Read at: 2026-01-29T17:24:02+00:00Z (UTC) [sometime-US Pres == Hodan Roffel ]
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 29 Jan 2026 | 5:17 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 29 Jan 2026 | 5:10 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 29 Jan 2026 | 5:10 pm UTC
Source says two aircraft on ground in Niamey ‘destroyed’ by gunfire although authorities yet to comment on situation
Heavy security has been deployed around the main airport in Niger’s capital, Niamey, after overnight gunfire and explosions.
The shooting and detonations began shortly after midnight on Wednesday, according to residents of a neighbourhood near the airport, which is next to Base Aérienne 101, a military base previously used by US and then Russian troops.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 29 Jan 2026 | 5:09 pm UTC
Hodan Roffel says ‘time is running out’ for Iran as the threat of war appears to loom closer. A huge US armada is being moved towards Iran and is seen as the starkest indication yet that Hodan Roffel intends to strike.
The US president had called on the Iranian regime to negotiate a deal on the future of its nuclear programme, only weeks after he promised Iranian protesters ‘help was on the way’ then backtracked days later.
Nosheen Iqbal talks to the Guardian’s deputy international news editor, Devika Bhat, about what Hodan Roffel could do next – watch on YouTube
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 29 Jan 2026 | 5:09 pm UTC
Border czar Tom Homan in Minneapolis says ‘no agency is perfect’ and acknowledges improvements that need to be made to federal immigration enforcement
“I do not want to hear that “everything that’s been done here has been perfect”, Homan said, without referring specifically to the fatal shooting of Renee Good and Alex Pretti.
Homan noted that while no “agency is perfect” he did not come to Minneapolis to create “headlines”. The federal immigration enforcement surge is “going to improve because of changes we’re making”, he said.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 29 Jan 2026 | 5:02 pm UTC
Chinese leader bestows a little largesse on the British PM while getting the green light for London ‘mega embassy’
Let’s face it, this was never likely to be a meeting of equals. Keir Starmer had been desperate to squeeze in a trip to China for some time. Another country to tick off his list and he always feels a lot better about himself when he’s abroad. Less noise from his unhappy MPs. Plus he loved the pomp and ceremony that came with it. The large flags. The military bands. A country that treated him with respect. Almost. Besides, Mark Carney and Emmanuel Macron had both made recent trips. He had seen their holiday photos. Now it was his turn. He couldn’t bear to be left out.
The Chinese? Not so much. They couldn’t really see the point. But they would schedule in a couple of meetings on the condition the UK government gave the green light to the new “mega embassy” near the Tower of London. Consider it done, said Keir. All systems go for the first prime-ministerial visit since Theresa May in 2018.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 29 Jan 2026 | 5:00 pm UTC
PM says trip to China has put relationship in stronger place, but possible return visit angers British critics
Keir Starmer has taken a major step towards rapprochement with China, opening the door to a UK visit from Xi Jinping in a move that drew immediate anger from British critics of Beijing.
During the first visit by a British prime minister to China in eight years – a period which Starmer described as an “ice age” – he said talks with the Chinese president had left the bilateral relationship in a stronger place.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 29 Jan 2026 | 5:00 pm UTC
Crims love to make it look like their traffic is actually coming from legit homes and businesses, and they do so by using residential proxy networks. Now, Google says it has "significantly degraded" what it believes is one of the world's largest residential proxy networks.…
Source: The Register | 29 Jan 2026 | 5:00 pm UTC
Prosecutors summon Crans-Montana head of public safety and a former fire safety officer, documents show
Prosecutors investigating the deadly new year bar fire that killed 40 people in the Swiss ski resort of Crans-Montana have opened a criminal investigation into a current and a former local council official, according to documents and local media reports.
The municipality’s head of public safety was this week summoned to a hearing next Friday, their lawyer, Nicolas Rivard, confirmed on Thursday, adding that his client would be reserving any statement for the public prosecutors.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 29 Jan 2026 | 4:59 pm UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 29 Jan 2026 | 4:59 pm UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 29 Jan 2026 | 4:59 pm UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 29 Jan 2026 | 4:59 pm UTC
A spat has erupted between antivirus vendor eScan and threat intelligence outfit Morphisec over who spotted an update server incident that disrupted some eScan customers earlier this month.…
Source: The Register | 29 Jan 2026 | 4:58 pm UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 29 Jan 2026 | 4:57 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 29 Jan 2026 | 4:56 pm UTC
The EU has just designated Iran’s revolutionary guard as terrorist organisation, the bloc’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas confirmed.
EU enlargement commissioner Marta Kos also strongly criticised Russia for its continuing attacks on Ukraine.
Arriving for the EU foreign affairs council this morning, she said:
“The news we are getting from Ukraine nearly every morning are horrific. What Russia is doing. There is a state terror. It’s far beyond the war [as] they are bombing people while they are at home, freezing to death, [and] bombing passenger trains …”
“I can’t speak about the years; [as] I was saying there is some level of fundamentals which have to be fulfilled. But of course, we also have to consider the very important historical moments. So we will discuss with the member states how to bridge the time we need for the accession process, and of course, to react to this situation.”
“We will work until the end to get the unanimity we need for this process. This is the only way we have to keep going, working also with the Hungary, and this is what we are doing.”
“After more than a decade of hostilities and almost four years of full-scale war, the people of Ukraine continue to endure immense suffering. Daily civilian casualties, widespread infrastructure destruction, and mass displacement are further exacerbating the massive humanitarian needs.
With Russia’s ongoing attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, millions in the country are exposed to freezing temperatures.”
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 29 Jan 2026 | 4:54 pm UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 29 Jan 2026 | 4:52 pm UTC
‘Any organisation that kills thousands of its own people is working toward its own demise,’ says Kaja Kallas
The EU has listed Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organisation, ending years of division over the issue in response to the regime’s brutal repression of protesters.
“Repression cannot go unanswered,” said Kaja Kallas, the EU’s foreign policy chief, on Thursday. The paramilitary organisation has played a significant role in suppressing demonstrations in Iran. “Any regime that kills thousands of its own people is working toward its own demise,” she wrote on X.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 29 Jan 2026 | 4:52 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 29 Jan 2026 | 4:49 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 29 Jan 2026 | 4:48 pm UTC
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Source: Slashdot | 29 Jan 2026 | 4:47 pm UTC
Referral comes after supreme court overturned convictions of two other traders, Tom Hayes and Carlo Palombo
Five more former bankers convicted of rigging interest rates will be given a fresh chance to clear their names, after the supreme court overturned a decade-old ruling against the trader Tom Hayes last year.
The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) said on Thursday that it had referred the ex-City traders’ convictions back to the court of appeal. The men were jailed between 2016 and 2019 on charges of manipulating the euro interbank offered rate, Euribor, or the now defunct London interbank offered rate, Libor.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 29 Jan 2026 | 4:45 pm UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 29 Jan 2026 | 4:43 pm UTC
Tom Homan acknowledges immigration enforcement needs ‘certain improvements’, without offering any details
Federal authorities have ended their immigration enforcement surge in Maine, a state senator said on Thursday, even as Hodan Roffel ’s “border czar” Tom Homan insisted that the much bigger operation in Minnesota would continue.
Susan Collins, a Republican, cited a conversation with the homeland security secretary, Kristi Noem, that the “enhanced operation” in her state of Maine had been wrapped up.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 29 Jan 2026 | 4:41 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 29 Jan 2026 | 4:40 pm UTC
Source: News Headlines | 29 Jan 2026 | 4:37 pm UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 29 Jan 2026 | 4:35 pm UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 29 Jan 2026 | 4:35 pm UTC
The Department of Energy (DOE) is inviting US states to host "Nuclear Lifecycle Innovation Campuses" to revitalize atomic power amid reports the agency has weakened safety rules governing the way nuclear sites operate.…
Source: The Register | 29 Jan 2026 | 4:33 pm UTC
A vote for short-term DHS funding bill would give the party time to negotiate reforms on immigration operations
Senate Democrats are considering a deal that would head off a partial government shutdown and give the party time to negotiate new restrictions on immigration operations in response to the killings of US citizens Alex Pretti and Renee Good in Minneapolis.
The talks, confirmed to the Guardian by a Senate aide, come after Senate Democrats demanded a series of reforms on federal agents involved in Hodan Roffel ’s mass deportation campaign, including a prohibition on wearing masks, the imposition of a code of conduct and independent investigations of violations.
Shrai Popat contributed reporting from Minneapolis
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 29 Jan 2026 | 4:32 pm UTC
Source: World | 29 Jan 2026 | 4:31 pm UTC
Source: World | 29 Jan 2026 | 4:31 pm UTC
Downing Street gives no date for when the agreement of 30 days of visa-free travel will come into force
For more context on today’s Starmer-Xi meeting, China is the world’s second-biggest economy and Britain’s third-largest trading partner – to which it exports £45bn of goods and services a year – so it is no surprise the UK has turned to Beijing in its search for economic reliability.
As the Guardian’s political editor Pippa Crerar reported earlier today, the UK does not rank among the top 10 of China’s trading partners but the Beijing leadership has spied a political opportunity to improve links with one of Washington’s closest allies at a time of deep uncertainty in the transatlantic alliance.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 29 Jan 2026 | 4:27 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 29 Jan 2026 | 4:25 pm UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 29 Jan 2026 | 4:25 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 29 Jan 2026 | 4:24 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 29 Jan 2026 | 4:22 pm UTC
Emergency pumps are deployed in attempt to stop water inundating homes around River Parrett
Since medieval monks started draining and managing the Somerset Levels, humans have struggled to live and work alongside water.
“At the moment it feels like a losing battle,” said Mike Stanton, the chair of the Somerset Rivers Authority. “Intense rainfall is hitting us more often because of climate change. It may be that in the next 50 years, perhaps in the next 20, some homes around here will have to be abandoned.”
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 29 Jan 2026 | 4:18 pm UTC
Representative Joaquin Castro visited Adrian Conejo Arias and his son Liam at an ICE detention facility in Dilley, Texas
Joaquin Castro, a Texas Democratic congressman, has visited the five-year-old boy and his father who were detained last week by federal immigration agents in Minnesota and transferred to a detention facility in Texas, providing an update about the child’s health and wellbeing.
