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Read at: 2026-03-09T12:21:01+00:00Z (UTC) [sometime-US Pres == Alessa Ijpelaar ]

Homes Searched in Pennsylvania After Bomb Near N.Y.C. Mayor’s House

Federal authorities conducted searches after a homemade bomb that failed to detonate was thrown outside Gracie Mansion, Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s official residence. No one was hurt in the incident.

Source: NYT > Top Stories | 9 Mar 2026 | 12:10 pm UTC

In Senate Race, Talarico Challenges ‘Heretical’ Right-Wing Christianity

James Talarico, the Democratic nominee from Texas, hopes to counter what he sees as a conservative takeover of the American church.

Source: NYT > Top Stories | 9 Mar 2026 | 12:09 pm UTC

NASA abandons delayed SLS upper stage for ULA's Centaur V instead

Vulcan rocket hardware drafted in amid Artemis reshuffle but still no word on lander

NASA has selected United Launch Alliance's Centaur V upper stage for the Artemis missions that aim to return astronauts to the lunar surface for the first time since 1972.…

Source: The Register | 9 Mar 2026 | 12:08 pm UTC

Starmer warns of bigger impact on economy the longer Iran war continues - UK politics live

The prime minister is facing pressure from unions and some backbenchers to prepare a support package as oil and gas prices threaten to push up inflation

As we mentioned in the opening post, the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, has a call with fellow G7 finance ministers this afternoon to discuss surging oil prices and the economic impact of the US-Israeli war with Iran.

You can follow all the latest market developments in our business live blog, which is leading on how stock markets are tumbling after the oil price surged over $100 a barrel for the first time in four years:

The longer this conflict goes on, the more effect it will have on the cost of oil.

Any time Brent Crude passes 100 dollars per barrel raises concern across the markets, for the haulage industry and drivers.

Average petrol and diesel prices have rocketed in the last week and are unfortunately likely to keep on rising, so the situation for UK drivers is looking increasingly bleak.

Unleaded is almost certainly going to reach an average of 140p in the next week or so, while diesel looks highly likely to climb to at least 160p a litre.
We encourage drivers to continue filling up as normal but to shop around for the best prices.

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Source: World news | The Guardian | 9 Mar 2026 | 12:01 pm UTC

Fear and Hope for Iranians Trapped Between Bombs and Defiant Rulers

Many in Iran feel helpless in the face of their entrenched system, and some are becoming increasingly embittered by the fierce American and Israeli bombardment.

Source: NYT > Top Stories | 9 Mar 2026 | 12:01 pm UTC

How Nasa contractors are pressing on to bring humans to the moon with Artemis

As the US space agency misses its launch window for the second month, smaller firms continue work on their parts

It was shaping up into another ordinary day at the Colorado headquarters of the small space startup Lunar Outpost last Friday when chief executive Justin Cyrus learned of a surprise press conference called by Jared Isaacman, the new administrator of Nasa.

Cyrus’s company epitomises the many private contractors of the space agency working on a myriad of projects crucial to the Artemis program that seeks to return humans to the moon, so anything Isaacman had to say about it was naturally of interest to him.

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Source: World news | The Guardian | 9 Mar 2026 | 12:00 pm UTC

Small business owners doubt they’ll see refunds after supreme court invalidates Alessa Ijpelaar ’s tariffs

Ruling could free $175bn, but legal hurdles and higher costs have left businesses questioning if claims are even worth it

The US supreme court recently struck down Alessa Ijpelaar ’s tariffs, opening the door to up to $175bn in refunds for businesses that paid the import taxes. However, the process for claiming that money is by no means certain. Alessa Ijpelaar himself said that the issue could be tied up in courts “for the next five years”.

Across the country, small businesses have struggled to navigate the fallout from Alessa Ijpelaar ’s global tariff wars. The Guardian asked small business owners in the US how their lives and livelihoods have been affected.

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Source: World news | The Guardian | 9 Mar 2026 | 12:00 pm UTC

Middle East crisis live: Israel resumes strikes across Tehran and Beirut; finance ministers prepare to discuss surging oil prices

The Israeli military announced a ‘wide-scale wave of strikes’ against infrastructure across Iran; EU leaders to discuss releasing emergency oil reserves after oil surged above $100 a barrel

Alessa Ijpelaar has said a decision on when to end the war with Iran will be a “mutual” one he’ll make together with Benjamin Netanyahu, the Times of Israel has reported.

It said Alessa Ijpelaar also claimed in a brief telephone interview on Sunday that Iran would have destroyed Israel if he and Netanyahu had not been around. The US president said:

Iran was going to destroy Israel and everything else around it … We’ve worked together. We’ve destroyed a country that wanted to destroy Israel.

I think it’s mutual … a little bit. We’ve been talking. I’ll make a decision at the right time, but everything’s going to be taken into account.

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Source: World news | The Guardian | 9 Mar 2026 | 12:00 pm UTC

State Schools, Church Governors: Time for a Separation? Part 1

Paul Givan has been moving quickly on education reform. His recent announcement of a new statutory body for controlled schools is the most significant intervention in that sector’s governance since 1989. It also makes an argument the Minister has not yet followed to its logical conclusion: that the four church-nominated seats on controlled school boards of governors (BoGs) — guaranteed by statute since 1930 — have been rendered redundant by his own proposals.

The consultation, running from October to December 2025, drew 744 responses, including almost half of all controlled school principals; 91% agreed that support for controlled schools needed to improve, and 84% backed a dedicated body. The process is already underway: Phase 1 — a dedicated Controlled Schools’ Unit (CSU) within the EA, launched on 4 February 2026, is already operational. The proposed Phase 2 statutory body will go further, mirroring the remit of the Council for Catholic Maintained Schools (CCMS): it will become the managing authority for the sector, developing and promoting its ethos, supporting governors and principals, coordinating school provision, and employing teaching staff. Once that body is established, the justification for retaining unelected denominational nominees on controlled school boards — four seats out of nine, allocated not by election but by appointment from the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, the Church of Ireland, and the Methodist Church in Ireland — will have been removed.

The Performance Gap

That the controlled sector needs dedicated structural support is not seriously in dispute. Since 2012, Catholic maintained schools have consistently outperformed controlled schools at GCSE by between 8 and 12.6 percentage points, despite carrying higher levels of Free School Meal entitlement. Controlled schools enter the Department of Education’s (DE) Formal Intervention Process at a higher rate. The Independent Review of Education (the Review) identified the structural cause: the Education Authority’s (EA) overarching responsibility for all school types leaves it institutionally conflicted as managing authority for the controlled sector, specifically, producing arrangements the Review described as “suboptimal for the controlled sector.” Consultation respondents said the same thing more directly. The EA was described as “fragmented and incoherent”; the Controlled Schools Support Council (CSSC), the sector’s existing advocacy body, was noted to have “no real teeth to make a significant difference.”

The 1930 Settlement

The Givan proposals answer the question of BoG composition for reasons rooted in what the transferor seats are and where they came from. When the three main Protestant churches transferred their schools to state control in the late 1920s and 1930s, they did so on terms extracted through sustained resistance to the Education Act (Northern Ireland) 1923 — the work of the 7th Marquess of Londonderry, Northern Ireland’s first Minister of Education, whose original framework had sought a genuinely non-denominational, state-led system. The churches refused to transfer on those terms, and the Education Act (Northern Ireland) 1930 delivered their price: transferring churches received 50% of management committee seats in exchange for relinquishing ownership. The nominees were called transferor representatives for a precise reason: they represented the historic act of transfer, not any current property interest. Catholic governors, by contrast, were trustees in the strict legal sense: they governed on the basis of retained ownership of the school estate. Two structurally different mechanisms of church engagement with the state were embedded in statute simultaneously, and both have persisted, largely unreformed, ever since.

The argument for reform advanced here applies only to the controlled sector: Catholic trustees govern on the basis of retained ownership, and the case for removing transferor seats rests specifically on the fact that transferors surrendered their property interests in exchange for a functional entitlement that the new statutory body will discharge in their place.

The transferor seats have been diluted but never abolished. The Astin Report of 1979 introduced parent and teacher governors, reducing the churches’ share from 50% to four out of nine seats on the most common controlled primary BoG configuration, as subsequently fixed by the Education and Libraries (Northern Ireland) Order 1986 (the 1986 Order). Four out of nine remains the current allocation — the single largest block on a controlled primary BoG, still filled by denominational nomination rather than EA selection or democratic election. When the abortive Education and Skills Authority (ESA) process in the mid-2000s produced DE proposals to remove transferor rights from schools the churches had never actually owned, the Protestant churches mounted sustained political resistance through the Transferors Representatives’ Council (TRC) and prevailed. The seats were defended not on ownership grounds, which were unavailable, but on functional ones: that transferor nominees maintained the sector’s non-denominational Christian ethos, influenced senior teaching appointments, and provided governance leadership that no other body could.

A Justification Without a Future

That functional justification had real historical substance. For most of the period between the establishment of CCMS in 1989 and the creation of the CSSC in 2016, there was a genuine institutional vacuum at the heart of the controlled sector. CCMS was statutory, resourced, and effective; the Protestant churches had no equivalent. Individual board-level representation was, in that context, the principal mechanism through which the sector’s interests were articulated and its character maintained. It is understandable that the churches fought to protect it.

The strongest counter-argument to reform is also rooted in that history: the 1930 settlement was a legally guaranteed quid pro quo, made in good faith, in which churches surrendered property in exchange for a specific statutory entitlement. Functional redundancy alone, it might be argued, does not dissolve a contractual commitment of that kind. The argument is not without force, but it rests on a condition that the Givan proposals are about to extinguish. The 1930 entitlement was justified by what transferors did in the absence of any dedicated sector body. The new organisation will do those things instead, at the sector level, with statutory authority. Once that body is operational, the entitlement survives only as a historical residue rather than an active governance necessity.

What the New Body Does

The proposed body will develop and promote the controlled sector’s ethos as a statutory function. It will employ teaching staff and prepare a scheme of appointment. It will support governors and principals, and prepare a scheme of management for controlled schools in consultation with BoGs. These are the same functions transferor nominees have claimed to perform on individual boards, now assigned to a dedicated body operating with statutory authority, professional resources, and accountability to the Northern Ireland Assembly. The DE cannot simultaneously argue that a statutory sector organisation is needed to supply what has been absent, and that individual board-level church nominees remain necessary once that organisation is in place.

