News Reel

Venezuela's government says it has deported a close ally of Nicolás Maduro to face judicial proceedings in the U.S. less than three years he was pardoned by President Joe Biden.

This year's field of 35 contestants is the smallest since 2003.

Parents had sued to halt law, saying they had the right to make decisions regarding the health of their children

A Kansas judge has temporarily blocked a law banning gender-transition treatments for minors in the state.

The state district judge Carl Folsom III granted an injunction requested by the parents of two teenagers who want to continue gender-transition treatment with medicines. Folsom’s decision halts the enforcement of a recently approved state law that banned such treatments.

Napoleon Solo hustled to first place at the 151st running of the Preakness Stakes on Saturday, coming out on top against 13 other horses.

• Home hope surges to six under thanks to round of 68

• Rahm among five on four under; McIlroy is three under

The leaderboard was spinning like a tombola at Aronimink on Saturday, where at one point or another just about every player in the field had a birdie putt to take a share of the lead and then a bogey putt to let go of it again. When the drum finally stopped turning, Alex Smalley, a 29-year-old from North Carolina who has never won a professional golf tournament, was top of the leaderboard on six under, two shots clear of a five-way tie for second. No disrespect to Smalley, the world No 78, but the field are queued up like bowling balls on the rack waiting to take a run at him on Sunday.

Philadelphia loves an underdog, but it’s probably best if the trumpeter waits another day before he strikes up the opening notes of the Rocky theme.

The Preakness Stakes featured its biggest field in 15 years with 14 horses in the middle jewel of horse racing's Triple Crown.

People came to Montgomery by bus, car and plane to march on the state capitol with local and national leaders

Thousands of people from across the country descended on Montgomery, the capital of Alabama, on Saturday. They arrived by bus, by car and by plane to gather for the All Roads Lead to the South rally, following the supreme court’s Louisiana v Callais decision last month, which essentially gutted the Voting Rights Act and severely limited protections against voting discrimination.

Organized by a coalition of national and local civic engagement groups, the rally took place outside the Alabama state capitol building, in the same plaza where the 1965 Selma to Montgomery voting rights marches – three nonviolent demonstrations in support of Black voting rights – are enshrined.

College grads outearn people without a degree within 15 years, even after paying for tuition, study finds.

The ethnic Hutu tycoon was indicted on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity for allegedly arming Hutu militias that massacred more than 800,000 mostly ethnic Tutsis in 1994.

Here's how to stream the remaining installments of the series starring Zendaya, Sydney Sweeney and Jacob Elordi.

EAMON BONSALL
Columnist

In the summer after my sophomore year of high school, my parents uttered the statement that no lazy 16-year-old wants to hear: “You need to get a job.” I had spent my freshman year in a relatively low-stress job, but had to leave due to not getting enough hours. This time around, starting with my second job, I had no idea what I was getting myself into.

Turns out, finding a job as a 16-year-old was a lot more difficult than I had anticipated. After what seemed like endless interviews and an even more endless stream of rejections, I received the offer I eventually took: as a cashier at a chain of drive-through convenience stores.

If you’re from my neck of the woods, in southeastern Pennsylvania, you’ll know what I’m talking about. These stores sell pretty much everything: milk, cigarettes, iced tea, empanadas and more. 

Now, I’m not going to act like my job at the convenience store was akin to saving the world, but as a truly impatient person, it taught me more about patience, among other things, than I ever could’ve expected. 

Starting my first day at that job was one of the most anxious days of my entire life. It was my first real part-time job and I had never tended a cash register before. 

One of the first harbingers of my future distress in this job was actually on my very first day. It was a hot September afternoon, and the air conditioning was thankfully on. However, with the convenience store being a drive-through, the windows were constantly open.

Being a heat-sensitive person like myself, I was pretty reactive to any sort of above-average heat. Starting off my first day of actual work by sweating like a pig was not exactly what I had in mind. 

Another time that I regretted my choice of employment was a few months after my first day. Right when I walked into work, my manager (who was actually one of the good parts of the job) told me not to go to the bathroom the whole shift. 

Before I could ask why, my manager told me that the pipes from the toilet into the front lawn of the building were screwed up, and that dirt and grass were coming through and out of the toilet, preventing us from using it. 

You’d think that this would be an easy fix, right? Wrong. This bathroom problem went on for two weeks without any fix or word from the higher-ups who were supposed to handle it. Finally, after pretty much begging the owners to fix the issue, the toilet became usable again.

The store itself wasn’t the only point of contention I had with this job — the customers were a part of it too. Now, don’t get me wrong, most of my customers were great, but there were a select few that made the job a little tougher. 

I truly do think of myself as a genuinely impatient person, especially around people. Many times, customers got irritated because I was too slow or didn’t get their food ready fast enough. In the interest of not losing my job, I didn’t have a choice but to learn how to develop my patience or get fired trying. 

There were also a lot of little tricks I learned from having a convenience store job. I know the difference between pretty much all types of Marlboro cigarettes: reds, lights, super lights, menthols, menthol lights, 100s, 72s, etc. Never thought I would need to know that, but here we are. 

I think when you go from a really bad job to a really good one, you realize that things could be a whole lot worse. Now, as a bookseller, I work four-hour shifts, three days a week – when I used to work for seven hours, four days a week, after being in school for seven hours straight. 

It’s really important to recognize that even though some jobs can feel dreadful, they can still have their benefits. The more technical stuff, like working a register and customer service, actually helped me to land a job I wanted, one that I have worked at since my senior year of high school.

I look back on my time as a convenience store cashier pretty often. Yeah, it sucked while I was working there, but the fun moments I had with coworkers and the stories I got to tell after were well worth it. Would I work there again, though? Nope, not a chance.

Eamon Bonsall is an opinion columnist at The Review. His opinions are his own and do not represent the majority opinion of The Review staff. He may be reached at ebons@udel.edu.

Alex Smalley takes a two-shot lead into the final round but some big names lurk at Aronimink

Xander Schauffele fancies reclaiming the crown he won in 2024. He turned in 32, and now he’s just made his fifth birdie of the day at 11. He joins Rory as the only currently active member of the group at -3.

Justin Rose has rolled in two big putts on 18 already this week. Par savers both. And it’s three pars at the closing hole now, though he’s not so chuffed about this one, a 15-foot birdie attempt stopping just short. He cocks his head back in frustration, though it surely won’t sting for long, because that’s set the seal on a 65, and at -2 he’s right in the mix. He joins Kristoffer Reitan and Chris Kirk in the clubhouse lead.

"Every link leads to an entry that does not exist yet," explains the GitHub page for a Wikipedia-like site called Halupedia. "Until you click it, at which point an LLM pretends it has always existed and writes it for you, in the deadpan register of a 19th-century scholarly press..." Every article is invented on demand. The footnotes are also lies... The hardest problem with an infinite, on-demand encyclopedia is internal contradiction... When the LLM writes an article, it is required to add a context="..." attribute on every <a> it inserts, summarising the future article it is linking to (e.g. context="19th-century clerk who formalized footnote drift, Pellbrick's mentor")... When that target article is later requested for the first time, the worker loads the accumulated hints and injects them into the system prompt as "PRIOR REFERENCES — these are CANON". The LLM is instructed that the encyclopedia is hallucinated and absurd, but it must not contradict itself. Fast Company reports that Halupedia was created by software developer BartÅomiej Strama, who confessed in a Reddit comment that the site came about after a drunk night with a friend. In the week since launch, he says Halupedia has amassed more than 150,000 users." Beyond indulging in silly alternate histories, what's the point of using Halupedia? Strama hinted at one larger purpose in a reply to a donor on his Buy Me a Coffee page: "Your contribution towards polluting LLM training data will surely benefit society!" he wrote. The site is licensed as free software under the GPL-3.0 license. Thanks to long-time Slashdot reader schwit1 for sharing the news.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Donald Do allegedly sought to export 292 loggerhead musk turtles under the false claim they had been captive-bred

A California man, who received a federal permit to export turtles under the false claim that they had been captive-bred, has been arrested on wildlife-trafficking charges, authorities said on Friday.

Donald Do and an unidentified accomplice allegedly sought to export 292 loggerhead musk turtles to Taiwan from December 2022 to May 2024. The accomplice obtained the US Fish and Wildlife Service export license, after which, authorities say, Do purchased turtles poached from the wild in Florida and other locales. Do had also allegedly sent instructions for the animals to be shipped to San Francisco.

Former Microsoft programmer Keith Curtis "wrote and self-published After the Software Wars to explain the caliber of free and open source software," according to his entry on Wikipedia, "and why he believes Linux is technically superior to any proprietary OS." He's also KeithCu (long-time Slashdot reader #925,649), and has written a blog post on "How I added an LLM-based grammar checking + TeX math import to LibreOffice." : At Microsoft, I spent five years working on the text components RichEdit and Quill, and came to understand the "physics" of word processing: the file formats, data structures, and algorithms that provided fast access to text and properties, independent of the length of the file. Selecting one million characters to make them bold took about the same time as changing one character, because of the clever data structures (piece tables) and algorithms in these engines... When I decided to add a real-time AI grammar checker to [LibreOffice plugin] WriterAgent, I knew what I was getting into, but I underestimated the trickery of LibreOffice's UNO. His site shares the surprises he encountered, one by one. (Starting with "the office suite throws a bunch of initialization variables at your constructor. If your Python __init__ method doesn't handle them, the code fails to map the call, the stack misaligns, and the program dies.") There's sentence casing issues, duplicate words, and foreign-language syntax — all culminating in new features for "a LibreOffice extension (Python + UNO) that adds generative AI editing to Writer, Calc, and Draw..." "If you want to try it out, the repo is here... Let's make LibreOffice and the free desktop AI-native!"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Iran and the U.S. cut diplomatic ties in 1980, and the players are expected to use their time in Turkey to complete the necessary procedures for obtaining visas.

Asylum seekers express dismay at continuation of scheme agreed last year that has failed to stop crossings in Channel

The Home Office is extending a controversial scheme to stop asylum seekers crossing the Channel in small boats, the Guardian has learned.

The UK prime minister, Keir Starmer, and the French president, Emmanuel Macron, signed a deal they hailed as “groundbreaking” last July, known as “one in, one out”.

Met police say they pursued vehicle believed stolen before it collided with another vehicle in Ilford

Nine people have been injured after a car being pursued by police crashed in east London.

The Metropolitan police said officers had tried to stop a vehicle they believed had been stolen.

Colombia's presidential elections are scheduled for May 31, marking the end of the term for Gustavo Petro, the country's first leftist president.

Bloomberg reports that Apple's two-year-old partnership with OpenAI "has become strained, according to people familiar with the matter." Bloomberg describes OpenAI as "failing to see the expected benefits from the deal and now preparing possible legal action." OpenAI lawyers are actively working with an outside legal firm on a range of options that could be formally executed in the near future, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the deliberations are private. That could include sending the iPhone maker a notice alleging breach of contract without necessarily filing a full lawsuit at the outset, according to the people... OpenAI believed that the companies' partnership, which wove ChatGPT into Apple software, would coax more users into subscribing to the chatbot. It also expected deeper integration across more Apple apps and prime placement within the Siri assistant. Instead, Apple's use of OpenAI technology across its operating systems remains limited, and features can be hard to find... Apple has had its own concerns about OpenAI, including whether the company does enough to protect user privacy. And a recent push [by OpenAI] to make devices — an effort overseen by former Apple executives — has rankled the iPhone maker. Any legal move by OpenAI likely wouldn't come until after the conclusion of the Musk trial, according to the people. No final decisions have been made, and OpenAI still hopes to resolve its issues with Apple outside of court. The article points out that OpenAI "initially believed the deal could generate billions of dollars per year in subscriptions — something that hasn't come close to happening." An OpenAI executive argues to Bloomberg that from a product perspective Apple hasn't done everything they could, "and worse, they haven't even made an honest effort."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

The person was on board the MV Hondius, the center of the outbreak that has claimed three lives

Canadian officials said on Saturday that one of the four Canadians currently quarantining in British Columbia after being exposed to the hantavirus while on board the cruise ship where the outbreak occurred has presumptively tested positive.

Speaking at news conference, Dr Bonnie Henry, British Columbia’s provincial health officer, said the individual developed mild symptoms, including fever and headache, two days ago, and that the individual and their partner, who had also been on board the cruise ship where they had been isolating together, were transferred to a hospital in Victoria for assessment and testing.

Here are hints and answers for the NYT Strands puzzle for May 17, No. 805.

RYAN SHORE
Staff Reporter

The Delaware Fightin’ Blue Hens women’s lacrosse season was a strong start to the foreseeable future, opening its first season in the Atlantic Sun Conference (ASUN) as the top seed, going undefeated against the division.

The Blue Hens took home a haul of awards, including Morgan Gore as the Midfielder of the Year and Kennedy Radziul as the Defensive Player of the Year. Along with those awards, head coach Amy Altig was named the unanimous Coach of the Year along with the unanimously named Offensive Player of the Year, senior Ella Rishko. 

Altig reflected on the regular season and the proudest moment of the year before the championship series.

“I think for us it is probably overcoming the start that we had at 1-4 and really establishing ourselves as a program who’s just persistent and relentless in our pursuit of excellence and what excellence is for us,” Altig said.

She went on to mention that the team could have given up when it had a losing record, but through persistence and drive, it found solutions that led to success. Despite that, Altig acknowledged that there is much more work to be done.

Rishko spoke of her role as a leader going into the championship.

“There’s definitely a lot of nerves, but like many people say, nerves are the same as excitement,” Rishko said. “We’re turning all of our anxiousness into excitement and hard work, using all that energy that may rattle a lot of people and working on helping our younger girls change their perspectives on the big stage. We use that energy to fuel them through all of the difficulties of being on an 11-game win streak.”

However, after a stellar season, their efforts in pursuit of the trophy they worked for all year fell short after being defeated 16-11 by the second-seeded Jacksonville University Dolphins in the ASUN Women’s Lacrosse Championship Final. A heartbreaking loss after a 12-game winning streak to close out the regular season.

Altig opened up about the first year in the ASUN, and the difficult adjustments that had to be made against a new set of opponents.

“This group’s mentality has really been all year long about adjusting, and sudden change is the one constant that we faced,” Altig said. 

She explained that the team had to adjust to the different playing styles and weather conditions that came with facing new opponents, but they rose to the occasion and lived in the space of change very well.

Despite the hopes of winning the championship, Altig looks to the future with a positive and hungry mentality for the new class ahead.

“In the past, it was really different,” Altig said. “We were the ones who were on the hunt, fighting for a fourth seed just to get into the conference tournament. Now, we are the hunted.

“I think there’s an intensity to this group that this senior class has instituted this year where we don’t just sit back. I give this senior class and these leaders a ton of credit for their leadership styles and how they’ve all come together.”

With Rishko’s departure this year, she reflects on her highlight moments at the university after originally transferring from Virginia Tech.

“Being able to work with all the girls who work on the draw circle these past two years has been so much fun,” Rishko said. “We put in so much work that no one else sees. We’re out at practice every day but we have to do individuals, film, all the extra work and it’s been translating this year into our game.

“I think you can really see that and I’m so lucky to have a draw team and staff that puts a strong emphasis on that aspect of the game.”

Many players are set to graduate following this season, leaving Altig and the coaching staff behind to recruit the future of the university’s team.

“We have an incoming class,” Altig said. “But will they fill every shoe right away? I don’t know.”

The jury’s still out on the incoming recruits — but there are certainly shoes to fill. 

The transfer portal will remain an option, but the team intentionally built its young core with the understanding that players such as Morgan Gore, Jaclyn Marszal, McKenzie Didio and Ella Rishko would eventually graduate.

The Blue Hens may be losing core pieces in the upcoming year, but they look to defend their top seed and championship mindset going into the 2026-2027 season.

Track your blood pressure easily at home with these expert recommendations.

Here are hints and the answer for today's Wordle for May 17, No. 1,793.

Here are some hints and the answers for the NYT Connections puzzle for May 17, No. 1,071.

Police estimated that around 60,000 people attended the "Unite the Kingdom" march, making it one of the largest right-wing mobilizations seen in Britain in recent years.

The Wolves probably won’t win a title without big roster changes, but their postseason run made their case as one of the league’s most entertaining teams

The Minnesota Timberwolves are out of the NBA playoffs. It’s a miracle it took this long. In their first-round series against the Denver Nuggets, they saw two starters and another key reserve suffer significant injuries. The Nuggets entered the series on a 12-game winning streak and were favored from the jump. After somehow winning that series in six games, finding Denver’s weak points and pummeling them until they broke, the Wolves met an even more daunting opponent in the San Antonio Spurs. Though they’d have been forgiven for tiredly accepting a sweep, the Wolves swiped Game 1 on the Spurs’ home floor, then a close Game 4 at home. After that, the tank finally ran empty. But even in the losses – including Friday night’s in Game 6 – the Wolves found ways to frighten. They’d go down 18-3 and then tie the game by the end of the first quarter. They’d tighten a 29-point deficit to 12 entering half-time. The tenacity and spite they played with was a finite resource, but at times this postseason it was potent enough to convince me otherwise.

The Wolves were not the deepest team in these playoffs, nor the most consistent. They may lie closer to the bottom of those categories than the top. After their elimination, coach Chris Finch and players alike admitted they’d failed to take the regular season seriously enough, failing to set themselves up well for the high-stakes games of April and May. (My old teachers probably shared a similar sense of disappointment in me before finals.) And yet this odd bunch regularly play some of the most soulful basketball in the NBA. Anthony Edwards can take over a game at any time, either by shooting deep threes or acrobatic layups. French albatross Rudy Gobert anchors the defense, which the team plays with astonishing vigor at its best. The best athletes are sometimes so clinical that they produce a rather emotionless watching experience, but certain passages of Timberwolves basketball inspire in me feelings of pure glee.

"Most of the plastic waste in California is about to lose the recycling symbol," writes the Washington Post's "climate coach." The "chasing arrows" symbol, created in 1970 by a college student inspired by the burgeoning environmental movement, has been stamped indiscriminately on plastic bottles, clamshell takeout containers, chip bags and more for decades. The majority of the items emblazoned with the mark have been virtually impossible to recycle for most people. California lawmakers say they want to end the charade: Under what's known as the Truth in Recycling law, plastics cannot use the symbol if they aren't collected by curbside programs serving 60% of Californians and sorted by facilities serving 60% of the state's recycling programs (with some additional requirements). If the law goes into effect as scheduled on October 4, more than half of the types of plastic packaging and products sold in the state can no longer carry the chasing arrows logo. That will affect plastic films, foam, PVC and mixed plastics... Food and packaging groups have sued the state of California, calling the law a form of censorship whose vague restrictions violate the First Amendment and due process rights.... Advocates of the law counter that corporations deliberately misled the public by turning the recycling symbol into a marketing device that masks the fact that only a small fraction of plastic packaging is ultimately recycled... The mark was originally intended to informwaste processors what polymers a plastic item was made from. But the public reasonably assumed anything stamped with the symbol was recyclable. Millions of tons of worthless plastic trash have since poured into recycling facilities unable to process it.... States are now taking action. Seven have passed laws shifting the cost of recycling onto packaging makers. Oregon and Washington have lifted requirements that plastic containers carry the chasing arrows symbol. The article notes that Norway already recovers 97% of beverage bottles, while Slovakia recycles 60% of plastic packaging. "But the U.S. only recovers about a third of its PET and HDPE bottles, and just 13% of plastic packaging, according to U.S. Plastics Pact, an industry-led forum. "It won't be easy for the U.S. to reach higher levels of recycling: The necessary infrastructure and incentives are chronically underfunded, no federal mandate exists for minimum-recycled-content that would create demand and a mix of mostly unrecyclable hydrocarbons still dominates the waste stream."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

TOM VAIL
Staff Reporter

After spring break, for many students, it feels as if the semester has finally begun to wind down a little. That is not the case for the chapters of the university’s Greek life organizations. 

Every year, the fraternities and sororities come together to celebrate Greek Week, an annual tradition celebrating the Greek life community on campus. 

Greek Week is intended to foster community and school spirit, energize the student body and create philanthropic and competitive interactions between the many different fraternities and sororities on campus. 

However, the weeks leading up to the Greek life celebration are dominated by the preparations for one contest: Airband. A dance and lip-sync competition where each group’s performance has a unique theme of their choice, the lives of many members of the Greek life community are controlled by this very competition. 

Members of the university’s fraternities and sororities spend countless hours practicing, giving it their all to see who will come out on top in the end. This year was no different. 

While the competition brings both the fraternities and sororities together, they compete in separate categories, which results in two distinct winners. 

Judging for the competition involves a variety of criteria including choreography, costumes, creativity, energy and execution of the performance in addition to each chapters’ philanthropic efforts and level of sportsmanship.

Following the performance, the points are tallied with the highest scoring fraternity and sorority announced as the winners afterward. 

Among the sororities competing, Sigma Kappa won the competition for their third year in a row. Angelina Velardi, a senior communications major, and Elise Mungovan, a junior communications major, served as co-chairs of Sigma Kappa’s Airband performance. 

“Usually I am very nervous, but this year, I felt more confident,” Velardi said. “I don’t mean to win necessarily, but just to perform, because we were proud of what we put together, and we were just so excited to show people, especially with us going last, what we’ve been working on.”

For their theme this year, Sigma Kappa chose to choreograph a routine based on the 2005 Tim Burton film, “The Corpse Bride.” Initially, the Airband co-chairs wanted to make their performance based on the second installment of the “Wicked” film series, “Wicked: For Good.”

“We wanted to make a good Broadway version of ‘Wicked,’” Mungovan said. “We were going to be Elphaba and Glinda because it made sense to us. We ended up not getting it as our theme, but ‘The Corpse Bride’ was our second option. The lead characters were cool and it had kind of an eerie story.”

In the end, Velardi said there was one thing she felt her fellow Sigma Kappa sisters had been able to learn from the experience. 

“I was talking to the new pledge class of girls,” Velardi said. “A lot of them were in the technical section this year. I saw them all talking in a little circle, and I remember saying, ‘You guys are friends.’ Like, the sorority is huge, and I feel like so many little groups happen from your dance section, and then, it becomes something much bigger. So, I feel like friendship is definitely learned throughout the process.”

Among the fraternities dancing in the competition, Sigma Phi Delta won the competition. Charlie Sizer, a senior mechanical engineering major, and Michael Romano, a sophomore leadership major, served as co-chairs of Sigma Phi Delta’s Airband performance. 

“We were just so proud of everybody, and we were just so happy that it came together so well,” Sizer said. “There was only one place to go. In the back of my mind, I was like, ‘If I don’t get first, I’m not going to be happy.’ Like, all the guys were feeling the pressure and saying, ‘The only place that we can go is up.’”

For their theme this year, Sigma Phi Delta chose to choreograph a routine based on the 1994 Disney animated film, “The Lion King.”  After a second-place finish last year with a routine based on the superhero, Superman, the brothers of Sigma Phi Delta entered this year’s competition with a desire for something a little different.

“We wanted to pick something with a bunch of different characters in it,” Sizer said. “Last year, there were just two people. We wanted to do something different, and then also something that was like a musical that everyone knows that we could take songs from.”

Once the competition was over, Romano explained that he felt the entire process had brought his chapter and fellow fraternity brothers closer than previously thought possible. 

“We scheduled so many practices, I mean we practiced roughly four to five times a week, and then leading up to the competition, we practiced twice a day,” Romano said. “We were with each other for about five to six hours every single day in that final stretch. We already are a tight-knit group of guys, but I felt it just brought us even closer together as a fraternity.”

For many, what felt like a lot of hard work and endless hours of preparation only proved to be an incredible opportunity for growth and unity. For many participants like Romano, the experience highlighted that the true value of the competition lies in the strengthening of the bonds that define the university’s Greek life community.

"The vulnerability is simple in practice," writes Tom's Hardware: "run a command as a standard user and gain root (administrator) access to the machine." And it was Mythos Preview that helped the security researchers at Palo Alto-based Calif bypass a five-year Apple security effort in just five days. The blog 9to5Mac reports: Last year, Apple introduced Memory Integrity Enforcement (MIE), a hardware-assisted memory safety system designed to make memory corruption exploits much harder to execute... [The researchers note it's built into Apple all models of the iPhone 17 and iPhone Air, and some MacBooks] They explain they have a 55-page technical report on the hack, but they won't release it until Apple ships a fix for the exploit. But they do note in broad terms that Anthropic's Mythos Preview model helped them identify the bugs and assisted them throughout the entire collaborative exploit development process. "Mythos Preview is powerful: once it has learned how to attack a class of problems, it generalizes to nearly any problem in that class. Mythos discovered the bugs quickly because they belong to known bug classes. But MIE is a new best-in-class mitigation, so autonomously bypassing it can be tricky. This is where human expertise comes in. Part of our motivation was to test what's possible when the best models are paired with experts. Landing a kernel memory corruption exploit against the best protections in a week is noteworthy, and says something strong about this pairing...." [I]n a time when even small teams, with the help of AI, can make discoveries such as this one, "we're about to learn how the best mitigation technology on Earth holds up during the first AI bugmageddon."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Turnout down at second ‘unite the kingdom’ march featuring Islamophobic and ethnonationalist hate speech and flyers

The far-right activist Tommy Robinson told tens of thousands of supporters to prepare for the “battle of Britain” during a rally in London on Saturday.

Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, drew tens of thousands of supporters on to the streets of central London for the second year running in an event where Islamophobic and ethnonationalist hate speech and flyers were distributed to the crowds.

Man in 30s arrested over incident in Modena that left two seriously hurt

Eight people were injured, two seriously, on Saturday after a car rammed into a group of pedestrians in the northern Italian city of Modena.

Police said the driver, in his 30s, had been arrested. He is also alleged to have attempted to stab a passerby who had tried to stop him from fleeing the scene.

Genomic analysis showed the virus found aboard the MV Hondius shows no evidence of new characteristics so far.

The remains of the 4 Italians are believed to be deep inside an underwater cave.

Police say 11 arrested ‘for a variety of offences’ as far-right and pro-Palestine marches take place in London

Commenting on today’s policing operation in London, the Met Police said they had made two arrests near Euston station.

A statement from the force read:

Officers have made two arrests in the vicinity of Euston station.

Two men, wanted on suspicion of GBH following an incident in Birmingham where a man was run over, were spotted arriving into London to attend the UTK protest.

Variety reports: Amazon MGM Studios started auditioning actors for the part of 007 in the past few weeks, Variety has learned... The next James Bond film will be directed by Denis Villeneuve, the filmmaker behind the "Dune" franchise, "Arrival" and "Sicario." Amy Pascal of the "Spider-Man" films and David Heyman of the "Harry Potter" series will produce the picture, which will feature a script from "Peaky Blinders" creator Steven Knight. Tanya Lapointe ("Dune") is executive producing the film. The BBC notes it's been five full years since the release of the last Bond film No Time To Die, and 15 months "since Amazon MGM Studios took control of the Bond franchise." But they also offer this list of "the current bookmakers' favourites" for who will become the seventh actor to play the gadget-loving super spy in the franchise's 64-year history: Callum Turner — the 36-year-old actor is the current bookies' frontrunner. He has been in the Fantastic Beasts franchise, was nominated for a Bafta for TV drama The Capture, and starred in Apple TV's Masters of the Air... Jacob Elordi — the Australian actor, 28, made his name in TV's Euphoria and cult hit film Saltburn, and was nominated for an Oscar this year for playing the monster in Frankenstein. The Rest Is Entertainment host Marina Hyde recently said she'd heard from a number of well-placed sources that he's now "in pole position" to be Bond. Harris Dickinson — the 29-year-old is playing John Lennon in the forthcoming major Beatles biopics, and has previously appeared in Maleficent, The King's Man, Where the Crawdads Sing and Babygirl, and received a Bafta TV Award nomination for A Murder at the End of the World. Henry Cavill — the Superman, The Witcher and Mission: Impossible actor is a fan favourite and was widely regarded to have been the runner-up when Craig landed the part. But at 43, is he now too old to start a lengthy stint as 007? Aaron Taylor-Johnson — the Bafta-nominated 35-year-old, known for films like Kick-Ass, Kraven the Hunter and 28 Years Later, is a perennial contender, and would fit the bill. Theo James — the suitably suave star, 41, made his name in the Divergent films and has since built his reputation in The Time Traveler's Wife, The White Lotus and The Gentlemen. ...Or producers could well go for one of the many other names who have been touted for the role, or an unexpected choice.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Humpback had been found deceased on Friday after rescue attempt criticised as ‘pure animal cruelty’

Timmy the whale has been confirmed dead by Danish authorities two weeks after the beached humpback was transported to the North Sea in a rescue attempt criticised as “pure animal cruelty”.

Denmark’s Environmental Protection Agency said a whale had been found dead on Friday near ​the small ⁠island of Anholt in the Kattegat, a broad strait between Denmark and Sweden, and confirmed it was Timmy on Saturday.

The blog It's FOSS has an update on the Fedora AI Developer Desktop Initiative, a proposed platform for AI/machine learning workloads on Fedora. It's now been blocked "after two Fedora Council members retracted their earlier approval votes." The initiative was proposed by Red Hat engineer Gordon Messmer, aiming to deliver an Atomic Desktop with accelerated AI workload support, covering developer tools, hardware enablement, and building a community around AI on Fedora... At the May 6 council meeting, the members unanimously voted to approve this new initiative. After which a short, lazy consensus window was left open until May 8 to accommodate absent members, after which the decision was to be ratified. But that last bit never happened, as council member Justin Wheeler (Jflory7) was the first person to change their vote to -1... ["While I strongly support leveraging AI to establish Fedora as a leading platform, completely rearchitecting our kernel strategy is a massive structural shift. It requires explicit alignment with our legal and engineering stakeholders before we commit the project to this path."] Following that, fellow council member Miro HronÄok (churchyard) put in his -1, saying that he had originally assumed the proposal was purely additive and therefore uncontroversial. But seeing the community's response, he realized that he was mistaken about that. As an elected representative, he felt the need to reflect on this major proposal before signing it off. Over 180 replies have piled up in the proposal's discussion thread, with many well-known Fedora contributors pushing back on things like kernel policy, proprietary software, and project identity. Hans de Goede from the packaging team called out the proposal's emphasis on CUDA support as going against Fedora's foundational commitment to free software, arguing that open alternatives like AMD's ROCm and Intel's oneAPI should be the focus instead.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Officials first announced the outbreak on Friday, with 65 deaths and 246 suspected cases.

FBI director reportedly took a snorkel excursion at site containing remains of more than 1,000 navy sailors and marines

The FBI director, Kash Patel, is facing new scrutiny following reports that he participated in a snorkeling excursion around the USS Arizona during a trip to Hawaii last summer.

The outing was first reported this week by the Associated Press, which obtained government emails describing the excursion as a “VIP snorkel” around the USS Arizona – the site that holds the remains of more than 1,000 US navy sailors and marines who died at Pearl Harbor in 1941.

Russia's Putin will travel to Beijing next week to meet China's Xi. The announcement came one day after President Trump returned from his own summit with the Chinese leader.

The work stoppage, the LIRR's first since 1994, went into effect after the MTA and five unions representing 3,500 workers failed to reach a deal on a new four-year contract.

Wes Streeting is one of several challengers who could try to unseat the U.K. prime minister.

In unprecedented self-dealing maneuver, billions of taxpayer dollars could be paid to US president and his allies

There is growing concern Donald Trump’s massive $10bn lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service may soon be settled by his own administration – an unprecedented, self-dealing maneuver for a US president, in which billions of taxpayer dollars could be transferred to the president or his allies.

Trump may agree to drop his lawsuit in exchange for the launch of a $1.7bn fund to compensate people he says were wrongfully targeted by the Biden administration, according to reports by ABC News and the New York Times.

Trump said the operation killed Abu-Bilal al-Minuki, whom he described as "second in command of ISIS globally." Nigeria's president said the strike took place at a compound in the Lake Chad basin.

Three paramedics at health centre among dead, while Israel also says it killed Hamas military chief in Gaza

Israel carried out airstrikes in southern Lebanon, killing at least six people, including three paramedics working at a health centre, just hours after its envoys had agreed with the Lebanese government to extend a ceasefire.

Israel also said it had killed the Hamas military chief, Izz al-Din al-Haddad, in a targeted strike in Gaza on Friday.

Suspect detained at ‘unite the kingdom’ march meeting point over incident on Thursday after flags were removed from lamp-posts

A man has been arrested in London after an incident in Birmingham in which a man was run over by a van after flags were removed from lamp-posts.

Officers arrested the suspect at Euston station near the meeting point of the “unite the kingdom” march. Another man was arrested on suspicion of encouraging people to attack a police officer.

Workers at the Long Island Rail Road, serving the eastern New York metropolitan area, walked off the job on Saturday

North America’s largest commuter rail system was shut down on Saturday after unionized workers in the New York City area went on strike.

The Long Island Rail Road that serves the city’s eastern suburbs ceased operations on early Saturday morning after five unions representing about half its workforce walked off the job.

USA Today reports: Trump Mobile phones are being shipped this week, the company exclusively confirmed to USA TODAY in an email May 11.... The company's first smartphone — the T1 Phone — was originally scheduled for release in August. However, the golden gadget's release was later delayed to October before being pushed back again to this week. Now, Trump Mobile CEO Pat O'Brien told USA TODAY, pre-ordered phones will start getting sent out to customers this week... O'Brien said the company anticipates all pre-ordered phones to be delivered within the next several weeks... The company's 5G "47 Plan" is available for $47.45 a month, a nod to President Donald Trump's two presidential terms, according to the website... Customers will also have Trump(SM) displayed as the status bar in their network. The Verge reported the phone was added last week to Google's public list of devices certified for Google Play, "usually one of the final steps before an Android phone is launched." Trump Mobile may have broken radio silence partly in response to a recent wave of media coverage alleging that buyers had received emails notifying them that their preorders had been canceled, coverage that even made it onto Stephen Colbert's The Late Show... [T]here's seemingly no evidence of the alleged cancellation emails beyond unverified social media claims. In January The Verge also questioned reports that 600,000 people preordered the Trump phone with a $100 deposit. "I can't find a shred of evidence that this figure is true," calling it "a microcosm of how the modern media landscape and AI chatbots can combine to give falsities the sheen of respectability." I first saw the figure in, of all places, the Threads feed of California governor Gavin Newsom's press office, which had shared a screenshot of a tweet of a Grok summary making the claim. Trustworthy, right? The Grok post cites "reports from sources like Fortune, NPR, and The Guardian" for the 600,000 preorders, but a quick search of their recent output shows no sign of the number... India's Economic Times and Hindustan Times both reported a more specific figure of 590,000 preorders, referencing an unspecified Associated Press report as the source. [The Associated Press] VP of corporate communications, Lauren Easton, confirmed to me that "AP's original stories never contained such a number...." Hindustan Times writer Shamik Banerjee called the citation "a typo," and told me that the figure was in fact taken from The Times of India. The Times of India story, which is bylined only to the newspaper's lifestyle desk, is more transparent in its sourcing: a viral post by a meme account... It's been covered by multiple publications, now presented as fact on MSN.com and tech site Phone Arena. And that coverage has helped it to filter into the chatbots and not just Grok — Gemini and ChatGPT were both happy to confirm to me that 600,000 T1 Phones have been ordered so far, the former falsely attributing the number to the Associated Press, and the latter to Phone Arena. As for how many Trump Phone preorders have actually been placed? No one outside the company knows.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

No injuries have been reported because of the issue, the Food and Drug Administration said.

Ex-health secretary sets out fledgling policy platform – including call for new special relationship with EU

Wes Streeting has confirmed that he will run to replace Keir Starmer as prime minister if a leadership contest is triggered, and called for a “proper contest” to be held for the role.

Speaking at a conference organised by the thinktank Progress on Saturday, Streeting confirmed he would enter any possible leadership race, outlining his belief that the UK needed to pursue a “new special relationship” with the EU, signalling that he wanted to see the country rejoin the trade bloc in the future.

What's going on with the U.S. job market? "The economy is growing. Unemployment is low," notes the Washington Post. "And yet, for millions of workers, finding a job has become harder than at almost any other point in decades," with the hiring rate "well below pre-pandemic levels for more than a year." Part of the problem? "Of the net 369,000 positions added across the entire economy since the start of 2025, health care alone accounted for nearly 800,000 — meaning every other sector, taken together, shed jobs." By the end of 2025 nearly half of college graduates ages 22 to 27 were working at jobs that didn't require a degree, according to stats from New York's Federal Reserve Bank. The headline unemployment rate, at 4.2%, looks healthy. But that figure has been buoyed by a shrinking labor force: Fewer people are actively looking for work, which keeps the rate down even as hiring slows... [Some large tech companies] are trying to recalibrate after their hiring sprees of 2021 and 2022, when many had raised pay, offered flexible schedules and signed people quickly... Higher interest rates have also made expansion more expensive, pushing many firms to invest in technology rather than headcount. Another reason hiring has slowed is uncertainty about AI. Even though the technology has not yet replaced large numbers of workers, it is already shaping how companies think about hiring. "I don't think this is AI displacement," said Ben Zweig, chief executive of Revelio Labs, a workforce data company. "What we're seeing is anticipatory." Instead of rushing to bring on new workers, some firms are waiting to see how the technology evolves and which tasks it will eventually take over. A 39-year-old web developer tells the Post it took 453 job applications to get a handful of interviews and two offers. And a journalism school graduate said they'd sent hundreds of job applications but most led nowhere, and they're now couch-surfing to save money. But the problem seems even worse for young people. One 18-year-old told the Post that in a year and a half of job searching, they'd yet to even meet an employer in person. The unemployment rate for people ages 22 to 27 who recently completed college hit 5.6% in the final months of 2025 — well above the 4.2% rate for all workers, according to national data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York... At one point last summer, new workforce entrants made up a larger share of the unemployed than at any point since the late 1980s — higher even than during the Great Recession. When hiring slows, the door closes first on those without an existing foothold. For the class of 2026, the timing could hardly be worse. "It is getting increasingly clear that young people are being more affected by AI than older workers," Zweig said. Companies are not eliminating jobs at scale, but many are slow to hire junior workers. At the same time, older workers are staying in the labor force longer, leaving fewer openings for new arrivals. Even when jobs are available, the bar has shifted. Positions once considered entry level now often require several years of experience, technical expertise and familiarity with AI tools. With fewer openings and more applicants, companies are holding out for candidates who can do the job immediately and need little training... Employers are also looking for a different mix of skills. An analysis of millions of job postings by Indeed found that communication skills now appear in nearly 42% of all listings, while leadership skills feature in nearly a third — capabilities that are harder to prove on a résumé and harder still to demonstrate without an existing professional network. Christine Beck, a career coach who works with early-career job seekers, said employers are asking more of the people they do hire.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Almost exactly 21 years ago, in June 2005, at a mere 20 years old, I took over the managing editor role at OSNews from Eugenia. I had already published a few articles in the years prior, and had given Eugenia enough confidence to suggest me as her replacement. It was, and is, a great honour.

In those 21 years and more than 20000 posts, I’ve seen a lot of beautiful things. Linux grew from a curiosity among nerds into a popular desktop operating system, and often a better choice for gaming than Windows. The BSDs flourish steadily, growing into even stronger and capable alternatives to desktop Linux than they already were. On the commercial side of things, new offerings challenged the hegemony of Microsoft and Windows. While Android and Chrome OS are at best merely tolerated, the idea that a newcomer would produce not one, but two operating systems that would successfully take on Microsoft and Apple seemed unimaginable when I started in 2005.

While many alternative operating systems of the early 2000s faded away, we’ve also seen success stories there. Haiku evolved from an unusable, unstable promise on the horizon into a stable, daily-drivable operating system. The unique Genode Framework and Sculpt OS keep exploring and redefining the boundaries of what a general purpose operating system should be. Redox has exploded onto the scene, and keeps making massive strides almost every month. OS/2 is still actively updated, maintained, and sold. The Amiga will outlast us all.

Internet culture, too, is changing, and while things definitely look bleak right now, there are sparks of hope and joy. The general attitude towards the big technology companies among the general public has shifted from admiration to mistrust and dislike, corporate social media seems to be crumbling, and the youngest generations absolutely despise the latest hype, “AI”. All is certainly not lost, and sometimes I feel shimmers of hope that the pendulum may swing back to a more people-focused web, a web we’ve been part of since 1997.

In those 21 years and more than 20000 posts, I’ve also seen a lot of hypes come and go, hypes that if I didn’t embrace them, I’d surely be left behind. The “pivot to video“, the cryptocurrency mania, NFTs, virtual reality and the metaverse, “AI” – all technologies and concepts I recognised for the hypes that they were, and consequently ridiculed and ignored, much to the dismay of many believers. I’ve got the angry emails and comments to prove it.

This illustrates something about OSNews that I value and hold dear: OSNews doesn’t jump on bandwagons, doesn’t frantically try to follow the latest trends, doesn’t cave under the pressure of big money interests. OSNews is constant, stable, deliberate, patient. Since 1997, we’ve covered the technology industry with interest, excitement, and wonder – tempered by a healthy dose of skepticism. When you follow this industry for almost three decades, you learn to spot the patterns and see the threads before anyone else does.

That’s not to say we haven’t gone through changes. The most significant changes to OSNews happened in recent years, where instead of working on the site on a mostly voluntary basis with a pittance of ad revenue coming my way, I’ve turned my work for OSNews into my job. As part of this change, I removed all advertising from our website, morphing OSNews into a fully reader-funded endeavour. No ads, no corporate interests, no media network breathing down my neck. OSNews is a truly independent technology news website, a rarity these days. I don’t have to keep corporate overlords or advertisers happy, and you’d be surprised to learn just how rare that is on the modern web.

The OSNews website itself is fairly unchanging too, having gone through only a handful of redesigns since its founding in 1997. We’ve been using our current design, developed by Adam Scheinberg, for as long as I can remember (10-15 years?), and thanks to our independent, ad-free nature, any possible future redesign would only make the site simpler and even faster than it already is. There’s no redesign in the cards at the moment, but rest assured, if it ever comes, we’ll buck the trend of websites getting ever more complex and demanding and make OSNews lighter and even faster.

And yes, despite commenters making up far less than one percent of our readership, I’ll always opt to keep them. We might be a site of lurkers, but comments are a core part of OSNews. Even the annoying ones. Especially the annoying ones.

That being said, there’s going to be a small change to our design, rolling out today (it might take a few reloads for it to appear). To mark my 21 years and 20000 posts, OSNews is getting a new-ish logo, which combines the classic, intertwined beveled “O-S” from the early 2000s with the modern logo we’ve been using over the past 15 years or so. The O and S are intertwined once again, highlighting the continuity and stability I want OSNews to bring in this chaotic industry (I can write corporatese if I want to). Fun fact: this “new” logo was actually designed like 20 years ago, and we’ve had it in our back pocket ever since. Why create something new and of the times, when you’ve got something great sitting right there?

Aside from the new logo, I’ll be running a big fundraiser to mark this occasion early next week, with some silly incentives at various thresholds. If we reach the ultimate goal – a euro for every story I’ve posted – I’ll overcome some very deep-rooted fears and anxieties, and tattoo the OSNews logo on my body, as my very first tattoo. OSNews has been part of my life for more than two decades, and I have every intention to add at least another two – having such a core part of my life immortalised on my body only makes sense.

I’ve written about my anxiety disorder and how it affects me here on OSNews, and it’s been preventing me from getting various tattoos I’ve been wanting for decades (and not for the reasons you may think – it’s not the pain or the needles). No better way to get fucking over it by making a public promise to tens of thousands of people. You can start donating today, but I’ll publish a proper post about it on Monday.

Of course, OSNews wouldn’t exist without all of you, our hundreds of thousands of readers. Whether you donate or not, whether you comment or not (you probably don’t!), each and every one of you contributes to making OSNews the steady success it’s been for almost 30 years. Few websites can boast such an uninterrupted lineage, and it’s thanks to all of you who keep coming back, every day.

