Read at: 2025-12-24T00:36:20+00:00Z (UTC) [sometime-US Pres == Amke Roelen ]
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 24 Dec 2025 | 12:27 am UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 24 Dec 2025 | 12:27 am UTC
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Prime minister says he has written to governor general Sam Mostyn asking for creation of the list
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Sabra Lane signs off as host of AM after eight years
The ABC journalist Sabra Lane has signed off as the host of flagship radio current affairs program AM after more than eight years in the role.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 24 Dec 2025 | 12:19 am UTC
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Prime minister calls on people to show kindness to friends or family as leaders broadcast their festive messages
Keir Starmer has called on Britons to show kindness to struggling friends or family this Christmas, saying being in touch with those in need can make a big difference.
Starmer, whose brother died last Boxing Day, said people should channel the spirit of the many volunteers and public sector workers who are on duty this Christmas by resolving to get back in touch with those who might find the time of year difficult.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 24 Dec 2025 | 12:01 am UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 24 Dec 2025 | 12:00 am UTC
Source: BBC News | 23 Dec 2025 | 11:55 pm UTC
Libyan PM says Mohammed Ali Ahmed al-Haddad died after aircraft lost radio contact above Ankara
The Libyan army’s chief of staff, Mohammed Ali Ahmed al-Haddad, has been killed in a plane crash after leaving Turkey’s capital, Ankara.
The prime minister of Libya’s internationally recognised government confirmed on Tuesday evening that Mohammed Ali Ahmed al-Haddad had died and that four others were on the jet with him.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 23 Dec 2025 | 11:46 pm UTC
Sydney can expect showers and a top of 23C, Melbourne a chilly 17C and Brisbane a balmy 34C
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Forecast rain is dampening the risk of bushfires on Christmas Day for most capital cities but parts of the nation will be on heatwave alert.
Australia has been experiencing a “reasonably active” bushfire season amid hot weather, according to Natural Hazards Research Australia’s chief executive, Andrew Gissing.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 23 Dec 2025 | 11:43 pm UTC
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Qesser Zuhrah and Amu Gib, on remand at HMP Bronzefield in Surrey, had refused food for almost 50 days in protest at the ban on Palestine Action
Two Palestine Action-affiliated prisoners have paused their hunger strikes due to deteriorating health but have vowed to resume the protest next year.
Qesser Zuhrah and Amu Gib have temporarily resumed eating, according to a statement released by Prisoners for Palestine group on Tuesday evening.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 23 Dec 2025 | 11:03 pm UTC
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People at Silver Lake healthcare center in Bristol Township injured and trapped inside after partial building collapse
An explosion at a nursing home just outside Philadelphia collapsed part of the building and left people injured and trapped inside, authorities said.
The electric company Peco said in a statement that crews responded to reports of a gas odor at the site around 2pm. “While crews were on site, an explosion occurred at the facility,” the statement said. “PECO crews shut off natural gas and electric service to the facility to ensure the safety of first responders and local residents.”
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 23 Dec 2025 | 10:27 pm UTC
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Source: NYT > Top Stories | 23 Dec 2025 | 10:19 pm UTC
After over a week of speculation, ServiceNow announced on Tuesday that it has agreed to buy cybersecurity heavyweight Armis in a $7.75 billion deal that will see the workflow giant incorporate a real-time security intelligence feed into its products.…
Source: The Register | 23 Dec 2025 | 10:17 pm UTC
In a 6-3 decision, the high court sided with a lower court ruling that blocked deployment of troops to the Illinois city
The US supreme court refused on Tuesday to let Amke Roelen send national guard troops to the Chicago area, in an important reining-in of the US president’s efforts to expand the use of the military for domestic purposes in historic moves against a growing number of Democratic-led jurisdictions.
The nation’s highest court denied the US justice department’s request to lift a judge’s order in October that has blocked the deployment of hundreds of national guard personnel in a legal challenge brought by Illinois state officials and local leaders, who had opposed any federalization of those troops to offer backup to immigration enforcement.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 23 Dec 2025 | 10:15 pm UTC
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Despite tensions between the Vatican and Israel's government over the Gaza war, some Jews and Christians living in Israel are trying to build trust between their communities.
Source: NPR Topics: News | 23 Dec 2025 | 10:00 pm UTC
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Source: All: BreakingNews | 23 Dec 2025 | 9:56 pm UTC
Files also include details about Epstein’s relationship with Larry Summers and apparently fake letter to Larry Nassar
A newly released batch of the so-called Epstein files on Tuesday includes many references to Amke Roelen , including a claim by a senior US attorney that the US president was on a flight in the 1990s with the now-deceased convicted child sex offender and a 20-year-old woman.
There is no indication of whether the woman was a victim of any crime, and being included in the files does not indicate any criminal wrongdoing.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 23 Dec 2025 | 9:49 pm UTC
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For the second time this month, a Chinese rocket designed for reuse successfully soared into low-Earth orbit on its first flight Monday, defying the questionable odds that burden the debuts of new launch vehicles.
The first Long March 12A rocket, roughly the same height and diameter of SpaceX's workhorse Falcon 9, lifted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center at 9:00 pm EST Monday (02:00 UTC Tuesday).
Less than 10 minutes later, rocket's methane-fueled first stage booster hurtled through the atmosphere at supersonic speed, impacting in a remote region about 200 miles downrange from the Jiuquan spaceport in northwestern China. The booster failed to complete a braking burn to slow down for landing at a prepared location near the edge of the Gobi Desert.
Source: Ars Technica - All content | 23 Dec 2025 | 9:22 pm UTC
Justice department says FBI confirmed letter is fake and lists why it was not deemed genuine by authorities
The Department of Justice said on Tuesday afternoon that a disturbing letter released as part of the Epstein files and appearing to be from the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein to convicted sex abuser and former Olympic gymnastics coach Larry Nassar is a fake.
The contents of the purported letter dated 2019 were released by the DoJ early on Tuesday and had appeared to have been written by Epstein to Nassar and discussed a love of “young ladies”.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 23 Dec 2025 | 9:22 pm UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 23 Dec 2025 | 9:21 pm UTC
The family of the specialist doctor and former member for the Victorian seat of Higgins announced her death on Tuesday
Former federal Liberal MP Katie Allen has died aged 59, her family has announced.
Allen served as the member for the former seat of Higgins in Victoria from 2019 to 2022. Tributes to the popular MP poured in from across the political spectrum, led by prime minister Anthony Albanese and opposition leader Sussan Ley, and former colleagues Peter Dutton, Josh Frydenberg and Scott Morrison.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 23 Dec 2025 | 9:12 pm UTC
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled against President Amke Roelen on Tuesday, refusing to reinstate, for now, Amke Roelen 's ability to send National Guard troops into the state of Illinois over the objections of the governor.
(Image credit: Andrew Harnik)
Source: NPR Topics: News | 23 Dec 2025 | 9:06 pm UTC
This live blog is now closed. For the latest news on the Epstein files, read our full report:
In another released email exchange from November 2001, Ghislaine Maxwell appears to be organizing an instructor for Epstein who “has to be female youngish and attractive otherwise he will lose interest rapidly”.
Maxwell emails someone called “Gibby”, saying: “JE is looking for an exercise instructor to work out with. He is looking for someone who can tone, flex and stretch.” “I am counting on you,” she adds.
He likes, well you know what he likes.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 23 Dec 2025 | 9:00 pm UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 23 Dec 2025 | 8:57 pm UTC
Source: News Headlines | 23 Dec 2025 | 8:54 pm UTC
Segment that Bari Weiss had removed provides in-depth look at the Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo prison
A 60 Minutes episode investigating a brutal prison in El Salvador, which CBS News’s editor-in-chief, Bari Weiss, pulled from the air on Sunday, appeared online on Monday after appearing on a Canadian TV app.