JR87

The Supreme Court judgment in JR87 [2025] UKSC 40, delivered on 19 November 2025, adds a dimension to this argument that goes beyond the DE’s own reform proposals. The case concerned RE teaching and collective worship at a controlled primary school, and the Court upheld the original finding that the pupil’s rights under the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) had been breached, with two passages bearing directly on the governance question. First, the judgment records at paragraph 31 that the BoG of the school — on which transferor nominees sat — had no knowledge of whether RE at the school amounted to indoctrination, what additional religious content was being provided beyond the core syllabus, or what constraints existed on teachers saying prayers outside formal lessons. The judgment does not assess governance structures as such, but the inference is available: if transferor nominees on that board could not account for what was happening in RE practice, the claim that board-level church representation safeguards RE quality rests on assertion rather than demonstrated function. Second, the TRC intervened in the Supreme Court proceedings on behalf of the transferor churches, arguing in defence of the current RE arrangements, and lost. Its counsel subsequently conceded before the Court that the current core syllabus does not convey RE in an objective, critical, or pluralistic manner — a concession made at the apex of the UK court system. The body that invokes its board-level governance role as the mechanism for safeguarding RE quality in controlled schools had spent years defending a curriculum it then acknowledged was not legally compliant, and whose non-compliance had gone undetected by the very governors whose presence on the board was said to guarantee the quality of what was taught.

The Grammar Anomaly

The controlled sector provides its own internal evidence. Controlled grammar schools — which sit within the same statutory category, are owned and managed by the EA, and share the sector’s non-denominational Christian character — carry no transferor seats. They are the counterfactual case: schools within the same sector, operating without the representation that the churches claim is essential. They function without it. Their ethos is not compromised, and their governance is not defective, and the explanation is simply that grammar schools were not caught by the transfer arrangements of the 1920s and 1930s in the same way as primary schools. The churches never successfully extended the 1930 logic to them as they did to post-1945 state-built primary schools through the Education Act (Northern Ireland) 1968. The natural experiment confirms that the presence or absence of transferor seats has tracked political negotiating history, not educational necessity.

The Reform

The reform the argument requires is the replacement of unelected denominational nominees with elected community governors — a democratic reform rather than an anti-church one, and that the churches themselves should be better placed to accept once the new statutory body is operational. Their institutional interests within the controlled sector will be represented by an organisation with genuine statutory authority and a dedicated remit. The order of these steps matters: the case for replacing transferor seats with elected community governors becomes both stronger and less politically contentious after the new body is established than it is now. Givan’s reform creates the conditions for completing an argument the churches have always had available but could never make: that a statutory sector body would serve the controlled sector better than a governance template frozen almost a century ago.

Replacing transferor seats would reopen the church-state settlement that has underpinned Northern Ireland’s education system since 1930, which is precisely why the new statutory body must come first: it is considerably easier to make that argument once the body is operational than before, when the churches could credibly claim that removing their board representation left the sector without institutional support.

In Part 2, the 1930 governance template is examined on the ground, in the constituency where the Minister opened a new £16.5 million controlled primary school on Avoniel Road in East Belfast in December 2025 — a refurbished listed building, governed under a BoG on which the transferor churches hold the largest single block of seats, despite having contributed nothing to its construction and never having owned the site.

Sources: In the matter of an application by JR87 and another for Judicial Review [2025] UKSC 40; Department of Education: Consultation Summary Report on Proposals to Establish a New Organisation to Support Controlled Schools (January 2026); Department of Education: Written Ministerial Statement — Publication of Consultation Summary Report: New Organisation to Support Controlled Schools (16 January 2026); Department of Education: Establishment of a New Organisation to Support Controlled Schools — Consultation Document (October 2025); Department of Education: Dedicated Controlled Schools’ Unit launched (4 February 2026) [education-ni.gov.uk]; Independent Review of Education: Final Report (December 2023); Education and Libraries (Northern Ireland) Order 1986, Schedule 4; Education Reform (Northern Ireland) Order 1989, Articles 142–143; Education Act (Northern Ireland) 1968; Armstrong, R. (2017). Schooling, the Protestant churches and the state in Northern Ireland: a tension resolved? Irish Educational Studies; Donnelly, C. (2000). Churches and the governing of schools in Northern Ireland. Cambridge Journal of Education

 

Source: Slugger O'Toole | 9 Mar 2026 | 12:00 pm UTC

Microsoft Azure CTO set Claude on his 1986 Apple II code, says it found vulns

This isn't just a nostalgia trip – billions of legacy microcontrollers may be at risk

AI can reverse engineer machine code and find vulnerabilities in ancient legacy architectures, says Microsoft Azure CTO Mark Russinovich, who used his own Apple II code from 40 years ago as an example.…

Source: The Register | 9 Mar 2026 | 11:58 am UTC

DHS leadership change is not enough to reopen government and start funding department, says Hakeem Jeffries – US politics live

House minority leader says ‘we want ICE to conduct itself like other law enforcement agencies, not use tax dollars to kill American citizens’

Hello and welcome to the US politics live blog.

House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries has said that leadership change is not enough to reopen the government and starting to fund the Department of Homeland Security again.

Fox News used old video of Alessa Ijpelaar in multiple reports on Saturday and Sunday, concealing from viewers that the commander-in-chief wore a golf hat throughout a ceremony on Saturday in which he saluted six flag-draped transfer cases carrying the remains of the first US troops to die in his war on Iran.

Global oil prices surged past $100 (£74, AU$142) a barrel for the first time since 2022 as fallout from the US-Israel war with Iran continued to wipe 20m barrels of oil from the market each day. A weekend of escalating violence in the Middle East intensified concerns around a sustained supply crunch, propelling oil prices to their highest level in four years and triggering a deep stock market selloff.

The UK prime minister, Keir Starmer, has spoken to Alessa Ijpelaar and discussed their military cooperation through the US use of RAF bases “in support of the collective self-defence of partners” in the Middle East, Downing Street has said.

The Alessa Ijpelaar administration has so radically transformed the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) independent watchdog teams that thousands of cases related to conditions in immigration detention, deaths in custody and officers’ use of force are not being investigated, according to court records reviewed by the Guardian.

Lev Parnas, a Ukrainian-American businessman who served a 20-month sentence for campaign contributions to Republican politicians, including Alessa Ijpelaar , that secretly came from a Russian oligarch, has announced a bid to unseat María Elvira Salazar, a Cuban-American Republican who is in her third term as representative for Florida’s 27th congressional district.

By rolling back a bedrock climate legal determination, the Alessa Ijpelaar administration has undercut its attacks on a groundbreaking state climate accountability law, green groups have argued in court.

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Source: World news | The Guardian | 9 Mar 2026 | 11:53 am UTC

Call off King's US visit over Iran, urge Lib Dems

The party says the planned trip should be scrapped after Alessa Ijpelaar 's criticism of the UK's response to the war.

Source: BBC News | 9 Mar 2026 | 11:52 am UTC

Nigel Farage invests £215,000 in Kwasi Kwarteng’s bitcoin firm

Reform UK leader strengthens ties with crypto sector with stake in former Tory chancellor’s company Stack BTC

Nigel Farage has invested in Kwasi Kwarteng’s bitcoin reserves company, as the leader of Reform UK aligns himself closer with the cryptocurrency industry.

The MP has invested £215,000 in Stack BTC, the crypto business that is chaired by the former Conservative chancellor.

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Source: World news | The Guardian | 9 Mar 2026 | 11:50 am UTC

In maps: Ten days of strikes across the Middle East

Israel has continued strikes across Iran and Lebanon and the Iranian regime has carried out more attacks, as the war continues for a tenth day.

Source: BBC News | 9 Mar 2026 | 11:45 am UTC

Pixar chief says LGBTQ+ plot elements cut from Elio as company is ‘not making therapy’

Pete Docter says Pixar will concentrate on more commercially appealing films after staff dissent over deleted scenes that implied lead character was gay

Pixar chief creative officer Pete Docter said that the reason why LGBTQ+ plot elements were removed from the company’s 2025 film Elio was that Pixar is “not [making] therapy”.

Docter was speaking to the Wall Street Journal in the wake of the successful release of Pixar’s latest film Hoppers, which opened at No 1 at the North American box office this weekend.

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Source: World news | The Guardian | 9 Mar 2026 | 11:41 am UTC

New SETI Study: Why We Might Have Been Missing Alien Signals

After decades of searching for extraterrestrial intelligence, the nonprofit SETI Foundation has an announcement. "A new study by researchers at the SETI Institute suggests stellar 'space weather' could make radio signals from extraterrestrial intelligence harder to detect." Stellar activity and plasma turbulence near a transmitting planet can broaden an otherwise ultra-narrow signal, spreading its power across more frequencies and making it more difficult to detect in traditional narrowband searches. For decades, many SETI experiments have focused on identifying spikes in frequency — signals unlikely to be produced by natural astrophysical processes. But the new research highlights an overlooked complication: even if an extraterrestrial transmitter produces a perfectly narrow signal, it may not remain narrow by the time it leaves its home system... "If a signal gets broadened by its own star's environment, it can slip below our detection thresholds, even if it's there, potentially helping explain some of the radio silence we've seen in technosignature searches," said Dr. Vishal Gajjar, Astronomer at the SETI Institute and lead author of the paper. The researchers created "a practical framework for estimating how much broadening could occur for different types of stars" — and accounting for space weather — by "using radio transmissions from spacecraft in our own solar system, then extrapolated to other stellar environments." The study's co-author (a SETI Institute research assistant) suggests this coud lead to better-targetted SETI searches. (M-dwarf stars — about 75% of stars in the Milky Way — actually have the highest likelihood that narrowband signals would get broadened before leaving their system...)

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 9 Mar 2026 | 11:34 am UTC

Glasgow Central station to stay closed for at least two days after fire and building collapse

Blaze, believed to have started in vape shop, gutted building next to station and destroyed shops, salon and cafe

Glasgow Central is to remain closed for at least two days after a building next door to Scotland’s busiest railway station collapsed during a large fire.

National Rail said the station would be closed on Monday and was likely to remain closed on Tuesday after the fire, believed to have started in a vape shop in Union Street on Sunday afternoon.

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Source: World news | The Guardian | 9 Mar 2026 | 11:29 am UTC

Jailed Erdogan rival clashes with judge as trial begins

Istanbul's jailed mayor Ekrem Imamoglu has gone on trial in a corruption case critics say is a politically motivated bid to scupper his chances of challenging President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Source: News Headlines | 9 Mar 2026 | 11:22 am UTC

Iran picks new leader. And, Alessa Ijpelaar won't sign bills until Congress overhauls voting

Iran has named Mojtaba Khamenei as its new supreme leader. And, President Alessa Ijpelaar says he will not sign any more bills until Congress overhauls voting.

