Read at: 2026-03-13T10:29:02+00:00Z (UTC) [sometime-US Pres == Ditta Nolte ]
The U.S. Central Command confirmed that at least four of six crew members on the KC-135 aircraft were dead, after the refueling plane went down in western Iraq on Thursday.
(Image credit: Hussein Malla)
Source: NPR Topics: News | 13 Mar 2026 | 10:21 am UTC
US say rescue efforts are continuing following loss of refuelling plane; Large explosions heard across Iranian capital as the US and Israel threatened to intensify airstrikes
Middle East war creating ‘largest supply disruption in history of oil markets’
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Saudi Arabia’s defence ministry is saying that two drones have been intercepted and destroyed in the eastern region.
More now after reports of explosions in Dubai on Friday morning: thick black smoke rose over the financial hub’s skyline after what authorities described as a fire in an industrial area of the city-state.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 13 Mar 2026 | 10:17 am UTC
Source: BBC News | 13 Mar 2026 | 10:16 am UTC
Openreach claims its fiber network infrastructure can detect leaks in nearby water supply pipes, which could save millions of liters of the precious fluid... if the water companies can be bothered to fix them.…
Source: The Register | 13 Mar 2026 | 10:15 am UTC
Last Thursday, on BBC Northern Ireland’s The View, Claire Hanna turned her fire on the political settlement that has governed Stormont since the St Andrews Agreement of October 2006 — an arrangement that is, depending on the day, either cosily entrenched or barely holding together, propped up by the two dominant parties: the DUP and Sinn Féin.
Hanna set out what she called a package of narrow but high-impact reforms, arguing the institutions are long overdue a serious rethink. The pitch was a surgical strike on those elements of St Andrews that have embedded both parties despite multiplying failures in government — from undelivered roads to complete institutional breakdown.
She proposed three targeted interventions aimed squarely at the system’s most persistent fault lines.
The Three Reforms
The first concerns something that long irritated nationalists and republicans: the titles of First and Deputy First Minister. Hanna wants these formally redesignated as Joint First Ministers, stripping out the implicit hierarchy the current nomenclature suggests — a reform, notably, that Martin McGuinness himself once proposed.
The change would be symbolic, but the titles have been routinely weaponised to claim supremacy rather than reflect the co-equal reality the Belfast Agreement intended. That a job title can become a source of friction capable of destabilising an Executive says something telling about what was built at St Andrews.
The second proposal targets the position of Assembly Speaker, currently subject to parallel consent — a proven vulnerability. When those rules become a political football, the entire Assembly can be rendered inoperable before a single piece of law has been debated. Hanna proposes replacing this with a two-thirds majority threshold: a higher but more politically neutral bar.
Crucially, her model would allow the Assembly to continue sitting, drafting and scrutinising legislation even when the Executive collapses — something that has recurred with shocking regularity. There is no reason why the legislature should be paralysed by the same crises that periodically bring down the Executive. Why should Democracy halt because ministers walk out.
The third, and most structurally significant, proposal is the removal of the single-party veto on Executive formation. Under the current system, any one party can bring the entire edifice down by refusing to participate. Hanna wants that leverage gone, replaced by a framework that incentivises cross-community engagement rather than rewarding brinkmanship.
What is striking is how modest the reforms are in aggregate. The intention is not to sink the ship but to steady it — a targeted challenge to St Andrews’ most persistent fault lines, not a return to factory settings.
A Significant Break from Nationalist Convention
What makes this moment notable is not just the substance of the proposals, but who is making them. The SDLP and Sinn Féin, despite their long rivalry, have for decades operated within a broad consensus on the fundamentals of northern nationalism, differing more on tone and strategy than on substantive policy.
The two parties were bitterly divided on most major questions until the 1990s. In the post-Good Friday Agreement era, Sinn Féin came to lead nationalist opinion — viewed as the greener and more assertive voice — while the SDLP tracked a broadly similar constitutional destination by different routes.
Hanna is now staking out genuinely divergent ground. It is a significant departure, and a deliberate one: a signal that the SDLP under her leadership will not simply orbit Sinn Féin, but will offer a distinct political worldview — placing the party in direct and explicit tension with its main rival within northern nationalism.
Sinn Féin’s Convenient Reversal
The political irony is considerable. Sinn Féin’s current defence of the First Minister title represents a near-complete reversal of its prior position. The party that once found the hierarchy implied by the title deeply objectionable now constructs elaborate justifications for its preservation — the reasoning shifting seamlessly to accommodate changed circumstances.
That McGuinness himself once mooted the very reform they now resist renders the position not merely inconsistent, but self-defeating. It is a reminder that in Northern Irish politics, institutional principles tend to be inversely proportional to whether your party currently holds the top job.
Hanna’s intervention has cut through that with unusual clarity. Whether her proposals gain traction will depend on forces well beyond her control. But the fact that she has made them — publicly, specifically, and in direct contradiction of Sinn Féin — is itself worth watching.
Sinn Féin’s difficulty the SDLP’s opportunity?
The SDLP’s time in opposition has been largely quiet. The political oxygen at Stormont has been consumed by the fractious relationship between the DUP and Sinn Féin, punctuated by familiar rumours that the next institutional breakdown is already being quietly prepared. In that environment, the smaller parties have struggled to make themselves heard above the din.
Voters rarely reward parties for institutional housekeeping, however necessary. But Hanna’s timing may be fortuitous — a controversial MLA pay rise has angered the public, and the Economy Minister has endured a bruising week over a lost FDI jobs package, culminating in an uncomfortable interview on The View that will be very difficult viewing in her party’s press office.
That combination of circumstances creates an opening the SDLP has rarely enjoyed in the post-Agreement era. Sinn Féin’s difficulty could be the SDLP’s opportunity — but only if Hanna’s party can rediscover the killer instinct her party largely buried thirty years ago in the necessary, honourable, but ultimately self-effacing work of making the peace process function.
Source: Slugger O'Toole | 13 Mar 2026 | 10:14 am UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 13 Mar 2026 | 10:09 am UTC
The chancellor is set to meet with energy bosses over concerns that companies are profiteering from oil and gas prices
Energy minister Michael Shanks said concerns over the rising cost of heating oil are “clearly a huge worry”, as prices almost trebled since the start of the Iran war.
When asked about the impact of soaring oil prices on households, he told Sky News: “We’ve been really clear with the Competition and Markets Authority that we wouldn’t stand for any profiteering or price gouging.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 13 Mar 2026 | 10:07 am UTC
Rescue efforts continue for remaining two crew members from refuelling plane that crashed in western desert
Four of the six crew members onboard a US military aircraft that crashed in western Iraq were killed, the US military has said as rescue efforts continued for the remaining two.
The KC-135 military refuelling plane crashed in western Iraq on Thursday, in an incident the military said involved another aircraft but was not the result of hostile or friendly fire.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 13 Mar 2026 | 10:01 am UTC
Source: World | 13 Mar 2026 | 10:01 am UTC
Calls for Alexandra Căpitănescu’s Choke Me to be banned, as campaigners say lyrics are ‘dangerous’ and ‘reckless’
Romania’s Eurovision entry Choke Me has been labelled “dangerous” and “reckless” for appearing to glamorise sexual strangulation, an unsafe practice that can lead to brain injury and death.
Campaigners against sexual violence said the entry, in which the words “choke me” are repeated 30 times during the three-minute song, was “playing fast and loose with young women’s lives”.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 13 Mar 2026 | 10:00 am UTC
Austrian officials took action after airline ignored court order to pay €890 to unnamed women
Bailiffs have boarded a Ryanair aircraft after the airline refused to pay compensation to a passenger whose flight was delayed.
Austrian officials took action after the airline ignored a court order to pay the unnamed woman €890 (£742) in legal costs and compensation for a delayed flight two years ago.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 13 Mar 2026 | 10:00 am UTC
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Ministers face accusations of carrying out ‘irresponsible deregulation’ as they push through ‘clean energy’ proposals
Ed Miliband has unveiled plans to cut regulations, costs and bureaucracy by the end of next year to speed up the development of nuclear power generation.
