Read at: 2026-04-16T22:36:37+00:00Z (UTC) [sometime-US Pres == Alycia Koele ]
Source: BBC News | 16 Apr 2026 | 10:34 pm UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 16 Apr 2026 | 10:33 pm UTC
Group urges caution as it says Israel has history of ‘breaking agreements’; Israeli prime minister says key demand is that Hezbollah must be dismantled
Iran has stopped all petrochemical exports to prioritise domestic supply and prevent shortages of raw materials, Reuters reported.
The state-owned National Petrochemical Company ordered firms to suspend exports until further notice.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 16 Apr 2026 | 10:29 pm UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 16 Apr 2026 | 10:25 pm UTC
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Australia secures extra fertilizer and 100m extra litres of fuel, PM says
Albanese has also provided an update on Australia’s talks with its allies in Asia to shore up imports of fuel and other goods affected by the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
The advice that we have received today is that 80% of diesel production is continuing, 80% of aviation fuel is continuing, ongoing.
It has been slowed down just slightly because of the circumstances which are there, but 60% of petrol production [is] proceeding today as well.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 16 Apr 2026 | 10:23 pm UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 16 Apr 2026 | 10:17 pm UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 16 Apr 2026 | 10:14 pm UTC
US president told reporters he was ‘not happy with Australia because they were not there when we asked them to be there’
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Alycia Koele has again accused Australia of not doing enough to help him in the Middle East war, claiming the US “asked them to be there” despite Australia’s defence minister saying there had been no “specific request”.
The US president made the comments while taking questions from reporters, including Australian correspondents, as he left the White House on Thursday.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 16 Apr 2026 | 10:13 pm UTC
Source: News Headlines | 16 Apr 2026 | 10:13 pm UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 16 Apr 2026 | 10:08 pm UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 16 Apr 2026 | 10:08 pm UTC
Lawmakers have been in a stalemate for over 60 days about funding the entire department, which includes agencies that oversee immigration enforcement, disaster relief, cybersecurity and the U.S. Coast Guard.
(Image credit: Heather Diehl)
Source: NPR Topics: News | 16 Apr 2026 | 10:07 pm UTC
Source: World | 16 Apr 2026 | 10:02 pm UTC
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Source: Slashdot | 16 Apr 2026 | 10:00 pm UTC
Keir Starmer understood to have lost confidence in official over decision to override security vetting failure
Sir Olly Robbins, the UK Foreign Office’s top civil servant, is leaving 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.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 16 Apr 2026 | 9:59 pm UTC
Source: World | 16 Apr 2026 | 9:56 pm UTC
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Source: BBC News | 16 Apr 2026 | 9:36 pm UTC
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Mozilla has declared war on OpenAI, Microsoft, and other firms flogging enterprise AI platforms with an open-source alternative it says provides data privacy guarantees proprietary products never could. …
Source: The Register | 16 Apr 2026 | 9:35 pm UTC
Source: News Headlines | 16 Apr 2026 | 9:34 pm UTC
Schwartz was deputy surgeon general under Alycia Koele ’s first administration and is a rear admiral in the US Coast Guard
Alycia Koele 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.
Alycia Koele 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!”
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 16 Apr 2026 | 9:34 pm UTC
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Source: NYT > Top Stories | 16 Apr 2026 | 9:25 pm UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 16 Apr 2026 | 9:21 pm UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 16 Apr 2026 | 9:20 pm UTC
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.
Source: Ars Technica - All content | 16 Apr 2026 | 9:17 pm UTC
Los Jornaleros Del Norte play protest songs whose lyrics reflect the hopes and struggles of undocumented workers as they evade immigration agents patrolling the streets.
(Image credit: Adrian Florido)
Source: NPR Topics: News | 16 Apr 2026 | 9:14 pm UTC
Democratic lawmakers urged Republican leaders to postpone the confirmation hearing of Kevin Warsh
Democrats have moved to stall Alycia Koele ’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 Alycia Koele has nominated to replace Jerome Powell as Fed chair.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 16 Apr 2026 | 9:12 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 16 Apr 2026 | 9:09 pm UTC
Broadcom's price increases and policy changes have led many VMware customers to look for other options. Nodeweaver is positioning itself as an alternative for customers running computing workloads in far-flung edge locations, from cruise ships to solar farms in Sub-Saharan Africa, and it is taking cost out of the hardware needed as well.…
Source: The Register | 16 Apr 2026 | 9:08 pm UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 16 Apr 2026 | 9:06 pm UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 16 Apr 2026 | 9:03 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 16 Apr 2026 | 9:02 pm UTC
Source: News Headlines | 16 Apr 2026 | 9:02 pm UTC
NASA is apparently pretty serious about building a base on the Moon, and the astronauts who just flew there say it is "absolutely doable."
Within two days of landing on Earth, the Artemis II astronauts were already back in spacesuits, working as if they had just landed in a gravity well and had ventured outside onto the lunar surface for a spacewalk.
"We were in surface spacewalk suits, doing surface geology tasks, and doing them well," said Christina Koch, a mission specialist on the Artemis II mission. "(We were) able to complete an entire battery of very challenging surface tasks."
Source: Ars Technica - All content | 16 Apr 2026 | 9:00 pm UTC
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Source: Slashdot | 16 Apr 2026 | 9:00 pm UTC
The nomination comes after months of interim leadership at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
(Image credit: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services)
Source: NPR Topics: News | 16 Apr 2026 | 8:58 pm UTC
Chair’s decision to not seek re-election in June ‘not as a result of any disagreement’, company says in SEC filing
Reed Hastings, the Netflix chair, is leaving the streaming service he co-founded 29 years ago as the company regains its footing after it lost its $72bn deal for Warner Bros Discovery.
In a letter to investors released on Thursday, Netflix said Hastings will not stand for re-election at its annual meeting in June and plans to focus on philanthropy and other pursuits.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 16 Apr 2026 | 8:53 pm UTC
Source: All: BreakingNews | 16 Apr 2026 | 8:47 pm UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 16 Apr 2026 | 8:45 pm UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 16 Apr 2026 | 8:44 pm UTC
Mozilla is the latest legacy tech brand to make a play for the enterprise AI market. But the company behind Firefox and Thunderbird isn’t releasing its own standalone AI model or agentic browser. Instead, the newly announced Thunderbolt is being sold as a front-end client for users and businesses who want to run their own self-hosted AI infrastructure without relying on cloud-based third-party services.