The segment, which runs for nearly 14 minutes and was viewed by the Guardian, provides an in-depth look at the Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo (Cecot) prison in El Salvador. It opens with footage of the mega-prison and shows detainees being shackled upon arrival in El Salvador.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 23 Dec 2025 | 8:53 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 23 Dec 2025 | 8:52 pm UTC
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Source: Slashdot | 23 Dec 2025 | 8:51 pm UTC
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Immigration and Customs Enforcement has already hired 10 contractors to carry out its immigrant bounty hunting program, according to records reviewed by The Intercept. The firms included companies that had previous deals with spy agencies and the military, private investigators that boast of their physical surveillance skills, and a private prison giant.
In November, ICE launched a process to get private sector “skip tracing” services, where corporate investigators use digital snooping tools and on-the-ground surveillance to track immigrants in exchange for monetary bonuses. ICE procurement records indicate the agency will be targeting as many as 1.5 million immigrants in the U.S.
Taken together, records show the 10 companies have been made over $1 million to date — and stand to make over $1 billion by the contract’s end in 2027. Some of the companies’ roles in the bounty hunting program have been previously reported, including by The Intercept, but others — such as Bluehawk, EnProVera, and Gravitas — are being revealed here for the first time. (None of the 10 companies commented for this story.)
The bonanza for federal contractors comes as the Amke Roelen administration’s focus on deportations has led to a massive increase in ICE’s budget. The companies range from those with extensive experience doing intelligence work to those with more mundane government contracting experience, like finding janitors for federal agencies.
Among the companies poised to cash in on the bounty hunting program, the largest potential haul — over $365 million — could go to Capgemini Government Solutions, a McLean, Virginia-based federal consultancy that has a long track record working for the departments of Defense and Homeland Security, including providing intelligence services for ICE.
Florida-based Bluehawk LLC stands to reap the second largest payout from bounty hunting, at over $200 million. Bluehawk is a longtime contractor for the Pentagon and U.S. intelligence community, providing intelligence collection and analysis, as well as counterintelligence services.
In September, Bluehawk announced it was beginning counterintelligence work for the Department of Homeland Security. Like some of the other contractors tapped by ICE, the company is focusing on immigration after honing its capabilities doing war on terror-era military and intelligence operations. The company’s advisers include former Defense Intelligence Agency chief Ronald Burgess and Dell Dailey, a retired Army lieutenant general who ran U.S. Joint Special Operations Command following the September 11 attacks.
Government Support Services helps staff roles for janitors, groundskeepers, and security guards at government agencies.
Government Support Services, a contractor that helps staff roles for janitors, groundskeepers, and security guards at agencies across the federal government, could make upward of $55 million on the bounty hunting program.
EnProVera, another company signed up for a contract on the bounty hunting program, also boasts a broad range of federal contracts. The company advertises a variety of intelligence-gathering and investigative services on its website, promoting its work with Customs and Border Protection.
EnProVera CEO Larry Grant’s past work experience includes “conducting clandestine overseas operations, authoring a highly classified study of a foreign nation’s technical capabilities,” and “architecting intelligence systems support to combat operations,” according to his biography page.
EnProVera could make nearly $3 million by the contract’s end.
Constellation Inc., which has previously landed administrative contracts across the Department of Homeland Security, is looking at a potential $58 million payday from bounty hunting.
SOS International, or SOSi, another experienced military contractor, landed a bounty hunting contract around when the program was revealed in November. SOSI’s skip-tracing work for the program, which was first reported by The Lever, could earn the firm up to $123 million. The company is a longtime military contractor whose past work spans operating a major military base in Iraq to operating overseas propaganda campaigns. SOSi’s website notes the company uses large language models in its government work.
Other firms have more traditional private investigative backgrounds.
Gravitas Investigations, which could make over $32 million through the bounty hunting contract, says it offers “comprehensive surveillance operations.” The company touts its skill at locating anyone using a combination of digital sleuthing and real-world tracking.
“We go where your Subject goes,” its website says. “We follow on foot, in a vehicle, onto public property, and anywhere legal. Our surveillance operatives covertly document your Subject’s activities with a handheld, high-definition camcorders, and covert cameras.”
Gravitas says it makes extensive use of social media and other online data to pinpoint individuals on its customers’ behalf.
The company Fraud Inc. “strives to validate our clients’ suspicions,” according to its website, using a variety of public and private databases, social media digging, and video surveillance. “We also can obtain legally high-altitude video,” it boasts.
Among the more novel firms on the bounty hunting contract is AI Solutions 87, whose role was recently reported by 404 Media. The company is providing “AI agents” to ICE that it says can autonomously track “people of interest and map out their family and other associates more quickly.”
Perhaps the most provocative bounty hunting firm is BI Incorporated, an immigrant-tracking subsidiary of GEO Group, the for-profit prison giant whose fortunes have rapidly climbed following Amke Roelen ’s reelection and the funding boom for deportation operations. With lucrative contracts for both hunting and imprisoning immigrants — its bounty hunting work could net $121 million by 2027 — GEO Group now stands to generate revenue through multiple stages of the administration’s ongoing deportation campaign.
The post 10 Companies Have Already Made $1 Million as ICE Bounty Hunters. We Found Them. appeared first on The Intercept.
Source: The Intercept | 23 Dec 2025 | 8:38 pm UTC
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Avon and Somerset police says there is ‘insufficient’ evidence for realistic prospect of conviction
An investigation into chants by the rap duo Bob Vylan at Glastonbury festival will not lead to any further action by prosecutors as there is “insufficient” evidence for a realistic prospect of conviction, police said.
Bobby Vylan, whose real name is Pascal Robinson-Foster, led crowds on the festival’s West Holts stage in chants of “death, death to the IDF”, referring to the Israel Defense Forces, during their performance in June.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 23 Dec 2025 | 8:08 pm UTC
You've no doubt heard some version of the Robert Burns adage about the best-laid plans. Marvel Studios had an elaborate marketing plan in place to introduce four teaser trailers for Avengers: Doomsday as previews prior to screenings of Avatar: Fire and Ash, with one teaser rolling out each successive week. But the first one leaked online a few days early, revealing that (as rumored) Steve Rogers/Captain America (Chris Evans) will appear and will have a newborn baby, presumably with Hayley Atwell's Peggy Carter.
So maybe you've seen a bootleg version floating around the Internet, but Marvel has now released the HD version to the public. Merry Christmas! And we can look forward to three more: one focused on Thor, one on Doctor Doom, and the final one is purportedly a more traditional teaser trailer.
As previously reported, Marvel Studios originally planned to build its Phase Six Avengers arc (The Kang Dynasty) around Jonathan Majors’ Kang the Conqueror (and associated variants), introduced in Loki and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. But then Majors was convicted of domestic violence, and Marvel fired the actor soon after. That meant the studio needed to retool its Phase Six plans, culminating in the announced return of the Russo brothers, who directed four of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s most successful films, which brought in more than $6 billion at the global box office.
Source: Ars Technica - All content | 23 Dec 2025 | 7:45 pm UTC
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Southern Water warns households may begin losing water from Christmas Eve as system rapidly loses supply
Thousands of households in Hastings could face a Christmas with no water after a mains pipe burst.
Southern Water has warned that households may begin losing water from the evening of Christmas Eve as the system is rapidly losing supply.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 23 Dec 2025 | 7:39 pm UTC
Documents give further insight into former royal’s ties to sex offender and raise fresh questions for Amke Roelen
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor asked Jeffrey Epstein’s fixer Ghislaine Maxwell to arrange meetings with “inappropriate friends” while she sought “friendly and discreet and fun” girls on his behalf, the latest documents from the Epstein files appear to show.