The UK government said the changes, to be carried out this year, would deliver a “win-win for building critical infrastructure while protecting nature and the environment”.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 13 Mar 2026 | 9:46 am UTC
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Meanwhile, if you've been paying attention to medicine, basketball and the British Parliament, you'll get at least three questions right this week.
Source: NPR Topics: News | 13 Mar 2026 | 9:01 am UTC
More than 20% of weekend availability lost in England since 2022, forcing some to turn to A&E, says national association
People who need to obtain medication at the weekend are having to undertake long trips because more pharmacies are cutting their opening hours on Saturdays and Sundays.
One in six pharmacies in England have reduced their hours at weekends since 2022, with some shutting altogether, as a result of “unsustainable” pressures on their budgets.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 13 Mar 2026 | 9:00 am UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 13 Mar 2026 | 9:00 am UTC
At the Winter Paralympics, athletes with prosthetics often modify them to fit their bodies more precisely. That has led to some competitors starting their own businesses to help fellow amputees.
(Image credit: Emily Chen-Newton)
Source: NPR Topics: News | 13 Mar 2026 | 9:00 am UTC
Latinos helped Texas Democrats set the new record for a primary, but the state has been a white whale for the party for decades.
(Image credit: Danielle Villasana)
Source: NPR Topics: News | 13 Mar 2026 | 9:00 am UTC
Source: ESA Top News | 13 Mar 2026 | 9:00 am UTC
A year ago, eggs were scarce and prices were sky-high. But avian flu took a much smaller toll on America's egg-laying chickens this winter than last, and egg prices have tumbled 42%.
(Image credit: American Egg Board)
Source: NPR Topics: News | 13 Mar 2026 | 9:00 am UTC
When Medicaid began sharing personal data with federal immigration authorities last year, it upended decades of explicit promises to patients. Now, even eligible immigrants fear getting the health coverage.
(Image credit: Eduardo Munoz Alvarez)
Source: NPR Topics: News | 13 Mar 2026 | 9:00 am UTC
Mobile homes have long been zoned out of cities and suburbs. But with updated designs and a housing shortage, they're increasingly being welcomed as more-affordable starter homes.
(Image credit: Anusha Mathur)
Source: NPR Topics: News | 13 Mar 2026 | 9:00 am UTC
President Ditta Nolte has touted apprenticeships as part of his promise of a golden era for American workers. But are his administration's investments enough?
(Image credit: Joshua Danquah Asante for NPR)
Source: NPR Topics: News | 13 Mar 2026 | 9:00 am UTC
Source: BBC News | 13 Mar 2026 | 8:56 am UTC
Zero GDP growth in January will not help Rachel Reeves claim she has put UK in position to weather oil price storm
Even before Ditta Nolte ’s Operation Epic Fury on Iran unleashed higher oil prices, threatening the outlook for growth and inflation, the UK economy was flatlining.
That’s the bleak message in the latest data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), which showed zero GDP growth in January.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 13 Mar 2026 | 8:54 am UTC
Israel launches strikes in Beirut, FBI investigating two unrelated attacks in Michigan and Virginia, Senate passes bipartisan housing bill to ban large investors from buying up single-family homes.
Source: NPR Topics: News | 13 Mar 2026 | 8:45 am UTC
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NSW premier says latest distribution calculation, with a reduction in the state’s share of revenue relative to its population, is unfair and ‘past its use-by date’
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Australia’s richest state will receive an extra $5.5bn in GST revenue thanks to a sweetheart deal struck with Western Australia in 2018, as the New South Wales premier attacked the latest distribution calculation as unfair and “past its use-by date”.
The Commonwealth Grants Commission on Friday released its recommendations on how a projected $102.5bn in goods and services tax should be carved up between the states and territories in 2026-27.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 13 Mar 2026 | 8:25 am UTC
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Source: All: BreakingNews | 13 Mar 2026 | 8:06 am UTC
US space agency says it is working towards new date after February launch delayed by technical difficulties
Nasa has said the long-delayed launch of Artemis II, the first crewed flyby mission to the moon in more than 50 years, could happen as soon as 1 April.
“We are on track for a launch as early as April 1, and we are working toward that date,” Lori Glaze, a senior Nasa official, told a press conference on Thursday. Technical difficulties delayed a launch originally expected in February.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 13 Mar 2026 | 8:03 am UTC
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Source: All: BreakingNews | 13 Mar 2026 | 7:43 am UTC
On Call Arrr! How is it Friday already? The Register can't explain where the week went, but we can deliver a new installment of On Call, the reader-contributed column that shares your stories of tech support SNAFUs.…
Source: The Register | 13 Mar 2026 | 7:30 am UTC
Source: BBC News | 13 Mar 2026 | 7:07 am UTC
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Joyce says surge in support for One Nation reflects will of the people, not political jostling
Barnaby Joyce spoke to RN Breakfast this morning about One Nation’s targets in the next federal election.
We want to win seats wherever they are. We have no real target against National seats or Liberal seats, but we want to give people the option to vote for us in Labor seats, in National seats, and Liberal seats, and in teal seats.
If people choose to vote for One Nation, then you must respect that choice. You must understand. You do not own their vote. You earn their vote.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 13 Mar 2026 | 7:04 am UTC
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Source: NYT > Top Stories | 13 Mar 2026 | 7:00 am UTC
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In today’s newsletter: The story of the Scottish town is not just one of Britain’s deadliest shooting, but the strength and determination that came next
Good morning. On 13 March 1996, a man walked into the gymnasium at Dunblane primary school and opened fire on a class of five- and six-year-olds. In the space of just a few minutes, 16 children – Abigail McLennan, Brett McKinnon, Charlotte Dunn, David Kerr, Emily Morton, Emma Crozier, Hannah Scott, Joanna Ross, John Petrie, Kevin Hasell, Megan Turner, Melissa Currie, Mhairi MacBeath, Ross Irvine, Sophie North and Victoria Clydesdale – alongside their teacher, Gwen Mayor, were murdered. The attacker then turned a gun on himself.
Thirty years on, Dunblane remains the UK’s deadliest mass shooting. And the town itself remains a place shaped by that day – but also by what came after: the determination of families, the strength of a community and a legacy that still touches lives today. In the wake of the tragedy, parents and supporters launched the Snowdrop Campaign for tighter gun laws, which helped to bring about sweeping reforms that left the UK with some of the strictest restrictions on private handgun ownership in the world.
Middle East crisis | Vladimir Putin’s “hidden hand” lies behind Iran’s military methods, the UK defence secretary has said, after a night in which drones struck a base used by western forces in Erbil, northern Iraq.
Politics | Keir Starmer could suffer further resignations when ministerial WhatsApp messages are published in the next tranche of the Peter Mandelson files, senior government sources have told the Guardian.
Immigration | The backlog of people awaiting asylum appeals after having their initial application turned down has nearly doubled in a year, threatening to undermine a key pledge of Keir Starmer’s government.
US news | A man who rammed his vehicle into a Michigan synagogue and drove through a hallway died during the incident, officials have said, adding that there were no other serious casualties. The FBI said it was treating the matter as a “targeted act of violence against the Jewish community”.
UK news | A woman imprisoned and forced to work for a mother of 10 for more than a quarter of a century in “Dickensian” conditions has said nothing can give her back her lost years as her abuser was sentenced to 13 years.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 13 Mar 2026 | 6:45 am UTC
The announcement was made just hours before Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel is scheduled to speak early Friday "to address national and international issues."