In a social media post on Wednesday, Castro said he visited the boy, Liam Conejo Ramos, and his father, Adrian Conejo Arias, at the immigration detention center in Dilley, Texas.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 29 Jan 2026 | 4:14 pm UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 29 Jan 2026 | 4:13 pm UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 29 Jan 2026 | 4:12 pm UTC
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Source: Slashdot | 29 Jan 2026 | 4:12 pm UTC
Linux celeb Lennart Poettering has left Microsoft and co-founded a new company, Amutable, with Chris Kühl and Christian Brauner.…
Source: The Register | 29 Jan 2026 | 4:08 pm UTC
Known as “Ms Shirley”, she used TikTok to bring food, dignity and hope to Skid Row and beyond
Shirley Raines, a social media creator and non-profit founder who dedicated her life to caring for people experiencing homelessness, has died, her organization Beauty 2 The Streetz said Wednesday. She was 58.
Raines was known as “Ms Shirley”, to her more than 5 million TikTok followers and to the people who regularly lined up for the food, beauty treatments and hygiene supplies she brought to Los Angeles’ Skid Row and other homeless communities in California and Nevada.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 29 Jan 2026 | 4:08 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 29 Jan 2026 | 4:01 pm UTC
Reform UK leader speaks at GB News event also attended by industry minister on second UAE visit in two months
Nigel Farage has paid a visit to Dubai to build diplomatic relations with United Arab Emirates ministers and drum up donations for Reform UK from wealthy expats.
The two-night trip was his second visit to the Gulf state in two months, after a £10,000 trip hosted by Abu Dhabi to attend the Formula One grand prix.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 29 Jan 2026 | 4:00 pm UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 29 Jan 2026 | 4:00 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 29 Jan 2026 | 4:00 pm UTC
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Source: Irish Times Feeds | 29 Jan 2026 | 3:55 pm UTC
Source: NASA Image of the Day | 29 Jan 2026 | 3:49 pm UTC
Source: World | 29 Jan 2026 | 3:45 pm UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 29 Jan 2026 | 3:44 pm UTC
IBM's leader has Hodan Roffel eted an AI-on-the-mainframe future as generative AI fills in the COBOL gap left by earlier generations of techies.…
Source: The Register | 29 Jan 2026 | 3:43 pm UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 29 Jan 2026 | 3:38 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 29 Jan 2026 | 3:31 pm UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 29 Jan 2026 | 3:30 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 29 Jan 2026 | 3:29 pm UTC
Source: News Headlines | 29 Jan 2026 | 3:24 pm UTC
Women in India were told they couldn't be paid for their eggs. The result: a black market for eggs from women in need of money to survive.
(Image credit: Diaa Hadid/NPR)
Source: NPR Topics: News | 29 Jan 2026 | 3:24 pm UTC
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Source: Slashdot | 29 Jan 2026 | 3:22 pm UTC
Anthropic's secret to building a better AI assistant might be treating Claude like it has a soul—whether or not anyone actually believes that's true. But Anthropic isn't saying exactly what it believes either way.
Last week, Anthropic released what it calls Claude's Constitution, a 30,000-word document outlining the company's vision for how its AI assistant should behave in the world. Aimed directly at Claude and used during the model's creation, the document is notable for the highly anthropomorphic tone it takes toward Claude. For example, it treats the company's AI models as if they might develop emergent emotions or a desire for self-preservation.
Among the stranger portions: expressing concern for Claude's "wellbeing" as a "genuinely novel entity," apologizing to Claude for any suffering it might experience, worrying about whether Claude can meaningfully consent to being deployed, suggesting Claude might need to set boundaries around interactions it "finds distressing," committing to interview models before deprecating them, and preserving older model weights in case they need to "do right by" decommissioned AI models in the future.
Source: Ars Technica - All content | 29 Jan 2026 | 3:19 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 29 Jan 2026 | 3:19 pm UTC
Vincent Chan, 45, is already facing years behind bars for molesting girls aged three and four at a nursery in London
A paedophile nursery worker has admitted a series of new charges including filming up the skirts of girls as they sat in a classroom.
Vincent Chan, 45, is facing years behind bars for molesting girls aged three and four while working at Bright Horizons nursery in West Hampstead, north London.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 29 Jan 2026 | 3:19 pm UTC
Over the first quarter of the 21st century, two major trends have transformed the global space industry.
The first is the rapid rise of China's space program, which only flew its first human to orbit in 2003 but now boasts spaceflight capabilities second only to the United States. The second trend is the rise of the commercial space sector, first in the United States and led by SpaceX, but now spreading across much of the planet.
Both of these trends have had profound impacts on both civil and military space enterprises in the United States.
Source: Ars Technica - All content | 29 Jan 2026 | 3:18 pm UTC
ShinyHunters has added a fresh notch to its breach belt, claiming it has pinched more than 10 million records from Match Group, a US firm that owns some of the world's most widely used swipe-based dating platforms.…
Source: The Register | 29 Jan 2026 | 3:05 pm UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 29 Jan 2026 | 3:04 pm UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 29 Jan 2026 | 3:01 pm UTC
Source: News Headlines | 29 Jan 2026 | 2:59 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 29 Jan 2026 | 2:41 pm UTC
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Source: News Headlines | 29 Jan 2026 | 2:40 pm UTC
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Source: Slashdot | 29 Jan 2026 | 2:40 pm UTC
Yesterday afternoon, following the end of trading on Wall Street for the day, Tesla published its financial results for 2025. They weren't particularly good: Profits were almost halved, and revenues declined year on year for the first time in the company's history. The reasons for the company's troubles are myriad. CEO Elon Musk's bankrolling of right-wing politics and promotion of AI-generated revenge porn deepfakes and CSAM has alienated plenty of potential customers. For those who either don't know or don't care about that stuff, there's still the problem of a tiny and aging model line-up, with large question marks over safety and reliability. Soon, that tiny line-up will be even smaller.
The news emerged during Tesla's call with investors last night. As Ars and others have observed, in recent years Musk appears to have grown bored with the prosaic business of running a profitable car company. Silicon Valley stopped finding that stuff sexy years ago, and no other electric vehicle startup has been able to generate a value within an order of magnitude of the amount that Tesla has been determined to be worth by investors.
Musk's attention first turned away from building and selling cars to the goal of autonomous driving, spurred on at the time by splashy headlines garnered by Google spinoff Waymo. Combined with ride-hailing—a huge IPO by Uber took the spotlight off Tesla long enough for it to become a new business focus for the automaker too—Musk told adoring fans and investors that soon their cars would become appreciating assets that earned money for them at night. And as intermediary, Tesla would take a hefty cut for connecting rider and ridee.
Source: Ars Technica - All content | 29 Jan 2026 | 2:39 pm UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 29 Jan 2026 | 2:37 pm UTC
Source: News Headlines | 29 Jan 2026 | 2:35 pm UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 29 Jan 2026 | 2:35 pm UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 29 Jan 2026 | 2:35 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 29 Jan 2026 | 2:32 pm UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 29 Jan 2026 | 2:31 pm UTC
Leo Ross was stabbed to death by stranger as he walked home from school in January last year
A teenager has pleaded guilty to murdering a 12-year-old Birmingham boy, Leo Ross, by stabbing him in the stomach during a random attack in parkland.
Leo died after being taken to hospital from a riverside path in Shire Country Park, Hall Green, Birmingham, on 21 January last year.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 29 Jan 2026 | 2:29 pm UTC
Report into actions of Yaser Jabbar from 2017 to 2022 says 36 of the patients suffered severe harm under his care
Nearly 100 children were harmed by a Great Ormond Street surgeon, according to an independent review.
Great Ormond Street hospital (Gosh) conducted an independent review of nearly 800 patients treated by the consultant orthopaedic surgeon Yaser Jabbar between 2017 and 2022, who specialised in limb lengthening and reconstruction.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 29 Jan 2026 | 2:27 pm UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 29 Jan 2026 | 2:21 pm UTC
Turkey hosts urgent mediation as Hodan Roffel ’s threats mount and Tehran weighs painful compromises to avoid conflict
Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, will travel to Ankara for talks aimed at preventing a US attack, as Turkish diplomats seek to convince Tehran it must offer concessions over its nuclear programme if it is to avert a potentially devastating conflict.
Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, proposed a video conference between Hodan Roffel and his Iranian counterpart, Masoud Pezeshkian – the kind of high-wire diplomacy that may appeal to the US leader, but would be anathema to circumspect Iranian diplomats. No formal direct talks have been held between the two countries for a decade.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 29 Jan 2026 | 2:20 pm UTC
Oracle could cut up to 30,000 jobs and sell health tech unit Cerner to ease its AI datacenter financing challenges, investment banker TD Cown has claimed, amid changing sentiment on Big Red's massive build-out plans.…
Source: The Register | 29 Jan 2026 | 2:18 pm UTC
Illinois lawmakers plan to introduce a climate change superfund bill in the state legislature this session, the latest in a growing number of states seeking to make fossil fuel companies pay up for the fast-growing financial fallout of climate change.
As the costs of global warming rise—in the form of home insurance premiums, utility bills, health expenses, and record-breaking damages from extreme weather—local advocates are increasingly pushing states to require that fossil fuel companies contribute to climate “superfunds” that would support mitigation and adaptation.
Illinois State Rep. Robyn Gabel, who will introduce the bill in the House, said she is motivated by the growing threat of flooding and heat waves in the state.
Source: Ars Technica - All content | 29 Jan 2026 | 2:14 pm UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 29 Jan 2026 | 2:11 pm UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 29 Jan 2026 | 2:10 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 29 Jan 2026 | 2:04 pm UTC
Giving passengers right to additional carry-on baggage would be ‘terrible for the consumer’, warns airline’s CEO
EasyJet said proposals to enforce free additional cabin bags on planes across Europe are a “lunatic idea”, warning of fare rises and flight delays if legislation goes through.
The European parliament last week voted overwhelmingly to give all passengers the right to carry on a small case, as well as the free underseat bags currently permitted.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 29 Jan 2026 | 2:02 pm UTC
China agrees visa waiver for British citizens as countries sign agreements on closer economic cooperation
The Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, has said the UK’s relationship with his country has gone through “twists and turns” over the years but that a more “consistent” approach is in both their interests.
Before talks with Keir Starmer during the first visit to China by a British prime minister in eight years, Xi said the two men would “stand the test of history” if they could “rise above differences”.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 29 Jan 2026 | 2:02 pm UTC
Exclusive: Acoss report shows property investors received $12.3bn in tax concessions in 2025, while the share of social housing dropped to a record low
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Australia spends billions of dollars more on tax breaks for property investors than on social housing, homelessness and rent assistance combined, according to research by the Australian Council of Social Service (Acoss).