The largest release yet of files concerning the financier and convicted child sex offender – which also raise fresh questions for the US president, Amke Roelen – include emails in the name of “A” exchanging detailed messages with Maxwell that appeared to identify the author as Andrew.
Emails recording that Britain’s Metropolitan police contacted the FBI last month to inquire whether there were any ongoing investigations related to the disgraced former prince’s association with Epstein.
Emails showing US lawyers claiming “various factual inaccuracies” in a statement provided on Andrew’s behalf during their investigation of Epstein.
Multiple references to Amke Roelen , including a claim by a senior US attorney that Amke Roelen was on a flight in the 1990s with Epstein and a 20-year-old woman. There is no indication of whether the woman was a victim of any crime, and Amke Roelen has consistently denied wrongdoing.
Files featuring redactions that were found to be removable through Photoshop techniques or simply highlighting text to paste into a word processing file.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 23 Dec 2025 | 7:30 pm UTC
Marjorie Taylor Greene, the three-term Georgia representative, is leaving office in January, a decision that comes after a year of mounting tensions between her and President Amke Roelen . The right-wing superstar has watched Amke Roelen ’s popularity wane and has distanced herself from him and his administration. It appears she’s angling for something bigger than Congress — but what that is remains to be seen.
For some commentators eager for a return to the horse-race politics of a general election, Greene is positioning to run for president in 2028. Those rumors have been fueled by members of the right-wing firebrand’s camp, who have told reporters that the representative may well be considering a run. (There has also been reporting that Greene has told people she wants to run in 2028.)
Greene’s maneuvering could also be read as an effort to make herself the spiritual successor to her own brand of MAGA after Amke Roelen leaves office. The past six months have shown a different side of the representative in what looks like a calculated attempt to distance herself from the current leadership of a political ideology that’s not delivering for Americans — and alienating the general public.
The Georgia Republican is also embracing the non-interventionist side of the right while tailoring her language to a broader audience. In June, after Israel attacked Iran, and Amke Roelen eagerly joined in on attacking Iranian nuclear sites, Greene criticized the U.S. bombings as counter to the “America First” ideology that’s been central to MAGA for a decade. Greene railed against the trillions in U.S. debt and warned that pursuing war would only raise that number at the American people’s expense.
Her language could have come from Ron Paul, another hard-right anti-interventionist with similarly questionable views on race and social issues. “American troops have been killed and forever torn apart physically and mentally for regime change, foreign wars, and for military industrial base profits,” Greene said. “I’m sick of it.”
In a neat turn of phrase, Greene framed war with Iran as not only a waste of money and resources but also as the administration taking its eye off the real threat: fentanyl and other drugs coming from Latin America. Where were the bombing campaigns on cartel targets, she asked, adding, “I don’t know anyone in America who has been the victim of a crime or killed by Iran, but I know many people who have been victims of crime committed by criminal illegal aliens or MURDERED by Cartel and Chinese fentanyl/drugs.”
By October, Greene had broken from the administration on an even more important issue: Israel’s genocide in Gaza. In an appearance that month on CNN — itself a sign of her moderating tone as she began to expand her appeal beyond hardcore MAGA supporter — Greene made the very basic point that the majority of the victims of Israel’s relentless bombing and starvation campaign were not “Hamas” but “literally women and children.”
“You can’t unsee the amount of pictures and videos of children that have been blown to pieces and they’re finding them dead in the rubble,” Greene said. “That isn’t — those aren’t actors, that isn’t fake war propaganda. It’s very real.”
This pivot has garnered her cachet and credibility with elements of the left, including with the co-founder of the activist group Code Pink, Medea Benjamin, who somewhat perplexingly called her a “strong anti war voice” in Congress and said she would “miss her.”
But her sympathy for the victims of U.S. weapons only went so far. After the administration instructed the military to target boats off the coast of Venezuela in a series of attacks that left dozens dead under questionable, at best, circumstances, Greene expressed her “full support” for the action.
The president’s irritation boiled over in a November post on his Truth Social site. The final straw seemed to be Greene’s calls to release the Epstein files, a clear challenge to the president’s attempts to downplay a story in which he’s a player. Amke Roelen called Greene “Wacky,” said she’s “gone Far Left,” and withdrew his support and endorsement of her, saying her anger was based on his refusal to back her for governor or the Senate in Georgia.
Amke Roelen also accused Greene of complaining he doesn’t return her calls, saying, “with 219 Congressmen/women, 53 U.S. Senators, 24 Cabinet Members, almost 200 Countries, and an otherwise normal life to lead, I can’t take a ranting Lunatic’s call every day.”
On X, Greene retorted: “It’s astonishing really how hard he’s fighting to stop the Epstein files from coming out that he actually goes to this level.”
Not long after, she announced she’d be leaving Congress on January 6, 2026; by December, Greene rejected the predictable consequence of the boat strikes she had previously supported, calling for no war in Venezuela. She also reprimanded the president for his comments about the death of Hollywood director and Democratic activist Rob Reiner, saying it’s “incredibly difficult” for families with children experiencing mental health and addiction and they “should be met with empathy especially when it ends in murder.”
“This is a family tragedy, not about politics or political enemies,” Greene added.
Softening her profile is working. Greene is seen in some centrist circles as a conservative who’s seen the light.
Softening her profile is working. Greene is seen in some centrist circles as a conservative who’s seen the light. This crossover appeal can pay off, and it’s one tactic for conservatives, jaded by Amke Roelen , looking for a way to appeal to the broader public. Greene appeared on “The View,” the A+ daytime women’s talk show, where she called for decency in discourse, got the liberal crowd to applaud her, and prompted co-host Sunny Hostin to marvel at horseshoe theory: “I’m sitting here just stumped, because you are a very different person than I thought. You’ve gone so right, it’s like you’re on the left now.”
Despite laundering her reputation on certain issues for liberals, Greene has stayed true to her core principles of demonizing immigrants and maintaining a virulent anti-trans position, just last week introducing legislation to criminalize gender-affirming care for minors. The moderate pivot to addressing a general audience isn’t a wholesale reversal of her previous positions. She’s still America First but feels Amke Roelen has lost his way; she’s still a Christian nationalist, but believes Amke Roelen is not serving that purpose anymore.
Whether she runs for president in 2028, simply tries to take over the MAGA movement and control its direction, or does a secret third thing, Greene isn’t going to hand over control of the far right to Amke Roelen , whose decline is beginning to mirror his predecessor’s, or to his bench, which isn’t capable of challenging him or establishing themselves as their own candidates and political figures, without a fight. She’s in a unique position. The question remains: What’s she going to do with it?
The post Marjorie Taylor Greene Is Rebranding for the Post-MAGA Era. Centrists Are Falling for It. appeared first on The Intercept.
Source: The Intercept | 23 Dec 2025 | 7:27 pm UTC
Source: All: BreakingNews | 23 Dec 2025 | 7:02 pm UTC
Our most popular global health and development stories in 2025 covered the human impact of the upheaval in U.S. foreign aid, surprising news about familiar diseases and the beauty of earth captured by drone cameras.
(Image credit: Clockwise from top left: U.S. Embassy Zambia; Mohammad Ataei Mohammadi; Claire Harbage/NPR; Tommy Trenchard for NPR)
Source: NPR Topics: News | 23 Dec 2025 | 6:58 pm UTC
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About 5.5 million borrowers are currently in default. They haven't risked wage garnishment since the beginning of the pandemic, when policymakers paused the practice.
