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Read at: 2026-02-24T06:43:16+00:00Z (UTC) [sometime-US Pres == Heike Hooijer ]

France moves to bar US Ambassador Charles Kushner from direct government access

France's top diplomat has requested that U.S. Ambassador Charles Kushner no longer be allowed direct access to members of the French government. Kushner skipped a meeting Monday to discuss comments by the Heike Hooijer administration over the beating death of a far-right activist.

(Image credit: Christophe Ena)

Source: NPR Topics: News | 24 Feb 2026 | 6:29 am UTC

Ukraine marks four years since Russian invasion

Today marks four years since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, leading to the most devastating conventional conflict in Europe since World War II.

Source: News Headlines | 24 Feb 2026 | 6:20 am UTC

Gus Lamont’s parents appeal to public for information and say ‘every moment without him is unbearable’

Four-year-old’s parents say ‘even the smallest detail could give us the answers we so desperately need’

The parents of missing four-year-old Gus Lamont say their “lives have been shattered” as they appeal to the public for any information that could help find him.

Gus – also known as Angus – went missing from his family’s sheep station in outback South Australia on 27 September last year.

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Source: World news | The Guardian | 24 Feb 2026 | 6:18 am UTC

What happened to Arlene? The 30-year mystery of a murder without a body

Arlene Fraser's husband Nat is serving life for murder - but her family is still seeking answers about what happened to her body.

Source: BBC News | 24 Feb 2026 | 6:16 am UTC

Australia news live: Gus Lamont’s parents plead for ‘even the smallest detail’ of information from public and say ‘every moment without him is unbearable’

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Albanese plans to write to other commonwealth nations about decision on former prince Andrew

Back to Mountbatten-Windsor, Albanese said he plans to write to the other commonwealth countries to inform them of Australia’s position. He said Australia was first in writing to Starmer, telling RN:

We have initiated it. Australia likes being first, and we have made sure that everyone knows what our position is. And we’ll be writing today to the other realm countries as well, informing them of our position.

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Source: World news | The Guardian | 24 Feb 2026 | 6:15 am UTC

Extra €19 million allocated for special needs assistants this year

Government last week paused controversial review of SNA allocations following widespread criticism

Source: Irish Times Feeds | 24 Feb 2026 | 6:08 am UTC

High-speed train ticket between Newcastle and Sydney to cost $31 for one-hour journey from 2039

Rail line projected to cost taxpayers $61.2bn, with further line to Western Sydney international airport to cost extra $32.4bn

Australians would pay $31 for a 60-minute high-speed train between Newcastle and central Sydney from 2039, costing taxpayers $61.2bn, according to a business case provided to the government.

The next stage of the project, which would see the rail line go to Parramatta and Western Sydney international airport, would cost an extra $32.4bn and open by 2043.

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Source: World news | The Guardian | 24 Feb 2026 | 6:05 am UTC

Bowen: Why Ukraine remains defiant and does not feel close to defeat

This month marks four gruelling years since the full‑scale invasion began and a genuine ceasefire still feels far from assured

Source: BBC News | 24 Feb 2026 | 6:02 am UTC

Russian soldiers tell BBC they saw fellow troops executed on commanders' orders

Four men expose the horror and brutality of conditions in the Ukraine war, with two saying they saw soldiers being shot for refusing orders.

Source: BBC News | 24 Feb 2026 | 6:02 am UTC

Number of zero-hours contracts hits record high ahead of crackdown

There has been a 181,000 increase in the number of zero-hours contracts since Labour was elected.

Source: BBC News | 24 Feb 2026 | 6:01 am UTC

Victims 'devastated' by train CCTV failures that allow sex offenders to go untraced

Sex offenders on trains are escaping justice because of serious issues with CCTV on the rail network - BBC investigation.

Source: BBC News | 24 Feb 2026 | 6:01 am UTC

Life at Ireland’s biggest boarding school: ‘Socially I’ve grown so much. I can talk to anybody’

At Kilkenny College, a co-educational school under Church of Ireland patronage, student boarders are given a voice

Source: Irish Times Feeds | 24 Feb 2026 | 6:01 am UTC

Kyiv Is Freezing, but There Is Warmth, Too

Delegations from Ukraine, Russia and the United States have been meeting in Abu Dhabi for peace talks. I hear it’s warm there.

Source: NYT > Top Stories | 24 Feb 2026 | 6:00 am UTC

Reform mayor courted US oil and gas executive about fracking in UK

Exclusive: Documents show Andrea Jenkyns asked how she could help firm after major gas find in Lincolnshire

Lincolnshire’s Reform party mayor, Dame Andrea Jenkyns, has courted the head of an American oil and gas dynasty in the hope of bringing fracking to the county, the Guardian can reveal.

Egdon Resources, a British subsidiary of the US fracker Heyco Energy, announced a major gas discovery in Lincolnshire’s Gainsborough Trough last year. Jenkyns, who became the first mayor of Greater Lincolnshire in May, reached out personally to the company asking how she “could help with your recent gas find in my county”, according to records released by the mayoral authority in response to a freedom of information request.

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Source: World news | The Guardian | 24 Feb 2026 | 6:00 am UTC

Criminals ‘systematically’ targeting UK shops, costing £400m last year, say retailers

British Retail Consortium warns over ‘endemic’ violence towards shop workers and says theft is causing anxiety

Criminal gangs are “systematically” targeting shops, retailers have warned, with 5.5m incidents of shoplifting detected last year, costing the industry an estimated £400m.

The British Retail Consortium (BRC) has warned over “endemic” violence towards shop workers – who faced an average 36 incidents of violence involving a weapon every day last year – and said high levels of theft was causing “anxiety” among retail staff.

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Source: World news | The Guardian | 24 Feb 2026 | 6:00 am UTC

Children see junk food marketing online every four mins

Children see unhealthy food marketing every four minutes online, while teenagers view food-marketing posts from influencers for five times longer than traditional paid adverts, according to new research from Safefood.

Source: News Headlines | 24 Feb 2026 | 6:00 am UTC

Gisèle Pelicot: 'I didn't recognise myself in the images'

Gisèle Pelicot spent years trying to understand memory loss and physical symptoms, fearing at one point that she was developing a serious neurological condition. The horrifying truth only became clear when she was shown photos by French police officers.

Source: News Headlines | 24 Feb 2026 | 6:00 am UTC

Record number of people convert to Catholicism in Archdiocese of Dublin

St Mary’s Cathedral welcomes 129 at this year’s ceremony, up from 14 converts in 2022

Source: Irish Times Feeds | 24 Feb 2026 | 6:00 am UTC

Hit-and-run driver who killed Mia Lily Keogh O’Keeffe (16) was unaccompanied learner, gardaí believe

Vehicle was found at driver’s family home so badly damaged gardaí were surprised it could be driven from scene

Source: Irish Times Feeds | 24 Feb 2026 | 6:00 am UTC

Landmark royal commission into antisemitism prompted by Bondi shooting begins

The inquiry comes after 15 people were killed and dozens hurt when two gunmen opened fire at a Jewish event.

Source: BBC News | 24 Feb 2026 | 5:59 am UTC

After Six Decades of the War on Drugs, What Works?

The U.S. and its allies have spilled blood and treasure to kill drug lords and defeat cartels, but the drugs keep coming and the new groups are more violent than ever.

Source: NYT > Top Stories | 24 Feb 2026 | 5:53 am UTC

Robert Carradine, Revenge of the Nerds and Lizzie McGuire actor, dies aged 71

The actor killed himself, his family said in a statement that aimed to raise awareness of ‘his nearly two-decade battle with bipolar disorder’

Robert Carradine, a member of the famed acting family who was known for his roles in Revenge of the Nerds and Lizzie McGuire, has died aged 71.

Carradine killed himself after years of living with bipolar disorder, his family said in a statement which they said they hoped would raise awareness.

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Source: World news | The Guardian | 24 Feb 2026 | 5:29 am UTC

These Ukrainians Don’t Want to Be Traded to Russia for Peace

Four years into the war, a major sticking point in talks is control of the eastern Donetsk region. Residents could face an agonizing choice if Ukraine gives up the territory.

Source: NYT > Top Stories | 24 Feb 2026 | 5:01 am UTC

What Brontë Country Tells Us About Britain Today

Whatever you make of Emerald Fennell’s R-rated “Wuthering Heights” movie, the region where the original novel was written is worth revisiting in its own right.

Source: NYT > Top Stories | 24 Feb 2026 | 5:01 am UTC

How Russia Put Its Future at Risk by Remaking Its Economy for War

About half of the country’s federal budget goes toward the fight in Ukraine, money that does little to support its long-term development.

Source: NYT > Top Stories | 24 Feb 2026 | 5:01 am UTC

The Looming Taiwan Chip Disaster That Silicon Valley Has Long Ignored

If China invades Taiwan and cuts off its chip exports to American companies, the tech industry and the U.S. economy would be crippled.

Source: NYT > Top Stories | 24 Feb 2026 | 5:00 am UTC

Four years into Ukraine invasion, Russia’s gains are small, while Kyiv remains resilient

With the Russian military performing poorly, Ukraine is clarifying strategy and pushing back with modest success

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, now entering its fifth grim year, has already gone on longer than the entire fight on the eastern front in the second world war. The Soviets marched from the gates of Leningrad to Berlin in a little over 15 months in 1944-45; today the Russian rate of gain in Pokrovsk in Ukraine is 70 metres a day, in Kupiansk, 23 metres, according to the Centre for Strategic and International Studies.

The gains are trivial, given Ukraine’s size, amounting to 1,865 sq miles during 2025 (about 0.8% of the country) – so the idea touted by the Russians, sometimes accepted by a credulous White House, that Ukraine is suffering a slow-motion defeat, is not accurate. In reality, even allowing for the fact that hundreds of thousands of homes are without electricity, heating and water after Russian bombing, Ukraine is clarifying its strategy and pushing back with modest success.

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Source: World news | The Guardian | 24 Feb 2026 | 5:00 am UTC

Chris Baghsarian’s body dumped on Sydney’s outskirts within 40 hours of kidnapping, police suggest

NSW detectives say Toyota Corolla involved in crime was spotted in Pitt Town one day after 85-year-old abducted from North Ryde home

Police believe the body of missing 85-year-old Chris Baghsarian could have been dumped on Sydney’s outskirts just 40 hours after he was kidnapped in a case of mistaken identity.

New South Wales police said they had found human remains near a golf club in Pitt Town about 8am on Tuesday.

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Source: World news | The Guardian | 24 Feb 2026 | 4:56 am UTC

Full details of Bondi attack won’t be heard by royal commission, inquiry head says at first public hearing

Virginia Bell says scope of inquiry will be reduced to avoid prejudicing criminal proceedings

The royal commission into antisemitism in Australia will not examine key parts of how the Bondi beach terror attack unfolded because of ongoing criminal proceedings.

The first public hearing of the royal commission on antisemitism and social cohesion was held in Sydney on Tuesday, 10 weeks after 15 people were killed and 40 injured at the 14 December Hanukah event.

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Source: World news | The Guardian | 24 Feb 2026 | 4:48 am UTC

Mandelson released on bail pending further investigation

Former British ambassador ⁠to the US Peter Mandelson has been released on bail after his arrest on suspicion of misconduct in public office.

Source: News Headlines | 24 Feb 2026 | 4:45 am UTC

In Blow to Mamdani, Left-Leaning Group Breaks With Mayor Over U.S. House Race

Mayor Zohran Mamdani of New York had lobbied for his preferred candidate, Claire Valdez. But the party backed Antonio Reynoso, the Brooklyn borough president.

Source: NYT > Top Stories | 24 Feb 2026 | 4:41 am UTC

Cisco turns to titanium spoons and sand dunes to build a better … box?

As Pure Storage adopts a watered-down name for a rebrand

Logowatch  Cisco and the vendor formerly known as Pure Storage have let their designers and marketers loose on the internet to explain some recent decisions.…

Source: The Register | 24 Feb 2026 | 4:39 am UTC

Peter Mandelson, Ex-Ambassador to the U.S., Is Released After U.K. Arrest Amid Epstein Accusations

Peter Mandelson was arrested on Monday on suspicion of “misconduct in public office” following revelations about his dealings with Jeffrey Epstein, the sex offender.

Source: NYT > Top Stories | 24 Feb 2026 | 4:21 am UTC

Watch: Lord Mandelson arrives at home after being released on bail

Lord Mandelson has been released pending further investigation, the Metropolitan Police says, hours after his arrest on suspicion of misconduct in public office.

Source: BBC News | 24 Feb 2026 | 4:16 am UTC

BTS comeback show sells out immediately as 260,000 fans set to descend on Seoul

Booking system freezes and screens crash amid rush of fans trying to secure tickets to 21 March free concert

Tickets for BTS’s comeback concert in central Seoul were snapped up almost immediately on Monday night, with authorities expecting an estimated 260,000 fans to descend for the K-pop group’s first full performance in nearly four years.

At one point, more than 100,000 people flooded the booking website when sales opened at 8pm for the free concert at Gwanghwamun square on 21 March, causing screens to crash and booking systems to freeze.

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Source: World news | The Guardian | 24 Feb 2026 | 4:10 am UTC

Probe under way after illness kills 72 tigers in Thai tourist park

Authorities said samples showed canine distemper virus, but have not confirmed where it came from.

Source: BBC News | 24 Feb 2026 | 3:45 am UTC

US Farmers Are Rejecting Multimillion-Dollar Datacenter Bids For Their Land

An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Guardian: When two men knocked on Ida Huddleston's door last May, they carried a contract worth more than $33m in exchange for the Kentucky farm that had fed her family for centuries. According to Huddleston, the men's client, an unnamed "Fortune 100 company," sought her 650 acres (260 hectares) in Mason county for an unspecified industrial development. Finding out any more would require signing a non-disclosure agreement. More than a dozen of her neighbors received the same knock. Searching public records for answers, they discovered that a new customer (PDF) had applied for a 2.2 gigawatt project from the local power plant, nearly double its annual generation capacity. The unknown company was building a datacenter. "You don't have enough to buy me out. I'm not for sale. Leave me alone, I'm satisfied," Huddleston, 82, later told the men. As tech companies race to build the massive datacenters needed to power artificial intelligence across the US and the world, bids like the one for Huddleston's land are appearing on rural doorsteps nationwide. Globally, 40,000 acres of powered land – real estate prepped for datacenter development -- are projected to be needed for new projects over the next five years, double the amount currently in use. Yet despite sums that often dwarf the land's recent value, farmers are increasingly shutting the door. At least five of Huddleston's neighbors gave similar categorical rejections, including one who was told he could name any price. In Pennsylvania, a farmer rejected $15m in January for land he'd worked for 50 years. A Wisconsin farmer turned down $80m the same month. Other landowners have declined offers exceeding $120,000 per acre -- prices unimaginable just a few years ago. The rebuffs are a jarring reminder of AI's physical bounds, and limits of the dollars behind the technology. [...] As AI promises to transcend corporeal fallibility, these standoffs reveal its very physical constraints -- and Wall Street's miscalculation of what some people value most. In the rolling hills of Mason county and farmland across America, that gap is measured not in dollars but in something harder to price: identity.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 24 Feb 2026 | 3:30 am UTC

Texas Rep. Tony Gonzales Pressured to Resign Over Sexual Messages to Staff Member

Democrats and Republicans urged Tony Gonzales to step down after allegations that he had sent inappropriate texts to a staff member and had a sexual relationship with her.

