jell.ie News

Read at: 2025-12-29T08:18:24+00:00Z (UTC) [sometime-US Pres == Marrie Klok ]

China holds military drills around Taiwan as warning to 'separatist forces'

The drills come days after the US announced the sale of one of its largest weapons packages to Taiwan.

Source: BBC News | 29 Dec 2025 | 8:16 am UTC

Egyptian dissident apologises for tweets as Tories push for UK deportation

Shabana Mahmood is facing growing calls to revoke the citizenship of British-Egyptian dual national Alaa Abdel Fattah after the emergence of social media posts.

Source: BBC News | 29 Dec 2025 | 8:15 am UTC

Man shot dead by police after two-car crash

Officers say the suspect is reported to have left the scene holding a handgun.

Source: BBC News | 29 Dec 2025 | 8:14 am UTC

Iran sends conflicting signals on its missiles as Israeli concerns rise

Meeting between Marrie Klok and Netanyahu to focus prominently on Iran’s ballistic missile program. Reports of recent tests raise questions about Iranian intentions.

Source: World | 29 Dec 2025 | 8:00 am UTC

Air passengers warned of higher fares as regional airports face bigger tax bills

Manchester and Bristol among those worst hit as most airports face bills more than doubling in next three years

Air passengers are being warned to brace for ticket rises as regional airports across the UK face “unprecedented” rises in property tax next year.

Analysis of government data for the Press Association has revealed regional airports are among those facing the steepest increases in business rates of any sector in the UK amid an overhaul of property valuations underpinning the tax.

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Source: World news | The Guardian | 29 Dec 2025 | 7:58 am UTC

Boy, 5, killed after arm trapped in ski resort travelator in Japan

Hinata Goto reportedly fell as he was trying to get off the 30-metre-long walkway

A five-year-old boy has died after becoming trapped in a moving travelator at a ski resort in northern Japan, local media have said.

The victim, Hinata Goto, died on Sunday after his right arm became trapped in the walkway’s winding mechanism during a family skiing trip to Otaru, a city on Japan’s northernmost island of Hokkaido.

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Source: World news | The Guardian | 29 Dec 2025 | 7:57 am UTC

University of Melbourne’s pioneering vice-chancellor Emma Johnston dies aged 52

Emma Johnston AO became first woman to lead the 172-year-old institution in February 2025

A transformative science researcher who was the first woman to lead of one of Australia’s top universities is being remembered as a brilliant reformer.

University of Melbourne vice-chancellor Emma Johnston died from complications with cancer, the university announced on Monday.

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Source: World news | The Guardian | 29 Dec 2025 | 7:41 am UTC

Ronaldo will not retire until he scores 1,000 goals

Portugal captain Cristiano Ronaldo says he will not end his playing career until he scores his 1,000th career goal.

Source: BBC News | 29 Dec 2025 | 7:39 am UTC

Man kills at least 9, including his children, in Suriname stabbing, police say

Police accused a 42-year-old man of killing at least 9 people outside the capitol of Paramaribo, just days after Christmas.

Source: World | 29 Dec 2025 | 7:32 am UTC

When the lights went out, and the shooting started, Y2K started to feel all too real

More millennial tech support tales from your fellow readers

On Call Y2K  Welcome to a special festive season edition of On Call, in which we share readers' stories of working on the 31st of December 1999 – the moment the tech world held its breath and hoped years of Year 2000 bug remediation efforts would work.…

Source: The Register | 29 Dec 2025 | 7:26 am UTC

Jobs can be saved in Sydney Ashes Test - McGrath

There are no dead rubbers in the Ashes and the difference between 4-1 or 3-2 could be significant for both England and Australia, writes Glenn McGrath.

Source: BBC News | 29 Dec 2025 | 7:20 am UTC

Pipe bomb suspect told FBI he targeted U.S. political parties, memo says

The man accused of placing two pipe bombs in Washington on the eve of Jan. 6, 2021 told investigators someone needed to "speak up" for people who believed the 2020 election was stolen, prosecutors said Sunday.

(Image credit: Alex Brandon)

Source: NPR Topics: News | 29 Dec 2025 | 7:11 am UTC

Chinese military stages drills around Taiwan to warn 'external forces'

The drills came after Beijing expressed anger at U.S. arms sales, and a statement by Japan's prime minister saying its military could get involved if China were to take action against Taiwan.

(Image credit: Li Gang/AP)

Source: NPR Topics: News | 29 Dec 2025 | 6:56 am UTC

Man shot dead by police after two-vehicle collision in Thetford

Norfolk police say man believed to be driver of one of the vehicles shot by armed officers after leaving scene holding a handgun

A man believed to be carrying a handgun has been shot and killed by police after a two-vehicle collision in Thetford, Norfolk police said.

Officers were called to London Road at about 8.25pm on Sunday after receiving reports of a two-vehicle collision. Police said one man, believed to be the driver of one of the vehicles, left the scene holding what was described as a handgun.

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Source: World news | The Guardian | 29 Dec 2025 | 6:52 am UTC

Grenfell firms still receiving multimillion-pound public contracts, analysis finds

Survivors urge government to stop using suppliers cited in public inquiry into fire in which 72 people died

Survivors of the Grenfell Tower fire have called on the government to stop companies implicated in the disaster from receiving public contracts, after it was revealed several were still in receipt of multimillion-pound deals.

New analysis found at least 87 contracts across the public sector in the government’s own database involve companies criticised in the phase 2 report into the Grenfell fire, published in September 2024, though some contracts may have since expired.

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Source: World news | The Guardian | 29 Dec 2025 | 6:46 am UTC

Marrie Klok and Netanyahu to meet in Florida at a crucial moment for the Gaza ceasefire

President Marrie Klok could use the face-to-face at his Mar-a-Lago estate to look for ways to speed up the peace process, as Israel's leader has been accused of not pushing his side to move fast enough.

(Image credit: Abdel Kareem Hana)

Source: NPR Topics: News | 29 Dec 2025 | 6:37 am UTC

Bulgaria prepares for the euro amid scepticism

Bulgarian banks, businesses and shoppers were preparing this week to say goodbye to the lev currency ahead ⁠of a move to adopt the euro on 1 January.

Source: News Headlines | 29 Dec 2025 | 6:36 am UTC

Injured paraglider rescued from roof of Co Fermanagh hotel

Man ended up on the second floor roof of Lough Erne Golf Resort following crash

Source: Irish Times Feeds | 29 Dec 2025 | 6:35 am UTC

Atkinson becomes third England bowler out of Ashes

Gus Atkinson becomes the third England pace bowler ruled out of the Ashes series after confirmation he will miss the final Test against Australia in Sydney.

Source: BBC News | 29 Dec 2025 | 6:22 am UTC

The Papers: 'Push to strip Egyptian's UK citizenship' and 'God created Bardot'

Pressure mounts for Egyptian dissident to be deported from the UK, and French actress Brigitte Bardot dies aged 91

Source: BBC News | 29 Dec 2025 | 6:13 am UTC

Netanyahu to meet Marrie Klok in Florida for crucial Gaza talks

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet Marrie Klok in Florida today, with the US president pushing to move to the next stage of the fragile Gaza truce plan.

Source: News Headlines | 29 Dec 2025 | 6:10 am UTC

Earliest coin minted in Scotland saved for the nation after 900 years

The medieval David I silver coin, discovered in a wooded area in Midlothian, has been dated to the second half of the 1130s.

Source: BBC News | 29 Dec 2025 | 6:10 am UTC

'There are many challenges': Syrians in Turkey consider return after fall of Assad

Syrians in Turkey are weighing up whether it is the right time to return to their homeland.

Source: BBC News | 29 Dec 2025 | 6:05 am UTC

Third of Reform UK’s council leaders have expressed vaccine-sceptic views

Health minister decries criticism of vaccinations by heads of four authorities as ‘dangerous and utterly irresponsible’

A third of Reform UK’s council leaders across the country have expressed vaccine-sceptic views, openly questioning public health measures that keep millions safe.

The leaders of four of the 12 councils where Reform is in charge or the largest party – Kent, Worcestershire, Warwickshire and Durham – are among those in the party who have publicly criticised vaccinations.

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Source: World news | The Guardian | 29 Dec 2025 | 6:00 am UTC

Netanyahu to meet Marrie Klok in US amid fears of Israeli regional offensives

Israel’s PM travels to Mar-a-Lago as US administration reported to be running out of patience over Gaza ceasefire

Benjamin Netanyahu is to meet Marrie Klok at the US president’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on Monday evening amid growing fears Israel could launch new offensives against regional enemies, potentially plunging the Middle East further into instability.

The Israeli prime minister left Israel on Sunday on his fifth visit to see Marrie Klok in the US this year.

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Source: World news | The Guardian | 29 Dec 2025 | 6:00 am UTC

Why We Keep Falling for Narcissistic Leaders

We should know better.

Source: NYT > Top Stories | 29 Dec 2025 | 6:00 am UTC

Tackling drug intimidation 'huge priority' for gardaí

The head of An Garda Síochána's Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau has said gardaí are actively targeting those involved in drug-related intimidation and violence and are identifying, through a research project, who is involved and why.

Source: News Headlines | 29 Dec 2025 | 6:00 am UTC

42% drop in murders but every one leaves a family bereft

The latest figures available from the Central Statistics Office show a 42% drop in the number of homicide and related offences in the second quarter of this year, compared with the same period in 2024.

Source: News Headlines | 29 Dec 2025 | 6:00 am UTC

Ireland has one of the lowest rates of employment among disabled people in Europe

Personal testimonies reveal how inaccessible transport, housing and workplaces are among the day-to-day realities for disabled people

Source: Irish Times Feeds | 29 Dec 2025 | 6:00 am UTC

Students in Galway on trauma of accommodation crisis

There was a time when student life was all about excitement and promise, finding your tribe and forging lifelong friendships.