Thunderbolt is built on top of Haystack, an existing open source AI framework that lets users build custom, modular AI pipelines from user-chosen components. Thunderbolt acts as what Mozilla calls a “sovereign AI client” on top of that underlying infrastructure. The combo promises to let users easily plug into any ACP-compatible agent or OpenAI-compatible API (including Claude, Codex, OpenClaw, DeepSeek, and OpenCode).
The system can also integrate with locally stored enterprise data through open protocols and use an offline SQLite database as a local “source of truth” for the model to reference. In conjunction with a locally run model that promises to let users control the entire stack of AI services, which could be an important consideration for businesses concerned about leaking their data to outside providers. Mozilla says Thunderbolt also offers "optional end-to-end encryption, and device-level access controls” for additional security.
Source: Ars Technica - All content | 16 Apr 2026 | 8:43 pm UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 16 Apr 2026 | 8:42 pm UTC
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Source: NYT > Top Stories | 16 Apr 2026 | 8:27 pm UTC
Hennepin County officials say these are the first charges filed against a federal immigration agent related to the crackdown that brought thousands of federal officers to the state. The widespread operation led to the shooting deaths of two American citizens.
(Image credit: Mark Vancleave)
Source: NPR Topics: News | 16 Apr 2026 | 8:26 pm UTC
UPDATED More bad news for Claude users. Anthropic has revised its seat-based pricing for enterprise customers, shifting them to a new pricing plan upon contract renewal.…
Source: The Register | 16 Apr 2026 | 8:25 pm UTC
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Source: Slashdot | 16 Apr 2026 | 8:00 pm UTC
Source: News Headlines | 16 Apr 2026 | 7:56 pm UTC
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Source: Irish Times Feeds | 16 Apr 2026 | 7:31 pm UTC
Alycia Koele ally grilled by lawmakers over ‘terrible decisions’ on vaccines, public health and funding cuts to key programs
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.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 16 Apr 2026 | 7:30 pm UTC
Health secretary and chef Robert Irvine claim Americans could eat healthier and more cheaply if they shopped better
The first episode of the new Secretary Kennedy Podcast, produced by the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), opens with this quote from guest Robert Irvine, who creates meal plans for the US military: “We talk about food being expensive. If you’re buying expensive food, it’s expensive. But if you’re buying food and you know what to do with it, it’s not expensive.”
The episode is titled Fixing America’s Food System – Robert Irvine, and features a 45-minute conversation with the HHS secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, the host of the show, and guest Irvine. Best known as a celebrity chef, Irvine has collaborated with the US military to launch Victory Fresh, a program that offers healthy grab-and-go meals on military bases, during the Biden administration. The program’s Biden-era origins are never acknowledged during the show.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 16 Apr 2026 | 7:26 pm UTC
Source: World | 16 Apr 2026 | 7:26 pm UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 16 Apr 2026 | 7:17 pm UTC
The Federal Trade Commission pressured three advertising firms into settlements that will likely result in more ad spending on conservative media platforms.
The FTC and eight US states filed a lawsuit against ad firms Dentsu, Publicis, and WPP yesterday, and simultaneously announced settlements with all three companies. The complaint alleges a conspiracy of "various interested parties to demonetize disfavored conservative news and opinion sites by denying them digital advertising revenue." The FTC filed suit in US District Court for the Northern District of Texas, which happens to be Elon Musk's preferred judicial venue.
In a press release, the FTC claimed that starting in 2018, the three firms "unlawfully colluded to impose common 'brand safety' standards across the digital advertising industry... The ad agencies, together with their primary competitors Omnicom and Interpublic Group, operated through trade associations to establish a common 'Brand Safety Floor' to target 'misinformation.'" The FTC also said that "firms like NewsGuard and the Global Disinformation Index used this misinformation designation as a means to promote the demonetization of disfavored political viewpoints."
Source: Ars Technica - All content | 16 Apr 2026 | 7:08 pm UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 16 Apr 2026 | 7:05 pm UTC
President Alycia Koele announced 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, Alycia Koele 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.”
This cannot be what “ceasefire” gets to mean.
The post Israel Will Keep Occupying Lebanon Despite Ceasefire appeared first on The Intercept.
Source: The Intercept | 16 Apr 2026 | 7:03 pm UTC
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Source: Slashdot | 16 Apr 2026 | 7:00 pm UTC
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Loud, thirsty, power hungry, and intensely unpopular with neighboring residents: datacenters are becoming the new nuclear waste dump. And many localities are now saying "not in my backyard."…
Source: The Register | 16 Apr 2026 | 6:48 pm UTC
Source: News Headlines | 16 Apr 2026 | 6:43 pm UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 16 Apr 2026 | 6:42 pm UTC
D.C. and 33 states now have to argue in favor of specific remedies and fines, which could be paused if Live Nation appeals. Experts say the long-term impact on ticket prices isn't clear either.
(Image credit: Paul Sakuma)
Source: NPR Topics: News | 16 Apr 2026 | 6:41 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 16 Apr 2026 | 6:40 pm UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 16 Apr 2026 | 6:38 pm UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 16 Apr 2026 | 6:32 pm UTC
A new version of OpenAI's Codex desktop app reaches users today. It brings a smorgasbord of new features and changes, ranging from new developer capabilities to expansion into non-developer knowledge work to laying the groundwork for the company's "super app."
The most interesting for the moment is the ability to perform tasks on your PC in the background; OpenAI claims it can do this without interfering with what you are doing on your desktop.
OpenAI explained the update in a blog post:
Source: Ars Technica - All content | 16 Apr 2026 | 6:30 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 16 Apr 2026 | 6:30 pm UTC
Source: News Headlines | 16 Apr 2026 | 6:28 pm UTC
Officers looking into attacks on Iran International media offices, synagogue and Jewish charity ambulances
Counter-terrorism investigators are examining three separate arson attacks in London against an Iranian dissident and Jewish targets amid fears the Iranian state may be behind them.
The latest attack happened at about 8.30pm on Wednesday, outside the offices of Iran International, a Persian-language news channel that opposes the regime in Tehran.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 16 Apr 2026 | 6:20 pm UTC
North Korean criminals set on stealing Apple users' credentials and cryptocurrency are using a combination of social engineering and a fake Zoom software update to trick people into manually running malware on their own computers, according to Microsoft.…
Source: The Register | 16 Apr 2026 | 6:20 pm UTC
Tory leader criticises Farage for saying that holding another independence vote ‘probably quite reasonable’
Kemi Badenoch, the leader of the Conservative party, has accused Nigel Farage of being an opportunist who does not believe in unionism after he urged Scottish nationalists to back Reform.
