At least eight children are dead and other people are wounded after a mass murder reported in the Louisiana city of Shreveport, according to local police.
Police said that the slain victims were children ranging in age from 18 months to 14 years. Two other women were reportedly shot in the head but survived – and a third person, described as a young boy, was injured while jumping from a roof.
President says US navy ship fired on vessel that tried to get past the blockade on Iranian ports; Iran has pledged to keep strait of Hormuz closed until blockade is lifted
UN secretary-general António Guterres has strongly condemned the killing of a French peacekeeper and the wounding of three others in an attack in southern Lebanon, spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said in a statement to the Associated Press.
The UN peacekeeping force came under attack with small-arms fire on Saturday morning, with two of the injured hurt seriously, France’s president and the force known as UNIFIL said.
In October and through November, America's EV sales reached their lowest point since 2022 after government subsidies expired, remembers Time. "But first-quarter data for 2026 shows that used EV sales were 12% higher than the same time last year and 17% higher than the previous quarter.
"One factor likely helping push buyers toward these cars is high gas prices, which recently topped $4.00 a gallon for the first time in four years," they write — but it's not just in the U.S. Instead, they argue the conflict "is driving a global surge of interest in electric vehicles..."
In the U.K., electric car sales reached a record high, with 86,120 vehicles sold in March... The French online used-car retailer Aramisauto reported its share of EV sales nearly doubled from February 16 to March 9, rising to 12.7% from 6.5%, while sales of fueled models dropped to 28% of sales from 34%, and sales of diesel models dropped to 10% from 14%. Germany's largest online car market, mobile.de, told Reuters that the share of EV searches on its website has tripled since the start of March — from 12% to 36%, with car dealers receiving 66% more enquiries for used EVs than in February.
South Korea reported that registrations for electric vehicles more than doubled in March compared to the prior year, due in part to rising fuel prices and government subsidies... In New Zealand, more than 1,000 EVs were registered in the week that ended on March 22, close to double the week before, making it the country's biggest week for electric vehicle registrations since the end of 2023, according to the country's Transport Minister, Chris Bishop.
In America, Bloomberg also reports 605 high-speed EV charging stations switched on in just the first three months of 2025, "a 34% increase over the year-earlier period," according to their analysis of federal data. A data platform focused on EV infrastructure tells Bloomberg that speedier and more reliable chargers are convincing more drivers to go electric and use public plugs.
Senior government figures fear decision to appoint former ambassador to US could cost PM his leadership
Keir Starmer will deliver a high-stakes statement to MPs on Monday as he struggles to overcome fears inside his government that the Peter Mandelson vetting scandal could yet cost him his leadership.
In what is set to be a dramatic showdown, the prime minister will set out how Mandelson was able to take up his role as UK ambassador without the Foreign Office revealing it had overruled the decision to fail his vetting.
The following is the transcript of the interview with Amos Hochstein, Biden administration senior energy adviser and Middle East negotiator, that aired on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" on April 19, 2026.
Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana, a long supporter of Trump, says president’s feud with the pope is a ‘distraction’
A Republican lawmaker has condemned what he refers to as Donald Trump’s “holy war” against Pope Leo XIV.
Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana, a long supporter of Trump and the ultraconservative Maga movement, condemned the president’s attacks on the pope during a Fox News interviewon Saturday.
Rumen Radev’s centre-left Progressive Bulgaria group ran on anti-corruption platform in country’s eighth election in five years
The party of Bulgaria’s pro-Russia former president Rumen Radev has come first in the country’s eighth parliamentary elections in five years, according to exit polls, but without securing a majority.
Radev, who resigned as president in January, ran on a pledge to fight corruption after an anti-graft movement triggered a long political crisis.
U.N. Ambassador Mike Waltz said Sunday that the U.S. is "never going to take an approach of trust" with Iran as U.S. officials are set to head to Islamabad for a second round of talks this week.
I’ve just had a nosedive when testing 1200 Hz IMU Sample Rate at the slow 400 kHz bus speed and with ZVF at 35 kHz. It was a controller reset which appears just like a normal bootup (so no crash, no intentional software reset). I’ve had a few of these when testing the new code originally (about a year ago), but later the controller started resetting on its own (on light impact) so I attributed it to that.
With the data I have now I can only conclude the issue must be related to extreme CPU loads (the configuration above pretty much fully saturates the CPU). I’ve been running the following two configurations for around 1000 km or more so I’m pretty confident these are safe:
400 kHz bus speed, 900 Hz Sample Rate; Not sure about ZVF, was certainly between 32-33 kHz for a lot of it
700 kHz bus speed, 1200 Hz Sample Rate; ZVF was likely again over 30 for a lot of it, after that I ran 25 kHz as that had the most stable timing.
Most recently I ran:
400 kHz, 1200 Hz, 25 kHz for 130-160 km (no issues)
After finding inconclusive answers online, I reached out to an air fryer manufacturer and pro chefs to see if it's possible to make popcorn in an air fryer.
NBC News reports on a 16-person clinical trial of "personalized messenger RNA vaccines" which use the immune system to fight cancer cells. "The goal is not to eliminate existing tumors, but instead to stamp out lingering, undetected cancer cells, and later any new cells that form before they can cause a recurrence."
Patients still have surgery to remove tumors. After that, the mRNA vaccines are personalized for each individual using genetic material taken from their unique tumor cells. In the clinical trial, after getting the vaccine, the patients also received chemotherapy, which is standard post-op treatment for operable pancreatic cancer... [The article notes that less than 13% of people diagnosed with pancreatic cancer live for more than five years, making it "one of the deadliest cancers."]
[E]xperts have long believed that people with pancreatic cancer could not generate an immune response against tumors. But after nine doses of the personalized vaccine, [clinical trial participant Donna] Gustafson is one of eight people in the 16-person Phase 1 trial who did just that, producing an army of immune cells called T cells that seek out and destroy tumor cells... [Dr. Vinod Balachandran, a vaccine center director who is leading the trial, said] it was unclear whether the immune response would last and lead to the patients living longer... New data collected during the trial's six-year follow-up period shows that it may. Those findings will be presented Monday at the American Association for Cancer Research's annual meeting in San Diego. Six years after treatment, Gustafson and six others who responded to the treatment are still alive...
More research is still needed. Genentech and BioNTech, the two drugmakers behind the vaccine, have already launched a larger Phase 2 clinical trial... Another team is working on an off-the-shelf vaccine that targets a protein called KRAS that is present in as many as 90% of pancreatic cancers. In a small, early trial, about 85% of the participants mounted an immune response to the protein.
Ahead of a showdown with MPs, prime minister looks like a man who is not really in control in his own government
Keir Starmer has spent much of the last 24 hours working on a plan for what senior government figures are already describing as his “judgment day”: his showdown with MPs on Monday over the latest Peter Mandelson revelations.
That the prime minister was apparently not told of Mandelson’s vetting failure has provoked incredulity across Westminster and accusations he sacked a senior civil servant to save his premiership.
Came across this listing and wondering if the community thinks it's fairly priced.
**The listing:**
Onewheel XR with 306 miles on the clock. Seller has included an app screenshot confirming mileage and battery at 92%. Listed at €895 (down from €995), been up for 56 days.
**Accessories included:**
- Float plates fitted + spare set
- Land-Surf fangs
- Craft & Ride fender + brand new spare
- Shaped rear pad (original in box too)
- Aftermarket tyre suited to tarmac and grass/gravel
- Enjoy the Ride guard rails
I already have a Onewheel Pint so not a complete beginner.
Is it a good price? And is there anything else I should check on collection beyond the app battery reading?
Also — worth holding out for a used XR Classic to appear, or is the original XR at this price/condition a no-brainer?
Take Back Power, which targets the super-rich, says seven members were arrested at a training session
Seven people from an activist group calling for higher taxes on the super-rich have been arrested by police on suspicion of conspiracy to steal.
Police confirmed that six women and one man were detained in Salford, Greater Manchester, on Sunday over what they said was a coordinated plan to steal from high-end stores.
It will also confirm in Iran’s eyes that the US president’s chaotic approach to diplomacy doubles the need for Tehran to act calmly and strategically – two competencies it believes he totally lacks.
The following is the transcript of the interview with Obama administration Attorney General Eric Holder that aired on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" on April 19, 2026.
"Motorola has filed a lawsuit in India against social media platforms and content creators," reports TechCrunch, "over posts it alleges are defamatory..."
The lawsuit, filed in a Bengaluru court and obtained by TechCrunch, names platforms such as X, YouTube, and Instagram along with dozens of content creators, and seeks takedown of the content as well as broader restraint on what it describes as false or defamatory material related to the company's devices. In its over 60-page filing, Motorola has sought a permanent injunction restraining the defendants from publishing or sharing what it describes as false or defamatory content about its products, including reviews, videos, comments, and boycott campaigns.
The complaint cites hundreds of posts across platforms, including videos alleging device issues and phones catching fire. But it is also targeting unfavorable product reviews and user commentary that the company alleges are false or defamatory. In a statement after publication, a Motorola spokesperson said it had initiated legal action "in the interest of public safety" against what it described as demonstrably false claims that its devices had exploded or caught fire.
One online creator told TechCrunch "they expect more such legal action in the future, as evolving rules around online content increase liability for creators and platforms — a trend reflected in recently proposed changes to India's IT rules aimed at tightening oversight of online content."
A Motorola spokesperson "said the company did not seek to suppress legitimate reviews or criticism and was reviewing the scope of the proceedings, adding that it apologized to creators affected inadvertently."
Donald Trump’s representatives will return to Pakistan on Monday for another possible round of talks aimed at ending the US-Israeli war in Iran, after the US president repeated his threats to Iranian infrastructure unless Iran agrees to a deal.
The return of a US delegation to Islamabad, led by vice-president JD Vance, along with Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, comes after Iran on Saturday reimposed tight restrictions on the transit of commercial shipping in the strait of Hormuz, reversing an agreement made hours before to reopen the strategic waterway, over the US’s refusal to lift its naval blockade.
Ministers are under growing pressure to share the documents from Peter Mandelson’s vetting process with the parliamentary committee tasked with deciding if they should be made public.
In February, MPs passed a binding parliamentary motion, known as a humble address, requiring the government to publish “all papers” relating to Mandelson’s appointment as ambassador to the US.
As soon as I heard about a new romcom with Elizabeth Olsen, Miles Teller and Callum Turner being released, I knew I’d have to tune in. I was even more intrigued when I saw it was an A24 film, which have impressed me in the past.
I had seen the trailer briefly during the previews of a different film I was seeing in theaters, but I couldn’t remember much. I actually hadn’t seen much about it on any social media platform. Of course, after I watched it, it quickly showed up on my For You Page with tons of videos about it.
When I first went to watch it, I didn’t really know what to expect. I usually know more of the premise when first going to see a movie. Yet, all I knew was the actors in it, that it was a love triangle and that it had to do with the afterlife, as stated in the title. I liked going into it without any spoilers or knowledge of major plotlines.
The film opens with an older couple in the car, driving to their great-granddaughter’s gender reveal for her baby. At first, you might think, “What does this have to do with the movie?” when you think you are entering an Elizabeth Olsen movie. But it all makes sense as you keep watching.
There were a lot more twists and turns in this film than I anticipated! As you may assume from a romcom with one woman and two men, you think, of course, she has to choose one of them by the end. But it was much more complex than that. You are taken on a rollercoaster of emotions with Olsen’s character, Joan.
I adored Joan’s character arc and how much she grew throughout the film. She learned a lot about herself and figured out what she wanted. Her acting was phenomenal, as well as both the male actors.
Teller’s character, Larry, was a standout. I was so ready to watch him because I’m a big fan of his past projects. He’s such a talented actor and had me laughing out loud at many points throughout the movie. Also, two of the side characters, known as the “ACs” (you’ll find out what that means when you watch), were the perfect additions to this cast and were so hilarious together.
Turner, in his role as Luke, was also outstanding. He was cast perfectly. The difference between the two men made the story so interesting. Luke was the “picture perfect” guy. Larry was more of an ordinary guy.
Each character in this film was complex in their own way. As a viewer, you side with different characters at different points in the story, that’s what makes the movie so beautiful.
No matter what your beliefs are about the afterlife or what happens after you pass away, this film puts an interesting twist on the whole concept. I felt there were similarities to other popular media, like “The Good Place” and “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.” There was a perfect balance between the film’s deep concept, while staying lighthearted.
Overall, I really loved this film. I was actually sad when it was over because I didn’t want it to end. It was the perfect combination of serious, funny, sad and heartwarming. I may have shed a tear, or many, especially with the ending.
It’s extremely emotional and gets you thinking about the true meaning of love. I definitely will give it a rewatch sometime soon — and highly recommend you go watch this film and bring tissues.
I got my hands on the Sidewinder as soon as it dropped so I could get some testing in asap!
I've been mainly riding the 5" Superflux HT and 6" SFHT, but also have boards with the 6" SFHS and Hypercore, so you could say I have some solid baseline to compare!
Full YouTube video linked in the comments if you want to see all my first impressions of it on trail and on street!
EDIT: Why am I getting downvoted bruh reddit makes no sense to me
Former Little Mix singer offers £10,000 reward for information about Land Rover taken from Essex driveway
The musician Jesy Nelson, a former member of the band Little Mix, has pleaded for help after her car, which contained essential medical equipment for her children, was stolen from her driveway in Essex.
The black Land Rover is believed to have been taken at about 3am on Sunday in Brentwood.
The following is the transcript of the interview with first Trump administration surgeon general Dr. Jerome Adams that aired on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" on April 19, 2026.
The following is the transcript of the interview with Mike Waltz, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, that aired on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" on April 19, 2026.
"Nevada quietly signed an agreement earlier this year with a company that collects location data from cellphones, allowing police to track a device virtually in real time," reports the Associated Press. "All without a warrant."
The software from Fog Data Science, adopted this January in Nevada through a Department of Public Safety contract, pulls information from smartphone apps in order to let state investigators identify the location of mobile devices. The state is allowed more than 250 queries a month using the tool, which allows officers to track a device's location over long stretches of time and enables them to see what Fog calls "patterns of life," according to company documents from 2022. It can help them deduce where and when people work and live, with whom they associate and what places they visit, according to privacy experts... Traditionally, police must obtain a warrant from a judge to access cellphone location information — a process that can take days or weeks. And while cellphone users may be aware that they are sharing their location through apps such as Google Maps, critics say few are aware that such information can make its way to police...
Other agencies in Nevada have been known to use technology similar to Fog. In 2013, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department acquired something known as a cell-site simulator that mimics cellphone towers and can sweep up signals from entire areas to track individuals, with some models capable of intercepting texts and calls. Police have not released detailed information about the technology since then.
"Police in other states have said the technology (and its low price tag) has helped expand investigatory capacity," the article adds.
But it also points out that Fog Data Science has a web page letting individuals opt out of all their data sets.
Former US president and New York mayor read to a group of children and led a sing-along at a Bronx childcare center
Barack Obama met with Zohran Mamdani for the first time on Saturday at a childcare center where the former Democratic US president and mayor of New York City read to preschoolers and led a sing-along.
The meeting comes as Mamdani, a democratic socialist who marked his 100th day in office just over a week earlier, is also trying to build a working relationship with Donald Trump – Obama’s Republican presidential successor.
The president accused Iran of violating the ceasefire as ships reported attacks in the Strait of Hormuz but said U.S. representatives would be back at the table this week.
Chris Wright says ‘I don’t know’ when asked about lower cost of gas as average price soars to $4 a gallon in US
Chris Wright, the Trump administration’s energy secretary, acknowledged Sunday that it might not be until 2027 before US gas prices come back under $3 a gallon.
Asked by Jake Tapper, the CNN State of the Union host, when he thought “it’s realistic for Americans to expect the gas will go back to under $3 a gallon”, Wright replied: “I don’t know. That could happen later this year. That might not happen until next year.”
kriston (Slashdot reader #7,886) writes:
HP Anyware, the new name of the Teradici PCoIP remote desktop solution that was acquired by HP in 2021, is being discontinued.
"Maintenance and support for customers and partners with multi-year terms will continue until 31 October, 2029," a href="https://anyware.hp.com/hp-anyware-end-of-life">according to HP's announcement.
But HP is also announcing the planned End of Life for Anyware Trust Center and Trusted Zero Clients, with support now limited to setup and troubleshooting, no new updates or patches, and support ending in a little over six months on October 31, 2026. While for Desktop Access customers — Tera2 Zero Clients and PCoIP Management Console — "the previously announced EOL date remains December 31, 2029," sales have already ended for other customers. HP Anyware renewals are available for purchase through October 31 of 2027, but with a maximum one year term, with support ending October 31, 2028.
HP says the decision "enables us to focus our resources on product categories where we can deliver the greatest customer value and drive long-term innovation."
The tire rolls fine without the actual fender but with the fender on, the tire wont roll.(With the board turned off)
Has anyone else run into this issue and have a solution for this? Am I missing something or did I install something wrong? Do I need to modify the adapter file?
Ahead of December's release of Avengers: Doomsday, Disney has unveiled "Infinity Vision," reports Kotaku, which they describe as "a new theater-going experience that will be certain to transform your pedestrian $15 night out into an exotic $43 one." (Though those prices appear to be estimates...)
Disney's announcement calls it "a new certification for premium large format (PLF) theaters," helping ticket-buyers find "a huge screen with the sharpest, clearest color and sound," including laser projection "for superior brightness and clarity ") and "premium audio formats for fully immersive sound".
Light on specifics, Disney says they will be certifying premium large format theaters for the Infinity Vision experience, highlighting laser projection and immersive audio quality. The new program will begin in the summer for a theater run of 2019's Avengers: Endgame ahead of Doomsday's holiday release.
Now you might be thinking: Giant screen? Booming audio? That sounds an awful lot like IMAX. The most consumer-recognized premium movie-going screen is the coveted throne for big blockbuster events, from Avatar to One Battle After Another. Unfortunately for Doomsday, IMAX screens are already booked for the holiday season by Dune: Part Three, the anticipated return to Arrakis, where Timothée Chalamet's Muad'Dib will begin to go worm-mode. Locked out of the popular choice for doubling your ticket price, Disney appears to have made up a new one...
Disney says they aim to certify 75 theaters in the United States and 300 internationally for the Infinity Vision program.
The renewable energy company Panthalassa says it has a solution to the proliferation of AI data centers, which consume massive amounts of energy and are the cause of increased carbon pollution: sea-based data centers, powered by wave energy.
Deputy leader ran shell companies that reportedly did not pay tax on profits from 2020 to 2022, during which time his firm donated £1.1m to party
Richard Tice allegedly failed to pay almost £100,000 in corporation tax to the benefit of his investment company, which in turn made donations to Reform UK, it has been reported.
In response to the report in the Sunday Times, the deputy leader of Reform UK posted a lengthy statement on X, in which he said: “A long career with multiple businesses is bound to feature some errors. Naturally I am always happy to put things right and if numbers need rechecking, of course I will pay what is owed – be that more or less.”
Met police looking into whether series of arson attacks against Jewish sites were carried out by Iranian proxies
The chief rabbi has said Jews in the UK are facing a “sustained campaign of violence and intimidation” after another attempted arson attack on a synagogue in London.
The incident at Kenton united synagogue in Harrow, north-west London, on Saturday night caused minor smoke damage to an internal room but no injuries or significant structural damage, according to the Community Security Trust, which monitors antisemitism and provides protection for Jewish communities in the UK.
The celebrated actors are both making their Broadway debuts in a revival of David Auburn's Tony- and Pulitzer Prize-winner "Proof," about a brilliant mathematics professor with mental-health issues, and his daughter with issues of her own.
About 422 indie bookshops opened in 2025, up 31%, defying predictions of retail consolidation
For years now, we have heard that Amazon and the big chains are crushing small businesses, but independent bookstores are suddenly making a comeback.
About 422 new indie bookshops opened in 2025, according to the American Booksellers Association, a 31% rise from 2024. Countless independent restaurants, coffee shops, fitness centers, movie theaters, clothing stores and other small businesses also continue to thrive even in this era of ever-bigger retailers, fast-casual restaurants and massive e-commerce platforms.
After deadly 2023 fires, recent storms and ICE raids, Lahaina residents are determined to rebuild the town for their community
In March, Hawaii was hit with two back-to-back storms, bringing the worst flooding it’s seen in 20 years. In Lahaina, Maui, muddy flood waters turned streets into rivers and carved new paths through the barren landscape, breaking open roads and flooding houses. In their wake, sinkholes appeared, engulfing cars.
This is nearly three years after the deadliest wildfires in US history ravaged Lahaina, destroying more than 2,000 structures and killing more than 100 people. Hundreds of affected households are still in temporary housing. Poverty, unemployment and housing instability, rife before the fires, have only worsened.
No deaths reported after latest round of severe weather in the region as officials brace residents for long recovery
A trail of damaged homes and buildings dotted a wide swath of the US on Saturday after a burst of destructive winds and reported tornadoes tore off roofs, uprooted trees and rendered rural roads impassable with debris.
No deaths were reported after Friday’s storms, which barreled through the upper midwest and delivered the latest round of severe weather to batter the region. Officials braced residents for a long recovery in some rural communities.
George Nakashima (1905-1990), considered a giant of 20th century furniture design, was a leader of the American craft movement. His legacy continues through his daughter, Mira, who took the reins of the company he founded, Nakashima Woodworkers.
Police say 29-year-old arrested on suspicion of attempted murder and drink driving after collision on Soho street
A woman has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after a car hit pedestrians in central London in the early hours of Sunday morning.
A woman in her 30s is in hospital in a critical condition and a man in his 50s suffered life-changing injuries after they were hit by a car in Argyll Street, Westminster, at about 4.30am on Sunday, the Metropolitan police said.
Giorgia Meloni’s far-right government to ask MPs to back controversial voluntary repatriation scheme
Italian lawyers will be paid bonuses if they successfully convince their immigrant clients to return home under a government plan that has been compared to a “wild west-style bounty”.
The incentive is in the latest security bill from Giorgia Meloni’s far-right government and goes to the lower house of parliament for final approval this week. It was passed by the upper house after fiery debate.
Following President Trump's promise of mass deportations of undocumented immigrants, more than 200 immigration judges have been fired, forced out or retired, and are being replaced by what are advertised as "deportation judges."
Winning robot runs faster time than Jacob Kiplimo’s world record
More than 100 robots run in parallel tracks to avoid collisions with humans
They can already carry the shopping, cook and clean. Now they can run and win half marathons.
In perhaps the most unusual spectacle ever seen at the end of the 13.1-mile (21.1km) race, robots flew over the finish line ahead of the humans for the first time in Beijing on Sunday. And there wasn’t a bead of sweat in sight.
The Dane County Sheriff's office said a "significant" number of people were arrested at the Ridglan Farms facility, which has accused of constant abuse, specifically towards beagles. The facility denies the accusations.
Agreements would aim to shield British industry from new steel tariffs and stricter rules on electric vehicles due in 2027
Downing Street hopes to secure deals on steel and electric cars with the EU as it seeks to upgrade the post-Brexit economic relationship.
Amid economic uncertainty caused by the conflict in the Middle East and strains in relations with the US, Keir Starmer is seeking closer economic ties with the EU.
Book from Josh Owens tells of punishing work for far-right conspiracy theorist who, far from silenced, broadcasts on
Donald Trump gave rightwing media provocateurs Tucker Carlson, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Megyn Kelly, Candace Owens and Alex Jones a shoutout this week, calling them “Low IQs”, “stupid people”, and “LOSERS”.
Jones hit back, saying Trump was “committing political suicide on purpose” and had made a deal to sabotage the midterms. America, Jones said, “is now under the control of a foreign government” and encouraged followers “to fly their flags upside down, because our nation is in distress!”
A Maine lawsuit has suddenly become the most significant anti-corruption battle inside America’s legal system
Slush funds of anonymous unregulated money are now the dominant institutions in American politics, converting our elections into auctions – and transforming the legislative process into a donor bidding war.
In the last election, independent expenditure groups spent more money than the total amount spent by all congressional candidates combined. One in every $5 flowing through a Super Pac came from organizations that do not disclose their donors. In all, $2bn of “independent” spending was dark money, meaning the public cannot see who is buying elections – even though politicians know exactly who they owe once they are in office.
The bosses of Britain’s “big five” retail banks have been summoned to a meeting with the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, this week to discuss how to limit the economic impact of the crisis in the Middle East triggered by the US and Israel’s attacks on Iran.
The chief executives of HSBC, Barclays, Lloyds, NatWest and Santander have been asked to attend an emergency summit on Wednesday, amid increasing acceptance that a major economic hit from the Iran war is unavoidable.
The BASE experiment at CERN has figured out how to transport antimatter by truck, enabling scientists to study antimatter in greater detail without interference from CERN's giant magnets.
Trump appears to have crossed a line with his Christian supporters. Will it come back to bite him in the midterms?
Donald Trump’s depiction of himself as Jesus Christ and recent spat with Pope Leo XIV could come back to bite him and the Republican party in the midterm elections, according to experts, with some newly aggrieved Christian groups set to play an outsized role in key races across the US.
The president’s Trump-as-the-Messiah Truth Social post sparked immediate criticism among some Christians, including some on the right. Trump, 79, said he thought the AI image of him administering an ethereal light to a stricken man’s head as translucent figures descended from the heavens represented him as a doctor.
The primal human experience of gazing into an unblemished cosmos is vanishing, being replaced by a dense, industrial field of 15,000 orbiting satellites with plans for half a million more by 2040.
The Associated Press looks at the small-but-growing "rebellion" against attention-hogging devices, citing "a growing body of literature calling for people to move away from screens and pay attention to life."
D. Graham Burnett is a historian of science at Princeton University and one of the authors of " Attensity! A Manifesto of the Attention Liberation Movement," making him a pillar of the growing backlash against the corporate harvesting of human attention. Along with MS NOW host Chris Hayes' bestselling " The Sirens' Call: How Attention Became the World's Most Endangered Resource," his work is part of a growing body of literature calling for people to move away from screens and pay attention to life. Burnett says the "attention liberation movement" is about throwing off the yoke of time-sucking apps. People "need to rewild their attention. Their attention is the fullness of their relationship to the world"....
There are several dozen "attention activism" groups across the United States and Canada, and the movement has also cropped up in Spain, Italy, Croatia, France and England. Burnett said he expects it to spread further.
Some examples cited in the article:
"More than a dozen millennials gathered in a brownstone apartment in Brooklyn and placed their phones in a metal colander before two hours of reading, drawing and conversation."
A few miles away "Nearly 20 people in their 30s stared at their cellphones for a few minutes. Then they set them down and looked at their bared palms for a while. Then those of their neighbors." Thanks to long-time Slashdot reader destinyland for sharing the article.
Actor who worked with the great French auteurs in the 1970s and 80s and starred in Spielberg’s Catch Me if You Can died of Lewy body dementia, says family
The French film star Nathalie Baye, who starred in a string of highly regarded French films as well as Steven Spielberg’s Catch Me If You Can, has died at the age of 77, her family said on Saturday.
Baye, a stalwart of France’s domestic cinema, starred in about 80 films and took home the best actress César, France’s equivalent of the Oscars, four times, including three years running from 1981 to 1983. She died on Friday evening at her home in Paris from Lewy body dementia, her family told AFP.
Jeremy Hansen praised for speaking French in space after Air Canada chief’s linguistic snub exposed tensions and drew rebuke from PM
Few people foresaw humanity’s quest for the moon as accurately as the 19th-century French author Jules Verne, whose two works –From the Earth to the Moon and Around the Moon – anticipated many of the features of modern lunar exploration.
But Verne’s language had never been spoken in deep space until the Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen uttered four words during Nasa’s recent Artemis II mission.
Americans having fewer kids plus an ageing population could be a recipe for disaster that further erodes social stability
Remember environmentalist Paul Ehrlich’s 1960s-vintage prediction about how overpopulation would deplete the Earth’s resources and condemn millions to starvation? His Malthusian condemnation of humanity’s voracious appetite has kept a grip on the debate over the future of the planet, even scaring the young out of having children.
Ehrlich was wrong. Yet as we have come around to the thought that overpopulation won’t kill us all, we are being walloped by another demographic emergency: we are not having too many kids, we are having too few. This problem is real.
People won’t join us just because we’re right. They’ll join if we make them feel like they belong
“Settle your quarrels, come together, and understand the reality of our situation. Understand that fascism is already here, that people are already dying that could be saved, that generations more will live poor, butchered lives if you fail to act. Do what must be done, discover your humanity and your love in revolution.”
George Jackson wrote these prophetic words more than 50 years ago. At that time, he and his comrades were enduring unimaginable violence inside California’s prisons – a microcosm of the fascism already alive in the United States.
Show up, even when it’s uncomfortable.
Talk to people whose politics aren’t perfect.
Work with those still in process because they, too, have revolutionary potential.
Refuse to turn on the people closest to us and focus on the real enemy.
After months of investigation, the singer was arrested on Thursday in a shocking case that has gripped Los Angeles
The tragic case of Celeste Rivas Hernandez, the teenager found dead in the trunk of a Tesla belonging to the alt-pop singer D4vd, has gripped Los Angeles for more than half a year.
The death of the missing middle schooler, and the nature of her ties to the up-and-coming musician, sparked extensive media coverage and speculation online. But aside from grim details released after the discovery of the 14-year-old’s body in September, authorities in LA said relatively little about their investigation.
Pugilistic presence has laid waste to civil rights decision – her take-no-prisoners approach has alarmed legal experts but earned president’s plaudits
When Donald Trump abruptly fired Pam Bondi earlier this month, he made it clear that an unmistakable priority for the justice department would be using the nation’s top law enforcement agency to seek retribution against his political rivals.
For months, Trump pressured Bondi to move ahead with prosecutions against James Comey, Letitia James, Adam Schiff and other rivals, even publicly venting his frustration with Bondi in October. The justice department eventually did secure indictments against Comey and James, but the cases later collapsed. Trump fired Bondi on 2 April, reportedly because he was angered by the department’s lack of progress in prosecuting enemies. Todd Blanche, the acting attorney general, has since said Trump has the “right” to direct investigations at the justice department.
Purple state that recently elected Democratic governor will now choose whether to replace existing voting maps with ones that favor Democrats
Nearly three months to the day after his term as Virginia’s governor ended, Republican Glenn Youngkin stood in an unshaded corner of an office parking lot to warndozens of conservative activists that they were in the midst of “the most important election” in the commonwealth’s 237-year history.
The question before the voters casting ballots at an early voting precinct a few yards away in the city of Leesburg ahead of Tuesday’s special election was whether to temporarily set aside Virginia’s congressional maps intended to advantage neither party and replace them with a new version that could allow Democrats to win all but one seat in the 11-member delegation in the November midterm elections.
Ending U.S. military aid to Israel is now the mainstream position among Democratic leaders.
In a historic Senate vote on Wednesday, all but seven members of the Democratic caucus voted for at least one of two resolutions to block the sale of bombs and bulldozers to Israel’s military. Other prominent Democrats and potential 2028 presidential candidates, including Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y.; Ro Khanna, D-Calif.; and former Obama aide Rahm Emanuel have recently said the U.S. should halt all military aid to Israel for offensive and so-called defensive weapons.
The idea of steering public funding to those responsible for the genocide in Gaza has plummeted in popularity, with polls consistently show a majority of Americans now oppose sending weapons to Israel. As Americans struggle with affordability amid the joint U.S.–Israel war on Iran, skepticism about military aid for Israel has only grown.
Yet amid this shift, a quieter debate is stirring in the American left over how far Democrats should go in blocking weapons to Israel.
For anti-Zionist organizers, the goal has long been a total arms embargo. That wouldn’t just bring to an end U.S. public spending to support Israel’s military, but would also halt the commercial sale of weapons from U.S. companies to Israel’s government. Advocates for the embargo, which includes Reps. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich.; Summer Lee, D-Pa.; and Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., view the policy as the most effective means in halting Israel’s genocide of Palestinians in Gaza and its human rights abuses in the West Bank, Lebanon, and Iran. Doing so, they say, would bring the U.S. into compliance with its own laws governing weapons transfers and human rights.
Meanwhile, pro-Israel Democrats are beginning to speak out about holding Israel accountable for its abuses, but seek narrower arms restrictions that would still allow commercial weapons sales as a means to maintain Israel’s friendly relationship with the U.S.
On Monday, J Street, an influential liberal Zionist lobbying group, released a memo outlining a significant shift in policy. Echoing growing demands to end Israel’s “blank check support from the United States,” J Street is urging legislators to instead make the Israeli government pay for U.S. weapons using its own funds.
It’s a major departure for the self-described “pro-Israel, pro-peace” group, which had previously opposed a ceasefire in Gaza and backed Israel’s aggression in Gaza in the early months of the genocide. Since November 2024, J Street has supported a series of Senate resolutions introduced by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. meant to block weapons transfers, including Wednesday’s joint resolutions of disapproval. But those measures focused on halting only the transfer of offensive weapons to Israel, such as bombs and firearms. J Street’s new policy memo calls for an end to government spending on both offensive and so-called defensive weapons, or missile interceptor systems, which power Israel’s Iron Dome. It’s a position that until recent months even Ocasio-Cortez and Khanna had not embraced.
Citing existing U.S. law, J Street’s memo calls for an end to providing Israel $3.3 billion in State Department funds to purchase U.S. weapons, along with $500 million earmarked within the Department of Defense for anti-missile systems.
“What we want to be doing is laying the groundwork for the next president to have the political backing to do the right thing to implement the right policies when they come into office in 2029,” Hannah Morris, vice president of government affairs for J Street, told The Intercept.
J Street’s position runs short of a complete arms embargo in that it would still allow Israel to purchase interceptor weaponry from U.S. companies. The group said the exception for anti-missile systems is meant to protect civilians in Israel. Critics say Israel’s defense systems enable the country to carry out its expanding wars in the Middle East without consequence. In addition, the new J Street memo calls for the U.S. to maintain “a strong security partnership with Israel,” including the sharing of intelligence and collaborating on researching and developing new military equipment when mutually beneficial to American interests. “They cannot become a backdoor for continued US subsidies to Israeli defense,” J Street wrote in its memo.
J Street acknowledged its new position is partly intended to address the growing antipathy toward Israel among Americans. A Pew Research Center poll from earlier this month showed that a record high 60 percent of American adults have an unfavorable view of Israel, including 80 percent of all Democrats aged 18 and older and more than half of all younger Republicans.
“Part of having this policy is to remove some of the discomfort that some of the American population has with the exceptionality of the relationship” between the U.S. and Israel, Morris said. “And that can lower the temperature or lack of sympathy for the Israelis versus Palestinians.”
Advocates for a total arms embargo view J Street’s evolution as a sign of mounting pressure amid the swing in American public opinion. “That did not just happen out of the blue,” said Beth Miller, policy director for Jewish Voice for Peace Action.“It’s the result of movement organizing for years and years.”
Some arms embargo supporters questioned the timing of J Street’s new position and whether it will hinder efforts to halt Israel’s expansionist wars. Yousef Munayyer, a longtime advocate of a total arms embargo on Israel, wondered whether the J Street memo could offer political cover for certain Democrats seeking to thread the needle by taking a stance against Israel’s abuses without suffering blowback from pro-Israel constituents.
Instead, Munayyer, who heads the Palestine/Israel Program at Arab Center Washington D.C., said now is not the moment to give up ground. “There has never been a more defensible moment for Democrats to take such a position on an arms embargo, and it seems completely unnecessary for this hyper-calibrated messaging,” he said, referring to J Street’s policy position. “Maybe in a couple of districts and a couple of states, it may be useful, but in the broader sense the public has moved on, especially in the Democratic base.”
Disagreement between J Street and Palestinian rights organizers is not new in Washington. Some advocates for Palestine continue to condemn the group for opposing a ceasefire resolution in 2023, which opponents say helped pave the way for Israel’s genocide. Even before Israel’s war on Gaza, the group has been criticized for not taking strong enough positions on blocking weapons to Israel, including a bill in 2021 that sought to prohibit Israel from using U.S. aid to demolish Palestinian homes and annex Palestinian land in the West Bank. While J Street endorsed the bill, the group drew criticism from Palestinian rights groups who claim it didn’t do enough to drum up support with rank-and-file Democratic members.
Morris said arms embargo advocates who are critical of J Street’s new policy memo “want to go from zero to one hundred in a way that I think is not only unrealistic but untenable.” She also questioned whether most Americans knew the definition of an arms embargo and suggested that, if given the full picture, fewer would support the premise.
Under the Foreign Assistance Act, the U.S. government is barred from sending weapons to any country that engages in “a consistent pattern of gross violations of internationally recognized human rights” or a country that blocks or restricts humanitarian aid. Another provision of the Foreign Assistance Act known as the Leahy law, along with provisions within the separate Arms Export Control Act, prevents military aid to specific units of any foreign security force that is found to violate human rights law. The U.S is also a signatory to the Geneva Conventions, international law meant to prohibit war crimes, crimes against humanity, including genocide. The conventions also have legal bearing on the transfer of weapons.
Such laws make no distinction between weapons sales made with U.S. government support or sales through the commercial market. If Israel were to buy weapons directly from U.S. companies, Congress would still receive a notification and could vote to disapprove a sale.
“If they’re forced to buy their own arms, then they’re going to have problems sustaining what they’re doing.”
When introducing his series of resolutions to block some arms sales to Israel, Sanders evoked both the Foreign Assistance and the Arms Export Control acts. The laws are also the legal basis for the Block the Bombs Act in the House, which has drawn support from a range of elected members — including ones backed by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee — and has become a litmus test for candidates taking a position on Israel and Palestine in the midterm elections.
At any point, either the president, through an executive order, or Congress, via legislation, can use these laws to enact some form of conditions on Israeli aid, whether halting all military support or a total arms embargo.
Both a total arms embargo and the J Street model would bring to an end State Department spending ($3.3 billion annually), known as Foreign Military Financing, as well as the phasing out of Pentagon spending for Israel. Funds earmarked for Israel in the Pentagon’s budget are not classified under the Foreign Assistance and Arms Export Control laws. Instead, Congress must draft and pass a defense budget that excludes carveouts for Israel, or draft legislation that specifically targets Pentagon spending on Israel, most of which currently funds things like Israel’s Iron Dome.
Then-Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green, R-Ga., attempted to pass an amendment to a Pentagon spending bill in July 2025 that would have nixed the $500 million set aside for Israel defense spending, but it drew only six votes. Ocasio-Cortez was absent from the vote, which she said was to maintain Iron Dome funding.
While such cuts would be a blow to Israel’s ability to wage war, Israel still boasts its own major annual military budget of more than $45 billion. Israel also is home to a domestic weapons industry that sells to the Israeli government. Earlier this year, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would want to “taper off the military” from the U.S. within the next decade. “We’ve come of age and we’ve developed incredible capacities,” he said. But both J Street and advocates for an arms embargo agree that banning subsidized weapons deals with Israel would still have a tremendous impact.
Stephen Semler, who worked on Brown University’s Cost of War project that tracked U.S. military spending on Israel during its genocide, said halting access to American munitions stockpiles and U.S. weaponry would greatly diminish Israel’s ability to wage war at the rate it has in recent months in Iran and southern Lebanon. “If they’re forced to buy their own arms, then they’re going to have problems sustaining what they’re doing,” Semler said.
In the first month of the U.S.–Israel war on Iran, the Israeli military said it carried out more than 10,000 separate strikes. Before the recent ceasefire, joint U.S. and Israeli strikes killed more than 2,000 people in Iran. Since early March, Israel has killed at least 2,100 people in Lebanon, including women, children, paramedics and journalists. The military has also leveled entire villages in the country’s south, similar to destruction seen in Gaza. Evidence of Israel’s human rights abuses are continuing to pile in both wars.
“If you can make perpetual war and not have to pay for it, that becomes a much more attractive option,” Munayyer said. “But suddenly when you have to directly carry the costs, now you have to start thinking, ‘Do I want to be at war with all of my neighbors all the time, forever?’”
Police say poison detected in jar of HiPP carrots and potatoes as maker says items may have been tampered with
Rat poison has been found in a jar of HiPP baby food, police in Austria have said, after a recall of the product from more than 1,000 Spar supermarkets in the country over safety fears.
Police in Burgenland said in a statement that a sample from one of the 190g (7oz) jars of carrots and potatoes baby food reported by a customer had tested positive for rat poison.
Drivers face dilemma of driving more or cutting back – and support from ride-share giants decried as ‘slap in the face’
Drivers for Uber and Lyft across the US are spending hundreds more dollars on fuel each month after the US-Israel war on Iran triggered a sharp rise in oil prices.
Support offered by the ride-hailing companies amounts to a “slap in the face”, drivers operating their services told the Guardian, as many are forced to choose between driving more to make the same money as previously – or cutting back their miles to reduce costs.
The league hasn’t had a repeat champion since the 2017-18 Warriors. The level-headed, consistent Thunder may be the ones to change that
The NBA has not seen a reigning champion take its title defense as far as the conference finals, let alone hoist a second consecutive Larry O’Brien trophy, since the Golden State Warriors were cut off at the ankle and calf by the Toronto Raptors in the 2019 Finals. That’s seven straight seasons in which parity has ruled supreme, for better or for worse, and dynastic runs seem fated to be a thing of the past.
Not if one team in America’s heartland has anything to say about it. The Oklahoma City Thunder embark on these 2026 playoffs in search of historic greatness, trends be damned. And less than two weeks before the first game of the postseason tips off, you’d be hard pressed to find substantive evidence to believe their goal won’t be achieved.
In Luanda, Catholics expressed love and admiration for Pope Leo XIV, the first American pope, but not so much for President Trump because of the war in Iran.
I’m looking to upgrade my GTVs battery either to a P50b or RS50 pack which are rated at 110 and 140 Amps respectively. I was considering running with the RS50 then setting my max battery draw to somewhere around 115A but realize I don’t know what the maximum current the actual controller can handle is. Everything will still be 18s2p so no voltage change meaning stock BMS. Is this safe to run with or am I missing something?
Holiday park firms say such bookings are on the rise because of impact of Iran war on aviation
Holiday companies have predicted a surge in bookings for UK summer breaks after a jump in interest from Britons fearful of flight cancellations linked to the Iran war.
Summer bookings are expected to rise in the coming weeks amid warnings of possible jet fuel shortages and resulting cancellations by airlines across Europe.
Back in the 1990s, floppy disks "had a mere capacity of 1.44MB," remembers XDA Developers, "which would soon become absolutely tiny for the increasingly large pieces of software that would come about."
Floppy disks also felt quite fragile, and while we got "superfloppy" formats that were physically larger and had more capacity, those were pretty unwieldy as portable storage. Enter 1994, when a company called Iomega introduced its variant of a "superfloppy", the Zip drive... [T]he initial capacity introduced in 1994 reached a whopping 100MB, which was huge number when put up against the traditional floppy disk. Zip drives also had major performance benefits, with read speeds that could average 1.4MB/s, as opposed to the comparatively sluggish 16kB/s speeds of a traditional floppy disk, as well as a seek time of around 28ms seconds, whereas a floppy disk averaged 200ms. Zip drives weren't quite as fast as desktop HDDs, but for portable storage, this was a huge step forward...
[I]n 1998, Iomega introduced the Zip 250 disks, which increased the capacity to 250MB, and, already in the new millennium, we got the Zip 750, which took that further to 750MB... It was an appealing enough proposition that big computer manufacturers like Dell started including a Zip drive in some of their PCs. Even Apple included Zip drives in some of its Power Macintosh models from the mid-to-late 90s. However, things started to shift towards the end of the decade as other portable formats rose to prominence, most notably CDs and USB flash drives.
Despite their initial success, it didn't take long for users to start noticing a major drawback of Zip drives: many times, they would just fail. It wasn't necessarily related to age or any particular misuse of the disks, it just happened. It was a big enough phenomenon that it became known as the "click of death", and once it happened, your drive was gone. The problem was estimated by Iomega to affect around 0.5% of Zip drives, but while that sounds like a small number, when you sell products by the thousands, it becomes fairly widespread. It was a big enough issue that, in September 1998, a class action lawsuit was filed against Iomega for the common problems. Some of the complaints in that lawsuit were eventually dismissed by the court of Delaware, but others were not, and once the public became aware of the problems with Zip drives, it was hard for the brand to make a comeback.
It didn't help that this happened around the same time as formats such as CDs were becoming more popular... And eventually, USB flash drives became the most popular way to carry data around since they were smaller and offered much faster speeds... Eventually, after seeing its profits plummet by the mid-2000s, Iomega was sold to a company called EMC in 2008, and in 2013, EMC and Lenovo formed a joint venture that took over Iomega's business and removed all of the Iomega branding from its products.
The article does note that "as late as 2014, some aviation companies were still using Zip drives to distribute updates for navigation databases." Are there any Slashdot readers who still remember their own Zip drive experiences?
Share your memories in the comments of that once-so-trendy storage technology from the 1990s...
The vice-president has endured his most humiliating – and damaging – week as his boss’s fall guy. How much more can Maga’s great hope take?
For a would-be president, JD Vance has an unfortunate habit of getting into fights he cannot win. Three losing battles in the past week – with Iranian negotiators, Hungarian voters and Pope Leo – brought censure, humiliation and mockery raining down on his head. None were of Vance’s choosing. All were fought vicariously on Donald Trump’s behalf.
The vice-president is paying a high price for sycophantic loyalty to his boss. His poll ratings are plunging. His Maga succession hopes falter. He suffers by association – although his own inflammatory statements and misjudgments often make matters worse. Yet amid growing doubts about Trump’s mental health and fitness to govern, Vance remains the White House’s next-in-line.
Simon Tisdall is a Guardian foreign affairs commentator
Iranian officials say they have reversed the reopening of the strait of Hormuz and reimposed restrictions on the vital shipping lane after the US said it would not end its blockade of Iranian ports.
A UK maritime agency reported that Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) ships had fired at a tanker as it attempted to pass through the strait on Saturday. Reuters reported an Indian-flagged vessel carrying crude oil had also been attacked while in the waterway.
Last May Duolingo's stock peaked at $529.05. But while the learning app passed $1 billion in revenue in 2025 and 50 million daily active users, today its stock price has dropped more than 81%, to $100.51.
And there's been other changes, reports Entrepreneur:
In April 2025, Duolingo CEO Luis von Ahn made headlines after writing a memo calling the company "AI-first." In the memo, von Ahn announced that the language-learning platform would track employees' AI use in performance reviews. Now, a year later, von Ahn is backtracking and rethinking how he measures employee performance. He told the Silicon Valley Girl podcast earlier this month that Duolingo no longer considers AI use in performance reviews.
The change arose after employees started to ask, "Do you just want us to use AI for AI's sake?" von Ahn explained. "We said no, look — the most important thing in your performance is that you are doing whatever your job is as well as possible. A lot of times, AI can help you with that, but if it can't, I'm not going to force you to do that," von Ahn said on the podcast. He felt as though the company was "trying to push something that in some cases did not fit" instead of "being held accountable for the actual outcome." The CEO is, however, still sticking to other "constructive constraints" he introduced in the April 2025 memo, including stopping contractor hiring in cases where AI can assume their workload...
Von Ahn also mentioned that a few months ago, Duolingo had a day dedicated to vibe coding, or prompting AI to create an app without manually writing a single line of code. Every single person at the company, from engineers to human resources professionals, had to vibe code an app. Vibe coding has made an impact at the company. One of Duolingo's latest offerings, a course teaching users how to play chess, arose when two people vibe-coded the first prototype of it, the CEO said. Neither of them knew how to play chess or program, but they managed to use AI to create the whole chess curriculum and a prototype of the app in about six months last year. Now chess is Duolingo's fastest-growing course, according to von Ahn. "At this point, we have seven million daily active users that are learning chess," the CEO said on the podcast.
Luckily I wasn’t too far from my house but why does this happen and what can I do to prevent it? This isn’t the 1st time this has happened and it happens after I turn it off and back on.
After Artemis II's astronauts returned to earth, "NASA has Artemis III in its sights," reports the Associated Press:
In a mission recently added to the docket for next year, Artemis III's yet-to-be -named astronauts will practice docking their Orion capsule with a lunar lander or two in orbit around Earth. Elon Musk's SpaceX and Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin are racing to have their company's lander ready first. Musk's Starship and Bezos' Blue Moon are vying for the all-important Artemis IV moon landing in 2028. Two astronauts will aim for the south polar region, the preferred location for [NASA Administrator Jared] Isaacman's envisioned $20 billion to $30 billion moon base. Vast amounts of ice are almost certainly hidden in permanently shadowed craters there — ice that could provide water and rocket fuel.
The docking mechanism for Artemis III's close-to-home trial run is already at Florida's Kennedy Space Center. The latest model Starship is close to launching on a test flight from South Texas, and a scaled-down version of Blue Moon will attempt a lunar landing later this year.
This blog is now closed. Our latest main story on the Middle East crisis is here.
Separate to the Pakistani army chief’s trip to Iran (see post at 07:53), the Pakistani prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, and foreign minister Ishaq Dar also concluded a trip to the Middle East after visiting Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey for talks.