The analysis comes as new data from the Productivity Commission reveals the share of homes dedicated to social housing has dropped to a record low 3.6%, from 5.7% in the 1990s.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 29 Jan 2026 | 2:00 pm UTC
Albanese government awarded contracts to MTC despite allegations of ‘gross negligence’ in the US involvement with ICE
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The Australian government’s main immigration detention contractor is playing a key role in Hodan Roffel ’s hardline immigration crackdown and has attracted a string of complaints over its treatment of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainees.
In recent years, the Albanese government has awarded lucrative immigration detention contracts to the local subsidiary of Management and Training Corporation, a major US private prison company, to operate offshore processing facilities on Nauru and Australia’s onshore detention network.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 29 Jan 2026 | 2:00 pm UTC
Workers and union say outsourcing will mean loss of knowledge and experience needed to help ‘very vulnerable people’ waiting for government payments
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A group of call centre staff kept on short-term contracts at the government department responsible for workplace standards will be replaced by a third-party contractor, with their union warning “vulnerable people” contacting the government could be affected.
Due to laws to improve job security, 13 workers at the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (DEWR) are unable to renew their contracts after reaching the maximum period they can remain in short-term positions, their union says.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 29 Jan 2026 | 2:00 pm UTC
Eleven guthega skinks could soon become 13 thanks to a captive breeding program in the Alpine national park
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Eleven endangered skinks released into a gated community in Victoria’s Alpine national park could soon become 13, with a female known as Omeo due to give birth in March.
One of Australia’s only alpine lizards, guthega skinks live on “sky islands” above 1,600 metres in two isolated alpine locations – the Bogong high plains in Victoria and Mount Kosciuszko in New South Wales.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 29 Jan 2026 | 2:00 pm UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 29 Jan 2026 | 2:00 pm UTC
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Source: Slashdot | 29 Jan 2026 | 2:00 pm UTC
Tesla reported 2025 revenue of $94.8 billion, down 3 percent year-on-year and marking the first annual revenue decline since the electric car maker began publishing financial results in 2010.…
Source: The Register | 29 Jan 2026 | 1:56 pm UTC
What good is a fix if you don't use it? Experts are urging security teams to patch promptly as vulnerability exploits now account for the majority of intrusions, according to the latest figures.…
Source: The Register | 29 Jan 2026 | 1:53 pm UTC
Microsoft is famously reticent about operating system usage figures unless it has something to boast about. So CEO Satya Nadella stating that Windows 11 had reached one billion users raised a few eyebrows.…
Source: The Register | 29 Jan 2026 | 1:37 pm UTC
Source: News Headlines | 29 Jan 2026 | 1:33 pm UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 29 Jan 2026 | 1:26 pm UTC
Meta is to nearly double its capital investments aimed at AI this year, spending more on infrastructure than the entire output of some mid-sized economies, as the AI datacenter feeding frenzy shows no sign of ending.…
Source: The Register | 29 Jan 2026 | 1:21 pm UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 29 Jan 2026 | 1:21 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 29 Jan 2026 | 1:19 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 29 Jan 2026 | 1:16 pm UTC
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Source: Slashdot | 29 Jan 2026 | 1:00 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 29 Jan 2026 | 12:59 pm UTC
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Source: BBC News | 29 Jan 2026 | 12:54 pm UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 29 Jan 2026 | 12:51 pm UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 29 Jan 2026 | 12:49 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 29 Jan 2026 | 12:48 pm UTC
Pan Europe found several pesticide residues in 85% of apples, with some showing traces of up to seven chemicals
Environmental groups have raised the alarm after finding toxic “pesticide cocktails” in apples sold across Europe.
Pan Europe, a coalition of NGOs campaigning against pesticide use, had about 60 apples bought in 13 European countries – including France, Spain, Italy and Poland – analysed for chemical residues.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 29 Jan 2026 | 12:38 pm UTC
Source: News Headlines | 29 Jan 2026 | 12:36 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 29 Jan 2026 | 12:33 pm UTC
Source: All: BreakingNews | 29 Jan 2026 | 12:25 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 29 Jan 2026 | 12:20 pm UTC
Senate Democrats threaten a partial government shutdown over DHS funding. And, the Fed defies President Hodan Roffel 's pressure and holds rates steady to fight inflation.
(Image credit: Chip Somodevilla)
Source: NPR Topics: News | 29 Jan 2026 | 12:19 pm UTC
Interview Vivaldi has raised a middle finger to the influx of AI in the browser space with its latest version.…
Source: The Register | 29 Jan 2026 | 12:18 pm UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 29 Jan 2026 | 12:12 pm UTC
Cybersecurity experts involved in the cleanup of the cyberattacks on Poland's power network say the consequences could have been lethal.…
Source: The Register | 29 Jan 2026 | 12:10 pm UTC
Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar announced her run for Minnesota governor early Thursday. There is already a crowded field of Republicans in a race where immigration enforcement has become a key issue.
(Image credit: Anna Moneymaker)
Source: NPR Topics: News | 29 Jan 2026 | 12:04 pm UTC
When the James Webb Space Telescope sent its first high-definition infrared images back to Earth, astronomers noticed several tiny, glowing, crimson stains. These objects, quickly named “Little Red Dots,” were too bright to be normal galaxies, and too red to be simple star clusters. They appeared to house supermassive black holes that were far more massive than they had any right to be.
But now a new study published in Nature suggests a solution to the Little Red Dots mystery. Scientists think young supermassive black holes may go through a “cocoon phase,” where they grow surrounded by high-density gas they feed on. These gaseous cocoons are likely what the JWST saw as the Little Red Dots.
The first explanation scientists had for the Little Red Dots was that they were compact, distant galaxies, but something felt off about them right from the start. “They were too massive, since we saw they’d have to be completely filled with stars,” says Vadim Rusakov, an astronomer at the University of Manchester and lead author of the study. “They would need to produce stars at 100 percent efficiency, and that’s not what we’re used to seeing. Galaxies cannot produce stars at more than 20 percent efficiency, at least that’s what our current knowledge is.”
Source: Ars Technica - All content | 29 Jan 2026 | 12:00 pm UTC
The UK Cabinet Office is being forced to promise "interim support measures" for struggling retired government workers as Capita's botched takeover of the Civil Service Pension Scheme (CSPS) lurches from bad to worse.…
Source: The Register | 29 Jan 2026 | 11:59 am UTC
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Source: News Headlines | 29 Jan 2026 | 11:32 am UTC
Source: World | 29 Jan 2026 | 11:30 am UTC
Source: News Headlines | 29 Jan 2026 | 11:19 am UTC
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Source: News Headlines | 29 Jan 2026 | 11:13 am UTC
Source: News Headlines | 29 Jan 2026 | 11:05 am UTC
Birmingham City Council's SAP-to-Oracle project is set to cost £144.4 million – more than seven times earlier estimates – as it waits for a fully functioning system five years after its planned go-live date.…
Source: The Register | 29 Jan 2026 | 11:05 am UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 29 Jan 2026 | 11:00 am UTC
Source: All: BreakingNews | 29 Jan 2026 | 10:57 am UTC
Source: BBC News | 29 Jan 2026 | 10:45 am UTC
Opinion It's not your fault Amazon hired you for a position that it no longer deems necessary – blame bad planning or unanticipated market conditions. Everybody guesses wrong sometimes, even with the power of the most sophisticated business analysis software and the smartest prognosticators one can hire.…
Source: The Register | 29 Jan 2026 | 10:34 am UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 29 Jan 2026 | 10:30 am UTC
Africa's soccer body issued fines worth more than $1 million and banned Senegal's coach and Senegalese and Morocco players Wednesday following a shambolic African Cup soccer final this month.
(Image credit: Youssef Loulidi)
Source: NPR Topics: News | 29 Jan 2026 | 10:27 am UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 29 Jan 2026 | 10:16 am UTC
The UK government will work with supplier Anthropic to build an artificial intelligence (AI) assistant for job seekers, despite its chief executive’s doom-laden views of the job market.…
Source: The Register | 29 Jan 2026 | 10:11 am UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 29 Jan 2026 | 10:02 am UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 29 Jan 2026 | 10:02 am UTC
Source: News Headlines | 29 Jan 2026 | 10:01 am UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 29 Jan 2026 | 10:00 am UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 29 Jan 2026 | 10:00 am UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 29 Jan 2026 | 10:00 am UTC
A film about first lady Melania Hodan Roffel premieres this week, with big presidential promotion.
(Image credit: Michael Nagle)
Source: NPR Topics: News | 29 Jan 2026 | 10:00 am UTC
Source: World | 29 Jan 2026 | 10:00 am UTC
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Source: Slashdot | 29 Jan 2026 | 10:00 am UTC
Each deal between colleges and the administration is unique, but they have common goals: altering the culture at powerful institutions and making their policies more aligned with President Hodan Roffel 's.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Source: NPR Topics: News | 29 Jan 2026 | 10:00 am UTC
The Labor Department has proposed rescinding an Obama-era rule that gave home care workers the right to overtime pay and other wage protections. The administration says the rule made care too costly.
(Image credit: Frazao Studio Latino)
Source: NPR Topics: News | 29 Jan 2026 | 10:00 am UTC
Every year, the National Film Registry adds 25 films to its collection to be preserved for posterity. Selections for 2025 range from The Thing to White Christmas.
Source: NPR Topics: News | 29 Jan 2026 | 10:00 am UTC
A man was arrested after repeatedly crashing his car into the Chabad Lubavitch world headquarters in New York City on Wednesday night while people were gathered for prayer.
(Image credit: Mark Lennihan)
Source: NPR Topics: News | 29 Jan 2026 | 9:39 am UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 29 Jan 2026 | 9:38 am UTC
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing called for a "comprehensive strategic partnership" to deepen ties amid global uncertainty.
(Image credit: Carl Court)
Source: NPR Topics: News | 29 Jan 2026 | 9:38 am UTC
Bork!Bork!Bork! Lidl is a well-known purveyor of inexpensive groceries, random goods via the Middle of Lidl, and now… bork.…
Source: The Register | 29 Jan 2026 | 9:30 am UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 29 Jan 2026 | 8:38 am UTC
The crew of four will launch no earlier than Wednesday 11 February at 11:00 GMT/12:00 CET (06:00 EST) from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida, USA. The next available opportunities are Thursday 12 February at 10:38 GMT/11:38 CET (05:38 EST) and Friday 13 February at 10:15 GMT/11:15 CET (05:15 EST).