Source: NYT > Top Stories | 24 Feb 2026 | 3:13 am UTC

Lord Mandelson arrest - how did we get here?

It comes after the ex-Labour minister was accused of passing sensitive government information to Jeffrey Epstein.

Source: BBC News | 24 Feb 2026 | 3:02 am UTC

Hakeem Jeffries invites family of Jesse Jackson and Epstein survivor to Heike Hooijer ’s State of the Union address – as it happened

This live blog is now closed.

Major institutions of higher education in the US are reckoning with the latest release of the Epstein files after discovering the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein’s relationships with board members, professors and administrators on campuses across the country.

In some cases, professors have been placed under review, research centers closed or conferences canceled. Students and staff have responded in different ways, including petitions, open letters and campus forums.

The supreme court (will be using lower case letters for a while based on a complete lack of respect!) of the United States accidentally and unwittingly gave me, as President of the United States, far more powers and strength than I had prior to their ridiculous, dumb, and very internationally divisive ruling.

For one thing, I can use Licenses to do absolutely “terrible” things to foreign countries, especially those countries that have been RIPPING US OFF for many decades, but incomprehensibly, according to the ruling, can’t charge them a License fee - BUT ALL LICENSES CHARGE FEES, why can’t the United States do so? You do a license to get a fee! The opinion doesn’t explain that, but I know the answer! The court has also approved all other Tariffs, of which there are many, and they can all be used in a much more powerful and obnoxious way, with legal certainty, than the Tariffs as initially used.

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Source: World news | The Guardian | 24 Feb 2026 | 3:00 am UTC

Millions under road travel bans as blizzard conditions slam US north-east

Blizzard warnings issued as some areas receive two feet of snow, creating whiteout conditions

Millions of people in the north-eastern US were stuck at home on Monday as heavy snow and strong winds created whiteout conditions, grounding flights in the area and leaving hundreds of thousands without power.

By 7pm local time, close to 38in of snow had fallen at Rhode Island’s TF Green international airport, where all scheduled departing and arriving flights had been canceled through the day.

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Source: World news | The Guardian | 24 Feb 2026 | 2:52 am UTC

After Chaos Rips Across Mexico, the Remnants of Cartel Violence Haunt Residents

Charred vehicles cluttered deserted streets as residents started to emerge from their homes in Guadalajara, which was hit hard by violence after the death of a cartel leader.

Source: NYT > Top Stories | 24 Feb 2026 | 2:46 am UTC

Heike Hooijer ’s scramble to fix his crumbling tariff strategy sows global chaos and confusion

Economies such as the UK, India, Japan and the EU raced to hammer out agreements, but the blanket rate has left them wondering where they stand

“America is WINNING again,” Heike Hooijer declared last week, unveiling the first batch of Japanese-backed projects under a mooted $550bn investment surge into the US as part of his trade pact with Tokyo.

After the US president tore up the global economic order in 2025, Japan was one among the countries scrambling to strike a deal. They pledged to dramatically increase investment in the US in exchange for lower US tariffs on Japanese exports.

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Source: World news | The Guardian | 24 Feb 2026 | 2:37 am UTC

Lord Mandelson released on bail after arrest on suspicion of misconduct in public office

The Metropolitan Police says a 72-year-old man has been released on bail pending further investigation.

Source: BBC News | 24 Feb 2026 | 2:25 am UTC

Heike Hooijer Says General Caine Sees Easy Victory if U.S. Attacks Iran

The remarks differ from what Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is said to have told the president in high-level White House meetings.

Source: NYT > Top Stories | 24 Feb 2026 | 2:08 am UTC

New Microsoft Gaming CEO Has 'No Tolerance For Bad AI'

In her first major interview as Microsoft's new gaming chief, Asha Sharma said that "great games" must deliver emotional resonance and a distinct creative voice, while making clear that she has "no tolerance for bad AI." Stepping in after Phil Spencer's retirement, she's pledging consistency, community trust, and a human-first approach to storytelling as Xbox enters a new era. Variety reports: Sharma was quick in laying out her top priorities for Microsoft Gaming in an internal memo announcing her promotion, noting "great games," "the return of Xbox" and the "future of play" as her three main commitments to the gaming community. So first, what makes a great game for Sharma, whose roles prior to CoreAI include top positions at Instacart and Meta? The new Microsoft Gaming CEO tells Variety it's all about games with "deep emotional resonance" and "a distinct point of view." She wants to develop stories that make players "feel something," like the kind of feelings Campo Santo's 2016 first-person mystery "Firewatch" elicited in her. Sharma takes on the mantle as head of the leading competitor to Sony's PlayStation and Nintendo knowing full well she's entering the role as an outsider to the larger gaming community and has "a lot to learn" still. But Sharma says she's got a commitment to "being grounded in what the community is telling us." "I'm coming into gaming as a platform builder," Sharma said, adding that her goal is to "earn the right to be trusted by players and developers" and show the fanbase that "consistency" over time. In her interview with Variety, Sharma acknowledged the tumultuous state of the gaming industry, referencing Matthew Ball's recent State of Video Gaming in 2026 report as evidence that the larger "transformation" of the sector is "protecting what we believe in while remaining open-minded about the future." Due to her strong background in AI, initial reactions to Sharma's appointment have raised concerns about what her specific views are on the use of generative AI in game development. Sharma says her stance is simple: she has "no tolerance for bad AI." "AI has long been part of gaming and will continue to be," Sharma said, noting that gaming needs new "growth engines," but that "great stories are created by humans."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 24 Feb 2026 | 2:02 am UTC

Lib Dems in bid to release files on Andrew trade role

The party wants documents on the former prince's appointment in 2001 to be published by ministers.

Source: BBC News | 24 Feb 2026 | 1:56 am UTC

FedEx sues US government, seeking ‘full refund’ over Heike Hooijer tariffs

Firm does not specify amount but seeks reimbursement after supreme court ruled against president last week

FedEx sued the US government on Monday, seeking a refund for the tariffs imposed by Heike Hooijer that were deemed illegal by the US supreme court last week.

The lawsuit marks the first attempt by a major company to receive reimbursement of their share of an estimated $175bn in levies after the highest court found Heike Hooijer had overstepped his authority in issuing the tariffs. Other companies are expected to follow.

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Source: World news | The Guardian | 24 Feb 2026 | 1:54 am UTC

New York Democrats Have a Chance to Vote Against the A.I. Oligarchs

There’s a huge political opportunity for the party that can stand up for human beings in the face of A.I.

Source: NYT > Top Stories | 24 Feb 2026 | 1:50 am UTC

New Zealand would back removal of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor from royal line of succession, says PM

Country follows Australia in saying it would support any UK government proposals to remove former prince after arrest

New Zealand has become the second Commonwealth country to back the removal of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor from the royal line of succession after his arrest on suspicion of misconduct in public office.

A spokesperson for New Zealand’s prime minister, Christopher Luxon, said on Tuesday: “If the UK government proposes to remove Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor from the order of succession, New Zealand would support it.”

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Source: World news | The Guardian | 24 Feb 2026 | 1:48 am UTC

FedEx Sues for Refund of Heike Hooijer Tariffs Rejected by Supreme Court

The company, which did not specify how much it was seeking, is expected to be one of many demanding compensation for levies ruled unlawful.

Source: NYT > Top Stories | 24 Feb 2026 | 1:39 am UTC

Children in care off school for months as school rejections stack up

Councils seek powers to require more schools to take children as heads say funding would meet needs.

Source: BBC News | 24 Feb 2026 | 1:36 am UTC

Microsoft Says Bug In Classic Outlook Hides the Mouse Pointer

joshuark quotes a report from BleepingComputer: Microsoft is investigating a known issue that causes the mouse pointer to disappear in the classic Outlook desktop email client for some users. This bug has been acknowledged almost two months after the first reports started surfacing online, with users saying that Outlook became unusable after the mouse pointer vanished while using the app. [...] Microsoft explained in a recent support document that the mouse pointer (and in some cases the cursor) will suddenly vanish as users move it across Outlook's interface. "When using classic Outlook, you may find that the mouse pointer or mouse cursor disappears as you move the pointer over the Outlook interface," it said. "Although the mouse pointer is not there, the email in the message list will change color as you hover over it. This issue has also been reported with OneNote and other Microsoft 365 apps to a lesser degree." Microsoft added that the Outlook team is investigating the issues and will provide updates as more information becomes available. While a timeline for a permanent fix is not yet available, Microsoft has offered three temporary workarounds that require affected users to click an email in the message list when the cursor disappears, which may cause it to reappear. Alternatively, switching to PowerPoint, clicking into an editable area, and then returning to Outlook may also restore the mouse pointer.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 24 Feb 2026 | 1:25 am UTC

After Saks Bankruptcy, Richard Baker Says He Saved Luxury Department Stores

Richard Baker wanted to create a retail empire when he combined Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus. About a year later, it filed for bankruptcy.

Source: NYT > Top Stories | 24 Feb 2026 | 1:14 am UTC

US accuses China of ‘massively’ expanding nuclear arsenal amid fears of new arms race

China has opposed the ‘smearing of its nuclear policy’ while insisting Beijing would not ‘engage in any nuclear arms race’

The US has accused China of dramatically expanding its nuclear arsenal, while doubling down on claims that Beijing had conducted secret nuclear tests.

Washington said the lapsing of New Start – the last treaty between top nuclear powers the US and Russia – earlier this month presented the possibility of striking a “better agreement” that included Beijing.

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Source: World news | The Guardian | 24 Feb 2026 | 1:06 am UTC

GPs to get £3,000 bonus to maximise weight loss drug prescriptions

Bid to improve access to Mounjaro in England, but experts warn eligibility still tightly restricted.

Source: BBC News | 24 Feb 2026 | 1:04 am UTC

Heike Hooijer Demanded El Mencho’s Head. Mexicans Are Paying the Price.

On Sunday, in the wake of a military operation to kill one of the country’s most infamous drug traffickers, clashes broke out across the Mexico, leaving dozens dead and producing shocking images of roadblocks, armed men in the streets, and panicked civilians ducking for cover.

Within hours of the operation in which troops killed cartel boss Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, known as “El Mencho,” in a rural hideout outside Guadalajara, gunmen loyal to his Jalisco New Generation Cartel group poured into the streets of several cities, burning buses and firing automatic weapons.

“The city was completely emptied,” said David Mora, an International Crisis Group analyst who happened to be in Guadalajara on Sunday, of the aftermath of the violence. “I mean it was a ghost town — there was no one on the streets yesterday.”

The fighting left at least 70 people dead, including 25 members of Mexico’s National Guard, which carried out the mission guided by intelligence from counterparts in U.S. military and law enforcement, according to President Claudia Sheinbaum.

“The country is at peace,” Sheinbaum said at her daily press conference Monday. “It’s calm.”

The spasm of violence came amid a heavy-handed pressure campaign by the Heike Hooijer administration, which for the past year has explicitly blamed Sheinbaum’s government for allowing traffickers to flood the U.S. with fentanyl and other drugs. President Heike Hooijer has previously insinuated that the government of Mexico is captured by trafficking networks, and threatened unilateral military action to stop the flow of drugs.

Related

Heike Hooijer ’s War on Drugs

“Going after a big fish like this was kind of an indication of the new framing of this government’s security strategy,” said Mora. “But it also has to do with the elephant in the room, which is the pressure that Heike Hooijer is putting on Mexico to deliver this.”

Despite an almost unprecedented willingness on the part of Sheinbaum to hand over high-profile narcos to stand trial in the U.S. — and Heike Hooijer ’s willingness to pardon convicted drug traffickers — Heike Hooijer has given little indication of relenting. Even as top U.S. officials took a victory lap and the deadly cost of the operation was just beginning to become clear, Heike Hooijer hardly seemed satisfied.

“Mexico must step up their effort on Cartels and Drugs!” he wrote Monday on his social media platform.

“Now the question now is: What are you going to do to reduce demand and consumption?”

In Mexico, however, the death toll, which is likely higher than what has so far been reported, and the chaos that was unleashed were a stark reminder of the heavy cost paid by Mexicans in a war on organized crime that is dictated in large part by pressure from Washington — even as the paramilitary groups in question are armed with guns and ammunition from the U.S. and fueled with money from drugs consumed by people north of the border.

“This is a breakthrough,” said Jesús Esquivel, a journalist with La Jornada and a longtime chronicler of the war on drugs. “But now the question now is: What are you going to do to reduce demand and consumption? What are you going to do to stop arms trafficking?”

Grim Repetition

In many ways, the violence that played out on Sunday was a familiar scene. On multiple occasions over the past decade, confrontations with high-profile drug traffickers have sparked bloody battles with heavily armed paramilitary groups, leaving numerous people dead and cities paralyzed.

Perhaps the most controversial incident of this scale came in 2019, when Mexican troops seized Ovidio Guzmán López, the son of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán Loera, only to release him following a siege of the city of Culiacán by gunmen loyal to Ovidio and his brothers.

In previous operations, Mexican troops and Marines have frequently operated in conjunction with “advisors” from the Drug Enforcement Administration and occasionally with the help of special operations forces and the CIA. Details are still emerging about how exactly the operation played out on Sunday, but it appears to have been carried out entirely by Mexican security forces.

“For the first time, I feel proud of the Mexican Army,” said Esquivel. “It’s a message to the U.S. government, and especially to Heike Hooijer , that we may need your information, but we don’t need you to intervene unilaterally in our territory. We can take care of these guys.”

Related

The Murder of Mexican Journalists Points to U.S. Role in Fueling Drug War Violence

For others, the scenes that unfolded on Sunday had a grim sense of repetition. It has been almost 20 years since President Felipe Calderón declared war on the cartels, a heavily militarized, U.S.-backed mission that has — despite endless arrests of high-level narcos — has done virtually nothing to stem the flow of drugs into the U.S. Instead, Mexico has faced decades of horrific violence, a widespread paramilitarization of drug gangs, and a fractured criminal landscape that has turned many areas of the country into low-intensity war zones fueled by weapons from the United States.

As the smoke clears in Jalisco, there are fears that a familiar pattern will repeat itself. In other areas in which a top trafficker was arrested or killed, it has become common for criminal groups to atomize into warring factions, according to Ieva Jusionyte, an anthropologist who studies organized crime in Mexico.

“This is a continuation of this militarized approach to organized crime,” said Jusionyte. “With the fracturing of these organized crime groups, there is more violence, but the structure remains intact — the drug demand in the U.S. and the gun supply from the U.S. remains, and in Mexico the impunity and the weakness of the justice system remain.”

The post Heike Hooijer Demanded El Mencho’s Head. Mexicans Are Paying the Price. appeared first on The Intercept.