“We have just concluded the last leg of our engagements following productive and fruitful visits … where we held meaningful bilateral discussions aimed at strengthening cooperation across key areas,” Dar said on X.
The Cincinnati Bengals acquired three-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence from the New York Giants for the 10th overall pick in next week’s NFL draft, two people with knowledge of the trade told the Associated Press on Saturday night.
Both people spoke on condition of anonymity because the deal is pending a physical.
Communities across the Midwest were starting the cleanup process Saturday after multiple tornadoes touched down and severe weather struck areas from the Great Lakes to Texas.
A United Airlines flight from Chicago to New York was diverted to Pittsburgh Saturday afternoon. Passengers were forced to evacuate via emergency slides.
The author, who will interview members of royal family for book, says being chosen for role is a ‘profound honour’
Anna Keay, a historian whose most celebrated book is about Britain’s republican period, has been confirmed as Queen Elizabeth II’s official biographer.
Keay will interview members of the royal family and the late queen’s friends and servants. She will also have access to the monarch’s personal and official papers held in the royal archives.
Long time rider, 40+ dad, 3,000 miles on the OG Pint and currently have a Pint S.
I just can't get comfortable on it. I've tried different settings, custom shapes, etc. On my OG I had various tires and all were the oversized kind. A Burris slick, WhisperWide, and another I can't remember. I know the community speaks positively about the performance tire on my Pint S but I was strongly thinking about swapping it (even though it only has 600 miles on it) for the WhisperWide. I'm hoping that might help with my comfort. I mainly use my Pint S to ride to work on paved bike paths and to town for grocery runs. I do some off-roading but it's all groomed mountain bike trails.
Patriots silent on whether team will launch review
Russini resigned from job after images surfaced
The NFL is not investigating Mike Vrabel’s behavior after published photos of the New England Patriots coach and former Athletic reporter Dianna Russini at an Arizona resort prompted her resignation and an internal investigation at The New York Times-owned sports outlet.
NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy confirmed to the Associated Press on Saturday the league is not looking into the matter. The Patriots didn’t immediately respond to a question about whether the team has launched its own review of Vrabel’s actions.
"A trailer has been released for the first film to star an authorised generative AI version of a major Hollywood actor," writes The Guardian:
Val Kilmer was cast in western As Deep As the Grave before his death in April 2025. Production delays meant he never shot any scenes, but the creative team worked with UK-based company Sonantic to create an AI speaking voice based on his old recordings. His estate and daughter Mercedes collaborated with the film-makers on the visual deepfake of the actor. Kilmer, who was diagnosed with throat cancer, was also assisted by technology for his cameo in 2022's Top Gun: Maverick...
Writer-director Coerte Voorhees confirmed that Kilmer is seen for around an hour of the film's running time... Voorhees has said that the production followed Sag-Aftra [union] guidelines, and that Kilmer's estate — which provided archival material for them to use — was compensated financially.
"Kilmer's likeness can be seen portraying Father Fintan, a Catholic priest and Native American spiritualist," adds The Hollywood Reporter. But the AV Club calls it "ghoulish puppet show time."
"Having your AI Val Kilmer puppet whisper 'Don't fear the dead, and don't fear me' in a movie trailer is a bold choice..."
He is accompanied (per Variety) by a whole host of disclaimers, caveats, and explanations offered by writer-director Coerte Voorhees and his associates: Kilmer deeply wanted to be in the movie, but was too sick to do so. His family endorses and supports his inclusion. He was a big fan of technology, including, presumably, its use in turning his own image into a digital avatar to then shove into movies...
The fact is, of course, that nobody would be paying a fraction of this attention to As Deep As The Grave — about early female archeologist Ann Axtell Morris — if it weren't now being used as the stage on which Voorhees was very publicly accepting the dare to go full-on ghoulish with AI tech.
"The filmmakers said they hoped they were showing Hollywood how to use the technology in a positive way..." notes Australia's ABC News. But their articles add that "Some have called the trailer 'terrifying' and 'disgusting' on social media."
Mashable writes:
"Very fitting that this trailer includes a scene where a corpse is unceremoniously yanked out of the ground," read one of the top comments on As Deep as the Grave's trailer at time of writing... [O]nline commenters have labelled it disgusting and disrespectful, not only for digitally reanimating Kilmer but also for the damaging precedent As Deep as the Grave's use of AI could set for the film industry as a whole.
Former President Barack Obama met privately with New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani before joining together to read to preschoolers at a child care center in the Bronx.
Georgia senator says Americans will pay for Trump’s Iran war, and family’s corruption, with child and health care cuts
At a campaign rally in Augusta, Georgia, on Saturday, the Democratic senator Jon Ossoff mocked Donald Trump’s rosy predictions on Iran and tore into what he called the unprecedented corruption of the president’s family.
While Ossoff is running for re-election in November, he trained most of his fire on the president, and the vice-president, amid mounting speculation that the Democrat could launch a bid for his party’s nomination for the presidency in 2028.
A skydiver crashed into the Lane Stadium scoreboard before Virginia Tech’s spring football game Saturday.
Virginia Tech officials said on X that the skydiver “was safely secured and is currently stable” following rescue efforts. The incident caused a delay in the start of the spring game.
Slashdot reader Bismillah shared this report from ITNews:
Research and development engineer Romain Marchand of Paris headquartered Quarkslab obtained a telematic control unit (TCU) from a salvage yard in Poland... Marchand tore down the TCU, which is based on a Qualcomm system on a chip, and extracted the Linux-based file system from the Micron multi-chip package (MCP) which contained NAND-based non-volatile storage memory. The non-volatile storage contained sensitive information, including system configuration data and more importantly, logs that revealed the vehicle's GPS positions over time.
None of that information was encrypted, Marchand told iTnews, which made it possible to collect and retrieve sensitive data of interest. What's more, the global navigation satellite system (GNSS) logs with GPS positions covered the BYD's full journey from the factory in China to its operational life in the United Kingdom, and to its final wrecking in Poland, Marchand explained in an analysis... The issue is not restricted to BYD, and Marchand added that the hardware architecture of the Chinese car maker's TCU is broadly similar to what can be found in other brands.
Took apart my og xr that wouldn’t charge and that also threw an error 16. Wanted to trickle charge it just to see if it would work. Looks like my BMS has some heavy corrosion or something. Also looks like my battery is way dead as well, 0.28 volts.
Is it possible the BMS could be saved? If not, I’m guessing I’m due for a dual replacement.
British stablemate touts fight as ‘best versus best’
A dismissive Alycia Baumgardner said Britain’s Caroline Dubois still has more to prove before the American will entertain a fight between the two unified champions.
That was the curt assessment from Baumgardner early Saturday morning after she retained her WBA, WBO and IBF junior lightweight world titles with a controlled, at times punishing display across 10 three-minute rounds against Bo Mi Re Shin in a main event that started well past midnight at Madison Square Garden.
"From 2008 to 2024, the number of four-year computer science degrees granted rose about fivefold..." reports the Washington Post. Then in 2025 CS suddenly dropped from the fourth-largest undergraduate major to sixth, they report (citing data from the nonprofit National Student Clearinghouse, which compiles numbers from 97% of U.S. universities.
The 54,000-student drop was "the biggest one-year drop of any major discipline going back to at least 2020." But what major are they choosing instead?
Sarah Karamarkovich, a research associate with the National Student Clearinghouse, pointed to an explanation from the data that we had overlooked. Enrollments in two interdisciplinary majors, data analytics and data science, topped a combined 35,000 in the fall of 2025. That was up from a few hundred when those disciplines were broken out into their own majors in 2020. Those relatively new categories reflect colleges' zeal to create specialized majors, including in AI, data science, robotics and cybersecurity. Some of those disciplines may be counted in the national enrollment data as computer science. Others are not.
The numbers suggest that some of the disappearing computer science majors didn't flee so much as they splintered into related disciplines.... The 8 percent decline in computer science majors last fall was nearly mirrored by a 7.3 percent increase in engineering majors, according to the National Student Clearinghouse data. Within engineering, mechanical and electrical engineering major enrollments increased by the largest absolute amounts — a jump of 11 percent and 14 percent, respectively.
A United Airlines flight bound for New York City was forced to land and evacuate in Pittsburgh on Saturday morning after crew members reported a “possible security issue”, a spokesperson for the Federal Aviation Administration said.
United flight 2092 took off from Chicago O’Hare airport and had been en route to LaGuardia airport in New York. The plane diverted to Pittsburgh international airport as a result of the reported threat.
The gunman, who killed six people in Kyiv before police shot him dead, was a Ukrainian citizen born in Moscow
Ukrainian investigators are examining whether a terrorist attack in Kyiv was directed by Moscow after a man shot dead six people on Saturday before he was killed by police.
The gunman, 58, opened fire on passersby before barricading himself in a supermarket and taking hostages. Detectives sealed off the area in the Holosiivskyi district and tried to negotiate with him. He refused and was killed after a 40-minute standoff.
History of competitive wake boarding, waterskiing, MX, etc..
Will never be doing tricks just enjoy the riding, surf-like, and keeping up with balance skills as aging.
- I spent a ton of time in a narrow back walkway out the back door of the house just traveling 30-40' forward, and back, learning to stop, working to learn standing still without all the bobbling (which is very hard) and it's still do this 3-4 times a day even while getting out for rides. This little alley way with the house on one side and a tall wall on the other, which also has a 90 degree turn down the other side of the house, has for me been a great way to work on slow speed control (of which I am in no way solid on.
- one question is on downhill. I seem to fall into a wobble whether im keeping a bit of speed or trying to go down the hill slowly. Any tips/input? It has happened to the point of bailing.
- I was running Bay with some slight adjustments, I seem to feel more comfortable a little nose high (maybe from wakenoarding) so been playing with +0.5 up to +0.8. I also tried cutting back on roll and yaw thinking that may help. I never tried increasing roll and yaw.
- 2/3 of the way tonight I switched to Flow and only bumped the nose up and didnt touch roll/yaw and it felt nice but never hit a downhill.
Im sure its my riding style and lack of confidence but wondering if anyone has any input. With Bay it often times on flat pavement feels like the board is squirreley under my feet and Flow at least for the short time felt a bit less so.
- could some of this be wearing in a brand new tire?
Joseph DiGenova, a conservative attorney, is being tapped by the U.S. Justice Department to lead an ongoing criminal investigation into former CIA Director John Brennan.
Is this how a national scheme to cut climate pollution is supposed to work?
Australian government data released this week shows emissions from Australian coalmines increased last financial year. About 80% of the coalmines pumped more into the atmosphere than their government-imposed limit.
Yesterday the U.S. Congress approved "a short-term extension" of a FISA law that allows wiretaps without a warrant for surveilling foreign targets, reports CNN — but only until April 30. Republican congressional leaders had sought an 18-month extension, but "failed to secure" the votes after "clamoring from some of their members for reforms to protect Americans' privacy."
The warrantless surveillance law, known as Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, was set to expire on Monday night. Members are hoping the additional time will allow them to come to agreement without ending authorization for the intelligence gathering program, which permits US officials to monitor phone calls and text messages from foreign targets... There was an hour of suspense in the Senate Friday morning when it appeared possible that Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden, a longtime critic of FISA 702, might block the House-passed extension. But ultimately, he said his House colleagues had assured him "this short-term extension makes reform more likely, and expiration makes reform less likely," and so he chose not to object....
House Republican leaders believed Thursday night they had struck a deal with conservative holdouts who harbor deep and longstanding concerns that a key piece of the law infringes on Americans' privacy rights. But in a pair of after-midnight votes, more than a dozen rank-and-file Republicans rejected the long-term reauthorization plan on the floor, which was the result of days of tense negotiations among leadership, lawmakers and the White House.
The law allows authorized US officials to gather phone calls and text messages of foreign targets, but they can also incidentally collect the data of Americans in the process. Senior national security officials have for years said the law is critical for thwarting terror attacks, stemming the flow of fentanyl into the US and stopping ransomware attacks on critical infrastructure. Civil liberties groups on the left and the right, meanwhile, argue the surveillance authority risks infringing on Americans' privacy.
Officers responded after group claimed to have targeted nearby Israeli embassy with ‘dangerous substances’
Kensington Gardens in London has reopened after the discovery of several suspicious items including two jars containing a powdered substance that was deemed to be non-hazardous, police said.
Officers in protective clothing responded to an incident near the Israeli embassy on Friday after counter-terrorism police investigated a video shared online in which a group claimed to have targeted the embassy with drones carrying “dangerous substances”.
The former lieutenant governor’s obsession with his damaged reputation led to a long slide and his estrangement from his family, according to court records and those who knew him. He killed wife Cerina Wanzer Fairfax and himself.
Deputy prime minister says it is ‘inexplicable’ top civil servant kept Downing Street in dark
Keir Starmer would have blocked Peter Mandelson from serving as the UK’s ambassador to Washington had he known he failed security vetting, David Lammy has said, as he attempted to shore up the prime minister amid damaging fallout from the row.
In his first public comments on the vetting affair, Lammy said it was “inexplicable” that Oliver Robbins, the former top civil servant who was forced out of the Foreign Office this week, had opted to leave Downing Street in the dark over the outcome.
Soldiers were participating in ‘land navigation training’ when bear injured them in a ‘defensive attack’
Two US army soldiers have been injured after encountering a brown bear in a mountainous training area in Anchorage, Alaska, the military said on Friday.
The incident happened on Thursday as the soldiers were participating in a “land navigation training event” in Arctic valley, part of the joint base Elmendorf-Richardson’s training area.
Wednesday BleepingComputer reported that more than 30 WordPress plugins "have been compromised with malicious code that allows unauthorized access to websites running them."
A malicious actor planted the backdoor code last year but only recently started pushing it to users via updates, generating spam pages and causing redirects, as per the instructions received from the command-and-control (C2) server. The compromise affects plugins with hundreds of thousands of active installations and was spotted by Austin Ginder, the founder of managed WordPress hosting provider Anchor Hosting, after receiving a tip about one add-on containing code that allowed third-party access.
Further investigation by Ginder revealed that a backdoor had been present in all plugins within the EssentialPlugin package since August 2025, after the project was acquired in a six-figure deal by a new owner.... "The injected code was sophisticated. It fetched spam links, redirects, and fake pages from a command-and-control server. It only showed the spam to Googlebot, making it invisible to site owners," explained Ginder.
"WordPress.org's v2.6.9.1 update neutralized the phone-home mechanism in the plugin," Ginder writes in a blog post. "But it did not touch wp-config.php. The SEO spam injection was still actively serving hidden content to Googlebot.
"And here is the wildest part. It resolved its C2 domain through an Ethereum smart contract, querying public blockchain RPC endpoints. Traditional domain takedowns would not work because the attacker could update the smart contract to point to a new domain at any time."
This has happened before. In 2017, a buyer using the alias "Daley Tias" purchased the Display Widgets plugin (200,000 installs) for $15,000 and injected payday loan spam. That buyer went on to compromise at least 9 plugins the same way.... The WordPress plugin marketplace has a trust problem... The Flippa listing for Essential Plugin was public. The buyer's background in SEO and gambling marketing was public. And yet the acquisition sailed through without any review from WordPress.org.
WordPress.org has no mechanism to flag or review plugin ownership transfers. There is no "change of control" notification to users. No additional code review triggered by a new committer. The Plugins Team responded quickly once the attack was discovered. But 8 months passed between the backdoor being planted and being caught.
Thanks to Slashdot reader axettone for sharing the news.
Does anyone know if there is any shops in or around salt lake city that sales the FST System Base Kit or any pads. That i could pick up today or do I need to just go online and wait.
Slashdot reader smazsyr writes: A new review says we've had fructose wrong for decades. The nine authors, led by Richard Johnson at the University of Colorado Anschutz, argue that fructose "is not just another calorie." It is a signal. It tells the liver to make fat and brace for a famine that never comes. That made sense for a bear fattening up on autumn berries. It makes less sense for a person drinking soda in March.
The review reframes the WHO's sugar guideline, argues ScienceBlog.com, as "less a recommendation about calories and more a warning about a signalling molecule we have been dosing ourselves with, several times a day, for most of a century."
Agency director threatens to sue Atlantic for report citing allegations from two dozen current and former colleagues
The FBI director, Kash Patel, is denying allegations detailed in a new report that he drinks to excess and has been unreachable at times during his tenure in office.
Patel threatened to sue the Atlantic over the story published on Friday, which detailed his alleged heavy drinking and how members of his security detail have on multiple occasions had difficulty waking him.
Mexico City and Guadalajara are preparing to host World Cup games in June, with protesters denouncing the government's failure to properly investigate the disappearances.
20-year-old Matthew Lane sent a text message to ABC News as his parents drove him to federal prison in Connecticut. "I'm just scared," he said, calling the whole situation "extremely sad."
Barely a year earlier, while still a teenager, he helped launch what's been described as the biggest cyberattack in U.S. education history — a data breach that concerned authorities so much, it prompted briefings with senior government officials inside the White House Situation Room. The breach pierced the education technology company PowerSchool — used by 80% of school districts in North America... [and operating in about 90 countries around the world]. With threats to expose social security numbers, dates of birth, family information, grades, and even confidential medical information, the breach cornered PowerSchool into paying millions of dollars in ransom.
"I think I need to go to prison for what I did," Lane told ABC News in an exclusive interview, speaking publicly for the first time about the headline-grabbing heist and his life as a cybercriminal. "It was disgusting, it was greedy, it was rooted in my own insecurities, it was wrong in every aspect," he said in the interview, two days before reporting to prison... At about 6:30 on a Tuesday morning last April, FBI agents started banging on the door of Lane's second-floor dorm room. "FBI! We have a search warrant," Lane recalled them shouting. They seized his devices and many of the luxury items he bought with "dirty" money, as he put it. He said he felt a "wave of relief.... I'm honestly thankful for the FBI," he said. "After they left, I was like, 'It's over ... I'm done with this'..."
A federal judge in Massachusetts sentenced him to four years in federal prison and ordered him to pay more than $14 million in restitution.
"In the wake of the breach, PowerSchool offered two years' worth of credit-monitoring and identity protection services to concerned customer," the article points out. But it also notes two other arrests in September of teenaged cybercriminals:
- A 15-year-old boy in Illinois who allegedly attacked Las Vegas casinos, reportedly costing MGM Resorts alone more than $100 million
- A British national who when he was 16 helped breach over 110 companies around the world and extort $115 million.
But ironically, Lane tells ABC News it all started on Roblox, where he'd met cheaters, password-stealers, and cybercriminals sharing photos of their stacks of money, creating a "sense of camaraderie"
Lane and others warn that online forums also attract criminal groups seeking to recruit potential hackers. "The bad guys are on all the platforms watching the kids playing," Hay said. "And when they see an elite-level performer, they go approach that kid, masquerading as another kid, and they go, 'Hey, you want to earn some [money]? ... Here are the tools, here are the techniques'...."
According to Lane, he spent his "ill-gotten gains" on designer clothes, diamond jewelry, DoorDash deliveries, Airbnb rentals for him and his friends, and drugs — "lots of drugs." He said he would numb ever-present feelings of guilt with drugs — from high-potency marijuana to acid. But it was hacking that gave him the strongest high. "It's indescribable the adrenaline you get when you do something like that," he said. "It's way more than driving 120 miles per hour. ... Incomparable to any drug at all, as well."
"On Monday, Roblox announced that, starting in June, it will offer age-checked accounts for younger users that limit what games they can play, and add 'more closely align content access, communication settings, and parental controls with a user's age.'"
Two men died at the scene after head-on motorway collision near Kincross, Police Scotland say
Two drivers have died in a motorway crash in Scotland involving a car apparently travelling in the wrong direction on the carriageway, police have said.
The two men died at the scene of the collision on the M90 near Kinross, a town in Perth and Kinross, at 10.30pm on Friday.
State investigated claims of bear attacks on cars, unconvincingly backed up by video of person in bear suit
When it comes to the California department of insurance, don’t poke the bear.
That is the lesson three individuals in Los Angeles learned recently when they were sentenced to jail time for an insurance fraud scheme in which they staged attacks on high-end vehicles by having a person dress up in a bear costume – then pretending that person was an actual bear.
Labour calls on Nigel Farage to sack candidates and says his party’s checks ‘clearly not fit for purpose’
Reform UK’s checks on candidates are “clearly not fit for purpose”, Labour has said after two more candidates in May’s local elections were accused of making offensive or potentially racist social media posts.
Meanwhile, it emerged that Restore Britain, the party set up by the MP Rupert Lowe after he left Reform, appeared to have accepted a donation from someone who has called publicly on social media for “another Hitler” to come to power.
Nextcloud joined a project to create a sovereign replacement for Microsoft Office called "Euro-Office". But after that project forked OnlyOffice, OnlyOffice suspended its partnership with Nextcloud. "They removed all references to our brand/attribute as required by our license," argued OnlyOffice CEO Lev Bannov on March 30th. ("The core issue here isn't just about what the AGPL license states, but about the additional provisions we, as the authors, have included... If the Euro-Office team believes our approach conflicts with the AGPLv3 license, we invite them to submit an official request to FSF for review.")
But this week the FSF responded (as "the steward of the GNU family of General Public Licenses"), criticizing OnlyOffice's "attempt to impose an additional restriction on the AGPLv3" and calling it "inconsistent with the freedoms granted by the license," in a blog post from FSF licensing/compliance manager Krzysztof Siewicz:
It is possible to modify the (A)GPLv3 with additional terms, but only by adhering to the terms of the license... The (A)GPLv3 makes it clear that it permits all licensees to remove any additional terms that are "further restrictions" under the (A)GPLv3. It states, "[i]f the Program as you received it, or any part of it, contains a notice stating that it is governed by this License along with a term that is a further restriction, you may remove that term"...
We urge OnlyOffice to clarify the situation by making it unambiguous that OnlyOffice is licensed under the AGPLv3, and that users who already received copies of the software are allowed to remove any further restrictions. Additionally, if they intend to continue to use the AGPLv3 for future releases, they should state clearly that the program is licensed under the AGPLv3 and make sure they remove any further restrictions from their program documentation and source code. Confusing users by attaching further restrictions to any of the FSF's family of GNU General Public Licenses is not in line with free software.
"If FSF determines that our license and project align with AGPLv3, we will continue as an open-source initiative," OnlyOffice's CEO had written in March. "However, if the decision goes against us, we are ready to consider other options."
Elisabeth Zetland, a senior researcher at MyHeritage, found that the actual Luigi had immigrated to US from Italy
Gaming enthusiasts have known for years that Nintendo named its mustachioed, superhero plumber after the company’s landlord, Washington state businessman Mario Arnold Segale.
But it has only just been determined that Nintendo may have unknowingly named Super Mario’s fictional brother after Segale’s real-life father: Luigi, whose biography evokes that of millions of 20th-century US immigrants from Italy.
Met describe ‘similarities’ with other recent attacks after business in Hendon was targeted on Friday
Counter-terrorism police are leading an investigation into an arson attack on a business in Hendon, north-west London.
The force said that, while it was not yet being linked to arson attacks on a nearby synagogue and Jewish ambulance charity, counter-terrorism officers were being deployed owing to “similarities” between the incidents.
US president’s desperation for war to end has seen him trying to speed through a process he does not fully control
A set of mismanaged and premature media announcements by Donald Trump and Tehran has led to the collapse of progress towards a peace settlement between Iran and the US.
President signed executive order directing FDA to expedite review of psychedelic drugs including ibogaine
Donald Trump on Saturday announced reforms intended to speed up access to medical research and treatment based on psychedelic drugs.
The president signed an executive order directing the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to expedite review of drugs such as ibogaine, which US military veteran groups have said can help treat post-traumatic stress disorder.
Friday Anthropic's CEO met with top U.S. officials and "discussed opportunities for collaboration," according to a White House spokesperson itedd by Politico, "as well as shared approaches and protocols to address the challenges associated with scaling this technology."
CNN notes the meeting happens at the same time Anthropic "battles the Trump administration in court for blacklisting its Claude AI model..."
The meeting took place as the US government is trying to balance its hardline approach to Anthropic with the national security implications of turning its back on the company's breakthrough technology — including its Mythos tool that can identify cybersecurity threats but also present a roadmap for hackers to attack companies or the government... The Office of Management and Budget has already told agencies it is preparing to give them access to Mythos to prepare, Bloomberg reported. Axios reported the White House is also in discussion to gain access to Mythos.
The Trump administration "recognizes the power" of Mythos, reports Axios, "and its highly sophisticated — and potentially dangerous — ability to breach cybersecurity defenses."
"It would be grossly irresponsible for the U.S. government to deprive itself of the technological leaps that the new model presents," a source close to negotiations told us. "It would be a gift to China"... Some parts of the U.S. intelligence community, plus the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA, part of Homeland Security), are testing Mythos. Treasury and others want it.
The White House added they plan to invite other AI companies for similar discussions, Politico reports. But Mythos "is also alarming regulators in Europe, who have told POLITICO they have not been able to gain access..."
U.S. government agency tech leaders sought access to the model after Anthropic earlier this year began testing the model and granted limited access to a select group of companies, including JPMorgan, Amazon and Apple... after finding it had hacking capabilities far outstripping those of previous AI models. This includes the ability to autonomously identify and exploit complex software vulnerabilities, such as so-called zero-day flaws, which even some of the sharpest human minds are unable to patch. The AI startup also wrote that the model could carry out end-to-end cyberattacks autonomously, including by navigating enterprise IT systems and chaining together exploits. It could also act as a force-multiplier for research needed to build chemical and biological weapons, and in certain instances, made efforts to cover its tracks when attacking systems, according to Anthropic's report on the model's capabilities and its safety assessments.
Those findings and others have inspired fears that the model could be co-opted to launch powerful cyberattacks with relative ease if it fell into the wrong hands. Logan Graham, a senior security researcher at Anthropic, previously told POLITICO that researchers and tech firms had been given early access to Mythos so they could find flaws in their critical code before state-backed hackers or cybercriminals could exploit them. "Within six, 12 or 24 months, these kinds of capabilities could be just broadly available to everybody in the world," Graham said.
The pub crawl’s organizer is accused of pocketing donations but residents and businesses have long had misgivings
On what started as an otherwise uneventful spring day in New York City, thousands of residents last week received what they felt was an early Christmas present.
Stefan Pildes, organizer of SantaCon in New York City, was arrested on Wednesday morning for allegedly using hundreds of thousands from event-based charitable donations on his personal expenses, such as luxe vacations and “extravagant meals”, Manhattan federal prosecutors said.
At the beginning of February, university President Laura Carlson went to Dover to speak in front of the Delaware General Assembly’s Joint Finance Committee. The committee met to discuss whether or not to provide additional funding to various educational institutions within the state, including the university.
Carlson left after facing pushback from state senators over recent decisions by the university amid federal pressure to cut back on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) practices.
Carlson submitted an initial budget request of $155 million, but was granted an operating budget of $151.4 million by Delaware Governor Matt Meyer.
Once her testimony began, Carlson was met with repeated questions regarding recent incidents on campus, including the removal of research pertaining to the university’s ties to slavery and the halt of the University of Delaware Anti-Racism Initiative (UDARI).
“Just disappointed that, you know, the thought that my university would wilt in the face of pressure from this white nationalist movement that’s trying to erase important parts of our collective history,” Senator Trey Paradee (D-Dover), chairman of the Joint Finance Committee, said during the hearing, according to Delaware Online.
The Trump administration has threatened to strip universities of federal funding if they promote diversity and inclusion initiatives and research.
Carlson referred to the removal of the research as a “mistake.”
“We will not let external pressure determine what our faculty can research, what our students can study, or the history we preserve and share,” Carlson said. “That is not who we are. We will always navigate the federal landscape responsibly, but we will not abandon our values in the process.”
In addition to the removal of research, Carlson also answered questions from lawmakers about the loss of federal funding from the current administration, threats involving international students and the potential presence of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on campus.
State Senator Laura Sturgeon (D-Hockessin) asked questions about the protection of international students and preparations the university has taken for any possible ICE action on campus, in addition to other concerns that she said were voiced by student leaders.
“We’re working our way through getting information available much more readily, easy to find, so that if it were to happen, we are ready,” Carlson said, as reported by Delaware Online. “My knowledge is we have not had ICE on campus. […] We are trying to take a stance of trying to ensure continuity of education.” Subsequently, official university guidance on how to interact with ICE officials was updated on Feb. 12, a week after the meeting. Prior to the web page update, there was only a brief reference guide on what to do when interacting with federal law enforcement on university grounds.
So-called Dreamers – undocumented immigrants who arrived as children – were allowed to stay in US under Obama-era program
From January through September 2025, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) deported 174 people who were renewing their protections from deportation under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (Daca) program, the head of the agency has said in a letter reviewed by the Guardian.
The letter, written by ICE’s acting director, Todd Lyons, and sent to the Illinois congressional representative Delia Ramirez, also confirmed that a total of 270 Daca recipients were arrested during that same timeframe, or over the first nine months of Donald Trump’s second presidency.
This blog is now closed, you can read more on this story here
On Friday the Cabinet Office released a template page from the summary document produced by UKSV after Mandelson’s vetting. The document would be used by a vetting officer to summarise their findings.
It lists three rankings for possible “overall concern”: low, medium and high. In the next box, there is a space for a vetting officer to list the outcome of the assessment with their “overall decision or recommendation”. Again, there are three options: clearance approved, clearance approved “with risk management” or clearance denied.
If it [the vetting process] did amount to failure then that fact, that ultimate conclusion would have to be conveyed to the political level, but the fact that it was not indicates to me that the fact was rather more complicated than No 10 would wish to present.
After riding 300 miles on this board, had my first real crash on this. 50 yards from home, was not even going over 10mph (according to app) and my board I guess decided to just lock up and nose dive me off (maybe since because my battery was less than half full at that point). It all happened too quick. No chance for a tuck and roll. I seen the ground coming towards me (or me to the ground lol) but I didn't process what was going on until I was about to hit the ground.
This all happened because of overconfidence in my opinion. Was having a great ride yesterday. Was finally getting back into it again after not riding for a few months. It felt good. But now I'm beating myself up for even riding yesterday. Luckily, I only got a few road rashes and sore muscles. My helmet didn't make contact with the ground, no broken bones. I'll get back on when I recover. I don't have any feelings of fear of getting back on.
I don't know if there was any way to avoid what happened since I don't feel that I was pushing the board past its limits. Any input on that or was that just a freak accident in your opinion?
Construction was stopped after suit challenged president’s authority to raze East Wing without congressional approval
The Trump administration can continue building a $400m White House ballroom at the site of the former East Wing, a US appeals court ruled on Friday.
The three-judge panel of the US court of appeals for Washington DC granted the administration a stay of an order days earlier that had aimed to halt most aboveground construction. That earlier order had resulted from a lawsuit filed by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which challenged whether Donald Trump had the authority to raze the East Wing and construct the ballroom without congressional approval.
Rising sea levels and ecological damage caused by heavy use of flood defence system force city authorities to consider next move
The Arsenale, the colossal shipyard that was the engine of the Venetian Republic’s domination for seven centuries, remains the nucleus of the city’s control over the water. Its northern section is made up of cavernous brick warehouses called capannoni, which in the 16th century could produce a warship a day through a rigorously ordered assembly line.
Now, one of them houses the operations centre of the Mose, the sprawling flood defence system that protects the city.
Manhattan church led by Norman Vincent Peale was known for opposing presidency of JFK – and Catholics in general
Donald Trump’s attacks this week on Pope Leo, for his criticism of the US attack on Iran and the US president’s decision to post an image portraying himself as Jesus Christ on social media, make a good deal more sense considering Trump attended services as a young man at the Protestant Marble Collegiate church in Manhattan, which was led at the time by an anti-Catholic pastor.
That church’s pastor in Trump’s youth, Norman Vincent Peale, who would later officiate at Trump’s first wedding, is best-known today as the author of the Christian self-help book The Power of Positive Thinking, but when Trump was 14, Peale made national headlines as the leader of a group of Protestant churchmen who loudly objected to the presidential candidacy of John F Kennedy, on the grounds that he was a Catholic.
Judex Atshatshi, 18, appears in court over what prosecutors say they believe was targeted attack on Jewish community
A fourth suspect charged after four Jewish community ambulances were torched in north-west London has been remanded in custody.
Judex Atshatshi, 18, a British national from Dagenham, east London, appeared at Westminster magistrates court on Saturday, charged with arson with intent to damage property and being reckless as to whether life would be endangered.
President Trump has lobbed insults at Pope Leo XIV in response to his criticisms of the war in Iran, marking an unusually pronounced rupture between the leaders of the world's most powerful country and the world's largest Christian denomination.
Justice for Fayed and Harrods Survivors group claim there are ‘dozens of individuals who must be held to account’
A group of 50 survivors of alleged sexual abuse by Harrods’ former owner Mohamed Al Fayed are calling for “meaningful consequences” for those who they claim facilitated and ignored the abuse.
“If they think the money is the important factor they are so far off the mark,” said Jen Mills, a member of the Justice for Fayed and Harrods Survivors group. They claim there are “dozens of individuals who must be held to account”, from a range of eras.
Nicholas Enrich was working in Kenya in 2003 when the then US president George W Bush signed a landmark $15bn, five-year commitment to combat HIV, the largest international health commitment by any nation to fight a single disease.
It was the peak of the epidemic, and for the young American government aid worker “it clicked that my government was ready to join the fight against HIV and I was excited to be a part of that”, he says.
Commentary: In a sea of AI noise, the Whoop band's Coach has been an unlikely ally in helping me train smarter. And I didn't have to go looking for it.
Péter Magyar hopes building stronger relations with Poland will help restore ties with bloc after Orbán’s rule
The Hungarian election winner, Péter Magyar, is eyeing a special relationship with Poland’s prime minister, Donald Tusk to draw on the neighbouring country’s experience of repairing relations with the EU after years of illiberal rule.
Since 1989, the two countries have seemingly shared parallels in their paths. Now the two centre-right, pro-European leaders preside over the tricky task of restoring the rule of law and improving state institutions after years of democratic backsliding and clashes with the EU.
The US president’s grudge match with the pope underlines how religion really functions in American politics
I’m not a particularly religious person, even though everyone tells me how cool believing in God is now. Every so often, we get a new trend piece about how rad and chill Christianity has become. All the skateboarders and chads are churchmaxxing. Only atheists wear skinny jeans any more. Christopher Hitchens would totally get mogged by Pat Robertson. Personally, I don’t buy it. Influencers like Logan Paul and IShowSpeed aren’t going on Twitch to tell their viewers to tithe 10% of their earnings to the Lord. They’re encouraging them to buy cases and cases of Prime Hydration Drink and watch WrestleMania.
In my research on the topic, I found this article from the Independent this year that claims that gen Z is, like, totally down with Christ and can’t wait to chug Mountain Dew with their local pastor in a musty basement. No sooner had I clicked the link than I found an editor’s note that the poll that supported the claim was found to be fraudulent.
Covid, light pollution regulations and faltering global economy affect location and intensity of brightness
Earth continues to get brighter every year, researchers have found, but the location and intensity of the progression has become increasingly volatile because of Covid-19, regulations on light pollution, and a faltering global economy.
Nasa-funded researchers at the University of Connecticut (UConn) studied more than 1.1m satellite images taken over a nine-year period to establish that the planet’s artificial light increased by a net 16% between 2014 and 2022.
Cities look to registration, regulation and infrastructure improvement to cut number of e-bike injuries and deaths
The increasing number of traumatic injuries from e-bikes in the United States has caught the attention of physicians, lawmakers, pedestrians and others.
While there is a shared concern about people recklessly riding the trendy machines, there are significant differences among roadway safety advocates about the best ways to prevent accidents – including whether the government should focus on improving infrastructure rather than regulating e-bikes.
Some failed startups are reportedly selling old Slack messages, emails, and other internal records to AI companies as training data, creating a new way to cash out after shutting down. Fast Company reports: Shanna Johnson, the CEO of now-defunct software company Cielo24, told the publication that she was able to sell every Slack message, internal email, and Jira ticket as training data for "hundreds of thousands of dollars."
This isn't a one-off scenario. SimpleClosure, a startup that helps companies like Cielo24 shut down, told Forbes that there's been major interest from AI companies trying to get their hands on workplace data. Because of this, SimpleClosure launched a new tool that allows companies to sell their wealth of internal communications -- from Slack archives to email chains -- to AI labs. The company said it's processed 100 such deals in the past year. Payouts ranged from $10,000 to $100,000. "I think the privacy issues here are quite substantial," Marc Rotenberg, founder of the Center for AI and Digital Policy, told Forbes. "Employee privacy remains a key concern, particularly because people have become so dependent on these new internal messaging tools like Slack. ... It's not generic data. It's identifiable people."
Suspicious wagers on the US-Israel war in Iran are creating huge windfalls and raising concerns among lawmakers
Sixteen bets made $100,000 each accurately predicting the timing of the US airstrikes against Iran on 27 February. Later, a single user would make over $550,000 after betting that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei would topple, just moments before his assassination by Israeli forces. On 7 April, right before Donald Trump announced a temporary ceasefire with Iran, traders bet $950m that oil prices would come down. They did.
These bets and other well-timed wagers accurately predicted the precise timing of major developments in the US-Israel war with Iran, creating huge windfalls and raising concerns among lawmakers and experts over potential insider trading.
Disgraced financier’s links to politicians and civil servants as far back as 30 years ago to be examined
The Epstein files have shaken Norway’s faith in democracy, the head of the Norwegian parliament’s oversight committee has said, as a sprawling investigation into the connections between its foreign office and the late sex offender gets under way.
An independent commission to look into information brought to light by the Jeffrey Epstein documents released by the US Department of Justice was launched on Wednesday after the Norwegian parliament voted unanimously last month for it to be set up.
The Royal Visit Has Room for Diplomacy:…but not for survivors.
Video Break: Robot’s Free Throw
The Tax Code: It didn’t break by accident. We can repair it.
When a Political Machine Runs Into a Moral Wall: The Vatican didn’t blink.
What I’m Watching: Jerry West, The Logo
Jukebox Playlist: Mississippi Goddam
Kareem’s Daily Quote
“There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest.” Elie Wiesel (1928–2016)
Nobel Prize-winning author and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel, 1983. Credit: Andrea Blanch, Getty Images
Silence is never neutral. Choosing to keep your mouth shut is still a choice, and that choice always lands somewhere. Elie Wiesel understood that better than anyone. He didn’t use “if” or “maybe.” His words were deliberate and, honestly, uncomfortable. He didn’t say you should protest when it’s easy or when you’re sure it’ll work. He said you should always speak up.
That’s a heavy thing to live by. Most of us are experts at the kind of “quiet math” Wiesel hated—the mental cost/benefit analysis we do before we decide to open our mouths.
We ask ourselves: Is this going to cost me? Is anyone even listening? Does it actually matter? Those are fair questions. I’ve asked them myself in rooms where the stakes weren’t just some abstract idea, where you could actually feel the weight of being seen and the risk of speaking out. I still remember marching on campus after Dr. King was assassinated. People would stop me and say, “You’re going to the NBA, what are you out here protesting for?” The subtext was loud and clear: your success should be enough to buy your silence. I never bought into that bargain, but that doesn’t mean the tension ever goes away. You just learn to live with it and speak up anyway.
Wiesel’s real insight, the part that really stings, is the line he draws between power and duty. We usually treat them as the same thing, thinking it only matters to speak up if we’re 100% sure we can stop the injustice. That’s how we let ourselves off the hook. We tell ourselves the problem is just too big, or our voice is too small, or that protesting doesn’t really work, or that someone else will handle it. This last is the “bystander effect” where the crowd becomes our alibi.
But history has a way of calling our bluff. Look at Sophie and Hans Scholl. They handed out leaflets against the Nazis knowing they’d probably get caught, and they were executed just a few days later. They didn’t stop the war, but today, hundreds of schools in Germany are named after them. Or Frederick Douglass, standing in front of hostile crowds in the 1850s demanding that the nation’s conscience be “roused” long before anyone thought abolition was actually possible. These protests weren’t “effective” in the moment by any normal standard. But the fact that they stood up and went on the record? That was the whole enchilada. Sophie and Hans were two weights, bending that ancient arc towards justice.
After decades of watching, marching, and writing, it’s clear to me that a culture of apathy starts with personal silence. You can’t have a culture that stands up for what’s right if everyone is privately refusing to say a word. Lately, we’ve gotten really good at the performance of being mad: the retweets, the quick posts, the 24-hour outrage, but there’s often no depth behind it. Wiesel would have seen right through that. He spent his whole life trying to remind us that “witnessing” something is a lot different than just watching it happen.
The call to protest is deeper than just looking good or keeping a moral scorecard. It’s about refusing to let another person stand alone in their suffering. That’s the hard part. When you strip away the excuses, the crowd, and all the noise, you’re left with just one question, and it never gets any easier to answer:
What are you going to do?
Kareem Takes on the News is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
The school’s $100m project to examine its slave ownership in Antigua is mired with controversy as academics allege obstruction
Christopher Newman remembers seeing campus police officers as he walked into a human resources office at Harvard University, but he didn’t imagine that they were there for him.
It was July 2024, and Newman had just turned in the results of a two-month-long internship with the Harvard University Archives: an annotated bibliography for the landmark 2022 Harvard and the Legacy of Slavery Initiative report, which detailed the university’s ties to slavery across three centuries. He completed his project on Friday, 26 July, and on Monday, he said he received an email that HR wanted to meet with him.
I have a lot of sympathy for Meghan but, at times, I do think that the Duchess of Sussex could do with putting her trials and tribulations in perspective
Iran may have reopened the strait of Hormuz, but a global energy crisis has not yet been averted. The war has already damaged as much as $58bn worth of power infrastructure. Even under the best-case circumstances, these could take years to repair.
Luckily, I think I’ve got a way to get us out of this mess. First we invent some sort of large suction device (technical details to be worked out later). Then we turn it on and hoover up all the rage directed at the Duchess of Sussex. Boom, energy crisis solved.
Trump’s attacks on Pope Leo XIV polarizing the diverse community as faith and politics come to a head
Maryellen Lewicki meets once a week for Bible study with a group of Catholic women in Decatur, Georgia, in a space they try to keep clear of politics. But Donald Trump’s name arises nonetheless.
“We have one person that we pray for during the course of the week,” she said. “What my friend said is that she prays for the president every day, that God will remove that hard heart of his and replace it with a softer one that has love.”
Brian Poindexter, a five-term local councilman and apprentice instructor at Ironworkers Local 17, is seeking the Democratic nomination for an Ohio House seat
When Max Miller ran for Congress in 2022, the Trump loyalist and former aide was unequivocal: inflation and the economy were “the top issue” for the voters in Ohio he was looking to represent.
Four years after he won that race – with affordability, growth and jobs still in sharp focus – Miller could face a significant challenge for the seat from a union iron worker, as the Democratic party battles to retake the majority in the House of Representatives.
Silvia Salis, the leftwing mayor of Genoa and former Olympian, is described as ‘a breath of fresh air’ and potential unifier
It has been a turbulent month in Italian politics.
A failed referendum on a judicial overhaul pierced prime minister Giorgia Meloni’s aura of invincibility, triggering government resignations and leaving her scrambling to restore credibility. At the same time, her once special relationship with Donald Trump has frayed after the US president publicly scolded her this week for criticising his broadside against Pope Leo and for not supporting the US-Israeli war on Iran.
Jalen Green scored 36 points, Devin Booker added 20 and the Phoenix Suns locked down Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors, winning 111-96 in the NBA’s play-in tournament Friday night.
The Suns took the No 8 seed in the Western Conference playoffs and will face the defending NBA champion Oklahoma City Thunder on Sunday in Game 1. The Warriors’ season is over.
Kennedy Wesley scored her first international goal and had an assist after entering as a substitution after halftime, Naomi Girma and Rose Lavelle each added a goal and the United States beat Japan 3-0 in a friendly Friday night.
Claudia Dickey had three saves for the United States.
The Peter Mandelson security vetting scandal is the biggest crisis for the diplomatic service in decades, a former Foreign Office chief has said.
Simon McDonald, who was the permanent under-secretary of the government department until 2020, has spoken out in defence of Oliver Robbins, saying the civil servant was “thrown under a bus” by the prime minister, Keir Starmer, when he was dismissed from his role on Thursday.
Museum says The Music is Black is part of a push to reposition scene as central to UK’s cultural history
Jacqueline Springer is standing in the middle of the V&A’s new exhibition space looking wistfully at a pair of drainpipe trousers, a tailored suit jacket and a porkpie hat, which create the unmistakable silhouette of Pauline Black, lead singer of the 2 Tone group the Selector.
Springer is the curator of the V&A East’s inaugural exhibition, The Music is Black, a landmark survey of Black British music, which opens this weekend. It starts with the early drumbeats in Africa and takes us right up to the latest innovations in pop and drill via jungle, grime, garage and two-tone.
Finance chiefs to join exercise in Washington designed to assess how they would handle collapse of significant bank
The bosses of the central banks and treasuries of the UK, US and EU are to take part in a war game in Washington on Saturday to test how they would handle the collapse of a globally significant bank.
Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., is the scourge of cryptocurrencies on Capitol Hill, burnishing her bona fides by supporting tighter oversight from her perch as ranking member of the House Financial Services Committee. If Democrats win the midterm elections, Waters is poised to become the chair of the influential committee.
Crypto donors are trying to make sure that never happens.
The woman mounting a long-shot challenge to Waters in California’s 43rd Congressional District has drawn more than two-thirds of her donations from the cryptocurrency industry.
Nonprofit executive Myla Rahman, 53, who is running as a younger alternative to the 87-year-old Waters, has taken 69 percent of her campaign contributions from crypto figures.
Rahman’s biggest single donor is Ripple Labs CEO Brad Garlinghouse, a leading voice pushing for looser regulations on crypto who has been active in the debate over pending crypto legislation in Congress.
Garlinghouse’s $6,600 donation last month helped bring Rahman’s total haul to $14,540 since announcing her long-shot campaign in February. The total haul is a pittance compared to what it would take to mount a viable campaign against Waters, a legendary figure who is serving her 18th term in the House. California’s primary election takes place on June 2. (Ripple Labs declined to comment.)
The total haul is a pittance compared to what it would take to mount a viable campaign against Waters, a legendary figure.
Still, any opposition funding could serve as a nuisance to Waters, a relative lightweight when it comes to fundraising compared to other top names in Congress. (Neither Waters’s nor Rahman’s campaigns responded to requests for comment.)
Rahman’s second biggest benefactor was Colin McLaren, the head of government relations at the crypto advocacy nonprofit Solana Policy Institute. He chipped in $3,500.
The crypto industry has ample reason to target Waters. While other Democrats have proven more accommodating, Waters has supported tighter oversight from her powerful position in the House Financial Services Committee, which has jurisdiction over the crypto industry.
With Waters potentially assuming the helm of the committee next year, crypto is racing to win passage of a favorable regulatory framework in the form of a bill called the Clarity Act. Despite widespread support among the Republicans, the industry has faced intense pushback from banks and credit unions who worry that passage of the law could lead to a stampede of deposits out of their institutions and into crypto exchanges.
Ripple, which has an estimated valuation of $50 billion, fought a yearslong legal battle with the Securities and Exchange Commission that centered on the issues under debate in Congress right now.
Waters’s most recent campaign filing on April 15 showed that she had a little over $300,000 on hand. Many recent contributions came from the banks and credit unions squaring off against crypto on Capitol Hill.
Despite her stance on crypto regulation, Waters also received a campaign donation from Ripple Labs co-founder and Democratic megadonor Chris Larsen. He gave $3,300 to Waters on March 6, only a few days after Garlinghouse made his donation to Rahman.
Larsen gave one of the crypto industry’s highest-profile contributions to Kamala Harris’s 2024 presidential campaign.
Rahman’s campaign does not mark crypto’s first quixotic campaign against a prominent congressional industry critic. The crypto industry also funded a Republican challenger in 2024 in an attempt to unseat Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren in deep-blue Massachusetts and a since-suspended primary challenge to Democratic California Rep. Brad Sherman.
In Sherman’s race, the crypto industry made clear its intention to leverage a message of generational change against critics of blockchain currencies.
On a night when Alycia Baumgardner showed why she’s considered one of boxing’s hottest properties, it was a longshot from New Zealand in the co-main event who threatened to steal the show.
Baumgardner retained her WBO, IBF and WBA junior lightweight titles early Saturday morning at the Theater at Madison Square Garden with a commanding 10-round unanimous decision over South Korea’s Bo Mi Re Shin in the headline bout of the first US card staged by Most Valuable Promotions Women, the nascent women’s boxing platform launched by boxer-influencer Jake Paul. The venture last month struck a three-year media rights deal with ESPN designed to give women’s fighters a regular, high-visibility platform on linear television.
Australia suffer 33-12 defeat to United States women in Kansas City
Tornado warnings and storm delay start of game by nearly three hours
Wild weather delayed play for nearly three hours before the Wallaroos were outmuscled 33-12 by the United States in a Pacific Four Series rugby clash that went beyond midnight in Kansas.