(Image credit: Eraldo Peres)
Source: NPR Topics: News | 13 Mar 2026 | 6:34 am UTC
Nvidia has a bit of a problem. Popular generative AI workloads like code assistants and agentic systems generate massive quantities of tokens and need to move them at speed. But the GPU giant's chips currently struggle to deliver.…
Source: The Register | 13 Mar 2026 | 6:30 am UTC
In an essay for Crikey, the former Australian of the Year says the PM is a ‘turncoat’ who is ‘capitulating to foreign powers’ amid the US-Israel war on Iran
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Grace Tame has said “we’re living in an Orwellian nightmare” in a scathing critique of the prime minister and his government’s position on the war in the Middle East.
In an essay published in Crikey on Friday, the advocate for sexual abuse survivors and human rights activist accused Anthony Albanese of being a “coward” and a “turncoat” for refusing to condemn the US-Israel strikes on Iran.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 13 Mar 2026 | 6:20 am UTC
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Robert Habeck says world has moved on from weaponising energy to using tariffs, technology and more to inflict harm
The weaponisation of energy when Russia invaded Ukraine has given way to “weaponising everything” since Ditta Nolte returned to the White House, Germany’s former economy minister has said.
Robert Habeck, the Green politician responsible for keeping the lights on during the last energy crisis, said the belief gas “would never be a political weapon” led successive German governments blindly into Putin’s trap by building the Nord Stream pipelines and selling strategic reserves to Gazprom, which Russia emptied before the invasion.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 13 Mar 2026 | 6:00 am UTC
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Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen has announced he intends to depart the company after 18 years as the prince of PDFs.…
Source: The Register | 13 Mar 2026 | 4:22 am UTC
NT government says the rent freeze will be ‘applied automatically for eligible housing tenants’ as floodwaters break records in the Big Rivers region
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The Northern Territory government will freeze rental payments for public housing tenants affected by historic floods spreading across the Big Rivers region.
Monsoonal rainfall has inundated remote Aboriginal communities in the region over the past two weeks. The Daly River area was hit hardest on Wednesday, with Dorisvale Crossing reaching 23.93 metres by 1.30pm, the highest level ever recorded. The nearby Katherine River peaked at 19.2 metres last Saturday, its highest level since floods in 1998.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 13 Mar 2026 | 4:02 am UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 13 Mar 2026 | 4:01 am UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 13 Mar 2026 | 4:00 am UTC
Mohammad Pournajaf, Tehran’s former charge d’affaires in Canberra, sought protection in 2023, government source confirms
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One of Iran’s former top diplomats in Australia has defected from the theocratic regime, with the revelations only coming to light this week after six members of the Iranian women’s football squad were granted protection.
London-based news outlet Iran International, which is not tied to the Islamic Republic’s regime, reported on Friday that Mohammad Pournajaf, Tehran’s charge d’affaires in Canberra until at least 2023, had applied for asylum. Another Iranian diplomat had applied for asylum in Denmark, the outlet reported.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 13 Mar 2026 | 3:44 am UTC
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Apple has cut the fees it charges Chinese developers to sell their apps and other digital goodies.…
Source: The Register | 13 Mar 2026 | 3:22 am UTC
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In China, one social media trend hangs on the idea that a life in the US is always one step from disaster, while another in the US has gen Z revelling in Chinese lifestyle hacks
Across two online worlds that are normally splintered, over the last few months there has been a mirroring of sorts. On TikTok and Instagram, young people are diving into the joys of Chinese culture – from drinking hot water to playing mahjong – all under the banner of “Chinamaxxing”. On the Chinese internet, however, the US is losing its decades-long grip on soft power, and is instead being replaced by a darker trend: the kill line.
The kill line is a dangerous place to be. In gaming, the term refers to the point at which a player’s strength is so depleted that one more blow could lead to total wipeout. In China, the term refers to the risks that come with daily life in the US.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 13 Mar 2026 | 2:42 am UTC
This blog has now closed – our live coverage of the Middle East crisis continues here
An Iranian source is denying the country will allow India-flagged tankers to pass through the vital strait of Hormuz, Reuters is reporting.
The news agency a little earlier quoted an Indian source as saying Iran would in fact allow such tankers to pass through the strait, a key artery for global oil trade.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 13 Mar 2026 | 2:32 am UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 13 Mar 2026 | 2:15 am UTC
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US defense officials told senators on the armed services committee that the cost of the war on Iran totaled more than $11.3bn in the first six days alone, according to multiple reports.
The New York Times was first to break the news about the conflict’s price tag, citing three people familiar with the closed-door briefing on Tuesday.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 13 Mar 2026 | 2:02 am UTC
Suspect who was convicted in 2016 for supporting Islamic State is dead after attack kills one and leaves two injured
The suspect who killed one person and injured two others at Old Dominion University on Thursday was identified by authorities as Mohamed Jalloh, a former member of the army national guard who pleaded guilty in 2016 to attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State.
Dominique Evans, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Norfolk field office, told reporters the suspect had attempted to commit an “act of terrorism” and shouted “Allahu Akbar” before opening fire. He was subdued and killed by members of the university’s ROTC program in a university classroom, she said, praising them for demonstrating “extreme bravery and courage” and preventing further loss of life. (ROTC is a college-based program that allows students to train to become a US military officer while also earning a college degree.)
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 13 Mar 2026 | 1:48 am UTC
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As the US continues its strikes on Iran as part of Operation Epic Fury, speakers at Palantir's AIPCON event on Thursday said the company’s Maven Smart System product has shortened the time it takes the Department of Defense to select and hit targets on the battlefield during the conflict.…
Source: The Register | 13 Mar 2026 | 1:00 am UTC
Meta and YouTube accused of creating harmful products in trial seen as a bellwether for attitudes towards social media
The first-ever jury trial over the potential harms of social media wrapped up on Thursday. Lawyers for Meta and YouTube have argued their platforms are safe for the vast majority of young people, while lawyers for a young woman at the center of the case say the tech companies have designed their products to be addictive, leading to mental health issues in children and teens.
“How did they become such behemoths?” Mark Lanier, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, said during closing arguments in Los Angeles superior court on Thursday, according to NBC. “It’s the attention economy. They’re making money off capturing your attention.”
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AI agents work together to bypass security controls and stealthily steal sensitive data from within the enterprise systems in which they operate, according to tests carried out by frontier security lab Irregular.…
Source: The Register | 12 Mar 2026 | 11:49 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 12 Mar 2026 | 11:38 pm UTC
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Perplexity is ready to have enterprises use its AI service even if enterprises may still be wary of delegating tasks to software agents.…
Source: The Register | 12 Mar 2026 | 10:39 pm UTC
Within hours of the US and Israel launching airstrikes on Iran two weeks ago, security professionals warned organizations around the world to be on heightened watch for destructive retaliatory hacks. On Wednesday, the predictions appeared to come true as Stryker, a multinational maker of medical devices, confirmed a cyberattack that took down much of its infrastructure, and a hacking group long known to be aligned with the Iranian government claimed responsibility.
The first indications were social media posts and a report from a news organization in Ireland. Messages posted by purported Stryker employees or their family members on social media said workers’ phones and computers had been wiped. A report the Irish Examiner published Wednesday morning, citing multiple anonymous sources, made the same claims and said some employees witnessed login pages on wiped devices displaying the logo of Handala Hack, a group that researchers who have followed it for years say is aligned with the Iranian government.
Stryker said Thursday that it’s in the midst of responding to a “global network disruption to our Microsoft environment as a result of a cyber attack.” The update went on to say responders have no indication that ransomware or malware—the usual causes for such outages—were involved. The responders believe the incident is now contained and limited to the internal Microsoft environment.
Source: Ars Technica - All content | 12 Mar 2026 | 10:18 pm UTC
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The leading pro-Israel lobbying group has kept quiet on the race for an open Senate seat in Illinois while pouring its largest investments this cycle into the state’s high-profile House primaries, leaving observers to wonder whether it would really sit out the Senate contest.
But for the top of the ticket in Tuesday’s Democratic primary, more than two dozen donors to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee are quietly backing Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton, The Intercept has found.