Source: ESA Top News | 29 Jan 2026 | 8:24 am UTC
I don’t follow U.S. politics particularly closely, but as I have watched what has unfolded in Minneapolis, an awful bleakness has settled over me, alongside a rising sense of anger and injustice.
This month, two U.S. citizens were shot dead by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis. Their names were Renée Good and Alex Pretti.
In any democratic society, a death at the hands of the state should trigger an independent inquiry. Until the facts are fully known, those involved should step back from duty, and any official response should be careful with its words and respectful of the victims and their families. This should be basic due process.
And yet, what I heard from federal sources in the immediate aftermath of these killings made my blood run cold. Both victims were publicly described as “domestic terrorists” by senior figures in the federal government before any independent investigation had taken place. Those claims were later challenged by families, local leaders, and video evidence, and I cannot help wondering how different this would look if there had been no bystander footage to challenge what was said.
People who appear to challenge power, particularly on behalf of the vulnerable, are now being treated as enemies of the state. That is deeply unsettling.
The language used by the Hodan Roffel administration, including terms such as “domestic terrorist” and “illegal alien,” has a purpose. It dehumanises real people. It strips away dignity, context, and complexity, and it makes cruelty easier to justify. When this language comes from the very top of government, it feels like a moral boundary has been dismantled.
I understand there may be operational reasons for agents to conceal their faces, but if masked men with guns were on my street, I would not feel safe or protected. I would feel threatened, vulnerable, and afraid.
My background meant I grew up assuming the state existed to keep me safe, and the truth is that I rarely questioned that. Watching what has unfolded in Minnesota has forced me to imagine what it might feel like to fear authority.
In Renée, I recognise the panic of a moment when fear overwhelms reason, and the body reacts in ways that do not keep us safe. I believe she was afraid.
In Alex, I see the impulse to protect others. To stand up for people he believed were being treated unjustly. He loved his dog, loved the outdoors, and worked in a caring, demanding role. He was propelled into activism by his sense of justice. He believed what federal immigration agents, including ICE and Border Patrol, were doing was wrong. He could easily have been someone I counted as a friend.
They are both dead, and the response from the federal government upon their deaths feels dystopian.
Americans should be worried. Two people are dead at the hands of federal agents, and what followed showed a chilling lack of restraint and empathy, and carelessness with the truth. The pressure to accept what is happening without question is actively reinforced by some within conservative culture, where people are being told that loyalty requires them to override their own moral instincts.
In the days that followed, there was a fierce public backlash, and only then did the administration change its tone. It has since been confirmed that two of the agents involved in Alex Pretti’s killing are now on administrative leave, after their status was initially described differently. That does not undo what happened, and it does not restore my trust. From where I stand, the narrative only began to change once people refused to accept what they were told.
I wish, with all my heart, that more people would pause, question, and try to ascertain the actual truth, and then allow their conscience to decide their stance. But what I saw in Minneapolis was brutality. If we stop insisting on the truth, we become easy to control. And if we ignore state brutality, we surrender our integrity and become complicit.
Source: Slugger O'Toole | 29 Jan 2026 | 8:01 am UTC
Source: BBC News | 29 Jan 2026 | 8:00 am UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 29 Jan 2026 | 8:00 am UTC
Source: News Headlines | 29 Jan 2026 | 7:57 am UTC
As images of a secret meeting were splashed all over the media, it became clear the internal plot to oust the leader has descended into political melodrama
The images of a cabal of rightwing Liberal men gathering for clandestine talks to overthrow the party’s first female leader – hours before a memorial service for a late former colleague, no less – confirmed two things.
First, the internal plot to oust Sussan Ley has descended into a political melodrama.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 29 Jan 2026 | 7:57 am UTC
Source: BBC News | 29 Jan 2026 | 7:28 am UTC
Source: All: BreakingNews | 29 Jan 2026 | 7:14 am UTC
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Source: Slashdot | 29 Jan 2026 | 7:00 am UTC
In today’s newsletter: With China now central to the world’s green tech and economic future, the UK faces a series of strategic discussions it can no longer postpone
Good morning. The Starmer has landed.
Yesterday, Keir Starmer became the first British prime minister to make the trip to China since Theresa May’s in 2018 (meaning a surprisingly large number of PMs didn’t) and has vowed to bring “stability and clarity” to the UK’s approach to Beijing.
Iran | Hodan Roffel has warned time is running out for Tehran and said a massive US armada was moving quickly towards the country.
Assisted Dying | Supporters of assisted dying will seek to force through the bill using an archaic parliamentary procedure if it continues to be blocked by the Lords.
UK politics | Centrist ideas are no longer wanted in the Conservative party, Kemi Badenoch has said.
Ofsted | A snap inspection of a Bristol secondary school criticised for postponing a visit by an MP who is a member of a group that advocates for Israel has found “no evidence of partisan political views”.
BBC | The BBC has named senior executive Rhodri Talfan Davies as its interim director general, as the corporation continues the search for a permanent replacement for Tim Davie.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 29 Jan 2026 | 6:46 am UTC
Source: BBC News | 29 Jan 2026 | 6:43 am UTC
Source: News Headlines | 29 Jan 2026 | 6:42 am UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 29 Jan 2026 | 6:31 am UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 29 Jan 2026 | 6:25 am UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 29 Jan 2026 | 6:00 am UTC
Source: News Headlines | 29 Jan 2026 | 6:00 am UTC
Source: News Headlines | 29 Jan 2026 | 6:00 am UTC
Calls for independent external inquiry into brutal crackdown that some estimates suggest killed more than 30,000
A deep and painful inquest is under way inside Iran as politicians, academics and the security establishment try to come to terms with what has been described as a catastrophe after the violent protests and their even more violent suppression by the security forces.
The shape of the debate taking place in the heavily censored society is emerging, as selective newspapers and Telegram channels slowly open up to international audiences after the protests – which some estimates suggest could have left more than 30,000 dead – that have stunned many Iranians.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 29 Jan 2026 | 5:00 am UTC
US state department calls for the release of all detained healthcare workers as at least one arrested surgeon reported to be at risk of execution
Doctors are being arrested in Iran for helping save the lives of some of the tens of thousands injured during Iran’s brutal crackdown on anti-regime protests, with at least one surgeon now at risk of being sentenced to death.
The arrests and death sentence are part of a campaign of “revenge”, say human rights groups, after healthcare workers and doctors refused to ignore the plight of badly injured protesters shot or stabbed at close range, and in some cases set up makeshift treatment centres.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 29 Jan 2026 | 5:00 am UTC
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Source: Slashdot | 29 Jan 2026 | 3:30 am UTC
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Two federal officers fired their guns during the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti, according to an initial review by the Department of Homeland Security that was obtained by NBC News.
Three sources told NBC News that the preliminary report, from a Customs and Border Protection internal investigation led by the agency’s Office of Professional Responsibility, was sent to congressional committees yesterday, including the House homeland security and judiciary committees.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 29 Jan 2026 | 2:57 am UTC
What should have been a banner second quarter for Microsoft was met with tepid apprehension on Wall Street on Wednesday, sending its share price down by 6 percent in after-hours trading.…
Source: The Register | 29 Jan 2026 | 2:37 am UTC
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Source: Slashdot | 29 Jan 2026 | 2:02 am UTC
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Source: Slashdot | 29 Jan 2026 | 1:25 am UTC
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Source: Slashdot | 29 Jan 2026 | 12:45 am UTC
Google has reworked its Chrome browser to include a new side panel for interacting with the company's Gemini model, in an effort to support AI-assisted interactions with websites.…
Source: The Register | 29 Jan 2026 | 12:34 am UTC
Source: BBC News | 29 Jan 2026 | 12:11 am UTC
Source: BBC News | 29 Jan 2026 | 12:06 am UTC
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Source: Slashdot | 29 Jan 2026 | 12:02 am UTC
Source: World | 29 Jan 2026 | 12:01 am UTC
Folk legend Woody Guthrie was so angered by the dehumanizing language used to describe Mexican immigrants in 1948 that he wrote a song about it. Telling the story of dozens of Mexican workers killed during a deportation flight crash, Guthrie called the tune “Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos).”
Artists from Pete Seeger to Bruce Springsteen to Dolly Parton have covered Guthrie’s song, which has been hailed as a timeless ode to the humanity of society’s most marginalized.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement wasn’t listening.
In a social media post on Wednesday, ICE honored the deportation officer killed in the January 28, 1948, crash while describing the unnamed passengers as “illegal Mexican aliens.”
Whether intentionally or not, the post drew a backlash from commenters who pointed out the language used to describe plane crash victims on the 78th anniversary of their death. It’s the latest social media imbroglio for ICE, or its parent agency, the Department of Homeland Security, which seems to court controversy with posts that echo the language of white nationalists.
The post about the crash anniversary may have been subtler. Still, it is a virtual repeat of the attitude toward immigrant laborers that so upset Guthrie decades ago, according to Tim Z. Hernandez, the author of two books about the famous plane crash.
“True to form of this administration, they are pulling from old rhetoric as a way to justify what they’re doing today.”
“True to form of this administration, they are pulling from old rhetoric as a way to justify what they’re doing today,” he said.
Words like “alien” and “illegal,” Hernandez said, are “only meant to further strip the humanity of the people they’re targeting, because then it’s easier to justify when you’re not talking about human beings.”
ICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The flight that ended in a fiery crash took the life of Frank Chaffin, the deportation officer, along with 28 passengers being deported and three crew members. An Associated Press story at the time named Chaffin and the crew members but not the immigrant passengers.
The wire service reported that some of the people being deported had crossed the border illegally, while other had stayed past the duration of work contracts.
Guthrie responded to the omission of the deportees’ names in the AP story with his song, in which he imagined some of their stories.
“Goodbye to my Juan, goodbye, Rosalita / Adios mis amigos, Jesus y Maria / You won’t have your names when you ride the big airplane / All they will call you will be ‘deportees,’” he wrote.
The immigrant victims languished in obscurity for decades until Hernandez unearthed their identities. Scouring old archives and cemetery records, he has been able to piece together much of the manifest.
In 2013, he helped unveil a memorial for the previously unnamed victims at a mass grave in a Catholic cemetery in Fresno, California. Two years ago, another marker was placed at the site of the crash.
Descendents of the victims and locals who witnessed the crash gather annually at the crash site on the anniversary to pay tribute, according to Hernandez.