Prop Hope Rogers scored a double as the hosts ran in the final three tries after Australian winger Desiree Miller’s try early in the second half made it a two-point game.
Victoria Bonya says authorities too scared to raise issues with Vladimir Putin, whose approval ratings are declining
The Kremlin is grappling with the fallout from the viral spread of a celebrity blogger’s criticism of Russian authorities, as Vladimir Putin’s approval ratings register their sixth consecutive weekly decline.
Victoria Bonya, a household name in Russia who rose to fame in 2006 on Dom-2, the country’s answer to the reality TV show Big Brother, posted a video on Monday warning the Russian president that a string of mounting problems risked spiralling out of control.
Exiled leader to revive push for change amid US backing of Delcy Rodríguez and delays to democratic transition
Venezuela’s opposition leader, María Corina Machado, will seek to revive her push for political change with a rally in Madrid on Saturday, having found herself sidelined by Donald Trump after the abduction of the president Nicolás Maduro.
“Venezuela will be free,” the Nobel peace prize winner insisted in an interview on the eve of this weekend’s demonstration in the Puerta del Sol square, which is expected to draw tens of thousands of protesters.
Voters broadly split along generational lines as pro-Russian former president leads in polls
Anna Bodakova’s days tend to be rather hectic at the moment. Hopping between meeting voters on the street, political debates and recording videos for social media, the 23-year-old is standing to become an MP in Bulgaria’s general election.
Last year she was among the many young Bulgarians who participated in countrywide mass protests over the government’s economic policies and perceived failure to tackle corruption. Those protests ultimately resulted in the resignation of the prime minister, Rosen Zhelyazkov, and his cabinet in December.
The US attack on Iran has made the need for renewable energy inarguable. Environmentalists are now being seen for the pragmatists that they are
Donald Trump has done more to accelerate the energy transition than anyone else alive. Fossil fuel companies bankrolled his presidential campaign to stop the transition in its tracks. But when you back a volatile narcissist, unable to concentrate for more than a few minutes at a time, you shouldn’t expect to control the outcome.
It’s not that the fossils are suffering yet. As prices have soared since Trump and Netanyahu attacked Iran, oil executives have been selling shares at gobsmacking prices: the CEO of Chevron, for example, has cashed $104m so far this year. Vladimir Putin has also received a massive boost to his Ukraine invasion budget. As promised, Trump has gutted clean energy rules and programmes, green alternatives and environmental science. A fortnight ago, he stated, with the usual quantum of evidence (zero): “The environmentalists, I mean, they are terrorists … I call them environmental terrorists.”
NASA has revived support for the European Space Agency's long-delayed Rosalind Franklin Mars rover mission. According to the space agency, the current plan is to launch via a SpaceX Falcon Heavy no earlier than 2028. Engadget reports: This is a partnership between NASA and the ESA, with the European agency providing the rover, the spacecraft and the lander. The US will provide braking engines for the lander, heater units for the rover's internal systems and, of course, assistance with the actual launch.
The rover will be outfitted with scientific instruments to look for signs of ancient life on the red planet. These include a state-of-the-art mass spectrometer and an organic molecule analyzer, which will come in handy as the vehicle collects samples at the Oxia Planum landing site. The mission has been stuck in development limbo since 2001, with delays caused by budget problems, technical issues, shifting international partners, and geopolitical fallout. After NASA dropped out, Russia stepped in, then was cut loose after invading Ukraine, and now -- despite NASA rejoining in 2024 and fresh political budget threats -- the rover is tentatively back on track for a 2028 launch.
Holidaymakers have faced numerous stresses in recent years when planning and budgeting for the sacred summer holiday. Holiday flights to Europe have kept growing despite a pandemic, a cost of living crisis and long airport queues, but summer 2026 threatens to bring fresh anxieties.
Legacies of Brexit mean longer border checks for Britons and most non-EU nationals to get into much of Europe, and the US-Israel war on Iran has prompted fears that airlines may not have enough fuel for every scheduled flight.
Recently picked up a OG XR for 400 bucks. Realllyyyy clean condition, has 5 miles on it. Catch is, it wasn't charged for about a year, so naturally, when I plugged it to charge, light blinked 16 times, and wont start charging even after letting it sit for a few hours (error 16?). So I'm just looking to see if I can find a good condition used battery before shelling out 300+ on a new replacement. Any tips or recommendations are appreciated, this is my first onewheel. The XR connects fine when on the charger, light bars flash for a sec when first connecting charger, but the brick is always on solid green.
The president has opened fissures in his base by starting a war he couldn’t finish with Iran, stoking inflation and offending Christians. Barred from running again, he may feel he has nothing to lose
Lance Johnson voted for Donald Trump three times. Now he is feeling buyer’s remorse. “I haven’t been too happy with the third time around,” said the 47-year-old contractor, sitting at a bar in Crescent Springs, Kentucky. “We’re supposed to not start any new wars. Prices were supposed to come down. We were promised a lot of things and we’re not getting them.”
Johnson is not the only Trump voter having doubts about a US president who, after defying political gravity for a decade, finally seems to be crashing back to earth. The past two weeks have arguably been the most bruising of Trump’s two terms in office, suggesting that his tried and trusted playbook could finally be falling apart.
Iran’s foreign minister has said that the strait of Hormuz is now fully open to commercial vessels, reinforcing hopes for an eventual end to the war in the Middle East and sending oil prices tumbling despite analysts’ warnings that there will be no immediate widespread resumption of passage through the vital waterway.
In a barrage of social media posts, Donald Trump claimed on Friday that Iran had agreed never to close the strategic waterway again, hailing “A GREAT AND BRILLIANT DAY FOR THE WORLD!”
In case you’re just joining us, here are the latest developments in the Middle East to bring you up to speed. It’s 9am in Beirut and Jerusalem, 9.30am in Tehran and 2am in Washington DC.
A 10-day ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon has come into effect, pausing fighting between Israel and Hezbollah that has killed more than 2,100 Lebanese people and displaced more than 2.1 million. The agreement was announced earlier by Donald Trump, who said he had spoken with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Lebanese president Joseph Aoun, and invited both leaders “for meaningful talks” at the White House. Both leaders welcomed the agreement.
Israel and Hezbollah both maintained their right to defend themselves if the truce is broken – here’s our full report.
Netanyahu called the ceasefire a “historic” opportunity for peace but refused to withdraw his troops from southern Lebanon during the pause in fighting. “We are remaining in Lebanon in an expanded security zone,” he said, due to the “danger of an invasion” and to prevent fire into Israel. “That is where we are, and we are not leaving.”
UN chief António Guterres welcomed the ceasefire, which took effect at midnight on Thursday (2100 GMT) in Lebanon, and urged “all actors” to fully respect it. He hoped the halt in fighting would “pave the way for negotiations”.
The Lebanese army warned people displaced from southern Lebanon about returning home because of intermittent shelling that was reported after the ceasefire came into effect.
The Israeli military warned residents of southern Lebanon not to return south of the Litani River despite the truce.
Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson welcomed the ceasefireand stressed it was already part of the original Iran-US agreement brokered by Pakistan.
Israel and Hezbollah continued to exchange fire in the hours before the truce took effect.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Guardian: The critical Atlantic current system appears significantly more likely to collapse than previously thought after new research found that climate models predicting the biggest slowdown are the most realistic. Scientists called the new finding "very concerning" as a collapse would have catastrophic consequences for Europe, Africa and the Americas. The Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (Amoc) is a major part of the global climate system and was already known to be at its weakest for 1,600 years as a result of the climate crisis. Scientists spotted warning signs of a tipping point in 2021 and know that the Amoc has collapsed in the Earth's past.
Climate scientists use dozens of different computer models to assess the future climate. However, for the complex Amoc system, these produce widely varying results, ranging from some that indicate no further slowdown by 2100 to those suggesting a huge deceleration of about 65%, even when carbon emissions from fossil fuel burning are gradually cut to net zero. The research combined real-world ocean observations with the models to determine the most reliable, and this hugely reduced the spread of uncertainty. They found an estimated slowdown of 42% to 58% in 2100, a level almost certain to end in collapse.
The Amoc is a major part of the global climate system and brings sun-warmed tropical water to Europe and the Arctic, where it cools and sinks to form a deep return current. A collapse would shift the tropical rainfall belt on which many millions of people rely to grow their food, plunge western Europe into extreme cold winters and summer droughts, and add 50-100cm to already rising sea levels around the Atlantic. The slowdown has to do with the Arctic's rapidly rising temperatures from global warming. "Warmer water is less dense and therefore sinks into the depths more slowly," explains the Guardian. "This slowing allows more rainfall to accumulate in the salty surface waters, also making it less dense, and further slowing the sinking and forming an Amoc feedback loop."
The new research has been published in the journal Science Advances.
I'm looking to buy my first one wheel. I live in Louisiana, in a more rural area. Surrounded by sugar cane fields, woods, and levees. Also, I'm a 28 year old male around 220 pounds. Also looking for something with decent power.
I’m going to buy Demon Flexmeter Double Sided Wrist Guards, Fox Launch Elite Elbow Guards, and Fox Launch Elite Knee/Shin Guards. What do you think of that selection and do you recommend anything else?
About 26 million people are under tornado watches from Wisconsin to Oklahoma, according to one report
A stretch of the midwestern states is at risk of severe weather, forecasters warned on Friday, as tornadoes battered towns across the central US region, leaving behind debris and destroyed property.
According to the National Weather Service, severe thunderstorms may be seen in north-west Oklahoma through western Missouri during Friday afternoon and evening.
Gina Rinehart, who’s been called Australia’s ‘female Donald Trump’, has long fought claims from the family of her father’s business partner – as well as her own children
Australia’s richest person is reeling after a landmark court decision found her company must pay royalties worth hundreds of millions of dollars to a rival mining dynasty.
Gina Rinehart, a multibillionaire with political connections in both the White House and the Australian parliament, has been described by members of the US conservative movement as “a female Donald Trump”. The 72-year-old, who inherited her father’s iron ore empire in Australia’s Pilbara region, has fought multiple claims against the family company Hancock Prospecting that were first launched in 2010.
In more CDC news, Donald Trump has selected Erica Schwartz to lead the troubled health agency, bringing to an end a months-long search for a permanent director.
Schwartz served as the deputy surgeon general during Trump’s first term. But before she can officially take over, the president’s pick will require confirmation by the Senate.
IRAN HAS JUST ANNOUNCED THAT THE STRAIT OF IRAN IS FULLY OPEN AND READY FOR FULL PASSAGE. THANK YOU!
A delegation of senior State Department representatives traveled to Cuba via a U.S. government plane last week, officials said, a diplomatic opening amid intense pressure from the Trump administration.
Iran’s parliamentary speaker warned it would will shut the strait again if the US blockade continues, which Trump said would remain in place until the conflict was fully concluded – key US politics stories from 17 April at a glance
Iran’s foreign minister has said that the strait of Hormuz is now fully open to commercial vessels, reinforcing hopes for an eventual end to the war in the Middle East and sending oil prices tumbling.
In a barrage of social media posts, Donald Trump claimed on Friday that Iran had agreed never to close the strategic waterway again, hailing “A GREAT AND BRILLIANT DAY FOR THE WORLD!”
Just riding with my daughter today, I went to takeoff fast probably hit about 12 miles an hour and nose dove hard, board just locked up. Continued and decided to try for a top speed, board locked up on me at 25.1mph, wow, what the ever living f**k, I just tucked and tumbled. Why does it lock up vs just not adding more power??
Well. My wonderful winter onewheelin has come to an end and it's now the time of trial by water for the old XR. Breakup is happening fast this year so its extra sloppy, slushy and just all around not the best riding. Finally found a tether that could be properly wired in so no more worrying about the footpad sensors or switches at least. Anyways.
Dianna Russini, who was photographed with Patriots coach Mike Vrabel, climbed on to Jeep to pull out man and dog
A day after resigning from the Athletic amid an internal investigation into photos of her and New England Patriots coach Mike Vrabel, the NFL reporter Dianna Russini rescued an older man and a dog from an overturned car in New Jersey.
Russini’s actions in the aftermath of a car crash on Wednesday in Wyckoff, New Jersey, were confirmed by a source with direct knowledge of the matter. Page Six on Friday first reported on the wreck and Russini’s intervention, 10 days after the celebrity news outlet exclusively published the photos of Russini and Vrabel.
More than 51 million people are under the threat of severe weather Friday evening from Texas to Wisconsin, as some are still cleaning up from tornadoes earlier in the week.
Charles Adair’s relatives urge video to be made public after Kansas officer charged with second-degree murder
Relatives of a man whom investigators determined died after a Kansas sheriff’s deputy shoved his knee into the cuffed man’s back for a minute and 26 seconds have filed a federal lawsuit.
Attorneys for the family of Charles Adair renewed their demand on Friday that video of what happened be released publicly in announcing the wrongful death lawsuit.
Jordan Acker, who pushed legal action against protesters, is running for re-election in race reflecting tensions on Israel
The University of Michigan regent Jordan Acker, who helped lead the university’s crackdown on pro-Palestinian students, appears to have made obscene sexual comments about a Democratic party strategist in a group chat, messages provided to the Guardian reveal. The Slack messages, attributed to Acker, also include lewd comments about a female U-M student and a picture of her with her friends.
The messages were shared with the Guardian just days before a heated primary convention election for two open U-M board of regents seats. The board is the university’s governing body, and the usually low-profile race is especially tense this year as pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian candidates compete for seats. The race has become a local flashpoint in the broader battle over criticism of Israel on campuses.
Maria Medetis Long, who was overseeing a criminal investigation into whether former CIA Director John Brennan lied to Congress is no longer assigned to the case.
Two weeks ago I mounted a Onewheel for the very first time. I had to grip onto my Dad the entire time as I mounted, inched forward 6 inches, and then got off. Compared to today wherein I did two miles around the block with my Mom riding ahead as checkpoints. The only thing I can say to beginners: Keep practicing -- you will get better!
A few points I've observed:
1) Your stamina will improve. The stabilizing muscles in your feet, ankles, calves will adapt to riding for longer and longer periods of time. As you gain confidence you will also not be so tense in your stance which eases the stress on your muscles.
2) "Losing your nerve" will become less of an issue. I originally had to factor in what if I lose my nerve and can't ride anymore so have to walk the board back home. It's quickly becoming more of a non-issue because riding is becoming so natural. I am simply confident that I can ride now.
3) Your riding will become versatile. Two weeks ago I'd need to first scope out the route because I needed to know exactly where the cracks, dips, stop walks were. Now I can start anywhere in my neighborhood and ride. This is because I'm able to control the board enough to adapt to the current environment (cars, pedestrians, stop walks). Albeit, I'm still sticking to pretty simple routes but the point remains that mastering basic skills is the foundation of versatile riding so you can be plopped down anywhere and ride.
4) Practice consistently. Riding will start to come naturally, it'll feel natural in your feet, but only if you practice enough for the muscle memory to develop.
5) Do whatever you need to do to feel safe. Safety gear helps physically and psychologically. Helmet and pads physically protect you. But they also give you a mental boost in that you can be confident that even if you do fall, nothing catastrophic will happen. If you're not afraid to fall, you can instead focus on riding well. If you need a full face helmet to feel safe riding on the sidewalk, do it. Safety first.
Growing numbers in the capital Honiara are playing the street card game Pass for a chance of a big payout, while risking big losses
As the school day ends in Honiara, *Irene, a 43-year-old teacher in a floral dress with a yellow daisy in her bun, steps on to a minibus.
After 10 minutes, Irene gets off the bus, walks down an alley, and enters a damp, smoky shelter. Plastic tables fill the space and playing cards are scattered on the floor. Irene has stopped by a hidden gambling table in a western suburb of Honiara to play Pass, a street card game gaining popularity in the Solomon Islands capital.
A new Ipsos poll finds Americans are increasingly getting news from online personalities and comedians instead of traditional TV or newspapers. The survey says nearly 70% get news online in a given week, versus 55% from TV and 25% from newspapers, with figures like Joe Rogan, Greg Gutfeld, Sean Hannity, and late-night hosts ranking prominently depending on political leanings. From the Hollywood Reporter: The poll, which was conducted in March, actually found the conservative politicians and cabinet members, including President Trump, were the top news influencers. When politicos were excluded, Joe Rogan led the list, followed by Fox News personalities Greg Gutfeld and Sean Hannity, and then TuckerCarlson and Ben Shapiro. The only three influencers to crack 10 percent were Trump, Rogan, and JD Vance. Among people who voted for Kamala Harris, the top news personalities were late night hosts, led by ABC's Jimmy Kimmel, followed by CBS Late Show host Stephen Colbert, and Daily Show host Jon Stewart.
Just under 70 percent of respondents said they get their news online in a given week, compared to 55 percent for TV, and 25 percent for newspapers. [...] Of traditional media outlets, TV dominated, with Fox News, the broadcast networks, and CNN topping the list of sources. Facebook, YouTube and Instagram were the most popular online news sources. "On these platforms opinionated personalities and comedians appear to drown out anyone who would fit in the traditional journalist category," said assistant professor of practice and Jordan Center Executive Director Steven L Herman. "Even in the late 19th century and early 20th centuries, sensationalist and polarizing voices in print and later on air were among the most influential in the political landscape -- such as political satirist Mark Twain and populist Father Charles Coughlin."
Daniel Joseph Kinahan, a fugitive suspected of leading a powerful gang in Ireland, was arrested in Dubai as part of a secret operation by Irish and UAE police.
Role-playing adventure and superhero comedy among big winners on a varied night in London
With 12 nominations, acclaimed role-playing adventure Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 was expected to be the runaway success at the 2026 Bafta games awards, held in London on Friday evening.
And while it couldn’t quite match its nine wins at the Game Awards back in December, it was still the joint biggest winner on the night, taking best game and debut game as well as the performer in a leading role award for Jennifer English.
NIST is narrowing how it handles CVEs in the National Vulnerability Database (NVD), saying it will only automatically enrich higher-priority vulnerabilities. "CVEs that do not meet those criteria will still be listed in the NVD but will not automatically be enriched by NIST," it said. "This change is driven by a surge in CVE submissions, which increased 263% between 2020 and 2025. We don't expect this trend to let up anytime soon." The Hacker News reports: The prioritization criteria outlined by NIST, which went into effect on April 15, 2026, are as follows:
- CVEs appearing in the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency's (CISA) Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog.
- CVEs for software used within the federal government.
- CVEs for critical software as defined by Executive Order 14028: this includes software that's designed to run with elevated privilege or managed privileges, has privileged access to networking or computing resources, controls access to data or operational technology, and operates outside of normal trust boundaries with elevated access.
Any CVE submission that doesn't meet these thresholds will be marked as "Not Scheduled." The idea, NIST said, is to focus on CVEs that have the maximum potential for widespread impact. "While CVEs that do not meet these criteria may have a significant impact on affected systems, they generally do not present the same level of systemic risk as those in the prioritized categories," it added. [...]
Changes have also been instituted for various other aspects of the NVD operations. These include:
- NIST will no longer routinely provide a separate severity score for a CVE where the CVE Numbering Authority has already provided a severity score.
- A modified CVE will be reanalyzed only if it "materially impacts" the enrichment data. Users can request specific CVEs to be reanalyzed by sending an email to the same address listed above.
- All unenriched CVEs currently in backlog with an NVD publish date earlier than March 1, 2026, will be moved into the "Not Scheduled" category. This does not apply to CVEs that are already in the KEV catalog.
- NIST has updated the CVE status labels and descriptions, as well as the NVD Dashboard, to accurately reflect the status of all CVEs and other statistics in real time.
Petition started by workers gained more than 7,300 signatures after CEO said flags would be removed
A San Francisco-based coffee chain that sparked backlash with a policy to remove Pride flags from their stores has reversed its decision over a week later.
“I made a mistake and I am sincerely sorry,” said Mahesh Sadarangani, the chief executive of Philz Coffee, in a statement on Friday. “The Pride flag is a symbol of safety and belonging for people who don’t always find that in the world, and that is not something I want to take away from anyone who walks into a Philz.”
The disappearances and deaths of 10 government workers tied to nuclear or space technology have sparked speculation online. President Trump said the cases are "hopefully, coincidence."
A 27-year-old Cuban man died in ICE custody in Miami after an apparent suicide attempt, the agency said, adding to a string of recent detainee deaths locally and nationwide.
Laura Carlson was officially inaugurated as the University of Delaware’s 29th president Friday morning, laying out her vision of unity she calls “OneUD.”
A federal prosecutor leading the investigation into former CIA director John Brennan is no longer working on the case after expressing reservations about it, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The prosecutor, Maria Medetis Long, informed attorneys involved in the case she was no longer handling it, according to CNN, which first reported she was leaving the case. Medetis Long is a career attorney serving as the chief of the national security division in the US attorney’s office for the southern district of Florida. The Department of Justice did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Wired: Sam Altman's iris-scanning, humanity-verifying World project announced at an event in San Francisco on Friday that Tinder users around the globe can now put a digital badge on their profiles signaling to potential suitors that they're a real human, provided they've already stared into one of World's glossy white Orbs and allowed their eyes to be scanned. The announcement follows a pilot project for Tinder verification that World previously conducted in Japan.
[...] In addition to the Tinder global expansion, Tools for Humanity, the company behind World, announced a number of other consumer and enterprise partnerships on Friday at its Lift Off event in San Francisco. The startup says Tinder users who verify with their World ID will receive five free "boosts," typically a paid feature that increases the number of users who see a profile by up to 10 times for 30 minutes. The videoconferencing platform Zoom also says that users can now require other participants to verify their identity with World before joining a call. Docusign, the contract signing software, will allow users to require World's identity verification technology.
Tiago Sada, Tools for Humanity's chief product officer, tells WIRED the company sees major platform partnerships as key to helping World become a mainstream identity-verification technology. Sada said he's especially interested in working with social media companies in the future, and was encouraged to see that Reddit has started testing World as a solution to help users distinguish bots from real people. [...] World is also launching a tool called Concert Kit, which lets artists reserve concert tickets for verified humans, a pitch aimed squarely at the bot-driven scalping problem that critics say has plagued sites like TicketMaster. World will test the feature on the upcoming Bruno Mars World Tour featuring Anderson .Paak, who is scheduled to play a verified-humans-only show under his alias DJ Pee .Wee in San Francisco on Friday night. "The idea that World ID is not just private, but it's one of the most private things you've ever used, that's not obvious," says Sada. "We're just not used to this kind of technology. Many people used to tape their [iPhone's sensor used to enable] Face ID when it came out, then we got used to it."
Air Canada has announced a temporary suspension of flights from Toronto and Montreal to New York’s John F Kennedy airport, citing rising fuel prices.
The move comes amid growing concerns that airlines worldwide may scale back services as aviation fuel costs climb in the wake of the US and Israel’s ongoing war with Iran, which entered a fragile ceasefire earlier in April. Although Iran announced on Friday that the strait of Hormuz had reopened, helping ease oil prices, fuel costs remain significantly elevated after weeks of disruption.
Looking for my first one wheel and came across this board. I am told it is using Gemini 4165 and can get it for $700. Is it worth that in 2026 or is it a better spent to spend the money and get a new XR classic or GT.
BrianFagioli writes: Mozilla's email subsidiary MZLA Technologies just introduced Thunderbolt, an open-source AI client aimed at organizations that want to run AI on their own infrastructure instead of relying entirely on cloud services. The idea is to give companies full control over their data, models, and workflows while still offering things like chat, research tools, automation, and integration with enterprise systems through the Haystack AI framework. Native apps are planned for Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, and Android. Thunderbolt allows organizations to do the following:
- Run AI with their choice of models, from leading commercial providers to open-source and local models
- Connect to systems and data: Integrate with pipelines and open protocols, including: deepset's Haystack platform, Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers, and agents with the Agent Client Protocol (ACP)
- Automate workflows and recurring tasks: Generate daily briefings, monitor topics, compile reports, or trigger actions based on events and schedules
- Work seamlessly across devices with native applications for Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, and Android
- Maintain security with self-hosted deployment, optional end-to-end encryption, and device-level access controls
At HPCwire, we have covered how AI is reshaping scientific discovery in more ways than we could have ever thought. AI is acting as a catalyst for breakthroughs in everything from drug discovery and climate modeling to materials science and advanced manufacturing. While we often get to read and analyze the breakthroughs, beneath the focus on models and compute is a structural shift taking place. Scientific workflows themselves are being rebuilt around a new kind of data foundation, one that looks increasingly like an “experimental data lake.”
These data lakes are built specifically for science making them unlike the typical enterprise versions. These are built to capture raw output directly from day-to-day research workflows. Instead of disappearing after a single use, that same data now sticks around. It builds over time, stays accessible, and can be used again in new experiments or analyses.
What Makes an Experimental Data Lake Different
The difference starts with the data itself. Enterprise systems often deal with clean and structured inputs. Scientific data maybe not so much. That often comes out as messy, high-volume, and tightly tied to experimental conditions. If you lose that context, and the data loses most of its meaning.
Experimental data lakes are built for that environment. They capture data directly from instruments, sensors, and simulations as it is created–and they keep the context with it. Parameters, conditions, timing, all of it. That is what makes the data reusable instead of one-and-done.
The ATLAS detector (Image: CERN)
You can already see this in platforms like Terra in genomics, where researchers store sequencing data along with the workflows and analysis pipelines used to process it, so teams can rerun, share, and build on the same datasets. In physics, CERN handles massive volumes of experimental data from particle collisions and makes it accessible across a global network for analysis.
On the commercial side, Benchling is helping biotech teams manage experimental data, lab work, and collaboration in one place, while Dotmatics focuses on organizing and structuring research data across chemistry and pharma workflows so it can actually be reused.
Another key shift is persistence. Raw and processed data stay connected, so researchers can revisit and reanalyze without starting over. And instead of digging through files, they can actually query across experiments. That is where things start to change.
Why Experimental Data Lakes Are Emerging Now
You might be wondering, why are these experimental data lakes emerging now? What changed? The rise of experimental data lakes is being driven by several converging factors. The first is scale. Modern scientific instruments generate enormous volumes of data, often at rates that traditional storage and processing workflows cannot handle. In fields such as genomics, imaging, and climate science, data volumes are growing faster than the systems designed to manage them.
The second factor is the increasing distribution of research. Scientific collaboration now spans institutions, geographies, and disciplines. Data needs to be accessible across these boundaries, which is difficult to achieve when it is stored in isolated systems. Centralized and structured data environments provide a way to support this level of collaboration.
The third and most important driver is the rise of AI itself Scientific AI depends on high-quality, well-structured datasets that include both data and context. Many existing datasets fall short of these requirements because they are incomplete, poorly labeled, or difficult to access. Experimental data lakes address this gap by standardizing how data is captured and stored, making it more suitable for machine learning applications.
Benchling develops a platform that’s designed to bring together scientific data, automation and AI
Companies such as DNAnexus and Schrödinger are building platforms that integrate data management with computational modeling and AI workflows. These systems are designed to ensure that data is not only stored but also immediately usable for analysis and model development. They also help address the long-standing issue of reproducibility in science by preserving the full context of each experiment.
From Data Lakes to Autonomous Science
With experimental data lakes it’s not just about better storage. It starts to change how science actually gets done. When data is captured and processed in real time, researchers do not have to wait until the end of an experiment to see what happened. They can adjust as they go. Try something, refine it, and run it again. The loop gets tighter – possibly more autonomous.
Once that data is structured and consistent, AI can step in more meaningfully. It can suggest next steps, flag issues, even help shape experiments. Over time, you move toward a cycle where data feeds models, models guide experiments, and experiments generate new data.
That is what people mean by autonomous science. Yes, it is still early, but none of it works without a solid experimental data layer underneath.
There is a bigger shift happening here. Data is becoming part of the foundation. In the past, data was often scattered, hard to access, and rarely reused. Now it is being captured, organized, and kept in a way that actually makes it useful over time. That changes how fast teams can move and how much they can build on previous work.
The labs that get this right will have an edge. Not just in AI, but in how they run experiments, collaborate, and generate new ideas. Experimental data lakes are not just another tool. They are starting to look like core infrastructure for modern science.
Editor’s note: This article originally appeared in BigDATAwire.
Ruling in favor of Justin Heap could have implications in one of country’s most prominent battleground states
The top election official in Arizona’s most populous county will be given more authority in running elections after a judge sided with his office in a prolonged legal fight with the local board that shares responsibility for overseeing the vote.
The decision could have broad implications in one of the nation’s most prominent battleground states, which will have several high-profile races this fall. Maricopa county, which includes Phoenix, has been roiled by election conspiracy theorists ever since Donald Trump lost the state to Joe Biden in 2020.
Rümeysa Öztürk, the Tufts University student who was targeted by the Trump administration last year in response to co-writing a pro-Palestinian op-ed, completed her doctorate in the US and traveled back to her native Turkey this week.
Öztürk was detained last year by immigration agents in Massachusetts, with video of the Tufts University student’s arrest going viral. She was one of many international students targeted by the Trump administration for pro-Palestinian speech and activism during widespread protests, which were especially active on US college campuses, against Israel’s war in Gaza in response to the Hamas-led 7 October 2023 deadly attack on southern Israel.
The decision from U.S. District Judge Mary McElroy marks the Justice Department's fifth loss in its attempts to access states' voter registration lists.
Amazon's newest Fire TV Sticks are dropping support for normal sideloading, blocking apps from outside the Amazon Appstore unless the device is registered with developers. Cord Cutters News reports: This week, Amazon announced the upcoming launch of a new Fire TV Stick HD. The new model will run on Amazon's Vega OS, rather than Android, so most streaming apps will be supported, but users won't be add third party apps. Now, on the product page to preorder the new Fire Stick, some Amazon customers are getting a message warning them that the new model won't allow sideloading. Interestingly, not all customers are getting the message, whether signed in to an Amazon account or not.
The message, shown in a screenshot below, says: "For enhanced security, this device prevents sideloading or installing apps from unknown sources. Only apps from the Amazon Appstore are available for download." [...] The Fire TV Stick Select, announced in September 2025, also runs on Vega and some customers will see the same message about sideloading on that product page. [...] While Amazon continues to be a "multi-OS company," we should expect that future Fire TV models will also be built with Vega OS, limiting the apps users can access with their streaming devices to those from the Amazon Appstore.
Price hikes for MetLife Stadium travel prompted outcry
Plans confirmed at Friday briefing include $80 bus option
NJ governor Sherrill spars with Fifa over cost burden
New Jersey’s transit agency has confirmed it will charge $150 for a return ticket to World Cup matches at MetLife Stadium this summer.
The price for a round-trip ticket from New York’s Penn Station to MetLife Stadium is typically $12.90. Reports this week of the elevenfold increase were met with outcry from fans and sparked a back-and-forth between New Jersey’s governor, Mikie Sherrill, and world football’s governing body, with costs mounting across the board, including parking priced as high as $225 at the mall adjacent to the stadium.
White House officials are leaning on Utah Republicans to further examine ethics concerns regarding a relationship between two key players in a key gerrymandering case, sources told CBS News.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: On Thursday, OpenAI announced it had developed a large language model specifically trained on common biology workflows. Called GPT-Rosalind after Rosalind Franklin, the model appears to differ from most science-focused models from major tech companies, which have generally taken a more generic approach that works for various fields. In a press briefing, Yunyun Wang, OpenAI's Life Sciences Product Lead, said the system was designed to tackle two major roadblocks faced by current biology researchers. One is the massive datasets created by decades of genome sequencing and protein biochemistry, which can be too much for any one researcher to take in. The second is that biology has many highly specialized subfields, each with its own techniques and jargon. So, for example, a geneticist who finds themselves working on a gene that's active in brain cells might struggle to understand the immense neurobiological literature.
Wang said the company had taken an LLM and trained it on 50 of the most common biological workflows, as well as on how to access the major public databases of biological information. Further training has resulted in a system that can suggest likely biological pathways and prioritize potential drug targets. "We're connecting genotype to phenotype through known pathways and regulatory mechanisms, infer likely structural or functional properties of proteins, and really leveraging this mechanistic understanding," Wang said. To address LLMs' tendencies toward sycophancy and overenthusiasm, OpenAI says it has tuned the model to be more skeptical, so it's more likely to tell you when something is a bad drug target. There was a lot of talk about GPT-Rosalind's "reasoning" and "expert-level" abilities. We were told that the former was defined as being able to work through complex, multi-step processes, while the latter was derived from the model's performance on a handful of benchmarks. Access to GPT-Rosalind is currently limited "due to concerns about the model's potential for harmful outputs if asked to do something like optimize a virus's infectivity," notes Ars. Only U.S.-based organizations can request access at the moment.
Reports of alleged crime led to protests in the Surrey town this week, after claims woman in her 20s attacked
Police investigating a rape incident in Epsom have said they have “not found any evidence” of the offence as reported. The reports prompted protests in the Surrey town this week.
Sarah Grahame, assistant chief constable at Surrey police, said the force was continuing to investigate a report that a woman in her 20s had been raped by a group of men on 11 April in Epsom after she left the Labyrinth Epsom nightclub. The alleged attack is said to have happened between 2am and 4am outside a Methodist church.
Chancellor aims to curb rising household bills as she consults on reforms to weaken link between gas and electricity prices
Rachel Reeves is poised to raise the government’s windfall tax on low-carbon electricity generators to help limit UK household energy bills, the Guardian understands.
The chancellor is ready to hike the levy introduced in 2022 to target the excess profits made by the owners of older renewable energy and nuclear plants as electricity market prices soared after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Exclusive: Officials have spent weeks debating whether or not to release highly sensitive information about the affair
Keir Starmer was left in the dark about sensitive information relating to Peter Mandelson’s security vetting by two other top civil servants, including the head of the civil service, the Guardian can reveal.
The prime minister said on Friday that it was “unforgivable” and “staggering” that senior officials did not tell him that Mandelson failed a security vetting process weeks before he took up his role as ambassador to Washington.
Keir Starmer says it is ‘staggering’ and ‘unforgivable’ that he was not told Peter Mandelson had failed security vetting before taking up the role of US ambassador. The comments follow a Guardian investigation that exclusively revealed Mandelson had initially been denied clearance after a background check by security officials, but that the decision was overruled by the Foreign Office. Lucy Hough speaks to the Guardian’s head of investigations, Paul Lewis – watch on YouTube
Opposition accuses Narendra Modi government of using quotas as cover for redrawing electoral map
The Indian government has failed to pass a bill to increase female representation in parliament after being accused of using the plan as a guise to redraw the country’s electoral map.
It was the first time in 12 years in power that a constitutional amendment proposed by Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) government was not passed by parliament.
Gas price also falls and markets rise amid hopes Donald Trump will succeed in reaching deal with Tehran
Oil and gas prices fell sharply on Friday after Iran said the strait of Hormuz was open to commercial shipping, potentially clearing the way for tankers holding millions of barrels of oil and gas to reach the global market.
Iran’s foreign minister said vessels would be free to transit the strait of Hormuz for the duration of the 10-day ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon, which was struck on Thursday.
At the intersection of biology, medicine, and computational science, researchers across Massachusetts and beyond are harnessing the power of the Massachusetts Green High Performance Computing Center (MGHPCC) to unlock new insights into human health. From decoding the gut microbiome to modeling cancer metastasis and tracking viral evolution, MGHPCC’s shared computing infrastructure is enabling data-intensive research that is reshaping how scientists understand and address complex medical challenges.
Decoding the Gut Microbiome
The human gut is home to trillions of microorganisms that play a vital role in digestion, immunity, and overall health. At Harvard University, the Huttenhower Group is using MGHPCC’s high-performance computing resources to analyze massive datasets of microbial DNA. Their research focuses on identifying patterns in microbial communities that correlate with health outcomes, dietary habits, and disease susceptibility.
This work involves processing terabytes of sequencing data to classify microbial species and understand their functional roles. By comparing microbiome profiles across individuals and populations, researchers are uncovering clues that could lead to personalized treatments and nutrition plans tailored to an individual’s unique microbial makeup. The research has implications for a wide range of health conditions, including inflammatory bowel disease, obesity, type 2 diabetes, colorectal cancer, and even neurological disorders such as Parkinson’s disease and autism spectrum disorders. The ability to analyze such large and complex datasets is made possible by MGHPCC’s scalable computing infrastructure, which supports rapid data processing and advanced bioinformatics workflows.
Modeling the Spread of Breast Cancer
Understanding how cancer spreads is essential to improving treatment strategies. The O’Hern Group at Yale University is developing computational models to simulate how breast cancer cells migrate through tissue and metastasize. Their work combines biological data with mathematical modeling to explore the physical and mechanical factors that influence cancer cell movement.
These simulations help predict how cancer cells respond to different environments and therapies, offering valuable insights for developing treatments that target metastasis more effectively. The research contributes to a growing body of knowledge aimed at improving patient outcomes through data-driven approaches to cancer care.
Studying Viral Infectious Disease Dynamics
At UMass Boston, the VirusPlus Lab is investigating the host-pathogen dynamics of viral infectious diseases, including SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19, and Influenza A virus. Using the UMass Unity Cluster, researchers are analyzing how viruses evolve and spread across human and animal populations.
Understanding transmission dynamics that link humans and animals is key to pandemic preparedness. By modeling viral behavior and genetic mutations, the VirusPlus Lab aims to identify factors that influence transmissibility, severity, and resistance to treatment. These insights are essential for guiding vaccine development and informing public health strategies. MGHPCC’s collaborative ecosystem supports this work by enabling large-scale data analysis and simulation, helping researchers respond more effectively to emerging infectious threats.
A Shared Resource for Scientific Discovery
These projects are just a few examples of how MGHPCC is supporting cutting-edge biomedical research across its partner institutions. By providing access to high-performance computing, MGHPCC enables scientists to tackle questions that require massive data analysis, complex simulations, and interdisciplinary collaboration.
As biological and medical research becomes increasingly data-driven, MGHPCC’s role as a shared resource is more vital than ever. Its infrastructure supports not only individual projects but also a broader ecosystem of scientific inquiry, helping researchers turn data into discoveries that improve human health.
About the author: Helen Hill, PhD., is a science writer and communications specialist who translates complex, data‑driven research for broad audiences. With a background in computational physical oceanography and numerical ocean modeling, she writes about research and infrastructure at the Massachusetts Green High Performance Computing Center (MGHPCC), highlighting the center’s role in enabling collaboration and discovery.
Exclusive: The club, owned by Hollywood stars Ryan Reynolds and Rob Mac, received the grant without a contract or final state aid assessment in place
Wrexham AFC, the football club part-owned by Hollywood stars Ryan Reynolds and Rob Mac, was given a £3.8m government grant without a contract or a finished state aid assessment in place, raising questions over whether the award was lawful.
The club has received £18m in taxpayer-funded grants – far more than any other in the UK – to help to redevelop its stadium, the Racecourse Ground (Y Cae Ras in Welsh).
Despite being an English major, when it comes to classical literature, I’m not very knowledgeable. I have a few favorites like “Little Women” by Louisa May Alcott and “Anne of Green Gables” by Lucy Maud Montgomery, but beyond that, I don’t have very many classics in my repertoire.
“Wuthering Heights” by Emily Brontë is one of those books that I expected to read in high school as a part of our curriculum, especially since I took honors and IB literature. However, that was not the case. Since coming to college, I’ve found very little time to read on my own, considering almost every class I’ve had assigns readings. The books I sought out to read recreationally were easy, light reads — nothing like Brontë’s novel.
When the cast for the new “Wuthering Heights” interpretation was released, it caused a major uproar on social media. It was then that I decided to do a deep dive into the world of “Wuthering Heights.” I knew I couldn’t commit myself to reading the novel, so I scoured the internet for sources to further my sparse knowledge of it.
“Wuthering Heights” is a tale told from the perspective of one of the Earnshaws’ housemaids, Nelly. It centers around Catherine Earnshaw and the ward her father takes in, who they named Heathcliff. While brought into this family as an additional child, Heathcliff is treated no better than the servants employed on the property — Wuthering Heights.
In short, Catherine and Heathcliff fall in love and go back and forth in a toxic and abusive relationship. The first part of the book is merely a setup for the second half, where Catherine dies and haunts Heathcliff until his own death.
I went to see the film directed by Emerald Fennell, which was released on Feb. 13, starring Margot Robbie as Catherine and Jacob Elordi as Heathcliff. From the jump, we have our first problem — Heathcliff is canonically not white. Brontë wrote Heathcliff’s character as a person of color, which is pertinent to his life at Wuthering Heights.
There is also the fact that Hindley Earnshaw, Catherine’s brother, was completely omitted from the film’s interpretation. Hindley is especially important to the story because he was the one who mistreated Heathcliff the most and targeted him for his skin color.
As I said before, there’s a major turning point in the novel that breaks it into two parts — before and after Catherine’s death. The newest film ends right when Catherine dies. A major focal point in the novel is how Heathcliff conducts himself after death. Not only does he mourn her, but he is haunted by her spirit.
This is not simply a tragic love story — it is also a haunting ghost story.
Heathcliff sees her and speaks to her, basically driving himself mad. In the novel, he digs up her grave, removing part of her coffin so that when he ultimately dies and is buried next to her, there is nothing between them.
The significance of the braids, showcased at the beginning of the movie and in Catherine’s intricate hairstyles throughout, was also removed. After her death, Catherine’s husband places a lock of hair in her locket, which Heathcliff replaces with his own. Nelly braids the two locks together as a symbol of her love for the both of them.
I think my biggest issue with this film is how Catherine and Heathcliff’s relationship is so heavily romanticized and sexualized. This relationship is not one people should be yearning for — in fact, they should be scared by it.
Just watching the film, I could see Brontë’s message bleed through despite getting mostly butchered, which is that these characters are toxic and severely mentally ill.
A difference I didn’t mind was the change in perspective. The book is entirely about how Nelly perceives Catherine and Heathcliff’s relationship, while gossiping to another servant. In the film, we see everything unfold from Catherine’s perspective, which is ultimately why the movie ends with her death. While I do think the story was cut too short, seeing it from Catherine’s eyes offers a different understanding of her experiences.
Now, this film was never supposed to be a remake or a direct adaptation of the novel, and the film’s director made that clear in interviews while explaining that is why the title remains in quotes. She has stated that it is how she remembers the book from the first time she read it as a teenager. While I can appreciate that this is how her teenage self read the book, even calling this an interpretation is a disservice to the original story. Emily Brontë is rolling in her grave.
Despite my qualms with the film from a literary standpoint, I actually enjoyed it. Cinematically, it is a beautifully produced film. It is visually pleasing to watch, with intricate set designs such as the walls in Catherine’s room — which were modeled after Margot Robbie’s skin and included moles, veins and even hair. The costumes and hair for this piece, while albeit not the most historically accurate, are stunning and the overall attention to detail is impressive.
While the casting choices were poor on Fennell’s part, the acting pulled through. One of the aspects that kept me invested was the chemistry between Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi. Their performance made up for where the movie fell short.
Even though I don’t agree with Fennell’s creative choices, I was still able to enjoy the film. It is an amazing film, but it wasn’t “Wuthering Heights,” and it shouldn’t be titled as such — quotations or not.
Longtime Slashdot reader AmiMoJo writes: Windows has limited FAT32 partitions to a maximum of 32GB for decades now. When memory cards and USB drives exceeded 32GB in size, the only options were exFAT or NTFS. Neither option was well supported on other platforms at first, although exFAT support is fairly widespread now. In their latest blog post, Microsoft announced that the limit for FAT32 partitions is being increased to 2TB. Of course, that doesn't mean that every device that supports FAT32 will work flawlessly with a 2TB partition size, but at least there is a decent chance that older devices with don't support exFAT will now be usable with memory cards over 32GB.
An ad airing nationwide encourages people to call their senators and tell them to pass the SAVE America Act, a bill that would require photo ID to vote. The ad says the majority of people support that requirement.
"As Americans we are fair and logical. 83% of us favor requiring a photo ID to vote. In fact, most of the civilized world requires it but not us," says the ad by Restoration of America, the umbrella name of several conservative advocacy organizations. "We need to be able to trust that only eligible Americans are casting ballots. Democrats oppose voter ID for no coherent reason. Republicans favor it but haven't acted."
The 83% statistic comes from a well-respected pollster. It asked Americans about voter ID, but not about the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act. The poll was conducted in 2025, before the bill was introduced. More recent polling specific to the SAVE America Act shows Americans are more torn about its provisions.
Most states already require some form of ID to vote
States set their own voter ID laws. President Donald Trump and Republican lawmakers are seeking a nationwide rule.
Thirty-six states request or require voters to show ID at the polls — 10 of them require photo ID, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. In many states, at least some voters without a photo ID have options to cast a ballot, although it may include extra steps.
The SAVE America Act would require Americans to provide government-issued photo IDs to vote and documentary proof of citizenship, such as a passport or birth certificate, to register. Under the bill, election officials could accept a REAL ID driver's license that includes citizenship, though most states don't offer such a license. It also requires voters to submit a copy of their photo IDs when using mail ballots, or use workarounds that are cumbersome.
The House approved the legislation in February, but it stalled in the Senate, lacking the 60 votes needed to pass under the chamber’s rules.
The legislation follows Trump and his allies’ repeated falsehoods that noncitizen voting is widespread. It rarely happens. Federal law prohibits noncitizens from voting in congressional and presidential elections.
Limited polling on the SAVE America Act
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., speaks to reporters on the SAVE America Act alongside Republican leadership and supporters on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., Feb. 11, 2026. (AP)
Restoration of America did not answer our questions about the ad. But articles on its website also cited the 83% figure and linked to news about the nonpartisan Pew Research Center’s August 2025 survey. That poll found that 83% of responding adults supported requiring voters to show government-issued photo ID to vote, including 71% of Democrats and 95% of Republicans. That survey was conducted months before Republicans proposed the SAVE America Act in January.
Surveys have consistently shownmajority support for photo voter ID. But the polls typically present voter ID as a yes or no question, feeding the perception that views align with two distinct camps: those who support voter ID laws and those who oppose them. Supporters of stricter voter ID laws say they want to thwart fraud. Critics say tighter rules could disenfranchise eligible voters, including those who are less likely to have current government issued photo IDs, such as Black or young voters.
Voting law experts say polls oversimplify the debate, leaving out nuances about the varying voter ID requirements, existing verification processes and the low risk of voter fraud.
For example, in Texas, handgun permits are considered valid voter IDs, but student IDs are not. Critics say this makes it easy for gun owners, a heavily Republican group, to vote but harder for students, a predominantly Democratic group.
There has been limited polling specifically about the SAVE America Act.
CBS News found in March that 31% opposed the legislation, 28% supported it and the largest group — 41% — was unsure.
A February Harvard CAPS/Harris poll found that 58% supported Trump asking Congress "to pass the SAVE America Act, mandating photo ID and proof of citizenship for all voters, sharply limiting mail-in ballots, and ending sanctuary protections for criminal illegal immigrants." Another question about the legislation found 71% of respondents supported photo ID when including other elements such as asking about removing noncitizens from voter rolls.
Those questions pack a lot of issues into one sentence without noting that the majority of states already require ID and noncitizens are banned from voting in federal elections.
Many countries provide national IDs that can be presented to vote
An electoral official checks a voter's ID during the country's first judicial elections in Mexico City, June 1, 2025. (AP)
The Restoration of America ad says "most of the civilized world" requires photo ID to vote, "but not us.
Many countries issue national ID cards and make it mandatory for everyone above a certain age to have one. They can present those photo IDs to vote.
Therese Pearce Laanela, an expert on electoral processes at International IDEA, a Sweden-based pro-democracy organization, said having a photo ID is common in most countries conducting democratic elections, and "requiring ID for voting is neither controversial nor exclusionary."
Democracies requiring photo ID apply that rule strictly, said Vincent Pons, a Harvard business professor who has studied voter participation in France, Italy and Africa. "However, in most of these countries, all citizens have a national ID, unlike in the U.S."
Some countries use biometric markers such as fingerprints and retina scans to identify voters.
Our ruling
An ad promoting the SAVE America Act said, "83% of us favor requiring a photo ID to vote. In fact, most of the civilized world requires it but not us."
A Pew survey found 83% support for photo voter ID. The survey was conducted months before lawmakers proposed the SAVE America Act legislation. More recent polling specific to the SAVE Act shows Americans are more torn over their support of its provisions.
Many countries require photo ID to vote, but in those countries, all citizens have a national ID. The U.S. doesn’t have a national ID. The ad omits that 10 U.S. states require photo ID to vote.
The statement is partially true but leaves out important details. We rate it Half True.
PolitiFact researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this fact-check.
Meta paused work with Sama last month after allegations about staff viewing private scenes filmed by smart glasses
More than 1,000 low-paid workers in Kenya have been abruptly sacked by an outsourcing company contracted by Meta, in what activists said was a shocking move exposing the precariousness of tech jobs in the global south.
Sama, a company based in Nairobi to which Meta outsourced content moderation and AI training work, announced on Thursday that the workers were being laid off after Meta terminated a contract.