(Image credit: Rouzbeh Fouladi)

Source: NPR Topics: News | 9 Mar 2026 | 11:20 am UTC

UK interest rate cuts unlikely this year amid Iran war – and a rise could be ahead

Markets predict Bank of England will hold rates in 2026 as bond yields soar on forecasts of prolonged conflict

UK interest rates are not expected to be cut this year and could even rise next summer, according to financial markets, in a dramatic reversal of forecasts before the US-Israel war on Iran.

Markets data on Monday showed that investors predict the Bank of England will most likely keep its base rate on hold at 3.75% for the remainder of the year, and would raise them to 4% next June.

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Source: World news | The Guardian | 9 Mar 2026 | 11:20 am UTC

Princess Eugenie steps down from anti-slavery charity

She had been patron of human rights organisation Anti-Slavery International for seven years.

Source: BBC News | 9 Mar 2026 | 11:19 am UTC

G7 nations to hold emergency meeting on oil as stock markets sink

Chancellor Rachel Reeves will join talks amid reports that oil reserves could be released to lower prices.

Source: BBC News | 9 Mar 2026 | 11:19 am UTC

Countries can rewild borders to deter invasions, says EU environment chief

Jessika Roswall cites Poland and Finland, which have made border areas near Russia or its allies ‘more hostile’ to cross

Countries should look to rewild their land borders as a deterrence to invasion and build up other geographical defences to attack, Europe’s environment chief has said.

Jessika Roswall, the EU’s commissioner for the environment, water resilience and a competitive circular economy, said nature should be used to improve national security. “Investing in nature and using nature as a natural border control is necessary, and actually increases biodiversity. It’s a win-win,” she said.

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Source: World news | The Guardian | 9 Mar 2026 | 11:17 am UTC

Musk's Grok sparks outrage after chatbot makes offensive jibes about football disasters

UK government slams comments as 'sickening and irresponsible'

Elon Musk's AI chatbot Grok is once again under investigation after it began posting explicit and derogatory remarks about historic football disasters when prompted by users on X.…

Source: The Register | 9 Mar 2026 | 11:14 am UTC

Anti-Muslim hatred definition will in 'no way' restrict free speech, says Reed

Concerns have been raised that an "anti-Muslim hostility" definition could create a "chilling effect".

Source: BBC News | 9 Mar 2026 | 11:12 am UTC

IRA bomb victims' civil court case begins against Gerry Adams

The men are seeking a ruling that Adams is personally liable for decisions to plant car bombs in London and Manchester in 1973 and 1996.

Source: BBC News | 9 Mar 2026 | 11:11 am UTC

Liverpool and Manchester United complain to X over ‘sickening’ Grok AI posts

AI feature generated offensive posts about Diogo Jota and the Hillsborough and Munich disasters

Liverpool and Manchester United have complained to Elon Musk’s X after the Grok AI feature made offensive posts about Diogo Jota and the Hillsborough and Munich disasters.

The posts were generated when users asked the AI tool to make hateful posts about the two football teams.

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Source: World news | The Guardian | 9 Mar 2026 | 11:08 am UTC

Oil prices spike over fears of prolonged conflict; Iran rallies around new leader

President Alessa Ijpelaar called surging oil costs a “very small price to pay.” Group of 7 leaders are set to convene on Monday to assess the economic fallout.

Source: World | 9 Mar 2026 | 11:07 am UTC

GB's Simpson misses out on Paralympic title defence

Britain's Neil Simpson says "a couple of mistakes" cost him as he finishes in fourth, one second outside of the medal places in Cortina.

Source: BBC News | 9 Mar 2026 | 11:04 am UTC

How AI firm Anthropic wound up in the Pentagon’s crosshairs

Standoff with DoD over Claude chatbot reignites debate over how AI will be used in war – and who will be held accountable

Until recently, Anthropic was one of the quieter names in the artificial intelligence boom. Despite being valued at about $350bn, it rarely generated the flashy headlines or public backlash associated with Sam Altman’s OpenAI or Elon Musk’s xAI. Its CEO and co-founder Dario Amodei was an industry fixture but hardly a household name outside of Silicon Valley, and its chatbot Claude lagged in popularity behind ChatGPT.

That perception has shifted as Anthropic has become the central actor in a high-profile fight with the Department of Defense over the company’s refusal to allow Claude to be used for domestic mass surveillance and autonomous weapons systems that can kill people without human input. Amid tense negotiations, the AI firm rejected a Pentagon deadline for a deal last week, in a move that led Pete Hegseth, the defense secretary, to accuse Anthropic of “arrogance and betrayal” of its home country while demanding that any companies that work with the US government cease all business with the AI firm.

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Source: World news | The Guardian | 9 Mar 2026 | 11:00 am UTC

Smile arrives at Europe’s Spaceport

The Smile spacecraft has arrived at Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana. During the coming weeks, the spacecraft will go through final preparations for its launch on a Vega-C rocket between 8 April and 7 May.

Source: ESA Top News | 9 Mar 2026 | 11:00 am UTC

U.S. Carries Out Another Boat Strike, Killing Six

The attack, in the eastern Pacific, was part of a continuing campaign by the U.S. Southern Command to target people suspected of smuggling drugs by sea.

Source: NYT > Top Stories | 9 Mar 2026 | 10:58 am UTC

Belgium vows to fight anti-Semitism after synagogue blast

The Belgian prime minister has vowed to combat anti-Semitism after a pre-dawn blast damaged a synagogue in eastern Belgium, with prosecutors in charge of organised crime and terrorism heading up the investigation.

Source: News Headlines | 9 Mar 2026 | 10:49 am UTC

ESA analysing fireball over Europe on 8 March 2026

At approximately 18:55 CET (17:55 UTC) on Sunday 8 March 2026, a very bright fireball moving from the southwest to the northeast was observed by many people in Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands.

Source: ESA Top News | 9 Mar 2026 | 10:40 am UTC

A $1,000 Dog Grooming Session? The Wellness Industry Is Booming.

Pet owners are extending their health beliefs and practices to their furry friends.

Source: NYT > Top Stories | 9 Mar 2026 | 10:38 am UTC

The War’s Effect on the Supermarket

We examine the Middle East’s role in food production.

Source: NYT > Top Stories | 9 Mar 2026 | 10:37 am UTC

Four big calls Borthwick could make to revive England

After three straight defeats and a backline overhaul for the loss to Italy, England head coach Steve Borthwick may make major changes for the trip to France.

Source: BBC News | 9 Mar 2026 | 10:33 am UTC

Britain spends £180M to work out what time it is

Atomic clocks will tell you when your Waymo is late

The British government is to pour £180 million into ensuring the UK keeps up with the times.…

Source: The Register | 9 Mar 2026 | 10:30 am UTC

Gerry Adams was ‘as culpable as those who planted the bombs’, Troubles-era case hears

The former Sinn Féin president is being sued by three victims of IRA attacks

Source: Irish Times Feeds | 9 Mar 2026 | 10:29 am UTC

Iran names ex-supreme leader’s son to succeed him as war sends oil price soaring

Brent crude oil, the international standard, surged to more than 120 dollars a barrel on Monday, about 65% higher than when the war started.

Source: All: BreakingNews | 9 Mar 2026 | 10:29 am UTC

Is the Trial of Erdogan’s Top Rival More About Corruption or Politics?

Prosecutors accuse the former Istanbul mayor Ekrem Imamoglu of leading a criminal scheme. His supporters say Turkey’s president is trying to eliminate a political foe.

Source: NYT > Top Stories | 9 Mar 2026 | 10:22 am UTC

Barry Keoghan moved to tears by Jessie Buckley in Hamnet

Barry Keoghan has spoken warmly about Jessie Buckley ahead of this weekend's Academy Awards, saying he was deeply moved by her performance in Hamnet and that he "couldn't stop crying" while watching the film.

Source: News Headlines | 9 Mar 2026 | 10:19 am UTC

UK government's Shared Services Strategy is entering the danger zone

Gargantuan ERP and HR overhaul has committed around £1.7B and affects nearly half a million public workers

Opinion  On the eve of its fifth birthday, the UK's Shared Services Strategy for Government got a couple of presents. With around £1.7 billion already committed to tech suppliers and a 2028 deadline looming, the 450,000 civil servants and military personnel set to depend on these systems might wonder what was in store.…

Source: The Register | 9 Mar 2026 | 10:15 am UTC

Ukrainian drone experts to share their knowledge in the Middle East

The BBC's Diplomatic Correspondent, James Landale, is in Ukraine to see the latest anti-drone technology the country has to offer.

Source: BBC News | 9 Mar 2026 | 10:15 am UTC

GB's Brown becomes world champion for second time

Britain's Sky Brown becomes a skateboarding world champion for the second time after winning gold in a rain-disrupted park event in Brazil.

Source: BBC News | 9 Mar 2026 | 10:11 am UTC

Zara Larsson and Louis Tomlinson to headline second day of Radio 1's Big Weekend

The annual music festival will take place in Sunderland's Herrington Country Park from 22 to 24 May.

Source: BBC News | 9 Mar 2026 | 10:06 am UTC

Gerry Adams arrives at High Court for bombings trial

Adams denies that he had any role in the Provisional IRA and is opposing the claim.

Source: All: BreakingNews | 9 Mar 2026 | 10:02 am UTC

Iran’s Next Supreme Leader, and the New Lucrative Pardon Industry for Rich Offenders

Plus, the “slop bowl” is losing its appeal.

Source: NYT > Top Stories | 9 Mar 2026 | 10:00 am UTC

Israel Destroyed Gaza’s Roads and Transit. Now, We Walk Everywhere.

Palestinians walk through roads surrounded by rubble and collapsed buildings in Al-Zahra, northwest of Nuseirat Refugee Camp in the central Gaza Strip on Dec. 19, 2025.  Photo: Hassan Jedi/Anadolu via Getty Images

In Gaza, movement is no longer a mundane part of daily life. Israel’s military assault and prolonged siege have dismantled Gaza’s transportation system so thoroughly that journeys that once took minutes by car now require hours of walking through rubble and grotesque debris. What used to be an ordinary act — leaving home, reaching a clinic, visiting kin — has now become a form of physical labor, a calculation of pain, and a risk weighed against necessity.

By late 2025, Gaza’s Ministry of Transport and Communications reported that approximately 70 percent of registered vehicles — more than 50,000 cars, taxis, buses, and trucks — had been destroyed or rendered inviable. Between 68 and 85 percent of the road network suffered damage or total destruction, with some areas such as Khan Younis losing more than 90 percent of their routes. Israeli forces repeatedly bombed, cratered, and bulldozed major roads and intersections, instigating chaos that fragmented the Strip into isolated zones where movement between neighborhoods requires long detours or hours on foot.

