said the veteran who fatally shot eight children used a pistol with an “assault-style” functionality. His family said he spent time in a VA hospital.

Jose Serrano, a sergeant, said Deisy Rivera Ortega, his wife, was arrested at an immigration appointment

A US army sergeant with 27 years of military service – including deployment to Afghanistan – has said that federal immigration agents recently arrested his wife during an appointment at an immigration office in El Paso, Texas.

In an interview with CBS News published Monday, Sgt First Class Jose Serrano said that Deisy Rivera Ortega, a Salvadoran and his wife, was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers under the command of the Trump administration despite receiving legal protection in 2019 that bars her from being deported to El Salvador. Rivera Ortega, who wed Serrano in 2022, has been in the US since 2016, he said.

PM admits he made mistake in choice of ambassador as he makes high-stakes statement to parliament over scandal

Keir Starmer has accused Olly Robbins of deliberately and repeatedly obstructing the truth about the Mandelson vetting scandal before a high-jeopardy appearance of the sacked top official before MPs on Tuesday.

Six days after the prime minister said he had learned that his pick for Washington ambassador had failed security vetting, Starmer admitted his decision to appoint him had been a fundamental mistake.

Official tells Reuters it is ‘positively reviewing’ involvement in negotiations after earlier saying it had no plans for a new round of talks

The US has just released some more footage of the encounter with the Iranian flagged vessel, the M/V Touska.

In a post on X, US Central Command said US Marines had departed the amphibious assault ship USS Tripoli by helicopter and rappelled onto the Iranian-flagged vessel.

Iran balked at President Trump's demands for a peace deal amid a standoff over the Strait of Hormuz, as fear the war could reignite hits oil and energy markets.

D4vd, whose real name is David Burke, is charged with first-degree murder with special circumstances, lewd and lascivious acts with an individual under 14 and mutilating a body.

Some U.S. importers reported problems filing tariff refund claims after Customs and Border Patrol launched its dedicated portal on Monday.

World ID, an identity system designed to prove you're human, is expanding to Tinder and concert ticket sales.

President Donald Trump’s 2027 federal budget proposal includes a historic military budget increase alongside significant cuts to other federal programs. 

The Democratic National Committee criticized the defense spending plan as outsized. "Trump wants $1,500,000,000,000.00 for his military budget," the DNC’s official account posted on X April 3. "The largest spending increase since World War II."

Trump requested military funding of $1.5 trillion for fiscal year 2027 — about $500 billion more than the U.S. allocated in fiscal year 2026. If the plan is approved, total national defense funding would increase by about 44%.

Beyond Trump’s preliminary budget request, he could request additional funds to support the Iran war. 

When we contacted the DNC for evidence showing how the proposed increase compares with other military budgets in U.S. history, the organization pointed us to news coverage, White House statements and federal budget analyses from the Center for Strategic and International Studies that took inflation into account.

The White House’s budget proposal rollout itself similarly touted the defense spending increase, saying it was "approaching the historic increases just prior to World War II."

Trump’s budget proposal represents the largest yearly military spending plan in U.S. history, exceeding the previous record of $1.2 trillion during World War II, when adjusted for inflation. And records confirm the DNC’s characterization of the increase being the largest since WWII when inflation is factored in.

There is one other way of measuring, however, that puts two Korean War spending increases higher than Trump’s: by examining the percentage increase in actual dollars from one year to another.

US defense budget nearly quadrupled during WWII from one year to the next

After the U.S. formally entered World War II following Japan’s Dec. 7, 1941, bombing of Pearl Harbor, Congress approved a 1942 budget that included a landmark 299% military spending increase over the year before, according to the Office of Management and Budget Historical Tables. 

Nearly a decade later, in 1950, the U.S. under President Harry Truman entered the Korean War.

From 1950 to 1951, the U.S. increased its military budget by about 72%. The following year, Congress approved another military budget increase of about 96% over 1951. 

Using this straight percentage increase, the Trump plan would represent the largest percentage increase in the military budget since the Korean War, not WWII.

When adjusting for inflation, 2027 budget largest bump since WWII

Comparing the inflation-adjusted dollar amounts, meanwhile, strengthens the DNC’s claim.

Todd Harrison, a senior fellow who tracks defense spending at American Enterprise Institute, recommended using the federal Office of Management and Budget’s inflation data as a means of finding how inflation affects defense-related purchases, such as jet fuel and steel. 

Jessica Riedl, a budget and tax fellow at the Brookings Institution, used this data to adjust past budgets to 2026 dollars. Her analysis showed that the WWII military budget increase was about $310 billion from 1941 to 1942 and $611 billion from 1942 to 1943. 

Meanwhile, Korean War spending increased by about $95 billion from 1950 to 1951 when the figures are adjusted for inflation and about $216 billion from 1951 to 1952. Using this metric, then, the 2027 budget proposal of $500 billion more would be the largest inflation-adjusted increase since WWII. 

Riedl included another method of measurement in her analysis of OMB data. She compared spending as a percentage of the overall gross domestic product at the time. This measurement also corroborated the DNC’s statement. Experts, however, are split on how useful this metric is in analyzing defense spending over time. 

Our ruling

The DNC said Trump’s 2027 proposed military budget would represent "the largest spending increase since WWII."

Using inflation-adjusted dollars, Trump’s proposal to spend $500 billion more on defense in 2027 would be the largest spending increase since WWII, when the nation allocated about $611 billion more.

Based on percentage increase in actual dollars, the 2027 budget would represent the third largest spike in military spending. Trump’s proposal would increase the defense budget by about 44%. The percentage increases were higher during the Korean War and World War II.

The DNC’s statement is accurate, but needs additional clarification. We rate it Mostly True. 

Chief Correspondent Louis Jacobson contributed to this fact-check.

RELATED: Trump proposes record-breaking $1.5 trillion in military spending

Here are hints and the answer for today's Wordle for April 21, No. 1,767.

Here are hints and answers for the NYT Strands puzzle for April 21, No. 779.

Here are hints and the answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle for April 21, No. 575.

Here are some hints and the answers for the NYT Connections puzzle for April 21, No. 1,045.

Deezer says AI-generated songs now make up 44% of all new uploads to its platform, with nearly 75,000 arriving each day and more than two million per month. The company notes that consumption of these tracks is still very low, "between 1-3% of the total streams," and 85% are flagged as fraudulent. TechCrunch reports: The latest figure from Deezer highlights a continuous surge in AI-generated music uploads to the platform. Deezer reported receiving around 60,000 AI tracks per day in January, up from 50,000 in November, 30,000 in September, and just 10,000 in January 2025, when it first launched its AI-music detection tool. Songs tagged as AI-generated on Deezer are automatically removed from algorithmic recommendations and not included in editorial playlists. The company announced today that it will no longer store hi-res versions of AI tracks. "AI-generated music is now far from a marginal phenomenon and as daily deliveries keep increasing, we hope the whole music ecosystem will join us in taking action to help safeguard artists' rights and promote transparency for fans," said Deezer CEO Alexis Lanternier in a press release. "Thanks to our technology and the proactive measures we put in place more than a year ago, we have shown that it's possible to reduce AI-related fraud and payment dilution in streaming to a minimum."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Pakistan is the key broker in talks to end the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran. But it did not always get along with President Donald Trump and does not recognize Israel.

LXQt, the desktop environment which is effectively to KDE what Xfce is to GNOME, has released version 2.4.0. Quite a few changes in this release are further refinements and fixes related to LXQt’s adoption of Wayland, but there are also a ton of small fixes, improvements, and small new features that have nothing to do with Wayland at all. There are also a few layout cleanups to make some dialogs and panels look a bit tidier and nicer.

Note that LXQt supports both X11 and Wayland equally, and the choice of which to use is up to you. If you’re using LXQt, you’ve already seen a few of these changes in point releases of its components, so not everything listed in the release notes might be news to you.

Rapper, jailed over Megan Thee Stallion shooting, alleges he was ‘knowingly’ housed with prisoner with violent history

The rapper Tory Lanez, who is serving a 10-year prison sentence over the shooting of fellow hip-hop artist Megan Thee Stallion, has filed a federal lawsuit against California corrections officials, seeking $100m after being stabbed in prison.

Lanez, whose name is Daystar Peterson, said in court papers that a fellow inmate at California correctional institution in Tehachapi stabbed him approximately 16 times on 12 May 2025 using a “home-made” shank. Peterson said he suffered stab wounds to his face, head, torso and back, resulting in “permanent scarring, along with two collapsed lungs”.

Carlos Dipres remembers the exact moment he realized one man had the power to help thousands of Delaware’s schoolchildren.

He had been pushing hard for change in his daughters’ district, but found himself contending with a school board that didn’t seem to know what was at stake for his family. 

Carlos Dipres remembers the exact moment he realized one man had the power to help thousands of Delaware’s schoolchildren.

He had been pushing hard for change in his daughters’ district, but found himself contending with a school board that was making complex decisions without the context needed to drive results. 

“That day I figured something out – those board members, they’re humans too. They don’t know everything. And without the right information and understanding, it’s hard to make the decisions students need.”

Dipres later ran for a seat on the Colonial School Board … and won. But he realizes that his rise from parent to public official would have been far tougher without First State Educate – the seemingly tireless nonprofit that gives passionate Delawareans the tools to run, to win, and to make their children’s future brighter.

“They support you, they provide guidance, share resources, and give an opportunity for everybody to run,” Dipres said. “It’s like a family – they are there for you. That’s what makes the difference.”

For parents who want to help shape school decisions, the Wilmington-based nonprofit offers clear insight into how school boards function and where governance has the greatest impact, along with training on complex areas like finance, policy, and accountability. For community members who aspire to become leaders themselves, First State Educate provides structured preparation and guidance so candidates enter the role ready to lead. And for each of Delaware’s school board members, First State Educate stands as an ongoing advisory resource to support effective governance and decision-making.

“They want all the community and all the voices to be present when school boards make those decisions,” said Dipres. “That is the beauty of this organization: They help anybody who feels they can run and bring something new to the table. But they also make sure those voices are prepared to do the work well.”

One of those people was Dr. Keenan D. Dorsey, a native Wilmingtonian who has been involved in education throughout his professional life. After being urged to run for the Colonial School Board in 2022 by community members and coworkers, he won a seat – but knew he still had a lot of learning to do.

So he turned to First State Educate. The group’s workshop sessions and online “Knowledge Hub” training gave him a deeper understanding of board roles and responsibilities. Insights from First State Educate’s experts clarified where board members add value – and where they do not – allowing him to focus his efforts more strategically.

“Early on, it’s easy to feel like you need to have all the answers or be involved in everything, but First State Educate’s training helped me step back and focus on where I can be most effective,” Dorsey said. 

As his understanding of board dynamics grew, so did his confidence and clarity.

“They gave me a better grasp of how boards can function effectively as a team,” he said. “The emphasis on using data, setting clear goals, and maintaining accountability has shaped how I approach conversations at the board table.

“First State Educate has helped me keep students at the center of every decision,” Dorsey added.

By bringing engaged community members like Dorsey and Dipres into the school system as well-prepared board members who are prepared to make effective governance decisions, First State Educate is creating a dynamic where leadership is not just accessible, but equipped to deliver results.

“We’re empowering the community and building the capacity of school boards to translate priorities into outcomes through strong governance, clear direction, and accountability, so that Delaware public schools can become some of the best in the nation,” said Julia Keleher, First State Educate’s executive director. “Our role is to ensure that decisions lead to impact.”

That close mentorship goes well beyond evening workshops and online training sessions. When uncertain moments arise, no matter the time of day, board members and candidates know that help is just a phone call away. And that call typically goes straight to Keleher, or to Yvonne Johnson, First State Educate’s lead school board consultant. 

“Yvonne and the team, they are an amazing resource,” Dipres said. “If you get on the phone with a question, they are always there for you. When they say that, they mean it – they are there for you’.”

When more than a phone call is needed, they can always turn to the people who have been through it themselves – First State Educate’s regular learning sessions routinely include veteran board members eager to share their knowledge. 

“Those learning sessions are full of great dialogue, ideas on how to be more active within the schools themselves,” said Tim Banks, a Woodbridge School Board member who turned to First State Educate for help after he won his first election.

“But the biggest thing First State Educate gave me was the encouragement — the encouragement to be a strong voice, but to also sit back and be observant, learn as much as you can,” Banks said.

From 2023 to 2025, First State Educate trained or supported nearly a third of Delaware’s school board members, in 16 of the state’s 19 districts. The organization’s mission is underlined by a strong conviction: That Delaware’s students deserve the best leaders, and that those leaders achieve the best outcomes when they are prepared, confident and committed.

“In a way, we’re working to bring the public back into public education,” Johnson said.

“That is the beauty of this organization,” Dipres said. “They help anybody who feels they can run, who believe they can bring something new to the table. If First State Educate would have been around 20 years ago, we probably wouldn’t have had some of the problems we see on school boards today.”

The post Here’s how one person can make a difference in Delaware’s schools appeared first on Spotlight Delaware.

Iranian officials have threatened to forgo negotiations even as U.S. representatives plan to arrive in Pakistan for the meeting and a ceasefire is set to expire Wednesday.

The previously redacted messages were unveiled as part of an antitrust battle with California attorney general Rob Bonta

Emails released on Monday by California’s attorney general show Amazon allegedly colluding with other companies to raise the prices of pet treats, khaki pants, eyedrops and other products sold online.

According to a newly unsealed court filing released by attorney general Rob Bonta, Amazon employees have repeatedly worked with vendors using its platform to push retail vendors including Walmart and Chewyto set higher prices collectively.

The ones that went up on Amazon immediately went up on Chewy

Democratic Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia announced on Monday that his daughter Madison has died following a lengthy battle with juvenile diabetes and other health issues.

Criminals paid on behalf of Iran are believed to be behind attacks against Jewish targets, say detectives

Detectives are investigating whether the series of arson attacks in London was planned for weeks with suspects carrying out reconnaissance on the Jewish targets to be firebombed.

The series of attacks against synagogues and other Jewish targets, as well as one premises linked to Iranian dissidents, are believed to be carried out by criminals paid on behalf of Iran, police said.

Advocates expressed alarm as new project drills deeper into ocean bed, pointing to company’s failures at Deepwater Horizon spill

• Sign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inbox

Environmental groups have sued the Trump administration over its approval of BP’s huge new ultra-deep oil drilling project in the Gulf of Mexico, 16 years to the day since the company’s Deepwater Horizon disaster caused the worst oil spill in US history.

COPENHAGEN, Denmark and DUBLIN, April 20, 2026 — Kvantify and Equal1 are pleased to announce the formation of a strategic alliance aimed at delivering integrated, high-performance quantum computing solutions.

By combining their respective technologies and expertise, the two companies will address some of the world’s most complex scientific and industrial challenges, advancing quantum applications in high-impact domains, including:

• Drug Discovery
• Advanced Chemistry
• Biotechnical Science

A Collaborative Vision for Quantum Simulation

The partnership leverages Equal1’s scalable quantum hardware and Kvantify’s advanced quantum algorithms, creating a powerful solution that will push the boundaries of what is computationally possible.

Under the terms of the agreement, Equal1 recognizes Kvantify as a preferred partner for quantum simulations, and the collaboration enables molecular modeling and biochemical calculations which are currently beyond the reach of classical systems.

Joint Working Group to Drive Execution

To facilitate this partnership, the companies have established a joint cross-functional working group to evaluate prospective customer projects, align technical roadmaps, and coordinate the delivery of integrated hardware and software solutions.

With their shared vision, both organizations emphasize the importance of the collaboration:

“By building quantum processors on standard silicon, we’re turning quantum from bespoke hardware into deployable infrastructure,” said Jason Lynch, CEO of Equal1. “This alliance with Kvantify is a vital step in that journey. Together, we are bridging the gap between breakthrough hardware innovation and real-world workloads, positioning our joint solutions as the quantum standard for high-performance computing in the life sciences.”

“If we can utilize quantum computers more effectively, we can dramatically reduce both time and costs in the early stages of drug development,” said Allan Grønlund, Co-Founder and CTO of Kvantify. “Our collaboration with Equal1 provides an essential technological foundation for bringing quantum-based computation out of the lab and into industrial application, enabling far more precise calculations of chemical processes than classical systems ever could.”

More from HPCwire

• Kvantify Advances Hybrid Quantum-Classical Software for Drug Discovery
• Bull and Equal1 Partner to Accelerate Hybrid Quantum-HPC Integration in Europe
• Equal1 Raises $60M to Accelerate Quantum Computing Using Existing Semiconductor Manufacturing

About Kvantify

Based in Copenhagen, Kvantify is a leader in quantum software, specializing in simulations for life sciences and chemistry. Their quantum technology, Qrunch, is commercially available.

About Equal1

Equal1 is a global leader in silicon-powered quantum computing technology. Equal1’s first generation quantum machine, the Bell-1 Quantum Server, is now available and shipping to customers.

Source: Kvantify

The post Kvantify and Equal1 Form Alliance to Integrate Quantum Hardware and Software for Life Sciences appeared first on HPCwire.

"After a Supreme Court of the United States ruling in Feb. 2026, many tariffs imposed by the Trump administration were declared illegal because the president overstepped his authority," writes Slashdot reader hcs_$reboot. "As a result, the U.S. government now has to refund a massive amount of money, around $160-170+ billion, paid mainly by importers." According to the New York Times, the administration has now begun accepting refund requests, "surrendering its prized source of revenue -- plus interest." From the report: For some U.S. businesses, the highly anticipated refunds could be substantial, offering critical if belated financial relief. Tariffs are taxes on imports, so the president's trade policies have served as a great burden for companies that rely on foreign goods. Many have had to choose whether to absorb the duties, cut other costs or pass on the expenses to consumers. By Monday morning, those companies can begin to submit documentation to the government to recover what they paid in illegal tariffs. In a sign of the demand, more than 3,000 businesses, including FedEx and Costco, have already sued the Trump administration in a bid to secure their refunds, with some cases filed even before the Supreme Court's ruling. But only the entities that officially paid the tariffs are eligible to recover that money. That means that the fuller universe of people affected by Mr. Trump's policies -- including millions of Americans who paid higher prices for the products they bought -- are not able to apply for direct relief. The extent to which consumers realize any gain hinges on whether businesses share the proceeds, something that few have publicly committed to do. Some have started to band together in class-action lawsuits in the hopes of receiving a payout. Many business owners said they weren't sure how easy the tariff refund process would be, particularly given Mr. Trump's stated opposition to returning the money. The administration has suggested that it may be months before companies see any money. Adding to the uncertainty, the White House has declined to say if it might still try to return to court in a bid to halt some or all of the refunds. The money will mostly go to importers and companies, since they were the ones that directly paid the tariffs. While individual refunds with interest could take around 60 to 90 days to process, the overall effort will probably move much more slowly because of how large and complicated it will be. There are also legal questions around whether companies would have to pass any of that money on to consumers. Slashdot reader AmiMoJo commented: "This is perhaps the biggest transfer of wealth in American history. Most of those companies will just pocket the refund and not pass any of it on to the consumer. If prices go down at all, they won't be back to pre-tariff levels. You paid the tariffs, but you ain't getting the refund."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

April 20, 2026 — Using artificial intelligence, engineers at the University of California San Diego (UCSD) have developed a new way to watch the inner workings of living cells in real time. The process both captures images that are twice as sharp as conventional microscopes and is fast enough to play as smooth video.

Schematic diagram of the unrolled blind-SIM algorithm. Credit: Zachary Burns

The advance, published in Nature Communications, relies on an algorithm that transforms a once slow and computationally intensive process into one that produces reliable, high-quality images instantly and without introducing false details. It could make cutting-edge microscopy more practical for everyday research.

The technique builds on a widely used imaging method called structured illumination microscopy (SIM), which enhances image detail by shining patterned light onto a sample and combining a small number of images. SIM is especially useful for studying live cells because it works quickly and minimizes light exposure, which can damage cells. However, some SIM systems are difficult to use because they require precise calibration of light patterns. Even small errors in these light patterns can reduce image quality. Meanwhile, simpler SIM systems that use random light patterns often suffer from slow image processing that can take seconds or minutes per frame.

To overcome these challenges, a team led by Zhaowei Liu, professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering, developed an upgraded version of the technique, called unrolled blind-SIM (UBSIM). By integrating artificial intelligence into the image reconstruction process, UBSIM produces high-quality images hundreds to thousands of times faster while maintaining simpler hardware. This means that scientists can view detailed images as they are captured rather than wait for processing to finish.

And because the method is built from the physics of how images are formed, it also avoids the risk of introducing misleading details sometimes seen in traditional AI-based approaches.

“One of the most exciting advancements with this algorithm is the removal of artifacts and hallucinations,” said study first author Zachary Burns, an electrical and computer engineering Ph.D. student in Liu’s lab. “Currently, many neural network-based models can imagine fake structures when they are applied to new data. This is a major problem for scientists who use these AI models — they need to trust that the structures in the cell they are observing are real. By integrating optical physics, our model removes these issues and builds confidence that it can be used accurately.”

In tests with live cells, UBSIM produced high-resolution video at up to 50 frames per second. The video revealed rapid changes in structures such as the endoplasmic reticulum in real time.

“With UBSIM, a super-resolution image can be reconstructed and displayed in real-time without any supervision, making super-resolution microscopy as convenient as a traditional light microscope,” Liu said. “This will significantly improve the user experience and the effectiveness of using super-resolution microscopy for discoveries.”

Researchers say future work will focus on further improving resolution.

Full study: “High-speed blind structured illumination microscopy via unsupervised algorithm unrolling.” Co-authors include Zachary Burns*, Junxiang Zhao*, Ayse Z. Sahan and Jin Zhang, all at UC San Diego.

*These authors contributed equally

This work was supported by the National Science Foundation (CBET-2348536 to Z.L.) and the National Institutes of Health (R35 CA197622).

Source: Liezel Labios, UCSD

The post UCSD: AI-Enhanced Microscopy Produces Crisp, Real-time Video Inside Live Cells appeared first on HPCwire.

Home equity loans and HELOCs both offer affordable ways to borrow $100,000 now, but which will actually be cheaper?

Government amendment to children’s wellbeing and schools bill to replace existing guidance with statutory ban

A ban on mobile phones in schools in England is to be introduced by the government to ensure that “critical safeguarding legislation” is passed.

The government will table an amendment to the children’s wellbeing and schools bill in the House of Lords after the bill was held up by peers on opposition benches.

Boy died aged 13 months after ‘routine abuse’ by Jamie Varley and his partner, John McGowan-Fazakerley, jury hears

A baby boy was “routinely ill-treated, sexually abused and physically assaulted” before he was killed by a secondary school teacher adopting him, a jury has heard.

Jamie Varley, the teacher, 37, and his partner, John McGowan-Fazakerley, 32, were in the process of adopting Preston Davey.

At Data Center World in Washington, D.C., Accelsius brings the industry’s first integrated rack for two-phase liquid cooling to market and opens a new program to help hyperscale, neocloud and enterprise operators validate direct-to-chip cooling for their next-generation AI infrastructure.

WASHINGTON, April 20, 2026 — Accelsius, a leader in two-phase, direct-to-chip liquid cooling technology for AI and high-performance computing, today announced the general availability of the NeuCool IR150, the industry’s first fully integrated rack-level cooling solution that combines a two-phase Coolant Distribution Unit (CDU), 42U of IT rack space, and built-in liquid and vapor manifolds in a single 800mm-wide enclosure, offering up to 150kW of capacity.

Reimagined from the ground up for the liquid cooling era, the IR150 is a true plug-and-play system designed to move through established IT infrastructure channels, making two-phase liquid cooling accessible not just to hyperscalers but to enterprises and smaller operators for the first time. Its fully integrated form factor is perfect for edge deployments and the small language model workloads that will proliferate across the market as AI matures. The company also unveiled the NeuCool HyperStart program, a new initiative created to support hyperscale operators, neocloud providers, and key partners in validating two-phase direct-to-chip liquid cooling solutions and accelerating their readiness for high-density, large-scale deployments.

The announcements come at a pivotal moment for the data center industry. Hyperscale and neocloud operators are moving at unprecedented speed to bring gigawatt-class AI facilities online, and with that velocity has come increasing public scrutiny of power and water use in host communities. Billions of dollars in planned data center projects have already been delayed or blocked amid concerns about strain on local resources. Accelsius believes the industry can, and should, continue to move quickly—but responsible planning for more efficient AI factories also requires a hard look at waterless and more energy-efficient liquid cooling architectures from day one.

IR150 depicted with labels detail IT and cooling space.

“Hyperscalers and neoclouds are under enormous pressure to deliver AI capacity faster than ever, and that urgency is understandable,” said Josh Claman, CEO of Accelsius. “Our message at Data Center World is simple: moving fast and planning responsibly are not mutually exclusive. With the general availability of the IR150 and the launch of NeuCool HyperStart, we’re giving operators a practical path to bring two-phase, direct-to-chip cooling into their reference designs today. That way AI factories can avoid the mistake of scaling without considering their host communities’ water and energy supplies.”

Traditional single-phase liquid cooling was the industry’s first attempt to move beyond air, but it was the wrong bet. These systems rely on treated water circulated directly to the chip, introducing leak risk, corrosion concerns, and continuous water-quality maintenance, and their complexity makes them nearly impossible to distribute through standard IT channels, keeping liquid cooling out of reach for all but the largest operators.

In contrast, Accelsius’ two-phase approach uses a non-conductive dielectric refrigerant with an A1 safety rating and low global warming potential. No water enters the IT rack, meaning leak events pose minimal risk to GPUs or server electronics. Industry studies have shown that two-phase cooling systems can reduce cooling energy consumption by up to 90 percent and eliminate millions of gallons of annual water use compared to air-cooled alternatives, while independent analysis by Jacobs Engineering has demonstrated that Accelsius’ two-phase solutions deliver 35–44 percent annual OpEx savings and 8–17 percent five-year total cost of ownership savings over single-phase direct-to-chip systems.

Introducing the NeuCool HyperStart Program

The NeuCool HyperStart program gives hyperscale operators, neocloud providers, and key partners a structured path to validate two-phase direct-to-chip liquid cooling—alongside complementary single-phase water cooling approaches—and bring these technologies into their data center reference designs and product roadmaps. Participants receive early engineering support, deployment planning, and technical validation to accelerate their readiness for high-density, large-scale AI deployments. Several hyperscale AI cloud providers have already engaged with Accelsius under the program as they build out cooling roadmaps for next-generation AI infrastructure.

See the NeuCool IR150 and NeuCool HyperStart at Data Center World 2026

Learn more about the NeuCool IR150 and the NeuCool HyperStart program at Data Center World 2026, April 20–23 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C. To schedule a meeting or demo, contact info@accelsius.com.

The IR150 joins the NeuCool MR250, Accelsius’ row-based CDU delivering up to 250kW+ of cooling capacity per rack, and the NeuCool Thermal Simulation Rack (TSR), a first-of-its-kind thermal test platform. Together, the NeuCool product family offers operators a complete suite of two-phase, direct-to-chip cooling solutions that scale from evaluation through full data center deployment.

Accelsius Speaking Sessions at Data Center World 2026

Accelsius leaders will participate in three sessions during the event:

• Watt’s Hot Presentation Series — Cooling: Dr. Richard Bonner, CTO of Accelsius, delivers a briefing on the latest innovations in cooling systems and their implications for data center ROI, as part of a three-part investor-focused session on power, cooling, and operational efficiency.
• More Massive Still! Delivering AI-Driven Scale in the Face of Historic Constraints: Josh Claman, CEO of Accelsius, joins a workshop panel of operators, researchers, and technology providers to discuss how modularity, reference designs, liquid cooling, and new management strategies are enabling gigawatt-scale AI deployments despite historic constraints in power, materials, and people.
• Tech Talk — Data Centers & Communities: Power, Water and People: Josh Claman joins Austin Domenici (Johnson Controls) and Jason Chantelau (Legrand) for a panel exploring how industry leaders and policymakers can balance performance, sustainability, and community impact as AI-era data centers face growing scrutiny over their water and energy use.

About Accelsius

Founded by Innventure, Inc. (NASDAQ:INV), Accelsius empowers data center and AI neoclouds to achieve their business, financial and sustainability goals through advanced cooling solutions. The proprietary NeuCool platform provides best-in-class thermal efficiencies through a safe, two-phase, direct-to-chip liquid cooling system that scales from single racks to entire data centers. For more information, visit accelsius.com.

Source: Accelsius

The post Accelsius Announces General Availability of NeuCool IR150 and Launches NeuCool HyperStart Program appeared first on HPCwire.

Less than 48 hours after President Trump said Iran has "agreed to everything," he threatened the whole country would get "blown up" without a deal soon.

US vice-president to travel to Islamabad with Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner as deadline for current ceasefire looms

• Pakistan seeks to raise its global standing in push for Middle East peace

• Middle East crisis – live updates

JD Vance is expected to fly to Islamabad at the head of a US diplomatic delegation on Tuesday if Iran agrees to further talks in the Pakistani capital as the deadline for the current ceasefire looms.

The US vice-president will travel with Steve Witkoff, Donald Trump’s special envoy, and Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law – though Iran’s president warned there remained a “deep historical mistrust” of the US.

MEGAN MCGRATH
Staff Reporter

The 29th president of the university, Laura Carlson, was officially inaugurated on Friday, April 17, surrounded by university faculty, staff, alumni and students on the Green.

Classes were canceled, leaving time for staff to transform the university grounds. The Green was lined with tables and chairs for attendees, tents set up for a variety of food, drinks and snacks — not to mention dozens of Secret Service agents walking by. 

The agents came as the former President of the United States and an alumnus of the university, Joseph Biden, gave a speech honoring the new president. 

As attendees settled in their seats, the day started with a lively procession of the university’s color guard, marching band, faculty dressed in their academic regalia and Carlson herself, creating a sea of blue and gold.

As they approached the stage, set on the steps of Memorial Hall, students cheered as Biden waved to the crowd.

“Good to be home,” Biden said, as he began his remarks. 

In addition to welcoming Carlson to her presidency, he announced the construction of a new building on the Green, Biden Hall. Although he did not confirm specific dates or locations for the project, Biden spoke of his love for the campus in his announcement. 

“There’s no place I’d rather have it than here,” Biden said.

Biden did not comment on the plans for his presidential library in Delaware, the official location for which has not yet been announced.

Following his remarks, the audience heard from some of Delaware’s top elected officials, U.S. Sens. Chris Coons and Lisa Blunt Rochester, along with Gov. Matt Meyer. All expressed their excitement to work with Carlson as she continues to grow throughout her presidency.

“She hit it right out of the park from the very beginning,” Blunt Rochester said, in an interview with The Review.

Referencing the analogy by journalist Sydney J. Harris that education is meant to turn mirrors into windows, Blunt Rochester underscored the importance of an institution like the university in her speech.