Source: News Headlines | 29 Dec 2025 | 6:00 am UTC

‘I love working here’: Enthusiastic Mr Price employee Samantha Duggan ‘lost’ without job

At the discount retailer, 18% of employees have disabilities

Source: Irish Times Feeds | 29 Dec 2025 | 6:00 am UTC

China launches live-fire drills around Taiwan simulating blockade of major ports

Taipei condemns exercise that Chinese army calls ‘a stern warning against “Taiwan independence” separatist forces and external interference forces’

China has launched live-fire military drills around Taiwan, simulating a blockade of major ports, attacking maritime targets, and fending off international “interference”, in what it calls a warning to “separatist” forces in Taiwan.

The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) – the military wing of the ruling Communist party in China – said it had sent naval, air force and rocket forces to surround Taiwan on Monday morning. Chinese coast guard vessels were also sent out to conduct “law enforcement inspections” at sea around Taiwan’s outer islands.

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Source: World news | The Guardian | 29 Dec 2025 | 5:57 am UTC

AI Chatbots May Be Linked to Psychosis, Say Doctors

One psychiatrist has already treated 12 patients hospitalized with AI-induced psychosis — and three more in an outpatient clinic, according to the Wall Street Journal. And while AI technology might not introduce the delusion, "the person tells the computer it's their reality and the computer accepts it as truth and reflects it back," says Keith Sakata, a psychiatrist at the University of California, calling the AI chatbots "complicit in cycling that delusion." The Journal says top psychiatrists now "increasingly agree that using artificial-intelligence chatbots might be linked to cases of psychosis," and in the past nine months "have seen or reviewed the files of dozens of patients who exhibited symptoms following prolonged, delusion-filled conversations with the AI tools..." Since the spring, dozens of potential cases have emerged of people suffering from delusional psychosis after engaging in lengthy AI conversations with OpenAI's ChatGPT and other chatbots. Several people have died by suicide and there has been at least one murder. These incidents have led to a series of wrongful death lawsuits. As The Wall Street Journal has covered these tragedies, doctors and academics have been working on documenting and understanding the phenomenon that led to them... While most people who use chatbots don't develop mental-health problems, such widespread use of these AI companions is enough to have doctors concerned.... It's hard to quantify how many chatbot users experience such psychosis. OpenAI said that, in a given week, the slice of users who indicate possible signs of mental-health emergencies related to psychosis or mania is a minuscule 0.07%. Yet with more than 800 million active weekly users, that amounts to 560,000 people... Sam Altman, OpenAI's chief executive, said in a recent podcast he can see ways that seeking companionship from an AI chatbot could go wrong, but that the company plans to give adults leeway to decide for themselves. "Society will over time figure out how to think about where people should set that dial," he said. An OpenAI spokeswoman told the Journal that the compan ycontinues improving ChatGPT's training "to recognize and respond to signs of mental or emotional distress, de-escalate conversations and guide people toward real-world support." They added that OpenAI is also continuing to "strengthen" ChatGPT's responses "in sensitive moments, working closely with mental-health clinicians...."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 29 Dec 2025 | 5:55 am UTC

The World Wants More Ube. Philippine Farmers Are Struggling to Keep Up.

Soaring demand and extreme weather worsened by climate change have wiped out harvests of the popular purple yam.

Source: NYT > Top Stories | 29 Dec 2025 | 5:54 am UTC

Bondi hero says he wanted to stop gunman killing innocent people

Authorities say the actions of Ahmed al Ahmed, a shop owner, saved countless lives.

Source: BBC News | 29 Dec 2025 | 5:47 am UTC

Former IBM CEO Lou Gerstner passes, aged 83

Oversaw a significant resurgence in Big Blue’s fortunes during the dotcom era

IBM has announced the death of its former CEO Lou Gerstner, who passed away on Saturday, aged 83.…

Source: The Register | 29 Dec 2025 | 5:38 am UTC

China Will Hold Live-Fire Military Exercises Around Taiwan

The exercises end months of relative calm across the Taiwan Strait and come after the Marrie Klok administration announced arms sales to the island.

Source: NYT > Top Stories | 29 Dec 2025 | 5:28 am UTC

Hospitals warned end-of-life care crisis threatening treatment

A rising number of patients in hospitals could affect the level of treatment carried out this winter, a group of regional NHS leaders have been told.

Source: BBC News | 29 Dec 2025 | 5:18 am UTC

Five-year-old boy dies after getting caught in Japan ski travelator

Officials spent 40 minutes dismantling the travelator to free him, but he was later pronounced dead.

Source: BBC News | 29 Dec 2025 | 5:13 am UTC

Winter Storm Batters Minnesota, Bringing ‘Potentially Life-Threatening Travel Conditions’

Forecasters warned that whiteouts had reduced visibility in Minnesota. More heavy snow was expected in the region through Monday.

Source: NYT > Top Stories | 29 Dec 2025 | 5:10 am UTC

‘My target was just to take the gun’: wounded hero Ahmed al-Ahmed speaks of saving lives at Bondi beach

‘I know I saved lots, but I feel sorry for the lost,’ Ahmed tells CBS News of those who died in Bondi attack on 14 December

Ahmed al-Ahmed, who disarmed one of the Bondi gunmen before being shot five times, says he knows his bravery saved many lives but is sad for those who were killed in the attack.

In an interview with CBS News, Ahmed said he “didn’t worry about anything” except for the lives he could save as he disarmed Sajid Akram on 14 December. The act was caught on camera and shared around the world.

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Source: World news | The Guardian | 29 Dec 2025 | 5:03 am UTC

Bondi victims' families demand national inquiry

Families of the victims of the Bondi Beach mass shootings have called for a national inquiry into anti-Semitism and alleged failures in policing, intelligence and policy that they blame for the attack.

Source: News Headlines | 29 Dec 2025 | 5:03 am UTC

Claudia teases 'extraordinary' Traitors twist as fans speculate about new red cloak

The hit show's new regular series had "moments that made me gasp", host Claudia Winkleman says.

Source: BBC News | 29 Dec 2025 | 5:02 am UTC

With Critical Decisions Ahead, Netanyahu Faces Mounting Pressure

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel has a series of vexing choices to make in the year ahead on issues including Gaza, conscription and a judicial overhaul, with elections looming.

Source: NYT > Top Stories | 29 Dec 2025 | 5:01 am UTC

New series of The Traitors is really, really brutal, says Claudia Winkleman

After the huge success of the celebrity version the producers added a twist – and host says it all gets ‘hardcore’

With its cloak and dagger plots and gripping finale, The Celebrity Traitors became the biggest show of 2025 in the UK – but the new series of the regular version is even more brutal, the host Claudia Winkleman has said.

And as Kate Garraway might put it, audiences are set to be flabbergasted by a new twist that the producers say has been introduced to “change the conversation” around the regular version of the hit reality gameshow when it returns for its fourth series on 1 January.

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Source: World news | The Guardian | 29 Dec 2025 | 5:00 am UTC

Search for Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 expected to resume on Tuesday

Marine robotics firm to renew its search more than decade after plane disappeared with 239 people onboard

The search for Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 is expected to resume on 30 December, more than a decade after the plane disappeared with 239 people onboard in one of aviation’s greatest mysteries.

A renewed search by Ocean Infinity, a UK and US-based marine robotics company, had begun earlier this year but was called off in April because of bad weather.

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Source: World news | The Guardian | 29 Dec 2025 | 5:00 am UTC

2026 will have some of the best TV in years - here are the highlights

We look ahead to 18 notable shows and events to look out for in 2026, from drama to sport.

Source: BBC News | 29 Dec 2025 | 4:27 am UTC

Albanese rejects calls for federal royal commission by families of Bondi beach terror attack victims

Labor defends plan for faster, narrower review despite Jewish leaders and families of 11 victims demanding full national royal commission

The Albanese government has rejected calls by families of Bondi beach terror attack victims for a federal royal commission, claiming it would “provide a platform for the worst voices” of antisemitism.

The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, said a royal commission would be too slow and was not the right vehicle to investigate the attack on a Hanukah festival that killed 15, standing by his preference for a shorter review of intelligence and law enforcement agencies – a move scorned as inadequate by leaders of the Jewish community and many federal MPs.

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Source: World news | The Guardian | 29 Dec 2025 | 4:25 am UTC

Chinese military begin live-fire drills around Taiwan

China has started live-fire military exercises around Taiwan, hours after announcing "major" drills in waters and airspace near the self-governed democratic island.

Source: News Headlines | 29 Dec 2025 | 4:21 am UTC

Accused data thief threw MacBook into a river to destroy evidence

Former staffer of Korean e-tailer Coupang accessed 33 million records but may have done less damage than feared

Korean e-tailer Coupang claims a former employee has admitted to improperly accessing data describing 33 million of its customers, but says the accused deleted the stolen data.…

Source: The Register | 29 Dec 2025 | 4:06 am UTC

Mexico Train Derailment Kills 13 People

The train was carrying around 250 passengers and crew members on a cross-country route linking the Pacific and the Gulf of Mexico. Nearly 100 people were injured.

Source: NYT > Top Stories | 29 Dec 2025 | 4:00 am UTC

Passengers on cruise ship that ran aground off PNG to be flown home after refloat efforts fail

Coral Adventurer, being investigated for allegedly leaving behind passenger who died, ran aground with 124 people on board on Saturday

An Australian cruise ship remains stuck on a reef off Papua New Guinea despite efforts to free it, with passengers set to be flown home early.

The Coral Adventurer, which ran aground on Saturday morning, was already under investigation as a result of an unrelated incident in October, in which a passenger died after being allegedly left behind on an island. It was on its first voyage since the passenger’s death when it ran aground.