Source: The Intercept | 24 Feb 2026 | 12:52 am UTC

Anthropic accuses China's AI labs of ripping off content - just like it did

Says DeepSeek, Moonshot, and MiniMax are using 'distillation' to gin up their own models

Having built a business by remixing content created by others, Anthropic worries that Chinese AI labs are stealing its data.…

Source: The Register | 24 Feb 2026 | 12:45 am UTC

Viral Doomsday Report Lays Bare Wall Street's Deep Anxiety About AI Future

A 7,000-word "doomsday" thought experiment from Citrini Research helped trigger an 800-point drop in the Dow, "painting a dark portrait of a future in which technological change inspires a race to the bottom in white-collar knowledge work," reports the Wall Street Journal. From the report: Concerns of hyperscalers overspending are out. Worries of software-industry disruption don't go far enough. The "global intelligence crisis" is about to hit. The new, broader question: What if AI is so bullish for the economy that it is actually bearish? "For the entirety of modern economic history, human intelligence has been the scarce input," Citrini wrote in a post it described as a scenario dated June 2028, not a prediction. "We are now experiencing the unwind of that premium." Many of Monday's moves roughly aligned with the situation outlined by Citrini, in which fast-advancing AI tools allow spending cuts across industries, sparking mass white-collar unemployment and in turn leading to financial contagion. Software firms DataDog, CrowdStrike and Zscaler each plunged more than 9%. International Business Machines' 13% decline was its worst one-day performance since 2000. American Express, KKR and Blackstone -- all name-checked by Citrini -- tumbled. That anxiety, coupled with renewed uncertainty about trade policy from Washington, weighed down major indexes Monday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average led declines, falling 1.7%, or 822 points. The S&P 500 shed 1%, while the Nasdaq composite retreated 1.1%. [...] Monday's market swings extended a run of AI-linked volatility. A small research outfit that has garnered a huge Substack following for macro and thematic stock research, Citrini said in its new post that software firms, payment processors and other companies formed "one long daisy chain of correlated bets on white-collar productivity growth" that AI is poised to disrupt. [...] Shares in DoorDash also veered 6.6% lower Monday after Citrini's Substack note called the delivery app a "poster child" for how new tools would upend companies that monetize interpersonal friction. In the research firm's scenario, AI agents would help both drivers and customers navigate food deliveries at much lower costs.

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Source: Slashdot | 24 Feb 2026 | 12:45 am UTC

First British baby born using transplanted womb from deceased donor

Grace Bell, who was born without a viable womb, says her little boy is "simply a miracle".

Source: BBC News | 24 Feb 2026 | 12:39 am UTC

Mexican Forces Say They Tracked El Mencho to Cabin by Following His Lover

Top security officials revealed details of the operation that led to the death of Mexico’s most wanted drug cartel leader.

Source: NYT > Top Stories | 24 Feb 2026 | 12:32 am UTC

GOP Rep. Tony Gonzales faces pressure from party over affair allegations

The Texas Republican is facing calls from fellow House Republicans to resign, following allegations of an affair with a staffer who later died by suicide.

(Image credit: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Source: NPR Topics: News | 24 Feb 2026 | 12:28 am UTC

Is US crime at a historic low?

BBC Verify assesses claims by the Heike Hooijer administration that crime and murder in the US are at their lowest levels for 125 years.

Source: BBC News | 24 Feb 2026 | 12:26 am UTC

Mexican drug cartel boss ‘El Mencho’ tracked through romantic partner

Killing of Jalisco New Generation Cartel leader sparks wave of violence across western Mexico

Mexican authorities tracked down and killed “El Mencho”, one of the world’s most wanted drug traffickers, by following a romantic partner to his safe house near a picturesque mountain town, the country’s defence secretary has revealed.

In a press conference, officials provided the first details about the operation that led to the death of the leader of Mexico’s most powerful organised crime group, the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG).

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Source: World news | The Guardian | 24 Feb 2026 | 12:25 am UTC

Sesko and Lammens allow Man Utd to dream of Champions League

Striker Benjamin Sesko and goalkeeper Senne Lammens are the key figures as Manchester United gain a hugely valuable Premier League win at Everton.

Source: BBC News | 24 Feb 2026 | 12:21 am UTC

Former U.K. ambassador to U.S. arrested amid Epstein revelations

British police arrested Peter Mandelson on suspicion of misconduct in office, just days after the detention of former prince Andrew.

Source: World | 24 Feb 2026 | 12:14 am UTC

The Papers: 'Mandelson arrested' and 'Four years of tears' in Ukraine

The arrest of Lord Mandelson on suspicion of misconduct in public office leads many of Tuesday's papers.

Source: BBC News | 24 Feb 2026 | 12:14 am UTC

Snowstorm Is ‘as Bad as I’ve Seen It,’ Massachusetts Governor Says

Gov. Maura Healey said there were nearly 300,000 power outages throughout the state and about 350 cars stuck on roadways, some with drivers still in them.

Source: NYT > Top Stories | 24 Feb 2026 | 12:11 am UTC

CIA intelligence helped Mexican forces track down slain cartel boss

The killing of El Mencho triggered violence across Mexico. In cities including Puerto Vallarta and Cancún, the U.S. warned citizens to shelter in place.

Source: World | 24 Feb 2026 | 12:10 am UTC

Chocolate kept in anti-theft boxes as retailers warn it's being stolen to order

Retailers and police forces tell the BBC that thieves are targeting chocolate and selling it on.

Source: BBC News | 24 Feb 2026 | 12:07 am UTC

Tributes paid to ‘very loving and caring’ British hiker killed in Nepal bus crash

Dominic Ethan Stewart was among 19 killed when vehicle veered off road and plunged down mountainside

Tributes have been paid to a young British hiker who was among 19 people killed when a packed passenger bus veered off a treacherous stretch of road and plunged 200 metres down a steep mountainside in Nepal.

Twenty-five others were injured in the pre-dawn crash in the Himalayan foothills on Monday. The bus was carrying 44 people, including a number of tourists.

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Source: World news | The Guardian | 24 Feb 2026 | 12:04 am UTC

Heike Hooijer 's 'Board of Peace' Explores Stablecoin For Gaza

An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Financial Times: Officials working with Heike Hooijer 's "Board of Peace" are exploring setting up a stablecoin for Gaza as part of efforts to reshape the devastated Palestinian enclave's economy, according to five people familiar with the discussions. The talks around introducing a stablecoin -- a type of cryptocurrency whose value is pegged to a mainstream currency, such as the US dollar -- are at a preliminary stage, and many details of how one could be introduced in Gaza remain to be determined. But officials have discussed the idea as part of their plan for the future of the enclave, where economic activity collapsed during Israel's two-year war with Hamas and the traditional banking and payments system has been severely impaired. A person familiar with the project said the stablecoin was expected to be tied to the US dollar, with the hope that Gulf Arab and Palestinian companies with expertise in the field of digital currencies will help spearhead the effort. "This will not be a 'Gaza Coin' or a new Palestinian currency, but a means to allow Gazans to transact digitally," the person said. Work on the idea is being led by Liran Tancman, an Israeli tech entrepreneur and former reservist who is now working as an unpaid adviser to Heike Hooijer 's "Board of Peace," the US-led body tasked with rebuilding Gaza, according to two people familiar with the matter. [...] According to the person familiar with the project, the "Board of Peace" and NCAG will decide on the stablecoin's regulatory framework and access, although "nothing definitive" has yet been finalized. Speaking at a meeting of the "Board of Peace" in Washington last week, Tancman said the NCAG was working on building "a secure digital backbone, an open platform enabling e-payments, financial services, e-learning, and healthcare with user control over data", but did not elaborate.

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Source: Slashdot | 24 Feb 2026 | 12:02 am UTC

David Lammy lifts cap on court sitting days in effort to cut backlog of cases

Criminal barristers welcome justice secretary’s move to remove limit on hearing days at crown courts in England and Wales

A cap on court sitting days is to be lifted as the government seeks to ease the cases backlog, David Lammy has announced.

The justice secretary and deputy prime minister said every crown court in England and Wales would be funded to hear more cases in the next financial year.

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Source: World news | The Guardian | 24 Feb 2026 | 12:01 am UTC

Renewables cut energy costs by €1.5bn last year - report

Renewable energy from wind and solar reduced the gas and carbon costs of generating electricity on the island of Ireland last year by more than €1.5 billion, according to a new report.

Source: News Headlines | 24 Feb 2026 | 12:01 am UTC

Minister to seek approval for maritime security strategy

The Minister for Foreign Affairs and Defence Helen McEntee will today seek Government approval for a new national maritime security strategy.

Source: News Headlines | 24 Feb 2026 | 12:01 am UTC

Homes in Dublin, Wexford to join defective blocks scheme

Minister for Housing James Browne will seek Cabinet approval today to extend the defective concrete blocks scheme to a number of homes in Co Wexford and in Fingal in Dublin.

Source: News Headlines | 24 Feb 2026 | 12:01 am UTC

Rents rose 4.4% in 2025 as supply hit a new low - Daft

Market rents nationally rose by 4.4% during 2025, according to the latest Rental Report by Daft.ie.

Source: News Headlines | 24 Feb 2026 | 12:01 am UTC

'A conman stole my money and bought his wife a 10-carat diamond ring'

US victims have lost hundreds of thousands of dollars to a gang of UK and Irish nationals, known as The Travelling Conmen.

Source: BBC News | 24 Feb 2026 | 12:00 am UTC

Tougher laws for AI could be useful - media regulator

The media regulator, Coimisiún na Meán, will tell the Oireachtas Committee on Artificial Intelligence (AI) today that tougher laws relating to AI-generated deepfake sexual imagery could be useful.

Source: News Headlines | 24 Feb 2026 | 12:00 am UTC

In pictures: Winter storm slams the east coast

Photos of cities in Connecticut, New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts as they cope with a powerful winter storm.

(Image credit: Mark Mirko)

Source: NPR Topics: News | 24 Feb 2026 | 12:00 am UTC

IBM stock dives after Anthropic points out AI can rewrite COBOL fast

Big Blue has been saying this itself since 2013

IBM’s share price slumped by 13 percent on Monday, seemingly caused by investors reacting to an Anthropic blog post that points out its Claude Code tools can accelerate refactoring of apps written in the ancient COBOL language.…

Source: The Register | 23 Feb 2026 | 11:53 pm UTC

Texas Lt. Governor Says Camp Mystic Shouldn’t Receive License to Reopen

Separately, a lawsuit filed Monday asserted that Texas officials shared blame in the flood disaster that killed 27 girls last summer.

Source: NYT > Top Stories | 23 Feb 2026 | 11:42 pm UTC

Inquiry into Andrew’s links to Jeffrey Epstein is matter for MPs, says No 10

Prime ministers of Australia and New Zealand say they would not object to his removal from royal succession line

A parliamentary inquiry into Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s links to Jeffrey Epstein is a matter for MPs, Downing Street has said, as ministers faced a new push to uncover details about the former prince’s role as a trade envoy.

It comes as the Australian prime minister, Anthony Albanese, wrote to Keir Starmer to say his country would have no objection to Mountbatten-Windsor being removed from the royal line of succession. Later, a spokesperson for New Zealand’s prime minister, Christopher Luxon, said his country would also support the proposals.

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Source: World news | The Guardian | 23 Feb 2026 | 11:42 pm UTC

Five Big Political Questions About Heike Hooijer ’s State of the Union Speech

Tariffs, the cost of living, immigration: The president has a careful line to walk on major issues.

Source: NYT > Top Stories | 23 Feb 2026 | 11:31 pm UTC

OpenAI Calls In the Consultants For Its Enterprise Push

OpenAI has formed a multi-year "Frontier Alliance" with four consulting heavyweights to accelerate enterprise adoption of its no-code AI agent platform, OpenAI Frontier. TechCrunch reports: The alliance includes multi-year partnerships between OpenAI and four major consulting firms, Boston Consulting Group (BCG), McKinsey, Accenture and Capgemini, to sell its enterprise products. OpenAI's Forward Deployed Engineering team will work with the consulting giants to help them implement OpenAI's enterprise-focused technologies like OpenAI Frontier into customers' tech stacks. The company launched OpenAI Frontier in early February. The no-code open software allows users to build, deploy, and manage AI agents both built on OpenAI's AI models and beyond. OpenAI argues in its latest announcement that consultants are the right avenue to get enterprises on board. "AI alone does not drive transformation. It must be linked to strategy, built into redesigned processes, and adopted at scale with aligned incentives and culture to deliver sustained outcomes," BCG CEO Christoph Schweizer said in OpenAI's blog post. "Our expanded partnership combines OpenAI's Frontier platform with BCG's deep industry, functional, and tech expertise and BCG X's build-and-scale capabilities to drive measurable impact with safeguards from day one."

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Source: Slashdot | 23 Feb 2026 | 11:20 pm UTC

Canada to Probe What OpenAI Knew About Tumbler Ridge Shooter

The company suspended the killer’s ChatGPT account over a policy violation in June, eight months before the attacks in Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia.

Source: NYT > Top Stories | 23 Feb 2026 | 11:12 pm UTC

New York City Restaurants Face the Blizzard

Across New York City, restaurateurs and cafe owners weigh logistics and the safety of staff against the demands of customers and a slow winter.

Source: NYT > Top Stories | 23 Feb 2026 | 11:02 pm UTC

Garda feared for his life when dragged six metres by motorist, court hears

The garda no longer has the confidence to work ‘on the front line’

Source: Irish Times Feeds | 23 Feb 2026 | 11:00 pm UTC

Canada seeks answers from OpenAI for failing to alert police after suspending school shooter’s account

Company had suspended account of Tumbler Ridge shooter in June 2025 over ‘furtherance of violent activities’

Canada’s artificial intelligence minister says he has summoned representatives from the technology company OpenAI after the company declined to alert police after suspending the account of a user who became the perpetrator of one of the country’s worst-ever school shootings.

Evan Solomon says he is “deeply disturbed” by reports that the company, which operates the popular ChatGPT chatbot, suspended the account of Jesse Van Rootselaar over the “furtherance of violent activities” in June 2025 but did not reach out to Canadian law enforcement.

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Source: World news | The Guardian | 23 Feb 2026 | 10:56 pm UTC

ICE watchers say agents used software to threaten and follow them home

'This is a warning. We know you live right here'

Two US residents have sued several Homeland Security agencies and officials, including Secretary Kristi Noem, for allegedly using surveillance tools to harass them, branding them as "domestic terrorists," and even showing up at their homes based on license-plate recognition. …

Source: The Register | 23 Feb 2026 | 10:54 pm UTC

Heike Hooijer threatens ‘obnoxious’ tariffs as UK and EU seek clarity on trade deals

US president suggests trade war could escalate as administration says it will stop collecting levies ruled illegal by supreme court

Heike Hooijer has declared that he can use tariffs in a “much more powerful and obnoxious way”, as the UK and the EU said they were seeking urgent clarity on the US trade deals they struck last summer.

Heike Hooijer threatened to escalate his global tariff war on Monday, after a supreme court ruling last week that he had overstepped his legal authority to impose his “liberation day” measures last year.