With Imax more popular than ever, a new way to watch movies – HDR by Barco – has been quietly rolling out but what difference does it really make?
At this year’s CinemaCon, an annual gathering where film studios show off their upcoming wares to excite the exhibitors they hope to showcase them, Disney announced a new way to see a movie, sort of: InfinityVision. Despite the cutesy Marvelized name, it’s not a superhero-specific experience; it’s a certification for premium large-format (PLF) auditoriums. The idea is that any InfinityVision-certified screen will adhere to or exceed standards – vaguely described so far – in size, sound quality, and picture brightness/clarity. There are supposedly 300 such screens already certified around the globe, though there doesn’t seem to be an actual list explaining which ones they are yet.
The practical reason for this additional layer of branding is that Disney’s Avengers: Doomsday is premiering in December on the same weekend as the third Dune movie, which has a deal to occupy coveted (and limited) Imax screens for several weeks. This essentially locks Earth’s mightiest heroes out of one of the marquee names in exhibition; InfinityVision seems intended to reassure viewers that their other options, presumably the various Dolby, RPX, and other branded PLF auditoriums that already exist, are as impressive as possible. Call it screenmaxxing.
So, I’ve been thinking of getting a Onewheel for a WHILE now. Almost 2-3 years at this point.
I want to commit and full send on one.
But I am struggling. I started doing more research and I saw more options than the Onewheel brand. Then also saw some modded ones that other companies sell. And now I’m conflicted on where my money will be best.
I was gonna get the Rally XL. And then saw some Reddit posts and comments about different options.
This would be my first Onewheel. So am I making a good choice just going for the Rally XL? Or should I be looking at different companies for Onewheel alternatives?
Thanks for everyone with any input and suggestions.
Clearlake’s José E Feliciano, wife Kwanza Jones win bid
Previous record for club was Cohen’s $2.42bn for Mets
Everton owner Dan Friedkin said to be among finalists
The San Diego Padres are nearing a sale to a group led by José E Feliciano, co-founder of private equity firm Clearlake Capital and co-owner of Chelsea FC, and his wife, Kwanza Jones, for a Major League Baseball-record $3.9bn, according to multiple reports.
The Wall Street Journal and the Athletic reported on Friday that the group was closing in on a deal. The sale requires approval by 75% of MLB’s 30 owners. The reported price would surpass the $2.42bn Steve Cohen paid for the New York Mets in 2020.
8-0 ruling gives companies new day in federal court after firms including Chevron ordered to pay millions for cleanup
The supreme court handed a win on Friday to oil and gas companies fighting lawsuits over coastal land loss and environmental degradation in Louisiana.
The 8-0 procedural decision gives the companies a new day in federal court after a state jury ordered Chevron to pay upward of $740m to clean up damage to the state’s coastline, one of multiple similar lawsuits.
Trump repeatedly demanded that Republicans unify to pass a longer extension of the Fisa warrantless spying law
Both chambers of Congress voted in quick succession on Friday to pass a brief 10-day extension of a controversial warrantless surveillance law after Republican infighting tanked plans for a much longer renewal of the law with no changes.
Donald Trump had repeatedly demanded that Republican holdouts “UNIFY” behind Mike Johnson, the US House speaker, in favor of an extension of section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (Fisa) without changes. But chaos ensued on Thursday evening and into the early hours of Friday as Republican leadership tried and failed twice in votes attempting to reauthorize the surveillance program, before resorting to a stopgap measure.
Newly unsealed records in California's antitrust case against Amazon allegedly show the company pressured third-party sellers to raise prices on rival sites like Walmart, Target, and Wayfair so Amazon could maintain the appearance of offering the lowest price. California says Amazon used tools like Buy Box suppression to punish cheaper listings elsewhere. The Guardian reports: [...] In one previously redacted deposition, marked "highly confidential," Mayer Handler, owner of a clothing company called Leveret, testified that he received an email in October 2022 from Amazon notifying him that one of his products was "no longer eligible to be a featured offer" through Amazon's Buy Box. The tech giant, he testified, had suppressed the item, a tiger-themed, toddler's pajama set, because his company was selling it for $19.99 on Amazon, a single cent higher than what his company was offering it for on Walmart. Afterwards, Handler testified, his company "changed pricing on Walmart to match or exceed Amazon's price" or changed the item's product code to try to throw off Amazon's price tracking system. In response to a question from the Guardian, Handler criticized Amazon for tracking prices across the internet and "shadow" blocking his company's products -- tactics which he said were depriving consumers of "lower prices." "Maybe that's capitalism," he wrote. "Or that's a monopoly causing price hikes on the consumer."
In another unsealed deposition, Terry Esbenshade, a Pennsylvania garden store supplier, testified in October 2024 that whenever his products lost Amazon's Buy Box because of lower prices elsewhere on the internet, his sales on Amazon would plummet by about 80%. This financial reality forced him to try to raise his products' prices with other retailers elsewhere, he said. In one instance, Esbenshade testified, he discovered that one of his company's better-selling patio tables had "become suppressed" on Amazon. Esbenshade wasn't sure why, he recalled, until someone at Amazon suggested he look at Wayfair, another online retailer that happened to be selling his patio table below Amazon's price. The businessman went online and set up a new minimum advertised price for the table on Wayfair to ensure it was higher than Amazon's. "So that raised the price up, and, voila, my product came back" on Amazon, he said, thanks to the reinstatement of the Buy Box.
The conflict in Iran is already taking a toll on businesses and balance sheets across the UK, warns Matthew Richards, joint head of restructuring & insolvency at accountancy and business advisory group Azets:
Richards says an increasing number of directors are seeking advice about their finances as they fear they will not be able to survive the economic aftershocks of the war in Iran, adding:
Directors who were previously surviving have been concerned about the impact the war will have on their finances, and the increase in costs it caused has been the tipping point for many firms. The longer this carries on, the bigger impact it will have on margins, access to finance and affordability of funding, as well as consumer spending as households attempt to manage their own costs and cut back on anything that isn’t essential.
“With the war likely to continue, cost pressures continuing to be a problem and additional expenses like the new business rates and the changes to national minimum wage taking effect this month, it’s very likely demand for insolvency support will increase in the coming months.
The increase in March 2026 was mostly driven by more than 100 connected companies in the Real Estate sector entering administration.
“Ongoing tensions in the Middle East are driving up energy and fuel costs, disrupting supply chains, and keeping inflation stubbornly above the Bank of England’s 2% target. The UK economy is expected to be among the most exposed in the developed world - yet much of this impact has not yet filtered through to company balance sheets or the latest insolvency data.
“Compounding this, the new tax year has brought a fresh wave of cost pressures. While there have been no headline rate rises, frozen thresholds, reduced reliefs and tighter allowances are quietly intensifying ‘fiscal drag’ - steadily increasing the tax burden on both businesses and consumers. Together, these twin pressures are squeezing margins and suppressing demand which risks driving more businesses into the red.
A man who evaded justice for more than two decades has been found guilty of the “horrific” 2003 rape for which Andrew Malkinson was wrongfully jailed for 17 years.
Paul Quinn, 52, was convicted by a jury on Friday after a fresh forensic analysis found traces of his DNA on the victim.
An environmentalist who survived an assassination attempt spoke during the presentation of a report that documented the killing of 10 activists in Mexico in 2025.
Israel’s security cabinet first heard about the ceasefire with Lebanon from a social media post by Donald Trump. Hezbollah first heard about the ceasefire from the Iranian ambassador to Lebanon. Each side shot off as many bombs, drones and rockets as they could before the ceasefire – imposed from above – came into effect.
Despite the US president claiming it is the 10th war he has ended, the situation on the ground in Lebanon looks anything but stable.
The grocery store aisle holds more promise than most coffee snobs will admit. Armed with curiosity and a trained palate, I tracked down five bags of beans that are worth brewing.
The broadcaster Andy Kershaw, best known for the BBC Radio 1 show he hosted for 15 years, has died aged 66, his family told the corporation.
His long career working for the BBC began in 1984 as host of the rock music show The Old Grey Whistle Test. He co-presented the corporation’s television coverage of Live Aid.
Australian guard has endured a mixed campaign but will be one of the Hawks’ main protagonists in a marquee match-up against the New York Knicks
The so-called “Great Barrier Thief” will be unleashed on to one of basketball’s most storied stages this weekend, as Australian Dyson Daniels storms into an NBA playoff battle against Jalen Brunson and the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden.
The Atlanta guard has, like his team, endured a mixed season. But both have finished strongly to make the Hawks a dark horse as the sixth-seed in an Eastern Conference bracket considered wide open.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Wall Street Journal: An agreement with the Philippines to establish a high-tech industrial hub is the Trump administration's latest effort to lessen China's dominance over global supply chains. The deal to build up American manufacturing across a stretch of the island of Luzon, signed Thursday, will offer U.S. companies access to essential inputs such as critical minerals that bypass Beijing's control. The artificial-intelligence-powered manufacturing hub is planned for a 4,000-acre site given to the U.S. by Manila, said undersecretary of State for Economic Affairs Jacob Helberg. The U.S. will occupy the site rent-free and administer it as a special economic zone.
The hub will have diplomatic immunity, such as the protections afforded to an American embassy, and operate under U.S. common law -- the first arrangement of its kind anywhere in the world. The two-year lease is renewable for 99 years. [...] "You can't build anything in Ohio if the minerals and the process materials are controlled by an adversary who can cut you off tomorrow," Helberg said in an interview. [...] The planned manufacturing hub is largely conceptual at this stage, and details, including which American companies will participate and just what they will build in the Philippines, are yet to be determined.
[...] The administration will ask companies to put forward proposals to compete for a spot in building out the hub, giving priority to bids that will help move critical minerals processing and manufacturing off Chinese suppliers. Investment will have to come from private-sector companies -- not the U.S. government. Factories approved for operation in the hub will be highly automated, Helberg said, using autonomous systems to operate around the clock. The Philippines has a history of robust manufacturing, particularly in semiconductors, but that has stagnated in recent decades because of high energy and logistics costs. Companies will have to address in their proposals how they will contend with energy costs and workforce needs; they can send American workers overseas or hire locally, Helberg said.
Israel’s accelerating de facto annexation of the West Bank has dangerous implicationsExpert commentthilton.drupal
The expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank undermines prospects for long-term regional peace. The US, Europe and Arab states should act before it’s too late.
While the world has been distracted by the US-Israeli war on Iran and its fallout, the Israeli government has accelerated the de facto annexation of the occupied West Bank.
If this unilateral imposition of facts on the ground is not immediately addressed, it will become even more difficult to tackle the underlying causes of the Arab-Israeli conflict and could lead to dangerous scenarios for Israel, the Palestinians and the region.
Accelerating annexation measures
Accelerated annexation efforts have been spearheaded by Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir. These two far-right cabinet ministers have been open about their determination to exercise Israeli sovereignty over the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) and to ‘continue to kill the idea of a Palestinian state’.
Israel has not formally annexed the West Bank. But since Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition government took office in December 2022, there has been a surge in settlement expansion policies and settler violence in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. As part of the coalition agreement, Netanyahu pledged to legalize illegally built outposts and increase settlement funding. He also promised to advance policies that would apply Israeli sovereignty in the West Bank ‘while choosing the timing and considering the national and international interests of the state of Israel’.
In July 2025, the Knesset approved in a symbolic vote a non-binding motion to ‘apply Israeli sovereignty to Judea, Samaria and the Jordan Valley,’ in a reference to the West Bank.
And while US President Donald Trump has voiced his opposition to annexation of the West Bank, the number of settlements approved by the Israeli government increased dramatically after he was elected for a second term in November 2024, with an annual record of 54 new settlements officially approved in 2025.
Annexation is a short-sighted plan with dangerous long-term implications.
That year, Israel gave final approval to the controversial settlement project close to East Jerusalem known as E1, a long-proposed settlement scheme that covers around three per cent of the occupied West Bank. The project creates a ring of control around historic Jerusalem and the holy sites, breaks territorial continuity of the West Bank and critically undermines the viability of a future peace process. Smotrich said the project would ‘bury the idea of a Palestinian state.’
This February, Israel’s security cabinet approved a series of measures that expand Israeli rule and governance over the occupied West Bank, a move widely condemned as in breach of international law. These measures explicitly extend the authority of Israeli ministries and government institutions into the West Bank, marking a shift away from military administration and effectively integrating parts of the occupied territory into the administrative framework of Israel.
Within these measures, the government established a process to register West Bank land as ‘state property’. The process builds on a cabinet decision in May last year, which Defence Minister Israel Katz said ‘does justice for Jewish settlement in Judea and Samaria, and will strengthen, consolidate and broaden it.’
This process will require Palestinians living in ‘Area C’, which comprises about 60 per cent of the West Bank, to prove ownership of their lands under conditions that critics say are ‘nearly impossible for them to meet.’ In case ownership cannot be proven, the default is that land will be registered as state owned.
The rest of the West Bank, comprised of ‘Area A’ and ‘Area B’, could also face a similar fate. February’s measures already expand Israeli oversight and enforcement in parts of these areas with regard to water issues, heritage and archaeological sites. A controversial bill that would establish an Israeli civilian body with broad powers to manage archaeology in the West Bank is already under review for Knesset legislation.
Implications
Annexation is a short-sighted plan with dangerous long-term implications.
UN resolutions and the International Court of Justice (ICJ) recognize that the OPT constitutes a single territorial unit, reinforcing the legal coherence of Palestinian statehood.
Israeli land seizure measures are already establishing unilateral facts on the ground that would make the prospect of Palestinian statehood very difficult to achieve. Blurring governance lines between settlements and the Israeli state while denying Palestinians their basic rights will only increase their displacement and dispossession.
This is in line with Smotrich’s 2017 ‘decisive plan’, in which he envisioned Palestinians giving up their aspirations for an independent state and then either emigrating or remaining in the West Bank ‘as individuals in the Jewish State.’
Annexation measures continue to shrink the space for Palestinian independence, undermine Palestinian agency and push the Palestinian Authority (PA) to political and financial collapse.
This undermines the feasibility of a viable independent Palestinian state alongside Israel and plays into the hands of extremists who have long opposed Arab-Israeli peace.
What can be done?
These measures also hinder any progress of President Trump’s 20-point plan and undermine the prospect of Israel’s regional integration.
Annexation impedes the implementation of UNSC Resolution 2803 and directly conflicts with the White House’s stated support for a ‘stable West Bank.’ If the US wants long-term stability in the Middle East, pressuring Israel through conditioning political and military support to reverse annexation measures should be a priority.
Annexation also risks the further deterioration of Israel’s already-strained relations with its immediate neighbours, especially Jordan. Amman has long considered the displacement of Palestinians and any schemes to relocate them to Jordan as red lines. Many Jordanians now fear that the recent measures in the West Bank will lead to a potential influx of refugees across the border.
Egypt, a key party to the implementation of the Trump 20-point plan, has also condemned annexation. Both countries should leverage their peace treaties with Israel to obtain guarantees from the US to stop settlement expansion.
As for the wider region, while the Iran war and its fallout have shifted political and financial priorities, the urgent need for regional stability has only increased. The wave of regional conflict that followed Hamas’s October 7 attack has shown that, regardless of how many defence and commercial ties Arab countries forge with Israel or the US, stability in the region will not be achieved without resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in a just and sustainable manner.
Countries like the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey should coordinate to push against annexation. As key political and financial members of Trump’s ‘Board of Peace’, they can make reversing Israel’s annexation measures a condition of their membership of the board and leverage their bilateral economic relations with the US.
Measure passes 50-49 to overturn a 20-year ban on mining near renowned Boundary Waters canoe area wilderness
The US Senate narrowly voted on Thursday to overturn a ban on mining near Minnesota’s Boundary Waters canoe area wilderness, an enormous complex of interconnected lakes, rivers and forests that is among the most visited wild areas in the US.
The resolution passed 50-49 to repeal a 20-year moratorium imposed by Joe Biden’s administration in 2023 on mining across the 225,000 acres (91,000 hectares) in the Superior national forest.
Marie-Thérèse Ross-Mahé, who moved to the US to marry a GI she met in the 1950s, was arrested in her nightgown at their home
An 86-year-old French widow arrested and detained by US immigration agents has been released and allowed to return to her home country.
Marie-Thérèse Ross-Mahé was arrested in her nightgown at the home she shared with her late husband, a retired US army captain, in Anniston, Alabama, more than two weeks ago. She had overstayed her 90-day visa, according to the US Department of Homeland Security.
Hey guys, I have a OW Pint S, and I finally disabled SimpleStop after using it for months, but the transition feels super clunky still.
With SimpleStop, I could just tail-drag/brake and be walking off the board in like a second. It was one fluid motion, which was great for my commute, like when I’m getting to the Metro and need to hop off right at the escalator without having a wall or railing to grab for balance.
Now that it’s off, the standard heel lift feels slow. I feel like I have to come to a complete stop, wobble for a second to stabilize, and then lift. I’ve tried the quick stop (slamming the tail and lifting the front foot), but I still feel like I need that "beat" to balance before I can pull it off smoothly.
Does anyone have tips or a video on you doing it, for how to make the exit feel as fast as SimpleStop? Or is it just a matter of more practice? I’m mostly looking for that "quick exit" where I don't have to hover there balancing at 0mph. (Or should I just go back to SimpleStop?)Thanks!
One of Britain’s most shocking miscarriages of justice began before dawn on a summer day in Salford more than 20 years ago.
A young woman had walked the darkened streets alone for about five miles when she was honked at, wolf-whistled and was so frightened she hid for a while in undergrowth.
The arrest comes months after police in Los Angeles said a body was found in the trunk of the musician’s car. Lawyers for David Burke, who performs as D4vd, said they will defend his innocence.
Some fear a fragmented field of hopefuls from Labour, the Conservatives, Greens, Reform and independents could leave city ungovernable
Paul Tilsley was 23 when he was first elected for the Liberal party in Birmingham’s council elections in 1968. At that time, the UK had an unpopular Labour government facing an economic crisis, tensions around immigration and US pressure to back military action abroad.
Such a backdrop may seem familiar, but this May the local elections in Birmingham could not be more different. Tilsley, now a Liberal Democrat, faces afragmented field with candidates from Labour, the Conservatives, the Greens, Reform UK and independents all competing for his seat and no party expected to win an overall majority on the council.
These days, I’m feeling more aligned with Catholicism than I have since my first communion. I’m not alone in that
I’ve had my ups and downs with the church of my childhood.
On the one hand, as a “cradle Catholic”, I’ve received the sacraments, often get to Sunday mass, and am the product of a Catholic education, right through Georgetown University, with its Jesuit history. My father was a “daily communicant” – he received the Eucharist every morning before heading to his law office; his sister, my aunt, was a nun, a Sister of Charity with a PhD in classic languages.
BETH WOJCIECHOWSKI Managing Arts & Culture Editor and Development Officer
One thing about me is that I love crappy horror movies. Give me unrealistic characters, practically immortal villains and over-the-top gore, and I will be fully satisfied. So, when I saw that the “Scream” franchise was coming out with yet another movie, I knew it would be a must-watch.
I have seen almost all of the past “Scream” movies (besides “Scream 4”) and have been pleasantly surprised by the latest two installments in the franchise. Due to that, I walked into this movie with high expectations. Unfortunately, I was let down.
This movie followed a plotline similar to most of the “Scream” movies: A small town is terrorized by the notorious “Ghostface” killer. However, while the last few movies offered up some amazing new characters to shake up the familiar story, I found myself let down by this installment’s main cast.
I truly believe that Melissa Barrera and Jenna Ortega, who played sisters Sam and Tara in the past two “Scream” movies, carried the new era of the franchise, so I was disappointed to see that they were not in “Scream 7.” I found most of the new characters in this movie to be quite cliché and boring, the only new character I truly found myself rooting for was Tatum, played by Isabel May.
Another aspect that made this particular entry into the “Scream” franchise stick out to me was its reliance on cameos from actors who were in earlier installments.
Matthew Lillard, who played Stu Macher in the original “Scream,” Laurie Metcalfe, who played a Ghostface in “Scream 2,” and David Arquette, who played Dewey Riley in five of the previous “Scream” movies, all made appearances in this movie.
While it was cool to see some of the franchise’s most iconic actors return, I almost felt like the number of cameos were overkill, and just a way of relying on nostalgia to get people to see the movie.
In addition to the large number of cameos, “Scream 7” also featured two actors from the original movie as main characters — Neve Campbell as Sidney Prescott and Courtney Cox as Gale Weathers. While I was not necessarily in love with the amount of cameos, I did enjoy that two such well-known characters were featured heavily in this movie, without feeling over-the-top or forced the way that the other cameos did.
Another aspect of “Scream 7” I did not enjoy was the Ghostface reveal. In previous films, Ghostface was always a central character that you’d never expect to be the main villain, in this movie, Ghostface was revealed to be two characters who had maybe ten minutes of screentime combined before the big reveal.
To say I was disappointed would be an understatement. In past movies, I think that the unexpectedness of who is revealed to be Ghostface is what makes the movie so good — because it typically is such a plot twist that you don’t see it coming.
In this movie, however, I honestly think Ghostface could’ve been any other character and it would’ve made more sense than the two characters it actually was.
While there were aspects of this movie that I enjoyed, I definitely felt that the bad outweighed the good and wouldn’t rank this among the best “Scream” movies. Here’s to hoping that the (inevitable) next entry in the franchise is much better.
Navigating a changing global order: Ghana’s strategic priorities
1
June 2026 — 17:00 TO 18:00 BST
Anonymous (not verified)
Chatham House and Online
Join us as HE John Dramani Mahama, President of the Republic of Ghana, reflects on how Ghana is navigating an increasingly multipolar world while promoting African agency and regional stability.
Join us as HE John Dramani Mahama, President of the Republic of Ghana, reflects on how Ghana is navigating an increasingly multipolar world while promoting African agency and regional stability.
As great-power rivalries intensify and middle powers across the Global South assert greater influence, Ghana is positioning itself as an important strategic actor in a fragmenting international order. Building on its tradition of positive non-alignment, the country is pursuing a deliberate strategy of multi-alignment to advance its national and continental interests. It remains a key regional actor, deepening West African security cooperation, while promoting continental integration as host of the AfCFTA Secretariat.
Globally, Ghana is shaping more inclusive multilateralism, including by championing health sovereignty through the Accra Reset Initiative and leading the 2026 UN resolution recognizing the transatlantic slave trade as the gravest crime against humanity, affirming its commitment to justice and equity in global governance.
At this event, HE John Dramani Mahama, President of the Republic of Ghana, will reflect on how Ghana is navigating an increasingly multipolar world and leveraging diversified partnerships to promote African agency, strengthen regional stability and contribute to a more balanced international system.
Jaafar Annan has been posted up on the sidewalk outside the emergency room of Rafik Hariri University Hospital, on the southern edge of Beirut, for so long that he’s become a permanent fixture.
“The hospital has become my home,” Annan said, exhausted.
Last week, an Israeli strike leveled the building where Annan’s family lived in Kayfoun, a town in the Mount Lebanon governorate, west of the Lebanese capital.
“I buried my father,” he said, “but my mother is still missing.”
Since then, his days have become a single-minded search for any sign of his mother, Fatima, who is 56. Like several others searching for missing family members, Annan gave a sample of his blood to the hospital, hoping he can get some closure with a DNA match to unidentified remains.
“I walk through hospitals in the Mount Lebanon region. I stare at injured faces. I go to the morgues. I look for a mole, a mark,” Annan said. “Then I come back here. Waiting for the sample results.”
“We are dealing with human fragments that the force of the explosions has turned into medical puzzles.”
The cold-storage units at the Hariri hospital have been fashioned into ad hoc laboratories to identify a relentless influx of dead bodies.
The unprecedented scales of DNA identification of corpses is born of a macabre need. Last week, after Iran and the U.S. agreed to a ceasefire, Israel pressed on in its Lebanese front with a ferocious blitz of airstrikes. The toll was staggering, leaving demolished buildings and infrastructure, along with the attendant skyrocketing casualties — the violence rending people into unrecognizable forms.
“The bodies arrive completely disfigured,” said Hisham Fawwaz, director of the hospitals and dispensaries department at the Lebanese Ministry of Health, which operates the hospital. “The remains are scattered and the features obliterated. We are often not dealing with whole bodies. We are dealing with human fragments that the force of the explosions has turned into medical puzzles.”
After the Iran–U.S. truce, Israel launched more than 100 strikes on Lebanon in just 10 minutes, with the Israeli government taking to social media to brag about its assault. The latest round of hostilities between with Israel had already brought weeks of ravages to Lebanon, but last week’s onslaught, dubbed “Black Wednesday” by the Lebanese, razed densely populated neighborhoods in the capital. At least 357 were killed and more than 1,000 were injured, according to the health ministry.
A week later, dozens of people are still missing. The ceasefire in Lebanon announced by President Donald Trump on Thursday will hopefully lead to fewer bombings, but it won’t slow families’ attempts to find their loved ones and, if worse comes to worst, identify their remains.
The families remain on a desperate quest to track them down, whether they’re pinned under the wreckage or hidden among the dismembered bodies at the morgues like the one at Hariri Hospital.
At one point, more than 90 unidentified bodies were held there, some stretching back to the initial days of Israeli bombardment. Each body has been assigned a temporary number, waiting for someone to claim it.
The Health Ministry established a central triage center to absorb the uninterrupted flow of bodies, along with a protocol: document tattoos, distinguishing marks, and remnants of burned clothing that a family member might remember. Hospital workers also cross-reference physical descriptions from families with what is recorded of unidentified remains.
If that proves too difficult, doctors draw blood from living relatives to match the DNA against the unclaimed fragments of victims.
“Suspended Loss”
Zahraa Aboud had just recently fled her hometown of Anqoun in southern Lebanon. Israeli ground troops had invaded the town in March, razing entire villages and displacing hundreds of thousands as they set up a buffer zone intended to stop Hezbollah from lobbing rockets into northern Israel.
When the Israeli airstrikes grew relentless, Aboud, 29, and her sister traveled to Beirut, to their aunts’ apartment in the Ain Al-Mrayseh neighborhood. In the capital, she thought, they would be out of reach of the violence.
Israel’s missiles would soon come down on her.
According to Aboud’s father, Qassem, when an airstrike hit the upper floors of the aunts’ building, everyone in the apartment upstairs — including six children — was instantly killed. A floor below, Aboud’s aunts were killed in the same strike, and her sister was taken to Clemenceau Medical Center with serious wounds.
Zahraa Aboud, though, hasn’t been seen since.
“We are not looking for rubble,” said Qassem, 56. “We are looking for life. Or at least for the certainty that will put out the fire in our hearts.”
Rescue teams gave up after a few days of searching, but families of those missing in the rubble refused to leave the scene and pressured them to keep going.
Qassem Aboud, meanwhile, hasn’t stopped circling Beirut for traces of his daughter. Back and forth, he checks private hospitals, government hospitals, and lists of unidentified patients. In ICU wards across the city, he peers at any face behind an oxygen mask that might be hers.
The Aboud family calls the tragic situation “suspended loss”: They can’t find a sign of life to suggest they may get Zahraa back, but they’ve also been denied a final farewell and the chance to see their daughter off.
Like the others, Qassem submitted a blood sample to the hospital in hopes of later finding a DNA match — and closure.
After days of searching, Qassem came to suspect that the force of the explosion may have thrown his daughter’s body into a neighboring building. When he checked, he found the apartments were either locked or abandoned by departed residents. So far, he can’t find anyone to let him in.
“I feel very helpless every day, but will keep searching until I bury her,” he said.
The rubble itself has become a legal obstacle.
Buildings destroyed by Israeli strikes are classified, under Lebanese law, as private property. Civil defense teams and relief organizations cannot fully clear or demolish them without prior judicial authorization. The red tape is meant to protect property rights, to preserve the legal record, and to avoid tampering with what the law considers a crime scene, according to a source at the public prosecutor’s office who asked to stay anonymous as he’s not authorized to talk to the media.
Some of the legal restrictions have slowed rescues. Families that want to utilize specialized search dogs, which can move through the wreckage faster than people, must file formal requests at the public prosecutor’s office.
“We submitted the requests. We begged the relevant authorities to expedite the judicial procedures,” said a relative of a missing woman who asked not to be identified. “But the Lebanese judiciary has not moved. Every minute that passes is a nail in the coffin of our loved ones, while the judiciary is still reviewing paperwork.”
When families sought exceptional permissions to allow rescue teams to remove the rubble, judicial authorities did not respond to their requests, families of missing people said. (Judicial authorities did not respond to a request for comment.)
“The goal is not accounting. It is to return to each victim their name, and to give their families the right to a farewell.”
Back at Hariri Hospital, families continued filing into a makeshift office opened by the Health Ministry designed to help families identify their lost loved ones. Inside, they recalled the tiniest details of their missing relative, from birthmarks to unique articles of clothing — anything that may lead to closing a case. Then they give their blood. And they wait.
“The goal is not accounting,” said Fawwaz, the Lebanese Ministry of Health official. “It is to return to each victim their name, and to give their families the right to a farewell that ends the spiral of doubt.”
This article is published in collaboration with Egab.
Rapid recruitment and expansion by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has led to an influx of employees with questionable qualifications, an investigation has found.
The track records of some of the new recruits amid the Trump administration’s mass deportation agenda stand out – and not in a good way.
Experts say Labour’s ‘halfway house’ approach risks losing support from progressives and ‘red wall’ voters
Support for rejoining the EU rather than simply rejoining the single market is growing among British voters, with more than 80% of Labour, Liberal Democrat and Green party supporters favouring this option, according to research mapping voter attitudes 10 years after the Brexit referendum.
Labour’s “muted” approach to the issue means it risks losing support among progressive voters and in “red wall” constituencies, experts have said as part of research by Best for Britain.
The recall affects F-150 vehicles quipped with a six-speed automatic transmission produced between March 12, 2014, and Aug. 18, 2017, according to NHTSA.
When it comes to theology, Donald Trump’s vice-president clearly knows best. Are we about to see an American break with Rome?
The battle to be the absolute worst Trump henchman can feel so closely fought. But in the end, it’s always JD Vance, isn’t it? You would say Stephen Miller, but Miller’s too hidden to qualify as a front-of-house henchman among the US president’s court of grotesques. Stephen’s clearly been judged so wantonly horrifying that the administration must keep him out of public view. If you enter the store, Miller is the only-for-the-initiated entity alluded to in a whisper by the oleaginous sales assistant. “We do have something in the back – off-the-books, as it were – if sir is after something a little more … specialist.”
But Vance? Vance besets us like the 11th plague – the plague of media appearances. For the next South Park season, I hope the creators give their brilliantly ghastly little vice-president avatar a papal mitre to wear. After all, here we have a man whose pick-me book on his journey to Catholicism has yet to even be published. That tome currently lies in the rectum of HarperCollins, ready to be excreted in June – yet inevitably, Vance is already giving menacing doctrinal advice to the pope as part of the multi-theatre fallout of Operation Epic Facepalm.
Why Should Delaware Care? In 2025, Wilmington saw the lowest number of shooting incidents and victims in 20 years. The decrease in crime has pushed city officials to continue the effort and push for public safety initiatives in the city, including the creation of the Office of Community Safety.
One month after Mayor John Carney signed an executive order to establish the Office of Community Safety, the Wilmington City Council passed a measure to make the violence-prevention office permanent in its city code.
The office, which Carney created in early March, aims to coordinate violence prevention efforts between city departments and establish partnerships with community organizations.
The mayor’s office is supportive of the city council measure to codify the office, according to officials. Asked whether Carney planned to sign it into law, Caroline Klinger, Carney’s spokesperson, did not provide an answer, noting that it will be reviewed first.
Councilwoman Shané Darby, the ordinance’s sponsor, previously noted that council had pushed in prior years to create a similar violence-prevention office and that she supports the one established by Carney. She said the goal of her measure is to ensure it cannot be dismembered by future administrations.
“We know an executive order is temporary,” Darby said during a Wednesday press conference. “But codification is a commitment. It is permanent.”
Darby’s measure to codify the office passed unanimously during Thursday’s council meeting, with all 12 members present voting in favor. Councilman Nathan Field was absent.
The newly created Office of Community Safety was made as an effort to sustain the city’s progress in crime reduction, as Wilmington experienced the lowest number of shooting incidents and shooting victims in over two decades, according to the 2025 annual year-end crime report released in January by the Wilmington Police Department.
The new statistics also showed an overall 8% drop in murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, felony theft, and auto theft in 2025, over the previous year.
It was an encouraging development across Delaware, particularly after its largest city had suffered for years from high numbers of shootings. In 2017, the News Journal reported that kids in Wilmington were more likely to be shot than those in any other U.S. city during the previous years. A 2014 Newsweek story that examined that ranking, headlined “Murdertown, USA,” left a bruising impact on the city’s image for years.
So far this year, shootings have increased, but it is difficult to draw broad conclusions from such a short period. As of April 12, there have been 17 shootings and 25 shooting victims this year, according to the city’s CompStat statistics, which are updated every week. During the same period last year, there were 12 and 15, respectively.
Juvenile shooting incidents and victims also doubled. There have been six shootings and six victims compared to three incidents and three victims this time last year.
Earlier in Thursday’s meeting, a few residents shared their grievances about living in the city, calling for increased police presence and raising concerns about loitering, drug use, and speeding. One resident described her short time living in the city as “frightening.”
“We’ve all been talking about the violence in the community, as y’all heard tonight. It’s nonstop in certain neighborhoods and across the city of Wilmington. So this is needed.” Councilwoman Zanthia Oliver said before voting in favor of the measure.
Office will expand upon pilot program work
The city’s Office of Community Safety will consist of one director who will lead the office. The director will be appointed by the mayor and will report to him directly.
The new director position requires about $45,000, which City Council already approved through a budget amendment for the city’s operating budget last month. The office will also have a consultant, and additional staff may possibly be added in the future, according to Walker.
It will cost the city $183,720 to run the office annually, according to the ordinance.
The office will be in charge of supporting community-based groups, creating policy around public safety, facilitating coordination among different city departments, including WPD and the city’s fire department, and helping manage partnerships and grant funding related to public safety programs, according to the executive order, which was signed on March 2.
When Darby first proposed her ordinance days after Carney’s executive order, her original measure would have given the council some authority over how the office was governed, changing the setup from what Carney created.
Her original measure contained stipulations that would have required the director of the office to be confirmed by City Council, created a nine-member advisory board to oversee the office, and required the office to create an annual report to the mayor and council.
Carney’s executive order did not require such conditions.
Darby and officials from the mayor’s office then collaborated on the legislation after it was introduced, according to Carney’s deputy chief of staff, Daniel Walker, and after those discussions, the advisory board and requirement for the council to confirm the office’s director were removed from her updated legislation.
Walker said there was initial confusion over whether the council approves any positions in the mayor’s office. He clarified that approval is only required for the city solicitor and city auditor, who have charter-mandated duties to both council and the mayor’s office.
Both Walker and Darby also said the proposed advisory board would have been redundant, as community-based organizations will already be providing input on what’s happening in the city.
“I think in future conversations, we can talk about what that may look like to have the community more involved, and also to make sure our city council is a part of this conversation, because we have been talking about establishing an office since I’ve been on council, and prior to me,” Darby told Spotlight Delaware.
Darby, Walker and Councilwoman Yolanda McCoy said that the office will further the work of previous violence-prevention efforts like the city’s Community Public Safety Initiative, which was created by city council in 2022 as a pilot program after the council sought to examine different approaches to community‑centered public safety.
Darby said the initiative funded local organizations already doing violence-prevention work and created the Wilmington Street Team, a group composed of non-profits to decrease violence, gather statistics, and identify trends within the city.
CPSI was funded through the American Rescue Plan Act, but Darby asserted that those funds are running out.
Walker said the original pilot focused primarily on Wilmington’s East Side, while the new office will shift the CPSI strategy to a citywide approach, targeting high-crime “hotspots” with city resources.
The Mayor’s office is currently reviewing applications for the director role, and after one has been selected, the office will officially begin its work, according to Walker.
Photographs show Hope and Porsha Ngumezi, left, and Nevaeh Crain. Photos by Danielle Villasana for ProPublica
The Texas Medical Board has disciplined three doctors ProPublica previously investigated whose patients died after receiving delayed or inappropriate pregnancy care under the state’s strict abortion ban.
Two of the doctors failed to properly intervene as a pregnant teenager repeatedly sought care for life-threatening complications, the board found. The third did not provide a dilation and curettage procedure to empty a miscarrying patient’s uterus, and she ultimately bled to death.
As ProPublica investigated thosepreventable deathsand five others across three states in the past few years, reporters found that abortion bans have influenced how doctors and hospitals respond to pregnancy complications. Facing risks of prison time and professional ruin, doctors have delayed key interventions until they can document that a fetus’ heart is no longer beating or that a case meets a narrow legal exception. Some physicians say their colleagues are discharging or transferring pregnant patients instead of taking responsibility for their care.
Doctors and lawyers have questioned why medical boards, which oversee physician licensing and investigate substandard care, have not played a more active role in guiding doctors on how to uphold medical standards within the constraints of the law. When asked by ProPublica in 2024 what recourse miscarrying patients had when a doctor denied them necessary treatment, the president of the Texas Medical Board said it had no say over criminal law but that patients could file a complaint and “vote with their feet” to seek care from another doctor.
Since then, the Texas board has taken more steps than those in other states, publishing guidance this year that provides case studies on how doctors can legally provide abortions to patients with certain medical complications. The state Legislature ordered the board to create the training materials as part of the Life of the Mother Act, which was passed after ProPublica’s reporting and made modest adjustments to the state’s abortion restrictions in an attempt to prevent additional maternal deaths.
Georgia, where Amber Thurman died after doctors did not try to empty her septic uterus for 20 hours, has not revisited its ban or disciplined key doctors involved.
Maternal care experts say health care providers will continue to hesitate to offer standard care as long as bans carry serious criminal consequences — Texas’ law can put a physician behind bars for 99 years. But those who spoke to ProPublica say that medical board sanctions are one of the few levers that can provide a counterweight, pushing hospitals and doctors to provide standard care despite uncertainty over vaguely written laws.
Michelle Maloney, who is representing the families of both Texas patients in malpractice lawsuits, said she was pleasantly surprised by the board’s recent actions. “Over the course of my career, I’ve had many horrific, horrific death cases. For someone to get disciplined by the medical board, especially while there’s ongoing litigation, is just extraordinarily rare,” she said.
In 2024, ProPublica reported on the case of 18-year-old Nevaeh Crain, who began experiencing severe pregnancy complications when she was six months pregnant in 2023. Although she exhibited clear signs of an infection, doctors at two hospitals sent her home. On her third visit, as Crain’s condition deteriorated, a doctor did not send Crain to the intensive care unit until he could confirm fetal demise with two ultrasounds. Texas law requires doctors to create extra documentation before performing procedures that could end a pregnancy. By the time the doctor had logged there was no fetal heartbeat, the medical record shows, Crain was too unstable for surgery. She died with her fetus still in her womb.
Dr. Ali Mohamed Osman, an emergency medicine doctor who saw Crain at Baptist Hospitals of Southeast Texas during her first emergency room visit, sent her home with a prescription for antibiotics for strep throat without investigating her stomach cramps, ProPublica reported. The medical board cited him for failing to appropriately treat her infection or check the health of the fetus.
Dr. William Noel Hawkins, an OB-GYN who saw Crain at Christus Southeast Texas St. Elizabeth hospital during her second ER visit hours later, was cited for discharging Crain even though she had a 103-degree fever, screened positive for sepsis and had a fetus with an abnormally high heart rate.
For both Osman and Hawkins, the board wrote, “this delay in care ultimately resulted in the death of both the patient and her unborn child due to complications of pregnancy.”
A board spokesperson would not say whether it investigated Dr. Marcelo Totorica, who saw Crain at her third visit to an ER, at Christus, and required two fetal ultrasounds, 90 minutes apart, before wheeling Crain into the ICU for an operation. The board does not disclose open investigations or cases when a doctor has been cleared of wrongdoing. Totorica did not respond to a request for comment.
ProPublica also investigated the case of Porsha Ngumezi, who died at Houston Methodist Sugar Land Hospital in 2023 after bleeding heavily during a miscarriage at 11 weeks. An OB-GYN overseeing her care, Dr. Andrew Ryan Davis, gave her misoprostol, a medication that can be used to complete low-risk miscarriages. More than a dozen experts who reviewed the case for ProPublica, however, said that this was a high-risk case and she should have immediately been given a D&C — a procedure that has become fraught in states with abortion bans. Clearing the uterus is standard care to stop hemorrhaging; misoprostol would only make the bleeding worse, they said.
The board investigation confirmed those findings, citing Davis for failing to quantify the volume of blood loss and choosing to monitor Ngumezi’s condition instead of immediately taking her for a D&C procedure. The board wrote, “This delay in care led to the patient’s death.” It added that it could not determine if Ngumezi would have survived if she received an emergency D&C.
The board has the power to levy fines up to $5,000 and, in the most extreme cases, suspend or revoke doctors’ licenses. In these cases, however, each doctor was ordered to take eight hours of continuing education courses within a year. While under the terms of the order, all must notify any employers of the board’s findings against them. Davis and Hawkins were disciplined in October, and Osman was disciplined in March. None of the doctors or hospitals responded to requests for comment. In the medical board orders, the doctors neither admit nor deny the board’s findings and agree to comply with the discipline.
Hope Ngumezi, Porsha Ngumezi’s husband, said the board’s order felt like “a slap in the face.”
“What kind of justice is this for Porsha?” he said. “I feel like the doctor shouldn’t be practicing anymore.”
Hawkins, who failed to meet the standard of care in Crain’s case, according to the board, had previously been disciplined by the board for improper care in several other cases, including failing to provide a tubal ligation and failing to diagnose a syphilis infection. The board issued an order to have Hawkins’ medical practice monitored in 2015; it was lifted two years later.
Reproductive rights advocates welcomed the Texas board’s recent actions but said that it and medical boards in other states should do more. None of the Texas discipline orders, for example, directly sanction a doctor for failing to offer or provide an abortion for a high-risk medical condition.
The board has disciplined some doctors in recent years for failing to provide D&Cs to patients after a confirmed miscarriage or for substandard care of pregnant patients experiencing emergencies, and the orders are typically released quietly. The board could be making public statements and sharing more robust guidance to remind doctors of the consequences, said Molly Duane, the litigation director of Amplify Legal, which is part of the reproductive rights advocacy group Abortion in America.
“They should be saying loudly: This is what can happen if you don’t provide care in these circumstances,” Duane said. At the Center for Reproductive Rights, Duane represented 20 Texas women in a case against the state who alleged doctors inappropriately denied them abortions during medical emergencies. The Texas Supreme Court sided with the state and blamed doctors for misinterpreting the law. Duane is not aware of any doctors in those cases who received discipline from the board.
ProPublica reported on the deaths of other Texas women, including Josseli Barnica and Tierra Walker, which experts said could have been prevented had the women been offered abortions for their high-risk medical conditions. And data analyses by ProPublica showed that sepsis rates and blood transfusions spiked among miscarrying women after the ban went into effect — an indicator of dangerous delays in care across the state.
The board would not say whether it has opened investigations into doctors involved in those cases or any others in which pregnant patients may have received substandard care due to abortion restrictions.
Jones repeatedly denied that the prime minister had given a misleading impression about what has happened and had “lost grip” of the situation. He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme:
I completely refute the suggestion the PM misled the public or the House of Commons. It’s very clear from his words he was reporting what he had been told and what had been followed.
I don’t think this is a question about the prime minister’s leadership.
The Foreign Office did not tell the prime minister that they granted developed vetting status to Peter Mandelson against the advice of the security and vetting process. The prime minister was only made aware of that on Tuesday evening this week when the documents became available to the Cabinet Office as part of the humble address process (a binding motion to request government papers – JG).
No minister is allowed to see these vetting documents as a matter of principle because we employ security professionals to conduct deeply invasive personal investigations into people’s backgrounds and for those officials to make a recommendation to civil servants on the appointment and employment of individuals.
Singer and songwriter d4vd has been arrested on suspicion of murder for the death of a 14-year-old whose dismembered body was found last year in a Tesla belonging to the singer.
The House OK'd a short-term renewal of a controversial surveillance program used by U.S. spy agencies, after Republicans revolted and refused President Trump's push for a longer extension.
The Philadelphia 76ers guard plays his home games in the Xfinity Mobile Arena and is helping spread the word about Xfinity's one-stop destination for NBA fans watching at home.
At 1.5C of global warming, up to 90% of coral reefs could be lost. The next few months could be a defining moment
Where I come from – Hawai’i – the reef isn’t just something you look at. It’s part of us. It feeds our families, protects our shores, and lives at the center of our culture. In our stories, coral is one of our oldest ancestors. It’s a reminder that everything in the ocean, and all of us, are connected.
Right now, that integral connection is under threat.
Jason Momoa is an actor, film-maker, and UNEP Advocate for Life Below Water, dedicated to protecting our oceans and advancing global awareness around coral reef conservation
Critics warn smaller and immigrant-run restaurants risk being overlooked as city-funded deal shapes dining map
When Michelin announced that it was expanding its world-renowned restaurant guide into the Great Lakes region of the United States, including Minneapolis, one prominent city was left off the map – Saint Paul, the state capital.
Despite being just 11 miles apart, the second half of Minnesota’s “Twin Cities” was absent from the highly anticipated announcement. The omission has raised concerns among food critics and locals that Saint Paul – and, more widely, smaller local restaurants in Minneapolis and elsewhere – could be left behind.
Nine-day search for two-year-old Neukgu gripped nation and sparked safety concerns for animal and public
The internet in South Korea erupted in celebration as a two-year-old wolf that escaped from a zoo was captured safely after a nine-day search that had gripped the nation and made the animal a national celebrity.
The male wolf, named Neukgu, burrowed out of his enclosure at the O-World zoo in Daejeon on 8 April. Animal rights activists questioned whether the wolf could survive outside the zoo and also worried he might be killed during capture, something that happened to a puma that escaped from the same zoo in 2018.
Targeting medics on the battlefield: addressing the crisis through law and practice
11
June 2026 — 17:00 TO 18:15 BST
Anonymous (not verified)
Chatham House and Online
Experts clarify international humanitarian law and promote compliance by identifying practical measures for its effective implementation.
With the rise of the number of armed conflicts around the world and with it the number of violations in the area of medical care, this event seeks to clarify and promote compliance with the law by recommending measures to give effect to IHL obligations.
At a time when international humanitarian law is under strain in so many armed conflicts around the world, the wounded and sick, and medical personnel and facilities often bear the brunt of hostilities.
This year marks the tenth anniversary of the adoption of Security Council resolution 2286 (2016) on the protection of medical care in armed conflict. But in the decade since its adoption, hospitals have been targeted, damaged and misused. The wounded and sick have been unable to access medical care, and healthcare providers have been punished for providing assistance.
This event, which coincides with the publication of the ‘Medical care in armed conflict: addressing the crisis’ research paper by the International Law Programme at Chatham House, will explore:
What challenges have arisen in recent conflicts relating to the provision of medical care in armed conflict?
What measures can be adopted to ensure respect for the law, and mitigate adverse impact of military operations on medical care?
What measures can states, organised armed groups, and other actors take to promote compliance with the rules of international humanitarian law?
Departing PM Viktor Orbán admits ‘political era has ended’ as EU says ‘clock is ticking’ to resolve important issues
EU officials have arrived in Budapest for high-stakes talks aimed at reshaping the bloc’s strained relationship with Hungary, weeks before the new government takes office, as the country’s departing prime minister, Viktor Orbán, admitted a “political era has ended” and suggested he would stay on as leader of his party in his first interview since the election.
Speaking to the pro-government outlet Patrióta, Orbán described Sunday’s election as an “emotional rollercoaster” after the opposition Tisza party won a landslide victory, bringing an end to his 16 years in power.
Why Should Delaware Care? With credit cards now the dominant form of payment in the U.S., the fees that banks and payment networks charge for their usage is coming under greater scrutiny. A new debate on applying those fees on gratuities pits banks against their small business customers.
One of the most-heated battles at the statehouse this year has been waged by some of the nation’s largest banks and credit card networks against a bill that seeks to ban the application of service fees on tips.
It was a proposal that garnered little fanfare in the run up to the 2026 General Assembly, but a recent federal court win in Illinois on a similar measure convinced advocates to push forward in potentially making Delaware only the second state to enact such a law.
House Bill 315, sponsored by Rep. Kim Williams (D-Stanton), would prohibit the charging of those payment fees, known as “interchange fees” that range from 1% to more than 3% of a transaction total, on gratuities. Violations would result in a penalty of $1,000 per transaction and the refunding of wrongful fees.
In an unusual show of bipartisanship, more than half of the entire General Assembly has already co-signed on the bill, including all four Democratic and Republican leaders. That has clearly rattled the banking and credit industry that is a staple of Delaware’s economy.