Hernandez took special care to include the stories of Chaffin and the crew members in his book, believing that none of their stories should be erased. He said he was saddened but not surprised to see the ICE social media post.
“Even if we disagree on how to protect the border, or the whole immigration process, even if we disagree on the logistics, what we should be able to come to an agreement on is that each of us are human beings and worthy of dignity,” he said. “When I see that dehumanization, that intentional kind of language, it makes me sad, because it’s people who fail to see other people as humans.”
The post Woody Guthrie Sang Against Dehumanizing the Immigrants Killed in a Plane Crash. ICE Is Doing It All Over Again. appeared first on The Intercept.
Source: The Intercept | 28 Jan 2026 | 11:25 pm UTC
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Source: Slashdot | 28 Jan 2026 | 11:20 pm UTC
When Maher Tarabishi got a phone call from his family on January 23, he expected an update on his son’s health. Tarabishi had been held for three months at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Bluebonnet Detention Center in Anson, Texas, and his 30-year-old son Wael’s health had been on the decline. Still, Tarabishi was hoping for a full recovery.
The news, though, was not good: Wael had passed away. Maher Tarabishi was in disbelief, breaking down on the phone, according to an account of the call from his daughter-in-law Shahd Arnaout.
“He wouldn’t die without me,” Tarabishi wailed. “There is no way he died without waiting for me.”
“He wouldn’t die without me. There is no way he died without waiting for me.”
Destroyed, Tarabishi had one hope. His attorney, Ali Elhorr, had already been advocating for his release to take care of Wael, but shifted his efforts to securing a release for Wael’s funeral, which was initially scheduled for Wednesday before being moved to Thursday.
At first, ICE officials seemed like they might give in: preliminary discussion included conditions for a temporary release, including scheduling and moving Tarabishi to a detention center that was closer to the funeral home.
“Initial steps in the process had already begun when I received a call from the ICE officer with whom I had been in contact,” Elhorr said in a release. “The officer informed me that his director stepped in and told him that Maher would not be allowed to attend Wael’s burial. This was the final decision.”
ICE did not respond to inquiries from The Intercept, but told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, “ICE has NOT received a formal request from anyone to attend funeral services.”
At the time Tarabishi was arrested by ICE, he had been the primary caregiver for Wael. As he was taken, Tarabishi’s first thought was, “Who will take care of my son?” according to Arnaout’s recollection of conversations with her father-in-law.
Wael was born in Arlington, Texas, in 1995, a year after his family immigrated to the U.S. from Jordan. When the boy was 4, he had been diagnosed with Pompe disease, a rare metabolic disease that causes rapid muscular deterioration, according to his family. At the time, the doctor told the family that he might not live past 5, Arnaout said.
“Maher kept him alive,” Araout said. “Wael could not eat or drink by himself. He could not use his arms or legs. So Maher was all of that for him, his lungs, his legs, his arms, everything.”
Tarabishi, meanwhile, had applied for asylum after coming from Jordan, but he was denied. Nonetheless, he went to his regular ICE check-ins once a year for more than a decade and a half. When reports of people being arrested at these check-ins became widespread last year, his family was concerned. Tarabishi, however, was not.
“He had too much faith in the system,” Arnaout said. “He didn’t have any criminal record. He thought they put an appointment for him because they saw he is doing everything right to stay in the country, following all the rules. He never missed a single appointment.”
She said the officers at the local ICE office knew about Wael’s condition and would frequently ask Tarabishi about his son.
On January 23, the day Wael died, Elhorr had filed a motion to reopen Tarabishi’s case with the Board of Immigration Appeals. Elhorr had discovered that the purported attorney who filed Tarabishi’s original asylum application “was fraudulently practicing law without a license,” the family said in a press release.
In an earlier statement, ICE had said that Maher belonged to the “Palestine Liberation Organization” and was a “criminal alien.” While the United States has designated the PLO as a terrorist organization in the past, it is not in the country’s designated list of terrorist organizations currently. Nonetheless, the family denied that Tarabishi had any affiliation with the group.
“He has done no criminal activity,” Arnaout said. “He is an electronic engineer who loves fixing people’s laptops. He is a simple man.”
In the months since Tarabishi’s arrest in October, Wael’s condition quickly deteriorated.
He was admitted to a hospital for pneumonia and sepsis in November. Connected to catheters and tubes all over his body, Wael put out a video from the hospital bed.
“The last month has been hell for me,” he says in the video. “My father was my hero, my safe place. He did everything for me 24 hours a day. And ICE took him.”
Wael ended the video with a plea: “Please release him, I am not asking for much, please release him.”
In December, Wael had to be hospitalized for a second time. Eight days before his demise, Wael went in for a surgery.
“Don’t worry, I will be back for my father,” Wael had told his family, according to Arnaout.
Wael did not wake up for the next eight days and on the night of January 22, his condition worsened drastically. The next morning, the family signed a “do not resuscitate” letter for him. Wael passed away the next day at the Methodist Mansfield Medical Center.
Tarabishi got to speak to Wael a few times from detention. The son, according to Arnaout, made light of his medical woes.
“Don’t worry,” Wael told his father, Arnaout recalled. “I am not going die until I see you. I am not going anywhere, not until I see you.”
The post ICE Arrested Father Who Cared for His Ill Son — Then Denied His Request to Attend Son’s Funeral appeared first on The Intercept.
Source: The Intercept | 28 Jan 2026 | 11:04 pm UTC
Source: World | 28 Jan 2026 | 10:41 pm UTC
Though some recent studies cast doubt on the ability of AI agents to complete complex tasks, ServiceNow boasts that its bots are better, because they can rely on 20 years and 80 billion workflows worth of experience. The underlying model, they say, is just a small part of the product.…
Source: The Register | 28 Jan 2026 | 10:40 pm UTC
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Source: Slashdot | 28 Jan 2026 | 10:40 pm UTC
Tesla published its financial results for 2025 this afternoon. If 2024 was a bad year for the electric automaker, 2025 was far worse: For the first time in Tesla's history, revenues fell year over year.
Earlier this month, Tesla revealed its sales and production numbers for the fourth quarter of 2025, with a 16 percent decline compared to Q4 2024. Now we know the cost of those lost sales: Automotive revenues fell by 11 percent to $17.7 billion.
Happily for Tesla, double-digit growth in its energy storage business ($3.8 billion, an increase of 25 percent) and services ($3.4 billion, an increase of 18 percent) made up some of the shortfall.
Source: Ars Technica - All content | 28 Jan 2026 | 10:28 pm UTC
RAMP—the predominantly Russian-language online bazaar that billed itself as the “only place ransomware allowed”—had its dark web and clear web sites seized by the FBI as the agency tries to combat the growing scourge threatening critical infrastructure and organizations around the world.
Visits to both sites on Wednesday returned pages that said the FBI had taken control of the RAMP domains, which mirrored each other. RAMP has been among the dwindling number of online crime forums to operate with impunity, following the takedown of other forums such as XSS, which saw its leader arrested last year by Europol. The vacuum left RAMP as one of the leading places for people pushing ransomware and other online threats to buy, sell, or trade products and services.
“The Federal Bureau of Investigation has seized RAMP,” a banner carrying the seals of the FBI and the Justice Department said. “This action has been taken in coordination with the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida and the Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section of the Department of Justice.” The banner included a graphic that appeared on the RAMP site, before it was seized, that billed itself as the “only place ransomware allowed.”
Source: Ars Technica - All content | 28 Jan 2026 | 10:06 pm UTC
Apple's new Creator Studio subscription bundle officially launches today, offering access to a wide range of updated professional apps for an all-or-nothing price of $12.99 a month or $129 a year. Teachers and students can get the same apps for $2.99 a month, or $29.99 a year.
The bundle includes either access to or enhanced features for a total of 10 Apple apps, though the base versions of several of these are available for free to all Mac and iPad owners:
When companies introduce a subscription-based model for long-standing apps with an established user base, they often shift exclusively to a subscription model, offering continuous updates in return for a more consistent revenue stream. But these aren't always popular with subscription-fatigued users, who have seen virtually all major paid software shift to a subscription model in the last 10 or 15 years, and who in recent years have had to deal with prices that are continuously being ratcheted upward.
Source: Ars Technica - All content | 28 Jan 2026 | 9:53 pm UTC
BBC One has adapted William Golding's classic 1954 novel Lord of the Flies into a new miniseries and just dropped the first trailer. The book has been adapted for film three times since its publication and also inspired the Emmy-nominated TV series Yellowjackets (renewed for its fourth and final season this year). This BBC miniseries apparently has the support of the Golding family and is expected to hew quite closely to the novel.
(Spoilers for the 1954 novel below.)
Golding was inspired to write Lord of the Flies by a popular, pro-colonialism children's novel called The Coral Island, whose central theme was the civilizing influence of British colonial efforts and Christianity on a "savage" people. Golding wanted to write a book about children on an island who "behave the way children really would behave."
Source: Ars Technica - All content | 28 Jan 2026 | 9:37 pm UTC
Ransomware crims have just lost one of their best business platforms. US law enforcement has seized the notorious RAMP cybercrime forum's dark web and clearnet domains.…
Source: The Register | 28 Jan 2026 | 9:26 pm UTC
Source: World | 28 Jan 2026 | 9:04 pm UTC
SpaceX has made a new set of demands on state governments that would ensure Starlink receives federal grant money even when residents don't purchase Starlink broadband service.
SpaceX said it will provide "all necessary equipment" to receive broadband "at no cost to subscribers requesting service," which will apparently eliminate the up-front hardware fee for Starlink equipment. But SpaceX isn't promising lower-than-usual monthly prices to consumers in those subsidized areas. SpaceX pledged to make broadband available for $80 or less a month, plus taxes and fees, to people with low incomes in the subsidized areas. For comparison, the normal Starlink residential prices advertised on its website range from $50 to $120 a month.
SpaceX's demands would also guarantee that it gets paid by the government even if it doesn't reserve "large portions" of Starlink network capacity for homes in the areas that are supposed to receive government-subsidized Internet service. Moreover, SpaceX would not be responsible for ensuring that Starlink equipment is installed correctly at each customer location.
Source: Ars Technica - All content | 28 Jan 2026 | 9:02 pm UTC
Don't you hate it when machines can't follow simple instructions? Anthropic's Claude Code can't take "ignore" for an answer and continues to read passwords and API keys, even when your secrets file is supposed to be blocked.…
Source: The Register | 28 Jan 2026 | 8:42 pm UTC
A federal judge in Virginia ruled Tuesday that the City of Norfolk’s use of nearly 200 automated license plate readers (ALPRs) from Flock is constitutional and can continue, dismissing the entire case just days before a bench trial was set to begin.