“The whole point of a place like the University of Delaware is to help students see beyond themselves,” Blunt Rochester said. “Dr. Carlson will not only transform these mirrors into windows, but I believe, with her leadership, windows and doors will be open.”

Not only was her leadership recognized, but several of the day’s speakers acknowledged Carlson’s relationship with the student body.

“To me, in some ways, a highlight of the event was our procession,” Coons said in an interview with The Review. “Where the enthusiasm and energy of students at the university for Dr. Carlson and her spirit and energy was really evident.”

Carlson, who had previously served as the university’s provost since 2022, represents the university’s focus on consistency and stability in its administration. After being presented with the university medallion by the Board of Trustees Chair, Terri Kelly, Carlson gave her inaugural address, where her commitment to the university community was paramount. 

“This inauguration is not about me,” Carlson said. “It is about us. It is about a community moving forward together, offering a hope in a time of tension, an example in a time of discord and charting a path forward in a time of uncertainty.”

This community-centered approach was reflected in a poem delivered by three community members — senior elementary education student Danielle Blachar, staff member Darrell Edmonds and faculty member Wendy Bellion. 

“It was cool to have the perspective of being able to look out onto the crowd and see so much representation from students and community members,” Blachar said. “I felt very honored to get to represent a voice of students.”

Interrupting Carlson’s speech, a university student stood up in protest, questioning how the president would address student concerns about campus equity.

“How are you gonna protect us?” he asked, referring to student minority groups on campus.

Carlson offered the opportunity to discuss the issue with her at another time. He continued to ask whether minority groups mattered.

“You do matter,” Carlson said in response from the dais. She again encouraged the student to approach her later, before continuing her address.

“Community here is not accidental,” Carlson said. “It is intentional. We build, measure and strengthen cultures of connection, so that every Blue Hen hears their voice reflected in OurUD.”

Gabrielle Carrington, 29, faces charges after incident on Argyll Street in the early hours of Sunday morning

A woman has been charged with attempted murder after a car hit pedestrians in central London in the early hours of Sunday.

A woman in her 30s remains in a life-threatening condition and a man in his 50s suffered life-changing injuries after they were hit by a car in Argyll Street, Westminster, at approximately 4.30am on Sunday, the Metropolitan police said. A second woman in her 30s suffered minor injuries, the force added.

Despite his explanation and the need for political stability, the PM is still unpopular – and Olly Robbins has yet to give his side of the story

Labour MPs frustrated with the lack of a clear mission from Keir Starmer’s No 10 have often urged the prime minister to be more forceful in his arguments, to prosecute his values, to find an enemy to define himself against.

The prime minister has found one: Olly Robbins. Starmer prosecuted his case against the former Foreign Office chief on Monday with the vigour of his former life at the bar.

DeanonymizedCoward writes: Engadget reports that Palantir has posted to X a summary of CEO Alex Karp and Nicholas W. Zamiska's 2025 book, The Technological Republic, which reads like a utopian idealist doodled on a Bond villain's whiteboard. While the post makes some decent points, it also highlights the Big-AI attitude that the AI surveillance state is in fact a good thing, and strongly implies that the Good Guys need to do war crimes before the Bad Guys get around to it. "The ability of free and democratic societies to prevail requires something more than moral appeal," one of the 22 points states. "It requires hard power, and hard power in this century will be built on software." The book is billed as "a passionate call for the West to wake up to our new reality," and other excerpts in the social media post include assertions such as: "Free email is not enough. The decadence of a culture or civilization, and indeed its ruling class, will be forgiven only if that culture is capable of delivering economic growth and security for the public"; "National service should be a universal duty"; "The postwar neutering of Germany and Japan must be undone"; and "Some cultures have produced vital advances; others remain dysfunctional and regressive." The statement criticizes the West's resistance to "defining national cultures in the name of inclusivity," as well as the treatment of billionaires and the "ruthless exposure of the private lives of public figures."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Benjamin Netanyahu has brushed aside European concerns over Gaza, the West Bank and Lebanon. A tougher approach from Brussels is overdue

In recent months, European expressions of concern over the actions of Benjamin Netanyahu’s government have regularly hardened into outright condemnation. Last September, the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, expressed horror and outrage at aid restrictions that she said created a “man-made famine” in Gaza. Brussels has inveighed against settler violence and land grabs in the West Bank, which undermine the possibility of a viable Palestinian state. Responding to the bombing of Lebanon following the US-Israeli ceasefire with Iran, the EU’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, said: “Israel’s right to self-defence does not justify this destruction.”

The angry words and exhortations have achieved nothing. Mr Netanyahu and his ministers have generally treated European critics with barely concealed contempt, presumably reassured by the fact that their chief allies in the White House tend to behave in exactly the same fashion. The EU is Israel’s biggest trading partner, and the academic benefits it confers through Israeli participation in the Horizon research programme are considerable. But internal disunity, and an overoptimistic faith in the power of persuasion, have led to a reluctance by the bloc to use those relationships as leverage.

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.

The Colorado schools say they’re being excluded from funding because of their denial of enrollment to children of LGBTQ parents, which the state deems discriminatory.

After President Donald Trump announced the U.S. had attacked an Iranian ship trying to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, social media users shared a video they said showed the strike’s aftermath.

Trump said April 19 that the U.S. Navy intercepted the Iranian-flagged cargo ship Touska after it failed to heed the strait’s U.S. blockade. A U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyer struck Touska’s engine room and U.S. Marines seized the ship, Trump said.

Hours after Trump posted about the attack on Truth Social, one X post shared footage that showed flames shooting and smoke billowing from the center of a ship. "Attack on Iranian merchant ship in Arabian Sea violates ceasefire," the post’s caption said. 

(Screenshot from X)

A clip of that video also appeared with an April 19 Facebook post about the Touska incident that shared Trump’s Truth Social post about the attack.

But using reverse-image search, we found the footage doesn’t show the U.S. strike on Touska. It’s an old video unrelated to the current Iran war.

It was filmed in June 2025 and showed the aftermath of a collision of two oil tankers, Adalynn and Front Eagle, near the Strait of Hormuz. During that time, Iran and Israel were engaged in conflict, affecting navigation systems.

That video has been misrepresented to make other claims. In March, it was used to claim it showed a U.S. oil tanker struck by Iran. A few weeks later, fact-checkers in Africa noticed other posts falsely saying it showed a Liberian-flagged vessel in an Iranian attack. 

The U.S. Central Command has uploaded footage of the guided-missile destroyer USS Spruance intercepting the Touska.

This video doesn’t show the United States’ strike on an Iranian cargo ship. We rate that claim False.

FTSE 100 slides and UK gas prices up amid fears strait of Hormuz will be closed for extended period

• Middle East crisis – live updates

Oil prices rose sharply and European stock markets fell on Monday after the US seizure of an Iranian vessel dented hopes for a peace deal.

Brent crude, the international benchmark for oil prices, rose by 5% to about $95 a barrel.

Billionaire owner elects not to attend voluntary interview as part of investigation by French cybercrime unit

Elon Musk did not appear on Monday for a voluntary interview with lawyers in Paris, who had summoned the American tech billionaire over an investigation into his social media platform X and AI chatbot Grok.

The prosecutors told AFP that they had “taken note of the absence of the first people summoned”, without mentioning Musk’s name. The billionaire called the French authorities involved “retards” weeks earlier in a French-language post on X.

A slow hiring process could be costing you top talent. Here's how to move faster without sacrificing quality.

Bets placed on Middle East conflict has led to US firm experiencing big increase in volume

Polymarket, the online prediction platform that hosts bets on events such as the Iran war, is in talks to raise $400m (£296m) at a valuation of up to $15bn.

The company has gained notoriety in recent months over wagers placed on the Middle East conflict, including on the timing of US-Israel strikes against Iran, and on a US-Iran ceasefire, some of which appeared to bear signs of insider trading.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Bloomberg, written by writer Austin Carr: Allbirds is pivoting to artificial intelligence. The San Francisco brand, whose wool running shoes were once the sneaker du jour among the tech crowd, announced last week that it was expanding into AI computing infrastructure. The bizarre strategic shift was immediately greeted with a surprising frenzy on Wall Street, where shares of Allbirds soared 582% last Wednesday before dropping the next day. [...] Of course, the absurdity of Allbirds' situation echoed familiar Silicon Valley tropes -- from the endless startup pivots of the 2010s to the more recent boom-and-bust cycles of arbitrarily valued crypto coins. But it immediately reminded me of the marketing ploys of the dot-com crash. After all, some of the more iconic fails ended up being retailers such as Pets.com, Webvan, etc., riding the web wave with little to show for it beyond terrible margins. One particular comparison from that period stands out as relevant to Allbirds: Zap.com. The holding company behind it, Zapata Corp., had a long and convoluted history, but was essentially selling fish-oil products by the time it decided to reinvent itself as an internet portal. It amassed a variety of web properties -- in media, e-commerce, gaming and so on -- and even once tried to acquire the search engine Excite. Spoiler alert: Zap flopped. Jen Heck, then a young employee at one of Zap's up-and-coming portfolio entities, remembers how quickly the hype of that web 1.0 turned to hell. As absurd as Zapata's pivot sounds today, it seemed feasible during the excitement of the internet revolution. "We went from like, 'Wow, this life thing is just so easy,' to it all ending so suddenly," Heck recalls. The ones who survived that tech bubble, she says, actually had differentiated products and the right creative thinkers building them -- and weren't just cynically jumping on the latest hot trend. "'Internet' was the magic word then, and 'AI' is the magic word now," Heck says.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

For the first time in history, the Lebanese ambassador to the United States, Nada Moawad, and Israel’s ambassador to the United States, Yechiel Leiter, sat in the same room at the State Department in Washington, D.C., facing one another as two states ostensibly on equal ground, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other officials presiding over the talks. Lebanese and Israeli officials had been in the same room before, having held indirect negotiations in 2022 and direct talks last in 1993, but this was the first time that Israel and Lebanon’s flags were hung next to one another — a high-level public meeting of a kind never before attempted.

A 10-day ceasefire inside Lebanon was finally implemented on Friday, one previously agreed to during the Iran ceasefire talks in Pakistan and then almost instantaneously undermined by Israel. The United States, and the Israeli state to a certain extent, have portrayed this ceasefire as the result of this breakthrough, a direct negotiation with an enemy nation that, as Netanyahu said on Thursday, could lead to the “opportunity to forge a historic peace agreement” with Lebanon. 

Many Lebanese have been able to return to their home villages under the ceasefire, but this was also the case in 2024, which then was followed by the implementation of an Israeli military buffer zone that left much of the south even more in ruins than from the war itself. The danger of these negotiations lies not in the immediate short term, as the residents of Beirut’s southern suburbs and the south experience a reprieve from intensive bombardment, but in the long term, beyond the 10 days.

Related

Putting Fuel on a Ceasefire: Israel Tries to Kill U.S.–Iran Talks

Israel has now reaped the fruits of unilaterally declaring Lebanon outside of the Iranian ceasefire, against its previous agreements, and has now made permanently ending the war, as Iran has desired, a much more difficult prospect. Such a long-term cessation is now reliant on the ability of the Lebanese government to do what America and Israel demands, dismantling Hezbollah by any means necessary even if it means speeding headfirst into a civil war.

While Lebanese President Joseph Aoun hailed the ceasefire as evidence Lebanon is “no longer a card in anyone’s pocket,” Hezbollah members of Parliament, as well as Iranian officials, have told a different story. Even if Hezbollah “will cautiously adhere to the ceasefire,” the deal did not come about from these talks but instead from Iranian pressure to reach a ceasefire as a precondition to another round of negotiations between Tehran and Washington, now set for Monday, albeit looking increasingly fraught. Iranian parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf announced after the ceasefire that it was the result of the “resistance and steadfast struggle of the great Hezbollah and the unity of the Axis of Resistance.” Hezbollah MP Ibrahim Moussawi was more blunt, telling Drop Site News that this was the “same ceasefire agreement” reached in Islamabad days ago, only now stamped with Israel’s belated co-sign.

While Hezbollah had significant leverage to force a ceasefire on its behalf — with Iran’s threats to return to war with missiles already reportedly on the launchpad if Lebanon was not included in the deal — it is unclear what leverage the Lebanese government had to negotiate a ceasefire on its own. Throughout the previous ceasefire and into this war, Israel argued Lebanon’s government was incapable of disarming Hezbollah, with Israeli government-aligned newspapers deriding the state’s inability to even expel the Iranian ambassador after Lebanon’s foreign minister ordered him out in March. Israel’s Foreign Ministry routinely criticized the Lebanese government for being “all talk and no action” on disarming Hezbollah, and Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz threatened that the Lebanese state itself would pay a “very heavy price” by way of Israel destroying “Lebanese national infrastructure” and the “loss of territory” to Israeli occupation.

After Israel’s military launched “Operation Eternal Darkness” on April 8, killing more than 300 Lebanese civilians and bringing war to places in Beirut that had not been attacked since the 1980s, Lebanon’s Prime Minister Nawaf Salam came out and insisted that “no one but the Lebanese state can negotiate on behalf of Lebanon.” Aoun further said Lebanon could not accept negotiations on its behalf by anyone else, and that this was a “sovereign matter” above all else, even amid ongoing Iranian military pressure to bring Lebanon into the ceasefire. Israel, whose diplomats refused to speak with the Lebanese government in early March on the basis that Lebanon was not “credible,” and whose U.N. ambassador said “dialogue with the Lebanese government cannot stop the fire from Lebanese territory,” suddenly decided to focus all its efforts on arranging unprecedented negotiations.

Lebanon’s ambassador claimed after talks concluded that she had raised the ceasefire with the other representatives (Axios confirmed the prospect was brought up “informally”), but neither the Israeli nor the American officials stated the talks were to achieve a ceasefire. The prospect was in fact “peace,” a long-term settlement between the two nations, or as Leiter, Israel’s ambassador, put it, to affirm “we are on the same side, we and the Lebanese” and that Lebanon would “no longer be occupied by Hezbollah.”

Leiter has made the issue of peace with Lebanon one of his top priorities since being appointed in early 2025, saying in an interview with PragerU last May that he was “upbeat” about Lebanon, as well as Syria, potentially joining the Abraham Accords, perhaps even before Saudi Arabia. He also told reporters this week that he had spoken with Lebanese officials about a future in which one could cross the border in a “swimsuit to vacation on the beaches of both countries.” Beyond these liberal platitudes, Leiter himself has had a significant past — one deeply intertwined with Israeli expansionist politics that he now strenuously denies applies to Lebanon.

The first West Bank settler to be selected as ambassador to the United States, Leiter was an early member of the Jewish Defense League, an organization the FBI later described as a right-wing terrorist group and led by Rabbi Meir Kahane, whose members committed mass shootings of Palestinians, plotted to bomb American mosques, and attempted assassinations of U.S. politicians. Leiter was then a member of Kach, Kahane’s political party, which was later banned as a terrorist organization inside Israel itself. During this period, Kahane advocated for a wide-scale deportation of Arabs from Israeli-occupied areas as well as from Israel itself, and labeled southern Lebanon as part of Israel’s “minimal” borders. Leiter left the party in the 1980s, claiming Kahanism came from “a weakness of character,” but made these criticisms in his capacity as a leader of the Hebron settlement movement in the occupied West Bank, attempting to paint those who advocated peace with the Palestinians as just as misguided. 

As ambassador to the United States, Leiter told the Lebanese news outlet This is Beirut in late 2025 that Israel and Lebanon “have a history,” recalled the disastrous economic conditions in Israeli-occupation southern Lebanon with a smile, and said southern Lebanese used to line up in early in the morning at the border every day to seek economic opportunities in northern Israel. “We’d be more than happy to see that again,” Leiter said.

While the Israeli government has constantly demanded the Lebanese Army do more to disarm Hezbollah and impose Lebanese sovereignty over the country’s south, Leiter has made no indications that Israel would accept any military build-up, even by Lebanon, at the border with Israel, saying in a visit to occupied Syrian territory last November alongside Netanyahu and Katz that Israel could no longer tolerate “foreign armies” on its border. Leiter has also warned certain other Lebanese allies, such as France, should stay “far away” from these negotiations, and said, “they are not a positive influence, particularly not in Lebanon.” France had previously advocated for direct talks between the Lebanese government and Israel but had also condemned Operation Eternal Darkness and called for the Iranian ceasefire to apply to Lebanon as well.

Related

Israel Will Keep Occupying Lebanon Despite Ceasefire

While the Israeli negotiating team has been explicit that the talks were intended to get the Lebanese government to ally with their country against Hezbollah, there was another goal at work, one not reflected by the photo ops: to legitimize the indefinite occupation and depopulation of southern Lebanon. 

In an interview on Israeli TV about Israel engaging in negotiations with Lebanon, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich asserted that “no one will disarm Hezbollah for us” and said a peace agreement between the two countries would serve to “greatly legitimize” Israel’s position. He also said he would push for the Israel Defense Forces to remain up until the Litani River, which Smotrich last month described as the location where Israel’s “new border” must be. 

Israel’s Channel 14, which is considered close to the right-wing Israeli government, has also reported that Israeli diplomats had been promoting a “Yellow Line” plan of their own for Lebanon modeled on Gaza’s as part of a long-term settlement. Under such a plan, Israel would dismantle “Hezbollah infrastructure” up to the Litani, only giving the Lebanese Army control after they had completed destroying it in one particular area, and with no timetable to hand back control to the Lebanese Army the area behind the Yellow Line, 7–8 kilometers from the area. Israel’s Defense Ministry has justified the complete razing of villages in southern Lebanon by saying that the homes themselves count as Hezbollah infrastructure.

Netanyahu has since affirmed the existence of a “Yellow Line” in Lebanon post-ceasefire, and in the ceasefire text, there is also no mention of any withdrawal for Israeli troops — only that the ceasefire’s extension relies on “Lebanon effectively demonstrat[ing] its ability to assert its sovereignty.” Israel, for its part, “shall preserve its right to take all necessary measures in self-defense, at any time, against planned, imminent, or ongoing attacks” and that such actions would not violate the agreement.

The groundwork is being rapidly laid for further and further demands on the Lebanese state — more disagreements, more violations — and potentially binding the future of the Lebanese state with an Israeli one that seeks to impose the depopulation of wide swathes of its territory, and considers its Shia population as its enemy. In response to criticism that he was being deceived by the Lebanese government, Smotrich replied that amid peace negotiations, Israel was still acting to annihilate towns and cities where tens of thousands lived: “We are erasing Khiam, and we are erasing Bint Jbeil.” Amid all of this outpouring of peace, those supposedly advocating for it are in the same government as those advocating Lebanon’s destruction.

The post How the Lebanon Ceasefire Could Make It Harder to End the War on Iran appeared first on The Intercept.

The short-throw TK705STi is a great-looking option for rooms too small to fit a traditional projector.

• Sharon Lokedi wins women’s race again

• Marcel Hug win’s men’s wheelchair for ninth time

• GB’s Rainbow-Cooper wins women’s wheelchair race

There was Kenyan joy at the Boston Marathon for a second year in a row as Sharon Lokedi and John Korir retained their titles.

Korir broke the Boston Marathon course record in the men’s race, riding a tailwind to outrun the strongest field in event history in a time of 2hr 1min 52sec – the fifth-fastest marathon of all time.

April 20, 2026 — Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) has been selected to lead a project that will receive $4.1 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Energy Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) as part of the Quantum Computing for Computational Chemistry (QC3) program.

With recently awarded funding, LLNL will develop quantum and machine learning-accelerated software tools and apply them to discovering ultra-strong, lightweight magnets that are crucial for electronic motors, generators and high-performance information technology. Image credit: Janelle Cataldo / LLNL.

QC3 seeks to develop and apply quantum algorithms to accelerate simulations of chemistry and materials science to advance commercial energy applications ranging from superconducting power lines, advanced batteries, engineered rare-earth magnets and breakthrough catalytic systems.

LLNL will develop quantum and machine learning-accelerated software tools and apply them to discovering ultra-strong, lightweight magnets that are crucial for electronic motors, generators and high-performance information technology. The core innovation is a hybrid classical-quantum algorithm that can accurately predict material performance.

The result could have a huge impact on how America uses energy.

“Anytime you want to convert energy between electrical forms and mechanical forms, like in wind turbines, electric vehicles or hydro power, you need to have a magnet that mediates that process,” said LLNL scientist and project lead Ilon Joseph. “If we can do much better calculations of magnetic materials science, we can find new kinds of magnetic materials that can power our energy technology.”

New magnet materials could circumvent China’s critical material supply chain and offer improvements in terms of weight, strength, robustness and resistance to corrosion.

Even slight enhancements could also decrease the resources needed to power artificial intelligence (AI) and information technology (IT). Much of the energy consumption in AI and IT comes from writing and erasing information stored in memory. For MRAM-based chips, which store data using magnetic states, reading and writing requires flipping the magnetization of tiny thin-film magnets. Because AI and IT are predicted to dominate U.S. electricity consumption by the end of the decade, magnetic memory that takes less energy to flip — even by 20% — would lower energy costs significantly.

To discover these new magnetic materials, the team at LLNL is combining various fields of expertise. Researchers at the Laboratory created some of the most advanced codes in the world for simulating electronic structure and realistic materials at the atomic scale. Those tools currently run on El Capitan, the most powerful supercomputer in the world.

“We will connect our state-of-the-art electronic structure simulation code running on high-performance computing systems, such as El Capitan, and offload hard quantum aspects of the problem to quantum frameworks,” said LLNL scientist Alfredo Correa Tedesco. “Of course, making those quantum resources work is the most challenging part — but it is also where we have the most to gain in terms of capabilities.”

Adapting these materials simulations to run on a quantum computer will offer even better performance. The magnetic spins present in a material represent a many-body quantum system, and, while modeling them with a classical computer is challenging, modeling them with a quantum computer is efficient — a natural fit.

However, almost none of the algorithms that we use on today’s classical computing hardware will be good for quantum computers. LLNL’s main task lies in the translation from the classical to the quantum algorithm. For example, Joseph has a track record of developing efficient quantum algorithms for solving the partial differential equations needed to simulate fluids and plasmas. He will focus on developing and implementing efficient quantum algorithms for the direct simulation of quantum magnets.

For useful quantum calculations, the scientists will need to focus on quantum error correction, which is essential to obtain a realistic calculation that beats a classical computer. With many physical qubits — on the order of 10,000 — they plan to group them together and create enough redundancy to generate 100 so-called “logical qubits”. While some of the physical qubits might be wrong, the error correction protocol ensures that the physical calculation comes together to form a correct solution in terms of logical qubits.

That requires significant quantum hardware that, as of today, is not yet available. The LLNL researchers expect to begin working with a prototype from their hardware partner, one of the leaders in the field of neutral atom computing, in about a year. Then they’ll have the remaining two years of the project to make their algorithm work, tying the results of the quantum computation to a machine-learning algorithm that will flag magnetic materials with the potential to transform the energy landscape.

“This is a project that’s almost on the edge of the impossible. We’re on the cusp,” said Joseph. “But even if we fail, if we can prove we are on the path to making a quantum computer that can do these calculations within the next 2-3 years, that will be a major victory.”

Source: LLNL

The post LLNL to Harness Quantum Computing for Next-Gen Magnets appeared first on HPCwire.

Romantic poet’s letters to Fanny Brawne, dated between 1819 and 1820, had been stolen from a Long Island estate

Eight original handwritten letters from the Romantic poet John Keats to his muse and “one passion”, Fanny Brawne, were returned to the family of John Hay “Jock” Whitney, the former US ambassador to the UK, on Monday after being stolen from Whitney’s home in the 1980s.

Keats’s letters, including the first letter he ever wrote to Brawne, are dated between 1819 and 1820. Valued at approximately $2m, the 37 letters are held in a gilt morocco-bound portfolio. Brawne was Keats’s neighbor in Hampstead, with whom he became infatuated and elevated to muse and goddess.

Gemini can call around to find that one travel essential you forgot about.

If you're feeling a little snackier than usual today, we're here to help.

The legal fight is the latest to land before the Supreme Court in recent years that involve religious entities' participation in state-funded programs.

The Supreme Court turned away a legal battle testing whether a public school violates parents' rights when it encourages their child's social gender transition without their knowledge or consent.

The subpoenas went out shortly after the Justice Department appointed conservative Trump ally Joe DiGenova to formally take over the criminal investigation into John Brennan.

FBI Director Kash Patel filed a defamation lawsuit against The Atlantic, saying a recent story about his alleged frequent drinking and absences included "false and obviously fabricated" claims.

Sgt Celestino Chavez Jr, accounted for in 2025, given full burial honors and posthumous medals in New Mexico

The remains of a US soldier who went missing in action during the Korean war were identified by DNA analysis, and he was recently laid to rest in his hometown of Gallup, New Mexico, authorities said.

US army Sgt Celestino Chavez Jr’s burial ended a decades-long saga that began with him being wounded while defending his post near the Changjin (Chosin) Reservoir in North Korea and then being taken to an aid station on 30 November 1950. Chavez, 19, was then reported missing in action three days later, when enemy fighters attacked his convoy.

Schools say Colorado violated their rights by excluding them from state-funded program over admission policies

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The supreme court will hear from Catholic preschools that say Colorado violated their religious rights by excluding them from a state-funded program over their admission policies.

The court agreed on Monday to take up the appeal from St Mary Catholic Parish, which is supported by the Republican Trump administration.

Our Revolution, the progressive group founded by Bernie Sanders as an outgrowth of his 2016 presidential campaign, is endorsing its first billionaire as the race for California governor tightens. 

Tom Steyer, a hedge-fund billionaire and philanthropist, won the group’s endorsement on Monday. Our Revolution said its decision to back Steyer was driven in part by the shakeup over Rep. Eric Swalwell’s exit and fear that if progressives fail to consolidate around a candidate, they’ll hand the gubernatorial seat to a Republican.

“While yes, he is a billionaire, and that’s a real and important concern, it’s equally important to recognize how he’s used his wealth and power,” said Our Revolution Executive Director Joseph Geevarghese.

Steyer, he said, is the candidate most ideologically aligned with his group’s pledge to fight corporate power in politics — and the most likely to win.

“The worst thing that could happen is a Republican winning,” Geevarghese said. “Strategically, Steyer and his campaign is best positioned to make sure that does not happen.”

When California voters cast their ballots in the June 2 primary, the two leading candidates will advance to the general election — no matter their party affiliation. Since January, polling has shown two Republicans candidates — former Fox News host Steve Hilton and Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco — in the lead. President Donald Trump endorsed Hilton earlier this month. 

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Left-leaning voters remain split across a wide Democratic field, with Swalwell and Steyer as frontrunners until last week. Swalwell pulled ahead in some polls in March, before dropping out of the race and resigning from Congress last week amid a series of allegations of sexual assault and harassment. 

Since Swalwell’s exit, Steyer has risen in polls, along with former Rep. Katie Porter, D-Calif. But with Republicans still leading, progressives are now grappling with how best to achieve their policy priorities in a pool of candidates from which a clear favorite has yet to emerge. 

Geevarghese said that Steyer aggressively sought Our Revolution’s endorsement throughout the race. Porter also sought the endorsement, but hasn’t pulled ahead or demonstrated a clear path to victory, Geevarghese said. 

Porter, a progressive who flipped a Republican seat in Orange County campaigning on fighting corporate power, faced backlash last year after videos surfaced of her yelling at a staffer during a television interview. While she has the longest progressive record in office of the Democratic candidates in the field, left voters haven’t necessarily been convinced by her campaign. Porter has been endorsed by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., former New York Rep. Mondaire Jones, Emily’s List, End Citizens United, and several California unions, but has hovered behind behind Hilton, Bianco, Swalwell, and Steyer in recent polling. 

“We do have a concern about whether she would be the stronger candidate in the field to consolidate for progressives,” Geevarghese said. He added that even before the implosion of Swalwell’s campaign, Our Revolution would not have supported Swalwell.

After previously having coalesced around Swalwell, some allies of Gov. Gavin Newsom are now considering backing another more moderate Democrat, former Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra. Becerra has also risen in polling since Swalwell’s exit. 

Related

Why Is Billionaire Tom Steyer Running for President?

Steyer has spent $120 million of his own money on ads for himself, more than any other campaign in the country this cycle, Politico reported. While he’s been mostly known in politics for his advocacy on climate change and a failed 2020 presidential bid that cost him more than $300 million, Steyer has leaned heavily into economic populism during his gubernatorial bid. He says he will support a wealth tax and has called for billionaires and corporations to pay more in taxes. He has also focused much of his criticism on Trump. 

One policy shift since his failed presidential campaign is Steyer’s position on single-payer health care. 

“In 2019, I didn’t think we needed single-payer health care,” Steyer said in a campaign video earlier this month. “Boy was I wrong, and boy was Bernie right. I’ve looked at the data. We don’t have a choice. For us to provide health care to everybody who needs it, we’ve got to go to single-payer. And there’s no other way.”

Geevarghese said Our Revolution, which counts the most members in California after New York, sees the race as an opportunity to elect someone who will both push back on Trump while advancing an aggressive progressive policy agenda at the state level. The group is also backing a Sanders 2020 campaign alum to run California’s insurance system, and working to pass a proposed state tax on billionaires via ballot measure. Steyer is the candidate most aligned with those priorities, Geevarghese said. 

“He’s been a partner in the movement,” Geevarghese said. “Most billionaires have used their wealth and privilege to lock in the status quo. And Tom has done the opposite, right? He is actively using his position to upset the system.” 

Steyer has given millions of dollars to philanthropic ventures over the years, including funding research on sustainable energy and launching a PAC to help elect candidates running on fighting climate change. Steyer has also faced criticism for benefiting from policies meant to help billionaires pay lower taxes and having an investment firm with money in the Cayman Islands, a known tax haven. 

Our Revolution is Steyer’s first major endorsement from a national progressive group. He’s also been endorsed by the California Teachers Association, another progressive advocacy organization called Courage California, and four Democratic state assembly members. 

“We stand a risk of giving California to the Republicans. And that would be the worst outcome possible,” Geevarghese said. “Democrats could do themselves in here and be their worst enemy.” 

The post Progressive Group Founded by Bernie Sanders Endorses Billionaire for California Governor appeared first on The Intercept.

Axios reports that the NSA is using Anthropic's restricted Mythos Preview model despite the Pentagon insisting the company poses a "supply chain risk." Axios reports: The government's cybersecurity needs appear to be outweighing the Pentagon's feud with Anthropic. The department moved in February to cut off Anthropic and force its vendors to follow suit. That case is ongoing. The military is now broadening its use of Anthropic's tools while simultaneously arguing in court that using those tools threatens U.S. national security. Two sources said the NSA was using Mythos, while one said the model was also being used more widely within the department. It's unclear how the NSA is currently using Mythos, but other organizations with access to the model are using it predominantly to scan their own environments for exploitable security vulnerabilities. Anthropic restricted access to Mythos to around 40 organizations, contending that its offensive cyber capabilities were too dangerous to allow for a wider release. Anthropic only announced 12 of those organizations. One source said the NSA was among the unnamed agencies with access. The NSA's counterparts in the U.K. have said they have access to the model through the country's AI Security Institute. Anthropic's CEO met with top U.S. officials on Friday to discuss "opportunities for collaboration," according to a White House spokesperson, "as well as shared approaches and protocols to address the challenges associated with scaling this technology."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

MPs jeer as PM says it is ‘incredible’ he was not told full story and says he was wrong to appoint Mandelson as US ambassador

At his press conference Nigel Farage was asked about reports saying that Keir Starmer knew about the security concerns about Peter Mandelson that led to him failing his security vetting interview. That was a reference to the Telegraph splash, which says:

Senior Whitehall sources told The Telegraph that the UKSV [UK Security Vetting] findings largely restated security risks that had already been drawn to Sir Keir’s attention.