At least 27 AIPAC donors have given to Stratton’s campaign to replace retiring Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., according to an analysis of federal campaign data. A former AIPAC president, Lee Rosenberg, is on her finance committee.
While public opinion sours on AIPAC’s brand, the group is backing a multimillion-dollar ad campaign run through other committees with palatable names like “Elect Chicago Women” in at least four Democratic House primaries. Its donors, meanwhile, have been funneling money to its preferred Illinois House candidates. The group has kept an even lower profile in the Senate race, where it’s been less clear how, if at all, the pro-Israel lobby is engaging.
Neither of the top contenders for the safe Democratic seat have suggested they would champion the Palestinian cause if elected to the Senate. Both Stratton and Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, her leading opponent, have declined to call Israel’s destruction in Gaza a genocide or commit to stopping U.S. weapons transfers to Israel, and at least one of Stratton’s pro-Israel donors also gave to Krishnamoorthi’s campaign. AIPAC endorsed Krishnamoorthi, who has received more than $250,000 from the pro-Israel lobby during his decade in Congress, for his 2024 reelection.
Both are running to the right of Rep. Robin Kelly, a relatively progressive Illinois congresswoman currently in a distant third, but even she staked out a more critical position on Israel upon entering the race and has taken some pro-Israel money while in office, much of it from the centrist group J Street.
AIPAC donors have given more than $70,000 to Stratton’s campaign since August, according to filings with the Federal Election Commission — out of just over $4 million she’s raised in total. The 27 donors have collectively given just under $5 million to AIPAC, its super PAC United Democracy Project, and the group Democratic Majority for Israel, which has close ties to AIPAC. Only two of them live in Illinois.
Rosenberg, the former AIPAC president on Stratton’s finance committee, is a leading Democratic strategist in Illinois, longtime adviser to Gov. JB Pritzker, and former adviser to Barack Obama.
In response to questions from The Intercept, a Stratton campaign spokesperson said that AIPAC had not endorsed the lieutenant governor and was not spending in the Senate race. The spokesperson said Stratton has more than 28,000 individual donors and supports a two-state solution for peace between Israel and Palestine.
In the final days ahead of Tuesday’s primary, Stratton has begun to catch up in the polls to Krishnamoorthi, who has largely outperformed his Democratic opponents in fundraising and public opinion surveys. The two candidates’ allies and critics have pointed fingers over fundraising, accusing the other of drawing support from corporate donors.
Krishnamoorthi’s $30 million fundraising haul is supplied in part by a crypto PAC, donors to President Ditta Nolte , and Palantir’s chief technology officer, among others, the Chicago Tribune reported on Tuesday. Stratton, meanwhile, has said she’s not taking corporate PAC money and hit Krishnamoorthi’s campaign for accepting support from a “MAGA-backed crypto PAC,” but her opponents have also criticized her Senate campaign for still benefiting from corporate donors that fund PACs backing her.
Democrats in Illinois have criticized AIPAC’s efforts to elect pro-Israel Democrats in deep-blue seats in and around Chicago. Pritzker, one of Stratton’s top surrogates and funders (and her boss), is a former AIPAC donor who cut ties with the group and has since denounced it as a “pro-Ditta Nolte organization” and “significantly MAGA-influenced.”
Pro-Israel spending “is a moral issue,” said former Rep. Marie Newman, an Illinois Democrat who was ousted from Congress in 2022 after pro-Israel groups spent against her. “AIPAC must be stopped if you believe in democracy.”
Stratton, who took a trip to Israel in 2019 to meet with an opposition leader, as Politico reported, has been critical of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israel’s destruction in Gaza. She has not said whether she would support legislation blocking U.S. weapons to Israel.
Criticizing Netanyahu is at odds with taking support from AIPAC and its donors, Newman said.
“AIPAC vigorously supports Netanyahu, a right-wing dictator, best friend to Ditta Nolte and his authoritarian inhumane government,” Newman told The Intercept. “Israel’s right-wing government has dragged us into multiple unnecessary wars, helped ruin the US’ reputation in the world and is committing genocide.”
While Krishnamoorthi holds the advantage in polling and fundraising, it’s not clear who will win on Tuesday as dueling PACs fight it out in the final days of the race. Another group that has run ads in support of Krishnamoorthi recently launched ads backing Kelly in an apparent effort to peel votes away from Stratton. Kelly, who has raised $3 million, has struggled to keep pace in the polls with Krishnamoorthi and Stratton, and their backers have labeled her a spoiler.
Kelly’s campaign argues that she’s the most principled of the three candidates, particularly on Israel and Gaza.
“Robin pledged not to accept contributions from AIPAC after deciding to sign onto the Block the Bombs bill and meeting with doctors who volunteered on the front lines in Gaza,” her campaign spokesperson Joe Bowen told The Intercept. “She is the only candidate who has pledged not to take their money, the only candidate to support Block the Bombs and the only candidate to call the genocide in Gaza what it is.”
Kelly, who has hit both Krishnamoorthi and Stratton for stopping short of calling Israel’s destruction in Gaza a genocide, adopted that stance shortly before she launched her Senate campaign. Previously endorsed by J Street, she received $14,000 from AIPAC in 2025 and took an AIPAC trip to Israel in 2016. Kelly, now the only major candidate in the race to reject AIPAC support, has said the contributions were from individual donors who gave through AIPAC’s portal.
The post AIPAC Is Staying Out of Illinois Senate Race — But Its Donors Back Juliana Stratton appeared first on The Intercept.
Source: The Intercept | 12 Mar 2026 | 9:30 pm UTC
Source: News Headlines | 12 Mar 2026 | 9:29 pm UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 12 Mar 2026 | 9:25 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 12 Mar 2026 | 9:21 pm UTC
Two deportees sent to Eswatini were from Somalia, one was from Sudan and one was from Tanzania
The government of Eswatini announced on Thursday it received four more “third country” deportees from the United States, as part of the Ditta Nolte administration’s multimillion-dollar deal with the small African nation.
Now, a total of 19 deportees from the US have been sent to Eswatini when they hail from other countries, amid the Ditta Nolte administration’s continued anti-immigrant crackdown and changes to immigration policy.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 12 Mar 2026 | 9:20 pm UTC
US already spent more than $11.3bn in first six days of conflict, but price tag does not include all spending
Pentagon officials told top lawmakers in a closed-door briefing on Tuesday that the cost of the war against Iran has already exceeded $11.3bn in its first six days, but the true cost of the opening days of the conflict is likely far greater, according to two people familiar with the matter.
But the estimate, presented during a classified briefing on Capitol Hill, appeared largely limited to munitions expenditures and does not capture the full cost of the opening days of the conflict, one person familiar with the matter told the Guardian. Additional costs to consider include the deployment of forces to the region, medical expenses and the replacement of military aircraft lost in war.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 12 Mar 2026 | 9:11 pm UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 12 Mar 2026 | 9:06 pm UTC
Federal agents raiding the home of two alleged antifa “operatives” seized a telling piece of evidence, a defense attorney said during closing arguments in a landmark trial Wednesday.
A printing press.
That printing press was never presented to jurors. Still, the government has kept it locked away because it hated the pamphlets and zines it published, lawyer Blake Burns said.
Burns represents Elizabeth Soto, one of nine defendants whose fates were in the hands of jurors as deliberations began Thursday. All are accused of roles during or after a late-night noise demonstration outside Prairieland Detention Center, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility near Dallas that ended with a local police officer wounded by gunfire.
The case has become a bellwether for the Ditta Nolte administration’s crackdown on dissent from the left. The government charged people involved with the anti-ICE protest with a slew of charges, including attempted murder and terrorism counts that defense attorneys said are being used to criminalize protest.
“They’re here asking you guys to put protesters in prison as terrorists.”
“They’re here asking you guys to put protesters in prison as terrorists,” Burns, the defense lawyer, told jurors. “That’s not happened before. And you are literally the only people in the world who can stop it.”