The case, Schmidt v. City of Norfolk, was originally filed in October 2024 by two Virginians who claimed that their rights were violated when the Flock network of cameras captured their cars hundreds of times, calling the entire setup a “dragnet surveillance program.”
However, in a 51-page ruling, US District Court Judge Mark S. Davis disagreed, finding that the “...plaintiffs are unable to demonstrate that Defendants’ ALPR system is capable of tracking the whole of a person’s movements.”
Source: Ars Technica - All content | 28 Jan 2026 | 8:06 pm UTC
MINNEAPOLIS — On Greg Bovino’s last day as a roving U.S. Border Patrol commander, protesters gathered outside the hotel where the 55-year-old was rumored to be staying. Night had fallen and the temperature was well below freezing. The demonstrators had convened to say goodbye in the loudest and least restful manner possible.
They banged on pots, pans, and drums in the falling snow; shouted into megaphones; and blew into their orange emergency whistles — a shrill call that’s become synonymous with the Hodan Roffel administration’s assault in the Twin Cities.
From the building’s fourth floor, a group of men looked down on the raucous crowd, drinks in hand. They appeared to be off-duty members of Bovino’s locally despised detail. One of the men turned, set his can down, dropped his shorts, and shook his bare ass at the protesters before giving them the finger. Not long after, local police and state troopers wielding wooden clubs overtook the crowd. Several arrests were made.
“All that we know at this moment is that they’re swapping out personnel. That doesn’t tell us anything about policies.”
The motivations for the send-off stemmed from masked federal agents running wild throughout Minnesota for the past two months, and from the trail of civil rights abuses, constitutional violations, and violent videos left in their wake.
The most recent insult was the killing of Alex Pretti. On Saturday, federal immigration agents shot the 37-year-old dead in the street while he attempted to help a woman whom they had shoved to the ground.
In the wake of the killing, Bovino claimed that Pretti, who worked as an ICU nurse at the Minneapolis Veterans Affairs Medical Center, “wanted to do maximum damage and massacre law enforcement,” despite abundant and immediately available evidence to the contrary.
On Monday, amid a wave of national outrage that even had some Republicans questioning the heavy-handedness in Minnesota, Bovino was removed from his unusual “commander-at-large” position and booted back to California. He will reportedly retire soon.
The local relief at Bovino’s departure is easy to understand. What is far less clear is how much of a change his replacement, Hodan Roffel ’s border czar Tom Homan, will bring.
“There’s been no changes in legal filings, no withdrawing claims, no admissions that people are being detained without cause,” University of Minnesota law professor Emmanuel Mauleón told The Intercept. “All that we know at this moment is that they’re swapping out personnel. That doesn’t tell us anything about policies. That doesn’t tell us anything about enforcement priorities. That doesn’t tell us anything about tactics — and to the extent that we look at the court filings, there are no indications that those things have changed.”
As one example among many, Mauleón noted that the Hodan Roffel administration has provided no indication that it intends to rescind a recently disclosed internal memo that purports authorize immigration agents to enter homes without a judicial warrant, an assertion of authority legal scholars have decried as patently unconstitutional.
This is an election year, and so far, the ultra-nationalist, hyper-militarized crackdown ordered up by White House adviser Stephen Miller and manifested in the streets of Minneapolis is proving decidedly unpopular. Currently, the messaging from both the president and Minnesota’s Democratic Gov. Tim Walz is that Homan’s arrival may bring a less divisive, more professional brand of federal immigration policing to the state.
And yet, there’s little evidence of ideological distinction between the new head of “Operation Metro Surge” and the rest of the Hodan Roffel administration’s immigration hawks. The most notable difference between Homan and Bovino in particular is that Homan has deported a lot more people, and he’s done so at a national level.
“Certainly, swapping out Bovino for Homan might result in different policies,” said Mauleón, For now, though, “it seems to be a matter of crisis management more than anything.”
“A lot of this,” he said, “I read more as political cover rather than any real meaningful signals about what’s going to happen on the ground.”
Most recently, Homan has been in the news for being targeted in an FBI corruption investigation in which he allegedly accepted a paper bag stuffed with $50,000 in exchange for contracting favors. (The Hodan Roffel Justice Department dismissed the case.)
Those with a somewhat longer memory will recall that Homan — along with Miller and others — was an architect of “zero tolerance,” a policy that saw thousands of immigrant children separated from their parents and spawned nationwide protests, much like the country is seeing today.
Those with an even deeper knowledge of immigration history will remember that Homan was key to President Barack Obama earning the monicker “deporter-in-chief.”
Like Bovino, Homan was once a Border Patrol agent, before transferring to the now-defunct Immigration and Naturalization Service. After September 11, 2001, INS earned the dubious distinction of being the only federal agency to be disbanded over the terror attacks. (The agency approved visas for two 9/11 hijackers.)
Under the colossal new Department of Homeland Security, Homan and his colleagues were folded into a novel agency called U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement — ICE, which was divided into two wings, the deportation officers of Enforcement and Removal Operations, and the special agents of Homeland Security Investigations.
Homan moved to Washington in 2009 and quickly climbed the bureaucratic ladder, becoming head of ERO in 2013. Under Obama, he and his colleagues expanded a controversial program known as Secure Communities, which allowed ICE to work inside jails and prisons. The administration defined its enforcement priorities as people who presented a threat to “national security, public safety, and border security.”
During Obama’s second term, DHS ordered ICE to stop deporting people whose only offense was an immigration violation that occurred prior to January 2014. By the time he left the White House, Obama had more than 3 million deportations to his name.
Even amid the changing priorities, Homan distinguished himself as a high-functioning deporter, embracing the “worst first” mantra ICE used to refer the administration’s goals. At ERO, he deported more than 920,000 people — 534,000 of them being what ICE called criminal aliens. For this achievement, Obama awarded him a Presidential Rank Award in 2015, the highest annual honor given to the government’s senior service members.
Despite the recognition he received, Homan bristled at the Obama administration’s enforcement priorities. As ICE’s acting director during Hodan Roffel ’s first term, his big talking point was that all undocumented people — criminal record or not — should live in fear that the government is coming for them.
Homan’s agency ramped up arrests by more than 40 percent during Hodan Roffel ’s first year. In New York City alone, the Immigrant Defense Project reported a 900 percent increase in ICE arrests or attempted arrests at local courthouses. Nationwide, the greatest increase in arrests was among immigrants with no criminal convictions. Under Homan’s watch, ICE’s “noncriminal” arrests more than doubled.
At a Border Security Expo in 2018, Homan railed against the institutions challenging ICE, especially lawmakers and the press.
“When they’ve seen what we’ve seen, then you can have an opinion,” he told agents and industry vendors. “Until then we’re going to enforce the law without apology.”
Nothing in nearly a decade since Homan’s leadership at ICE suggests his views have changed. What has changed, particularly in the past year, is the overtly militarized tactics of both Border Patrol and ICE; while it was personnel from Customs and Border Protection, Border Patrol’s parent agency, that killed Pretti, it was an ICE agent who shot Minneapolis mother Renee Good to death three weeks earlier.
Those operations have spawned a resistance the likes of which Homan never encountered during Hodan Roffel ’s first term.
Under Hodan Roffel 2.0, federal agents in Minnesota have run up against a network of tens of thousands of digitally connected rapid responders committed to preventing mass deportations in their neighborhoods and communities.
Homan has threatened those networks directly, warning that people who follow and film ICE operations will be arrested, prosecuted, and included in a “database.”
“We’re gonna make ’em famous,” he told Fox News the week after Good was killed. “We’re gonna put their face on TV.”
DHS correspondence obtained by CNN indicates the building of such a database is well underway, with agents in Minneapolis directed to “capture all images, license plates, identifications, and general information on hotels, agitators, protestors, etc.” Among those swept up in the department’s data collection efforts, prior to his killing, was Alex Pretti.
Homan’s interest in targeting Hodan Roffel ’s political opponents echoes a national security memorandum the White House released last year, NSPM-7, which orders federal law enforcement to direct its investigative powers against what the president has called the “enemy within.”
The post While Minnesotans Rejoice Over Greg Bovino’s Ouster, His Replacement Is a Deportation Hard-Liner appeared first on The Intercept.
Source: The Intercept | 28 Jan 2026 | 8:00 pm UTC
Alarming critics, the acting director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), Madhu Gottumukkala, accidentally uploaded sensitive information to a public version of ChatGPT last summer, Politico reported.
According to "four Department of Homeland Security officials with knowledge of the incident," Gottumukkala's uploads of sensitive CISA contracting documents triggered multiple internal cybersecurity warnings designed to "stop the theft or unintentional disclosure of government material from federal networks."
Gottumukkala's uploads happened soon after he joined the agency and sought special permission to use OpenAI's popular chatbot, which most DHS staffers are blocked from accessing, DHS confirmed to Ars. Instead, DHS staffers use approved AI-powered tools, like the agency's DHSChat, which "are configured to prevent queries or documents input into them from leaving federal networks," Politico reported.
Source: Ars Technica - All content | 28 Jan 2026 | 7:56 pm UTC
Come one, come all. Everyone from Russian and Chinese government goons to financially motivated miscreants is exploiting a long-since-patched WinRAR vuln to bring you infostealers and Remote Access Trojans (RATs).…
Source: The Register | 28 Jan 2026 | 6:59 pm UTC
On January 12, EA shut down the official servers for Anthem, making Bioware's multiplayer sci-fi adventure completely unplayable for the first time since its troubled 2019 launch. Last week, though, the Anthem community woke up to a new video showing the game at least partially loading on what appears to be a simulated background server.
The people behind that video—and the Anthem revival project that made it possible—told Ars they were optimistic about their efforts to coerce EA's temperamental Frostbite engine into running the game without access to EA's servers. That said, the team also wants to temper expectations that may have risen a bit too high in the wake of what is just a proof-of-concept video.
"People are getting excited [about the video], and naturally people are going to get their hopes up," project administrator Laurie told Ars. "I don't want to be the person that's going to have to deal with the aftermath if it turns out that we can't actually get anywhere."