One senior source with knowledge of the process said: “The reality is that Starmer had already been warned about the major risks and he had waved them away.”

Sources have told The Independent that MI6 failed to clear the Labour peer largely because of concerns over his business links to China.

However, there were also worries that his past links to the disgraced financier and convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein “would compromise him”.

It’s impossible for the prime minister to say the warning lights weren’t flashing.

And if you were prime minister and there were news reports last September that your ambassadorial choice had failed vetting, you would have thought perhaps he might have had some curiosity to try to find out whether this had really happened or not. I just find the whole thing totally incredible. Incredible. There is no way the prime minister couldn’t have known.

The Labour backbenchers are not yet of a mood to get rid of their prime minister, although after 7 May they just might be.

New Hungarian leader says he could sign a political agreement with the EU in mid-May

The commission also got asked about the Italian proposals for a “wild west-style bounties” that could be paid to Italian lawyers if they successfully convince their immigrant clients to return home.

Our Rome correspondent Angela Giuffrida reported on the controversial proposal over the weekend:

Airlines could hike ticket prices and fees if United and American were to join forces, lawmakers warn.

PM says in Commons statement he has ordered inquiry into any security concerns relating to Mandelson’s tenure in US

• UK politics live – latest updates

The Foreign Office has been stripped of its powers to overrule vetting decisions after the Peter Mandelson scandal, Keir Starmer told MPs as he sought to set out his side of events in a politically crucial statement in parliament.

Saying to jeers that he accepted it appeared “incredible” he and other ministers were not told Mandelson was initially refused security vetting, Starmer also said he had ordered an investigation into any security concerns related to Mandelson’s tenure as ambassador to Washington.

Missing a debt settlement payment can impact your agreement, but how bad the fallout is depends on your next move.

• Ex-US youth international injured in collision v Palermo

• Further tests with specialist to take place

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Goalkeeper Jonathan Klinsmann, the son of former Germany striker and US national team head coach Jürgen Klinsmann, is recovering from a broken neck sustained playing for second-tier Italian side Cesena on Saturday.

The former US youth international, 29, was stretchered off the field in a neck brace after a collision with a Palermo player and taken to a hospital in the Sicilian capital.

Deputy leader’s image on X was almost certainly generated or altered using AI, according to Peryton Intelligence

• UK politics live – latest updates

In a picture of a blue-skyed day in Birmingham, a diverse group of Reform supporters gathered with placards and cheesy grins to knock on doors for their party. Richard Tice, the party’s deputy leader, posted the picture as evidence of the activists’ commitment through thick and thin.

“That is what resilience looks like,” he wrote. “This is what belief looks like.”

Emily Saliers, one-half of the Atlanta folk duo The Indigo Girls, has revealed that she has been diagnosed with two incurable movement disorders that will forever change the way that she sings.

Some robots ran the Beijing half-marathon autonomously, while others were controlled remotely, all competing on a parallel course to avoid collisions with human athletes.

Manchester City eked a win by the slimmest of margins on Sunday, setting up a season finale that will be determined by nerves

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It was probably Arsenal’s best performance in two months, but that will be scant consolation. Manchester City’s win on Sunday leaves Pep Guardiola’s side in control of the title race; they will go top of the Premier League on goal difference if they beat Burnley at Turf Moor on Wednesday. Both sides will then have five games to play.

Sunday’s game was decided by desperately fine margins. What prevented Eberechi Eze’s whipped shot from just outside the box going in? An inch? Half of one? Gabriel also struck the woodwork, while Kai Havertz headed a great chance a fraction over the crossbar in injury time. It was a defeat that has handed City the advantage in the title race, but it could very easily have been a battling draw to preserve Arsenal’s lead and, perhaps more importantly, restore morale.

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

After three years of war, Sudan’s civilians need stronger support Expert comment jon.wallace 20 April 2026

The devastating war in Sudan shows no signs of abating. Diplomatic efforts must prioritize a Sudanese-led political process.

The brutal war in Sudan is now moving into its fourth year, with little prospect of resolution for the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. 

In the wake of the latest International Sudan Conference, held in Berlin on 15 April, the imperative remains to build a credible framework for an inclusive political process led by Sudanese civilians, and to strengthen channels between existing mediation structures. 

A regionalized war dividing the country

On the battlefield, the main belligerents – the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) led by General Abdel-Fatah al-Burhan, and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), under the command of General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (Hemedti), along with their respective coalitions – remain focused on a military victory. 

Control of Sudan is divided, with the SAF holding authority over the north and east of the country and the RSF largely in command of the west. The key battlefronts have continued to shift, with fighting now concentrated in the country’s centre and southeast: in the three Kordofan states as well as Blue and White Nile.

There is no sign that either side can fully defeat the other, nor that a stalemate is close. Instead, both will likely seek further gains before the rainy season (June to September) makes territorial advances difficult. However, the rains will provide little respite for civilians, who continue to be indiscriminately targeted as both sides intensify the use of externally procured drones against civilian infrastructure. 

Related work

Sudan’s volunteer-led aid network receives 2025 Chatham House Prize

Regional interests in the Middle East, Horn of Africa and Red Sea continue to exert influence on Sudan’s conflicting parties. The consolidation of competing regional alliances is obstructing meaningful progress, further complicating a fragmented diplomatic response.

Competition among regional interests in Sudan’s conflict has been notably evidenced by assertive Saudi efforts to curtail the influence of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) since the start of 2026. 

More broadly, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Turkey and Qatar have grown closer, with signs of alignment between the UAE and Israel, notably in Somaliland. These partnerships are often compartmentalized, with countries increasingly multi-aligned – presenting as allies on one issue and adversaries on another.

A convoluted diplomatic landscape 

Given such complexity, diplomatic progress towards a ceasefire has been limited, while wider efforts to support a credible political process remain convoluted. Sudan has a Troika, a Quad and a Quintet – but these diplomatic groupings suffer from a lack of coordination. 

The Quad mediation mechanism – the US, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the UAE – gained traction in mid-2025 in attempts to secure a ceasefire, but offers limited promise. Ostensibly, this platform seeks to navigate the differences between the Arab countries backing Sudan’s warring parties and to generate collective leverage to pressure the belligerents to end the war. However, the Quad has not made progress on stopping external military, financial and political support to them. 

Nevertheless, the principles agreed by the Quad in 2025 give it ongoing significance. These include recognition that there is no viable military solution to the conflict; securing a humanitarian truce followed by a permanent ceasefire; a commitment to protect civilians; and support for an inclusive Sudanese transition to establish an independent civilian-led government that is not controlled by any warring party. 

President Donald Trump’s Senior Advisor for African Affairs, Massad Boulos, has been working to deliver a humanitarian truce, starting with demilitarization in El Fasher and parts of Kordofan, and the safe return of civilians, supported by a UN oversight mechanism. But there are major obstacles, including SAF’s insistence that the RSF withdraw from urban areas it controls and disarm in advance of truce talks. Such concessions are unimaginable, given the current military balance. 

They are compounded by the absence of high-level regional diplomacy, which is paramount if the belligerents are to accept a truce. War in the Middle East has partially diverted the attention of the Quad’s Arab members away from Sudan. 

Outcomes of the Berlin conference 

The third International Sudan Conference (co-hosted by Germany, UK, US, EU and AU), marks the latest effort to rouse international attention on Sudan. Expectations were modest – the summit was never likely to deliver a ceasefire. The ministerial session had to settle for a co-chair’s statement rather than a joint communiqué, repeating the lack of consensus at last year’s London Conference.  

Related work

Why ending the war in Sudan should be a higher priority for the West

Berlin was primarily an opportunity for concerted international action that reaffirms support for an end to the war. The conference secured vital humanitarian commitments of over €1.5 billion – the EU and its member states pledging €764 million and the UK €165 million. But it must also mark a turning point for more effective coordination.

One of the main aims of Berlin was to centre non-aligned Sudanese civilians, highlighting their perspectives on ending the war and restoring a civilian-led political dispensation. This stands in sharp contrast to criticism of the conference by Sudan’s SAF aligned de-facto government and objections by the RSF’s Tasis coalition.

The summit included a civilian political seminar organized by the multilateral Quintet bloc (AU, EU, Intergovernmental Authority on Development, League of Arab States and UN), supported by Germany. An important outcome was a joint declaration calling for an end to the war and the advancement of a Sudanese-owned political process leading to civilian leadership.

Empowering Sudan’s civilian political process

Sudan urgently needs a credible and inclusive political process, supported by coherent international facilitation. Previous efforts to advance a framework have not materialized, due to deep divisions between Sudanese political blocs and an incoherent approach by the African Union. 

The Quintet’s support for an inter-Sudanese political dialogue should be encouraged. This process should be grounded in broad-based civilian participation – with non-aligned democratic actors at the forefront. It should not be controlled by the warring parties, although including elements within their coalitions is essential, provided they seek peace and civilian rule. This linkage is critical to shift incentives away from militarized actors and toward a negotiated transition. It is also a crucial step in providing Sudanese civilians with a platform to pressure the SAF and RSF to end the war. 

To be effective, any Quintet-supported process needs to coordinate with the Quad, Troika and other mediating stakeholders, under one coherent umbrella. 

The Troika states (US, UK and Norway) have been important mediating actors in Sudan and South Sudan for over two decades. The UK and Norway are aligning efforts to expand dialogue and trust among civilian groups. To be effective, the outcomes of such dialogues should be channelled through the Quintet process, via a coordinating mechanism. 

Morris pursued dual passions of zoology and surrealist art, presenting BBC documentaries and hosting exhibitions

The zoologist Desmond Morris, perhaps best known for his book the Naked Ape and his work on the ITV programme Zoo Time, has died aged 98.

Morris’s son Jason paid tribute to him after his death on Sunday, praising his many professional achievements as well as his role as a father and grandfather.

Neighbors who witnessed the deadly mass shooting of eight children in Shreveport, Louisiana, recalled what whey heard and saw as the massacre took place early Sunday.

Claims system launches months after supreme court ruled Trump had no legal authority to impose tariffs

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The Trump administration has begun accepting applications from businesses seeking refunds for more than $166bn in tariffs, months after the supreme court ruled that the president had no legal authority to impose them.

The administration launched on Monday the digital claims system, named Cape, which they said in court filings could handle about 63% of affected import filings, with the remainder to follow.

Study shows signature changes more pronounced in people with genetic risk, raising hopes for new therapies

Changes to microbes that live in the gut can identify people at greater risk of Parkinson’s disease long before symptoms develop, according to work that also raises hopes for new therapies.

Researchers discovered signature changes in the gut microbiome that are more pronounced in people with a genetic risk for Parkinson’s and even more stark in those diagnosed with the disease.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: The winning runner at a Beijing half-marathon for humanoid robots finished the race today in 50 minutes and 26 seconds -- significantly faster than the human world record of 57 minutes recently set by Jacob Kiplimo. [...] [T]he winning time is a massive improvement over last year's race, when the fastest robot finished in two hours and 40 minutes. The Associated Press reports that this year's winner was built by Chinese smartphone maker Honor. It seems the winning robot wasn't actually the fastest, as a different Honor robot finished in 48 minutes and 19 seconds. But that one was remote controlled -- the 50:26 robot was autonomous and won due to weighted scoring. About 40% of participating robots competed autonomously, while the remaining 60% were remote controlled, according to Beijing's E-Town tech hub. Not all of them did as well as Honor's robots, with one robot falling at the starting line and another hitting a barrier.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

River ecologist says ‘classic bureaucratic tangle’ led to government agency stopping flows to Gwydir wetlands region in March

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A leading scientist has criticised an “appalling” New South Wales government agency decision to stop water flowing to wetlands in the state’s north-west, saying it was “absolutely crazy” that researchers had to scramble to save animals buried in drying mud.

Guardian Australia reported on Saturday that turtles, waterbirds, frogs and sheep had died after WaterNSW abruptly stopped flows to the Gwydir wetlands region near Moree in March.

A frozen bank account signals serious debt trouble, but it can also be the moment to resolve the issue for good.

Magazine has stood behind the story, which was written by veteran national security reporter Sarah Fitzpatrick

Kash Patel has followed through on a threat to sue the Atlantic and the author of a story the magazine published that included allegations of “excessive drinking” as well as “conspicuous inebriation and unexplained absences” while in charge of the FBI.

The FBI director filed a defamation lawsuit in US district court for the District of Columbia that seeks $250m in damages.

Canada’s foreign and energy policy: In conversation with the Premier of Alberta 30 April 2026 — 16:00 TO 17:00 BST Anonymous (not verified) 20 April 2026 Chatham House and Online

Premier Danielle Smith discusses Alberta’s vision for Canada’s role in the world at a moment of acute external pressure and internal debate.

Alberta brings distinctive leverage to some of the most consequential debates in Canadian politics. As Canada’s most significant energy producer, its huge contributions to federal revenues, and a province closely tied to the United States through deeply integrated energy markets and cross-border investment, Premier Danielle Smith’s government has both high stakes in the current moment and a clear view of how Canada should respond to it. The conflict in the Middle East has sharpened that picture further, accelerating international interest in North American supply and raising the profile of Canada’s export choices.

How Alberta’s priorities interact with the Carney government’s foreign policy agenda - its assertion of Canadian economic sovereignty, its recalibration of alliances, and its positioning of Canada as a dependable partner for nations rethinking energy dependencies - will do much to shape Canada’s offer to the world. Whether that agenda commands consensus across the federation, and on what terms, remains an open question.

In conversation with Laurel Rapp, Director of Chatham House’s US and North America Programme, Premier Smith discusses Alberta’s vision for Canada’s foreign and energy policy, the USMCA negotiations, the bilateral relationship with Washington, and the pressures - internal and external - currently testing the federation.

Firefighters confirmed that seven people were trapped, but they could not search the building engulfed in flames

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A mother and six children ranging in age from three to 11 were killed in an explosion and fire at a central Pennsylvania home, authorities said.

Firefighters responding to a report of an explosion and fire at a home in Lamar Township in Clinton county near Mill Hall on Sunday morning confirmed that seven people were trapped, but they could not search the building engulfed in flames, Pennsylvania state police said in a statement. All seven died and police identified them as Sarah Stolzfus, 34, four sons, ages 11, 10, five and three, and two daughters, ages eight and six.

April 20, 2026 — The EuroHPC Joint Undertaking (EuroHPC JU) has announced that the Extreme Scale Access Call cut-off deadline has been extended to May 4, 2026.

The above EuroHPC systems are sorted in order to show the last available system that entered production. The resources are displayed in node hours. Credit: EuroHPC JU.

The Extreme Scale and Regular Access allocations, offers researchers, industry, and public sector organizations access to Europe’s leading supercomputers. These calls support projects that require substantial computing, storage, and support resources to drive scientific and technological advancements.

The Extreme Scale call is targeting applications with high-impact and high-gain innovative research. The call is open to all fields of science, industry and public sector justifying the need for and the capacity to use extremely large allocations in terms of compute time, data storage and support resources. This access mode distributes resources from the EuroHPC pre-exascale and exascale systems.

The EuroHPC supercomputers provided for this call are LUMI, located in Finland, Leonardo, located in Italy, MareNostrum5, located in Spain and Jupiter, located in Germany.

This call offers three distinctive application tracks:

• Scientific Access – Intended for applications from the academia and public research institutes.
• Industry Access – Intended for applications with Principal Investigator (PIs) coming from industry.
• Public Administration Access – Intended for applications with PIs coming from the public sector.

For more technical details on our supercomputers, you can visit the documentation pages provided by Hosting Entities on the pre-exascale systems LUMI, Leonardo, MareNostrum5, and on the exascale system JUPITER available for this call.

Call Details

Opening: The call is continuously open, with pre-defined cut-off dates that will trigger the evaluation of the proposals submitted up to this date.

Start date: The maximum time-to-resources-access of 6 months after the date of cut-off.

Type of access: The allocations will be granted for a period of one year (Single-year access).

Timeline:

• Communication of allocation decision: End of September 2026 / End of March 2027
• Allocation period for awarded proposals: Oct. 1, 2026 – Sept. 30, 2027 / April 1, 2027 – March 31, 2028
• Submission of Progress / Final Reports for continuation proposals: Within three (3) months after the completion of the project (via the platform on the submission form)

For more information, visit EuroHPC JU Extreme Scale Access Mode page here.

Source: EuroHPC JU

The post EuroHPC Extends Extreme Scale Access Call Deadline to May 4 appeared first on HPCwire.

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A federal agency on April 20 opened a portal that lets businesses apply for a refund for Trump tariffs struck down by the Supreme Court.

Secretary Kennedy Podcast so far seems designed to promote Trump administration talking points over any specific public health message

Robert F Kennedy Jr’s new Secretary Kennedy Podcast is a show that, so far, appears designed to promote Trump administration talking points over any specific public health message.

Though, based on the trailer and episode one, which dropped last week, one might expect the Secretary Kennedy Podcast to be quite similar to the health secretary’s former show, The RFK Jr Podcast. In the trailer that dropped ahead of his new podcast’s release, Kennedy says: “Children are sicker, chronic disease is exploding and the answers we’ve been given aren’t working” – talking points that were common on his old series. He even adds: “Many of us have come to the conclusion that the government actually lies to us,” a statement that might have served his former podcast better, given that Kennedy is now a senior figure in the government.

Gunman, identified as Shamar Elkins, fatally shot the children – including seven of his own – at two addresses

• Mass shooting rampage in Louisiana leaves eight children dead and others wounded

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Louisiana authorities have identified eight children – aged three to 11 – who were killed on Sunday during what police described as a “violent domestic incident” in Shreveport that marked the deadliest US mass shooting in more than two years.

The Caddo parish coroner’s office identified the children as Jayla Elkins, three; Shayla Elkins, five; Kayla Pugh, six; Layla Pugh, six; Markaydon Pugh, 10; Sariahh Snow, 11; Khedarrion Snow, 6; and Braylon Snow, five.

People in affected areas are still urged to evacuate after quake registering 7.7 magnitude

Australian officials in Japan are urgently following up on the tsunami warning off the northeastern coast of the island of Honshu.

The Australian government said:

We stand ready to provide consular assistance.

Australians in need of emergency consular assistance should contact the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s 24-hour Consular Emergency Centre on 1300 555 135, or +61 2 6261 3305 (if calling from overseas).

Genome-scale modeling reveals how a virus reprograms the metabolism of its cellular host

April 20, 2026 — Wherever bacteria are found, so are bacteriophages, a class of viruses that infect and replicate within bacteria. After infecting a bacterial cell, these viruses completely take over the internal cellular machinery and convert it into a virus-producing factory. To accomplish this takeover, viruses carry metabolic genes not directly needed for their replication, known as auxiliary metabolic genes (AMGs). The wholesale reprogramming of bacteria via viral AMG activation can be thought of as viral hijacking, but questions remain about exactly how the process operates and the overall metabolic outcome to bacterial hosts.

Credit: PNNL

Research published in Science Advances and led by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) combined genome-scale modeling with model system experiments to understand how viral hijacking via AMGs affects cellular metabolism. They found that the virus needs to hijack just 17 targeted reactions—out of almost 1,000—to trigger a cascade that dramatically changes over 30 percent of the host cell’s metabolic network.

“We’re trying to accurately predict how viruses hijack host cells,” said Song Feng, co-lead investigator of this study. “Historically, researchers focused on just the functions of viral genes. That approach ignores the large-scale cascading effects that occur within a cell after viral infection.”

For the modeling work, the team added viral AMGs, which redirect a host’s metabolism, and a custom representation of the virus replication into genome-scale models of the cellular host’s metabolism. This is the first time that a computational study has integrated the expression of AMGs with the explicit metabolic demands of phage assembly, developing a robust picture of hijacking behavior.

“We were able to sort the genetic targets of the viral hijackers into two classes: ‘phage-aligned’ and ‘phage-antialigned,’” said Ruonan Wu, co-lead investigator of this study. “The phage-aligned genes directly affect the reactions and host metabolism to ramp up viral production, while the phage-antialigned genes cause large-scale metabolic disruptions in the host cell but do not individually alter the growth balance between the virus and host.”

These AMGs don’t operate in isolation, existing within a complex overall metabolic system. They exhibit interdependent behaviors, positive and negative, while regulating the host cell metabolism. This is particularly crucial for the phage-antialigned genes, which were found to affect the viral product only when combined with other AMGs.

“This research was led by some exceptionally talented and creative early career staff,” said Margaret Cheung, a PNNL computational scientist and the principal investigator of the Northwest Biopreparedness Research Virtual Environment (NW-BRaVE) project. “Delivering results required asking questions and looking at the science in different ways.”

The simulations focused on the important marine cyanophage P-HM2. The PNNL team, in partnership with collaborators from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, experimentally validated the simulation predictions by synthetically inserting P-HM2 AMGs into mutant cyanobacteria.

Using knowledge from the simulations, the team was able to specifically look at how the environment affects the metabolic hijacking. One key example is the viral cp12 gene, which causes severe metabolic issues for the host in an environment with sufficient nutrients. However, when nitrogen is limited, so is the impact of cp12.

These insights connecting environmental conditions to viral strategies offer a framework for predicting how viruses reshape cellular metabolism at a large scale, with implications for nutrient cycling and biotechnology. The team is looking at how their work can translate to biotechnological innovations, ranging from better industrial bioproduction to targeted phage therapies to cure diseases.

The work was primarily supported through the U.S. Department of Energy BRaVE Initiative. “NW-BRaVE is a multi-institutional team of researchers led by PNNL,” said Cheung. “Our objective is to create a powerful and user-friendly integrative platform in a virtual environment to reveal the fundamental principles of how molecular interactions drive pathogen–host relationships and host shifts.”

In addition to Cheung, Feng, and Wu, the PNNL team included Jordan Rozum (co-first author), Willian Sineath (co-first author), Pavlo Bohutskyi, Doo Nam Kim, Connah Johnson, James Evans, David Pollock, and Wei-Jun Qian. The team also included Angad Mehta and Jordan Quenneville of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. NW-BRaVE is funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Biological and Environmental Research program. The work was also supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Workforce Development for Teachers and Scientists under the Science Undergraduate Laboratory Internships Program and an Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory user project.

Source: Beth Mundy, PNNL

The post PNNL Combines Modeling and Experiments to Map Phage Host Reprogramming appeared first on HPCwire.

An earthquake with a magnitude of 7.4 struck off Japan's northern coast, prompting a temporary tsunami alert across the region.

Climate leaders say Democrats need to extol clean energy as a way to cut costs for Americans as war roils oil markets

Democrats should get louder in championing clean energy’s affordability and resilience from global shocks, according to some of the party’s leading voices on the climate.

As the Iran war roils economies by raising the cost of oil and gas, countries are aiming to accelerate their shift to cleaner energy. But in the US, Donald Trump has sought to kill off any alternative to fossil fuels while opposing Democrats have been reluctant to tie the conflict to any action on the climate crisis.

Just because you celebrate 420 doesn't mean you want the smell of smoke. A new specialty filter from GermGuardian helps keep things fresh.

Netanyahu says ‘harsh disciplinary action’ will be taken after IDF confirms sledgehammer photo is authentic

• Middle East crisis – live updates

The Israeli military is conducting a criminal investigation after a soldier was photographed striking a Catholic statue of Jesus with a sledgehammer in southern Lebanon.

Israel’s military officials said they had determined that an image circulating on social media showing the incident was authentic. The image appears to show an Israeli soldier using a sledgehammer to strike the head of a statue of a crucified Jesus that had fallen off a cross.

The US military attacked and seized an Iranian-flagged cargo ship on Sunday. The US president, Donald Trump, said the vessel, named Touska, had tried to get around the US naval blockade of the strait of Hormuz. Iran’s joint military command described the seizure as an act of 'armed piracy' and vowed to retaliate

Former president’s win could end years of weak coalition governments but critics say it may be bad for EU

Bulgaria’s Moscow-friendly former president has won an absolute majority in parliamentary elections that could bring the country political stability after years of short-lived coalitions, but leave it walking a tightrope on EU issues.

With all votes counted on Monday, the Progressive Bulgaria party of Rumen Radev, a former fighter pilot and air force chief, had 44.6% of the vote, giving it an estimated 131 of the 240 seats in the national assembly.

The deadly strikes on the Lebanese capital shattered neighborhoods where many people had taken refuge after being displaced by earlier Israeli bombardments.

Islamabad has seized chance to act as mediator in Iran war and hopes to reap diplomatic and economic benefits

• Middle East crisis – live updates

As Pakistan works frantically to narrow differences between Iran and the US in its newfound role as global peacemaker, it is also seeking to recast its diplomatic standing and attract business.

Pakistani officials, mediating between an unpredictable US president and hardliners in Tehran, were on Monday trying to coax both sides to put the conditions in place for a second round of talks in Islamabad this week, including easing the standoff in the strait of Hormuz. Pakistan was optimistic that the meeting would happen, viewing objections voiced by the Iranian side and Donald Trump’s threats as posturing for domestic audiences.

The gunman, who is also dead, shot 10 people in total, according to police. All eight who died were children from 3 to 11 years old, police said.

After the defeat of Hungary’s Viktor Orban, the victory in Bulgaria by Rumen Radev will install a new pro-Russian voice within the European Union.

Ex-Mattel boss behind Barbiemania pivots retailer towards more premium fashion after reopening UK stores

From the 80s through to the early noughties it was the go-to high street store for casual hoodies and jeans, before falling out of favour. Now almost 30 years after its heyday, Gap is hoping to turn things around. Key to its comeback strategy? A pivot to more premium fashion.

On Friday the retailer will unveil a collection with the luxury fashion designer Victoria Beckham. The collaboration is the next step in the luxification of Gap being led by Richard Dickson, who joined Gap Inc as its president and chief executive from Mattel, the US toymaker, in 2023.

The Los Angeles Police Department deployed drones intended for public safety uses to surveil a No Kings rally and a protest against the Trump administration’s anti-immigrant campaign, flight data reveals.

Last year, the LAPD launched its “Drone as First Responder” program with a clearly articulated goal: to protect and even save lives. The pilot program authorized the rapid deployment of drones to the scenes of certain emergency calls before human officers even arrive. After receiving a 911 call, authorities can dispatch a drone to get a better picture of what’s happening from the sky, potentially reducing the number of officers dispatched. This means police resources could, theoretically, be more efficiently deployed to other emergencies around the city.

“This innovative program not only aims to enhance transparency in Department operations but also prioritizes the protection of individual privacy,” the LAPD explained in a webpage about the program. “By deploying drones as an invaluable resource for patrol officers, the DFR Pilot Program provides a cutting-edge tool that can respond swiftly to emergencies, ensuring a safer environment for all.”

The LAPD turned to Skydio, a California-based drone startup that previously marketed its aircraft to consumers but has pivoted to supplying militarized, weapons-compatible hardware for the U.S. Army, Israeli Defense Forces, and other governments.

The LAPD insists the DFR program presents no threat to personal privacy or civil liberties. “Unless you are in the commission of a crime or under criminal investigation for the commission of a crime,” assures the website, “the officers utilizing the drone are not interested in recording you.”

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But according to flight data shared publicly by the LAPD and Skydio, the city has used DFR not only to respond to emergencies, but also to monitor multiple protests across Los Angeles. Software engineer and flight data researcher John Wiseman has tracked DFR aircraft to at least two protests in Los Angeles this year, he told The Intercept, raising questions as to whether the city is operating an aerial surveillance program against nonviolent, constitutionally protected activity.

Flight records show DFR drones were launched at least 31 times to surveil the January 31 “ICE Out” protest in downtown Los Angeles, which saw thousands peacefully march against the administration’s deportations raids and street violence in Minneapolis. The Los Angeles Times said the “mostly peaceful protest took a turn as day turned to night in downtown Los Angeles and the crowd refused to disperse,” whereupon police began firing tear gas at remaining demonstrators.

At the March 28 “No Kings” protest against the Trump administration, city data shows the LAPD again launched drones 32 times over the area where the demonstration took place. A heat map visualization created by Wiseman based on the city data shows the drones lingered for extended periods over the Metropolitan Detention Center and the intersection of North Central Avenue and East Temple Street in Los Angeles’s Little Tokyo neighborhood.

Following the protest, the city’s local ABC News affiliate reported the event “drew tens of thousands who listened to speakers before marching peacefully through downtown streets.” The LAPD later arrested 75 individuals, 74 of whom were taken in simply for not dispersing when ordered by police.

The DFR flight data shows the drones began orbiting the protest at 2 p.m., hours before the order to disperse was issued at 5:30 p.m., and continued flying until 9 p.m. that evening. Nine drone flights began before the dispersal order.

In response to questions about the protest surveillance, LAPD Lt. Matthew Jacobs told The Intercept, “We do not document or record unless there is a crime occurring.”

“When it comes to a protest or demonstration, we’re responding [with drones] at the request of the Incident Commander,” Jacobs said. “We’re looking for specific people, we’re not taping First Amendment activity.”

Related

LAPD Won’t Do Immigration Enforcement — But Will Shoot You With Rubber Bullets for Protesting ICE

Jacobs added that “99 percent of the time” drones are sent to a protest “because the commander reports a crime in progress,” and claimed a “wide variety of crimes” are committed at protests, from vandalism to rocks thrown at officers. Jacobs added at times the department simply “wants to see how big a crowd is.”

When asked why drones were surveilling the No Kings protest hours before the dispersal order, Jacobs said that the LAPD “cannot provide deeper insight into specifics of a single flight.”

When not recording, Jacobs said DFR cameras are monitored by both their pilots and LAPD personnel on the ground, who have access to the live feeds. Any recorded footage is stored on an indefinite basis.

The police department did not answer a detailed list of follow-up questions, including how much protest-related data it has captured via drone surveillance to date or who monitors drone feeds over protests.

The LAPD’s fleet of Skydio X10 drones monitor the ground using with a sophisticated suite of sensors the company says are capable of detecting the presence of person from a distance of more than 8,000 feet and identifying an individual more than 2,500 feet away. The company also touts the drone’s ability to read license plates from a distance of 800 feet. Last year, Skydio CEO Adam Bry demonstrated how two police officers using the company’s DFR Command software could operate eight drones at once between them, tracking license plates and automatically following people of interest.