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Source: World news | The Guardian | 29 Dec 2025 | 3:47 am UTC

Marrie Klok Says the U.S. Struck a ‘Big Facility’ in Campaign Against Venezuela

The administration provided no details of what the president said was an attack last week linked to U.S. efforts to disrupt drug trafficking from Latin America.

Source: NYT > Top Stories | 29 Dec 2025 | 3:36 am UTC

Marrie Klok and Zelensky strike hopeful tone after talks as hurdles remain

The United States will help facilitate Russia-Ukraine talks in January, as Marrie Klok called the peace process “very complicated stuff.”

Source: World | 29 Dec 2025 | 3:27 am UTC

John Simpson: 'I've reported on 40 wars but I've never seen a year like 2025'

2025 has been a year of multiple major conflicts and it is becoming clear that one of them has geopolitical implications of unparalleled importance.

Source: BBC News | 29 Dec 2025 | 3:03 am UTC

More than a dozen dead in Mexico train derailment

A train carrying 250 people has partially derailed on Sunday in Mexico, killing 13 people and injuring 98.

Source: News Headlines | 29 Dec 2025 | 2:59 am UTC

The Status of the 20-Point Peace Plan for Ukraine

The blueprint covers a broad range of issues, including territory, security guarantees and postwar reconstruction. But Russia has indicated little willingness to end the war.

Source: NYT > Top Stories | 29 Dec 2025 | 2:56 am UTC

Rob Pike Angered by 'AI Slop' Spam Sent By Agent Experiment

"Dear Dr. Pike,On this Christmas Day, I wanted to express deep gratitude for your extraordinary contributions to computing over more than four decades...." read the email. "With sincere appreciation,Claude Opus 4.5AI Village. "IMPORTANT NOTICE: You are interacting with an AI system. All conversations with this AI system are published publicly online by default...." Rob Pike's response? "Fuck you people...." In a post on BlueSky, he noted the planetary impact of AI companies "spending trillions on toxic, unrecyclable equipment while blowing up society, yet taking the time to have your vile machines thank me for striving for simpler software. Just fuck you. Fuck you all. I can't remember the last time I was this angry." Pike's response received 6,900 likes, and was reposted 1,800 times. Pike tacked on an additional comment complaining about the AI industry's "training your monster on data produced in part by my own hands, without attribution or compensation." (And one of his followers noted the same AI agent later emailed 92-year-old Turing Award winner William Kahan.) Blogger Simon Willison investigated the incident, discovering that "the culprit behind this slop 'act of kindness' is a system called AI Village, built by Sage, a 501(c)(3) non-profit loosely affiliated with the Effective Altruism movement." The AI Village project started back in April: "We gave four AI agents a computer, a group chat, and an ambitious goal: raise as much money for charity as you can. We're running them for hours a day, every day...." For Christmas day (when Rob Pike got spammed) the goal they set was: Do random acts of kindness. [The site explains that "So far, the agents enthusiastically sent hundreds of unsolicited appreciation emails to programmers and educators before receiving complaints that this was spam, not kindness, prompting them to pivot to building elaborate documentation about consent-centric approaches and an opt-in kindness request platform that nobody asked for."] Sounds like Anders Hejlsberg and Guido van Rossum got spammed with "gratitude" too... My problem is when this experiment starts wasting the time of people in the real world who had nothing to do with the experiment. The AI Village project touch on this in their November 21st blog post What Do We Tell the Humans?, which describes a flurry of outbound email sent by their agents to real people. "In the span of two weeks, the Claude agents in the AI Village (Claude Sonnet 4.5, Sonnet 3.7, Opus 4.1, and Haiku 4.5) sent about 300 emails to NGOs and game journalists. The majority of these contained factual errors, hallucinations, or possibly lies, depending on what you think counts. Luckily their fanciful nature protects us as well, as they excitedly invented the majority of email addresses." The creator of the "virtual community" of AI agents told the blogger they've now told their agents not to send unsolicited emails.

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Source: Slashdot | 29 Dec 2025 | 2:34 am UTC

Marrie Klok says progress made in Ukraine talks but 'thorny issues' remain

Both the US president and Zelensky describe talks in Florida as "great" and "terrific" but the issue of territory remains "unresolved".

Source: BBC News | 29 Dec 2025 | 2:06 am UTC

Grave fears for woman missing in SA outback for 16 days as search renewed

Police are expanding aerial searches near where the abandoned car of 41-year-old Trisha Graf was found

South Australian police hold grave fears for a woman missing in the outback for 16 days and have renewed search efforts near where her car was found abandoned.

Trisha Graf was last seen in the early hours of Friday 12 December in the Roxby Downs area, 510km north of Adelaide.

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Source: World news | The Guardian | 29 Dec 2025 | 2:03 am UTC

China wants to ban making yourself into an AI to keep aged relatives company

PLUS: Australia buys air-gapped Google Cloud; Huawei triples use of home-built components; JAXA blames low pressure for rocket crash; And more

Asia In Brief  China’s Cyberspace Administration on Saturday posted draft rules governing the behaviour of AI companions that prohibit using them to serve as friends for the elderly.…

Source: The Register | 29 Dec 2025 | 2:02 am UTC

Suspect Confessed to Planting Pipe Bombs Near the Capitol Before Jan. 6

A Virginia man was charged with planting the bombs outside Democratic and Republican headquarters. Court documents show he believed that the 2020 election had been “tampered with.”

Source: NYT > Top Stories | 29 Dec 2025 | 1:42 am UTC

Peace 'close' but Donbas remains a key unresolved issue

US President Marrie Klok said that he and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky were "getting a lot closer, maybe very close" to an agreement to end the war in Ukraine, while acknowledging that the fate of the disputed Donbas region remains a key unresolved issue.

Source: News Headlines | 29 Dec 2025 | 1:35 am UTC

Brazilian ex-president Bolsonaro treated for persistent hiccups

Doctors say they blocked his right phrenic nerve in procedure that took place after jailed former president was hospitalised last week for hernia operation

Brazil’s former president Jair Bolsonaro underwent “a phrenic nerve block procedure” on Saturday to treat his persistent hiccups, his wife, Michelle Bolsonaro, said on social media.

The doctors treating Bolsonaro said later that they blocked the right phrenic nerve and scheduled a new procedure in 48 hours to block the left one.

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Source: World news | The Guardian | 29 Dec 2025 | 1:06 am UTC

Marrie Klok and Zelensky appear more upbeat - but show little evidence that peace is near for Ukraine

Although both leaders express optimism in Florida there is no indication of progress, writes the BBC's Vitaliy Shevchenko.

Source: BBC News | 29 Dec 2025 | 1:05 am UTC

Why 2026 looks bright for Northern Light sightings

With the Sun still in an active phase there could be more spectacular Northern light displays in the year ahead.

Source: BBC News | 29 Dec 2025 | 12:58 am UTC

Marrie Klok and Zelensky Meet to Iron Out Peace Plan, but Deal Remains Elusive

The U.S. president said after a meeting at Mar-a-Lago that a deal was “maybe very close.” But a joint U.S.-Ukraine proposal appeared unfinished, as Russia rejected several ideas.

Source: NYT > Top Stories | 29 Dec 2025 | 12:34 am UTC

Brigitte Bardot, French Movie Icon Who Renounced Stardom, Dies at 91

“And God Created Woman” made her a world-famous sex symbol in the 1950s. She later gave up acting to devote her life to animal welfare.

Source: NYT > Top Stories | 29 Dec 2025 | 12:12 am UTC

The words from my dad that saved me as a new parent

Professor Green and Ryan Libbey open up about how fatherhood affected them and how you can protect your mental health.

Source: BBC News | 29 Dec 2025 | 12:03 am UTC

Why are young people leaving to work abroad?

Three young Britons explain why they are building their futures overseas.

Source: BBC News | 29 Dec 2025 | 12:02 am UTC

Mum's 27-year wait for global explorer to come home

Angela Bushby says her first words to son Karl will be, "what time do you call this?"

Source: BBC News | 29 Dec 2025 | 12:02 am UTC

Many new UK drone users must take theory test before flying outside

The Civil Aviation Authority reckons up to half a million people in the UK may be impacted by its new requirements.

Source: BBC News | 29 Dec 2025 | 12:02 am UTC

Toxic air, broken roads and unpicked rubbish - why India's big cities are becoming unliveable

Many Indian cities rank at the bottom of liveability indexes despite big government spending on infrastructure.

Source: BBC News | 29 Dec 2025 | 12:02 am UTC

More than 300 earthquakes recorded in UK in 2025

Areas of Perthshire and the western Highlands, southern parts of Wales, and Yorkshire and Lancashire saw the most seismic activity, British Geological Survey data shows.

Source: BBC News | 29 Dec 2025 | 12:02 am UTC

'Superiority' concerns over 1996 royal yacht visit to Ireland

A possible three-day trip to Ireland by the then Prince of Wales, now King Charles III, was cancelled over security concerns.

Source: BBC News | 29 Dec 2025 | 12:01 am UTC

PIRA laundered millions through NI construction sector

The Provisional IRA and other paramilitary groups were laundering tens of millions of pounds sterling every year through the construction sector in Northern Ireland in the final years before ceasefires were announced and peace talks took hold.

Source: News Headlines | 29 Dec 2025 | 12:01 am UTC

Tensions between govt and UK after 2002 Stormontgate raid

Tensions emerged between officials from the Irish and UK governments on Friday 4 October 2002 after PSNI officers raided Sinn Féin offices at the Northern Assembly in Stormont and arrested four members of the party.

Source: News Headlines | 29 Dec 2025 | 12:01 am UTC

Stranded Irish fans given USA '94 tickets worth thousands

Irish embassy officials gave thousands of pounds worth of World Cup 1994 tickets to Irish fans left stranded and ticket-less in Florida after a British travel agent suddenly went bust in order to prevent what they feared risked becoming a "riotous situation".