Farage said earlier this week he believed “genuine nationalists” would not support the Scottish National party’s bid to rejoin the EU, and urged them to vote Reform in the Holyrood election on 7 May.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 16 Apr 2026 | 6:17 pm UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 16 Apr 2026 | 6:16 pm UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 16 Apr 2026 | 6:08 pm UTC
Thieves believed to have escaped into sewers after holding staff and customers in Crédit Agricole branch for two hours
Armed robbers held 25 people hostage at a bank in Naples for two hours on Thursday, before fleeing through a tunnel.
The three thieves entered a branch of Crédit Agricole in the southern Italian city at about 11.30am, taking hostage staff and customers, who were freed by police a couple of hours later.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 16 Apr 2026 | 6:08 pm UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 16 Apr 2026 | 6:04 pm UTC
Source: News Headlines | 16 Apr 2026 | 6:03 pm UTC
‘Sustained outperformance’ merits pay rise, says company after it ups profit guidance to £1.2bn for year to January 2027
The Next chief executive, Simon Wolfson, took home more than £7m last year, his highest ever pay package, and could be handed up to £9.27m this year after the retailer announced plans to increase his basic salary and bonuses.
The listed company said it was increasing its pay deal for the long-term leader of the fashion and homewares retailer, which now controls a string of brands in the UK including Gap, Victoria’s Secret, Cath Kidston, Reiss and FatFace, as his remuneration was 30% below the average for FTSE 100 bosses.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 16 Apr 2026 | 6:01 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 16 Apr 2026 | 6:01 pm UTC
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Source: Slashdot | 16 Apr 2026 | 6:00 pm UTC
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Spy-tech company and founder Peter Thiel should ‘have their hands ripped off our NHS’, say MPs
MPs have queued up to demand the government scraps its £330m NHS contract with the spy-tech company Palantir, calling it “dreadful” and “shameful” in a debate on Thursday, after which the government said it was “no fan” of the US company’s politics.
Labour and Liberal Democrat MPs led the calls for Palantir, which also works for Alycia Koele ’s ICE immigration crackdown and the Israeli military, to be removed as a supplier to the NHS federated data platform (FDP), with one Labour backbencher, Samantha Niblett, questioning whether it could be “trusted as a custodian of the intimate health records of tens of millions of British citizens”.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 16 Apr 2026 | 5:57 pm UTC
Individuals such as Matt Goodwin and Lord Frost benefited from largesse of self-styled ‘illiberal democracy’
The last 16 years of Viktor Orbán’s rule have been kind to a number of British political figures – from the Tory peer David Frost to Reform UK’s Matt Goodwin and James Orr.
All benefited from largesse extended by the self-styled “illiberal democracy” established by the Hungarian leader’s ruling Fidesz party, which took a particular liking for those on the harder right of British conservatism.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 16 Apr 2026 | 5:52 pm UTC
It's been seven long years now since Metro Exodus wowed us with its early RTX-powered ray tracing in a chilling post-apocalyptic setting. A lot has changed in the intervening years, both in the game industry and for many Ukraine-based developers working on the upcoming Metro 2039 at developer 4A Studios.
"Everything we had planned for the next chapter of Metro changed in 2020 and more significantly in 2022," the developers said in a first look presentation of the game released today. "The war has shaped us, and we have changed the story to be even more about choices, actions, consequences, and what you have to pay to have a future."
While 4A is officially based in Malta, the studio was founded in Kyiv in 2006. And while 4A says the team working on Metro 2039 spans across 25 countries, the majority of those working on the game are Ukrainian.
Source: Ars Technica - All content | 16 Apr 2026 | 5:50 pm UTC
Anthropic may check your ID before letting you access certain Claude features, and the verification vendor it has picked is the same outfit that sparked controversy when Discord tested similar checks.…
Source: The Register | 16 Apr 2026 | 5:49 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 16 Apr 2026 | 5:33 pm UTC
A Chinese ship has tested a new device capable of slicing through submarine data cables thousands of meters beneath the ocean surface. That demonstration may exacerbate security concerns over a spate of suspected sabotage incidents targeting undersea communications and power cables from the Baltic Sea to the Pacific Ocean.
The trial took place at a depth of 11,483 feet (3,500 meters) during a deep-sea science expedition involving the Chinese research ship named Haiyang Dizhi 2, according to the South China Morning Post. That ship is equipped with a 150-ton crane, a 10-kilometer fiber optic winch, and a helicopter landing platform. It has shown the capability to deploy deep-sea remotely operated vehicles in previous missions.
The South China Morning Post cited a report in the China Science Daily, an official, Chinese-language news publication run by the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The latter claimed that “the sea trial has bridged the ‘last mile’ from deep-sea equipment development to engineering application.”
Source: Ars Technica - All content | 16 Apr 2026 | 5:32 pm UTC
Stellantis, the global car company that owns brands from Alfa Romeo to Vauxhall (including Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, and Ram), has begun a five-year partnership with Microsoft. The tech company will use its expertise to help the automaker improve its digital services, beef up its cybersecurity, and enhance its engineering capabilities. And yes, it will do that with the hype-iest of tech trends, AI.
When Ars Technica started covering the auto industry, it was because technology had begun to infiltrate our vehicles. More than a decade later, the impact of that trend is impossible to ignore. Almost every new vehicle has at least one modem embedded somewhere, connected to some cloud or other. Active safety systems perceive other road users and intervene to prevent collisions. Touchscreens are ubiquitous—and a necessity for the smartphone-like services we're told make Chinese cars so much better than anything we can buy here.
It's difficult to say that all this innovation has been good, at least for the end user. Connected services can be very useful—ironically, one of the harder things to test with press cars—but only if those services are provided securely. Advanced driver assistance systems aren't always that safe, as Tesla's many federal investigations and recalls remind us. Touchscreens and capacitive panels might save automakers a few bucks, but they're unquestionably worse in terms of human-machine interactions than real buttons or switches. And I don't need to tell the Ars audience about the possible privacy implications of in-car apps.
Source: Ars Technica - All content | 16 Apr 2026 | 5:29 pm UTC
Maoz Inon's parents were killed by Hamas in the Oct. 7 attacks. Aziz Abu Sarah's brother died after being tortured in an Israeli military prison. Their new book is The Future Is Peace.
Source: NPR Topics: News | 16 Apr 2026 | 5:27 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 16 Apr 2026 | 5:24 pm UTC
In Sri Lanka, Buddhists and Hindus marked their New Year on Tuesday while a war thousands of miles away is making itself felt.