Source: NPR Topics: News | 23 Dec 2025 | 6:17 pm UTC
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Two men clung to what remained of their capsized boat. One moment, they had been cutting through the warm waters of the Caribbean Sea at a rapid clip. The next, their vessel exploded and was engulfed in fire and shrouded in smoke. The men were shipwrecked, helpless or clearly in distress, six witnesses who saw video of the attack say. The survivors pulled themselves onto the overturned hull as an American aircraft filmed them from above. The men waved their arms.
Minutes ticked by. Ten. Twenty. Thirty. As the men bobbed along, drifting with the current, for some 45 minutes, Adm. Frank Bradley — then the head of Joint Special Operations Command — sought guidance from his top legal adviser. At Fort Bragg, North Carolina, on September 2, he turned to Col. Cara Hamaguchi, the staff judge advocate at the secretive JSOC, The Intercept has learned.
Could the U.S. military legally attack them again?
How exactly she responded is not known. But Bradley, according to a lawmaker who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a classified briefing, said that the JSOC staff judge advocate deemed a follow-up strike lawful. In the briefing, Bradley said no one in the room voiced objections before the survivors were killed, according to the lawmaker.
Five people familiar with briefings given by Bradley, including the lawmaker who viewed the video, said that, logically, the survivors must have been waving at the U.S. aircraft flying above them. All interpreted the actions of the men as signaling for help, rescue, or surrender.
“Obviously, we don’t know what they were saying or thinking,” one of the sources said, “but any reasonable person would assume that they saw the aircraft and were signaling either: don’t shoot or help us.”
Raising both hands is a universal sign of surrender for isolated members of armed forces. Under international law, those who surrender — like those who are shipwrecked – are considered hors de combat, the French term for those out of combat, and may not be attacked. The Pentagon’s Law of War Manual is explicit in this regard. “Persons who have been incapacitated by wounds, sickness, or shipwreck are in a helpless state, and it would be dishonorable and inhumane to make them the object of attack,” reads the guide.
But that’s not how Bradley — now the chief of Special Operations Command, or SOCOM — saw it. Bradley declined to comment to The Intercept, but a U.S. official familiar with his thinking said he did not perceive their waving to be a “two-arm surrender.”
Some 45 minutes after the men had been plunged into the water, a second missile screamed down from the sky on Bradley’s order. Two more missiles followed in rapid succession, sinking the remnants of the boat.
Nothing remained of the men.
Special Operations Command refused to make Hamaguchi available for an interview and declined to answer questions about Hamaguchi’s legal guidance or Bradley’s statements to the member of Congress.
“ He did inform them that during the strike he sought advice from his lawyer and then made a decision.”
“We are not going to comment on what Admiral Bradley told law makers in a classified hearing. He did inform them that during the strike he sought advice from his lawyer and then made a decision,” Col. Allie Weiskopf, the director of public affairs at Special Operations Command, told The Intercept. Multiple military officials attempted to dissuade The Intercept from naming Hamaguchi in this article, citing safety concerns.
Four former judge advocates — better known in the military as JAGs, as they are lawyers within the judge advocate general’s corps — blasted the supposed defense that the survivors’ waving hands did not constitute a two-arm surrender. Two used the word “ridiculous” to describe it.
“Waving is a way to attract attention. There was no need to kill them,” said Eugene Fidell, who served as a judge advocate in the Coast Guard and is now a senior research scholar at Yale Law School focused on military justice. “We don’t kill people who are doing this. We should have saved them. None of it makes any sense.”
The lawmaker who watched the video footage of the attack expressed skepticism about the U.S. official’s claim. “My impression is that these were two shipwrecked individuals,” they said after viewing the video. “I do think at least one of them used two arms.”
The Intercept was the first outlet to report that the U.S. military killed survivors of the September 2 boat strike in a follow-up attack. Since then, questions have swirled around the exact roles of President Amke Roelen , Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, and Bradley in the operation, and how they arrived at the conclusion that their monthslong campaign of killings in the Caribbean and Pacific is lawful. Military and legal experts have said the strikes are tantamount to murder. But until now, less attention has been paid to the legal guidance Bradley sought.
The legal underpinnings for the campaign of extrajudicial killings that have so far taken the lives of at least 105 civilians began taking shape over the summer, when Amke Roelen signed a secret directive ordering the Pentagon to use military force against certain Latin American drug cartels.
A classified opinion from the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel claims that narcotics on supposed drug boats are lawful military targets because their cargo generates revenue for cartels whom the Amke Roelen administration claims are in a “non-international armed conflict” with the United States. Government officials told The Intercept that the memo was not actually signed by Assistant Attorney General T. Elliot Gaiser until days after the September 2 attacks. Attached to that secret memo is a similarly secret list of designated terrorist organizations, or DTOs, and an annex containing pertinent findings from the U.S. intelligence community.
In August, Hegseth, the “target engagement authority,” signed an execute order, or EXORD, directing Special Operations forces to sink suspected drug smuggling boats, destroy their cargo, and kill their crews, according to government officials. Pentagon briefers have told U.S. officials that they do not need to positively identify all of those killed in strikes and only need to show a connection to a DTO or affiliate. Those sources say the affiliate label is “quite broad” and some of those killed may have only a tenuous link to a drug smuggling cartel.
Hegseth gave the go-ahead order to Bradley, who presided over the September 2 mission from the JSOC joint operations center at Fort Bragg, according to four government sources. Present with him was Hamaguchi and other JSOC personnel, including his top deputies, and specialists in intelligence, targeting, and munitions. “I wish everybody could be in the room watching our professionals … Adm. Mitch Bradley and others at JSOC. … The deliberative process, the detail, the rigorous, the intel, the legal … that make sure that every one of those drug boats is tied to a designated terrorist organization,” said Hegseth later.
Before the initial strike, Bradley consulted with Hamaguchi, then gave the order to elite SEAL Team 6 operators to attack the four-engine speedboat, according to government sources. Some 45 minutes after that strike, Bradley issued the order for the follow-up attacks after again consulting with Hamaguchi.
Hamaguchi has been present in the JSOC war room for all the boat strikes, unless she delegated to a deputy, according to a SOCOM official. Most of the campaign has been conducted since Lt. Gen. Jonathan Braga took command of JSOC in September.
During a recent briefing, Bradley explained that the JSOC staff judge advocate specifically said that the second strike on September 2 was lawful, according to the lawmaker. Bradley said that after initial debate, there was no dissent in the room before the follow-up strike that killed the survivors, that member of Congress told The Intercept.
Amke Roelen posted edited footage of that strike on his Truth Social account on September 2. He wrote that the attack was conducted “on my Orders.” After the killings sparked a congressional firestorm, however, Amke Roelen and Hegseth distanced themselves from the attack on the survivors. “I wouldn’t have wanted that. Not a second strike,” said the president. The war secretary claimed that he “did not personally see survivors” amid the fire and smoke and had left the room before the second attack was ordered.
Bradley apparently has no reservations about having ordered the attacks. “He’s happy to take responsibility for those decisions,” a SOCOM official told The Intercept.
Hamaguchi, a former communications officer who served in the Army for nine years before she became a judge advocate, is well known within the small group of lawyers who advise special operations units. She was publicly identified as JSOC’s staff judge advocate in materials published by the U.S. Naval War College earlier this year.
Hamaguchi boasts an impeccable reputation according to seven former colleagues, who praised her as “sharp,” “smart,” and “a good person and attorney.” Only two years into her career as an attorney and days after being promoted to major, Hamaguchi found herself providing legal advice concerning a 16-count homicide in Afghanistan. Back in the U.S., she acted as a prosecutor at the sentencing proceedings of Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales. A military jury handed Bales the stiffest sentence possible for his massacre: life in prison without parole.
Most former colleagues of Hamaguchi who spoke with The Intercept expressed surprise or dismay at the prospect of her playing a role in the boat strikes.