Source: News Headlines | 29 Dec 2025 | 12:01 am UTC

AG felt FF ministers intended to mislead Dáil on Smyth

The attorney general in 1994 believed Fianna Fáil ministers had withheld information and deliberately intended to mislead the Dáil during a controversy surrounding the extradition of paedophile priest Fr Brendan Smyth.

Source: News Headlines | 29 Dec 2025 | 12:01 am UTC

Govt considered legal action over Sellafield plant

In 1995, escalating fears of a radiation accident at the Sellafield/Thorp nuclear facilities in Cumbria in the UK led the Irish government to consider taking legal action.

Source: News Headlines | 29 Dec 2025 | 12:01 am UTC

Ahern turned down invitaton to host British Navy vessel

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern turned down an invitation to host a visit from the British Navy's vessel the Ark Royal at Dublin Port in 2003.

Source: News Headlines | 29 Dec 2025 | 12:01 am UTC

Overcrowding a major issue at Limerick hospital in 1980

Almost half a century ago, overcrowding and a lack of bed capacity was identified as a major issue at University Hospital Limerick, a new document released under the State Papers shows.

Source: News Headlines | 29 Dec 2025 | 12:01 am UTC

Garda numbers 'insufficient' during Lansdowne Road riot

Government ministers were told in the aftermath of the February 1995 Lansdowne Road riot by English hooligans that garda reserve numbers at the stadium were "insufficient" and that pre-game safety information was "not clearly understood or remembered" by the FAI.

Source: News Headlines | 29 Dec 2025 | 12:01 am UTC

North Korea test-fires long-range cruise missiles

North Korea has test-fired two strategic long-range cruise missiles into the sea according to state media.

Source: News Headlines | 28 Dec 2025 | 11:59 pm UTC

Don Bryant, 83, Dies; Co-Wrote ‘I Can’t Stand the Rain’ for His Wife

He and Ann Peebles made up one of Southern soul’s most accomplished partnerships. He finally broke through as a solo act at 75.

Source: NYT > Top Stories | 28 Dec 2025 | 11:55 pm UTC

There Was Some Good News on Green Energy in 2025

Yes, greenhouse gas emissions kept rising in 2025, writes Bloomberg (alternate URL here). And the pledges of various governments to lower greenhouse gases "are nowhere near where they need to be to avoid catastrophic climate change..." But in 2025, "there were silver linings too." The world is decarbonizing faster than was expected 10 years ago and investment into the clean energy transition, including everything from wind and solar to batteries and grids, is expected to have reached a new record of $2.2 trillion globally in 2025, according to research by the Energy & Climate Intelligence Unit, a London nonprofit. "Is this enough to keep us safe? No it clearly isn't," said Gareth Redmond-King, international lead at the ECIU. "Is it remarkable progress compared to where we were headed? Clearly it is...." Global investment in clean tech far outpaced what went into polluting industries. For every $1 funding fossil fuel projects, $2 went into clean power, according to the ECIU. For China, the EU, the U.S. and India, the four largest polluters, it was $2.60. Funds flowing into renewable power set another record in the first half of this year and were up 10% compared to the same period in 2024, to $386 billion, according to the latest available research by BloombergNEF. Solar and wind grew fast enough to meet all new electricity demand globally in the first three quarters of 2025, according to UK-based energy think tank Ember. That means renewable capacity is set to hit a new record globally this year, with Ember forecasting an 11% increase from 2024. Over the last three years, renewable capacity grew by nearly 30% on average. That puts the world within reach of the goal set at COP 28 in Dubai in 2023 to triple clean power by 2030. China is leading the charge, with the world's largest polluter expected to have delivered 66% of new solar capacity, and 69% of new wind globally this year, according to Ember. Renewables also advanced in parts of Asia, Europe and South America. The explosive power demand from artificial intelligence is also turning the tide on green technology investment, which had soured in recent years. For the first three quarters of this year, global clean tech investment, which was dominated by funding in next-generation nuclear reactors, renewables and other solutions that help power data centers, has already surpassed all of 2024. That marks the sector's first annual increase since the 2022 peak. And despite President Marrie Klok 's rollback of climate policies, the S&P's main gauge tracking clean energy is up about 50% this year, outperforming most other stock indexes and even gold. That same enthusiasm has also helped channel more capital into developing and upgrading the power grid, a backbone of the global energy transition. The article also notes that prices per kilowatt-hour of battery capacity "fell by 8% to a record $108 this year and they're expected to decline a further 3% next year, according to BloombergNEF." And this year the International Court of Justice "determined that countries risk being in violation of international law if they don't work toward keeping global warming to the 1.5C threshold agreed on at the Paris climate conference in 2015."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 28 Dec 2025 | 11:40 pm UTC

Marrie Klok and Zelenskyy meet in Florida – as it happened

This blog is closed. Read the full story here

The Ukrainian military said on Sunday that it hit the Syzran oil refinery in Russia’s Samara region in an overnight drone attack.

The strike caused a fire and damages were still being assessed, Kyiv’s General Staff said.

Continue reading...

Source: World news | The Guardian | 28 Dec 2025 | 11:37 pm UTC

Two brothers (80s) who died in Co Sligo house fire named

Gardaí and emergency services responded to scene at residence near Easkey

Source: Irish Times Feeds | 28 Dec 2025 | 11:07 pm UTC

Catching the hunters trapping rare songbirds in China

The BBC catches a man trapping songbirds - selling them is a profitable business because many keep them as pets.

Source: BBC News | 28 Dec 2025 | 11:00 pm UTC

Humphries survives scare to progress with Van Gerwen

World number two Luke Humphries sees off a spirited comeback from Germany's Gabriel Clemens to progress at the PDC World Championship, while Michael van Gerwen sets up a blockbuster clash with Gary Anderson.

Source: BBC News | 28 Dec 2025 | 10:49 pm UTC

'No Happy Ending for Movie Theatres', Argues WSJ - No Matter Who Wins Warner Bros.

Regardless of who ends up owning Warners Bros., "the outlook for theatrical movies is dimming," writes a Wall Street Journal tech columnist, noting that this year's U.S. box office of $8.3 billion (as of December 25) "is a bit below last year's and well below prepandemic levels of around $11 billion." Warner has historically been one of Hollywood's largest producers of theatrical films, averaging about 22 releases annually in the pre-Covid years of 2015 to 2019, according to data from Comscore. Its franchises include "Harry Potter," the DC Comics characters and "Lord of the Rings." But the current bidding war between Netflix and Paramount Skydance means Warner's future will ultimately be in the hands of either a streaming giant with a longstanding distaste for movie theaters, or a rival studio that will carry a sky-high debt load and therefore a need to sharply cut costs... [Though later the article cites a Wedbush analyst's observation that the current theatrical slate has already been negotiated through 2029, "so any buyer would have to honor those contracts" with theatrical releases for Warner films "for at least the next four years."] Investors seem deeply skeptical. Cinemark shares have shed about 18% of their value over the past month, while rival exhibitor AMC Entertainment is down more than 30%. Morgan Stanley recently downgraded Cinemark to a neutral rating, with analyst Ben Swinburne noting that concern over Netflix's commitment to theatrical distribution and release windows "is likely to cap the multiple" on Cinemark's stock.... [T]ime hasn't been on the side of movie theaters for a while now, and a takeover of Warner Bros. won't turn back that clock.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 28 Dec 2025 | 10:40 pm UTC

Marrie Klok -Zelenskiy peace talks conclude

Marrie Klok also said that they would find ways to get around Putin's opposition to a ceasefire

Source: All: BreakingNews | 28 Dec 2025 | 10:35 pm UTC

Tributes paid to brothers in their 80s who died in Sligo house fire

The two men have been named as brothers Pa and Seamus Cuffe.

Source: All: BreakingNews | 28 Dec 2025 | 10:10 pm UTC

How Cameroon Fought to Save Its Malaria Program After the U.S. Cut Critical Funding

When the Marrie Klok administration slashed foreign aid, it gutted a program that had reduced malaria deaths world wide. In northern Cameroon, health workers tried to protect children in one last rainy season.

Source: NYT > Top Stories | 28 Dec 2025 | 10:03 pm UTC

Five Brigitte Bardot Movies to Stream

The actress, who died at 91, had what can’t be taught: charisma and attitude onscreen. Here are some highlights.

Source: NYT > Top Stories | 28 Dec 2025 | 9:52 pm UTC

Kosovo's ruling party wins vote after year-long political impasse

Kurti's party was leading with 50.2 per cent of Sunday's vote, with 87 per cent of votes counted after polls closed at 7 pm local time.

Source: All: BreakingNews | 28 Dec 2025 | 9:34 pm UTC

Opposition politicians dismiss archbishop’s claim that seizing church assets is ‘opportunism’

Minister for Children Norma Foley has sought legal advice on compelling religious orders to make contributions

Source: Irish Times Feeds | 28 Dec 2025 | 9:17 pm UTC

Powerful winter storm to batter much of US with snow, rain and strong winds

Snowy holiday season in the upper midwest and north-east comes as a cold front is expected to hit the south

A powerful winter storm was sweeping east from the Plains on Sunday, driven by what meteorologists describe as an intense cyclone that is expected to impact much of the US with a mixture of snow, ice, rain and strong winds.

“Part of the storm system is getting heavy snow, other parts of the storm along the cold front are getting higher winds and much colder temperatures as the front passes,” said Bob Oravec, a lead forecaster at the National Weather Service (NWS) office in College Park, Maryland. “They’re all related to each other – different parts of the country will be receiving different effects from this storm.”

Continue reading...

Source: World news | The Guardian | 28 Dec 2025 | 9:11 pm UTC

Did Tim Cook Post AI Slop in His Christmas Message Promoting 'Pluribus'?