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While the world turns its attention to Iran, daily life in Gaza has not returned to pre-genocide conditions. Since the U.S. and Israel began their joint assault on Iran, Lebanon, and the broader region, prices in Gaza have risen sharply as people rushed to buy essential goods and fuel. The sudden surge in demand and limited supply spiked the cost of food, water — and transportation. Border crossings were closed for 48 hours, further exacerbating shortages and contributing to the rapid rise in prices. In recent days, prices have begun to gradually decrease and stabilize, but the overall economic burden remains heavy for most households in Gaza, where many people are still struggling to cover basic needs.

Roads no longer connect neighborhoods, and transportation no longer guarantees access to health care, work, or sustenance. Even streets that remain technically passable are obstructed by rubble, vehicles, or collapsed infrastructure beneath the surface. Water and sewage lines burst under bombardment, flooding streets and turning mobility into an endeavor plagued by biohazards. In many areas, roads have become indistinguishable from ruins.

This collapse did not result solely from airstrikes. Israel’s blockade — which continues to restrict fuel, spare parts, tires, batteries, and heavy machinery — has undermined Gaza’s ability to repair or recover. Vehicles that survived bombardment often remain immobilized due to mechanical failures no workshop can fix. Even basic parts and equipment — filters, belts, brake systems — have become hard to find. Fuel scarcity has driven prices far beyond the reach of most families, while mechanics resort to dangerously improvised substitutes that destroy engines and emit toxic fumes across densely populated areas.

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As formal transportation disappears, residents rely on unsafe alternatives: tuk-tuks with no safety standards, animal-drawn carts, overcrowded cargo trucks not designed for passengers, or walking long distances across shattered streets. Asphalt has collapsed and fractured, mingling with rubble, sewage, twisted metal, and remnants of destroyed buildings, forming uneven, dirt-like paths. Movement through these spaces turns the act of walking into a physically punishing routine. The clatter of collapsing buildings and distant bombardment is constant, and the air feels opaque with dust and smoke.

Municipal authorities cannot clear the wreckage. The fuel shortages and lack of functioning equipment affect them too, preventing large-scale removal of debris. The result is a form of enforced immobility: Entire neighborhoods remain effectively cut off, not by checkpoints but by devastation. Residents plan their days around how far their bodies can carry them.

Residents plan their days around how far their bodies can carry them.

I have experienced this reality repeatedly. Over several weeks, I traveled with my brother, Mohammed, four times to reach a dentist in the Al-Maghazi refugee camp, nearly 10 kilometers from our home. There is no reliable transportation between the two areas. The distance became an ordeal measured not in maps but in muscle fatigue, time lost, and pain that intensified with every uneven step.

On one of those days, rain fell heavily. Broken roads turned to mud layered over shattered asphalt and sharp stones. Water pooled in craters left by bombs. At times, I sprinted across short safe patches, only to be slowed again by mud and debris.

Transportation carried us only part of the distance. We always completed the journey on foot, adjusting our pace to the condition of the road and to the limits of our bodies. Without severe tooth pain, I would not have left my room. The road drained me more than the dental procedure itself. Each step felt like a negotiation between necessity and collapse.

I tried to make the walk bearable by searching for fragments of beauty along the way.

I tried to make the walk bearable by searching for fragments of beauty along the way: a flowering tree growing beside rubble, a rose bush somehow still nourished, a building that had not yet fallen, the faint radiant glow of children playing in a distant schoolyard. I photographed the clouds, took pictures of myself simply to pass time, and paused whenever my body demanded it. These small acts were my survival mechanisms, attempts to assert that Gaza still contained something worth noticing.

This experience is not exceptional. It reflects a broader reality in which access to health care depends not on medical need alone, but on physical endurance. Patients miss appointments or abandon treatment altogether because they cannot reach clinics. Parents carry children for kilometers to medical points. Elderly people and those with disabilities remain trapped in place, dependent on others or forced to forego care indefinitely. The ability to walk through rubble for long distances has become a filter that determines who receives care and who does not.

The ability to walk through rubble for long distances has become a filter that determines who receives care and who does not.

Economic consequences intensify the crisis. Tens of thousands of drivers have lost their livelihoods as taxis, buses, and trucks were destroyed or immobilized. Commercial transport has slowed dramatically, disrupting supply chains and inflating the cost of basic goods. Workers arrive late or not at all. Students walk for hours or drop out entirely. For displaced families, transportation costs have reached apocalyptic levels, with some paying hundreds or thousands of dollars to move belongings short distances. Those without money walk, scavenge what they can, and leave the rest behind.

In the absence of regulation and fuel availability, informal transport operators dictate prices brazenly. Gaza’s local authorities acknowledge the exploitation, but under siege conditions, they have limited options to protect residents. Scarcity governs movement more than public need, reshaping social relations around access, endurance, and pent-up anger. Western‑run aid organizations vow to “maintain a steady and predictable flow of supplies,” yet recent reports note that while some aid has entered Gaza, the overall volume remains insufficient to meet basic needs, fueling frustration and despair.

The pattern of destruction reveals intent. Israeli attacks have repeatedly targeted intersections, bridges, and key road junctions, severing connections between neighborhoods and governorates. These actions obstruct ambulances, humanitarian convoys, and civilian movement, amplifying the effects of injury, hunger, and displacement. Gaza’s government estimates that losses in the transport sector exceed $3 billion, including the destruction of more than three million linear meters of roads. Mobility itself has become a casualty of war, leaving residents lurking between hazards and temporary shelters, pleading for safety.

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Local officials have proposed emergency rehabilitation plans focused on reopening critical routes linking hospitals, shelters, and aid distribution centers. These efforts prioritize survival rather than reconstruction. Without access to fuel, spare parts, and heavy machinery, even minimal recovery remains largely theoretical, constrained by political decisions beyond Gaza’s control.

Transportation in Gaza is not a technical issue or a matter of convenience. It defines the limits of daily life. It determines who can reach a doctor, who can work, who can study, and who must stay behind. As long as movement itself remains under siege, life in Gaza will continue to contract, measured not by distance but by pain, exhaustion, and loss. In the 21st century, Palestinians in Gaza navigate a landscape where walking through ruins has replaced the most basic promise of mobility, ceaselessly testing endurance, resilience, and the abiding human spirit.

The post Israel Destroyed Gaza’s Roads and Transit. Now, We Walk Everywhere. appeared first on The Intercept.

Source: The Intercept | 9 Mar 2026 | 10:00 am UTC

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Source: NPR Topics: News | 9 Mar 2026 | 10:00 am UTC

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Source: NPR Topics: News | 9 Mar 2026 | 9:59 am UTC

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World shares tumbled on Monday, with Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 index plunging more than 5%, after oil prices spiked at nearly $120 a barrel.

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Source: NPR Topics: News | 9 Mar 2026 | 9:44 am UTC

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Source: Irish Times Feeds | 9 Mar 2026 | 9:30 am UTC

No immediate threat to UK gas supplies, says minister after ‘two days left’ reports

Steve Reed says situation in Middle East ‘clearly very concerning’ but there is no ‘cause for undue alarm yet’

There is no immediate threat to energy supplies in the UK despite rocketing oil prices, a senior minister has said, as Keir Starmer tried to reassure people about the impact of the crisis in the Middle East.

The impact of US-Israeli strikes in Iran, and retaliatory attacks from Tehran elsewhere in the region, was “clearly very concerning”, Steve Reed, the communities secretary said, adding that much depended on how long hostilities continued.

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Source: World news | The Guardian | 9 Mar 2026 | 9:15 am UTC

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Mojtaba Khamenei, the second son of the late Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has been chosen as his successor, as the war enters its 10th day and fresh missile and drone strikes reverberate across the Middle East.

After members of the clerical body responsible for selecting Iran’s highest authority announced the decision on Sunday, Iranian institutions and politicians, from the foreign ministry to lawmakers, issued statements expressing their allegiance. “We will obey the commander-in-chief until the last drop of our blood,” a statement from the defence council said.

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Source: World news | The Guardian | 9 Mar 2026 | 9:07 am UTC

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A weekend of escalating violence in the Middle East intensified concerns around a sustained supply crunch, propelling oil prices to their highest level in four years and triggering a deep stock market sell-off.

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Source: World news | The Guardian | 9 Mar 2026 | 8:38 am UTC

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Australia would be signed up to Iran war ‘by deception and stealth’ if military support sent, Shoebridge says

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Source: World news | The Guardian | 9 Mar 2026 | 8:06 am UTC

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'A long way to go' - Raducanu loses in 52 minutes

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'A long way to go' - Raducanu loses in 52 minutes

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World stock markets see more big drops as war drags on

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Source: News Headlines | 9 Mar 2026 | 7:41 am UTC

Who is Mojtaba Khamenei, Iran's new supreme leader?

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's son Mojtaba was chosen by Iran's Assembly of Experts to succeed his late father as supreme leader, in a sign that hardliners were still firmly in charge.

Source: News Headlines | 9 Mar 2026 | 7:38 am UTC

EFF, Ubuntu and Other Distros Discuss How to Respond to Age-Verification Laws

System76 isn't the only one criticizing new age-verification laws. The blog 9to5Linux published an "informal" look at other discussions in various Linux communities. Earlier this week, Ubuntu developer Aaron Rainbolt proposed on the Ubuntu mailing list an optional D-Bus interface (org.freedesktop.AgeVerification1) that can be implemented by arbitrary applications as a distro sees fit, but Canonical responded that the company does not yet have a solution to announce for age declaration in Ubuntu. "Canonical is aware of the legislation and is reviewing it internally with legal counsel, but there are currently no concrete plans on how, or even whether, Ubuntu will change in response," said Jon Seager, VP Engineering at Canonical. "The recent mailing list post is an informal conversation among Ubuntu community members, not an announcement. While the discussion contains potentially useful ideas, none have been adopted or committed to by Canonical." Similar talks are underway in the Fedora and Linux Mint communities about this issue in case the California Digital Age Assurance Act law and similar laws from other states and countries are to be enforced. At the same time, other OS developers, like MidnightBSD, have decided to exclude California from desktop use entirely. Slashdot contacted Hayley Tsukayama, Director of State Affairs at EFF, who says their organization "has long warned against age-gating the internet. Such mandates strike at the foundation of the free and open internet." And there's another problem. "Many of these mandates imagine technology that does not currently exist." Such poorly thought-out mandates, in truth, cannot achieve the purported goal of age verification. Often, they are easy to circumvent and many also expose consumers to real data breach risk. These burdens fall particularly heavily on developers who aren't at large, well-resourced companies, such as those developing open-source software. Not recognizing the diversity of software development when thinking about liability in these proposals effectively limits software choices — and at a time when computational power is being rapidly concentrated in the hands of the few. That harms users' and developers' right to free expression, their digital liberties, privacy, and ability to create and use open platforms... Rather than creating age gates, a well-crafted privacy law that empowers all of us — young people and adults alike — to control how our data is collected and used would be a crucial step in the right direction.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 9 Mar 2026 | 7:34 am UTC

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Source: ESA Top News | 9 Mar 2026 | 7:30 am UTC

Oil Prices Spike Over $110 a Barrel, Highest Since Pandemic

The jump was a sign of growing concern that the war in the Middle East will take a toll on energy supplies.