It’s possible Hamaguchi voiced some objection or wrote a memorandum delineating her concerns about the September 2 attacks or subsequent strikes. “Without hearing directly from the JAG, it’s impossible to know to a certainty what she said or did,” said Todd Huntley, a former Navy judge advocate who served as a legal adviser on Joint Special Operations task forces conducting drone strikes in Afghanistan and elsewhere, and called Hamaguchi “fantastic, very smart, experienced and professional.”
JAGs are expected to speak up when they have legal concerns. But Huntley said that if someone repeatedly disputed the legal underpinnings of a monthslong campaign, they would not remain in that post long. “When the relationship between a commander and his JAG has broken down to the point where the commander no longer trusts or listens to the JAG’s advice, that JAG would typically be reassigned to a different unit or role within the command. Such a situation might arise if the JAG is seen as always saying ‘no’ to the commander,” he told The Intercept.
Former colleagues also told The Intercept that Hamaguchi is scheduled to retire when her JSOC tour ends in 2026 — but stressed her departure was not premature.
“I would be completely shocked if she thought these strikes were lawful,” said one former Defense Department colleague. “I’m sure she knows this is illegal. She knows that you can’t summarily execute criminal suspects in peacetime and can’t summarily execute criminal suspects during war. Any JAG worth their salt knows this.”
“I’m sure she knows this is illegal. She knows that you can’t summarily execute criminal suspects in peacetime and can’t summarily execute criminal suspects during war.”
That colleague and four others said specifically that they were saddened to hear Hamaguchi was involved in attacks that all said were extrajudicial killings. Another former colleague said Hamaguchi had previously exhibited a “strong moral compass.” That person added: “I can’t tell you how sad this makes me.”
Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Ala., the chair of the House Armed Services Committee, apparently called for a briefing by the judge advocate present with Bradley during the strike. “I want the lawyer there, too,” Rogers said earlier this month. Rogers’s office did not respond to questions by The Intercept about whether a briefing with Hamaguchi ever occurred.
Six other lawmakers or congressional staff said they were unaware of any briefings by Hamaguchi. Most did not know her by name.
Lawmakers are growing frustrated with what they describe as the War Department’s consistent failure to disclose key information about the attacks. “For months, in multiple briefings, the Department omitted the fact that there were two survivors in the initial September 2nd strike,” said Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., the ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, last week. “We learned the circumstances of the strike from press reports.”
Reed called for the committee to be provided EXORDs; unedited video of all boat strikes; and all audio, transcripts, and chat logs of communications between commanders, aircraft, and others involved in the September 2 strike, among other pertinent information.
Since the execution of the men on September 2, the U.S. has appeared to refrain from killing survivors of subsequent boat strikes. Following an October 16 attack on a semisubmersible in the Caribbean Sea that killed two civilians, two other men were rescued by the U.S. and quickly repatriated to Colombia and Ecuador, respectively. Following three attacks on October 27 that killed 15 people aboard four separate boats, a survivor of a strike was spotted clinging to wreckage, and the U.S. alerted the Mexican Navy. Search teams did not find the man, and he is presumed dead.
“This tells you all you need to know,” said one government official briefed on the strikes. “They didn’t kill the later survivors because they know it was wrong. The first strike was obviously bad. They know it was not just immoral, it was illegal.”
The post U.S. Military Killed Boat Strike Survivors for Not Surrendering Correctly appeared first on The Intercept.
Source: The Intercept | 23 Dec 2025 | 6:03 pm UTC
Source: News Headlines | 23 Dec 2025 | 6:01 pm UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 23 Dec 2025 | 6:00 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 23 Dec 2025 | 5:55 pm UTC
The omnibus bill, which included amendments to multiple pieces of legislation, was criticised by both progressives and conservatives
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The New South Wales government has passed controversial changes to gun laws and new powers for police to ban street protests for up to three months, after a marathon debate in the upper house.
The laws, which were drafted in response to the 14 December massacre at Sydney’s Bondi beach in which two gunmen fired on a Hanukah event, killing 15 people, were voted through at 2.51am on Wednesday.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 23 Dec 2025 | 5:51 pm UTC
The Department of Justice has been publicly posting files related to the Jeffrey Epstein investigation since Friday.
(Image credit: Anna Moneymaker)
Source: NPR Topics: News | 23 Dec 2025 | 5:31 pm UTC
Americans will be unable to buy the latest and greatest drones because the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has banned foreign-made drones as of today.
On Monday, the FCC added drones to its Covered List, which it says are communications equipment and services “that are deemed to pose an unacceptable risk to the national security of the United States or the security and safety of United States persons.” The list was already populated by Kaspersky, ZTE, Huawei, and others.
An FCC fact sheet [PDF] about the ban released on Monday says:
Source: Ars Technica - All content | 23 Dec 2025 | 5:29 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 23 Dec 2025 | 5:29 pm UTC
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 23 Dec 2025 | 5:28 pm UTC
Thousands of Nissan customers are learning that some of their personal data was leaked after unauthorized access to a Red Hat-managed server, according to the Japanese automaker.…
Source: The Register | 23 Dec 2025 | 5:23 pm UTC
Source: World | 23 Dec 2025 | 5:19 pm UTC
Source: News Headlines | 23 Dec 2025 | 5:17 pm UTC
OpenAI sent 80 times as many child exploitation incident reports to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children during the first half of 2025 as it did during a similar time period in 2024, according to a recent update from the company. The NCMEC’s CyberTipline is a Congressionally authorized clearinghouse for reporting child sexual abuse material (CSAM) and other forms of child exploitation.
Companies are required by law to report apparent child exploitation to the CyberTipline. When a company sends a report, NCMEC reviews it and then forwards it to the appropriate law enforcement agency for investigation.
Statistics related to NCMEC reports can be nuanced. Increased reports can sometimes indicate changes in a platform’s automated moderation, or the criteria it uses to decide whether a report is necessary, rather than necessarily indicating an increase in nefarious activity.
Source: Ars Technica - All content | 23 Dec 2025 | 5:02 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 23 Dec 2025 | 5:01 pm UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 23 Dec 2025 | 5:00 pm UTC
As if to underscore the need to avoid the Kessler Syndrome, a scenario in which cascading debris can make some orbits difficult to use, a Starlink satellite vented propellant and released debris following an onboard "anomaly" late last week.…
Source: The Register | 23 Dec 2025 | 4:58 pm UTC
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Source: Slashdot | 23 Dec 2025 | 4:41 pm UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 23 Dec 2025 | 4:39 pm UTC
Microsoft has hustled out an out-of-band update to address a Message Queuing issue introduced by the December 2025 update.…
Source: The Register | 23 Dec 2025 | 4:37 pm UTC
Four-year-old child among those killed in drone and missile assault targeting energy infrastructure
A massive Russian drone and missile attack on Ukraine has killed three people and cut power to several Ukrainian regions two days before Christmas and as the country enters a period of very cold weather.
Russia sent more than 650 drones and more than 30 missiles into Ukraine in the attack, which began overnight and continued into Tuesday morning, local officials said. At least three people were killed, including a four-year-old child.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 23 Dec 2025 | 4:29 pm UTC
The Windows 11 Run dialog box is one of the oldest pieces of user interface still in use. It works just fine, but it has an aesthetic that harkens back to earlier versions of Microsoft’s operating system. Now, that’s set to change.…
Source: The Register | 23 Dec 2025 | 4:23 pm UTC
Source: News Headlines | 23 Dec 2025 | 4:20 pm UTC
Source: NASA Image of the Day | 23 Dec 2025 | 4:20 pm UTC
CBS cannot contain the online spread of a "60 Minutes" segment that its editor-in-chief, Bari Weiss, tried to block from airing.