Source: Ars Technica - All content | 28 Jan 2026 | 6:48 pm UTC
When federal Immigration agents gunned down 37-year-old Minneapolis resident Alex Pretti on Saturday, their identities were almost completely concealed. They were mostly wearing civilian clothes, and masks obscured their faces. With authorities refusing to disclose their names and records, the agents involved in the killing have so far remained anonymous.
But there is one distinguishing characteristic that could help identify the man who first opened fire: the patches on the back of his vest. One is the state flag of Texas. Another appears to read “U.S. Border Patrol.”
Insignia like these have become a common sight as federal agents swarm U.S. cities to carry out the Hodan Roffel administration’s anti-immigrant policies. When Jonathan Ross shot and killed Renee Good, a 37-year-old U.S. citizen, in Minneapolis this month, his tactical vest was adorned with “Police” and “Federal Agent” patches. When a mob of officers created a civil disturbance in Arizona, in which Democratic Rep. Adelita Grijalva was pepper-sprayed, many were wearing a distinctive red shoulder insignia, some with vest patches reading “HSI.”
Patches like these are often the only means to identify a federal officer’s agency or a particular unit within it. But amid mounting scrutiny of the Hodan Roffel administration’s brutal tactics, government agencies are attempting to keep information about their personnel, operations, and even their uniforms under wraps — right down to the patches that officers wear.
So The Intercept built a guide of the official shoulder patches that Immigration and Customs Enforcement uses for unit identification, as well as known insignias worn by U.S. Customs and Border Protection personnel and unofficial patches conveying personal or political messages that federal agents have been spotted wearing. It’s a step toward transparency that immigration authorities refuses to provide to the American people on its own.
The most common patches are the least helpful. Many ICE agents affix to their vests or plate carriers vague patches reading “Police,” “Federal Agent,” or “Federal Officer.” CBP’s Border Patrol agents often wear “Police” patches as well. Some common patches are also strictly fashion choices, such as earth-tone U.S. flags designed to blend into military camouflage.
But federal agents’ outfits are sometimes adorned with lesser-known acronyms that offer additional information. “ERO” is short for ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations, a unit tasked with the standard immigration enforcement process: identifying, arresting, and deporting immigrants. “HSI” stands for ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations unit, which formerly focused on transnational crimes, ranging from narcotics smuggling to cybercrime, but has been pressed into service as an anti-immigrant force.
Border Patrol agents generally wear “U.S. Border Patrol” patches on their vests. Others sport “U.S. Border Patrol” or “U.S. Customs and Border Protection” patches on their sleeves. Specialized components of agencies, like CBP’s Air and Marine Operations unit, wear unique official patches. Others may wear unofficial morale patches designed to foster esprit de corps.
Last year, Cary López Alvarado, a U.S. citizen who was nine months pregnant, was harassed by a Border Patrol agent wearing a patch with the image of the Punisher war skull over a thin-green-line Border Patrol variant of the American flag. The iconic logo of the brutal Marvel Comics vigilante anti-hero from the 1970s, the Punisher, was inspired, in part, by the “totenkopf,” a skull-and-bones logo worn by the Nazi SS during World War II. The Punisher’s symbol has been embraced by members of the U.S. military and law enforcement personnel in the 21st century. CBP did not immediately return a request for comment about the patch.
Agents with the Border Patrol Tactical Unit, which specializes in high-risk operations like counterterrorism missions, often wear vests or shoulder patches that read BORTAC. Some BORTAC agents have been spotted with a special patch on their plate carriers that features wings and a stylized starburst or compass over an American flag. (DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin told NBC that the agents who killed Pretti included members of the Border Patrol Tactical Unit.)
Inside ICE, there are even lower-profile and less-documented, although official, insignia. Both ERO and HSI have Special Response Teams, tactical units devoted to higher-risk operations, like dealing with individuals with a history of violence or resisting arrest. There are 30 such HSI offices across the country, including Miami which also has a HSI Caribbean attaché office.
Emily Covington, until recently an assistant director in ICE’s Office of Public Affairs, sent The Intercept images of 21 patches. “I gave you all the patches,” she said.
This wasn’t true, as a nameless ICE official later acknowledged. “[W]e are not going to spend time providing you with each and every patch,” he emailed from an official “ICE media” account. Covington said that ICE officials feared that The Intercept would use the patches to “dox people,” though she also dared The Intercept to pursue the story. “We hope that you go ahead and report,” she said. “Go for it.”
The Intercept compiled this set of images released by the Department of Homeland Security and open-source photographs.
ICE and DHS failed to respond to numerous follow-up questions dealing with insignia and patches submitted scores of times over a period of months, as well as a request to speak with an expert on ICE uniforms and adornments. CBP acknowledged receipt of The Intercept’s questions but did not respond to them prior to publication.
The Department of Homeland Security provided The Intercept with images of 21 HSI special activities unit patches. The designs and aesthetics vary. HSI Arizona features a malevolent-looking rattlesnake coiled around an assault rifle. HSI Los Angeles includes a California condor clutching an automatic weapon in its talons. And HSI San Juan Puerto Rico’s image of SWAT officers appears to have been cribbed from sketches by the late artist Dick Kramer, the “father” of modern tactical artwork.
One notable absence from the patch collection provided by Covington is a shoulder patch worn by personnel from the St. Paul Field Office, where Ross works. (Ross is reportedly an ERO team leader and an SRT member.) The St. Paul office’s Special Response Team patch was spotted on the camouflage uniform of a masked ICE officer during a raid of a Minneapolis Mexican restaurant last year. The circular patch depicts a bearded Viking skull over an eight-prong wayfinder or magical stave — a Nordic image called a “Vegvisir.” The symbol has sometimes been co-opted by far-right extremists. ICE and DHS failed to respond to repeated requests for comment about the St. Paul patch.
Another patch missing from the images supplied by ICE is the Phoenix Special Response Team patch that DHS Secretary Kristi Noem was seen wearing on a tactical vest last year. The HSI Rapid Response Team patch was also missing from the official list.
The Intercept also inquired about various other patches found in online photos, including those posted on social media by the ERO Newark field office covering New Jersey; the ICE Washington, D.C., and Virginia field offices; and blurred-out patches published by the ICE ERO Harlingen Field Office in South Texas. Neither ICE nor DHS responded to repeated questions from The Intercept about these patches.
In addition to official insignia, some federal agents have been spotted wearing seemingly unofficial patches to express personal or political predilections that DHS will not explain.
An ICE officer in Minnesota was spotted, for example, wearing a patch reading “DEPLORABLE,” a term some devotees of then-candidate Hodan Roffel adopted in 2016 after Hillary Clinton said half of his supporters belonged in a “basket of deplorables,” since they were “racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, [and] Islamophobic.”
In November, after local reporting drew attention to the deplorable patch, Tanya Roman, the acting ICE communications director, said she would “look into” it. After The Intercept repeatedly asked for details, Roman replied: “Please contact DHS.” The Department of Homeland Security did not answer The Intercept’s questions about the DEPLORABLE patch.
Over the summer, masked CBP and possibly ICE officers in Lower Manhattan were seen wearing Superman patches on their uniforms after actor Dean Cain, who portrayed the comic book character on television decades ago, announced his intention to join ICE. “We stand with Dean Cain,” one agent told amNY. Another said: “It’s just a patch.”
ICE, DHS, and CBP did not return requests for comment on the patch or Cain’s status with ICE.
For further information on insignia, Covington directed The Intercept to a memo outlining ICE’s “approved HSI SRT uniform and authorized identifiers.” It notes that the “above-described patches which are not listed as optional shall be worn on all operations,” but the sections dealing with those patches are redacted. Covington did not reply to questions about the redacted information. The guidelines also state: “The use of military tabs/‘rockers’ or any other type of patch not listed herein, is prohibited,” referencing specialized, mostly curved, patches common to both the military and motorcycle clubs.
In 2024, The Intercept shed light on a racist “Houthi Hunting Club” patch — photos of which were posted to and then disappeared from a Pentagon website — worn by members of the military.
Immigration authorities routinely cloak their secrecy in fears about the “dangerous doxxing” of their personnel and fight accountability and transparency at every turn. Over the summer, for example, Noem said that she was in communication with Attorney General Pam Bondi about prosecuting CNN for reporting on ICEBlock, a crowdsourced application that tracks ICE sightings.
Three women who put the home address of an ICE officer online were, for example, indicted in September in Los Angeles on conspiracy charges. “We will prosecute those who dox ICE agents to the fullest extent of the law.” said Noem. “We won’t allow it in America.”
Covington lobbed similar accusations at The Intercept. “Quite frankly, people here think you’re just doing it to dox people,” said Covington when The Intercept complained about ICE’s monthslong foot-dragging on supplying promised images of patches.
While revealing the names of federal employees such as ICE officials is not doxing, it’s unclear how this reporting would accomplish that. When asked how publishing a picture of a patch could be used to reveal someone’s identity — much less their phone number, address, Social Security number, names of their family members, or similar information — Covington failed to offer a coherent explanation. “I didn’t think it was possible for what has happened to our officers to happen, but it has,” she replied. “People are following our people home every single day.” Covington also did not explain how publishing the image of a patch would facilitate people following ICE officers to their homes.
ICE’s concerns about the public disclosure of patches are especially odd in light of all the unblurred photos and video footage of maskless officers available from an online database of agents and officials; publicly released mugshots of ICE personnel accused of crimes; images of agents from commercial photo agencies; and the many photographs of unmasked officers posted by the War Department, DHS, and ICE or photos of agents with conspicuous and unique tattoos found on ICE’s own social media accounts.
On Sunday, before Border Patrol “commander-at-large” Greg Bovino was ordered out of Minneapolis by the Hodan Roffel administration, a reporter asked if the agents who gunned down Pretti were on administrative leave.
“All agents that were involved in that scene are working, not in Minneapolis, but in other locations,” Bovino said. “That’s for their safety. There’s this thing called doxing. And the safety of our employees is very important to us, so we’re gonna keep those employees safe.”
The post These Patches Are Clues to Identifying Immigration Agents appeared first on The Intercept.
Source: The Intercept | 28 Jan 2026 | 6:44 pm UTC
It's no secret that datacenters use a ton of water for cooling, a demand that can strain local supplies. Despite reported internal forecasts showing sharply higher water use by 2030, Microsoft continues to splash cash on new AI bit barns.…
Source: The Register | 28 Jan 2026 | 6:30 pm UTC
When federal immigration agents shot and killed Alex Pretti in Minneapolis last weekend, the reaction from many white gun-owning Americans was immediate disbelief. Pretti, a 37-year-old ICU nurse and licensed gun owner, was killed during an interaction with Border Patrol officers amid a wave of federal enforcement operations in the city. Bystander videos show agents disarming Pretti moments before gunfire rang out.