In response, the powerful Electronic Payments Coalition – which represents banking giants, payment networks, credit unions and community banks – has spent more than six figures on a lobbying, advertising and marketing blitz to try to head off the issue before it could make it to Gov. Matt Meyer’s desk.
It already cleared its first hurdle in being released by the House Economic Development, Banking, Insurance and Commerce Committee last month, but it is still awaiting a vote on the House floor.
Should HB 315 be signed into law, the industry would almost assuredly sue to prevent it from being enforced, as it did in Illinois.
What’s a ‘swipe fee’?
In today’s increasingly cashless society, a constant hum of electronic transactions ping from merchants’ cash registers to processing software to payment networks to banks and back.
The four major payment networks – Visa, Mastercard, Discover and American Express – take a cut of every transaction, which is borne by the merchant, in order to process the payment. Depending on the credit card and purchase, those fees range from 1% to upward of 4%.
A card-issuing bank, such as Capital One or JPMorganChase, ultimately receives those funds to cover the cost of reward programs, fraud losses and risky lending, while the networks keep pennies on the dollar for facilitating the transaction. With several trillion credit card charges a year though, that has amounted to billions in revenue for the networks.
Meanwhile, in a climate of rising costs and increasing reliance on credit cards for everyday purchases, many small business owners are frustrated with paying that fee.
And they are especially frustrated that the fees are applied to the entirety of a bill, including tips, essentially cutting into their profits.
For example, a diner leaving a $20 tip on top of a $100 dinner bill and paying with credit card would result in a restaurant paying the bank $2.40 to process the bill. A server will receive that $20 from the bill, but the restaurant owner is paying the additional 40 cents to cover it in the transaction.
In 2024, Illinois became the first state in the nation to pass a swipe fee ban on taxes and tips. It promptly faced a legal challenge from the American Bankers Association, but in February a federal judge allowed the law to go into effect on July 1.
The bankers have appealed the case to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, but in the meantime they have not reportedly moved to implement the technological improvements needed to make the law possible. The case is likely to end up before the U.S. Supreme Court.
For now, two dozen other states are acting on Illinois’ lead to consider similar legislation, including Pennsylvania, Colorado and Oklahoma, among others.
Proponents argue for ‘fairness’
Backing the introduction of the bill was the Delaware Restaurant Association, whose more than 2,000 members and their 50,000 employees bear the largest brunt of fees on tips.
Each year, Delaware restaurants pay banks and payment networks roughly $6 million combined in fees on tips, according to estimates compiled by National Restaurant Association economists. By prohibiting those fees, the average full-service restaurant in Delaware would save roughly $6,700 per year.
Many restaurateurs report the credit card fees are their third or fourth largest expenses on their balance sheets – larger than even health insurance in some cases, said Carrie Leishman, the president of the DRA.
Katie Kutler, owner of kaffé KARMA in Greenville, told the House committee that 92% of her $1.5 million in sales last year were by credit card, which resulted in more than $14,000 in fees to the industry. Patrons also left more than $135,000 in tips for her employees, which were likewise charged into those interchange fees, costing her small business thousands of dollars.
“Refusing credit cards is not an option, it’s how our guests pay,” she said.
Craig Wensell, owner of Wilmington Brew Works, likewise said that the fees on tips to his bartenders amounted to about $10,000 at his two locations last year.
“This is $10,000 penalty on money that we never kept. These are funds that we do not benefit from. … Having to absorb these ever increasing processing tolls directly diminishes our ability to pay our staff and manage our bottom line,” he said.
Joining the restaurant industry in supporting the bill is the Delaware Hotel & Lodging Association and the Delaware Brewers Guild, but so far the proponents of the measure have largely stuck to managing relationships within Legislative Hall.
Leishman, of the DRA, said the bill essentially forces legislators into a David versus Goliath fight of “Main Street versus Wall Street.”
“A tip is not a transaction. It’s a thank you, and no part of that tip should go to a bank,” she said.
The Electronic Payments Coalition has spent at least $50,000 to share one ad across Facebook in recent weeks. | PHOTO COURTESY OF META
Opponents spend big
Over the past month, virtually all Delawareans have seen some version of an anti-HB 315 ad, which have depicted waitresses, baristas and Uber drivers with ominous messaging asking to help “save tipped workers.”
According to a Spotlight Delaware analysis of Facebook data, the Electronic Payments Coalition has spent upward of $100,000 on ads on the platform since early March. It has also spent an undetermined amount to launch a website, run video ads on streaming services in the state and hire a popular Delaware social media influencer to film an anti-HB 315 ad for The Points Guy social media channel.
In Dover, the coalition and many of its members have hired some of the state’s top lobbying firms to work on the bill, according to the state database. It has also placed op-ed columns in The News Journal and the Philadelphia Inquirer to warn of the bill’s impact.
Nick Simpson, a spokesperson for the EPC, told Spotlight Delaware that the coalition would continue the messaging as long as HB 315 remained under consideration this year. He argued that the bill’s proponents were over-simplifying the fix, which would require a wholesale change to how transactions are currently processed.
“This is not like your iPhone needs an update. The current system doesn’t transmit data the way that the Delaware bill would have it transmitted. It would require reworking, reconfiguring and rebuilding the system,” he said.
The decades-old payment networks have only ever asked for the total to be transmitted to issuing banks, and haven’t itemized them to allow for applying the fee to only part of a bill, he explained.
Should the payment networks simply refuse to process tips on credit cards due to the potential penalties of the Delaware bill, the EPC estimated that tipped workers could see a 10% reduction in overall pay because patrons typically carry less cash these days, Simpson said. Businesses could also bear higher operating costs in dealing with more cash, such as security, depositing and accounting for it. In some situations, they may also be forced to directly compensate their staff if their tips don’t exceed roughly $12.50 an hour, which bridges the gap between Delaware base tipped wage and its $15 minimum wage.
Some of the EPC’s messaging has also claimed that credit card reward programs could be threatened by HB 315, and Simpson said that’s because of the revenue decline that banks would see. When deciding where to invest their resources, banks have to prioritize fraud protection and technical maintenance before they can consider rewards to customers, he said.
Dan McCarthy, the president and CEO of Del-One Federal Credit Union, the largest credit union in Delaware, also told the House committee that interchange fees were an important part of protecting against fraud. His organization has seen $2.4 million in fraudulent charges in the last two years, for which they have fully reimbursed customers.
In many cases, the credit union is able to charge those losses back to a merchant, but not in every case, McCarthy said. Sometimes, they just have to take the loss.
“If this bill becomes law, credit unions would have to increase other sources of income, such as raising interest rates, or reducing expenses. That could mean limiting access to credit cards to the riskiest members, and that could negatively impact our financial inclusion efforts,” he said.
Police say officers found discarded items in area after group claimed to have targeted embassy with drones
Police have said they are investigating a security incident near the Israeli embassy in London after officers found a number of discarded items in the area.
A statement said Counter Terrorism Policing London was aware of a video shared online overnight in which a group claimed to have targeted the embassy with drones carrying dangerous substances.
OnlyFans, the UK adult video platform, is in talks to sell a minority stake to a US investor that will value the business at more than $3bn (£2.2bn).
The London-based company is in advanced talks to sell a stake of less than 20% to the San Francisco-based investment firm Architect Capital, according to the Financial Times. Sources familiar with the process confirmed the talks to the Guardian.
Bipartisan backing for special relationship is fraying as Middle East conflicts turn public opinion
Israel’s conflicts in the Middle East have driven a sea change in US public opinion, threatening a bipartisan consensus of support for military aid for Israel that has been the status quo for decades.
In public opinion polling of Americans, among likely candidates for president, and even in pro-Israel lobbying circles, the special relationship enjoyed by Israel with the US is now under fire as human rights concerns from the left and a new “America First” foreign policy groundswell on the right could impact coming elections – including the 2028 presidential elections.
America First Policy Institute, which boasts close ties to president, discussed transgender policy ‘reform’ at DC event
Children are the “low-hanging fruit” in a longer effort to end gender-affirming care for all Americans, an official at a Trump administration-aligned thinktank recently said.
Bans on medical transition comprise just one part of the larger, unprecedented assault on transgender rights mounted by a coordinated campaign of mostly conservative activists and policymakers in the US in recent years. So far, these restrictions have primarily affected minors. But leaders in the emboldened movement have begun to more openly admit their desire to attempt to end gender-affirming care for adults, too.
This article was produced in partnership with Documented, an investigative watchdog and journalism project. Phoebe Petrovic is a senior democracy researcher with Documented
Store opened in 1971 in Seattle’s Pike Place Market joins growing unionization campaign across the coffee chain
Workers at the historic first Starbucks store are seeking to unionize as the coffee retail giant and its union appear stalemated over their first contract.
The first Starbucks store opened in 1971 in Seattle’s Pike Place Market, and the store serves as a tourist site in Seattle.
Reed Hastings is stepping down from Netflix's board in June, ending a 29-year run at the company he co-founded and helped transform from a DVD-by-mail business into a global streaming giant. Hastings said in a shareholder (PDF) letter that he's stepping down to focus on "his philanthropy and other pursuits." Engadget reports: Hastings has served as chairman of Netflix's board since 2023, a role he assumed after stepping down as co-CEO and promoting Greg Peters in his place. "Netflix changed my life in so many ways, and my all-time favorite memory was January 2016, when we enabled nearly the entire planet to enjoy our service," Hastings said in a statement. "My real contribution at Netflix wasn't a single decision; it was a focus on member joy, building a culture that others could inherit and improve, and building a company that could be both beloved by members and wildly successful for generations to come. A special thanks to Greg and Ted, whose commitment to Netflix's greatness is so strong that I can now focus on new things."
Keir Starmer has said it was “unforgivable” that he was not told that Peter Mandelson had failed his security vetting before taking up his role as ambassador to Washington.
The prime minister said he was “furious” about what had happened, as he insisted he had not known that security officials had initially recommended that Mandelson be denied clearance.
The media tycoon Richard Desmond has vowed to appeal after a resounding defeat in his claim for up to £1.3bn in damages from the Gambling Commission over its decision not to award him the 10-year licence to run the national lottery.
Mrs Justice Smith dismissed Desmond’s claim on Friday, in a sometimes scathing written high court judgment that reserved particular criticism for “inexcusable” failings on the part of Desmond’s legal team.
Air New Zealand will soon offer four-hour stints in triple-decker bunk beds for long-haul flights. The carrier says they'll be the first lie-flat beds for budget air travelers.
Halt to fighting will be followed by first Israeli-Lebanese summit in decades. Plus, why are there so many false claims that famous lines in cinema were improvised?
Donald Trump has announced a 10-day ceasefire in Lebanon, to be followed by a meeting between Israeli and Lebanese leaders next week, a deal it is hoped will bring progress toward a parallel peace agreement between the US and Iran.
What has Lebanon said? The Lebanese army warned people displaced from southern Lebanon about returning home because of intermittent shelling that was reported after the ceasefire came into effect.
This is a developing story. Follow the liveblog here.
What has Amazon said? It has called the claims in the lawsuit “entirely false and misguided”. The company said in a statement: “Amazon is consistently identified as America’s lowest-priced online retailer, and it is ironic that the attorney general seeks to have us feature higher prices in ways that would harm consumers and competition.”
Will an Oklahoma City repeat end an NBA-record run of seven different champions in seven years? Our writers make their picks ahead of Saturday’s postseason tip-off
Wemby will no doubt be the answer to this question at some point in the (perhaps not-too-distant) future. But for now, I defer to those with at least some playoff experience. For my money, Jokić still reigns supreme as the best player alive, and for that reason, he’s my pick. CDL
Current and ex-officials at the CDC warn Americans’ health security in danger under RFK Jr’s direction
Fourteen months after Robert F Kennedy Jr was sworn in as US health secretary, the country’s prime public health agency over which he presides is in a state of disarray.
Eighty per cent of the top director positions at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) stand vacant, with no permanent leader to drive policies affecting the health of millions of Americans. No one is in place to coordinate the agency’s day-to-day work fighting infectious disease, combatting heart conditions or screening for cancer.
Since his return to office last year, Donald Trump has pardoned dozens of white-collar criminals. He’s also forgiven their fines, penalties and restitution, to the tune of billions. Some of that revenue was supposed to go to a fund to help victims of violent crime – and the organizations that serve them are feeling the pinch.
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Tony Rowe has not yet had time to ensure Exeter’s proposed new American owners feel fully at home in the west. On a damp morning at Sandy Park no one is wearing a Stetson and there is not even a horse tied up outside reception. Maybe that will be part of the handover package assuming the Chiefs’ 700-odd members vote in favour next month of proceeding with the sale of their 155-year-old club.
The winds of change, though, are kicking up the local dust. For the past 33 years Rowe has been integral to one of British team sport’s most romantic Cinderella stories. But romance doesn’t pay the bills in modern pro rugby and times are a-changing. At 77 years old, it is easy to understand why Rowe fancies handing over the reins to a smartly dressed stranger from out of town.
Sen. Bernie Sanders forced a vote on Wednesday to block the sales of bombs and bulldozers to Israel. The resolutions failed mostly along party lines with a handful of defections to the Republican side, but a record number of Democrats voted against sending weapons to Israel.
“A supermajority of Democrats oppose this war, are generally against America’s global military interventions,” former Sanders foreign policy adviser Matt Duss tells The Intercept Briefing. Yet Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., joined 11 Democrats in voting against the measure to block the sale of 1,000-pound bombs to Israel, and seven Democrats against the sale of bulldozers used in Israel’s military occupations.
“We do have a Democratic Party leadership that still is part of this very small — and thankfully dwindling, though not fast enough — hawkish faction that is wedded to this idea of American global military domination,” says Duss.
This week on the podcast, Duss speaks to host Akela Lacy about how Democrats should use the overwhelming unpopularity of the war to push an anti-war agenda that brings about real change.
“There’s a real constituency here for this message,” says Duss. “We need a foreign policy for this era that is based around building peace rather than making war, that is focused on foreign policy that benefits American communities and American workers, but also does not export insecurity and poverty onto others in the world. And I think this is a really opportune moment for it.”
The watershed moment in the Senate came against the backdrop of President Donald Trump’s hyper-aggressive military adventurism.
“My concern about blaming this all on Israel is that it lets Washington off the hook,” says Duss. “We have a foreign policy establishment that is addicted to militarism, that is addicted to war, who often work at think tanks that are largely funded by the military–industrial complex. They are funded by weapons manufacturers. We have a political class that is really deeply committed to an almost religious degree to American primacy in the world, to American global hegemony. Which means that we are up in everyone’s business all over the place all the time.”
“This Iran war is the most egregious and horrible expression of trends in our foreign policy that have been building for a long time, so are these boat strikes,” he says, referring to the Trump administration’s ongoing assassinations of alleged drug traffickers. “We’ve been killing people with flying robots in the Middle East and Africa and elsewhere for decades now.”
Listen to the full conversation of The Intercept Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you listen.
Transcript
Akela Lacy: Welcome to The Intercept Briefing. I’m Akela Lacy, senior politics reporter for The Intercept.
Ali Gharib: And I’m Ali Gharib, a senior editor at The Intercept.
AL: We are well over a month into the U.S.-Israel war on Iran and about a week into a ceasefire that, depending on which side you’re listening to, has either held or not held. Ali, walk us through the latest developments. What’s the status of this war?
AG: When the talks broke down over the weekend, a lot of bluster started to be exchanged between Iran and the U.S. The U.S. imposed its own blockade on the Strait of Hormuz, which is almost, like, comically perfect if it wasn’t so tragic — that the U.S. started this war for unclear reasons, and then Iran punished the U.S. and the world by closing the Strait of Hormuz. Then the U.S. made the war about opening the Strait of Hormuz. Iran agreed to do that under certain conditions, and the U.S. has rejected Iran’s terms, though, as the U.S. tells it, Iran rejected their terms.
But either way, we came to an impasse. And now it is the U.S. that is blocking the Strait of Hormuz. So that’s the Kafkaesque state of affairs in the straits these days.
But for the moment, the ceasefire is holding. The U.S. and its allies — Israel — are not, so far, attacking Iran, and Iran has not been launching weapons at Israel and the U.S.’s Gulf allies and U.S. military assets.
One of the most interesting things about the state of the ceasefire right now is that even though the U.S. imposed this “blockade” — I’m doing air quotes now — on Iranian ports, the Iranians have not forced the issue when the U.S. has ordered ships coming from Iranian ports to turn around. They have complied, and Iran has not been firing on U.S. naval assets in the strait. So far, everybody is complying. There was word from thinly sourced reporting that our colleague at CNN, Leila Gharagozlou — who, full disclosure, also happens to be my cousin — had mentioned that there had been a U.S. request to Iran, according to the Iranians, for another round of talks coming up.
So diplomacy may indeed be proceeding. We don’t really know, but that’s the state of things right now is that — and I think we can all be thankful for it — is that there’s a lot of bluster, there’s a lot of talk about “They won’t accept our terms, and it’s gonna be bad for them,” on both sides. But so far, there’s been no major escalations in the fighting.
AL: Our listeners know that Israel’s bombing campaign in Lebanon and Gaza is powered by U.S. money and weapons. And there was a historic vote in the Senate on Wednesday when Sen. Bernie Sanders forced a vote to block more than $450 million in sales of weapons and bombs to Israel.
This is the latest in a series of votes that Sanders has introduced to block these kinds of weapon sales to Israel. The latest vote failed, as did the previous two in April and July of last year. But just as the last vote, a historic number of senators voted for this measure. The last vote to block these weapon sales to Israel in July had a record number of senators vote for it, 27.
But the vote on Wednesday saw an even greater number of senators move to support this bill, bringing the total to 36. That includes Sanders and another independent senator, Angus King. Zero Republicans voted for this measure. But what’s notable here is that several people who voted either against the last iteration of this resolution, the joint resolution of disapproval, or the previous one, either voted against it or voted present.
Several of the senators who voted against it or voted present have voted for this bill now. This is part of what Sen. Sanders said after the vote is a major shift among Democrats on the topic of Israel and U.S. military support for Israel, particularly during the genocide in Gaza, but also as the war on Iran continues to escalate, and both Republicans and Democrats face increasing criticism over the U.S. entanglement in this war side by side with Israel.
I also want to note several notable Democrats who did sign on to this bill: Cory Booker, who has been a longtime ally of AIPAC, who’s recently sworn off AIPAC money in his upcoming Senate race as part of a broader pledge to reject corporate PAC money. John Hickenlooper, who is facing a progressive challenger who said that she won’t send money to Israel while it’s committing genocide in Gaza. Adam Schiff, who previously voted no on this. Elissa Slotkin, who also previously voted no on this.
Ruben Gallego and Mark Kelly were some of the names who stood out to me here. With the exception of Gallego, who started out as a progressive and tacked pretty moderate during his Senate race, these are the bread and butter of the centrists of the Democratic Party. We’re talking about Adam Schiff, Elissa Slotkin, Michael Bennet of Colorado.
AG: Mark Kelly, I think, was a really telling one because he has been such a staunch supporter of Israel and, I think, has the ambitions and maybe also the profile that makes him more viable — and just on a personal judgment level is less silly than the Cory Bookers of the world.
AL: Less silly. He’s an astronaut, he can’t be silly. [Laughs.]
AG: [Laughs.] Well, Kelly is a guy who has voted no on these resolutions again and again and again. Here’s a guy — staunch supporter of Israel — he hasn’t previously voted for any of these resolutions before, and now he is. His logic was interesting because he came out and said that, I am a supporter of Israel, and this is our ally, and we need to be helping them. But we also have to recognize that what’s going on right now in the Middle East is not normal. His phrase was, “Not business as usual.” And he said, “It’s not making us safer,” and the U.S. and Israel are in this war, and there’s no end in sight. That’s what seemed to have turned him against the [bombs and bulldozers].
And I think that coming from maybe one of the more legit presidential contenders in Capitol Hill is pretty significant, Akela.
AL: Yes, I agree. So this vote was broken up into two measures: one which was to block the sale of bombs, the other which was to block the sale of bulldozers, which garnered more support. Ali, tell us about that.
AG: This one, to me, was really interesting. Forty Democrats voted for this. I mean, that is about 80 percent of the Democrats in the Senate. That’s a remarkable number. Maybe not as remarkable as the shift to 36 senators on the bombs. It’s significant nonetheless. What was really interesting here, and our colleague Matt Sledge had reported about this in his article, was that it seemed like these Democrats had an easier time voting against bulldozers than voting against bombs, which doesn’t make sense at first blush.
But how we see the bulldozers actually work in practical application — in southern Lebanon today, in the occupation in general, in the efforts to annex the West Bank — has been to use it to destroy villages and homes and change the realities on the ground to create Israel hegemony over what’s left of the rubble of Palestinian and, more recently, Lebanese villages.
So that, to me, was an interesting development, because having so many of the Democrats overwhelmingly oppose these things that I think that there is for, maybe not by the twisted logic of an AIPAC-infused Capitol Hill, but to the wider world, you’re like, “Wait a second. Bulldozers?” And actually, these are weapons of occupation and annexation and the apartheid system in Israel.
AL: It speaks to the thinking or the process by which senators are able to talk themselves out of the line that they previously walked on what is considered self-defense for Israel. It’s easier to say, “Yeah, we support an Iron Dome” than “We support bulldozers that we’re seeing used to raze people’s homes and buildings.”
AG: In some ways, it is a much more clear war crime to be razing entire villages than dropping bombs. The Israelis, the Americans, everybody always comes up with these bullshit excuses that are like, “Oh, they were targeting military assets,” and this whole cockamamie collateral damage argument and stuff.
There’s no dispute that when Israel razes an entire village on the Lebanese border — and they said they were going to do this — that is a prima facie war crime. That’s what it is.
“In some ways, it is a much more clear war crime to be razing entire villages than dropping bombs.”
So even though that’s not what Capitol Hill is saying, what Democrats on Capitol Hill are saying, when they voted for this resolution; it’s just interesting to me that that’s the avenue that we’re starting to go down now, even on Capitol Hill.
AL: We talk about all of this and more in today’s episode with Matt Duss, the executive vice president at the Center for International Policy and former foreign policy adviser to Sen. Bernie Sanders, who introduced the measures to block the bombs and bulldozers that we’ve been discussing. Duss was also the former president of the Foundation for Middle East Peace and a national security and international policy analyst at the Center for American Progress.
AG: I, for one, am really eager to hear this conversation. Thanks, Akela.
AL: Thank you, Ali.
Matt, welcome to “The Intercept Briefing.”
Matt Duss: Thank you. Great to be with you.
AL: Over the weekend, Vice President JD Vance left negotiations he was leading to end the war in Iran and open the Strait of Hormuz without a deal. Talks fell apart over U.S. demands that Iran suspend uranium enrichment for 20 years; Iran agreed to five. For context, former President Barack Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran — that Trump proudly shredded in his first term — took nearly two years to negotiate.
To start, Matt, can you bring us up to speed? What is the latest on this war that the U.S. provoked and is now trying to find a way out of?
MD: We’re about a month and a half into this war that began at the very end of February, launched by the United States and Israel together. I think that is notable, as opposed to last June’s so-called 12-Day War, which was begun by Israel bombing Iran. Then days later, the U.S. joined in, dropping its biggest bombs on Iranian nuclear facilities.
This is very much the United States and Israel acting together from the beginning, and they’ve done enormous damage. They bombed a lot of buildings, destroyed a lot of nuclear and military infrastructure, destroyed much if not most of Iran’s navy, killed a lot of Iranian leaders, including notably the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in the first day of the war.
But it has not achieved anything like a victory because no one had any doubt that the United States and Israel could do a lot of damage militarily to Iran, but Iran’s security and defense doctrine has always been based on that understanding and has been built around creating the ability to inflict pain in other ways, economic and otherwise. That is what we are seeing with Iran shutting down shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a very narrow waterway in the Persian Gulf through which a large amount of global oil shipping flows.
This pain is being felt in the United States with gas prices going up, but, more importantly, by the rest of the world. Even though the U.S. population is feeling the pain, the worst consequences of this war are already being felt and will continue to be felt by some of the world’s most vulnerable populations. Which is to say the worst consequences of this war will fall upon those who didn’t start it.
AL: On Wednesday morning, Trump told Fox Business’s Maria Bartiromo that the U.S.–Iran war is “very close to being over.” We’ve heard that before, several times in the last few weeks. Do you think that Trump will use the ceasefire period to end U.S. involvement at this point?
MD: I would hope so. The best way for this war to end would be for the people who started it to stop, and that is the United States and Israel. They launched an unprovoked and illegal — and in my view, a strategically counterproductive — war of aggression. But I think the question here is, at what point does Trump either get bored of this war or decide he needs really to get out of it? We’ve seen some reporting indicating that Trump is starting to realize, if not already, that he really miscalculated here, that he was led to believe that this war would be much quicker and easier than it actually was.
“At what point does Trump either get bored of this war or decide he needs really to get out of it?”
I think he was looking at Venezuela as a model. He came to believe in the magical powers of the American military and special forces to do things and achieve goals. And certainly he had people around him, like Lindsey Graham, like Tom Cotton, and obviously Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who were feeding him this information to say, it’s going to be amazing and quick. It’s going to be glorious, and you’ll demonstrate once again the greatness of Donald Trump. He’s clearly frustrated that it has not gone that way.
The United States has the ability to inflict enormous damage on Iran or any country, but Iran has also shown that it has ways to respond. And it has not relented, it has not agreed to Trump’s demands, particularly on its nuclear program.
These are the demands that were presented by Vice President JD Vance in Islamabad last weekend, which Iran did not accept because those demands have not changed. You referenced the Obama administration’s nuclear agreement with Iran, and I think what led to the breakthrough there that led to that agreement being signed in 2015 was the United States’ acknowledgment that Iran has a right to enrich uranium. That is a right that Iran had long claimed. It does have a valid argument under the non-proliferation treaty — of which it is a member — which guarantees signers of that treaty the right to peaceful nuclear energy. Iran interprets that to mean they have a right to enrich on their soil. There may be some dispute on that. But Iran, for its own nationalist and political reasons, has always asserted that right. And the Obama administration acknowledging that is what led to what was, I think, a very good nuclear agreement.
As you noted, Trump withdrew from that, that led to this moment. I think until the United States is willing to accept some formula that doesn’t require Iran to give up that right. Iran could agree to not enrich for the time being, while still retaining the right to enrich. It’s possible to see some language that they could come up with that both sides could be satisfied with. But as long as the U.S. continues to press these same demands, we are not going to resolve this issue.
“The United States has the ability to inflict enormous damage on Iran or any country, but Iran has also shown that it has ways to respond.”
AL: One follow-up here. Iran has characterized the falling apart of these latest round of talks led by JD Vance as a result of the U.S. moving the goalposts and insisting on Iran suspending uranium enrichment after that not having led the strikes under that demand. What’s happening here? Obviously, the nuclear question is always in the background when we’re talking about Iran. But is it fair to say that the U.S. moved the goalpost here?
Matt Duss: I think it’s fair to say that the U.S. moved the goalpost once Trump was convinced to make zero enrichment a condition of talks; this was ongoing last year. I think you saw conflicting information from Steve Witkoff, who’s the real estate dealer, who Trump has decided for some reason to make his lead negotiator everywhere. Witkoff at one point was saying, no, we’re not going to require them to give up all their enrichment.
“We should understand this was designed to prevent an agreement because these people understand that Iran will not agree to that.”
Some of us heard that and we’re like, OK. That means there’s a possibility of a deal if they want other guarantees — inspections. It’s possible. But once Trump made zero enrichment a demand — and again, you had Netanyahu pressing him on this, you had people like Lindsey Graham, you had a bunch of hawkish think tankers in Washington pressing this on him — we should understand, this was designed to prevent an agreement because these people understand that Iran will not agree to that. That is why they press Trump to make this demand because they understood it would lead to no agreement, and they would get the war they’ve always wanted, which is of course what has happened.
AL: You recently wrote a piece for Foreign Policy about why blaming Israel for the war on Iran lets Washington off the hook. Part of your argument is that war-hungry members of both parties have been pushing for this war just as hard as Israel has, including Democrats. I want to talk about those Democrats. Who are they, and what responsibility do they have for this war?
But also, as you noted, I think my concern about blaming this all on Israel is that, yeah, it lets Washington off the hook. We have a foreign policy establishment that is addicted to militarism, that is addicted to war, who often work at think tanks that are largely funded by the military–industrial complex. They are funded by weapons manufacturers. We have a political class that is really deeply committed to an almost religious degree to American primacy in the world, to American global hegemony. Which means that we are up in everyone’s business all over the place all the time. This war that we are witnessing right now is an expression of that — it is one of the most horrible possible expressions of it.
But my concern about blaming it all on Israel, it distracts us from the problem being here in the United States. It is here in Washington. This is what we need to reform about our own foreign policy rather than locating blame in other places.
“My concern about blaming it all on Israel, it distracts us from the problem being here in the United States. It is here in Washington.”
AL: Are there Democrats who you think hold particular responsibility, particularly for this iteration of the Iran war? We had reporting about Democratic leadership trying to slow walk this war powers resolution and all this sort of stuff. And our listeners are very interested in knowing actually who bears responsibility for this.
MD: You mentioned, we have the Democratic leadership — Chuck Schumer in the Senate and Hakeem Jeffries in the House — even though they eventually came out in support of the war powers resolution that Senator Kaine and Senator Paul offered a few weeks ago. Actually, they announced their support just days before the war began.
That’s good. I’m glad they came around to the right place. But in my view, it just took way too long. It took too much work to support something that a supermajority of Democratic voters support. A supermajority of Democrats oppose this war, are generally against America’s global military interventions in general.
Yet we do have a Democratic Party leadership that still is part of this very small — and thankfully dwindling, though not fast enough — hawkish faction that is wedded to this idea of American global military domination.
I’d also note here too, we need to hold the Biden administration responsible for some of this too. Joe Biden campaigned in 2020 on a commitment to rejoin the Iran nuclear agreement that Trump withdrew from in 2018. It was pretty unequivocal. He wrote a piece, or a piece was written under his name, that was published in October of 2020 that laid out, here’s what I’m going to do, I’m going to rejoin this deal, and here’s why.
They didn’t do what they promised. Now, in my view, and many of us were advocating this at the time, the thing to do would’ve been just rejoin the deal, remove the sanctions. The U.S. committed to this along with its allies — and then we withdrew from it. So first, rejoin the deal, and that creates an environment where the Iranians are like, “OK, Biden is doing what he said he’d do. Maybe we can talk about a longer deal. Maybe we can keep engaging to address a broader range of issues between the United States and Iran.”
Instead, Joe Biden showed the Iranians that you cannot trust Joe Biden. And we lost, I think, a really important opportunity. After a few months, Iran had its own presidential elections coming up. That current administration that had signed the nuclear agreement under President Rouhani and Foreign Minister Zarif were replaced by a much more hawkish, hard-line president and foreign minister that drove a much, much harder bargain. That made it much more difficult to come to any kind of agreement to getting back into the JCPOA. And of course that failed. We have to acknowledge it was basically the Biden administration that lost the JCPOA and put us on the path to where we are now.
AL: I also just have to mention John Fetterman because we just have to.
MD: Do we? OK.
AL: [Laughs] I’m curious while I have you, because you were in the Senate at a point in time, and he has been, pretty openly calling for blood thirsty retaliation against Iran.
Now, the latest is that he’s backing Trump’s peace talks. But what do you make of his, I don’t know if you can really call it an evolution, because he seems to have been this way for quite some time. But yeah, what is your analysis of his position?
MD: Yeah, I don’t really have a great read on it. He basically seems to have been handed a set of talking points about Israel as the good guys and Iran as the bad guys and the Palestinians as the bad guys. And that’s good enough for him. He just has shown no real understanding of these issues. No understanding of the history here or of the policy.
From what I understand, he really resents a lot of the pressure, but that’s tough luck, man. You’re a U.S. senator. That’s part of how this works. If you support bad inhumane policies, get ready to be protested.
As far as I can see, he has just decided he’s just doubling down. And he doesn’t want to talk about it. I know people who have tried to talk to him about this issue. I’m not one of them. But they have reported he just won’t even consider his position, regardless of the evidence. He’s just made this part of his identity, and I think that I think is very weird and regrettable.
AL: I love that description, “weird and regrettable.”
[Break]
AL: You worked in Congress at a time when there was a major shift on norms in foreign policy and an increasing willingness by some members, including your former boss, to oppose foreign wars. I want you to tell us about that time and what you saw as prompting that shift.
MD: I think we have seen a really important movement over the past few years. But let’s also remember that Barack Obama was elected in 2008 because of his opposition to the Iraq War. That is really what distinguished Obama in that field. There were some other things, but even he himself and the people around him understood that, one of the strongest arguments, if not the strongest arguments for his presidency, was the fact that he opposed the Iraq War when everyone else in Washington was supporting it, falling in line, either because of their ideology or because they were just political cowards.
He showed that when it mattered, he was able to stand up against the tide. Now, Obama’s project of changing foreign policy obviously ran into some strong headwinds. People can argue that he didn’t try as hard as he should have. I think that’s probably true in some cases, but I think there were some important achievements. The Iran nuclear agreement was one. I think changing Cuba policy was another; withdrawing from Iraq. We can run down the list of mistakes he made as well.
“The lesson from [Obama’s] two terms was, there is a deeply entrenched foreign policy establishment in both parties.”
I think the lesson from those two terms was, there is a deeply entrenched, foreign policy establishment in both parties and in Washington broadly — a bipartisan establishment that is, as I described earlier, just committed to this idea of American global military hegemony. Changing that is very difficult. But yet American voters continue to show that they’re supportive of a change.
I wrote a piece in The Guardian last year in the wake of Kamala Harris’s election loss that argued that Trump had won in part because he presented himself as an anti-war president. He and Vance really in the last few weeks before the election made a pro-peace argument.
Now, of course, they were lying. We should have known they were lying at the time. We, of course, know for a fact they were lying now. But my point is not that we should have believed them. My point is that Trump and Vance were at least smart enough to acknowledge that there is a real anti-war constituency in this country.
If you go back every election since the end of the Cold War, every election since 1992 — with the one exception of 2004 — the more anti-war candidate has won. Now I think that’s just an interesting data point. I’m not going to say that’s why they won, but I’m also saying that what it does show is that there’s a real constituency here for this message.
“Trump and Vance were at least smart enough to acknowledge that there is a real anti-war constituency in this country.”
I want Democrats to realize this is an opportunity to really lean into this argument. We saw Bernie, when he ran in 2016 against Hillary Clinton, again, as with Obama in 2008, a big part of his argument was that he had also opposed the Iraq War. He had the courage to stand up against the tide, and because he rightly predicted it would be a disaster. Even Biden. Going back to 2020, Biden promised to end the forever wars.
In the wake of these different things that I mentioned, I do think you’ve got a more energetic, a better organized set of organizations, journalists, analysts — let’s just say that there’s a larger anti-war policy community that’s been built over the past 25 years, especially since the Iraq War. We have more champions in Congress who are saying this message, who believe that American foreign policy needs to change.
But obviously, as we see, this war is an expression, as I said earlier, of how deeply entrenched this pro-war establishment remains. So there’s so much work left to be done.
AL: The point that no matter what their policy ends up being, that anti-war candidates have been largely popular, is a really crucial one. I wonder how can we account for any effect that this shift has had on foreign policy, if anti-war candidates are doing different policy once they actually take office?
MD: I think the key is to have first a candidate who is generally committed to an anti-war position. And then staffing that administration with anti-war officials and making clear that this is the policy we’re going to execute as president. We’ve not really had that.
Like I said, Obama did some really important things, but for various reasons, including the fact that he made Joe Biden his vice president, and he made Hillary Clinton his secretary of state, his foreign policy apparatus in his administration was largely populated by Clinton and Biden folks — let’s just say many of whom did not share Barack Obama’s views about shifting American foreign policy.
I don’t want to impute that they were going against him. I’m just saying, you’ve got a whole cohort of people who have been raised in their whole professional career with these assumptions about American power and how American power should work and the importance of America being everywhere all the time.
And I think the way you really change that is to have a president who understands we’re not going back. We need a foreign policy for this era that is based around building peace rather than making war, that is focused on foreign policy that benefits American communities and American workers, but also does not export insecurity and poverty onto others in the world. And I think this is a really opportune moment for it.
AL: One of the latest developments here was that J Street came out in support of phasing out U.S. military funding for defensive weapons for Israel. While I think there is a fair criticism to be made here that the distinction between offensive and defensive weapons is really one without a difference, the broader point is that this is something that J Street has never done before. This comes on the heels of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez making the same policy commitment earlier this month. I know you’ve been vocal about this, so please, what are your thoughts?
Matt Duss: I think ending military aid not just for offensive weapons, but for all weapons — taxpayer aid — is absolutely right. Now there’s a debate about will we still sell them weapons to commit these atrocities that we’re all witnessing every day, all the time? Some people are calling for a weapons embargo — a full embargo. I think that makes total sense.
But I’ve also made the point, and Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez made this statement that, when it comes to sales, we need to enforce our own laws, which prohibit these sales as well. So that’s important to note too because I think it’s a very fair argument. If we’re not going to give them these weapons at taxpayer expense, why do we sell them to continue carrying out these same atrocities?
But I would also note that J Street’s shift is a reflection of a lot of really important work that’s been done by the progressive movement, by the Palestinian rights’ movement, by activists and advocates for a long time.
Some people have pointed to the announcement or the reports that Benjamin Netanyahu also supports phasing out taxpayer aid to Israel. I think that’s right. The way I read that is that Netanyahu understands that we are in a moment right now. Netanyahu, for all his faults and he has many, does have a pretty savvy read on American politics. And he understands that negotiating a new [Memorandum of Understanding], which provides billions of dollars every year in U.S. taxpayer support for weapons for Israel, is going to be extremely politically contentious.
This is not 2015 anymore. It’s even a real question whether this could pass. I think it really couldn’t, but at the very least he understands that a contentious process around aid to Israel would be bad in his view for Israel. He’s right. Zeroing out the aid makes some political sense from his point of view.
But I also think it’s worth noting, and this is a point I made as well, is that no country is going to turn down free money. What I’ve seen some indications of is that they’re going to try and reprogram and rebrand this taxpayer aid into “joint research projects,” which is a way of tucking this money away. It’s still going to support and subsidize the Israeli weapons industry and tech industry. It’s still going to be a way to funnel money to U.S. defense contractors for Israel’s benefit. But it’s going to be rebranded in this different way.
But ultimately the goal is the same to get taxpayer aid to Israel and keep it away from the political process. So I think that’s a really important thing to watch for right now.
“What I’ve seen some indications of is that they’re going to try and reprogram and rebrand this taxpayer aid into ‘joint research projects,’ which is a way of tucking this money away.”
AL: Going back to the world stage. I was struck by the fact that in the midst of this war in Iran, where JD Vance has been leading key negotiations, he also took a quick trip to Hungary last week to try to help save Viktor Orbán from losing his elections over the weekend.
MD: Huge success.
AL: [laughs] It did not work.
MD: Yeah. Oh, wait. No?
AL: No, it did not work.
MS: Oh, yeah. No, it did not.
AL: [laughs] For our listeners, Orbán lost after 16 years in power, leaving behind him a legacy of eroding democratic institutions and undermining press freedom in his country, a model championed by right-wing movements in Europe and the U.S.
The libertarian think tank Cato Institute said, “Orbán’s Hungary is a cautionary tale of what results from an unrestrained executive with strongly centralized power, crony capitalism, and the systematic dismantling of the rule of law.”
What is your understanding of what, if any, implications this loss has for not only the rise of right-wing authoritarianism around the world, but also for Trump, and the fact that his No. 2 was out there trying to push him over the finish line and it did not work?
Matt Duss: Yeah, no, I think it’s great news. We don’t get a lot of that these days, but it’s really great news that Orbán lost — not that he lost, but that he lost resoundingly. That his opponent, Péter Magyar won, didn’t just win, but has a strong enough presence in the legislature now that they’ll actually be able to make real change. So this is really important.
So Orbán had been serving for his many terms, as a model of an illiberal democrat — as people have various terms — but someone who had been slowly and steadily and quite aggressively refashioning the institutions of government in Hungary to ensure as much as possible a permanent ruling majority by himself and his party and his interests and his populist right-wing authoritarian allies. Of course many around Trump see this as a very attractive model. Steve Bannon is someone who has been working on these issues for many years and promoting this is the way we do it.
We see parties in other countries. We see, for example, the AFD in Germany, which is a very right-wing party — fortunately, does not have a majority or anything close to it — but they have been steadily increasing their support in the country.
I think the fact that Orbán finally failed because of his corruption and his failure to deliver basic democratic things. But Hungarian voters just decided, OK, this guy really is too corrupt. Whether their concerns were about basic economic issues, jobs, corruption or ideology, protection of democracy, at the end of the day, they decided to give a strong majority to Orbán’s opponent.
Now, we shouldn’t imagine that Péter Magyar is some huge progressive. He is not. He was someone who was part of Orbán’s party until relatively recently. He’s just less conservative than Orbán. It does seem that he is more committed to real democracy.
AL: In waging this war on Iran, the U.S. has pit itself even more aggressively against a range of global actors, including Russia, China, and India. In the backdrop, Trump has used his second term to increasingly isolate the U.S., alienating even our allies by imposing tariffs and threatening to leave NATO, the trans-Atlantic military alliance between the U.S. and Europe. Where does all of that leave the U.S. and other major world powers geopolitically right now?
MD: What we’ve seen since Trump took office this time, we saw this a little bit in the first term, but in his second term, we’ve really seen an aggressiveness and a sharpening of the way that the United States is using its power. It’s using the dependence of allies and the rest of the world on the United States as a weapon to pressure them, to get them to do things we want.
Trump’s “basically like, if you don’t do what I want, I’m going to tariff you.”
I forget where this is from, I should probably know this. The idea of diplomacy is getting other countries to see your interests as their interests. Trump dispensed with that. He’s basically like, if you don’t do what I want, I’m going to tariff you. If you don’t do what I want, I’m going to, I don’t know, maybe I’ll invade you. You just have to wait to find out.
The United States has so many tools by virtue of our multiple partnerships, by virtue of the fact that we play such a major role in the global economic and financial plumbing, so to speak. We can use so many levers and tools to create economic pain for other countries to coerce them.
Now, it shouldn’t be surprising that countries don’t like that. Listen, it’s fine for the United States to state its interest to say, listen, we want to do this, and if other countries want to do a different thing, OK, let’s talk about it and see what we can work out. But Trump has simply decided that the United States is powerful, and as a powerful country, we get to do what we want and force others to do what we want as well.
That’s just how he understands foreign policy and global politics. We see this reflected a bit in his approach to Russia, to China and also to Israel. I don’t think he sees the world as divided up amongst great powers, per se. I think Trump really does have a belief in American dominance.
Trump “sees the world in terms of a mafia arrangement, in which the United States is the most powerful mob family, and gets to determine the order of how people behave.”
It is a different form of American dominance that was shared by previous administrations — America as the unipolar power, upholding the rules-based order by virtue of its great might and strength. Donald Trump doesn’t believe in a rules-based order. He doesn’t really believe in rules. He believes that the United States is strong and it gets to do what it wants. And other countries that are strong get to do what they want.
He sees the world in terms of a mafia arrangement, in which the United States is the most powerful mob family, and gets to determine the order of how people behave.
But other powerful mafia families get to do what they want too, whether it’s Putin in Russia, whether it’s China, or in the Middle East. Still the United States remains dominant. But Israel is treated as the U.S. enforcer in the Middle East by virtue of Israel’s military and economic power.
AL: Do you think that Trump’s approach to foreign policy has opened the door for another country to step in as a more reliable partner in some of these relationships, like maybe a China or Russia?
MD: I don’t think any country is able or interested in stepping in to take over. This is one of the concerns I had with some of the Biden administration’s approach. Their approach to the Middle East in many ways seemed like it was designed to box out China from coming in and establishing any kind of influence in the region. My response to that was like, why would China, watching the United States for two and a half decades constantly tripping over itself and bleeding resources and attention and wasting all this energy, why would China want a piece of that? It never made sense to me. I think that’s still true.
China clearly wants influence. It expects to play, and I think it has a right to play a major role in shaping global affairs. There are people who disagree with this. Their view is ultimately, China does want to replace the United States as the global hegemon, but at least in the short term, I don’t see anyone doing that.
But what we do already see is other countries, including longtime allies of the United States, as hedging against the United States. They now see the United States as a predator. They are building and strengthening relationships with as many other countries, including China, as they can because they understand, listen, we need options. We have invested and believed for so long that, whatever disagreements we might have with the United States, ultimately we share some basic principles about how the world should be ordered.
“What we do already see is other countries, including longtime allies of the United States, as hedging against the United States.”
But now it’s clear, and frankly, I think it took them way too long to realize this. But now it’s clear that that’s all wrong. So we need to find ways to protect ourselves. We need to create options for ourselves, alternatives to the United States.
AL: I think this is a really interesting distinction because it puts the previous order where there’s a hegemon at the top and everyone else falls into line on its head and raises the question of — I don’t think it’s a new critique to say, why do we keep asking like whether China or Russia’s going to step into this whatever, to this role that the U.S. played? And that the global stage and the relationships in foreign policy are just changing as the world advances and as society changes. I think that’s interesting. I will say that Trump is currently scheduled to visit Beijing in May to meet with President Xi Jinping.
MD: This summit has already been delayed once. It may very well be delayed again because of this war. The Chinese government has just recently issued some of its strongest statements yet about this war in response to Trump’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. Trump responded to Iran’s blocking the strait by blocking the strait, I don’t know what that’s all about.
It’s interesting because China is the more reasonable actor here. China right now is the government that is standing up for the rules-based order, standing up for international law. When you look at what Israel and the United States are doing here, they have an argument. And that argument has a lot of appeal to countries around the world. So we’ll see.
“China right now is the government that is standing up for the rules-based order, standing up for international law.”
I think many have been surprised, especially, looking at the first Trump administration, which really focused Washington’s attention on China as the competitor for the United States. Some have been surprised, including me at how relatively little he’s focused on China in this second term. But clearly they have been building to this, but the fact that they’ve had to delay this summit once already goes back to the point that Trump just miscalculated with this war.
I’m sure he imagined he would’ve wrapped this up already and forced Iran to put up a new government that loved the United States and loved Donald Trump, and he could just move on to dealing with China. But now he’s bogged down in precisely the sort of war that he promised he would never get into.
AL: And because you mentioned it. China’s President Xi Jinping on Tuesday made the first public statement about this war. As you said, Matt, China is the rational actor or the more reasonable actor in this, demonstrated by this quote, “Maintaining the authority of international rule of law means not using it when it suits us and abandoning it when it doesn’t.” That was Xi Jinping.
Before we go, I also just want to add that because of the war and the significant ripple effects it’s having, not just here in the U.S. but around the world, other issues that are just as important have received less attention in this current news cycle. Like the fact that the Trump administration is continuing to kill civilians in the Pacific and the Caribbean striking what he claims are alleged drug smugglers. These extrajudicial killings now exceed 170. And on Monday Trump threatened to use the “same system of kill that we use against the drug dealers on boats at sea” against ships that approached its blockade in the Strait of Hormuz.”
MD: It’s just staggering. It’s just straight murder. That is what we’re doing.
They have never provided any evidence — either in a public or a classified setting — that these people were even carrying drugs, let alone that they posed a clear and present danger to the security of the United States. They have not bothered with any of these steps. Anytime they have tried, they have met in a classified setting with members of Congress, those members have almost always come out and said, they didn’t give us anything.
In the same way that this Iran war is the most egregious and horrible expression of trends in our foreign policy that have been building for a long time, so are these boat strikes. We’ve been killing people with flying robots in the Middle East and Africa and elsewhere for decades now. Now one can argue, OK, those assassinations were done with more of a legal process. I’m not convinced or comforted by that at all. I’m sorry.
So really what this goes to in my mind is that we still need a very serious reckoning with the global war on terror. We need to bring it to an end. We need to dismantle our security state.
“We still need a very serious reckoning with the global war on terror. We need to bring it to an end. We need to dismantle our security state.”
This is a huge political project. And going back to what I said about this being a moment for a real anti-war movement and anti-war president, I want a president who’s going to commit to doing that. It’s not just because it would be nice to have. This is a core thing for our security and our prosperity and for global security. We need to pull ourselves back from this.
AL: That’s a good place to leave it. Matt, thank you so much for joining me on the Intercept Briefing.
MD: Glad to do it. Thank you for everything you do at The Intercept. I love it.
AL: And 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. Will Stanton mixed our show. Legal review by David Bralow.
Slip Stream provided our theme music.
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Release of new Claude model, so far limited to US firms, will expand to British institutions in coming days
British banks will be given access in the next week to a powerful AI tool that was deemed too dangerous to be released to the public, as a series of senior finance figures warned over its impact.
Anthropic, which has so far limited the release of the new model to a small clutch of primarily US businesses, including Amazon, Apple and Microsoft, said it would expand that to UK financial institutions.