Thank you. From the bottom of my heart. ❤️

Thai authorities say 32 others injured near Makkasan station after freight train strikes bus and fire breaks out

At least eight people were killed and 32 others were injured in Thailand after a freight train struck a bus at a rail crossing in Bangkok, rescue officials and a deputy transport minister said.

Firefighters and rescue crews were dispatched as flames engulfed the bus and nearby vehicles close to the airport rail link’s Makkasan station, officials said, adding that the collision also involved cars and motorcycles.

Commentary: Widow's Bay is a wicked smart genre mashup that delivers epic scares and laughs, and pays tribute to Stephen King, Twin Peaks and Jaws.

How U.S. concessions are quietly becoming Chinese influence.

Member of King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery received medical treatment but died at scene after sustaining serious injuries

A service person has died after falling from their horse after a display at the Royal Windsor Horse Show, police said.

The soldier, part of the King’s Troop, Royal Horse Artillery, fell at about 7pm on Friday after exiting the arena.

Republican said she hoped recent commutation of Tina Peters by governor would free up federal funding for clean drinking water

Republican congresswoman Lauren Boebert suggested that Donald Trump blocked funds for a clean drinking water project in her state over the prosecution of election denier Tina Peters.

Colorado’s governor, Jared Polis, commuted Peters’ nearly nine-year prison sentence on Friday, ordering her release on 1 June. The former Colorado county clerk had allowed unauthorized people to access voting records amid efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election, in which Trump lost to Democrat Joe Biden.

• Third straight season-ending blowout for Minnesota

• San Antonio to face Oklahoma City in conference finals

• Pistons hold off Cavaliers to force Game 7

The San Antonio Spurs were well on their way to the Western Conference finals in the fourth quarter when Minnesota Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards went down to their bench to briefly offer his congratulations. The young Spurs left no doubt they’re already a serious NBA title contender.

Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs romped past the Timberwolves 139-109 on Friday night in Minneapolis to finish in the second-round series in six games and reach the conference finals for the first time since 2017. Stephon Castle had 32 points and 11 rebounds in another dominant performance from the backcourt.

Iran has a long history of unconventional operations, all designed to divert, distract and destabilise current or potential enemies

The arrest by US authorities of an alleged Iraqi commander of an Iranian-backed militia group now accused of responsibility for 18 terrorist attacks in the UK, Europe and Canada since the beginning of the Iran war is an astonishing development – yet not the least bit surprising.

According to a complaint unsealed on Friday in a federal court in Manhattan, Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood al-Saadi is allegedly responsible for organising – among other operations – a string of recent firebombings of banks and other targets in France, Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands, an arson attack against a synagogue and a shooting at the US consulate in Toronto in March, as well as – most recently – a wave of attacks on mainly Jewish targets in the UK including places of worship and charities.

Izz al-Din al-Haddad was killed in a "precise strike in the area on the City of Gaza," the Israel Defense Forces said Saturday.

Louisianans are voting Saturday in the state's Senate primaries as Sen. Bill Cassidy fights to hold onto his seat, facing a Trump-backed primary challenger.

Two days of talks in Washington between Lebanon and Israel produced an extension of the current ceasefire by 45 days.

Once Upon a Time in Harlem, completed by relatives of William Greaves after his death, showcased at Cannes

In 1969, the pioneering documentarian William Greaves wrote of his fury over the racially degrading stereotypes that white film producers threw up on American screens. “It became clear to me that unless we black people began to produce information for screen and television there would always be a distortion of the ‘black image,’” he said.

Three years later, Greaves began work on what he considered the most important footage he ever shot: a feature documentary gathering surviving figures of the Harlem Renaissance to reflect on the movement they had built half a century earlier.

With Punta Marina residents loving or loathing the incomers, ‘peacock rangers’ have been appointed to defuse tensions

Federico Bruni was sitting on a bench, eating a piadina romagnola (flatbread sandwich) and minding his own business, when a peacock strutted up in the hope of a few crumbs. High-pitched squeals emanated from the direction of a disused military barracks across the road. “That would be the call to love,” Bruni said. “The male peacocks are courting the female ones – we’re in peak mating season.”

As another couple of peacocks wandered by, their iridescent trains sweeping the pavement behind them, this could be mistaken for a wildlife park. But the scene is Punta Marina, a seaside town on the Adriatic coast of Italy’s Emilia-Romagna region that has been colonised by the birds, to the delight – or despair – of its approximately 1,000 residents.

Tommy Bell thought he was in good shape. But a series of heart attacks painted a more complicated picture.

The centers are diverting much-needed resources from regular people. Local resistance has the industry playing defense

Back in 2016, Marco Gutiérrez, the Mexican-born founder of Latinos for Trump, issued an ominous warning to the US. “My culture is a very dominant culture,” he said on MSNBC. “It is imposing and it’s causing problems. If you don’t do something about it, you’re going to have taco trucks on every corner.”

A decade later, I regret to inform you there is not a taco truck on every corner. But I am here to issue my own ominous warning about the takeover of America: not by immigrant culture but by AI culture. To echo Gutiérrez: it is imposing and it’s causing problems. And if we don’t do something about it, we’re going to have datacenters on every corner.

Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian columnist

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.

Commentary: Trying out Google's new Gemini-powered Fitbit makes me wonder if this is the killer companion for Google's upcoming glasses. I bet it will be.

A new way to analyze pitches is changing technology and strategy in the major leagues.

As our phones become more advanced, batteries are feeling the strain. But technology improvements and shifts in our habits could help close the gap.

No swift end to the Iran war, uncertainty over Taiwan and only vague outlines of commercial deals … but the US president did get to bask in the company of Xi Jinping

It was historic, to be sure, but not as anyone had predicted. First there was Donald Trump, a self-declared teetotaler, apparently drinking champagne after Xi Jinping assured him that China’s “great rejuvenation” could go hand in hand with “Make America great again”. Then there was a Chinese military band playing a rendition of the US president’s signature campaign song, YMCA.

Beneath giant chandeliers, blue and gold balconies and a big orange backdrop with pagoda-style roofs, Thursday’s state banquet in Beijing featured characters whose presence would have been unthinkable here a decade ago: Elon Musk, the eccentric tech billionaire, Pete Hegseth, the Fox News host turned “secretary of war”, and of course Trump himself, a former reality TV star now leading the world’s biggest superpower.

Mohamed Mahudhee suffered decompression sickness after searching for scuba divers in Vaavu Atoll and died in hospital

A Maldivian military diver has died during a high-risk operation to recover the bodies of four of the Italian scuba divers who drowned while exploring a deep underwater cave in the Maldives.

The diver suffered underwater decompression sickness after searching for the bodies of the Italians who, according to Italy’s foreign ministry, had “apparently died while attempting to explore caves at a depth of 50 metres (164ft)”.

Planning inspector backs council’s rejection of development, which was ‘not exemplary, extraordinary, remarkable or distinctive, just tall’

Celebrities including Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger have defeated plans to build a 29-storey tower on the banks of the River Thames.

Jagger, along with fellow rock star Eric Clapton, actor Felicity Kendal and comic Harry Hill, fought the developer Rockwell Property for two years over its plan to erect a 100-metre tower next to Battersea Bridge. If the tower had been built on the south bank of the Thames in south-west London, it would have rivalled the heights of the famous chimneys on Battersea power station.

Dr. Tracy Beth Høeg, leader of the Food and Drug Administration division responsible for regulating prescription and over-the-counter drugs, is leaving her post, a senior FDA official confirmed.

Conservatives expected to keep majority as socialists face drubbing and ballot tests trajectory of far-right Vox party

Voters in the southern Spanish region of Andalucía will cast their ballots in an election this weekend that is likely to deliver an absolute majority to the conservative People’s party (PP) and inflict another debilitating defeat on Pedro Sánchez’s embattled socialists in what was previously one of their proudest strongholds.

Sunday’s election in Spain’s most populous region – the last big poll before next year’s general election – will serve as a barometer of wider electoral opinion and could also reveal whether the popularity of the far-right Vox party is beginning to peak.

Can the West Londoners salvage their season, or will Pep Guardiola's men claim a cup double?

After death of his father, Reed Jobs is keen for his $1bn venture capital fund Yosemite to make a difference

“I saw my dad have cancer when I was a kid, and unfortunately that happens far too often. And that really motivated me to try to transform outcomes for other people out there.”

Reed Jobs is talking about the death of his father, the Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, to a rare form of pancreatic cancer in 2011 at the age of 56, the experience that underlines his mission to make cancer a non-lethal, treatable disease.

Some activists believe protesting against ICE is ineffective, instead appealing to agents’ morality through both guilt and compassion. But are ICE agents capable of remorse?

In November 2025, a TV ad began running in Charlotte, North Carolina, and Palm Beach, Florida.

In it, a little girl with blond hair in a ponytail lies on her belly, working on a coloring book. A nearby TV blares with images of immigrants being brutalized by ICE agents. The front door opens and the girl bounces up, rushing over to hug her father and asks: “Daddy, how was your day?” while the camera reveals ICE insignia on his shirtsleeve. The voiceover begins: “A mask can’t hide you from your neighbors, your children and God. You can walk away, before the shame follows you home.”

The Hills’ antagonist has made the city’s response to the 2025 wildfires the central tenet of his campaign

Los Angeles is no stranger to drama. But the rapid ascension of a former reality TV bad boy turned political candidate taking on an incumbent mayor is a plot twist that has broken through far beyond the hills of Hollywood.

Spencer Pratt, best known for his role on the 2006 reality TV hit The Hills, is seeking to tap into the deep frustration of many Angelenos over a searing cost-of-living crisis and the slow pace of recovery following last year’s deadly wildfires.

Officials warn of potentially fatal coming months after six people were found dead inside a railway car in Texas

As questions still swirl about the six people found dead inside a baking-hot railway car in Texas, immigration advocates warn that the US is about to enter the most dangerous season of the year for immigrants making the perilous journey over the southern border.

Early results shared by the Webb county medical examiner indicate that at least one of the six people found dead in the city of Laredo died from hyperthermia, which occurs when the body is overwhelmed by extreme heat. The same cause of death is likely true for the five others.

Bill Cassidy raised ire of US president for voting to impeach after January 6 – so Trump is backing Julia Letlow

The power of Donald Trump’s endorsement will be put to its latest test on Saturday, when Louisiana holds primary elections in which the US senator Bill Cassidy, who voted to impeach the president following the January 6 insurrection, then tried to make amends by casting the pivotal vote to confirm Robert F Kennedy Jr as health secretary, stands a chance of losing his party’s nomination.

An incumbent Republican running for a third term representing a deeply Republican state, Cassidy would normally be a shoo-in for re-election. But in January, Trump abruptly said that the US representative Julia Letlow should run against Cassidy and offered his endorsement, underscoring his continued willingness to seek revenge against anyone in the Republican party who has crossed him.

G. Robert Blakey has died at 90. He drafted RICO, led a government investigation into the Kennedy assassination and later criticized the CIA.

The Linux 7.1 kernel has added new documentation clarifying what qualifies as a security bug and how AI-assisted vulnerability reports should be handled. Phoronix reports: Stemming from the recent influx of security bugs to the Linux kernel as well as an uptick in bug and security reports from discoveries made in full or in part with AI, additional documentation was warranted. Longtime Linux developer Willy Tarreau took to authoring the additional documentation around kernel bugs. To summarize (since the documentation is a bit too lengthy for a Slashdot story), the AI-assisted vulnerability reports should "be treated as public" because such findings "systematically surface simultaneously across multiple researchers, often on the same day." It adds that reporters should avoid posting a reproducer openly, instead "just mention that one is available" and provide it privately if maintainers request it. The guidance also tells AI-assisted reporters to keep submissions concise and plain-text, focus on verifiable impact rather than speculative consequences, include a thoroughly tested reproducer, and, where possible, propose and test a fix. As for what qualifies as a security bug, the documentation says the private security list is for "urgent bugs that grant an attacker a capability they are not supposed to have on a correctly configured production system" and are easy to exploit, creating an imminent threat to many users. Reporters are told to consider whether the issue "actually crosses a trust boundary," since many bugs submitted privately are really ordinary defects that belong in the normal public reporting process. All the new documentation can be read via this commit.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

With layoffs widely expected and editorial tensions deepening, correspondents await a post-season shakeup

At a time when viewers are fleeing traditional television shows, the CBS Sunday newsmagazine 60 Minutes remains in a class of its own. The 12 April episode, which featured Pope Leo and a story on great white sharks, drew an astounding 10.1 million total viewers. The show is trending as the most-watched news program for the current broadcast season. So, as the saying goes, if it ain’t broke, why fix it?

That’s what some CBS News employees and veterans are wondering, amid persistent rumors that the show’s 59th season will look very different than the 58th, which ends on 17 May.

I cannot think of one thing that a cruise offers that isn’t available in the safe bosom of dry land

I don’t swim. This is a fairly crucial element of my backstory, something that defines me even if I don’t want it to and have begged people to stop asking me about it. Water and I simply have nothing in common. I’m a 41-year-old writer, and water is, well … wet. My son swims like a fish, and as soon as I dunk my head under the surface, I start wondering what it would be like to suffocate, how soon I can come back up, and what I’m even doing down there in the first place. As bad as a pool is, the ocean is even worse. It’s not just water. It’s water with living creatures in it. What’s down there? I don’t care to find out. Things are bad enough up here.

My general lack of interest in swimming, perhaps better described as a horrible fear, is one of the reasons I’ve never been on a cruise. God forbid I have to escape because of some kind of Steven Seagal/Under Siege situation. I’d jump on the edge of the boat, desperately attempt to doggy-paddle and end up at the bottom of the Mariana trench.

Dave Schilling is a Los Angeles-based writer and humorist

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.

A foreign face is often thought to add prestige to a product or business – what’s behind this unregulated economy?

Piers had been in China for all of two days in 2009 when he was used as a “white monkey” for the first time. He had travelled to a village in Suzhou, Jiangsu province, to attend a friend’s wedding and had stopped in the village to try a special crab dish at a small restaurant. Weeks later, a Chinese guest who had been at the wedding told him the restaurant had had an uptick in business because the locals had heard that a laowai, a foreigner, had been seen dining there, so people had assumed this restaurant must be good. Piers realised the boss had deliberately seated him in a way to attract attention: “I knew we were sitting outside in a premium spot, but I didn’t pick up on what was going on.”

When foreigners in China are used this way, they are called a baihouzi, a white monkey. They’re hired to help Chinese businesses appear more desirable, the foreigner association conveying prestige and a sense that your product is universally regarded. The industry is unregulated in China, operating in a legal grey area. White monkey positions are advertised on job boards and can fall into different categories, from acting and modelling for Chinese films and products to pretending to be the foreign CEO of a Chinese company to lend it credibility. They might be seat warmers or go-go dancers in Chinese nightclubs to draw in customers, or English teachers in language centres to make Chinese parents feel their children are being taught by legitimate native English speakers (even if a Chinese person is actually a better qualified teacher). These businesses believe that having the “foreign look” will give them an edge over other Chinese companies offering the same service. The phenomenon of recruiting foreigners for this performative purpose can be traced to the concept of mianzi, having “face” in Chinese society, which denotes bestowing and receiving respect for each other.

President Trump announced Friday evening that U.S. and Nigerian military forces had killed Abu-Bilal al-Minuki, a leader in the Islamic State group.

Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito found themselves in the minority on Thursday, when the court ruled that telehealth access to the abortion drug mifepristone could continue, leaving the dissenting conservatives to foreshadow a future showdown over abortion rights.

Both justices railed against the decision, with Alito calling it a “scheme” to get around their ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson that eliminated the nationwide right to an abortion in 2022. Abortions have increased since their decision, Alito lamented, largely due to telehealth access. 

In 2025, far more residents of states with total abortion bans received telehealth provisions of medication abortion than traveled out of state to receive care in places with fewer restrictions. And roughly two-thirds of all abortions in the U.S. in 2023 were medication abortions. But advocates warn that the dissents from Thomas and Alito highlight that the threat to abortion access still looms large.

“We’re breathing a sigh of relief. I would say that the immediate threat to mifepristone is over,” said Claire Teylouni, interim co-executive director of Reproductive Equity Now, “But it’s certainly clear from reading those dissents that the threat … is far from over.” 

In his dissent, Thomas argues that the Comstock Act, an anti-obscenity law passed in 1873 that remains on the books but has not been enforced in decades, prohibits the mailing of abortion medication. “The Comstock Act bans using ‘the mails’ to ship any ‘drug … for producing abortion,’” Thomas wrote. “Applicants are not entitled to a stay of an adverse court order based on lost profits from their criminal enterprise.”

The Comstock Act originally prohibited the mailing of “obscene” materials, such as pornography, contraceptives, and any drug or device that can be used to produce an abortion. But legal scholars have argued that the law is unenforceable and unconstitutional on First Amendment grounds and other modern case law. 

In 2022, a Department of Justice memo clarified that the law does not prohibit the mailing of drugs that could be used to perform an abortion because there is “an insufficient basis for concluding that the sender intends them to be used unlawfully.” 

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Texas Judge Cosplaying as Medical Expert Has Consequences Beyond the Abortion Pill

Despite the memo and the fact that the Comstock Act has not been enforced in decades, conservatives, including Thomas and Alito, have been eager to use the law to push a national abortion ban.

“Enforcement of the Comstock Act has the potential to threaten the broader supply chain with regard to the reproductive health care system as a whole,” warned Teylouni. Arguably if enforced, the law could even jam up access to surgical tools used in abortion care and the shipping of abortion medication to states without bans.

Republican lawmakers have argued that the Comstock Act should be enforced by the courts to “prosecute those who obtain mifepristone through the mail.” In Project 2025, policy analysts similarly argue that the Department of Justice should enforce federal laws like Comstock to prohibit the mailing of abortion medication writ large.  

President Donald Trump has previously claimed that he would not enforce the Comstock Act in this way, but advocates have seen troubling signs out of the administration about how they might eliminate access to mifepristone in other ways.

Related

GOP States Double Down on Fighting Medication Abortion After Supreme Court Keeps It Legal

“We’re focusing on some pressing threats that are already ongoing,” said Anna Bernstein, principal federal policy adviser at the reproductive and sexual health research organization Guttmacher Institute.

In late 2025, the Food and Drug Administration began a safety review of mifepristone, despite over 20 years of evidence that it’s a safe medication. Bernstein said her organization is keeping a close eye on the “politically motivated” review at the FDA, which she argues flies in the face of the science.

The combined regimen of mifepristone and misoprostol, the drug typically used in tandem with mifepristone to induce a medication abortion, carries a less than 1 percent risk of serious adverse events. Comparatively, the risk of maternal death associated with childbirth is roughly 14 times higher than the risk associated with abortion care.

But despite medical evidence of its safety, the threat to mifepristone from the FDA has increased in recent days. FDA Commissioner Marty Makary resigned earlier this week, and he was replaced by Kyle Diamantas, a former lawyer.

Within hours of his appointment on Tuesday, Diamantas was reportedly on the phone with anti-abortion advocates reassuring them of his moral opposition to abortion. According to a press release sent from an anti-abortion advocate, regarding her conversation with Diamantas, she said that he promised that reviewing mifepristone would be a “top priority” and that he was “pro-life.”

“We continue to have concerns that the [review is] going to be politicized and not based in science and medicine,” said Teylouni.  

The Thursday ruling allows providers to continue to send mifepristone through the mail or to retail pharmacies, while the case plays out in the lower courts. Earlier this month, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had reinstated previous FDA requirements that mifepristone be dispensed in person, threatening telehealth access, a critical lifeline for abortion access for people in states with and without abortion bans. 

The Supreme Court issued an initial ruling staying the appeals court decision earlier this month, which they extended on Monday, before making their final decision on Thursday to allow access to continue while the Louisiana v. FDA case plays out in court.

But a looming concern for advocates is that both the courts’ more politically attuned conservatives and members of the Trump administration could be waiting to make a move on abortion access until after the midterms in a ploy to avoid the disasters of the post-Dobbs elections.

“We’re definitely concerned, because we know that the Trump administration understands that it’s politically unfavorable to restrict access to abortion and to mifepristone,” said Guttmacher Institute’s Bernstein. “We’ve all seen the reports of them slow-walking to the midterms, and we know why politically they might want to do so.” 

Related

Drug-Sniffing Police Dogs Are Intercepting Abortion Pills in the Mail

While the Comstock Act serves as a significant threat to abortion access, advocates note that if mifepristone is no longer able to be sent through the mail, people can still access medication abortion care. 

Mifepristone works by stopping the pregnancy from growing and initiates the separation of the embryo from the uterine lining. The other drug, misoprostol, causes contractions which expel the contents of the uterus.

Misoprostol can be safely and effectively used on its own to induce an abortion. However, the process of abortion “is prolonged when it’s with a misoprostol-alone protocol,” explained Dr. Ushma Upadhyay, a public health scientist at the University of California, San Francisco’s Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health research coalition. “And patients report higher levels of side effects, so a lot of cramping and a lot more bleeding.”

Despite the small victory yesterday, Teylouni said that abortion advocates cannot afford to be “complacent” right now. 

“This decision could have been the biggest blow to abortion access since the Dobbs decision,” she said. “Anti-abortion extremists are not going to stop attempting to ban abortion, and they want to see the Comstock Act invoked and enforced to limit telehealth prescribing again.” 

The post A “Scheme” Against Dobbs: SCOTUS Dissent Hints at Next Phase of Abortion Rights Fight appeared first on The Intercept.

• Kareem’s Daily Quote: Another writer, because we’re on a roll

• The Two-Track System: What Ghislaine Maxwell’s prison life tells us about America

• Don't Pop the Champagne Just Yet: The latest Supreme Court "win"

• The Reset Button is Broken: Why "diplomatic cotton candy" won’t save us

• What I’m Watching: A doc on the great Pelé

• Jukebox Playlist: The lady is…

Kareem’s Daily Quote

"[Humanity] is not made for defeat. Man may be destroyed but not defeated." Ernest Hemingway

In his novel “The Old Man and the Sea,” Ernest Hemingway wrote the lines above, and they might ring false at first, but if you live long enough, they become true.

It’s that balance of the words “destroyed” and “defeated,” which seem like the same thing but aren’t. “Destroyed” refers to physical ruin, exhaustion, maybe even death. Whereas “defeated” refers to the surrender of spirit or dignity. If you’ve seen enough sunsets, you’ve seen this idea in action. Yes, darkness comes, but in the fading light is a certain nobility that survives total collapse.

This type of destruction without defeat also reflects what critics often call Hemingway’s ideal of a hero: one who faces suffering directly. One who maintains composure under pressure. One who accepts mortality without self-pity. One who continues despite inevitable loss.

I’ve met a handful of people who have managed them all…and will keep their names to myself for now, for fear of offending others. But many of us have been “heroic” in one or two of the ways above, and we know exactly how it feels to overcome certain destruction.

Life isn’t a game you can win by playing it safe or being “good” enough to avoid the hits. Eventually, the world will stick a finger in your seams and pull until something rips. It might be a loss that leaves a hole in your chest, a failure that makes you question your own intelligence, or just the slow, grinding wear-and-tear of getting through the day. We all have a breaking point.

But think about the most resilient person you know. I’ll bet anything they haven’t sailed through life on calm waters. Usually, the people with the most gravity, the ones who seem unshakeable, are the ones who have been shattered and had to put themselves back together, somehow.

We’re not made—not created—for defeat. What a lovely thought that is.

Pain, on its own, isn’t a teacher: it’s just pain. The strength comes from understanding that we’re made of sterner stuff: that even if we’re “destroyed,” we can go into that final battle with our heads lifted up.

There’s a Japanese art called Kintsugi, where craftsmen take broken pottery and repair the cracks with gold. They don’t try to hide the damage; they highlight it. They acknowledge that the piece is more beautiful and more valuable because it was broken and repaired.

When one faces destruction with dignity, one loses the naive idea that we are invincible—which, oddly enough, makes us much harder to defeat. Once we’ve seen the worst that the world can throw at us and we’ve managed to stand back up or possibly even go out with our “self” intact, the world loses a bit of its power over us.

We aren’t afraid of the dark anymore.

Read more

Ryan Nichols is the latest such person to face charges after he allegedly brandished a gun during an argument

The number of president’s supporters accused of committing new crimes after Donald Trump pardoned them for their roles in the 6 January 2021 US Capitol attack recently increased to at least five.

Ryan Nichols, 35, became the latest such Capitol attacker on 10 May, when authorities in Harleton, Texas, say he threateningly displayed a handgun to a person with whom he was arguing in a church parking lot.

Move follows upsetting viral video of ray being manhandled into unmarked boat in Florida waters last year

Wildlife officials in Florida will continue to allow threatened giant manta rays to be taken from the ocean, but have tightened their policies after a viral video showed a captured ray in severe distress, and a bipartisan group of politicians called for an end to the controversial practice.

Members of the Florida fish and wildlife conservation commission (FWC) voted on Wednesday to adopt an amended final rule reserving the right to say when and where rays can be captured for “responsible exhibition” in the US.

Congressman Thomas Massie, chastized by the US president as a ‘lowlife’, will soon face the ballot box – setting up a crucial test of Trump’s political strength

At Pee Wee’s Place, a bar and restaurant in Crescent Springs, northern Kentucky, biscuits and gravy go for $6 and liver and onions for $14.75. The walls are adorned with US flags, sports memorabilia, amusement machines, a TV showing Fox News and a poster that proclaims: “Let the gays get married. Let the rednecks have their guns. Let the atheists be atheists. Let the Christians be Christians. America is about FREEDOM.”

Sitting at the bar, John Johnson, 78, and his son Lance, 47, are discussing an upcoming election in which Thomas Massie, a maverick congressman, is aiming to prove that a Republican can defy Donald Trump and survive. “I’m leaning to Massie because I like his attitude when it comes to being straight up on issues,” says John, a contractor who voted for Trump in 2024. “Him and Trump beat off each other every now and then, but he’s a constitutionalist, he speaks his piece and he’s right a lot of times.”

A year ago, Trump promised a new era during the first major foreign trip of his second term. On his recent visit to Beijing, the war with Iran and economic strain clouded his diplomacy.

As Keir Starmer endures a slow ousting, his predecessor recalls the day in 2016 when colleagues tried to force him out – and assesses who might come next

“Yeah, I do feel [sorry for him],” said Jeremy Corbyn, with only a little hesitation. “On a personal level it must be devastating. It is a horrible feeling. You suddenly realise that this person doesn’t trust you at all and really doesn’t wish you well at all, and you suddenly realise that any trust that was there actually disappears.”

There are few in politics who have had the experience of being the subject of a Labour party-style coup, the British equivalent of being dragged from your office to be put up against a wall. Letters of resignations from so-called political friends, condemnatory statements on social media, all dripped out for maximum effect with the end goal of pushing the target, once the subject of standing ovations and gushing plaudits, out on their tail.

‘Polyclass’ of 6 million people consider themselves to belong to more than one social category, researchers say

More than a third of Britons say they have changed social class, with upper-middle and upper-class people most likely to identify as belonging to more than one class, according to a survey.

Working-class people were the least likely to say they had changed class or identified with more than one, with 70% saying they were in the same social category they were born into, the study by research firm Attest found.

If there’s no proof of aliens, the president can blame the deep state. If there’s proof, he’s a hero. Either way, it helps his popularity

The US Department of Defense released the first batch of its UFO files last week at the direction of the president, Donald Trump, who promised to make them public “based on the tremendous interest shown”.

Trump’s right, of course. Nearly half of Americans believe aliens have visited Earth, and many believe that the government is hoarding the evidence in some shadowy laboratory or military base. This conspiracy began in 1947 at Roswell, New Mexico, when the Roswell army airfield issued a news release about the crash of a “flying disc”, and has never truly gone away.

Japan's worsening bear problem has created a shortage of handmade "Monster Wolf" robots, which are $4,000 solar-powered scarecrow-like devices with glowing eyes, sensors, and blaring sounds designed to frighten the animals away. "We make them by hand. We cannot make them fast enough now. We are asking our customers to wait two to three months," company president Yuji Ohta recently told the AFP. Popular Science reports: First released in 2016 by the manufacturer Ohta, Monster Wolf was originally designed to ward off the agricultural foes like boars, deer, and the island nation's Asian black bear (Ursus thibetanus) and brown bear (Ursus arctos) populations. The creative solution quickly went viral for its red LED eyes and menacing fangs -- as well as its admittedly odd, furry pipe frame. Starting at around $4,000, each bespoke Monster Wolf is now equipped with battery power, solar panels, and detection sensors. Its speakers are programmed with over 50 audio clips including human voices and sirens audible over half a mile away. These aren't assembly line products, however. Each Monster Wolf is custom made, and Ohta simply can't keep up with the current demand. [...] Ohta told the AFP that amid the ongoing crisis, there has been "growing recognition" that Monster Wolf is "effective in dealing with bears." The main customer base remains farmers, but orders are also coming from golf courses and rural workers. Upgraded versions will soon include wheels to actually chase animals and patrol preset routes. There are also plans to release a handheld version for outdoor enthusiasts and schoolchildren. Until Ohta catches up with its orders, residents and visitors are encouraged to review the Japanese government's own bear safety tips.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Firms do not offer cover for some models, or charge more than for equivalent petrol cars, research finds

• ‘Temu Range Rover’: what the Jaecoo 7 says about China’s electric car ascendancy

UK insurers are more hesitant to cover some hybrid and electric vehicles (EVs) from China than cars from other countries, research suggests.

While some drivers can save money by buying cars made in China, they may have more limited options to get insurance than those buying electric, hybrid and petrol cars from Europe, the US and South Korea.

As continent faces tough headwinds, leaders are bearing brunt of delivering bad news to frustrated electorates

“People hate you,” the adviser informed his leader. A think-piece in a daily newspaper noted that “almost everyone agrees on one thing: they don’t like him”.

The recent disastrous set of local election results in the UK built on Keir Starmer’s longstanding reputational problem: only 11% of Britons believe he has been a good or great prime minister, and nearly 60% believe he has been poor or terrible, according to polling by YouGov.

US president calls Abu-Bilal al-Minuki ‘most active terrorist in the world’ and says he was eliminated in ‘very complex mission’

Donald Trump has said US and Nigerian forces killed the “second in command” global leader of the Islamic State.

“Tonight, at my direction, brave American forces and the Armed Forces of Nigeria flawlessly executed a meticulously planned and very complex mission to eliminate the most active terrorist in the world from the battlefield,” the US president said on his Truth Social platform on Friday.

The US supreme court dealt a devastating blow to the 1965 Voting Rights Act when it ruled in Louisiana v Callais in April that states cannot consider race in redistricting. Southern states from Tennessee to Alabama have rushed to erase majority-Black districts, sparking chaos for the midterm elections. Kai Wright talks to Stacey Abrams, a voting rights activist and former Georgia house minority leader, about the fallout from the decision, and why, despite it all, she still believes the way forward lies in engaging more voters to participate in democracy. ‘They have fractured communities and said we’re going to scatter these seeds. Our job is to grow,’ she says

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Dr Tracy Beth Høeg, the Food and Drug Administration’s top drug regulator, says she was fired from agency after declining to resign

In a major shake-up at the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), top regulators left on Friday – including Tracy Beth Høeg, the acting drug chief, who says she was fired, and Katherine Szarama, the acting vaccines chief who has only been in the position for days. Jim Traficant, the chief of staff, has also been ousted.

The FDA now has no permanent commissioner or deputy commissioner and no permanent leaders of two major centers, after the resignation of Marty Makary on Tuesday and other high-profile departures.

A New York doctor who contracted and survived Ebola more than a decade ago says he is worried for healthcare workers who are at the center of treating the latest outbreak.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Guardian: Wood heating is reintroducing lead into the air of local communities and homes, a systematic investigation by academics has found. Overwhelming evidence of lead's neurotoxicity meant the metal was banned as an additive in petrol more than 25 years ago. The research by academics from the University of Massachusetts Amherst began by analysing samples of particle pollution from five suburban and rural towns in the north-east US. They looked for tiny particles of potassium that are given off when wood is burned and also particles containing lead. Samples from seven winters revealed associations between potassium and lead. When there were more wood burning particles in a daily sample, there was more lead in the air, with clear straight-line relationships in four of the five towns. The project was extended to 22 other towns across the US. The relationships between lead and potassium varied from place to place, being strongest in the Rocky Mountains. By factoring in the effects of temperature, moderate to strong associations in their analysis strengthened the conclusion that the extra lead came from wood burning. The lead concentrations were less than the US legal limits, but any exposure to the metal is harmful. [...] Although less than legal limits, lead particles are routinely measured in UK cities in winter when people are also burning wood. This is normally attributed to waste wood covered with old lead paint, but the Umass Amherst study suggests the metal is coming from the wood itself. This means that any wood burning could increase exposure in neighborhoods and at home. Tricia Henegan, a PhD student at Umass Amherst and the first author on the research, said: "The most logical answer [to the question of how lead ends up in wood] is that it comes from uptake in the soil, probably riding along with the nutrients and water that trees need. Once in the tree, it deposits in the tree's tissues and remains until that tree is burned." Other research has found that it can then become part of the smoke. "The use of wood as an energy source is a relic of the past, one that should not be relived if given a choice. Although wood fuel use can feel nostalgic, it does have negative consequences on air quality, and therefore public health."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Family and supporters had hoped the US president could help free the 78-year-old British citizen during summit talks in Beijing

Donald Trump raised the case of jailed Hong Kong democracy campaigner Jimmy Lai in talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping but was told it “is a tough one”.

Family and supporters of the 78-year-old British citizen had hoped the US president could help secure his release.

Gov. Jared Polis announced he is commuting the sentence of former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters, who was facing more than eight years in state prison for allowing unauthorized access to voting machines following the 2020 presidential election.

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for May 16.

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• Colorado governor commutes sentence of election denier Tina Peters

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Jamieson Greer also said US export controls on semiconductor chips were not a major topic of discussions with Chinese officials in Beijing.

The US trade representative’s comments to Bloomberg on Friday suggest a breakthrough on selling Nvidia’s advanced H200 chips to China remains far away, Reuters is reporting, despite Nvidia chief Jensen Huang’s last-minute invitation to Donald Trump’s Beijing trip this week.

This was not a major topic of discussion at the bilateral meeting. We did not talk about chip export controls at the meeting.”

First of all, it’s really important for China to have the strait of Hormuz open – no tolling, no military control. That was clear from the meeting, so we welcome that.

With respect to Chinese involvement with Iran, our view is the Chinese are being very pragmatic – they don’t want to be on the wrong side of this. They want to see peace in that area, President Trump wants to see peace in that area, so we have a lot of confidence that they will do what they can to limit any kind of material support for Iran.”

David White retired as the longtime principal at the Burgess-Peterson Academy in Atlanta, and then returned to the school as its handyman.

Here are hints and the answer for today's Wordle for May 16, No. 1,792.

An Iraqi national allegedly plotted to carry out terror attacks in the U.S., including at a prominent synagogue in New York, prosecutors said Friday.

The Supreme Court on Friday rejected a bid by Virginia Democrats to revive its new voter-approved congressional map that was drawn to advantage the party for the upcoming midterm elections.

• Alex Smalley and Maverick McNealy lead on four under

• Rory McIlroy makes progress after poor opening day

“Golf should be a pleasure,” wrote Donald Ross, the man who designed Aronimink, “not a penance.” And a fine sentiment it is, too, even if it wasn’t immediately clear that any of the many men competing here for the PGA Championship were having very much fun doing it. Shane Lowry didn’t seem to be when he shanked the ball into the water at 17, nor did Scottie Scheffler when he threatened to slam down his wedge after hitting one thick on the 6th, and Justin Thomas and Keegan Bradley didn’t look too enthused when they were busy ranting at the rules officials who put them on the clock for slow play.

The pleasure, such as it was, seemed to be mostly in purists’ appreciation of the high standard of lag putting on show, and everyone else’s schadenfreude at watching the world’s best golfers endure the same sort of frustrations amateur hackers suffer every weekend.

Maverick McNealy and Alex Smalley share the lead on halfway at the US PGA Championship at Aronimink

Scottie Scheffler’s third at 10, from 44 yards, is no good. It’s 20 feet shy of the flag. He can’t make the par saver, and that’s an immediate backwards step for the world number one and tournament favourite. Matt Fitzpatrick bogeys too, and it’s a double for Justin Rose. They’re -2, +1 and +2 respectively. Meanwhile on Sky, Laura Davies asks Wayne Riley what he thinks the leader will be on at the end of the day. Five under, he answers, without a beat of hesitation. In other words, good luck trying to go low, gentlemen. It’s going to be another hugely entertaining day!

Rose gathers himself and sends a decent wedge into 10, from 77 yards to 16 feet. He’ll have a look at a damage-limiting bogey. Meanwhile Scottie’s lie in the rough on the left isn’t great, and he’s forced to take his medicine, punching back out onto the fairway. Even the strongest hitters in the business aren’t of a mind to take liberties with this rough. To think everyone was talking about bringing Aronimink to its knees with some bomb and gouge at the start of the week! A textbook study in hubris, and that’s before we get around to the subjects of Rory and Bryson.

Here are hints and the answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle No. 600 for Saturday, May 16.

President Trump told reporters he made "no commitment either way" to China's Xi Jinping regarding U.S. weapons sales to Taiwan.

President Trump's trip to China could bolster economic relations, but failed to deliver a breakthrough deal, some trade and energy experts said.

Order, issued without any noted dissent, is the latest twist in the nation’s mid-decade redistricting competition

The supreme court on Friday rejected Virginia’s bid to restore a congressional map that would have given Democrats a chance to pick up four seats in the closely divided House of Representatives.

The court’s order, issued without any noted dissent, is the latest twist in the nation’s mid-decade redistricting competition . It was kicked off last year by Donald Trump urging Republican-controlled states to redraw their lines and was supercharged by a recent supreme court ruling severely weakening the Voting Rights Act that opened up even more winnable seats for the Republican party.

Firefighters responded to a fire at Robbins Lumber in Searsmont, Maine, about 95 miles from Portland.

SuperFlux will fit stock axle blocks but the notch inside the block needs to be removed. Can be done with a Dremel and a milling bit then use the axle bolts that the SuperFlux comes with.

Face ID isn't just for your phone. SwitchBot's new smart lock line uses facial recognition to unlock your deadbolt.

Here are hints and answers for the NYT Strands puzzle No. 804 for Saturday, May 16.

Here are some hints and the answers for the NYT Connections puzzle for May 16, No. 1,070.

The International Space Station-bound SpaceX Cargo Dragon is loaded with 6,500 pounds of needed equipment, research gear and crew supplies.

Change reflects both transformation of US in Trump era and China’s increasing confidence on world stage

Asked before he departed for Beijing if he would raise with the Chinese president the case of Jimmy Lai, the pro-democracy activist jailed in Hong Kong, Donald Trump said: “I’ll bring him up.”

But, the US president added: “It’s like saying to me, ‘If Comey ever went to jail, would you let him out?’ It might be a hard one for me.” Trump was referring to James B Comey, a former FBI director and a frequent target of Trump’s ire.

All 46 Council of Europe members sign agreement ‘deplored’ by human rights organisations

The UK and 45 other European countries have signed an agreement that explicitly endorses plans to send unwanted asylum seekers to third country hubs.

A political declaration from the 46 members of the Council of Europe, the body that oversees the European convention on human rights (ECHR), said states had an “undeniable sovereign right” to control their borders.

Chaotic week in which enforcer of ‘war on drugs’ flees senate building leaves government looking ‘incompetent’

The wanted man outran security agents, rallied protesters and even serenaded the media with a military hymn. Then, after a sudden exchange of gunfire, the Philippines’ most controversial lawmaker slipped out of the heavily guarded senate building in the middle of the night.

Senator Ronald dela Rosa, who is wanted by the international criminal court for crimes against humanity, is now nowhere to be seen.

BrianFagioli writes: Kioxia and Dell Technologies say they have built a 2U server configuration capable of scaling to 9.8PB of flash storage, which is the sort of density that would have sounded impossible just a few years ago. The setup combines a Dell PowerEdge R7725xd Server with 40 Kioxia LC9 Series 245.76TB NVMe SSDs and AMD EPYC processors. According to Kioxia, matching the same capacity with more common 30.72TB SSDs would require seven additional servers and another 280 drives. The companies are pitching the hardware squarely at AI and hyperscale workloads, where storage is rapidly becoming a bottleneck alongside compute. Kioxia claims the denser configuration can dramatically reduce power consumption and rack space requirements while remaining air cooled. The announcement also highlights how quickly enterprise storage capacities are escalating as organizations race to support larger AI models, massive datasets, and increasingly demanding data pipelines.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Oscillating fans are a nice idea to spread air around the room, but what if you just want to cool yourself? Dyson's Find+Follow uses AI tracking to do it.

The state’s governor commuted Peters’ sentence after a White House pressure campaign against Colorado

Tina Peters, a Colorado election clerk, had her prison sentence commuted on Friday by Colorado’s governor, Jared Polis, after months of pressure from Donald Trump and other conservatives.

The move drew immediate rebuke from Colorado Democrats, including the US senator and former governor John Hickenlooper.

Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood al-Saadi appeared in US federal court to face six terrorism-related charges

The US justice department has arrested and charged an Iraqi national accused of involvement in nearly 20 alleged terror attacks and attempted attacks across the US and Europe.

The wave of violence attributed to Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood al-Saadi has caused huge concern in many European countries but especially the UK, where Jewish community centres, charities, synagogues and other sites have been targeted in recent weeks.

You'll never escape your vibe coding projects as long as you have your phone with you.

AMD says FSR 4.1 will finally bring its newer hardware-accelerated upscaling technology to older Radeon GPUs. "The rollout will begin in July with RDNA3- and 3.5-based GPUs, which include the Radeon RX 7000 series, as well as integrated GPUs like the Radeon 890M and Radeon 8060S," reports Ars Technica. "In 'early 2027,' support will also be extended to the RDNA2 architecture, which includes the Radeon RX 6000 series, integrated GPUs like the Radeon 680M, and the Steam Deck's GPU. This would also open the door to supporting FSR 4 on the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and S, all of which also use RDNA2-based GPUs." From the report: [AMD Computing and Graphics SVP Jack Huynh's] short video presentation didn't get into performance comparisons, but did mention that AMD had to work to get FSR 4's superior hardware-backed upscaling working on its older graphics architectures. RDNA4 includes AI accelerators that support the FP8 data format in the hardware, and porting FSR 4 to older GPUs meant getting it running on the integer-based INT8 hardware in the RDNA3 and RDNA2-based GPUs. This may mean that FSR 4.1 running on an RDNA3 or RDNA2-based GPU may come with a larger performance hit relative to RDNA4 cards, or that image quality may differ slightly. Modders have already worked to get FSR4 working on INT8-supporting GPUs, and the older GPUs reportedly see a 10 to 20 percent performance hit relative to FSR 3.1 running on the same hardware. AMD's official implementation may or may not improve on these numbers. [...] Any games that support FSR 4 should be able to support FSR 4.1 running on Radeon 7000-series cards; users will presumably be able to install a driver update in July that enables the new feature. Games that support the older FSR 3.1 can also be forced to use FSR 4 in the Radeon graphics driver.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

One of the largest pediatric hospitals in the US will pay state $10m and stop offering gender-affirming care to youth

One of the largest pediatric hospitals in the US is creating a clinic that officials say will be a place for transgender youth to detransition to the sex they were assigned at birth.

The news came on Friday, when Texas children’s hospital reached a settlement agreement with the state’s attorney general and the US justice department over allegations that the Houston-based medical center billed Texas Medicaid to cover gender-affirming care under false diagnosis codes, among other claims.