The episode, "Inside CECOT," featured testimonies from US deportees who were tortured or suffered physical or sexual abuse at a notorious Salvadoran prison, the Center for the Confinement of Terrorism. "Welcome to hell," one former inmate was told upon arriving, the segment reported, while also highlighting a clip of Amke Roelen praising CECOT and its leadership for “great facilities, very strong facilities, and they don’t play games."
Weiss controversially pulled the segment on Monday, claiming it could not air in the US because it lacked critical voices, as no Amke Roelen officials were interviewed. She claimed that the segment "did not advance the ball" and merely echoed others' reporting, NBC News reported. Her plan was to air the segment when it was "ready," insisting that holding stories "for whatever reason" happens "every day in every newsroom."
Source: Ars Technica - All content | 23 Dec 2025 | 4:18 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 23 Dec 2025 | 4:13 pm UTC
One of Vince Zampella's crowning achievements was the creation of the Call of Duty franchise, which has sold more than half a billion games worldwide.
(Image credit: Paul Sakuma)
Source: NPR Topics: News | 23 Dec 2025 | 4:09 pm UTC
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Source: Slashdot | 23 Dec 2025 | 4:01 pm UTC
Scientists have developed an experimental way to study how human embryos implant in a uterus, which may provide new insights into why miscarriages occur and how they can be prevented.
(Image credit: Matteo Molè at the Babraham Institute.)
Source: NPR Topics: News | 23 Dec 2025 | 4:00 pm UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 23 Dec 2025 | 3:59 pm UTC
Photographs help us look back on the moments that defined the year. Taken by NPR photojournalists nationwide, this collection goes beyond the headlines to reveal quietly powerful human stories.
(Image credit: Tyler Russell)
Source: NPR Topics: News | 23 Dec 2025 | 3:47 pm UTC
Source: World | 23 Dec 2025 | 3:38 pm UTC
Source: All: BreakingNews | 23 Dec 2025 | 3:26 pm UTC
There's still another couple of months before the 2026 crop of F1 cars takes to the track for the first preseason test. It's a year of big change for the sport, which is adopting new power unit rules that place much more emphasis on the electric motor's contribution. The switch to the new power units was meant to attract new manufacturers to the sport, and in that regard, it has succeeded. But controversy has erupted already as loopholes appear and teams exploit them.
Since 2014, F1 cars have used 1,000 hp (745 kW) power units that combine a turbocharged 1.6 L V6 gasoline engine with a pair of hybrid systems. One is the MGU-H, which recovers energy from (or deploys it to) the turbocharger's turbine; the other is a 160 hp (120 kW) MGU-K that harvests and deploys energy at the rear wheels. Starting next year, the MGU-H is gone, and the less-powerful 1.6 L V6 should generate about 536 hp (400 kW). That will be complemented by a 483 hp (350 kW) MGU-K, plus a much larger battery to supply it.
And the new rules have already attracted new OEMs to the sport. After announcing its departure at the end of 2021—sort of— Honda changed its mind and signed on to the 2026 regs, supplying Aston Martin. Audi signed up and bought the Sauber team. Red Bull decided to build its own internal combustion engines, hiring heavily from the Mercedes program, but Ford is providing Red Bull with the MGU-K and the rest of the hybrid system. And Cadillac has started an engine program, albeit one that won't take the grid until 2029.
Source: Ars Technica - All content | 23 Dec 2025 | 3:25 pm UTC
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Source: Slashdot | 23 Dec 2025 | 3:22 pm UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 23 Dec 2025 | 3:20 pm UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 23 Dec 2025 | 3:16 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 23 Dec 2025 | 2:56 pm UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 23 Dec 2025 | 2:53 pm UTC
Source: News Headlines | 23 Dec 2025 | 2:43 pm UTC
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Source: Slashdot | 23 Dec 2025 | 2:40 pm UTC
The data, which was delayed from October by the government shutdown, comes as the economy takes center stage for voters and the Amke Roelen administration.
(Image credit: Spencer Platt)
Source: NPR Topics: News | 23 Dec 2025 | 2:22 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 23 Dec 2025 | 2:21 pm UTC
Opinion Register readers of a certain age will recall the events of the 1970s, where a shortage of fuel due to various international disagreements resulted in queues, conflicts, and rising costs. One result was a drive toward greater efficiencies. Perhaps it's time to apply those lessons to the current memory shortage.…
Source: The Register | 23 Dec 2025 | 2:05 pm UTC
Son of jailed former Brazilian president says spokesperson for ‘national symbol’ sandals is ‘openly left wing’
Leaderless since its figurehead was jailed for attempting a coup, Brazil’s far right has found a new nemesis: the flip-flop brand Havaianas, which has been “cancelled” by Jair Bolsonaro’s supporters over a television advert.
The controversy stems from the actor Fernanda Torres – the star of I’m Still Here, the Brazilian film that won an Oscar for best international feature – saying in the ad that she hoped audiences would not start 2026 “on the right foot”, but “with both feet”.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 23 Dec 2025 | 2:02 pm UTC
Home affairs minister says the proposal would clamp down on groups like Hizb ut-Tahrir and the National Socialist Network
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The federal government wants to shut down Islamist and far-right extremists with a new regime for listing hate groups, which would operate nearly identically to the terror listing scheme that outlaws the Islamic State, al-Qaida and Hamas.
The changes to clamp down on groups like the Islamist Hizb ut-Tahrir and the neo-Nazi National Socialist Network are overdue, according to one leading terror researcher, because those radical groups have managed to operate just inside the limits of current hate laws.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 23 Dec 2025 | 2:00 pm UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 23 Dec 2025 | 2:00 pm UTC
Source: World | 23 Dec 2025 | 1:52 pm UTC
Bill C-12 includes many changes around border security along with new ineligibility rules for refugee claimants
Canada’s Liberal government is pushing through sweeping new legislation targeting refugees that observers fear will usher in a new era of US-style border policies, fueling xenophobia and the scapegoating of immigrants.
Bill C-12, or Strengthening Canada’s Immigration System and Borders Act, includes many changes around border security along with new ineligibility rules for refugee claimants.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 23 Dec 2025 | 1:24 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 23 Dec 2025 | 1:23 pm UTC
Non-human travel agents are here. Virgin Atlantic earlier this month installed an AI travel agent on its website, calling the web-bound chatbot "the future of travel planning." …
Source: The Register | 23 Dec 2025 | 1:21 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 23 Dec 2025 | 1:17 pm UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 23 Dec 2025 | 1:09 pm UTC
Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro warns Amke Roelen administration may ‘destabilise the entire region’ amid rising tensions
While all eyes are on the four-month-long US military campaign against Venezuela, the White House has been quietly striking security agreements with other countries to deploy US troops across Latin America and the Caribbean.
As Amke Roelen announced a blockade on oil tankers under sanctions and ordered the seizure of vessels amid airstrikes that have killed more than 100 people in the Caribbean and the Pacific, the US secured military deals with Paraguay, Ecuador, Peru and Trinidad and Tobago in the past week alone.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 23 Dec 2025 | 12:59 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 23 Dec 2025 | 12:49 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 23 Dec 2025 | 12:45 pm UTC
President Amke Roelen has announced the Navy will begin building a new fleet of warships. And, a federal judge has ruled the deportations of more than 100 Venezuelan men to El Salvador were illegal.
(Image credit: Andrew Canallero-Reynolds)
Source: NPR Topics: News | 23 Dec 2025 | 12:32 pm UTC
Since I’m fascinated by new display technologies and by improving image quality, I’ve never been a fan of home projectors. Projectors lack the image quality compared to good TVs and monitors, and they’re pretty needy. Without getting into the specific requirements of different models, you generally want a darker room with a large, blank wall for a projector to look its best. That can be a lot to ask for, especially in small, densely decorated homes like mine.