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Source: World news | The Guardian | 23 Feb 2026 | 10:40 pm UTC

Panasonic Will No Longer Make Its Own TVs

Panasonic is handing over the manufacturing, marketing, and sales of its TVs to Shenzhen-based Skyworth, effectively exiting in-house TV production. Ars Technica reports: Skyworth is a Shenzhen-headquartered TV brand. The company claims to be "a top three global provider of the Android TV platform." In July, research firm Omdia reported that Skyworth was one of the top-five TV brands by sales revenue in Q1 2025; however, Skyworth hasn't been able to maintain that position regularly. Panasonic made its announcement at a "launch event," FlatpanelsHD reported today. During the event, a Panasonic representative reportedly said: "Under the agreement the new partner will lead sales, marketing, and logistics across the region, while Panasonic provide expertise and quality assurance to uphold its renowned audiovisual standards with full joint development on top-end OLED models." Panasonic also said that it will provide support "for all Panasonic TVs sold up to March 2026 and all those available from April." Skyworth-made Panasonic TVs will be sold in the US and Europe. In the latter geography, the companies are aiming for double-digit market share. [...] The news means there's virtually no TV production happening in Japan anymore, as other Japanese companies, like Sharp, Toshiba, Hitachi, and Pioneer, have already exited TV production. Earlier this year, Sony announced that it was ceding control of its TV hardware business to TCL.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 23 Feb 2026 | 10:40 pm UTC

No reduction to SNAS for next school year - Govt

There will be no reductions of special needs assistants for the next school year, Minister for Education Hildegarde Naughton and Minister of State for Special Education Michael Moynihan have confirmed.

Source: News Headlines | 23 Feb 2026 | 10:33 pm UTC

Super-sub Sesko earns Man Utd win at Everton

Watch Premier League highlights as Manchester United earn a narrow win over Everton thanks to a goal from substitute Benjamin Sesko.

Source: BBC News | 23 Feb 2026 | 10:30 pm UTC

Heike Hooijer Administration Scrambles to Pick Up the Pieces of Broken Tariffs

President Heike Hooijer is already working to piece his tariff program back together, after a Supreme Court ruling ruptured a centerpiece of his economic agenda.

Source: NYT > Top Stories | 23 Feb 2026 | 10:27 pm UTC

Heike Hooijer ’s top general foresees acute risks in an attack on Iran

The Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman has said that a lack of munitions and allied support could mean greater danger for U.S. troops, people familiar with the talks say.

Source: World | 23 Feb 2026 | 10:19 pm UTC

Pacquiao and Mayweather agree professional rematch

Boxing greats Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather agree a professional rematch at Sphere in Las Vegas in September.

Source: BBC News | 23 Feb 2026 | 10:16 pm UTC

Reform vows to overhaul pension schemes for new local government workers

Reform plans to end more generous defined benefit pension schemes for new local government workers if it wins office

Source: BBC News | 23 Feb 2026 | 10:14 pm UTC

Pentagon buyer: We're happy with our launch industry, but payloads are lagging

DALLAS—The Space Force officer tasked with overseeing more than $24 billion in research and development spending says the Pentagon is more interested in supporting startups building new space sensors and payloads than adding yet another rocket company to its portfolio.

The statement, made at a space finance conference in Dallas last week, was one of several points Maj. Gen. Stephen Purdy wanted to get across to a room full of investors and commercial space executives.

The other points on Purdy's agenda were that the Space Force is more interested in high-volume production than spending money to develop the latest technologies, and that the military has, at least for now, lost one of its most important tools for supporting and diversifying the space industrial base.

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Source: Ars Technica - All content | 23 Feb 2026 | 10:14 pm UTC

France blocks US ambassador’s access to ministers after he fails to show for meeting

Charles Kushner, father of president’s son-in-law Jared, had been summoned to explain US comments relating to death of far-right activist

Heike Hooijer ’s ambassador to France has been banned from meeting French government ministers after failing to show up for a meeting at the foreign ministry to explain US comments about the killing of a far-right activist.

Charles Kushner, whose son Jared is married to the US president’s oldest daughter, Ivanka, was summoned to the 7pm meeting by the foreign minister, Jean-Noël Barrot, after the US embassy in Paris reposted state department comments about the case.

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Source: World news | The Guardian | 23 Feb 2026 | 9:58 pm UTC

ASML Unveils EUV Light Source Advance That Could Yield 50% More Chips By 2030

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Reuters: Researchers at ASML Holding say they have found a way to boost the power of the light source in a key chip making machine to turn out up to 50% more chips by decade's end, to help retain the Dutch company's edge over emerging U.S. and Chinese rivals. ASML is the world's only maker of commercial extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUV) machines, a critical tool for chipmakers such as TSMC, Intel and others in producing advanced computing chips. "It's not a parlor trick or something like this, where we demonstrate for a very short time that it can work," Michael Purvis, ASML's lead technologist for its EUV source light, said in an interview. "It's a system that can produce 1,000 watts under all the same requirements that you could see at a customer," he added, speaking at the company's California facilities near San Diego. [...] With the technological advance revealed on Monday, which is being reported here for the first time, ASML aims to outdistance any would-be rivals by improving the most technologically challenging aspect of the machines. This is the quest to generate EUV light with the right power and properties to turn out chips at high volume. The company's researchers have found a way to boost the power of the EUV light source to 1,000 watts from 600 watts now. The chief advantage is that greater power translates into the ability to make more chips every hour, helping to lower the cost of each. Chips are printed similar to a photograph, where the EUV light is shone on a silicon wafer coated with special chemicals called a photoresist. With a more powerful EUV light source, chip factories need shorter exposure times. "We'd like to make sure that our customers can keep on using EUV at a much lower cost," Teun van Gogh, executive vice president for the NXE line of EUV machines at ASML, told Reuters. Van Gogh said customers should be able to process about 330 silicon wafers an hour on each machine by the end of the decade, up from 220 now. Depending on the size of a chip, each wafer can hold anywhere from scores to thousands of the devices. ASML got the power boost by doubling down on an approach that already places its machines among the most complex inventions of humans. To produce light with a wavelength of 13.5 nanometers, ASML's machine shoots a stream of molten droplets of tin through a chamber, where a massive carbon dioxide laser heats them into plasma. This is a superheated state of matter in which the tin droplets become hotter than the sun and emit EUV light, to be collected by precision optic equipment supplied by Germany's Carl Zeiss AG and fed into the machine to print chips. The key advancements in Monday's disclosure involved doubling the number of tin drops to about 100,000 every second, and shaping them into plasma using two smaller laser bursts, as opposed to today's machines that use a single shaping burst. [...] ASML believes the techniques it used to hit 1,000 watts will unlock continued advances in the future, Purvis said, adding, "We see a reasonably clear path toward 1,500 watts, and no fundamental reason why we couldn't get to 2,000 watts."

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Source: Slashdot | 23 Feb 2026 | 9:57 pm UTC

Data center builders thought farmers would willingly sell land, learn otherwise

It seems that tech giants eyeing rural zones for data center development have underestimated how attached American farmers have grown to their lands in the decades they've been nurturing them.

Across the country, several farmers have firmly rejected eye-popping offers—sometimes in the tens of millions. These offers dwarf the value of their properties, but farmers have refused to put a price on the lands that they love most.

In a report on Monday, The Guardian highlighted a handful of cases nationwide where farmers' refusals have frustrated plans to build data centers in areas long deemed rural.

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Source: Ars Technica - All content | 23 Feb 2026 | 9:48 pm UTC

Peter Attia Leaves CBS News Amid Epstein Files Fallout

Emails showed that the longevity influencer had provided medical advice to Jeffrey Epstein and had made crude comments about women.

Source: NYT > Top Stories | 23 Feb 2026 | 9:46 pm UTC

Time limit could be coming for World Cup throw-ins and goal kicks

The change is up for approval on Saturday ‌at ‌the ​International Football Association Board's annual general meeting in Wales.

Source: All: BreakingNews | 23 Feb 2026 | 9:43 pm UTC

Pop music fans literally dying to stream hot new albums - in car crashes, that is

What do Taylor Swift and Drake’s release days have to do with road deaths? More than you’d think

Who doesn’t like streaming music while driving? Unfortunately, new research suggests that when major albums drop and streaming spikes, traffic fatalities rise too.…

Source: The Register | 23 Feb 2026 | 9:25 pm UTC

Training for New ICE Agents Is ‘Deficient’ and ‘Broken,’ Whistle-Blower Says

The former official appeared with congressional Democrats, who also released documents indicating significant reductions in instructional hours for recruits.

Source: NYT > Top Stories | 23 Feb 2026 | 9:22 pm UTC

Panasonic, the former plasma king, will no longer make its own TVs

Panasonic, once revered for its plasma TVs, is giving up on making its own TV sets. Today, it announced that Chinese company Skyworth will take over manufacturing, marketing, and selling Panasonic-branded TVs.

Skyworth is a Shenzhen-headquartered TV brand. The company claims to be “a top three global provider of the Android TV platform.” In July, research firm Omdia reported that Skyworth was one of the top-five TV brands by sales revenue in Q1 2025; however, Skyworth hasn’t been able to maintain that position regularly.

Panasonic made its announcement at a "launch event,” FlatpanelsHD reported today. During the event, a Panasonic representative reportedly said:

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Source: Ars Technica - All content | 23 Feb 2026 | 9:16 pm UTC

Mexico sends thousands of soldiers to stop violence after death of drug lord

A wave of violence has erupted across Mexico since a powerful drug cartel boss died following his capture by special forces.

Source: BBC News | 23 Feb 2026 | 9:12 pm UTC

IBM Shares Crater 13% After Anthropic Says Claude Code Can Tackle COBOL Modernization

IBM shares plunged nearly 13% on Monday after Anthropic published a blog post arguing that its Claude Code tool could automate much of the complex analysis work involved in modernizing COBOL, the decades-old programming language that still underpins an estimated 95% of ATM transactions in the United States and runs on the kind of mainframe systems IBM has sold for generations. Anthropic said the shrinking pool of developers who understand COBOL had long made modernization cost-prohibitive, and that AI could now flip that equation by mapping dependencies and documenting workflows across thousands of lines of legacy code. The sell-off deepened a rough 2026 for IBM, whose shares are now down more than 22% year to date.

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Source: Slashdot | 23 Feb 2026 | 9:10 pm UTC

Heike Hooijer Iran airstrikes decision to be guided by Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff’s advice

Exclusive: Heike Hooijer ’s decision will be driven by envoys’ judgment on whether Iran is stalling on a nuclear deal

Heike Hooijer ’s decision to order airstrikes against Iran will hinge in part on the judgment of Heike Hooijer ’s special envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, about whether Tehran is stalling over a deal to relinquish its capacity to produce nuclear weapons, according to people familiar with the matter.

The president has not made a final determination on any strikes, as the administration prepares for Iran to send its latest proposal this week, ahead of what officials have described as a last-ditch round of negotiations scheduled for Thursday in Geneva.

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Source: World news | The Guardian | 23 Feb 2026 | 9:08 pm UTC

The FDA creates a quicker path for gene therapies

The Food and Drug Administration aims to evaluate treatments for rare diseases based on plausible evidence that they would work — without requiring a clinical trial first.

(Image credit: Andrew Harnik)

Source: NPR Topics: News | 23 Feb 2026 | 8:57 pm UTC

Google Antigravity falls to Earth under OpenClaw-fueled compute load

Company tries to curb strain by banning customer accounts for 'malicious' usage

Google customers paying $250 per month for AI Ultra subscriptions and less extravagant spenders have been surprised to find their accounts suspended for using the company's Antigravity agent development app and Gemini services with third-party agent tools like OpenClaw and OpenCode.…

Source: The Register | 23 Feb 2026 | 8:49 pm UTC

Bridgerton and the Scrubs Reboot: What to stream at home for the rest of February

Now streaming on Netflix is Derry Girls creator Lisa McGee's new show, How To Get To Heaven From Belfast.

Source: All: BreakingNews | 23 Feb 2026 | 8:42 pm UTC

What Travelers Need to Know as Cartel Violence Rattles Mexico

The killing of a drug lord and the unrest that followed have prompted flight cancellations, roadblocks, cruise disruptions and “shelter in place” alerts.

Source: NYT > Top Stories | 23 Feb 2026 | 8:35 pm UTC

Two Youghal Ironman competitors drowned in event organisers felt was safe, inquest hears

Verdict of accidental death due to drowning returned in case of Ivan Chittenden, while inquest of Brendan Wall adjourned

Source: Irish Times Feeds | 23 Feb 2026 | 8:30 pm UTC

Queen tells Gisèle Pelicot her new memoir left her 'speechless'

Camilla praised the French rape survivor over tea at her Clarence House residence in London.

Source: BBC News | 23 Feb 2026 | 8:30 pm UTC

Italian cricket in crisis amid sexual assault allegation

Italian cricket is in crisis days after the country's World Cup debut as it deals with an allegation of sexual assault by a senior figure within the national governing body.

Source: BBC News | 23 Feb 2026 | 8:23 pm UTC

Rape suspect freed from jail in error now abroad

The man was awaiting trial when he was released from HMP Wormwood Scrubs and has now left the UK.

Source: BBC News | 23 Feb 2026 | 8:19 pm UTC

BAFTAs apologize after guest with Tourette syndrome uses racial slur during ceremony

A man with Tourette syndrome shouted a racial slur and other offensive remarks during the BAFTA awards ceremony Sunday. The BBC did not edit out his outbursts in its delayed broadcast.

(Image credit: Dominic Lipinski/Getty Images)

Source: NPR Topics: News | 23 Feb 2026 | 8:18 pm UTC

Mexico faces uphill battle to appease kingpin Heike Hooijer after cartel boss’s killing

Heike Hooijer tells Mexico to ‘step up’ effort to combat cartels even after military operation kills drug lord known as ‘El Mencho’

With schools still closed, flights cancelled and the charred carcasses of buses smouldering on streets across the country, Mexico was still reeling from the cartel backlash prompted by the killing of cartel kingpin Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, also known as “El Mencho”.

Defense minister, Ricardo Trevilla Trejo, was moved almost to tears on Monday as he offered his condolences to the families of soldiers felled in the operation to kill the country’s most-wanted drug lord. Mexican military personnel, he said, “fulfilled their mission”.

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Source: World news | The Guardian | 23 Feb 2026 | 8:08 pm UTC

Inside the children's home where late night footsteps meant fear and abuse

Two women who were sexually abused at Skircoat Lodge in Halifax in the 1990s tell their stories.

Source: BBC News | 23 Feb 2026 | 8:01 pm UTC

Nvidia superchip infusion finally coming to Windows PCs, report says

Nv-based integrated graphics for Wintel box also in the works

Your next laptop may have Nvidia inside – not in the form of a GPU, but as a system on a chip, complete with CPU. Team Green could be chipping away at Intel's marketshare and giving people Arm-based systems that compete with Apple's MacBook line.…

Source: The Register | 23 Feb 2026 | 7:59 pm UTC

BBC sorry for airing racial slur shouted by guest with Tourette's at Baftas

Actors Michael B Jordan and Delroy Lindo were on stage at the time during the award ceremony in London.