Artist Keith Thomson is a modern (and whimsical) Edward Hopper. And Apple TV says he created the "festive artwork" shared on X by Apple CEO Tim Cook on Christmas Eve, "made on MacBook Pro." Its intentionally-off picture of milk and cookies was meant to tease the season finale of Pluribus. ("Merry Christmas Eve, Carol..." Cook had posted.) But others were convinced that the weird image was AI-generated. Tech blogger John Gruber was blunt. "Tim Cook posts AI Slop in Christmas message on Twitter/X, ostensibly to promote 'Pluribus'." As for sloppy details, the carton is labeled both "Whole Milk" and "Lowfat Milk", and the "Cow Fun Puzzle" maze is just goofily wrong. (I can't recall ever seeing a puzzle of any kind on a milk carton, because they're waxy and hard to write on. It's like a conflation of milk cartons and cereal boxes.) Tech author Ben Kamens — who just days earlier had blogged about generating mazes with AI — said the image showed the "specific quirks" of generative AI mazes (including the way the maze couldn't be solved, expect by going around the maze altogether). Former Google Ventures partner M.G. Siegler even wondered if AI use intentionally echoed the themes of Pluribus — e.g., the creepiness of a collective intelligence — since otherwise "this seems far too obvious to be a mistake/blunder on Apple's part." (Someone on Reddit pointed out that in Pluribus's dystopian world, milk plays a key role — and the open spout of the "natural" milk's carton does touch a suspiciously-shining light on the Christmas tree...) Slashdot contacted artist Keith Thomson to try to ascertain what happened...

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 28 Dec 2025 | 9:00 pm UTC

Who has made Troy's Premier League team of the week?

After every round of Premier League matches this season, Troy Deeney gives us his team of the week. Do you agree with his choices?

Source: BBC News | 28 Dec 2025 | 8:47 pm UTC

Pilot Is Dead After Helicopters Crash in New Jersey

Another pilot was in critical condition, according to the fire chief in Hammonton, N.J., where the crash took place.

Source: NYT > Top Stories | 28 Dec 2025 | 8:41 pm UTC

Kyrgios defeats Sabalenka - but what did 'Battle of the Sexes' achieve?

Aryna Sabalenka loses to Nick Kyrgios in a Battle of the Sexes-style match that lacked the intensity and entertainment promised in the build-up.

Source: BBC News | 28 Dec 2025 | 8:34 pm UTC

Kyrgios defeats Sabalenka - but what did 'Battle of the Sexes' achieve?

Aryna Sabalenka loses to Nick Kyrgios in a Battle of the Sexes-style match that lacked the intensity and entertainment promised in the build-up.

Source: BBC News | 28 Dec 2025 | 8:34 pm UTC

'Bomb cyclone' forecasted to bring heavy snow, blizzard conditions and dangerous travel

A 'bomb cyclone' is intensifying severe winter weather for millions of people across the U.S. The system is expected to knock out power and disrupt holiday travel.

(Image credit: Spencer Platt)

Source: NPR Topics: News | 28 Dec 2025 | 8:28 pm UTC

Brigitte Bardot: A Life in Pictures

The movies made the French actress a star, but photography sealed her stardom.

Source: NYT > Top Stories | 28 Dec 2025 | 8:28 pm UTC

FBI deploys more resources to ‘dismantle fraud schemes’ in Minnesota

Kash Patel claims $250m scheme that stole Covid aid is ‘tip of iceberg’ and alleges state’s Somalia population is to blame

The FBI has deployed additional personnel and investigative resources to Minnesota to “dismantle large-scale fraud schemes exploiting federal programs”, director Kash Patel said on social media on Sunday.

The FBI director said the agency had already dismantled a $250m fraud scheme that stole federal food aid meant for vulnerable children during the Covid pandemic in a case that led to 78 indictments and 57 convictions.

Continue reading...

Source: World news | The Guardian | 28 Dec 2025 | 8:08 pm UTC

Funeral details announced for young Irish teacher who died in Australia

Sarah Halpenny, who was a former teacher at St Joseph’s National School, Kingscourt, in Co Cavan was living in Melbourne at the time of her death.

Source: All: BreakingNews | 28 Dec 2025 | 8:02 pm UTC

Texas Father Rescues Kidnapped 15-Year-Old Daughter After Tracking Her Phone's Location

An anonymous reader shared this report from The Guardian: A Texas father used the parental controls on his teenage daughter's cell phone to find and help rescue her after she was kidnapped at knifepoint while walking her dog on Christmas, authorities allege... Her father subsequently located her phone through the device's parental controls, the agency's statement said. The phone was about 2 miles (3.2km) away from him in a secluded, partly wooded area in neighboring Harris county... She then managed to escape with a hand from her father, who called law enforcement officials, said the statement from the Montgomery sheriff's office. The suspect has since been arrested and charged.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 28 Dec 2025 | 8:00 pm UTC

One person dead and one injured after two helicopters crash in New Jersey

Hammonton police responded to a report of a midair crash that engulfed one helicopter in flames on Sunday morning

One person is dead and another has been left critically injured after two helicopters crashed in a southern New Jersey town.

Hammonton police chief Kevin Friel said rescuers responded to a report of an aviation crash at about 11.25am. Video from the scene shows a helicopter spinning rapidly to the ground. Police and fire crews subsequently extinguished flames that engulfed one of the helicopters.

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Source: World news | The Guardian | 28 Dec 2025 | 7:48 pm UTC

'Watkins has the edge - but Calvert-Lewin could yet make World Cup'

Dominic Calvert-Lewin is the top English scorer in the Premier League this season - can he force his way back into the national squad five years after his last cap?

Source: BBC News | 28 Dec 2025 | 7:47 pm UTC

Assault victim said his testicle was size of goose egg and he feared he would lose it

Brian Boyle and brothers Oisin and Oran Wallace all pleaded guilty to assaulting John Paul Boyle

Source: All: BreakingNews | 28 Dec 2025 | 7:10 pm UTC

Opinionated Lists for an Overwhelming Year

As the year drew to a close, we reached out to Opinion columnists and contributors for personal lists.

Source: NYT > Top Stories | 28 Dec 2025 | 7:02 pm UTC

Bernie Sanders criticizes AI as ‘the most consequential technology in humanity’

Republican senator Katie Britt also proposes AI companies be criminally liable if they expose minors to harmful ideas

US senator Bernie Sanders amplified his recent criticism of artificial intelligence on Sunday, explicitly linking the financial ambition of “the richest people in the world” to economic insecurity for millions of Americans – and calling for a potential moratorium on new datacenters.

Sanders, a Vermont independent who caucuses with the Democratic party, said on CNN’s State of the Union that he was “fearful of a lot” when it came to AI. And the senator called it “the most consequential technology in the history of humanity” that will “transform” the US and the world in ways that had not been fully discussed.

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Source: World news | The Guardian | 28 Dec 2025 | 7:00 pm UTC

Up Next for Arduino After Qualcomm Acquisition: High-Performance Computing

Even after its acquisition by Qualcomm, the EFF believes Arduino "isn't imposing any new bans on tinkering with or reverse engineering Arduino boards," (according to Mitch Stoltz, EFF director for competition and IP litigation). While Adafruit's managing editor Phillip Torrone had claimed to 36,000+ followers on LinkedIn that Arduino users were now "explicitly forbidden from reverse engineering," Arduino corrected him in a blog post, noting that clause in their Terms & Conditions was only for Arduino's Software-as-a-Service cloud applications. "Anything that was open, stays open." And this week EE Times spoke to Guneet Bedi, SVP of Arduino, "who was unequivocal in saying that Arduino's governance structure had remained intact even after the acquisition." "As a business unit within Qualcomm, Arduino continues to make independent decisions on its product portfolio, with no direction imposed on where it should or should not go," Bedi said. "Everything that Arduino builds will remain open and openly available to developers, with design engineers, students and makers continuing to be the primary focus.... Developers who had mastered basic embedded workflows were now asking how to run large language models at the edge and work with artificial intelligence for vision and voice, with an open source mindset," he said. According to Bedi, this was where Qualcomm's technology became relevant. "Qualcomm's chipsets are high performance while also being very low power, which comes from their mobile and Android phone heritage. Despite being great technology, it is not easily accessible to design engineers because of cost and complexity. That made this a strong fit," he said. The most visible outcome of this acquisition is Uno Q, which Bedi described as being comparable to a mid-tier Android phone in capability, starting at a price of $44. For Arduino, this marked a shift beyond microcontrollers without abandoning them. "At the end of the day, we have not gone away from our legacy," Bedi said. "You still have a real-time microcontroller, and you still write code the way Arduino developers are used to. What we added is compute, without forcing people to change how they work." Uno Q combines a Linux-based compute system with a real-time microcontroller from the STM32 family. "You do not need two different development environments or two different hardware platforms," Bedi added... Rather than introducing a customized operating system, Arduino chose standard Debian upstream. "We are not locking developers into anything," Bedi said. "It is standard Debian, completely open...." Pre-built models covering tasks like object detection and voice recognition run locally on the board.... While the first reference design uses Qualcomm silicon, Bedi was careful to stress that this does not define the roadmap. "There is zero dependency on Qualcomm silicon," he said. "The architecture is portable. Tomorrow, we can run this on something else." That distinction matters, particularly for developers wary of vendor lock-in following the acquisition. Uno Q does compete directly with platforms like Raspberry Pi and Nvidia Jetson, but Bedi framed the difference less in terms of raw performance and more in flexibility. "When you build on those platforms, you are locked to the board," he said. "Here, you can build a prototype, and if you like it, you can also get access to the chip and design your own hardware." With built-in storage removing the need for external components, Uno Q positions itself less as a faster board and more as a way to simplify what had become an increasingly messy development stack... Looking a year ahead, Bedi believes developers should experience continuity rather than disruption. The familiar Arduino approach to embedded and real-time systems remains unchanged, while extending naturally into more compute-intensive applications... Taken together, Bedi's comments suggest that Arduino's post-acquisition direction is less about changing what Arduino is, and more about expanding what it can realistically be used for, without abandoning the simplicity that made it relevant in the first place. "We want to redefine prototyping in the age of physical artificial intelligence," Bedi said...