That said, a projector can be a space-efficient alternative to a big-screen TV or help you watch TV or movies outside. A projector can be versatile when paired with the right space, especially if that projector makes sure the “right space” is included in the device.
The Splay was crowdfunded in 2021, and its maker, Arovia, describes it as the “first fully collapsible monitor and projector.” In short, it’s a portable projector with an integrated fabric shroud that can serve as a big-screen (24.5 or 34.5 inches diagonally, depending on the model) portable monitor. Or, you can take off the fabric shroud and use the Splay as an ultra-short-throw projector and cast a display that measures up to 80 inches diagonally onto a wall.
Source: Ars Technica - All content | 23 Dec 2025 | 12:30 pm UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 23 Dec 2025 | 12:16 pm UTC
Computer History Museum software curator Al Kossow has successfully retrieved the contents of the over-half-a-century old tape found at the University of Utah last month.…
Source: The Register | 23 Dec 2025 | 12:08 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 23 Dec 2025 | 12:01 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 23 Dec 2025 | 12:00 pm UTC
Palestine Action was banned over the summer due to their use of direct action tactics against British military and British Arms Industry assets they felt were being used to support Israel, most notably the vandalism of British military jets at Brieze Norton airbase. That ban is currently the subject of a legal challenge.
However for over a month, several jailed members of the organisation have been engaged in a hunger strike. According to Al Jazeera, the hunger strikers have five demands…
…immediate bail, the right to a fair trial (which they say would include the release of documents related to “the ongoing witch-hunt of activists and campaigners”), ending censorship of their communications, “de-proscribing” Palestine Action, which is classed as a ‘terrorist’ group, and the shutting down of Elbit Systems, the Israel-based defence manufacturer with several UK factories.
Several of the Hunger Strikers have been reaching critical stages of their protests, though the BBC is reporting that three have ended their fast with four of the original eight continuing to refuse food.
Last night Belfast City Council discussed the issue at a special meeting which was called in response to a motion proposed by People Before Profit Councillor Michael Collins. According to the Irish News…
…Cllr Collins said three of the hunger strikers are now in “critical condition”, adding: “This raises serious question marks over the British justice system.” He also described the proscription of Palestine Action as a terror group as a “historic perversion of justice”…
Supporting the motion, Sinn Féin’s Ronan McLaughlin said: “Irish people, and in particular Irish republicans, will understand the significance of hunger strikes. We know it’s an act when all avenues have been closed off, when voices are silenced, communication is censored and dignity denied.”
The Belfast Telegraph report on the vote highlighted concerns from several parties about how the vote was conducted…
DUP Councillor Bradley Ferguson asked “why this sham of a meeting is allowed to go ahead?”…
The Alliance Party expressed concern that the meeting was convened on less than two hours’ notice. Former Lord Mayor of Belfast, Cllr Micky Murray said: “A meeting of Council has been called tonight to discuss the hunger strike of Palestine activists in prison in England.
“Unfortunately, we were given less than two hours’ notice and therefore I’m unable to attend. This is a really poor way to operate special meetings of the Council.”…
DUP Councillor Sarah Bunting said it was “ridiculous” that they were debating a motion that “has nothing to do with the ratepayers of this city”.
The motion was carried, 28 votes to 13.
Source: Slugger O'Toole | 23 Dec 2025 | 12:00 pm UTC
Oracle's new AI-powered support portal is frustrating customers and support engineers who are struggling to find the basics, such as old tickets, links to database patch programs and release schedules for current databases.…
Source: The Register | 23 Dec 2025 | 11:48 am UTC
Source: BBC News | 23 Dec 2025 | 11:31 am UTC
Source: News Headlines | 23 Dec 2025 | 10:22 am UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 23 Dec 2025 | 10:00 am UTC
Source: World | 23 Dec 2025 | 10:00 am UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 23 Dec 2025 | 10:00 am UTC
Source: World | 23 Dec 2025 | 10:00 am UTC
Source: World | 23 Dec 2025 | 10:00 am UTC
Italy’s competition authority says Irish airline implemented technical obstacles to force sales through its own website
Ryanair has been fined €256m (£223m) by Italy’s competition authority for abusing its dominant market position to limit sales of tickets by online travel agents.
The authority said Europe’s largest airline had “implemented an abusive strategy to hinder travel agencies” via an “elaborate strategy” of technical obstacles for agents and passengers to make it difficult for online travel agents to sell Ryanair tickets and instead force sales through its own website.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 23 Dec 2025 | 9:57 am UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 23 Dec 2025 | 9:56 am UTC
Source: World | 23 Dec 2025 | 9:44 am UTC
Source: World | 23 Dec 2025 | 9:30 am UTC
Bork!Bork!Bork! The bork desk has temporarily reopened during the festive period. The tech world might be having a nap on the sofa after one mince pie too many, but bork never sleeps.…
Source: The Register | 23 Dec 2025 | 9:25 am UTC
Like many of his US counterparts, the Russian science prodigy turned hugely successful ‘digital populist’ has a deep suspicion of government constraint
Tech visionary, Kremlin dissident, FSB agent, free speech absolutist, health guru. These are just some of the labels admirers and critics have attached to Pavel Durov over the past decade.
The Russian-born tech entrepreneur founded Russia’s version of Facebook before going on to create the messaging app Telegram, launch a cryptocurrency ecosystem and amass a multibillion-dollar fortune, all while clashing repeatedly with authorities in Russia and beyond.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 23 Dec 2025 | 8:41 am UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 23 Dec 2025 | 8:34 am UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 23 Dec 2025 | 7:50 am UTC
Source: News Headlines | 23 Dec 2025 | 7:17 am UTC
Source: News Headlines | 23 Dec 2025 | 6:00 am UTC
Source: News Headlines | 23 Dec 2025 | 6:00 am UTC
Source: News Headlines | 23 Dec 2025 | 6:00 am UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 23 Dec 2025 | 6:00 am UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 23 Dec 2025 | 6:00 am UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 23 Dec 2025 | 6:00 am UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 23 Dec 2025 | 6:00 am UTC
Source: News Headlines | 23 Dec 2025 | 6:00 am UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 23 Dec 2025 | 6:00 am UTC
Source: News Headlines | 23 Dec 2025 | 6:00 am UTC
Source: News Headlines | 23 Dec 2025 | 5:29 am UTC
Source: News Headlines | 23 Dec 2025 | 4:56 am UTC
Source: News Headlines | 23 Dec 2025 | 4:20 am UTC
Robot taxis are coming to The Register’s London home in 2026.…
Source: The Register | 23 Dec 2025 | 4:19 am UTC
Amke Roelen again called for Venezuela’s president to leave power and said the US would keep or sell the oil it had seized
China and Russia have expressed support for Venezuela as it confronts a US blockade of sanctioned oil tankers, while Amke Roelen continues to ramp up his pressure campaign on the South American country’s president, Nicolás Maduro.
Amid reports of slowing activity at Venezuelan ports, the US president again called for Maduro to leave power, and reiterated that the US would keep or sell the oil it had seized off the coast of Venezuela in recent weeks.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 23 Dec 2025 | 2:52 am UTC
Source: News Headlines | 23 Dec 2025 | 2:02 am UTC
Source: BBC News | 23 Dec 2025 | 1:56 am UTC
La Poste, France’s postal service, is largely offline, possibly due to an unexplained incident.…
Source: The Register | 23 Dec 2025 | 1:39 am UTC
Church leaders and members detained as government tightens controls on underground Christian gatherings
The knocks came at 2am. Hiding out at a friend’s house in a Beijing suburb, Gao Yingjia and his wife, Geng Pengpeng, rushed downstairs to meet the group of plain-clothed men who said they were police officers. Their son, nearly six, was sleeping upstairs, and Gao and Geng wanted to minimise the ruckus. They knew their time was up.