Update: April 20, 2026, 4:08 p.m. ET
This article was updated to include new comment from the Los Angeles Police Department.

The post LAPD Deployed Drones to Spy on No Kings Protest appeared first on The Intercept.

Prime minister details efforts to attract investment and sign trade deals with other countries in 10-minute video address

Canada’s strong economic ties to the United States were once a strength but are now a weakness that must be corrected, the country’s prime minister has warned.

In a 10-minute video address, Mark Carney spoke about his government’s efforts to strengthen the Canadian economy by attracting new investments and signing trade deals with other countries.

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 happening this week.

Read below to learn how to participate in some of the most important or interesting public meetings happening in Delaware this week.

• State legislature votes
• New Castle County budget hearings
• Port of Wilmington board to vote on Edgemoor commitment

Legislature to consider ‘Homeless Bill of Rights’, and other bills

The Delaware House and Senate will meet this week for floor votes on Tuesday and Thursday, and committee hearings on Tuesday and Wednesday. 

Among the major votes to watch are House votes Tuesday on a four-bill package of reforms to Delaware’s corporate law practice, including fee hikes on some pieces. Meanwhile the Senate will vote Tuesday on a bill to repeal the requirement that health care systems obtain regulatory approval before acquiring major medical equipment in most scenarios.

One of the most-watched committee hearings this week will be the House hearing Tuesday on the so-called “Homeless Bill of Rights.” That hearing will start at 10 a.m. Tuesday and can be livestreamed here.

A proposed tax hike on tobacco products will get its first committee hearing Wednesday. The bill proposes to move the tax on a pack of cigarettes from $2.10 to $3.60, as well as higher taxes on cigars, chewing tobacco and vaping products. That hearing will start at 3 p.m. Wednesday and can be livestreamed here.

A House hearing Wednesday will explore a two-bill package to reform campaign finance laws, including the requirement that political committees submit quarterly rather than annual reports and that the elections office work with the Department of Justice to investigate any suspected violations of campaign law monthly. The reforms come after a 2024 election season that was marked by questions around former Lt. Gov. Bethany Hall-Long’s campaign. That hearing will start at 1 p.m. Wednesday and can be livestreamed here.

Another House hearing will discuss a bill to require health insurers to cover the immunizations that were recommended by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention before the Trump-era changes. That hearing will start at noon Tuesday and can be livestreamed here.

In the Senate on Wednesday, a committee will consider a bill to remove Delaware from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, an 11-state, cap-and-invest market for carbon emissions. The bill is an initiative by statehouse Republicans who seek to lower energy bills for consumers, as the RGGI mandates can add a few dollars to every monthly bill to help invest in cleaner energy. That hearing will start at noon Wednesday and can be livestreamed here.

NCC Council to hear police, land use budgets

As the New Castle County Council weighs County Executive Marcus Henry’s Fiscal Year 2027 budget proposal, one of the largest departments will be under scrutiny Thursday.

The Department of Public Safety, which includes the New Castle County Police Department and other emergency services, will present its budgets to council members, along with the Department of Land Use.

Henry’s budget adds a little over $5 million to public safety to maintain service levels and support filling vacancies, such as police officers, paramedics, and 911 operators.

He also supported NCCPD entering into a multi-year, $50 million tech package contract, which includes body cameras and drones, despite some questions from council on how the county would afford it.

📍 The New Castle County Council is scheduled to meet from 2 to 4 p.m.Thursday at the Louis L. Redding City/County Building, located at 800 N. French St. in Wilmington. For more details, including information about virtual attendance, click here.

Port board to commit to Edgemoor project

The board of the Diamond State Port Corporation, which oversees the state-owned Port of Wilmington, will meet Monday afternoon for the first time since securing a federal permit to build the future Edgemoor port.

The board is scheduled to vote on a resolution of “Commitment to DCT Project,” using its alternative name of the Delaware Container Terminal.

📍 The Diamond State Port Corporation board of directors is scheduled to meet from 3 to 4 p.m. Monday at the Buena Vista Conference Center, located at 661 S. DuPont Highway in New Castle. For more details, including information about virtual attendance, click here.

The post Get Involved: ‘Homeless Bill of Rights’ considered; NCC budget scrutinized appeared first on Spotlight Delaware.

Director of state investigation agency among those killed in Chihuahua in operation to destroy clandestine drug labs

Two United States officials and another two Mexican officials assigned to combat drug cartel operations died in a car accident in the northern Mexican state of Chihuahua on Sunday, a US embassy spokesperson said.

The Mexican officials were the director of the state’s investigation agency and an officer, state authorities said, adding that they were on an operation to destroy clandestine laboratories in the municipality of Morelos.

Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news

• Tehran has ‘no plans to participate’ in new talks, state media reports, as it accuses US of violating ceasefire

Energy producers are benefitting from the jump in the oil and gas price.

BP (+2.7%) and Shell (+2.4%) are leading the FTSE 100 risers.

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for April 20.

The National Republican Congressional Committee, House Republicans' campaign arm, is touting a record-breaking fundraising haul to start the 2026 midterm cycle, the committee chairman told CBS News.

An HC-130 Hercules airplane crew confirmed the identity of the vessel as the Mariana, a 145-foot U.S.-registered dry cargo vessel, officials said.

The former ballet dancer said Chalamet’s comments were ‘reckless’ in an interview with the New York Times in which she also discussed her violent childhood

Actor and former ballet dancer Charlize Theron has joined the chorus of disapproval aimed at Timothée Chalamet over his remarks that appeared to disrespect performers of ballet and opera.

In an interview with the New York Times, Theron said: “Oh, boy, I hope I run into him one day,” adding: “That was a very reckless comment on two art forms that we need to lift up constantly because, yes, they do have a hard time. But in 10 years, AI is going to be able to do Timothée’s job, but it will not be able to replace a person on a stage dancing live.”

CNET spoke with the Artemis II astronaut and pilot about seeing parts of the moon that no other human has seen before and getting to manually fly a spacecraft.

Iran decried the seizure as an act of piracy, saying it has no plans to participate in talks with the US. Plus, how Maui residents are rebuilding Lahaina for locals, not tourists

• Don’t already get First Thing in your inbox? Sign up here

Good morning.

The US military has attacked and seized an Iranian-flagged container ship that tried to evade its blockade near the strait of Hormuz. It is the first such interception since the US began blocking Iranian ports last week.

When does the ceasefire end? It is set to expire by Wednesday.

Where does the US public stand on the war? An NBC poll on Sunday estimated 67% and 68% of adults “somewhat” or “strongly” disapproved of the way Trump was handling the Iran war (as well as inflation and the cost of living domestically).

Stay up to date on developments with our liveblog.

Was the suspect known to the authorities? Police said he had been arrested in 2019 in a firearms case.

Judge throws out claim by the singer’s father over the sale of items she once owned

Amy Winehouse’s father has lost a high court claim against two of his daughter’s friends over the auctioning of items once owned by the singer.

Mitch Winehouse, acting as the administrator of his daughter’s estate, sued her stylist Naomi Parry and friend Catriona Gourlay over claims they profited from selling dozens of items at auctions in the US in 2021 and 2023.

Also in this week’s MLS weekend wrap, Messi saves Miami again, and the Columbus Crew simply can’t hold a lead

• Sign up for the World Behind The Cup newsletter

Twelve months ago, Diego Luna’s place on the US roster for the World Cup seemed as secure as anybody’s. He was an early favorite of Mauricio Pochettino, a player blending scrappy tenacity with a playmaker’s eye. Seventeen of his 18 senior caps have come under Pochettino, most recently scoring his fourth goal for the US in their 5-1 blowout of Uruguay in November.

Nonetheless, Luna finds himself on the bubble of making this summer’s 26-man squad. An ill-timed knee injury sidelined him for Real Salt Lake until their fourth game, and his comeback process left him unavailable for Pochettino’s final pre-tournament window in March. Even though the US struggled against Belgium and Portugal, Luna – like any World Cup hopeful on the fringes – had to restate his bona fides to ensure he’s in Pochettino’s plans.

There's been a few complaints about Amazon's drone delivery service. "The automated mailmen are dropping off packages from 10 feet in the air," reports the New York Post, "rendering the contents of each box susceptible to crashing and smashing." One example? Tamara Hancock filmed a drone delivering a bottle of Torani flavoring syrup to her home in Arizona (as a test of how Amazon handled fragile items). It was delivered it in a plastic bottle — not glass — but the massive drone drops the drone from so high that the impact cracked the bottle's cap. (In the video Hancock opens her delivery to find leaked flavoring syrup "everywhere.") The delivery was hard to film, Hancock says, because "If the drone sees me in the back yard, it will not drop, because it is worried about hurting humans or animals." The Post notes Amazon's "AI-charged fleet" of drones are "Outfitted with industry-leading 'sense and avoid' technology, the aerodynamic machines are equipped to drop off eligible items, weighing a maximum of five pounds, at designated areas in 60 minutes or less." The high-tech, however, apparently does not ensure gentle landings. Collisions, including a recent crash-and-burn into a Texas building, as well as several mid-flight malfunctions in rainy weather, have abounded since the drones' inaugural launch.... Tasha, a separate Amazon user, spotted the drone plunging a package near the paved driveway of a neighbor's yard. Unfortunately, its propellers caused other, previously delivered parcels to blow away, sending one into the street... In a statement to The Post, Amazon said it apologized for one of the "rare instances when products don't arrive as expected." Amazon's drone fleet has been running since late 2024, the Post adds, and are now offering "ultra-fast" shipping in U.S. states including Arizona, Florida, Michigan, Kansas and Texas. The machines do seem massive. I'm surprised neighbors aren't complaining about the noise...

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Why Should Delaware Care?
Earlier this month, the United States Department of Education said it would no longer require the Cape Henlopen School District to enforce rules protecting students from discrimination based on their gender identity. The incident that precipitated that settlement was unreported until now.

The harassment of a middle school transgender student led to the now-rescinded federal civil rights settlement that required the Cape Henlopen School District to hold lessons for students and staff, according to records obtained by Spotlight Delaware.

In November 2021, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights notified Cape Henlopen that it had received a complaint against the district, alleging sex-based discrimination. 

The student claimed that the district failed to address incidents of harassment based on their gender identity in the spring and fall of 2019, according to the federal Office of Civil Right’s letter to then-Superintendent Robert Fulton. 

The student also claimed discrimination on the basis of disability.

By March 2024, the district and the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights reached an agreement with the Cape Henlopen School District. 

The agreement required the district to hold age-appropriate learning sessions for students on its policies prohibiting sex-based harassment, provide training to staff members regarding the federal Title IX statute requirements, and hold a school climate survey to analyze the prevalence of sex-based harassment in the district, among other requirements. 

On April 6, the U.S. Department of Education announced it would rescind agreements made with the Cape Henlopen School District — and five others across the country — that required those districts to enforce rules protecting transgender students.

That same day, the Cape Henlopen School District received notice from the U.S. DOE that the agreement was terminated. 

The letter stated that the district did not violate the Title IX statute, and the DOE’s Office of Civil Rights will “take no further action to enforce any provisions relating of the agreement.” 

The letter to the district also said the district “must rescind any materials, guidance, or other actions created pursuant to the Agreement that violate Title IX.” 

Those materials included staff training, climate surveys, student learning sessions, and other requirements from the March 2024 agreement.

What do we know about the complaint? 

It was not immediately clear what specifically precipitated Cape Henlopen’s inclusion on the list of districts when the Trump administration’s announcement came earlier this month.  

Spotlight Delaware obtained the communications between the Biden administration and Cape Henlopen School District, the March 2024 agreement, and the Trump administration’s letter stating the agreement was rescinded from a Freedom of Information Act request.

At the beginning of the 2018-2019 school year,  the student spoke with a school psychologist,  and the student’s “gender support plan” was reviewed with all of their teachers and the school nurse, according to a December 2021 letter from the district’s lawyer to the U.S. DOE.

Less than one month later, the student made a complaint that a male student bullied them by making a verbal comment regarding gender in the Beacon Middle School cafeteria. 

The district’s report found that another student had asked, “Are you still a boy?” After the complaint was substantiated, the student was “disciplined in accordance with the District’s Code of Conduct.”

Three more claims of bullying in September 2019 were found to be unsubstantiated, according to the district’s letter.

In one of those claims, the student had used the girls’ bathroom but was told by a classmate they were in the wrong bathroom. The child told the classmate that they are a girl and are using the correct bathroom. 

The district found the bullying claim to be unsubstantiated after it interviewed the student’s classmate and ultimately determined that the classmate genuinely thought the student was in the wrong bathroom due to their “appearance and dress.”

What does this mean for Cape students?

In its announcement last week, the Trump administration said Cape Henlopen and the other five districts were “freed” from enforcing Biden-era discrimination policies involving gender identity.

But, for Cape Henlopen, Delaware still requires the district to follow state laws that, among other things, allow transgender students to participate on sports teams that align with their gender identity.

The Cape Henlopen School District’s own anti-discrimination policy was last revised in August 2025, according to the district’s website. The policy does not explicitly mention protections based on gender identity. 

In the past, Delaware students have told Spotlight Delaware that anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and bullying increased during the first Trump administration. 

The post Harassment of trans student led to now-rescinded Cape Henlopen settlement appeared first on Spotlight Delaware.

Data shows 224,000 new EVs were registered in March, with Norway leading way in terms of switching

Sales of electric cars soared 51% in continental Europe last month, amid a rise in petrol and diesel costs driven by the Iran war.

Data shows that 224,000 new electric vehicles (EVs) were registered in March, and 500,000 across the first three months of the year – a 33.5% increase on a year earlier, according to analysis of national sales data in 15 countries by New AutoMotive and E-Mobility Europe, a trade body.

It is 45 years since the Women’s Professional Basketball League played its final game. But it laid the foundation for the stars of today

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It was the night before the 1980 Women’s Professional Basketball League draft in New York City and the Dallas Diamonds had the No 1 pick. But the team’s top brass was split. Coach Greg Williams wanted to take the 6ft 5in Danish star Inge Nissen, and the team’s GM Nancy Nichols prized Nancy Lieberman, the American point guard people called “Lady Magic”.

“We argued for days about Nissen versus Lieberman,” Nichols tells the Guardian.

The wife of a sergeant first class was detained by ICE at an immigration appointment in Texas. He says he doesn't understand why, and "ICE is out of control right now."

Twin reports from top accounting firms underline scale of economic threat as Iran war shatters business confidence

A quarter of a million people could lose their jobs by the middle of next year as Britain “flirts with recession”, analysis suggests, after business confidence was shattered by the US-Israel war on Iran.

As the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, summoned bank chiefs for talks aimed at containing the fallout, twin reports from top accounting firms underlined the scale of the economic threat facing the UK.

A quantum computer assists an AI model with calculations that would take weeks to figure out with a normal computer.

One owns sleep, one owns fitness. After months of testing both, here's what you need to know to make the right call for you.

Air frying bacon is the fastest route to a perfect crunch.

After Guardian reports about danger to V2X employees, sources say state department raised concerns with defense contractor

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The US government has called on the defense contractor V2X to evacuate its employees from Kuwait and Iraq, warning the company that they could be targeted by Iran-backed militias, four sources said.

The intervention follows reporting by the Guardian that V2X employees were stationed at US military bases in Kuwait, and at Martyr Brigadier General Ali Flaih airbase and Erbil in Iraq. Employees claimed having inadequate protections, receiving limited communications from the company about evacuation plans and being pressured to remain in the Middle East. In Iraq, workers say they are targets of Iran-allied attacks, and one employee was killed in a night-time drone attack in March.

Jennifer Andrea Porras, now 53, says they were sexually abused by the union leader as a teen

A version of this story was published in Spanish in La Opinión.

When Jennifer Andrea Porras, a non-binary, Indigiqueer, Coahuiltecan artist and cultural worker from the San Francisco Bay Area, first found out about the New York Times investigation detailing allegations by multiple women of sexual abuse by civil rights icon Cesar Chavez, they were not surprised. The news confirmed their own experience with the co-founder of the United Farm Workers (UFW) union.

Too much screen time can lead you to doomscroll. Try these expert-vetted tools to control time on your phone.

The Epstein investigation is mired in political logjams despite broad public support for accountability

In the days since Pam Bondi’s exit from Donald Trump’s justice department, Jeffrey Epstein survivors and transparency advocates have been confronted by mixed messaging, prompting questions about whether a full accounting of his crimes would ever be revealed.

Legal veterans told the Guardian that authorities’ decisions – such as Bondi’s failure to appear for a congressional subpoena about her handling of Epstein investigative files – portend poorly for accountability. Moreover, her replacement’s comments about the status of Epstein investigations has been perceived by some as an effort to acknowledge prior missteps without presenting definitive solutions.

Why Should Delaware Care?
For years, development plans in the small northern Delaware community of Yorklyn have gone through the state environmental agency, leaving residents out of the approval process. Now, they fear environmental consequences, and may sue the development company. 

A small northern Delaware community is looking to stop a luxury townhome development through any means necessary — including a lawsuit. 

Yorklyn residents for years have opposed developments on former industrial land in the Auburn Valley redevelopment district, which did not go through the county’s land use process due to a unique state plan. They worry their wells will run dry, traffic congestion will worsen and local wildlife won’t have a place to go. 

The resident group has notched several wins. Delaware’s Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC), which administers the redevelopment district, denied an apartment proposal and bought almost 30 acres of the land for $6 million to add to Auburn Valley State Park. 

But three townhome development projects remain, totaling about 130 homes. And one of those projects, called Quarry Walk, is slated to begin construction sometime this month. 

“We’re at the end of the line with what we have been doing so far,” said Hockessin resident and land use activist Isaac Jabola-Carolus to a crowd of 60 concerned residents earlier this month. “We’re at a point where we need to try exceptional things that we have not done yet.”

At the community meeting, Jabola-Carolus and others discussed suing developers Drake Cattermole and David Carpenter to try to stop construction, or using state and private funds to buy the land. 

Neither developer responded to requests for comment. 

But DNREC Secretary Gregory Patterson said the three developments are in their final stages and “have the legal right to proceed.” Patterson was not in office when the agency signed the agreements. 

“We have addressed a lot of the concerns and have generally made the place better,” Patterson said. “But there is a point at which you can’t undo previous decisions.” 

Yorklyn residents say they have for years felt blindsided by development projects proposed in their area. 

Typically, land use decisions are made by Delaware counties and proposals go through multiple public forums before approval. But in the case of Yorklyn, those approvals were signed with DNREC behind closed doors, without community involvement.

The agency gained land use authority over parts of Yorklyn Ridge through the Auburn Valley Master Plan, designed to clean up the former industrial lands with a combination of state and private development funds.  

The land under the master plan was not subject to New Castle County’s zoning and regulatory authority due to state legislation that was approved to exempt it. Instead, all approvals, zoning decisions and subdivision plans fell to DNREC.  

DNREC and New Castle County recently came to an agreement to transition land use control back to the county. But the three already-approved development plans will continue under DNREC land use control until they are constructed. 

Local concerned about water, traffic

At the April 9 resident meeting, Kira Alejandro, a Yorklyn resident and candidate for New Castle County Council, asked the crowd who used well water. 

Nearly everyone in attendance raised their hands. 

Alejandro said a primary concern she and others have with the developments is that they are located in a recharge area for the Cockeysville aquifer, where local wells get their water. 

Typically, New Castle County has stringent reviews for developments in the Cockeysville Water Resource Protection Area, which encompasses much of northern Delaware. 

DNREC commissioned a study on the impacts of the townhomes on the aquifer. It concluded they would lead to a small water deficit. Patterson said the agency asked the developers to change their plans to reduce the impact, and they agreed. 

But residents who analyzed the study said it included unrelated properties that DNREC owns, rather than focusing just on the site of the planned townhomes. They claimed the developments would actually lead to a deficit of millions of gallons.

“When it comes to drinking water, that’s not something you should mess with,” Jabola-Carolus said. 

Patterson said all the areas included in the study were relevant because much of the work the agency has done on its properties helps the aquifer recharge. 

Residents at the meeting also expressed concerns about traffic impacts from the townhomes, especially on the narrow bridge over Red Clay Creek. 

DNREC commissioned a traffic study of that question that is not yet finished. Patterson said his agency cannot require the developers to make any road improvements based on the results because their plans are already finalized. 

Susanne Moran grew up in Yorklyn, and she said the resident opposition to these developments is “not a NIMBY situation.”

“A lot of us really do welcome new neighbors, new life, new input,” Moran said. 

But she said it “terrifies” her that the county is not the one overseeing the construction of the townhomes. She also said the area is prone to flooding, and nearby development has already harmed the local ecosystem. 

“I haven’t seen a pheasant since ninth grade, in 1975,” Moran said. 

Yorklyn resident Sandra Finsel said she became involved in trying to stop the developments in September 2021, when construction workers cleared 10 acres of forest without community notice to make way for Quarry Walk. 

She said the townhomes don’t fit into the character of the local area. 

“I want to live here because of how it is, because it’s quiet and beautiful and part of nature,” Finsel said. “If I want to live in a townhouse community, I’ll move somewhere else.”

Residents at the meeting spoke about options for funding either a lawyer to stop construction or purchasing the land, but did not make any final decisions. 

The post Yorklyn residents consider lawsuit to stop townhome construction appeared first on Spotlight Delaware.

A mother and her six children died when their Central Pennsylvania home exploded and caught on fire Sunday morning, state police said.

I managed to get back out and finish the loop while revisiting what caused me to fall.
IMG_5446.jpeg

Some kinda shoddy trench filling :/ hard to get a good pic as there were too many cars to take a pic of the actual spot but despite how poorly it came out on camera there was a section towards the edge on the left lane that sunk quite a bit.
IMG_5439.jpeg

My best guess is I got air in the while then bounced off the lip on the other side and bonked, sending me up off the pads. There’s a white streak after the trenching that must have been my board scraping. What remnants of my knee are long washed away in the rain.

Judge in case of two families housed for years in single hotel rooms says they should have been moved within three months

The Home Office could face legal action from hundreds of asylum-seeking families stuck in single rooms in hotels after a judge criticised the “extraordinarily stressful” conditions in which they are expected to live.

In a ruling, the deputy high court judge Alan Bates questioned why two families had been forced to live in single rooms for more than three years. He said they should have been moved to alternative accommodation within three months.

Janos Balla, also known as Daniel Takacs, was taken into custody in the beach resort city of Cancun, officials said.

Iran threatened retaliation after the seizure in the Gulf of Oman, and it wasn’t clear whether Tehran would attend talks in Pakistan, with a ceasefire set to expire Wednesday.

When you have to physically tap your phone against another device to unblock certain apps and websites, can it prevent doomscrolling? Brick says yes.

Luria, who lost her seat to a Republican after standing up to Trump, has secured key endorsements in Virginia race

Elaine Luria – once a member of the congressional committee that investigated the January 6 attack on the US Capitol – says she is confident that “the wind is on our back” as she seeks a House comeback and her fellow Democrats aim to retake the chamber’s majority in the fall’s midterm elections.

In a recent interview with the Guardian, the military veteran attributed that confidence to “grave concern” in and beyond her Virginia district with how Donald Trump’s second presidential administration began with implementing brutal cuts to the federal government. Among a host of other decisions, she noted that Trump went on to start war in Iran, which has sent gasoline prices soaring – with the cost of other goods or services expected to increase too.

Transforming your iPhone into a "dumb phone" is simpler than you might think.

Al-Fassel and Pishtaz News look like typical news websites. They have neatly designed homepages and active social media accounts, where they share reporting and videos on Middle Eastern geopolitics in Arabic and Farsi, respectively, as well as English. Al-Fassel’s X account states the publication’s mission is “to investigate events of great significance that are often overlooked by local and regional media, and to shed light on them.” The Pishtaz News X account says it was established “to investigate and expand upon important news that local and regional media often overlook.”

These overlooked stories share the same ideological slant and editorial voice: that of the White House. Al-Fassel’s YouTube account, for instance, has racked up millions of views on Arabic-language videos praising the Trump administration’s Gaza policy and exhorting Hamas to cease “taking orders from the Iranian regime” and release Israeli prisoners. On Pishtaz News, a poll on the homepage recently asked: “[H]ow would you describe your belief about the Supreme Leader’s current health status and whereabouts?” Possible answers range from “In good health but hiding” to “Disfigured” or “Dead.” The excellence of Saudi and Emirati leadership, both close military partners of the U.S., is a recurring theme.

There’s a reason this coverage echoes American foreign policy talking points. Al-Fassel and Pishtaz News are, in fact, part of network of websites and social media accounts purporting to be legitimate Middle Eastern news outlets that are in fact propaganda mills funded by the United States government, The Intercept has found.

Disclosed only at the bottom of both sites behind an “About” link that is easily missed by casual readers, the outlets note that they are “a product of an international media organization publicly funded from the budget of the United States Government.” The government affiliation remains undisclosed on social media platforms including Instagram, despite a platform policy requiring the labeling of state-backed media outlet to prevent the unwitting consumption of government propaganda.

The sites’ recent fixation on crushing Iran is unlikely to be a coincidence: Both publications share numerous connections with a portfolio of fake newsrooms that originated as a military psychological operations campaign against foreign internet users.

Al-Fassel and Pishtaz News did not respond to requests for comment, nor did CENTCOM or the Department of Defense.

In 2008, U.S. Special Operations Command put out a call for contractors to help operate what it called the Trans-Regional Web Initiative, a project that would provide “rapid, on-order global dissemination of web-based influence products and tools in support of strategic and long-term U.S. Government goals and objectives.” In other words, state propaganda pushed by Pentagon.

Masquerading as independent online newsrooms, the TRWI sites hired “indigenous content stringers” to produce articles “which Combatant Commands (COCOMs) can use as necessary in support of the Global War on Terror.” The contract, awarded to General Dynamics Information Technology, spawned 10 websites that funneled U.S. foreign policy talking points to audiences across the Middle East and South Asia, running everything from banal essays about inter-faith coexistence to, as reported by Foreign Policy in 2011, articles intended to “whitewash the image of Central Asian dictatorships.” By 2014, the sites were deemed a failure by Congress and de-funded.

Eight years later, a team of researchers published an unusual report. Following the 2016 election, the bulk of the Western media’s interest in online propagandizing had focused on influence campaigns attributed to Russia, China, and other American geopolitical rivals. But the 2022 report from the Stanford Internet Observatory and Graphika, a commercial internet analysis firm and Pentagon information warfare contractor, uncovered a network of phony “pro-Western” Twitter and Facebook accounts that pushed articles from pseudo-news websites. The report stopped short of formally attributing the campaign to the U.S., but noted that both Meta and Twitter had done so. The researchers concluded that the accounts in question attempted the coordinated spread of articles from a network of sham news websites established by U.S. Special Operations Command.

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The report found that just a few years after TRWI’s ostensible death, many of the sites had simply rebranded, now carrying hard-to-find disclosures mentioning they were run by U.S. Central Command. Following Stanford and Graphika’s findings, some of the sites shut down; others continued. Subsequent reporting by the Washington Post found that the embarrassing revelations spurred the Pentagon to conduct “a sweeping audit of how it conducts clandestine information warfare.”

A review of the Internet Archive shows that in the aftermath of the Stanford report, TRWI sites that remained in operation changed their disclosure language. Rather than citing CENTCOM sponsorship, these sites shifted to state that they are “publicly funded from the budget of the United States Government.” The disclosure language used by the remaining network of CENTCOM propaganda sites is a word-for-word copy of the phrasing The Intercept found tucked away on the About pages of Pishtaz News and Al-Fassel.

That’s not the only evidence suggesting a link to this network of military propaganda sites.

Since they began publishing in 2023, Al-Fassel and Pishtaz News have regularly quoted or summarized CENTCOM press releases touting regional operations and battlefield successes, as did the outlets mentioned in the Stanford/Graphika report. The reliance on combatant command press releases in particular is an editorial strategy that dates back to the original SOCOM-run TRWI network.

On X, Pishtaz News follows only three other users; two are the official CENTCOM accounts for Farsi and Arabic audiences. The Pishtaz News Instagram account, which carries no disclosure of the account’s governmental nature, follows only one other user: “US CENTCOM FARSI.”

Intentionally or otherwise, Al-Fassel’s posts to X are often geotagged as having been sent from Lutz, Florida, a stone’s throw from the headquarters of CENTCOM and SOCOM in Tampa, as well as myriad military contractors that service both.

Both sites also share common design elements with the TRWI-associated publications that suggest they were created or operated by the same contractor: All posts conclude with a poll asking “Do you like this article?” using the same thumbs-up and thumbs-down icons. URLs are structured identically for Al-Fassel, Pishtaz News, and Salaam Times — an Afghanistan-focused site launched under the TRWI that continues today under a different name — suggesting they were coded using the same tools. The three sites use an identical 404 error graphic to alert users when they’ve clicked on a broken link, as well.

The web design of Al-Fassel and Pishtaz News — including page layout, URL structure, 404 error graphic, and much of the legal verbiage in the About sections — closely mirrors that of CENTCOMcitadel.com, a publication with similar content that carries an overt disclosure of Pentagon sponsorship at the bottom of its homepage.

“These sites are similar in style to the overt messaging efforts we saw from the Department of Defense previously,” Renée DiResta, a former Stanford researcher and co-author of the 2022 report, told The Intercept. “We previously saw this pattern of clearer U.S. affiliation language in the About page of the domain, then minimal to no acknowledgement on the social media profiles.”

There are other subtle nods to the sites’ true purpose: URLs for the English language versions of each site are denoted “en_GB,” for Great Britain. In a comprehensive 2015 analysis of the TRWI network, University of Bath doctoral student Roy Revie observed that the network of American military propaganda sites explicitly marked their English versions as British because “SOCOM seeks to avoid any suggestion its sites are aimed at US audiences.”

In the parlance of information warfare, these propaganda shops are considered “overt” rather than “covert,” because their state ownership is technically disclosed. But in his 2015 paper, Revie argued that these psyop sites still engage in deception. They use online journalism as a form of camouflage, he wrote, because most readers won’t seek out a publication’s About page to learn about its funding. The design of these sites “allows the DOD to credibly claim full transparency and maintain legitimacy, putting the onus onto the user to inform themselves about the source,” Revie wrote.

The output of both sites consistently lionizes the U.S. and Israel, along with America’s Gulf allies. They regularly demean the Iranian state, presenting a wholly lopsided and misleading account in a time of war. “The US says it does not seek open conflict with Tehran,” reads a March 2 article in Al-Fassel. Both sites have repeatedly cited reporting by Iran International — a Saudi-funded, pro-Israel, Iranian monarchist publication with a long record of journalistic misrepresentation. A March 31 Pishtaz News article, for instance, based on an entirely anonymously sourced Iran International post, alleged that Iranian security forces gang-raped nurses in Tehran.