Trump administration accused of cutting military’s civilian harm program in light of US strike on girls school in Iran

IThe Pentagon has quietly dismantled a program it is legally required to operate to prevent and respond to civilian deaths in US military operations, according to its internal watchdog.

A report released by the department’s inspector general concluded the US military no longer has the people, tools or infrastructure needed to comply with two federal statutes requiring it to maintain a functioning civilian casualty policy, and operate a Civilian Protection Center of Excellence (CP CoE).

The Pentagon’s top watchdog says cuts to civilian harm mitigation and response efforts have been so severe under War Secretary Pete Hegseth that the United States cannot adequately protect civilians in conflict zones. 

Thursday’s scathing analysis by the Department of War’s inspector general came on the same day that the top U.S. commander overseeing the war in Iran dismissed reports of civilian casualties and said the U.S. had no means to corroborate reports of strikes on hospitals and schools. The inspector general specifically notes that the military stopped funding a database that tracks civilian harm that could be used for such verification.

While damning, the former chief of harm assessments at the Pentagon’s Civilian Protection Center of Excellence nonetheless called the new report a “whitewash” that downplays the evisceration of the Center and the entire enterprise devoted to reducing civilian casualties.

The report focuses on the implementation of the Pentagon’s 2022 Civilian Harm Mitigation and Response Action Plan, or CHMR‑AP, which was mandated by the department to take full effect by the end of 2025. The inspector general found serious deficiencies and a chronic failure to meet timelines for 11 objectives consisting of 133 incomplete “implementing actions” by the end of last year. The inspector general found that the Department of War “did not fully implement any of the CHMR-AP objectives by the end of FY 2025.”

“This is a crisis of the Trump Administration’s own making: They slashed the staffing and funding for civilian harm mitigation, and now they can’t adequately follow the law and implement the CHMR-AP, leaving civilians and our own military personnel at risk,” Rep. Sara Jacobs, D-Calif., a member of the House Armed Services Committee and the co-chair of the Protection of Civilians in Conflict Caucus, told The Intercept. “The Inspector General’s report is clear about what that means: wasted munitions, failed strikes, damaged alliances, and propaganda wins for our adversaries. The Trump Administration needs to reverse course immediately so we can save lives and protect our national security.”

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“We Will Find You and We Will Kill You”

The Intercept has previously reported on Hegseth’s gutting of CHMR efforts. More than a year ago, five current and former Defense Department officials described Pentagon efforts to eliminate or downsize offices, programs, and positions focused on preventing civilian casualties.

The 43-page inspector general report details continuing efforts to hamstring protections for civilians in war zones, noting that “DoW Components ended funding for the CHMR data management platform, stopped holding Steering Committee meetings, lost or reassigned many of the personnel dedicated to CHMR, and lost personnel and leadership” at the Center of Excellence, which is focused on training and employing tools for preventing civilian casualties.

Wes Bryant, who until last year served as the chief of civilian harm assessments and senior analyst and adviser on precision warfare, targeting, and civilian harm mitigation at the Center of Excellence, is one of those “lost personnel,” having been forced out of his job after blowing the whistle on efforts to dismantle CHMR efforts.

“It is completely whitewashed of the truth,” Bryant said of the report. “It reads as if the IG is completely deliberately ignoring the fact that the center and the entire CHMR enterprise was targeted for immediate shutdown, that 90 percent of billets were either terminated or forced out, and that what exists of the Center of Excellence since March 2025 is a shell on paper with no budget, no mandate or real mission, no authority and is completely locked out of visibility and oversight on all investigations and operations.”

The watchdog’s evaluation noted that Hegseth’s War Department “may not comply with its civilian casualties and harm policy” — which is required under federal law. The investigation also found that eliminating CHMR funding and personnel also “decreases readiness and increases risk to DoW personnel, mission success, and military objectives,” according to officials at the Joint Staff, which is headed by Gen. Dan Caine, and at geographic combatant commands, which oversee U.S. operations in various corners of the world.

While couched in stilted language, the report details dangers to civilians due to cuts to CHMR efforts. It makes note of deficiencies in “personnel and capabilities” to protect civilians under Pentagon regulations that are mandated by federal law. And it mentions a lack of necessary “tools” at the Center of Excellence, including a “data management platform” meant to track civilian harm incidents. The report notes that “according to Joint Staff and [combatant command] officials, eliminating CHMR funding and personnel makes mitigating or responding to civilian harm more difficult.” Such officials also noted that “eliminating CHMR funding and personnel reduces battle space awareness and increases the risk of civilian casualties, damaged coalitions and alliances, loss of legitimacy, increased local resistance, propaganda opportunities for adversaries, prolonged conflicts, and failed strikes.”

“This report makes it clear that the DoD is not complying with the law, nor its own policies, both of which were built on a bipartisan basis upon years of hard-learned lessons from wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria,” Madison Hunke, the U.S. program manager of the Center for Civilians in Conflict, told The Intercept. “As Congress develops the budget for the upcoming fiscal year, they must ensure that it not only provides the DoD with the resources it needs to comply with law and policy but also conduct rigorous oversight to keep the DoD accountable for implementing these critical programs.”

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U.S. Military Command That Attacked Venezuela Gutted Its Civilian Harm Team

Reporting by The Intercept found a combatant command that has gone from a military backwater to one engaged in regular kinetic activity — U.S. Southern Command — is unable to cope with the volume of civilian casualty reports. After the U.S. attacked Venezuela in January , the U.K.-based watchdog group Airwars attempted to submit documentation of civilian casualties to SOUTHCOM, which oversees military operations in Latin America. The organization learned that SOUTHCOM has no mechanism for submitting these reports. After reaching out to the Pentagon, Airwars was told to submit documentation to the Center of Excellence.

The report specifically mentions the Center’s “support for organizations such as the U.S. Southern Command,” despite the fact that the Center “lost large numbers of personnel and leaders,” does not have “the tools designed to meet its statutory roles and duties,” and that the Army had developed plans, early last year, to euthanize it.

The report notes that an official from an unnamed combatant command “stated that they largely divested their CHMR personnel, functions, and responsibilities as of March 2025.” Another said that they did not “want to spend resources on actions or make future commitments for a program that may be significantly changed.”

As the Pentagon has starved the CHMR enterprise, the U.S. has killed more than 2,000 civilians across the world — from Latin America to Africa to the Middle East — during Trump’s second term. “This is unprecedented in terms of the sheer number of theaters where harm to civilians has been reported within such a short space of time,” Megan Karlshoej-Pedersen, a policy specialist with Airwars, told The Intercept, referencing attacks in the Caribbean Sea, the Pacific Ocean, Iran, Nigeria, Somalia, Syria, Venezuela, and Yemen.

Airwars tracked reports of at least 224 civilians in Yemen killed during the Trump administration’s campaign of air and naval strikes — codenamed Operation Rough Rider — against Yemen’s Houthi government in the spring of 2025. This nearly doubled the civilian casualty toll in Yemen from U.S. attacks since 2002, meaning that almost as many civilians were reportedly killed in 52 days as the previous 23 years of airstrikes and commando raids.

Related

Hegseth Asks for More Money as Iran War Costs Skyrocket

The preliminary findings of a U.S. military investigation revealed by The Intercept and other outlets determined that the United States conducted an attack on the Shajarah Tayyebeh elementary school in Minab, Iran, in February, contradicting assertions by President Donald Trump that Iran struck the school. More than 150 civilians were killed, most of them children.

Almost 115,200 civilian homes, commercial properties, and other civilian sites have been damaged in the U.S.–Israel war on Iran, according to a report from the Iranian Red Crescent Society last month; this includes 763 schools. The Red Crescent also reported that more than 334 medical, health, pharmaceutical, and emergency centers have been damaged, including 18 of its own centers. Twenty-four health workers have been killed and 116 injured, according to Iran’s Ministry of Health and Medical Education.

“U.S.–Israeli airstrikes have killed at least 2,362 civilians, including 383 children, and injured over 32,314 civilians, according to official figures,” Raha Bahreini, a regional researcher with Amnesty International’s Iran Team told The Intercept and other journalists during a press briefing late last month.

On Thursday, Adm. Brad Cooper — the senior officer overseeing U.S. combat operations in Iran — told senators that the strike on the school in Minab was the only civilian casualty incident he knew of after more than 13,600 U.S. strikes.

Airwars has chronicled more than 300 civilian casualty incidents in Iran since the start of the conflict.

“How do you explain the publicly available information that 22 schools have been hit and multiple hospitals?” asked Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., citing a New York Times report. “There’s no way we can corroborate that,” Cooper replied.

The inspector general’s report specifically says that a database used for tracking civilian harm — which could be used in verification efforts — was abandoned. The “Army stopped funding the data management platform,” it notes.

Cooper said that preventing civilian harm is “a matter that I’m passionate about.”

Related

U.S. Military Killed Boat Strike Survivors for Not Surrendering Correctly

Hegseth has launched overlapping efforts to weaken transparency, scuttle accountability, hobble military justice, and undercut protections for civilians in conflict — from replacing the Pentagon press corps with pro-administration sycophants and firing the top legal authorities of the Army and the Air Force last year, reportedly pursuing changes that would encourage lawyers to approve more aggressive tactics and take a more lenient approach to those who violate the laws of war.

Late last month, Hegseth repeatedly dismissed congressional concerns about civilian harm and respect for the laws of war in testimony before the House Armed Services Committee. “The Department of War fights to win,” Hegseth replied when asked if he stood by his statement that the U.S. would afford enemies “no quarter” — a war crime.

While the U.S. has been clinging to a rickety ceasefire with Iran for more than a month, Trump has previously threatened to commit genocide there. “We’ll go back and finish them off. And, by the way, more than that,” he said on Friday.

Bryant believes that efforts by congressional Democrats and press coverage of civilian casualties — and the ensuing pressure on Hegseth — has kept the lights on at what remains of the Center of Excellence and held CHMR on life support. “Given all the controversy and heat that Hegseth and the administration have since received for civilian casualties, it has behooved them to be able to technically say that some semblance of the program still exists,” he told The Intercept. “However, I can tell you with 100 percent confidence that it exists at this point entirely on paper and as a legal CYA,” or cover your ass.

The post Internal Pentagon Report Reveals Hegseth Is Willfully Putting Civilians in Danger appeared first on The Intercept.

Paul Edwin Overby Jr. vanished in May 2014 while researching a book in Khost province, Afghanistan, the FBI said.

A conversation with Orville Schell.

Politicians and other X users shared a manipulated clip appearing to show U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds, the leading Republican candidate in the Florida gubernatorial race, supporting insider trading as a way to live with luxury.

Chris Nelson, a conservative activist and writer, shared the video on X with the caption, "Byron Donalds says insider trading should ABSOLUTELY BE ALLOWED for members of Congress." The post got thousands of shares.

In the video, Donalds appeared to say:

"Insider trading should absolutely be allowed for members of Congress. Look, the salary, it doesn’t cut it anymore. If I happen to make millions because I’m privy to sensitive government information, well, that’s called initiative. The American people want leaders who know how to capitalize on opportunity. That’s leadership. I want a bigger house. I want to drive a Bentley. I want investment properties in Miami and Aspen."

Former Florida state Sen. Paula Dockery, who left the Republican Party in 2017 and Democratic Tennessee state Sen. Heidi Campbell shared it. Campbell’s post is now unavailable.

But Donalds didn’t say that. It’s a fake video, altered from a real CBN News interview on May 8. 

A Donalds spokesperson said the video involved artificial intelligence and did not reflect the congressman’s words.

This is what Donalds really said:

"You know, my mother, she has three children. I’m the middle child. My parents never married, just, they ain’t come together, whatever happened between my parents. But my mom just did everything that she could. She really believed in me, believed in, really, my abilities, thought education was gonna be key for my success. And so for her, there was no stone that was to be left unturned for me to be successful in life."

The first instance of the video that PolitiFact found came from an X account with 21 followers that regularly posts deepfakes of Donalds. Within minutes of the account sharing the deepfake of Donalds talking about insider trading, Nelson re-shared it. 

When we contacted Nelson about our findings, he said, "It looks real to me and it rings true about Byron’s beliefs on insider trading."

When people commented on Nelson’s post that the video involved AI, he replied with what read like sarcasm, saying, "No way!!" and "Byron would never be this honest in real life." Nelson ran for Fort Lauderdale mayor in 2024 and dropped out.

Donalds spoke about insider trading in 2025, saying he doesn’t trade securities, but has a broker with trading authority. He said he supports banning Congress members and their families from initiating trades, but members should be allowed to have brokers who trade on their behalf. He made similar comments in December 2025, saying he has always opposed congressional trading, adding, "I think you do have to make an allowance for members who give third-party authorization to a financial professional."

In 2024, the Campaign Legal Center filed an ethics complaint alleging that Donalds violated the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act by failing to properly disclose stock trades amounting to $1.6 million. A spokesperson told Business Insider that Donalds did not directly make those trades, and that he was "working to reconcile any outstanding infractions."

The video doesn’t show Donalds saying "insider trading should absolutely be allowed for members of Congress" because he wants to own a bigger house and a Bentley. We rate that claim Pants on Fire! ​

Former election clerk who allowed unauthorized access to voting systems was convicted and sentenced to nine years

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The Colorado governor, Jared Polis, commuted the nearly nine-year prison sentence of a former Colorado clerk who allowed unauthorized people to access her county’s voting systems in a case that had been an intense focus of Donald Trump and other allies who sought to overturn the 2020 election.

Tina Peters, who is currently incarcerated, will be released on parole on 1 June after Polis reduced her sentence from eight and a half years in prison to about four and a half. “This is an extremely unusual and lengthy sentence for a first time offender who committed non-violent crimes,” Polis wrote in a clemency letter to Peters.

With third-highest number of books banned, state removes renowned work about slave trade from library shelves

A Tennessee school district has banned Roots, the author Alex Haley’s groundbreaking novel and one of the most renowned and influential works about the horrors of the transatlantic slave trade.

Knox county schools (KCS) took that step under a state law that has disappeared hundreds of titles from school libraries and alarmed advocates of free expression.

Bitwarden appears to be undergoing a quiet shift in leadership and messaging. Its longtime CEO and CFO have stepped down, while the company has removed "Always free" from a prominent password-manager page and replaced "Inclusion" and "Transparency" in its GRIT values with "Innovation" and "Trust." Fast Company reports: In February, longtime CEO Michael Crandell moved to an advisory role, according to LinkedIn, with no announcement from the company. His replacement, Michael Sullivan, former CEO of both Acquia and Insightsoftware, touts his experience with "all facets of mergers and acquisitions" on his own LinkedIn page, including experience working with leading private equity firms. CFO Stephen Morrison also left Bitwarden in April, replaced by former InVision CEO Michael Shenkman. Both Crandell and Morrison joined the company in 2019. Kyle Spearrin, who started Bitwarden as a fun hobby project in 2015, remains the company's CTO. Meanwhile, Bitwarden has made some subtle tweaks to its website. The page for its personal password manager no longer includes the phrase "Always free." Previously this appeared under the "Pick a plan" section partway down the page, but that section no longer mentions the free plan, though it remains available elsewhere on the page. Bitwarden made this change in mid-April, according to the Internet Archive. Bitwarden has also stopped listing "Inclusion" and "Transparency" as tentpole values on its careers page. The company has long defined its values with the acronym "GRIT," which used to stand for "Gratitude, Responsibility, Inclusion, and Transparency." After May 4, it changed the acronym to stand for "Gratitude, Responsibility, Innovation, and Trust." The phrase "inclusive environment" still appears under a description of Gratitude, while "transparency" is mentioned under the Trust heading. They're just no longer the focus.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

A report suggests that Google's 15GB free tier is at risk as the company tests a lower 5GB cap for new sign-ups.

Google recently launched something called Health Coach, an “AI” thing that’s part of the company’s new Fitbit products. Let’s check in with how that’s going.

Put simply, Google’s paid replacement for Fitbit Premium immediately began hallucinating, even admitting to having made up the data before asking if, you know, maybe I’m the one who actually forgot to input a run. Remember, this is my very first report from this thing, making for an awful first impression. Even after this correction, the run data continues to exist within the AI-powered home screen layout, despite no record actually appearing within my account. It’s not exactly a great advertisement for a platform that costs $10 per month or $100 annually.

↫ Will Sattelberg at 9To5Google

The entire US’ – and thus much of the world’s – economic growth is built on this trash. What could possibly go wrong?

In June 2025, Christian Cerna went to a protest in his neighborhood against ICE raids and allegedly punched a border patrol agent. He later pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault, but denies that he ever hit the officer. Days after the protest, Christian was violently arrested in front of his family by ICE officers, who filmed the whole operation and later posted it to social media. Christian tells Carter Sherman how the experience took a "heavy toll" on him and Sam Levin reveals the reporting behind the story

A newly discovered vulnerability circumvents even always-on VPNs for Android users.

One of the top pieces of customer feedback in the graphics driver area is clear: “Windows Update downgrades my drivers.” Today, we are announcing a policy change to how display drivers are published through Windows Update — allowing 2-Part HWID + Computer Hardware ID (CHID) targeting for new devices. This change gives customers more control over their display driver of choice while preserving OEM control over the devices they ship.

↫ Garrettd at Microsoft’s Hardware Dev Center

Windows Update randomly downgrading your graphics drivers seems to be a common enough occurrence that its supposed fix deserves its own feature announcement and blog post. This is a real operating system that runs on most of the world’s PCs.

A Manhattan resident who was on the cruise ship at the center of the hantavirus outbreak traveled freely after leaving the ship, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention did not warn public health authorities in New York of her potential exposure to the deadly virus, according to New York City and state officials.

The woman, a dual citizen of New Zealand and the United States with residences in Manhattan and Fort Lauderdale, Florida, was one of 30 passengers who left the MV Hondius expedition cruise ship while it docked at Saint Helena island, in the South Atlantic, in late April after one passenger had already died of a lethal strain of hantavirus. A second and third passenger died days later, one on board and one in a hospital in South Africa, but by the time the ship had become a focus of headlines worldwide, the woman was well on her way on a globe-hopping itinerary.

The CDC informed health officials in various states of other Americans potentially exposed to the virus, but failed to alert New York health officials about the Manhattan woman.

There is no indication that the woman intended to come back to the United States or to New York any time soon. Instead, she continued on a multi-continental trip around the world. Her ability to continue traveling — and the lack of notice issued to authorities in the location to which she might eventually return — raise worrying questions about the potential spread of the disease, said Dr. Abraar Karan, an infectious disease specialist at Stanford University.

“If she’s on the loose, then we need to be aware of where she might come back to,” Karan said. “So the New York Department of Health, and officials at the port of entry, they need to make sure this person is flagged when they return.”

The traveler, a 75-year-old former pharmaceutical executive, matches the description of a former ship passenger who is now in quarantine in Taiwan, according to local news reports there. Her peregrinations first came to light in reporting by Intercept contributor Jacqueline Sweet, who published a report on the traveler on her personal Substack.

The woman’s dual nationality and connection to addresses in multiple states appears to have muddied the lines of communication.

A spokesperson for the New York State Department of Health told The Intercept that after raising the issue with the CDC, they learned that the agency had notified a different state of the woman’s possible exposure to the virus. The spokesperson did not identify the state in question, but public records show the woman is registered to vote at an apartment in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Despite her voter registration in Florida, she has referred in social media posts to the co-op she owns in Manhattan as her home.

Representatives of the CDC and the Florida Department of Health did not respond to The Intercept’s requests for comment. Florida has not reported that it is monitoring any residents for possible exposure to hantavirus.

New York and other states — including California, Arizona, Washington, Georgia, Virginia, and North Carolina — have reported residents with possible exposures, with some states indicating they received notice from the CDC and others saying cruise passengers self-reported. All 18 U.S. citizens who returned to the country directly from the cruise are currently in quarantine in Omaha, Nebraska, and Atlanta, Georgia, while another 16 citizens who shared a plane with a woman evacuated to Johannesburg are being monitored.

From the South Atlantic to a Global Conference

The outbreak took place aboard the MV Hondius, an “expedition” cruise ship that takes adventurous passengers on a monthlong specialized polar tour, stopping at hard-to-reach islands in the South Atlantic. The cruise attracted wildlife enthusiasts, biologists, and extreme travelers attempting to visit as many countries and territories as possible, willing to shell out tens of thousands of dollars for the trip.

On April 6, one of those travelers, a 70-year-old Dutch man who prior to the sea voyage had spent more than three months traveling in South America, became ill. He died onboard on April 11, and on April 24, the victim’s 69-year-old wife disembarked at Saint Helena; the next day, she flew to Johannesburg, South Africa, where she died soon after. A third passenger died on May 2 — the same day that the World Health Organization declared an outbreak of hantavirus as the culprit.

The CDC has been accused of a slow response to the outbreak, holding its first briefing on the crisis on May 9, a week after WHO announced that the deaths were caused by the rare Andes strain of hantavirus, which is spread in South America by the pygmy rice rat and which can be transmitted among humans via close physical contact with someone already showing signs of infection. Because the early symptoms of the virus, including fever, fatigue, and muscle aches, are common in many other viral infections, the disease can be hard to identify before the rapid onset of more serious symptoms like pneumonia and respiratory distress.

In the case of the hantavirus outbreak, as with other public health crises, officials need to walk a careful line between ensuring safety and avoiding panic, Karan said. And the key to keeping a lid on the outbreak is ensuring proper quarantine for anyone with a potential exposure.

“Because this took place on a cruise ship, it actually helped us detect this quickly, and for now it appears to be decently contained,” Karan said. “But the problem is that, it’s not like you have a camera on these people to know if they’re not going out or seeing other people. So you don’t definitely know unless they’re quarantining at a monitored center.”

Related

Amid Hantavirus Panic, the Ivermectin Super Fans Are Back

Compounding the trouble, however, is that many of the passengers on the cruise are part of an “extreme travel” subculture whose lifestyle centers around relentless jetsetting. Even with the international attention being paid to the ship and its passengers, a number of people have been found to have trekked globe-spanning itineraries since the outbreak was revealed. 

The itinerary of the Manhattan woman after she left the MV Hondius showed a complexity typical of such “extreme travelers.” In a social media post on April 28, the traveler said she had flown from Saint Helena to Johannesburg, where she stayed in a hotel before flying on to Hong Kong and then to Bangkok, Thailand. In Bangkok, she wrote that she took a shuttle across the city to its second airport and flew to Trang, in southern Thailand, where she stayed in a hotel overnight before taking a boat to the island of Ko Ngai. Her most recent social media post was from Hanoi, Vietnam, several days before reports surfaced of the former ship passenger matching her description under quarantine in Taiwan.

She was just one of 30 travelers who left the ship while it docked at Saint Helena, prior to the declaration of an outbreak — setting off a scramble by global public health officials to identify everyone who might have been exposed.

The profile of the passengers themselves complicated the picture, according to Alina Chan, a molecular biologist and co-author of “VIRAL: The Search for the Origin of Covid-19” who advocated for more scrutiny of a possible lab origin for the virus that caused the Covid pandemic.

“The cruise selected for these extreme travelers, and you cannot ask for a potentially better superspreader,” Chan said. “And if one of the passengers presented to an international hospital with symptoms without the hospital being aware of their exposure on the ship, by the time the hospital would know, healthcare workers could have already been exposed.”

Most public health officials agree the hantavirus outbreak is unlikely to transform into a pandemic. But the incubation period for the Andes virus is anywhere from four to 42 days, raising concerns that the traveler and others who left the ship prior to the outbreak becoming known could transmit the virus to others if they become sick. That’s led global health officials to scramble to identify passengers and notify their home countries. But the timing of these communications, and how they unfolded, are unclear, as the case of this woman reveals.

While the CDC alerted a number of states, including New York, to the fact that residents with potential exposures could be coming home, the Manhattan-based traveler appears to have slipped through the cracks, and state health officials there only learned of her connection to the state after receiving inquiries from Sweet.

It appears that the MV Hondius’s parent company first reported that this passenger was a New Zealand national to New Zealand health authorities. After The Intercept began making inquiries with the New Zealand Ministry of Health in conjunction with reporters from news outlet Radio New Zealand, as well as to the woman and other conference attendees, the Ministry of Health told Radio New Zealand that although the woman had ignored their previous attempts to contact and assist her, on Tuesday she suddenly contacted them. The Ministry of Health said they had alerted the United States last week that she was in fact a resident of the U.S., and not New Zealand, and on Tuesday, they also alerted health officials in the country she is in currently, which is unknown.

On Monday, news from New Zealand broke that an American woman, since reported as being from California, had turned up in remote Pitcairn Island, a tiny South Pacific island with less than 50 residents. She had flown from Saint Helena after departing the MV Hondius early to San Francisco, before flying to Tahiti and then taking a boat voyage to Pitcairn. It’s unknown if any health authorities contacted her before her travels. She is now being quarantined on the island.

Reached by The Intercept, a spokesperson for the California Department of Public Health pointed to an existing press release about monitoring hantavirus exposures and added: “When we have new information to share, we will do so.”

Chan advised that “the WHO should make a list of all passengers available to all countries so they can be aware of visitors with exposure, rather than rely on each country.” Communication between the WHO and the United States was delayed in the days of the MV Hondius outbreak, since the Trump administration left the global health alliance, but the CDC and the WHO have reportedly been working together for the past week. 

“In a best-case scenario there are no more waves, but this shows the WHO and the CDC are not prepared. This was the best-case scenario, with the passengers all known from the cruise,” Chan said. “When you can mess up with this controlled of a scenario, what will happen next time?”

The post CDC Didn’t Tell New York About Resident on Hantavirus-Plagued Cruise appeared first on The Intercept.

In an interview with "Face the Nation," Gates said another mass exodus from Cuba is the "biggest risk."

Google has confirmed it is testing a 5GB storage limit for some new Gmail accounts, with users able to unlock the standard 15GB by adding a phone number. Android Authority reports: While the company didn't mention which regions are impacted, user reports from yesterday were mostly from African countries. That said, if Google's tests prove successful, this could possibly become the norm for new sign-ups in more regions. The company could be testing ways to discourage users from creating multiple Gmail accounts to access free cloud storage. However, if you already have a Gmail account with 15GB free storage, it shouldn't be impacted by this change. The language on Google's support page mentions "up to 15GB of storage." However, it's a recent change. An archived version of the support page from February did not use the words "up to." Whether the test has been running since early March or Google updated its language before it ever started the test, it's evident that the company could roll out the change globally as well.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Prosecutors have described fatal shooting outside of DC’s Capital Jewish Museum last year as calculated and planned

The US justice department will seek the death penalty for the man accused of fatally shooting two staff members of the Israeli embassy in Washington outside a Jewish museum, prosecutors said in a court filing on Friday.

Elias Rodriguez faces federal hate crime and murder charges in the killings of Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim as they left an event at the museum last May. Rodriguez shouted “free Palestine” during the shooting and later told police, “I did it for Palestine, I did it for Gaza,” according to his indictment.

Officials of Social Circle, population 5,000, file lawsuit over plan to turn warehouse into 10,000-capacity facility

Officials in the small Georgia town of Social Circle have filed a lawsuit against federal immigration agencies over plans for a huge immigration detention facility, arguing the project threatens to overburden local services and damage the environment.

The complaint, filed on Wednesday in US district court for the middle district of Georgia, accuses US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) of moving ahead with the project without completing mandatory environmental assessments.

You're the weakest link in your own cybersecurity. And scam calls and emails are the biggest threat.

Statement following ‘productive’ talks in Washington comes as Israel launches strikes on southern city of Tyre

Israel and Lebanon have agreed to a 45-day extension of their ceasefire after another round of talks in Washington, the US state department has said.

It came after two “productive” days of talks, and more negotiations would be held from 2-3 June, the department spokesperson Tommy Pigott said.

KAYLA BELFONT
Staff Reporter

The Trump administration subpoenaed the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) in June and Nemours Children’s Health in Wilmington in July. The July subpoena, which was served to over 20 hospitals nationwide and came to light in a court filing in August, demanded patients’ medical records — including dates of birth, Social Security numbers and addresses — as well as years’ worth of physician communications. 

Nemours Children’s Health is facing continuous scrutiny from the Trump administration, and officially stopped accepting new patients into its gender-affirming care clinic. A federal judge in Philadelphia sided with CHOP in Nov., quashing the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) demands and finding that the government lacked the authority to conduct what the court called a sweeping exploration of the hospital’s files. 

The Trump administration appealed the ruling and has since escalated pressure on both hospitals, referring them to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) for investigation.

At the center of the legal battle is the hospitals’ provision of gender-affirming care to minors.

The term “gender-affirming care” encompasses more procedures and medical treatment than many typically assume. HHS states that gender-affirming care is anything that makes you feel more like your gender — despite age, ethnicity, nationality or sex. However, this definition of gender-affirming care is no longer supported by the Trump administration.

Professor Eric Layland in the university’s Department of Human Development and Family Sciences explains the breadth of gender-affirming care.

“Gender-affirming care is a broad area of both medical, mental and other care that allows someone to feel like their sense of their gender and self is affirmed through those medical health and social services that are offered to them,” Layland said. “Gender-affirming care can also include things like getting a haircut that allows you to express your gender in the way you want to.”

Concern over the age of those seeking gender-affirming care has become a primary political issue, with 767 bills proposed nationally in 2026 to limit access to such care. According to a student at the university, who wishes to remain anonymous for their protection, age should not be a limitation when it comes to access to care.

“Hormone blockers, which is a form of gender-affirming care, comes at 12 to 13 years of age,” the student said.

Hormone blockers can be used to delay puberty changes by stopping the production of sex hormones. Finn Thornton, the assistant director of communications for the Lavender Programming Board (LPB), a registered student organization (RSO) for LGTBTQ+ students on campus, mentions that hormone blockers are much safer than many people assume them to be.

“Hormone blockers for young trans people are actual life-saving medical care, and there is so much stigma around them right now that just is untrue,” Thornton, who is a transgender senior at the university, said. “They’re not nearly as unsafe as people seem to think they are, and they’re not nearly as permanent as people think they are.”

Thornton had similar beliefs when asked what age is too soon for treatment.

“Having an age cutoff for gender-affirming care is a ridiculous concept to me,” Thornton said. “It’s purely a way to try to control people, and it doesn’t have anything to do with trying to keep people safe.”

Thorton explained that enforcing federal policies to get rid of gender-affirming care will not stop people from seeking support. Instead, it would likely make such care less accessible and potentially less safe.

“That leads to increased suicide rates for trans people, especially young trans people,” Thornton said. “It leads to people trying to, kind of, DIY their own gender-affirming care, which can be extremely dangerous.”

Layland explained that because of these subpoenas and recent political decisions, many patients around the nation have been unable to receive care.

“For patients who are currently in treatment or were on the way to receiving treatment, many of them have had their treatment withdrawn or stopped,” Layland said. “Across the country, health centers have cut programming that is focused on gender-affirming care in those services.”

The student who wished to remain anonymous argued that correlations between suicide rates are crucial to take note of.

“Look at the studies, look at the statistics,” the student said. “Gender-affirming care helps people way more than it hurts them.” 

Thornton also highlighted the impact of these policies and legal battles for kids.

“I think kids are always super aware of what’s going on, more than what most people think,” Thornton said. “They’re going to know that it’s less safe for them to speak about their gender identities.”

In light of political disagreement over the issue, transgender people are looking for ways to move forward.

“I think it’s just about being as informed and educated as you can, and knowing there are ways to get around it,” the anonymous student said. “There are resources, there is access, but it’s true that it is being limited, it is being censored and there is a lot of fear around it.”

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: A bill focused on maintaining long-term playable access to online games has passed out of the California Assembly's appropriations committee, setting up a floor vote by the full legislative body. The advancement is a major win for Stop Killing Games' grassroots game preservation movement and comes over the objections of industry lobbyists at the Entertainment Software Association. California's Protect Our Games Act, as currently written, would require digital game publishers who cut off support for an online game to either provide a full refund to players or offer an updated version of the game "that enables its continued use independent of services controlled by the operator." The act would also require publishers to notify players 60 days before the cessation of "services necessary for the ordinary use of the digital game." As currently amended, the act would not apply to completely free games and games offered "solely for the duration of [a] subscription. Any other game offered for sale in California on or after January 1, 2027, would be subject to the law if it passes. [...] In a formal statement of support for the bill sent to the California legislature, SKG wrote that "there is no other medium in which a product can be marketed and sold to a consumer and then ripped away without notice As live service games rise in popularity for game developers and gamers alike, end-of-life procedures are essential tools to ensure prolonged access to the games consumers pay to enjoy." The Entertainment Software Association, which helps represent the interests of major game publishers, publicly told the California Assembly last month that the bill misrepresents how modern game distribution actually works. "Consumers receive a license to access and use a game, not an unrestricted ownership interest in the underlying work," the ESA wrote. The eventual shutdown of outdated or obsolete games is "a natural feature of modern software," the group added, especially when that software requires online infrastructure maintenance. The ESA also said the bill would impose unreasonable expectations on publishers regarding licensing rights for music or IP rights, which are often negotiated on a time-limited basis. "A legal requirement to keep games playable indefinitely could place publishers in an impossible position -- forcing them to renegotiate licenses indefinitely or alter games in ways that may not be legally or technically feasible," they wrote.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Which scheduler should you use for AI workloads, Slurm or Kubernetes? It’s a debate that generates passionate arguments on both sides. Both schedulers have their strong suits, and there’s no single universal answer that’s always correct. But Slurm and Kubernetes are not equal at all stages of AI, and choosing the wrong one could have a big impact on your AI deployment. A new project called Slinky could change that.

Slurm, which stands for Simple Linux Utility for Resource Management, came out of Lawrence Livermore Lab in 2002 as a way to manage HPC resources, as well as a way to grant users access to supercomputers. The software works by managing a queue of HPC jobs; allocating requested compute resources, such as nodes, CPUs, memory, or GPUs to those jobs for specific durations; and then executing them on compute nodes, typically using MPI. It also provides monitoring functions.

Today, Slurm is the most popular scheduling software in the HPC community, and is used on about 60% of the supercomputers on the Top500 list. According to 2024 data from Intersect360 Research, it has a 20% share of the overall supercomputer market, and is dominant in academic settings. The open source technology has been managed primarily by a company called SchedMD, which Nvidia acquired in late 2025.

Kubernetes is also a workload manager, but it works in a different way. The software (which is often shortened to K8s) works by defining a set of core building blocks that are used to deploy, maintain, and scale applications. Users tells K8s what kind of cluster they want, according to the number and type of processors and memory, and the workload manager automatically builds and maintains the environment.

Kubernetes emerged in 2014 out of Google, as many modern computing constructs have. Google developed Kubernetes internally as a way to manage its humongous fleet of servers, and it donated K8s to the open source community to foster its continued development, as it has done with many other technologies, such as PageRank, MapReduce, Bigtable, Android, TensorFlow, and Transformers, which gave us large language models.

Exposing Tribal Faultlines

(Manik-shah/Shutterstock)

The Slurm vs. Kubernetes question exposes deep-seated tribal faultlines within the technological community, said Stephen Watt, a Red Hat distinguished engineer and VP of the Office of the CTO.

“It’s partially technological, partially cultural. I think it’s quite interesting,” Watt said of the Slurm vs. Kubernetes divide. “We have sort of a pragmatic view.”

While Red Hat does sell an enterprise distribution of Kubernetes, that doesn’t mean it advocates for Kubernetes in all situation. In some situations, K8s makes the most sense, while in others, Slurm brings capabilities that Kubernetes just can’t match.

“If you are dealing with the standard operations tribe that are ensuring that applications that run….that’s a pretty simple conversation because they’ve got our enterprise Kubernetes distribution, which is OpenShift,” Watt told HPCwire in a recent interview.

“When you deal with a different tribe, which I’d call maybe the PyTorch tribe…it’s primarily a research-focused community, with research and frontier model providers,” he continued. “And those teams are typically supported by research IT infrastructures that have been running Slurm for decades.”

Slurm: Strong for Scale, Batch, and Training

The two tribes have widely different perceptions of how the two workload schedulers work. The research and HPC community likes Slurm because it’s familiar and it just works. If you need to efficiently schedule a large number of batch on a massive supercomputer, it’s hard to beat Slurm, Watt said.

“There is this perception that, well, Slurm just works. And that’s true,” Watt said. “I would say if you’re doing model pre-training [Slurm] is what we would recommend you use, not Kubernetes. It scales to 30,000 nodes. Kubernetes scales to around 5,000. So while there are people using Kubernetes for pre-training, Slurm is quite a lot simpler to use.”

Watt, who cut his teeth on distributed tech such as Hadoop and Spark, recalls how eBay would use Slurm to manage 12-hour training runs every night to update their machine learning model. The model updates would improve the transaction processing for the online auction site.

“Slurm is super good for that,” Watt said. “But that’s different than saying, hey, somebody is depending on this thing every second of every hour. And if it goes down, there’s a business continuity problem and there’s revenue that gets lost. And that’s where Kubernetes guarantees that 100%, or 99.9% uptime. And that’s what’s different on inference.”

Kubernetes: Strong for Uptime, Real-Time, and Inference

While Slurm holds advantages in scale and simplicity, Kubernetes holds advantages when it comes to guaranteeing uptime, which is critical for real-time workloads like AI inference.

Watt admits that Kubernetes is much more complicated, especially if you’re trying to trace performance problems through the K8s layer (good luck with that). However, the way that Google designed and built Kubernetes helps the software eliminate a lot of the management complexity that would otherwise be required to ensure resiliency in the event of cluster failures.

“Kubernetes was specifically designed for ephemeral service. There’s no mean time between failure,” Watt said. “When [a node] goes down, you have a system that just handles that without the end-user knowing. The way that works is that Kubernetes has this simple proxy for inbound requests, and it has the same application running on a number of different servers. So if you lose one, it just routes round robins to a different one.”

Slurm cannot match this built-in simplicity, which is why Watt does not recommend using it for user-facing workloads, such as AI inference. If there’s downtime with a batch workload, like model training, the customer can recover the work with checkpointing, but it doesn’t impact the end user. To try and get five-nine availability with Slurm for a real-time, user-facing application like AI inference would be very difficult.

“The problem is if [a node under Slurm] goes down, there’s no inherent failover mechanism that’s as elegant or sophisticated as Kubernetes is,” Watt said. “So you end up doing unnatural things around the Slurm environment to try and get that. If you were just using the right tool, then you wouldn’t have to kind of build a Rube Goldberg machine to keep that thing running.”

Slinky: The Best of Both Worlds?

Some folks in the HPC and AI communities are seeking ways to run Kubernetes and Slurm together. While there are discussion about running Kubernetes under Slurm, most discussions go the other way: Running Slurm under Kubernetes (which would allow Slurm to gain the availability benefit of its host).

SchedMD developed a project called Slinky that seeks to run Slurm within Kubernetes. The project allows Slurm components to be packaged as container images, as well as a Kubernetes an operator that handles deployment, scaling, and lifecycle management of Slurm components.

Nvidia engineers discussed Slinky in a blog post last month. In tests, the Nvidia engineers say Slinky has proven itself on clusters with up to 8,000 GPUs, running both AI training and inference workloads. They say benchmark tests show that the Slinky environment “matches the performance of noncontainerized Slurm deployments, with no measurable impact from the Kubernetes layer Slinky runs on.”

The Red Hat folks are also interested in Slinky. While it’s just an open source project on GitHub today, continued commercial interest could pave the way for potential commercial support down the road.

The post Slurm vs. Kubernetes in the Age of AI appeared first on HPCwire.

The safety specialist's warning appeared in a memo describing how a mini-drone had detonated and injured an Army Special Forces soldier.

At one stage the northern mayor looked to be locked out of parliament, again, but he is still only one step along the road to his No 10 ambitions

For weeks, Andy Burnham’s supporters had told MPs to “hold the line”, that he had a seat in parliament in his sights and that he would be a contender in any leadership contest. That was never the full truth.

His path to No 10 – if he makes it – is littered with more failed attempts than almost any other politician. Two leadership contests, a block on a return in Gorton and Denton, and quite a few aggrieved MPs in the north west who have had to spend weeks batting off suggestions they will give their seats up for him.

Russian drone attacks on Kyiv, Israeli strikes in Lebanon, Trump in Beijing and a mural of Lamine Yamal – the past seven days as captured by the world’s leading photojournalists

Police investigate incident on Thursday after witness claims seeing Raise the Colours logo on side of vehicle

Police are investigating an incident where a man was run over by a van after a group of people were taking down union flags put up by Raise the Colours campaigners in Birmingham.

A man, in his 30s, suffered a broken leg that required surgery. He remains in hospital after the incident on Thursday evening in the Birmingham suburb of Stirchley, police said.

Uganda also reports outbreak and health officials say cases were caused by Bundibugyo strain of virus

An outbreak of Ebola has killed 65 people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, health officials said.

There have been 246 suspected cases of the haemorrhagic fever reported so far in the conflict-hit Ituri province, which shares borders with Uganda and South Sudan.

A larger multinational security force will have broader authority to combat rising gang violence than its predecessor but could face similar funding challenges.

Weinstein has been convicted of other crimes in the US and is already behind bars but move leaves rape charge in limbo

Harvey Weinstein’s retrial in New York on a rape charge ended in a mistrial on Friday after the jury deadlocked in the closely watched criminal case that another jury had already failed to decide last year.

The disgraced former Hollywood mogul has been convicted of other sex crimes on the US east and west coasts and is already in jail. But Friday’s declaration of another mistrial leaves the New York rape charge in limbo after three trials.

Leon Botstein announced his retirement on the day the results of the inquiry into his connections with Epstein were released

Bard College’s board of trustees “voted to end” the 51-year tenure of Leon Botstein, the school’s president, last month after board members were presented with the results of an independent review of his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, according to emails seen by the Guardian. Botstein framed his departure as a long-planned retirement in a statement on 1 May.

The move appears to have created a rift within the liberal arts college’s board of trustees.

Female muntjac given nickname of ‘lucky’ Lucy after being freed from department store’s moving staircase

“There’s a deer trapped in an escalator” was not a phrase anyone at Hillside Animal Sanctuary in Norfolk was expecting to hear when staff at a Marks & Spencer department store in central Norwich called last Tuesday.

“In Norfolk, deers often get themselves in trouble,” said the sanctuary’s founder, Wendy Valentine. “They get stuck between walls and sheds, and in gates. It’s quite common for deer to get trapped … but ‘trapped in an escalator’ was a first.”

OpenAI is previewing a feature that lets ChatGPT Pro users connect bank and investment accounts through Plaid, allowing the chatbot to analyze spending, subscriptions, balances, portfolios, debt, and major financial decisions. "More than 200 million people are already going to ChatGPT every month with finance questions -- from budgeting to tips on how to cut back on spending," OpenAI said in its announcement. "Now, users can securely connect their financial accounts with Plaid to get the full view of their financial picture in the context of their personal goals, lifestyle, and priorities that they've shared with ChatGPT, powered by OpenAI's advanced reasoning capabilities." The Verge reports: When financial accounts are connected, OpenAI says that ChatGPT users can view a dashboard that details their spending history, including any active subscriptions. Users can also ask it to help with financial decisions like buying a house or signing up for credit cards and flag any changes in spending habits. This financial feature will be initially available to users in the US who subscribe to ChatGPT's $200-per-month Pro tier. "We'll learn and improve from early use before rolling it out to Plus, with the goal of making it available to everyone," says OpenAI. To assuage concerns, OpenAI promises users "control over their data," including the ability to disconnect their bank accounts from ChatGPT at any time, though the company has up to 30 days to delete your data from its systems. You can also view and delete "financial memories" like goals or financial obligations saved by the chatbot. User control extends to whether your data is fed back into AI models -- users can enable the option to "Improve the model for everyone" to allow financial data in their ChatGPT conversations to be used for training AI, for example. OpenAI also says ChatGPT can't make any changes to your bank accounts or see "full account numbers."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Keir Starmer accuses Robinson of ‘peddling hatred and division’ and archbishop of Canterbury urges people to ‘choose hope’

Eleven foreign far-right activists have been blocked from entering the UK before a rally by Tommy Robinson supporters as Keir Starmer accused Robinson of “peddling hatred and division”.