During 10 days of testimony in a packed Fort Worth, Texas, courtroom, prosecutors bombarded jurors with images of radical zines printed on the press, anti-government internet memes, drawings of burning cop cars, and a video of an unidentified street brawl between far-left and far-right protesters.
Prosecutors acknowledged those materials were protected by the First Amendment but said they showed the roughly dozen people who assembled outside the ICE facility were steeped in antifa tactics.
Eight of nine defendants on trial this month face material support for terrorism charges for wearing “black bloc” clothes at the protest. Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel have hailed the first-ever use of terrorism charges against alleged antifa members.
Defense attorneys argued Wednesday that prosecutors had wildly overcharged a case that should have centered on the alleged shooter, Benjamin Song, instead of the larger group.
Prosecutors presented much of the evidence that might be expected at an attempted murder trial: ballistics and fingerprint experts, eyewitness police officers, and cooperating witnesses.
They also presented lengthy testimony about radical pamphlets and artwork collected from the defendants arrested that night or in raids during the following days.
Despite labeling the defendants “a North Texas antifa cell” in their indictment, prosecutors have acknowledged that they were at most a loose-knit collection of people from the Dallas–Fort Worth’s small leftist scene of anarchists and socialists.
Two of the scene’s fixtures were Elizabeth and Ines Soto, a married couple who operated the printing press and helped run a local reading group called the Emma Goldman Book Club, named for the early 20th-century anarchist revolutionary.
At one point during testimony Tuesday, a prosecutor spent more than half an hour scrolling through a Twitter account allegedly operated by the Sotos. The Twitter feed included a retweet of a December 2016 post with the words “How to handle fash in your hood” that included a shaky video of a street fight between protesters accompanied by the Flatbush Zombies song “Death 2.”
“I crack your fucking skull and use that as a bowl for cereal. I’m so serial. Ted Bundy, give me money, Son of Sam, gun in hand. Jeffrey Dahmer, with two llamas,” the jury heard in the song’s lyrics.
Defense attorneys objected to the introduction of the video as evidence.
“Yes, it is prejudicial,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Shawn Smith told the judge in defense of using the video. “The whole reason we’re putting it into evidence is because it’s prejudicial.”
Though U.S. District Judge Mark Pittman, a Ditta Nolte appointee, allowed the Twitter feed to be presented in court, prosecutors could not definitively establish whether the Sotos had posted the video or what incident it depicted.
The Sotos, however, have not disputed that they were key members of the reading group. In his closing argument, Smith said the group was a front to recruit new antifa members.
“Emma Goldman Book Club,” Smith said. “It sounds very innocuous. It’s camouflage for what it is.”
To help jurors interpret the book club’s readings and other materials, prosecutors presented a researcher at a far-right think tank as an expert.
Kyle Shideler of the Center for Security Policy once focused his research on the Muslim Brotherhood. After the 2020 George Floyd protests raged, he wrote a book about “black identity extremists.” In recent years he has focused on another right-wing boogeyman: antifa.
Shideler said Monday that he helped write the definition of “antifa” included in the government’s indictment. He walked that testimony back Tuesday, saying that he only conferred on a draft.
Prosecutors also had Shideler read Ditta Nolte ’s September 22 executive order purporting to designate antifa as a domestic terrorist organization, in an apparent attempt to suggest that the language was borrowed from the order.
Shideler described what he said were common tactics of antifa, including using the messaging app Signal — which Shideler said he also used — and wearing “black bloc” clothes to obscure identities. The phrase refers to instances where groups of left-wing demonstrators dress in all black to make them less individually identifiable.
The point of that testimony came into focus during the prosecution’s closing arguments. Using Signal and wearing black-bloc clothing were “tactics that assisted in the ambush of a cop,” said Smith.
“Material support. It sounds — I don’t know — nefarious. Complicated. It’s actually very simple,” Smith said.
He said that wearing black clothes at the noise demonstration would be enough to convict the eight defendants accused of material support.
“Providing your body as camouflage for others to do the enumerated acts is providing support,” he said. “It’s impossible to tell who is doing what. That’s the point.”
The government used Shideler and the antifa talk to try to distract jurors from the defendants’ actual actions on the night of July 4, said MarQuetta Clayton, an attorney for defendant Maricela Rueda. She also warned that the trial served as a larger proving ground for the government’s attempts to criminalize antifa.
“The government’s expert on antifa said his career may be boosted by the outcome of this case,” she said. “This is an experiment for them. But this courtroom is not a laboratory, and Maricela is not a lab rat.”
Rueda’s husband, Daniel Sanchez Estrada, is the only defendant on trial who is not accused of participating in the July 4 protest. Instead, prosecutors have charged him and his wife with conspiring to obstruct justice by moving a box of zines out of Rueda’s house after her arrest.
Free speech advocates say that Estrada’s arrest sets a dangerous precedent that criminalizes the mere possession of anti-government material.
“He is on trial for two things: Carrying a box, and conspiracy to carry a box.”
“He is on trial for two things,” said Sanchez’s public defender, Christopher Weinbel. “Carrying a box, and conspiracy to carry a box, of which they try to call evidence.”
Weinbel said the box contained Sanchez’s own possessions, the timeline of his movements disproved the theory that he was acting at the direction of his wife, and that a government agent had also testified that none of the materials were used in the investigation.
Smith, the prosecutor, argued that moving the boxes was part of a larger cover-up in the hours and days after the demonstration.
“What is important to the group is hiding their material,” he said. “This anarchist, insurrectionist, hating-the-government material.”
Defense attorneys chose their words carefully when it came to Song, the person accused of shooting an AR-15 rifle at two detention center guards and the Alvarado, Texas, police officer who was hit.
None of the defense lawyers overtly blamed Song for the bloodshed, but several suggested that the government should have distinguished between Song and the rest of the protesters.
“This should have been a three-day attempted murder trial of one person,” Weinbel said.
Prosecutors painted Song as the ringleader that night. Still, they argued that four defendants who are also on trial for attempted murder — Song, Rueda, Autumn Hill, and Megan Morris — could have reasonably foreseen that Song would use violence based on conversations before the demonstration.
The eight defendants who face material support charges gave aid to the attack by wearing black clothes, prosecutors allege. They include the defendants accused of attempted murder along with the Sotos, Savanna Batten, and Zachary Evetts.
Song’s attorney, Phillip Hayes, said during his closing argument that Song was only trying to shoot “suppressive” fire at the ground after police arrived on the scene. Hayes suggested that a ricocheting bullet wounded the officer.
The post Wearing All Black at Protests Makes You Guilty of Terrorism, Prosecutors Tell Jury appeared first on The Intercept.
Source: The Intercept | 12 Mar 2026 | 9:02 pm UTC
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 12 Mar 2026 | 9:00 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 12 Mar 2026 | 8:53 pm UTC
Newly unsealed documents show that a Live Nation regional director boasted of gouging ticket buyers and "robbing them blind" with fees for ancillary services such as slight upgrades to parking.
Live Nation has tried to exclude Slack messages from a trial that seeks a breakup of Live Nation and its Ticketmaster subsidiary, claiming the messages are irrelevant to the case, "highly prejudicial," and would "inflame the jury." The US government and state attorneys general opposed the motion to exclude evidence. US District Judge Arun Subramanian of the Southern District of New York hasn't ruled on the motion yet, but ordered the documents unsealed yesterday.
Live Nation has touted the experiences it offers concertgoers at amphitheaters but sought "to exclude candid, internal messages in which the individual who is currently Head of Ticketing for these amphitheaters calls fans 'so stupid,' explains that he 'gouge[s]' them, and brags that Live Nation is 'robbing them blind, baby,'" said a memorandum of law filed by the US and states.