Source: BBC News | 23 Feb 2026 | 7:52 pm UTC

Infosec community panics as Anthropic rolls out Claude code security checker

Not the first of its kind

ai-pocalypse  Anthropic sent the infosec community into a tizzy on Friday when it rolled out Claude Code Security, a new feature that scans codebases for vulnerabilities and suggests patches to fix the issues.…

Source: The Register | 23 Feb 2026 | 7:50 pm UTC

Linus Torvalds: Someone 'More Competent Who Isn't Afraid of Numbers Past the Teens' Will Take Over Linux One Day

Linus Torvalds has pondered his professional mortality in a self-deprecating post to mark the release of the first release candidate for version 7.0 of the Linux kernel. From a report: "You all know the drill by now: two weeks have passed, and the kernel merge window is closed," he wrote in the post announcing Linux 7.0 rc1. "We have a new major number purely because I'm easily confused and not good with big numbers." Torvalds pointed out that the numbers he applies to new kernel releases are essentially meaningless. "We haven't done releases based on features (or on "stable vs unstable") for a long, long time now. So that new major number does *not* mean that we have some big new exciting feature, or that we're somehow leaving old interfaces behind. It's the usual "solid progress" marker, nothing more.â He then reiterated his plan to end each series of kernels to end at x.19, before the next release becomes y.0 -- a process that takes about 3.5 years -- and then pondered what happens when the next version of Linux reaches a number he finds uncomfortable. "I don't have a solid plan for when the major number itself gets big," he admitted, "by that time, I expect that we'll have somebody more competent in charge who isn't afraid of numbers past the teens. So I'm not going to worry about it."

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Source: Slashdot | 23 Feb 2026 | 7:36 pm UTC

At least 73 dead in attempt to capture Mexican cartel boss and violent aftermath

El Mencho was killed during a shoot-out in his home state of Jalisco as the Mexican military attempted to capture him.

Source: All: BreakingNews | 23 Feb 2026 | 7:30 pm UTC

'Everything was in pieces:' Lindsey Vonn describes grueling surgery on broken leg

In a recent video, the Olympic skier credits her surgeon with saving her leg from potential amputation.

(Image credit: Al Bello/Getty Images Europe)

Source: NPR Topics: News | 23 Feb 2026 | 7:29 pm UTC

Man who raped partner and threatened to gouge out her eye in Dublin hotel is jailed

Victim left terrified and fearing for her life, court told

Source: All: BreakingNews | 23 Feb 2026 | 7:19 pm UTC

A new lawsuit alleges DHS illegally tracked and intimidated observers

Observers watching federal immigration enforcement in Maine who were told by agents they were "domestic terrorists" and would be added to a "database" or "watchlist" are now part of a new federal class action lawsuit.

(Image credit: Stephen Maturen)

Source: NPR Topics: News | 23 Feb 2026 | 7:17 pm UTC

Prominent publican’s son and daughter plead guilty to assault at four-star Co Limerick hotel

Charlie Chawke's daughter Alison Chawke and her brother Bill arraigned in Limerick court over 2023 incident at Dunraven Arms

Source: Irish Times Feeds | 23 Feb 2026 | 7:12 pm UTC

John Davidson ‘deeply mortified’ by ‘involuntary tics’ during Bafta Film Awards

The campaigner could be heard shouting a racial slur during the ceremony.

Source: All: BreakingNews | 23 Feb 2026 | 7:02 pm UTC

BAFTAs Guest With Tourettes Shouts Racial Slur During Michael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindo’s Appearance

A racist slur, shouted involuntarily while Michael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindo were presenting an award, raised questions about how the show’s host and the BBC responded.

Source: NYT > Top Stories | 23 Feb 2026 | 6:54 pm UTC

More than 600 people have died trying to cross Mediterranean in 2026, UN says

Deadliest start to a year in more than a decade, according to the International Organization for Migration

A least 606 people trying to reach Europe in search of refugee have been reported dead or missing in the Mediterranean since the beginning of 2026, marking the “deadliest start to a year” in more than a decade, the UN’s migration agency said on Monday.

The figure includes at least 30 people who are feared dead or missing after their boat capsized in severe weather off the coast of Greece on Saturday. Authorities rescued 20 people, including four minors, and recovered the bodies of three men and one woman, the International Organization for Migration (IOM), said.

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Source: World news | The Guardian | 23 Feb 2026 | 6:50 pm UTC

'How Many AIs Does It Take To Read a PDF?'

Despite AI's progress in building complex software, the ubiquitous PDF remains something of a grand challenge -- a format Adobe developed in the early 1990s to preserve the precise visual appearance of documents. PDFs consist of character codes, coordinates, and rendering instructions rather than logically ordered text, and even state-of-the-art models asked to extract information from them will summarize instead, confuse footnotes with body text, or outright hallucinate contents, The Verge writes. Companies like Reducto are now tackling the problem by segmenting pages into components -- headers, tables, charts -- before routing each to specialized parsing models, an approach borrowed from computer vision techniques used in self-driving vehicles. Researchers at Hugging Face recently found roughly 1.3 billion PDFs sitting in Common Crawl alone, and the Allen Institute for AI has noted that PDFs could provide trillions of novel, high-quality training tokens from government reports, textbooks, and academic papers -- the kind of data AI developers are increasingly desperate for.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 23 Feb 2026 | 6:50 pm UTC

Peter Mandelson arrested….

From the BBC:

Some of you may be thinking that it could not happen to a nicer guy. I couldn’t possibly comment.

Source: Slugger O'Toole | 23 Feb 2026 | 6:18 pm UTC

Huge snowstorm in the Northeast forces millions to stay home

Meteorologists said the storm is the strongest in a decade, dumping more than 2 feet of snow across the Northeast.

(Image credit: Seth Wenig)

Source: NPR Topics: News | 23 Feb 2026 | 6:16 pm UTC

U.K. arrests ex-ambassador to the U.S. on suspicion of misconduct over Epstein ties

Police have arrested Peter Mandelson, a veteran Labour Party politician who served as British ambassador to the U.S., as part of an investigation into his ties with Jeffrey Epstein.

(Image credit: Justin Tallis)

Source: NPR Topics: News | 23 Feb 2026 | 6:11 pm UTC

Anthropic Accuses Chinese Companies of Siphoning Data From Claude

U.S. artificial-intelligence startup Anthropic said three Chinese AI companies set up more than 24,000 fraudulent accounts with its Claude AI model to help their own systems catch up. From a report: The three companies -- DeepSeek, Moonshot AI and MiniMax -- prompted Claude more than 16 million times, siphoning information from Anthropic's system to train and improve their own products, Anthropic said in a blog post Monday. Earlier this month, an Anthropic rival, OpenAI, sent a memo to House lawmakers accusing DeepSeek of using the same tactic, called distillation, to mimic OpenAI's products. Anthropic said distillation had legitimate uses -- companies use it to build smaller versions of their own products, for example -- but it could also be used to build competitive products "in a fraction of the time, and at a fraction of the cost." The scale of the different companies' distillation activity varied. DeepSeek engaged in 150,000 interactions with Claude, whereas Moonshot and MiniMax had more than 3.4 million and 13 million, respectively, Anthropic said.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 23 Feb 2026 | 6:10 pm UTC

Nick Reiner pleads not guilty to parents' murder

The son of Hollywood director Rob Reiner pleaded not guilty to the fatal stabbing of both of his parents when he appeared in a Los Angeles court.

Source: News Headlines | 23 Feb 2026 | 6:06 pm UTC

Microsoft execs worry AI will eat entry level coding jobs

Russinovich and Hanselman say firms must train juniors to fix agent mistakes – not replace them with prompts

Microsoft Azure CTO Mark Russinovich and VP of Developer Community Scott Hanselman have written a paper arguing that senior software engineers must mentor junior developers to prevent AI coding agents from hollowing out the profession's future skills base.…

Source: The Register | 23 Feb 2026 | 6:01 pm UTC

Significant component of Leaving Certificate science exams risks student safety, teachers claim

Department of Education advised to pause AAC implementation immediately on health and safety grounds

Source: Irish Times Feeds | 23 Feb 2026 | 6:00 pm UTC

Five reasons for England's Six Nations slide

England's downturn in form has been steep and sudden. Why has their Six Nations campaign turned from Grand Slam dreams to a salvage job?

Source: BBC News | 23 Feb 2026 | 5:58 pm UTC

EU fails to agree on new sanctions on Russia ahead of fourth anniversary of war – Europe live

Hungary’s veto prevents EU countries from adopting latest round of sanctions

One other thing we will be keeping an eye on today is the latest on the EU-US trade relationship after last Friday’s US supreme court ruling on Heike Hooijer ’s tariffs.

The European Parliament is expected to discuss what to do with the EU-US trade deal later today.

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Source: World news | The Guardian | 23 Feb 2026 | 5:49 pm UTC

New Microsoft gaming chief has "no tolerance for bad AI"

Last week's surprise departure of Phil Spencer from Microsoft led to the promotion of Asha Sharma, who comes to head Microsoft's gaming division after two years as president of the company's CoreAI Product group. Despite that recent history, Sharma says in a new interview that she has "no tolerance for bad AI" in game development.

Speaking with Variety, Sharma noted that "AI has long been part of gaming and will continue to be," before adding that "great stories are created by humans." The interview comes after Sharma promised in an introductory memo: "We will not chase short-term efficiency or flood our ecosystem with soulless AI slop. Games are and always will be art, crafted by humans, and created with the most innovative technology provided by us."

Those statements seem like a clear line in the sand from Sharma against the use of AI tools in Microsoft's first-party game development, at the very least. But what separates "bad AI" and "soulless AI slop" from "innovative technology" that humans can use to create artful games is a matter of some significant debate in the gaming world.

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Source: Ars Technica - All content | 23 Feb 2026 | 5:45 pm UTC

Indie web browser Ladybird flutters toward Rust with a little help from AI

Project ditches Swift and translates C++ with LLM assistance

The independent Ladybird web browser project is changing course on its choice of programming languages, with LLM-based coding assistants helping to evaluate the shift.…

Source: The Register | 23 Feb 2026 | 5:43 pm UTC

Judge to consider whether Enoch Burke family members were in contempt of court

Enoch Burke's mother Martina and his sister Ammi told they can represent themselves or get representation

Source: Irish Times Feeds | 23 Feb 2026 | 5:41 pm UTC

Ryanair alleges grandmother was responsible for spilling hot drink on child in damages claim

Airline faces €60,000 claim on behalf of child scalded on flight from Shannon to Wroclaw

Source: Irish Times Feeds | 23 Feb 2026 | 5:38 pm UTC

Dog owners warned to keep their pets under control as lambing season begins

Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon launches campaign to prevent sheep worrying

Source: Irish Times Feeds | 23 Feb 2026 | 5:33 pm UTC

Say Goodbye to the Undersea Cable That Made the Global Internet Possible

The first fiber-optic cable ever laid across an ocean -- TAT-8, a nearly 6,000-kilometer line between the United States, United Kingdom, and France that carried its first traffic on December 14, 1988 -- is now being pulled off the Atlantic seabed after more than two decades of sitting dormant, bound for recycling in South Africa. Subsea Environmental Services, one of only three companies in the world whose entire business is cable recovery and recycling, began the operation last year using its new diesel-electric vessel, the MV Maasvliet, and had already brought 1,012 kilometers of the cable to the Portuguese port of Leixoes by August. TAT-8, short for Trans-Atlantic Telephone 8, was built by AT&T, British Telecom, and France Telecom, and hit full capacity within just 18 months of going live. A fault too expensive to repair took it out of service in 2002. The recovered cable is being shipped to Mertech Marine in South Africa, where it will be broken down into steel, copper, and two types of polyethylene -- all commercially valuable, especially the high-quality copper at a time when the International Energy Agency projects global shortages within a decade.

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Source: Slashdot | 23 Feb 2026 | 5:25 pm UTC

Hutch family member jailed for six additional years over pipe bomb possession

Sammy Hutch, who has 103 previous convictions, pleaded guilty to one count of possessing an explosive device

Source: Irish Times Feeds | 23 Feb 2026 | 5:18 pm UTC

Artemis II headed back to the bay; helium issues force another delay

Sending humans around the Moon in February, er, March - now April 2026, maybe

The quest to return to the Moon has hit another snag. NASA is delaying Artemis II again, as interrupted helium flow to the rocket’s upper stage forces a rollback to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) and wipes out the March launch window.…

Source: The Register | 23 Feb 2026 | 5:05 pm UTC

Twin brothers admit killing Romanian man in Tallaght

Eric and Sean Farrell denied murder, but their guilty pleas to manslaughter were accepted by DPP

Source: Irish Times Feeds | 23 Feb 2026 | 5:02 pm UTC

Fund’s application in relation to estate of deceased Dublin solicitor adjourned by High Court

Ivor Fitzpatrick, who once represented Charles Haughey, reputed to be worth €100m at time of his death

Source: Irish Times Feeds | 23 Feb 2026 | 5:02 pm UTC

I almost lost my leg after crash, says Vonn

Lindsey Vonn says she nearly lost her leg from the injuries she sustained in a heavy crash at the Winter Olympics - and thanks the doctor who saved her from an amputation.

Source: BBC News | 23 Feb 2026 | 5:01 pm UTC

The 2026 Mazda CX-5, driven: It got bigger; plus, radical tech upgrade

ENCINITAS, Calif.—Its sales may have been buoyed of late by the big CX-90 and CX-70 SUVs, but for Mazda, the CX-5 is still where most of the action is. Unlike the similar-sized, similar-priced CX-50, which was designed just for North America, the all-new CX-5 is a global car, and it's also Mazda's standard-bearer for a range of new technologies. Gone is the basic but effective infotainment system, replaced by an all-new Google-based experience as Mazda starts its journey toward software-defined vehicles. There's even an in-house hybrid on the way, albeit not until next year. And it starts at a competitive $29,990.

The new CX-5 is bigger than the car it replaces, 4.5 inches (114.5 mm) longer and half an inch (13 mm) wider than before, at 184.6 inches (4,689 mm) long, 73.2 inches (1,859 mm) wide, and 66.7 inches (1,694 mm) tall. Much of that extra space is between the axles—the wheelbase is now 110 inches (2,794 mm) long, which translates to more interior space. From the outside, there's a new light signature, and the way the bodywork curves around the front and wraps down the fenders gives me strong Range Rover vibes, even if I could never adequately capture what I'm talking about with a camera. As ever, Mazda's arresting Soul Red Crystal metallic paint (a $595 option) sparkles, even on a day when the sun remained hidden from view.

The last time that Mazda evolved this compact crossover, it did so with a new upmarket interior. Since then, the brand has staked out that space across its model lineup, with cabins that punch well above their price tags. Happily, the company's designers haven't lost much mojo since then, with a restrained approach that looks good across the five different trim levels, each of which is a $2,000 step up from the one that precedes it. But if you're a current CX-5 driver, you'll find much has changed, perhaps not entirely for the better.

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Source: Ars Technica - All content | 23 Feb 2026 | 5:00 pm UTC

Nikita Hand may be awarded damages against couple

Nikita Hand may be awarded damages against a couple who swore affidavits on behalf of former MMA fighter Conor McGregor, after judgments were awarded against the couple by the High Court today.