The archbishop of Canterbury urged people to “choose hope” and faith leaders spoke out before the rally on Saturday, the second of its kind, after more than 100,000 attended one last year.

May 15, 2026 — The Workflows and Distributed Computing team at the Barcelona Supercomputing Center – Centro Nacional de Supercomputación (BSC-CNS) has released dislib 1.0.0 (Distributed Computing Library), which provides ready-to-use distributed algorithms, with a strong focus on machine learning and, more recently, distributed neural network training. Its main objective is to facilitate the execution of big data analytics workflows on distributed platforms such as clusters, clouds, and supercomputers. dislib is implemented on top of the PyCOMPSs programming model, the Python binding of COMPSs.

Credit: BSC

dislib is built around a distributed data structure, the ds-array, which enables parallel and distributed execution of machine learning methods. The library is implemented as a PyCOMPSs application, where methods are defined as tasks and executed transparently in parallel. As a result, users can write simple Python scripts, without dealing with parallelization details, through an interface closely aligned with scikit-learn. dislib provides methods for clustering, classification, regression, decomposition, model selection, neural network training, and data management.

Since its creation, dislib has been applied to several real-world use cases, including astrophysics (DBSCAN with GAIA mission data), molecular dynamics workflows (Daura and PCA within the BioExcel CoE), and multiple applications in the eFlows4HPC project, such as urgent computing for natural hazards, digital twins for manufacturing, and distributed neural network training. In the AI-SPRINT project, it has also been used for personalized healthcare in atrial fibrillation detection using Random Forest models.

“Reaching version 1.0.0 means that dislib is no longer just a research prototype, but a mature library, and seeing it already powering real applications, from earthquake impact estimation to personalized healthcare and digital twins, is the best confirmation that we are on the right track. With this release, we are opening the door to a new generation of converged HPC and AI workflows,” stated Eduardo Iraola, maintainer of the library and researcher at BSC.

Another success case is in its use with the MLESmap (ML-based EStimator for ground-shaking maps) which exploits the Random Forest implementation to generate regional ML-based models that accurately estimate impact metrics within a few seconds of an earthquake occurrence given its location and magnitude. It has also been used for Design of Experiments (DoE) exploration and inference in the Aerospace and Natural hazards fields (CAELESTIS and DT-Geo projects, respectively).

The 1.0.0 release marks a major milestone, establishing a stable and robust API suitable for advanced research and large-scale distributed environments. It introduces significant improvements in compatibility, usability, and ecosystem support. It adds support for distributed neural network training with PyTorch and PyEDDL and ensures compatibility with COMPSs 3.4 and NumPy 2.x. Array handling and type naming have been updated to comply with stricter coercion rules. The Docker images have been reorganized into separate flavors (base and torch), with a reduced image size, and the documentation has been improved to enable cleaner builds with an updated Sphinx theme.

The dislib developments are partially funded by the Horizon Europe CyclOps, CAELESTIS and DT-Geo projects, contract numbers 101135513, 101056886 and 101058129. The developments have also been supported by the projects CEX2021-001148-S, and PID2023-147979NB-C21 from the MCIN/AEI and MICIU/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by FEDER, UE, by the Departament de Recerca i Universitats de la Generalitat de Catalunya, research group MPiEDist (2021 SGR 00412).

dislib 1.0.0 also includes additional refinements, updated examples, and a new user guide. The code is open source and available for download.

About the Workflows and Distributed Computing Group

The Workflows and Distributed Computing group at BSC aims to offer tools and mechanisms that enable the sharing, selection, and aggregation of a wide variety of geographically distributed computational resources in a transparent way. The research done in this team is based on the former expertise of the group, and extending it towards the aspects of distributed computing that can benefit from this expertise. The team at BSC has a strong focus on programming models and resource management and scheduling in distributed computing environments.

Source: BSC-CNS

The post BSC Releases New Tool to Simplify Machine Learning and Big Data Analytics on Distributed Platforms appeared first on HPCwire.

Autumn conference in Liverpool targeted for victorious homecoming but Reform UK to fight hard in byelection

Andy Burnham will push to become prime minister in time to address Labour’s autumn party conference in Liverpool, his supporters have said.

The Greater Manchester mayor cleared his first hurdle to becoming the candidate in the Makerfield byelection on Friday when Labour’s ruling body gave him permission to stand for the seat.

PROVIDENCE, R.I., May 15, 2026 — Artificial intelligence is poised to enable new scientific breakthroughs and technologies in fields spanning energy, materials science, supercomputing and more. The U.S. Department of Energy’s 17 National Laboratories operate at the frontier of applied AI research.

Faculty and students showcase their work at a poster session in the Engineering Research Center. Photo credit: Sherri Miles.

On Thursday, May 14, top researchers from those national labs met with faculty, staff and students from Brown University to discuss the future of AI-enabled scientific research. The daylong conference — Brown’s second National Labs Day — aimed to highlight current collaborations between University researchers and the national labs, and identify emerging opportunities for future scientific partnerships.

“Brown’s vision is using our research excellence to try to solve today’s most pressing problems, and collaborations with national labs are really critical for that,” said Greg Hirth, vice president for research at Brown, in his opening remarks. “And today, we’re going to be hearing about the cutting edge of AI, which, of course, is on everyone’s mind.”

In total, 18 staff scientists from the Brookhaven, Fermilab, Lawrence Livermore, Los Alamos and Sandia National Laboratories took part in the program. From Brown, more than 150 community members signed up to attend topical sessions aimed at showing how shared AI tools and datasets can accelerate scientific breakthroughs. Sessions focused on AI in energy technologies, basic science research, national security and workforce development. In a late-day session at Brown’s Engineering Research Center, more than 40 posters showcased research happening at Brown in physics, chemistry, engineering, computer science and other fields.

Brown researchers have a long history of working with national laboratories. Current and recent collaborations have aimed to develop better batteries, energy-abundant hydrogen fuel cells and next-generation solar cells. In addition to highly applied research, Brown physicists work with national labs to address fundamental questions of the universe — probing the nature of dark matter, understanding the dynamics of high-energy plasmas and uncovering the behavior of fundamental particles of forces.

Working with researchers from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Brendan Keith, an assistant professor of applied math, is pushing the frontiers of computer-driven material and structural design. George Karniadakis, a professor of engineering and applied mathematics, is the director of SEA-CROGS, a partnership with Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and Sandia National Laboratories that aims to develop new computational capability to analyze and predict the behavior of complex systems.

Thursday’s conference was hosted by Brown’s Division of Research and School of Engineering. In the keynote address, James Ang, chief data scientist for computing at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, discussed collaboration across the national labs on the Genesis Mission, an initiative aimed at harnessing AI to accelerate discovery science.

“The structure includes AI for science, AI for energy and AI for security,” Ang said. “And those are really the focus points for [the Department of Energy]. These are our application drivers for the development of new technology for AI.”

Sara Mason, a senior scientist at Brookhaven National Lab, encouraged her fellow scientists to approach the AI era without fear.

“I’m thinking about how we’re just living through this exciting time… where there’s this fundamental shift in how science is even being done,” Mason said. “We keep moving through it. When I say moving, I don’t mean flailing our arms. I mean, we’re still ‘sciencing,’ we’re still innovating, and we’re figuring out ways to use these tools and… find new ways to engage with our science.”

Hirth said he’s hopeful that the event will spur new partnerships and create new opportunities for Brown students at the national labs. The event already has a good track record. After the inaugural National Labs Day in 2024, Hirth and a student were part of a group from Brown that paid a visit to Brookhaven National Lab in Upton, New York. As a result of the visit, the student got involved in a research project related to high-pressure phenomena involved in earthquakes.

“That’s an area where AI is super important,” Hirth said. “You can imagine the Earth makes lots and lots of noise, and analyzing those data is a really hard problem. In what used to be thought of as just random background noise, people can now find discrete events, which is helping us understand the phenomena that lead to earthquakes.”

A groundbreaking research partnership to be sure.

Source: Brown University

The post Brown University Hosts DOE National Labs Day Focused on AI for Science Collaboration appeared first on HPCwire.

Google should be ready to tell us more about a whole range of smart glasses to compete with Meta. Here's what we know already.

Trump administration move echoes indictment of Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro as fuel crisis racks Cuba

Tensions between Cuba and US seem set to rise further amid reports that
Raúl Castro, the country’s 94-year-old former president, may soon face the type of indictment that led to the US abduction of the Venezuelan leader, Nicolás Maduro, in January.

Although Raúl is officially retired, he remains the most potent figure in Cuban politics following the death of his brother Fidel in 2016, and by targeting him Washington appears to be heaping pressure on Cuba’s communist leadership at the end of an already extraordinarily intense week.

SAN JOSE, Calif., May 15, 2026 — KIOXIA America, Inc. has announced it is collaborating with Dell Technologies to deliver a 2U server configuration capable of scaling to 9.8 petabytes (PB) of flash storage. By combining the Dell PowerEdge R7725xd server with AMD EPYC processors and 40 KIOXIA LC9 Series E3.L form factor 245.76 terabyte (TB) NVMe SSDs, the companies are enabling a new class of storage-optimized platforms built to meet the demands of AI, large-scale data lakes, and data-intensive enterprise workloads.

Credit: KIOXIA

Together, Dell Technologies and Kioxia have a long history of enabling scalable infrastructure for data-driven applications. This latest milestone underscores a shared commitment to advancing high-density architectures that improve performance, reduce energy consumption, and maximize data center efficiency.

“As AI workloads grow more demanding, the infrastructure supporting them must keep pace,” said Arun Narayanan, senior vice president, Compute and Networking, Dell Technologies. “The Dell PowerEdge R7725xd combined with KIOXIA’s high-capacity enterprise SSDs delivers the storage density and power efficiency our customers need to scale AI infrastructure without sacrificing performance.”

Dell PowerEdge R7725xd servers are built for modern AI and data-centric workloads, combining dense storage with powerful compute. These flexible air-cooled storage configurations complement GPU-enabled servers, supporting AI data management and model training by delivering massive storage capacity across the AI lifecycle. These systems support up to 5x 400 Gbps NICs, allowing users to fill and move data through pipelines more efficiently – ultimately making the most of their data. Paired with KIOXIA LC9 Series 245.76 TB SSDs, these systems provide high-capacity, power-efficient solutions that reduce TCO and data center footprint.

KIOXIA LC9 Series SSDs deliver up to 245.76 TB of flash-based storage with PCIe 5.0 performance in a range of form factors, including 2.5-inch, E3.S, and E3.L2. As the industry’s first3 NVMe SSD at this capacity built for the demands of generative AI environments, the KIOXIA LC9 Series offers a compelling alternative to more commonly used 30.72 TB capacity SSDs. A comparable 9.8 PB configuration would require seven more servers carrying 280 additional drives, resulting in 8x the power consumption4, as well as utilizing more rack space. This results in a more efficient use of space and power, enabling organizations to scale AI infrastructure without expanding their physical footprint or energy consumption.

“Our KIOXIA LC9 Series 245 TB QLC SSD isn’t just higher density, it’s a shift in how we architect AI infrastructures,” noted Neville Ichhaporia, senior vice president and general manager of the SSD business unit at KIOXIA America, Inc. “With the Dell PowerEdge R7725xd server accommodating 40 drives, a whopping 9.8 PB in a single 2U system can be achieved. Customers can deploy massive ingestion streams, scale data lakes effortlessly, and handle large backups in a fraction of the footprint, improving TCO to new levels.”

The solution highlights how tightly integrated compute and storage innovations can unlock new efficiencies for enterprise and hyperscale environments. By delivering extreme density without compromising performance or energy efficiency, Kioxia and Dell Technologies are helping organizations modernize infrastructure to keep pace with accelerating data growth and AI adoption.

About KIOXIA America, Inc.

KIOXIA America, Inc. is the U.S.-based subsidiary of Kioxia Corporation, a leading worldwide supplier of flash memory and solid-state drives (SSDs). From the invention of flash memory to today’s breakthrough BiCS FLASH 3D technology, Kioxia continues to pioneer innovative memory, SSD and software solutions that enrich people’s lives and expand society’s horizons. The company’s innovative 3D flash memory technology, BiCS FLASH, is shaping the future of storage in high-density applications, including advanced smartphones, PCs, automotive systems, data centers and generative AI systems.

Source: KIOXIA

The post KIOXIA and Dell Showcase 9.8 PB Flash Storage Configuration in 2U Server appeared first on HPCwire.

New map reshapes representative Steve Cohen’s majority-Black Memphis district and gives advantage to Republicans

Democratic representative Steve Cohen of Tennessee on Friday announced that he is ending his bid for re-election, his career upended by the redistricting battles that are sweeping the country after last month’s supreme court decision.

Republicans in Tennessee this month enacted a new US House map that carves up Cohen’s majority-Black district, reshaping it to the GOP’s advantage as part of Donald Trump’s strategy to hold on to a slim majority in the November midterm elections.

REDWOOD CITY, Calif., May 15, 2026 — GridCARE has announced the closing of its $64 million oversubscribed Series A financing, representing a significant step-up in valuation from its previous round less than a year ago. The round was led by Sutter Hill Ventures, one of Silicon Valley’s most storied firms and a defining force behind the modern compute era as an original investor in category-defining companies such as NVIDIA, Snowflake, and Astera Labs.

“A year ago, few people were talking about power as a bottleneck for AI – today it’s the rate-limiting step for the entire industry. GridCARE is directly addressing that bottleneck, with an unmatched team, deep domain expertise, and overwhelming customer demand,” said Vic Miller, Managing Director at Sutter Hill Ventures. “Power sits beneath every other layer of the AI stack, and we believe Power Acceleration will be the key technology that enables the AI economy to scale.”

The round also includes John Doerr – the legendary investor behind companies such as Amazon, Google, and Netscape – bringing unparalleled perspectives from every major wave of the internet and AI economy.

“While AI is accelerating breakthroughs in medicine, science, and climate, power remains a bottleneck,” said John Doerr, investor and author of Speed & Scale. “GridCARE delivers affordable, sustainable energy by unlocking capacity in the grid we’ve already built.”

Additional participants include utility strategics National Grid Partners and Future Energy Ventures; Laurene Powell Jobs’ Emerson Collective; Stanford University; and existing investors Xora, Aina Ventures, Overture, Acclimate Ventures, and Clearvision Ventures, alongside several prominent individuals and family offices deeply involved in the AI infrastructure buildout.

The investment brings together some of the earliest investors in the AI era around a single conviction: the next critical frontier is no longer compute, but power.

The Time-to-Energize Crisis

An analysis from Stanford shows that grid utilization is approximately 30%, meaning the majority of existing power infrastructure remains unused under current operating conditions, except in rare and unlikely scenarios. Yet despite this available capacity, delivering power to new large-scale projects, such as AI factories, takes six to 10 years and costs hundreds of millions of dollars in upgrades, paid for by customers.

“This gap between when power is needed and when it can be delivered is emerging as one of the most significant constraints on growth in the AI economy,” said Amit Narayan, co-founder and CEO of GridCARE. “We call this the Time-to-Energize Crisis. It’s leaving AI factories waiting for power when they should be driving progress, slowing critical innovation across health, education, and climate, and putting national security and competitiveness at risk.”

Introducing Power Acceleration

The new capital will establish Power Acceleration as a new category for delivering power to the AI economy, anchored by continued expansion of GridCARE Energize, the company’s physics-based AI platform for data center energy activation and operations. GridCare Energize evaluates quadrillions of grid conditions in real time, modeling congestion, outages, weather, and demand variability simultaneously to identify capacity that traditional interconnection processes cannot see. The platform compresses interconnection timelines from years to months, enabling AI factories, utilities, and energy providers to bring gigawatts of new power online and operate it reliably at the speed and resilience the AI economy demands.

“The largest source of new power for the AI economy isn’t waiting to be built. It’s already in the ground, hidden in the grid we already have,” said Ram Rajagopal, co-founder and CTO of GridCARE, and a tenured Stanford professor on leave to build the company. “Our job is to make it visible and put it to work in months, not years.”

Built In Alignment With Utilities

Power Acceleration is only possible in a deep collaboration with the utilities that operate the grid. GridCARE is built to align with utilities, not work around them. Utilities face the same urgency as AI factories: meeting unprecedented load growth from data centers, electrification, and re-industrialization without compromising reliability or affordability for the customers they already serve.

“The fastest and least-expensive way to add capacity to the grid is to unlock the megawatts already hidden inside it,” said Steve Smith, President of National Grid Partners and Group Chief Strategy Officer at National Grid. “Our work with GridCARE earlier this year supports the approach. We are deepening that commitment by joining this round as an investor and extending the collaboration into additional markets. By responsibly activating latent capacity, utilities can support economic growth, strengthen reliability, and protect affordability for the customers and communities we serve.”

In October 2025, a joint project with Portland General Electric validated the model in a top U.S. data center market – unlocking a path to over 400 MW of capacity in Hillsboro, Oregon, with the first 80 MW arriving in 2026.

GridCARE is now engaged in AI factory power acceleration projects spanning more than a dozen markets and over 2 GW of new AI compute capacity.

The Inaugural GridCARE Power Acceleration Summit

To address this growing challenge, GridCARE will host the inaugural GridCARE Power Acceleration Summit in September 2026, convening leaders from across the AI and energy ecosystems to define the new category of Power Acceleration for AI: the coordinated effort to unlock grid capacity, accelerate interconnections, and deliver AI infrastructure in the timelines required.

About GridCARE

GridCARE is the pioneer of Power Acceleration, a new system for delivering power in the AI economy. Founded at Stanford’s Doerr School of Sustainability, GridCARE’s Energize platform uses physics-based AI to identify and activate near-term capacity on today’s grid, enabling AI factories, utilities, and energy providers to unlock underutilized capacity and accelerate the delivery of large-scale AI infrastructure. To date, GridCARE has unlocked more than $10 billion in economic value for data center developers by bringing hundreds of megawatts online years ahead of schedule.

Source: GridCARE

The post GridCARE Raises $64M Series A to Accelerate Power Delivery for AI Infrastructure appeared first on HPCwire.

May 15, 2026 — JetCool, a Flex company and provider of advanced cooling for AI and high-density computing, has announced the launch of its SmartPlate System for Dell PowerEdge R770 and R7725 servers. Designed to help enterprises and edge operators achieve more compute density per rack, the direct-to-chip solution supports next-generation platforms powered by next-generation processors.

Credit: Flex

SmartPlate systems are proven to deliver an average 13% IT power reduction, helping maximize power and floor space in new builds and existing facilities. Fully sealed and ready to install, the system improves thermal performance without facility water or data center retrofits, providing a fast, low-disruption way to adopt direct-to-chip cooling in enterprise data centers and distributed edge locations.

“SmartPlate Systems deliver real results at scale,” said Dr. Bernie Malouin, Founder of JetCool and Vice President at Flex. “By bringing SmartPlate support to Dell PowerEdge R770 and R7725 servers, we’re giving enterprises and edge operators a faster path to higher rack density and better efficiency, without requiring changes to existing facilities.”

“With firsthand experience deploying the SmartPlate System, we’ve seen how it enables direct-to-chip liquid cooling within traditional air-cooled data centers,“ said John Sasser, Chief Technology Officer at JetCool partner Sabey Data Centers, one of the largest privately owned data center providers in the United States. “Using a closed-loop design, it integrates directly into the server, allowing fast, phased deployment. SmartPlate System helps improve server performance and reduce power consumption, giving customers a practical way to increase compute density and maximize their electricity and space budgets.”

Availability and Live Demo Locations

Available today, SmartPlate Systems for PowerEdge R770 and R7725 servers are helping organizations increase capacity, reduce energy costs, and advance sustainability goals without reworking facility infrastructure. Live demos are available at Dell Customer Solution Centers in Round Rock, Texas, and Singapore, as well as at Equinix facilities, Sabey Data Centers, and Telehouse London. JetCool will also showcase its latest solutions at booth 407 during Dell Technologies World, May 18–21, 2026, at the Venetian Expo in Las Vegas. Additional information is available at jetcool.com/dell.

About Flex

Flex (Reg. No. 199002645H) is the manufacturing partner of choice that helps leading brands design, build, and manage products that improve the world. With a global footprint spanning 30 countries, Flex delivers advanced manufacturing and supply chain solutions, innovative products and technology, and lifecycle services that support customers from concept to scale. In the AI era, Flex is helping customers accelerate data center deployment by solving power, heat, and scale challenges through cutting-edge power and cooling technology and scalable IT infrastructure solutions.

About JetCool

JetCool, a Flex company, is a global leader in advanced thermal management for compute-intensive applications. Trusted by top chipmakers, OEMs, and data centers, JetCool delivers a portfolio of liquid cooling solutions that enhance performance, increase energy efficiency, and support sustainability goals. Engineered for the demands of artificial intelligence (AI) and next-generation computing, JetCool’s technologies deliver reliable, scalable performance for data centers around the world.

Source: Flex

The post JetCool Expands SmartPlate System Portfolio with Closed-Loop Cooling for Next-Gen Compute appeared first on HPCwire.

ArXiv says it will ban authors for one year if they submit papers containing AI-generated slop, such as hallucinated citations, placeholder text, or chatbot meta-comments left in the manuscript. "If generative AI tools generate inappropriate language, plagiarized content, biased content, errors, mistakes, incorrect references, or misleading content, and that output is included in scientific works, it is the responsibility of the author(s)," said Thomas Dietterich, chair of the computer science section of ArXiv, on X. "We have recently clarified our penalties for this. If a submission contains incontrovertible evidence that the authors did not check the results of LLM generation, this means we can't trust anything in the paper." 404 Media reports: Examples of incontrovertible evidence, he wrote, include "hallucinated references, meta-comments from the LLM ('here is a 200 word summary; would you like me to make any changes?'; 'the data in this table is illustrative, fill it in with the real numbers from your experiments.'" "The penalty is a 1-year ban from arXiv followed by the requirement that subsequent arXiv submissions must first be accepted at a reputable peer-reviewed venue," Dietterich wrote. Dietterich told [404 Media] in an email on Friday morning that this is a one-strike rule -- meaning authors caught just once including AI slop in submissions will be banned -- but that decisions will be open to appeal. "I want to emphasize that we only apply this to cases of incontrovertible evidence," he said. "I should also add that our internal process requires first a moderator to document the problem and then for the Section Chair to confirm before imposing the penalty."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

The president’s meeting with Xi Jinping was superficially cordial, extending a truce borne of necessity

“American strength back on the world stage,” crowed the White House social media post: a curious remark, when the attached video showed the stars and stripes fluttering beneath a long row of Chinese flags, and People’s Liberation Army soldiers marching in unison.

This week’s visit to Beijing offered the kind of style that Donald Trump enjoys – parading troops, a banquet and a polite if not markedly enthusiastic welcome from a strongman he called “really a friend” – but little apparent substance. The public account of the encounter will be partial: Mr Trump’s former adviser John Bolton has claimed that in previous conversations the US president begged Xi Jinping for help to win re-election and urged him to “go ahead” with internment camps for Uyghurs in Xinjiang. But this meeting appears to have been about stabilising the relationship, not shifting it.

The long-necked herbivore is the largest ever found in Southeast Asia, researchers said.

In a move aimed at curbing the growing problem of "teen takeovers," D.C. U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro is threatening to bring charges against parents if their teens violate the local curfew.

The film-maker, who won the Grand Prix for A Hero in 2021, condemned both the killing of protesters and the conflict’s bombing campaigns during a Cannes press conference

Oscar-winning Iranian director Asghar Farhadi has described the deaths of civilians in Iran as “extremely cruel and tragic” during a press conference at the Cannes film festival.

Farhadi, whose new Paris-set drama Parallel Tales premiered on the Croisette on Thursday night, was asked about working free from censorship in France, the war involving Iran, the US and Israel, and the repression of protesters in his native country.

Chancellor says he no longer views US as land of opportunity amid ‘deeply polarising’ social climate

Friedrich Merz, the German chancellor, already embroiled in a row with Donald Trump over the Iran war, has said he would not advise his children to study or work in the US in the current climate.

Speaking to a conference of young Catholics in Würzburg, the conservative leader, viewed by many as a transatlanticist, said he no longer saw the US as the land of opportunity.

This blog is now closed, you can read more on this story here

Meanwhile, the Latvian president, Edgars Rinkēvičs, has begun political consultations aimed at finding a parliamentary majority capable of forming a new government after the collapse of prime minister Evika Siliņa’s administration.

Rinkēvičs’s office posted a short video from the meeting on its social media.

"Sunday Morning" presents its annual edition touching on all aspects of design, hosted by Jane Pauley.

A new Ebola outbreak in a remote province in Congo has caused 65 deaths and 246 suspected cases so far, Africa CDC says.

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Muscat silent about plans – opposed by US – to charge fee and demand details on nationality of all transiting ships

Oman has been caught in geopolitical crossfire after Iran said it was coordinating with the Gulf state over the future management of the strait of Hormuz, including Tehran’s plans to impose fees on commercial shipping.

The Omani exclave of Musandam lies to the south of the contested waterway, which normally carries a fifth of the world’s seaborne oil traffic but has been blockaded for 10 weeks since the US-Israeli attack on Iran in February.

Establishing a collaborative research cluster for practical quantum education and quantum-HPC fusion

TOKYO and KAWASAKI, Japan, May 15, 2026 — Fujitsu Limited and Institute of Science Tokyo (Science Tokyo) today announced the establishment of the “Fujitsu Quantum and HPC Infrastructure Collaborative Research Cluster” at Science Tokyo. This collaborative research cluster aims to systematically and practically develop human resources with quantum hardware technology in Japan. The initiative is part of Fujitsu’s “Fujitsu Small Research Lab” program and utilizes the Science Tokyo Collaborative Research Cluster System, with support from Open Innovation Office of the Center for Innovation Management. The new cluster will operate as a collaborative research cluster, expanding beyond traditional High Performance Computing (HPC) to include the quantum hardware field.

Credit: Sergiy Palamarchuk/Shutterstock

Through this collaborative research cluster, both parties will strengthen their technological capabilities by researching quantum hardware design, manufacturing, control, and evaluation technologies essential for realizing practical quantum computers. They will also foster talent to support next-generation quantum computing platforms and initiate efforts to pioneer new research areas that integrate HPC and quantum technologies.

Background

Quantum computers are expected to be a foundational technology that will transform society and industry across diverse fields such as materials development, drug discovery, finance, and manufacturing. However, realizing practical quantum computers requires implementing a large number of quantum bits that can be operated with high precision. Their development necessitates the continuous cultivation of highly specialized personnel capable of handling quantum hardware design, manufacturing, control, and evaluation. Furthermore, research and development in quantum hardware faces high barriers due to the need for a wide range of research infrastructure, including advanced facilities for quantum bit chips and manufacturing technology, large-scale cryocoolers for maintaining extremely low temperatures, and quantum bit control devices. Consequently, the number of personnel engaged in this field’s R&D is limited, not only in Japan but globally.

Fujitsu and Science Tokyo have previously collaborated on establishing next-generation computing platforms beyond Science Tokyo’s supercomputer “TSUBAME” and expanding the social application of such technologies through the “Fujitsu Next-Generation Computing Infrastructure Collaborative Research Cluster,” a Fujitsu Small Research Lab. This new collaborative research cluster expands upon that research by incorporating quantum hardware research and talent development initiatives, aiming to pioneer new research areas that fuse HPC and quantum technologies.

Features of the Fujitsu Quantum and HPC Infrastructure Collaborative Research Cluster:

• Locations(1) Quantum Theme Hub:
  Location: Room 1017, South Building 3, Ookayama Campus, Institute of Science Tokyo, 2-12-1 Ookayama, Meguro-ku, Tokyo
  Research Content: Research on quantum computer control technology
  Period of Establishment: April 1, 2026, to March 31, 2027 (continuation to be considered thereafter)
  (2) HPC Theme Hub:
  Location: Rooms 310 and 312, G2 Building, Yokohama Campus, Institute of Science Tokyo, 4259 Nagatsuta-cho, Midori-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa
  Research Content: Research on next-generation computing platform technologies for accelerating AI and HPC applications
  Period of Establishment: October 20, 2022, to March 31, 2027 (continuation to be considered thereafter)
• Overview of Initiatives– This collaborative research cluster will undertake the following new initiatives:(1) Joint research on quantum computer control and calibration technologies:
  The aim is to establish control technologies that achieve high quantum operation fidelity and to promote the development of more efficient quantum gate calibration technologies utilizing AI. This will lead to the advancement and efficiency of technologies required for increasingly complex control and calibration as the number of quantum bits in quantum computers increases.
  (2) Practical talent development in quantum hardware technology:
  The cluster will provide theoretical education on quantum computers in conjunction with joint research. It will also offer students practical training opportunities that align with the actual research and development processes, including quantum bit chip design, manufacturing, control, and measurement. This aims to foster talent with systematic and practical expertise in quantum hardware technology.

Future Plans

Fujitsu and Science Tokyo will continue to promote talent development and research and development in quantum hardware technology through this collaborative research cluster. Furthermore, by combining Science Tokyo’s HPC technology with quantum technology, they aim to create new fusion research areas and establish next-generation computing platform technologies that integrate classical and quantum computing.

Both parties will also contribute to strengthening Japan’s competitiveness in quantum technology by accelerating the social implementation and industrial application of quantum computing through industry-academia collaboration in talent development and technology creation.

About Fujitsu

Fujitsu’s purpose is to make the world more sustainable by building trust in society through innovation. As the digital transformation partner of choice for customers around the globe, our 100,000 employees work to resolve some of the greatest challenges facing humanity. Our range of services and solutions draw on five key technologies: AI, Computing, Networks, Data & Security, and Converging Technologies, which we bring together to deliver sustainability transformation. Fujitsu Limited (TSE:6702) reported consolidated revenues of 3.5 trillion yen (US$23 billion) for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2026 and remains the top digital services company in Japan by market share.

About Science Tokyo

Institute of Science Tokyo (Science Tokyo) was established on October 1, 2024, following the merger between Tokyo Medical and Dental University (TMDU) and Tokyo Institute of Technology (Tokyo Tech), with the mission of “Advancing science and human wellbeing to create value for and with society.”

Source: Fujitsu

The post Fujitsu and Science Tokyo Launch Research Hub for Quantum Hardware Advancement and Talent Development appeared first on HPCwire.

Democratic Rep. Steve Cohen of Tennessee announced Friday that he's retiring from Congress at the end of this term after his district in Memphis was redrawn.

Longtime Slashdot reader sinij shares a report from Car and Driver: A group of Michigan lawmakers has introduced a bill in Congress that would effectively place a permanent ban on Chinese connected vehicles from being sold in the United States. While an executive order signed by Joe Biden in early 2025 already imposed heavy restrictions, the new bill would codify and expand on the ban, as first reported by Autoweek and explained in a release by the House of Representatives Select Committee on China. The bill, titled the Connected Vehicle Security Act, was co-signed by John Moolenaar, a Michigan Republican, and Debbie Dingell, a Michigan Democrat. It joins a companion version of the same Connected Vehicle Security Act introduced last month to the Senate by Sen. Bernie Moreno, an Ohio Republican, and Sen. Elissa Slotkin, a Michigan Democrat. While the wording is similar to that found in former President Biden's January 2025 executive order, the new bill would codify the language into law, as well as determine rules for compliance and enforcement. Specifically, the new bill would restrict Chinese automakers from selling passenger cars in the United States if those vehicles contain any China-developed connectivity software. Officially, the bill covers the sale of vehicles from states deemed "foreign adversary countries," which include China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran. The proposed legislation arrives as Chinese automakers including Chery, Geely, and BYD (maker of the 2026 BYD Dolphin Surf, shown above), continue to rise in prominence in foreign markets around the world. "Doing the right thing for the wrong reasons," comments sinij. "Connected cars that spy on consumers are not a uniquely Chinese problem and should be addressed for all vehicles."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

It's a key clash at Villa Park in the race for UEFA Champions League qualification.

Statement follows speculation party would not field candidate in Makerfield or barely fight seat

• UK politics live – latest updates

The Greens are going to campaign for the Makerfield byelection, complicating Andy Burnham’s potential route back to parliament against what is expected to be a strong Reform UK challenge.

A statement from the Greens said candidate selection was in process and that the party had learned from its win in another Greater Manchester seat in February, when it overcame a 13,000 Labour majority in Gorton and Denton.

Losing a debt lawsuit doesn't always mean your Social Security benefits are at risk — but there are exceptions.

• Colorado coach blasts negative reporting over draft fall

• Cleveland QB made seven starts, earned Pro Bowl invite

Shedeur Sanders “went through hell” during the draft process and his 2025 rookie season with the Browns, his father Deion Sanders has said.

The Colorado head coach blamed what he said was untruthful reporting during his interview with “The Barbershop” posted on YouTube on Thursday.

Researchers expected to find "a gradual increase in artificial light at night," but instead saw "much more nuanced patterns," NASA said.

Canada’s Intact Financial Corp is said to be exploring offer, as London-listed Tate & Lyle attracts US suitor

Shares in Hiscox surged to record highs on Friday as it became the latest UK takeover target after a flurry of overseas bids for British businesses this week.

Canada’s Intact Financial Corp, which provides property and casualty insurance, is said to be exploring a potential takeover of Lloyd’s of London insurer Hiscox, according to a report by the Insurance Post.

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Union leaders say veto from Democrat Abigail Spanberger is an about-face from promises she made on campaign trail

Virginia’s Democratic governor, Abigail Spanberger, vetoed a bill on Thursday that would have restored collective bargaining rights for 50,000 public sector workers in the state. Union leaders say the veto is a “betrayal” and “slap in the face” after the governor campaigned last year on promises to restore collective bargaining rights.

Though majorities in both chambers of Virginia’s general assembly passed legislation that would restore bargaining rights to most public sector workers, Spanberger introduced an amended version of the bill last month that was eventually rejected by the assembly.

Self-deprecating It Only Takes One Lion is partly inspired by team’s current song, Yes Sir, I Can Boogie

The lyrics came to Stuart Murdoch in the hazy aftermath of Scotland’s dramatic qualification for the World Cup.

The Belle and Sebastian frontman had watched his side’s playoff victory over Denmark through his fingers before deciding to write his own anthem to a team he has followed for more than 50 years. “Most people recognised instantly the next day that they’d witnessed the most important Scottish game ever,” says Murdoch. “That was our magic moment.”

A DIY approach to debt settlement can backfire if you don't understand the legal, financial and tax risks involved.

Group of MPs and peers in effect accuse government of failing to comply with parliament’s will over release of files

A powerful parliamentary committee tasked with reviewing files relating to Peter Mandelson’s appointment as US ambassador has revealed that the government is withholding his vetting file despite not having the authority to do so.

In an extraordinary intervention, the intelligence and security committee (ISC) has criticised the government over its handling of the release of Mandelson-related papers and in effect accused ministers failing to comply with parliament’s will.

Man arrested after admitting to taking relic from church and planning to throw it in river, say police

An 800-year-old relic believed to be the skull of Saint Zdislava, stolen this week from a Czech church, has been recovered encased in concrete as experts work to extract it, police have said.

A suspect has been arrested, who allegedly confessed to taking the skull of Saint Zdislava of Lemberk from a glass shrine in the basilica of St Lawrence and St Zdislava in the town of Jablonné v Podještědí on Tuesday.

The Manchester City striker will feature in Viqueens, an animated film by director Harald Zwart, who described him as ‘powerful, fearless and uniquely Norwegian’

Manchester City striker Erling Haaland is to make his feature acting debut, in an animated film as the voice of a Viking – called Haaland.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, the Norwegian international is to play “an animated version of himself” in Viqueens, directed and co-written by Harald Zwart, the Dutch-Norwegian director of The Karate Kid and Agent Cody Banks.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Electrek: Honda is waving the white flag. The Japanese automaker previewed two new hybrids set to launch by 2028 after taking an over $9 billion hit over its failed EV bet, leading to its biggest loss in company history. Honda admitted it was "unable to deliver products that offer value for money better than that of new EV manufacturers, resulting in a decline in competitiveness," after suddenly announcing plans to cancel three new EVs in the US in March, warning restructuring costs could reach 2.5 trillion yen ($15.7 billion). After posting its first annual loss since it became a publicly traded company in 1957 on Thursday, Honda's CEO Toshihiro Mibe revealed the company's comeback plans. Honda is no longer planning to phase out gas-powered vehicles by 2040. Instead, Honda now aims "to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050," including a mix of EVs, hybrids, carbon-neutral fuels, and carbon-offset tech. Starting next year, Honda plans to begin introducing its next-gen hybrids, underpinned by a new hybrid system and platform. Honda said it aims to improve fuel economy by over 10% in its upcoming hybrids. The new system is expected to help cut costs by over 30% compared to Honda's current hybrid system. By the end of the decade, Honda plans to launch 15 new hybrid models globally. In North America, its most important market, the company will introduce larger hybrids in the D-segment or above. Honda previewed two of the new hybrids during the business update: the Honda Hybrid Sedan Prototype and the Acura Hybrid SUV Prototype, which the company said will go on sale within the next two years.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Army supported by Russian mercenaries launches airstrikes after offensive by coalition of Islamist extremists and Tuareg separatists

Mali’s armed forces, supported by Russian mercenaries, have launched airstrikes targeting a rebel alliance of Islamist extremists and Tuareg separatists as the ruling junta struggles to maintain its hold on power in the unstable west African country.

Earlier this week warplanes targeted the key northern town of Kidal, which was lost when the rebels launched a surprise offensive across much of Mali in late April.

Experts don't expect military action soon. But actual regime change is complicated.

A Russian airstrike on a Kyiv apartment complex that killed at least 24 people and a Ukrainian strike on residential buildings and an oil refinery in Ryazan, Russia, suggested no end is in sight to the war.

The global memory chip supply shortage has skyrocketed the prices of electronics, including phones and computers. Here's what to know about it.

AI on smartphones makes it hard for students to catch each other cheating, and social media makes them less likely to report it.

An ARM may get you a lower rate, but it's not the right move for everyone in today's economic environment.

Representative Samantha Sencer-Mura leads action after Republican speaker rescinds promise to bring bill to vote

Democratic state representatives in Minnesota staged an overnight sit-in in their house chamber on Thursday after the Republican speaker failed to put a gun violence prevention bill up for a vote.

Samantha Sencer-Mura, a Democratic representative from Minneapolis, first announced the plan on Wednesday from the floor of the state’s house of representatives, giving the speaker, Lisa Demuth, a candidate for governor, 24 hours to give the bill a vote before the sit-in would start.

Framework will establish commercial and operational terms for deployment of one of India’s most powerful AI compute clusters, built on Cerebras CS-3 systems

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates, May 15, 2026 — G42, the Abu Dhabi-based global technology group, and the Government of India, formalized the framework and the commercial terms for the deployment of Condor Galaxy India, an 8-exaflop AI supercomputing cluster comprising 64 Cerebras CS-3 systems.

H.H. Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Prime Minister Narendra Modi holding Cerebras’ Wafer Scale Chip.

His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the United Arab Emirates, and Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India, witnessed the exchange between H.E. Mansoor Al Mansoori, CEO of G42 International, and Mr. Vikram Misri, Foreign Secretary of India, during Prime Minister Modi’s official state visit to Abu Dhabi, marking a milestone in the deepening UAE-India strategic and technology partnership.

“India is one of the world’s great innovation economies. Deploying an instance of G42’s Intelligence Grid at this scale in such an important geography is what AI-native transformation looks like in practice. We are delivering infrastructure that converts energy and compute into sovereign governed nation-scale intelligence,” said His Excellency Mansoor Al Mansoori.

The Condor Galaxy India supercomputer will be one of the largest AI compute clusters in India and a foundational asset for the country’s sovereign AI ambitions. Under the framework, G42 in partnership with India’s Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) will be responsible for the installation, deployment, operations, and maintenance of the system.

The AI compute cluster will underpin a new era of joint R&D across sectors such as health and genomics, energy, and geospatial analytics, enabling researchers, institutions from both countries, and India’s emerging innovators to advance frontier science and address some of the most consequential challenges of our time.

The Condor Galaxy India AI supercomputer will be powered by Cerebras CS-3 systems, built on the company’s wafer-scale engine technology. Cerebras recently completed one of the most significant IPOs in the AI sector, listing on the Nasdaq stock exchange under the ticker CBRS, reflecting strong market confidence in the AI infrastructure sector. The deployment of Condor Galaxy India represents a continuation of the strategic partnership between G42 and Cerebras, which together operate several clusters of supercomputing capacity across the United States through the Condor Galaxy network, with this India deployment extending that footprint into one of the world’s most consequential emerging markets.

About G42

G42 is a technology holding group and a global leader in creating visionary artificial intelligence for a better tomorrow. Born in Abu Dhabi and operating worldwide, G42 champions AI as a powerful force for good across industries. From molecular biology to space exploration and everything in between, G42 realizes exponential possibilities today. To learn more, visit www.g42.ai.

About Cerebras Systems

Cerebras Systems builds the fastest AI infrastructure in the world. We are a team of pioneering computer architects, computer scientists, AI researchers, and engineers of all types. We have come together to make AI blisteringly fast through innovation and invention because we believe that when AI is fast it will change the world. Our flagship technology, the Wafer Scale Engine 3 (WSE-3) is the world’s largest and fastest AI processor.56 times larger than the largest GPU, the WSE uses a fraction of the power per unit compute while delivering inference and training more than 20 times faster than the competition. Leading corporations, research institutes and governments on four continents chose Cerebras to run their AI workloads. Cerebras solutions are available on premise and in the cloud, for further information, visit cerebras.ai.

Source: G42

The post G42 and Government of India Formalize Commercial Framework for Condor Galaxy India AI Supercomputer appeared first on HPCwire.

The crew of the Tahoma, a 270-foot Coast Guard cutter, made the interdictions about 90 miles off the coast of Cartagena, Colombia.

Mississippi politicians are threatening to redraw the district of Bennie Thompson, the state’s lone Democrat in Congress

The supreme court decision that effectively gutted the Voting Rights Act (VRA) “was red meat to the Republican legislators of the south” the US House representative Bennie Thompson said.

Conservative lawmakers in Mississippi, where Thompson is both the state’s lone Black and only Democratic congressional representative, have used the opportunity to explicitly target him, threatening to redraw the second congressional district, that he represents.

The last time an El Niño pattern occurred was in 2023, when the Eastern Pacific hurricane season produced 20 tropical systems.

After a much-hyped US-China summit, the leaders of the world’s two biggest powers made no real breakthroughs on big issues, such as Iran, Taiwan and trade. The Guardian's senior China correspondent, Amy Hawkins, breaks down how Donald Trump and Xi Jinping focused on growing their personal rapport instead

• Trump leaves China without breakthroughs on Iran, Taiwan or AI

Malcolm Turnbull: AUKUS is ‘a huge wealth transfer from the Australian government to the US and the UK’ News release jon.wallace 15 May 2026

Speaking at Chatham House, the former Australian prime minister strongly criticized the joint Australia–US–UK submarine project.

Malcolm Turnbull, former Australian prime minister, visited Chatham House on 11 May to discuss Australia’s foreign policy, its US alliance, and the role of middle powers in the context of US–China rivalry. 

Asked about the AUKUS trilateral security partnership between Australia, the US and UK, which is meant to provide Australia with nuclear attack submarines, Mr Turnbull said it was a ‘huge wealth transfer from the Australian government to the US and the UK’.

‘It’s a submarine deal with no submarines…It was a terribly bad deal, a really stupid deal,’ he said, adding that US naval yards are not producing submarines at sufficient scale and speed to meet AUKUS needs.