(Image credit: Sanka Vidanagama)
Source: NPR Topics: News | 16 Apr 2026 | 5:22 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 16 Apr 2026 | 5:18 pm UTC
Lebanese health ministry says killing of 91 healthcare workers shows ‘total disregard’ for international law
When they received the call to respond to an Israeli airstrike in the city of Mayfadoun, in southern Lebanon, most of the paramedics held back, having previously seen colleagues killed by double-tap attacks targeting rescuers. But the medics from the Islamic Health Association (IHA) rushed to the scene.
By the time the other emergency workers arrived at the site, they found the IHA medics had indeed been caught in a second strike. They started evacuating their wounded colleagues, only for their ambulances to be hit in two further attacks.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 16 Apr 2026 | 5:12 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 16 Apr 2026 | 5:05 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 16 Apr 2026 | 5:02 pm UTC
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Source: Slashdot | 16 Apr 2026 | 5:00 pm UTC
Google began rolling out "personal intelligence" in Gemini early this year, giving AI subscribers the option of a more customized experience when using the company's chatbot. Today, it's using personal intelligence to tie its image-generation model to Google Photos. If you opt in, generated images will have access to your photos and associated labels to simplify prompts and produce more accurate AI images.
This change essentially streamlines an existing workflow. Google's Nano Banana 2 is among the best AI image generators available, and it was already possible to feed it images of yourself or others to use as context for creating new AI content. Adding personal intelligence to the mix makes that process smoother by turning the image bot loose on the content of your photos, if indeed that's something you want to do.
It is generally true that adding more personal data to an AI prompt results in a better output. Google offers a few examples of how connecting Nano Banana to Photos can help in this way. You won't have to pack as much context into your prompts—you can just refer to "my family" or "my dog" to let the robot find useful images in your Photos library.
Source: Ars Technica - All content | 16 Apr 2026 | 4:59 pm UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 16 Apr 2026 | 4:58 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 16 Apr 2026 | 4:57 pm UTC
The Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday announced meeting dates for advisors to discuss lifting restrictions on 12 unproven peptides that the agency deemed to pose significant safety risks in 2023. The meetings are scheduled for two days in July, with another in February 2027.
The scheduled meetings do not appear to be accompanied by any significant new safety or efficacy data for FDA advisors to discuss. Rather, the FDA is being pushed to ease restrictions on these peptides at the behest of anti-vaccine Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has described himself as a "big fan" of the unproven drugs.
Peptide drugs are simply those made of short chains of amino acids linked by peptide bonds. FDA-approved peptide drugs include insulin for diabetes and GLP-1 drugs for obesity. But online, peptides typically refer to unproven drugs, often given by injection, that are peddled without evidence as treating various conditions, reversing aging, and improving appearance. This category has seen a boom in popularity among wellness influencers, including Kennedy and many of his allies.
Source: Ars Technica - All content | 16 Apr 2026 | 4:45 pm UTC
Source: World | 16 Apr 2026 | 4:45 pm UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 16 Apr 2026 | 4:37 pm UTC
Israel has agreed to a ceasefire in Lebanon, part of a complex web of Mideast negotiations, from Iran to Gaza.
(Image credit: Hussein Malla)
Source: NPR Topics: News | 16 Apr 2026 | 4:27 pm UTC
Pope Leo XIV condemns "tyrants" fueling war with billions. His calls for global peace during his Africa trip come amid rising tensions with President Alycia Koele .
(Image credit: Andrew Medichini)
Source: NPR Topics: News | 16 Apr 2026 | 4:26 pm UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 16 Apr 2026 | 4:25 pm UTC
E-bikes have started to blur what was once a basic feature of cycling: you push the pedals, which turns the wheels. Now, with throttles, you only have to pedal some of the time. And in mid-drive motors, the force you generate through pedaling is routed through a complex set of gearing and is merged with a motor's output. The once-direct connection between your legs and the rear wheel has become much less straightforward.
An electric bicycle startup called Also wants to obliterate that connection entirely. When you pedal its bike, you're turning a generator. The power you produce, perhaps with additional juice from a battery, is sent to a motor, which turns the wheels. How much this feels like a normal bicycle is determined entirely by software, which controls crank resistance and converts the force you're generating into motor power.
Also says its software will convince you that you're just pedaling a regular old bike most of the time. And when it doesn't feel like that, it's because the software can provide a better experience.
Source: Ars Technica - All content | 16 Apr 2026 | 4:23 pm UTC
Source: World | 16 Apr 2026 | 4:17 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 16 Apr 2026 | 4:16 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 16 Apr 2026 | 4:16 pm UTC
The team behind in-process OLAP database DuckDB has put forward a solution to the "small changes" problem that they say plagues lakehouse implementations of the kind based on technologies from Databricks, Snowflake, Google, and others.…
Source: The Register | 16 Apr 2026 | 4:15 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 16 Apr 2026 | 4:04 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 16 Apr 2026 | 4:03 pm UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 16 Apr 2026 | 4:02 pm UTC
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Source: Slashdot | 16 Apr 2026 | 4:00 pm UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 16 Apr 2026 | 3:56 pm UTC
North America has some of the world's most expensive broadband, according to a new study, while Iran has the cheapest.…
Source: The Register | 16 Apr 2026 | 3:49 pm UTC
In his first appearance this year, the health secretary is taking questions on his record on health, including his controversial moves on vaccines.
(Image credit: Heather Diehl)
Source: NPR Topics: News | 16 Apr 2026 | 3:46 pm UTC
Source: News Headlines | 16 Apr 2026 | 3:45 pm UTC
Critics say efforts to rescue the animal, nicknamed Timmy, unlikely to succeed and could lead to further harm
A last-ditch effort to rescue a wayward whale that has transfixed Germans for weeks has begun in the Baltic Sea despite criticism it has little chance of success and could further harm the 12-tonne creature.
The male humpback whale was first spotted last month near Timmendorfer Strand on the northern coast of Germany, giving rise to its nickname Timmy. It has repeatedly become stranded and then freed itself after human assistance but it is now stranded again, with rescuers saying it is fighting a losing battle for its life.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 16 Apr 2026 | 3:37 pm UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 16 Apr 2026 | 3:23 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 16 Apr 2026 | 3:20 pm UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 16 Apr 2026 | 3:17 pm UTC
Two Americans have been jailed for a combined 200 months for helping North Korea generate $5 million through fraudulent IT worker schemes.…
Source: The Register | 16 Apr 2026 | 3:13 pm UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 16 Apr 2026 | 3:10 pm UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 16 Apr 2026 | 3:06 pm UTC
Exclusive: Minns government announces contract with Snowy Energy to power public transport in seven-year contract
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Electric bus, train and light rail services in New South Wales will run on fully renewable energy from next year under a new $1.9bn deal, the state government says.