Recent coverage depicts Iran as up against the ropes. A March 22 article in Pishtaz News exclaimed, “The Islamic Republic’s regular army, known as the Artesh, is increasingly described by informed observers as a force under severe strain and institutional neglect.” Another anonymously authored piece from March 25, headlined “Artesh would be better off without its main rival,” seems intended to stoke tensions between Iran’s regular army and its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. “Without the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), resources could flow directly to the regular army, known as the Artesh, enabling meaningful modernization,” the story claimed, a talking point ripped straight from the mouths of right-wing Iran hawks in the U.S. In a March 18 Fox News segment, for example, retired Gen. Jack Keane suggested that an Artesh–IRGC rivalry could be exploited to accomplish regime change.

It’s unclear who exactly writes what appears on these sites. Most articles run without any byline, while other stories are published under names that are difficult to find any mention of anywhere else on the internet. Some of the personnel may not be real at all. A January Al-Fassel YouTube overview of recent regional headlines was narrated by an Arabic-speaking man in a sharp blue blazer. Experts told The Intercept the newscaster was likely a product of generative AI and not genuine footage. “The strongest indicator is an almost complete absence of eye blinks,” Georgetown University professor and deepfake researcher Sejin Paik told The Intercept. Zuzanna Wojciak, a synthetic media researcher with the human rights organization Witness, reached the same conclusion, citing strange anomalies with his skin, hands, and teeth.

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Some articles deeply misstate or misrepresent the facts. An April 15 Al-Fassel article about Iran’s “war crime threats” against the American University of Beirut omitted the fact that these threats came in response to repeated U.S.–Israel airstrikes against Iranian schools. The day after an Al-Fassel article described the Houthis as “crippled” and “largely disintegrated,” capable of offering only “verbal support” for Iran, the Yemeni militant group launched cruise missiles at Israel.

The outlets also illustrate the extent of deceptive messaging radiating from the Pentagon and White House: A March 5 post to the Pishtaz News Instagram account boasted, “The Iranian regime’s ability to strike US forces and regional partners is rapidly eroding, while US combat power continues to grow.” Four weeks later, Iran was continuing to lob missiles at U.S. bases as well as its regional partners, and succeeded in downing an American F-15 and A-10 Warthog. An April 4 Al-Fassel Instagram post claimed, citing Secretary of State Marco Rubio, that “Iran is not satisfied with a peaceful nuclear program, but seeking to enhance its military capabilities,” even though a 2025 assessment from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence concluded the opposite.

Other articles dispense with masquerading as journalism, reading more as warnings straight from Washington: “United States is fully prepared to protect its forces in Middle East,” read a June 2025 headline on Pishtaz News. “With advanced technological capabilities and highly-trained personnel, the United States maintains one of the world’s most capable military forces, continuously adapting to evolving security challenges to maintain order and stability.” A March 27 Pishtaz News tweet was more straightforward. “You will be systematically annihilated,” it threatens in Farsi. “Your commanders are hiding in bunkers. They have sent their families and wealth abroad—why are you still fighting for them?”

Some articles purport to include comments from genuine expert sources. In at least one case, this happened without the knowledge of the source. A July 2025 article in Al-Fassel predicted that a future closure of the Strait of Hormuz “would harm China and Russia more than other nations.” The article quoted Umud Shokri, an energy analyst affiliated with George Mason University, the State Department, and the Middle East Institute. “I would like to clarify that I was not aware of any affiliation between alfasselnews.com and the U.S. government,” Shokri told The Intercept. “I also did not have any direct interview with the platform, nor was I contacted by them directly. To the best of my knowledge, any quotation attributed to me appears to have been drawn from prior public commentary or other media appearances.”

Prior to the war on Iran, a top priority on both sites was marketing the U.S.–Israeli plans for the future of Gaza. The message is essentially a distillation of the U.S.–Israel–Gulf State consensus: That all Palestinian suffering is brought on by Hamas rather than the past three years of Israeli bombardment, and that the Trump-sponsored “Board of Peace” augurs an unprecedented era of prosperity for Palestinians.

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“The incoming Board of Peace,” a December 2025 Al-Fassel piece claimed, “is expected to foster conditions for democratic representation and meaningful civic participation.” A December 12 Al-Fassel YouTube video similarly blamed Hamas and Iran, rather than Israel, for the blockade of humanitarian aid into Gaza, followed by an AI-generated image of a science fiction city overlaid with Arabic captions promising billions in foreign investment and economic revitalization for Gaza. The video currently has nearly 1.7 million views.

Other items around Gaza further invert reality. Since October 2025, Gaza has been bifurcated by the so-called “Yellow Line,” an arbitrary boundary behind which Israeli forces nominally withdrew last year. Palestinians on the Israeli side of the line face harsh occupying military governance, while those on the other side risk being killed.

Despite claims by Al-Fassel’s video team that Trump’s Gaza policy will herald the ability for countless Palestinians to return home, Israeli forces routinely fire at civilians approaching this buffer zone.

“Incidents of gunfire, shelling, and limited incursions have continued near the ‘Yellow Line,’ the separation zone near the border with Israel, keeping any return highly dangerous,” according to a United Nations video report. “With the amount of available space shrinking, thousands of families have been forced to return to the edges of their destroyed neighborhoods near the ‘Yellow Line,’ despite what residents say is the continued risk of injury or death from intermittent fire.”

Not so, says Al-Fassel: “The Yellow Line is more than a boundary; it is a lifeline designed to keep Gaza’s families safe and informed during the ceasefire,” claimed a November article. “The Yellow Line is not a symbol of division — it is a lifeline.”

Following the 2016 election and the panic surrounding Russian covert propaganda efforts, major American social media platforms began adding labels to the accounts of government-controlled media properties. Videos from Al Jazeera English’s YouTube account, for instance, come with a disclaimer that “Al Jazeera is funded in whole or in part by the Qatari government.” Although X abandoned this policy in 2023, it is still nominally on the books for both Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, and YouTube.

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There is no disclosure, however, in the Instagram posts or accounts of Al-Fassel or Pishtaz News. YouTube videos from both accounts do not include a disclaimer about U.S. funding; however, a brief disclosure can be found on their main account pages, tucked into an About section that must be expanded to be read.

Neither site appears to have a particularly large audience on social media. Both have paltry followings on X — about 2,400 for Al-Fassel, and only 132 following Pishtaz News — with many appearing to be spam-based accounts with names followed by a long string of numbers that engage in posting behavior common to spam networks. Al-Fassel has found modest engagement on Instagram, where it has over 7,700 followers. Though Pishtaz News has only 475 followers on Instagram, its posts sometimes break through; a March 18 post of CENTCOM footage from the deck of an aircraft carrier, for example, racked up more than 1,100 likes.

At times, the content published by the propaganda sites may have reached American audiences. A March 27 Al-Fassel story alleging the total collapse of the Iranian-led “Axis of Resistance” was shared that same day to FreeRepublic, the conservative American message board, by user MeanWestTexan. Federal law forbids Pentagon propaganda aimed at Americans, though a similar prohibition aimed at the State Department was overturned in 2013.

Sometimes their stories reach other Western readers. An Al-Fassel article on the Houthis made its way into the citations of a 2024 article in the academic journal Survival: Global Politics and Strategy by University of Ottawa professor Thomas Juneau. (Juneau did not respond to a request for comment.) A submission to the U.N.’s Committee on Enforced Disappearances from Justice for All International, a Swiss-based nonprofit, similarly cited an Al-Fassel post on the IRGC, while an annual report by the state-operated Swedish Defence Research Agency relied in part on an Al-Fassel article on ISIS. The Intercept reviewed multiple entries on Grokipedia, X’s Wikipedia clone, citing Al-Fassel articles as well.

Emerson Brooking, a fellow with the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab and former Pentagon cyber policy adviser, believes CENTCOM is most likely behind the sites and considers their overall reach lackluster. When it comes to online propaganda, he said, the U.S. “could learn some lessons from Iran.” Iranian propaganda efforts — mostly quickly produced AI slop — have captured the attention of the internet in a way that the U.S. ersatz newsrooms have not.

But the sites’ limited reach is unlikely to bring them to a halt anytime soon. Even as the Trump administration has gutted Voice of America and other long-standing tools of U.S. soft power, these sites have continued publishing. If their similarities to the long-running American military psyops are more than coincidental, that says more about a culture of inertia at the Pentagon than its success in winning hearts and minds. Brooking told The Intercept that because operating blogs amounts to a “rounding error” within the broader defense budget, such projects can continue with little scrutiny.

A seldom-read network of propaganda sites might seem to have little purpose. But it’s the kind of thing authorities can gesture toward, Brooking said, when pressed about their efforts to combat Iran in the “information space.” “Successive SOCOM or CENTCOM or other senior leaders could point to the fact that they’re maintaining this network of websites,” he said.

The post These Middle Eastern News Sites Are Actually U.S. Government Propaganda Operations appeared first on The Intercept.

Seville could see 34C this week and parts of Brazil could hit high 30s, while storms forecast in southern Africa

Over the course of this week, temperatures in Spain are expected to soar well above the seasonal average. Daytime temperatures could reach about 30C in Madrid on Tuesday, 10C above the norm, while Seville may experience 34C, about 9C above its late April average. An area of low pressure situated out in the Atlantic will allow for a south-westerly flow, introducing warm air from north Africa. In addition to this heat, a notable dust plume is expected to travel northwards from the Sahara, covering the skies above Iberia and south-western France, which may lead to some particularly orange or red skies at sunrise and sunset.

In Brazil, high temperatures are forecast for the states of São Paulo, Paraná, Mato Grosso do Sul and Santa Catarina over the next few days, eventually spreading into Minas Gerais. Here, daytime maximum temperatures are expected to reach the high 30s celsius later in the week, about 5-10C above the seasonal average.

A documentary about Peter Sichel – the ‘Jewish James Bond’ who died in 2025 – includes striking mea culpas about the cost and efficacy of US involvement in the Middle East

In New York social circles, he was known as the “Jewish James Bond”: a refugee from Nazi Germany whose gratitude to his American hosts was such that he volunteered to join the US army and became the CIA’s first station chief in Berlin as a mere twentysomething, filing early warnings about Soviet activity that have been credited with ringing in the cold war.

Like 007, Peter Sichel also appreciated a fine tipple, and after leaving the US foreign intelligence service it was he who briefly turned a sweet German white, Blue Nun, into one of the best-selling wines in the world.

Activists say clamp down on period products to target insurgents is gender-based violence and violates rights

Myanmar’s military regime is expanding its ban on the distribution of period products, claiming they are being used to treat wounded resistance fighters, according to local activists.

The south-east Asian country has been locked in civil war since 2021, when the military usurped the democratic government and launched a violent crackdown on dissidents. Artillery fire, the burning of townships and arbitrary arrests have become common in the years since then.

The Lakers star would have been expecting to play a supporting role as he burrows into his 40s. But injuries means he has assumed a familiar role

LeBron James must be so sick of this. If he wanted to experience being the best player on an otherwise thin team, he could simply remember the Cleveland Cavaliers’ run to the NBA finals in 2007. Or the 2015 NBA finals when his best teammates, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love, suffered injuries. Or the 2018 season, which convinced SNL to make a spoof of James’ support staff. “I’m 53 years old,” one of LeBron’s “teammates” says in the clip. “I have seven kids, and two of them are also on the Cavs.” It’s 2026, James is a Los Angeles Laker, his two best teammates are hurt, and one of his kids actually is on the team.

How on earth did we get here, again? James is 41. The story of his season was his labored yet successful pivot into the Lakers’ third option, behind Luka Dončić (who was having one of the best stretches of his career before tweaking his hamstring in a humiliating loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder) and Austin Reaves (who strained his oblique in the same game). Both men are in their primes. James, on the other hand, has been plagued with what some observers may call old guy injuries: he missed the start of the season due to sciatica; he’s sat out a couple games since thanks to arthritis in his left foot. So how – how – is it that Dončić and Reaves were the ones felled by injuries and James is the iron man? Aren’t the rules that athletes in their 20s get to enjoy energy and health, while those in their 40s have to retire and become mediocre pundits?

When Amanda Coulson was a child, she visited her mother at work at a hospital in Little Rock, Arkansas. Doris Coulson was a nurse, and one memory never left her daughter. A code blue was called, and suddenly her mother was racing alongside a patient’s bed. 

“She jumped into the middle of the bed and was doing CPR in the bed as it flew down the hallway,” Amanda Coulson said years later in court. “I realized she didn’t play at work all day.”

That was the kind of caregiver her mother was: someone who understood what quality care meant because she had spent her life giving it to others. 

After Doris Coulson retired, she became a patient at a nursing home owned by Joseph Schwartz, a New Jersey businessman who was buying up nursing homes across the country. The staff wasn’t supposed to serve her solid food, but they did, and she died. Doctors told the family they found scrambled eggs in her lungs.

Nine years after Coulson’s death, President Donald Trump pardoned Schwartz in a federal case in which he had admitted to withholding $39 million in employee payroll taxes from his nursing home empire and diverting the money for other purposes. Schwartz’s lawyers argued that his actions were not an attempt at personal enrichment but to save his company. The White House said Schwartz was “an example of over prosecution” and argued that a third-party entity had managed the tax filings and that serving all three years of his prison sentence would have been detrimental for someone of his age and poor health. 

Behind the tax charge was a business that families and lawsuits said had left real people neglected, injured and dead. 

The Coulson family sued Schwartz and his company for wrongful death. Schwartz did not appear in court to challenge the case. Six years ago, a judge awarded Amanda Coulson and her sister and brother nearly $19 million. (He later claimed he never received key filings and had mistaken the complaint for the same lawsuit first filed in 2017. He argued the company that took over the home was the proper defendant.) Schwartz never paid. Amanda has since died.

Stories about pardons are often told as stories about presidential power — who got mercy, who had access, who persuaded a president to intervene. What drew me to Schwartz’s pardon was the people on the other side of that act of grace: people like Doris Coulson and her family, whose lives had already been shattered long before the White House celebrated Schwartz’s first Shabbat with his family after Trump freed him from prison and a top Justice Department official declared him “free to rebuild.” 

The pardon for Schwartz came while I was reporting on Trump’s broader clemency spree, which has favored allies, donors and other well-connected defendants, including people convicted in serious financial fraud cases. 

This pardon felt different to me. 

To understand the human toll, I turned to court records. In states where Schwartz owned nursing homes, I found harrowing accounts of patients suffering and insiders desperately trying to protect them as problems piled up. 

The damage reached workers, too: As facilities fell apart, some employees said they were buying food for residents out of their own pockets. Others were left with medical bills after insurance premiums were taken from their paychecks but the coverage was never funded.

And yet, Schwartz still appears to have money, perhaps even great sums. Lobbying disclosure forms showed he had paid more than $1 million to lobbyists to help secure his pardon. And even after his business collapsed, prosecutors said he still had $58 million in assets, though none was in his own name.

The White House has said the president does not issue pardons at the request of lobbyists.

After the pardon, Schwartz still had to return to Arkansas in late December to serve nine months in prison for defrauding the state’s Medicaid program.

I saw his return as a chance to speak with him. The prison system said I could reach him only by mail. In the first week of January, I sent a letter requesting an interview by phone, email or in person, noting that I could easily drive from my home in Missouri to meet him.

A lawyer for the Coulson family saw that same narrow window as a chance to do something more consequential: serve Schwartz with a subpoena for a deposition and records that might help locate his assets and force payment of judgments he had ignored.

The window for both of us closed almost immediately. One of Schwartz’s lobbyists had also been hired to seek relief for him in Arkansas. Within three weeks, the parole board released him.

My letter came back as undeliverable. The lawyer had no better luck tracking him down.

That episode helped me understand the story more clearly. At first it felt like a reporting failure. The more I sat with it, the more I realized that the missed window was actually a mirror of the broader story. Even after criminal convictions, civil judgments and years of litigation, Schwartz remained elusive to the people seeking answers or accountability. 

There was a machinery working to shorten his punishment. But nothing to help the victims.

Read More

A Nursing Home Owner Got a Trump Pardon. The Families of His Patients Got Nothing.

The post Trump Pardoned a Nursing Home Owner Who Owed Almost $19 Million to a Grieving Family appeared first on ProPublica.

I tested the most popular red light therapy devices. These are the ones worth your money.

Our editors have made their picks; now it's your turn. Tell us which headphones and earbuds have won you over this year.

Work requirements will encourage people who are able to work to seek and maintain jobs, proponents say. But researchers haven't found that they lower the unemployment rate.

A few people running this on Thor 400s, all of them are on 700 kHz / 1200 Hz as far as I know. Not many that I get a report from though and very little data on controllers other than Thor 400.

Wilson denies allegations made by Charlotte MacInnes, who she claims told her about uncomfortable situation with producer

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Rebel Wilson has been accused in court of hiring a private investigator and having false information published online in order to paint another actor as a “money grabbing opportunist” who withdrew a sexual harassment allegation for financial gain.

But lawyers for Wilson insist that the harassment complaint was only withdrawn when Charlotte MacInnes – the star of her film, The Deb – decided to support the woman who had allegedly harassed her.

President Trump says he sent a U.S. delegation to Pakistan for another round of peace talks with Iran Monday but Tehran says it doesn't plan to participate.

Zoom "has partnered with World, Sam Altman's iris-scanning identity company (previously known as Worldcoin), " reports Digital Trends, "to add real-time human verification inside meetings." Zoom is now inviting organizations to join the beta version of the rollout, which Digital Trends says "lets hosts confirm that every face on the call belongs to a real person, not an AI-generated imposter. " For those wondering how World's Deep Face technology works, it includes a three-step process. It cross-references a signed image from a user's original Orb registration, a live face scan from the device, and the frame of the video that's visible to the other participants in the meeting. Only when the three samples match does a "Verified Human" badge appear next to the user's name... Hosts can also make Deep Face verification mandatory for joining meetings, preventing unverified participants from joining entirely. Mid-call, on-the-spot checks are also possible...

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Iran calls seizure an act of piracy as Trump says ship tried to get past US naval blockade ‘and it did not go well for them’

• Middle East crisis – live updates

The US military has attacked and seized an Iranian-flagged container ship that attempted to get past an American blockade near the strait of Hormuz, the first such interception since the blockade of Iranian ports began last week.

Iran’s joint military command said Tehran would respond soon and called the US seizure an act of piracy that violated the ceasefire that has been in place since 8 April.

Quality wifi bookshelf speaker can go mobile with Bluetooth, long battery life and water resistance, in return to form

The Play is a new portable wifi and Bluetooth home speaker that packs the best of Sonos into a jack of all trades that is intended to be a reset point in the company’s recovery from its app debacle that lost it faith, favour and a chief executive.

It is the first truly new music speaker since Sonos launched its new app in May 2024, which junked fan-favourite features while causing stability and usage problems for new and old customers alike. The company has spent the best part of two years fixing mistakes, bringing back core features and ensuring the system actually works.

Band shows montage of leaders whose death or ousting the CIA has been proven or suspected to have been part of

US band the Strokes have used their Coachella set to make a stark political statement against America’s history of foreign intervention and war in other countries, including Iran and Palestine.

At the end of their set at the second weekend of the California music festival, the band performed their 2016 song Oblivius in front of giant LED screens that showed a montage of world leaders whose death or ousting the CIA has either been a proven or suspected party in, as lead singer Julian Casablancas sang the lyrics: “What side you standing on?”

Exclusive: Publication broke embargo on confidential briefing note about the royal couple’s movements five days before they arrived in Melbourne for their Australia visit

The Daily Mail’s “aggressive” approach to reporting on Prince Harry and Meghan’s Australian visit has “irreparably damaged” the Sussexes’ ability to brief press ahead of trips, Guardian Australia has been told.

The Daily Mail’s Australian website broke an embargo by publishing details of the royal couple’s movements five days before they landed in Melbourne, despite that information being strictly non-publishable until they arrived.

Commentators have said that the US president’s clownishness and lack of ideology somehow make him less dangerous. They’re wrong

Over the past few weeks, a random kaleidoscope of images has been flashing through my head. Some are characters from movies not seen since childhood. Others are snippets from literature or iconic art. What joins them all is an exaggerated, almost kitschy evil.

These images seem to be standing in for the real carnage my brain is trying to process: the bodies pulled from the rubble in Gaza, a school full of young pupils blown apart in Iran. The more than 1 million people in southern Lebanon expelled en masse from their homes. (Alex in the film of A Clockwork Orange appears, eyes clamped open as liquid is dripped into them, unable to blink away what is scorching his vision.)

Nesrine Malik is a Guardian columnist

The Brave browser "has introduced Brave Origin, a stripped-down version of its browser that removes built-in monetization features like Rewards and other extras tied to its business model," writes Slashdot reader BrianFagioli" The stripped-down browser is available either as a separate browser download or as an upgrade to the existing Brave install, unlocked through a one-time purchase that can be activated across multiple devices. The idea is simple on paper: pay once, and you get a cleaner, more minimal browsing experience without the add-ons that fund Brave's ecosystem. What makes the move unusual is the pricing model itself. While paying to support a browser is not controversial, charging users specifically to remove features raises questions about whether those additions are seen as value or clutter. The situation gets even stranger on Linux, where Brave Origin is reportedly available at no cost, creating an uneven experience across platforms and leaving some users wondering why they are being asked to pay for something others get for free.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

The gunman is dead, and his brother-in-law said he was distraught in a recent conversation about his breakup. The Louisiana shooting was the country’s deadliest mass killing in two years.

Jubilation is turning to disenchantment as young activists arrested after protest calling for election date to be set

The arrest of several protesters in Madagascar has increased fears among young people that the military regime that took power last year after huge Gen Z demonstrations will be no better than the government it overthrew.

Four Gen Z activists, Herizo Andriamanantena, Miora Rakotomalala, Dina Randrianarisoa and Nomena Ratsihorimanana, were arrested on 12 April, one of their lawyers said, two days after taking part in a protest calling for an election date to be set.

I was a newcomer, negotiating all of the usual classroom difficulties for the first time. Throwing AI into the mix felt like downing a coffee in the middle of a panic attack

By Peter C Baker. Read by Adam Sims

Why America and China need ASEAN.

The Iran war has altered the Gulf’s balance of power—and the kingdom’s calculus.

At least eight children were killed and two adults wounded in a mass shooting in the Louisiana city of Shreveport, in what police called a 'domestic violence incident'. Chris Bordelon, the Shreveport police department spokesperson, said the suspect, Shamar Elkins, killed seven of his own children and wounded their mother, as well as killing another child. The victims ranged in age from one to about 12 years old. The mother and another woman were left in critical condition. Elkins died after a police pursuit.

• Mass shooting rampage in Louisiana leaves eight children dead and others wounded

The U.S. military said it launched another strike on a boat accused of ferrying drugs in the Caribbean Sea.

SpaceNews reports: Blue Origin's New Glenn suffered a malfunction of its second stage on the rocket's third flight April 19, stranding its payload in an unrecoverable "off-nominal" orbit and dealing the company a setback as it seeks to increase its flight rate... AST SpaceMobile had planned to launch 45 to 60 satellites this year for its D2D constellation, but BlueBird 7 is the first to launch since BlueBird 6 launched on an Indian LVM3 rocket in December. AST SpaceMobile still expects to have 45 satellites in orbit by the end of the year, the article notes. (In an earnings call in March, AST SpaceMobile's CEO had promised they'd soon start "stacking" satellites, "batched in groups of either three, four, six or eight in a single launch.") He'd added that "To support our launch cadence during 2026, we expect the New Glenn booster to be reused every 30 days or less..." There's some good news there, SpaceNews points out, since today saw the first successful reflight of a New Glenn first stage rocket: The booster, called "Never Tell Me The Odds" by Blue Origin, touched down on the company's landing platform, Jacklyn, in the Atlantic Ocean nearly nine and a half minutes after liftoff. The booster launched NASA's ESCAPADE Mars mission on the NG-2 flight in November. However, the booster reuse on NG-3 was only partial since the stage's biggest component, its BE-4 engines, was new. "With our first refurbished booster we elected to replace all seven engines and test out a few upgrades including a thermal protection system on one of the engine nozzles," Dave Limp, chief executive of Blue Origin, said in an April 13 social media post. "We plan to use the engines we flew for NG-2 on future flights." The satellite will now be "de-orbited", AST SpaceMobile said in a statement. (They added that "The cost of the satellite is expected to be recovered under the company's insurance policy.") Thanks to long-time Slashdot reader schwit1 for sharing the news.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Here are hints and answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle for April 20, No. 574.

Blaze struck a ‘water village’ that is home to some of Malaysia’s poorest residents

A huge fire destroyed about 1,000 makeshift homes, many of them built on stilts over water, and displaced thousands of people in a coastal village in Malaysia’s Sabah state on Sunday, authorities said.

The blaze broke out early on Sunday morning in a “water village” in Sandakan district in Sabah’s northeast, where some of Malaysia’s poorest residents, including indigenous and stateless communities, live in closely packed, wooden stilt houses.

FC Basel and Polish stadium stop US rapper’s upcoming shows, after similar cancellations in France and UK over antisemitic comments

Kanye West’s upcoming concerts in Poland and Switzerland have been cancelled, as a growing number of European countries have stopped or postponed the US rapper’s performances amid a furore over his past antisemitic comments.

Swiss football club FC Basel, which is responsible for concerts and events that take place at its St Jakob-Park ground, told Reuters on Saturday that after reviewing a request for West to perform there in June, it decided against it.

Tehran vowa to respond after USS Spruance fires on Iranian-flagged cargo ship allegedly running strait of Hormuz blockade. Key US politics stories from Sunday 19 April

America’s benchmark oil contract West Texas Intermediate (WTI) surged late on Sunday after Iran accused the US of having broken a ceasefire in place since early April.

WTI crude was trading up 7.5% at $90.17 per barrel by 8pm ET, while international oil benchmark Brent North Sea crude gained 6.%5 to $96.27 per barrel.

Catholics around Atlanta share mixed feelings on faith and politics as Trump engages in rhetorical war with pope

Alex Sullivan tended to his five children on the lawn after a traditional Latin mass at the Catholic church of Saint Monica in Duluth, Georgia, and contemplated his faith in the light of God and the shadow of Donald Trump.

Sullivan, a self-described conservative who once staffed a libertarian state representative at the Georgia capitol, described his faith as almost medieval.

Here are some hints and the answers for the NYT Connections puzzle for April 20, No. 1,044.

Here are hints and the answer for today's Wordle for April 20, No. 1,766.

Officers from the Iowa City Police Department heard gunfire while responding to a report of a large fight, the department said.

Trump says US navy ship fired on vessel that tried to get past blockade; Iran has pledged to keep strait of Hormuz closed until blockade is lifted

• Full report: Iran closes strait of Hormuz again ‘until US lifts blockade’

UN secretary-general António Guterres has strongly condemned the killing of a French peacekeeper and the wounding of three others in an attack in southern Lebanon, spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said in a statement to the Associated Press.

The UN peacekeeping force came under attack with small-arms fire on Saturday morning, with two of the injured hurt seriously, France’s president and the force known as UNIFIL said.

After 49 years of space travel, Voyager 1 "is running out of power," reports NPR: The spacecraft runs on a radioisotope thermoelectric generator — a device that converts heat from decaying plutonium into electricity. It carries no solar panels, no rechargeable batteries. Just the slow, steady release of nuclear warmth, which diminishes by about 4 watts each year. After nearly five decades, that decline has become critical. During a routine maneuver in late February, Voyager 1's power levels fell unexpectedly, bringing the probe dangerously close to triggering an automatic fault-protection shutdown — a self-preservation response that would have forced engineers into a lengthy and risky recovery process. The team needed to act first. On April 17, mission engineers sent a sequence of commands to deactivate the Low-energy Charged Particles experiment, known as the LECP, which is one of Voyager 1's remaining science instruments. The LECP has measured ions, electrons, and cosmic rays originating from both our solar system and the galaxy beyond it, helping scientists map the structure of interstellar space in a way no other instrument could... Voyager 1 now carries two operational science instruments: one that listens for plasma waves, and one that measures magnetic fields. Engineers believe the latest shutdown could buy the mission roughly another year of breathing room. The team is also developing a more sweeping power conservation plan they informally call "the Big Bang" — a coordinated swap of several powered components all at once, trading older systems for lower-power alternatives. If testing on Voyager 2, planned for May and June 2026, goes well, the same procedure will be attempted on Voyager 1 no sooner than July. If it works, there is even a slim chance the LECP could once more continue to work. The engineers say they hope to keep at least one instrument operating on each spacecraft into the 2030s. It would leave both still reporting from places no machine has ever gone before.111 Voyager 1 is now 15 billion miles from Earth, the article points out. (Radio signals take 23 hours to arrive...) Thanks to long-time Slashdot reader fahrbot-bot for sharing the article.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Shreveport police say suspect Shamar Elkins, who was fatally shot, killed seven of his children and injured their mother in a ‘domestic violence incident’

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At least eight children were killed, and two adults were wounded in a mass shooting in the Louisiana city of Shreveport, in what police called a “domestic violence incident”.

Chris Bordelon, the Shreveport police department spokesperson, said on Sunday evening that the suspect, Shamar Elkins, killed seven of his own children and wounded their mother, as well as killing another child.

Retail analysts say breaking up food and fashion group would make sense in challenging business environment

Primark may break free from Kingsmill, Twinings and the sugar business this week when Associated British Foods announces plans on a mooted demerger.

The potential split comes at a tricky time for the group controlled by the billionaire Weston family, with its fashion and food arms facing tough competition and rising costs.

The fate of the Iran war centers on highly enriched uranium, an essential ingredient for nuclear weapons. A post-Soviet-era operation that could inform a U.S. recovery mission in Iran.

Rachel Goldberg-Polin, mother of late American-Israeli hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin, has spent the past years reckoning with pain, grief and a feeling of failure.

When Hamas abducted her son Hersh, Rachel Goldberg-Polin became the face of the hostage crisis in Israel. Since his murder, she says she has learned that the constant pain of grief is a "badge of love."

Stewart Copeland, best known as the drummer with The Police, teamed up with naturalist Martyn Stewart for "Wild Concerto." Their album combines music with the sounds of animals.

Stewart Copeland, acclaimed drummer for The Police, teamed up with naturalist Martyn Stewart for a pioneering album featuring hyenas, owls, wolves and frogs.

The Police drummer gives Bill Whitaker a tour of his Los Angeles studio, where custom percussion, rare instruments, and nature-inspired sounds come together in his latest project, "Wild Concerto."

After Viktor Orban’s defeat in Hungary, Bulgaria offers Russia its next best bet as it seeks to retain influence inside the European Union.