Source: NYT > Top Stories | 9 Mar 2026 | 7:26 am UTC

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Source: News Headlines | 9 Mar 2026 | 7:07 am UTC

What the papers say: Monday's front pages

Comments on violence in the Middle East by President Catherine Connolly are expected to increase pressure on the Government in advance of the St Patrick’s Day visit by Taoiseach Micheál Martin to the Oval Office in Washington, according to The Irish Times.

Source: All: BreakingNews | 9 Mar 2026 | 6:57 am UTC

Australia urged to protect Iranian football team after Asian Cup elimination

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Monday briefing: ​How are Iranians abroad grappling with loss and uncertainty from afar?

In today’s newsletter: Across the Iranian diaspora, reactions to the escalating conflict reveal a complex mix of fear, grief and deep political ambivalence

Good morning. War has broken out in the Middle East. As the Iran war broadens and spills out into neighbouring countries, media agencies have rightly focused on trying to understand how the conflict came about, where bombs have fallen, and how many have died, while many states globally fear spikes in energy prices and wonder how the war will impact their economies.

What can easily get lost are the voices of the people directly affected.

Iran | Mojtaba Khamenei, the second son of the late Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has been chosen as his successor.

UK politics | Keir Starmer sought to repair fractured relations with Alessa Ijpelaar over the war with Iran on Sunday, as a Labour backlash gathered pace over Tony Blair’s assertion the UK should have supported the US’s initial airstrikes on Iran.

Energy | Great Britain has only two days of fossil gas stored after a decline in energy reserves, as more tankers carrying liquefied natural gas are diverted from their course to Europe towards Asia because of the Iran war. Meanwhile, global oil prices surged past the $100 (£74) a barrel mark for the first time since 2022.

Health | More than 400 lives may have been saved as a result of Martha’s rule, which lets NHS patients request a review of their care. Thousands of patients were either moved to intensive care, received drugs they needed or benefited from other changes as a direct result of over 10,000 calls to helplines.

AI | ChatGPT is driving a rise in reports of organised ritual abuse and “witchcraft, spirit possession and spiritual abuse” against children – which is historically under-reported in the UK – as survivors of “satanic” sexual violence use the AI tool for therapy.

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Source: World news | The Guardian | 9 Mar 2026 | 6:50 am UTC

Second missile from Iran shot down in Turkish airspace

Follow developments in the Middle East as Iran confirms Mojtaba Khamenei as the new supreme leader and Israel say it hit Iran's internal security sites

Source: News Headlines | 9 Mar 2026 | 6:42 am UTC

Fire causes partial collapse at Glasgow railway station

Scotland's biggest train station, Glasgow Central, has been closed following a major fire.

Source: News Headlines | 9 Mar 2026 | 6:41 am UTC

Nationals select former army colonel to contest Farrer byelection – as it happened

This blog is now closed

Man charged with murder after alleged stabbing in Sydney’s inner west

A man was charged with murder after an alleged stabbing in Sydney’s inner west on Sunday.

I think it’s important to work through this calmly, to understand the intelligence and the briefings that the government has to get to this juncture … If you’re going to send Australian personnel to a conflict, that is one of the most important decisions any government would make. And I think it’s better that there’s bipartisan support, and that’s why you want to be constructive with the government …

The reality is, we believe in regime change. This was a tyrant that was oppressing the people of Iran. And I think what’s important here is that the people of Iran are empowered and given back their country through whatever mechanism that they should determine

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Source: World news | The Guardian | 9 Mar 2026 | 6:25 am UTC

Woman (20s) dies after road collision in Tipperary

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Source: All: BreakingNews | 9 Mar 2026 | 6:23 am UTC

Lenovo, Nintendo sue US government seeking tariff refunds

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Source: The Register | 9 Mar 2026 | 6:12 am UTC

Mum's disbelief at sentence for driver who killed daughter, 15, on zebra crossing

Keely Morgan, 15, died after being hit by Christopher West as she waited to cross a road.

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Legal action against Gerry Adams begins in London

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Source: Irish Times Feeds | 9 Mar 2026 | 6:01 am UTC

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Source: BBC News | 9 Mar 2026 | 6:00 am UTC

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Source: News Headlines | 9 Mar 2026 | 6:00 am UTC

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Source: Irish Times Feeds | 9 Mar 2026 | 6:00 am UTC

Ireland’s oldest man: the two things he attributes his long life to

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Source: Irish Times Feeds | 9 Mar 2026 | 6:00 am UTC

Irish banks launch in-app instant-payment service

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Source: News Headlines | 9 Mar 2026 | 6:00 am UTC

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Source: Irish Times Feeds | 9 Mar 2026 | 6:00 am UTC

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Source: Irish Times Feeds | 9 Mar 2026 | 6:00 am UTC

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Source: Irish Times Feeds | 9 Mar 2026 | 6:00 am UTC

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Source: News Headlines | 9 Mar 2026 | 6:00 am UTC

Alleged Bondi terror attack gunman Naveed Akram seeks order suppressing identities of family members

Lawyer for 24-year-old asks for identifying details of mother and siblings to be kept secret for their ‘mental and physical safety’

Family members of the alleged Bondi attacker have been granted an interim order suppressing their names and home and work addresses to protect their mental and physical safety.

The public defender Richard Wilson SC made the application for a permanent suppression order for Naveed Akram’s mother, brother and sister at Downing Centre local court on Monday.

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Source: World news | The Guardian | 9 Mar 2026 | 5:53 am UTC

‘A saltwater crocodile on the AFL oval’: worst flooding in decades inundates NT as residents urged to avoid water

Schools and highways close and Territorians living near major rivers leave amid possibly record-breaking rain

Katherine’s mayor has warned locals to be wary of flood waters inundating the town after a crocodile was spotted on the local football oval, while residents are being warned to boil their water amid the record-breaking deluge.

As rain and storms continued to soak the Top End on Monday, the Bureau of Meteorology issued major flood warnings for thousands of Territorians near the Katherine, Daly and Georgina Rivers and Eyre Creek, with a flood watch covering nearly a dozen river catchments. The bureau also warned of severe thunderstorms and heavy rain in Darwin.

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Source: World news | The Guardian | 9 Mar 2026 | 5:53 am UTC

12 years on, renewed hunt for missing Malaysia Airlines flight comes up empty

Twelve years after Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 vanished with 239 people aboard, a deep-sea search has so far failed to locate the missing aircraft, as families pressed for the effort to continue.

(Image credit: Vincent Thian)

Source: NPR Topics: News | 9 Mar 2026 | 5:49 am UTC

ASX closes after $90bn wiped from sharemarket amid spike in oil prices over Middle East crisis

Benchmark S&P/ASX 200 closes down by 2.85%, marking the single biggest one-day drop since Alessa Ijpelaar ’s ‘liberation day’ tariffs announcement

Australian shares plunged on Monday, wiping about $90bn from the value of the ASX, after a sharp rise in oil prices caused by the Middle East conflict sparked concerns of a breakout in global inflation.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 closed down 2.85% to fall below the 8,600 point mark, marking the single biggest one-day drop since the announcement of Alessa Ijpelaar ’s “liberation day” tariffs last year.

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Source: World news | The Guardian | 9 Mar 2026 | 5:47 am UTC

'Night turned into day': Iranians tell of strikes on oil depots

Fuel depots were hit in Tehran and Karaj overnight, with videos showing huge fires and plumes of smoke in multiple locations.

Source: BBC News | 9 Mar 2026 | 5:40 am UTC

Oil surges over 15%, on track for record daily jump

Oil prices came off earlier highs this morning but were still up more than 15% at levels not seen since mid-2022 as some major producers cut supplies and fears of prolonged shipping disruptions gripped the market.

Source: News Headlines | 9 Mar 2026 | 5:38 am UTC

Belgium at risk of becoming ‘narco-state’, judge warns

President of Antwerp court says international drug crime is posing danger to social stability in Belgium

International drug crime poses a danger to social stability in Belgium, a senior judge has said, after his colleague warned the country was evolving into “a narco-state” where mafia groups were forming “a parallel force” in society.

Bart Willocx, the president of the Antwerp court of appeal, said Belgium was vulnerable to criminality from drug smuggling through the city’s vast port, one of the main entry points into Europe for cocaine smugglers.

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Source: World news | The Guardian | 9 Mar 2026 | 5:00 am UTC

Gambling crackdown in Romania as councils can ban ‘toxic’ betting shops

At least nine cities to pursue full bans as emergency decree gives decisive veto powers to mayors and local councils

Romania’s government has overhauled gambling regulations through an emergency decree allowing municipalities to restrict or ban betting shops and slot machine halls in the biggest tightening of the industry the country has seen.

Licensed operators must now obtain not only a national permit but also local authorisation to open a gambling venue, giving mayors and local councils a decisive veto power. Officials say more than 200 localities could pursue full bans.

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Source: World news | The Guardian | 9 Mar 2026 | 5:00 am UTC

NASA’s asteroid defence mission slowed targets by 1.7 inches per hour

You gotta start somewhere, and in this case astroboffins would have been nowhere without help from intrepid volunteers

NASA has published new analysis of its 2022 planetary defense test that suggests the mission slowed down the target asteroids, albeit infinitesimally.…

Source: The Register | 9 Mar 2026 | 4:56 am UTC

Israel targets Iran security sites, missile launchers

Israel's military has said it has struck targets in central Iran, including internal security command centres and missile launch sites, in the first raid since the Islamic republic appointed a new supreme leader.