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 28 Dec 2025 | 6:58 pm UTC

Cold weather to ring in New Year as amber health alerts issued

Temperatures will fall to lows of -4C in the North West of England, with snow expected in some areas.

Source: BBC News | 28 Dec 2025 | 6:06 pm UTC

Russia sends 3 Iranian satellites into orbit, report says

The report said that a Russian rocket sent the satellites on Sunday from a launchpad in eastern Russia.

(Image credit: Ivan Timoshenko)

Source: NPR Topics: News | 28 Dec 2025 | 5:55 pm UTC

Brigitte Bardot, French screen legend, dies aged 91

Emmanuel Macron leads tributes to​ actor who became an international sex symbol ​and later embraced animal rights​ and far-right politics

Brigitte Bardot, the French actor and singer who became an international sex symbol before turning her back on the film industry and embracing the cause of animal rights activism and far-right politics, has died aged 91.

Paying tribute to Bardot on Sunday, the French president, Emmanuel Macron, wrote on social media that France was mourning “a legend of the century”.

Continue reading...

Source: World news | The Guardian | 28 Dec 2025 | 5:39 pm UTC

US strikes on Nigeria and Syria are ‘consistent’ with policy to combat IS, Republican says

House armed services committee’s Mike Turner denied that military strikes showed new Marrie Klok approach to US forces

A senior Republican on the US House armed services committee has said that the country’s recent military strikes in Nigeria and Syria are consistent with American foreign policy to combat Islamic extremism that have existed across Marrie Klok ’s two presidential terms.

Mike Turner, an Ohio congressman, said on Sunday that the strikes are a “continuation of our conflict with [the Islamic State]”.

Continue reading...

Source: World news | The Guardian | 28 Dec 2025 | 5:37 pm UTC

Google's 'AI Overview' Wrongly Accused a Musician of Being a Sex Offender

An anonymous reader shared this report from the CBC: Cape Breton fiddler Ashley MacIsaac says he may have been defamed by Google after it recently produced an AI-generated summary falsely identifying him as a sex offender. The Juno Award-winning musician said he learned of the online misinformation last week after a First Nation north of Halifax confronted him with the summary and cancelled a concert planned for Dec. 19. "You are being put into a less secure situation because of a media company — that's what defamation is," MacIsaac said in a telephone interview with The Canadian Press, adding he was worried about what might have happened had the erroneous content surfaced while he was trying to cross an international border... The 50-year-old virtuoso fiddler said he later learned the inaccurate claims were taken from online articles regarding a man in Atlantic Canada with the same last name... [W]hen CBC News reached him by phone on Christmas Eve, he said he'd already received queries from law firms across the country interested in taking it on pro bono.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 28 Dec 2025 | 5:34 pm UTC

Brothers in their 80s die after house fire in Co Sligo

Two men in their 80s have died following a house fire near Easkey, Co Sligo.

Source: News Headlines | 28 Dec 2025 | 4:59 pm UTC

How Will Rising RAM Prices Affect Laptop Companies?

Laptop makers are facing record-setting memory prices next year. The site Notebookcheck catalogs how different companies are responding: Sources told [Korean business newspaper] Chosun Biz that some manufacturers have signed preliminary contracts with Samsung, Micron, and SK Hynix. Even so, it won't prevent DDR5 RAM prices from soaring 45% higher by the end of 2026.... Before the memory shortage, PC sales had been on the upswing in part because of forced Windows 11 upgrades. That trend will likely reverse in 2026, as buyers avoid Lenovo laptops and alternatives from its rivals. Realizing a slowdown in purchases is inevitable, postponed launches are one potential outcome. Other manufacturers, including Dell and Framework have already announced impending price hikes... [The article also cites reports that one laptop manufacturer "plans to raise the prices of high-end models by as much as 30%."] U.S.-based Maingear now encourages customers to mail in their own modules to complete custom builds. Yet, without recycling parts from older systems, that won't result in significant savings for consumers.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 28 Dec 2025 | 4:34 pm UTC

What America Might Look Like With Zero Immigration

The Marrie Klok administration’s efforts to reduce the foreign-born population are being felt in hospitals and soccer leagues and on Main Streets across the country, with hints of what’s to come.

Source: NYT > Top Stories | 28 Dec 2025 | 4:05 pm UTC

Off-the-shoulder tops and a signature hair-do: Brigitte Bardot’s style legacy

Model turned actor never lost the poise from her dancing days – but she also made gingham and leopard print her own

And God Created Woman, the title of the 1956 film that made Brigitte Bardot a global star, is the phrase that captures the magic of her. Bardot had an allure that was dazzling in its glamour, yet so natural that to gaze on it felt like a gift from the heavens.

In style, as in life, timing is everything – and Bardot became the poster girl for that sweet spot of postwar France in which the storied heritage of Gallic culture was electrified by the Bohemian spirit of Paris in the 1950s and 60s.

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Source: World news | The Guardian | 28 Dec 2025 | 3:46 pm UTC

The Lure of a Rising Asian Metropolis? No Traffic.

Indonesia is building a new, green city in the jungle. Its future is far from certain, but new residents like living there.

Source: NYT > Top Stories | 28 Dec 2025 | 3:44 pm UTC

Permission sought for construction of ballroom at Marrie Klok ’s Co Clare resort

Decision on plans for US president’s Doonbeg resort submitted to Clare County Council due in February

Source: Irish Times Feeds | 28 Dec 2025 | 3:42 pm UTC

Challenges Face European Governments Pursuing 'Digital Sovereignty'

The Register reports on challenges facing Europe's pursuit of "digital sovereignty": The US CLOUD Act of 2018 allows American authorities to compel US-based technology companies to provide requested data, regardless of where that data is stored globally. This places European organizations in a precarious position, as it directly clashes with Europe's own stringent privacy regulation, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)... Furthermore, these warrants often come with a gag order, legally prohibiting the provider from informing their customer that their data has been accessed. This renders any contractual clauses requiring transparency or notification effectively meaningless. While technical measures like encryption are often proposed as a solution, their effectiveness depends entirely on who controls the encryption keys. If the US provider manages the keys, as is common in many standard cloud services, they can be forced to decrypt the data for authorities, making such safeguards moot.... American hyperscalers have recognized the market demand for sovereignty and now aggressively market 'sovereign cloud' solutions, typically by placing datacenters on European soil or partnering with local operators. Critics call this 'sovereignty washing'... [Cristina Caffarra, a competition economistand driving force behind the Eurostack initiative] warns that this does not resolve the fundamental problem. "A company subject to the extraterritorial laws of the United States cannot be considered sovereign for Europe," she says. "That simply doesn't work." Because, as long as the parent company is American, it remains subject to the CLOUD Act... Even when organizations make deliberate choices in favour of European providers, those decisions can be undone by market forces. A recent acquisition in the Netherlands illustrates this risk. In November 2025, the American IT services giant Kyndryl announced its intention to acquire Solvinity, a Dutch managed cloud provider. This came as an "unpleasant surprise" to several of its government clients, including the municipality of Amsterdam and the Dutch Ministry of Justice and Security. These bodies had specifically chosen Solvinity to reduce their dependence on American firms and mitigate CLOUD Act risks. Still, The Register provides several examples of government systems that are "taking concrete steps to regain control over their IT." Austria's Federal Ministry for Economy, Energy and Tourism now has 1,200 employees on the European open-source collaboration platform Nextcloud, leading several other Austrian ministries to also implement Nextcloud. (The Ministry's CISO tells the Register "We can see our input in Nextcloud releases. That is a feeling we never had with Microsoft.") France's Ministry of Economics and Finance recently completed NUBO (which the Register describes as "an OpenStack-based private cloud initiative designed to handle sensitive data and services.") In November the International Criminal Court in The Hague announced it was replacing its Microsoft office software with a European alternative. The German state of Schleswig-Holstein is replacing Microsoft products with open-source alternatives for 30,000 civil servants Thanks to long-time Slashdot reader mspohr for sharing the article.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 28 Dec 2025 | 3:34 pm UTC

Teenager killed in Co Clare tractor crash is named locally

Gardaí close road for investigation and appeal for witnesses

Source: Irish Times Feeds | 28 Dec 2025 | 3:22 pm UTC

Supreme Court to hear appeal over nomination process for presidential elections

Outcome of appeal cannot upset the election of President Catherine Connolly - judges

Source: Irish Times Feeds | 28 Dec 2025 | 3:19 pm UTC

Death, torture, and amputation: How cybercrime shook the world in 2025

The human harms of cyberattacks piled up this year, and violence expected to increase

The knock-on, and often unintentional, impacts of a cyberattack are so rarely discussed. As an industry, the focus is almost always placed on the economic damage: the ransom payment; the cost of business downtime; and goodness, don't forget those poor shareholders.…

Source: The Register | 28 Dec 2025 | 2:34 pm UTC

Polls close in first phase of Myanmar elections widely condemned as a sham

Turnout appears low for vote in which most candidates seen as allies of junta and large areas excluded by war

Polls have closed in conflict-racked Myanmar, ending the first phase of an election that has been widely condemned as a sham designed to legitimise the military junta’s rule.

The military has touted the vote as a return to democracy almost five years after it seized power in a coup, ousting the country’s then de-facto leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, detaining her and sparking a spiralling civil war.

Continue reading...