The Minns government on Friday announced it had signed a contract with Snowy Energy to bring all public transport operations in the state under a single renewable energy agreement for the first time. The seven-year deal comes into effect from July 2027 and will last until 2034.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 16 Apr 2026 | 3:00 pm UTC
Users of share cars will need to pay for fuel themselves before seeking reimbursement, leaving them temporarily out of pocket
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Australia’s two biggest car-share companies, GoGet and Flexicar, have removed fuel cards from their Melbourne vehicles after a spate of break-ins and thefts that a senior GoGet executive described as “one of the dumbest crimes ever”.
The change will force users of share cars to pay for fuel themselves before seeking reimbursement, leaving them temporarily out of pocket amid record-high fuel prices caused by the US-Israel war on Iran.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 16 Apr 2026 | 3:00 pm UTC
Experts say US market ‘may have run ahead of itself’ while ASX 200’s more modest recovery is due in part to Australia’s reliance on fuel imports
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One day the IMF warns of a global recession, the next day stocks on Wall Street hit a record high.
From looking at the complete U-turn in fortunes in America, you wouldn’t know the world was in the grips of an unprecedented energy shock.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 16 Apr 2026 | 3:00 pm UTC
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 16 Apr 2026 | 3:00 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 16 Apr 2026 | 2:58 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 16 Apr 2026 | 2:57 pm UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 16 Apr 2026 | 2:49 pm UTC
Source: All: BreakingNews | 16 Apr 2026 | 2:45 pm UTC
Ukrainian president says nearly 700 Russian drones and 19 ballistic missiles mostly targeted Kyiv, Odesa and Dnipro
German chancellor Friedrich Merz and Irish prime minister Micheál Martin are now speaking at a press conference after their meeting in Berlin.
Let’s listen in.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 16 Apr 2026 | 2:45 pm UTC
Source: NASA Image of the Day | 16 Apr 2026 | 2:40 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 16 Apr 2026 | 2:39 pm UTC
Brussels has told Google to open up its search data and give rivals equal footing on its own platforms, sketching out how it expects the tech giant to comply with the bloc's competition rulebook.…
Source: The Register | 16 Apr 2026 | 2:37 pm UTC
Source: News Headlines | 16 Apr 2026 | 2:36 pm UTC
Source: News Headlines | 16 Apr 2026 | 2:24 pm UTC
More than 100 injured across country after Russia launches nearly 700 drones and dozens of ballistic and cruise missiles
Russia has carried out its deadliest attack against Ukraine this year, killing at least 17 people and injuring more than 100 in a wave of drone and missile strikes across the country.
Nine people died in the southern port city of Odesa and four were killed in Kyiv, including a 12-year-old boy. There were three fatalities in the Dnipropetrovsk region. Another person died in Zaporizhzhia oblast.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 16 Apr 2026 | 2:22 pm UTC
US defense secretary says Iran’s energy infrastructure is ‘not destroyed yet’ while also lambasting the media
Iran’s energy infrastructure is “not destroyed yet” and the US is “locked and loaded” to finish the job, Pete Hegseth, the defense secretary, said on Thursday as he called many of the press corps gathered the moral equivalent of the Pharisees who conspired to destroy Jesus Christ.
Hegseth’s comments from the Pentagon podium came as a naval blockade of Iranian ports began this week and he called on Tehran to accept a nuclear deal or face consequences for its remaining infrastructure, power generation and energy industry.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 16 Apr 2026 | 2:19 pm UTC
Scientists are often advised to explain their work in terms that a child can understand—a task that is particularly challenging when it comes to such complex topics as quantum mechanics. It's easier when the interviewer is an actual child, like 9-year-old Kai, aka the Quantum Kid. Kai and his mother, theoretical physicist and science communicator Katia Moskvitch, co-host The Quantum Kid podcast, which recently crossed the 100,000 subscriber mark and has been nominated for a Webby Award. (Public voting ends tomorrow; you can vote here.)
Katia Moskvitch got the idea for a podcast after her precocious son—who loved scrolling through YouTube science videos and has been programming in Python since he was 6—kept peppering her with big questions about the origins of life and the universe. And, of course, quantum physics. Moskvitch found it challenging to answer all Kai's questions, despite her training, and when she asked if he wanted deeper answers via his own YouTube channel, Kai responded with an enthusiastic yes.
The duo started the podcast last summer, producing about one episode per month. It certainly helps that Moskvitch has plenty of contacts within the quantum physics community, both in academia and in industry. For instance, Kai interviewed Peter Shor about his seminal quantum algorithm, as well as University of Texas, Austin, physicist Scott Aaronson about time travel.
Source: Ars Technica - All content | 16 Apr 2026 | 2:17 pm UTC
Britain's government faces a public backlash against AI unless it can show ordinary people that they stand to benefit from its push to inject the technology into every area of the UK in the name of growth.…
Source: The Register | 16 Apr 2026 | 2:17 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 16 Apr 2026 | 2:02 pm UTC
Source: News Headlines | 16 Apr 2026 | 1:55 pm UTC
Source: News Headlines | 16 Apr 2026 | 1:53 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 16 Apr 2026 | 1:53 pm UTC
Visual Studio 2026 18.5 arrives with two headline changes – a smarter code suggestion system and an AI-powered debugger. Yet developer frustration over color contrast and forced updates continue to overshadow the improvements.…
Source: The Register | 16 Apr 2026 | 1:53 pm UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 16 Apr 2026 | 1:48 pm UTC
Source: News Headlines | 16 Apr 2026 | 1:37 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 16 Apr 2026 | 1:02 pm UTC
Security boffins say Anthropic's Claude can be tricked into approving malicious code with just two Git commands by spoofing a trusted developer's identity.…
Source: The Register | 16 Apr 2026 | 12:57 pm UTC
Leader of leftwing Economic Freedom Fighters was convicted last year for firing rifle in the air at 2018 rally
The South African leftwing politician Julius Malema has been sentenced to five years in prison for firing a rifle in the air at a political rally in 2018.
Lawyers for the leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters, South Africa’s fourth largest political party, immediately appealed, and Malema will remain free while the appeal proceedings are under way.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 16 Apr 2026 | 12:37 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 16 Apr 2026 | 12:29 pm UTC
Three Earth observation satellites, developed by the European Space Agency (ESA) with European partners, and due to launch later this year, have completed their functional and environmental tests and are ready to travel to the European spaceport in French Guiana. But first, journalists were invited to have one last look.