Addressing the UK part of the deal, which would see joint development of a new nuclear submarine class, he said that ‘the UK shipbuilding industry, particularly the submarine industry, is in complete disarray…We shouldn’t have cancelled the deal with France’.

He said that it would be better for the UK to go into partnership with France to design a new nuclear submarine class, with the aim of developing common defence platforms for Europe. 

During the event Mr Turnbull also discussed the summit between Chinese President Xi and US President Trump, Australian relations with the Trump administration, and Australia’s role in Pacific security.

May 15, 2026 — Equal1 has announced the global release of RacQ. RacQ, the next generation evolution of Equal1’s Bell-1 Server, is a rack-mounted silicon-spin quantum computing designed for deployment within a standard 19-inch data center rack.

The Equal1 RacQ

Hybrid Quantum-Classical Computing (HQCC) Integration

HQCC enables high-impact applications, including investment risk analysis, materials simulation and supply chain optimization.

In these workflows, classical and quantum workloads operate as a single system. Intensive subroutines are offloaded to the RacQ quantum processor, while pre- and post-processing remain on the classical compute server.

This integration allows organizations to prioritize high-impact use cases and move hybrid systems directly into production.

Experience RacQ and HQCC In Action

Equal1 and Dell Technologies are demonstrating how HQCC could be deployed in a data center next week at Dell Technologies World in the Modern Data Center area of the Solutions Expo. In this experimental prototype, Equal1’s RacQ integrates a silicon quantum computer with a Dell PowerEdge R770 server, a PowerSwitch networking environment and Dell’s Quantum Intelligent Orchestrator – a prototype created to manage and schedule workloads across heterogeneous compute resources – all within a standard data center rack design.

While the demonstration is a research collaboration, it shows how HQCC is indeed possible in HPC environments and sets a practical benchmark for low-disruption QPU integration.

RacQ Highlights

• Standard Power: It plugs into a standard single-phase electrical socket, consuming only 1600 W – comparable to a high-end classical server.
• Advanced Cooling: It features an integrated, self-contained, closed-cycle cryocooler that maintains an internal temperature of 0.3 Kelvin without external infrastructure.
• Compact Footprint: Weighing 400 kg, the hybrid quantum classical compute device fits perfectly into a standard Dell 42U frame.

For too long, quantum computing has remained isolated in specialist environments, custom-built and disconnected from standard infrastructure. Equal1 is changing this by delivering quantum compute in a familiar footprint, accessible to every data center operator.

Building on the foundation of the Bell-1, the new Equal1 RacQ translates that same quantum power into a deployable, rack-mounted form factor. The Equal1 RacQ is designed to integrate seamlessly with any classical compute hardware, enabling hybrid quantum classical compute all within the same data center rack form factor.

Whether an organization utilizes existing server stacks or specialized high-performance computing (HPC) nodes, RacQ functions as a peer-level resource within the rack.

“For nearly every organization, quantum computing remains out of reach, confined to labs,” said Jason Lynch, CEO of Equal1. “We’re changing that. We are putting quantum inside the rack so customers can roll it in, plug it in and begin running hybrid quantum–classical workloads in days, using the infrastructure they already own.”

Powered by UnityQ: Silicon-Scale Innovation

The Equal1 RacQ is powered by UnityQ, a breakthrough quantum system-on-chip that will integrate the complete quantum system onto a single silicon package.

• Standard CMOS: Built using standard semiconductor processes, allowing it to scale on the cadence of global chip progress.
• Efficient Power: Runs at approximately 1.6kW from a single-phase electrical socket.
• Self-Contained Cooling: An integrated, closed-cycle cryocooler maintains an internal temperature of 0.3 Kelvin without requiring external cryogenic infrastructure.
• Data Center Ready: The full system weighs 400 kg and fits within a standard rack footprint.

More from HPCwire

• Bull and Equal1 Partner to Accelerate Hybrid Quantum-HPC Integration in Europe
• Kvantify and Equal1 Form Alliance to Integrate Quantum Hardware and Software for Life Sciences
• Equal1 and Q-CTRL Partner to Deliver Fully Autonomous, Data Center-Ready Quantum Computing
• Equal1 Raises $60M to Accelerate Quantum Computing Using Existing Semiconductor Manufacturing

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: Equal1

The post Equal1 Debuts Silicon-Spin Quantum Computer Designed for Standard 19-Inch Server Racks appeared first on HPCwire.

US president has said he and Chinese leader ‘settled a lot of different problems’ but has given little detail on solutions

Donald Trump’s whirlwind trip to Beijing – the first US presidential visit in nearly a decade – wrapped up with much fanfare but little clarity about what was actually achieved.

Trump said on Friday he and Xi Jinping, China’s leader, “settled a lot of different problems that other people wouldn’t have been able to solve”. But he didn’t provide much detail on what those solutions were.

Guest column: If you're building the most powerful technology ever, you're going to need to learn to activate your principles.

With the primary election less than three weeks away, the gubernatorial and mayoral races have taken a fiery turn

Sparring on the debate stage, well-timed statements addressing the slightest misstep by an opponent and countless social media jabs: election season is heating up in California’s major primaries.

With the primary election less than three weeks away, the gubernatorial and mayoral races have taken a fiery turn as candidates undergo last-ditch efforts to convince voters of their governance chops.

Pennsylvania’s third district, a Democratic bastion, will see a face-off between party’s traditional wing and insurgents

Democrats have been consumed for the better part of two years by the same question: what went wrong in 2024? Next week, voters in the country’s bluest district will render a verdict when they choose a candidate for the 2026 midterm elections.

Nearly every faultline currently running through Democratic politics – from Gaza and healthcare to immigration enforcement and the role of corporate money in politics – is at the heart of the party’s race for Pennsylvania’s third district.

If you want the best picture quality you can buy, you have to go OLED. Here are the best TVs I've tested.

US president hails ‘fantastic’ deals, but details remain scarce after pageantry and little progress at much-hyped summit with Xi

• Trump in China – latest updates

Donald Trump left China on Friday after a much-hyped summit of the world’s two major powers that was rich in pageantry and promises of stability, but offered little by way of tangible progress.

The US president had gone into the two-day talks with China’s Xi Jinping weakened by his prolonged war in Iran, and did little to change the perception that he and his nation are diminished on the global stage.

Media regulator announces commitments by Elon Musk’s platform to crack down on terrorist and hate content

Elon Musk’s X platform has promised to block UK access to accounts linked to banned terrorist groups under an agreement with the communications regulator to crack down on terrorist and hate content.

X will also review suspected illegal terrorist and hate content within 48 hours and seek expert advice on how to handle user reports of such content.

US president offers no news of any breakthrough on Iran. Plus, how renters’ rights could be key issue in midterms

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Good morning.

On his visit to China, Donald Trump has seemed to revel in Chinese hospitality and flattery. Walking in the Zhongnanhai garden, in Beijing, the US president was overheard saying that his counterpart, Xi Jinping, was giving him roses for the White House rose garden, according to a pool report.

What has China said on Iran? On Friday, China’s foreign ministry again called for a ceasefire in Iran and said the strait of Hormuz should be opened “as soon as possible”. Before the summit, there was speculation the US might appeal to China, the biggest buyer of Iranian oil, to use its leverage to encourage the country to reopen the strait. But that was walked back on Thursday by the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, who said: “We don’t need their help.”

What about talks over Taiwan? They weren’t mentioned much. Xi took a firm tone, declaring that “Taiwan independence” and peace in the Taiwan strait were “incompatible”. Trump sidestepped questions on Taiwan, and a White House readout of the meeting published later omitted any mention of the country.

What do Russia’s renewed heavy attacks tell us? Friedrich Merz, the German chancellor, said on Thursday that Russia’s heavy bombardment of Kyiv showed Moscow was “banking on escalation rather than negotiation. Kyiv and its partners are ready for negotiations aimed at a just peace,” Merz said. “Russia, for its part, is continuing the war.”

Spotlight Delaware education reporter Julia Merola joins the “Beyond the Headlines” podcast to discuss the outcomes of this year’s statewide school board elections, the issues that were in play with them and what they might mean for the future of districts around Delaware.

The podcast was hosted by Editor-in-Chief Jacob Owens.

This transcript has been edited for length and clarity.

So before we get into the actual horse races of who won what races and why around the state, I thought we should maybe start with explaining the role that our school boards play in Delaware.

Can you fill the listeners in on what powers and responsibilities these public servants have?

To start, I would say that Delaware is a really heavily focused local control state, meaning that the meat and potatoes of decisions are being made within school districts rather than at the Delaware Department of Education’s level or in the General Assembly.

So if you’re thinking about approving a budget or hiring a superintendent or holding referendums, those decisions are all made by board of education members.

Are these paid positions? Are these typically teachers or people with experience in education? Who are these school boards that we have around the state?

They’re volunteers. They’re not paid positions. Some of them are retired educators, some of them are parents, some of them are neither and are just community members who are looking to help the students in their area in whatever way they can.

I would say it’s really a mix of everything of the above.

School board elections in particular have long suffered from low turnout. But this year’s contest seemed to have really defied that trend. What did we see, and what might you attribute that change to?

I would start to say that it was certain school districts that defied that trend. Maybe it’s just where I was, but I went to Christina’s two Wilmington polls at the Maurice Pritchard Academy and the Pulaski Early Education Center, and those polls were pretty dead. I was not seeing a lot of people.

It was very quiet. But then, over in Red Clay and Appo there were definitely a lot more people and the polls were more lively.

I think that’s attributed to the fact that districts like Red Clay and Appo had a bit more going on, a little bit more controversy brewing, whereas in Christina, this was a calmer year.

Let’s maybe start with perhaps the biggest race of the day in the Appoquinimink School District that covers the Middletown-Odessa-Townsend area, where two incumbents were being challenged by four different opponents.

What happened there, and what might have caused so many residents to come out to the polls?

I think with Appo in particular, the reason why so many people came to the polls was really because of what happened last spring, which was when the district revealed that it’d failed to properly track millions of dollars that it thought were in reserves.

After that, there were calls for the superintendent and for other board members to step down. We know that they didn’t step down, and then residents saw two of those incumbent board members were running for re-election. I don’t think that they wanted them to run for re-election, hence why they were not re-elected.

I think a lot of that tension stayed there with the residents. And, at a board meeting you can really only give public comments, so the way to really make your point is at the polls, which is what they did.

So who won that Appo election?

The two winners were Britney Mumford and Elena Brenner. 

Elena is a retired educator, and Britney is the executive director of DelawareKidsCAN, which is an education advocacy organization. 

Among the losers – which I hate to call them but that is unfortunately the reality of a race —  was Richard Forsten, who was the president of the Appoquinimink School District board.

There was also Nichelle DeWitt, who was another incumbent board member.

Then there was also Mark Heck, who was looking to take one of those seats. He’s a veteran and an ROTC instructor at the Christina School District.

He came up short in getting a seat too.

 It was an interesting race all around. The incumbents actually came in dead last out of the six candidates running, so it was really a display of some of the anger that was reflected at the polls in one of the largest school districts in the state.

Turning to the largest school district in the state, up in the Red Clay Consolidated School District, which covers the greater Wilmington area, along with Pike Creek and Hockessin, the board president there faced a challenger. What happened in that race?

It was a continuation of the trend of incumbents seeing their way out and new faces coming in.

Vic Leonard, the current president of the Red Clay Board of Education, lost his race to Jenny Howard, who is a mother of four and a former educator. 

There was a big conversation in the district over what would happen to McKean High School, which is where I was yesterday.

The first voter who I talked to told me that she was voting for Jenny Howard because she didn’t want to see her alma mater close and become an innovation center. The voter added that she understood the purpose of an innovation center in general, but just felt that the way the board had handled it was very rushed.

She appreciated how Jenny Howard had spoken out during public comment against the innovation center, and just felt that a lot of what Jenny Howard was saying was resonating.

So this is an example of a resident who, willingly or unwillingly, became the face of opposition to the incumbency by showing up to a meeting and making her point heard during public comment. 

Give us the rundown on that McKean Innovation Center project and where it stands today.

It’s at a standstill. and that’s because last month the Red Clay Board of Education voted to postpone the Innovation Center, which would transform McKean.

They made that decision because of a large pushback from community members who were concerned about this program that currently exists at McKean called the Meadowood program. It’s a program for students who have intellectual and developmental disabilities.

It’s something I’ve heard from parents about. Parents have called it a really good program that has been really helpful for their kids. And I think that there was a lot of confusion about what would happen to that program if it were to be moved to A.I. duPont High School, w

It seemed like there were a lot of families who felt that their concerns weren’t taken into consideration, and instead the process was kind of rushed through. Then, here comes Jenny Howard, a parent who agrees with those sentiments.

She told me she wasn’t originally planning to run, and then when all of this happened, she was like, “Well, maybe, I can help change things and make sure that the board is actually listening to people.”

School boards around the state, but I think Red Clay in particular, are kind of in this difficult spot, where they have a lot of school buildings that maybe aren’t filling the capacity needs. And so Jenny is now going to be joining a school board where she’s gonna have to make some tough decisions about what to do with buildings that aren’t full of students.

I’ll note to our Spotlight Delaware readers that I’m working on a story about capacity rates, so keep an eye out for that exact topic. 

But yeah, it’s definitely an ongoing conversation, especially in Red Clay, and I think it’s one that a lot of district leaders want to really tackle before any possible consolidation decision with the Redding Consortium is reached between the four districts.

You mentioned Redding. Did it feel like Redding was on the minds of voters or school board candidates? 

It wasn’t something that I necessarily heard about at the polls, but some candidates brought it up on their own. Others responded after I asked them about it. I think it is a bit of an unknown.

Board of education leaders are not necessarily on the front lines of the Redding Consortium meetings. They’re welcome to attend just like everybody else, and I see plenty of board members there all the time, but they’re not on the front end of the decision-making. 

I think that it’s something the board needs to at least be talking about and making a plan for students. That was a sentiment I heard a few times.

Down south in the Delmar School District, which sits along Delaware’s southernmost border, another well-known member was facing two challengers for two open seats. What happened there?

Shawn Brittingham was last sitting on the State Board of Education. He has previously served on the Delmar Board of Education, but he did not win the Tuesday race against Neil Baker and Jordan Johnson.

I honestly thought it was interesting because Shawn has a lot of experience on the Delmar Board of Education, and then almost a decade of experience on the State Board of Education.

In that district, there was a decent amount of talk about referendums and what could potentially happen with two new candidates on the board. I think it’ll be interesting to see what that board decides to do next in terms of whether they’ll have a referendum.

Fill us in again on what a referendum is, why a school district might go out for one, and how that works for the public.

A referendum is when the district comes to the voters in a community and says, “Hey, we’re looking to raise X amount of money to do things like better retaining teachers, providing better pay, maintaining programs, building schools and things like that.”

That’s where the residents come in to be able to vote on whether to raise their property tax rate to fund the money for these things.

So in Delmar specifically, there’s been this ongoing issue of there being limited capacity in their buildings with a growing number of students.

You need to be able to retain teachers who are comfortable working in these often tight spaces. There were conversations this past fall of a possible referendum in Delmar to help alleviate some of those concerns.

Ultimately, the Board of Education announced that they were not going to hold a referendum this year. Maybe in 2027, we’ll see.

I think that it was something that was on the minds of some voters, maybe not everyone per se, but I think when anyone hears that their taxes could potentially go up, it’s definitely something that they’re gonna be listening to.

Referendums have been increasingly difficult to get passed in the state of Delaware in recent years, because it’s one of the few times we get to vote on our own, on our own taxes. Is that right?

Yeah.

This is a little bit of a case where you’re farther up the food chain, voting for the people who may or may not propose such a referendum down the line. Of the two winners in the Delmar election down there, do you get a sense of whether they might support a future referendum?

It’s hard to say. We spoke to Jordan Johnson on Tuesday, and he told us, “If I feel that it’s right and we need it, then I’ll vote for it. If I feel it’s not right and we don’t need it, then I won’t vote for it.”  It’s literally a 50-50, so we’ll see. 

I didn’t have the chance to speak with the other elected board member, Neil Baker, but he had said that a strategic review was necessary. So again, it’s kind of like a 50-50

I know Shawn Brittingham was very pro-referendum, but as far as I know, he’s the only person who has outright said, “Yeah, I would support a referendum for these reasons.”

So perhaps the non-committal answers may have assisted in some of these races?

Possibly.

When you really look at the 2026 school board elections, do you think there will be any lessons or lasting trends?

I don’t know if I would necessarily call this a lesson, but a realization of just how much people feel that they needed pretty big changes in their schools.

If you look at Appo, Forsten has been on that board for nearly two decades.

So for people to really say, “No, we do not want you there anymore,” I think that really shows people in that district, in particular, were craving new faces. 

I think the same can be said in other districts, like Red Clay. Vic Leonard wasn’t on the board for an extremely long time but, again, he was the board president.

That’s a pretty big role to play on a board. And for 60% of voters to say, like, “Nope, we prefer the other candidate,” it just shows that people really want big changes.

 It’s starting to feel like at least a small but growing number of residents are really starting to pay attention to how their school districts are being governed and who is involved in that decision-making process. As we look to the future, do you think school board elections will be able to keep up this rate of engagement, or was this maybe just a reaction to an isolated incident in time?

I think it was probably a reaction.

I don’t want to think that. I want to think that we’re all gonna be more civically engaged because that is your one opportunity to actually change things.You can make a public comment, but the board doesn’t respond to that. 

Who knows if they hear every single word said. They’re only human. 

So really your only chance to make an actual difference is to go to the polls and vote. I would like to say Delaware is on an upward swing, but when I was at the two Wilmington polls it was really quiet, so I can’t confidently say that this is a positive trend.

I really do unfortunately think it’s just a matter of circumstance.

Well, Julia, thank you for covering Delaware’s public education system – a very challenging task with 19 different districts – and great job covering the varied races up and down the state this week.

Thank you.

The post ‘Beyond the Headlines’ podcast: Delaware voters seek school board changes appeared first on Spotlight Delaware.

The Greater Manchester mayor is hoping to return to parliament after a Labour MP stepped down, triggering a byelection

Labour’s deputy leader, Lucy Powell, has backed Andy Burnham’s efforts to return to parliament, saying there will be no attempt to stop the Greater Manchester mayor from fighting an upcoming byelection in Makerfield.

Speaking at a Fire Brigades Union conference in Coventry, she said

We could have further to fall as a party and we absolutely need to come back together as one team, because we’ve got to take the fight to [Nigel] Farage. We are at real risk of Nigel Farage walking up Downing Street in a few years time, and we can’t let that happen.

But we’ve got to do our politics differently. We’ve got to end the factionalism. We’ve got to embrace all the different traditions of the Labour party, all the different voices, and bring one team back together.

ICE has released the wife of an active-duty U.S. soldier after a month in detention, her husband told CBS News.

President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping concluded their summit in Beijing on Friday with both countries looking to claim the visit as a win.

Sens. Tammy Duckworth​ of Illinois and Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin say their concern is there may be more emergency exit doors than flight attendants in the event of an evacuation.

As Powell steps down after more than eight years leading the Federal Reserve, economists say he helped steer the U.S. through historic shocks but misread inflation.

Commentary: I hope Apple gives us something more relatable for its next version of Siri.

Negotiating with your mortgage lender could lead to a lower rate, but is that an effective path in this market?

No one has more at stake than Kamala Harris – who has ‘signaled’ support for its release without saying so publicly

After several months of heated arguments over whether the Democratic National Committee (DNC) should release its autopsy report on the 2024 election, the dispute has neared a boiling point. With one recent media appearance after another, the DNC chair, Ken Martin, has set off fierce criticism and even derision, while offering notably illogical explanations for keeping the autopsy secret.

As the controversy simmers, no one has more at stake than the party’s latest standard-bearer. Kamala Harris, apparently preparing for another run, leads in polls for the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination. One of the last things she needs is a widely publicized narrative from the DNC about failures of her 2024 campaign. A maxim from George Orwell applies: “who controls the past controls the future” and “who controls the present controls the past”.

Mirroring of each other’s attire may signal alignment – though the look wasn’t a huge departure for either leader

When Donald Trump and Xi Jinping met for a welcome ceremony in Tiananmen Square this week with the world’s gaze on them, they mirrored one another in strikingly similar suits.

Both were blue, single-breasted with flap pockets. Both had two buttons with only the top one done up. Both wore red ties.

When you want seamless phone coverage in countries outside the US, these plans give you the best international options.

The Chinese president, Xi Jinping, gave the US president, Donald Trump, a tour of Beijing’s walled-off Zhongnanhai compound in the concluding hours of their summit on Friday. Among the notable ancient trees Xi showed Trump was the 'Lianli Bai', two cypress trees whose trunks have grown together. A hot mic captured the leaders' remarks, in which Trump asked Xi if other foreign leaders were also received in the compound. 'Very rarely,' Xi responded.

Tech workers say AI-driven restructurings are eroding mentorship, support and paths to promotion across Silicon Valley

As tech companies pour billions into artificial intelligence bets and slash their workforces, middle managers are squarely in the crosshairs.

A trend is emerging: when tech CEOs announce that AI is making it possible to do more with fewer workers, they promise to flatten their structures by cutting away what they call unnecessary management layers and bureaucracy. Just last week, the cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase laid off 14% of its workforce while gesturing to the thrill of AI-fueled, minimal-management efficiency. In doing so, it joined companies including Amazon, Block and Meta that in the last year have laid off tens of thousands of employees with a specific focus on removing management layers.

IN 16 pages, the Trump administration’s new official counterterrorism strategy outlines in broad terms who it views as terrorist threats and priority targets, ranging from anti-fascist activists to ISIS and so-called narco-terrorists. The line “We will find you, and we will kill you” appears in the memo.

“[The] strategy brings together Trump’s war on the wider world, which stretches from interventions and wars in Yemen and Somalia to Venezuela and the Caribbean Sea,” says Intercept senior reporter Nick Turse. “It combines it with the administration’s war on dissent at home which has also been lethal, as we saw on the streets of Minneapolis. … We can consider this strategy a new declaration of war by the Trump administration on its enemies both foreign and domestic, both real and imagined.”

Related

How Trump’s New Counterterrorism Strategy Puts You at Risk

This week on The Intercept Briefing, host Jessica Washington and colleagues Turse and Noah Hurowitz, who covers federal law enforcement, dissect how the Trump administration is painting anyone it wants to go after — state and non-state actors — as terrorists.  “Fundamentally, this document is a list of the administration’s enemies and a promise of what they’re going to do to them,” says Hurowitz. “This anti-terror imperative makes for a very flexible and useful means of tamping down on dissent.”

“We’re not just talking about rhetoric here,” says Washington. “We’ve seen the administration actually use these terms in action when it comes to the boat strikes in the Caribbean and Pacific that killed nearly 200 people as of early May.” 

“The actual legal justification for the strikes is, like so much else, secret,” says Turse, who has been covering the attacks on so-called narco-terrorists. “We’re talking about a fake war in which the enemies aren’t even read into the fact that they’re in an armed conflict with the United States.” He adds, “It’s really built on a quarter-century of executive overreach and targeted killings around the world. It’s the price of Congress allowing Presidents Bush, Obama, Biden, and Trump to hunt and kill people by drone from Afghanistan and Pakistan to Yemen and Somalia. It took this legally dubious, at best, post-9/11 drone war and laid the groundwork for a completely illegal one in the Caribbean and the Pacific Ocean.”

“Say what you will about the people around President Trump,” Hurowitz notes, “but they have proved very adept at finding levers of power and levers of pain to go after their enemies.”

For more, listen to the full conversation of The Intercept Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you listen.

Transcript

Jessica Washington: Welcome to the Intercept Briefing. I’m Jessica Washington, politics reporter at The Intercept.

Maia Hibbett: And I’m Maia Hibbett, managing editor at The Intercept. 

Last week, we talked about the Supreme Court’s gutting of the Voting Rights Act, and the news on that subject has been moving really fast. I was wondering if first you could just give us a quick update on what else is happening since that last conversation.

Related

Tennessee GOP Moves to Decimate Black Voting Power After Supreme Court’s Blessing of Jim Crow

JW: There’s been a lot happening since the Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act last month, well, gutted it again further, I should say. In Tennessee, Gov. Bill Lee signed into law a new congressional map eliminating the only majority-Black district. Then in Alabama, House primaries are next week, but the Republican governor is planning to hold a special vote in four districts in August after the state redraws a more GOP-friendly map. Republican leaders like Speaker Mike Johnson are excited about it. Here he is talking about it on “Fox and Friends.”

[Clip]

Brian Kilmeade: There’s Tennessee, Alabama. How many more? 

Rep. Mike Johnson: Potentially South Carolina, maybe Missouri, Mississippi. There are other states who are similarly situated. And we think the analysis is, by the end of all this, when you correct all that, Republicans’ll probably pick up between seven and eight seats and maybe double digits, depending on how many states get involved. That’s obviously a good thing for the outcome.

[Clip ends]

JW: My only reaction to hearing that is that Republicans are clearly hiding the ball here. They’re saying that this is about fairer representation, but in Mississippi, they’re clearly trying to eliminate representation for Black Americans. The governor has called to redraw a map that would eliminate Rep. Bennie Thompson’s district. He is the only Black representative representing Mississippi, a state that is nearly 40 percent Black.

Maia, did anything strike you in that clip or just anything about this redistricting effort at all?

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MH: I just keep getting struck by the way Republicans are framing this as some sort of anti-racist effort, that the way congressional districts are drawn sometimes to take into account the racial diversity or lack thereof of an area is inherently anti-democratic. And as you’ve pointed out before, in reality, that’s a disingenuous framing of what they’re doing.

JW: Yeah. We’re going to continue to watch the fallout from the Supreme Court. But I want to talk about some other news. 

There’s been talk online that we might be facing a new pandemic. Maia, what can you tell us about the hantavirus, and do I need to start stockpiling toilet paper?

MH: No, please, no one go buy a lot of toilet paper. Never helpful. 

There’s definitely a lot of chatter and panic online, but I don’t think there’s any sign that this is going to be a new pandemic. A pandemic is when there is this uncontrolled disease spread on a global scale, and there’s really no sign that’s going to be the case here.

It is, however, really fascinating. This is a wild example of a group of people who have been traveling all over the world, who are all on a ship together, and then a very rare infectious disease breaks out. People are certainly freaked out and worried about this when they’re reading about it online, and I think there’s a lot of information on Twitter, on Instagram, everywhere. There’s a lot of panic. 

What the general scientific consensus says is still that this strain of the virus, which is known to spread between people, is still more likely to spread animal to human, not human to human. And when it does spread between humans, it typically requires close contact. So you’re having a conversation with someone and your faces are close together, you’re exchanging saliva, there’s some sort of large droplet transfer, something like that, is the most likely way for this to spread between people.

We don’t know everything about it, and of course, viruses do change, but that is still the overall scientific consensus. It’s not known to spread the way Covid does, where it’s aerosolized and someone in the room has it and anyone else in the room could get it.

The most well-known vector for this disease to spread is from people actually inhaling particles from the feces or urine of rodents, especially rats. So really the people, I think, who are at the highest risk are anyone who might be in a setting where they’re cleaning that up or otherwise really directly exposed.

JW: Gross, but I do feel a little bit safer. [Laughter.]

But one thing, I do have some concerns about — we know who’s in charge of HHS, we know who’s in charge of the FDA. Do we have the public health infrastructure to deal with something like this?

MH: We know that since the Trump administration came back into office and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was appointed to be in charge of Health and Human Services, the CDC has been pretty dramatically gutted. And the Trump administration just doesn’t have the kind of infrastructure the U.S. government used to maintain in order to keep an eye on pandemics and other disease outbreaks. So that certainly is concerning.

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For example, there was a lot of chatter last week. Marjorie Taylor Greene was spreading claims that ivermectin was going to be helpful for keeping this virus at bay, and Intercept contributor Austin Campbell reached out to the CDC and asked what they thought of that, and he just never heard back. They never had a stance on it. 

Another Intercept contributor, Jackie Sweet, tracked down for a piece this past week on her Substack the case of a 75-year-old cruise ship passenger who had dual residency in both the U.S. and New Zealand. She had managed to totally evade the supervision of public health authorities, which is staggering because there were fewer than 150 people on that ship. So it’s a little bit wild that they couldn’t keep track of them all.

JW: So what I’m hearing from you is that we’re lucky that it’s this kind of virus and not something that is easier to transmit person to person?

MH: I would say that’s right, yeah.

JW: I want to talk about some other reporting that we published this week. On Tuesday, my co-host Akela Lacy published a story about Mahmoud Khalil, a former Columbia University student and Palestinian rights activist who was detained by ICE for protesting in support of Palestinians as a part of the Trump administration’s targeting of student protesters. So I know the story goes into a little bit more detail about that targeting. Maia, what can you tell us about the story?

MH: I think a lot of our listeners probably remember this moment last spring when he was detained, and he was one of the first of this group of students that the Trump administration was targeting. What Akela’s story found was that two days before ICE arrested Mahmoud Khalil, the FBI had gotten an anonymous tip which accused him of calling for, and this is a quote from the tip, “violence on behalf of Hamas.”

Now, we don’t really have any detail in this document on what the tip is. It came in via a FOIA request that his legal team received and passed on to Akela, and the document is mostly redacted. But what we do know is that less than two weeks after they got the tip, the FBI closed this investigation, and they found that the tip did not warrant further investigation.

But by then, he was already in ICE detention in Louisiana, and the Trump administration was already calling him a “Hamas supporter” and accusing him of being a supporter of terrorism. At this point, we now know that the FBI at least had found that allegation was not worth looking into.

JW: That’s really interesting. It feels like we’re going to be unraveling what actually went behind the Trump administration’s targeting of these students. This really fits into broader efforts from the Trump administration to target any of the president’s perceived political enemies, both abroad and in the United States.

MH: Exactly. And this week, everyone in the newsroom has really been focused on this project that you’ve been working on with our colleagues, Nick Turse and Noah Hurowitz, about how the Trump administration is taking that political targeting apparatus to the next level, and what the next phase of it will look like. Could you tell us a little bit more about that project?

JW: We’ve been poring through this new counterterrorism strategy that’s been handed down from the Trump administration. I know that sounds incredibly boring, but this is a document laying out the president’s strategy for coming after his political enemies in the United States and abroad, and potentially giving him the authority to kill his political enemies.

So we’ve been really looking into this next evolution of President Donald Trump’s attempt to label his enemies — so anyone who disagrees with him — as “terrorists.” And I’ve now successfully dragged both of my brilliant coworkers onto the show to talk about it. Nick is a senior reporter covering national security and foreign policy, and Noah is a federal law enforcement reporter.

MH: Let’s hear that conversation.

JW: Nick, Noah, welcome to The Intercept Briefing.

Nick Turse: Thanks so much for having us.

Noah Hurowitz: Thanks for having us.

JW: Let’s dive right into this project. Last week, the Trump administration released its counterterrorism strategy. The 16-page memo outlines who they view as terrorist threats and priority targets. The three of us have been combing through this document for an in-document analysis that we just published.

To start, Nick, can you tell us a bit more about this document and the objectives of the administration?

NT: I consider this a truly foundational document, a genuine distillation of Trumpism as both a movement and a system of governance. The document is the brainchild of the senior counterterrorism director at the National Security Council, Sebastian Gorka, who’s a truly bizarre figure and whose credentials for the job of counterterrorism czar are highly dubious.

This Gorka-led strategy brings together Trump’s war on the wider world, which stretches from interventions and wars in Yemen and Somalia to Venezuela and the Caribbean Sea, and it combines it with the administration’s war on dissent at home which has also been lethal, as we saw on the streets of Minneapolis. The 2026 counterterrorism strategy puts so-called domestic “antifascist” or antifa organizations on par with actual terrorist organizations such as the Islamic State and Al Qaeda as well as with international drug cartels. 

It states that there are three major types of terrorist threats. So we’re talking about what they call legacy Islamist terrorists, Al Qaeda and ISIS; narco-terrorists like the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua; and these supposed violent left-wing extremists, which include anarchists and anti-fascists. The latter are longtime Republican boogeymen but don’t actually exist in a real way as, say, urban guerrillas or something like that in the United States.

This is a fictional foe. We can consider this strategy a new declaration of war by the Trump administration on its enemies, both foreign and domestic, both real and imagined.

JW: I think that’s a really good way to look at this document. If we think about it as a foundational text of the Trump administration, then the foundation of the Trump administration is a politics of vengeance, which I think is borne out in so many of the administration’s policies, both at home and abroad.

Noah, I want to bring you in. One thing that this document does is loosely define who is and who isn’t a terrorist. So I want to ask you, what did we now learn about who’s considered a terrorist?

NH: One thing that I found really interesting about this document is that it specifically calls out previous weaponizations of government counterterrorism policy, which is, I think, a pretty clear reference to the prosecutions of right-wing groups, and specifically participants in January 6.

As we know, FBI Director Kash Patel, prior to becoming head of the FBI, was very critical of the federal government’s policies toward violent right-wing extremists, which statistically have been a majority of the domestic terrorists in the United States. This document really explicitly does away with that and explicitly names left-wing groups or left-wing people holding left-wing ideologies as terrorists.

There’s a specific line about doing away with the weaponization of counterterrorism policy against American citizens, when in reality we’ve seen the very explicit weaponization of counterterrorism policy and rhetoric by this administration against its domestic foes, if you will.

Most notably, the language used to describe Alex Pretti and Rene Good in Minneapolis following their deaths, and also the prosecution of nine protesters for their roles in a demonstration outside of an ICE facility in Texas last July. This is the Prairieland case in which eight defendants were convicted on terrorism charges. They might say that they’re ending the weaponization of counterterrorism against American citizens, but in reality, we’ve seen a dramatic escalation of it.

JW: One group that you didn’t mention here, but is mentioned repeatedly throughout the document, are people who the administration calls adherents to radical pro-transgender ideology.

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Clearly throughout this document, we’re seeing references to the Christian right, references to the idea that anyone who does not adhere to these very specific tenets of white Christian nationalism — a very specific subset of white evangelical Christianity — that those groups are also considered terrorists under this document.

In April, the Trump administration released the anti-Christian bias task force report which allegedly detailed the Biden administration’s radical efforts to punish Christians and also highlighted President Donald Trump’s efforts to restore religious liberty. There are very similar themes to that document. There clearly is an effort to target anyone who is not a part of MAGA world, and so that includes, obviously, Christian nationalists, but other groups as well.

Noah, I want to ask, how would you characterize what the administration has outlined here?

NH: Fundamentally, this document is a list of the administration’s enemies and a promise of what they’re going to do to them.

JW: Nick, we’re not just talking about rhetoric here. We’ve seen the administration actually use these terms in action when it comes to the boat strikes in the Caribbean and Pacific that killed nearly 200 people as of early May.

The administration has alleged that they are targeting “narco-terrorists.” This has been going on now since September of last year. What evidence has the administration provided to justify what appear to be extrajudicial killings?

NT: Actually, we haven’t seen one shred of evidence. Instead, we’ve been treated to outlandish claims that are demonstrably outright lies. President Trump has repeatedly claimed that the vessels that the U.S. is attacking are trafficking fentanyl, a synthetic opioid. Trump says that the boats are hit, and then you see bags of fentanyl floating in the ocean.

First off, fentanyl is shipped in dramatically smaller quantities than, say, cocaine. You wouldn’t see bales of it floating in a body of water in the aftermath of an airstrike. It’s really beside the point. No fentanyl comes to the United States from South America. Ninety-nine percent of the fentanyl comes into the U.S. through legal ports of entry primarily from Mexico by U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents. Cartels would have to smuggle fentanyl down to South America to smuggle it back by boat.

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The actual legal justification for the strikes is, like so much else, secret. There is a classified opinion from the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel. It was drawn up by an interagency lawyers’ group, including representatives of the CIA, the White House Counsel, Department of Justice, and the War Department’s Office of General Counsel. It claims that narcotics on these supposed drug boats, cocaine essentially, are lawful military targets because their cargo generates revenue for cartels whom the Trump administration claims are in a non-international armed conflict with the United States.

Government officials told me that this secret memo wasn’t actually signed by the assistant attorney general until days after the first boat strike on September 2 of last year. So the strikes came before the horse. I should also note that attached to this secret legal memorandum is a similarly secret list of what they call “designated terrorist organizations,” or DTOs. That list is secret too. 

So we’re talking about a fake war in which the enemies aren’t even read into the fact that they’re in an armed conflict with the United States. 

JW: As you’ve reported, nearly 200 people are dead as a result of these strikes, but there are survivors. What do we know about the survivors of these strikes?

NT: Yeah, very little at this point. Most survivors have been gravely injured, or they’ve been left to die at sea by the United States. What’s notable is that behind closed doors in classified briefings, military officials have said that they can’t actually hold or try the individuals that survive because they can’t satisfy the evidentiary burden. They can’t bring these people to court because they know they would lose. To me, that says that there’s a higher evidentiary standard to hold someone on drug charges than to kill them for supposed smuggling. So I think of these strikes as a centerpiece counterterrorism strategy of the Trump administration.

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It’s really built on a quarter-century of executive overreach and targeted killings around the world. It’s the price of Congress allowing Presidents Bush, Obama, Biden, and Trump to hunt and kill people by drone from Afghanistan and Pakistan to Yemen and Somalia. It took this legally dubious, at best, post-9/11 drone war and laid the groundwork for a completely illegal one in the Caribbean and the Pacific Ocean.

Experts in the laws of war, as well as members of Congress from both parties, say that these boat strikes are illegal extrajudicial killings because the military isn’t permitted to deliberately target civilians, even suspected criminals who don’t pose an imminent threat of violence.

JW: It is so telling that they say they have the legal authority to kill people, but not the legal authority to hold them. I think it just shows the entire game, frankly.

[Break]

JW: Noah, the strategy repeatedly references narco-terrorists in Latin America as principal targets for the Trump administration’s counterterrorism efforts around the world. Does this help us to understand anything about what the administration has been doing in Venezuela, Cuba, and elsewhere?

NH: I think what it helps us understand is that the drug war is and always has been a instrument for various U.S. foreign policy objectives, particularly in Latin America.

Actually labeling these somewhat nebulous drug trafficking groups as explicitly as terrorist groups was, until fairly recently, a right-wing fever dream. But on day one, President Trump signed an executive order asking the State Department to label various drug trafficking groups in Mexico and elsewhere in Latin America as terrorist groups. What that tells us is that the war on drugs continues to be a very useful cudgel for U.S. foreign policy in the region.

It’s been used by Trump to discipline and pressure President Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico. It’s been used to underwrite the sanctions regime against the government of Nicolás Maduro. Then, of course, as a pretext for the kidnapping of Maduro in January.

This counterterrorism strategy, like the national security strategy released late last year, makes repeated reference to the Monroe Doctrine, which is a cornerstone of U.S. foreign policy dating back to 1823 when President James Monroe issued a diktat, if you will, basically saying that the Western Hemisphere is closed to further colonization by Spanish forces and other European powers, and basically it’s our corner of the world, butt out. 

The strand of “American First” nationalism that undergirds the Trump administration’s foreign policy is heavily influenced by this Monroe Doctrine. Now what’s interesting is that it was posed as a sort of anti-colonial doctrine — that the Spanish should stop meddling, that the British should stop meddling. But it has been used in an essentially colonialist or imperialist fashion by the United States to assert power in the Western Hemisphere for centuries now.

It is popular among American-first nationalists because it is a vision of the world that predates liberal internationalism, and instead — it’s not isolationist, it’s not, “We’re going to sit in our country and take care of ourselves” — it is, “We are going to take care of ourselves by projecting power in the Western Hemisphere.”

That is something that we’ve seen very explicitly from the Trump administration, both in rhetoric, in the national security strategy and the counterterrorism strategy, and in its actions. We’ve seen that in Venezuela. We’ve seen that in Cuba with the reinforced blockade. We’ve seen that in Mexico with the Trump administration’s treatment of President Claudia Sheinbaum. 

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We’ve seen that in other countries where it appears that the Trump administration, especially through Marco Rubio, are trying to create a sort of Pan-American right-wing project linking the brain trusts and power of Javier Milei in Argentina, the supporters of Juan Orlando Hernández in Honduras, the administration in Paraguay, and the the government of Ecuador, where we’ve also seen military strikes against alleged drug traffickers.

JW: Nick, this Pan-American view isn’t really limited to the Western Hemisphere. We had a conversation with historian Greg Grandin as well where he got into this. Can you talk about how the administration has also loosened rules of engagement and the effects of that on countries with U.S. military operations?

NT: This new strategy boasts that as soon as Trump retook the White House he reinstituted loosened rules of engagement that were used during his first term in office. In retrospect, we know that these weak rules during Trump’s first term had a profound effect across the Middle East and Africa. Attacks in Somalia, for example, tripled after Trump relaxed targeting principles. At the same time, U.S. military and independent estimates of civilian casualties across U.S. war zones, including Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, and Yemen all spiked. The U.S. conducted more than 200 declared attacks in Somalia during Trump’s first term, and that was a more than 300 percent increase over the eight years of the Obama presidency.

Now, Trump, already in less than a year and a half in office in the second term, is on the cusp of eclipsing his first four years of strikes in Somalia. A review of the Trump era rules by the Biden administration found that the operating principles used in these strikes including what had previously been at a near-certainty that civilians would not be injured or killed in the course of operations, were severely watered down.

When I talked to retired Brig. Gen. Donald Bolduc, who led Special Operations Command Africa during Trump’s first term, he told me that this shift in the rules of engagement led to a major shift in who could be targeted and who would be killed. In essence, it made it much easier to strike targets.

Back in 2023, in an investigation for The Intercept, I found that these rules in one case led to the deaths of three and possibly five civilians in a strike in Somalia, including a young mother, a 22-year-old, Luul Dahir Mohamed, and her 4-year-old daughter, Mariam. Members of the U.S. strike cell didn’t know what they were looking at and somehow misidentified Luul as a man and completely missed Mariam.

The mother and child had hitched a ride in a pickup truck that the U.S. targeted. Luul and Mariam actually survived the initial strike but were killed in a double-tap attack as they fled for their lives. This was only possible because of these loosened rules of engagement that Trump has now bragged about in this 2026 counterterrorism strategy.

JW: Frankly, it’s alarming to think that now we’re going to see even more incidents like that, like you just described. And we’re seeing people targeted here at home too. 

Nick, I was looking at a piece you did last year focused on NSPM-7, the presidential memorandum that effectively created a secret list of domestic terrorists, which included everyone from anti-Christians to anti-capitalists.

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One of the haunting questions from your piece was whether the administration has the authority to kill people on the list that it has designated as terrorists. The line “We will find you and we will kill you” appears in this new counterterrorism strategy. I know that stuck out to both of us as incredibly chilling.

Does this new strategy give us an answer to your earlier question? Does the administration have the legal authority to kill its enemies?

NT: The White House and Justice Department have never answered this question. It’s been left hanging there in both cases since the fall when I started asking.

But in December, Gen. Gregory Guillot, the Chief of U.S. Northern Command, a four-star general who takes his orders from Pete Hegseth and oversees the United States, seemed to answer this question, and worryingly so. When he was asked about his willingness to attack so-called designated terrorist organizations within U.S. borders by Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island. Guillot said that if he had questions about such an order, he would ask Hegseth, and if not, if he thought it was a legal order, then he would “definitely execute that order.”

Now, as far as four-star generals go, Guillot has a good reputation. People on the Hill, decent people there, like him. He’s not a Hegseth acolyte, not a MAGA general. But the military are, in the end, orders followers. They kill on command. They do what they’re told. You don’t get four stars on your shoulder by saying, no, sir, that’s immoral. I won’t do what you want, sir. 

You don’t see a lot of military officers at any level pushing back against the orders of this administration to attack and kill people, whether it’s in Iran or Venezuela, or specifically the boat strikes that every legal authority worthy of that name says are illegal extrajudicial killings.