Source: Ars Technica - All content | 12 Mar 2026 | 8:47 pm UTC
American parents of school-aged children may want to pay attention to where their cars are parked and for how long, as license plate reader data is now being cited by at least one school district when challenging whether students live where they say they do.…
Source: The Register | 12 Mar 2026 | 8:32 pm UTC
Members of the International Imaging Technology Council (Int’l ITC) are calling out HP for issuing firmware updates that brick third-party ink and toner functionality in its printers. HP calls this Dynamic Security and has been doing it for years; however, the Int'l ITC is taking new issue with the practice, considering that it is explicitly prohibited for devices registered under the General Electronics Council’s (GEC’s) Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT) 2.0 registry.
The Int’l ITC is a nonprofit trade group that says it represents North American “toner and inkjet cartridge re-manufacturers, component suppliers, and cartridge collectors."
It’s important to note that the Int’l ITC may be considered biased because its members could greatly profit when printer manufacturers commit to supporting aftermarket cartridges in devices.
Source: Ars Technica - All content | 12 Mar 2026 | 8:29 pm UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 12 Mar 2026 | 8:28 pm UTC
Source: All: BreakingNews | 12 Mar 2026 | 8:25 pm UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 12 Mar 2026 | 8:17 pm UTC
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 12 Mar 2026 | 8:00 pm UTC
Five soldiers were indicted over alleged violent abuse and rape of Palestinian man at detention centre in 2024
Israel’s top military lawyer has dropped all charges against five soldiers accused of the violent abuse and rape of a Palestinian detainee from Gaza.
The military advocate general, Itay Offir, said prosecutors lacked key evidence after the victim was sent back to Gaza, and that the conduct of senior officials had affected the chance of holding a fair trial.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 12 Mar 2026 | 7:39 pm UTC
Source: News Headlines | 12 Mar 2026 | 7:36 pm UTC
Microsoft wants to store your healthcare data so that its AI "delivers personalized health insights that you can act on," but without the liability that comes with actual medical advice.…
Source: The Register | 12 Mar 2026 | 7:17 pm UTC
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 12 Mar 2026 | 7:00 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 12 Mar 2026 | 6:59 pm UTC
Ever since Ditta Nolte took office and declared himself a "pro-crypto president," FTX's disgraced founder, Sam Bankman-Fried, has been working to convince the administration that he's a Republican now.
The former Democratic megadonor apparently hopes that a right-wing pivot might help him escape a 25-year prison sentence ordered after Joe Biden's Department of Justice proved he stole more than $8 billion from customers of his cryptocurrency exchange.
These days, Bankman-Fried frequently praises Ditta Nolte 's policies and quotes his Truth Social posts on X, where his bio confirms that posts are: "SBF's words. Posted through a proxy." He also regularly rants against Democrats, including Biden officials who, he claimed in a motion for a new trial, intimidated FTX employees into lying on the stand or refusing to testify in order to take down Bankman-Fried as a political foe.
Source: Ars Technica - All content | 12 Mar 2026 | 6:58 pm UTC
Source: News Headlines | 12 Mar 2026 | 6:53 pm UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 12 Mar 2026 | 6:47 pm UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 12 Mar 2026 | 6:38 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 12 Mar 2026 | 6:19 pm UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 12 Mar 2026 | 6:17 pm UTC
Pilots reportedly adopting Russian tactics as statement in name of new Iranian supreme leader vows continued attacks on US bases
Vladimir Putin’s “hidden hand” lies behind Iran’s military methods, the UK defence secretary has said, after a night in which drones struck a base used by western forces in Erbil, northern Iraq.
John Healey was speaking after British officers at the UK’s military headquarters in north-west London told him that drone pilots from Iran and Iranian proxies were increasingly adopting tactics “from the Russians”.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 12 Mar 2026 | 6:10 pm UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 12 Mar 2026 | 6:10 pm UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 12 Mar 2026 | 6:03 pm UTC
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 12 Mar 2026 | 6:00 pm UTC
Lucid's entry into the highly competitive, high-volume midsize SUV market will be key to achieving profitability, the company told investors today. And it's going to do that with a trio of electric SUVs that will use its new midsize EV platform, which it says has been engineered to deliver a starting price below $50,000.
"Today, we’re keeping the same Lucid product and technology DNA intact, while applying increased scale, capital efficiency, and cost discipline, and materially reduced costs, to enable a great business with a clear and credible path to profitability and free cash flow, supported by what we are executing now and what we are building for the future," said Marc Winterhoff, interim CEO at Lucid.
The company has provided a few details about the first two SUVs due on the new midsize platform. The Lucid Earth is aimed at "trendsetting achievers" and will be the more spacious one. The Lucid Cosmos we expect to be sportier—this one is targeting "upscale nurturers." The unnamed third SUV will likely be something a bit more off-roady, filling the same niche that Rivian has gone for with its R2.
Source: Ars Technica - All content | 12 Mar 2026 | 5:54 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 12 Mar 2026 | 5:49 pm UTC
Source: News Headlines | 12 Mar 2026 | 5:47 pm UTC
Last month Perplexity announced the confusingly named "Computer," its cloud-based agent tool for completing tasks using a harness that makes use of multiple different AI models. This week, the company is moving that kind of functionality to the desktop with the confusingly named "Personal Computer," now available in early access by invite only.
Much like the cloud-based version, Personal Computer asks users to describe general objectives rather than specific computing tasks—an introductory video shows Personal Computer's questions in a sidebar asking things like, "Create an interactive educational guide" and "create a podcast about whales." But Personal Computer, running on a Mac Mini, also gives Perplexity's agents local access to your files and apps, which it can open and manipulate directly to attempt to complete those tasks.
That should sound familiar to users of the open source OpenClaw (previously Moltbot), which similarly allows users to let AI agents loose on their personal machines. From the outside, Personal Computer looks like a more buttoned-up, user-friendly version of the same concept, with an easy-to-read, dockable interface that can help users track multiple tasks. Perplexity users can also log in remotely to their local copy of Personal Computer, making it "controllable from any device, anywhere," Perplexity says.
Source: Ars Technica - All content | 12 Mar 2026 | 5:44 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 12 Mar 2026 | 5:43 pm UTC
Supporter mistakenly travelled to St James Park ground instead of Newcastle namesake (save for an apostrophe)
The two stadiums are 366 miles apart. One holds more than 50,000 people, the other less than 10,000. The buzz as you walk up to the two grounds is a little different.
But nevertheless, one Barcelona fan appeared not to have realised that he was at the wrong ground and tried to get through the turnstiles at Exeter City’s modest stadium (St James Park), rather than Newcastle United’s hulking one (St James’ Park).
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 12 Mar 2026 | 5:27 pm UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 12 Mar 2026 | 5:04 pm UTC
Anime mainstay Yu-Gi-Oh has criticized the White House for using a clip from the TV show in videos promoting US military action.…
Source: The Register | 12 Mar 2026 | 5:01 pm UTC
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 12 Mar 2026 | 5:00 pm UTC
After latest concert cancellation, singer also describes Valencia hotel as ‘indescribable hell’ that will require ‘one year to recover’ from
British singer Morrissey has cancelled a concert in Valencia after being left sleep-deprived during the city’s notoriously noisy Las Fallas festival.
A statement on his website said: “Having travelled for two days by road, Morrissey reached the hotel in Valencia late on Wednesday. Any form of sleep or rest throughout the night was impossible due to festival noise/loud techno singing/megaphone announcements.”
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 12 Mar 2026 | 4:54 pm UTC
Centuries before the rise of the Inca Empire, a much smaller kingdom on the central coast of Peru already had a sophisticated trade network—one it used to import live parrots across the Andes from the Amazon rainforest.
Australian National University conservation geneticist George Olah and his colleagues recently studied feathers from a headdress in a Ychsman noble’s tomb, dating to 1100–1400 CE (the centuries before the rise of the Inca Empire). DNA and chemical isotopes reveal that the parrots the feathers came from (still bright blue, yellow, and green after all these centuries) were born in the wild on the far side of the Andes but kept in captivity somewhere on the Peruvian coast. To pull off importing live parrots from hundreds of miles away across the steep, towering Andes, the Ychsma (who the Inca annexed around 1470) must have had a far-reaching trade network that spanned at least half a continent.