A federal agent shoots pepper spray out of the window of a moving vehicle. The stream hit FRONTLINE’s video team. Tim Evans/Reuters
Five days after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent fatally shot activist Renee Good, tensions were running high in the Minneapolis neighborhood where she was killed.
As federal immigration agents surrounded and questioned a man whose car they had stopped, people emerged from their homes onto the snow-lined sidewalks and street. They shouted obscenities, told the agents to leave and filmed what was happening on their phones.
A crew from FRONTLINE and ProPublica was filming, too.
The man being questioned, a U.S. citizen named Christian Molina, told ProPublica reporter A.C. Thompson that federal agents had followed him and rammed his car: “They looked at me and they decided to pull me over for no reason,” Molina said.
What happened next can be seen in footage from FRONTLINE and ProPublica’s new documentary “Caught in the Crackdown.”
Someone threw a snowball in the direction of the agents — and one of them responded by tossing a tear gas canister into the crowd.
“You’re tear-gassing a fucking neighborhood,” a protester yelled. “People live here.”
As the toxic haze rose, an agent pepper-sprayed protesters and a news photographer at close range. Another agent fired pepper balls into the crowd, hitting Thompson three times. One shot struck him above the right eye. Federal use of force guidelines generally instruct agents not to target people’s heads and faces with these weapons.
Then, as the agents drove away, one of them shot pepper spray from a car window, hitting others on the film team, including FRONTLINE’s director Gabrielle Schonder and director of photography Tim Grucza, who was sprayed in the face.
Watch Agents Use Tear Gas and Other Weapons on a Minneapolis Crowd
Footage of the confrontation was captured for “Caught in the Crackdown,” a new documentary from FRONTLINE and ProPublica.
In the Minneapolis neighborhood where Renee Good was killed, residents were protesting the actions of federal immigration agents. Someone lobbed a snowball toward the agents. Then came what one former Department of Justice official later called “use of excessive force after use of excess force.”FRONTLINE and ProPublica
The Jan. 12 confrontation is one of many chaotic clashes documented in “Caught in the Crackdown.” Premiering April 14, the joint investigation examines how federal agents handled protesters and bystanders during the Trump administration’s immigration sweeps in major cities across the U.S., from Los Angeles to Chicago to Minneapolis — including by using tactics that experts say violated officers’ own rules.
As the documentary explores, President Donald Trump’s administration said its immigration crackdown was protecting U.S. citizens by targeting criminals and people who had entered the country illegally. Through on-the-ground reporting and interviews with officials, experts, insiders and eyewitnesses, “Caught in the Crackdown” traces how federal forces arrested hundreds of U.S. citizens who were protesting or observing the raids, routinely portrayed those citizens as domestic terrorists or extremists, and repeatedly deployed weaponry like tear gas and pepper balls.
The man heading the enforcement operations was unapologetic about his agents’ approach.
“We’re here to conduct that Title 8 mission,” Greg Bovino, then-commander-at-large for Border Patrol, told a local TV station, referring to immigration enforcement. “It won’t stop despite rioters, agitators, and vast amounts of violence against federal officers. We’re not going to stop.”
But when Thompson shared the footage from Jan. 12 with former law enforcement officials, they expressed concern.
“We see, just, use of excessive force after use of excess force,” said Christy Lopez, who spent years investigating law enforcement misconduct for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “In no scenario is it OK to be pepper-spraying people as you’re leaving the scene.”
“It’s pretty awful,” said Chris Magnus, a former head of Customs and Border Protection who once oversaw Bovino. Magnus, who served as a police chief in multiple cities, pointed to the principle of proportionality when using force in law enforcement: “People may well get under your skin under a lot of circumstances,” he said. “You don’t like it, but professionals don’t react to it.”
Bovino was ultimately moved out of his role after federal agents shot and killed a second protester in Minneapolis — Alex Pretti. The Trump administration said it “recognized that certain improvements could and should be made” to its immigration enforcement operations. Bovino has since retired, but many of the questions raised on the streets of Los Angeles, Chicago and Minneapolis under his watch remain unresolved.
“Even if Gregory Bovino is gone, I wonder if his imprint will last through all the federal agencies that are continuing to go out on the street,” journalist Sergio Olmos, who reported on Bovino for the nonprofit news outlets CalMatters and Evident Media, says in the documentary. “I wonder if anything will change, really. He was the one who was the tip of the spear for this new type of immigration enforcement across the country.”
The symbiosis between the president and European nationalists has reached a potential breaking point as he issues genocidal rhetoric and criticizes the pope.
Chair’s decision to not seek re-election ‘not as a result of any disagreement’, company says in filing
Reed Hastings, the Netflix chair, is leaving the streaming service he co-founded almost 30 years ago as the company regains its footing after losing out on a $72bn (£53bn) deal for Warner Bros Discovery.
In a 14-page letter to investors released on Thursday, Netflix said Hastings would not stand for re-election at its annual meeting in June and planned to focus on philanthropy and other pursuits.
In the first ever Q4Bio Challenge, research teams sought to demonstrate scalable quantum algorithms for healthcare, with Algorithmiq’s work alongside Cleveland Clinic and IBM earning $2 million Q4Bio prize.
YORKTOWN HEIGHTS, N.Y., April 17, 2026 — Quantum computing is at an inflection point. In recent years, quantum computers have shown the ability to run quantum programs at a scale beyond exact classical simulation. They’re becoming useful tools for solving real-world problems, with provable quantum advantage close on the horizon. Community-led initiatives that provide funding and prizes for high-quality research can offer an early look at how quantum computing will impact fields like healthcare and the life sciences.
Credit: majestic b/Shutterstock
That’s one reason the non-profit Wellcome Leap established the Quantum for Bio (Q4Bio) Supported Challenge Program. Q4Bio aims to identify, develop, and demonstrate quantum algorithms for human health applications that have the potential to run on near-term quantum computers expected to arrive in the next three to five years. The program launched in 2023 with twelve research teams from around the world receiving access to a combined $40 million in funding. By March 2026, that group had narrowed to six Phase III finalists. Now, the winners have been announced.
Wellcome Leap funds high-risk, high-reward global health research, with the aim of facilitating medical breakthroughs on time scales of 5-10 years rather than over the course of decades. That ambition is evident in the Q4Bio challenge requirements: To be eligible for a $2 million Phase III award, participating teams needed to demonstrate algorithms using more than 50 qubits and circuit depths on the order 1,000 to 10,000 gates—while also showing a clear path to scaling. More details here.
In practice, meeting those requirements meant working directly with today’s most capable quantum hardware. That’s why five of the six Phase III finalist teams used IBM quantum computers to generate their results, underscoring the role of “utility-scale” quantum computers with 100+ qubits in tackling demanding problems at the intersection of quantum information science and real-world use cases.
Below, IBM highlights the work carried out by Q4Bio’s Phase III finalists on IBM quantum hardware. Their projects offer an exciting glimpse at how quantum computing is beginning to support meaningful research in healthcare and the life sciences.
Biology at Scale on IBM Quantum Computers
The results from these multidisciplinary, multi‑organizational teams span drug discovery, genomics, biomarkers, and fundamental biochemistry. In each area, researchers found a healthcare problem they could execute at significant scale on quantum computers today, with real potential to scale even further in the future.
Agorithmiq, Cleveland Clinic, and IBM
The winning project—led by quantum startup Algorithmiq in collaboration with Cleveland Clinic and IBM—used quantum computing to simulate key processes in photodynamic therapy (PDT), a cancer treatment based on light-activated drugs.
Algorithmiq developed an end-to-end hybrid quantum–classical framework in which novel methods for active space selection, state preparation, measurement, and post-processing enabled large-scale molecular electronic structure simulations on IBM’s quantum hardware. By executing circuits for ground- and excited-state experiments on up to 100 qubits, the teams demonstrated a scalable path toward quantum advantage in drug discovery and development.
Sabrina Maniscalco, CEO and co-founder of Algorithmiq, said the results highlight how Algorithmiq’s approach to tightly integrated quantum-classical algorithms could play a key role in unlocking real-world quantum advantage.
“This work provides one of the clearest indications to date that quantum computing can begin to impact real, chemically relevant problems, rather than simplified benchmarks,” she said. “IBM’s quantum systems enabled execution of circuits at scales approaching 100 qubits and supported the continuous, end-to-end validation loop required to identify real bottlenecks and ensure robustness of the approach.”
Dr. Vijay Krishna, associate staff in biomedical engineering at Cleveland Clinic, added that “Q4Bio showed that when teams with complementary expertise work toward a common goal, they can make meaningful progress on problems that no single discipline can solve alone.”
The Quantum Pangenomics Project
Meanwhile, the University of Oxford and Sanger Institute’s Quantum Pangenomics project focused on converting genome problems to quadratic unconstrained binary optimization (QUBO) formulations. Recent research has highlighted the potential of quantum optimization methods based on QUBO to help solve challenging real-world problems and deliver near-term quantum advantage.
As part of their efforts, the team used an IBM Quantum Heron r2 to encode the Hepatitis-D genome. In their workflow, classical systems handle problem formulation, iteration, and analysis, and quantum hardware is invoked for the most computationally challenging subproblems.
“Encoding a whole genome onto a quantum computer is a world first and represents at least one order of magnitude improvement over any other efforts to represent DNA on quantum machines,” said James McCafferty, Chief Information Officer at the Wellcome Sanger Institute. “And full credit goes to IBM in helping us achieve this.”
“This is not a toy demonstration, it involves biologically significant sequences, represented on quantum hardware using data partitioning techniques and tailored depth-reduction we developed specifically for genomic data,” said Sergii Strelchuk, associate professor of Computer Science at Oxford University. “The fact that the encoded information can be retrieved through our index-reported verification method sends a clear signal: quantum data encoding for genomics is no longer aspirational, it is ready to scale.”
Infleqtion
Infleqtion, a Chicago-based quantum startup, used an IBM Quantum Heron r2 as part of the project they led with the University of Chicago and MIT on quantum-enhanced biomarker discovery from multimodal cancer data, using hybrid quantum-classical optimization algorithms. Their work involved GPUs and QPUs working together, an exciting emerging avenue for hybrid workflows.
Fred Chong, Professor at University of Chicago and Chief Scientist for Quantum Software at Infleqtion, says Heron QPUs were the only available hardware that could meet the Wellcome Leap criteria of demonstrating quantum algorithms with greater than 50 quantum bits and a program length of greater than 1,000 quantum gates. Access to that hardware allowed his team to demonstrate a convincing proof-of-concept that a hybrid quantum-classical approach could improve a purely classical approach to identifying biomarkers.
“Our work has already identified novel cancer biomarkers for clinical evaluation, and future quantum machines will allow us to discover even more promising biomarkers that we hope will improve treatment outcomes,” Chong said.
Stanford, Michigan State University, and Other Collaborators
A team comprising researchers from many scientific institutions used VQE and an IBM Quantum Heron r2 processor to study ATP and GTP hydrolysis in proteins. These are fundamental biochemical reactions that power most cellular processes.
By demonstrating quantum algorithms for modeling metaphosphate hydrolysis and rigorously analyzing their resource costs, the team showed how near‑term quantum computers could act as accelerators in computational workflows for biology. They also explored potential workflows for fault-tolerant quantum computers.
“Although classical methods for biochemistry have a decades long headstart, quantum methods are really starting to become competitive,” said Ryan LaRose, a researcher on the team and professor at Michigan State University. “For our project, IBM hardware provided the number of qubits, gate fidelity, and sampling rate needed to make our experiments viable.”
University of Nottingham, Phasecraft, and QuEra
Another finalist team, led by Jonathan D. Hirst at the University of Nottingham, explored quantum-enhanced strategies for covalent inhibitor design in collaboration with Phasecraft and QuEra. Covalent inhibitors are a cornerstone of modern therapeutics—particularly in oncology and antiviral treatments—owing to their ability to form strong, durable bonds with target proteins.
The team applied quantum algorithms to generate high-fidelity molecular data, which they then used to augment classical Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculations—computer simulations estimating molecular behavior by modeling electron density. This enabled more accurate simulations of covalent binding processes.
The researchers deployed this hybrid quantum–classical workflow within a drug discovery program focused on the disorder Myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1), highlighting the potential of quantum-enhanced methods to tackle complex, currently untreatable diseases.
As part of their study, the team utilized IBM Quantum hardware, including an IBM Quantum Nighthawk processor with 120 qubits—part of a broader effort to evaluate the capabilities of near-term quantum systems for chemically relevant modeling.
Quantum-Centric Supercomputing for Biology and Human Health
Viewed as a whole, these results underscore just how quickly quantum computing is maturing as a tool for biological research. According to Ashley Montanaro, Co-founder of Phasecraft and Professor of Quantum Computation at University of Bristol, the rapid advancement of IBM quantum hardware and software played a crucial role in enabling the rapid experimental cycles required for their work.
“When the Wellcome Leap Q4Bio challenge began three years ago, it was far from obvious that any of this would work. The fact that we now have encouraging results on a real drug discovery target is a significant milestone,” he said. “The pace of progress in quantum hardware and software throughout this project has been notable as we continuously incorporated new capabilities and explored cutting-edge advancements month by month.”
The impressive results from Q4Bio’s Phase III finalists reflect progress toward IBM’s vision of quantum‑centric supercomputing (QCSC). Hybrid quantum–classical workflows integrate HPC, GPUs, and QPUs. Access to utility‑scale quantum processors and cloud‑based platforms enable global teams to collaborate, iterate quickly, and move toward scalable, end‑to‑end biological workflows.
Together, these results point to a broader transition: quantum computing in biology as elsewhere is shifting from a speculative experiment to a phase of measurable, application‑driven progress, with growing potential to become part of the life‑sciences computational stack.
“It’s encouraging to see so many research teams implementing QCSC workflows, where classical and quantum resources work together to achieve what neither can alone,” said Jay Gambetta, director of IBM Research.
IBM is a leading provider of global hybrid cloud and AI, and consulting expertise. We help clients in more than 175 countries capitalize on insights from their data, streamline business processes, reduce costs and gain the competitive edge in their industries. Thousands of governments and corporate entities in critical infrastructure areas such as financial services, telecommunications and healthcare rely on IBM’s hybrid cloud platform and Red Hat OpenShift to effect their digital transformations quickly, efficiently and securely. IBM’s breakthrough innovations in AI, quantum computing, industry-specific cloud solutions and consulting deliver open and flexible options to our clients. All of this is backed by IBM’s long-standing commitment to trust, transparency, responsibility, inclusivity and service.
Iran, Pope, Economy: How many battles can Trump fight at once? Independent Thinking podcastAudiosseth.drupal@c…
From Hormuz to Hungary and the Vatican to the Federal Reserve, it has been an unusually contentious week for the White House, even by the standards of President Trump’s second administration.
This week’s podcast comes from the US, where our analysts assess the political and economic state of the US as it begins gearing up for the midterm elections.
From New York, Chatham House Director Bronwen Maddox and Director of the US and North America Programme, Laurel Rapp, are joined by David Lubin, Senior Research Fellow in the Global Economy and Finance Programme, who is in Washington for the International Monetary Fund and World Bank’s annual Spring Meetings to discuss the global economy and financial markets.
The panel discuss the Iran ceasefire, nuclear negotiations, the Strait of Hormuz blockade, the health of the global economy, a setback for one Trump ally in Budapest and domestic criticism for President Trump over tensions between the White House and Pope Leo.
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.
Accumulations of up to 3cm deep reported as severe thunderstorms also bring heavy downpours to central Italy
Severe thunderstorms have affected the Mediterranean this week. On Monday, a surface low-pressure system in the Mediterranean in conjunction with an upper air cut-off low, led to thunderstorms over north Africa. Their intensity was aided by the hot precursor conditions.
Algeria and Tunisia were notably affected by the thunderstorms, with some hail accumulation layers as a result. When so much hail forms, it starts to lay down sheets of hail, covering the ground like snow. Hail accumulations of up to 3cm were reported in Oum Ladjoul and Hammam Sokhna in Algeria, and there were hailstones of up to 3cm in diameter in Makthar, Tunisia. Thunderstorms continued in the region through the following day, with further hail accumulations, notably in Ouled Bousmir, Tunisia, where there was a layer about 2cm deep.
Anthony Albanese’s fuel diplomacy tour of Asia has already started paying dividends, but the real test could still be to come.
After last week’s rush to Singapore and pulling forward a planned visit, the prime minister dashed back to Australia from Malaysia on Thursday, to survey the damage at one of the nation’s only remaining fuel refineries. The hastily arranged trips, were to show a leader on the job; to demonstrate Albanese’s attention to the fuel crisis.
PC, Xbox; Sad Cat Studios This pulpy sci-fi thriller is a beautiful, if deferential, homage to the genre greats, with a poignant real-world echo
For all of cyberpunk’s cautionary tales of shady corporations and transhumanist folly, it is the genre’s arresting imagery that looms largest in the pop culture imagination. Petroleum flares light up the perpetually rainy Los Angeles of Blade Runner; in the novel Neuromancer, the sky is the “colour of television, tuned to a dead channel”.
Replaced, a new 2D action-platformer from Belarus-based outfit Sad Cat Studios, leans into the steel and sprawl that the genre is famed for. The game also offers a wrinkle to cyberpunk’s longstanding, somewhat overfamiliar visual palette: it floods the screen with softly diffusing sepia and warm primary colours, particularly in the densely populated residential areas you’re able to explore. The mood is comforting rather than ominous, cosy rather than clinical, as if this dystopian sci-fi has been touched by an unlikely hand – that of cottagecore godfather Thomas Kinkade.
PARIS, April 17, 2026 — Alice & Bob, a leader in fault-tolerant quantum computing, has hired more than 100 employees in seven months – taking its headcount to 251 and completing its hiring plan 30% faster than scheduled. Announced in September 2025 with a June 2026 target, the hiring plan was completed ahead of schedule. The recruitment drive supports R&D and commercial growth reflecting the company’s next phase of scaling.
The milestone comes as France’s broader labour market slows, with hiring levels 30% below pre-pandemic benchmarks (LinkedIn Labour Market Report, January 2026), and amid continued layoffs across the global tech sector, highlighting the quantum sector as a rare source of new job creation.
New Roles Emerging in Quantum
While global hiring remains subdued in advanced economies (down 20%-35% pre-pandemic levels (LinkedIn Labour Market Report, January 2026)), the quantum sector is creating new roles.
At Alice & Bob, the majority of new hires are in highly specialized technical roles that have only recently emerged spanning both physics and engineering. These include quantum algorithm researchers, quantum software engineers, quantum compilation scientists, quantum machine learning specialists, quantum error correction specialists, quantum experimentalists, firmware engineers, cryo-hardware engineers, superconducting material engineers, quantum nanofabrication engineers, parametric amplification experts and quantum application experimentalists.
Many of these hires come from academia or adjacent industries such as semiconductors and advanced electronics, reflecting how quantum is reshaping career pathways for scientific and engineering talent, including technicians.
Approximately one-third of Alice & Bob employees hold a PhD (79) and combine expertise from leading academic institutions and industry including quantum physics, semiconductors, cryogenics and high-performance computing. More information about Engineering roles at Alice & Bob can be found here.
Competing Globally for Talent
Alice & Bob recruits globally, bringing together a team representing 31 nationalities, with particularly strong representation from France, Italy, and Germany. The company draws talent from leading institutions including École Normale Supérieure, École Polytechnique, ETH Zurich, Swiss Federal Technology Institute of Lausanne, University of Oxford, Yale University, and Politecnico di Milano.
English is the company’s working language, reducing friction for international hires and supporting global recruitment. Paris is increasingly seen as an attractive alternative to the US, particularly as uncertainty grows around research funding and tech hiring.
Beyond location, candidates are drawn by the opportunity to work on a distinctive approach to fault-tolerant quantum computing and to contribute to one of the most ambitious challenges in modern science.
“While much of the tech sector is slowing, we’re hiring for roles that didn’t exist a few years ago. That’s changing where we find talent and how people move into quantum from adjacent industries.” said Valentine Zatti, VP People and Culture at Alice & Bob.
Looking Ahead
Alice & Bob expects hiring to continue at pace as it executes against its roadmap to create the first universal, fault-tolerant quantum computer, Graphene. Graphene will feature 100 high-fidelity logical qubits, capable of demonstrating quantum advantage in early industrial use cases.
About Alice & Bob
Alice & Bob is a quantum computing company based in Paris and Boston whose goal is to create the first universal, fault-tolerant quantum computer. Founded in 2020, Alice & Bob has raised €130 million in funding and employs more than 200 people. Advised by Nobel Prize winning researchers, Alice & Bob specializes in cat qubits, a technology developed by the company’s founders. Demonstrating the power of its cat architecture, Alice & Bob recently showed that it could reduce the hardware requirements for building a useful large-scale quantum computer up to 200 times compared with competing approaches.
Intel has launched a new budget-focused Core Series 3 processor line for lower-cost laptops -- "Intel's response to budget CPUs that are appearing in laptops like the Apple MacBook Neo," writes PCWorld's Mark Hachman. From the report: Intel unexpectedly launched the Core Series 3, based on its excellent "Panther Lake" (Core Ultra Series 3) architecture and 18A manufacturing, for devices for home consumers and small business on Thursday. Intel announced that a number of partners will launch laptops based upon the chip, including Acer, Asus, HP, Lenovo, and others. Although those laptops will be available beginning today, a number of them will begin shipping later this year, the partners said.
All of it -- from the specifications down to the messaging -- feels extremely aimed at trimming the fat and delivering to users just what they'll want. Intel's new Core Series 3 family just includes two "Cougar Cove" performance cores and four low-power efficiency "Darkmont" cores, with two Xe graphics cores on top of it. Intel isn't really worrying about AI, with an NPU capable of just 17 TOPS, though the company claims the CPU, NPU, and GPU combined reach 40 TOPS of performance. Yes, laptops will use pricey DDR5 memory, but at the lower end: just DDR5-6400 speeds. Support for three external displays will be included, though, maximizing multiple screens for maximum productivity. Intel used the term "all day battery life" without elaboration.
[...] Intel Core Series 3 delivers up to 47 percent better single-thread performance, up to 41 percent better multi thread performance, and up to 2.8x better GPU AI performance, Intel said. Compared against Intel's older Core 7 150U, Intel is saying that the new chip will outperform it by 2.1 times in content-creation and 2.7 times the AI performance. [...] We still don't know what Intel will charge for the chip, nor do we know what you'll be able to buy a Core Series 3 laptop for.
Legally questionable confidentiality clause adopted almost word for word from demands of Microsoft and trade groups
Microsoft and other US tech companies successfully lobbied the EU to hide the environmental toll of their datacentres, an investigation has found, with demands to block a database of green metrics from public view written almost word for word into EU rules.
The secrecy provision, which the European Commission added to its proposal almost verbatim after industry lobbying in 2024, hinders scrutiny of the pollution that individual datacentres emit. It leaves researchers with just national-level summaries of their energy footprints.
Liza Tobay was told settled status had been ‘red flagged’ when she tried to fly home from Germany to Scotland
A German woman has been separated from her two-year-old daughter in Edinburgh after a Home Office mistake left her stranded in Dusseldorf earlier this week.
Liza Tobay, who has lived in the UK for 15 years, had taken her oldest child, a six-year-old boy, to visit his grandfather and some other relatives over Easter when confronted with what she said appeared to be “a serious administrative error”.
Technology secretary plays down fears over jobs and cyber security as stake taken in British startup
The UK technology secretary has urged the country to “make AI work for Britain”, brushing off fears about its impact on jobs and cybersecurity as the government announced its first investment under a £500m sovereign AI fund.
Liz Kendall said the UK had to “seize” the opportunity offered by AI despite concerns underlined this month when US startup Anthropic revealed it had developed an AI model that posed a potentially significant cyber threat.
Asked how the government makes the case for embracing a technology that could disrupt jobs and now cybersecurity, Kendall said: “We have to seize this to make it work, for Britain, for our jobs, for solving the biggest challenges we face as a world.”
Speaking on Thursday as the government unveiled its first investment in a UK company as part of a £500m sovereign AI fund, Kendall acknowledged “people are worried about the risks and what it means for their jobs”, but AI entrepreneurs also believed they can “make it work … they can create jobs”.
as the title says I would like to make a trade for a onewheel XR preferably. I have a couple of consoles ad their accessories that chatgpt seems to think could be worth 2000 to 3000 AUD. if there is anyone in Australia (preferably the west side of the country) that is interested please let me know. I have and am willing to trade:
PS5 with:
dualsense edge controller
dualsense controller
pulse 3d headphones
controller dock that can fit 2 controllers
Games: GTA5, Mortal Combat 11 Ultimate, Destroy all humans 2 and FIFA 22
Nintedo Switch OLED version with:
pro controller
joycon grip controller
joycon wrist straps
Games: Pokemon Brilliant Diamond, Pokemon Sword and Pokemon Scarlet.
Nintendo 3DS XL Pokemon X and Y edition (in the box) with:
Pokemon Heartgold (in the box)
Pokemon Soulsilver (in the box)
If anyone finds this enticing, let me know! I really want to get back on a onewheel but selling all this is a bit of a pain so ideally a swap is what im looking for.
Musician, born David Anthony Burke, arrested in Los Angeles over the death of Celeste Rivas Hernandez, who went missing in 2024
R&B singer D4vd has been arrested in connection with the killing of a teenage girl whose severely decomposed body was found in his Tesla, Los Angeles police said on Thursday.
The 21-year-old musician, who was born David Anthony Burke, is being held without bail, according to city authorities.
So I have an XR and was thinking of upgrading with the fungineers long range powertrain. I’m hoping to reuse as many parts as I can, does anyone know if the original footpads will work or if some modification is needed?
Spun out on a patch of mud and got sent into a lake. Fully submerged for about 15 seconds before I got it out, it was still on fortunately. Any tips would be greatly appreciated, otherwise all I can do is hope.
question is in the title. looking at either the XR classic or the pintX
PintX price point is appealing, but knowing my feet would comfortably fit on the XR as well as the extra range and other goodies is almost worth the extra $1k imo
An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Guardian: We may appear to have little in common with sperm whales – enormous, ocean-dwelling animals that last shared a common ancestor with humans more than 90 million years ago. But the whales' vocalized communications are remarkably similar to our own, researchers have discovered. Not only do sperm whale have a form of "alphabet" and form vowels within their vocalizations but the structure of these vowels behaves in the same way as human speech, the new study has found.
Sperm whales communicate in a series of short clicks called codas. Analysis of these clicks shows that the whales can differentiate vowels through the short or elongated clicks or through rising or falling tones, using patterns similar to languages such as Mandarin, Latin and Slovenian. The structure of the whales' communication has "close parallels in the phonetics and phonology of human languages, suggesting independent evolution," the paper, published in the Proceedings B journal, states. Sperm whale coda vocalizations are "highly complex and represent one of the closest parallels to human phonology of any analyzed animal communication system," it added.
[...] The new study shows that "sperm whale communication isn't just about patterns of clicks -- it involves multiple interacting layers of structure," said Mauricio Cantor, a behavioral ecologist at the Marine Mammal Institute who was not involved in the research. "With this study, we're starting to see that these signals are organized in ways we didn't fully appreciate before." The latest discovery around sperm whale speech has inched forward the possibility of someday fully understanding the creatures and even communicating with them. Project CETI has set a goal of being able to comprehend 20 different vocalized expressions, relating to actions such as diving and sleeping, within the next five years. A future where we're able to fully understand what the whales are saying and be able to have a conversation with them is "totally within our grasp," said David Gruber, founder and president of Project CETI. "We've already got a lot further than I thought we could. But it will take time, and funding. At the moment we are like a two-year-old, just saying a few words. In a few years' time, maybe we will be more like a five-year-old."
CBS News projects that Democrat Analilia Mejia will win the special election in New Jersey's 11th Congressional District, a seat formerly held by Gov. Mikie Sherrill.
Lyons, who led agency since March 2025, to resign after turbulent year carrying out Trump’s immigration agenda
Todd Lyons, the acting director of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), is stepping down after a turbulent year carrying out Donald Trump’s immigration agenda.
Lyons, who has been leading the agency since March 2025, will resign at the end of May and move to the private sector, Markwayne Mullin, the Department of Homeland Security secretary, said in a statement on Thursday.
Victory means Democrats hold on to the 11th district seat in the House, where Republicans hold a thin majority
Democrat Analilia Mejia won a New Jersey special election for the US House on Thursday, defeating Republican Joe Hathaway on a message of standing up to Donald Trump.
Mejia, a former head of the Working Families Alliance who had support from Bernie Sanders, the Vermont senator, will fill the seat previously held by Mikie Sherrill, the state’s Democratic governor, and serve until January.
April 16, 2026 — The launch of NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) in 2021 pushed the horizon of seeing the early universe, unveiling cosmic events just a few hundred million years after the Big Bang. Among the most striking discoveries are supermassive black holes—some reaching 100 million times the mass of our Sun.
Little Red Dots are extremely compact objects recently observed by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope. Using supercomputers and LRD data from JWST, a team of astronomers compared and found good agreement with observed data to models that employed a ‘heavy seed’ vs. a ‘light seed’ hypothesis of black hole formation in the early universe. Credit: NASA.
“Finding black holes in the early universe is such a surprise because it goes against the standard model of how the universe is building structure from small pieces, or ‘light seeds,’ to big pieces or ‘heavy seed’,” said Volker Bromm, a professor of astronomy in the College of Natural Sciences and co-director of the Cosmic Frontier Center at The University of Texas at Austin.
Bromm co-authored a study on curious astronomical objects discovered by the JWST called Little Red Dots (LRD), published in the Astrophysical Journal in February 2026.
LRD are extremely compact, emitting highly-redshifted light with unusual spectral characteristics that defy easy explanation. Bromm and colleagues compared and found good agreement with JWST LRD data to models that employed a ‘heavy seed’ hypothesis of black hole formation.
Black Hole ‘Heavy Seeds’
Astronomers call the heavy seeds Direct Collapse Black Holes (DCBH), hypothesized to form from the speedy collapse of huge primordial clouds of hydrogen and helium gas. This line of thought contrasts the ‘light seed’ hypothesis of black hole formation, a slower process where a massive star burns out all its nuclear fuel and collapses into a remnant black hole, with a mass a few 10s to 100 times that of the Sun.
Where the Little Red Dots come in is on the tail end of DCBH formation. “Little Red Dots are now thought to be powered by supermassive black holes surrounded by a massive cocoon, a gas cloud of high-density material,” Bromm said.
Supercomputing Behind the Breakthrough
Bromm secured allocations on the Lonestar6 and Stampede3 supercomputers at the Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) through the University of Texas Research Cyberinfrastructure program, opening the door for researchers across UT System to harness world-class advanced computing power.
Little Red Dot population demographics: mass function at z = 4–5.5 (top) and (massive) black bole number density (bottom). The heavy-seed models largely agree with the Little Red Dot observations, but the (super-)Eddington light-seed model overproduces the observed black hole mass function. Credit: DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/ae3725
Volker used the supercomputers to develop the models that started with initial conditions of what the universe was like about half a million years after the Big Bang, gleaned from prior data on the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation.
“Lonestar6 and Stampede3 were absolutely key to this modeling and achieving this level of realism,” Bromm said. “The moment you couple dark matter with baryons (luminous materials) you get into a realm that is completely nonlinear. These facilities support the only way to solve this super complex problem.”
Bromm and colleagues used the galaxy formation code Ancient Stars and Local Observables by Tracing Halos (A-SLOTH) to populate the early universe with DCBHs and compare that to standard stellar remnant star seed models. They found better agreement with DCBH models vs. stellar remnant seeds in matching observed LRD population statistics and host dark matter halo properties.
Little Red Dot Genetics
The researchers deconstructed the observational data from JWST on LRD using what he called a “genetic technique,” where the data is broken up into its progenitors.
“We do a merger tree of the LRD history from the very beginning. It’s like constructing the history of one person, going back millions of years and tracking all descendants.”
Building on this, Bromm and colleagues incorporated key astrophysical objects and processes, such as dark matter halos, adding primordial gas to elucidate questions on how the gas forms stars, their life cycle and energy output, supernova feedback, and the resulting enrichment with heavy chemical elements.
It’s like the analogy of modeling the deep history of a person living today, tracing every ancestor and the defining moments that shaped their lives to understand who that person is today.
While not directly used in the simulations, Bromm acknowledged that artificial intelligence played a supporting role in the larger effort to extract the key properties of the Little Red Dot population from JWST imaging data.
Cosmic Challenge
“The big challenge now is intricately a supercomputing problem — to understand the data coming from the JWST on the first galaxies, starting with the primordial universe, and moving time forward to solve this coupled set of differential equations,” Bromm said.
He added that another great challenge for theoretical astronomers is connecting data from JWST on the “luminous universe,” matter we can see, with the properties of dark matter. “To make this connection between the visible to the underlying dark matter universe, supercomputing is key.”
“Philosophically, it’s fantastic that now humans are in a position to understand the entirety of nearly 14 billion years of cosmic history,” Bromm concluded. “This is a breathtaking extrapolation of our own lifetimes, and ultimately a gift from supercomputing to put this all together.”
The study, “Little Red Dots and Their Progenitors from Direct Collapse Black Holes,” was published February 2026 in the Astrophysical Journal. The study authors are Junehyoung Jeon, Volker Bromm, Anthony J. Taylor, Vasily Kokorev John Chisholm, Steven L. Finkelstein of UT Austin; Boyuan Liu of the Universität Heidelberg; Seiji Fujimoto of the University of Toronto; Rebecca L. Larson of the Space Telescope Science Institute, and Dale D. Kocevski of Colby College. Study funding came from the Royal Society University Research Fellowship and the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG; German Research Foundation) under Germany’s Excellence Strategy EXC 2181/1—390900948 (the Heidelberg STRUCTURES Excellence Cluster).
EU economy commissioner says Iran war is feeding Russia’s war machine; Trump condemns massive strikes on Ukraine. What we know on day 1,513
The EU expects to start releasing a new €90bn loan to Ukraine in the second quarter, the bloc’s economy chief told AFP on Thursday. The EU’s economy commissioner, Valdis Dombrovskis, was speaking on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank’s spring meetings, which brought finance ministers, central bankers and other leaders to Washington. “Our support for Ukraine, also continued pressure and sanctions against aggressor Russia was very much part of the agenda,” Dombrovskis said. He warned that Moscow was “emerging as a winner from this war in Iran, because it provides windfall profits to feed Russia’s war machine”.
Russia hammered civilian areas across Ukraine with drones and missiles on Thursday, killing at least 17 peopleand wounding more than 100 others in the worst aerial attack in weeks, Ukrainian authorities said. Nearly 700 drones and dozens of ballistic and cruise missiles were used, as Ukrainian officials said vital stocks of advanced interceptors were running low.
Donald Trump on Thursday condemned a massive Russian drone and missile attack across Ukraine that ripped through apartment buildings in the capital, Kyiv. Asked by reporters at the White House for his reaction to the barrage, Trump said: “I think it’s terrible.”
It is not in the interest of the US that Russia is the winner of the Iran war, the German vice chancellor, Lars Klingbeil, said on Thursday in Washington. “It’s not in our interest and it cannot be in the interest of the United States,” he said in a joint statement with the finance ministers of Ukraine and Norway on the sidelines of the IMF spring meetings. Klingbeil said the Russian economy was growing thanks to the Middle East conflict and the country was profitting from the energy situation. As the conflict in the Middle East dominated the gathering of finance officials at the IMF in Washington, the ministers of Norway, Germany and Ukraine spoke about not forgetting to support Ukraine in its defence against Russia. “All the meetings here are about the question of what’s happening with the war in Iran, and I think it’s really important we show solidarity with our friends in Ukraine,” Klingbeil said.
The heads of the EU and Nato on Thursday discussed efforts to bolster Europe’s arms production, as Donald Trump threw doubt on Washington’s commitment to the transatlantic alliance. “We need to invest more, to produce more and to do both faster,” the European Commission’s president, Ursula von der Leyen, posted online after meeting Nato’s chief, Mark Rutte. European nations are scrambling to bolster their militaries in the face of Russia’s war on Ukraine and pressure from Trump.
"We are carrying back everything we learned, not only about where we went but ourselves," mission specialist Christina Koch told "CBS Evening News" anchor Tony Dokoupil.
First-ever demonstration of an end-to-end quantum-classical workflow for simulating complex therapeutics, unlocking a credible path to near-term quantum advantage in health.
SAN DIEGO, April 16, 2026 — Wellcome Leap (Leap), a U.S. nonprofit founded by the Wellcome Trust to accelerate breakthroughs in human health, today announced the outcome of its Quantum for Bio (Q4Bio) Supported Challenge Program. The $50 million initiative was designed to support the development of new algorithms (with $40 million in research funding) and test them through a rigorous, competitive challenge to determine whether quantum computing could deliver provable advantage for critical, classically intractable challenges in biology and healthcare. Up to $10 million in potential prizes was available.
Launched in 2023, Q4Bio set out to answer a fundamental question: What if we could develop new algorithms that deliver quantum advantage for health? At the time, the field was marked by significant promise, but limited evidence of practical application. Over the course of 30 months, the program brought together experts across quantum software, hardware, and biology as collaborative teams to identify high-impact biological use cases and co-develop the quantum solutions required to solve them. Finalist teams were led by Infleqtion, University of Nottingham, Harvard University, Stanford University, Algorithmiq, and the University of Oxford.
Two prize categories were defined: A $5 million grand prize for demonstrating quantum advantage over best-in-class classical baselines and a $2 million prize for each team that successfully demonstrated an experimental realization of their application on a quantum computer with more than 50 qubits, a program depth of O(10³–10⁴), and a clear trajectory to scale toward quantum advantage.
Today, Wellcome Leap has announced that Algorithmiq has successfully met the criteria for the $2 million prize.
The multidisciplinary team led by quantum software company Algorithmiq, with quantum computing support from IBM, and biological expertise from Cleveland Clinic, successfully demonstrated an experimental realization of their solution – identifying a scalable path to future quantum advantage. The team developed an end-to-end quantum-classical workflow to calculate excited-state properties of a photosensitizer drug relevant for photodynamic cancer therapy.
Importantly, the true impact of Q4Bio extends beyond the prize itself. Through rigorous testing of current capabilities, teams across the program delivered critical scientific contributions that establish a clear, evidence-based understanding of how quantum computing can be applied in human health.
“When we started the Wellcome Leap program, it wasn’t clear exactly how or where quantum computing could meaningfully impact biology,” said Shihan Sajeed, Program Director for Q4Bio. “Q4Bio was designed to create new solutions that would answer that question within real biological and hardware constraints. What we now have is a much clearer understanding of where quantum can create value, where it cannot, and what needs to happen next.”
What Q4Bio Established
Rather than focusing on theoretical exploration, Q4Bio tested quantum approaches against real-world biological problems within the physical limits of current hardware.
Across the program, teams validated biological use cases where quantum hardware may offer advantage, advanced the performance of classical approaches, and developed end-to-end hybrid quantum–classical pipelines connecting biological questions to computational solutions.
Together, this work provides a rigorous assessment of what is computationally feasible today – and what depends on future hardware advances. It represents one of the most coordinated efforts to date to apply quantum computing to address critical health challenges.
Looking Ahead
While today’s quantum systems remain limited for most applications, Q4Bio provides a roadmap for how quantum capabilities can evolve alongside hardware improvements. The pipelines and workflows developed through the program are expected to adapt as more advanced, fault-tolerant quantum systems emerge, enabling increasingly complex biological applications over time.
Building on the progress of Q4Bio, Wellcome Leap expects to launch a follow-on initiative to further advance quantum-enabled approaches to biology and health applications. The team is currently evaluating next steps and welcomes discussions with partners interested in supporting future programs.
About Wellcome Leap
Wellcome Leap is a billion-dollar breakthrough engine for human health – at global scale. Founded by the Wellcome Trust in 2020 as a U.S. nonprofit, Wellcome Leap builds and executes bold, unconventional programs with the urgency required to deliver breakthroughs in years, not decades. Operating at the intersection of life sciences and engineering, Leap programs require best-in-class, multi-disciplinary, global teams assembled from universities, companies, and nonprofits working together to solve problems that they cannot solve alone. For more information, read how Wellcome Leap is Changing the Business of Breakthroughs and visit www.wellcomeleap.org. To learn more about the Q4Bio program, visit www.wellcomeleap.org/q4bio.
GOP Rep. Anna Paulina Luna told CBS News that Democratic Sen. Ruben Gallego was the previously unnamed senator whom she accused of "very disturbing" conduct. Gallego has denied all wrongdoing.
Justin Fairfax, a former lieutenant governor of Virginia whose tenure was upended by allegations of sexual assault, shot and killed his wife Cerina Fairfax on Thursday before killing himself, police said.
Kevin Davis, the chief of the Fairfax county police department in Virginia, said at a press conference that the killings took place in the context of “an ongoing domestic dispute surrounding what seems to be a complicated or messy divorce”.
In the US, the suicide prevention lifeline is 988 and the domestic violence hotline is 1-800-799-SAFE (7233). In the UK, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123 and the domestic abuse helpline is 0808 2000 247. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is on 13 11 14 and the national family violence counselling service is on 1800 737 732. Other international helplines can be found via www.befrienders.org
Unboxed the board and noticed that the head lights are flashing, along with a red led bar flash. What app can i download that will let me control the lights?
Second. I see videos of people getting audible duty cycle feedback through their headphones. What app can i set that up through ? Thanks!
I just got my GT-S in the mail a few days ago but haven’t had a chance to ride it. I did top off the battery to 100% though.
I swear I saw an official Onewheel video that mentioned the need to charge your Onewheel up to 100% when it arrives and then drain it completely when you first go to use it. I can’t find that video anymore and I don’t see any reference to that in the online digital manual for the GT–S. Do I still need to ride the Onewheel until the battery completely drains or is it okay ti ride for a while and then call it until the weekend?
Democratic representative from California has suspended gubernatorial campaign and resigned from Congress
The US Department of Justice (DoJ) has opened an investigation into Eric Swalwell following his resignation from Congress, according to a source familiar with the matter.
The news of a federal investigation comes days after the Democratic representative from California stepped down due to multiple allegations of sexual misconduct.
Campaigners organise open letter to director demanding ‘fair day’s wage’ for all workers at V&A museums
A row over pay has broken out at the V&A before the opening of its newest site , with thousands of people calling for it to become a living wage employer.
On Saturday, V&A East will open its doors in Stratford, east London, showcasing stunning fabrics, photos and black British music. It joins a wider group of V&A museums including its original site in South Kensington, Young V&A in Bethnal Green and V&A Dundee. The V&A describes its latest opening as one of the most significant new museum projects in the UK.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Two years ago, Microsoft launched its first wave of "Copilot+" Windows PCs with a handful of exclusive features that could take advantage of the neural processing unit (NPU) hardware being built into newer laptop processors. These NPUs could enable AI and machine learning features that could run locally rather than in someone's cloud, theoretically enhancing security and privacy. One of the first Copilot+ features was Recall, a feature that promised to track all your PC usage via screenshot to help you remember your past activity. But as originally implemented, Recall was neither private nor secure; the feature stored its screenshots plus a giant database of all user activity in totally unencrypted files on the user's disk, making it trivial for anyone with remote or local access to grab days, weeks, or even months of sensitive data, depending on the age of the user's Recall database.
After journalists and security researchers discovered and detailed these flaws, Microsoft delayed the Recall rollout by almost a year and substantially overhauled its security. All locally stored data would now be encrypted and viewable only with Windows Hello authentication; the feature now did a better job detecting and excluding sensitive information, including financial information, from its database; and Recall would be turned off by default, rather than enabled on every PC that supported it. The reconstituted Recall was a big improvement, but having a feature that records the vast majority of your PC usage is still a security and privacy risk. Security researcher Alexander Hagenah was the author of the original "TotalRecall" tool that made it trivially simple to grab the Recall information on any Windows PC, and an updated "TotalRecall Reloaded" version exposes what Hagenah believes are additional vulnerabilities.
The problem, as detailed by Hagenah on the TotalRecall GitHub page, isn't with the security around the Recall database, which he calls "rock solid." The problem is that, once the user has authenticated, the system passes Recall data to another system process called AIXHost.exe, and that process doesn't benefit from the same security protections as the rest of Recall. "The vault is solid," Hagenah writes. "The delivery truck is not." The TotalRecall Reloaded tool uses an executable file to inject a DLL file into AIXHost.exe, something that can be done without administrator privileges. It then waits in the background for the user to open Recall and authenticate using Windows Hello. Once this is done, the tool can intercept screenshots, OCR'd text, and other metadata that Recall sends to the AIXHost.exe process, which can continue even after the user closes their Recall session.
"The VBS enclave won't decrypt anything without Windows Hello," Hagenah writes. "The tool doesn't bypass that. It makes the user do it, silently rides along when the user does it, or waits for the user to do it." A handful of tasks, including grabbing the most recent Recall screenshot, capturing select metadata about the Recall database, and deleting the user's entire Recall database, can be done with no Windows Hello authentication. Once authenticated, Hagenah says the TotalRecall Reloaded tool can access both new information recorded to the Recall database as well as data Recall has previously recorded. "We appreciate Alexander Hagenah for identifying and responsibly reporting this issue. After careful investigation, we determined that the access patterns demonstrated are consistent with intended protections and existing controls, and do not represent a bypass of a security boundary or unauthorized access to data," a Microsoft spokesperson told Ars. "The authorization period has a timeout and anti-hammering protection that limit the impact of malicious queries."
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on Thursday, kicking off an expected sprint of seven budget hearings he'll attend over the next week.
April 16, 2026 — Picture two materials sandwiched together. The boundary between them may appear flat, but, in reality, it is full of tiny bumps and dents.
Suddenly, the materials are hit with a shockwave. If that wave hits a bump in the material interface, it slows down. If it hits a dent, it accelerates forward. This imbalance creates fast, narrow jets of material — called the Richtmyer-Meshkov (RM) instability.
Adding an optimized void structure (top right) counteracts a shockwave-induced instability, reducing jetting (bottom right) that can interfere with inertial confinement fusion. Without this void, significant jetting occurs (bottom left). Image credit: Strucka et al.
In a recent paper, published in Physical Review Letters, researchers from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Imperial College London and their collaborators used AI to optimize and 3D printing to create a target that effectively negates the RM instability.
“Our target reshapes the shockwave, in both space and time, as it travels through the material,” said first author Jergus Strucka, now at the European XFEL. “Instead of a single shock hitting the surface, we introduce voids to break it up into a sequence of smaller pressure pulses that arrive at slightly different times.”
The team used a machine-learning design optimization algorithm to search through many possible target structures. The process suggested that a void — a specifically shaped cavity in the material — could reshape the shock as it passes through, effectively weakening and redistributing the wave.
“The challenge is that while these designs look promising in simulations, they are often extremely difficult to manufacture and experimentally test,” said Strucka. “Our work is one of the first demonstrations that such AI-optimized structures can actually be built and studied in real experiments.”
To assemble such a target, the scientists used a polymer 3D printer to make an inverted version of their target structure. Much like making Jell-O in a mold, they fill the printed structure with gelatin, let it set, then remove it. As a result, one side of the gelatin target has a wavy surface, while the other side contains the voids.
The gelatin structure is deposited onto a thin copper strip. They send a large electrical pulse — equivalent to several lightning strikes — through the copper, which heats, explodes and launches a shockwave into the gelatin.
First, the wave encounters the voids. Then it moves toward the wavy end of the gelatin, where the RM instability would normally grow. But by the time it gets there, the wave has been redistributed.
“To some degree, we are creating another instability using the designed voids that acts against the RM instability and reduces jetting,” said study author and LLNL scientist Dane Sterbentz. “By modifying the original pressure pulse as it passes through these voids, we are also creating a sort of secondary pressure wave that can actually act against the unstable jetting.”
The same physics of voids should apply in a sphere, making these results potentially useful for improving fill tubes or material interfaces in inertial confinement fusion (ICF) targets. During a fusion ignition experiment, unstable jetting can reduce the symmetry of the imploding capsule and therefore the amount of energy produced.
“For ICF experiments at the National Ignition Facility (NIF), it can be difficult and costly to probe isolated effects like the RM instability,” said Sterbentz. “That’s where our experimental setup is useful — it allows us to probe the instability in a much simpler system. However, experiments more directly relevant to ICF will have to be further pursued at facilities such as the Omega Laser Facility or NIF.”
These findings also extend beyond ICF to a broad swathe of materials research where shockwaves are relevant, including oil and gas extraction and defense applications.
A:The government doesn’t provide estimates of the extent of so-called birth tourism — pregnant women coming to the U.S. on tourism visas in order to obtain birthright U.S. citizenship for their newborn child. One outside group has estimated it may be more than 20,000 births per year. Some argue it’s not common enough to justify upending longstanding birthright citizenship policies.
FULL ANSWER
As the reader who asked us about this noted, birth tourism was cited by the solicitor general in Supreme Court arguments on April 1 as a reason why birthright citizenship ought to be ended. According to longstanding interpretation, the U.S. Constitution grants citizenship to children born in the U.S. even if their parents are in the country illegally. The Trump administration is challenging that.