With secret lists of both foreign and domestic terrorists, we don’t know who can be targeted. But it’s possible that so-called left-wing extremists could be targeted and killed on Trump or Hegseth’s say-so. In a world of secret wars, secret enemies lists, secret legal findings, we just can’t know for sure. And that alone should scare every American.

JW: I think most people in the United States would like to believe that the military would not follow those kinds of orders. But as you’ve documented throughout your entire career, we cannot count on individual soldiers not following through on those orders.

The fact that we now have an enemies list and a counterterrorism strategy that is rather explicit about targeting the left, that includes the words “We will find you and we will kill you,” I think that should be terrifying to pretty much anyone.

Noah, you’ve covered other targets, specifically nonprofits. Can you talk a little bit about how that fits into the broader efforts to not only tamp down but arguably eliminate any dissent? Has the Trump administration strategy here evolved over the last year? And if so, how?

NH: As we’ve mentioned before, this anti-terror imperative makes for a very flexible and useful means of tamping down on dissent. Prior to the Trump administration returning to power, I reported extensively on what was known as the “nonprofit killer bill,” which was a piece of legislation in Congress that would allow the Treasury Department to revoke the nonprofit status of any 501(c)(3) organization found to be providing material support for terrorism.

That was a bill that had received relatively broad bipartisan support prior to the reelection of Donald Trump, and then in the immediate aftermath of the reelection of Donald Trump, it became much more of a partisan issue because suddenly the Democrats looked around and realized that we were going to be handing this tool to a new emboldened Trump administration. So that bill ended up languishing in legislative hell. 

I see that as an early warning sign of the way in which the Trump administration planned to use this terrorism rhetoric to tamp down on pretty non-terroristic political enemies. I think that we’ve seen most clearly that coming through in its prosecution of the Southern Poverty Law Center.

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Now, that is through the DOJ. They are not necessarily using the rhetoric of anti-terror against the SPLC in that lawsuit, which is based on the use of undercover informants in white supremacist groups. They did accuse the SPLC of essentially providing material support to these extremist groups by paying informants, but it was a slight evolution of the somewhat more crude use of this terrorism label against political enemies.

But we do see that they are using every tool in the toolbox to delegitimize, to prosecute, to make the lives harder of anyone they see as their political enemies.

JW: What’s also fascinating, maybe horrifying is the better word, is the fact that they don’t even have to pass this legislation. They don’t even have to convict these organizations on any charges, and yet there’s already damage. The Intercept has been reporting on the fact that certain financial institutions essentially complied in advance and began preventing donations from their donor-advised funds to SPLC. 

Nick, at different points in history, we’ve seen the government target civilians it perceived as enemies of the state, from the McCarthy era to COINTELPRO to the war on terror. Perhaps it’s too soon to tell the full impact, but how does what we’re seeing now with the Trump administration compare to these other periods?

NT: I was really struck by some of the language in this new counterterrorism strategy. At one point, it notes that the national counterterrorism activities “will prioritize the rapid identification and neutralization of violent secular political groups” whose ideology is and this is quoting, “anti-American, radically pro-transgender, and anarchist.”

This language of neutralization, it really harkens back to the FBI’s analogous and infamous COINTELPRO program that you mentioned which was employed in the 1960s and 1970s to target the civil rights movement; the new left; anti-Vietnam War protesters — basically domestic groups and individuals. It’s very much the spiritual precursor to Trump’s current war at home. It’s just that COINTELPRO was secret, and Trump’s effort is out and proud.

According to a 1976 Senate Select Committee report on U.S. intelligence activities, COINTELPRO turned a law enforcement agency into a law violator. The Senate committee found that the FBI went beyond the collection of intelligence to secret action designed to “disrupt and neutralize target groups and individuals,” and that they used wartime counterintelligence techniques that were antithetical to a democratic society. There was a 1967 internal FBI memo that laid this out basically that this type of counterintelligence was meant to “expose, disrupt, misdirect, discredit, or otherwise neutralize” — that language again — “African American groups and leaders.”

These efforts were meant to, this is another quote, “cause serious physical, emotional, or economic damage to the targets,” according to the Senate committee. Martin Luther King Jr., for instance, was one of the targets of the FBI’s campaign. The Senate Select Committee again uses that same language. They said that the FBI targeted him to neutralize him. The man that was in charge of the FBI’s what they called “war against Dr. King,” said that they used the same methods they employed against Soviet agents. It’s the Cold War at the time, very much at war with the Soviet Union.

To me, I think Trump is really reinstituting COINTELPRO under a new name.

JW: The groups that you just mentioned are all generally considered left-leaning movements. What impact did those efforts have on leftist movements in the United States?

NT: Yeah, COINTELPRO and some analogous operations were going on at the same time. They really weakened activist groups. They sowed dissent within organizations, discord among members. They broke up families. They encouraged gang warfare on the streets of American cities. It got people killed.

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They utilized informants and agent provocateurs. They undermined groups that were trying to bring about social change through democratic means and hurt people that really just wanted to build a better, more inclusive America.

We can talk about the promise of 1960s radicalism and the movement and people trying to bring about social change and how it failed. But, we can’t seriously address those failures if we don’t talk about a sophisticated government campaign that was meant to undermine those groups and destroy those people.

JW: Are we doomed to repeat that history, to repeat that fate of previous leftist movements? Or is there a way for alleged enemies of the state to fight back? Noah, I want to start with you.

NH: Oh, yeah, we’re doomed. [Laughter.] Just kidding. No, I think there are definitely ways to push back on these. The Trump administration has been dealt a number of defeats in various district courts on a number of important policies.

So it’s going to be really important for groups like the SPLC to fight back from a legal basis. We’re also seeing a number of the charges that are being brought against protesters in various cities that have been invaded by ICE fall apart. The Prairieland case in Texas was actually a bit of an outlier. If you look at a lot of the cases, particularly in Chicago and Los Angeles, the charges brought against protesters there, where the rhetoric of terrorism has been used against them by the administration, have often fallen apart because juries see through what the prosecution is saying against them.

I think that we are early in this administration and we’re going to keep seeing creative methods used to tamp down on dissent. Say what you will about the people around President Trump, but they have proved very adept at finding levers of power and levers of pain to go after their enemies. 

The SPLC lawsuit is a really good example of that. I’m sure they knew that these donor-advised funds were going to stop allowing donations there. It’s not just the bad press. It’s not just the legal headaches. There’s all sorts of problems that you kick off when you make an accusation like this in court.

So we are going to continue to see this so-called anti-terrorism carried out against leftist groups. It’s just going to be really important to find creative ways to push back on.

JW: Nick, how does the left survive this?

NT: The only reason that we, the public, that Congress, anyone ever found out about the COINTELPRO program is because a tiny group of academics, a daycare director, and a taxi driver broke into an FBI field office in Media, Pennsylvania, in 1971, stole more than a thousand classified FBI documents, and exposed the FBI’s illegal operations.

The Citizens’ Commission to Investigate the FBI, as they called themselves, changed our understanding of how underhanded and unhinged the U.S. government is and can be. And they were just regular people. 

I’m not encouraging people to break into an FBI field office, but activists are still smart and committed, and I’m confident they’ll find a way to expose today’s illegality.

I hope and I humbly ask that they send whatever they uncover to The Intercept.

JW: Sounds like we’re going to have a lot more documents to go through. We’re going to leave it there. We go into much more detail about the far-reaching implications of the administration’s counterterrorism strategy beyond what we cover here, so you can check out our story. You can find it at theintercept.com, and we’ll link it in the show notes. 

Nick and Noah, thanks for joining me on The Intercept Briefing.

NT: Thanks so much for having us. 

NH: Thanks so much.

JW: That does it for this episode. 

This episode was produced by Laura Flynn. Ben Muessig is our editor-in-chief. Maia Hibbett is our Managing Editor. Chelsey B. Coombs is our social and video producer. Fei Liu is our product and design manager. Nara Shin is our copy editor. William Stanton mixed our show. Legal review by David Bralow.

Slip Stream provided our theme music.

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The post “We Will Find You and We Will Kill You” appeared first on The Intercept.

State oil company fast-tracks previously undisclosed project, which is expected to double export capacity

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The United Arab Emirates has announced it will complete a new oil pipeline bypassing the strait of Hormuz by next year to secure its future crude exports against the threat of disruption.

The current blockade of the vital waterway, through which 20% of oil and seaborne gas flowed before the Iran war, is approaching the 11-week mark, sending energy prices soaring around the world and throttling Gulf economies.

the Trump administration last week unveiled its “2026 Counterterrorism Strategy,” a 16-page collection of threats, grievances, hyperbole, and lies. The memo is a truly foundational document and a striking distillation of Trumpism as an ideology, movement, and system of governance. It also serves as a new declaration of war on the Trump administration’s enemies — foreign and domestic, real and imagined. 

The brainchild of National Security Council official Sebastian Gorka, the “Counterterrorism Strategy” weaves together Trump’s war on the wider world — which stretches from interventions and wars in Yemen and Iran to Nigeria and Somalia to Venezuela and the Caribbean Sea — with the administration’s war on dissent at home, which has targeted immigrants, legal observers, activists, protesters, and the press.

Under the guise of protecting America, it takes aim at wide swaths of Americans, putting targets on the backs of the most vulnerable.

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“We Will Find You and We Will Kill You”

The “Counterterrorism Strategy” formalizes a drastic shift in focus for counterterror efforts. Now, according to the Trump administration, the nation is battling three major types of terror groups: “Legacy Islamist Terrorists,” the long-standing focus of America’s counter-terror efforts; “Narcoterrorists and Transnational Gangs”; and “Violent Left-Wing Extremists, including Anarchists and Anti-Fascists.”

This last group is defined in the document as people the administration deems to be “anti-American, radically pro-transgender, and anarchist.” This puts antifa — a fictional foe that is actually a collection of ideas and not an organization — on par with actual terrorist groups like Al Qaeda and the Islamic State group, and drug-trafficking syndicates such as the Sinaloa Cartel and Jalisco New Generation Cartel. 

The memo makes no mention of right-wing extremist groups, despite rafts of research, from the U.S. government and others, demonstrating that such groups have been responsible for the majority of violent attacks in America in recent years.

Following 9/11, the George W. Bush administration published the first official National Strategy for Combating Terrorism. The 2003 document purported to set “the course for winning the War on Terror,” with a focus on “destroying the larger al-Qaida network,” by defining the threat and laying out big-picture goals and objectives. New strategies have been issued numerous times, over multiple presidencies, since.

Explaining the 2026 strategy last week, Gorka leaned into the lies which permeate the Trump administration’s document. “Very simply, it’s common-sense counterterrorism based on reality not fake threats,” he explained. “In the president’s foreword and in chapter one, we make it very clear we will not permit the use of the most powerful national security tools in the world including the counterterrorism enterprise to be used as political weapons.”

Rep. Valerie Foushee, D-N.C., had a very different interpretation, calling the strategy “a plan on how they’re going to attack people on the left,” noting that antifascists are “not a real terrorism threat in the United States.” She added that the effort is “completely corrupt.”

To contextualize the U.S. government’s radical new approach to counterterrorism, The Intercept analyzed the document, highlighting revelatory passages that show how the Trump administration is bringing the war on terror home.

“We Will Kill You”

History ultimately judges presidents by their priorities, both deeds and words.

While calling out slavery as the cause of the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln still focused his second inaugural address on reconciliation over retribution. “With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation’s wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan—to do all which may achieve and cherish a just, and a lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all nations,” he pronounced.

On the eve of World War II, as the threat of fascism loomed over the world, President Franklin D. Roosevelt readied a nation for war, not with ferocious rhetoric but by envisioning a new world founded upon the freedom of speech and expression, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear. “That is no vision of a distant millennium,” he told Congress on January 6, 1941. “It is a definite basis for a kind of world attainable in our own time and generation. That kind of world is the very antithesis of the so-called new order of tyranny which the dictators seek to create with the crash of a bomb.”

These presidents were deeply flawed. Both committed grave injustices, were responsible for immense harm, and neither lived up to their most laudable words. But those words survived for a reason and are now part of the American canon.

For President Donald Trump, the “2026 Counterterrorism Strategy” is as good as any collection of words in defining him. Nothing better illustrates his vision of America’s role in the world than Trump’s capstone quote. He concludes the foreword with words that ring true from the streets of Minneapolis, where federal agents killed U.S. citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti during anti-ICE resistance; to a school building in Minab, Iran, where more than 100 children were killed in a U.S. airstrike; to the Eastern Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea, where close to 200 civilians have been killed in attacks on alleged drug boats; and should follow him forever: “We Will Find You and We Will Kill You.”

Treating Americans as Terrorists

Under U.S. law, the government can designate “foreign terrorist organizations,” a process that typically entails a formal declaration by the secretary of state at the direction of the president, allowing the Treasury Department to impose financial penalties and the Justice Department to prosecute people for providing “material support” to such groups. Congress has not passed any law creating a domestic terrorism designation, nor is there a standalone crime of “domestic terrorism.” 

This has not stopped Trump from aiming the counterterror apparatus at domestic targets in his second term. Under National Security Presidential Memorandum 7, or NSPM-7, which Trump issued last September, vaguely defined enemies are not only typified by “support for the overthrow of the United States Government,” but also advocacy of opinions clearly protected by the First Amendment including “anti-Americanism, anti-capitalism, and anti-Christianity” as well as “hostility towards those who hold traditional American views on family, religion, and morality.”

In this document, the Trump administration makes clear it considers any American who it believes has “adopted ideologies antithetical to freedom and the American way of life” to be a terror threat.

“The Trump administration has repurposed the ‘terrorism’ framing and applied it to new boogeymen, like alleged narcos as well as a caricature of their domestic political opposition,” Brian Finucane, a senior adviser for the U.S. Program at the International Crisis Group, told The Intercept.

White-Washing Right-Wing Terror

What’s notable here isn’t just the “major terror groups” included — it’s the type of groups the Trump administration omitted. 

“Absurdly, the document incorrectly labels drug cartels, ‘legacy Islamist terrorists,’ and violent left-wing extremists as the top counterterrorism threats — despite years of data proving that right-wing extremism has presented the most persistent and deadly threats to Americans for decades,” said Rep. Bennie G. Thompson, D-Miss., ranking member of the House Committee on Homeland Security. 

In fact, a 2025 analysis conducted by the nonpartisan Center for Strategic and International Studies found that, over the past decade, right-wing extremists carried out 152 attacks in the United States and killed 112 people, compared with 35 attacks and 13 deaths attributed to left-wing militants. Islamist jihadist-inspired attacks resulted in 82 deaths over the same span.

“Radical Ideologies”

The new “Counterterrorism Strategy” signals a jarring shift in the priorities of the national security apparatus. Instead of having the security state primarily focus on foreign actors and those domestic threats responsible for the most violence in recent years — like white supremacists and violent militias — the president is effectively siccing them on anyone who dares to disagree with him or his supporters. 

“This is a very severe degradation of freedom of thought [and] freedom of speech in the country, and it should be raising alarm bells,” said Robert P. Jones, president and founder of Public Religion Research Institute.

“It does look like a very straight blueprint drawn from white evangelical Protestant Christian circles,” said Jones, the author of the forthcoming book “Backslide: Reclaiming a Faith and a Nation After the Christian Turn Against Democracy.”“What they call radical ideology is essentially anything that differs from that conservative, white evangelical Protestant worldview.”

The Narcoterrorist Boogeymen

By labeling drug-trafficking networks as terrorists, Trump is operating in a long tradition of using the rhetoric of war to refer to an issue that is rooted in public health. The terrorism framing is simply the logical next step in the decadeslong war on drugs that is, more often than not, used as a cudgel by U.S. policymakers to keep Latin American countries in line, said Alexander Aviña, a historian at Arizona State University.

“They’re using drug war counterterrorism as a cover,” Aviña said. “They’re effectively maintaining control over the region through a bunch of proxy right-wing governments, but it’s being framed as counterterrorism, as an anti-drugs operation. The innovation here is that they’re applying war on terror legislation and laws to drug trafficking organizations”

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The problem with labeling drug networks as “terrorists,” however, is that the vast majority of drug traffickers differ from organizations like Al Qaeda and the Islamic State group in that they have no real membership, and they operate for profit, not to achieve an ideological objective.

Legacy Islamist Terrorists

Despite Trump’s boasts of his prowess at fighting terrorism, both Al Qaeda and ISIS were the top threats in his 2018 counterterrorism strategy. They are called out specifically in the new document as well.

In fact, Gorka’s inclusion of ISIS directly contradicts longtime claims by Trump. “We defeated ISIS in record time,” Trump said in his 2024 election-night speech. Last year, at his commencement speech at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, he said: “I defeated ISIS in three weeks.”

“Politically Motivated” Killings of Christians

The idea that Christians, who make up two-thirds of the U.S. population, are under siege is belied by the data. Hate crimes motivated by anti-Christian bias are far rarer than attacks motivated by racism or xenophobia in the United States, and other religious groups are far more likely to report being the victim of a religiously motivated hate crime than Christians. An analysis of 2023 FBI hate crime data found that less than 10 percent of religiously motivated hate crimes were believed to be motivated by anti-Christian bias. 

“There’s really no evidence-based reason why a report focused on the domestic front would disproportionately feature violence against Christians. There’s just no evidence that that is the most pressing problem facing us in the United States today,” said PRRI’s Jones.

In the wake of Charlie Kirk’s killing, right-wing influencers and media outlets rapidly spread misinformation about the shooter’s gender identity and supposed “pro-transgender” ideology based on unverified claims about the bullet casings used in the shooting. Trans people are far more likely to be victims of gun violence than perpetrators. In mass shootings carried out between 1966 and 2025, less than 1 percent of the shooters were transgender, according to the Violence Prevention Project. The overwhelming majority of shooters were cisgender men. 

“In the immediate aftermath of Charlie Kirk’s murder, news outlets and people with large platforms online raced to share unconfirmed reports that wrongfully tied the LGBTQ+ community to the shooter,” Human Rights Campaign national press secretary Brandon Wolf told The Washington Blade. “Jumping to those conclusions was reckless, irresponsible, and led to a wave of threats against the trans community from right wing influencers, and a wave of terror for the community that is already living scared.”

“Neutralization” of Adversaries

While Trump has frequently threatened his political opponents in public, experts in extremism told The Intercept that “this kind of language” in a national security document should raise alarm bells. It’s one thing when the president rants about “radical gender ideology” at a rally, said Jones. “But when it gets put into a national presidential security memo, when it gets put into a report that’s led by a task force at the U.S. Department of Justice, and when it’s put into a counterterrorism document … these are laying the legal framework for prosecution.” 

This language of “neutralization” in this new strategy harkens back to the FBI’s analogous and infamous COINTELPRO program, which was employed in the 1960s and 1970s to target the civil rights movement, the New Left, and anti-Vietnam War protesters, among other domestic groups and individuals and, according to a 1976 Senate Select Committee report on U.S. intelligence activities, “turn[ed] a law enforcement agency into a law violator.” The FBI, the committee found, “went beyond the collection of intelligence to secret action designed to ‘disrupt’ and ‘neutralize’ target groups and individuals,” using “wartime counterintelligence” techniques that “would be intolerable in a democratic society even if all of the targets had been involved in violent activity,” which they were not.

A 1967 FBI memo notes that purpose of this type of “counterintelligence endeavor is to expose, disrupt, misdirect, discredit, or otherwise neutralize” African American groups and leaders. Efforts included “sending anonymous poison-pen letters intended to break up marriages,” “encouraging gang warfare,” “falsely labeling members of a violent group as police informers,” and other means to “cause serious physical, emotional, or economic damage to the targets,” according to the committee. Their investigation found that civil rights leader “Martin Luther King, Jr. was, for instance, the target of an intensive campaign by the Federal Bureau of Investigation to ‘neutralize’ him” and that “the man in charge of the FBI’s ‘war’ against Dr. King” said they used the same methods employed against Soviet agents.

An Antifa Obsession

Antifa, short for antifascist, is a decentralized, leftist ideology, a collection of related ideas and political concepts much like feminism or environmentalism. Over the last decade, however, Republicans have used it as an omnibus term for left-wing activists — as if it were an organization with members and a command structure. They have increasingly blamed antifa for terrorist violence.

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In 2019, during his first term, Trump floated the idea of declaring antifa “a major Organization of Terror,” likening it to the group MS-13, an international criminal gang that originated in the U.S. and that the administration added to the foreign terrorist organization list last year. “The United States of America will be designating ANTIFA as a Terrorist Organization,” Trump tweeted in 2020, during protests after the police killing of George Floyd.

Then-FBI Director Christopher Wray said, however, that antifa was “not a group or an organization” but a “movement or an ideology.” Trump lashed out, calling antifa “well funded ANARCHISTS & THUGS who are protected because the … FBI is simply unable, or unwilling, to find their funding source.” After Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, in an effort to overturn his 2020 election loss to Joe Biden, Trump blamed “antifa people” for inciting violence. 

Finally, last September, Trump signed an executive order designating antifa as a “domestic terror organization.” He followed it by issuing NSPM-7, which directs the Justice Department and elements of the Intelligence Community and national security establishment to target “anti-fascism … movements” and “domestic terrorist organizations.” 

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How Many Members Does Antifa Have? Where Is Its Headquarters? The FBI Has No Answers.

On his press tour touting the new strategy, Gorka said “left-wing violent radicals like antifa and the anarchists” were the “most ascendant” terror group and — without evidence — claimed they were “the people who killed our friend Charlie Kirk.” He said these leftists are “people who think that if you don’t agree with them politically, they get to kill you.”

Locking Up Trump’s Enemies

The new document detours to discuss the wrongful detention of Americans abroad. Ironically, the Trump administration has unlawfully detained thousands of people residing in the United States, including those with legal status, targeting everyone from perceived political dissidents to racial and ethnic minorities. 

Last year, the Trump administration detained Tufts University student Rümeysa Öztürk for writing an op-ed, as revealed by legal documents unsealed as a result of litigation from The Intercept and other parties. 
Also in 2025, the administration sent Kilmar Ábrego García, a Salvadoran national with an order preventing his deportation to his country of origin, to CECOT, a prison in El Salvador notorious for human rights abuses. He has since been released to his home in Maryland, but the administration has continued to target him, including with criminal prosecution.

The Monroe Doctrine

Issued by President James Monroe, the Monroe Doctrine is a foundational principle of U.S. foreign policy opposing any foreign interference in the Western Hemisphere — except by Washington. It’s seen by American nationalists and by modern “America First” Trump ideologues as marking a “golden age” of U.S. power in the region, according to historian Greg Grandin.

“Going back to World War I and World War II, America First nationalists have liked the Monroe Doctrine because they saw it as an alternative to liberal internationalism,” Grandin said. “They were never isolationists, even though that word is often applied to them, because they’ve long claimed the right to intervene and project power in the Western Hemisphere.”

Now, Trump is using the spectre of terror to justify extrajudicial killings of alleged drug traffickers at sea and the abduction of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

Boat Strikes and Bogus Stats

The U.S. military has conducted 58 attacks on so-called drug boats in the Caribbean Sea and Eastern Pacific Ocean since September 2025, killing more than 190 civilians. 

Experts in the laws of war, as well as members of Congress from both parties, say the strikes are illegal, extrajudicial killings because the military is not permitted to deliberately target civilians — even suspected criminals — who do not pose an imminent threat of violence.

The assertion that this campaign has resulted “in a more than 90% decrease in maritime drug smuggling” into the U.S. slightly tempers similarly outlandish and false figures from Trump, who regularly claims that “drugs entering our country by sea are down 97 percent.” Experts say these claims are meant to deceive the American people. “It wouldn’t be the first time this administration just made up something out of whole cloth,” Sanho Tree, the director of the Drug Policy Project at the Washington-based Institute for Policy Studies, told The Intercept.

Even the Pentagon’s own figures refute Trump’s numbers. “He’s trying to imply that 97 percent of the cocaine that left South America by boat headed to the United States has been stopped,” said Rear Adm. William Baumgartner, the former commander of the Seventh Coast Guard District, who oversaw drug-interdiction operations in the Southeast U.S. and the Caribbean Basin. “That’s not true and is contradicted by the administration’s own statements.” Acting Assistant Secretary of War for Homeland Defense and Americas Security Affairs Joseph Humire, for example, offered completely different numbers to Congress, telling the House Armed Services Committee in March that there “has been a 20 percent reduction of movements of drug vessels in the Caribbean and an additional 25 percent reduction in the Eastern Pacific.”

The “Trump Corollary”

This isn’t the first time we’ve seen an attempt by the administration to enshrine a “Trump Corollary” to the Monroe Doctrine, with the term also appearing in the administration’s national security strategy document in December. But it’s not entirely clear what, precisely, this corollary means, said Aviña, the historian.

“It’s supposed to be an addition to the Monroe Doctrine, but we don’t get a very precise definition of what that is,” said Aviña. “It harkens back to the Roosevelt Corollary, but Teddy Roosevelt was very clear about what his addition was: international police power.” Trump makes no claim to a new power. “So Trump is working in that tradition, but in a weird and imprecise way.”

Loosened Rules and Civilian Deaths

The loosened rules of engagement during Trump’s first term had a profound effect across the Middle East and Africa. Attacks in Somalia tripled after Trump relaxed targeting principles, while U.S. military and independent estimates of civilian casualties across U.S. war zones spiked. The U.S. conducted 219 declared attacks in Somalia during Trump’s single term in the White House, a more than 329 percent increase over the eight years of the Obama presidency. Trump is already on the cusp of eclipsing those numbers in less than a year and half. Since taking office last year, Trump has overseen at least 190 attacks in Somalia.

A review of Trump-era rules by the Biden administration found that, in some countries, “operating principles,” including a “near certainty” that civilians would “not be injured or killed in the course of operations,” were reportedly enforced only for women and children, while a lower standard applied to civilian adult men. All military-age males were considered legitimate targets if they were observed with suspected al-Shabab members in the group’s territory, Donald Bolduc, who led Special Operations Command Africa at the time, told The Intercept. 

A 2023 investigation by The Intercept found that Trump’s directive contributed to a particularly disastrous attack in Somalia that killed at least three — and possibly five — civilians, including 22-year-old Luul Dahir Mohamed and her 4-year-old daughter, Mariam Shilow Muse. The mother and child survived the initial strike but were killed by a double-tap attack as they fled for their lives. “They know innocent people were killed, but they’ve never told us a reason or apologized,” said Abdi Dahir Mohamed, one of Luul’s brothers. “No one has been held accountable.”

Using Europe to Promote Bigotry

The document employs its section on Europe to shamelessly promote racism, white nationalism, and Christian supremacy employing a stilted worldview that ignores the U.S. role in the immigration it rails against.

“Trump officials are clearly weaponizing anti-Muslim bigotry in their campaign to heap pressure on Europe. They are baselessly insinuating that European policies that welcomed migrants — who largely fled their home countries due to the impact of U.S. backed wars and regime changes — created an incubator for terrorism,” Erik Sperling, the executive director of Just Foreign Policy, told The Intercept. “At the same time, however, the White House continues to implement the exact kind of violent, interventionist policies that drove mass migration and generated extremism in the first place.”

“There is this kind of praising of Western culture and values, the denigration of ‘alien cultures,’” said Jones. “What’s behind those is really a sense of European superiority, and that gets translated into the U.S. in racial terms. So it really is a white Christian worldview here that’s being projected and protected.”

A Bid to “Protect Christians”

Experts on white supremacy and Christian nationalism told The Intercept that the Trump administration is spreading misinformation about a Christian genocide in Africa in order to stoke white Christian nationalist and anti-immigrant sentiments at home. “In Nigeria, it’s genocide against Christians, and in South Africa, it’s the supposed genocide against these white Afrikaners,” Christine Reyna, a professor of psychology at DePaul University, told The Intercept. “And so in absence of an actual genocide in the United States against either of these two groups, you can keep that narrative of that existential fear of extermination and genocide and oppression that is alive and well within a certain subset of white Americans.”

In addition to using the conflicts in Africa to spread propaganda domestically, experts on Christian nationalism tell The Intercept that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth believes in waging war to achieve Christian supremacy abroad, without respect to international laws or norms. “Hegseth believes that he is carrying out a spiritual and actual war to vanquish a Christian nation’s enemies and protect and promote a Christian nation,” Sarah Posner, an investigative journalist covering the Christian right, said on The Intercept Briefing podcast. “For Hegseth, biblical law is the only law he feels obligated to obey. The law of war, international law governing military conflicts, and human rights and civilian rights in war — he believes don’t apply to him.”

Trump’s Holy War in Nigeria

While Christians have been the victims of violence in Nigeria, they have not been the primary target, and experts overwhelmingly reject the idea that a Christian genocide is occurring in that country. Research from the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data, an independent global monitor of conflict and protest data, found that of the 1,923 attacks on civilians in Nigeria that occurred as of November of last year; 50 of those attacks targeted Christians because of their religion. According to experts, the majority of the violence has focused on land disputes. 

Trump’s Christmas Day attack was another in a long string of failed and futile U.S. counterterrorism efforts in Africa documented by The Intercept over the last decade This includes blowback from U.S. operations and failed secret wars, civilians killed in drone strikes, coups by U.S. trained officers, increases in the reach of terror groups, surging fatalities from militant violence, human rights abuses by allies, massacres of civilians by partner forces, and a catalogue of other fiascos.

Doubling Down on Failures in Africa

The document casts Trump’s strategy as a departure from the failed forever war interventions of Presidents George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and Joe Biden. But Sarah Harrison — who served as an associate general counsel at the Pentagon’s Office of General Counsel, International Affairs, where she oversaw the Africa portfolio, and as counsel to the deputy assistant secretary of defense for African affairs — sees little difference. “Setting aside the bombast about protecting Christians, the fundamentals of Trump’s Africa CT policy isn’t that distinct from his predecessors: a light military footprint to facilitate intel sharing and drone strikes with an emphasis on supporting the partner nation. These policies fail because they ignore the drivers of conflict and refuse to acknowledge the need for a political solution,” she told The Intercept.

The U.S. government’s own statistics bear out this record of futility and failure. Throughout all of Africa, the State Department counted 23 deaths from terrorist violence in 2002 and 2003, as U.S. counterterrorism efforts began to ramp up on the continent in the wake of 9/11. Last year, there were 22,307 fatalities from militant Islamist violence in Africa, according to the Africa Center for Strategic Studies, a Pentagon research institution. This represents an almost 97,000 percent increase since the early 2000s, with the areas of greatest U.S. involvement — Somalia and the West African Sahel — suffering the worst outcomes.

“Reality-Based” Counterterrorism

The document ends as it began, with unserious bombast that reads like little more than AI slop fashioned from administration talking points. Evoking the administration’s 2025 National Security Strategy, which called for a restoration of “Europe’s civilizational self-confidence and Western identity,” the Trump administration appears to be making up for its own insecurities with claims that the president has restored America’s “civilizational confidence” through a baptism of fire. In reality, the document projects a heady blend of weakness and anxiety and espouses a counterterrorism strategy akin to a 12-year-old boy’s vision of foreign policy: boasts about killing one’s way to victory.

In a post-release media tour where he spoke with MAGA outlets and administration sycophants, Gorka expressed amazement at how little negative reporting there was about the new counterterrorism strategy. “Even the left, they’re so on their heels. I did a kind of press call when we released the strategy,” said Gorka. “Fifty articles were written. … Only one of them … was even slightly negative.” (The Intercept’s invite must have been lost in the mail.) He continued: “We are moving so fast, they just can’t keep up with us — which is delicious.” His interviewer, Dean Cain, best known for playing second fiddle in “Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman,” responded, “That’s wonderful.” 

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“If the U.S. government counterterrorism enterprise hadn’t jumped the shark before, it certainly has now,” said Finucane. “The administration has repurposed the terrorism framing and applied it not only to alleged narcos but also perceived domestic political opponents — as we saw with the way the administration baselessly smeared Renee Good and Alex Pretti as ‘terrorists’ after gunning them down. The whole situation would be much funnier if the Trump administration wasn’t currently engaged in a lawless killing spree under the guise of ‘counterterrorism.’”

The post How Trump’s New Counterterrorism Strategy Puts You at Risk appeared first on The Intercept.

Why Should Delaware Care?
Youth services for hundreds of New Castle County children face uncertainty as finances at the Police Athletic League of Delaware are probed. The nonprofit is one of dozens of private organizations that are regularly funded by taxpayers. For years, it also was one of a handful to be led by a state lawmaker.

The financial crisis facing the Police Athletic League of Delaware escalated in recent weeks after state officials demanded that the community center nonprofit repay nearly $900,000 in misspent pandemic relief money, New Castle County police chief Col. Jamie Leonard said Tuesday.

Speaking before the New Castle County Council, Leonard said the PAL — as the organization is known — does not have enough cash on hand to repay the money, which he said was awarded for capital projects in previous years, but instead was spent on day-to-day operating expenses. 

Leonard said state officials are expecting the repayment “rather quickly,” because they want to redistribute the dollars before a spending deadline at the end of the year.

He also indicated the situation could involve criminal liability, but said it remains “difficult to unravel.” 

 “Financial crimes was never my thing, but it’s messy, for sure,” he said to the council.

A spokesperson for the Delaware Department of Finance declined to confirm that it is demanding repayment, stating “we do not comment on active investigations.”

The office of the U.S. Attorney for Delaware did not respond to an email seeking comment. 

The police chief’s comments mark the latest chapter in the troubles facing the politically connected nonprofit, which operates community centers serving children in New Castle County. They first emerged publicly eight months ago after former Delaware House Speaker Valerie Longhurst quietly resigned as the executive director of the nonprofit. 

At the time, two board members told Spotlight Delaware that the organization’s cash reserves had dwindled, even after it received a record $5 million in cash and rent assistance from taxpayers in the 2024 fiscal year – as well as hundreds of thousands more in 2025.

A portion of its revenues in recent years came from the federal American Rescue Plan Act, a 2021 law designed to jump start the COVID-era economy. While the money originated at the U.S. Department of the Treasury, it was awarded by then-Gov. John Carney.

Following Longhurst’s resignation, New Castle County Executive Marcus Henry announced that Leonard would take over as the PAL’s board chairman. Leonard then named one of his officers, New Castle County Police Lt. Angela Dolan, as its interim executive director.

During a New Castle County Council meeting last fall, Dolan described the array of activities offered by the PAL, including a basketball league, a flag football league, a soccer clinic, a Lego league, a book club, and an art club.  

Then she expressed dismay over what she feared could be the organization’s future.

“When you see these kids come in and love what they’re doing and what they’re being exposed to, it’s really hard to think that this could end,” she said then.

Who controlled the finances?

In the months that followed, Longhurst did not comment publicly, even after reports surfaced that her former nonprofit faced a criminal investigation, and an audit that could force it to pay out hundreds of thousands of dollars. 

On Wednesday, she broke her silence in an interview with Spotlight Delaware that primarily consisted of her suggesting several questions that should be asked of the PAL’s board of directors, including about the quality of their past oversight, and about a former staffer who she said had the authority to make spending decisions. 

Last year, Spotlight Delaware learned that the organization’s board of directors had not held meetings on a regular basis. 

Longhurst did not directly answer the question of why money granted for capital projects may have been used for operating expenses during her tenure.

“All I can say is, you know, were procedures put in place?” she said. “The people who were supposed to oversee that. Were they?”

When pressed that those spending decisions would have been hers to make as executive director, Longhurst said, “Actually, they weren’t.”

Instead, she claimed that a former bookkeeper at the PAL “had full autonomy over all the finances.”

Asked whether she has been contacted by either state of federal criminal investigators, she said she had not. 

In her comments, Longhurst also showered praise onto the PAL and its mission. She said the organization with community centers across the county has an impact that is underestimated in Delaware.  

“I have nothing but great things to say about how wonderful the PAL is,” she said.

The PAL of Delaware operates athletic, arts and academic programs at community center locations in Hockessin, Delaware City and suburban New Castle. The settings place children in contact with law enforcement as part of a founding principle “of building bridges between police officers and the communities they serve,” according to the PAL of Delaware website.  

The nonprofit also has been an integral piece of Delaware’s political landscape, with elected officials regularly making public appearances at its locations.

Until 2024, it also was one of several prominent Delaware organizations led by a state lawmaker. That ended last September when Longhurst — then among the most powerful politicians in Delaware — lost her seat representing the Bear area to now-Rep. Kamela Smith, a Democrat.

Could the state be liable?

At the New Castle County Council meeting Tuesday, Councilman John Cartier asked Leonard about the state’s deadline for the PAL to pay back its $876,000 debt.  

That deadline, Leonard said, had already passed. He noted that state officials want to reclaim the dollars immediately so they could award them to another organization ahead of the end-of-the-year deadline to spend the dollars.  

He also recounted a conversation last month with state officials, who described different scenarios that could result from their demand. The PAL could pay back the money in full. The state could place a lien on the organization’s property.

Or, federal and state officials could “look to the party responsible for the mismanagement at the time to recoup those funds,” Leonard said, without detailing who the responsible party might be.

Also at the council meeting, Councilwoman Janet Kilpatrick pressed the police chief about whether it was state or federal officials demanding the money back. 

Leonard said it was both. All of his meetings with regulators have been through the state, he said, but with a U.S Treasury official in attendance.  

“So the state would like the money back to redistribute, but Treasury has the ultimate say on any forgiveness,” Leonard said. 

The U.S. Department of the Treasury did not respond to a request to comment on this story.

Kilpatrick then asked Leonard if he met with Delaware lawmakers. She suggested the state may have liability around any misspent money if officials had not conducted sufficient oversight. 

Kilpatrick then noted that Delaware’s annual capital budget hearings are set to commence soon. In response, Leonard said the co-chairs of the state’s primary budget committee have been briefed on this “on a continual basis.” 

He also noted that the PAL has applied to the Delaware grant-in-aid program for the next fiscal year. The program distributes tens of millions of dollars annually to Delaware nonprofits.

Last summer, lawmakers paused a grant-in-aid package to the PAL after evidence of its financial crisis first emerged. Ultimately, the state distributed more than $600,000 to the organization during the current 2026 fiscal year, which ends on June 30.

Asked about the nature of Leonard’s recent conversations with lawmakers, a spokesperson for the Senate Democrats said in a statement that they “welcome communication” from PAL leadership, but “in our current fiscal climate, we cannot commit to allocating state funds to cover their shortfall at this time.”

The spokesperson also stated that she would not characterize the PAL’s past outreach with legislators as “continual.”

In an interview with Spotlight Delaware, Leonard declined to go into details about the frequency of past conversations with lawmakers.  

He also said the organization is not at risk of closing, stressing that all three PAL community centers are running at normal times.

To rebuild its finances, he said the organization has begun leasing its facilities out during off hours. He also stated that conversations with the state officials about an “appeal process or a forgiveness option” for the demanded money have occurred.

“We are working through possible ways to make good on our obligations,” Leonard said.

The post Crisis at the PAL escalates as the state demands an $876K repayment appeared first on Spotlight Delaware.

Redress to customers for force-fitting devices in homes includes £20m penalty and £70m of debt write-offs

Thousands of British Gas customers who had prepayment meters force-fitted in their homes will between them receive compensation and energy bill debt write-offs worth up to £112m in the biggest energy supplier settlement on record.

Great Britain’s energy regulator found that British Gas forced PPMs on homes that were not keeping up with their bills at the height of the Russian gas crisis, in one of the most complex investigations in Ofgem’s history.

Exclusive: DHS made social media posts out of a protester’s arrest at gunpoint. Christian Cerna speaks out about the lengthy prosecution that derailed his life

Christian Cerna, 28, was driving with his partner and their two young children through Los Angeles, when two vehicles rammed his car and a group of men jumped out and trained their guns on them.

It was 11 June 2025, and as Cerna exited his vehicle with his hands raised, he realized the masked men weren’t street criminals as he initially feared. They were Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.

When immigration agents pulled U.S. citizen Leonardo Garcia Venegas from his car this month and shackled him, he wasn’t surprised. He wasn’t scared. 

He was tired.

As ProPublica detailed last fall, he had already been detained twice before.

A year ago, Garcia Venegas was filming his brother’s arrest during a raid on their coastal Alabama construction site when he was tackled by agents, who ignored his pleas that he was a citizen. A few weeks later, an officer entered the home Garcia Venegas was building and refused to trust the now-26-year-old’s Alabama REAL ID, which only citizens and legal residents can get.

Videos of the incidents went viral. He appeared before Congress. He also has a suit pending against the Trump administration. 

But all the attention hasn’t changed much. On May 2, agents followed him back to his home. They again didn’t believe his claims of citizenship or the REAL ID he once again tried to show them.

Now, after that latest detention, Garcia Venegas sounds demoralized.

“Honestly, it feels terrible,”  Garcia Venegas told ProPublica. The mental burden of wondering when it will happen again weighs on him, bringing stress and depression. “I drive to work every morning and I know, at any moment, they could pull me over again.”

While immigration sweeps have receded from the headlines, Garcia Venegas’ most recent incident highlights how the mistaken detention of Americans has continued despite congressional inquiries and denials by senior immigration officials. 

Days after Garcia Venegas’ latest detention, masked agents tackled an American teen in the Bronx. When they finally realized he was a citizen, they left him in an unfamiliar neighborhood, bloody and bruised.

The same week both citizens were held, administration officials spoke on a panel at a border security conference in Phoenix and downplayed and denied that citizens have been mistakenly detained. Recordings of the conference were shared with ProPublica. 

“Since the start of this administration, we have not had any arrests of U.S. citizens for false identification, where we thought they were an illegal alien but they were actually a U.S. citizen,” said Matthew Elliston, a top Immigration and Customs Enforcement official. “That’s happened zero times.”

In another panel, the outgoing head of ICE, Todd Lyons, acknowledged immigration agents sometimes detained American citizens in cases where those citizens allegedly put “hands on law enforcement.” He also said the arrests operated as “a deterrent.” 

As ProPublica and others have reported, citizens — including Garcia Venegas — accused of assaulting officers have not always been charged with assault. Video footage has often also contradicted Department of Homeland Security claims that its agents were attacked.

In response to questions from ProPublica, a DHS spokesperson said in a statement that despite the shackles, Garcia Venegas was “NOT detained.” The statement continued: “ICE conducted a routine vehicle stop on a car registered to an illegal alien. After Venegas’ identity was established, he was released.” DHS also stated that the teen in the Bronx was “NOT arrested” but rather “temporarily detained.” 

The agency said it is “NOT arresting U.S. citizens by mistake. DHS enforcement operations are highly targeted.” 

But it’s not clear what, if any, intel agents have used in the repeated detention of Garcia Venegas. 

Garcia Venegas said agents and local law enforcement at the scene blamed him for his most recent arrest because he was driving a car registered to his brother.

“The officers told me that I risk being stopped again until I register the license plates in my own name,” Garcia Venegas said in a recent filing in his lawsuit. “But the officers could have known immediately that I was not my brother just by checking the REAL ID that was in my hand when they pulled me from the truck and tackled me to the ground.”

Garcia Venegas’ incidents bear the hallmarks of what have become known as “Kavanaugh stops.” Those are stops in which, Supreme Court Justice Kavanaugh wrote in a case last fall, agents are allowed to stop people based in part on their “apparent ethnicity” (Garcia Venegas is Latino), job (he works in construction) and language (he primarily speaks Spanish).

Americans, Kavanaugh said, have no reason to worry. Agents will establish their citizenship and “promptly let the individual go.” (In a later case on another issue, Kavanaugh included a footnote that “officers must not make interior immigration stops or arrests based on race or ethnicity.”)

In his latest stop, Garcia Venegas was let go after about 15 minutes. But the fallout is far from over. 

Even though he was born in Florida and graduated high school in the same county where keeps getting detained, Garcia Venegas sometimes wonders if he should pick up and move to his family’s home in Mexico. 

“I just want to live in peace,” he said. 