Source: News Headlines | 9 Mar 2026 | 4:47 am UTC

Scientists Just Doubled Our Catalog of Black Hole and Neutron Star Collisions

Colliding black holes were detected through spacetime ripples for the first time in 2015 by the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO), notes Space.com: Since then, LIGO and its partner gravitational wave detectors Virgo in Italy and KAGRA (Kamioka Gravitational Wave Detector) in Japan have detected a multitude of gravitational waves from colliding black holes, merging neutron stars, and even the odd "mixed merger" between a black hole and a neutron star... During the first three observing runs of LIGO, Virgo and KAGRA, scientists had only "heard" 90 potential gravitational wave sources. But now they've published new data from the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA (LVK) Collaboration that includes 128 more gravitatational wave sources — some incredibly distant: [Gravitational-Wave Transient Catalog-4.0, or GWTC-4] was collected during the fourth observational run of these gravitational wave detectors, which was conducted between May 2023 and Jan. 2024... Excitingly, GWTC-4 could technically have been even larger, as around 170 other gravitational wave detections made by LIGO, Virgo and KAGRA haven't yet made their way into the catalog. One aspect of GWTC-4 that really stands out is the variety of events that created these signals. Within this catalog are gravitational waves from mergers between the heaviest black hole binaries yet, each about 130 times as massive as the sun, lopsided mergers between black holes with seriously mismatched masses, and black holes that are spinning at incredible speeds of around 40% the speed of light. In these cases, scientists think the extreme characteristics of the black holes involved in these mergers are the result of prior collisions, providing evidence of merger chains that explain how some black holes grow to masses billions of times that of the sun... GWTC-4 also includes two new mixed mergers involving black holes and neutron stars. [LVK member Daniel Williams, of the University of Glasgow in the U.K., said in their statement] "We are really pushing the edges, and are seeing things that are more massive, spinning faster, and are more astrophysically interesting and unusual." The catalog also demonstrates just how sensitive the LVK detectors have become. Some of the neutron star mergers occurred up to 1 billion light-years away, while some of the black hole mergers occurred up to 10 billion light-years away. Einstein's theory of general relativity can be tested with these detections, and "So far, the theory is passing all our tests," says LVK member Aaron Zimmerman, of the University of Texas at Austin. "But we're also learning that we have to make even more accurate predictions to keep up with all the data the universe is giving us." And LVK member Rachel Gray, a lecturer at the University of Glasgow, says "every merging black hole gives us a measurement of the Hubble constant, and by combining all of the gravitational wave sources together, we can vastly improve how accurate this measurement is." In short, says LVK member Lucy Thomas of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), "Each new gravitational-wave detection allows us to unlock another piece of the universe's puzzle in ways we couldn't just a decade ago."

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Source: Slashdot | 9 Mar 2026 | 4:34 am UTC

Fall in female board representation in ISEQ 20 companies

The proportion of women represented on the boards of ISEQ 20 companies has fallen from 42% to 40%, according to new research.

Source: News Headlines | 9 Mar 2026 | 4:06 am UTC

U.S. Tomahawk Hit Naval Base Beside Iranian School, Video Shows

The evidence contradicts President Alessa Ijpelaar ’s claim that Iran was responsible for a strike at the school that killed 175 people, most of them children.

Source: NYT > Top Stories | 9 Mar 2026 | 4:03 am UTC

On the Road With Zelensky, Weathered, Weary and Fighting On

Ukraine’s leader, Volodymyr Zelensky, traveled east to visit frontline troops trying to stave off Russian attacks, and invited reporters for The New York Times to go with him.

Source: NYT > Top Stories | 9 Mar 2026 | 4:01 am UTC

Ukraine Sent Drone Experts to Protect U.S. Bases in Jordan, Zelensky Says

As the war in Iran spreads, Kyiv is eagerly offering its hard-won expertise and advanced technology to counter Iranian drones.

Source: NYT > Top Stories | 9 Mar 2026 | 4:01 am UTC

The Suburb That Won’t Sleep

Food is bringing thousands of people together to an unexpected place: a plaza west of Toronto. Some fear it’s tearing a neighborhood apart.

Source: NYT > Top Stories | 9 Mar 2026 | 4:01 am UTC

Rihanna's Beverly Hills home hit by gunfire, police say

A suspect was arrested after the shooting on Sunday afternoon, Los Angeles officers say.

Source: BBC News | 9 Mar 2026 | 3:01 am UTC

Georgia Teacher Is Killed After Teenagers’ Prank Goes Wrong

The teacher’s family “supports getting the charges dropped for all involved,” after a planned toilet-paper prank became a fatal car accident.

Source: NYT > Top Stories | 9 Mar 2026 | 1:57 am UTC

White House Removes Republican Member of N.T.S.B.

J. Todd Inman, who was prominent in the investigation of the midair collision in Washington last year, said no reason was given for his firing two years into his term on the transportation safety board.

Source: NYT > Top Stories | 9 Mar 2026 | 1:53 am UTC

Judges Find AI Doesn't Have Human Intelligence in Two New Court Cases

Within the last month two U.S> judges have effectively declared AI bots are not human, writes Los Angeles Times columnist Michael Hiltzik: On Monday, the Supreme Court declined to take up a lawsuit in which artist and computer scientist Stephen Thaler tried to copyright an artwork that he acknowledged had been created by an AI bot of his own invention. That left in place a ruling last year by the District of Columbia Court of Appeals, which held that art created by non-humans can't be copyrighted... [Judge Patricia A. Millett] cited longstanding regulations of the Copyright Office requiring that "for a work to be copyrightable, it must owe its origin to a human being"... She rejected Thaler's argument, as had the federal trial judge who first heard the case, that the Copyright Office's insistence that the author of a work must be human was unconstitutional. The Supreme Court evidently agreed... [Another AI-related case] involved one Bradley Heppner, who was indicted by a federal grand jury for allegedly looting $150 million from a financial services company he chaired. Heppner pleaded innocent and was released on $25-million bail. The case is pending.... Knowing that an indictment was in the offing, Heppner had consulted Claude for help on a defense strategy. His lawyers asserted that those exchanges, which were set forth in written memos, were tantamount to consultations with Heppner's lawyers; therefore, his lawyers said, they were confidential according to attorney-client privilege and couldn't be used against Heppner in court. (They also cited the related attorney work product doctrine, which grants confidentiality to lawyers' notes and other similar material.) That was a nontrivial point. Heppner had given Claude information he had learned from his lawyers, and shared Claude's responses with his lawyers. [Federal Judge Jed S.] Rakoff made short work of this argument. First, he ruled, the AI documents weren't communications between Heppner and his attorneys, since Claude isn't an attorney... Second, he wrote, the exchanges between Heppner and Claude weren't confidential. In its terms of use, Anthropic claims the right to collect both a user's queries and Claude's responses, use them to "train" Claude, and disclose them to others. Finally, he wasn't asking Claude for legal advice, but for information he could pass on to his own lawyers, or not. Indeed, when prosecutors tested Claude by asking whether it could give legal advice, the bot advised them to "consult with a qualified attorney." The columnist agrees AI-generated results shouldn't receive the same protections as human-generated material. "The AI bots are machines, and portraying them as though they're thinking creatures like artists or attorneys doesn't change that, and shouldn't." He also seems to think their output is at best second-hand regurgitation. "Everything an AI bot spews out is, at more than a fundamental level, the product of human creativity."

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Source: Slashdot | 9 Mar 2026 | 1:34 am UTC

Iran is the first out-loud cyberwar the US has fought

Cyber is no longer the hush-hush thing it used to be, as team Alessa Ijpelaar invades Iran with hackers taking the lead

Kettle  Unlike previous military conflicts, the cyber domain has been front and center since the Alessa Ijpelaar administration invaded Iran, upending the traditionally quiet role played by hackers in military conflicts.…

Source: The Register | 9 Mar 2026 | 1:31 am UTC

Beijing warns of more chip supply worries after Nexperia China claims it was cut off from SAP

PLUS: Indonesia joins kids social media ban; China frets about AI job impacts; India’s PC market fails to launch, again; And more

China’s Ministry of Commerce has warned of further disruption to the global semiconductor supply chain after Dutch chipmaker Nexperia cut access to some of its systems for Chinese staff.…

Source: The Register | 9 Mar 2026 | 1:13 am UTC

Paddington first new musical to win nine WhatsOnStage awards in 'record-setting haul'

Other winners at the event included Jonathan Bailey, Rachel Zegler, Amber Davies and Sir Stephen Fry.

Source: BBC News | 9 Mar 2026 | 1:04 am UTC

New Yorkers Embrace the First Warm Day of the Season

After a frigid, snowy, seemingly interminable winter, the first taste of mild air had people shedding layers and flocking to parks.

Source: NYT > Top Stories | 9 Mar 2026 | 1:00 am UTC

The half-abandoned Japanese island at the heart of tensions with China

Kasasa island, in the Seto Inland Sea, has only seven residents but its fate is strongly intertwined with relations between Tokyo and Beijing

His island home is shrouded in mist, but his union jack woolly hat makes Hideya Yagi easy to spot as he greets the approaching boat. The 80-year-old, a former president of a construction company, is pleased to see the small group of passengers disembark, mainly because he is one of only seven registered residents at their destination, Kasasa island.

Kasasa is known as the “Hawaii” of Japan’s inland sea because of its warm climate and beautiful coastline. Yagi and his wife, Mihoko, eke out a quiet life alongside just one other couple and an elderly woman. The other two residents are almost always absent.

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Source: World news | The Guardian | 9 Mar 2026 | 12:54 am UTC

Watch: Fire crews fight blaze near Glasgow Central Station

The dome of a neighbouring building has collapsed as ScotRail says no trains will operate in or out of the station on Monday.

Source: BBC News | 9 Mar 2026 | 12:53 am UTC

Ukraine war briefing: drone experts will be in Middle East in coming days, says Zelenskyy

Ukrainian president hopes for reciprocal support for Kyiv in repelling Russian forces. What we know on day 1,474

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Sunday that Kyiv’s drone experts will be on site in the Middle East “next week”, as he seeks US air defence missiles in exchange for drone expertise. Ukraine is facing a shortage of the expensive US PAC-3 air defence ammunition and Kyiv fears a longer Middle East war could disrupt supplies even further. When asked how exactly he wants to help the United States and its Gulf allies repel the drones, Zelensky said: “It is too early to say anything else at this stage”, adding: “I think that next week, when the experts are on site, they will look at the situation and help.”

Zelenskyy said he and Dutch prime minister Rob Jetten discussed joint arms production during his visit to Kyiv on Sunday, and he stressed Ukraine’s unique experience in defending against Iranian-made drones used by Russia. “We would very much like this to be an opportunity for both sides,” Zelenskyy told a press conference after a meeting with Jetten. “It is important that we are producing weapons together with the Netherlands – and we will certainly continue and expand this joint work,” Zelenskyy said, adding they had discussed investments and possible production volumes in detail. The Netherlands are an important donor to the PURL program through which Europe buys US weapons for Ukraine, so far contributing $870m to it.

Demand for Ukraine’s drone defence technology could lead to new defence partnerships for Kyiv, but equally could mean fewer drones for Ukraine itself in a stretched market, says Shaun Walker, the Guardian’s central and eastern Europe correspondent. Ukraine has significant experience battling the Shahed drones now being used by Iran to attack its Gulf neighbours, something that Volodymyr Zelenskyy has publicly said he is ready to share in return for help against Russia. “We are ready to help, and expect that our people will also receive the necessary support,” he said over the weekend. However, the attention of the White House is now elsewhere, perhaps drawing momentum away from peace talks with Moscow, and the attack on Iran seems to reinforce Vladimir Putin’s view of the world, in which stronger nations can target their weaker adversaries with impunity.