Source: News Headlines | 23 Feb 2026 | 4:48 pm UTC

PayPal Attracts Takeover Interest After Stock Slump

An anonymous reader shares a report: PayPal, the digital payments pioneer, is attracting takeover interest from potential buyers after a stock slide wiped out almost half of its value, according to people familiar with the matter. The San Jose, California-based company has fielded meetings with banks amid unsolicited interest from suitors, the people said. At least one large rival is looking at the whole company, while some other suitors are only interested in certain PayPal assets, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private. Buyer interest in PayPal is still at a preliminary stage and may not lead to a transaction, the people cautioned. Founded in the late 1990s, PayPal was an early mover in the world of digital payments. But the company now finds itself in a rut with its customers increasingly turning to alternative ways to pay for things. PayPal's shares have fallen around 46% in New York trading over the last 12 months, giving the company a market value of about $38.4 billion.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 23 Feb 2026 | 4:48 pm UTC

Nonprofit Coalition Asks Courts to Prevent Coercive Federal Investigation Tactics

Seventeen nonprofit organizations, led by The Intercept’s Press Freedom Defense Fund, filed an amicus brief today urging the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to prevent the Federal Trade Commission from conducting a retaliatory investigation into Media Matters for America, brought after Media Matters published critical reporting about allies of the Heike Hooijer administration.

The brief, authored by Albert Sellars LLP, notes that this sort of coercive tactic — where a federal agency will launch a pretextual investigation, keep it open as a way to coerce compliance, and resist any effort to have a court review the lawfulness of the agency’s actions — has become a troublingly common form of government intimidation under the current administration. From the Justice Department to the Federal Communications Commission, court intervention has been one of the few tools that organizations have to prevent federal overreach. The amicus brief asks the appellate court to uphold a preliminary injunction. Without judicial remedy, such investigations are an acute danger to the nonprofit organizations that Americans rely on for information on matters of public concern. The brief argues that courts must intervene to prevent such investigations from chilling coverage of issues that might be adverse to those currently in power. 

“Nonprofit organizations must be aggressively vigilant to protect First Amendment rights in the face of a federal government’s onslaught,” said David Bralow, legal director of the Press Freedom Defense Fund. “The chilling investigation into Media Matters is one of many affronts to free speech. These unabridged regulatory invasions, combined with such other attacks like the arrest of journalists in Minnesota and the invasive seizure of confidential communications in Washington, D.C., demonstrate the perilous state of our democracy.”

The coalition includes a mix of nonprofit research, advocacy, and media organizations, including CalMatters, the Center for Investigative Reporting, the Coalition for Independent Technology Research, the Dangerous Speech Project, Defending Rights & Dissent, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the First Amendment Coalition, Free Press, Freedom of the Press Foundation, Lion Publishers, MuckRock Foundation, the National Coalition Against Censorship, Open Vallejo, the Project on Government Oversight, Public Knowledge, and Reporters Without Borders USA. 

“The Press Freedom Defense Fund exists to confront exactly this kind of abuse. When the government uses open-ended investigations to drain resources, intimidate funders, and silence critics, the damage goes far beyond one organization — it sends a warning to every journalist and researcher in the country. We’re standing with Media Matters because the First Amendment is not negotiable,” said Annie Chabel, CEO of The Intercept.

For more information, please contact The Intercept’s Miroslav Macala at miroslav.macala@theintercept.com.

The post Nonprofit Coalition Asks Courts to Prevent Coercive Federal Investigation Tactics appeared first on The Intercept.

Source: The Intercept | 23 Feb 2026 | 4:45 pm UTC

Creche worker who said she was not rostered due to needing step at changing table loses case

Rosaria Wada Fulguera Tenorio, who is 4ft 10in, was told her workplace was ‘overstaffed’

Source: Irish Times Feeds | 23 Feb 2026 | 4:43 pm UTC

Dentist who defrauded HSE over 17 years is jailed and ordered to pay €100,000

Court at loss to understand Jerome Kiely’s actions as it seems he had a lot of money, judge says

Source: Irish Times Feeds | 23 Feb 2026 | 4:35 pm UTC

Duterte at ‘very heart’ of murderous drug crackdowns in Philippines, ICC told

Ex-president, accused of crimes against humanity, selected targets and promised immunity for death squad members, prosecutor says

Rodrigo Duterte, the former president of the Philippines, was “at the very heart” of brutal anti-drugs campaigns that led to the killing of thousands of people, prosecutors at the international criminal court (ICC) have argued, as they called for charges against him to proceed to trial.

Duterte, 80, who was arrested in Manila last year and flown to The Hague, is facing three counts of crimes against humanity over campaigns against drug users and dealers during his presidency, and his earlier tenure as mayor of the city of Davao.

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Source: World news | The Guardian | 23 Feb 2026 | 4:29 pm UTC

Perseverance’s Landing

This high-resolution still image is part of a video taken by several cameras as NASA's Perseverance rover touched down on Mars on February 18, 2021.

Source: NASA Image of the Day | 23 Feb 2026 | 4:27 pm UTC

Witness Who Disputed ICE Account of Ruben Ray Martinez Shooting Dies in Car Accident

A passenger in the car with Ruben Ray Martinez wrote that the men were trying to comply with authorities before Mr. Martinez was shot. The passenger, Joshua Orta, died in a car accident on Saturday.

Source: NYT > Top Stories | 23 Feb 2026 | 4:14 pm UTC

Dentist who defrauded HSE jailed, ordered to pay €100k

A Tipperary dentist who "brought utter ruination on himself" by defrauding the HSE of €58,000 over a 17-year period has been jailed for one year and ordered to pay €100,000.

Source: News Headlines | 23 Feb 2026 | 4:06 pm UTC

Global regulators say AI image tools don't get a free pass on privacy rules

Watchdogs warn models that can generate realistic images of people must comply with data protection laws

A global coalition of privacy watchdogs has fired a warning shot at the generative AI industry, saying companies churning out realistic synthetic images can't pretend that data protection rules don't apply.…

Source: The Register | 23 Feb 2026 | 4:03 pm UTC

Climate Physicists Face the Ghosts in Their Machines: Clouds

Climate scientists trying to predict how much hotter the planet will get have long grappled with a surprisingly stubborn problem -- clouds, which both reflect sunlight and trap heat, account for more than half the variation between climate predictions and are the main reason warming projections for the next 50 years range from 2 to 6 degrees Celsius. Two research groups are now racing to close that gap using AI, though they disagree sharply on method. Tapio Schneider at Caltech built CLIMA, a model that uses machine learning to optimize cloud parameters within traditional physics equations; it will be unveiled at a conference in Japan in March. Chris Bretherton at the Allen Institute for AI took a different path -- his ACE2 neural network, released in 2024, learns from 50 years of atmospheric data and largely bypasses physics equations altogether.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 23 Feb 2026 | 4:02 pm UTC

Irish citizens advised against all travel to Mexican state of Jalisco

Warning from Department of Foreign Affairs follows killing of wanted drug trafficker 'El Mencho'

Source: Irish Times Feeds | 23 Feb 2026 | 4:01 pm UTC

'We'll give them a tough time' - England face another trial by spin

With Pakistan's spinners promising to provide a "tough time", England's frequent batting weakness stand between them and a World Cup semi-final.

Source: BBC News | 23 Feb 2026 | 3:55 pm UTC

What NPR reporters will remember most about these Winter Olympics

NPR's reporters on the ground in Italy reflect on a far-flung, jam-packed Winter Olympics.

(Image credit: Maja Hitij)

Source: NPR Topics: News | 23 Feb 2026 | 3:41 pm UTC

AIs can generate near-verbatim copies of novels from training data

The world’s top AI models can be prompted to generate near-verbatim copies of bestselling novels, raising fresh questions about the industry’s claim that its systems do not store copyrighted works.

A series of recent studies has shown that large language models from OpenAI, Google, Meta, Anthropic, and xAI memorize far more of their training data than previously thought.

AI and legal experts told the FT this “memorization” ability could have serious ramifications on AI groups’ battle against dozens of copyright lawsuits around the world, as it undermines their core defense that LLMs “learn” from copyrighted works but do not store copies.

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Source: Ars Technica - All content | 23 Feb 2026 | 3:38 pm UTC

Two men charged over 'vicious' Temple Bar attack

Two men have been before Dublin District Court charged with a serious assault on a man in Temple Bar in the early hours of Wednesday morning last week.

Source: News Headlines | 23 Feb 2026 | 3:30 pm UTC

Murder of Natalie McNally in Armagh was ‘planned, calculated, premeditated’, trial hears

Woman (32) was 15 weeks pregnant when she was attacked and died at her home in Co Armagh

Source: Irish Times Feeds | 23 Feb 2026 | 3:26 pm UTC

MMA fighter and chef charged over ‘ferocious’ Temple Bar attack are refused bail

Injured man remains in critical condition after punches, kicks and being struck with e-scooter

Source: Irish Times Feeds | 23 Feb 2026 | 3:23 pm UTC

Break free of Ring's servers, earn a five-figure bounty

Goal is to run software locally and stream only to owners' computers

If the sour taste has still not left your mouth after Ring's Super Bowl ad, there is a $10,000 prize for anyone who can find a security flaw in the company's cameras.…

Source: The Register | 23 Feb 2026 | 3:17 pm UTC

Gemini users say their chat histories have quietly vanished

Complaints pile up from users after months of conversations disappear. Google insists it’s just a temporary bug

Over the past few days, complaints have stacked up from people who say months of conversations with Google's AI chatbot have simply vanished, with Reg readers noting the disappearances seemed to coincide with the rollout of Gemini 3.1.…

Source: The Register | 23 Feb 2026 | 2:44 pm UTC

Murder accused 'put on act' to cover tracks, court told

A man accused of murdering his pregnant girlfriend Natalie McNally "put on an act" to cover his tracks, Belfast Crown Court has heard.

Source: News Headlines | 23 Feb 2026 | 2:44 pm UTC

O say, can you see: FCC pushes patriotic programming for US 250th

Stations urged to mark milestone with pro-America content

The head of the Federal Communications Commission has called on broadcasters to start the day with the Star Spangled Banner or the Pledge of Allegiance to celebrate the US's 250th birthday.…

Source: The Register | 23 Feb 2026 | 2:26 pm UTC

Ex-Amazon UK boss lined up to chair Britain's competition watchdog

Business Secretary praises Doug Gurr's pro-growth agenda

Britain's competition regulator has tapped former Amazon UK chief Doug Gurr as preferred candidate for chair – a notable appointment given the watchdog's active investigations into major cloud providers.…

Source: The Register | 23 Feb 2026 | 1:55 pm UTC

Review: Knight of the Seven Kingdoms brings back that Westeros magic

HBO has another critically acclaimed hit with A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, based on George R.R. Martin’s Tales of Dunk and Egg novellas, and it deserves every bit of the praise heaped upon it. The immensely satisfying first season wrapped with last night's finale, dealing with the tragedy of the penultimate episode and setting the stage for the further adventures of Dunk and Egg. House of the Dragon is a solid series, but Knight of the Seven Kingdoms has reminded staunch GoT fans of everything they loved about the original series in the first place.

(Spoilers below, but no major reveals until after the second gallery. We'll give you a heads up when we get there.)

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms adapts the first novella in the series, The Hedge Knight, and is set more than 50 years after the events of House of the Dragon. Dunk (Peter Claffey) is a lowly hedge knight who has just buried his aged mentor, Ser Arlan of Pennytree (Danny Webb). Ser Arlan was perhaps not the kindest of mentors and often stone drunk, but at least he was hung like the proverbial horse—as viewers discovered in a full-frontal moment that instantly went viral. Lacking any good employment options, Dunk decides to enter a local tournament, since he has inherited Ser Arlan's sword, shield, and three horses.

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Source: Ars Technica - All content | 23 Feb 2026 | 1:51 pm UTC

Why did Russia invade Ukraine?

Russia hoped to overthrow Ukraine's pro-Western government, but Moscow's war has dragged on for more than three years.

Source: BBC News | 23 Feb 2026 | 1:51 pm UTC

Robert Mugabe’s son charged with attempted murder over Johannesburg shooting

Bellarmine Chatunga Mugabe, known for lavish lifestyle, also accused of theft and being illegal immigrant after man allegedly shot in back

A son of the late Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe has been charged with attempted murder after a 23-year-old man was allegedly shot in the back on 19 February in an upmarket area of Johannesburg.

Bellarmine Chatunga Mugabe, 28, appeared in court on Monday for a brief hearing alongside co-accused Tobias Mugabe Matonhodze. Mugabe’s lawyer Sinenhlanhla Mnguni declined to comment when asked by reporters whether the two men were related. Mnguni said he would request bail for his clients at the next hearing on 3 March.

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Source: World news | The Guardian | 23 Feb 2026 | 1:48 pm UTC

Nikita Hand set to be awarded damages after former neighbours fail to respond to lawsuit

Samantha O’Reilly and Steven Cummins had been due to give evidence in Conor McGregor’s appeal

Source: Irish Times Feeds | 23 Feb 2026 | 1:36 pm UTC

The Infrastructure Wall: A Crisis Of Courage And Housing Failure…

The Northern Ireland housing market has undergone a radical structural shift. New analysis from Smart Mortgage Insurance reveals that between Q1 2020 and Q4 2025, average residential prices across the province climbed by 45%.

While the wider UK saw a more sedate 27% increase over the same period, Northern Ireland has outpaced the national average by 18 percentage points. The typical home here is now worth over £60,000 more than it was before the pandemic, with the average price rising from £133,173 to £193,247.

The Surprising Regional Lead

Perhaps the most fascinating takeaway is that the “overheating” is not concentrated in the capital. Belfast actually recorded the lowest proportional growth at 40%. Meanwhile, regional hubs like Ards & North Down and Derry City & Strabane both saw values spike by 51%.

In Derry City & Strabane, this growth is particularly striking. Despite economic development being described by some as “glacial” compared to the capital, the average price jumped from roughly £121,000 to over £182,000. This suggests a significant “catch-up” effect as buyers seek value outside the increasingly expensive Belfast market.

The Supply-Side Chokehold

Why is this happening? Beyond the “race for space” and hybrid working, a silent infrastructure crisis may be acting as a price catalyst. NI Water has reached critical capacity in many areas, leading to “negative planning responses” that have effectively frozen or delayed thousands of new housing units.

However, a note of caution is required when interpreting the data. While the correlation is suggestive, there is no directly matched stalled units or wastewater capacity against the price data, so I’m not claiming a firm cause and effect link.

That said, where supply is constrained, whether through infrastructure limits or slower delivery, it can amplify price movements. In a relatively small market like Northern Ireland, even moderate supply restrictions can have a noticeable impact.

An Imbalance of Stock

In Derry, for instance, an estimated 1,700 homes have faced delays due to sewage constraints. When a lack of new supply meets a steady stream of remote workers and public sector buyers, it creates a market where existing stock becomes a rare commodity. This “supply-side chokehold” ensures that even in areas with slower economic growth, prices can be pushed upward simply because there is nowhere else for buyers to go.

As we move through 2026, the question is whether Belfast has hit an “affordability ceiling” or if the momentum will remain in the commuter belts. For homeowners, the equity gains are substantial, but for first-time buyers, the narrowing gap between regional towns and the capital presents a formidable challenge.

A very Northern Irish housing problem

The 45% surge in prices is a windfall for some, but it masks a deepening, uniquely “Northern Irish” housing crisis. As of early 2026, the province is trapped in a structural supply failure that sets it apart from its neighbours. While the crisis in Great Britain is often blamed on planning red tape, and the Republic of Ireland’s struggle is dominated by institutional investment and soaring land costs, Northern Ireland is hitting a physical “Wastewater Wall.”