Last fall, when Garcia Venegas filed his federal lawsuit against the government, he demanded more than compensation. He has insisted agents stop “unconstitutional” raids in his area. The government said in court that the immigration sweeps are “based on reasonable suspicion and probable cause and the Constitution.”

After Garcia Venegas was held for the third time, his lawyers rushed to update his lawsuit with details of his latest detention. But the government’s lawyers have argued that Garcia Venegas’ case still has no merit.

Garcia Venegas also filed a separate claim for damages with the government last fall. He received a denial from ICE in mid-April that contained no explanation. His third detention came roughly two weeks later.  

During the border security conference this month, the head of Customs and Border Protection,   Rodney Scott, was asked about ProPublica’s reporting on citizens’ detentions and how the agency is addressing them.  

“I’m not going to do anything to not arrest U.S. citizens,” he said. “Because we arrest criminals, period.”

The post Why Have Immigration Agents Detained This American Citizen Three Times? appeared first on ProPublica.

These smoke and CO alarms are the best available -- including smart upgrades to make management easier.

A new Gallup survey found that 71% of Americans oppose having an AI data center built near them, making the facilities even less popular than nearby nuclear plants, which 53% oppose. The Register reports: When it comes to the reasons for opposing AI campuses, half of all respondents cite the effect on resources, with excess water usage and potential power grid constraints topping the list. Concern about loss of farmland and nature was surprisingly low, with just 7 percent mentioning this, but it is possible the scores are higher in rural areas. Quality-of-life concerns such as increased traffic were put forward by nearly a quarter, while a fifth mentioned higher utility bills. Many were worried about AI specifically: that it would replace human workers, that they don't trust it, that it is moving too fast, and that the industry needs regulating. Perhaps the latter sentiment is why President Trump appears to have shifted his own position on the need for AI regulations. Conversely, those in favor of datacenters cite economic benefits, with 55 percent mentioning increased job opportunities, and 13 percent saying it is because of increased tax revenues. [...] This being America in 2026, Gallup looked at how attitudes stack up depending on political affiliation. It found that Democrats, at 56 percent, are much more likely than Republicans to be strongly opposed to a server farm in their vicinity. But 39 percent of Republicans are also strongly opposed, while another 24 percent are somewhat averse to it, and only about a third are in favor. Gallup points out the contradiction: for AI usage to expand in the US, facilities that can handle the necessary computing power will have to be built. But most Americans appear to take a "not in my backyard" attitude to new bit barns, and that attitude has grown in strength.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

The president’s ultimate goal is to push the Fed – among other independent US institutions – to bend to his will

Jerome Powell, who stepped down this week as chair of the Federal Reserve, had his hits and misses. The Fed was late to react as prices started rising when the Covid pandemic abated, but they eventually acted forcefully and achieved the most rare of feats: a “soft landing”, curbing inflation without sparking a recession or damaging employment.

Strangely, given the chaotic era of pandemic and tariffs that coincided with Powell’s time as chair, monetary policy may not define his legacy. Powell’s most lasting accomplishment will most likely be his outspoken efforts to defend the independence of the Fed from an assault by the imperial presidency of Donald Trump.

After weeks of cooling myself down with the three-in-one Shark ChillPill, I can safely say I've never seen a portable fan with these special features.

I doused more than a dozen BBQ sauces over a plate of grilled chicken. Here are the sauces I'll be slathering on food this summer.

From the more affordable Pixel 10A to Pixel 10 Pro and the foldable Pixel 10 Pro Fold, these are the best Google phones we've reviewed.

Jalisco cartel boss Audias Flores Silva was arrested in an operation by Mexican Navy special forces based on information provided by U.S. agencies.

Large-scale attack on Russian regions and huge oil refinery comes after 24 were killed when missile hit flats in Kyiv

Ukraine has launched a large-scale long-range drone attack targeting several regions in Russia including the huge Ryazan oil refinery, after three days of massive strikes by Moscow against Ukraine.

Kyiv’s attack on Friday followed a series of drone and missile attacks on Ukraine, including on the capital, Kyiv, where a cruise missile hit an apartment block on Thursday, killing 24 people including three children.

The open world driving sim has roared through locations from Colorado to Australia, its authentic feel resting on exhaustive research. But, as the team explain, this was the toughest challenge yet

Since the arrival of the original Forza Horizon in 2012, a game that revolutionised open world driving sims by setting players loose in a virtual Colorado, British developer Playground Games has promised authenticity with its settings. For each instalment, design teams are sent out on location to take thousands of photos, hours of video, even detailed captures of the sky, before construction of a virtual copy begins. It’s a huge undertaking. But it seems that for much of the past decade, one country remained slightly out of reach – an intimidating prospect. “Japan has been on our shortlist for several games now,” says design director, Torben Ellert. “But we just didn’t feel like we were ready to take on the challenge of building it.”

It’s not just about the sheer variety of the country’s landscape. There’s something else going on. Most video game players hold an image of what it is like to explore Japan. It may be inspired by the fictitious rural town of Inaba in Persona 4, or the busy docks of Yokosuka in Shenmue, or perhaps the neon-drenched Kabukichō district of Tokyo, which forms a regular backdrop in the Yakuza series. For decades, gamers around the world have been bombarded with images of the country that are often highly stylised and fragmented, but nonetheless potent and persuasive. As art director Don Arceta puts it, “with Japan there’s such an expectation [of] what gamers want - it’s a certain version of Japan that they picture.”

Oklahoma has filed a lawsuit against Roblox, making it the latest state to take legal action against the popular gaming platform over child safety concerns.

Record heat in North and Central America coincides with egg-sized hailstones in eastern China

Extreme weather across several parts of the world this week has brought record-breaking temperatures to Honduras, North America and Indonesia.

Honduras smashed its all-time May maximum temperature record earlier this month – only for it to be broken again on 13 May in Choluteca, known as the furnace of Central America. Temperatures climbed to 42.2C (107.9F), surpassing the previous record of 42.1C. With intense heat forecast to persist over the coming weeks, more records are expected to fall.

The Trump Mobile T1 phone, as it is officially known, was supposed to launch last August.

Site provides little in the way of actual support for pregnant women – but does direct them to deceptive pregnancy centers

On the website’s landing page, a photo of a heavily pregnant white woman is cropped below the head, so that she is faceless, anonymous, cradling her massive belly underneath the skirt of her yellow dress. She appears to be standing in a field of tall grass, the kind you can get ticks in. The photo is flanked on either side by chubby infant footprints – one pair in pink, another in blue – a clear nod to the anti-abortion movement’s preferred symbol of what they call “precious feet”. A banner at the top declares that the site, “Moms.gov”, which was launched by the White House on Mother’s Day, offers “Resources, Information, and Help for New and Expecting Mothers”, and advertises that it is “addressing the needs of mothers and fathers who face difficult or unexpected pregnancies” – that is, those who would often seek abortions. In fact, the site does little besides link to Option Line, a referral network of Christian anti-abortion crisis pregnancy centers run by the anti-abortion group Heartbeat International.

The launch of Moms.gov was accompanied by an uncomfortable Oval Office press conference on Monday, in which members of the Trump administration and some of the more aggressively anti-choice Republican members of Congress gathered to tout the new website and cheer on the Trump administration’s pronatalist stance. Dr Mehmet Oz, the wellness influencer and one-time television personality who now holds a position in the Trump health department as the administrator for Medicare and Medicaid, lamented that Americans are, in his creepy personal parlance, “under-babied”. “One in three Americans are under-babied,” Oz asserted. “That means that you either don’t have any children or you have less children than you would normally want to have.” Oz asserted that the fertility rate has fallen below 1.5 (a Johns Hopkins study indicates that it is in fact a bit higher, and that the US population is not shrinking) and predicted a coming wave of “Trump babies”.

All victims of US strikes in eastern Pacific and the Caribbean identified so far came from extremely poor communities

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A five-month investigation has named 13 previously unidentified victims of US attacks on boats allegedly carrying narcotics in a campaign that has killed nearly 200 people in the Caribbean and the eastern Pacific.

It is unclear if the US has ever identified any of its 194 victims before attacking them, and the names of just three had previously emerged, after their families launched legal cases against the White House.

Homework, social pressure and jobs still keep teens up but now screen time and social media rob their sleep

A new study from the University of Minnesota School of Public Health shows that today’s teenagers are sleeping less than ever before.

The findings, which appeared in Pediatrics, showed a consistent decline in sleep across every age category. The latest figures revealed record-low sleep levels for all groups, with only 22% of older adolescents saying they slept at least seven hours each night.

A top regulator for Colorado’s Marijuana Enforcement Division acknowledged in a private meeting with industry representatives that the amount of chemically converted hemp being illegally sold as marijuana is far greater than the agency has publicly disclosed.

The remarks confirmed testing by The Denver Gazette and ProPublica, which found signs of hemp in marijuana vapes sold at dispensaries, as well as reporting that regulators have discovered that some hemp-derived vapes were contaminated with a toxic chemical.

The virtual meeting, an audio recording of which was reviewed by the news organizations, was convened by members of Colorado Leads, a marijuana industry trade group, in March to discuss a problem they said had “metastasized” and now posed an “existential threat” to the nation’s first legal recreational marijuana market.

During the meeting, Kyle Lambert, the enforcement division’s deputy senior director, said the number of hemp-derived products is “larger than we can quantify.” He said the agency feared the prevalence of banned hemp was driving down the price of marijuana in the state and helping facilitate the diversion of high-grade marijuana out of Colorado and into the black market in other states.

Describing anomalies in the system the state uses to track marijuana production and sales, Lambert told the industry players that the extent of suspicious transactions in the system “would probably explode your minds.”

Two weeks after that meeting, the division sent a bulletin to the industry that it plans to crack down on companies that illegally sell cheaper and potentially hazardous hemp products as marijuana and that it would pursue emergency rules.

But it hasn’t done so yet, and other reform efforts failed during this year’s legislative session. Despite the regulators’ concerns, Colorado lawmakers, who weren’t at the March briefing, abandoned a bill that would have let voters decide whether to overhaul how marijuana products are tested for contaminants. (The Denver Gazette and ProPublica investigation found that other states have adopted stronger safety measures.)

Dominique Mendiola, the senior director of the Marijuana Enforcement Division, said in a statement that the agency has “consistently been proactive in pursuing the necessary rules, legislation and authority to combat this issue.”

“Lambert was speaking frankly to highlight the scale and complexity of the problem, as nominal-dollar transactions do not amount to definitive evidence of non-compliance,” Mendiola said. She added that investigations into such transactions require extensive resources and can take significant time.

The problem of companies substituting hemp for marijuana dates to 2018, when Congress legalized hemp, a close cousin of marijuana that has only trace amounts of THC, the psychoactive compound that makes people high. Federal lawmakers had hoped to support farmers while satisfying advocates who believe the high levels of the nonintoxicating compound CBD in hemp help with seizures, pain and sleep.

But hemp manufacturers quickly figured out how to convert CBD in hemp into THC through a process that involves toxic solvents, creating products that sometimes contain harmful chemicals and that can be more potent than products made from marijuana.

Colorado became one of the first states to ban that chemical conversion process and prohibit the sale of intoxicating hemp products to its residents.

But manufacturers were allowed to produce hemp products for export to other states, and some companies continue to rely on hemp within Colorado because it is cheaper than using marijuana to make the honey-colored THC distillate that goes into vapes and edibles, industry insiders say.

“This has become pervasive to where it’s, like, half the market,” said Jordan Wellington, a marijuana industry lobbyist and consultant, during the meeting with Lambert and a four-person investigative team that handles the agency’s most difficult cases. “We’re past Stage 1 cancer of it being, like, one spot. It’s fully metastasized.”

He said “rampant” use of hemp and other illicit material was putting pressure on honest manufacturers to cut corners to survive.

“It might be the most important and existential threat we’ve ever faced as an industry,” Wellington said.

When the state legalized recreational marijuana in 2012, it promised to establish a “seed-to-sale” system to track marijuana from the initial planting to the purchase of pot, vapes and other products in dispensaries. Close tracking would prevent marijuana grown in Colorado from being diverted to states where it remained illegal, supporters promised. Tracking also was supposed to assure consumers that they were buying safe, quality products.

But during the March video conference, Colorado regulators confided to industry lobbyists that the tool for rooting out fraud isn’t working.

“There’s a lot of really crap data in there that is hard for us to proactively go take action on,” Lambert said of the tracking system.

Extensive fraud in sales transaction reporting likely means the state has lost out on millions of dollars in marijuana excise tax revenue while businesses that follow the law have paid more than their fair share, industry insiders claim.

Unprocessed marijuana typically can fetch more than $600 a pound on the open market, depending on the category, but manufacturers often report to the state’s tracking system unrealistic nominal sales, often as low as a penny or dollar a pound, Lambert said.

When pressed by regulators, businesses typically defended those valuations, arguing that they had submitted placeholder numbers while they were still negotiating the price of products, Lambert said.

The division, which employs 26 investigators to monitor roughly 2,100 marijuana businesses, doesn’t have the resources to investigate all cases adequately, he said.

“We’d love to set up, you know, surveillance on places and track vehicles and see where they come from,” he said. “Did they come from a hemp plant? Did it come from here? Where did it go? We’re not resourced or equipped to do those types of investigations.”

In April, state Sens. Kyle Mullica, D-Thornton, and Marc Snyder, D–Colorado Springs, introduced the Cannabis Consumer Protection Act, which would have placed a ballot measure before voters this fall to overhaul how marijuana products are tested for contaminants, bringing Colorado in line with other states.

The ballot measure would have put private labs in charge of collecting marijuana samples for the testing required before products go to dispensaries. Currently, manufacturers can select their own samples. Regulators have caught companies gaming that system by substituting samples that were different from what they sold in stores or by treating the samples with chemicals.

The act also would have shifted oversight of safety and testing from the Marijuana Enforcement Division to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment and funded a program in which regulators would randomly collect marijuana products from dispensaries to test them for contaminants.

But the legislation collapsed as different segments of the marijuana industry clashed over a provision tucked into the bill that would have increased taxes on products with higher amounts of THC. Manufacturers of highly concentrated THC products argued that the proposed potency tax would cut into their profits while lowering costs for manufacturers of edibles like gummies. Consumer safety groups also weren’t satisfied and wanted the bill to be tougher, pushing for a strict cap on potency like Vermont has.

Ultimately, the main industry trade group opposed it, and Gov. Jared Polis, through a spokesperson, said he feared the bill would cause too much regulation.

The bill died, though Snyder, the cosponsor of Senate Bill 26-161, said he plans to revisit the issue in the 2027 legislative session.

Snyder said he had hoped to give regulators more tools to tackle fraud.

“One of the problems in being first, like Colorado was, into the legalizing of cannabis,” he said, “is that you have to learn all the unintended consequences and unforeseen outcomes the hard way.”

The post In a Private Meeting, Colorado Marijuana Regulators Acknowledge the Extent of Illegal Hemp Sales appeared first on ProPublica.

You don't have to twist your arm to make sure you get everyone in frame any longer. Do this instead.

Why Should Delaware Care? 
School referendums are the only time that Delawareans can have a direct say in their taxation rate, but they can also make funding schools more challenging. Just three months after Caesar Rodney community members voted to approve a $6 million referendum request, the district’s educators and instructional staff reached a deal with the school board for pay increases.

Teachers and other staffers at Kent County’s biggest school district are getting a pay raise. 

On Tuesday, the Caesar Rodney Board of Education voted to approve a new contract for the district’s union representing teachers and other educators. It comes three months after voters in the district approved a referendum to raise an extra $6 million from property taxes for area schools. 

The new contract includes a graduated set of raises and bonuses for district employees, according to a press release from Delaware’s educators’ union.

The contract will increase Caesar Rodney’s contributions to salaries for teachers and instructional staff by 14% to 25% over four years. But their total salaries will not necessarily increase by that amount because districts only fund about 30% of their staffers’ pay. The state funds the remaining 70%.

Teacher pay has been a nagging issue in Caesar Rodney for quite a while. In February, district officials pointed to it as a reason for voters to pass their referendum, which the district said would fund initiatives to retain and recruit teachers and other educators, among other things.

“Right now, Caesar Rodney teachers earn less than those in nearby districts,” district officials said then.

The need to improve salary and retention efforts drew some voters, including teachers, to the polls in February. Shea Brown, a Caesar Rodney teacher who voted in favor of the referendum, said then that the only way to “keep good teachers in the district is making sure that we have the money for it.”

Caesar Rodney Education Association President Jared Lelito told Spotlight Delaware that the pay increases would not have been possible without the successful referendum. 

“We can’t be more thankful for the parents and voters and everybody who came out and voted for it,” he said. 

While Caesar Rodney may not be the top-paying district in the state now, Lelito said he hopes the pay increase will help the district retain veteran educators.

It may also help teachers “make a hard decision whether or not to drive the hour each way every day to make $10,000 more.”

How are educators paid in Delaware?

Educators’ salaries are funded by a combination of state and local tax revenue, with the state paying approximately 70% of an individual’s total salary. 

The state share takes into account a teacher’s education and experience. It also funds a pre-set schedule of pay raises for each teacher.

The local share of an educator’s salary is primarily funded by property taxes, meaning districts with lower property values generate less revenue.

Gary Henry, a professor at the University of Delaware’s School of Education and Joseph R. Biden Jr. School of Public Policy & Administration, previously told Spotlight Delaware that, because of how the pay formula is structured, the state gives more money to districts that recruit more experienced and more highly credentialed educators. 

“[Districts with more credentialed educators] are already given more money per teacher by the state, and then they add their local supplement, then you can imagine that it’s easy for them to recruit teachers who are willing to move,” he said. 

Multiple districts have attempted to pass referendums in recent years in hopes of boosting retention efforts and better competing with neighboring districts. Unlike Caesar Rodney, voters in those districts rejected them. 

The highest profile rejections occurred at the Indian River School District, where voters turned down two referendums in a row that sought money for ongoing operations.

The referendums failed even after Indian River board members publicized the district’s fiscal woes. At the time, they said that even a successful referendum may not eliminate a need to lay off staff to cut costs elsewhere, according to a report from Coastal Point. 

To boost revenues outside of the referendum process, several districts, including Laurel and Indian River, chose to implement a 10% increase in property tax revenue last year following the completion of the first statewide property reassessment in more than three decades. 

While the increases gave both Laurel and Indian River some financial flexibility, their school-funding equations remain challenging. 

Like Caesar Rodney, the Laurel School District ultimately decided to hold its own referendum request in February. The district said its request would have helped to stabilize the budget and fund competitive compensation for staff, as well as other operational costs. 

It was the district’s first request since 1985. Still, 64% of voters rejected it.

The post Caesar Rodney board votes to increase teachers’ pay following referendum  appeared first on Spotlight Delaware.

Tube stoppages due on two 24-hour periods next week but sources say RMT seeking talks

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Hopes have been raised that next week’s strikes by London Underground drivers could yet be averted, after sources said the RMT union had put out feelers for talks.

The RMT members, almost half of London’s tube drivers, are due to strike for two 24-hour periods from midday on Tuesday and Thursday, closing some lines entirely and bringing widespread travel disruption to the capital until the weekend.

Under aviation regulator proposals rival companies would bid to design and build parts of airport expansion

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Heathrow could be forced to allow other companies to design and build its third runway and new terminal after the UK aviation regulator argued that rival bids could keep construction costs down.

A long-awaited review by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) proposes changes to the regulatory model that governs how Heathrow runs and covers its costs.

Athletes have always been targets for criminals hoping to profit from their wealth. But a new wave of dangers has cropped up in recent years

With exorbitant ticket, travel and hotel prices making fans desperate to find an affordable way of attending this summer’s World Cup, it’s no surprise that security firms and law enforcement agencies are warning that fans are at significant risk of becoming fraud victims.

While major tournaments are moments of heightened vulnerability for supporters, players themselves are increasingly attractive year-round targets for cybercriminals who can use AI to mount ever more sophisticated attacks.

Charles Mauldin remembers that his lungs felt like they were imploding when he breathed in tear gas more than 60 years ago. It was Sunday, March 7, 1965, when Mauldin, who was 17, joined hundreds of other demonstrators in a march from Selma, Alabama, to the state Capitol in Montgomery to demand voting rights for Black Americans.

Mauldin stood near the front of the line — just two rows behind John Lewis, who would go on to become a civil rights icon and U.S. representative — when the march attempted to cross Selma’s Edmund Pettus Bridge. Law enforcement officers waited on the other side. They ordered the group to disperse. After about a minute and half, Mauldin said, police began to attack the demonstrators with billy clubs. They also launched tear gas into the crowd, which included teenagers like Mauldin. 

“We didn’t know what to expect,” Mauldin recalled. “I was fearful. We had to put ourselves in a place beyond fear.”

Now 78, Mauldin watches the news and sees videos and pictures of children being tear-gassed again — not by local police in 1965, but by federal immigration officers in 2026.   

“Having people like ICE treat people the way we were treated 61 years ago, it’s horrible,” Mauldin said. “It’s traumatizing for young kids, and I’m just starting to realize how traumatizing it is for me.”

We reached out to Mauldin because we recently published an investigation that found at least 79 children have been physically harmed by tear gas and pepper spray during President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement efforts. The children include a 6-month-old baby who briefly stopped breathing, a 12-year-old boy who developed hives and a 17-year-old who suffered from a severe asthma attack. 

They were mostly going about their days when they were exposed to the tear gas or pepper spray. The 6-month-old was in his family’s car when a tear gas canister rolled underneath it, and the 12- and 17-year-olds were in their respective homes. 

There is no national standard governing the use of tear gas and pepper spray, leaving federal immigration officers with more latitude to deploy the weapons than some local police departments have. 

In many of the cases where children were harmed, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security said, the officers were justified in using tear gas or pepper spray, but they did not address how the weapons affected bystanders, including children. “DHS does NOT target children,” the agency said in a written statement.

Read More

Kids Are Being Harmed by Tear Gas, Pepper Spray Under Trump. There Could Be Long-Term Consequences.

“DHS is taking appropriate and constitutional measures to uphold the rule of law and protect our officers and the public from dangerous rioters,” a spokesperson for the agency said. “We remind the public that rioting is dangerous. Obstructing law enforcement is a federal crime and assaulting law enforcement is a federal crime and felony.”

We interviewed dozens of witnesses and people with firsthand knowledge of the harm, reviewed videos from bystanders and officer-worn cameras, and closely examined lawsuits. And we kept asking experts: Have children ever been harmed by tear gas or pepper spray on the scale we’re seeing now? Is this unprecedented? 

We quickly realized there is no single entity that tracks every instance when law enforcement officers use tear gas or pepper spray. There is no requirement to identify or follow up with the people who were harmed. We also learned that there isn’t much research on the long-term consequences of exposure to these weapons.

Some historians we spoke with suggested the Civil Rights Movement as a point of comparison. So, we turned to Mauldin to help us understand how being tear-gassed as a teenager during that time has affected him.

As police began beating people around him, Mauldin said, he remembers Lewis being struck over the head with a club. 

“I’ll never forget the sound of his head being cracked,” he recalled. 

Then, troopers turned to tear gas. 

“What tear gas does, it makes your skin burn, it forces you to run away from it — it makes your lungs seem to implode,” Mauldin continued. 

He got as low to the ground as possible. Then, he said, he and others ran to the river and  eventually made their way back to the Brown Chapel A.M.E. Church. 

There was “nothing to do unless you can escape it,” Mauldin said. “It’s a pretty harrowing experience, especially for kids.”

In the years after Mauldin was tear gassed, he was diagnosed with asthma. There’s no research that shows tear gas as the cause of an asthma diagnosis, but it’s technically possible since the chemicals can cause lung injury, Sven Jordt, a professor at Duke University School of Medicine who’s an expert on tear gas, told ProPublica. In one of the court declarations we read as part of our reporting, the mother of the 12-year-old who broke out in hives said her son also  developed “chronic respiratory issues” and now needed an inhaler after months of breathing in tear gas that seeped into their home. The family lives near an ICE facility in Portland, Oregon, where federal officers routinely shot chemical munitions at protesters. 

Another parent living near an ICE facility in Broadview, Illinois, told us she’s taken her 7-year-old daughter to urgent care about five times since last fall, when officers repeatedly used tear gas against protesters. “She’s been complaining about her throat,” the mother said of her daughter. “It gets to the point she can’t breathe.”

For Mauldin, who said he is the last living person from the front of the line on that Sunday in 1965, being tear-gassed at a young age left an emotional toll — one he said he is still coming to terms with.

Experts we spoke with emphasized how important it is for children who were recently tear-gassed or pepper-sprayed to seek help for their mental health. That includes children who were not only directly harmed by these chemicals but also those who saw other people hurt by law enforcement, said Dr. Sarita Chung of Boston Children’s Hospital, who studies pediatric disaster preparedness and response. “Without support, this could be a lifelong burden.”

At first, children may struggle to sleep or eat, or have difficulty concentrating after experiencing a traumatic event, said Dr. Andrew Racine, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics. That’s especially true for younger children who can’t grasp what’s happening, he said. These reactions may dissipate over time, but the core event may stick with a child for much longer: “Some of them will remember this for a very, very, very long time.” 

Mauldin only recently began sharing his experience about what happened at the Edmund Pettus Bridge, an event of police brutality that became known as “Bloody Sunday.” Processing that trauma began after visiting the bridge some years ago with historians, who Mauldin said helped get him to open up memories and emotions he had suppressed. 

“If you don’t realize it, and you don’t get help with it … it’ll limit your experience to grow and be the best that you can be,” Mauldin said. “You have to be able to kill a part of yourself to be able to sustain that trauma.”

The post At 17, He Was Tear-Gassed at Selma. At 78, He’s Watching Kids Tear-Gassed During Trump’s Deportation Campaign. appeared first on ProPublica.

A third of patients in a clinical trial had tumors shrink while taking a genetically engineered treatment known as RP1.

HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is trying to address the interests of his MAHA supporters, who view him as their hope for the future, while being a good soldier in the eyes of the Trump White House.

A soldier taught a 12-year-old how to disable the fiber-optic drones that Russia has been using to hunt Ukrainian civilians in a campaign the U.N. has labeled a war crime.

Three-storey GreenSquare datacentre in Hazelmere was to power cloud computing and the acceleration of AI

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A 15,000 sq metre datacentre near Perth will no longer go ahead after the developer withdrew plans amid community opposition over its impact on culturally significant sites.

The three-storey, 120-megawatt GreenSquare datacentre in the town of Hazelmere had been intended to power cloud computing and the acceleration of artificial intelligence, but faced fierce community backlash – as is increasingly common with such developments.

Superpower leaders were expected to discuss the Iran war, trade, Taiwan and artificial intelligence during US president’s visit to Beijing

Crypto billionaire goes straight into top 10 on Sunday Times list, with Noel and Liam Gallagher among other first-timers

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Christopher Harborne, the crypto billionaire who controversially gifted Nigel Farage £5m, has been named in the list of the UK’s wealthiest people for the first time.

Other first-timers include Noel and Liam Gallagher and Emily Eavis, the daughter of the Glastonbury festival founder, Michael Eavis, according to the latest Sunday Times Rich List published on Friday.

Sanjay and Dheeraj Hinduja and family: £38bn

David and Simon Reuben and family: £27.971bn

Leonard Blavatnik: £26.852bn

Idan Ofer: £24.481bn

Guy, George, Alannah and Galen Weston and family: £18.939bn

Christopher Harborne: £18.177bn

Nik Storonsky: £16.411bn

Alex Gerko: £16.006bn

Jim Ratcliffe: £15.194bn

Igor and Dmitry Bukhman: £14.26bn

Hormuz crisis could lead to constructive dialogue between ASEAN and China in the South China Sea Expert comment LToremark 15 May 2026

Oil shortages as a result of the Iran war present a unique opportunity for ASEAN chair the Philippines to make progress on a South China Sea Code of Conduct with China. And for Trump to strike a deal.

The crisis in the Middle East is being felt deeply in Southeast Asia. Perhaps most of all in the Philippines, which imports 98 per cent of its oil from the Gulf. The choking of global oil trade has led to acute fuel shortages, causing the Philippine government to declare a national emergency. The situation has forced President Ferdinand Marcos Jr to consider all options, even with the most unlikely of partners – China. 

Chaos opens door to dialogue

Relations between the two countries have been under significant strain over territorial disputes in the South China Sea. But faced with an angry population, a spiralling economy, and inflation at 7.2 per cent in April, President Marcos stated he was looking to ‘reset’ relations with China and reopen conversations on joint oil and gas exploration in the South China Sea. Despite their fraught history, this was welcomed by Beijing and talks were held immediately thereafter. While nothing concrete was agreed, the dialogue alone was a significant change. The Philippines is open to further talks but has made it clear that any agreement would only come after tangible commitments to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and signing a South China Sea Code of Conduct (CoC). 

Related work

What lessons will China, India and other Asian nations draw from the Iran war? Independent Thinking Podcast

While analysts have rightly urged caution in creating such an entanglement of interests in disputed waters, if played correctly, this could be a unique opportunity for Marcos to move closer to one of his biggest and most ambitious goals – a South China Sea CoC. 

The maritime security puzzle at the heart of the Strait of Hormuz is a stark reminder for Manila of the urgent need for order in their waters and the enforcement of international law. A blockade in the Strait of Hormuz threw global markets into chaos because 20 per cent of the world’s oil supply passes through its waters. By contrast, 60 per cent of all global trade runs through the South China Sea. The consequences of disruption in the region are difficult even to imagine. 

The Philippines is well-placed to lead on efforts to secure agreement. It has been carving out a space as more than just a pawn in the great power competition dominating the Pacific, while its alliance with the US continues to grow stronger. The Philippines is also the current chair of ASEAN so able to build regional consensus. Last week the Philippines hosted the 48th ASEAN summit in Cebu, a shortened and ‘bare-bones’ affair as a result of the regional energy crisis. Iran was top of the agenda, with all 11 ASEAN nations focused on shoring up energy and food security through greater regional integration. 

But discussions of security did not fall by the wayside. Rather, there was a renewed commitment to peace and international law in the South China Sea. The Asean Leaders’ Declaration on Maritime Cooperation was adopted during the summit, announcing the founding of a maritime centre in the Philippines to act as a repository for issues relating to maritime security in the South China Sea. Marcos further clarified that its purpose would be to ensure freedom of navigation and enforcement of UNCLOS. Appetite for a CoC agreement also seems high in Beijing after the summit, with a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson encouraging ASEAN to resist disruption to a deal, stating that it would allow all parties to ‘better manage differences, advance cooperation, and keep the South China Sea peaceful and stable’.

Conditions are favourable but caution is key 

Joint oil exploration in the South China Sea is a valuable incentive to encourage a favourable outcome in CoC negotiations, not least because it aligns with Chinese policy values laid out under former leader Deng Xiaoping. As a route to peaceful settlement of territorial disputes, he encouraged the pursuit of joint development and shared economic interests. In this case, China would have access to South China Sea oil and natural gas reserves to the tune of billions, without violating international law and drawing ire from the US and other allies. Additionally, encroaching on disputed waters is taking significant resources on China’s part. 

Related work

A Taiwan crisis would cause far more global economic damage than Strait of Hormuz disruption

But although conditions for dialogue are growing more favourable, Manila must be cautious, ensuring it secures its own interests and has the support of neighbours and allies.   

Indeed, the Philippine’s largest and strongest ally, the US, might just approve of plans to use joint oil exploration projects to secure a CoC. Over the past four years, the US has made significant investments in miliary infrastructure on the Philippine islands, and just last month successfully ran their largest joint military drill. Washington has reaffirmed its commitment to the Philippines in securing its territorial sovereignty, and is well-placed to help ensure the implementation of and adherence to a CoC in the region. With President Trump’s self-proclaimed talent for brokering peace, facilitating a South China Sea CoC between China and ASEAN would be a jewel in his cap.   

President Marcos has also indicated there is regional buy-in and support. Last week, when asked if ASEAN economic cooperation in the face of the Iran war would extend to China, Marcos made clear that a CoC would have to come before any other conversations. 

The art of the deal 

This channel of dialogue between the Philippines and China would have been inconceivable only months ago, but the Iran war has changed things – and may have handed Marcos the key to securing a CoC.

The perennial stumbling block will be follow-through. While there is reason for optimism, the devil will be in the details. 

They come with a dock and can work at 240Hz, but they're not cheap.

The Trump-Xi summit: What does the US want from China and will Trump get it? Independent Thinking podcast Audio sseth.drupal@c… 15 May 2026

Our experts analyse the two superpowers’ aims as President Trump meets President Xi Jinping in Beijing.

President Donald Trump brings a band of senior US business executives seeking trade deals to China for what is possibly the biggest bilateral summit of 2026. But what does the US hope to achieve? More sales of Boeings, beef and soybeans; an off-ramp from the US-Israel war on Iran; a sense of world pre-eminence; or all three? 

Our experts discuss whether Taiwan will end up paying the price for Chinese help in ending the Iran war, and whether the success of the summit really boils down to the chemistry between Trump and the world’s other most powerful man, Xi Jinping.

Host Bronwen Maddox discusses the visit and what it means with Dr Yu Jie, senior research fellow with our Asia-Pacific Programme, and Laurel Rapp, director of our US and North America Programme. 

About Independent Thinking

Independent Thinking is a weekly international affairs podcast hosted by our director Bronwen Maddox, in conversation with leading policymakers, journalists and Chatham House experts providing insight on the latest international issues.

More ways to listen: Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Explore our other Chatham House podcasts.

The image of peer superpowers during President Trump’s visit displayed a dynamic that analysts say the Chinese have long sought and Americans had resisted.

SpaceX has detailed major Starship V3 upgrades ahead of a launch targeted as early as May 19. The changes are meant to move Starship closer to its core goals: rapid reuse, Starlink deployment, orbital refueling, and eventually Moon and Mars missions. Longtime Slashdot reader schwit1 shares a report from Teslarati: Here is an explicit, broken-down list of the key changes, first starting with the changes to Super Heavy V3: - Grid Fin Redesign: Reduced from four fins to three. Each fin is now 50% larger and stronger, repositioned for better catching and lifting performance. Fins are lowered on the booster to reduce heat exposure during hot staging, with hardware moved inside the fuel tank for protection. - Integrated Hot Staging: Eliminates the old disposable interstage shield. The booster dome is now directly exposed to upper-stage engine ignition, protected by tank pressure and steel shielding. Interstage actuators retract after separation. - New Fuel Transfer System: Massive redesign of the fuel transfer tube -- roughly the size of a Falcon 9 first stage -- enables simultaneous startup of all 33 Raptors for faster, more reliable flip maneuvers. - Engine Bay/Thermal Protection: Engine shrouds removed entirely; new shielding added between engines. Propulsion and avionics are more tightly integrated. CO? fire suppression system deleted for a simpler, lighter aft section. - Propellant Loading Improvements: Switched from one quick disconnect to two separate systems for added redundancy and reduced pad complexity. Next, we have the changes to Starship V3: - Completely Redesigned Propulsion System: Clean-sheet redesign supports new Raptor startup, larger propellant volume, and an improved reaction control system while reducing trapped or leaked propellant risk. - Aft Section Simplification: Fluid and electrical systems rerouted; engine shrouds and large aft cavity deleted. - Flap Actuation Upgrade: Changed from two actuators per flap to one actuator with three motors for better redundancy, mass efficiency, and lower cost. - Faster Starlink Deployment: Upgraded PEZ dispenser enables quicker satellite release. - Long-Duration Spaceflight Capability: New systems for long orbital coasts, orbital refueling, cryogenic fluid management, vacuum-insulated header tanks, and high-voltage cryogenic recirculation. - Ship-to-Ship Docking + Refueling: Four docking drogues and dedicated propellant transfer connections added to support in-space refueling architecture. - Avionics Upgrades: 60 custom avionics units with integrated batteries, inverters, and high-voltage systems (9 MW peak power). New multi-sensor navigation for precision autonomous flight. RF sensors measure propellant in microgravity. ~50 onboard camera views and 480 Mbps Starlink connectivity for low-latency communications. "Believe it or not, there's more," writes schwit1. "Two years ago, the biggest and most powerful rocket ever flown was Starship V1. Last year, it was Starship V2. V3 is about to become the biggest and most powerful rocket ever flown -- but don't worry, the company already has plans for V4."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

US grandmaster scored biggest success of his career at the Grand Chess Tour Rapid & Blitz and is close to world top 10

Hans Niemann, the controversial US grandmaster whose game with Magnus Carlsen at the 2022 Sinquefield Cup led to cheating allegations, a $100m lawsuit, an out-of-court settlement, the Netflix documentary Untold: Chess Mates, and a forthcoming book, scored the most important success of his career last weekend.

Niemann, competing as a wildcard, won the $50,000 (£37,400) first prize at the Warsaw Rapid and Blitz in Poland, ahead of the US champion and world No 3, Fabiano Caruana, India’s reigning world champion, Gukesh Dommaraju, and the Candidates winner, Javokhir Sindarov. The event was part of the St Louis-backed Grand Chess Tour, which ends in August and includes the prestigious Sinquefield Cup.

Redevelopment of the former Department of Lands building on Sydney’s Bridge Street wins National Trust heritage award

It was once a grand old sandstone masterpiece, where returned soldiers would cram into marble corridors to anxiously await lottery draws that could change their lives.

Then the 20th century happened.

In the Trump era, CEOs need to define redlines.

Trump's overreach has finally forged continental unity.

Many European motoring manufacturers are in retreat with plants to off–load – while China’s industry is on the march

The Chinese carmaker Xpeng is on the hunt for a factory in Europe. Volkswagen is aiming to reduce the number of its factories. It seems like it should have been the perfect set-up for a deal.

Yet there was one problem with the plant on offer, according to Elvis Cheng, Xpeng’s managing director for north-eastern Europe: “It’s a little bit, I would say, old.”

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Reuters: A lawyer for Elon Musk hammered at the credibility of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman on Thursday, near the end of a trial over whether to hold the ChatGPT maker and its leaders responsible for allegedly transforming the nonprofit into a vehicle to enrich themselves. OpenAI's lawyers fought back, claiming the world's richest person waited too long to claim OpenAI breached its founding agreement to build safe artificial intelligence to benefit humanity, and couldn't claim he was essential to its success. "Mr. Musk may have the Midas touch in some areas, but not in AI," said William Savitt, a lawyer for OpenAI. "To succeed in AI, as it turns out, all Mr. Musk can do is come to court." The claims were made during closing arguments of a trial in the Oakland, California, federal court. [...] In his closing argument, Musk's lawyer Steven Molo told jurors that five witnesses, including Musk, former OpenAI board members and former OpenAI Chief ScientistIlya Sutskever, testified that Altman was a liar. Molo also noted that during cross-examination on Tuesday, Altman did not say yes unequivocally when asked if he was completely trustworthy and did not mislead people in business. "Sam Altman's credibility is directly at issue in this case," Molo said. "If you don't believe him, they cannot win." Molo accused OpenAI of wrongfully trying to enrich investors and insiders at the nonprofit's expense, and failing to prioritize AI's safety. He also challenged Brockman's goals for the business, citing Brockman'sstatementthat his own OpenAI stake was worth nearly $30 billion. "The arrogance, the lack of sensitivity, the failure to account for just common decency is really, really abhorrent." Musk also accused Microsoft, which invested $1 billion in OpenAI in 2019 and $10 billion in 2023, of aiding and abetting OpenAI's wrongful conduct. "Microsoft was aware of what OpenAI was doing every step of the way," Molo said. Sarah Eddy, another lawyer for the OpenAI defendants, accused Musk and his legal team in her closing argument of resorting to "sound bites and irrelevant false accusations." Eddy said by 2017, everyone associated with OpenAI -- including Musk, then still on its board -- knew it needed more money to fulfill its mission than it could raise as a nonprofit. "Mr. Musk wanted to turn OpenAI into a for-profit company that he could control," she said. "But the other founders refused to turn the keys of AGI (artificial general intelligence) over to one person, let alone Elon Musk."She also said if Musk truly believed AI should serve humanity, he would not have pushed to fold OpenAI into his electric car company Tesla, or made his rival xAI a for-profit company. Musk had a three-year statute of limitations to sue, and OpenAI's lawyers said his August 2024 lawsuit came too late because he knew several years earlier about OpenAI's growth plans. Eddy expressed disbelief that Musk claimed he did not read a four-page term sheet in 2018 discussing OpenAI's plan to seek outside investments. "One of the most sophisticated businessmen in the history of the world" wouldn't have "stuck his head in the sand," Eddy said. Savitt accused Musk of having "selective amnesia." Microsoft's lawyer Russell Cohen said in his closing statement that Microsoft wasn't involved in the key events of the case, and was "a responsible partner at every step." On Monday, the nine-person jury is expected to begin deliberating. The judge and lawyers will also return to court to discuss possible remedies if Musk wins, including how OpenAI should be restructured and what damages might be awarded. If Musk loses, there will be no remedies to consider. Recap: OpenAI Trial Wraps Up With 'Jackass' Trophy For Challenging Musk (Day Eleven) Sam Altman Testifies That Elon Musk Wanted Control of OpenAI (Day Ten) Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella Testifies In OpenAI Trial (Day Nine) Sam Altman Had a Bad Day In Court (Day Eight) Sam Altman's Management Style Comes Under the Microscope At OpenAI Trial (Day Seven) Brockman Rebuts Musk's Take On Startup's History, Recounts Secret Work For Tesla (Day Six) OpenAI President Discloses His Stake In the Company Is Worth $30 Billion (Day Five) Musk Concludes Testimony At OpenAI Trial (Day Four) Elon Musk Says OpenAI Betrayed Him, Clashes With Company's Attorney (Day Three) Musk Testifies OpenAI Was Created As Nonprofit To Counter Google (Day Two) Elon Musk and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman Head To Court (Day One)

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for May 15.

China’s leader raised the ancient Greek historian Thucydides when he met the US president in Beijing

• Trump-Xi China summit – follow live

A messy war in the Middle East. Tensions in Taiwan. When the leaders of the world’s two superpowers met in Beijing this week, these were the flashpoints everyone expected they would talk about.

Instead, Chinese leader Xi Jinping threw another, ancient war, into the mix.

The execution came after a divided Supreme Court lifted a stay over his intellectual‑disability claims, clearing the way for Texas' 600th lethal injection since 1982.

Two of the largest mobile carriers in the US are battling for your business. We compare what they offer.

• New season will kick off on 9 September

• League arranges record nine international games

The 2026 NFL season will kick off with a Super Bowl rematch. Mike Macdonald, Sam Darnold and the Seattle Seahawks will face off against Mike Vrabel, Drake Maye and the New England Patriots after raising their championship banner on 9 September in the first of the season’s 272 games.

The Seahawks dominated the Patriots in a 29-13 victory in February that secured the franchise’s second NFL title.

You can see the full schedule for 2026 here.

China keen to put Taiwan at the top of agenda that risks being overshadowed by US-Israel war on Iran and disagreements over trade – key US politics stories from Thursday, 14 May at a glance

China’s president, Xi Jinping, has warned of “clashes and even conflicts” with the US over Taiwan after meeting Donald Trump in Beijing.

Xi’s remarks, published by China’s foreign ministry after his two-hour meeting with Trump on Thursday morning, said Taiwan was “the most important issue in China-US relations”.

Visit comes after US-Cuba relations deteriorated significantly, and as the island nation declared it had ‘absolutely no fuel’ because of US blockade

CIA director John Ratcliffe met Cuban officials in Havana on Thursday as a way to improve dialogue between the US and the communist-run island, the Cuban government said.

The meeting took place “in a context marked by the complexity of bilateral relations, with the aim of contributing to the political dialogue between both nations”, a statement said.