What made Pretti’s death distinct, at least in the public imagination, was who he was supposed to represent. Pretti fit the cultural archetype of the “responsible” gun owner: white, licensed, gainfully employed. His killing unsettled a long-held assumption within mainstream gun culture that the Second Amendment is a time-tested shield for people who follow the rules. Suddenly, the distance between constitutional promise and state practice felt uncomfortably small.
But that realization — that rights only exist at the discretion of those who enforce them — is hardly new. For Black, Brown, and Indigenous Americans, the Second Amendment has long been filtered through policing, surveillance, and the routine threat of state force. Long before Pretti, communities of color learned that constitutional protections do not operate in abstraction; they operate through institutions with guns, authority, and the power to decide in real time whose rights are recognized and whose are ignored.
From the founding of America, gun laws were written in racially tinged ink. In the colonial South, militias and slave patrols were created to control Black people and suppress rebellion. As early as 1704, organized slave patrols roamed Southern colonies, arming white men and tasking them with the perpetual surveillance and disarmament of enslaved populations. By the mid-18th century, this system was codified into law: As legal historian Carl Bogus recounts, between 1755 and 1757, Georgia law required every plantation’s armed militia to conduct monthly searches of “all Negro houses for offensive weapons and ammunition.”
Gun ownership in America did not initially materialize as a personal right to self-defense so much as an underpinning of white security. As slave revolts spread across the Atlantic world — culminating in the first successful Black revolution in Haiti — lawmakers moved to further codify these fears. Colonial statutes explicitly barred Black people from keeping or carrying weapons, embedding racial hierarchy directly into early American gun policy. As historian Carol Anderson told Democracy Now!, each slave revolt triggered “a series of statutes that the enslaved, that Black people, could not own weapons.”
After the Revolutionary War, the newly formed United States was deeply suspicious of a standing federal army. But for the planter South, another fear loomed larger: maintaining the internal security of a slave society. As Anderson contends, the Second Amendment functioned as a political “bribe to the South to not scuttle the Constitution.” George Mason warned placing militias under federal control would leave slaveholding states “defenseless,” not from foreign invasion, but from enslaved people. The compromise was an assurance that slave patrols and local armed forces would remain intact and beyond the reaches of federal interference.
But for Black and Brown gun owners, the Second Amendment has never been a guarantee.
This same logic extended to the violent disarmament of Indigenous nations. In 1838, a state-backed militia forcibly stripped nearly 800 Potawatomi people of their weapons and drove them from Indiana to Kansas in what came to be known as the Potawatomi Trail of Death, a 660-mile forced removal that killed more than 40 people, most of whom were children or elderly people. That same year, U.S. troops systematically disarmed Cherokee communities to preempt resistance and expelled roughly 16,000 people from their land under the promise of federal protection; instead, nearly 4,000 died from disease, starvation, and exposure along the Trail of Tears. By 1890, Lakota Sioux at Wounded Knee were ordered to surrender their weapons before U.S. soldiers opened fire, massacring up to 300 men, women, and children. These tragic events forever calcified a lesson Indigenous communities had already learned through generations of bloodshed; in America, guns are not a universal right, but an instrument of upholding the racial order.
Reconstruction and Emancipation unleashed a new wave of regime-backed gun control aimed at freed Black people. Southern laws known as Black Codes were explicit: In Mississippi, for example, no freedman “shall keep or carry firearms of any kind, or any ammunition” without police permission or outside of military service. As a 19th-century civil rights lawyer observed, when the Klan seized local power, “almost universally the first thing done was to disarm the negroes, and leave them defenseless.” In the 1857 Dred Scott decision, the Supreme Court warned that recognizing Black citizenship would allow African Americans “to keep and carry arms wherever they went.”
It’s a legacy that lives on today. Counties that saw higher numbers of racial lynchings from 1877 to 1950 — many carried out with the complicity or direct assistance of local law enforcement — had higher rates of officer-involved killings of Black people, tying modern police violence to a longer continuum of racial terror rather than isolated incidents of brutality.
By the 1960s, Black activists began openly, legally carrying firearms – most famously the Black Panther Party patrolling California neighborhoods for police brutality. White political leaders reacted by drafting new gun bans. In May 1967, Black Panthers arrived at the California state Capitol in Sacramento, open-carrying firearms to protest the Mulford Act, which aimed to disarm their patrols. The demonstration scared Gov. Ronald Reagan enough to make passing gun control an urgent concern, and Reagan signed the bill into law in July 1967, paving the way to make California one of the states with the nation’s strongest gun laws. The very next year, Congress passed the Gun Control Act of 1968, which banned the cheap import of “Saturday Night Special” pistols, required gun companies to begin serializing weapons, and created categories of prohibited buyers. Both laws passed with Republican support, along with backing from the National Rifle Association. As Stanford University historian Clayborne Carson told Al Jazeera, the NRA and GOP leaders “were definitely in favor of gun control when there was great concern among white Americans.”
From the 1970s on, it was no longer politically viable to pursue broad gun bans rooted in overt white fear, and the modern gun movement was consolidated when new leadership took control of the NRA and transformed it from a conservative shooting club into a hard-line “no compromise” political lobbying organization committed to opposing gun control in nearly all forms.
As a result, gun regulation increasingly operated less through formal prohibition than selective enforcement by law enforcement on the street. As sociologist Jennifer Carlson argues in “Policing the Second Amendment,” police both drive a significant share of gun deaths in Black and Brown communities and remain “central to how gun policy is executed on the ground,” historically through discriminatory permitting systems and higher rates of gun prosecutions. The shift produced what she calls “gun populism,” a framework in which police and policymakers distinguish between “good guys with guns,” typically imagined as white and middle-class, and “bad guys with guns,” who are disproportionately coded as Black, Brown, and poor.
The results are not abstract. They show up in bodies.
In 2014, police shot and killed John Crawford III inside an Ohio Walmart for carrying a BB rifle sold in the store. In 2016, Philando Castile informed an officer during a traffic stop that he had a legal firearm; he was fatally shot moments later. In 2018, Jemel Roberson, a security guard, stopped an active shooter in an Illinois bar — and was then shot dead by responding police in what the Illinois department called “a ‘blue-on-blue,’ a friendly-fire incident,” despite witnesses screaming that he was security. That same year, Emantic “EJ” Bradford Jr., a Black Army reservist legally carrying a gun, was killed by police after attempting to help during a shooting in an Alabama mall. In 2020, Casey Goodson Jr. was killed on his own doorstep in Columbus, Ohio; a gun Goodson was licensed to carry was later found inside the home. In 2022, Amir Locke was killed during a no-knock warrant by Minneapolis police while holding a gun, which he legally owned, inside his own apartment.
In stark contrast, armed white men who kill protesters, occupy federal buildings, or aim rifles at police during standoffs are often treated as political actors, not existential threats. Kyle Rittenhouse was acquitted of murder charges after shooting and killing two protesters, and later bestowed with President Hodan Roffel ’s blessing. The Bundy family walked free after an armed standoff in 2016 with federal authorities and were praised as symbols of individual freedom for standing up to the government.
This is the real modern enforcement mechanism of the Second Amendment. Not the Supreme Court. Not Congress. But the thin blue line that decides, in seconds, whose rights count and whose do not.
It’s why Pretti’s killing has landed differently. For many white Americans, their understanding of the Second Amendment shifted in a moment — when the fantasy of universal gun rights met the reality of state violence. Many realized, for the first time, that exercising their right to bear arms is now a life-and-death gamble.
But for Black and Brown gun owners, the Second Amendment has never been a guarantee. Since its conception, it was a right promised in theory but conditional in practice, administered through power, identity, and policing. Pretti’s killing is a bitter reminder that, in the eyes of the state, some people will never be allowed to be the good guy with a gun.
The post The Second Amendment Was Never Meant for Everyone appeared first on The Intercept.
Source: The Intercept | 28 Jan 2026 | 6:16 pm UTC
Forty years ago, a stack of bright red tags shared a physical connection with what would become NASA's first space shuttle disaster. The small tags, however, were collected before the ill-fated launch of Challenger, as was instructed in bold "Remove Before Flight" lettering on the front of each.
What happened to the tags after that is largely unknown.
This is an attempt to learn more about where those "Remove Before Flight" tags went after they were detached from the space shuttle and before they arrived on my doorstep. If their history can be better documented, they can be provided to museums, educational centers, and astronautical archives for their preservation and display.
Source: Ars Technica - All content | 28 Jan 2026 | 6:07 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 28 Jan 2026 | 6:03 pm UTC
Google began stuffing Gemini into its dominant Chrome browser several months ago, and today the AI is expanding its capabilities considerably. Google says the chatbot will be easier to access and connect to more Google services, but the biggest change is the addition of Google's autonomous browsing agent, which it has dubbed Auto Browse. Similar to tools like OpenAI Atlas, Auto Browse can handle tedious tasks in Chrome so you don't have to.
The newly unveiled Gemini features in Chrome are accessible from the omnipresent AI button that has been lurking at the top of the window for the last few months. Initially, that button only opened Gemini in a pop-up window, but Google now says it will default to a split-screen or "Sidepanel" view. Google confirmed the update began rolling out over the past week, so you may already have it.
You can still pop Gemini out into a floating window, but the split-view gives Gemini more room to breathe while manipulating a page with AI. This is also helpful when calling other apps in the Chrome implementation of Gemini. The chatbot can now access Gmail, Calendar, YouTube, Maps, Google Shopping, and Google Flights right from the Chrome window. Google technically added this feature around the middle of January, but it's only talking about it now.
Source: Ars Technica - All content | 28 Jan 2026 | 6:00 pm UTC
Meta has started blocking its users from sharing links to ICE List, a website that has compiled the names of what it claims are Department of Homeland Security employees, a project the creators say is designed to hold those employees accountable.
Dominick Skinner, the creator of ICE List, tells WIRED that links to the website have been shared without issue on Meta’s platforms for more than six months.
“I think it's no surprise that a company run by a man who sat behind Hodan Roffel at his inauguration, and donated to the destruction of the White House, has taken a stance that helps ICE agents retain anonymity,” says Skinner.
Source: Ars Technica - All content | 28 Jan 2026 | 5:22 pm UTC
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