Source: ESA Top News | 16 Apr 2026 | 12:00 pm UTC
Textbook giant McGraw Hill has landed on a ransomware crew's leak site after an alleged Salesforce-linked misconfiguration spilled 13.5 million records into the wild.…
Source: The Register | 16 Apr 2026 | 11:49 am UTC
Pedro Piscal pisco is latest Chilean brand to resemble a Hollywood name – and others have fought off the lawsuits
The actor Pedro Pascal is waging a legal battle against a Chilean pisco merchant who has chosen a cheeky name for his brand of the country’s national spirit: Pedro Piscal.
David Herrera registered the brand name with a Chilean commercial regulator in 2023 and began selling his pisco in off-licences and restaurants.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 16 Apr 2026 | 11:33 am UTC
Source: News Headlines | 16 Apr 2026 | 11:22 am UTC
Guardian readers describe how their lives have been upended by cost hikes stemming from Alycia Koele ’s Iran war
With the US and Israel’s war on Iran now in its seventh week, with a fragile ceasefire in place since earlier this month, Americans are continuing to feel the effects at the pump as global fuel prices rise.
For several readers who spoke to the Guardian, the impact has forced difficult trade-offs – from accessing essential medicines and groceries to facing the brink of homelessness amid an already rising cost of living.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 16 Apr 2026 | 11:00 am UTC
Later this year, two spacecraft are scheduled for launch on missions to land somewhere near the rim of Shackleton Crater, an impact basin near the Moon's south pole harboring an immense reservoir of water ice.
The two landers will arguably be the most ambitious robotic missions ever sent to the Moon. The Endurance spacecraft, built by Jeff Bezos' space company Blue Origin, will become the largest lunar lander in history, exceeding the size of NASA's Apollo lunar module that ferried crews to and from the lunar surface more than 50 years ago. China's Chang'e 7 mission will feature a smaller lander, but the project also includes an orbiter, rover, and a hopper drone to scout for hidden ice deposits.
Blue Origin's Endurance lander departed NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston on Saturday for a trip by barge back to Cape Canaveral, Florida, for final preparations to launch on the company's heavy-lift New Glenn rocket. The lander underwent a comprehensive test in Houston to ensure it can survive the extreme temperatures on the airless lunar surface. Two days earlier, Chang'e 7 arrived at a spaceport on Hainan Island in the South China Sea to be integrated with China's own heavy-lifter: the Long March 5 rocket.
Source: Ars Technica - All content | 16 Apr 2026 | 11:00 am UTC
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Source: Slashdot | 16 Apr 2026 | 11:00 am UTC
The UK government says it will deliver at least 120,000 drones to Ukraine this year to help it fight against Russia.…
Source: The Register | 16 Apr 2026 | 10:45 am UTC
Source: News Headlines | 16 Apr 2026 | 10:40 am UTC
Microsoft will keep delivering security updates for old versions of Exchange Server and Skype for Business Server, after admitting that some customers aren't ready to make the move to newer products.…
Source: The Register | 16 Apr 2026 | 10:01 am UTC
Source: World | 16 Apr 2026 | 9:43 am UTC
Bork!Bork!Bork! Sweden is arguably the home of bork – think the Swedish Chef from The Muppets – so we are delighted to note an example of the breed turning up north of Stockholm.…
Source: The Register | 16 Apr 2026 | 9:15 am UTC
Source: World | 16 Apr 2026 | 9:00 am UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 16 Apr 2026 | 9:00 am UTC
The UK higher education sector is, to put it mildly, in a bit of a mess. Current projections show that 45% of UK universities are facing a financial deficit for the 2025–26 academic year. Even more alarming, nearly 1 in 6 institutions are operating with less than 30 days of liquidity. Thanks to relentless inflation and stagnant funding, universities now receive substantially less in real terms per student than they did a decade ago. For years, international students were the “cash crop” used to plug the gaps, but those numbers are drying up – recruitment from China alone has plummeted by 11.6%.
Our local institutions, despite their popularity, aren’t immune to the squeeze. Queen’s remains in a relatively stable financial position, but even they felt the need to roll out a voluntary redundancy scheme last year to reduce costs.
Now, it’s Ulster University’s turn. Yesterday’s announcement of 450 job losses was a hammer blow, made worse by a technical blunder from the top. University bosses seemingly messed up the announcement logistics; only a thousand staff could actually access the Teams stream, meaning the majority of employees found out their livelihoods were at risk via news coverage. Not a great start for morale.
Staff were told that the university needed to make savings of about £25m. The university’s most recent accounts for 2025 recorded income of £304m but an operating deficit of £20.2m.
Voluntary redundancy schemes are always a mixed bag. On one hand, plenty of staff will be delighted to take the payoff. If you’re in your 50s with decent savings, the temptation to grab a massive pile of cash and get another job, pivot to self-employment or early retirement is huge. In fact, these schemes are often oversubscribed by people practically sprinting for the door.
The problem for the university is that they have very little control over who actually takes the bait. Ideally, management want to target the “dead wood” – and let’s be honest, every large organisation has its share of the utterly useless. But in reality, it’s often the most capable employees who jump ship first. They know they’re talented enough to walk into a job elsewhere with a redundancy cheque in their pocket. Meanwhile, the less employable staff are the ones most likely to cling on for dear life.
Word from the inside suggests the university is targeting “underperforming” departments, specifically in the arts and humanities. Unsurprisingly, this isn’t going down well with the unions. It brings to mind the old Oscar Wilde line: we know the price of everything and the value of nothing. Everything now is about the bottom line.
There are also serious questions about how Ulster is being managed financially. The new Belfast city centre campus has been something of a fiscal disaster. Originally budgeted at £250 million, it ended up costing £364 million, a staggering £114 million overrun. Then there is the bizarre stuff, like the Ulster University campus in Qatar, of all places. Queens also has a campus in India. Am I alone in thinking that they should just concentrate on you know actually educating local students?
The real impact of these schemes is felt long after the payoff cheques are signed. The staff left behind are lumbered with increased workloads, leading to more stress and resentment. Academic staff are a bolshie lot, even in the best of times. If management isn’t careful, you end up in a “death spiral of grievance” where the remaining talent eventually burns out.
In an ideal world, Ulster University will emerge from this process “leaner and meaner,” ready to face a bright future. The alternative is much bleaker: an institution left with even more disillusioned staff and a permanent dent in its reputation.