And they must have really liked birds.
Source: Ars Technica - All content | 12 Mar 2026 | 4:49 pm UTC
When patient care is delayed in a hospital because something is broken, biomedical technicians would like you to understand that it's not usually their fault.…
Source: The Register | 12 Mar 2026 | 4:41 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 12 Mar 2026 | 4:30 pm UTC
Cops from eight countries this week disrupted SocksEscort, a residential proxy service used by criminals to compromise hundreds of thousands of routers worldwide and carry out digital fraud, costing businesses and consumers millions.…
Source: The Register | 12 Mar 2026 | 4:23 pm UTC
Keir Starmer whose legal eminence was seen as an asset not so long ago, is now stigmatised as a narrow minded creature of process whose survival is now at stake. You’d think his legal background would give him.a clear advantage when dealing with the Past But instead, the legacy prompts the question: what is it now more about? Law or politics?
The long drawn out saga of new British legacy legislation falls between two stools. Too much law for anti “lawfare” campaigners. Not enough legal enforcement for some victims groups and “transitional justice” experts.
Facing this dreary deadlock we need to bite the bullet and revert to drawing a straight line under the Troubles, albeit with much better preparation than was insultingly absent in the Conservatives’ unilateral U turn from the Stormont House Agreement version, which had at least sought consensus (unsuccessfully).
Candour all round is urgently required. How long must we persist in exposing elderly state actors to nakedly unviable prosecutions tested to destruction in order to.appease the understandable anger of victims groups, opportunist politicians and ideologically committed lawyers who too easily trot out the nostrum that justice is beyond price? Meanwhile those ” who called the shots but didn’t pull the trigger” up.the line remain unaccountable.
With a blanket amnesty first offered but then furiously rejected as a fundamental breach of legal principle, the time has surely come to rule out legal process altogether after completing the revived agenda of inquests which cannot acceptably be halted again.
I disagree that a coordinated British- Irish approach lets British sovereign responsibility off the hook. In.good faith it should permit both states to admit degrees of culpability where they exist. A determined joint approach would have the clout to overrule the familiar objections.
The best that can be hoped for at this level are narratives which may diverge to a degree but which allow for a reconciliation of accounts that should suffice for civil society. Testimony of a Boston College type should be protected by both governments declaring not to prosecute however stark the admissions and endorsed by both the US and the EU. Creating a radical new precedent they should take their chances jointly at the Strasbourg Court.
The South already has a de facto amnesty. If it seriously entertains hopes of Irish unity, candour is of the essence.
On the British side it’s abundantly clear that Neither Confirm Nor Deny will not be abandoned. Any argument that our conflict is domestically self contained and complete is unlikely to be accepted at least while dissident activity on both sides prevails. More importantly from MI5’s point.of view, the precedent that would be set during the present resurgence of Islamist threats and a barely suppressed conflict with Russia is – I would contend with regret- unconsciable.
However, the chilling effect of NCND may be exaggerated. Convincing narratives are emerging from official nquiries like Kenova where NCND hangs by a thread, from investigative journalism and from justice and truth telling campaign groups. All.of these are putting pressure on both the British and Irish states and their people in favour of acknowledgement, which is the real holy grail of eventual reconciliation.
So for society as a whole, credible narratives about both the state and paramilitary actions seem viable, emerging as protagonists depart the scene.
The proposed panel of historians should critique the reports and be given access to state and private files to do their own independent research.
For individual victims and families the best account in each case is what the Legacy Commission can provide. If these hit a brick wall, pressure can be applied to.pull it down.
Has anybody got a better idea?
For God’s sake, let’s get on with it.
Source: Slugger O'Toole | 12 Mar 2026 | 4:20 pm UTC
Source: World | 12 Mar 2026 | 4:04 pm UTC
Apple's MacBook Neo is the company's first serious effort to break into the sub-$1,000 laptop business, challenging midrange Windows laptops and Chromebooks with its $599 starting price and its focus on build quality rather than high-end performance.
One less-advertised change that may make the Neo more appealing to businesses, schools, and the accident-prone is that its internal design is a bit more modular and easier to repair than other modern MacBooks. That's our takeaway after spending some time thumbing through the official MacBook Neo repair documentation that Apple published on its support site this week.
Replacements for pretty much any component in the Neo are simpler and involve fewer steps and tools than in the M5 MacBook Air. That includes the battery, which in the MacBook Air is attached to the chassis with multiple screws and adhesive strips but which in the Neo comes out relatively easily after you get some shielding and flex cables out of the way.
Source: Ars Technica - All content | 12 Mar 2026 | 4:03 pm UTC
Source: News Headlines | 12 Mar 2026 | 4:01 pm UTC
Oracle has increased funding for its restructuring plans for the current financial year by $500 million, with some observers anticipating a spate of job losses.…
Source: The Register | 12 Mar 2026 | 4:00 pm UTC
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 12 Mar 2026 | 4:00 pm UTC
Source: NASA Image of the Day | 12 Mar 2026 | 3:57 pm UTC
Elon Musk wheeled out his "Macrohard" dad joke again in the form of a supposed fleet of "Digital Optimus" agents that he claims would be capable of "emulating the function of entire companies."…
Source: The Register | 12 Mar 2026 | 3:33 pm UTC
Company that runs the sites says it has ‘no reason to believe there is a correlation between the donors’ passing and plasma donation’
Two people have died in Canada after donating plasma at a chain of clinics that has been under scrutiny by federal inspectors for failing to keep accurate records, screen donors or maintain its machines.
While experts say the deaths are exceedingly rare, critics say Canada’s embrace of private companies to handle blood products reflects a “slow collapse of a system that has been the envy of the world”.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 12 Mar 2026 | 3:24 pm UTC
Source: News Headlines | 12 Mar 2026 | 3:16 pm UTC
Last month, the New York Attorney General (NYAG) brought a lawsuit against Valve accusing the company of promoting "illegal gambling" through its randomized in-game loot boxes. On Wednesday, Valve issued its first public comment on the case, comparing its digital loot boxes to randomized real-world purchases like blind-bagged toys or packs of trading cards.
"Generations have grown up opening baseball card packs and blind boxes and bags, and then trading and selling the items they receive," Valve wrote. "On the physical side, popular products used in this way include baseball cards, Pokemon, Magic the Gathering, and Labubu."
Though that may seem like an apt comparison on the surface, Valve's loot boxes differ from these real-world examples in large part because of Valve's control of the Steam Marketplace, which serves as the only legitimate way to exchange or resell those items. While owners of real-world items are free to trade or sell them however they want, Valve has cracked down on many third-party sites that enable the exchange of in-game items—especially when those items are used as glorified chips for gambling games.
Source: Ars Technica - All content | 12 Mar 2026 | 3:15 pm UTC
Between the antics particular to a certain car company and the industrial chaos that was set off by COVID (then compounded by the invasion of Ukraine) it's easy to have become cynical about things like timelines. And yet, when Rivian showed off a midsize electric vehicle in 2024 and said it would go on sale during the first half of 2026, it meant it: deliveries of the first R2 SUVs will begin this spring.
As a new automaker Rivian often does things its own way, but with the R2 launch it's following industry practice and starting with the more superlative version first. That's the R2 Performance, which starts at $57,990 with the launch package (but not including a $1,495 delivery charge). You get quite a lot of electric SUV for that, however: up to 330 miles (531 km) from a single charge of the 87.9 kWh battery pack, with 656 hp (489 kW) and 609 lb-ft (825 Nm) from the dual motor powertrain. Fast charging takes 29 minutes from 10-80 percent.