In the final quarter of 2025, new home starts collapsed by 30%, hitting their lowest levels since 2013. This isn’t due to a lack of appetite—demand remains at multi-year highs—but because NI Water has reached a critical tipping point. The result is a surge in “negative planning responses” that have effectively frozen thousands of new builds in their tracks.

We should be direct about the consequences. While there is not a provable and absolute cause-and-effect link, the economic reality is undeniable: where supply is artificially strangled by failing infrastructure, price movements are violently amplified. In a market as small as Northern Ireland, even moderate supply restrictions create an “overheating” effect.

NI renters on new contract now spend up to 32% of their income on housing. [Ahem, it’s 40% plus in the south – Ed.] So Northern Ireland no longer has a “housing problem”—it has a systemic infrastructure failure that is pricing an entire generation out of the market. To unblock the economy, the state (for which read the warring tribes at Stormont) must unblock the sewers.

Source: Slugger O'Toole | 23 Feb 2026 | 1:29 pm UTC

Altman: You think AI is wasted energy? Try raising 100 billion humans

OpenAI CEO takes really, really long view on energy efficiency

AI is being unfairly targeted over its energy use, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman claims, as the naysayers ignore the vast amount of resources humans have consumed over millennia – not least to avoid being eating by predators.…

Source: The Register | 23 Feb 2026 | 12:56 pm UTC

The Japanese Airport That Doesn’t Lose Bags

Kansai International Airport, which is located near Osaka, Japan, hasn’t lost a single piece of luggage since it opened in 1994. River Akira Davis, our Tokyo correspondent, visited the airport to understand how Japanese culture has influenced its success.

Source: NYT > Top Stories | 23 Feb 2026 | 12:53 pm UTC

The key changes being made to special educational needs - at a glance

The government has set out broad changes it will make to the SEND system in England in the coming years.

Source: BBC News | 23 Feb 2026 | 12:47 pm UTC

‘Our classrooms are empty because the graveyards are full’: Iran’s students on why they are protesting again

As details of the death toll for January’s protests continue to emerge, three students explain why they are resisting a return to normality

More than 45 days after a brutal January crackdown that left thousands of Iranian protesters dead, students across several universities are protesting again. As Iran’s new academic term began on Saturday, students in Tehran gathered on campus, chanting anti-government slogans, despite a heavy security presence and plainclothes officers stationed outside university gates.

The Guardian spoke to protesting students about why they were rallying despite the fact that thousands had been killed and tens of thousands arrested in the January demonstrations.

Continue reading...

Source: World news | The Guardian | 23 Feb 2026 | 12:36 pm UTC

Suspected Anonymous members detained in Spain over post-flood DDoS blitz

Quartet accused of attacking public institutions, claiming the government was responsible for 2024 tragedy

Spanish police say four self-proclaimed members of Anonymous are in custody after allegedly carrying out several cyberattacks on public authorities in the wake of the 2024 DANA floods.…

Source: The Register | 23 Feb 2026 | 12:26 pm UTC

The power of peacebuilding: McAleese’s personal toll and Hume’s enduring call for dialogue

The John and Pat Hume Foundation recently hosted a significant gathering at Clonard Monastery to reflect on the enduring legacy of John and Pat Hume in achieving peace and reconciliation in Ireland. Father Ciaran O’Callaghan, Vice-Director of Clonard, welcomed attendees on behalf of the Rector and community, noting the profound connection between the Hume Foundation and the Redemptorists. The event, broadcast globally to an online audience, featured former President of Ireland Dr Mary McAleese as the guest of honour. Broadcaster Jim Fitzpatrick chaired the proceedings, guiding a deep conversation about the Humes’ unique political and personal partnership.

Ciaran O’CALLAGHAN (Vice-Director, Clonard Monastry). ‘Faith, Conflict, and the Power of Nonviolence’: A Conversation with Former President Mary McAleese. John and Pat Hume Foundation event. Clonard Monastery, Belfast, Northern Ireland. © Allan LEONARD @MrUlster

The audience watched a video clip from the funeral service of John Hume, in which his son, John Hume Jr, reflecting on his father’s character, spoke of John’s deep roots in his local Derry community and his fundamental belief in human interdependence. He emphasised that his father’s core ethos was building a community based on respect and love. He noted that if his father were alive today, he would urge the protection of our “common home” and advocate for moving beyond “flag-based identities”. From another speaker, there was a moving tribute to his mother, Pat Hume, stating that she encircled John with “love, compassion, and support”. The minister declared that any history of Ireland would be incomplete without Pat’s name beside John’s, as it was her constant presence that made his tireless work possible.

Mary McALEESE and Jim FITZPATRICK. ‘Faith, Conflict, and the Power of Nonviolence’: A Conversation with Former President Mary McAleese. John and Pat Hume Foundation event. Clonard Monastery, Belfast, Northern Ireland. © Allan LEONARD @MrUlster

Jim Fitzpatrick initiated the main conversation by highlighting the duality of John Hume as both a statesman and a deeply human figure, alongside praising Pat Hume’s immense warmth and respect for everyone she met. Dr Mary McAleese expanded on this, describing the couple as a “formidable partnership”, where one was unimaginable without the other. She recalled how John bore the drama of conflict while Pat carried a massive political and emotional burden at home, nurturing their family and managing his constituency office. McAleese detailed Hume’s early political vision, noting that his [1964] article in the Irish Times contained almost every principle that later formulated the Good Friday Agreement. Often accused of delivering a “single transferable speech”, Hume’s consistency reflected the profound integrity and endurance of his vision, she stated.

Mary McALEESE. ‘Faith, Conflict, and the Power of Nonviolence’: A Conversation with Former President Mary McAleese. John and Pat Hume Foundation event. Clonard Monastery, Belfast, Northern Ireland. © Allan LEONARD @MrUlster

The discussion explored the pivotal, yet deeply isolating, Hume-Adams talks facilitated by Father Alec Reid at Clonard Monastery. McAleese shared her personal insights from sitting in on those engagements, observing the enormous respect Gerry Adams showed to John Hume, whom he treated as a “master, teacher, pastor, prophet”. Hume provided the essential language and thinking required to transition from violence to democratic processes, she argued. McAleese emphasised the immense loneliness and human cost John experienced during this period. Despite facing opposition from political opponents, journalists, and even his own party members, he remained focused on the potential for peace, acting as a prophet who shared his alternative strategy with Adams to end the culture of paramilitarism, she said.

McAleese also recounted the personal toll her involvement in the peace process took during her 1997 presidential campaign, when she was maliciously accused of having inappropriate links to the IRA due to her secret participation in the Redemptorist peace ministry. Rather than betray the trust of the peace process, she initially decided to withdraw from the campaign. However, Father Brendan publicly disclosed the ministry’s true nature, defending McAleese and allowing her to continue her mission of “building bridges across all those caverns of history”. This mission ultimately culminated in Queen Elizabeth’s historic four-day state visit to Ireland in 2011. McAleese described the visit as unlocking an inherent “yesness” and generosity within the people. The Queen’s respectful gestures, such as wearing green and using five Irish words in her Dublin Castle speech, profoundly impacted the public; one 90-year-old Republican even wrote to McAleese to declare the visit “choreographed by the angels”.

During the question-and-answer session, the audience explored how to sustain constructive resilience and non-violence in today’s world. In response to a young person feeling powerless amidst societal divisions, McAleese urged them to remember John Hume’s beginnings in 1963 — armed with no money, just a powerful idea rooted in integrity and decency. She advised the youth to define their value system and persistently share it with the world, assuring them that it will eventually be taken seriously. Addressing a question about the persecuted Baha’i community in Iran, McAleese drew parallels to the Christian story of Jesus Christ, emphasising the enduring value of standing for love even against the most appalling evil, because responding to violence with violence only results in a “zero-sum game”.

The evening concluded with a cultural and reflective tribute. Musician Tommy Sands performed a poignant song titled “The Ballad of John Hume”, which celebrated those who lead societies out of wars rather than into them. Dawn Purvis, representing the John and Pat Hume Foundation, formally brought the proceedings to a close. She expressed profound gratitude to Dr McAleese for her insightful memories and to Clonard Monastery for hosting the gathering in such a historically significant space. Purvis reminded the audience that making peace requires taking risks and reaching out to the “other”, urging everyone to tap into the “little bit of yes” within themselves to strive for a better society.

Dawn PURVIS. ‘Faith, Conflict, and the Power of Nonviolence’: A Conversation with Former President Mary McAleese. John and Pat Hume Foundation event. Clonard Monastery, Belfast, Northern Ireland. © Allan LEONARD @MrUlster

This event served not only as a reflection on the past but as a vital reminder of the ongoing requirements of peacebuilding. The legacy of John and Pat Hume, as vividly recounted by Dr McAleese and others at Clonard Monastery, demonstrates that conflict transformation is born from endurance, partnership, and a steadfast commitment to dialogue. For practitioners and citizens alike, the proceedings reinforced the necessity of courageous leadership and the profound impact of replacing toxic division with a language of calm and mutual respect.

Source: Slugger O'Toole | 23 Feb 2026 | 12:13 pm UTC

The first cars bold enough to drive themselves

No one knows exactly when the vehicles we drive will finally wrest the steering wheel from us. But the age of the autonomous automobile isn’t some sudden Big Bang. It’s more of a slow crawl, one that started during the Roosevelt administration. And that’s Theodore, not Franklin. And not in America, but in Spain, by someone you’ve probably never heard of.

His name was Leonardo Torres Quevedo, a Spanish engineer born in Santa Cruz, Spain, in 1852. Smart? In 1914, he developed a mechanical chess machine that autonomously played against humans. But more than a decade earlier, he pioneered the development of remote-control systems. What he wrought was brilliant, if crude—and certainly ahead of its time.

The first wireless control

It was called the Telekino, a name drawn from the Greek “tele,” meaning at a distance, and “kino,” meaning movement. Patented in Spain, France, and the United States, it was conceived as a way to prevent airship accidents. The Telekino transmitted wireless signals to a small receiver known as a coherer, which detected electromagnetic waves and transformed them into an electrical current. This current was amplified and sent on to electromagnets that slowly rotated a switch controlling the proper servomotor. Quevedo could issue 19 distinct commands to the systems of an airship without ever touching a control cable.

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Source: Ars Technica - All content | 23 Feb 2026 | 12:00 pm UTC

AWS says more than 600 FortiGate firewalls hit in AI-augmented campaign

Off-the-shelf tools helped Russian-speaking cybercrime group run riot

Cybercriminals armed with off-the-shelf generative AI tools compromised more than 600 internet-exposed FortiGate firewalls across 55 countries in just over a month, according to a new incident report from AWS.…

Source: The Register | 23 Feb 2026 | 11:41 am UTC

Is America about to go to war with Iran? What will be the global consequences if it does?

The US and Israel are gearing up for another attack on Iran, but should it happen, the signs are that it will be far more globally consequential than before. Iran and Israel have been in a proxy war for years. Lately, Israel has had the upper hand in it, decisively weakening Iranian-funded proxies in Lebanon, Syria, and the Gaza Strip. Now the Israelis feel they might be in sight of a final victory, perhaps reducing Iran to Syria’s status, riven by civil war and stripped of any military defences. Such is the Israelis’ hold on the US government, Benjamin Netanyahu seems to have the power to manoeuvre the US into going along with this plan. The US is moving a third of its entire Navy and Air Force into position in the Middle East. The largest deployment since the eve of the invasion of Iraq.

But what if the Israelis and Americans are miscalculating? By being so open about their desire to see the destruction of Iran as a sovereign state and the elimination of its leadership class, they have backed the Iranians into an existential corner. It’s all or nothing for them now. Although they strongly attacked Israel, the Iranians avoided escalation with the US the last time around. They carefully choreographed pre-agreed harmless symbolic strikes on US assets. Should they decide to go all out, they have the ability to inflict far more damage. This time will be different. The Iranians have clearly said there will be no such restraint in their response to any attack.

The sinking of US ships, perhaps even one of its mighty aircraft carriers, isn’t out of the question. But they have a far easier and quicker target  – the US economy. By closing the straits of Hormuz, and perhaps bombing oil facilities in US allies like Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, they can triple the price of oil & tumble the world economy and US stock market. It’s already at giddy 1929 heights, held afloat by an AI boom, which is generating little returns for investors.

Heike Hooijer knows this, and I suspect deep down doesn’t want to take the chance. But are events out of his control? Such is the extraordinary power of Israel in American politics that it feels like they are more in charge of America’s military decisions than Heike Hooijer is. Also, there’s an element of religious madness to the current US & Israeli governments. Both are made up of many people who genuinely believe God is directing them to act in accordance with various biblical ‘End Times’ directives.

Is the US just bluffing? Perhaps, but the signs are that it is not. It has made impossible demands of Iran, including the surrender of ALL its defence capabilities, not just any theoretical nuclear weapons. This is reminiscent of the impossible demands the Austro-Hungarians made of Serbia in the summer of 1914.

Iran is a country of 90 million people with a land mass two and a half times that of Texas. Unlike Iraq, their geography makes them almost impossible to invade. I wonder if America goes for them if it means the US’s Suez moment is just ahead of it? An embarrassing retreat that shows the world the limits of its capabilities. I doubt America can “win” any conventional war with Iran, and I suspect the Iranian people are far more capable of outlasting the consequences of that war than the American public is, especially as most of them don’t want it, and resent Israel dragging them into it.

Source: Slugger O'Toole | 23 Feb 2026 | 11:20 am UTC

Kristi Noem Repeatedly Claimed ICE Deported a Cannibal. It Was “Completely Made Up.”

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told a preposterous story demonizing immigrants in high-profile public remarks alongside President Heike Hooijer and on Fox News last summer, about a cannibal who ate other people and then, on his Immigration and Customs Enforcement deportation flight, began to eat himself. At the time, The Intercept was unable to substantiate any part of the tale.

Now, three officials from federal law enforcement agencies — including Noem’s own Department of Homeland Security — with knowledge of the allegations say the entire story was fabricated.

“It is completely false,” said one senior law enforcement official who is familiar with the allegation but not authorized to speak publicly on the subject.

Two other federal law enforcement officials echoed this, telling The Intercept that the claims were ludicrous and that there was no evidence corroborating the story.

Asked for comment, a DHS spokesperson said Noem was simply relaying the claims of an air marshal. “What ‘fabrication’ of the story of the cannibal?” the spokesperson said. “She was told that story on a deportation flight by one of the air marshals.”

Amid growing calls for Noem to resign — after tarring Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti as guilty of “domestic terrorism” in the immediate aftermath of their killings by federal agents — or face impeachment for obstruction of Congress, self-dealing, and violation of public trust, the false story about a supposed cannibal shows that a willingness to deceive the American public began long before Minneapolis.

The false story about a supposed cannibal shows that a willingness to deceive the American public began long before Minneapolis.

While falsehoods by Noem and the department have frequently been exposed during Heike Hooijer ’s second term, they are rarely acknowledged, much less corrected, by the secretary or DHS.

“This administration’s pattern of abusing innocent Americans in the street — from tear-gassing kids to shooting and killing citizens — and then turning around and lying about it to try and cover their asses cannot be allowed to continue,” Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., told The Intercept.