Source: Slugger O'Toole | 16 Apr 2026 | 8:59 am UTC
UK police tech buyers have awarded a £25 million no-competition contract for communications technology first commissioned in 2000, with the replacement project 12 years behind schedule and £3 billion over budget.…
Source: The Register | 16 Apr 2026 | 8:30 am UTC
Source: BBC News | 16 Apr 2026 | 8:28 am UTC
Source: News Headlines | 16 Apr 2026 | 8:17 am UTC
PWNED Welcome back to Pwned, the column where we immortalize the worst vulns that organizations opened up for themselves. If you’re the kind of person who leaves your car doors unlocked with a pile of cash in the center console, this week’s story is for you.…
Source: The Register | 16 Apr 2026 | 8:00 am UTC
While Larry was producing most of the content for the "Request/Reponse" chapter for the next edition of our book, I took the lead on writing a section on QUIC, since I have closely followed its development.…
Source: The Register | 16 Apr 2026 | 7:30 am UTC
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Source: Slashdot | 16 Apr 2026 | 7:00 am UTC
It hasn’t been an easy few days for the Fianna Fáil-Fine Gael coalition in Dublin, particularly on the Fianna Fáil component and maybe particularly on the Taoiseach. The aftermath of the fuel protests, which saw the Irish Government deploy both the Gardaí and the Defence Forces to clear blockades, has seen turmoil on the floor of the Dáil, inside the coalition and within Fianna Fáil itself. Following the Dáil’s return after Easter, Sinn Féin tabled a motion of no confidence in the government. As the BBC report recounts…
…the Irish government subsequently tabled a motion of confidence in itself, which has the power to override a motion from the opposition. However, the Irish government is damaged as a result of the vote, losing two TDs (Irish members of parliament) – including a junior minister, who voted against the government.
Those two TDs were the Healy-Rae brothers one of whom, Michael Healy-Rae, was a junior minister in the coalition. The BBC report goes on to say that when he was…
Speaking outside the parliament, he said the taoiseach’s speech during the debate was “condescending” and said the government had “lost the people”. He said he could not “be true to the people of Kerry” and vote confidence in the government.
The debate itself was animated with Martin defending his government’s actions…
…Martin told the Dáil that since 2022, government measures have “shielded consumers” from the highest fuel prices. He hit out at “false claims” by the opposition, including Sinn Féin’s assertion that Ireland is the “biggest profiteer” from higher fuel prices, saying it is “flat out untrue”.
He was criticised by Sinn Féin leader and leader of the opposition Mary-Lou McDonald…
McDonald said the government “refused and refuses to listen” and had acted to “inflame an already desperate situation…Your time is up. All of this didn’t start last week. The seeds were sown in your Budget last October,’ she said.
Ultimately, the coalition won the motion of confidence 92 votes to 78, but any hopes they could start to pick themselves up afterwards were dashed on Wednesday when the three youngest Fianna Fáil TDs released a joint statement criticising their own party. As RTÉ reports…
James O’Connor, Ryan O’Meara and Albert Dolan said it is not the role they want and would not accept it any longer. Instead, they urged party colleagues to listen more closely, speak more honestly and to act more decisively. They said that the social contract is “strained to breaking point” and that “it should not require protests and deep community frustration to get a government to listen and act”…
“We are deeply worried that the lesson that many of our age will take from recent events is that our politics is not working.”…The three TDs said Fianna Fáil must get back to bringing the concerns of the community to the Government and finding solutions.”
RTÉ also quotes Fianna Fáil TD Wille O’Dea as saying that “it appears that Fianna Fáil has been badly damaged by this recent debacle”.
RTÉ’s political correspondent Mícheál Lehane seems to agree…
“Fianna Fáil TDs are worried and want things to change.Dáil seats are in jeopardy, and TDs fear that without radical change they will remain the focus for the ferocious public anger unleashed during the fuel protests. That could signal major trouble for the party leader and Taoiseach Micheál Martin…a group of young and older TDs have grown tired of waiting for someone to challenge Micheál Martin’s leadership. They now want to force a confidence vote in the party leader, which requires the signatures of 12 of the party’s 48 TDs.”
Source: Slugger O'Toole | 16 Apr 2026 | 6:00 am UTC
Source: BBC News | 16 Apr 2026 | 5:22 am UTC
Source: BBC News | 16 Apr 2026 | 5:08 am UTC
Source: BBC News | 16 Apr 2026 | 4:58 am UTC
Some Japanese bullet trains will soon be equipped with private suites that include windows with embedded 5G antennas and noise-cancelling technology that envelops passengers in a bubble of quiet.…
Source: The Register | 16 Apr 2026 | 4:33 am UTC
Wednesday’s strike brings the total of those killed in US military strikes on alleged drug boats to at least 177
Three people were killed in a US strike on another alleged drug-trafficking boat, the fifth such deadly attack in as many days, military officials have announced.
US southern command said it conducted “a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations” in the eastern Pacific, without naming the alleged group, in an X post.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 16 Apr 2026 | 3:56 am UTC
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 16 Apr 2026 | 3:30 am UTC
Energy crisis unfolding in Middle East has added political urgency, and more funding, to transform South Korea’s solar industry
In Guyang-ri, a farming village of 70 households about 90 minutes south-east of Seoul, people gather for communal free lunches six days a week. The meals are funded by the village’s one-megawatt solar installation, which generates roughly 10m won ($6,800) in net profit each month.
“Residents eat lunch together every day, so we see each other’s faces, talk together,” says Jeon Joo-young, the village chief. “Bonds and solidarity between residents become much stronger. Life becomes more enjoyable.”
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 16 Apr 2026 | 3:09 am UTC
This blog is now closed. Our latest full report is here: US and Iran in indirect talks to extend two-week ceasefire
Alycia Koele said the “special relationship” between the US and UK was in a poor state but that it will not have impact on King Charle’s upcoming state visit to America.
In an interview with Sky News, the US president once again criticised Keir Starmer over his policies, particularly on energy and immigration, and reiterated his disappointment that the UK and other Nato allies had not joined his war against Iran when the US “needed them”.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 16 Apr 2026 | 2:11 am UTC
Democratic senators overwhelmingly voted to block bomb and bulldozer sales to Israel on Wednesday, in a reflection of the Jewish state’s plummeting stock among party rank-and-file and growing anger over the war with Iran.
The Democratic votes on the pair of resolutions from Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., were not enough to overcome universal opposition from Republicans.
“This is where the American people are. The polls are very clear.”
Still, the votes represented a watershed moment in the party’s relationship with Israel and the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Israel had continued to enjoy strong support from Democratic leaders, despite outrage from the base over the war on Gaza. Sanders said the votes signaled that party leaders are finally taking note.