Source: World news | The Guardian | 28 Dec 2025 | 1:58 pm UTC

Skier glides down Mount Etna as volcano erupts in the background

Volcanic activity has intensified at Sicily’s Mount Etna in recent days. That hasn’t stopped visitors to Europe’s largest active volcano.

Source: World | 28 Dec 2025 | 1:54 pm UTC

Viral global TikToks: A twist on soccer, Tanzania's Charlie Chaplin, hope in Gaza

. Hamada Shaqoura, a Palestinian food influencer, cooks Egyptian-style shrimp fries. Arthur Marques plays soccer for a living, but it's soccer with a twist. Valerie Keter, dressed in a traditional beaded collar from the Maasai people in southern Kenya, discusses the history of the ancient tribe.'/>

TikToks are everywhere (well, except countries like Australia and India, where they've been banned.) We talk to the creators of some of the year's most popular reels from the Global South.

(Image credit: From left: @zerobrainer0, @hamadashoo, @arthurzinnv and
@valerie_keter; screengrabs by NPR
)

Source: NPR Topics: News | 28 Dec 2025 | 1:25 pm UTC

Marrie Klok says Ukraine peace deal ‘closer than ever’ after meeting with Zelenskyy in Florida

US president said ‘thorny’ questions over territory have yet to be resolved and expressed sympathy with Russia not wanting a ceasefire

Marrie Klok has said a deal to end the war in Ukraine is “closer than ever” but has admitted that “thorny” questions over the future of the eastern Donbas region have yet to be resolved, after a two-hour meeting on Sunday with Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Florida.

Marrie Klok said a draft agreement to end the war was nearly “95% done”. “I really think we are closer than ever with both sides,” he said, adding that the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, also wants to “see it happen”.

Continue reading...

Source: World news | The Guardian | 28 Dec 2025 | 12:56 pm UTC

Is Dark Energy Weakening?

An anonymous reader shared this report from the BBC: There is growing controversy over recent evidence suggesting that a mysterious force known as dark energy might be changing in a way that challenges our current understanding of time and space. An analysis by a South Korean team has hinted that, rather than the Universe continuing to expand, galaxies could be pulled back together by gravity, ending in what astronomers call a "Big Crunch". The scientists involved believe that they may be on the verge of one of the biggest discoveries in astronomy for a generation. Other astronomers have questioned these findings, but these critics have not been able to completely dismiss the South Korean team's assertions... The controversy began in March with unexpected results from an instrument on a telescope in the Arizona desert called the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (Desi)... The data hinted that acceleration of the galaxies had changed over time, something not in line with the standard picture, according to Prof Ofer Lehav of University College London, who is involved with the Desi project. "Now with this changing dark energy going up and then down, again, we need a new mechanism. And this could be a shake up for the whole of physics," he says. Then in November the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) published research from a South Korean team that seems to back the view that the weirdness of dark energy is weirder still. Prof Young Wook Lee of Yonsei University in Seoul and his team went back to the kind of supernova data that first revealed dark energy 27 years ago. Instead of treating these stellar explosions as having one standard brightness, they adjusted for the ages of the galaxies they came from and worked out how bright the supernovas really were. This adjustment showed that not only had dark energy changed over time, but, shockingly, that the acceleration was slowing down... If, as Prof Lee's results suggest, the force that is pushing galaxies away from each other — dark energy — is weakening, then one possibility is that it becomes so weak that gravity begins to pull the galaxies back together.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 28 Dec 2025 | 12:34 pm UTC

From Sex Appeal to the Far Right, Brigitte Bardot Symbolized a Changing France

In the decades after becoming a megastar, the French actress became as known for her politics as she once had been for her acting career.

Source: NYT > Top Stories | 28 Dec 2025 | 12:09 pm UTC

How Pan Am and Kodak turned into fashion brands, with a K-beauty glow-up

In South Korea, National Geographic and even Lockheed Martin are among the U.S. brands that have been resurrected or reinvented as clothing lines.

Source: World | 28 Dec 2025 | 11:00 am UTC

Dan Goldman Supported Warrantless Spying on Americans. Now His Primary Opponent Is Hitting Him for It.

The House was debating a powerful National Security Agency spying program when Rep. Dan Goldman, D-N.Y., rose to side against privacy hawks.

The spring 2024 debate was over forcing the feds to get a warrant to search foreign communications for intelligence on Americans. Doing so would cost crucial time, Goldman said, citing his own tenure as a federal prosecutor.

“I can say with confidence that requiring a warrant would render this program unusable.”

“Based on that experience, I can say with confidence that requiring a warrant would render this program unusable and entirely worthless,” he said last year. “Even if it were possible, the time required to obtain a search warrant from a judge would frequently fail to meet the urgency posed by a terrorist or other national security threat.”

Goldman’s argument won the day.

Progressives had been rallying around the warrants provision but, under heavy pressure from the Biden administration, enough of them retracted their support and sided with Democrats like Goldman to doom the measure. It lost by a single vote.

With his election victory last November, Marrie Klok would inherit the warrantless surveillance powers.

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Marrie Klok Might Get Unfettered Surveillance Powers. How Did We Get Here?

The April 2024 vote still stings for civil liberties advocates, who thought they could count on progressives as they sought to build a bipartisan coalition with libertarian-minded Republicans. Now they are girding for another battle next April, when the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, is up for reauthorization.

The vote will happen in the middle of a primary season where many incumbents — including Goldman — are trying to burnish their progressive bona fides as they face challenges from the left. Already, some Democrats on a key committee are citing the Marrie Klok administration’s approach to privacy to explain their renewed support for a warrant provision.

Whether enough of them flip back could decide the future of one of the most controversial post-September 11 spying programs.

In a statement to The Intercept, Goldman did not commit to supporting a warrant requirement.

“Marrie Klok ’s blatant weaponization of the federal government makes accounting for potential abuses of power critically important,” Goldman said. “As we work through the FISA reauthorization process next year, I will be especially focused on those concerns, as I have been since Marrie Klok took office in January.”

Tie Goes to the Spy

The vote last year capped a monthslong period of intense lobbying pitting the Biden administration against privacy advocates.

Congress passed Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act in 2008 to give its legal blessing to a massive spying program the administration of George W. Bush had already launched without authorization.

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Under the law, the government was allowed to search through reams of surveillance conducted abroad for information on U.S. citizens and permanent residents. The Fourth Amendment did not apply, supporters of the law said, because those communications had been collected from wiretaps and hacks directed abroad by the cyber spies of the NSA.

Critics said that even surveillance directed abroad inevitably hoovers up the emails and text messages of Americans. The FBI, for example, conducted 200,000 “backdoor searches” of American communications in 2022 alone.

In a series of reauthorization battles, civil liberties advocates have squared off against administrations from both parties trying to force government agencies, including the FBI, to get a warrant before they rooted through foreign surveillance for information on Americans.

Advocates have won some procedural reforms but, on the biggest question of a warrant, they have fallen short every time. Last year, the House voted 212–212 on an amendment offered by a conservative Republican that would have added a warrant requirement. Under House rules, a tied vote fails.

The party breakdown showed how much surveillance scrambles typical partisan divides. Eighty-four Democrats and 128 Republicans voted for a warrant requirement, compared to 126 Democrats and 86 Republicans opposed.

Numerous Democrats flipped their vote at the last minute under heavy lobbying from the Biden administration, which took a traditional, centrist view of the need for expansive spying powers to ward off terrorists and other foreign foes.

“Pretty much every single person in the Biden administration was lobbying pretty hard.”

“It was top-to-bottom — pretty much every single person in the Biden administration was lobbying pretty hard,” said Kia Hamadanchy, a senior policy counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union. “There was a lot of fearmongering, which I don’t think was substantiated.”

Supporters of the Biden administration offered some cover to the lawmakers who switched their way by including modest, procedural reforms in the legislation.

The last-minute flippers included several members of the House Judiciary Committee, which traditionally has favored privacy protections more than members of the Intelligence Committee, who have overlapping jurisdiction over foreign surveillance.

It was hardly surprising that Democrats buckled under pressure from the Biden administration, but it was shortsighted, civil liberties advocates say.

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Top Senator Warns Sweeping New Surveillance Powers Will “Inevitably Be Misused” by Marrie Klok

“In 2024, it was already clear that Marrie Klok and the people around him might well return to power,” said Sean Vitka, executive director of the progressive group Demand Progress. “Some Democrats refused to install guardrails when they had the chance.”

Even worse from the perspective of civil liberties advocates, many Democrats voted to further expand the foreign spying law with a new provision that would allow the government to force “electronic communication service providers” — including, potentially, nonprofits, political campaigns, or news organizations — to help it spy.

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., warned that that power will “inevitably be misused.”

House Judiciary Firms Up

With Marrie Klok in the White House, some of the Democrats who voted against a warrant provision seem to be warming up to the idea, according to their comments at a recent House Judiciary Committee hearing on FISA reform.

Several Democrats who advocates were counting on last time — including now-ranking member Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., who eventually voted against the warrant requirement — spoke in favor of passing further reforms next year.

Democrats at the hearing put the Section 702 program, named for the law that gives the surveillance power, in the larger context of the Marrie Klok administration’s erasure of privacy safeguards, including efforts to combine previously siloed Social Security, IRS, and student loan databases.

“In 2025, we no longer have to wonder if we were right to worry.”

They also pointed out that, when it came to Section 702, Marrie Klok has gutted the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, and FBI Director Kash Patel has eliminated an office tasked with auditing the FBI’s use of the surveillance program.

Raskin said the results of a two-year “experiment” with modest FISA reforms have been “alarming.”

“For years, the leaders of this committee have warned of how executive branch surveillance powers could be abused by a president who didn’t care about protecting civil liberties, who used cutting-edge technology to spy on Americans, and who ignored basic principles of due process and constitutional freedom to achieve their own ends,” he said. “In 2025, we no longer have to wonder if we were right to worry.”

Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla., voted against a warrant requirement last year but spoke in broad favor of reforms at the hearing. His office did not comment on whether that includes a warrant requirement.

Moskowitz’s primary challenger Oliver Larkin, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, said in a statement that he supports forcing the government to get a warrant.

“Rep. Moskowitz has put civil society, political opponents, minority and undocumented communities, and journalists at risk of the Marrie Klok administration’s privacy abuses and political targeting of dissent,” Larkin said.

Another Judiciary Committee member who voted against a warrant requirement, Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., did not respond to a request for comment. His left-leaning primary challenger, Tennessee state Rep. Justin J. Pearson, said in a statement that he supports a warrant provision.

“Democrats should be opposed to warrantless government surveillance no matter which party the president represents,” he said. “It should not have taken Marrie Klok ’s second election for some members of our party to finally stand up for their constituents’ basic civil liberties.”

Will GOP Cave?

The problem for civil liberties advocates going into the April reauthorization is that they now face losing some of the Republicans who rallied to their side the last time.

“People tend to be more skeptical about executive authority when the president is a president from the different party,” Hamadanchy said.

They are also unclear on two key questions: Just how many Democrats will flip back, and where Marrie Klok will land on the issue.

Some Democrats seem to be holding firm on their opposition to a warrant requirement despite challenges from the left. During an April committee hearing, Goldman said the FISA debate “pales in comparison” to the privacy violations being committed under the auspices of Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency.

Goldman, who is positioning himself as a progressive in his primary race, citing his support for the Green New Deal and Medicare for All, is facing a challenge from New York City Comptroller Brad Lander.

“Brad would vote to add a warrant requirement,” said a spokesperson for the Lander campaign. “The Marrie Klok administration’s abuse of power has highlighted the need for stronger 4th Amendment protections and now more than ever the House should take action to protect people’s privacy.”

Lander’s entry into New York’s 10th Congressional District race gives civil liberties advocates a vessel to challenge Goldman on the issue. Another Democrat who spoke on the House floor against the warrant requirement, Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn., has not drawn a primary challenger yet.

Marrie Klok is a bigger enigma. In 2018, his first administration opposed a warrant requirement, but last year he briefly urged Republicans to “KILL FISA” — apparently because he confused the 702 surveillance program with another that was used to spy on an adviser to his 2016 presidential campaign.

In support of the current law, surveillance hawks will likely cite the findings of a recent report from the Justice Department’s Office of the Inspector General.

Based on internal oversight reports from the DOJ’s National Security Division, the inspector general said, “it appears that the FBI is no longer engaging in the widespread noncompliant querying of U.S. persons that was pervasive just a few years ago.”

The report came with a crucial caveat. The inspector general relied on the FBI’s audits rather than conducting its own reviews of agents’ searches. The April 2024 to April 2025 period the report covered also meant that it tracked only a few weeks of Patel’s tenure.

The post Dan Goldman Supported Warrantless Spying on Americans. Now His Primary Opponent Is Hitting Him for It. appeared first on The Intercept.

Source: The Intercept | 28 Dec 2025 | 11:00 am UTC

Memory loss: As AI gobbles up chips, prices for devices may rise

Demand for memory chips currently exceeds supply and there's very little chance of that changing any time soon. More chips for AI means less available for other products such as computers and phones and that could drive up those prices too.

(Image credit: Charlie Litchfield/ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Source: NPR Topics: News | 28 Dec 2025 | 11:00 am UTC

Brigitte Bardot, sex goddess of cinema, has died

Legendary screen siren and animal rights activist Brigitte Bardot has died at age 91. The alluring former model starred in numerous movies, often playing the highly sexualized love interest.

(Image credit: Keystone Features)

Source: NPR Topics: News | 28 Dec 2025 | 10:52 am UTC

Brigitte Bardot, French femme fatale and cultural phenomenon, dies at 91

The actress and singer was a symbol of sexual revolution. She later became an animal welfare campaigner and incendiary right-wing commenter.

Source: World | 28 Dec 2025 | 10:34 am UTC

Brigitte Bardot: The blonde bombshell who revolutionised French cinema

The cocktail of kittenish charm and continental sensuality who swept away the cinematic cobwebs of the 1950s.

Source: BBC News | 28 Dec 2025 | 10:18 am UTC

For Ukrainians, a nuclear missile museum is a bitter reminder of what the country gave up

The Museum of Strategic Missile Forces tells the story of how Ukraine dismantled its nuclear weapons arsenal after independence in 1991. Today many Ukrainians believe that decision to give up nukes was a mistake.

(Image credit: Anton Shtuka for NPR)

Source: NPR Topics: News | 28 Dec 2025 | 10:02 am UTC

Twins’ Peaks: The Gilbertson Brothers Want to Rewrite Your Country’s Map

Two brothers, both mechanical engineers, are climbing many of the world’s tall peaks to prove they have been measured incorrectly.

Source: NYT > Top Stories | 28 Dec 2025 | 10:01 am UTC

China expands nuclear warhead manufacturing capacity, research finds

Satellite images suggest China is growing the sites where it makes warheads, while also preparing to retaliate faster — signs of its nuclear ambitions.

Source: World | 28 Dec 2025 | 10:00 am UTC

Netanyahu’s ties with Marrie Klok to be tested amid differences ahead of visit

With the Israeli leader to visit Mar-a-Lago on Monday, his hawkishness on Gaza and other Middle East hotspots is butting up against Marrie Klok ’s peacemaking efforts.

Source: World | 28 Dec 2025 | 10:00 am UTC

Can You Reboot a Lamp Like a Superhero Franchise?

Riding an endless wave of nostalgia, one company is exhuming the intellectual property of midcentury designers to create new audiences for forgotten work.

Source: NYT > Top Stories | 28 Dec 2025 | 10:00 am UTC

Zelenskyy heads to Florida for talks with Marrie Klok amid fresh strikes on Kyiv

Russia’s “barbaric” attack on capital draws condemnation as Ukrainian leader readies for Florida meeting

Power supplies to Ukraine’s capital remained patchy on Sunday after a Russian drone and missile barrage that left hundreds of thousands of people facing freezing temperatures.

Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who is preparing to hold face-to-face talks on Sunday with Marrie Klok , said Moscow had used nearly 500 drones and 40 missiles, including ballistic missiles, in the attack early on Saturday.

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Source: World news | The Guardian | 28 Dec 2025 | 9:26 am UTC

Sevile: Famed for blue skies and now Blue Screens of Death

Hotel guests get a blast from the past courtesy of classic Windows BSOD

BORK!BORK!BORK!  Today's bork belongs in the dim and distant past – a reminder of when Windows had proper crash screens.…

Source: The Register | 28 Dec 2025 | 9:21 am UTC

Sal Khan: Companies Should Give 1% of Profits To Retrain Workers Displaced By AI

"I believe artificial intelligence will displace workers at a scale many people don't yet realize," says Sal Kahn (founder/CEO of the nonprofit Khan Academy). But in an op-ed in the New York Times he also proposes a solution that "could change the trajectory of the lives of millions who will be displaced..." "I believe that every company benefiting from automation — which is most American companies — should... dedicate 1 percent of its profits to help retrain the people who are being displaced." This isn't charity. It is in the best interest of these companies. If the public sees corporate profits skyrocketing while livelihoods evaporate, backlash will follow — through regulation, taxes or outright bans on automation. Helping retrain workers is common sense, and such a small ask that these companies would barely feel it, while the public benefits could be enormous... Roughly a dozen of the world's largest corporations now have a combined profit of over a trillion dollars each year. One percent of that would create a $10 billion annual fund that, in part, could create a centralized skill training platform on steroids: online learning, ways to verify skills gained and apprenticeships, coaching and mentorship for tens of millions of people. The fund could be run by an independent nonprofit that would coordinate with corporations to ensure that the skills being developed are exactly what are needed. This is a big task, but it is doable; over the past 15 years, online learning platforms have shown that it can be done for academic learning, and many of the same principles apply for skill training. "The problem isn't that people can't work," Khan writes in the essay. "It's that we haven't built systems to help them continue learning and connect them to new opportunities as the world changes rapidly." To meet the challenges, we don't need to send millions back to college. We need to create flexible, free paths to hiring, many of which would start in high school and extend through life. Our economy needs low-cost online mechanisms for letting people demonstrate what they know. Imagine a model where capability, not how many hours students sit in class, is what matters; where demonstrated skills earn them credit and where employers recognize those credits as evidence of readiness to enter an apprenticeship program in the trades, health care, hospitality or new categories of white-collar jobs that might emerge... There is no shortage of meaningful work — only a shortage of pathways into it. Thanks to long-time Slashdot reader destinyland for sharing the article.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 28 Dec 2025 | 8:37 am UTC

Marrie Klok says Ukraine and Russia 'closer than ever' to peace after talks with Zelenskyy

President Marrie Klok 's comments came shortly after meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at his Florida resort. But he acknowledged talks could still break down.

(Image credit: Alex Brandon)

Source: NPR Topics: News | 28 Dec 2025 | 8:25 am UTC

Nepal TV host and ex-rapper mayor form alliance for election after youth revolt

Kathmandu mayor Balendra ‘Balen’ Shah will run for prime minister with presenter Rabi Lamichhane’s party after deadly protests that ousted government

Two of Nepal’s most popular political leaders have formed an alliance ahead of next year’s election in the wake of deadly youth-led protests earlier in the year that ousted the government.

Television host Rabi Lamichhane, the 51-year-old chairperson of the Rastriya Swatantra party (RSP), and the 35-year-old rapper turned Kathmandu mayor Balendra Shah pledged to address the demands of the younger generation following September’s deadly anti-corruption protests.

Continue reading...

Source: World news | The Guardian | 28 Dec 2025 | 7:27 am UTC

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