The Performance features semi-active suspension, a rear window that drops into the tailgate, an interior with birch accents, heating for the front and rear seats with ventilation for the former as well, a nine-speaker sound system, matrix LED headlights, and some other neat touches like the flashlight that lives in the side of the door, similar to the way some cars hide an umbrella there.
Source: Ars Technica - All content | 12 Mar 2026 | 3:00 pm UTC
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 12 Mar 2026 | 3:00 pm UTC
Developers using Google's Antigravity agentic AI coding tool are complaining about higher prices following an announcement yesterday that the company is evolving its AI plans.…
Source: The Register | 12 Mar 2026 | 2:36 pm UTC
In the three decades between 1993 and 2024, measles in the US was relatively rare—a few hundred cases each year, at most. But suddenly, the disease has become so entrenched in American life that it sometimes fails to make headlines when a new outbreak erupts.
As of March 2026, measles has been continuously circulating around the US for more than a year, starting with an outbreak in Texas that lasted from January to August 2025. Before that outbreak was declared over, an outbreak on the Utah and Arizona border began in August and is ongoing. An outbreak in South Carolina began in September, drastically increased in January 2026, and continues.
Thirty states have had measles cases this year; 47 have seen cases since the start of 2025. Health officials across the US have confirmed 1,300 infections already this year as of March 6, putting the country on track to surpass 2025’s numbers, which were the highest in 35 years.
Source: Ars Technica - All content | 12 Mar 2026 | 2:32 pm UTC
Obit Professor Charles Anthony Richard Hoare has died at the age of 92. Known to many computer science students as C. A. R. Hoare, and to his friends as Tony, he was not only one of the greatest minds in the history of programming – he also came up with a number of the field's pithiest quotes.…
Source: The Register | 12 Mar 2026 | 2:23 pm UTC
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 12 Mar 2026 | 2:00 pm UTC
Source: News Headlines | 12 Mar 2026 | 1:57 pm UTC
NASA's Van Allen Probe A has re-entered Earth's atmosphere eight years earlier than expected, with a 1 in 4,200 chance that its components could cause injury.…
Source: The Register | 12 Mar 2026 | 1:47 pm UTC
The US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has confirmed that hackers are exploiting a max-severity remote code execution (RCE) vulnerability in workflow automation platform n8n.…
Source: The Register | 12 Mar 2026 | 1:34 pm UTC
Alphabet is spinning out its US Google Fiber business and combining it with Astound Broadband as part of a joint venture with private equity investor Stonepeak.…
Source: The Register | 12 Mar 2026 | 1:22 pm UTC
Medical and legal rights campaigners are warning that the Palantir data platform, designed to be at the heart of England's health system, risks enabling UK immigration and policing departments to access confidential patient information.…
Source: The Register | 12 Mar 2026 | 1:14 pm UTC
Source: News Headlines | 12 Mar 2026 | 1:07 pm UTC
Programme which supports schemes in six African countries was previously hailed as vital protection for Britain against future pandemics
A flagship health project in Africa, which UK ministers said would play a vital role in protecting Britain from future pandemic threats, is being axed due to aid cuts, the Guardian can reveal.
The Global Health Workforce Programme (GHWP) which supported development and training for healthcare staff in six African countries, will close at the end of the month, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) said.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 12 Mar 2026 | 12:59 pm UTC
Last year, Honda gave Ars a tour of some of its manufacturing facilities in Ohio. The Anna Engine Plant and Marysville Auto Plant had undergone a transformation that added to their capabilities: a massive die-cast operation to make electric vehicle battery packs alongside the lines that make engines at Anna, and a gleaming new section of Marysville filled with robots, ready to incorporate three new Honda and Acura EVs into the production mix alongside Accords and Integras.
Only now, they won't. Earlier today, Honda announced that it's facing heavy losses for the financial year: between $5.1 billion and $7 billion (820 billion–1.12 trillion yen). To help stanch the flow, it's sacrificing the Honda 0 SUV, Honda 0 sedan, and the electric Acura RSX, EVs it revealed at CES last year in "nearly production" state.
Honda says there are several reasons for killing off its new EVs before they even reach the market. The first is extremely predictable: the ongoing chaos of the trade war and its tariffs, which have eaten into the profitability of the cars it imports into the US. A second is the US government's revanchist decision to cease enforcing emissions and fuel economy standards on the auto industry. Although Honda says that "striving for carbon neutrality" is a "responsibility Honda... must fulfill for the future," it seems that responsibility only applies when being forced by a government.
Source: Ars Technica - All content | 12 Mar 2026 | 12:45 pm UTC
Google Maps is one of the company's core products, which means it hasn't escaped the shift to Gemini. There will be more opportunities to converse with a robot in Google Maps starting today, but there's also a new navigation experience on the way. The revamped navigation isn't as explicitly focused on the AI revolution, but Google stresses that Gemini is still key to making it work.
The latest AI shift in Maps is called Ask Maps, and you can probably guess what it does just from its title. Ask Maps is a Gemini-powered conversational system that can plan trips and answer complex questions about locations across the app's millions of cataloged points of interest.
The new chatbot will be accessible via a button up near the search bar. You can ask it anything you're likely to find in Google Maps without jumping into another app. You can ask for directions, of course, but it can also plan out road trips and vacations from a single prompt. Ask Maps works like a chatbot, so it accepts follow-up prompts to refine and expand on its suggestions.
Source: Ars Technica - All content | 12 Mar 2026 | 12:30 pm UTC
Updated Customers of three major UK banks woke on Thursday to find incorrect transactions appearing in their apps, a problem later attributed to a technical glitch.…
Source: The Register | 12 Mar 2026 | 11:50 am UTC
Bork!Bork!Bork! Smart mirrors are all the rage. However, rather than a list of headlines and tasks to do today, an unhappy Windows installation can make a smart mirror seem very dumb indeed.…
Source: The Register | 12 Mar 2026 | 11:32 am UTC
I grew up in a Star Trek household, not a Star Wars one. More to the point, I wasn't even allowed to watch Star Wars when I was a kid, so I didn't see the original trilogy until I was nearly an adult—about 17 years old, as I recall.
For my then-fundamentalist Christian family, the so-called "Eastern mysticism" of Star Wars was a bridge too far, something that could apparently corrupt my impressionable young evangelical mind irreversibly. Star Trek was OK, though, because my parents didn't feel it condoned witchcraft, or what have you, and they liked the original series from when they were younger.
Because of all that, my first true immersion in the Star Wars universe wasn't the movies, it was the video games, and one in particular—Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire, which you can nab on GOG.
Source: Ars Technica - All content | 12 Mar 2026 | 11:15 am UTC
Regardless of your interest in motorsport, you've almost certainly heard of the Monaco Grand Prix, Daytona 500, and Indianapolis 500. These iconic races are easy to spectate, with grandstands lining the course and a camera or two at every turn. Video feeds from the race can be transmitted live thanks to the infrastructure of the populated areas surrounding the tracks.
But what if your course is 100 miles (161 km) from nowhere? It's 1,000 miles (1,610 km) long, and the only way to access it is on bumpy, dirty access roads that require four-wheel drive and plenty of clearance. If you want to watch the whole race with your own eyes, you’ll need to hire a helicopter. And broadcasting it live on TV? Good luck.
All that is changing with the advent of StarStream, a video and content streaming service that can be used with Starlink, the low-Earth-orbit satellite Internet system that has changed the way off-road race teams communicate. But George Hammel, a former motocross and UTV racer, saw even more potential: a way to bring fans into the cockpit, live.
Source: Ars Technica - All content | 12 Mar 2026 | 11:00 am UTC
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 12 Mar 2026 | 11:00 am UTC
Britain has taken the first steps towards producing its own ultrahigh temperature materials, regarded as vital for applications including hypersonic vehicles, space, and advanced propulsion systems.…
Source: The Register | 12 Mar 2026 | 10:59 am UTC
Source: World | 12 Mar 2026 | 10:23 am UTC
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