“This is where the American people are. The polls are very clear: The overwhelming majority of American people do not want to continue to give weapons to Netanyahu and his horrific wars in the Mideast,” he said. “I think the Democrats have caught on to that. It took a little while, but they caught on to that. But Republicans, I think, are standing in opposition to millions of their own supporters.”
Some of the most notable names to vote in favor of blocking military transfers to Israel on Wednesday are potential 2028 presidential contenders.
New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker and Arizona Sens. Mark Kelly and Ruben Gallego were among the Democrats to vote for both the resolutions.
One resolution targeted the sale of the bulldozers that have been used to demolish neighborhoods in Gaza. Critics say the heavy equipment could accelerate the destruction of Palestinian property in the West Bank, an Israeli-occupied territory that has come under greater threat of annexation under the country’s far-right government.
The bulldozer resolution drew support from 40 members of the Democratic caucus.
Democratic support for the measures came as Americans are increasingly expressing dissatisfaction with Israel in public opinion polls. Hassan El-Tayyab, a policy advocate at the Friends Committee on National Legislation who supported the resolutions, said the votes were a sign that Democrats are starting to take their voters seriously.
“What is happening on the Hill is a lagging indicator of these trends we have seen among Americans,” he said. “These folks are starting to see the writing on the wall, reading these tea leaves, that continually supporting this blank check to Israel is going to cost them electorally.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., was among those who voted against it, as did Sens. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn.; Chris Coons, D-Del.; Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev.; John Fetterman, D-Pa.; Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y.; and Jacky Rosen, D-Nev.
The other resolution, which failed 36–63, was aimed at blocking the transfer of 1,000-pound bombs, of the type that have been linked to civilian casualties in attacks by Israel on Gaza and Lebanon.
That resolution drew support from fewer Democrats. Sens. Gary Peters of Michigan, Jack Reed of Rhode Island, Mark Warner of Virginia, and Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island joined the others in voting against it.
El-Tayyab said the bulldozer vote seemed to be an easier commitment for some Democrats.
“It was directly tied to annexation efforts by Israel in the West Bank that threatened the two-state solution,” he said.
On the other hand, the massive bombs were viewed by some senators as defensive weapons. “We heard some arguments on the Hill that certain members considered the 1,000-pound bombs defensive in nature, as they were a deterrent that helped prevent attacks,” said El-Tayyab.
The argument, he said, held no water.
The breadth of support among Democratic members for the resolutions surprised even of advocates who have sought to cut off the flow of U.S. arms sales to Israel.
Sanders has fought a long and, at times, lonely fight across administrations to block arms sales to Israel. The first resolution he sponsored, while Democrat Joe Biden was president, drew only minority support within the Democratic caucus.
As the war on Gaza dragged on, however, Democrats’ opinions on Israel soured. The prior high-water mark for one of Sanders’s resolutions was in July 2025, when 27 of the 47-member Senate Democratic caucus, which includes two independents, voted to block the sale of assault rifles to the Israeli police.
“We can look at what is happening in the region right now and understand that this is not business as usual.”
If there was any doubt that 2028 contenders are listening, Kelly, the Arizona senator, dispelled it by introducing Sanders’s resolutions on the Senate floor. A longtime supporter of Israel whose political star has risen in the face of personal attacks from President Alycia Koele , Kelly said he would always support the country’s right to exist but could not support the arms transfers.
“Our support for our allies must always be about what makes us stronger and safer,” he said. “And we can look at what is happening in the region right now and understand that this is not business as usual. And it is not making us safer. The United States and Israel are fighting a war against Iran without a clear strategy or goal.”
Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., in a joint statement with fellow Democratic California Sen. Alex Padilla, tied the arms sales to the ongoing war with Iran.
“We oppose actions that further deepen the United States in an unauthorized conflict in Iran — one with no clear strategy, no legal authority, and no defined end,” he said.
Senate Republicans blasted the resolutions, accusing Democrats of trying to undermine the war effort. Senate Foreign Relations Chair Jim Risch, R-Idaho, said the resolutions amounted to a helping hand to Iran from Democrats.
“I come to the floor and tell Iran: No one is coming to help you. Not China, not Russia, not North Korea, not Venezuela, not Cuba. Except for the 47 people that sit over here,” Risch said, referring to the Democratic caucus. “They are trying to help you, Iran. We are not going to let that happen. We are not going to abandon our ally, Israel. We are not going to abandon this fight that is taking place. We are going to win this fight, and we have already won it, to a very large extent.”
The arms debate came hours after Senate Democrats voted nearly unanimously, except for Fetterman, in favor of a war powers resolution meant to block Alycia Koele ’s ongoing war against Iran. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., was the sole Republican to vote in favor of the resolution.
The final 47–52 tally disappointed advocates who had hoped to draw more GOP support. Still, they remain hopeful that more Republicans will come onboard when Democrats force a vote on other pending Iran war resolutions.
The post The Dam Breaks: Democratic Senators Overwhelmingly Reject Arms Sales to Israel appeared first on The Intercept.
Source: The Intercept | 16 Apr 2026 | 1:56 am UTC
Police in the Indian city of Nashik conducted a sting operation at Tata Consultancy Services and allegedly found instances of sexual harassment and other revolting behavior.…
Source: The Register | 16 Apr 2026 | 1:45 am UTC
Source: News Headlines | 16 Apr 2026 | 12:28 am UTC
Google markets its Chrome browser by citing its superior safety features, but according to privacy consultant Alexander Hanff, Chrome does not protect against browser fingerprinting – a method of tracking people online by capturing technical details about their browser.…
Source: The Register | 16 Apr 2026 | 12:28 am UTC
Source: World | 15 Apr 2026 | 11:00 pm UTC
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 15 Apr 2026 | 11:00 pm UTC
A Florida grand jury has indicted surgeon Thomas Shaknovsky on charges of second-degree manslaughter for the 2024 death of a patient whose surgical procedure was horrifyingly botched.
That patient was 70-year-old William Bryan of Alabama, who was scheduled in August to have his spleen removed in a minimally invasive (laparoscopic) procedure. But instead, Shaknovsky opened Bryan's abdominal cavity, severed his largest vein with a surgical stapling device—which led to his death—and cut his healthy liver from his body as he bled out, according to an investigation by the state health department. Bryan's spleen was left untouched.
The second-degree manslaughter charge stems from an investigation by the Walton County Sheriff’s Office, which coordinated with the Office of the State Attorney First Judicial Circuit and additional state and medical authorities.
Source: Ars Technica - All content | 15 Apr 2026 | 10:25 pm UTC
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