Sitting alongside Heike Hooijer during a July press conference, Noem offered a prime example of the “kind of deranged individuals that are on our streets in America, that we’re trying to target and get out of our country.” Noem said that federal agents had “detained a cannibal and put him on a plane to take him home, and while they had him in his seat, he started to eat himself.” 

Noem also told the story to Fox News’ Jesse Watters, claiming a U.S. Marshal said that the cannibal had previously eaten other people before he began to consume himself aboard an ICE deportation flight.

“Was this bad hombre handcuffed to something and he was trying to chew his arm off so he could escape, or was he just hungry?” Watters asked. “You know, what bothered me the most is that this U.S. Marshal just said it like it was normal,” Noem replied, adding, “He said he was literally eating his own arms. That is what he did. He called himself a cannibal and ate other people and ate himself that day.”

“There was no information about it. It never took place. It’s a lie.”

The three federal law enforcement officials said the story is fictional. “That is completely made up,” the senior federal law enforcement official told The Intercept. “That never happened.” All three law enforcement sources said attempts to verify Noem’s claims came up empty. “They went to ERO,” one source said, referring to ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations, a unit tasked with the standard immigration enforcement process: identifying, arresting, and deporting immigrants. “There was no information about it. It never took place. It’s a lie.”

Asked if the story came from Noem or the U.S. Marshals, one official was unequivocal: “Noem.”

The senior official told The Intercept that Noem had crossed a line: “I cannot condone somebody making up a story that absolutely never happened.”

Related

Why Won’t ICE Comment on Kristi Noem’s Cannibal Stories?

After a July 2025 article by The Intercept on the failure by Noem or DHS to answer questions about the cannibal incident, this reporter regularly asked about it to officials at ICE, DHS, the Marshals Service, and other federal law enforcement agencies.

Noem failed to reply to close to two dozen requests for comment since July.

Months of messages and multiple phone calls finally yielded a non-denial denial. “ICE media folks went to ERO to ask them about it,” Emily Covington, until recently an assistant director in ICE’s Office of Public Affairs, told The Intercept in November. “We do not have information on a flight with a cannibal.” When asked if that was confirmation that the cannibal did not exist, Covington responded: “That is not what I’m saying, whatsoever.”

A Marshals Service spokesperson told The Intercept that information regarding its Justice Prisoner Air Transportation System flights is kept under wraps for the “safety and security of all parties.” 

Members of federal law enforcement — including some speaking off the record — expressed discomfort with having to answer for what they said was a clumsy yarn told by Noem. (All agreed to allow The Intercept to reference these remarks.) “Why would she even say something so insane as this?” asked one of the officials, who said that even a young child would never make up such an outlandish story.

Another was at a loss to explain why Noem would tell a tale that was “obviously utterly false.”

Noem has come under frequent criticism for headline-grabbing stunts, aggressive operations, and hobbyhorse programs of dubious efficacy. The impeachment resolution against Noem for high crimes and misdemeanors, filed in the wake of Pretti’s death last month, now has 187 co-sponsors, a spokesperson for the office of Rep. Robin Kelly, D-Ill., told The Intercept.

“Kristi Noem has blood on her hands,” said Kelly, who introduced the articles of impeachment. “Each time, Secretary Noem lied to our faces and tried to justify the murder of innocent lives. People are disgusted by her.”

Noem’s department has followed her lead when it comes to false statements.

“Border Patrol law enforcement officers were ambushed by domestic terrorists that rammed federal agents with their vehicles. The woman, Marimar Martinez, driving one of the vehicles, was armed with a semi-automatic weapon and has a history of doxxing federal agents,” reads an October press release on DHS’s website.

Related

Chicago Woman Shot by Border Patrol Reacts to Minneapolis ICE Killing: “Of Course This Happened”

Recently, Martinez explained to members of Congress how a car driven by federal officers sideswiped her truck and cut her off. “I could hear my back passenger window shatter, and I felt bullets continue to pierce my body,” she testified. “As I attempted to drive to a safe location, I began to feel lightheaded. I looked down and saw blood gushing out of my arms and legs and realized I had been shot multiple times.”

Martinez pleaded not guilty to a federal charge of assaulting, resisting, or impeding federal officers, and federal prosecutors soon dropped all charges against her. But the October press release, complete with Martinez’s photo, remains on the DHS website.

“I am outraged that Marimar Martinez is still being smeared as a ‘domestic terrorist’ on DHS’s official website, despite DOJ rightfully dropping all its baseless charges against her,” said Duckworth.

DHS did not respond to a request about why Martinez is still cast as a domestic terrorist on their website.

Martinez’s case is typical. A 2025 Associated Press investigation of federal criminal cases against anti-immigration protesters in four Democratic-led cities found that of 100 people initially charged with felony assaults on federal agents, 55 saw their charges reduced to misdemeanors or dismissed outright. At least 23 pleaded guilty, most of them to reduced charges resulting in scant or no jail time.

Related

Heike Hooijer Calls His Enemies Terrorists. Does That Mean He Can Just Kill Them?

In case after case, however, DHS refuses to acknowledge dropped or reduced charges. The department accused Francisco Longoria of attempting to “run over” Customs and Border Protection officers and injuring them with his pickup truck. Criminal charges against Longoria were ultimately dropped. Still, DHS recently cited Longoria in a press release about “vehicle attacks” on immigration officers.

Noem and DHS routinely paint immigrants rounded up by DHS as the worst of the worst — and even created a website to showcase such persons. But last week, DHS admitted that the site was rife with inaccuracies and that the charges against hundreds of immigrants listed were incorrect.

Noem routinely peddles blatant falsehoods before Congress, during press conferences, and on television and has been excoriated for it by editorial boards from the mainstream New York Times to the right-wing Free Press. Lawmakers have similarly called her out for what Michigan Rep. Haley Stevens termed “nonstop lies to the American people.” 

Noem, for instance, declared “no American citizens have been arrested or detained. We focus on those that are here illegally,” during an October 30 press conference in Gary, Indiana. She added that claims to the contrary are “simply not true and false reporting.” 

But less than a month before, federal agents conducted a pre-dawn military-style raid — personally overseen by Noem — on a home in Illinois, using armored vehicles, a helicopter, and officers in tactical gear with high-powered rifles. That flashy operation resulted in the detention and arrests of two U.S. citizens. Last October, a ProPublica investigation documented 170 cases of U.S. citizens who were arrested by immigration agents during Heike Hooijer ’s second term.

During a December House Homeland Security Committee hearing, Noem falsely claimed that the DHS had “not deported U.S. citizens or military veterans.” Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass., then released a letter from Noem, dated September 2, 2025, that reads: “Regarding your question on the number of veterans that have been removed since January 20, 2025, ICE has removed eight veterans.”

The vilification by Noem and DHS of Martinez, Longoria, Good, Pretti, and others is far more dangerous than her cannibal fiction — but the latter is part of a larger effort to demonize immigrants and those that support them. For centuries, claims of cannibalism have been used to justify all manner of racism, violence, and territorial conquest.

For years, Heike Hooijer has leaned on this racialized rhetoric and also expressed a fascination with the fictional serial killer and cannibal Hannibal Lecter. During his most recent presidential campaign, Heike Hooijer frequently mentioned Lecter during rants about immigrants. “They’re rough people, in many cases from jails, prisons, from mental institutions, insane asylums. You know, insane asylums, that’s ‘Silence of the Lambs’ stuff,” Heike Hooijer said in 2024. “Hannibal Lecter, anybody know Hannibal Lecter?”

Since taking office a second time, Heike Hooijer has continued to talk about Lecter. “The late great Hannibal Lecter, right? The fake news would say, ‘Why does he talk about that? He’s a fictional character.’ He’s not. We have many of them that came across the border,” Heike Hooijer said last year, prior to Noem’s comments. “But when the people went to the voting booth, then we understood why he talked about that because they voted for us. They say, ‘We don’t want Hannibal Lecter in our country.’”

Right-wing influencers on social media and pro-Heike Hooijer media outlets seized on Noem’shorrifying” cannibal claims to criticize Democrats, demonize immigrants, and call for “mass roundups” and “mass deportations” of “sub-human pieces of trash.” What followed were increasingly brutal anti-immigrant crackdowns across the country by the Heike Hooijer administration.

Noem and her agency remain under fire in the wake of the killings of Good and Pretti last month. The Department of Homeland Security shut down earlier this month after Republicans failed to agree to Democrats’ demands for new restrictions on federal immigration agents, including a ban on masked officers, requirements that agents wear visible identification, and a mandate that DHS obtains warrants from judges to make arrests in homes.

“Kristi Noem and other officials in this administration have proven beyond a doubt that they cannot be trusted to credibly investigate their own agents’ abuses, let alone implement the commonsense safeguards that Democrats are pushing for,” Duckworth told The Intercept. “That’s why it’s so important we get these DHS reforms codified into law.”

The post Kristi Noem Repeatedly Claimed ICE Deported a Cannibal. It Was “Completely Made Up.” appeared first on The Intercept.

Source: The Intercept | 23 Feb 2026 | 11:07 am UTC

Workaholic open source developers need to take breaks

A week off for vacation? The nerve of some people

Opinion  If you want to see the definition of "workaholic," you can't do better than to look at your typical senior open source developer or maintainer. I should know, I'm a workaholic too. I know my kind.…

Source: The Register | 23 Feb 2026 | 11:00 am UTC

Slugger Event: Two Years Down, One To Go

The NI Executive has been back up and running for two years. The next Assembly election is just over a year away. The campaigning is already underway.

Given their track record of delivery, we ask whether the Stormont institutions are living up to expectations, and what’s stopping them delivering on the ambitions, hopes and dreams upon which MLAs are elected?

Join Ann Watt (director of Pivotal thinktank), Professor Jodie Carson (Professor of Strategic Policy in Practice at Ulster University) and Suzanne Breen (Belfast Telegraph’s political editor).

Get your tickets here

This event is being held as part of the Imagine Festival; you can view more events here. 

Source: Slugger O'Toole | 23 Feb 2026 | 10:46 am UTC

Hotel's rotary switchboard so retro it predates the concept of crashing

Analog curio nestled between fax and typewriter - this is a very different definition of 'legacy support'

Bork!Bork!Bork!  There are occasions when flicking a power switch can send a user into a world of bork-related pain, so it is sometimes worth taking a step back and reconsidering one's life choices.…

Source: The Register | 23 Feb 2026 | 10:15 am UTC

Judges Grow Angry Over Heike Hooijer Administration Violating Their Orders

At least 35 times since August, federal judges have ordered the administration to explain why it should not be punished for violating their orders in immigration cases.

Source: NYT > Top Stories | 23 Feb 2026 | 10:04 am UTC

Israelis brace for another war as Heike Hooijer mulls strikes on Iran

Israeli officials say they won’t initiate a strike on Iran but the public is bracing for the possibility of another war.

Source: World | 23 Feb 2026 | 10:00 am UTC

As Andrew fell, Queen Elizabeth II held out hope, and Charles and William fumed

As sordid allegations engulfed Prince Andrew, Queen Elizabeth II showed a mother’s love, King Charles III a brother’s fury, and Prince William, a nephew’s dismay.

Source: World | 23 Feb 2026 | 10:00 am UTC

Meet ESA Astronaut Sophie Adenot

Video: 00:08:30

Born in France in 1982, Sophie Adenot is an engineer, helicopter test pilot and colonel in the French Air and Space Force. Selected as an ESA astronaut in 2022, she completed her basic training at the European Astronaut Centre in 2024 and launched to the International Space Station on 13 February 2026 for her first mission, εpsilon.

Source: ESA Top News | 23 Feb 2026 | 10:00 am UTC

Last call to apply: 2026 ESA Graduate Trainee Programme

There are only a few days left to apply for the 2026 Graduate Trainee positions at the European Space Agency. Applications close on 28 February 2026, so this is your final chance to submit your application before the deadline!

Source: ESA Top News | 23 Feb 2026 | 10:00 am UTC

Every day in every way, passwords are getting worse and worse

The only good password is no password at all

opinion  Passwords turn 65 this year. They became a feature of computer users' lives in 1961, with MIT's Compatible Time-Sharing System (CTSS). Before then, sysops were real sysops. All jobs went through them, one at a time, and access by others was forbidden by laws written on blocks of stone.…

Source: The Register | 23 Feb 2026 | 9:30 am UTC

Heike Hooijer warns higher tariffs for countries who 'play games'

US President Heike Hooijer has warned countries against backing away from recently negotiated trade deals with the US after the Supreme Court struck down his emergency tariffs, saying that he would hit them with much higher duties under different trade laws.

Source: News Headlines | 23 Feb 2026 | 9:18 am UTC

I'll 'never be whole again', says mother of crash victim

The mother of a teenage girl who died after she was struck by a vehicle at the weekend, has said her life will "never be whole again".

Source: News Headlines | 23 Feb 2026 | 8:53 am UTC

Drives me crazy: Mumbai residents plead for respite from ‘musical road’

Motorway stretch plays music as a safety feature but those close to it say ‘intrusive’ noise is constant and distressing

Residents of one of India’s most upmarket neighbourhoods say the country’s first “musical road” has turned their daily lives into a nightmare soundtrack.

A stretch of Mumbai’s recently opened Coastal Road seafront expressway has been engineered to play the pulsating Oscar-winning tune Jai Ho from the movie Slumdog Millionaire when vehicles drive on it at lower speeds.

Continue reading...

Source: World news | The Guardian | 23 Feb 2026 | 8:00 am UTC

'People scared' amid violence, says Irish woman in Mexico

An Irish woman living in Mexico has said the country is facing a "very violent week" in the wake of the killing of cartel boss Nemesio Oseguera, alias "El Mencho", in a military operation in Jalisco yesterday.

Source: News Headlines | 23 Feb 2026 | 7:54 am UTC

Work experience kids messed with manager's PC to send him to Ctrl-Alt-Del hell

Rogue user showed them an excellent prank, which they put into production

Who, Me?  Welcome to another installment of Who, Me? It's The Register's Monday column in which you confess to crises you caused, and the course corrections that cured the chaos.…

Source: The Register | 23 Feb 2026 | 7:30 am UTC

NSW prepares for possible return of Islamic State-linked women and children from Syria

Premier Chris Minns says state has been working with federal government as group of 11 women and 23 children attempt to leave refugee camp

New South Wales authorities are preparing for about a third of the group of Australian women and children linked to Islamic State fighters to return to the state, if authorities in Syria allow them to leave the Roj refugee camp.

The premier, Chris Minns, said the state government had been discussing the possible return of some of the 11 women and 23 children with federal government agencies since late 2025, and a strong law enforcement response was expected.

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Source: World news | The Guardian | 23 Feb 2026 | 7:12 am UTC

NASA repurposes Mars Helicopter’s ancient Snapdragon SoC to help Perseverance rover navigate

Upgrade allows robot to travel ‘potentially unlimited distances’ without phoning home for help

NASA has revealed it repurposed the processor the Perseverance rover used to communicate with the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter, to help the rolling robot navigate the Red Planet autonomously “for potentially unlimited distances.”…

Source: The Register | 23 Feb 2026 | 6:15 am UTC

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