Live Science spoke with physicist David Gross, who today received the $3 million "Special Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics". He was part of a trio that won the 2004 physics Nobel prize for research that helped complete the Standard Model of particle physics. But when asked if physics will reach a unified theory of the fundamental forces of nature within 50 years, Gross has a surprising answer. "Currently, I spend part of my time trying to tell people... that the chances of you living 50 [more] years are very small." Cold War estimates for a 1% chance of nuclear war each year seem low, Gross says. "The chances are more likely 2%. So that's a 1-in-50 chance every year." David Gross: The expected lifetime, in the case of 2% [per year], is about 35 years. [The expected lifetime is the average time it would take to have had a nuclear war by then. It is calculated using similar equations as those used to determine the "half-life" of a radioactive material.] Live Science: So what do you suggest as remedies to lower that risk? Gross: We had something called the Nobel Laureate Assembly for reducing the risk of nuclear war in Chicago last year. There are steps, which are easy to take — for nations, I mean. For example, talk to each other. In the last 10 years, there are no treaties anymore. We're entering an incredible arms race. We have three super nuclear powers. People are talking about using nuclear weapons; there's a major war going on in the middle of Europe; we're bombing Iran; India and Pakistan almost went to war. OK, so that's increased the chance [of nuclear war]. I would really like to have a solid estimate — it might be more, and I think I'm being conservative — but a 2% estimate [of nuclear war] in today's crazy world. Live Science: Do you think we'll ever get to a place where we get rid of nuclear weapons? Gross: We're not recommending that. That's idealistic, but yes, I hope so. Because if you don't, there's always some risk an AI 100 years from now [could launch nuclear weapons], but chances of [humanity] living, with this estimate, 100 years, is very small, and living 200 years is infinitesimal. So [the answer to] Fermi's question of "Where are the civilizations, all the intelligent organisms around the galaxy, and why don't they talk to us?" is that they've killed themselves... There are now nine nuclear powers. Even three is infinitely more complicated than two. The agreements, the norms between countries, are all falling apart. Weapons are getting crazier. Automation, and perhaps even AI, will be in control of those instruments pretty soon... It's going to be very hard to resist making AI make decisions because it acts so fast. He points out that with the threat of climate change, "people have done something," even though "It's a much harder argument to make than about nuclear weapons. "We made them; we can stop them." Thanks to hwstar (Slashdot reader #35,834) for sharing the article.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Federal prosecutor says woman is suspected of dealing weapons to Africa on behalf of Iranian government

A California woman was arrested at Los Angeles international airport after allegedly trafficking weapons on behalf of the Iranian government to contacts in Africa, including Sudan.

Shamim Mafi, 44, of Woodland Hills was detained on Saturday night by federal agents, according to the top federal prosecutor in Los Angeles.

• New York had 1-0 lead in ninth before losing 2-1

• Mets swept for a third series in a row

The New York Mets are finding that money doesn’t necessarily bring happiness. The second-most expensive team in MLB – with a payroll of $381m – lost their 11th game in a row on Sunday as they were swept for a third straight series, this time by the Chicago Cubs.

“Eleven losses, that’s a lot, whether it’s in April or at any point in the season,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said after the game. “Nobody’s going to feel sorry for us. We’ve got to find a way.”

A woman is charged with vehicular homicide after allegedly driving drunk and causing a crash that killed a Newark man Saturday afternoon.

Reported response comes hours after Trump announced delegation to Islamabad, having earlier threatened to raze Iran’s infrastructure

• Middle East crisis – live updates

Tehran is not currently planning to take part in new talks with the US, Iran state media reported on Sunday evening, hours after Donald Trump said he was dispatching negotiators to Islamabad.

“There are currently no plans to participate in the next round of Iran-US talks,” state broadcaster IRIB said, citing Iranian sources.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney​ said in a video address​ released Sunday that Canada's strong economic ties to the United States were once a strength but are now a weakness that must be corrected.

Exclusive: deputy PM says UK will not join Iran conflict despite Trump’s sometimes ‘incomprehensible’ social-media barbs

Donald Trump’s insults towards Keir Starmer are “small and petty” and designed to put pressure on the prime minister to change his position on Iran, David Lammy has said, as he insisted the UK would not get dragged into the conflict.

The deputy prime minister argued the US president should be able to “disagree agreeably” with allies rather than publishing attacks on social media, and that US actions had “made things worse, not better” as far as global instability was concerned.

In October and through November, America's EV sales reached their lowest point since 2022 after government subsidies expired, remembers Time. "But first-quarter data for 2026 shows that used EV sales were 12% higher than the same time last year and 17% higher than the previous quarter. "One factor likely helping push buyers toward these cars is high gas prices, which recently topped $4.00 a gallon for the first time in four years," they write — but it's not just in the U.S. Instead, they argue the conflict "is driving a global surge of interest in electric vehicles..." In the U.K., electric car sales reached a record high, with 86,120 vehicles sold in March... The French online used-car retailer Aramisauto reported its share of EV sales nearly doubled from February 16 to March 9, rising to 12.7% from 6.5%, while sales of fueled models dropped to 28% of sales from 34%, and sales of diesel models dropped to 10% from 14%. Germany's largest online car market, mobile.de, told Reuters that the share of EV searches on its website has tripled since the start of March — from 12% to 36%, with car dealers receiving 66% more enquiries for used EVs than in February. South Korea reported that registrations for electric vehicles more than doubled in March compared to the prior year, due in part to rising fuel prices and government subsidies... In New Zealand, more than 1,000 EVs were registered in the week that ended on March 22, close to double the week before, making it the country's biggest week for electric vehicle registrations since the end of 2023, according to the country's Transport Minister, Chris Bishop. In America, Bloomberg also reports 605 high-speed EV charging stations switched on in just the first three months of 2025, "a 34% increase over the year-earlier period," according to their analysis of federal data. A data platform focused on EV infrastructure tells Bloomberg that speedier and more reliable chargers are convincing more drivers to go electric and use public plugs.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

The launching appeared to go off without a hitch, but a problem prevented the rocket's upper stage from putting its payload into the correct orbit.

Prime minister to deliver high-stakes statement to MPs over vetting controversy that has put his position in peril

Keir Starmer will deliver a high-stakes statement to MPs on Monday as he struggles to overcome fears inside his government that the Peter Mandelson vetting scandal could yet cost him his leadership.

In what is set to be a dramatic showdown, the prime minister will set out how Mandelson was able to take up his role as UK ambassador without the Foreign Office revealing it had overruled the decision to fail his vetting.

The following is the transcript of the interview with Amos Hochstein, Biden administration senior energy adviser and Middle East negotiator, that aired on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" on April 19, 2026.

On this "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" broadcast, U.N. Ambassador Mike Waltz and former Attorney General Eric Holder join Margaret Brennan.

Luke Grimes leads the Yellowstone sequel.

Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana, a long supporter of Trump, says president’s feud with the pope is a ‘distraction’

A Republican lawmaker has condemned what he refers to as Donald Trump’s “holy war” against Pope Leo XIV.

Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana, a long supporter of Trump and the ultraconservative Maga movement, condemned the president’s attacks on the pope during a Fox News interview on Saturday.

U.N. Ambassador Mike Waltz said Sunday that the U.S. is "never going to take an approach of trust" with Iran as U.S. officials are set to head to Islamabad for a second round of talks this week.

After finding inconclusive answers online, I reached out to an air fryer manufacturer and pro chefs to see if it's possible to make popcorn in an air fryer.

NBC News reports on a 16-person clinical trial of "personalized messenger RNA vaccines" which use the immune system to fight cancer cells. "The goal is not to eliminate existing tumors, but instead to stamp out lingering, undetected cancer cells, and later any new cells that form before they can cause a recurrence." Patients still have surgery to remove tumors. After that, the mRNA vaccines are personalized for each individual using genetic material taken from their unique tumor cells. In the clinical trial, after getting the vaccine, the patients also received chemotherapy, which is standard post-op treatment for operable pancreatic cancer... [The article notes that less than 13% of people diagnosed with pancreatic cancer live for more than five years, making it "one of the deadliest cancers."] [E]xperts have long believed that people with pancreatic cancer could not generate an immune response against tumors. But after nine doses of the personalized vaccine, [clinical trial participant Donna] Gustafson is one of eight people in the 16-person Phase 1 trial who did just that, producing an army of immune cells called T cells that seek out and destroy tumor cells... [Dr. Vinod Balachandran, a vaccine center director who is leading the trial, said] it was unclear whether the immune response would last and lead to the patients living longer... New data collected during the trial's six-year follow-up period shows that it may. Those findings will be presented Monday at the American Association for Cancer Research's annual meeting in San Diego. Six years after treatment, Gustafson and six others who responded to the treatment are still alive... More research is still needed. Genentech and BioNTech, the two drugmakers behind the vaccine, have already launched a larger Phase 2 clinical trial... Another team is working on an off-the-shelf vaccine that targets a protein called KRAS that is present in as many as 90% of pancreatic cancers. In a small, early trial, about 85% of the participants mounted an immune response to the protein.

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Ahead of a showdown with MPs, prime minister looks like a man who is not really in control in his own government

Keir Starmer has spent much of the last 24 hours working on a plan for what senior government figures are already describing as his “judgment day”: his showdown with MPs on Monday over the latest Peter Mandelson revelations.

That the prime minister was apparently not told of Mandelson’s vetting failure has provoked incredulity across Westminster and accusations he sacked a senior civil servant to save his premiership.

Take Back Power, which targets the super-rich, says seven members were arrested at a training session

Seven people from an activist group calling for higher taxes on the super-rich have been arrested by police on suspicion of conspiracy to steal.

Police confirmed that six women and one man were detained in Salford, Greater Manchester, on Sunday over what they said was a coordinated plan to steal from high-end stores.

US president’s unreliable style sows diplomatic confusion but leaves Tehran clear on strategic value of strait of Hormuz

Donald Trump’s decision to send US officials to Islamabad for further talks on Monday with Iran just 24 hours after Iran once again closed the strait of Hormuz will signal to Tehran that the strategic waterway remains a bargaining asset beyond parallel.

It will also confirm in Iran’s eyes that the US president’s chaotic approach to diplomacy doubles the need for Tehran to act calmly and strategically – two competencies it believes he totally lacks.

The following is the transcript of the interview with Obama administration Attorney General Eric Holder that aired on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" on April 19, 2026.

"Motorola has filed a lawsuit in India against social media platforms and content creators," reports TechCrunch, "over posts it alleges are defamatory..." The lawsuit, filed in a Bengaluru court and obtained by TechCrunch, names platforms such as X, YouTube, and Instagram along with dozens of content creators, and seeks takedown of the content as well as broader restraint on what it describes as false or defamatory material related to the company's devices. In its over 60-page filing, Motorola has sought a permanent injunction restraining the defendants from publishing or sharing what it describes as false or defamatory content about its products, including reviews, videos, comments, and boycott campaigns. The complaint cites hundreds of posts across platforms, including videos alleging device issues and phones catching fire. But it is also targeting unfavorable product reviews and user commentary that the company alleges are false or defamatory. In a statement after publication, a Motorola spokesperson said it had initiated legal action "in the interest of public safety" against what it described as demonstrably false claims that its devices had exploded or caught fire. One online creator told TechCrunch "they expect more such legal action in the future, as evolving rules around online content increase liability for creators and platforms — a trend reflected in recently proposed changes to India's IT rules aimed at tightening oversight of online content." A Motorola spokesperson "said the company did not seek to suppress legitimate reviews or criticism and was reviewing the scope of the proceedings, adding that it apologized to creators affected inadvertently."

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U.K. counterterrorism police are investigating a spate of arson attacks against Jewish sites in London.

EMILY BRADY
Staff Reporter

As soon as I heard about a new romcom with Elizabeth Olsen, Miles Teller and Callum Turner being released, I knew I’d have to tune in. I was even more intrigued when I saw it was an A24 film, which have impressed me in the past. 

I had seen the trailer briefly during the previews of a different film I was seeing in theaters, but I couldn’t remember much. I actually hadn’t seen much about it on any social media platform. Of course, after I watched it, it quickly showed up on my For You Page with tons of videos about it. 

When I first went to watch it, I didn’t really know what to expect. I usually know more of the premise when first going to see a movie. Yet, all I knew was the actors in it, that it was a love triangle and that it had to do with the afterlife, as stated in the title. I liked going into it without any spoilers or knowledge of major plotlines. 

The film opens with an older couple in the car, driving to their great-granddaughter’s gender reveal for her baby. At first, you might think, “What does this have to do with the movie?” when you think you are entering an Elizabeth Olsen movie. But it all makes sense as you keep watching.

There were a lot more twists and turns in this film than I anticipated! As you may assume from a romcom with one woman and two men, you think, of course, she has to choose one of them by the end. But it was much more complex than that. You are taken on a rollercoaster of emotions with Olsen’s character, Joan. 

I adored Joan’s character arc and how much she grew throughout the film. She learned a lot about herself and figured out what she wanted. Her acting was phenomenal, as well as both the male actors. 

Teller’s character, Larry, was a standout. I was so ready to watch him because I’m a big fan of his past projects. He’s such a talented actor and had me laughing out loud at many points throughout the movie. Also, two of the side characters, known as the “ACs” (you’ll find out what that means when you watch), were the perfect additions to this cast and were so hilarious together. 

Turner, in his role as Luke, was also outstanding. He was cast perfectly. The difference between the two men made the story so interesting. Luke was the “picture perfect” guy. Larry was more of an ordinary guy. 

Each character in this film was complex in their own way. As a viewer, you side with different characters at different points in the story, that’s what makes the movie so beautiful.

No matter what your beliefs are about the afterlife or what happens after you pass away, this film puts an interesting twist on the whole concept. I felt there were similarities to other popular media, like “The Good Place” and “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.” There was a perfect balance between the film’s deep concept, while staying lighthearted. 

Overall, I really loved this film. I was actually sad when it was over because I didn’t want it to end. It was the perfect combination of serious, funny, sad and heartwarming. I may have shed a tear, or many, especially with the ending. 

It’s extremely emotional and gets you thinking about the true meaning of love. I definitely will give it a rewatch sometime soon — and highly recommend you go watch this film and bring tissues.

Former Trump Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams described Dr. Erica Schwartz as a "home run pick."

"Nevada quietly signed an agreement earlier this year with a company that collects location data from cellphones, allowing police to track a device virtually in real time," reports the Associated Press. "All without a warrant." The software from Fog Data Science, adopted this January in Nevada through a Department of Public Safety contract, pulls information from smartphone apps in order to let state investigators identify the location of mobile devices. The state is allowed more than 250 queries a month using the tool, which allows officers to track a device's location over long stretches of time and enables them to see what Fog calls "patterns of life," according to company documents from 2022. It can help them deduce where and when people work and live, with whom they associate and what places they visit, according to privacy experts... Traditionally, police must obtain a warrant from a judge to access cellphone location information — a process that can take days or weeks. And while cellphone users may be aware that they are sharing their location through apps such as Google Maps, critics say few are aware that such information can make its way to police... Other agencies in Nevada have been known to use technology similar to Fog. In 2013, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department acquired something known as a cell-site simulator that mimics cellphone towers and can sweep up signals from entire areas to track individuals, with some models capable of intercepting texts and calls. Police have not released detailed information about the technology since then. "Police in other states have said the technology (and its low price tag) has helped expand investigatory capacity," the article adds. But it also points out that Fog Data Science has a web page letting individuals opt out of all their data sets.

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One person was killed after a Cessna plane crashed into the yard of a home near Tampa, Florida, on Sunday morning.

Former US president and New York mayor read to a group of children and led a sing-along at a Bronx childcare center

Barack Obama met with Zohran Mamdani for the first time on Saturday at a childcare center where the former Democratic US president and mayor of New York City read to preschoolers and led a sing-along.

The meeting comes as Mamdani, a democratic socialist who marked his 100th day in office just over a week earlier, is also trying to build a working relationship with Donald Trump – Obama’s Republican presidential successor.

Don't let dusty old tech clutter your space. Here's how and where you can dispose of it for free.

Chris Wright says ‘I don’t know’ when asked about lower cost of gas as average price soars to $4 a gallon in US

Chris Wright, the Trump administration’s energy secretary, acknowledged on Sunday that it might not be until 2027 before US gas prices come back under $3 a gallon.

Asked by Jake Tapper, the CNN State of the Union host, when he thought “it’s realistic for Americans to expect the gas will go back to under $3 a gallon”, Wright replied: “I don’t know. That could happen later this year. That might not happen until next year.”

kriston (Slashdot reader #7,886) writes: HP Anyware, the new name of the Teradici PCoIP remote desktop solution that was acquired by HP in 2021, is being discontinued. "Maintenance and support for customers and partners with multi-year terms will continue until 31 October, 2029," a href="https://anyware.hp.com/hp-anyware-end-of-life">according to HP's announcement. But HP is also announcing the planned End of Life for Anyware Trust Center and Trusted Zero Clients, with support now limited to setup and troubleshooting, no new updates or patches, and support ending in a little over six months on October 31, 2026. While for Desktop Access customers — Tera2 Zero Clients and PCoIP Management Console — "the previously announced EOL date remains December 31, 2029," sales have already ended for other customers. HP Anyware renewals are available for purchase through October 31 of 2027, but with a maximum one year term, with support ending October 31, 2028. HP says the decision "enables us to focus our resources on product categories where we can deliver the greatest customer value and drive long-term innovation."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Shamim Mafi, 44 of Woodland Hills, is accused of brokering sales of bombs, drones and other items manufactured by Iran to Sudan.

Ahead of December's release of Avengers: Doomsday, Disney has unveiled "Infinity Vision," reports Kotaku, which they describe as "a new theater-going experience that will be certain to transform your pedestrian $15 night out into an exotic $43 one." (Though those prices appear to be estimates...) Disney's announcement calls it "a new certification for premium large format (PLF) theaters," helping ticket-buyers find "a huge screen with the sharpest, clearest color and sound," including laser projection "for superior brightness and clarity ") and "premium audio formats for fully immersive sound". Light on specifics, Disney says they will be certifying premium large format theaters for the Infinity Vision experience, highlighting laser projection and immersive audio quality. The new program will begin in the summer for a theater run of 2019's Avengers: Endgame ahead of Doomsday's holiday release. Now you might be thinking: Giant screen? Booming audio? That sounds an awful lot like IMAX. The most consumer-recognized premium movie-going screen is the coveted throne for big blockbuster events, from Avatar to One Battle After Another. Unfortunately for Doomsday, IMAX screens are already booked for the holiday season by Dune: Part Three, the anticipated return to Arrakis, where Timothée Chalamet's Muad'Dib will begin to go worm-mode. Locked out of the popular choice for doubling your ticket price, Disney appears to have made up a new one... Disney says they aim to certify 75 theaters in the United States and 300 internationally for the Infinity Vision program.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

The renewable energy company Panthalassa says it has a solution to the proliferation of AI data centers, which consume massive amounts of energy and are the cause of increased carbon pollution: sea-based data centers, powered by wave energy.

Deputy leader ran shell companies that reportedly did not pay tax on profits from 2020 to 2022, during which time his firm donated £1.1m to party

Richard Tice allegedly failed to pay almost £100,000 in corporation tax to the benefit of his investment company, which in turn made donations to Reform UK, it has been reported.

In response to the report in the Sunday Times, the deputy leader of Reform UK posted a lengthy statement on X, in which he said: “A long career with multiple businesses is bound to feature some errors. Naturally I am always happy to put things right and if numbers need rechecking, of course I will pay what is owed – be that more or less.”

Met police looking into whether series of arson attacks against Jewish sites were carried out by Iranian proxies

The chief rabbi has said Jews in the UK are facing a “sustained campaign of violence and intimidation” after another attempted arson attack on a synagogue in London.

The incident at Kenton united synagogue in Harrow, north-west London, on Saturday night caused minor smoke damage to an internal room but no injuries or significant structural damage, according to the Community Security Trust, which monitors antisemitism and provides protection for Jewish communities in the UK.

The celebrated actors are both making their Broadway debuts in a revival of David Auburn's Tony- and Pulitzer Prize-winner "Proof," about a brilliant mathematics professor with mental-health issues, and his daughter with issues of her own.

After deadly 2023 fires, recent storms and ICE raids, Lahaina residents are determined to rebuild the town for their community

In March, Hawaii was hit with two back-to-back storms, bringing the worst flooding it’s seen in 20 years. In Lahaina, Maui, muddy flood waters turned streets into rivers and carved new paths through the barren landscape, breaking open roads and flooding houses. In their wake, sinkholes appeared, engulfing cars.

This is nearly three years after the deadliest wildfires in US history ravaged Lahaina, destroying more than 2,000 structures and killing more than 100 people. Hundreds of affected households are still in temporary housing. Poverty, unemployment and housing instability, rife before the fires, have only worsened.

A new installment of show starring Zendaya, Sydney Sweeney and Jacob Elordi hits HBO Max tonight.

About 422 indie bookshops opened in 2025, up 31%, defying predictions of retail consolidation

For years now, we have heard that Amazon and the big chains are crushing small businesses, but independent bookstores are suddenly making a comeback.

About 422 new indie bookshops opened in 2025, according to the American Booksellers Association, a 31% rise from 2024. Countless independent restaurants, coffee shops, fitness centers, movie theaters, clothing stores and other small businesses also continue to thrive even in this era of ever-bigger retailers, fast-casual restaurants and massive e-commerce platforms.

As truck traffic increases, government and industry haven't been able to stop thousands of so-called "chameleon carriers," with deadly consequences.

No deaths reported after latest round of severe weather in the region as officials brace residents for long recovery

A trail of damaged homes and buildings dotted a wide swath of the US on Saturday after a burst of destructive winds and reported tornadoes tore off roofs, uprooted trees and rendered rural roads impassable with debris.

No deaths were reported after Friday’s storms, which barreled through the upper midwest and delivered the latest round of severe weather to batter the region. Officials braced residents for a long recovery in some rural communities.

Kirk Moore, who was shot while disarming the attacker, received the honor at Pauls Valley high school on Friday

Students at an Oklahoma high school crowned their principal prom king after he charged, disarmed and was shot by an armed intruder at their campus.

Kirk Moore, the Pauls Valley high school principal, received the honor on Friday night after his students voted to honor him for having defended them.

George Nakashima (1905-1990), considered a giant of 20th century furniture design, was a leader of the American craft movement. His legacy continues through his daughter, Mira, who took the reins of the company he founded, Nakashima Woodworkers.

Police say 29-year-old arrested on suspicion of attempted murder and drink driving after collision on Soho street

A woman has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after a car hit pedestrians in central London in the early hours of Sunday morning.

A woman in her 30s is in hospital in a critical condition and a man in his 50s suffered life-changing injuries after they were hit by a car in Argyll Street, Westminster, at about 4.30am on Sunday, the Metropolitan police said.

Giorgia Meloni’s far-right government to ask MPs to back controversial voluntary repatriation scheme

Italian lawyers will be paid bonuses if they successfully convince their immigrant clients to return home under a government plan that has been compared to a “wild west-style bounty”.

The incentive is in the latest security bill from Giorgia Meloni’s far-right government and goes to the lower house of parliament for final approval this week. It was passed by the upper house after fiery debate.

Following President Trump's promise of mass deportations of undocumented immigrants, more than 200 immigration judges have been fired, forced out or retired, and are being replaced by what are advertised as "deportation judges."

• Winning robot runs faster time than Jacob Kiplimo’s world record

• More than 100 robots run in parallel tracks to avoid collisions with humans

They can already carry the shopping, cook and clean. Now they can run and win half marathons.

In perhaps the most unusual spectacle ever seen at the end of the 13.1-mile (21.1km) race, robots flew over the finish line ahead of the humans for the first time in Beijing on Sunday. And there wasn’t a bead of sweat in sight.

The Dane County Sheriff's office said a "significant" number of people were arrested at the Ridglan Farms facility, which has accused of constant abuse, specifically towards beagles. The facility denies the accusations.

Agreements would aim to shield British industry from new steel tariffs and stricter rules on electric vehicles due in 2027

Downing Street hopes to secure deals on steel and electric cars with the EU as it seeks to upgrade the post-Brexit economic relationship.

Amid economic uncertainty caused by the conflict in the Middle East and strains in relations with the US, Keir Starmer is seeking closer economic ties with the EU.

A Maine lawsuit has suddenly become the most significant anti-corruption battle inside America’s legal system

Slush funds of anonymous unregulated money are now the dominant institutions in American politics, converting our elections into auctions – and transforming the legislative process into a donor bidding war.

In the last election, independent expenditure groups spent more money than the total amount spent by all congressional candidates combined. One in every $5 flowing through a Super Pac came from organizations that do not disclose their donors. In all, $2bn of “independent” spending was dark money, meaning the public cannot see who is buying elections – even though politicians know exactly who they owe once they are in office.

Book from Josh Owens tells of punishing work for far-right conspiracy theorist who, far from silenced, broadcasts on

Donald Trump gave the rightwing media provocateurs Tucker Carlson, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Megyn Kelly, Candace Owens and Alex Jones a shoutout this week, calling them “Low IQs”, “stupid people”, and “LOSERS”.

Jones hit back, saying Trump was “committing political suicide on purpose” and had made a deal to sabotage the midterms. America, Jones said, “is now under the control of a foreign government” and encouraged followers “to fly their flags upside down, because our nation is in distress!”

It's a blockbuster top-of-the-table clash at the Etihad Stadium.

HSBC, Barclays, Lloyds, NatWest and Santander will this week discuss with chancellor how to limit effects of conflict

• Middle East crisis – live updates

The bosses of Britain’s “big five” retail banks have been summoned to a meeting with the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, this week to discuss how to limit the economic impact of the crisis in the Middle East triggered by the US and Israel’s attacks on Iran.

The chief executives of HSBC, Barclays, Lloyds, NatWest and Santander have been asked to attend an emergency summit on Wednesday, amid increasing acceptance that a major economic hit from the Iran war is unavoidable.

The BASE experiment at CERN has figured out how to transport antimatter by truck, enabling scientists to study antimatter in greater detail without interference from CERN's giant magnets.

Trump appears to have crossed a line with his Christian supporters. Will it come back to bite him in the midterms?

Donald Trump’s depiction of himself as Jesus Christ and recent spat with Pope Leo XIV could come back to bite him and the Republican party in the midterm elections, according to experts, with some newly aggrieved Christian groups set to play an outsized role in key races across the US.

The president’s Trump-as-the-Messiah Truth Social post sparked immediate criticism among some Christians, including some on the right. Trump, 79, said he thought the AI image of him administering an ethereal light to a stricken man’s head as translucent figures descended from the heavens represented him as a doctor.

The primal human experience of gazing into an unblemished cosmos is vanishing, being replaced by a dense, industrial field of 15,000 orbiting satellites with plans for half a million more by 2040.

These settings can help make sure your iPhone alerts you to unwanted location trackers.

The Associated Press looks at the small-but-growing "rebellion" against attention-hogging devices, citing "a growing body of literature calling for people to move away from screens and pay attention to life." D. Graham Burnett is a historian of science at Princeton University and one of the authors of " Attensity! A Manifesto of the Attention Liberation Movement," making him a pillar of the growing backlash against the corporate harvesting of human attention. Along with MS NOW host Chris Hayes' bestselling " The Sirens' Call: How Attention Became the World's Most Endangered Resource," his work is part of a growing body of literature calling for people to move away from screens and pay attention to life. Burnett says the "attention liberation movement" is about throwing off the yoke of time-sucking apps. People "need to rewild their attention. Their attention is the fullness of their relationship to the world".... There are several dozen "attention activism" groups across the United States and Canada, and the movement has also cropped up in Spain, Italy, Croatia, France and England. Burnett said he expects it to spread further. Some examples cited in the article: "More than a dozen millennials gathered in a brownstone apartment in Brooklyn and placed their phones in a metal colander before two hours of reading, drawing and conversation." A few miles away "Nearly 20 people in their 30s stared at their cellphones for a few minutes. Then they set them down and looked at their bared palms for a while. Then those of their neighbors." Thanks to long-time Slashdot reader destinyland for sharing the article.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Plus all the details on new rides, lands, shows and more in Disneyland, Disney World and beyond.

Actor who worked with the great French auteurs in the 1970s and 80s and starred in Spielberg’s Catch Me if You Can died of Lewy body dementia, says family

The French film star Nathalie Baye, who starred in a string of highly regarded French films as well as Steven Spielberg’s Catch Me If You Can, has died at the age of 77, her family said on Saturday.

Baye, a stalwart of France’s domestic cinema, starred in about 80 films and took home the best actress César, France’s equivalent of the Oscars, four times, including three years running from 1981 to 1983. She died on Friday evening at her home in Paris from Lewy body dementia, her family told AFP.

Jeremy Hansen praised for speaking French in space after Air Canada chief’s linguistic snub exposed tensions and drew rebuke from PM

Few people foresaw humanity’s quest for the moon as accurately as the 19th-century French author Jules Verne, whose two works –From the Earth to the Moon and Around the Moon – anticipated many of the features of modern lunar exploration.

But Verne’s language had never been spoken in deep space until the Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen uttered four words during Nasa’s recent Artemis II mission.

Americans having fewer kids plus an ageing population could be a recipe for disaster that further erodes social stability

Remember environmentalist Paul Ehrlich’s 1960s-vintage prediction about how overpopulation would deplete the Earth’s resources and condemn millions to starvation? His Malthusian condemnation of humanity’s voracious appetite has kept a grip on the debate over the future of the planet, even scaring the young out of having children.

Ehrlich was wrong. Yet as we have come around to the thought that overpopulation won’t kill us all, we are being walloped by another demographic emergency: we are not having too many kids, we are having too few. This problem is real.

People won’t join us just because we’re right. They’ll join if we make them feel like they belong

“Settle your quarrels, come together, and understand the reality of our situation. Understand that fascism is already here, that people are already dying that could be saved, that generations more will live poor, butchered lives if you fail to act. Do what must be done, discover your humanity and your love in revolution.”

George Jackson wrote these prophetic words more than 50 years ago. At that time, he and his comrades were enduring unimaginable violence inside California’s prisons – a microcosm of the fascism already alive in the United States.

Show up, even when it’s uncomfortable.

Talk to people whose politics aren’t perfect.

Work with those still in process because they, too, have revolutionary potential.

Refuse to turn on the people closest to us and focus on the real enemy.

Pugilistic presence has laid waste to civil rights decision – her take-no-prisoners approach has alarmed legal experts but earned president’s plaudits

When Donald Trump abruptly fired Pam Bondi earlier this month, he made it clear that an unmistakable priority for the justice department would be using the nation’s top law enforcement agency to seek retribution against his political rivals.

For months, Trump pressured Bondi to move ahead with prosecutions against James Comey, Letitia James, Adam Schiff and other rivals, even publicly venting his frustration with Bondi in October. The justice department eventually did secure indictments against Comey and James, but the cases later collapsed. Trump fired Bondi on 2 April, reportedly because he was angered by the department’s lack of progress in prosecuting enemies. Todd Blanche, the acting attorney general, has since said Trump has the “right” to direct investigations at the justice department.

After months of investigation, the singer was arrested on Thursday in a shocking case that has gripped Los Angeles

The tragic case of Celeste Rivas Hernandez, the teenager found dead in the trunk of a Tesla belonging to the alt-pop singer D4vd, has gripped Los Angeles for more than half a year.