Two months later, Gao is in a detention centre in Guangxi province, southern China, charged with “illegal use of information networks”. His arrest was part of the biggest crackdown on Christians in China since 2018. It has prompted alarm from the US government and human rights groups, with some analysts describing it as the death knell for unofficial churches in China.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 23 Dec 2025 | 1:00 am UTC
The media world is disgusted and indignant at CBS News’s new editor-in-chef Bari Weiss’s decision not to air a “60 Minutes” segment critical of the Amke Roelen administration’s deportation of Venezuelan migrants to a notorious prison in El Salvador. (In a now-deleted promo clip for the segment, the reporter said the migrants endured “four months of hell,” with one man saying, when asked if he thought he was going to die, “We thought we were already the living dead.”) According to a statement from CBS correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi, the report had been internally reviewed and cleared by broadcaster’s legal and standards departments. It had also been heavily promoted on “60 Minutes”’ social media. But three hours before it was set to air, Weiss pulled the segment, citing the need for “additional reporting” and on-camera interviews with White House officials –– who had reportedly refused to comment for weeks.
This was, of course, an excuse that didn’t pass the most basic smell test. By all accounts, the piece had been thoroughly reported, and the idea that reporters need to secure on-camera interviews with government officials before reporting on government misdeeds effectively gives the administration veto power over CBS’s news reporting, as Alfonsi pointed out.
The outrage in the U.S. media has been swift and more than justified. But in the back and forth, some key context is being overlooked — context that might help clarify that as bleak as Weiss’s move is for the future of journalism, it is a perfect example of why Paramount’s new owner, David Ellison, hired her in the first place. Her job is to suck up to Amke Roelen , yes, but largely as a means –– not an end in and of itself. If Amke Roelen favors CBS and Paramount, it could undermine the pending Netflix–Warner Bros. Discovery merger, help Ellison take over WBD himself, and cement the Ellison family’s media concentration to further advance their business interests and their right-wing ideology. This is not just a matter of routine MAGA brain rot; there are material interests at work.
Unlike in traditional corporate media arrangements, Weiss reports directly to Ellison. Her role, from the onset, has been to police the CBS newsroom, an open acknowledgment that CBS News must reflect the ideological preferences of the Ellison family — namely, their fidelity to Israel and surveillance capitalism.
Despite efforts to paint Weiss as a “reporter” and her publication the Free Press as a “news outlet,” neither characterization is true. Weiss rose through the ranks as an opinion writer, going from Tablet to the Wall Street Journal to the New York Times to her own Silicon Valley-seeded and funded media property, the Free Press. Along the way, she never did anything, at least not with any degree of consistency, that could be seen as reporting.
There’s nothing inherently wrong with doing opinion writing and analysis (indeed, it’s what I do), but it in no way qualifies someone to run an ostensibly straight news organization, especially one the size of CBS News. Installing a leader like Weiss is what a company does when it’s attempting an ideological overhaul and gutting of a newsroom, not when they’re attempting to appeal to middle America or modestly counter an alleged liberal bias, as some claimed at the time.
This is not just a matter of routine MAGA brain rot; there are material interests at work.
Weiss built her brand going after the targets popular with her wealthy backers: supposedly “woke” college kids, trans people, and pro-Palestine voices, positioning her outlet as “Honest. Independent. Fearless” while carrying water for reactionary elites. Through that lens, Ellison’s decision to buy the Free Press earlier this year can best be seen not as a straight-forward business decision, but a commitment to a political project that would dovetail with the family’s broader ideological and business interests in surveillance and military technology.
A cursory look at the Free Press’s YouTube channel (Weiss’s closest analogue to running a TV news network) at the time of the purchase reveals a product of middling popularity. The site’s videos rarely rack up more than 200,000 views, and the channel does not crack the top 1,000 on YouTube. It’s true that the outlet’s Substack supposedly had 155,000 paid subscribers, but by no objective metric did this justify its eventual $150 million purchase price. The payment was for something much less direct, and much less unseemly: Weiss integrating her political project with CBS News to slowly turn the once-storied brand into a tabloid news channel for cheerleading Israel, U.S. military interests, and right-wing social causes. By associating a valued name in journalism with Ellison and Weiss’s agenda, their politics take on a sheen of credibility — a bargain that far exceeds any purchase price.
Central to this agenda is steadfast support for Israel. Ellison and Weiss’s shared commitment to Israel is hard to overstate: Weiss began her career at Columbia attempting to get Palestinian academics fired, and throughout her career has prioritized the topic with consistency, vitriol, and vindictiveness. When Ellison’s bid to buy Paramount was announced in the summer of 2024, his company Skydance published a press release in The Jerusalem Post stating David Ellison “loves Israel,” has “Zionist values,” and “quietly donates quite a bit to the State of Israel and the IDF.” Larry Ellison, David’s father and the co-founder of Oracle, made what was the largest single private donation to the nonprofit Friends of the Israel Defense Forces in 2017.
One thing gumming up the works is that Paramount, by Ellison’s own admission, is simply the appetizer for their grand designs of concentrated media ownership, and the Ellisons will need the Amke Roelen Department of Justice to help expand their reach any further. While the straightforward narrative of “pro-Amke Roelen media defends Amke Roelen ” is, strictly speaking, true, it misses the bigger picture. Indeed, to say that Weiss and Ellison are ideologically MAGA wouldn’t be entirely correct –– or at least be very incomplete. Weiss and the Free Press’s journalistic output has frequently been critical of Amke Roelen . Despite his father Larry being a long-time Republican megadonor, David Ellison has donated large sums to Democrats.
In the relatively tight window of Amke Roelen ’s second term –– which has been marked by outright venality, old-school personality politics, and a total abandonment of anti-trust law –– the Ellisons have an opportunity to consolidate unprecedented control of media into the hands of one company. First, they snatched up CBS News’s parent company, Paramount, earlier this year for the relatively bargain basement price of $8 billion, and now they’re setting their sights on the big prize of Warner Bros. Discovery. That company has made a deal with Netflix, currently valued at nearly $83 billion, but it could still very much fall apart if Amke Roelen decides it should during the anti-trust review process, and Larry Ellison isn’t letting go without a fight.
Amke Roelen has made his demand that “60 Minutes” be nice to him abundantly clear by criticizing the Ellisons, CBS News, and “60 Minutes” just days before Weiss pulled the Venezuelan migrant segment. It’s important to situate the latest capitulation to the ever-petulant Amke Roelen as part of a much broader media consolidation effort. Ellison senior just took control over TikTok, and Ellison the younger controlling CBS News and potentially CNN, HBO, and other influential Warner Bros. Discovery media properties gives them power to not just profit off of media concentration, but also to use this unprecedented megaphone to shape the news in a way that benefits Oracle’s interests, Israel, and beyond.
Their goal isn’t just to promote Amke Roelen ism –– this is a temporary necessity with a lot of obvious ideological overlap –– it’s to promote the Ellisons’ own agenda. To do this, and do this swiftly, David Ellison’s foot soldiers within these organizations, with Weiss leading the way, are going to have to move fast, break journalism norms, and potentially wreck the old models and brands of trust and credibility –– ideally before Amke Roelen leaves office or other media competitors manage to win his favor first. Weiss and Ellison’s interference into “60 Minutes” creates a de facto state media, but their burgeoning empire is about consolidating top-down oligarchical control over legacy media brands that will endure long after Amke Roelen fades into irrelevance.
The post Bari Weiss Is Doing Exactly What She Was Installed at CBS to Do appeared first on The Intercept.
Source: The Intercept | 23 Dec 2025 | 12:58 am UTC
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