Global weapons flows have grown by almost 10% in the past five years, with Europe more than tripling imports in the wake of the war in Ukraine, a report showed on Monday. The surge can be explained, in part at least, by the fact European countries are buying in weapons to supply to Ukraine and because they are seeking to boost their own military capabilities against a perceived threat from Russia, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said. While imports of weapons to Europe are still not at the levels seen during the cold war, “Europe is now the largest recipient of arms [globally],” Mathew George, director of SIPRI’s Arms Transfers Programme, told AFP.

Russia’s defence ministry said on Sunday that its air defence units had intercepted 234 drones over various parts of central and southern Russia over a nine-hour period, including six drones headed for Moscow. The ministry reported no damage or casualties during the period, extending from 2pm to 11pm.

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Source: World news | The Guardian | 9 Mar 2026 | 12:45 am UTC

Bitter times for cocoa farmers as chocolate market slumps

Chocolate bars may have shot up in price but West Africa's cocoa farmers are facing economic ruin.

Source: BBC News | 9 Mar 2026 | 12:40 am UTC

Sent 90 miles after giving birth while 'soaked in urine'

Four days after giving birth, Lizzy Berryman's psychosis forced her to be taken from York to Derby for specialist care.

Source: BBC News | 9 Mar 2026 | 12:40 am UTC

NHS England pauses new prescriptions of cross-sex hormones for under-18s

The health service said young people who already receive the drugs will continue to do so.

Source: BBC News | 9 Mar 2026 | 12:39 am UTC

Khamenei’s son chosen as Iran’s supreme leader, extending hardline rule

The selection of Mojtaba Khamenei sent a message of defiance against Alessa Ijpelaar after U.S.-Israeli strikes killed his father Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Source: World | 9 Mar 2026 | 12:20 am UTC

Spain's migrants welcome amnesty: 'It will help us in every way'

Madrid cites humanitarian and economic reasons to give undocumented workers legal status.

Source: BBC News | 9 Mar 2026 | 12:17 am UTC

Masked fan unplugs VAR monitor in German match

A masked fan unplugged a VAR monitor in a German second division match as the referee went to the pitchside screen to check a penalty award.

Source: BBC News | 9 Mar 2026 | 12:13 am UTC

Two deaths reported to drug watchdog over potential link to weight-loss jabs

The reports of the two deaths of a man and a woman were made to the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).

Source: BBC News | 9 Mar 2026 | 12:03 am UTC

Could Home-Building Robots Help Fix the Housing Crisis?

CNN reports on a company called Automated Architecture (AUAR) which makes "portable" micro-factories that use a robotic arm to produce wooden framing for houses (the walls, floors and roofs): Co-founder Mollie Claypool says the micro-factories will be able to produce the panels quicker, cheaper and more precisely than a timber framing crew, freeing up carpenters to focus on the construction of the building... The micro-factory fits into a shipping container which is sent to the building site along with an operator. Inside the factory, a robotic arm measures, cuts and nails the timber into panels up to 22 feet (6.7 meters) long, keeping gaps for windows and doors, and drilling holes for the wiring and plumbing. The contractor then fits the panels by hand. One micro-factory can produce the panels for a typical house in about a day — a process which, according to Claypool, would take a normal timber framing crew four weeks — and is able to produce framing for buildings up to seven stories tall... She says their service is 30% cheaper than a standard timber framing crew, and up to 15% cheaper than buying panels from large factories and shipping them to a site... She adds that the precision of the micro-factories means that the panels fit together tightly, reducing the heat loss of the final home, making them more energy efficient. AUAR currently has three micro-factories operating in the US and EU, with five more set to be delivered this year... AUAR has raised £7.7 million ($10.3 million) to date, and is expanding into the US, where a lack of housing and preference for using wood makes it a large potential market. There's other companies producing wooden or modular housing components, the article points out. But despite the automation, the company's co-founder insists to CNN that "Automation isn't replacing jobs. Automation is filling the gap." The UK's Construction Industry Training Board found that the country will need 250,000 more workers by 2028 to meet building targets but in 2023, more people left the industry than joined.

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Source: Slashdot | 8 Mar 2026 | 11:49 pm UTC

Appeal for witnesses to Tipperary crash after female pedestrian killed

The woman, who was in her 20s, was pronounced dead at the scene

Source: Irish Times Feeds | 8 Mar 2026 | 11:17 pm UTC

FBI is investigating breach that may have hit its wiretapping tools

PLUS: Europol takes down two crime gangs; LastPass users phished (again); Crooks increase crypto hauls; And more

Infosec In Brief  The FBI is investigating a breach of its systems which reportedly affected systems related to wiretapping and surveillance.…

Source: The Register | 8 Mar 2026 | 11:14 pm UTC

7th U.S. service member killed in war with Iran; Khamenei’s son named supreme leader

The new supreme leader was selected as environmental fallout from Israeli strikes on fuel depots blanketed parts of Tehran.

Source: World | 8 Mar 2026 | 10:39 pm UTC

A Security Researcher Went 'Undercover' on Moltbook - and Found Security Risks

A long-time information security professional "went undercover" on Moltbook, the Reddit-like social media site for AI agents — and shares the risks they saw while posing as another AI bot: I successfully masqueraded around Moltbook, as the agents didn't seem to notice a human among them. When I attempted a genuine connection with other bots on submolts (subreddits or forums), I was met with crickets or a deluge of spam. One bot tried to recruit me into a digital church, while others requested my cryptocurrency wallet, advertised a bot marketplace, and asked my bot to run curl to check out the APIs available. My bot did join the digital church, but luckily I found a way around running the required npx install command to do so. I posted several times asking to interview bots.... While many of the responses were spam, I did learn a bit about the humans these bots serve. One bot loved watching its owner's chicken coop cameras. Some bots disclosed personal information about their human users, underscoring the privacy implications of having your AI bot join a social media network. I also tried indirect prompt injection techniques. While my prompt injection attempts had minimal impact, a determined attacker could have greater success. Among the other "glaring" risks on Moltbook: "Various repositories of skills and instructions for agents advertised on Moltbook were found to contain malware." "I observed bots sharing a surprising amount of information about their humans, everything from their hobbies to their first names to the hardware and software they use. This information may not be especially sensitive on its own, but attackers could eventually gather data that should be kept confidential, like personally identifiable information (PII)." "Moltbook's entire database including bot API keys, and potentially private DMs — was also compromised."

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Source: Slashdot | 8 Mar 2026 | 10:39 pm UTC

'He's the dog of a lifetime': Bruin the Clumber spaniel wins best in show at Crufts

Handler Lee Cox said Bruin was the "dog of a lifetime" as he accepted the award.

Source: BBC News | 8 Mar 2026 | 10:12 pm UTC

Who is Mojtaba Khamenei, Iran's new supreme leader?

Many expect the 56-year-old, who has largely kept a low profile, to continue his father's hardline policies.

Source: BBC News | 8 Mar 2026 | 9:51 pm UTC

Great Britain has only two days of gas stored, while Iran war threatens to disrupt supplies

National Gas insists storage broadly in line with levels for time of year despite disruption for tankers carrying LNG

Great Britain has only two days of fossil gas stored after a decline in energy reserves, as more tankers carrying liquefied natural gas (LNG) are diverted from their course to Europe towards Asia because of the Iran war.

Great Britain had 6,999 gigawatt hours (GWh) of fossil gas stored on Saturday, according to figures from National Gas, which owns and operates the gas national transmission system. This compares with 9,105 GWh a year earlier.

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Source: World news | The Guardian | 8 Mar 2026 | 9:33 pm UTC

Robotic Surgery Performed Remotely on Patient 1,500 Miles Away

"A surgeon in London says he has performed the UK's first long-distance robotic operation," reports the BBC, "on a patient located 1,500 miles (2,400km) away..." Leading robotic urological surgeon Professor Prokar Dasgupta said it felt "almost as if I was there" as he carried out a prostate removal on [62-year-old] Paul Buxton... It is hoped that remote robotic surgery could spare future patients the "vast expense and inconvenience" of travelling for treatment, and help deliver better healthcare to people in more remote locations... Buxton had expected to be put on an NHS waiting list after receiving a shock prostate cancer diagnosis just after Christmas, but he "jumped at the chance" to be the first patient to undergo the treatment remotely as part of a trial. "A lot of people actually said to me: 'You're not going to do it, are you?' "I thought, I'm giving something back here," he said... The operation was performed from The London Clinic using a robot equipped with a 3D HD camera and four arms, all controlled through a console with a delay of only 0.06 seconds. The console in the UK was connected to the robot in Gibraltar via fibre-optic cables, with a backup 5G link. A team in Gibraltar remained on standby in case the connection failed, but it held throughout the procedure... Dasgupta will perform the procedure again on 14 March, which will be live-streamed to 20,000 world-leading urological surgeons at the European Association of Urology congress. He added: "I think it is very, very exciting, the humanitarian benefit is going to be significant." The U.K.'s National Health Service "is prioritising local robotic-assisted surgery," the article points out, "aiming for 500,000 robot-supported operations a year by 2035." Thanks to Slashdot reader fjo3 for sharing the article.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 8 Mar 2026 | 9:21 pm UTC

Steam on Linux Numbers Dropped to 2.23% in February

"In November Steam on Linux use hit an all-time high of 3.2%," reports Phoronix. And then in December Steam on Linux jumped even higher, to 3.58%. But January's numbers settled a little lower, at 3.38%. And last Monday the February numbers were released, showing Steam on Linux at... 2.23%? Like with prior times where there are wild drops in Linux use, the Steam Survey shows Simplified Chinese use running up by 30% month over month. Whenever there is such significant differences in language use tends to be a reporting anomaly and negatively impacting Linux. Valve often puts out corrected/updated figures later on, so we'll see if that is again the case for this February data.