The death of the missing middle schooler, and the nature of her ties to the up-and-coming musician, sparked extensive media coverage and speculation online. But aside from grim details released after the discovery of the 14-year-old’s body in September, authorities in LA said relatively little about their investigation.

The 16-inch laptop is also impossibly thin and light for its performance and screen size.

Perhaps the most relevant game for the ChatGPT era.

Purple state that recently elected Democratic governor will now choose whether to replace existing voting maps with ones that favor Democrats

Nearly three months to the day after his term as Virginia’s governor ended, Republican Glenn Youngkin stood in an unshaded corner of an office parking lot to warn dozens of conservative activists that they were in the midst of “the most important election” in the commonwealth’s 237-year history.

The question before the voters casting ballots at an early voting precinct a few yards away in the city of Leesburg ahead of Tuesday’s special election was whether to temporarily set aside Virginia’s congressional maps intended to advantage neither party and replace them with a new version that could allow Democrats to win all but one seat in the 11-member delegation in the November midterm elections.

Ending U.S. military aid to Israel is now the mainstream position among Democratic leaders.

In a historic Senate vote on Wednesday, all but seven members of the Democratic caucus voted for at least one of two resolutions to block the sale of bombs and bulldozers to Israel’s military. Other prominent Democrats and potential 2028 presidential candidates, including Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y.; Ro Khanna, D-Calif.; and former Obama aide Rahm Emanuel have recently said the U.S. should halt all military aid to Israel for offensive and so-called defensive weapons. 

The idea of steering public funding to those responsible for the genocide in Gaza has plummeted in popularity, with polls consistently show a majority of Americans now oppose sending weapons to Israel. As Americans struggle with affordability amid the joint U.S.–Israel war on Iran, skepticism about military aid for Israel has only grown.

Yet amid this shift, a quieter debate is stirring in the American left over how far Democrats should go in blocking weapons to Israel. 

For anti-Zionist organizers, the goal has long been a total arms embargo. That wouldn’t just bring to an end U.S. public spending to support Israel’s military, but would also halt the commercial sale of weapons from U.S. companies to Israel’s government. Advocates for the embargo, which includes Reps. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich.; Summer Lee, D-Pa.; and Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., view the policy as the most effective means in halting Israel’s genocide of Palestinians in Gaza and its human rights abuses in the West Bank, Lebanon, and Iran. Doing so, they say, would bring the U.S. into compliance with its own laws governing weapons transfers and human rights.

Related

The Dam Breaks: Democratic Senators Overwhelmingly Reject Arms Sales to Israel

Meanwhile, pro-Israel Democrats are beginning to speak out about holding Israel accountable for its abuses, but seek narrower arms restrictions that would still allow commercial weapons sales as a means to maintain Israel’s friendly relationship with the U.S. 

On Monday, J Street, an influential liberal Zionist lobbying group, released a memo outlining a significant shift in policy. Echoing growing demands to end Israel’s “blank check support from the United States,” J Street is urging legislators to instead make the Israeli government pay for U.S. weapons using its own funds. 

It’s a major departure for the self-described “pro-Israel, pro-peace” group, which had previously opposed a ceasefire in Gaza and backed Israel’s aggression in Gaza in the early months of the genocide. Since November 2024, J Street has supported a series of Senate resolutions introduced by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. meant to block weapons transfers, including Wednesday’s joint resolutions of disapproval. But those measures focused on halting only the transfer of offensive weapons to Israel, such as bombs and firearms. J Street’s new policy memo calls for an end to government spending on both offensive and so-called defensive weapons, or missile interceptor systems, which power Israel’s Iron Dome. It’s a position that until recent months even Ocasio-Cortez and Khanna had not embraced.

Citing existing U.S. law, J Street’s memo calls for an end to providing Israel $3.3 billion in State Department funds to purchase U.S. weapons, along with $500 million earmarked within the Department of Defense for anti-missile systems.

“What we want to be doing is laying the groundwork for the next president to have the political backing to do the right thing to implement the right policies when they come into office in 2029,” Hannah Morris, vice president of government affairs for J Street, told The Intercept.

J Street’s position runs short of a complete arms embargo in that it would still allow Israel to purchase interceptor weaponry from U.S. companies. The group said the exception for anti-missile systems is meant to protect civilians in Israel. Critics say Israel’s defense systems enable the country to carry out its expanding wars in the Middle East without consequence. In addition, the new J Street memo calls for the U.S. to maintain “a strong security partnership with Israel,” including the sharing of intelligence and collaborating on researching and developing new military equipment when mutually beneficial to American interests. “They cannot become a backdoor for continued US subsidies to Israeli defense,” J Street wrote in its memo. 

J Street acknowledged its new position is partly intended to address the growing antipathy toward Israel among Americans. A Pew Research Center poll from earlier this month showed that a record high 60 percent of American adults have an unfavorable view of Israel, including 80 percent of all Democrats aged 18 and older and more than half of all younger Republicans. 

“Part of having this policy is to remove some of the discomfort that some of the American population has with the exceptionality of the relationship” between the U.S. and Israel, Morris said. “And that can lower the temperature or lack of sympathy for the Israelis versus Palestinians.” 

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When Anti-War Candidates Become War-Monger Presidents

Advocates for a total arms embargo view J Street’s evolution as a sign of mounting pressure amid the swing in American public opinion. “That did not just happen out of the blue,” said Beth Miller, policy director for Jewish Voice for Peace Action.“It’s the result of movement organizing for years and years.”

Some arms embargo supporters questioned the timing of J Street’s new position and whether it will hinder efforts to halt Israel’s expansionist wars. Yousef Munayyer, a longtime advocate of a total arms embargo on Israel, wondered whether the J Street memo could offer political cover for certain Democrats seeking to thread the needle by taking a stance against Israel’s abuses without suffering blowback from pro-Israel constituents.

Instead, Munayyer, who heads the Palestine/Israel Program at Arab Center Washington D.C., said now is not the moment to give up ground. “There has never been a more defensible moment for Democrats to take such a position on an arms embargo, and it seems completely unnecessary for this hyper-calibrated messaging,” he said, referring to J Street’s policy position. “Maybe in a couple of districts and a couple of states, it may be useful, but in the broader sense the public has moved on, especially in the Democratic base.”

Disagreement between J Street and Palestinian rights organizers is not new in Washington. Some advocates for Palestine continue to condemn the group for opposing a ceasefire resolution in 2023, which opponents say helped pave the way for Israel’s genocide. Even before Israel’s war on Gaza, the group has been criticized for not taking strong enough positions on blocking weapons to Israel, including a bill in 2021 that sought to prohibit Israel from using U.S. aid to demolish Palestinian homes and annex Palestinian land in the West Bank. While J Street endorsed the bill, the group drew criticism from Palestinian rights groups who claim it didn’t do enough to drum up support with rank-and-file Democratic members. 

Morris said arms embargo advocates who are critical of J Street’s new policy memo “want to go from zero to one hundred in a way that I think is not only unrealistic but untenable.” She also questioned whether most Americans knew the definition of an arms embargo and suggested that, if given the full picture, fewer would support the premise.

Under the Foreign Assistance Act, the U.S. government is barred from sending weapons to any country that engages in “a consistent pattern of gross violations of internationally recognized human rights” or a country that blocks or restricts humanitarian aid. Another provision of the Foreign Assistance Act known as the Leahy law, along with provisions within the separate Arms Export Control Act, prevents military aid to specific units of any foreign security force that is found to violate human rights law. The U.S is also a signatory to the Geneva Conventions, international law meant to prohibit war crimes, crimes against humanity, including genocide. The conventions also have legal bearing on the transfer of weapons. 

Such laws make no distinction between weapons sales made with U.S. government support or sales through the commercial market. If Israel were to buy weapons directly from U.S. companies, Congress would still receive a notification and could vote to disapprove a sale.

When introducing his series of resolutions to block some arms sales to Israel, Sanders evoked both the Foreign Assistance and the Arms Export Control acts. The laws are also the legal basis for the Block the Bombs Act in the House, which has drawn support from a range of elected members — including ones backed by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee — and has become a litmus test for candidates taking a position on Israel and Palestine in the midterm elections. 

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Israeli Forces Keep Killing Americans While U.S. Officials Give Them a Pass

At any point, either the president, through an executive order, or Congress, via legislation, can use these laws to enact some form of conditions on Israeli aid, whether halting all military support or a total arms embargo. 

Both a total arms embargo and the J Street model would bring to an end State Department spending ($3.3 billion annually), known as Foreign Military Financing, as well as the phasing out of Pentagon spending for Israel. Funds earmarked for Israel in the Pentagon’s budget are not classified under the Foreign Assistance and Arms Export Control laws. Instead, Congress must draft and pass a defense budget that excludes carveouts for Israel, or draft legislation that specifically targets Pentagon spending on Israel, most of which currently funds things like Israel’s Iron Dome.

Then-Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green, R-Ga., attempted to pass an amendment to a Pentagon spending bill in July 2025 that would have nixed the $500 million set aside for Israel defense spending, but it drew only six votes. Ocasio-Cortez was absent from the vote, which she said was to maintain Iron Dome funding.

While such cuts would be a blow to Israel’s ability to wage war, Israel still boasts its own major annual military budget of more than $45 billion. Israel also is home to a domestic weapons industry that sells to the Israeli government. Earlier this year, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would want to “taper off the military” from the U.S. within the next decade. “We’ve come of age and we’ve developed incredible capacities,” he said. But both J Street and advocates for an arms embargo agree that banning subsidized weapons deals with Israel would still have a tremendous impact.

Related

Pentagon Makes Largest Known Arms Purchase From Israel — For Banned Cluster Weapons

Stephen Semler, who worked on Brown University’s Cost of War project that tracked U.S. military spending on Israel during its genocide, said halting access to American munitions stockpiles and U.S. weaponry would greatly diminish Israel’s ability to wage war at the rate it has in recent months in Iran and southern Lebanon. “If they’re forced to buy their own arms, then they’re going to have problems sustaining what they’re doing,” Semler said. 

In the first month of the U.S.–Israel war on Iran, the Israeli military said it carried out more than 10,000 separate strikes. Before the recent ceasefire, joint U.S. and Israeli strikes killed more than 2,000 people in Iran. Since early March, Israel has killed at least 2,100 people in Lebanon, including women, children, paramedics and journalists. The military has also leveled entire villages in the country’s south, similar to destruction seen in Gaza. Evidence of Israel’s human rights abuses are continuing to pile in both wars. 

“If you can make perpetual war and not have to pay for it, that becomes a much more attractive option,” Munayyer said. “But suddenly when you have to directly carry the costs, now you have to start thinking, ‘Do I want to be at war with all of my neighbors all the time, forever?’”

The post Democrats Are Split Over What It Means to Block Israel Weapons Deals appeared first on The Intercept.

Apple's release notes are sparse, but a support document indicates the update could help protect your iPhone.

Police say poison detected in jar of HiPP carrots and potatoes as maker says items may have been tampered with

Rat poison has been found in a jar of HiPP baby food, police in Austria have said, after a recall of the product from more than 1,000 Spar supermarkets in the country over safety fears.

Police in Burgenland said in a statement that a sample from one of the 190g (7oz) jars of carrots and potatoes baby food reported by a customer had tested positive for rat poison.

Drivers face dilemma of driving more or cutting back – and support from ride-share giants decried as ‘slap in the face’

Drivers for Uber and Lyft across the US are spending hundreds more dollars on fuel each month after the US-Israel war on Iran triggered a sharp rise in oil prices.

Support offered by the ride-hailing companies amounts to a “slap in the face”, drivers operating their services told the Guardian, as many are forced to choose between driving more to make the same money as previously – or cutting back their miles to reduce costs.

The league hasn’t had a repeat champion since the 2017-18 Warriors. The level-headed, consistent Thunder may be the ones to change that

The NBA has not seen a reigning champion take its title defense as far as the conference finals, let alone hoist a second consecutive Larry O’Brien trophy, since the Golden State Warriors were cut off at the ankle and calf by the Toronto Raptors in the 2019 Finals. That’s seven straight seasons in which parity has ruled supreme, for better or for worse, and dynastic runs seem fated to be a thing of the past.

Not if one team in America’s heartland has anything to say about it. The Oklahoma City Thunder embark on these 2026 playoffs in search of historic greatness, trends be damned. And less than two weeks before the first game of the postseason tips off, you’d be hard pressed to find substantive evidence to believe their goal won’t be achieved.

It's a massive Merseyside derby, with both teams' European qualification hopes on the line.

In Luanda, Catholics expressed love and admiration for Pope Leo XIV, the first American pope, but not so much for President Trump because of the war in Iran.

Holiday park firms say such bookings are on the rise because of impact of Iran war on aviation

Holiday companies have predicted a surge in bookings for UK summer breaks after a jump in interest from Britons fearful of flight cancellations linked to the Iran war.

Summer bookings are expected to rise in the coming weeks amid warnings of possible jet fuel shortages and resulting cancellations by airlines across Europe.

Back in the 1990s, floppy disks "had a mere capacity of 1.44MB," remembers XDA Developers, "which would soon become absolutely tiny for the increasingly large pieces of software that would come about." Floppy disks also felt quite fragile, and while we got "superfloppy" formats that were physically larger and had more capacity, those were pretty unwieldy as portable storage. Enter 1994, when a company called Iomega introduced its variant of a "superfloppy", the Zip drive... [T]he initial capacity introduced in 1994 reached a whopping 100MB, which was huge number when put up against the traditional floppy disk. Zip drives also had major performance benefits, with read speeds that could average 1.4MB/s, as opposed to the comparatively sluggish 16kB/s speeds of a traditional floppy disk, as well as a seek time of around 28ms seconds, whereas a floppy disk averaged 200ms. Zip drives weren't quite as fast as desktop HDDs, but for portable storage, this was a huge step forward... [I]n 1998, Iomega introduced the Zip 250 disks, which increased the capacity to 250MB, and, already in the new millennium, we got the Zip 750, which took that further to 750MB... It was an appealing enough proposition that big computer manufacturers like Dell started including a Zip drive in some of their PCs. Even Apple included Zip drives in some of its Power Macintosh models from the mid-to-late 90s. However, things started to shift towards the end of the decade as other portable formats rose to prominence, most notably CDs and USB flash drives. Despite their initial success, it didn't take long for users to start noticing a major drawback of Zip drives: many times, they would just fail. It wasn't necessarily related to age or any particular misuse of the disks, it just happened. It was a big enough phenomenon that it became known as the "click of death", and once it happened, your drive was gone. The problem was estimated by Iomega to affect around 0.5% of Zip drives, but while that sounds like a small number, when you sell products by the thousands, it becomes fairly widespread. It was a big enough issue that, in September 1998, a class action lawsuit was filed against Iomega for the common problems. Some of the complaints in that lawsuit were eventually dismissed by the court of Delaware, but others were not, and once the public became aware of the problems with Zip drives, it was hard for the brand to make a comeback. It didn't help that this happened around the same time as formats such as CDs were becoming more popular... And eventually, USB flash drives became the most popular way to carry data around since they were smaller and offered much faster speeds... Eventually, after seeing its profits plummet by the mid-2000s, Iomega was sold to a company called EMC in 2008, and in 2013, EMC and Lenovo formed a joint venture that took over Iomega's business and removed all of the Iomega branding from its products. The article does note that "as late as 2014, some aviation companies were still using Zip drives to distribute updates for navigation databases." Are there any Slashdot readers who still remember their own Zip drive experiences? Share your memories in the comments of that once-so-trendy storage technology from the 1990s...

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

The vice-president has endured his most humiliating – and damaging – week as his boss’s fall guy. How much more can Maga’s great hope take?

For a would-be president, JD Vance has an unfortunate habit of getting into fights he cannot win. Three losing battles in the past week – with Iranian negotiators, Hungarian voters and Pope Leo – brought censure, humiliation and mockery raining down on his head. None were of Vance’s choosing. All were fought vicariously on Donald Trump’s behalf.

The vice-president is paying a high price for sycophantic loyalty to his boss. His poll ratings are plunging. His Maga succession hopes falter. He suffers by association – although his own inflammatory statements and misjudgments often make matters worse. Yet amid growing doubts about Trump’s mental health and fitness to govern, Vance remains the White House’s next-in-line.

Simon Tisdall is a Guardian foreign affairs commentator

After Jade Colvin, a missing Iowa teenager, is tracked to a remote farm, photos discovered on an old cellphone reveal important clues.

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for April 19

IRGC reportedly fires on tanker as it tries to pass through strait during brief window when shipping lane had reopened

• Analysis: Trump and Tehran’s series of mismanaged posts stall progress towards peace

Iranian officials say they have reversed the reopening of the strait of Hormuz and reimposed restrictions on the vital shipping lane after the US said it would not end its blockade of Iranian ports.

A UK maritime agency reported that Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) ships had fired at a tanker as it attempted to pass through the strait on Saturday. Reuters reported an Indian-flagged vessel carrying crude oil had also been attacked while in the waterway.

Last May Duolingo's stock peaked at $529.05. But while the learning app passed $1 billion in revenue in 2025 and 50 million daily active users, today its stock price has dropped more than 81%, to $100.51. And there's been other changes, reports Entrepreneur: In April 2025, Duolingo CEO Luis von Ahn made headlines after writing a memo calling the company "AI-first." In the memo, von Ahn announced that the language-learning platform would track employees' AI use in performance reviews. Now, a year later, von Ahn is backtracking and rethinking how he measures employee performance. He told the Silicon Valley Girl podcast earlier this month that Duolingo no longer considers AI use in performance reviews. The change arose after employees started to ask, "Do you just want us to use AI for AI's sake?" von Ahn explained. "We said no, look — the most important thing in your performance is that you are doing whatever your job is as well as possible. A lot of times, AI can help you with that, but if it can't, I'm not going to force you to do that," von Ahn said on the podcast. He felt as though the company was "trying to push something that in some cases did not fit" instead of "being held accountable for the actual outcome." The CEO is, however, still sticking to other "constructive constraints" he introduced in the April 2025 memo, including stopping contractor hiring in cases where AI can assume their workload... Von Ahn also mentioned that a few months ago, Duolingo had a day dedicated to vibe coding, or prompting AI to create an app without manually writing a single line of code. Every single person at the company, from engineers to human resources professionals, had to vibe code an app. Vibe coding has made an impact at the company. One of Duolingo's latest offerings, a course teaching users how to play chess, arose when two people vibe-coded the first prototype of it, the CEO said. Neither of them knew how to play chess or program, but they managed to use AI to create the whole chess curriculum and a prototype of the app in about six months last year. Now chess is Duolingo's fastest-growing course, according to von Ahn. "At this point, we have seven million daily active users that are learning chess," the CEO said on the podcast.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

After Artemis II's astronauts returned to earth, "NASA has Artemis III in its sights," reports the Associated Press: In a mission recently added to the docket for next year, Artemis III's yet-to-be -named astronauts will practice docking their Orion capsule with a lunar lander or two in orbit around Earth. Elon Musk's SpaceX and Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin are racing to have their company's lander ready first. Musk's Starship and Bezos' Blue Moon are vying for the all-important Artemis IV moon landing in 2028. Two astronauts will aim for the south polar region, the preferred location for [NASA Administrator Jared] Isaacman's envisioned $20 billion to $30 billion moon base. Vast amounts of ice are almost certainly hidden in permanently shadowed craters there — ice that could provide water and rocket fuel. The docking mechanism for Artemis III's close-to-home trial run is already at Florida's Kennedy Space Center. The latest model Starship is close to launching on a test flight from South Texas, and a scaled-down version of Blue Moon will attempt a lunar landing later this year.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

This blog is now closed. Our latest main story on the Middle East crisis is here.

Separate to the Pakistani army chief’s trip to Iran (see post at 07:53), the Pakistani prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, and foreign minister Ishaq Dar also concluded a trip to the Middle East after visiting Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey for talks.

“We have just concluded the last leg of our engagements following productive and fruitful visits … where we held meaningful bilateral discussions aimed at strengthening cooperation across key areas,” Dar said on X.

• Lawrence dealt in blockbuster draft-week trade

• Giants now hold the fifth and 10th picks overall

• Trade follows tackle’s push for a new contract

The Cincinnati Bengals acquired three-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence from the New York Giants for the 10th overall pick in next week’s NFL draft, two people with knowledge of the trade told the Associated Press on Saturday night.

Both people spoke on condition of anonymity because the deal is pending a physical.

Here are hints and the answer for today's Wordle for April 19, No. 1,765.

Here are some hints and the answers for the NYT Connections puzzle for April 19, No. 1,043.

Here are hints and answers for the NYT Strands puzzle for April 19, No. 777.

Here are hints and the answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle No. 573 for Sunday, April 19.

Communities across the Midwest were starting the cleanup process Saturday after multiple tornadoes touched down and severe weather struck areas from the Great Lakes to Texas.

A United Airlines flight from Chicago to New York was diverted to Pittsburgh Saturday afternoon. Passengers were forced to evacuate via emergency slides.

A skydiver crashed into the scoreboard before Virginia Tech's spring football game.

The author, who will interview members of royal family for book, says being chosen for role is a ‘profound honour’

Anna Keay, a historian whose most celebrated book is about Britain’s republican period, has been confirmed as Queen Elizabeth II’s official biographer.

Keay will interview members of the royal family and the late queen’s friends and servants. She will also have access to the monarch’s personal and official papers held in the royal archives.

• NFL says no probe into Vrabel over resort photos

• Patriots silent on whether team will launch review

• Russini resigned from job after images surfaced

The NFL is not investigating Mike Vrabel’s behavior after published photos of the New England Patriots coach and former Athletic reporter Dianna Russini at an Arizona resort prompted her resignation and an internal investigation at The New York Times-owned sports outlet.

NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy confirmed to the Associated Press on Saturday the league is not looking into the matter. The Patriots didn’t immediately respond to a question about whether the team has launched its own review of Vrabel’s actions.

"A trailer has been released for the first film to star an authorised generative AI version of a major Hollywood actor," writes The Guardian: Val Kilmer was cast in western As Deep As the Grave before his death in April 2025. Production delays meant he never shot any scenes, but the creative team worked with UK-based company Sonantic to create an AI speaking voice based on his old recordings. His estate and daughter Mercedes collaborated with the film-makers on the visual deepfake of the actor. Kilmer, who was diagnosed with throat cancer, was also assisted by technology for his cameo in 2022's Top Gun: Maverick... Writer-director Coerte Voorhees confirmed that Kilmer is seen for around an hour of the film's running time... Voorhees has said that the production followed Sag-Aftra [union] guidelines, and that Kilmer's estate — which provided archival material for them to use — was compensated financially. "Kilmer's likeness can be seen portraying Father Fintan, a Catholic priest and Native American spiritualist," adds The Hollywood Reporter. But the AV Club calls it "ghoulish puppet show time." "Having your AI Val Kilmer puppet whisper 'Don't fear the dead, and don't fear me' in a movie trailer is a bold choice..." He is accompanied (per Variety) by a whole host of disclaimers, caveats, and explanations offered by writer-director Coerte Voorhees and his associates: Kilmer deeply wanted to be in the movie, but was too sick to do so. His family endorses and supports his inclusion. He was a big fan of technology, including, presumably, its use in turning his own image into a digital avatar to then shove into movies... The fact is, of course, that nobody would be paying a fraction of this attention to As Deep As The Grave — about early female archeologist Ann Axtell Morris — if it weren't now being used as the stage on which Voorhees was very publicly accepting the dare to go full-on ghoulish with AI tech. "The filmmakers said they hoped they were showing Hollywood how to use the technology in a positive way..." notes Australia's ABC News. But their articles add that "Some have called the trailer 'terrifying' and 'disgusting' on social media." Mashable writes: "Very fitting that this trailer includes a scene where a corpse is unceremoniously yanked out of the ground," read one of the top comments on As Deep as the Grave's trailer at time of writing... [O]nline commenters have labelled it disgusting and disrespectful, not only for digitally reanimating Kilmer but also for the damaging precedent As Deep as the Grave's use of AI could set for the film industry as a whole.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Former President Barack Obama met privately with New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani before joining together to read to preschoolers at a child care center in the Bronx.

Georgia senator says Americans will pay for Trump’s Iran war, and family’s corruption, with child and health care cuts

At a campaign rally in Augusta, Georgia, on Saturday, the Democratic senator Jon Ossoff mocked Donald Trump’s rosy predictions on Iran and tore into what he called the unprecedented corruption of the president’s family.

While Ossoff is running for re-election in November, he trained most of his fire on the president, and the vice-president, amid mounting speculation that the Democrat could launch a bid for his party’s nomination for the presidency in 2028.

• Skydiver crashes into Lane Stadium scoreboard

• Parachute snags above field before spring game

• Victim rescued, officials say condition stable

A skydiver crashed into the Lane Stadium scoreboard before Virginia Tech’s spring football game Saturday.

Virginia Tech officials said on X that the skydiver “was safely secured and is currently stable” following rescue efforts. The incident caused a delay in the start of the spring game.

Slashdot reader Bismillah shared this report from ITNews: Research and development engineer Romain Marchand of Paris headquartered Quarkslab obtained a telematic control unit (TCU) from a salvage yard in Poland... Marchand tore down the TCU, which is based on a Qualcomm system on a chip, and extracted the Linux-based file system from the Micron multi-chip package (MCP) which contained NAND-based non-volatile storage memory. The non-volatile storage contained sensitive information, including system configuration data and more importantly, logs that revealed the vehicle's GPS positions over time. None of that information was encrypted, Marchand told iTnews, which made it possible to collect and retrieve sensitive data of interest. What's more, the global navigation satellite system (GNSS) logs with GPS positions covered the BYD's full journey from the factory in China to its operational life in the United Kingdom, and to its final wrecking in Poland, Marchand explained in an analysis... The issue is not restricted to BYD, and Marchand added that the hardware architecture of the Chinese car maker's TCU is broadly similar to what can be found in other brands.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Groups concerned that AI could evade human control are recruiting content creators to warn the masses about the dangers of smarter machines.

• American dismisses Dubois as ‘not on my level’

• Baumgardner targets bouts with Taylor or Serrano

• British stablemate touts fight as ‘best versus best’

A dismissive Alycia Baumgardner said Britain’s Caroline Dubois still has more to prove before the American will entertain a fight between the two unified champions.

That was the curt assessment from Baumgardner early Saturday morning after she retained her WBA, WBO and IBF junior lightweight world titles with a controlled, at times punishing display across 10 three-minute rounds against Bo Mi Re Shin in a main event that started well past midnight at Madison Square Garden.

India said it summoned Iran’s Ambassador in New Delhi, conveying concerns over “a shooting incident" in the strait involving two Indian-flagged ships.

"From 2008 to 2024, the number of four-year computer science degrees granted rose about fivefold..." reports the Washington Post. Then in 2025 CS suddenly dropped from the fourth-largest undergraduate major to sixth, they report (citing data from the nonprofit National Student Clearinghouse, which compiles numbers from 97% of U.S. universities. The 54,000-student drop was "the biggest one-year drop of any major discipline going back to at least 2020." But what major are they choosing instead? Sarah Karamarkovich, a research associate with the National Student Clearinghouse, pointed to an explanation from the data that we had overlooked. Enrollments in two interdisciplinary majors, data analytics and data science, topped a combined 35,000 in the fall of 2025. That was up from a few hundred when those disciplines were broken out into their own majors in 2020. Those relatively new categories reflect colleges' zeal to create specialized majors, including in AI, data science, robotics and cybersecurity. Some of those disciplines may be counted in the national enrollment data as computer science. Others are not. The numbers suggest that some of the disappearing computer science majors didn't flee so much as they splintered into related disciplines.... The 8 percent decline in computer science majors last fall was nearly mirrored by a 7.3 percent increase in engineering majors, according to the National Student Clearinghouse data. Within engineering, mechanical and electrical engineering major enrollments increased by the largest absolute amounts — a jump of 11 percent and 14 percent, respectively.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Passengers on flight from Chicago to New York exited via slides as FBI, bomb technicians and K-9 unit responded

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A United Airlines flight bound for New York City was forced to land and evacuate in Pittsburgh on Saturday morning after crew members reported a “possible security issue”, a spokesperson for the Federal Aviation Administration said.

United flight 2092 took off from Chicago O’Hare airport and had been en route to LaGuardia airport in New York. The plane diverted to Pittsburgh international airport as a result of the reported threat.

The item is believed to be one of only a handful of Titanic life jackets still in existence, the auction house said.

Newark American Little League kicked off its 73rd season Saturday morning with an opening day ceremony at its field at VFW Post 475.

The gunman, who killed six people in Kyiv before police shot him dead, was a Ukrainian citizen born in Moscow

Ukrainian investigators are examining whether a terrorist attack in Kyiv was directed by Moscow after a man shot dead six people on Saturday before he was killed by police.

The gunman, 58, opened fire on passersby before barricading himself in a supermarket and taking hostages. Detectives sealed off the area in the Holosiivskyi district and tried to negotiate with him. He refused and was killed after a 40-minute standoff.

The head of Ukraine's Interior Ministry said the gunman took hostages and spoke to negotiators for 40 minutes before he was shot dead.

Joseph DiGenova, a conservative attorney, is being tapped by the U.S. Justice Department to lead an ongoing criminal investigation into former CIA Director John Brennan.

The Albanese government overhauled policy and promised significant pollution cuts – but carbon offsets are still being used as an excuse

• Sign up for climate and environment editor Adam Morton’s free Clear Air newsletter here

Is this how a national scheme to cut climate pollution is supposed to work?

Australian government data released this week shows emissions from Australian coalmines increased last financial year. About 80% of the coalmines pumped more into the atmosphere than their government-imposed limit.

Sign up to get climate and environment editor Adam Morton’s Clear Air column as a free newsletter

Yesterday the U.S. Congress approved "a short-term extension" of a FISA law that allows wiretaps without a warrant for surveilling foreign targets, reports CNN — but only until April 30. Republican congressional leaders had sought an 18-month extension, but "failed to secure" the votes after "clamoring from some of their members for reforms to protect Americans' privacy." The warrantless surveillance law, known as Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, was set to expire on Monday night. Members are hoping the additional time will allow them to come to agreement without ending authorization for the intelligence gathering program, which permits US officials to monitor phone calls and text messages from foreign targets... There was an hour of suspense in the Senate Friday morning when it appeared possible that Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden, a longtime critic of FISA 702, might block the House-passed extension. But ultimately, he said his House colleagues had assured him "this short-term extension makes reform more likely, and expiration makes reform less likely," and so he chose not to object.... House Republican leaders believed Thursday night they had struck a deal with conservative holdouts who harbor deep and longstanding concerns that a key piece of the law infringes on Americans' privacy rights. But in a pair of after-midnight votes, more than a dozen rank-and-file Republicans rejected the long-term reauthorization plan on the floor, which was the result of days of tense negotiations among leadership, lawmakers and the White House. The law allows authorized US officials to gather phone calls and text messages of foreign targets, but they can also incidentally collect the data of Americans in the process. Senior national security officials have for years said the law is critical for thwarting terror attacks, stemming the flow of fentanyl into the US and stopping ransomware attacks on critical infrastructure. Civil liberties groups on the left and the right, meanwhile, argue the surveillance authority risks infringing on Americans' privacy.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Officers responded after group claimed to have targeted nearby Israeli embassy with ‘dangerous substances’

Kensington Gardens in London has reopened after the discovery of several suspicious items including two jars containing a powdered substance that was deemed to be non-hazardous, police said.