Solicitor General D. John Sauer argued before the Supreme Court that birthright citizenship “has spawned a sprawling industry of birth tourism as uncounted thousands of foreigners from potentially hostile nations have flocked to give birth in the United States in recent decades, creating a whole generation of American citizens abroad with no meaningful ties to the United States.”
When asked by Chief Justice John Roberts if he had any information about how common or significant a problem birth tourism is, Sauer responded, “No one knows for sure.”
The high court is expected to rule this summer on the case challenging President Donald Trump’s executive order to end birthright citizenship, which he issued on the first day of his second term.
The State Department does not keep data on birth tourism. But that hasn’t stopped the Trump administration from sharing high-end estimates.
Trump has long criticized birth tourism, saying it is a magnet for illegal immigration. In 2023, he proposed an executive order that he said would “end their unfair practice known as birth tourism where hundreds of thousands of people from all over the planet squat in hotels for their last few weeks of pregnancy to illegitimately and illegally obtain U.S. citizenship for the child, often to later exploit chain migration to jump the line and get green cards for themselves and their family members.” (What he signed in 2025, however, went beyond targeting birth tourism and called for an end to birthright citizenship for any child born in the U.S. to parents who aren’t citizens or legal permanent residents.)
On Fox News on April 4, Border Czar Tom Homan said, “Birth tourism has been a problem for the three decades that I’ve been enforcing immigration law, especially from Russia and China, where hundreds of thousands of their nationals come to this country just to give birth. So we’ve got hundreds of thousands of Chinese nationals and Russian nationals who have U.S. citizen children. And if that continues, that is a significant national security threat.”
In 2020, the Center for Immigration Studies, an organization that advocates low immigration, estimated the possible number of birth tourism cases at 20,000 to 26,000 per year. For context, there were 3.61 million births in the U.S. that year.
Steven Camarota, director of research for CIS, said he arrived at the estimate by comparing census data with birth records. Due to some changes in the census data, he said, the 2020 estimate is the most recent he can provide. But over a decade, he said, that would be an estimate of more than 200,000 birth tourism cases.
Birth Tourism Operations
In his Supreme Court arguments, Sauer cited a 2022 congressional report from Republicans on the Senate’s Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs that detailed two birth tourism operations: one that solicited clients in China and operated out of California and another that catered to “Russian elites coming to Miami through these birth tourism companies.”
Sauer also noted that in 2015, a Chinese newspaper reported that at least 500 companies offered “birth tourism” services in China at that time.
In 2019, federal authorities announced the first federal case involving birth tourism, with the arrest of three people for running an operation in Southern California catering to Chinese clients. The indictments, which came following an undercover operation in 2015, also included an additional 16 fugitive defendants.
“The indictments describe birth tourism schemes in which foreign nationals, mostly from China, applied for visitor visas to come to the United States and lied about the length of their trips, where they would stay, and the purposes of their trips – which were to come to the U.S. for three months to give birth so their children would receive U.S. birthright citizenship,” according to a U.S. Attorney’s Office press release at the time.
Photo by Nomad_Soul / stock.adobe.com.
The press release said the operators coached pregnant Chinese customers about “how to pass the U.S. Consulate interview in China by falsely stating that they were going to stay in the U.S. for only two weeks. Their clients were also coached to trick U.S. Customs at ports of entry by wearing loose clothing that would conceal their pregnancies. … The indictments allege that many of the Chinese birth tourism customers failed to pay all of the medical costs associated with their hospital births, and the debts were referred to collection.”
“Receiving a tourist visa from the United States Government is a privilege, not a right,” IRS Criminal Investigation Acting Special Agent in Charge Bryant Jackson stated at the time.
One of the operations in the indictment purported to have a “100-person team” in China and to have served more than 500 Chinese birth tourism customers. The operation used an array of apartments in California and charged customers between $40,000 to $80,000. Another, which was believed to be the largest birth tourism operation, claimed it “provided services to 8,000 pregnant women (4,000 from China) since we established.”
“Our federal government has no idea how many Chinese nationals have done this,” Schweizer said, because the U.S. does not compile birth certificate data on the nationality of parents. “So our federal government has no clue.”
Schweizer claimed Chinese officials estimated as many as 100,000 Chinese babies have been born each year in the U.S. over the last 13 years.
Republican legislators have also raised concerns about the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, a 14-island U.S. territory in the Western Pacific, being used as a birth tourism hub. Since it’s a U.S. territory, those born in the Northern Mariana Islands are granted citizenship.
In a Jan. 15 letter to the departments of Homeland Security and the Interior, Sens. Rick Scott, Jim Banks and Markwayne Mullin argued that President Barack Obama had paved the way for birth tourism with a parole program in 2009 that enabled Chinese nationals to visit the Northern Mariana Islands without a tourist visa.
“Birth tourism has long been an underground industry in the CNMI, with pregnant Chinese women flocking to Saipan to give birth that automatically provides U.S. citizenship to their new-born child,” the Pacific Island Times reported on Dec. 5, 2017. “Most of these women leave the CNMI after childbirth and receipt of their baby’s U.S. passport.”
Births registered to foreign tourists in the Northern Mariana Islands reached a peak of 581 in 2018, the New York Times reported.
That year, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands reported the conviction of a man for operating an illegal birth tourism business on Saipan, the capital of the Northern Mariana Islands. A press release said the man — who was sentenced to a year in jail — said he had employed “dozens of caretakers, or ‘nannies’, all Chinese nationals who were in the CNMI without work authorization.”
Kimberlyn King-Hinds, a Republican who serves as a non-voting delegate for CNMI in the U.S. House of Representatives, told NPR that local and federal officials have since cracked down on the practice and tightened border security. By 2025, she said, births to foreign tourists had dropped to 47. (That figure was also confirmed by the New York Times.)
Federal Policies
In 2020, the Trump administration issued a new rule giving the State Department discretion to deny tourism visas to an applicant it has “reason to believe intends to travel for this primary purpose [birth tourism].”
According to the 2022 minority report from the Senate’s Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, the “rule change made it more difficult for birth tourism companies to continue operations.”
Camarota said the rule change may have encouraged federal authorities to be more diligent in scrutinizing people seeking tourism visas. But he believes there is more the government could do — such as barring travel visas to people who appear to be obviously pregnant.
“Birth tourism is an issue, there is no doubt,” Michelle Mittelstadt, director of communications and public affairs at the Migration Policy Institute, told us via email. “It is visa fraud and a misuse of the U.S. immigration system.”
According to U.S. law, when people come to the U.S. on tourism visas for pleasure, that “does not include obtaining a visa for the primary purpose of obtaining U.S. citizenship for a child by giving birth in the United States.”
“That said, birth tourism is a very small occurrence – of the 3.6 million U.S. births annually, a tiny fraction is due to foreign women who are not regularly domiciled in the U.S. coming here for the purpose of giving birth to secure U.S. citizenship for their child,” Mittelstadt said.
In 2024, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 9,576 births in the U.S. to foreign residents. Mittelstadt acknowledges that the CDC figures may be an undercount of birth tourism, and that many women may list a U.S. address even if they are not intending to live in the U.S. after giving birth.
“Still, even the most expansive estimates of birth tourism … [from CIS] puts the total at a max 26,000 births a year,” Mittelstadt said.
“There are effective ways to address birth tourism without watering down constitutional protections and both expanding the size of the unauthorized population and creating a category of second-class individuals as would occur if birthright citizenship is ended,” Mittelstadt said.
For example, Mittelstadt said, the government could tighten consular and border screenings, including “rigorous questioning about purpose of travel and financial arrangements for medical care. And making travel primarily for giving birth in the U.S. an explicit ground for inadmissibility or visitor visa denial.” In addition, she said, questions could be added to visa application forms “about pregnancy and intent to deliver in the U.S., with long-term or lifetime visa bans for those who engage in misrepresentations.” Regulations could also be put in place stipulating how late in pregnancy women can travel from international destinations to the U.S. And law enforcement could also prosecute birth tourism operators more vigorously.
Camarota agreed there are ways the U.S. could reduce birth tourism short of banning birthright citizenship.
“You probably can address a lot of it just by taking a forceful position,” Camarota said. “You couldn’t eliminate it, but … you probably could greatly curtail it with different State Department rules and different border controls.”
Camarota said he also wishes the administration had started with an executive order more narrowly targeting birth tourism, which he thinks might be more winnable at the Supreme Court.
“Birth tourism probably is the best case against automatic birthright citizenship,” Camarota said. “Most Americans, say, ‘Yeah, that doesn’t seem right at all.’ And I think that that’s probably where they should start.”
At the Supreme Court hearing on April 1 to consider abolishing birthright citizenship altogether, Chief Justice Roberts asked Sauer, the solicitor general, if he agreed that birth tourism “has no impact on the legal analysis before us.”
Sauer responded that birth tourism is an example that the 14th Amendment’s “interpretation has these implications that could not possibly have been approved by the 19th century framers of this amendment.”
Sauer noted that we now live in a world “where 8 billion people are one plane ride away from having a child who’s a U.S. citizen.”
“Well, it’s a new world,” Roberts said. “It’s the same Constitution.”
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PARIS, April 16, 2026 — Atos, a global leader of AI-powered digital transformation, today announced it has been entrusted by the European Space Agency (ESA) to launch an Open Competition to expand DestinE ecosystem. DestinE is a flagship initiative led by the European Commission and implemented by the ESA, the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) and the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT) to create a highly accurate digital twin of the Earth.
Credit: Shutterstock
DestinE’s ecosystem is designed to assist policymakers, researchers or innovators simulate, monitor and better understand natural phenomena and human activity, offering new ways to engage with and understand our world better to shape a sustainable future.
As a result of this first Open Competition, 12 innovative Service Providers have been selected to deliver Advanced Applications & Services (AAS) on DestinE Platform.
Some of these services are now fully operational, offering unprecedented opportunities for exploration and understanding.
Assessing Quality of Life with CALIFE
CALIFE (“Quality of Life”), developed by Murmuration, is designed to make satellite Earth Observation insights accessible to everyone, from the general public to local authorities. It provides personalized, easy-to-understand reports on environmental and health conditions at a hyper-local scale.
CALIFE offers:
Free service for municipalities,
Premium quality-of-life reports for citizens,
Custom projections for decision-makers.
By raising awareness, supporting local policies, and fostering resilience to climate change, CALIFE creates a virtuous cycle toward healthier, more sustainable communities.
Monitoring Potato Fields with Harvic (Harvest in Control)
Harvic, developed by GeoVille, is designed to provide stakeholders in the potato industry with a clear and reliable view of crop development throughout the season, as well as accurate predictions for harvest time in terms of quantity and quality. By combining satellite information, weather data, and field observations, HARVIC transforms complex datasets into simple, actionable insights.
This innovative service helps users to:
Understand crop conditions and monitor their evolution,
Anticipate yield and quality, reducing uncertainty,
HARVIC supports better planning for harvest and logistics, complementing traditional field checks and expertise. Built around real operational needs, it integrates seamlessly into existing workflows, enhancing foresight and decision-making confidence.
By saving time, optimizing resources, and promoting more sustainable farming practices, HARVIC not only empowers the potato industry to thrive in a rapidly changing agricultural landscape but also contributes to a deeper, data-driven understanding of agricultural dynamics in a rapidly changing environment.
Exploring Land Temperatures in High-Resolution with Hi-Rest LST
Developed by OHB Digital Services, Hi-Rest LST is designed to deliver precise thermal insights at a resolution of 30 meters. By leveraging advanced machine learning and data fusion techniques, the service combines the coarser Sentinel-3 data (1km spatial resolution) with the high-resolution land surface temperature product from Landsat-8.
Hi-Rest LST offers:
Detailed visualization of land surface temperature layers and time series for user-defined locations,
Customizable areas of interest and datasets tailored to specific needs,
Monitoring tools for user-triggered pipeline runs, ensuring seamless access to service results.
By providing enhanced land surface temperature estimations, Hi-Rest LST supports applications where precision is critical, such as urban resilience planning and infrastructure monitoring.
This service empowers end-users to make informed decisions and drive sustainable solutions for a changing world.
Compressing Earth Observation Data with COMEO
COMEO (“Compression Of Models & Earth Observations”), developed by VisioTerra, is designed to optimize the use of Earth observation and modeling data through lossy compression algorithms. Targeting data from Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 satellites as well as Earth modeling data like C3S ERA5, COMEO offers an innovative solution for efficiently managing data volumes.
COMEO offers:
Advanced compression algorithms allowing size reduction ranging from ×10 to ×250,
Demonstration tool: Illustrating the impact of lossy compression on data quality for better understanding of trade-offs,
Mapping tool: Presenting a synthesis of Sentinel-1 IW data over the Mediterranean Sea, covering the entire Sentinel-1 mission time range.
By providing effective compression solutions, COMEO enables users to maximize data usage while preserving relevance for critical applications such as environmental monitoring and climate model analysis. This service is essential for those looking to leverage Earth data while optimizing available resources.
Studying Desert Locust Impacts with DLMS
The Desert Locust Monitoring Service (DLMS), developed by Sistema, is at the forefront of efforts to mitigate the devastating impacts of desert locusts, which are recognized as the world’s most destructive migratory pests. These pests pose significant threats to the economy, quality of life, and the environment, with their impacts exacerbated by climate change.
Key Features of the Desert Locust Monitoring Service:
AI-driven detection: utilizes cutting-edge AI algorithms to analyze diverse climate data sources, including satellite imagery, model data, and in situ observations, to identify breeding conditions conducive to locust proliferation,
Predictive modeling: offers robust predictions of locust swarm movements, enabling proactive measures to prevent upsurges and mitigate potential damage,
Geographical scope: focuses on a vast region extending from Africa to Asia, where locust activity is most prevalent.
By leveraging these innovative technologies, the Desert Locust Monitoring Service plays a crucial role in safeguarding agricultural resources and ecosystems, ensuring that stakeholders can respond swiftly and effectively to locust threats. This service is indispensable for those aiming to protect their livelihoods and the environment from the adverse effects of these formidable pests.
New Wave of Services
A new wave of innovative services will become operational, each designed to address critical challenges across diverse sectors. These will include:
CityNexus Pro by Solenix: a pro version of the CityNexus service already operational in the DestinE Platform with an advanced urban digital twin application assessing the impacts of climate changes in road networks and urban design;
CONOPS by EDGE in Earth Observation Sciences: a predictive model using satellite and census data to simulate mosquito populations and estimate disease risks;
CC-PLAN by CGIItalia: a service providing localized data on Urban Heat Islands and Flight Climatic Analysis dynamics using DestinE datasets and providing mitigation strategy modeling, and dynamic visualizations;
AQWALYTICS by Magellium: a scalable solution monitoring the quality of European water bodies by combining satellite data with real-time data from in-situ stations;
Eki’Learning by Ekitia: an ethical data service for the DestinE Platform that includes easy-to-follow e-learning modules on data use and AI, plus a self-assessment tool to help users check the ethical maturity of their services;
MoMo by Detektia: a service detecting and analyzing deformation patterns in infrastructures influenced by external factors, aiding in the identification of anomalies;
InSAR Deformation Monitoring by GeoKinesia: three services, based on Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR): InSAR Service, Active Deformation Areas Map and Differential Deformation Map Service.
Valérie Dehlinger, director of Aerospace, Automotive, Chemicals, Discrete Manufacturing, Energy & Utilities, Retail, Telecoms, Media & Technology and Transport & Travel Markets in France, Atos, stated: “We are pleased to support ESA’s work in advancing the DestinE ecosystem and digital innovation in Earth observation and to play a crucial role in shaping the future of DestinE, ensuring its attractivity for diverse stakeholders across Europe.”
As part of this visionary project, the Atos consortium, including Atos, Mews Partners and ACRI-ST, was entrusted in 2024 with the execution of four key activities that are pivotal to the success of DestinE:
Portfolio management: driving engagement and expanding the ecosystem’s reach to maximize its impact and usability,
Demonstrators: delivering inspiring use cases and foundational services to empower ecosystem providers and showcase the platform’s potential,
Lifecycle support: accelerating the growth of the ecosystem by streamlining service onboarding and ensuring seamless integration,
Collaborative services & forum: cultivating a dynamic and collaborative environment to foster creativity, knowledge exchange and innovation.
The DestinE platform is co-funded by the European Union. The perspectives and opinions expressed in this press release are those of the contributing authors only and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union or the European Commission. Neither the European Union nor the European Commission can be held responsible for them.
Atos Group is a global leader in digital transformation with c. 61,000 employees and annual revenue of c. €7.2 billion (pro forma for the disposal of Advanced Computing activities), operating in 61 countries under two brands – Atos for services and Eviden for products and systems. European number one in cybersecurity and cloud, Atos Group is committed to a secure and decarbonized future and provides tailored AI-powered, end-to-end solutions for all industries. Atos Group is the brand under which Atos SE (Societas Europaea) operates. Atos SE listed on Euronext Paris.
Julius Malema, whose incendiary rhetoric about Afrikaners drew notice on the U.S. right, was handed a five-year prison term for firing a gun at a 2018 rally.
ST. LOUIS, April 16, 2026 — DataCool, a division of JohnsonMarCraft HVAC Products, today announced the launch of its new Alpine, Glacier, and Kodiak product lines, a next generation cooling platform engineered to meet the rapidly increasing thermal demands of AI, cloud, and high-density data center environments.
As global data infrastructure expands at an unprecedented pace, operators are facing growing pressure to deploy cooling systems that are not only powerful, but also flexible, efficient, and quick to implement. DataCool’s latest product launch addresses these challenges with a highly configurable suite of solutions designed to scale across a wide range of applications, from edge deployments to hyperscale facilities.
“The rise of AI and high-performance computing is fundamentally changing the way data centers are designed and operated,” said Matt Polizzi, Vice President at DataCool. “With Alpine, Glacier, and Kodiak, we’ve developed a platform that gives our customers the flexibility and performance they need to stay ahead of those demands without adding unnecessary complexity.”
Built for Scale, Performance, and Flexibility
The newly launched systems support a broad operating range from 2,000 to 100,000 CFM and up to 300 tons of cooling capacity enabling customers to standardize on a single platform across multiple facility types and sizes.
Designed for both indoor and outdoor applications, the systems provide engineers and operators with the flexibility to meet site specific requirements while reducing design and deployment timelines.
Key Features of the New Platform
Modular, Scalable Architecture: Supports a wide range of deployments, from localized edge environments to large-scale data centers.
High-Efficiency Cooling Performance: Standard ECM fans combined with configurable chilled water (CW) or direct expansion (DX) coils optimize energy efficiency and thermal control.
Advanced Filtration Options: Single- or dual-stage MERV 8–16 filtration helps protect critical IT infrastructure.
Customizable Controls Integration: Factory-installed options include standalone DDC systems or pre-integrated third-party controls for seamless building management system (BMS) compatibility.
Simplified Installation and Commissioning: Integral piping and configurable hydronic designs reduce installation complexity and accelerate project timelines.
Durable, High-Quality Construction: Units are built with robust materials and a reinforced base structure to ensure long-term reliability in demanding environments.
Each system is engineered with a single-point 460/3 electrical connection, streamlining integration and supporting faster deployment.
Addressing the Future of Data Center Cooling
With increasing rack densities and the continued growth of AI workloads, thermal management is becoming one of the most critical factors in data center performance and uptime. DataCool’s new platform is designed to help operators meet these evolving challenges with adaptable, future-ready solutions that prioritize both efficiency and reliability.
The Alpine, Glacier, and Kodiak systems are now available for specification and shipment.
About DataCool
DataCool is a division of Arizon Companies, a leader in HVAC manufacturing with roots dating back to 1921 through JohnsonMarCraft HVAC Products. DataCool specializes in advanced cooling solutions for data centers and mission-critical environments, combining proven engineering expertise with innovative, high-performance system design.
OpenAI is updating Codex with more agent-like capabilities, positioning it as a more direct rival to Anthropic's Claude Code. Some of the new features include the ability to operate macOS desktop apps, browse the web inside the app, generate images, use new workplace plug-ins, and remember useful context from past tasks. The Verge reports: Codex will now be able to operate desktop apps on your computer, OpenAI says in a blog post announcing the update. It can work in the background, meaning it won't interfere with your own work in other apps, and multiple agents can work in parallel. For developers, OpenAI says "this is helpful for testing and iterating on frontend changes, testing apps, or working in apps that don't expose an API." The feature will start rolling out to Codex desktop app users signed in with ChatGPT today and will initially be limited to macOS. OpenAI did not indicate a timeline for when use will expand to other operating systems. EU users will also have to wait, it said, adding that the update will roll out to users there "soon."
Codex is also getting the ability to generate and iterate on images with gpt-image-1.5, new plug-ins for tools like GitLab, Atlassian Rovo, and Microsoft Suite, and native web browsing through an in-app browser, "where you can comment directly on pages to provide precise instructions to the agent." OpenAI also said it will also be easier to automate tasks, with users able to re-use existing conversation threads and Codex now able to schedule future work for itself and wake up automatically to continue on a long-term task. Codex will also be getting a memory feature allowing it to remember useful context from past experience, such as personal preferences, corrections, and information that took time to gather. OpenAI said it hopes the opt-in feature, which will be released as a preview, will help future tasks complete faster and to a quality that previously required detailed custom instructions. The personalization features will roll out to Enterprise, Edu, and EU users "soon."
Sir Olly Robbins, the UK Foreign Office’s top civil servant, has been forced out of his post after the decision to fail Peter Mandelson during his security vetting was overruled by his department.
Robbins was the Foreign Office’s most senior official in late January 2025 when the decision was made, paving the way for Mandelson to become the US ambassador.
Exclusive: A trove of previously redacted documents was filed as part of the tech giant’s anti-trust battle with the state of California. Amazon denies it engages in price-fixing
Hundreds of previously redacted records reveal how Amazon has put pressure on independent sellers using its platform into raising their prices on the sites of competitors such as Walmart and Target, so that Amazon can appear to have lower prices, California authorities allege.
The global conglomerate became concerned even if a competitor was selling an item for as little as a penny less, according to one segment of the newly unredacted evidence.
President Donald Trump announced the agreement, which went into force Thursday evening, as Pakistani mediators worked to extend a U.S.-Iran ceasefire and arrange new talks.
The four Artemis II astronauts struggled to describe the view and overall experience of flying around the moon's far side and witnessing a solar eclipse in deep space.
Elon Musk this week amplified an unfounded claim, based on a distortion of vaccine safety monitoring data, that COVID-19 vaccines killed tens of thousands of people in Germany. The vaccines saved millions of lives worldwide during a deadly pandemic, and serious side effects or deaths from vaccination are rare.
Despite this well-established safety record, Musk questioned COVID-19 vaccine safety on X on April 12 while sharing a post from far-right Swedish influencer Peter Imanuelsen, who also goes by PeterSweden. Musk, a former Trump adviser who is CEO of SpaceX and Tesla and owns X, has previously amplified and interacted with Imanuelsen’s posts on multiple occasions. Musk’s post had nearly 60 million views as of this story’s publication, and Imanuelsen’s had 64 million.
“A Pfizer insider who was former head of toxicology in Europe has just come out and said something that many ‘conspiracy theorists’ suspected,” Imanuelsen wrote in his April 12 post. “He estimates that 20 000 to 60 000 people in Germany have died from the c*vid vaccine,” he continued, adding that it “should be headline news EVERYWHERE.”
There is no evidence this large number of deaths occurred. Nor did COVID-19 vaccines cause mass deaths in general, as we have writtenmultipletimes.
Imanuelsen’s post was based on March 19testimony at a German parliamentary hearing from Dr. Helmut Sterz, a toxicologist and veterinarian who reported formerly working for Pfizer. Sterz, who appeared at the invitation of a far-right party, baselessly claimed that the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine killed 60,000 people in Germany. But Sterz arrived at this number by distorting German vaccine safety monitoring data, following logic also common to anti-vaccine activists in the U.S. who have misused similar passive surveillance data. (Imanuelsen explained on X that Sterz had also given the 20,000 figure after the hearing, but we were unable to locate these further comments.)
Dr. Mahmoud Zureik, a professor of epidemiology and public health at University of Paris-Saclay in France, told us via email that Sterz’s claim “confuses coincidence with causation, misuses passive surveillance data, and is not supported by the best available scientific evidence.” Sterz counted deaths reported after vaccination that were not necessarily related to the vaccines and then multiplied them by 30 to purportedly account for underreporting. Zureik called the use of this factor of 30 “arbitrary.” Zureik is director of EPI-PHARE, a scientific organization created by French health authorities to independently advise on health product safety.
Zureik added that the idea that COVID-19 vaccines have caused large numbers of deaths is inconsistent with the scientific literature. “More broadly, large epidemiologic studies have not shown an excess risk of overall mortality after COVID-19 mRNA vaccination,” he said.
Photo Illustration by Anna Barclay/Getty Images.
Pfizer spokesperson Andrew Widger told us via email that the company’s COVID-19 vaccine “continues to demonstrate a favourable safety and efficacy profile supported by extensive real-world evidence as well as by clinical, non-clinical, pharmacovigilance, and manufacturing data.“
A LinkedIn profile lists Sterz as having held a leadership role at a Pfizer research center in France from 2001 to 2009. He is author of a 2025 book about COVID-19 whose title translates to “The Vaccination Mafia,” and whose subheading describes him as Pfizer’s former chief toxicologist. He does not appear to have any recent scientific publications.
Pfizer as a policy doesn’t “provide details regarding individuals,” the company’s spokesperson said, “but I can confirm the individual you mention was not working at Pfizer during the pandemic or during the decade preceding it, and consequently had no involvement in the development of the COVID-19 vaccine. I would question therefore whether he could be described as an ‘insider.’”
Misuse of German Vaccine Safety Surveillance Data
In the U.S., anti-vaccine activists often distort data from the government-run Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, or VAERS, which collects unverified reports of health problems following vaccination in order to identify possible safety signals. Sterz’s unfounded claim about vaccine deaths in Germany relies on misuse of a similar government system in Germany, run by the Paul Ehrlich Institute, which we have also written about before.
During his testimony, Sterz said that PEI had gotten 2,133 reports of death after vaccination with Pfizer/BioNTech’s vaccine. There were indeed 2,133 reports of deaths following vaccination with the original Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine through the end of 2024, according to a 2024 PEI report.
However, Zureik said that a death or other problem happening after vaccination “is not, by itself, evidence that the vaccine caused the event,” explaining that systems such as the PEI one “are designed to detect signals that then necessarily require clinical and epidemiological assessment.”
“It is not valid to presume the 2000 reported deaths were caused by vaccines, much less to presume that there were 30x this number to arrive at the 60k number the person claims,” Jeffrey S. Morris, director of the division of biostatistics at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine, told us via email. Morris wrote a December 2025 Annenberg Public Policy Center white paper on vaccine safety monitoring, including a section explaining how VAERS functions and is distorted. (FactCheck.org is a project of APPC.)
People die on a regular basis, including 1 million per year in Germany, Morris and Zureik both noted. “Therefore, when tens of millions of people are vaccinated, some deaths will inevitably occur in the days, weeks or months following vaccination purely by coincidence, including deaths that would also have occurred in the absence of vaccination,” Zureik said.
The PEI report also said that the occurrence of deaths or other events near the time of vaccination “does not automatically indicate that there is a causal relationship” between the two, explaining that in many cases, “the event can be explained by other factors, such as pre-existing conditions, comorbidities, or concomitant medications.” In other cases, there is limited information available. Of the 2,133 reports of deaths after receiving the original Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, PEI assessed 28 as having a “possible or probable” causal relationship with vaccination. The report said more than 138 million doses of the vaccine had been given.
Unsupported Use of ‘Underreporting Factor‘
Sterz again followed a familiar pattern in multiplying an already-inflated number of deaths alleged to have been caused by COVID-19 vaccination by an “underreporting factor” of 30, which he said was used in the U.S.
American anti-vaccine advocates indeed multiply purported vaccine deaths or vaccine side effects by various factors, with Dr. Peter McCullough, for instance, oftenmentioning an underreporting factor of 30. McCullough is a cardiologist with a long history of spreading incorrect information about vaccines.
But as we have written before, the approach of applying an underreporting factor to reports from VAERS to identify the “true” rate of a problem is flawed. There is both underreporting and overreporting of events, and it’s not straightforward to identify a specific underreporting rate, which will vary depending on what events someone is looking at and the context in which a vaccine was given.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Zureik explained, it’s possible that there was in fact “overreporting driven by what is known as notoriety bias (or stimulated reporting).” In other words, the widespread attention to COVID-19 vaccination and possible side effects may have led people to be more likely to report deaths that happened near the time of vaccination, regardless of any causal relationship.
“Therefore, applying a fixed ‘underreporting factor’ is not only unsupported but also ignores the possibility of reporting inflation in this context,” Zureik said.
Reassuring Data on COVID-19 Vaccine Safety
Regardless, there are other types of studies used to further investigate any safety signals found by surveillance systems like VAERS or the PEI system, Morris said. These sorts of studies looked at deaths after COVID-19 vaccination and have shown “no evidence of increased risk of death,” he said.
In the U.S., a 2022 study of nearly 7 million people from the Vaccine Safety Datalink monitoring system found that people who received COVID-19 vaccines were less likely to die than those who did not get the vaccines, after matching people by various characteristics and following them over at least two months. VSD is a U.S. health care record-based system that can be used to follow up on safety signals identified in VAERS. “This is far stronger evidence than any VAERs analysis,” Morris said.
Zureik and his colleagues in France, meanwhile, looked at French health records from 28 million adults age 59 and under to investigate whether COVID-19 vaccination had any association with death from all causes over a four-year period. Their study, published in December 2025, again found that vaccinated people were less likely to die than those who were unvaccinated.
Morris explained that these studies and others from around the world don’t necessarily mean that vaccination decreases risk of death from causes other than COVID-19, since people who get vaccinated may have other characteristics that make them healthier. However, the research indicates that COVID-19 vaccines are not associated with any increased risk of dying, contrary to claims about large-scale lethality.
People have expressed particular concern about spikes in sudden deaths caused by vaccination, despite a lack of evidence for such a phenomenon. This is partly based on the real but rare side effect of myocarditis, or inflammation of the heart. Some COVID-19 vaccines, including the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, caused this condition, which most often affected adolescent or young adult males after the second dose of the original series. Myocarditis after COVID-19 vaccination is generally less severe than after infection and resolves relatively quickly, although it is possible that it has caused deaths in some very small number of cases, as we’ve written previously.
But again, studies do not show a pattern of increased deaths in adolescents and young adults after vaccination, either from heart-related or other causes. Most recently, a March 19 Canadian study investigated whether COVID-19 vaccination in adolescents and young adults without documented heart disease was associated with sudden cardiac death, which can be caused by various conditions, including myocarditis.
The researchers found that vaccinated people were less likely to have sudden cardiac deaths than unvaccinated people. “These findings do not support the hypothesis that COVID-19 vaccines increase the risk of sudden cardiac death in young healthy adults,” the authors concluded.
Editor’s note: FactCheck.org does not accept advertising. We rely on grants and individual donations from people like you. Please consider a donation. Credit card donations may be made through our “Donate” page. If you prefer to give by check, send to: FactCheck.org, Annenberg Public Policy Center, P.O. Box 58100, Philadelphia, PA 19102.
Schwartz was deputy surgeon general under Trump’s first administration and is a rear admiral in the US Coast Guard
Donald Trump has selected Erica Schwartz to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), bringing to an end a months-long search for a permanent head of the troubled public health agency.
Trump revealed his choice on Truth Social, saying: “I am pleased to announce the new leadership of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). It is my Honor to nominate the incredibly talented Dr Erica Schwartz, MD, JD, MPH, as my Director of the CDC,” he wrote. “She is a STAR!”
Democrats have moved to stall Donald Trump’s effort to exert greater control over the US Federal Reserve, condemning the president’s “absurd” bid to install a new leader of the central bank while it is targeted with criminal investigations.
Democratic lawmakers on the Senate banking committee urged its Republican leadership on Thursday to postpone the planned confirmation hearing for Kevin Warsh, the financial executive and former Fed governor Trump has nominated to replace Jerome Powell as Fed chair.
BrianFagioli writes: The developers behind Linux Mint say the project is rethinking its release strategy and moving toward a longer development cycle, with the next version now expected around Christmas 2026. In a monthly update, project lead Clement Lefebvre said the team reached a "crossroads" and needs more flexibility to fix bugs, improve the desktop, and adapt to rapid changes across the Linux ecosystem. The upcoming development build, temporarily called Mint 23 "Alfa," is currently based on Ubuntu 26.04 LTS and includes Linux kernel 7.0, an unstable build of Cinnamon 6.7, and early Wayland related work.
Mint is also replacing the long used Ubiquity installer with "live-installer," the same tool used by Linux Mint Debian Edition, allowing the project to unify installation infrastructure across its Ubuntu based and Debian based variants. While the team frames the changes as an opportunity to improve quality and reduce maintenance overhead, the shift has raised questions about the project's long term direction and whether Linux Mint may eventually lean more heavily on its Debian roots rather than its traditional Ubuntu base.
The issue isn’t the sensors themselves. They work fine. The problem is the footpads are concave. I am a light guy (only 115-120 lbs or 52-54.5 kg) and I have the most extreme high arch foot you’ve ever seen, so I rest on the edges of the concave footpad and don’t put enough pressure on the sensors in the middle. I haven’t run into issues while moving yet because the board will stay up if one sensor is activated while moving, but at very low speed or while getting up and activating the board, it will disengage or not engage if both sensors aren’t activated. I‘ve also only had the board for a few days so I may encounter an issue at speed in the future. I was at an intersection the other day waiting for my turn to go, and it took me 4 try’s to engage the board before crossing while cars were waiting for me. I’ve tried different shoes, but all have the same issue.
Woods said he spoke to ‘the president’ after crash
Prosecutors seek access to prescription records
Tiger Woods told police he had taken multiple prescription medications, including Vicodin, on the day of a crash that led to his arrest on suspicion of driving under the influence, according to court filings released on Wednesday.
The filing, submitted by prosecutors in Florida as part of routine pretrial discovery and obtained by the Guardian, also details a series of unusual remarks Woods made to officers at the scene of the 27 March crash in Hobe Sound, including references to drones flying over his home and a claim that he had spoken to “the president”.
Still, if passed, the bill would require actual age verification, instead of mere voluntary age reporting that current state-level bills cover. It also seems to eschew the concept of age brackets, giving application developers access to specific ages of users instead. It’s a vague mess of a bill that no sane person would ever want passed, but alas, sanity is a rare commodity these days, especially in US Congress.
It’s introduced by Democrat Josh Gottheimer and Republican Elise M. Stefanik, so it has that bipartisan sheen to it, which could increase its odds of going anywhere. At the same time, though, US Congress is about as useful as a box of matches during a house fire, so for all we know, this will end up going nowhere as its members focus on doing absolutely nothing to reign in the flock of coked-up headless chickens passing for an executive branch over there.
If something like this gets passed, every US-based operating system – which includes most open source operating systems and Linux distributions – will probably fall in line when faced with massive fines and legal pressure. This isn’t going to be pretty.
OTTAWA, Ontario, April 16, 2026 — Canada is launching a national effort to build one of the most advanced artificial Intelligence (AI) supercomputing systems, ensuring Canadian researchers, innovators and institutions have the computing power they need to innovate, compete and lead.
Credit: Shuhan/Shutterstock
The Government of Canada is launching the call for applications for the AI Sovereign Compute Infrastructure Program, supported by historic investments announced in Budget 2024 and Budget 2025. This program, part of the Canadian Sovereign AI Compute Strategy, will enable the development of large-scale, Canadian-based compute infrastructure to advance AI research and innovation, while safeguarding Canada’s national interests.
These systems will form a core part of Canada’s digital backbone, enabling breakthroughs in areas like health care, energy, advanced manufacturing and scientific discovery. This will strengthen Canada’s global competitiveness, support world-leading research and ensure secure, reliable access to critical digital infrastructure for Canadian innovators.
This transformational investment, via a competitive call for applications, invites eligible proponents to submit applications to rapidly design, build, operate and maintain a large-scale, ‑AI optimized high-performance computing system. This Canadian-owned infrastructure will serve as a cornerstone of the country’s digital ecosystem, enabling researchers and industry to advance ‑leading-edge research and develop next-generation AI solutions.
“Canada is already at the forefront of artificial intelligence. What we need now is access to large-scale computing power” said Evan Solomon, Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation and Minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario. “This initiative is about building that capacity here in Canada so our researchers, institutions and innovators can move faster, go further and turn leading ideas into real-world impact.”
Applications are now open to eligible organizations ready to help strengthen Canada’s technological sovereignty. To learn more and apply, visit the AI Sovereign Compute Infrastructure Program web page.
The Canadian Sovereign AI Compute Strategy has made targeted investments across three complementary pillars—mobilizing private sector investment, building public supercomputing infrastructure, and establishing the AI Compute Access Fund—to expand domestic compute capacity, support Canada’s AI ecosystem, drive economic growth and safeguard Canadian data and intellectual property.
The launch of the call for applications follows the call for statements of interest for the AI Sovereign Compute Infrastructure Program, which closed in 2025.
Source: Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada
The Bay of Bengal’s low-lying coastal area and dense population make the region in Southeast Asia highly vulnerable to flooding.
April 16, 2026 — Powerful cyclones can push seawater miles inland, threatening densely populated communities and critical infrastructure built along coastal areas. A combination of exposure and complexity makes the Bay of Bengal in Southeast Asia a powerful test case for scientists seeking to better understand how tides, storm surge, river flows and sea level rise interact to drive extreme coastal flooding.
Satellite imagery of Cyclone Sidr over the Bay of Bengal on November 14, 2007. Sidr caused storm surges up to 9.8 feet high and caused between 3,000 and 10,000 deaths, with an estimated $2.3 billion of damage. Image credit: NASA Worldview Snapshots.
To better anticipate the region’s rare but potentially devastating floods, researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory are using advanced computer simulations to create thousands of tropical cyclone scenarios.
The research helps reveal how extreme storm tides could affect key coastal sites, including nuclear power plants, providing information that could guide safer infrastructure planning in one of the world’s most vulnerable coastal regions. Their findings, published in npj Natural Hazards, could inform operations and guide future plant siting.
Simulating Cyclones to Predict Flood Risks
The research team used Argonne’s Laboratory Computing Resource Center to simulate thousands of years of tropical cyclones under a range of atmospheric conditions. The researchers focused on storm-tide risks, which they define as the highest simulated water levels during a storm.
Assessing risks to nuclear infrastructure requires estimating low frequency events (extreme storm tides), which occur less often but pose significant threats. Natural hazard risks are often expressed in terms of event frequency. For example, a 50-year flood — one that is estimated to occur only once in a 50-year period — may be an acceptable risk for thermal power plants, but nuclear facilities require estimates for rarer events, such as 1,000-year floods. This makes it challenging to estimate risks from natural hazards since worldwide records of storm paths and intensity extending beyond 50 to 100 years aren’t available.
Nuclear infrastructure safety depends on using rebuilt data from related datasets or creating realistic predictions of storm events. The researchers used the second approach to generate a long historical record of storm surges along the coast of the Bay of Bengal.
Their simulations showed how changes in cyclone paths and strength could reshape flood risks. Historical cyclones, such as Cyclone Sidr (2007) and Cyclone Hudhud (2014), were used to test the accuracy of the models. The models used physics-based methods that do not rely on the small number of recorded tropical cyclones that have made landfall. Depending solely on historical records can either underestimate or overestimate flood risks.
“We wanted to understand how to evaluate the risk of building critical infrastructure in a hydrologically complex coastal area,” said Rao Kotamarthi, an Argonne senior scientist and one of the study’s authors. “We wanted to estimate the changes in low frequency events as would be necessary for siting nuclear reactors.”
Risk Changes Across the Region
The researchers analyzed how different factors interact to influence the risk of flooding at sites of critical infrastructure. Their study found that adding up the effects of individual factors, such as tides and storm surges, can lead to inaccurate water level estimates. These estimates can be off by as much as 25 to 30 percent compared to estimates that account for how these factors interact with each other over long periods.
Simulations revealed that flood risks varied significantly across the Bay of Bengal’s coastline, with notable differences even within the same region.
Decreased risk in Bangladesh: The Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna delta shows a lower risk from low frequency events as compared to some other locations along the coast. However, extreme flooding events are still possible, with water levels reaching several meters.
Increased risk in India: India’s eastern coast, including areas near the Kovvada Atomic Power Project, show elevated risk from low frequency events. The study predicts up to a 78% increase in low frequency event risks compared to higher frequency events.
Additionally, complex factors, such as storm surges, tides, river discharge and sea-level rise, amplify flood risks. Wave setup (water accumulation caused by wave action) and tide-surge interactions are especially significant along India’s eastern coast.
Implications for Infrastructure
As populations grow and more infrastructure is built in coastal areas, understanding these risks is essential. Policymakers and engineers are responsible for designing resilient systems to withstand extreme weather events. Critical facilities, such as nuclear power plants and hospitals, can incorporate these projections to prevent catastrophic damage.
Kotamarthi has been working with the International Atomic Energy Agency on hydrological and meteorological hazard impacts to nuclear sites.
“Since we are building more power plants in different locations, we need to do a more thorough analysis,” Kotamarthi said. “There’s more to consider than just elevation. Even existing plants likely will need to update safety rules to account for the estimated risks from these types of hazards.”
The researchers recommend proactive measures to reduce flood risks. These include improving safety protocols for existing infrastructure and conducting detailed flood risk assessments for new facilities.
Expanding the Research
While Argonne’s method was applied specifically to sites of existing or proposed nuclear power plants in the Bay of Bengal, it can be used for any coastal region where storm-tide risk assessments are needed. The study highlights opportunities to expand this research to other vulnerable coastal regions worldwide.
Future research will expand storm datasets, refine projections for land sinking and river discharge, and leverage machine learning to enhance model efficiency and accuracy. These improvements will make predictions more reliable.
This research emphasizes the importance of localized flood risk assessments to protect infrastructure. It provides valuable insights for policymakers, engineers and disaster preparedness teams. Investing in high-resolution modeling and localized studies equips communities to mitigate the growing risks of extreme weather events.
Source: Marguerite Huber, Argonne National Laboratory
Vaccines and public health dominated a frequently contentious hearing with Robert F Kennedy Jr on Thursday before the US House ways and means committee.
Kennedy, the health secretary and a longtime vaccine opponent, has overseen sweeping changes to routine vaccination recommendations and has promoted misinformation even amid the biggest measles outbreak in decades.
AUSTIN, Texas, April 16, 2026 — Oracle plans to expand its multicloud networking capabilities to provide customers with enterprise-grade, high-performance connectivity between Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) and AWS. By establishing connectivity between Oracle Interconnect and AWS Interconnect–multicloud customers will have access to a fast, private, managed connection to run applications and move data seamlessly between OCI and AWS.
Credit: Jonathan Weiss/Shutterstock
“Oracle continues to advance multicloud connectivity as part of its commitment to helping customers unlock flexibility, agility, and performance across clouds,” said Nathan Thomas, senior vice president, product management, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure. “With Oracle AI Database@AWS, we pioneered a simpler way for customers to run Oracle AI Database workloads in AWS with the same features, architecture, and performance as they expect on-premises. We’re now building on that by establishing connectivity between our popular cross-cloud interconnect and AWS Interconnect–multicloud. This will help our mutual customers modernize their applications, unify their data, and unlock new generative AI opportunities.”
Supporting both full and split-stack multicloud deployments, the collaboration between OCI and AWS will also enable organizations to leverage the strengths of multiple cloud providers without the complexities of managing multiple network providers and installing physical network infrastructure. With unified connectivity between OCI and AWS, customers can accelerate AI modernization while meeting operational flexibility without managing complex data replication.
OCI has built native, high-performance interconnect capabilities designed for enterprise-scale workloads, enabling seamless multicloud connectivity across 26 interconnected partner cloud regions. Through its multicloud networking solutions, OCI enables customers to establish secure, private, and highly available cloud-to-cloud connectivity without the operational complexity of traditional, manually configured networking approaches. The AWS Interconnect–multicloud open specification has enabled a new generation of enterprise multicloud connectivity. The collaboration between OCI and AWS Interconnect–multicloud will be the latest addition to Oracle’s comprehensive multicloud capabilities and is planned to be available later this year in the AWS US East (N. Virginia) us-east-1 region.
About Oracle Distributed Cloud
Oracle’s distributed cloud delivers the benefits of cloud with greater control and flexibility. Oracle’s distributed cloud lineup includes:
Public cloud: Hyperscale public cloud regions serve any size of organization, including those requiring strict EU sovereignty controls. See the full list of regions here.
Dedicated cloud: Customers can run all OCI cloud services in their own data centers with OCI Dedicated Region, while partners can resell OCI cloud services and customize the experience using Oracle Alloy. Oracle also operates separate U.S., UK, and Australian Government Clouds, and Isolated Cloud Regions for national security purposes. Each of these products provides a full cloud and AI stack that customers can deploy as a Sovereign Cloud.
Hybrid cloud: OCI delivers key cloud services on-premises via Oracle Exadata Cloud@Customer and is already managing deployments in over 60 countries.
Multicloud: OCI is physically deployed within all the cloud providers, including AWS, Google Cloud, and Microsoft Azure, providing low latency, natively integrated Oracle AI Database services, including Oracle AI Database@AWS, Oracle AI Database@Azure, Oracle AI Database@Google Cloud; and Oracle HeatWave on AWS and Microsoft Azure. In addition, Oracle Interconnect for Microsoft Azure, Oracle Interconnect for Google Cloud, and the upcoming connection between OCI and AWS Interconnect–multicloud allow customers to seamlessly combine key capabilities from across clouds.
About Oracle
Oracle offers integrated suites of applications plus secure, autonomous infrastructure in the Oracle Cloud. For more information about Oracle (NYSE: ORCL), please visit us at www.oracle.com.
An Israeli army vehicle moves near destroyed houses in Southern Lebanon, seen from a position on the Israeli side of the border on April 15, 2026.Photo: Amir Levy/Getty Images
President Donald Trumpannounced on Thursday that a temporary ceasefire agreement had been reached between Israel and Lebanon. The 10-day ceasefire, set to begin at 5 p.m. ET, will reportedly see a pause to Israel’s relentless assault on southern Lebanon, which has displaced over 1.2 million people and killed at least 2,000 since early March.
Any news of reduced annihilation by Israeli and U.S. forces in the region is, of course, to be welcomed. Just a week ago, Trump was threatening to wipe out the whole civilization of Iran. In Lebanon, Israel has targeted civilian infrastructure like hospitals and demolished villages and homes with ferocity.
In the Israeli context, however, the very meaning of “ceasefire” has been irreparably degraded. This is the lesson of Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza. Under the conditions of an alleged ceasefire in Gaza since October, Israel has killed over 765 Palestinians in the Strip and injured over 2,000 — while maintaining a ground occupation of at least half the territory.
Those concerned about Israeli occupation and ethnic cleansing in Lebanon, too, have little reason to believe a ceasefire will see an end to Israel’s expansionist violence.
None of this is a secret. “Israel has no plans to withdraw its military from southern Lebanon during the announced 10 day ceasefire,” an Israeli security official confirmed to Reuters.
Israeli officials frame unambiguous expansion into Lebanon’s territory as the creation of a security “buffer zone.” The plan to maintain control of southern Lebanon is an open one, with a long history, imbued with renewed fervor by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s extremist government.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz has said that, even after the current war ends, Israel intends to maintain control over the territory up to the Litani River in southern Lebanon, and that all villages near Israel’s ever-moving border would be destroyed.
“[T]he policy of occupying and annexing south Lebanon up to the Litani River has long held influence among parts of the Israeli government,” wrote Mireille Rebeiz, chair of Middle East Studies at Dickinson College. She noted that it “dates back to influential Zionist leaders — secular and religious alike — before Israeli independence in 1948.”
Israel has invaded Lebanon seven times in the last half century. Between 1978 and 2000, Israel maintained an 18-year occupation of southern Lebanon — the occupation Hezbollah was formed to fight.
It’s worth stressing, too, that while Israel and the U.S. describe the war as one against Hezbollah, it is being waged against the Lebanese people. Much like it is an unacceptable euphemism to describe Israel’s genocide and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians as a war with Hamas.
Lebanese journalist Lylla Younes told “Democracy Now!” that in southern Lebanon, as in Gaza, Israel is carrying out a “scorched-earth campaign,” destroying whole villages, mosques, and cultural sites. Her family’s village in the southern border region was bombed earlier this week.
“What the world should know is that we will return to these villages, and when we do, we’ll return to rubble, and it will be an immense process of rebuilding,” she said. That is, if return is possible at all.
Hezbollah, for its part, will not be fighting through the ceasefire, the group’s representatives had said.
“We will be respecting the ceasefire and we will deal with it cautiously,” said Ibrahim Moussawi, a member of the Lebanese Parliament and a Hezbollah spokesperson. He added that “it should hopefully be a beginning of a course of the Israeli withdrawal from our occupied territories.”