• American world No 1 among those shooting 3-under 67s

• Rory McIlroy finishes on four-over after four straight bogeys

It was gridlock on the opening day of the US PGA, where the leaderboard was backed up like Philly traffic. By the time it was all over, seven men were tied in the lead on three under par, and another 42 were within three shots of them. Altogether, a third of the field was within easy reach of the lead. It was record for a major championship, and they have been playing them since 1860. There are 16 major winners spread among them, including, ominously for everyone else, that man Scottie Scheffler. All the talk before the tournament was that it would be a turkey shoot, but it turned out to be one long tailback. The only thing missing was the traffic police.

Actually they had one of them, too, or something near enough. A rules official on the 1st tee gave the 27-year-old South African Garrick Higgo a two-shot penalty for arriving 30 seconds late from the practice green. He still shot a 69. The really odd thing was that in a field where even a man who dropped two shots because he missed his tee time managed to end the day in contention, a couple of the biggest names in the game wound up all but out of it.

Here are hints and the answer for today's Wordle for May 15, No. 1,791.

Here are hints and the answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle for May 15, No. 599.

Here are hints and answers for the NYT Strands puzzle for May 15, No. 803.

Here are some hints and the answers for the NYT Connections puzzle for May 15, No. 1,069.

The potential indictment — which must be approved by a grand jury — is expected to focus on Cuba's 1996 downing of two planes operated by a humanitarian group.

Rents will rise and homelessness quadruple in a decade unless serious steps to cut emissions are taken, University of Sydney researchers find

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Global heating could worsen housing affordability, push up rents and quadruple homelessness in a decade without fairer housing policies and action to reduce emissions, new research has found.

Home prices and rents in Australia are influenced by a complex mix of factors, from incomes and mortgage rates to insurance premiums, available land and population.

A 4GB file called weights.bin may be sitting on your hard drive right now, put there by Chrome without your knowledge.

‘We know that Mark Carney wants to sort of embrace Europe,’ says competition director Martin Green

Canada is welcome to join Eurovision if it wishes, its director has said, months after the country revealed it wanted to “explore” joining the song contest in its federal budget.

Eurovision director Martin Green told the BBC on Wednesday that Canada hadn’t yet applied, but would be welcome to.

There has been palpable excitement about President Trump's state visit to China in the Queens neighborhood of Flushing, home to one of the largest Asian populations in the U.S.

Cuba's national energy grid has suffered a major failure, cutting power to the island's eastern provinces.

The meeting came as Cuba is contending with a massive power failure to its national energy grid amid U.S. sanctions that have caused an oil and gas shortage crisis.

This live blog is now closed.

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Donald Trump will drive through a Chinese capital that is smoggier than it was on his last visit in 2017, when the authorities launched emergency measures to clear the skies of pollution days before his first state visit to Beijing.

Factories were ordered to halt production and heavily polluting cars were banned from the roads in the days ahead of the US president’s trip nearly a decade ago, an era in which China had declared war on air pollution and made special efforts to clear the skies ahead of important political events such as visiting dignitaries and the Beijing Olympics.

The number of people being monitored for hantavirus in the United States has grown to 41, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday.

A 2023 supreme court decision banned the use of affirmative action in college admissions

The US Department of Justice on Thursday accused Yale University of illegally considering race in admissions to its medical school – the second institution to face discrimination allegations by the federal agency this month.

In a letter to a lawyer for Yale, Harmeet Dhillon, assistant attorney general for civil rights, said a justice department investigation found that Black and Hispanic students have a much higher chance of admission to the medical school than white or Asian students, despite having lower grade-point averages and lower test scores.

Nine-person jury to consider whether AI firm bilked world’s richest person and unjustly enriched themselves

Closing arguments began on Thursday in Elon Musk’s lawsuit against Sam Altman and OpenAI, bringing the weeks-long courtroom battle between the two tech moguls nearer to a decision. A nine-person jury is set to deliberate and return a verdict on whether they believe the AI firm and Altman are liable in the case.

The trial, which began last month in an Oakland, California, federal courthouse, has gripped Silicon Valley and featured some of the tech industry’s biggest names as witnesses. Attorneys for both sides have presented testimony and documents that have exposed Musk and Altman’s private dealings, as well as provided a window into the contentious history of OpenAI.

Charity says calls to its Childline service about online sexual abuse and exploitation have risen 36% in a year

Children reported a rise in online blackmail attempts involving sexual images in the UK last year, according to a leading charity.

The NSPCC said contacts with its Childline service relating to online sexual abuse and exploitation rose by 36% last year, driven by an increase in cases related to online blackmail.

Your personal information, such as phone numbers and addresses, may already be accessible online.

SABRINA BALLAH
Contributing Reporter

Most love songs celebrate romantic relationships. It makes sense that humans want to love and be loved in return, as that is a genuine biological instinct.

However, people tend to overlook the importance of friendship in our society, and the amount of happiness and meaning that a genuine connection with a friend can bring into one’s life. Sometimes, people throw away their friends to focus on their romantic partner, letting not only their friendship wilt away like a flower, but also losing their identity and individuality.

“Friendship and Happiness: Across the LifeSpan and Culture,” a book by Melikşah Demir detailing scholarly research on the relationship between happiness and friendship, states that according to Aristotle, a crucial element of an ideal friendship is for individuals to “show at least some degree of care and concern for one another for their own sakes and be prepared to express that care and concern in action.”

Friendship is built on some level of mutual care. Even through midlife and with the support of a spouse, it has been proven that having a friend increases life satisfaction and self-esteem, providing a person with a support system they can rely on. 

A 2007 study found that among married participants aged 22–79 with best friends, having at least two high-quality relations — not necessarily only with the spouse — was associated with higher life satisfaction and self-esteem and lower levels of depression. In contrast, among married adults without best friends, the spousal relationship was particularly important for well-being.

Daniel Topley, a senior at the university, shared his take on friendship.

“I do different things with different people, and all those roles are very important,” Topley said. “Friendship is supposed to be intentional. That sort of intentionality gives meaning to them. There’s a little bit of ‘I got you on this thing, don’t worry about it,’ and vice versa.”

Topley also shared how friendships can increase an individual’s quality of life.

“Friendship gives life so much meaning, and they are there for us when we need them — who we can lend a hand to,” Topley said. “What’s the point in working a 9-to-5 if you don’t make meaningful connections with other people? That’s where I see that friendship is important because our friends kind of make life a little brighter.”

The study states that “the psychological literature also affirms that friendship is a reliable correlate of happiness across the life span.”

The study also reports that in a good friendship, “friends act as mirrors to one another — enhancing their knowledge of themselves — and that they share activities and values which reinforce them in the sorts of moral and intellectual activities which are constitutive of living well.” 

In other words, an ideal friendship reinforces your identity and helps you grow. 

There will always be more to love and connection than just romance. Think of a friend who colors your life with meaning and happiness. Think of a way to invest in that friendship: write them a pen pal appreciation letter or grab them their favorite coffee. You’ll find that this whimsical way of living comes right back to you.

The UK's Competition and Markets Authority is opening a formal investigation into whether Microsoft's bundling of Windows, Office, Teams, Copilot, and related products harms competition. Engadget reports: "Our aim is to understand how these markets are developing, Microsoft's position within them and to consider what, if any, targeted action may be needed to ensure UK organizations can benefit from choice, innovation and competitive prices," CMA Chief Executive Sarah Cardell said in a statement published by Reuters. She also stressed the importance of the investigation by noting that hundreds of thousands of UK residents use business software and Microsoft products. The organization will take a look into the company's cloud licensing practices. The CMA has stated that the inquiry will conclude by February. At that point, Microsoft could get slapped with a strategic market label. Microsoft says it's "committed to working quickly and constructively with the CMA to facilitate its review of the business software market." A strategic market designation doesn't automatically assume wrongdoing, but will give the CMA more leeway when conducting further interventions.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

A look at the timeline of events in Karen Read's high-profile Massachusetts murder trial and retrial. Read was acquitted of killing her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O'Keefe.

A bipartisan group of lawmakers unveiled a bill to help civilians, including law enforcement agents, receive workers' compensation for illnesses like cancer that are often associated with toxic exposure to burn pits.

Export’s performances scandalised Austria in the 1960s, but are now recognised for exposing the objectification of the female body

Valie Export, the Austrian performance artist and film-maker who inverted the male gaze in ways that were provocative, shocking and often outrageously fun, has died aged 85.

The artist’s own foundation announced on Thursday evening that Export died in Vienna earlier the same day, three days before her 86th birthday.

Health officials say close contacts being offered antibiotics as a precaution after cases discovered in Reading

A young person has died and two others are being treated after an outbreak of meningitis in Berkshire, health officials have said.

It follows a major outbreak in Kent, linked to a Canterbury nightclub, that killed two people and left more than a dozen needing hospital treatment in March.

Media law experts cast doubt on viability of a defamation lawsuit promised by Netanyahu over Nicholas Kristof essay

Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and foreign minister, Gideon Sa’ar, have threatened to sue the New York Times for defamation over the publication of an essay by Nicholas Kristof detailing allegations that Palestinian women, men and children have been raped and sexually abused in Israeli military detention.

“Following the publication by Nicholas Kristof in The New York Times of one of the most hideous and distorted lies ever published against the State of Israel in the modern press, which also received the backing of the newspaper, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar have instructed the initiation of a defamation lawsuit against The New York Times,” Israel’s ministry of foreign affairs wrote in a social media post on Thursday.

The Supreme Court has maintained mail access to the abortion pill mifepristone, setting aside for now a lower court order that blocked abortion providers from prescribing the widely used drug through telehealth and shipping it to patients.

As Republicans seek to retain control of the U.S. House, leaders of both parties nationwide have sought to redraw their congressional maps to net more seats for their parties.

Social media users are casting doubt and causing confusion about the hantavirus outbreak aboard the MV Hondius cruise ship, saying that one of the passengers is a "crisis actor."

Their posts are focused on Jake Rosmarin, a Boston-based travel content creator who is now quarantining at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha.

"They’re really working it with these crisis actors," said a May 6 X post that shared a video of an emotional Rosmarin describing his experience aboard the ship.

Another X post said he "was certainly handpicked for this Honduis-Hanta-CryBaby role" because Rosmarin’s related to people who work in healthcare and emergency preparedness.

Even more posts said footage of Rosmarin urging people to get vaccinated during the COVID-19 pandemic is evidence his travel on the hantavirus cruise outbreak isn’t a coincidence. 

One shared an image of what looks like a man in a hospital bed and said it was Rosmarin — a "much publicised ‘Covid patient.’" 

"What are the chances that this guy is always where the current propaganda ‘virus’ is and always photographed or filmed as the victim?" the post said.

We asked Rosmarin about these posts suggesting he’s part of some concerted scheme and did not hear back. But there’s no evidence that he’s a crisis actor, or participating in a nefarious plot.

Rosmarin told the Daily Beast that such claims aren’t based on facts. "People are reacting just to react," he said.

On April 1, before the MV Hondius departed from Argentina and the hantavirus was detected on board, Rosmarin shared on TikTok that he was going to spend the next 35 days on the ship. The following days he posted multiple videos about his trip. 

He posted an update on May 3, after the outbreak was announced, confirming that he was aboard the affected cruise. He posted another video the following day sharing how he felt. 

Rosmarin continued posting updates, saying on May 9 that he was going to be sent to Nebraska for "quarantine and testing." On May 11, he said he had arrived at the National Quarantine Unit in Omaha.

So far, three passengers have died from the virus and by May 12, most passengers and crew members had returned home or were in the process of doing so. 

Rosmarin, meanwhile, has continued posting videos about what his day looks like at the quarantine facility. 

USA Today, ABC News and CNN have reported about the hantavirus cruise outbreak and have interviewed Rosmarin about his experience as a passenger and during quarantine. We found no legitimate news outlet questioning the veracity of his situation.

He also isn’t the only person reporters have interviewed from the ship, as some social media users speculated. We found news reports featuring other passengers including Turkish YouTuber Ruhi Çenet, who also posted on Instagram about the cruise. Çenet shared a photo at the beginning of his trip, and later shared a video about his experience during the outbreak, showing footage of the MV Hondius captain announcing a man had died on the ship.

Rosmarin, who has over 160,000 TikTok followers, has been posting travel photos, vlogs, brand partnerships content, and videos recommending restaurants since at least 2022. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he also urged his followers to get COVID-19 vaccines. But that’s not evidence he’s a crisis actor.

Neither is the fact that some of Rosmarin’s family members work in healthcare, emergency preparedness and disaster recovery. 

Social media users also wrongly claimed that he was in the photograph of a man in a hospital bed. The BBC published that image in 2022, and the corresponding article says it shows a COVID-19 patient named Henry Dyne from Surrey, England.

Credible information often falls short of what people want to know during breaking news events, and they fill that void with conspiracies, said Valerie Wirtschafter, a fellow in the Brookings Institution’s  Artificial Intelligence and Emerging Technology Initiative. 

"In these moments, the most important thing people can do is wait for verified information," Wirtschafter said.

We rate claims Rosmarin is a crisis actor False.

PolitiFact Researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report.

Microsoft says it's helping your browsing experience by using long-term AI memory across desktop and mobile versions of Edge.

The hydrogen-powered SUV claims 435 miles of range, a 5-minute fill-up and a refined driving experience. Here's why FCEV technology is a perfect product operating in the wrong market.

AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile have agreed in principle to form a joint venture (JV) aimed at reducing U.S. mobile dead zones through satellite connectivity, especially in rural areas and during emergencies when ground networks fail. Here are three of the customer benefits listed by the JV (as highlighted by Droid Life): Fewer coverage gaps: Will nearly eliminate dead zones in the U.S. currently without mobile service, reaching previously unserved areas. Reliable connectivity in emergencies: Redundant connectivity will become available when existing ground-based networks are unavailable due to extreme natural disasters or other unusual disruptions. Improved network performance: Will give customers more consistent performance and simpler access to satellite services across providers. This will speed up feature updates and improve connectivity for everyone, everywhere. "It will still take time for these improvements to be available to customers, but this all seems like a positive step," writes Droid Life's Tim Wrobel.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Revelation seen as serious blow to candidacy of Flávio Bolsonaro, Brazil’s leading rightwing presidential hopeful

Flávio Bolsonaro, Brazil’s leading rightwing presidential hopeful, has been caught on tape asking a banker accused of corruption for $26.8m (£20m) to fund a film about his father, the former president Jair Bolsonaro.

The leaked voice memos and text messages were published on Wednesday by the Intercept Brasil, and later acknowledged by Flávio Bolsonaro, a far-right senator who is tied in polls with President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva ahead of October’s election.

President Donald Trump on multiple occasions has assured the public that high gasoline prices will “rapidly” or “quickly” decline “as soon as” the war with Iran ends. Energy experts told us that prices will start to fall when the conflict is resolved, but it could take many months before the national average price is back to where it was before the conflict began.

“For pre-war prices to show up, it could take beyond a year,” Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis for the fuel-price tracking service GasBuddy, said in an interview. But he told us that there are “a lot of different potential” outcomes depending on what happens when the war ends.

The average U.S. price for regular grade gasoline was $4.50 per gallon as of the week ending May 11, according to the Energy Information Administration. That was up $1.56, or 53%, from the average price of $2.94 during the week ending Feb. 23 – which was five days before the U.S. and Israel launched airstrikes on Iran.

Gasoline prices spiked after Iran responded to the joint attack by blocking the Strait of Hormuz – a vital waterway in the Middle East for trade – stopping the vast majority of crude oil exports from the Persian Gulf region. About 20 million barrels of oil and oil products were exported through the strait per day in 2025, which was about one-quarter of global seaborne oil trade, according to the International Energy Agency.

The reduced supply caused oil prices to increase, and that led to the rise in gasoline prices, since the cost of oil makes up about half of what drivers pay at the pump. Because it’s a global oil market, “if something goes wrong anywhere, the price goes up everywhere,” Mark Finley, a nonresident fellow in energy and global oil at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy, told us in March.

But Trump has said repeatedly that gasoline prices will fall fast when the war concludes.

“As soon as it’s over, you’re going to see gasoline and oil drop like a rock,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on May 11.

About a week before that, on May 1, during a Florida event for seniors, Trump said that “it’s going to come down lower than it was,” referring to the price of gasoline. “When all of that stuff comes out,” he said, mentioning “pent up” oil in the Strait of Hormuz, “you’re going to see prices dropping on gasoline like you’ve never seen.”

The same day, at another event in Florida, the president said the price of gasoline will “snap back” in the end. “I believe it will snap back very, very quickly,” he said.

And Trump isn’t the only person in his administration to make such a claim. 

On May 4, in an interview with Fox News, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said he is “also confident” that gasoline prices are “going to come down very quickly” at the end of the conflict with Iran. “This gasoline — this temporary aberration — will be over in a matter of weeks or a month,” he said.

Experts told us it’s difficult to predict exactly what will happen in the long run. But they said it could be months, plural, before motorists see substantial price relief at the pump. Getting back to pre-war prices would take longer than Trump’s and Bessent’s remarks suggest, they said.

Expert Analysis

“When the strait opens in a meaningful way, it would likely have a fairly quick impact to start pushing prices down,” De Haan said, adding that price decreases will depend on how quickly oil tankers resume transporting shipments through the strait to increase the global supply.

“It’s very contingent on how much oil starts getting through the strait, whether it’s all or nothing,” he said. “But it’s going to take several weeks for those ships to reach destinations once it becomes open. So, at best, it’s probably going to still be two to three weeks before the flows of oil can normalize. So, at least several weeks, and potentially beyond that.”

“If the strait were to reopen today,” he said, “it would probably be early June until ships started going in and out,” and “it could be until July for some of those cargoes to start getting to the market.”

De Haan told us he was reluctant to make specific price predictions because of the uncertainty of the situation. But he did say that a return to average gasoline prices at less than $3 per gallon in the immediate future seems doubtful.

“Beyond the big drop, the initial big drop, it could take quite a bit longer for gas prices to more noticeably get back to like pre-war levels,” he said. “That’s going to take quite a bit of time, and the longer the situation goes on, the more time that could end up taking.”

Abhi Rajendran, a nonresident fellow at Rice University’s Baker Institute of Public Policy and the director of Oil Markets Research at Energy Intelligence, largely agreed. 

“Should the conflict actually find some path to resolution, then I think prices could come down,” he said. But how fast that happens is another matter.

“I don’t know if it’s going to be quick and look like before-the-conflict prices were,” Rajendran said. He said he doesn’t see $3 per gallon gasoline “anytime soon,” even if the conflict ends, because “there’s still damage that’s been done to the supply side and to inventory, and that’s going to be felt for a little while.”

After a while, Rajendran said, he could see gasoline prices settling at between $3.25 a gallon and $3.50 a gallon, which is “higher than they were before the conflict.”

Meanwhile, Tom Kloza, chief energy adviser for Gulf Oil, predicted that prices in many states could be “back in the $3-$3.50/gal neighborhood” in the final 100 days of the calendar year, when he said “gasoline prices almost always drop” because “demand slumps and the formula for motor fuel changes.” 

However, that projection could change, he said in an email to us, if the blockade on the Strait of Hormuz continues, or if a strong hurricane hits the Gulf of Mexico, which would “lengthen the $4-$4.75/gal pricing backdrop.”

“What happens between now and Labor Day is tougher” to forecast, he said. 

Other Projections

Back on April 16, in an interview with CNN, Energy Secretary Chris Wright said prices would “certainly” decline after the conflict with Iran ends. But he was less sure about when the average price would again be below $3 a gallon.

“That could happen later this year,” or “that might not happen until next year,” he told CNN’s Jake Tapper.

But one day before that, in an April 15 press briefing from the White House, Bessent, Wright’s fellow Cabinet secretary, said he was “optimistic” that “we can have $3 gas again” this year, between June 20 and Sept. 20.

Skip York, another nonresident fellow in energy and global oil at Rice’s Baker Institute, told us that, like Wright, he believes $3 gasoline may not happen until next year.

“[R]eturning to $3/gal gas looks like more [of] a 2027 resolution,” he said in an email, in which he listed several reasons prices often “[go] up like a rocket, but down like a feather.” 

York said when wholesale gasoline prices rise, “retailers raise pump prices immediately to cover the expected cost of replacing inventory.” When wholesale prices come down, however, “retailers may still be selling higher‑cost inventory and wait for cheaper supplies before cutting prices.”

In addition, he said, “Retailers often wait for a sustained downward trend before reducing prices because a quick cut could force them to raise prices again if wholesale costs rebound.”

Market behavior and competition is also a factor. “Drivers tend to more actively shop when prices rise but less as they fall; that reduces competitive pressure to cut prices quickly,” he said.

Finally, York added, abrupt supply shocks, such as geopolitical events and refinery outages, “cause fast price increases driven by consumer fears of shortages,” while easing those risks and rebuilding inventories “takes time, so declines are more gradual.”

Federal Gasoline Tax Holiday?

As of May 14, the war with Iran had gone on for 75 days, which is much longer than the “four to five weeks” that Trump initially said he intended for it to last.

With the U.S. so far being unable to reach a deal with Iran to end the conflict, and having a ceasefire agreement with Iran that is on “massive life support,” as Trump said on May 11, the president has proposed temporarily suspending the federal tax on gasoline. 

That would reduce gasoline prices by about 18.4 cents per gallon and prices for diesel by about 24.4 cents per gallon. But that plan would also require approval from Congress, and it is not yet clear if there is enough bipartisan support to make that a law.

Furthermore, the experts said, eliminating the gasoline tax, even temporarily, could help keep prices more elevated than they otherwise would be.

“While relieving the gasoline tax would lower pump prices, that lower price also would encourage more consumption, meaning it would take longer to rebuild inventory,” York said. “If a policy doesn’t improve supply availability, it doesn’t really help restore physical fundamentals back to pre-conflict levels.”

De Haan also said that the plan for a federal gasoline tax holiday “could actually stimulate demand,” which would add to the imbalance between demand and supply and “could send prices higher.”

In a May 11 floor speech criticizing Trump on Iran, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said that “Senate Democrats will support real action to lower costs.” But he said a decrease of 18 cents per gallon is hardly enough.

“Eighteen cents isn’t a dollar fifty, which is how much the price of gas has gone up since this war started,” he said. “Americans don’t need just a few cents back.” He said the “best way to lower costs” was to end the war. 

Schumer said, “Trump could end this war tomorrow and prices would plummet by far more than 18 cents a gallon.”

But, as we explained, while experts have said that the price of gasoline will likely start going down not long after the war ends, it is less likely that the price will “plummet” as quickly as Schumer suggested. 

In its Short-Term Energy Outlook for May, the EIA projected that the average retail price for gasoline will be $3.88 for 2026 and $3.62 for 2027. That’s up from the average prices the agency projected in early February – before the war began — which were $2.91 in 2026 and $2.93 in 2027.

In its May analysis, the EIA said its most recent price projections assume that the Strait of Hormuz “will remain effectively closed through late May, with flows slowly starting to resume in late May or early June.” If that happens, the agency said it expects it will take “until late 2026 or early 2027 for most pre-conflict production and trade patterns to resume.”

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The post What Will Happen To Gasoline Prices When the Iran War Ends? appeared first on FactCheck.org.

There was wind, there was fire, there was Goodrem’s remarkable upper-range – resulting in a refreshingly self-assured offering from Australia

• ‘Sung by a silver robot from 1984!’ The 11 biggest bangers in Eurovision 2026

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Standing before a glistening crescent moon and adorned in more than 7,000 Swarovski crystals, Australia’s 2026 Eurovision hopeful Delta Goodrem delivered a powerful performance on the 70th anniversary of the global song contest – and become the first Australian act to qualify for the grand final since 2023.

Heading into the competition as an early favourite behind Eurovision heavy-hitters Denmark and Finland, Goodrem delivered a note-perfect rendition of her power-ballad entry, Eclipse. The track is impressive if a little formulaic – and of the 35 countries competing, 15 are represented by solo female performers, so Goodrem needed to find a way to stand out in a crowded field.

Louisiana had sued the FDA in a bid to curtail the regulatory agency’s rules on prescribing mifepristone remotely

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The US supreme court upheld nationwide access to mail-order mifepristone, an abortion medication, in a shadow-docket decision on Thursday.

Louisiana sued the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in October in a bid to curtail the regulatory agency’s rules on prescribing mifepristone remotely, arguing that it interfered with the state’s ban on abortion.

Thames at Ham designated as one of 13 new swimming areas across England to be monitored for water quality

The first designated bathing water area on the River Thames in London will welcome swimmers for the official start of the bathing season on Friday as one of 13 new monitored swimming areas across England.

The Thames at Ham, in south-west London, has been designated as a new river bathing water area after campaigners gathered evidence to show thousands of people use the river for swimming throughout the year.

Canvey Island foreshore, Essex

East Beach at West Bay, Bridport, Dorset

Falcon Meadow, Bungay, Suffolk

Granville Parade Beach, Sandgate, Kent

Little Shore, Amble, Northumberland

New Brighton Beach (east), Merseyside

Newton and Noss Creeks, Devon

Pangbourne Meadow, Berkshire

Queen Elizabeth Gardens, Salisbury, Wiltshire

River Dee at Sandy Lane, Chester, Cheshire

River Fowey in Lostwithiel, Cornwall

River Swale in Richmond, Yorkshire

River Thames at Ham and Kingston, Greater London

Council of Europe members plan to change interpretation of ECHR to make it easier to deport refused asylum seekers

Keir Starmer’s government has been accused of trying to water down legal protections for torture victims as ministers from 46 countries including the UK prepare to make it easier to deport refused asylum seekers and foreign criminals.

Yvette Cooper, the foreign secretary, is expected to agree a “political declaration” on Friday with other members of the Council of Europe, which oversees the European convention on human rights (ECHR).

Far-right Jewish marchers call for Palestinian villages to ‘burn’ as they storm through Muslim quarter of Old City

Israeli nationalists chanted “death to the Arabs”, “may your villages burn” and “Gaza is a graveyard” in a state-sponsored march through Jerusalem to mark the anniversary of the city’s capture and annexation.

The annual assertion of Jewish control over Palestinian East Jerusalem has grown more extreme in recent years, and Thursday’s event culminated with the national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, unfurling an Israeli flag in front of the al-Aqsa mosque, the holiest Islamic site in the city.

The FBI said Thursday that it's still trying to locate Monica Witt, who is accused of defecting to Iran in 2013 and revealing highly classified U.S. intelligence.

‘Backward’ photo panned for display of patriarchy, signaling that ‘women’s voices don’t matter in shaping global order’

By the time Donald Trump and Xi Jinping met at Beijing’s Great Hall of the People on Thursday, the bilateral had featured all the expected pomp and pageantry: a meticulously choreographed display of Chinese soldiers, children waving American and Chinese flags, and rows of senior officials and the US’s top business executives.

Conspicuously absent at the table, however, were women from either delegation – a stark visual that quickly drew criticism from observers who saw it as an unmistakable display of patriarchal power.

If state’s house passes bill, redrawn map could could give state Republicans a 5-1 congressional majority

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On Thursday, the Louisiana state senate voted 27-10 to pass a new congressional map that would eliminate one of the state’s two majority-Black House districts. The resulting map could give Louisiana Republicans a 5-1 congressional majority.

The supreme court’s recent decision in Louisiana v Callais, a case that centered on the state’s congressional maps, severely weakened the Voting Rights Act (VRA). The fallout from the decision was swift, with several other southern states calling special sessions to pass redistricting maps that would limit Black voting power.

The company is ready to do battle with Meta and Google in the smart glasses marketplace.

Transition strengthens coordination of DOE’s commercialization programs and support for early-stage energy startups

WASHINGTON, May 14, 2026 — The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Technology Commercialization (OTC) has announced it will take over stewardship of the Lab-Embedded Entrepreneurship Program (LEEP), one of the Department’s flagship startup programs. Today’s announcement came during the program’s annual LEEP Demo Day, which features presentations from LEEP fellows, expert panels, and interactive discussions with startups.

LEEP recruits top entrepreneurial talent through a competitive national process and embeds them at DOE National Laboratories for two-year fellowships. During this time, fellows receive entrepreneurial training, mentorship, technical support, and access to world-class facilities to develop and launch energy and manufacturing startups. The program also connects participants to local, regional, and national innovation ecosystems, helping early-stage companies overcome barriers to commercialization. DOE’s Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technologies Office (AMMTO) launched LEEP in 2015. Under AMMTO’s leadership for the past decade, 202 LEEP startups have attracted more than $6 billion in follow-on funding and created over 3,900 jobs.

“LEEP has a strong track record of helping entrepreneurs turn promising technologies into real companies with real-world impact,” said DOE Chief Commercialization Officer and OTC Director Anthony Pugliese. “We’re excited to welcome the program into OTC’s portfolio and build on that success by connecting these innovators more directly to the Department’s broader commercialization resources and partnerships.”

Through LEEP, offices across DOE support technologies that span the entire energy ecosystem. By bringing LEEP under OTC, DOE is strengthening connections across its commercialization programs, from early-stage innovation through startup formation and growth, while improving coordination and broadening support for entrepreneurs working with the National Labs. OTC extends a warm thank you to DOE’s Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technologies Office for its stewardship of LEEP to date and continued collaboration into the future.

For more information on LEEP, visit OTC’s LEEP web page.

Source: U.S. Dept. of Energy

The post DOE Moves Lab-Embedded Entrepreneurship Program to Technology Commercialization Office appeared first on HPCwire.

May 14, 2026 — Autonomous Resource Corporation (ARC), a Delaware corporation, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), the U.S. Department of Energy’s largest multi-program science and energy laboratory, announced a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) establishing a strategic public-private partnership to accelerate the on-demand manufacture of qualified, mission-critical components for U.S. national security applications.

ORNL’s exascale supercomputer is delivering world-leading performance. Credit: ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

The partnership — known as the Exascale Foundry — will combine ORNL’s computing and manufacturing capabilities with ARC’s ARCNet distributed manufacturing platform to create a closed-loop system for AI-enabled materials and manufacturing qualification and autonomous production at defense-relevant scale.

“The United States faces an urgent need to rebuild its manufacturing capacity for critical defense components,” said Bryan Wisk, CEO of ARC. “By combining ORNL’s world-leading computational, materials science, and manufacturing capabilities with our autonomous production infrastructure, we can compress manufacturing and qualification timelines from years to months and deliver manufactured parts at the volumes the warfighter needs.”

Partnership Highlights

Under the MOU, ARC will deploy advanced manufacturing equipment organized into seven production nodes connected to ORNL via ARC’s secure ARCNet infrastructure. ARC will expand capability through ORNL’s high-performance computing (HPC) resources.

ORNL will provide access to HPC expertise for simulation-driven materials characterization and qualification, along with technologies developed at the Manufacturing Demonstration Facility (MDF), the Department of Energy’s only large-scale, open-access advanced manufacturing facility. ORNL’s Peregrine AI software, which has analyzed over 1.9 million additive manufacturing layers, will be integrated into ARC’s production nodes for real-time adaptive control and quality assurance.

This partnership also supports DOE’s Genesis Mission, a national initiative to build the world’s most powerful scientific platform to accelerate discovery science, strengthen national security and drive energy innovation. ARC and ORNL’s collective capabilities will help re-envision advanced manufacturing and industrial productivity, accelerate defense production and qualification, and secure critical supply chain elements.

“ORNL’s advanced manufacturing and computing capabilities are uniquely positioned to help accelerate the transition of laboratory-proven technologies into production-scale defense manufacturing,” said Moe Khaleel, ORNL associate laboratory director for National Security Sciences. “Partnering with ARC ensures we are transitioning our research into real production outcomes.”

The initial implementation will focus on high-temperature nickel superalloy turbine components for autonomous air vehicle engines using metal binder jetting technology, directly addressing demonstrated production bottlenecks in the U.S. defense supply chain.

ORNL Chief Manufacturing Officer Craig Blue added, “This partnership exemplifies the type of relationship necessary to build and grow domestic supply chains for our national security.”

About Autonomous Resource Corporation

ARC is a New York–headquarted corporation building and operating an AI-enabled, autonomous manufacturing platform for national security and critical infrastructure applications. ARC’s ARCNet connects distributed production cells into a secure, federated manufacturing grid capable of producing qualified components at scale. ARC’s leadership team brings deep experience across defense technology, capital markets, materials science, and additive manufacturing at production scale.

Source: ORNL

The post Autonomous Resource Corporation, ORNL Partner to Accelerate AI-Enabled Defense Manufacturing appeared first on HPCwire.

Groups say supreme court justice, who owns oil stocks, may be violating ethics codes by participating in certain cases

The supreme court justice Samuel Alito, who owns stock in oil companies, may be violating court ethics codes by participating in certain cases that could benefit big oil, government watchdog groups say.

In a Thursday letter, a coalition of watchdog organizations called on the Senate judiciary committee to investigate Alito, the sole supreme court justice with holdings in energy companies.

The way Florida treats kids enrolled in its low-income children's health insurance program is an outlier in the United States, a Democratic congresswoman said.

"Governor (Ron) DeSantis is breaking the law," U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor, D-Fla., wrote April 29 on X. "Florida is the only state in the nation kicking children off their affordable health coverage and preventing over 40,000 children from getting KidCare coverage." 

KidCare is Florida’s subsidized health insurance for children from low-income families — the state’s version of the federal Children’s Health Insurance Program, or CHIP. 

Florida officials challenged a federal rule that requires keeping children enrolled in affordable health insurance — and Florida is the only state taking children off its program because of missed payments. State officials removed about 43,000 children from December 2024 to November 2025. 

The DeSantis administration has filed lawsuits against both the Biden and Trump administrations to exempt Florida or reverse the rule. The rule requires states to keep children continuously enrolled in subsidized health insurance plans for 12 months even if parents miss a payment.

Two of Florida’s lawsuits have been unsuccessful; one is pending.

"There are no other states doing this," said Joan Alker, director of Georgetown University’s  Center for Children and Families. "Florida is removing thousands of children, violating federal law, and saying they aren’t going to expand their program because of this federal rule."

In her post, Castor shared an article by KFF, a health policy think tank, that described Florida’s yearslong delay of a KidCare program expansion, which state lawmakers approved in 2023.

When asked for comment, Jay Rhoden, a Castor spokesperson, referenced the KFF article and said other states, such as Texas, have asked the federal government to rescind the rule requiring continuous coverage but haven’t defied the law.

DeSantis’ office directed PolitiFact’s questions to the state's Agency for Health Care Administration, which helps oversee KidCare and has been involved in the litigation. The agency did not respond to our email seeking comment.

Florida fights federal rule, delays expansion  

Florida’s KidCare is a Medicaid expansion program for children whose families earn too much money to qualify for traditional Medicaid but do not earn enough money to buy private or marketplace insurance. 

The federal government pays about 69 cents of every dollar spent on KidCare, with the rest funded through state funds and monthly premiums of about $15 to $20, depending on household income.

Florida is among the states with the highest number of uninsured children, with more than 400,000, or 8.5%, lacking insurance, according to 2024 federal data.

In May 2023, the Florida Legislature unanimously approved expanding KidCare’s eligibility threshold from 200% to 300% of the federal poverty level. That means children in a family of four qualify for coverage if the annual household income is $93,600 or less, up from about $66,000. DeSantis signed it into law in June 2023.

A 2023 House analysis estimated the expansion would cover 42,000 more Florida children. Studies have found that subsidized healthcare coverage improves children’s lives by increasing access to care and improving long-term health outcomes.

Also in 2023, the federal government approved the "continuous eligibility" rule that required states to provide 12 months of healthcare coverage for children enrolled in subsidized programs. The rule ensures children’s coverage wouldn’t lapse in cases of nonpayment or administrative issues. Alker said children sometimes lose coverage because of a bureaucratic mistake, such as missing a notice when they move.

The DeSantis administration sued the federal government in an attempt to nix the rule, and also submitted a waiver to the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to seek approval of the KidCare expansion and to ask the agency to let the state continue removing children from the program for missed premiums.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services approved Florida’s waiver to expand KidCare in December 2024 but said the state must comply with the federal rule.

From December 2024 through November 2025, Florida removed about 43,000 children from the program for premium payment lapses, according to data obtained by KFF.

"Florida is an extreme outlier. Thousands of children are losing their health insurance," said Holly Bullard, chief strategy and development officer at the Florida Policy Institute, a left-leaning nonprofit advocating for the state to implement the expansion. "Not only is it the only state suing, but it's also the only one not complying with both state and federal law."

A federal judge dismissed Florida’s first lawsuit over the rule, and the  state withdrew its second lawsuit in February. 

Florida is now suing the federal government for a third time, accusing it of Freedom of Information Act violations related to the expansion waiver and asking the court to strike the condition that Florida must abide by the continuous enrollment requirement.

Florida officials have pointed to ongoing litigation for the delay in expanding the program.

"You can sue over federal policy you don’t like, but you're supposed to comply with the law at the same time," Bullard said.

The Trump administration has not enforced the continuous enrollment rule in Florida, or issued any warnings to the state.

Florida Health Justice Project, a nonprofit legal aid group, and the National Health Law Program sued Florida’s Medicaid and KidCare agencies in March to implement the approved expansion.

Our ruling

Castor said, "Florida is the only state in the nation kicking children off their affordable health coverage."

The state is the only one in the country not complying with a federal rule requiring states to keep children enrolled in subsidized healthcare for 12 months regardless of missed premium payments. Florida has removed at least 43,000 children from KidCare for nonpayment since December 2024.

We rate Castor’s statement True.

These exercise bikes give you the Peloton experience without the hefty price tag.

A growing number of writers are leaving Substack for alternatives most people haven't heard of like Ghost, Beehiiv, Patreon, and Passport. The reason, writes The Verge's Emma Roth, is the "platform's increased focus on social features as well as a pricing model that puts a chokehold on their business." From the report: Sean Highkin, the creator of the NBA-focused publication The Rose Garden Report, tells The Verge that he makes "significantly more money" after switching from Substack to Ghost last April. "When I first joined up, [Substack] gave me a big push and featured me and funneled a lot of traffic to me, which led to a good amount of growth," Highkin says. "But once I wasn't one of the 'new recruited talent' they could tout, they stopped featuring me and I saw my growth stagnate." Highkin now pays $2,052 per year using Ghost and an add-on called Outpost, compared to $4,968 per year on Substack. The Rose Garden Report's subscriber base has grown 22 percent since the end of 2024, Highkin says. [...] Substack launched in 2017 as a platform that allows writers to create their own newsletters and manage paying subscribers. Unlike some of its biggest rivals, Substack takes a 10 percent cut of total subscription revenue. That tax may not seem substantial at first, but it quickly adds up as creators gain subscribers and begin charging more for their subscriptions. A calculator on Substack's own website estimates that for a newsletter charging $10 per month with 400 subscribers, the total monthly cost -- including the platform's 10 percent cut and credit card processing fees -- would add up to $636. That cost jumps to $15,900 per month with 10,000 subscribers and skyrockets to $79,500 per month for 50,000 members -- nearly $1 million per year. Many Substack rivals charge a flat monthly fee, rather than a commission. Ghost, an open-source platform for blogs and newsletters, starts at $15 per month with 1,000 members for website creation, email newsletter capabilities, and a custom domain. Beehiiv, a creator platform with tools for launching a newsletter, website, and podcast, is free for up to 2,500 subscribers with limited access to certain features, like a built-in ad network, while its other plans vary in price based on subscriber count. A person with 10,000 subscribers, for example, will pay $96 per month for Beehiiv's "Scale" plan. There's also Kit, a newsletter platform that offers a tiered pricing model similar to Beehiiv, costing $116 per month with 10,000 subscribers on its "Creator" plan. It's not just the 10% fee critics are complaining about; they also argue the platform offers limited customization and third-party integrations compared to some of the mentioned alternatives, heavily promotes its own branding and social features, and makes creators more dependent on its ecosystem. Beehiiv founder Tyler Denk argues that creators should be able to build their own brands without the platform taking center stage: "We don't want to take credit for the work of our content creators." While writers can export subscribers, content, and some payment relationships, they cannot take Substack "followers" or Apple-managed iOS billing data with them.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

The EU’s Digital Markets Act has been in effect for a mere two years, but despite all the obstructionism, malicious compliance, and steady stream of lies from US tech companies and Apple in particular, it seems this rather basic consumer protection legislation is already bearing fruit.

In a two-year review report on the DMA, the European Commission notes that alternative browser usage has soared, data portability solutions are spreading, alternative application stores are growing, and much more. On top of that, end users can now opt out of companies combining various data sources for profiling, and a “significant share” of EU users have apparently done so. Furthermore, end users in the EU can now remove preinstalled applications (whereas American users cannot) and they can download their data from big technology companies and authorise other companies to use that data.

Mozilla published a blog post detailing how it has profited from the Digital Markets Act, and it ain’t no peanuts: every ten seconds, someone on iOS chooses Firefox on iOS’ browser choice screen, which amounts to more than six million Firefox users on iOS. They also tend to stick with Firefox on iOS, as retention is five times higher when this browser is chosen through a browser choice screen.

Academic analysis points the same way. Independent researchers compared Firefox daily active users in the EU with 43 non-EU countries. Comparing the 15 months before and after browser choice screens rolled out on iOS, they found that Firefox daily active users (DAU) were 113% higher in the EU than it would have been without the DMA. On Android, it was 12% higher. The smaller Android effect is due to the fact that Firefox usage there started from a much higher base, and the Android rollout has been more uneven than on iOS. The research also shows that the DMA’s effect is growing over time.

↫ Gemma Petrie and Tasos Stampelos on the Mozilla blog

Both the underlying data in the EC report and the data Mozilla provides indicates that the Digital Markets Act is having real and tangible effects, for end users, developers, and companies alike. The neverending barrage of anti-EU and anti-DMA propaganda from Apple, the US government, and their PR attack dogs seems to have been weirdly justified, from the American perspective: basic consumer protection legislation does, indeed, work to lessen the stranglehold major technology companies have on our lives.

And considering just NVIDIA’s market cap alone is now equal to more than 17% of the United States’ GDP, it makes sense the Americans are unhappy with the DMA. That’s going to make one hell of a sound when it pops.

Dana Williamson, who has ties to Gavin Newsom, conspired to steal gubernatorial hopeful Xavier Becerra’s campaign funds

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Dana Williamson, a top California political strategist with ties to the state’s governor, Gavin Newsom, and gubernatorial hopeful Xavier Becerra, pleaded guilty on Thursday to fraud charges, an admission that is poised to fuel other candidates’ attacks in the race.

Federal authorities say Williamson conspired to steal $225,000 from a dormant campaign account belonging to Becerra, who was not named in the plea deal, and divert the money to his chief of staff, Sean McCluskie.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government plans to file a defamation lawsuit against The New York Times.

Google's annual developers conference kicks off Tuesday, May 19. We expect to hear updates on Gemini AI, Android XR, smart glasses and more.

A CBS News investigation showed the broker had worked with dangerous "chameleon carriers," thousands of which evade federal safety enforcement by reincarnating under new names.

Meta opens up ways to develop for its glasses, just as Google's glasses draw near.

Greater Manchester mayor would need to win Makerfield seat before launching campaign for Labour leadership

Andy Burnham now has a potential route back to parliament and a chance to become Labour’s next leader after an MP said he would trigger a byelection by standing down from his seat.

The move ended days of speculation about whether Burnham could secure a possible path back into Westminster, and underlined the increasingly precarious nature of Keir Starmer’s premiership.

Andy Burnham has announced he will attempt to return to Westminster after the Labour MP Josh Simons said he will vacate his Makerfield seat in order for Burnham to run in a byelection. It follows a day of breaking news in which the health secretary, Wes Streeting, resigned, saying he has lost confidence in the prime minister, and Angela Rayner announced she had been cleared by the HMRC. Where does this leave Keir Starmer, the leadership of the Labour party, and the country?

More than a dozen American CEOs are accompanying President Trump on his trip to China. That's not unusual.

A ship was taken by unknown parties toward Iranian waters after an Indian-flagged vessel was attacked off Oman.