Officers in protective clothing responded to an incident near the Israeli embassy on Friday after counter-terrorism police investigated a video shared online in which a group claimed to have targeted the embassy with drones carrying “dangerous substances”.

The former lieutenant governor’s obsession with his damaged reputation led to a long slide and his estrangement from his family, according to court records and those who knew him. He killed wife Cerina Wanzer Fairfax and himself.

Deputy prime minister says it is ‘inexplicable’ top civil servant kept Downing Street in dark

Keir Starmer would have blocked Peter Mandelson from serving as the UK’s ambassador to Washington had he known he failed security vetting, David Lammy has said, as he attempted to shore up the prime minister amid damaging fallout from the row.

In his first public comments on the vetting affair, Lammy said it was “inexplicable” that Oliver Robbins, the former top civil servant who was forced out of the Foreign Office this week, had opted to leave Downing Street in the dark over the outcome.

Soldiers were participating in ‘land navigation training’ when bear injured them in a ‘defensive attack’

Two US army soldiers have been injured after encountering a brown bear in a mountainous training area in Anchorage, Alaska, the military said on Friday.

The incident happened on Thursday as the soldiers were participating in a “land navigation training event” in Arctic valley, part of the joint base Elmendorf-Richardson’s training area.

Two soldiers from Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska, were injured in a brown bear attack on Friday during a training session.

Wednesday BleepingComputer reported that more than 30 WordPress plugins "have been compromised with malicious code that allows unauthorized access to websites running them." A malicious actor planted the backdoor code last year but only recently started pushing it to users via updates, generating spam pages and causing redirects, as per the instructions received from the command-and-control (C2) server. The compromise affects plugins with hundreds of thousands of active installations and was spotted by Austin Ginder, the founder of managed WordPress hosting provider Anchor Hosting, after receiving a tip about one add-on containing code that allowed third-party access. Further investigation by Ginder revealed that a backdoor had been present in all plugins within the EssentialPlugin package since August 2025, after the project was acquired in a six-figure deal by a new owner.... "The injected code was sophisticated. It fetched spam links, redirects, and fake pages from a command-and-control server. It only showed the spam to Googlebot, making it invisible to site owners," explained Ginder. "WordPress.org's v2.6.9.1 update neutralized the phone-home mechanism in the plugin," Ginder writes in a blog post. "But it did not touch wp-config.php. The SEO spam injection was still actively serving hidden content to Googlebot. "And here is the wildest part. It resolved its C2 domain through an Ethereum smart contract, querying public blockchain RPC endpoints. Traditional domain takedowns would not work because the attacker could update the smart contract to point to a new domain at any time." This has happened before. In 2017, a buyer using the alias "Daley Tias" purchased the Display Widgets plugin (200,000 installs) for $15,000 and injected payday loan spam. That buyer went on to compromise at least 9 plugins the same way.... The WordPress plugin marketplace has a trust problem... The Flippa listing for Essential Plugin was public. The buyer's background in SEO and gambling marketing was public. And yet the acquisition sailed through without any review from WordPress.org. WordPress.org has no mechanism to flag or review plugin ownership transfers. There is no "change of control" notification to users. No additional code review triggered by a new committer. The Plugins Team responded quickly once the attack was discovered. But 8 months passed between the backdoor being planted and being caught. Thanks to Slashdot reader axettone for sharing the news.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

President Trump's signing comes after Congress passed a 10-day extension for the controversial warrantless surveillance law.

Slashdot reader smazsyr writes: A new review says we've had fructose wrong for decades. The nine authors, led by Richard Johnson at the University of Colorado Anschutz, argue that fructose "is not just another calorie." It is a signal. It tells the liver to make fat and brace for a famine that never comes. That made sense for a bear fattening up on autumn berries. It makes less sense for a person drinking soda in March. The review reframes the WHO's sugar guideline, argues ScienceBlog.com, as "less a recommendation about calories and more a warning about a signalling molecule we have been dosing ourselves with, several times a day, for most of a century."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Agency director threatens to sue Atlantic for report citing allegations from two dozen current and former colleagues

The FBI director, Kash Patel, is denying allegations detailed in a new report that he drinks to excess and has been unreachable at times during his tenure in office.

Patel threatened to sue the Atlantic over the story published on Friday, which detailed his alleged heavy drinking and how members of his security detail have on multiple occasions had difficulty waking him.

Mexico City and Guadalajara are preparing to host World Cup games in June, with protesters denouncing the government's failure to properly investigate the disappearances.

Abetting suicide carries a maximum sentence of 14 years, according to the Canadian Criminal Code.

20-year-old Matthew Lane sent a text message to ABC News as his parents drove him to federal prison in Connecticut. "I'm just scared," he said, calling the whole situation "extremely sad." Barely a year earlier, while still a teenager, he helped launch what's been described as the biggest cyberattack in U.S. education history — a data breach that concerned authorities so much, it prompted briefings with senior government officials inside the White House Situation Room. The breach pierced the education technology company PowerSchool — used by 80% of school districts in North America... [and operating in about 90 countries around the world]. With threats to expose social security numbers, dates of birth, family information, grades, and even confidential medical information, the breach cornered PowerSchool into paying millions of dollars in ransom. "I think I need to go to prison for what I did," Lane told ABC News in an exclusive interview, speaking publicly for the first time about the headline-grabbing heist and his life as a cybercriminal. "It was disgusting, it was greedy, it was rooted in my own insecurities, it was wrong in every aspect," he said in the interview, two days before reporting to prison... At about 6:30 on a Tuesday morning last April, FBI agents started banging on the door of Lane's second-floor dorm room. "FBI! We have a search warrant," Lane recalled them shouting. They seized his devices and many of the luxury items he bought with "dirty" money, as he put it. He said he felt a "wave of relief.... I'm honestly thankful for the FBI," he said. "After they left, I was like, 'It's over ... I'm done with this'..." A federal judge in Massachusetts sentenced him to four years in federal prison and ordered him to pay more than $14 million in restitution. "In the wake of the breach, PowerSchool offered two years' worth of credit-monitoring and identity protection services to concerned customer," the article points out. But it also notes two other arrests in September of teenaged cybercriminals: - A 15-year-old boy in Illinois who allegedly attacked Las Vegas casinos, reportedly costing MGM Resorts alone more than $100 million - A British national who when he was 16 helped breach over 110 companies around the world and extort $115 million. But ironically, Lane tells ABC News it all started on Roblox, where he'd met cheaters, password-stealers, and cybercriminals sharing photos of their stacks of money, creating a "sense of camaraderie" Lane and others warn that online forums also attract criminal groups seeking to recruit potential hackers. "The bad guys are on all the platforms watching the kids playing," Hay said. "And when they see an elite-level performer, they go approach that kid, masquerading as another kid, and they go, 'Hey, you want to earn some [money]? ... Here are the tools, here are the techniques'...." According to Lane, he spent his "ill-gotten gains" on designer clothes, diamond jewelry, DoorDash deliveries, Airbnb rentals for him and his friends, and drugs — "lots of drugs." He said he would numb ever-present feelings of guilt with drugs — from high-potency marijuana to acid. But it was hacking that gave him the strongest high. "It's indescribable the adrenaline you get when you do something like that," he said. "It's way more than driving 120 miles per hour. ... Incomparable to any drug at all, as well." "On Monday, Roblox announced that, starting in June, it will offer age-checked accounts for younger users that limit what games they can play, and add 'more closely align content access, communication settings, and parental controls with a user's age.'"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Two men died at the scene after head-on motorway collision near Kincross, Police Scotland say

Two drivers have died in a motorway crash in Scotland involving a car apparently travelling in the wrong direction on the carriageway, police have said.

The two men died at the scene of the collision on the M90 near Kinross, a town in Perth and Kinross, at 10.30pm on Friday.

There were no injuries reported in connection with the attack, police said Saturday.

State investigated claims of bear attacks on cars, unconvincingly backed up by video of person in bear suit

When it comes to the California department of insurance, don’t poke the bear.

That is the lesson three individuals in Los Angeles learned recently when they were sentenced to jail time for an insurance fraud scheme in which they staged attacks on high-end vehicles by having a person dress up in a bear costume – then pretending that person was an actual bear.

Recovery efforts are underway on Saturday after a tornado touchdown has been reported in Lena, Illinois, about 48 miles west of Rockford.

Labour calls on Nigel Farage to sack candidates and says his party’s checks ‘clearly not fit for purpose’

Reform UK’s checks on candidates are “clearly not fit for purpose”, Labour has said after two more candidates in May’s local elections were accused of making offensive or potentially racist social media posts.

Meanwhile, it emerged that Restore Britain, the party set up by the MP Rupert Lowe after he left Reform, appeared to have accepted a donation from someone who has called publicly on social media for “another Hitler” to come to power.

It's a crucial showdown at Stamford Bridge in the race for Champions League qualification.

The order will open the door for more research into psychedelic drugs, including ibogaine, sources told CBS News earlier this week.

Nextcloud joined a project to create a sovereign replacement for Microsoft Office called "Euro-Office". But after that project forked OnlyOffice, OnlyOffice suspended its partnership with Nextcloud. "They removed all references to our brand/attribute as required by our license," argued OnlyOffice CEO Lev Bannov on March 30th. ("The core issue here isn't just about what the AGPL license states, but about the additional provisions we, as the authors, have included... If the Euro-Office team believes our approach conflicts with the AGPLv3 license, we invite them to submit an official request to FSF for review.") But this week the FSF responded (as "the steward of the GNU family of General Public Licenses"), criticizing OnlyOffice's "attempt to impose an additional restriction on the AGPLv3" and calling it "inconsistent with the freedoms granted by the license," in a blog post from FSF licensing/compliance manager Krzysztof Siewicz: It is possible to modify the (A)GPLv3 with additional terms, but only by adhering to the terms of the license... The (A)GPLv3 makes it clear that it permits all licensees to remove any additional terms that are "further restrictions" under the (A)GPLv3. It states, "[i]f the Program as you received it, or any part of it, contains a notice stating that it is governed by this License along with a term that is a further restriction, you may remove that term"... We urge OnlyOffice to clarify the situation by making it unambiguous that OnlyOffice is licensed under the AGPLv3, and that users who already received copies of the software are allowed to remove any further restrictions. Additionally, if they intend to continue to use the AGPLv3 for future releases, they should state clearly that the program is licensed under the AGPLv3 and make sure they remove any further restrictions from their program documentation and source code. Confusing users by attaching further restrictions to any of the FSF's family of GNU General Public Licenses is not in line with free software. "If FSF determines that our license and project align with AGPLv3, we will continue as an open-source initiative," OnlyOffice's CEO had written in March. "However, if the decision goes against us, we are ready to consider other options."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Elisabeth Zetland, a senior researcher at MyHeritage, found that the actual Luigi had immigrated to US from Italy

Gaming enthusiasts have known for years that Nintendo named its mustachioed, superhero plumber after the company’s landlord, Washington state businessman Mario Arnold Segale.

But it has only just been determined that Nintendo may have unknowingly named Super Mario’s fictional brother after Segale’s real-life father: Luigi, whose biography evokes that of millions of 20th-century US immigrants from Italy.

Meteorologists said the drought is a bad sign for the upcoming wildfire season, food prices and existing water issues.

Met describe ‘similarities’ with other recent attacks after business in Hendon was targeted on Friday

Counter-terrorism police are leading an investigation into an arson attack on a business in Hendon, north-west London.

The force said that, while it was not yet being linked to arson attacks on a nearby synagogue and Jewish ambulance charity, counter-terrorism officers were being deployed owing to “similarities” between the incidents.

US president’s desperation for war to end has seen him trying to speed through a process he does not fully control

A set of mismanaged and premature media announcements by Donald Trump and Tehran has led to the collapse of progress towards a peace settlement between Iran and the US.

The recent missteps ended with Iran saying it would reinstate a complete block on the movement of commercial shipping through the strait of Hormuz and that it would not allow any of its stockpile of highly enriched uranium to be exported out of the country.

President signed executive order directing FDA to expedite review of psychedelic drugs including ibogaine

Donald Trump on Saturday announced reforms intended to speed up access to medical research and treatment based on psychedelic drugs.

The president signed an executive order directing the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to expedite review of drugs such as ibogaine, which US military veteran groups have said can help treat post-traumatic stress disorder.

Lyrids began last week, and Eta Aquariids kicks off on Sunday.

Friday Anthropic's CEO met with top U.S. officials and "discussed opportunities for collaboration," according to a White House spokesperson itedd by Politico, "as well as shared approaches and protocols to address the challenges associated with scaling this technology." CNN notes the meeting happens at the same time Anthropic "battles the Trump administration in court for blacklisting its Claude AI model..." The meeting took place as the US government is trying to balance its hardline approach to Anthropic with the national security implications of turning its back on the company's breakthrough technology — including its Mythos tool that can identify cybersecurity threats but also present a roadmap for hackers to attack companies or the government... The Office of Management and Budget has already told agencies it is preparing to give them access to Mythos to prepare, Bloomberg reported. Axios reported the White House is also in discussion to gain access to Mythos. The Trump administration "recognizes the power" of Mythos, reports Axios, "and its highly sophisticated — and potentially dangerous — ability to breach cybersecurity defenses." "It would be grossly irresponsible for the U.S. government to deprive itself of the technological leaps that the new model presents," a source close to negotiations told us. "It would be a gift to China"... Some parts of the U.S. intelligence community, plus the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA, part of Homeland Security), are testing Mythos. Treasury and others want it. The White House added they plan to invite other AI companies for similar discussions, Politico reports. But Mythos "is also alarming regulators in Europe, who have told POLITICO they have not been able to gain access..." U.S. government agency tech leaders sought access to the model after Anthropic earlier this year began testing the model and granted limited access to a select group of companies, including JPMorgan, Amazon and Apple... after finding it had hacking capabilities far outstripping those of previous AI models. This includes the ability to autonomously identify and exploit complex software vulnerabilities, such as so-called zero-day flaws, which even some of the sharpest human minds are unable to patch. The AI startup also wrote that the model could carry out end-to-end cyberattacks autonomously, including by navigating enterprise IT systems and chaining together exploits. It could also act as a force-multiplier for research needed to build chemical and biological weapons, and in certain instances, made efforts to cover its tracks when attacking systems, according to Anthropic's report on the model's capabilities and its safety assessments. Those findings and others have inspired fears that the model could be co-opted to launch powerful cyberattacks with relative ease if it fell into the wrong hands. Logan Graham, a senior security researcher at Anthropic, previously told POLITICO that researchers and tech firms had been given early access to Mythos so they could find flaws in their critical code before state-backed hackers or cybercriminals could exploit them. "Within six, 12 or 24 months, these kinds of capabilities could be just broadly available to everybody in the world," Graham said.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Tyler Robert Buchanan, 24, of Scotland, pleaded guilty in California federal court.

The pub crawl’s organizer is accused of pocketing donations but residents and businesses have long had misgivings

On what started as an otherwise uneventful spring day in New York City, thousands of residents last week received what they felt was an early Christmas present.

Stefan Pildes, organizer of SantaCon in New York City, was arrested on Wednesday morning for allegedly using hundreds of thousands from event-based charitable donations on his personal expenses, such as luxe vacations and “extravagant meals”, Manhattan federal prosecutors said.

TOM VAIL
Staff Reporter

At the beginning of February, university President Laura Carlson went to Dover to speak in front of the Delaware General Assembly’s Joint Finance Committee. The committee met to discuss whether or not to provide additional funding to various educational institutions within the state, including the university. 

Carlson left after facing pushback from state senators over recent decisions by the university amid federal pressure to cut back on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) practices. 

Carlson submitted an initial budget request of $155 million, but was granted an operating budget of $151.4 million by Delaware Governor Matt Meyer. 

Once her testimony began, Carlson was met with repeated questions regarding recent incidents on campus, including the removal of research pertaining to the university’s ties to slavery and the halt of the University of Delaware Anti-Racism Initiative (UDARI). 

“Just disappointed that, you know, the thought that my university would wilt in the face of pressure from this white nationalist movement that’s trying to erase important parts of our collective history,” Senator Trey Paradee (D-Dover), chairman of the Joint Finance Committee, said during the hearing, according to Delaware Online.

The Trump administration has threatened to strip universities of federal funding if they promote diversity and inclusion initiatives and research. 

Carlson referred to the removal of the research as a “mistake.” 

“We will not let external pressure determine what our faculty can research, what our students can study, or the history we preserve and share,” Carlson said. “That is not who we are. We will always navigate the federal landscape responsibly, but we will not abandon our values in the process.”

In addition to the removal of research, Carlson also answered questions from lawmakers about the loss of federal funding from the current administration, threats involving international students and the potential presence of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on campus. 

State Senator Laura Sturgeon (D-Hockessin) asked questions about the protection of international students and preparations the university has taken for any possible ICE action on campus, in addition to other concerns that she said were voiced by student leaders.

“We’re working our way through getting information available much more readily, easy to find, so that if it were to happen, we are ready,” Carlson said, as reported by Delaware Online. “My knowledge is we have not had ICE on campus. […] We are trying to take a stance of trying to ensure continuity of education.”
Subsequently, official university guidance on how to interact with ICE officials was updated on Feb. 12, a week after the meeting. Prior to the web page update, there was only a brief reference guide on what to do when interacting with federal law enforcement on university grounds.

So-called Dreamers – undocumented immigrants who arrived as children – were allowed to stay in US under Obama-era program

From January through September 2025, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) deported 174 people who were renewing their protections from deportation under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (Daca) program, the head of the agency has said in a letter reviewed by the Guardian.

The letter, written by ICE’s acting director, Todd Lyons, and sent to the Illinois congressional representative Delia Ramirez, also confirmed that a total of 270 Daca recipients were arrested during that same timeframe, or over the first nine months of Donald Trump’s second presidency.

Molotov cocktail attack on OpenAI CEO’s home comes amid growing discontent against artificial intelligence

In the early hours of 10 April, a man approached the gate of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s house in San Francisco and hurled a molotov cocktail at the building before fleeing. The suspect, 20-year-old Daniel Moreno-Gama, was arrested less than two hours later while allegedly attempting to break into the headquarters of OpenAI with a jug of kerosene, a lighter and an anti-AI manifesto.

Federal and California state authorities have charged Moreno-Gama with a range of crimes including attempted arson and attempted murder. His parents issued a statement this week saying that their son had recently suffered a mental health crisis. Moreno-Gama, who has not yet entered a plea, faces up to life in prison if convicted.

This blog is now closed, you can read more on this story here

On Friday the Cabinet Office released a template page from the summary document produced by UKSV after Mandelson’s vetting. The document would be used by a vetting officer to summarise their findings.

It lists three rankings for possible “overall concern”: low, medium and high. In the next box, there is a space for a vetting officer to list the outcome of the assessment with their “overall decision or recommendation”. Again, there are three options: clearance approved, clearance approved “with risk management” or clearance denied.

If it [the vetting process] did amount to failure then that fact, that ultimate conclusion would have to be conveyed to the political level, but the fact that it was not indicates to me that the fact was rather more complicated than No 10 would wish to present.

Construction was stopped after suit challenged president’s authority to raze East Wing without congressional approval

The Trump administration can continue building a $400m White House ballroom at the site of the former East Wing, a US appeals court ruled on Friday.

The three-judge panel of the US court of appeals for Washington DC granted the administration a stay of an order days earlier that had aimed to halt most aboveground construction. That earlier order had resulted from a lawsuit filed by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which challenged whether Donald Trump had the authority to raze the East Wing and construct the ballroom without congressional approval.

Rising sea levels and ecological damage caused by heavy use of flood defence system force city authorities to consider next move

The Arsenale, the colossal shipyard that was the engine of the Venetian Republic’s domination for seven centuries, remains the nucleus of the city’s control over the water. Its northern section is made up of cavernous brick warehouses called capannoni, which in the 16th century could produce a warship a day through a rigorously ordered assembly line.

Now, one of them houses the operations centre of the Mose, the sprawling flood defence system that protects the city.

Manhattan church led by Norman Vincent Peale was known for opposing presidency of JFK – and Catholics in general

Donald Trump’s attacks this week on Pope Leo, for his criticism of the US attack on Iran and the US president’s decision to post an image portraying himself as Jesus Christ on social media, make a good deal more sense considering Trump attended services as a young man at the Protestant Marble Collegiate church in Manhattan, which was led at the time by an anti-Catholic pastor.

That church’s pastor in Trump’s youth, Norman Vincent Peale, who would later officiate at Trump’s first wedding, is best-known today as the author of the Christian self-help book The Power of Positive Thinking, but when Trump was 14, Peale made national headlines as the leader of a group of Protestant churchmen who loudly objected to the presidential candidacy of John F Kennedy, on the grounds that he was a Catholic.

Tractive has two new smart collars armed with GPS tracking, AI-powered health monitoring and other tech tools.

Judex Atshatshi, 18, appears in court over what prosecutors say they believe was targeted attack on Jewish community

A fourth suspect charged after four Jewish community ambulances were torched in north-west London has been remanded in custody.

Judex Atshatshi, 18, a British national from Dagenham, east London, appeared at Westminster magistrates court on Saturday, charged with arson with intent to damage property and being reckless as to whether life would be endangered.

President Trump has lobbed insults at Pope Leo XIV in response to his criticisms of the war in Iran, marking an unusually pronounced rupture between the leaders of the world's most powerful country and the world's largest Christian denomination.

Casey Gould wanted to be a mom her whole life. Her long-awaited pregnancy went smoothly — until she saw something alarming.

Justice for Fayed and Harrods Survivors group claim there are ‘dozens of individuals who must be held to account’

A group of 50 survivors of alleged sexual abuse by Harrods’ former owner Mohamed Al Fayed are calling for “meaningful consequences” for those who they claim facilitated and ignored the abuse.

“If they think the money is the important factor they are so far off the mark,” said Jen Mills, a member of the Justice for Fayed and Harrods Survivors group. They claim there are “dozens of individuals who must be held to account”, from a range of eras.

Nicholas Enrich was an eyewitness to the dismantling of the US foreign aid organization by the Trump administration

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Nicholas Enrich was working in Kenya in 2003 when the then US president George W Bush signed a landmark $15bn, five-year commitment to combat HIV, the largest international health commitment by any nation to fight a single disease.

It was the peak of the epidemic, and for the young American government aid worker “it clicked that my government was ready to join the fight against HIV and I was excited to be a part of that”, he says.

2026's wave of Razr phones could come in new colors with improved cameras. Here's what we have heard so far.

Amid confusion over the Strait of Hormuz, a starkly different reality is unfolding defined by disrupted supply lines and damaged infrastructure.

An order earlier this week blocked most above-ground construction on the project.

Commentary: In a sea of AI noise, the Whoop band's Coach has been an unlikely ally in helping me train smarter. And I didn't have to go looking for it.

Péter Magyar hopes building stronger relations with Poland will help restore ties with bloc after Orbán’s rule

The Hungarian election winner, Péter Magyar, is eyeing a special relationship with Poland’s prime minister, Donald Tusk to draw on the neighbouring country’s experience of repairing relations with the EU after years of illiberal rule.

Since 1989, the two countries have seemingly shared parallels in their paths. Now the two centre-right, pro-European leaders preside over the tricky task of restoring the rule of law and improving state institutions after years of democratic backsliding and clashes with the EU.

The US president’s grudge match with the pope underlines how religion really functions in American politics

I’m not a particularly religious person, even though everyone tells me how cool believing in God is now. Every so often, we get a new trend piece about how rad and chill Christianity has become. All the skateboarders and chads are churchmaxxing. Only atheists wear skinny jeans any more. Christopher Hitchens would totally get mogged by Pat Robertson. Personally, I don’t buy it. Influencers like Logan Paul and IShowSpeed aren’t going on Twitch to tell their viewers to tithe 10% of their earnings to the Lord. They’re encouraging them to buy cases and cases of Prime Hydration Drink and watch WrestleMania.

In my research on the topic, I found this article from the Independent this year that claims that gen Z is, like, totally down with Christ and can’t wait to chug Mountain Dew with their local pastor in a musty basement. No sooner had I clicked the link than I found an editor’s note that the poll that supported the claim was found to be fraudulent.

Covid, light pollution regulations and faltering global economy affect location and intensity of brightness

Earth continues to get brighter every year, researchers have found, but the location and intensity of the progression has become increasingly volatile because of Covid-19, regulations on light pollution, and a faltering global economy.

Nasa-funded researchers at the University of Connecticut (UConn) studied more than 1.1m satellite images taken over a nine-year period to establish that the planet’s artificial light increased by a net 16% between 2014 and 2022.

Cities look to registration, regulation and infrastructure improvement to cut number of e-bike injuries and deaths

The increasing number of traumatic injuries from e-bikes in the United States has caught the attention of physicians, lawmakers, pedestrians and others.

While there is a shared concern about people recklessly riding the trendy machines, there are significant differences among roadway safety advocates about the best ways to prevent accidents – including whether the government should focus on improving infrastructure rather than regulating e-bikes.

Smart locks are one of the most powerful devices you can buy for home security. Here are my favorite models.

We tested 23 electric toothbrushes, and these stood out from the rest.

Hall was Boston’s first official wheelchair champion. “The real gauge of a man,” he said, “is whether or not he approaches his full potential.”

Some failed startups are reportedly selling old Slack messages, emails, and other internal records to AI companies as training data, creating a new way to cash out after shutting down. Fast Company reports: Shanna Johnson, the CEO of now-defunct software company Cielo24, told the publication that she was able to sell every Slack message, internal email, and Jira ticket as training data for "hundreds of thousands of dollars." This isn't a one-off scenario. SimpleClosure, a startup that helps companies like Cielo24 shut down, told Forbes that there's been major interest from AI companies trying to get their hands on workplace data. Because of this, SimpleClosure launched a new tool that allows companies to sell their wealth of internal communications -- from Slack archives to email chains -- to AI labs. The company said it's processed 100 such deals in the past year. Payouts ranged from $10,000 to $100,000. "I think the privacy issues here are quite substantial," Marc Rotenberg, founder of the Center for AI and Digital Policy, told Forbes. "Employee privacy remains a key concern, particularly because people have become so dependent on these new internal messaging tools like Slack. ... It's not generic data. It's identifiable people."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Suspicious wagers on the US-Israel war in Iran are creating huge windfalls and raising concerns among lawmakers

Sixteen bets made $100,000 each accurately predicting the timing of the US airstrikes against Iran on 27 February. Later, a single user would make over $550,000 after betting that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei would topple, just moments before his assassination by Israeli forces. On 7 April, right before Donald Trump announced a temporary ceasefire with Iran, traders bet $950m that oil prices would come down. They did.

These bets and other well-timed wagers accurately predicted the precise timing of major developments in the US-Israel war with Iran, creating huge windfalls and raising concerns among lawmakers and experts over potential insider trading.

Disgraced financier’s links to politicians and civil servants as far back as 30 years ago to be examined

The Epstein files have shaken Norway’s faith in democracy, the head of the Norwegian parliament’s oversight committee has said, as a sprawling investigation into the connections between its foreign office and the late sex offender gets under way.

An independent commission to look into information brought to light by the Jeffrey Epstein documents released by the US Department of Justice was launched on Wednesday after the Norwegian parliament voted unanimously last month for it to be set up.

When mobile networks fail, a landline can keep you connected.

What I’m Discussing Today:

• Kareem’s Daily Quote: The power of protest.

• The Royal Visit Has Room for Diplomacy:…but not for survivors.

• Video Break: Robot’s Free Throw

• The Tax Code: It didn’t break by accident. We can repair it.

• When a Political Machine Runs Into a Moral Wall: The Vatican didn’t blink.

• What I’m Watching: Jerry West, The Logo

• Jukebox Playlist: Mississippi Goddam

Kareem’s Daily Quote

“There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest.”
Elie Wiesel (1928–2016)

Silence is never neutral. Choosing to keep your mouth shut is still a choice, and that choice always lands somewhere. Elie Wiesel understood that better than anyone. He didn’t use “if” or “maybe.” His words were deliberate and, honestly, uncomfortable. He didn’t say you should protest when it’s easy or when you’re sure it’ll work. He said you should always speak up.

That’s a heavy thing to live by. Most of us are experts at the kind of “quiet math” Wiesel hated—the mental cost/benefit analysis we do before we decide to open our mouths.

We ask ourselves: Is this going to cost me? Is anyone even listening? Does it actually matter? Those are fair questions. I’ve asked them myself in rooms where the stakes weren’t just some abstract idea, where you could actually feel the weight of being seen and the risk of speaking out. I still remember marching on campus after Dr. King was assassinated. People would stop me and say, “You’re going to the NBA, what are you out here protesting for?” The subtext was loud and clear: your success should be enough to buy your silence. I never bought into that bargain, but that doesn’t mean the tension ever goes away. You just learn to live with it and speak up anyway.

Wiesel’s real insight, the part that really stings, is the line he draws between power and duty. We usually treat them as the same thing, thinking it only matters to speak up if we’re 100% sure we can stop the injustice. That’s how we let ourselves off the hook. We tell ourselves the problem is just too big, or our voice is too small, or that protesting doesn’t really work, or that someone else will handle it. This last is the “bystander effect” where the crowd becomes our alibi.

But history has a way of calling our bluff. Look at Sophie and Hans Scholl. They handed out leaflets against the Nazis knowing they’d probably get caught, and they were executed just a few days later. They didn’t stop the war, but today, hundreds of schools in Germany are named after them. Or Frederick Douglass, standing in front of hostile crowds in the 1850s demanding that the nation’s conscience be “roused” long before anyone thought abolition was actually possible. These protests weren’t “effective” in the moment by any normal standard. But the fact that they stood up and went on the record? That was the whole enchilada. Sophie and Hans were two weights, bending that ancient arc towards justice.

After decades of watching, marching, and writing, it’s clear to me that a culture of apathy starts with personal silence. You can’t have a culture that stands up for what’s right if everyone is privately refusing to say a word. Lately, we’ve gotten really good at the performance of being mad: the retweets, the quick posts, the 24-hour outrage, but there’s often no depth behind it. Wiesel would have seen right through that. He spent his whole life trying to remind us that “witnessing” something is a lot different than just watching it happen.

The call to protest is deeper than just looking good or keeping a moral scorecard. It’s about refusing to let another person stand alone in their suffering. That’s the hard part. When you strip away the excuses, the crowd, and all the noise, you’re left with just one question, and it never gets any easier to answer:

What are you going to do?

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