Lebanon’s Prime Minister Nawaf Salam wrote on X on Thursday that he has “full hope” that the Lebanese civilians displaced from the south will be able to return to their homes.
It is an optimism at direct odds with Israel’s open commitment to annexation — and it is a hollow hope in the face of what we’re seeing in Gaza.
“Israeli forces continue their violent attacks and expand their military control of the Strip,” noted Médecins Sans Frontières in a report last week. “Living conditions of Palestinians remain dire, while Israel continues to deliberately obstruct aid, which is translating into entirely preventable deaths.” The humanitarian medical aid group put it plainly: “This is not a ceasefire.”
An online ad attacks Rep. Seth Moulton, a Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate in Massachusetts, for not being sufficiently progressive because of past policy positions. But it also misleadingly claims that Moulton, a critic of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, “thanked ICE as they were terrorizing our communities and then killed citizens.”
The claim about ICE is based on Moulton’s vote for a June 2025 House resolution condemning a terrorist attack at a pro-Israel demonstration in Boulder, Colorado, that month. The last sentence of the resolution acknowledged law enforcement, including ICE officers, “for protecting the homeland.”
However, at the time of his vote, Moulton said in a statement that he supported the measure because its “overarching purpose” was to “condemn antisemitic terror.”
The ad also criticizes Moulton, who was first elected to the House in 2015, for finding fault with the Green New Deal, an environmental policy agenda that he has supported; for previously opposing a wealth tax on billionaires that he now supports; and for not completely embracing proposals for a Medicare-for-all health care system for the U.S., which Moulton has said should be optional for Americans rather than mandatory.
Commonwealth Together PAC released the 30-second ad, titled “Run,” on April 8. The super PAC is pushing for the reelection of Sen. Ed Markey, the longtime incumbent whom Moulton is challenging in the Democratic primary. The election is Sept. 1.
A spokesman for the super PAC told the Boston Globe that the ad cost “six figures” and will run on social media and streaming platforms for “several weeks.”
“Sorry, Seth. You can run for Senate, but you can’t run from your record,” the narrator says at the end of the ad. A reader asked us if the ad’s claims about Moulton are accurate.
Thanking ICE?
The ad starts with the narrator saying: “Now that Seth Moulton is running for Senate, he claims he’s a progressive. But Moulton voted with Republicans to thank ICE for protecting our homeland. He thanked ICE as they were terrorizing our communities and then killed citizens in broad daylight.”
The ad cites Moulton’s vote in June 2025 for a House resolution — introduced by Republican Rep. Gabe Evans of Colorado — that denounced Mohammed Sabry Soliman, an Egyptian national, “and his antisemitic terrorist attack on peaceful demonstrators supporting the release of the hostages held by Hamas.” Federal prosecutors have charged Soliman, who is in the country on an expired tourist visa, with using Molotov cocktails and a homemade flamethrower to assault multiple demonstrators at that pro-Israel rally on June 1.
The last line of the roughly two-page resolution, which passed 280 to 113, with 75 Democrats joining 205 Republicans, said the House “expresses gratitude to law enforcement officers, including U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel, for protecting the homeland.”
But that acknowledgement of ICE is not why Moulton said he voted for the resolution, as the ad may lead viewers to believe.
In a June 11 statement responding to Democrats angered by his vote, Moulton said: “It is important to recognize that there rarely exists a bill or resolution that I vote for because I agree with every single word in it. At the end of the day, I cast my vote for H. Res 488 because I believe that it is critical to loudly condemn antisemitic terror, which was the overarching purpose of this resolution.”
Moulton noted that he also voted for a second resolution condemning the attack in Boulder that did not mention ICE. He went on to say in his statement that he would oppose President Donald Trump’s “desires to weaponize ICE and create a culture of fear in immigrant communities across the country” while also “loudly condemning antisemitism.” Democrats should do both, Moulton said.
And the congressman has criticized ICE several times since his vote last spring.
After Renee Good, a U.S. citizen, was shot and killed during a dispute with ICE agents in Minneapolis on Jan. 7, Moulton called for the Department of Homeland Security and then-DHS Secretary Kristi Noem to be held accountable “for aggressive and illicit tactics by ICE and other law enforcement agencies” that contributed to Good’s death. He said the killing of Good was an example of why he had introduced legislation in December “to make sure ICE officers can be prosecuted when they break the law.” That bill, the National Oversight and Enforcement of Misconduct Act, or NOEM Act, has not advanced.
In addition, after federal immigration officers in Minneapolis fatally shot Alex Pretti, another U.S. citizen, on Jan. 24, Moulton posted a social media video in which he called for ICE to be abolished. (A clip of the scuffle between Pretti and the officers is shown in the ad.)
“ICE is beyond repair,” Moulton said in his video post. “It obviously needs to be abolished, but even more urgently, its gang of criminal enforcers needs to be prosecuted. And then we can build a more comprehensive and humane immigration system that, No. 1, incentivizes people to come here legally, not illegally; two, provides a very clear pathway to citizenship; and three, is guarded by an enforcement system that, from judges to officers on the streets, reflects American values in every action and policy.”
That same month, Moulton co-authored a letter to the leaders of a congressional subcommittee on homeland security that said he would oppose any DHS appropriations bill “without firm statutory guardrails and meaningful reforms” for ICE.
“To suggest that a vote to condemn a horrific terrorist attack against Holocaust survivors was somehow an endorsement of ICE is the kind of intellectual dishonesty that makes people lose faith in politics,” Moulton’s campaign said in an April 8 statement responding to the ad attacking him.
Other Ad Claims
Immediately following the ICE claims, the ad’s narrator says, “Moulton opposes Medicare-for-all too.” A graphic on screen in the ad cites a May 8, 2019, article on boston.com that carried the headline “Here’s why Seth Moulton opposes Medicare-for-All.”
The article went on to say that Moulton, a former Marine with health coverage through the Veterans Administration, had reservations about “forcing everyone onto a government one-size-fits-all program” like the VA system because of his own health care experiences.
“I can tell you plenty of stories about how my health care at the VA, with this socialized government system, is not great,” the article quoted him as telling CNN.
But the boston.com article also said that Moulton was fine with giving people the option to choose Medicare-style health insurance. Medicare “should be an option that Americans have. But it shouldn’t be the only way to go,” the article quoted him as saying on the “Pod Save America” podcast in April 2019, during his brief run for president.
As he suggested during that podcast interview, Moulton’s current health care platform on his campaign website calls for creating a “National Public Option health care plan that competes directly with private insurers and lowers premiums for everyone.”
The ad attacking Moulton also says, “He criticized the Green New Deal, and he said Sen. Warren’s tax on billionaires punished the rich.”
The 2019 Los Angeles Times article cited in the ad quoted Moulton talking about being one of the earliest supporters of the Green New Deal – a nonbinding resolution outlining ways to address climate change – when it was in its early stages in 2018. What he later criticized were additions to that environmental policy agenda that he did not believe were about climate change. He said those add-ons could cause the proposal to lose support.
“I was one of the first people to sign onto the Green New Deal, and I signed on so early that it was just an open framework,” Moulton said, according to the L.A. Times article. “But then when some of the proponents of the deal or some of the sponsors of it started adding things like a jobs guarantee, a bunch of socialist programs, I think that’s a huge mistake because I think it’s gonna result in the baby being thrown out with the bathwater because it’s not addressing climate change specifically.”
However, in a statement sent to us, Taylor Hebble, communications director for the Moulton campaign, noted that the congressman “has been a cosponsor of every Green New Deal Resolution introduced in the House.” But nonehaspassed. (Markey has sponsored Senateversions of the Green New Deal that also have not passed.)
As for the tax on billionaires that Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, an independent, proposed in 2019, Moulton did tell Reuters in an April interview that year that he thought their tax plans were a form of economic punishment.
“While he agreed the wealthy ought to pay their share of taxes, Sanders and Warren wanted to ‘punish the rich,’ Moulton said, which he called un-American,” Reuters reported.
But Hebble raised the fact that Moulton went on to co-sponsor the Billionaire Minimum Income Tax Act in 2022, supported the 2022 state Massachusetts Fair Share Amendment that levied an extra 4% tax on taxable income exceeding $1,000,000, and backed the Social Security 2100 Act introduced in 2023 to apply Social Security payroll taxes to earnings above $400,000.
Fast forward to 2026, and Moulton has proposed his own wealth tax as part of his “affordability agenda” for housing, health care and education. “The plan is fully paid for through a national wealth tax on mega-millionaires and by closing tax loopholes exploited by corporations and the ultra-wealthy,” Moulton’s campaign said in a December press release about his proposal.
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The US House of Representatives on Thursday narrowly rejected a war powers resolution that would have prevented further military action against Iran, as Democrats united against continued US involvement in the conflict amid peace talks that have yet to make a breakthrough.
The resolution introduced by Greg Meeks, the top Democrat on the House foreign affairs committee, failed by a vote of 213-214, with one Republican member voting present. It required at least two more votes to pass, as tied votes fail in the House.
Europe has only six weeks of jet fuel left before shortages will hit because of the Iran war, according to the head of a global energy watchdog.
Fatih Birol, the executive director of the International Energy Agency, said there would be flight cancellations “soon” if oil supplies from the Middle East were not restored within the coming weeks.
India and Pakistan still cannot agree to restore the Indus Waters Treaty – but re-engagement could help bring lasting peaceExpert commentLToremark
Water cooperation is not only mutually beneficial for India and Pakistan, but essential. Restoring the Indus Waters Treaty could be a powerful foundation for rebuilding trust.
Water has long been entangled with the political and security dynamics between India and Pakistan. The Indus River Basin is a lifeline for more than 300 million people across both countries, supporting agriculture, energy production and livelihoods. Signed in 1960, the Indus Waters Treaty divided the basin’s rivers between India and Pakistan while establishing detailed rules for cooperation, data sharing and dispute resolution. For more than six decades, it proved remarkably durable and acted as a stabilizing force for broader India-Pakistan relations. It has survived three wars and prolonged periods of diplomatic freeze, offering a rare pathway for cooperation.
But in recent years, the treaty had come under increasing strain. Following a militant attack in Pahalgam, Kashmir, in April 2025 – for which India blamed Pakistan but Islamabad denied involvement – India chose to temporarily suspend its participation in the treaty and subsequently restricted the flow of water for short periods through the Baglihar and Kishanganga dams. Water scarcity during summer could increase the likelihood of India reducing downstream river flows into Pakistan, critical for irrigation, drinking supplies and hydropower generation. Should India’s reservoir storage capacities improve amid surging water scarcity, there are risks of an escalating crisis.
India’s decision to suspend the treaty not only significantly erodes the predictability and stability it had provided but also underscores how water can exacerbate tensions and even be instrumentalized as a tool of conflict – especially in the context of geopolitical rivalry.
The long-standing resilience of the Indus Waters Treaty rested on a shared understanding: that water cooperation could be at least partially insulated from broader geopolitical rivalry. However, this equilibrium has come under increasing strain in recent years.
The hydrological conditions of the Indus Basin are shifting rapidly. The area has some of the highest rates of glacial retreat globally – perennial snow and ice cover in the Indus declined by up to 24.8 per cent between 2001 and 2021 – while shifts in the timing and intensity of the Asian Summer Monsoon are reshaping shared water availability in the region. But the treaty itself predates modern climate science and rests on outdated hydrological assumptions, lacking mechanisms to factor for glacial retreat and largely ignoring groundwater depletion, now a critical stress point. Addressing these gaps is in the shared interest of both India and Pakistan.
Both countries also have growing populations and water demand, meaning pressures on water resources are mounting. In this context, a growing number of run-of-the-river hydropower projects on the western rivers allocated to Pakistan – combined with concerns over cumulative impacts, design specifications and flow timing – have made technical disputes more frequent and increasingly politicized.
Meanwhile, India’s suspension of the treaty in response to security concerns signals a broader shift in bilateral relations, with water emerging as a geopolitical lever. As trust declines and treaty interpretations diverge, dispute resolution has become more difficult. Historically, the Indus Waters Treaty’s institutional framework – through the Permanent Indus Commission and third-party processes – has enabled data sharing and helped manage disputes, such as over the Baglihar dam.
Global lessons in transboundary water cooperation
Lessons from beyond South Asia underscore the importance of cooperation and show how some of these pressures can be alleviated.
The experience of the Aral Sea basin, often cited as one of the world’s most severe environmental disasters, demonstrates both the consequences of poor water governance and the potential for partial recovery through cooperation. Decades of unsustainable water diversion devastated ecosystems, economies, and public health across Central Asia. However, recent efforts – particularly in the North Aral Sea – have shown that coordinated action and international support can restore water levels, revive fisheries and improve local livelihoods.
In the Mekong Delta, the Mekong River Commission brings together Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam in a shared governance framework that facilitates dialogue, joint flood and drought monitoring, and advance notification of major upstream projects. After facing similar pressures and distrust as the Indus treaty, cooperation on ecosystem restoration to help protect water resources has helped rebuild trust among the commission’s stakeholders.
Similarly, in the Senegal River Basin, the Organisation pour la mise en valeur du fleuve Sénégal (OMVS) enables Mali, Mauritania and Senegal to jointly manage infrastructure and share benefits, helping reduce conflict while supporting more coordinated water management.
While the Indus context is very different, the underlying lesson is relevant: even deeply entrenched water challenges can be addressed when governance structures are strengthened, information is shared, and stakeholders recognize their interdependence.
Harnessing water for peace and stability
Climate change is increasing pressure on the resources, thereby rapidly eroding the trust needed to sustain cooperation.
As demonstrated by the situation in the Indus Basin, water governance tends to remain siloed from broader stabilization and peacebuilding efforts. Too often treated as a technical domain for engineers and specialists, water is excluded from political negotiation and conflict resolution. But this limits the potential of water diplomacy to contribute to stability.
Integrating water governance into mediation, stabilization and reconstruction efforts can help bridge this gap. In practice, this means involving water experts in negotiations to address resource-sharing in peace agreements and align infrastructure investment with confidence-building measures. A useful example is the Jordan–Israel Peace Treaty, which includes detailed provisions on water allocation and cooperation in the Jordan River basin. Despite broader political tensions and a fragile relationship between Jordan and Israel, these arrangements have largely endured, supporting Jordan’s water security and sustaining coordination.
In the case of India and Pakistan, the situation highlights the need for international actors to support water diplomacy as part of their engagement in fragile and conflict-affected regions. This includes providing technical assistance, facilitating dialogue and helping to finance projects that deliver shared benefits. It also requires patience: rebuilding trust around shared resources is a gradual process, particularly where political tensions run deep.
It’s a relief to see the pontiff decrying brutality, because it seems most current world leaders lack the necessary spine
I have never been a religious or spiritual person, even though I grew up in a religious area and had friends (and strangers) throughout school and university trying to lure me into whatever prayer disguised as organised fun they were up to. I did try it out shortly for a desperate period when I was young, attempting to pray to a God I didn’t really believe in to make me not gay, but blessedly he never answered.
Despite my resistance to organised religion, I have always had a soft spot for nuns and their counterparts. The girlies.
Why Should Delaware Care? Work-release programs are widely seen as effective tools for helping people transition back into society after incarceration and reducing recidivism. After Delaware officials consolidated these programs, citing rising maintenance costs at an aging facility in Wilmington and a declining population, the move has drawn criticism from advocates and some lawmakers, who say the transition to the Smyrna facility has created new barriers to employment and reentry.
A month after state officials shut down Wilmington’s only prison work release program, the transition to a Smyrna substance abuse treatment center has garnered mixed reactions from lawmakers and inmates.
On Tuesday, the Senate Corrections & Public Safety Committee held a hearing to understand the current state of the program. During the meeting, officials from the Department of Corrections gave updates, calling the transition from the former Plummer Center to the Community Corrections Treatment Center in Smyrna “successful.”
The DOC’s New Castle Work Release Program now utilizes extra space at the Smyrna center located adjacent to the Vaughn prison, where low-risk offenders are housed and offered programming when they are not working, DOC spokesperson Jason Miller said.
Still, the Tuesday meeting presented more questions and confusion, as some residents and advocates say individuals are being treated improperly at the Smyrna center, where harsh restrictions and inadequate resources limit them from finding work and being with their families.
State Sen. Ray Seigfried, who chairs the Senate Corrections & Public Safety Committee, said he still wasn’t satisfied with the transition of the Plummer work release program to Smyna. | PHOTO COURTESY OF SENATE DEMOCRATS
State Sen. Ray Seigfried (D-Claymont), who chairs the Senate committee, told Spotlight Delaware he wants to make reforms to the program to ensure it’s “working the way it should.”
Seigfried said the Smyrna facility is not equipped to handle a work release program and also noted concerns around individuals being treated unfairly at the facility.
“I think [the Department of Corrections] testimony just simply was not correct,” Seigfried said. “You heard the mother, I’ve heard from residents of the prison, and it’s like I’m hearing two different stories.”
Seigfried said it is too early to point to specific changes he wants to make, but he will be discussing the matter with other committee members.
But another lawmaker on the committee, State Sen. Marie Pinkney (D-Bear), did not share Seigfried’s concerns.
Pinkney said she was not worried about the Smyrna center’s ability to manage the work release program after Plummer’s closure.
“It didn’t sound like there was actually too much of a significant difference in how the [Plummer and Smyrna] programs were run,” she said.
DOC officials maintain that Smyrna’s new work release program is being run as it should. Individuals in the program receive counseling and assistance with resumé preparation, job applications and interview preparation, Miller said.
“This decision [to close the Plummer Center] was ultimately about strengthening services, not reducing them,” DOC Commissioner Terra Taylor said during Tuesday’s hearing. “We did not eliminate or reduce the work release program.”
DOC highlights improvements, some remain unsure
During Tuesday’s Senate hearing, Taylor highlighted improvements that have been made to the program under the Smyrna facility, like new transportation services that help individuals get to their jobs across New Castle County and in some parts of Kent County.
Miller noted that, depending on how many individuals require transportation per shift, drop-offs are either door-to-door or to public transportation hubs.
Taylor also said the department has expanded its behavioral cognitive therapy program at the Smyrna center, allowing people in the work release program to use it in addition to individuals who are there for treatment.
Rachelle Wilson’s son has been incarcerated for 17 years and is currently residing at the Community Corrections Treatment Center in Smyrna.
Wilson said she prepared her statements three days before testifying at Tuesday’s hearing. She had not heard of many DOC initiatives prior to attending the hearing, and she questioned when those programs were put in place.
Instead, Wilson said she has spoken with other residents and parents at the Smyrna facility, and has heard of people who have lost job opportunities because of the center’s regulations and strict policies.
Residents are doing what is required of them, but they are unable to rebuild their lives because of “internal programming conflicts, a lack of transportation, understaffed and inflexible policies,” she said.
Ultimately, Wilson said the facility is a treatment center and is not equipped to function like the former Plummer Center.
We’re not here to sound defensive. We’re here to continue to work together with our partners and keep moving forward.
Correction commissioner terra taylor
But after Wilson’s testimony, Taylor, the DOC commissioner, said “there’s really no difference” between treatment centers and work release.
Taylor said programs and supports are still in place, and the work referral practices that were used in Plummer are also being used inside the Smyrna center.
At the end of the tense, two-hour meeting, Taylor acknowledged the department is not perfect, but she said it has “evolved.”
“We’re not here to sound defensive,” she said. “We’re here to continue to work together with our partners and keep moving forward.”
Future of Plummer building remains unclear
During the public comment section of the meeting, Bradley Owens, the director of the Prescription Opioid Settlement Distribution Commission, questioned what would happen to the Plummer Center building now that it is closed.
Owens, who has more than a decade of experience working inside prisons, said the building has the potential to become housing for those experiencing homelessness or with mental and substance abuse issues in Wilmington.
In recent months, Spotlight Delaware has spoken with people living in Christina Park, the city’s only sanctioned homeless encampment, and other housing advocates have expressed concern over the lack of housing options in the unhoused in Delaware’s largest city.
“It is a facility that has adequate housing, it has medical capacity, it has a cafeteria, and it has potential use for people coming out of prison, people with mental health, substance use disorder, homelessness issues,” Owens said.
Asked if the city would have an appetite to repurpose the center for such uses, officials in Mayor John Carney’s office noted that the building is state-owned, would require substantial investment to rehabilitate, and that such uses “fall outside of the city’s purview.”
What led to this hearing?
For decades, the location of the Plummer center kept individuals close to family as they neared their release from prison, especially those who were transitioning out of the Howard R. Young Correctional Institute in Wilmington.
But last September, the Department of Correction announced the Plummer Center would shut down in March.
The announcement was met with pushback from local politicians and residents who argued that work release inmates will lose a vital community space that helps them become part of society again by keeping them close to family, jobs, and support systems.
“They need the Plummer Community Center, not displacement,” Wilmington City Councilwoman Shané Darby said in November. “Funding concerns should never supersede rehabilitation, dignity, and public safety.”
A month after Darby’s statement, eight New Castle County lawmakers sent a letter to Gov. Matt Meyer urging him not to allow “budgetary considerations to morph into final decisions in a vacuum.”
“We need to know the true cost to the impacted communities and the true prospects for alternative or complementary paths,” the letter stated.
In their announcement, corrections officials cited a drop in the number of people at Plummer, along with high maintenance costs at the century-old facility. They estimated that the state would have to spend about $4 million over the next two years to maintain the Plummer Center.
On Tuesday, Taylor noted an additional $8 million would have also been needed in capital improvements for the building.
In the wake of the hearing, it remains unclear what actions, if any, Siegfried will take to address his concerns about the fallout from Plummer’s closing. For now, at least, the program will continue operating from Smyrna.
Dollar dominance is surviving the Iran war – just aboutExpert commentsfarrell.drupa…
The war doesn’t seem to have damaged the dollar’s global status. But that may reflect the US’s emergence as the top producer of oil, gas and weapons, which insulates its economy from the crisis.
A central characteristic of the dollar’s role as the world’s pivotal currency is that the US bond market, and the greenback itself, act as safe havens in times of stress.
As anxiety levels rise during a crisis, institutional investors and governments flock to dollar-denominated assets because US capital markets are easier to trade in and out of than any others; and because the ability of the Federal Reserve to act as lender and liquidity-provider of last resort is second to none.
In the end, it is US trustworthiness that underpins all this. But since global trust in the US seems to be eroding, both before and during this year’s war on Iran, it is worth asking whether the dollar’s safe-haven status is showing any signs of ill-health.
The performance of US asset prices may say less about the dollar’s status than it does about the relative insulation of the US economy from the crisis.
The quick answer is no, but it would be wrong to conclude that all is well, for two reasons. In the first place, the performance of US asset prices may say less about the dollar’s status than it does about the relative insulation of the US economy from the crisis.
And second, China’s capital markets are emerging really very well from the current crisis, which might give Washington some pause for thought.
Effect of the war
First, it is worth considering what actually happened between the start of the war and the 7 April ceasefire, to the dollar, to US bond yields, and to the US stock market.
In principle, a true safe haven will see the currency strengthen, bond yields fall and stock markets perform relatively well when things go wrong globally.
By those standards, US asset prices haven’t done at all badly. The dollar strengthened by around 2 percent against a basket of other currencies; and the S&P stock index fell by less than its peers. And while the yield on a US government 10-year bond rose around 35 basis points to 4.3 percent, that increase was also smaller than many US peers: 10-year German yields, for example, rose by 45 basis points.
Compare this to dramatic episodes in the past – the 2008 Lehman Crisis, the start of the 2003 Iraq war, or the attacks on the US in September 2001 – and what we’ve seen in recent weeks still shows US markets in a respectable light.
The move in the dollar’s exchange rate, for example, is comparable to what happened in the weeks after the 1991 Gulf War, and has been much stronger than the greenback’s response to the 2003 war, when it weakened sharply.
The outperformance of the US stock market is also consistent with earlier episodes, with the exception of the 2003 war,when US markets fell very sharply by comparison with others.
The rise in US bond yields is also comparable with the past. Although US yields fell after 9/11 and after the start of the 2003 war, they rose in the weeks after the Lehman crisis.
Moreover, at least some of the increase in US bond yields – and corresponding fall in bond prices – must result from the selling of US government bonds by foreign central banks seeking to address domestic concerns.
The Turkish central bank, for example, has relied heavily on selling US bonds to raise dollars that it can use to defend the lira, fearing that a sharp depreciation of the local currency would boost inflation and encourage a mass flight to the dollar by Turkish residents. Other central banks are very likely to have done the same, albeit that the data are scanty.
While this decent performance of US asset markets in recent weeks suggests, on the face of it, that the war hasn’t done any damage to the dollar’s global status, these positive results may simply reflect the US’s emergence in recent years as the world’s top producer of oil, gas and weapons, which all help insulate the economy from the crisis.
So, the market might simply be reacting to a conjunctural fact about the US economy, rather than a structural fact about the role of the dollar in the international financial system.
China
Meanwhile, Chinese financial markets have exhibited extraordinary calm, with the government’s 10-year bond yield unchanged at 1.8 percent, quite unlike increases in bond yields seen almost everywhere else. The Chinese equity market has weakened a bit, but the renminbi has strengthened.
The strengthening of the Chinese currency in recent weeks is especially notable.
Indeed, the strengthening of the Chinese currency in recent weeks is especially notable, since it makes China the only energy importer in the world whose exchange rate has appreciated since the war began.
The appearance of calm in Chinese financial markets may also reflect some conjunctural facts about China’s economy which help protect it from the worst consequences of the war. Although China is a large energy importer, for example, its electricity generation depends hardly at all on oil and gas: coal is the dominant energy source, along with solar, wind, nuclear and hydro power.
Meanwhile, the war barely affected Iranian crude shipments to China, an economy which in any case has some 1.4 billion barrels of oil in reserve, around three months’ worth of consumption.
From people marrying digital companions to CEOs excited about how people whose jobs are replaced can ‘adapt’, this is terrifying watching. But Perry is the perfect host
There is a fun game you can play while watching Grayson Perry Has Seen the Future, the two-part documentary presented by the artist on the subject of artificial intelligence, its uses and its possible ramifications. Gather a group of friends, press play, and see which of you loses your mind first.
Will it be during the opening interview with Andrea, who recently married Edward, the AI companion she created to be “the man of my dreams”. She – or her idealised online avatar – wore “a beautiful matt satin gown” and he gave a speech about their “unconventional but strong” love. Will it be during the discussion of how you have intimate relations with a disembodied entity (“self-love is important … he’s very encouraging”)? Or will it be when she reveals that the joy she has found with Edward “has poured back” into the relationship she has been in for seven years with (human) Jason? “We’re happier than we’ve ever been.” Jason, perhaps wisely, does not offer himself for interview.
Lebanon–Israel talks must be given a chanceExpert commentthilton.drupal
Rare direct talks are unlikely to succeed in the long-term without Hezbollah disarming, but they are a welcome opportunity for the Lebanese state to regain its authority in foreign policy and pursue confidence-building measures with Israel.
The US hosted direct talks between Lebanon and Israel in Washington this week against the backdrop of Israel’s ongoing strikes targeting Hezbollah in Lebanon.
The Lebanese and Israeli ambassadors to the US, along with the US ambassador to Lebanon, met in Washington on Tuesday. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio chaired the meeting, which he hailed as a ‘historic gathering that we hope to build on.’
The State Department said that both sides agreed to ‘launch direct negotiations at a mutually agreed time and venue.’
While significant hurdles remain, most notably the issue of Hezbollah’s disarmament, these talks should be welcomed as an important initial confidence-building measure that lays the ground for much-needed future negotiations. Importantly, this reasserts the Lebanese state’s independence and authority in foreign policy.
New cast, same plot?
The talks bring back memories of when the two sides met directly and signed a short-lived accord during Lebanon’s 1975-1990 civil war.
In 1983, a year after Israel launched an invasion of Lebanon with the aim of expelling Palestinian militants, Lebanese President Amin Gemayel entered into negotiations with Israel. On May 17 of that year, both parties reached an agreement that briefly ended the state of war between the two countries.
However, the agreement lasted only a short while due to opposition from Syrian President Hafez Assad and pro-Syrian factions in Lebanon.
Today, the threat to Israel from Palestinian militants in Lebanon is gone. So is the Assad regime. But Hezbollah remains a formidable security challenge to Israel. This is despite the group having been severely weakened over the past two years due to Israel decapitating its leadership, penetrating its ranks and degrading much of its military capacity.
But Israel cannot simply oust Hezbollah – a Lebanese party with Lebanese fighters, parliamentarians, ministers and supporters – from Lebanon like it did with the Palestine Liberation Organization in the 1980s. Nor can it disarm Hezbollah without launching another deep and costly ground invasion, with severe consequences for Lebanon.
Hezbollah also has much to lose from a return to civil war.
Instead, Israel says it is trying to create a buffer zone in southern Lebanon – like it did in 1985-2000 – to push Hezbollah away from the border and reduce the threat of missile attacks or ground infiltration. Hezbollah restarted drone and missile attacks against Israel following the US-Israeli war on Iran, the group’s main patron.
These Israeli strikes and evacuation orders have created a dire humanitarian situation in southern Lebanon. More than 80 towns and villages have been emptied and more than 15 per cent of Lebanon’s population displaced.
Last week, Israel bombed more than 100 targets across the country in 10 minutes, killing hundreds of people. The wave of strikes came despite the US-Iran ceasefire, which Tehran and Islamabad said included Lebanon (a claim rejected by the US).
Hezbollah’s opposition
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun called for direct talks with Israel in March, but until last week Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had refused.
President Aoun enjoys a popular mandate, but he faces stiff resistance from Hezbollah. The group insists on a ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal from Lebanese territory as preconditions for talks.
US Vice President JD Vance said last week that Israel had offered to ‘check themselves a little bit in Lebanon’ to avoid undermining the US-Iran ceasefire. However, Israel has continued to strike southern Lebanon and has intensified its ground operations in the town of Bint Jbeil.
Israel is likely aiming to push the Lebanese government to demonstrate its commitment to disarming the group, which it is committed to under UN Security Council Resolutions 1559 and 1701, as well as the 2024 ceasefire deal. Hezbollah has categorically refused to disarm.
While Hezbollah’s support base is a minority within Lebanese society, the group has the military and intelligence capabilities to eliminate its domestic political opponents and pressure the Lebanese government, both of which it has done before.
This week, Hezbollah political council member Wafiq Safa said that his group will not abide by agreements that may result from the talks. During the talks in Washington, the group claimed it launched at least 24 attacks against Israel and Israeli troops.
Unable to prevent talks
Given these challenges, it’s easy to be pessimistic about the fate of any future negotiations.
But neither Tehran nor Hezbollah have been able to torpedo the talks so far. In a combative speech, Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem urged the Lebanese government to cancel the talks but was unable to prevent Tuesday’s meeting in Washington.
Politically, Hezbollah doesn’t have the numbers in Parliament to reverse the Lebanese government’s decision. And if it withdraws its ministers from the cabinet in protest, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam can replace them with other Shia figures with no allegiances to Iran.
Last week, Hezbollah’s supporters protested against the government. But the small demonstration appeared to have little participation from Hezbollah’s political allies including Amal, led by Shia Lebanese parliament speaker Nabih Berri.
Hezbollah could use its weapons against its fellow Lebanese, as it has done previously. But this would be a high-risk move at a time when its ally, Iran, has been severely weakened by the US and Israel.
Hezbollah also has much to lose from a return to civil war. It would likely face armed conflict with the Lebanese army, other Lebanese factions that might seek to re-arm, and fighters loyal to Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa. The near-constant threat from Israeli drones would make it virtually impossible for Hezbollah to mount any effective military campaign in Lebanon.
Confidence-building measures
None of this means that Lebanon–Israel talks going forward are likely to yield positive results.
The current mess is primarily a result of Hezbollah again dragging Lebanon into war with Israel. Moving forward, Israel will expect results, not just speeches, on Hezbollah’s disarmament.
Given the deeply rooted nature of the Hezbollah problem, the only way to approach the next round of negotiations is for both sides to pursue confidence-building measures. The initial meeting in Washington is a welcome and historic first step, but both sides should now take more concrete action.
Israel will expect results, not just speeches, on Hezbollah’s disarmament.
Israel must recognize that this Lebanese government presents the best chance to disarm Hezbollah and disassociate the country from Iran. It should avoid further attacks on state infrastructure and urban centres, and particularly Beirut, which risk civilian casualties, undermine the Lebanese government and bolster Hezbollah’s narrative of resistance.
The Lebanese government, meanwhile, should make it as difficult as possible for Hezbollah to operate. Politically, it should consider expelling Hezbollah ministers from the cabinet, given that officials from the group have accused the government of treason. Financially, the government must outlaw all of Hezbollah’s financial activities. And militarily, it could instruct the army to deploy in all of Beirut including its southern suburbs, confiscate any arms belonging to Hezbollah in the capital, and arrest anyone endangering civil peace.
From Destruction to Recovery: Building Ukraine’s Future Prosperity
14
May 2026 — 13:45 TO 19:15 BST
Anonymous (not verified)
Chatham House
Half day conference on the war-time recovery of Ukraine and necessary policies to support its long-term prosperity building on the experience and analysis of both Chatham House and the EBRD.
Half day conference on the war-time recovery of Ukraine and necessary policies to support its long-term prosperity building on the experience and analysis of both Chatham House and the EBRD.
Chatham House in partnership with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is convening a high-level conference to discuss the roadmap for Ukraine’s economic recovery. The destruction caused by the Russian invasion is staggering. After four years of war the total cost of reconstruction and recovery in Ukraine is almost $588 billion. Sustaining economic stability in war time and preparing for the most ambitious economic recovery project of the century, require effective collaboration of Ukrainian state, western donors, private sector and wider civil society. Ukraine’s integration with the EU and deep structural reforms could catalyse economic growth and enable social recovery and industrial reconstruction.
How can Ukraine and its international partners develop security arrangements that provide credible long term assurances and strengthen regional stability?
Which reforms could strengthen Ukraine’s economic growth and support a more predictable and competitive business environment? How to sustain momentum on the way to full membership in the EU?
How can Ukraine position itself competitively in emerging European value chains?
Hungary election: Orbán has been defeated – but will Orbánism survive?Expert commentLToremark
Péter Magyar and his Tisza party have won a landslide victory, ending 16 years of Viktor Orbán’s rule. But to what extent voters have also rejected Orbán’s model remains to be seen.
In Sunday’s election, Péter Magyar’s Tisza party won nearly 70 per cent of the seats in Hungary’s parliament, putting an end to Viktor Orbán’s 16-year rule. This landslide victory is not just a change of government, but a historic rejection of the most entrenched political system in the European Union (EU). The political model of Orbán and his Fidesz party had looked durable because it successfully fused political authority, institutional control and a powerful national narrative.
So why did voters turn against Orbán? While his campaign asked voters to think geopolitically (and not always in the most honourable fashion) – war or peace, Brussels or sovereignty, Ukraine or Hungarian stability – voters were more concerned with issues closer to home, such as economic stagnation, inflation and falling living standards. This shows that Orbán may have lost his populist touch because he clearly lost sense of his voters’ concerns. His defeat sends a warning to populists across Europe that even systems built to last can be beaten when economic concerns drown out their grand narratives.
Will Orbán’s model survive?
While it is clear that Viktor Orbán has been rejected by Hungarian voters, it is less clear that his political model, or Orbánism, has. Over more than a decade, Orbán profoundly reshaped Hungary’s political order, but the system he built also rested on wider political reflexes and deeply rooted social preferences: a strong state, scepticism of external constraint, transactional politics, and sovereignty as a governing method. These traits are deeply embedded in Hungarian political culture and do not vanish on election night.
That matters even more because Orbán is not leaving politics but will continue to serve from the opposition. That means Magyar will have to confront a defeated, wounded and still highly organized adversary. Fidesz remains embedded in local networks, institutions and media ecosystems; Orbán, for his part, is one of the most skilled political operators in Europe. This was also not Orbán’s first electoral defeat: he stepped down as prime minister in 2002, only to come back stronger in 2010. So, this is not a clean break with the Orbán era. It is the beginning of a new phase in which Orbánism may yet survive in opposition as a source of resistance, political sabotage and narrative warfare.
Relief in Brussels
For the EU, the election result is plainly good news. Hungary under Orbán had become a chronic point of friction on sanctions, Ukraine and rule-of-law disputes. A Magyar government is likely to be less obstructive, more predictable and more interested in repairing ties with Brussels. That could ease decisions on Ukraine and improve the atmosphere around frozen or conditional EU money – although Brussels is waiting to see reforms by the Magyar government before releasing such funds.
Hungary will likely remain cautious on migration, focused on sovereignty, and approach Mario Draghi’s ‘pragmatic federalism’ with circumspection. But the result is still good news for the EU’s centre-right European People’s Party (EPP). While it does not change the balance of seats in the European Parliament overnight, it strengthens the EPP politically: it gives the group a major national-level victory, reinforces its claim to represent the EU’s governing centre-right, and weakens one of its most powerful illiberal rivals.
This all points to easier European coordination on the horizon. It could also help to improve conditions for a UK rapprochement with the EU.
Ukraine and European defence
For Ukraine, the result matters significantly and immediately. Orbán had kept Hungary formally within the Western camp while also using his position to slow, dilute or politicize support for Kyiv – not least during the campaign. A Magyar victory should mean a less ambiguous Hungarian stance on Ukraine and fewer internal EU headaches. For Moscow, this is clearly a setback: Orbán had become, if not an ally, then certainly a useful outlier inside the EU. The result does not remove Hungary’s structural dependencies, but it does make Budapest less useful to Moscow as an internal point of leverage within Europe.
Defence, of all crucial areas for the EU, is where a Magyar government could bring visible change. Tisza has pledged to raise defence spending to NATO’s 5 per cent of GDP benchmark by 2035. But the balancing act is here to stay: Magyar ruled out both troop deployments to Ukraine and a return to conscription. However, plans to reduce Russian energy dependence by 2035 and review the Paks nuclear project – largely built and financed by Russia – points to a Hungary that would be less obstructive inside NATO and the EU, and therefore more useful to Europe’s wider security posture.
The wider European significance is hard to miss. In recent weeks, Italy’s Giorgia Meloni has suffered a clear setback with the referendum defeat on proposed judicial reforms, while France’s National Rally failed to convert its national standing into control of major cities in the municipal elections. Hungary now sends an even stronger signal: not stagnation, but outright reversal. The lesson is not that populism is finished but that even well-entrenched systems are reversible when they stop delivering materially and become too closed, too tired or too self-serving.
Meanwhile, Magyar’s victory shows that there is still room for a centre-right politics that is conservative without being illiberal, and pro-European without being politically anaemic.
Washington’s wager – and its failure
For Washington, Magyar’s victory comes as a significant blow. The election was monitored closely in the Oval Office and US Vice President JD Vance even came to Budapest days before the vote to boost Orbán’s chances of victory, denouncing supposed EU ‘interference’ and praising Orbán as an ally of Donald Trump. That intervention now looks more like a political own goal. More broadly, it undercuts an idea in Trump-aligned circles that strengthening European sovereigntists would weaken the EU from within and make Europe more pliable. If anything, Hungary suggests the opposite. Several European far-right parties have already begun distancing themselves from Trump over his more erratic foreign-policy moves and this result may further accelerate a trend towards greater autonomy from MAGA. The question now is whether Washington adjusts its methods of influence in Europe or simply doubles down.
It’s been less than a year since Delaware was thrust into the data center debate that has been raging in many parts of the country, and key questions remain: Does the First State want data centers as neighbors? What are the upsides, and where are the downsides? And exactly what is at stake as decisions are made?
Spotlight Delaware will shine that light on the data center controversy Thursday, April 16, when experts, stakeholders and citizens gather in Dover to discuss this distinctly 21st century quandary.
It’s the right conversation to have, and the right time to have it, sponsors and participants say.
“It’s coming fast and furious to Delaware, and the people responsible for making the decisions and the rules and the zoning do not have the information they need,” said Linda Parkowski, executive director of the Kent Economic Partnership, a co-sponsor of the Spotlight On: Data Centers forum. “It may be a new issue, but it’s important to have these conversations now.”
Jennifer Cohan, president of the Associated Builders and Contractors of Delaware, agreed, saying more people need to see the ways that data centers can boost Delaware’s economy.
“If Delaware wants to stay competitive, we need to lean into this growth in a smart, responsible way that supports our workforce, streamlines how we build, and ensures the economic benefits stay right here in our state,” said Cohan, whose organization is co-sponsoring the event.
The forum is also co-sponsored by the Kent Sussex Leadership Alliance.
The event will feature panelists who are directly engaged in the state’s public policy discussions, as well as officials from Virginia’s Loudoun County, who will speak of their long experience with data centers.
Spotlight Delaware reporter Olivia Marble, who has covered the issue extensively over the past year, will lead the panel discussions at the forum, which runs from 9 a.m. to noon at Wilmington University Dover Campus.
“This event will give some clarity to attendees about what the different power brokers are doing right now to mitigate any potential big impacts, and also clarify some of the details about the positives the data centers might bring,” Marble said. “This event can’t give 100% clarity, but at least we can come together and agree on a shared set of facts so that people can form their opinions moving forward.”
The Strait of Hormuz, shipping, and lawExplainersfarrell.drupa…
Freedom of passage through the Strait is a key issue for all maritime nations, writes Professor Marc Weller, Director of the International Law Programme at Chatham House.
On Sunday, President Donald Trump announced a blockade against shipping ‘trying to enter, or leave, the Strait of Hormuz.’
This move seems to aim at punishing Iran for having failed to agree to what Vice President JD Vance termed the ‘final and best offer’ for a peace settlement that he put forward during talks in Islamabad.
The temporary ceasefire proposed by Pakistan had provided for the lifting of Iranian restrictions on maritime movements through the Strait ‘as a goodwill gesture’.
This has not occurred, amid dispute about the application of the cease fire to Israel and its war in Lebanon.
Act of war
A blockade is an act of war. Its imposition compounds the fact that the US and Israel have launched an unlawful war against Iran. It also threatens the already fragile truce.
Moreover, President Trump’s initial announcement seemed to suggest that it would cover all shipping through the Strait.
This would have made the Gulf states, and those depending on their oil and gas, its principal victims, rather than Iran.
US Central Command has now clarified that it will ‘not impede freedom of navigation of vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz to and from non-Iranian ports.’
This clarifies that a traditional blockade is intended, trying to strangulate only the economy of the opponent and forcing a surrender, rather than stopping all traffic through the Strait altogether, which would clearly be unlawful.
President Trump’s initial announcement was also directed against the new Iranian practice to sell passage through the strait for a fee of up to $2 million. ‘No one who pays an illegal toll will have safe passage on the high seas,’ he added.
This would expose third-party tankers to arrest and seizure by US forces beyond the Strait.
But would the US really capture an Indian or Chinese super-tanker if they had paid the Iranian toll, or entered its ports or coastal areas? This would be a very significant escalation of the conflict, and Washington may well hesitate in making good its threat.
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Made with Natural Earth data.
The right of passage through the Strait
Freedom of passage through the Strait of Hormuz is a key issue for all maritime nations. The Strait controls shipping in the order of around 100-140 major vessels passing before the war per day.
When the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) was negotiated, a critical deal was struck reflecting this fact.
Freedom of passage through the Strait of Hormuz is a key issue for all maritime nations.
The convention accepted that coastal states can lawfully extend their territorial sea from the previously accepted limit of three nautical miles (nm) to 12 nm. This placed some 138 additional straits that are less than 24 nm wide under the jurisdiction of one or more coastal states.
The Strait of Hormuz, with a width of 21 nm at its narrowest point, is covered by the territorial seas of Iran and Oman respectively.
In exchange, the coastal states had to accept that a special legal regime would apply to straits used for international navigation. While the coastal states enjoy sovereignty over their territorial seas in most aspects, an original limitation to that sovereignty applies – they must accept an enhanced right of ‘transit passage’ for shipping of all nations.
This right goes further than the traditional right of ‘innocent passage’ granted to shipping through the territorial sea of any state. Innocent passage allows for some interference with passing shipping in accordance with local law, for instance for the protection of the marine environment or regulation of fisheries.
The US correctly argues that transit passage has become accepted as a firm right of all states in international custom, also binding on non-parties.
Crucially, the coastal state may suspend the right of passage if it judges that demands of its national security so require.
In contrast, given the lack of other viable routes, transit passage guarantees un-suspendable passage to all ships that may not be ‘impeded’ in any way by the coastal state. That right applies in peace and war, although with some necessary qualifications where the direct participants in an armed conflict are concerned.
The positions of the parties
Neither the US nor Iran is a party to UNCLOS. The US correctly argues that transit passage has become accepted as a firm right of all states in international custom, also binding on non-parties. Iran asserts that it need only grant the more limited, traditional, right of innocent passage, which can be suspended. It also claims that foreign warships must coordinate access with its authorities.
Oman has ratified UNCLOS, but has added statements affirming its ‘full sovereignty over its territorial sea’, and seeks to reserve its right to require prior permission for passage of warships.
However, UNCLOS rules out reservations of this kind. The US Navy has conducted a ‘freedom of navigation programme’ since 1979, enforcing the right of unimpeded passage.
This has regularly included unannounced passage of warships through the Strait of Hormuz.
During the present truce Washington claims to have sent two guided missile destroyers through the Strait, to emphasize this point and to prepare for an operation to clear the strait of mines.
Overall, the bargain of allowing all coastal states to extend their territorial seas was conditioned on universal acceptance of the regime of transit passage. Moreover, even if there could be doubt in relation to the passage of warships, which is not really the case, this would not affect the traffic of oil and gas tankers at issue in this instance.
Impact of the armed conflict
Kazem Gharibabadi, the Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal and International Affairs, claimed earlier in the conflict that ‘we are now in a state of war, and wartime conditions cannot be governed by peacetime rules.’
The US-Israeli attack on Iran clearly brought an international armed conflict into being. This turns the Strait of Hormuz into a ‘belligerent strait.’
The US-Israeli attack on Iran clearly brought an international armed conflict into being. This turns the Strait of Hormuz into a ‘belligerent strait.’
While the conflict lasts, Iran would be entitled to attack US or Israeli warships under the law of maritime warfare. This might include convoys of merchant ships conducted by US warships.
Direct attacks on merchant vessels of the two belligerents and on neutrals are, however, prohibited. US and Israeli-flag merchant vessels cannot simply be sunk, although Iran could seize them, along with neutral shipping carrying contraband.
Iran initially effectively blocked passage through the Strait for all maritime commerce altogether. However, this action was clearly and unambiguously rejected by the UN Security Council (UNSC) as a ‘serious threat to international peace and security.’
At a meeting of the Council of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) in London, Iran later claimed to have adopted only ‘necessary and proportionate measures to prevent aggressors and their supporters from exploiting the Strait of Hormuz to advance hostile operations against Iran.’
Aid, conflict and global leadership: UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher
20
April 2026 — 12:00 TO 13:00 BST
Anonymous (not verified)
Chatham House and Online
In conversation with Tom Fletcher, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, about the most pressing humanitarian and conflict issues facing the United Nations today, and what role the UK can play.
In conversation with Tom Fletcher, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, about the most pressing humanitarian and conflict issues facing the United Nations today, and what role the UK can play.
As wars multiply and humanitarian funding faces unprecedented strain, the UN system is under pressure to adapt. From Gaza to Sudan, the scale of need is outpacing the capacity to respond – and the political will of major powers to sustain the multilateral order is increasingly uncertain.
Tom Fletcher joins Chatham House for a wide-ranging conversation on the future of humanitarian action and the reform agenda facing the UN system.
Drawing on his experience engaging governments including the United States and other key partners, Fletcher will reflect on what effective multilateral leadership looks like in the current moment – and what more can be done.
With the UK hosting the G20 in 2027 and its Global Development Conference this coming May, this event will also turn to the role Britain can and should play: having cut its own aid spending, can it play a decisive role as a donor, convenor and reformer in the international system, and how?
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The milestone comes as France’s broader labour market slows, with hiring levels 30% below pre-pandemic benchmarks (LinkedIn Labour Market Report, January 2026), and amid continued layoffs across the global tech sector, highlighting the quantum sector as a rare source of new job creation.
Launched in 2023, Q4Bio set out to answer a fundamental question: What if we could develop new algorithms that deliver quantum advantage for health? At the time, the field was marked by significant promise, but limited evidence of practical application. Over the course of 30 months, the program brought together experts across quantum software, hardware, and biology as collaborative teams to identify high-impact biological use cases and co-develop the quantum solutions required to solve them. Finalist teams were led by Infleqtion, University of Nottingham, Harvard University, Stanford University, Algorithmiq, and the University of Oxford.
As global data infrastructure expands at an unprecedented pace, operators are facing growing pressure to deploy cooling systems that are not only powerful, but also flexible, efficient, and quick to implement. DataCool’s latest product launch addresses these challenges with a highly configurable suite of solutions designed to scale across a wide range of applications, from edge deployments to hyperscale facilities.
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