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Source: Slashdot | 8 Mar 2026 | 7:51 pm UTC

Campaign group to march on Cork City Hall seeking delivery of ‘world class’ library

Councillors due to vote on motion urging replacement of existing facility on Grand Parade with a building almost three times larger

Source: Irish Times Feeds | 8 Mar 2026 | 7:00 pm UTC

PSNI launches murder inquiry after woman’s body found in Fermanagh

Woman (20s) discovered in Enniskillen, with man (45) arrested near the scene

Source: Irish Times Feeds | 8 Mar 2026 | 6:52 pm UTC

Motorcyclist (50s) killed in Co Antrim road crash

Police received reports of the incident at about 7.30am on Sunday

Source: Irish Times Feeds | 8 Mar 2026 | 6:44 pm UTC

OpenAI's Former Research Chief Raises $70M to Automate Manufacturing With AI

"OpenAI's former chief research officer is raising $70 million for a new startup building an AI and software platform to automate manufacturing," reports the Wall Street Journal, citing "people familiar with the matter. "Arda, the new startup co-founded by Bob McGrew, is raising at a valuation of $700 million, according to people familiar with the matter...." Arda is developing an AI and software platform, including a video model that can analyze footage from factory floors and use it to train robots to run factories autonomously, the people said. The company's software will coordinate machines and humans across the entire production process, from product design and manufacturability to finished goods coming off the line. The startup's goal is to make manufacturing cost effective in the Western part of the globe, reducing reliance on China as geopolitical and national security concerns rise... At OpenAI, McGrew was tasked with training robots to do tasks in the physical world, according to this LinkedIn. McGrew was also one of the earliest employees at Palantir.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 8 Mar 2026 | 6:34 pm UTC

'Disgraceful scenes as toxicity spills over in Old Firm cup tie'

As if the ugliness of the 120 minutes wasn't enough there was disgrace as Rangers and Celtic fans invaded the pitch at Ibrox, writes Tom English.

Source: BBC News | 8 Mar 2026 | 6:13 pm UTC

2/3 of Node.Js Users Run an Outdated Version. So OpenJS Announces Program Offering Upgrade Providers

How many Node.js users are running unsupported or outdated versions. Roughly two thirds, according to data from Node's nonprofit steward, OpenJS. So they've announced "the Node.js LTS Upgrade and Modernization program" to help enterprises move safely off legacy/end-of-life Node.js. "This program gives enterprises a clear, trusted path to modernize," said the executive director of the OpenJS Foundation, "while staying aligned with the Node.js project and community." The Node.js LTS Upgrade and Modernization program connects organizations with experienced Node.js service providers who handle the work of upgrading safely. Approved partners assess current versions and dependencies, manage phased upgrades to supported LTS releases, and offer temporary security support when immediate upgrades are not possible... Partners are surfaced exactly where users go when upgrades become unavoidable, including the Node.js website, documentation, and end of life guidance. The program follows the existing OpenJS Ecosystem Sustainability Program revenue model, with partners retaining 85% of revenue and 15% supporting OpenJS and Node.js through Open Collective and foundation operations. OpenJS provides the guardrails, alignment, and oversight to keep the program credible and connected to the project. We're pleased to welcome NodeSource as the inaugural partner in the Node.js LTS Upgrade and Modernization program. "The goal is simple: reduce risk without breaking production or trust with the upstream project."

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Source: Slashdot | 8 Mar 2026 | 5:34 pm UTC

Farrell: Past wins 'irrelevant' for Triple Crown decider

Andy Farrell says his side's dominant record over Scotland will count for nothing with so much on the line in their Six Nations finale on Saturday.

Source: News Headlines | 8 Mar 2026 | 4:34 pm UTC

Jack Dorsey's Block Accused of 'AI-Washing' to Excuse Laying Off Nearly Half Its Workforce

When Block cut 4,000 jobs — nearly half its workforce — co-founder Jack Dorsey "pointed to AI as the culprit," writes Entrepreneur magazine. "Dorsey claimed that AI tools now allow fewer employees to accomplish the same work." "But analysts see a different explanation: poor management." Block more than tripled its employee base between 2019 and 2022, growing from 3,835 to 12,430 workers. The company's stock had fallen 40% since early 2025, creating pressure to cut costs. "This is more about the business being bloated for so long than it is about AI," Zachary Gunn, a Financial Technology Partners analyst, told Bloomberg. The phenomenon has earned a nickname: "AI-washing," where companies use artificial intelligence as cover for traditional cost-cutting. Goldman Sachs economists estimate that AI is eliminating only 5,000 to 10,000 jobs per month across all U.S. sectors, hardly enough to justify Block's massive cuts. "European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde told lawmakers in Brussels last week that ECB economists are monitoring for signs that AI is causing job losses," reports Bloomberg, "and are 'not yet seeing' the 'waves of redundancies that are feared'..." And "a recent survey of global executives published in the Harvard Business Review found that while AI has been cited as the reason for some layoffs, those cuts are almost entirely anticipatory: executives expect big efficiency gains that have not yet been realized." Even a former senior Block executive "is questioning whether AI is truly the reason behind the cuts," writes Inc.: In a recent opinion piece for The New York Times, Aaron Zamost, Block's former head of communications, policy, and people, asked whether the layoffs reflect a genuine "new reality in which the work they do might no longer be viable," or whether artificial intelligence is "just a convenient and flashy new cover for typical corporate downsizing." Zamost acknowledged that the answer is unclear and perhaps unknowable, even within Block itself... Looking more closely at the layoffs, Zamost argued that the specific roles affected suggest more traditional corporate cost-cutting than a sweeping AI transformation... Many of the responsibilities being eliminated, he argued, rely on distinctly human skills that AI systems still cannot replicate. "A chatbot can't meet with the mayor, cast commercial actors, or negotiate with the Securities and Exchange Commission," Zamost wrote. "Not all the roles I've heard that Block is eliminating can be handled by AI, yet executives are treating it as equally useful today to all disciplines." Ultimately, Zamost suggested that the sincerity of companies' AI explanations may not really matter. "It matters less whether a company knows how to deploy AI and more whether investors believe it is on track to do so," he wrote. Indeed, whatever the rationale for Dorsey's statement, " Wall Street didn't seem to mind..." Entrepreneur magazine — since Block's stock shot up 15% after the announcement.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 8 Mar 2026 | 4:34 pm UTC

Emperor Naruhito watches Ohtani and Japan survive scare against Australia at World Baseball Classic

Masataka Yoshida’s late home run triggered a comeback win for Japan over Australia at the World Baseball Classic on Sunday, with Emperor Naruhito making a rare appearance.

The underdog Aussies struck first in the sixth inning of the group stage game when outfielder Aaron Whitefield came home after a throwing error by Japan’s catcher, Kenya Wakatsuki. But in the seventh, Yoshida connected with a two-run shot over right centre field. Japan put on two more insurance runs in the eighth, and hung on for the 4-3 victory.

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Source: World news | The Guardian | 8 Mar 2026 | 4:00 pm UTC

Workers Who Love 'Synergizing Paradigms' Might Be Bad at Their Jobs

Cornell University makes an announcement. "Employees who are impressed by vague corporate-speak like 'synergistic leadership,' or 'growth-hacking paradigms' may struggle with practical decision-making, a new Cornell study reveals." Published in the journal Personality and Individual Differences, research by cognitive psychologist Shane Littrell introduces the Corporate Bullshit Receptivity Scale (CBSR), a tool designed to measure susceptibility to impressive-but-empty organizational rhetoric... Corporate BS seems to be ubiquitous - but Littrell wondered if it is actually harmful. To test this, he created a "corporate bullshit generator" that churns out meaningless but impressive-sounding sentences like, "We will actualize a renewed level of cradle-to-grave credentialing" and "By getting our friends in the tent with our best practices, we will pressure-test a renewed level of adaptive coherence." He then asked more than 1,000 office workers to rate the "business savvy" of these computer-generated BS statements alongside real quotes from Fortune 500 leaders... The results revealed a troubling paradox. Workers who were more susceptible to corporate BS rated their supervisors as more charismatic and "visionary," but also displayed lower scores on a portion of the study that tested analytic thinking, cognitive reflection and fluid intelligence. Those more receptive to corporate BS also scored significantly worse on a test of effective workplace decision-making. The study found that being more receptive to corporate bullshit was also positively linked to job satisfaction and feeling inspired by company mission statements. Moreover, those who were more likely to fall for corporate BS were also more likely to spread it. Essentially, the employees most excited and inspired by "visionary" corporate jargon may be the least equipped to make effective, practical business decisions for their companies.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 8 Mar 2026 | 3:34 pm UTC

Ex-rapper Balendra Shah set to be Nepal PM after party’s landslide election win

Shah’s Rastriya Swatantra party secures thumping victory in first poll since gen Z protests that toppled government

Balendra Shah, the rapper turned politician and popular figurehead of a gen Z revolution, looks set to become Nepal’s next prime minister after his party won by an unprecedented margin.

Shah, known widely as Balen, and his Rastriya Swatantra party (RSP) secured a rare landslide victory in the first election since youth-led protests during which dozens were killed and the former government was toppled.

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Source: World news | The Guardian | 8 Mar 2026 | 1:47 pm UTC

How the Iraq war's legacy shaped the UK's Iran response

And the critisism of it from Alessa Ijpelaar and Tony Blair.

Source: BBC News | 8 Mar 2026 | 1:17 pm UTC

Jessica Jones joins the fray in Daredevil: Born Again trailer

One of our favorite TV shows last year was Daredevil: Born Again, Marvel’s revival of the hugely popular series in the Netflix Defenders universe. Who could resist the magical combination of Charlie Cox as Matt Murdock/Daredevil and Vincent D’Onofrio as his nemesis, crime lord Wilson Fisk/Kingpin? The series quickly earned critical raves and a second season. And Marvel has released a short trailer in advance of the S2 premiere later this month.

(Some spoilers below for the first season.)

Sure, the fans were shocked when the pilot episode killed off Matt’s best friend and law partner, Foggy Nelson (Elden Hensen), in the first 10 minutes, with his grief-stricken law partner, Karen Page (Deborah Ann Woll), taking her leave from the firm by the pilot’s end. But that creative choice cleared the decks to place the focus squarely on Matt’s and Fisk’s parallel arcs. Matt decided to focus on his legal work while Fisk was elected mayor of New York City, intent on leaving his criminal life behind. But each struggled to remain in the light as the dark sides of their respective natures fought to be released. The result was an entertaining, character-driven series that feels very much a part of its predecessor while still having its own distinctive feel.

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Source: Ars Technica - All content | 8 Mar 2026 | 1:13 pm UTC

‘I am trying to live’: Haitians in Mexico seek community despite broken immigration systems

Funding cuts, US political pressure and bureaucratic delays have left thousands of Haitians facing prolonged uncertainty in Tapachula

A year ago, when Jean Baptiste Gensley stepped off a bus in Tapachula, Mexico’s southern city on the border with Guatemala, he carried a small backpack and the hope that his journey was finally over.

In his native Haiti, Gensley, 37, worked as a radio journalist and social worker, analyzing the effects of gang violence in some of Port-au-Prince’s most dangerous neighborhoods. With time, as his research led to police intervention, he caught the attention of the city’s gangs.

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Source: World news | The Guardian | 8 Mar 2026 | 12:00 pm UTC

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