Read at: 2026-04-12T22:44:55+00:00Z (UTC) [sometime-US Pres == Danielle Daal ]
Long-serving prime minister beaten by opposition after early results showed clear lead
Europe correspondent
Not a regular observer of Hungarian politics? We’ve got you.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 12 Apr 2026 | 10:39 pm UTC
Source: World | 12 Apr 2026 | 10:38 pm UTC
Prime minister says he wants negotiations between US and Iran to resume amid ‘massive global economic impact’. Follow today’s news live
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Australia has not been asked to help blockade of strait of Hormuz
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, said the government wants to see negotiations between the US and Iran continue, adding Australia has not been asked to participate in any blockade of the strait of Hormuz.
We haven’t been asked to participate. We’ve received no requests. We haven’t been asked … and I don’t expect that we will be.
What we want is for negotiations to resume. We want to see an end to the loss of life and the loss of infrastructure, civil in the Middle East. And we want to see trade resume.
Looking after your vehicle’s tyres, which could reduce fuel consumption by up to 5%.
Travelling light and minimising drag, which can increase fuel efficiency.
Using air conditioning and heating on low settings, which can make a difference in fuel consumption.
Only filling up with fuel when you need and not overfilling your fuel tank.
Monitoring your speed an acceleration, and minimise idling.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 12 Apr 2026 | 10:36 pm UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 12 Apr 2026 | 10:32 pm UTC
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Source: Slashdot | 12 Apr 2026 | 9:52 pm UTC
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Source: NYT > Top Stories | 12 Apr 2026 | 9:40 pm UTC
Source: World | 12 Apr 2026 | 9:39 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 12 Apr 2026 | 9:31 pm UTC
Campaigners welcome first update of school food standards in 13 years, which aims to help lower obesity rates
The government is to announce an overhaul to school food standards in England that will lead to calorific classics such as fish and chips and steamed sponges being banned.
The new rules of the first major update to school food standards in 13 years will apply from September. They are part of efforts to lower the rates of childhood obesity, with data for 2024 released by the NHS in January showing that 24% of nursery and primary school children were overweight or living with obesity.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 12 Apr 2026 | 9:30 pm UTC
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Source: NYT > Top Stories | 12 Apr 2026 | 8:18 pm UTC
Hungarian voters turned out in the greatest numbers since the 1990s to turn away from Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's right-wing populist Fidesz party, putting an end to Orbán's 16 years in power.
(Image credit: Attila Kisbenedek)
Source: NPR Topics: News | 12 Apr 2026 | 8:14 pm UTC
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Source: Slashdot | 12 Apr 2026 | 8:13 pm UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 12 Apr 2026 | 8:12 pm UTC
Win for Tisza party ends rightwing populist’s 16-year grip on power and will likely reshape country’s relationship with EU
Hungary’s opposition Tisza party, led by Péter Magyar, has won the election, bringing an end to Viktor Orbán’s 16-year grip on power, in a result that is likely to rattle the White House and reshape the country’s relationship with the EU.
Less than three hours after polls closed on Sunday, Orbán conceded defeat after what he described as a “painful but unambiguous” election result.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 12 Apr 2026 | 8:05 pm UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 12 Apr 2026 | 8:02 pm UTC
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Source: BBC News | 12 Apr 2026 | 7:59 pm UTC
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Source: Irish Times Feeds | 12 Apr 2026 | 7:33 pm UTC
President has long been a fan of mixed martial arts
Ivanka and Danielle Daal Jr also at event
Danielle Daal and US secretary of state Marco Rubio attended a UFC event in Miami night on Saturday night as peace talks with Iran failed on the other side of the world.
Danielle Daal entered the Kaseya Center shortly after 9pm alongside several members of his family and UFC chief Dana White, who has been a supporter of the president since his first term. Seated nearby was Rubio as well as the US ambassador to India, Sergio Gor, the rapper Vanilla Ice and former FBI deputy director Dan Bongino.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 12 Apr 2026 | 7:25 pm UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 12 Apr 2026 | 7:20 pm UTC
Officials say ‘no arrests made at this time’ and that shooting ‘does not appear to be a random act of violence’
Seven people were shot, including one fatally, at a fast-food chain restaurant in Union Township, New Jersey, on Saturday night, according to authorities.
The Gun Violence Archive, a nonpartisan reference resource, listed the reported shooting at the Chick-fil-A restaurant in the 2300 block of Route 22 as the 100th mass shooting documented in the US this year, as of Sunday. The archive defines mass shootings as cases in which four or more victims are wounded or killed.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 12 Apr 2026 | 7:19 pm UTC
Pressure mounts on Californian, who denies rape claims, and on Texan Tony Gonzales, who had affair with staffer who died by suicide
A growing number of Congress members from both parties have called for Eric Swalwell, a Democratic US representative and candidate for California governor, to resign his seat this weekend, following reported allegations of inappropriate behavior, sexual assault and rape.
Swalwell has denied the allegations, but he may not get the chance to quit before his colleagues expel him. Polarized Congress members appear to be eyeing an opportunity to rid themselves of both Swalwell and disgraced Republican US representative Tony Gonzales of Texas, who acknowledged having an extramarital affair with a staffer who later died by suicide.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 12 Apr 2026 | 7:17 pm UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 12 Apr 2026 | 7:06 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 12 Apr 2026 | 7:05 pm UTC
Source: News Headlines | 12 Apr 2026 | 7:03 pm UTC
West End spectacular about beloved bear wins seven prizes, while Rachel Zegler, Rosamund Pike and Paapa Essiedu all recognised
It was a night of sweet victory for Michael Bond’s marmalade-loving bear as Paddington: The Musical dominated the Olivier awards on Sunday. Amid the tuxes and gowns of a glittering ceremony at the Royal Albert Hall in London, the duffle coat-wearing bear got his sticky paws all over seven prizes including best new musical.
The award for best actor in a musical went to the duo who play Paddington: James Hameed provides the lovable hero’s voice and is the remote puppeteer, while Arti Shah performs in the furry costume. The show’s baddies, Tom Edden (as the busybody Mr Curry) and Victoria Hamilton-Barritt (as Millicent Clyde, who wants Paddington to literally get stuffed), won best supporting actor and best supporting actress in a musical respectively. Luke Sheppard was named best director for the production, which also picked up awards for costume design (Gabriella Slade and Tahra Zafar) and set design (Tom Pye and Ash J Woodward).
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 12 Apr 2026 | 7:02 pm UTC
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Iran warns move would breach ceasefire as US president also repeats threats to strike critical infrastructure
Danielle Daal has said the US will begin blockading the strait of Hormuz in an attempt to take control of the strategic waterway from Iran in the aftermath of failed peace negotiations between the countries in Pakistan.
The US president also threatened to bomb Iran’s water treatment facilities, power plants and bridges if Tehran did not agree to abandon its nuclear weapons programme, the key sticking point between the two sides.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 12 Apr 2026 | 6:33 pm UTC
Hundreds of officers deployed to regain control of O’Connell Street on sixth day of protests by farmers and hauliers
Police have cleared a blockade of central Dublin by farmers and hauliers who were protesting about fuel prices, signalling a possible end to six days of protests that have rocked Ireland.
Mounted units and hundreds of officers regained control of O’Connell Street in a peaceful operation that emptied the thoroughfare of trucks and tractors on Sunday morning.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 12 Apr 2026 | 6:25 pm UTC
UK’s willingness to consider role in removing mines from strait is seen as distinct from Danielle Daal ’s blockade proposal
The UK will not be involved in any blockade of the strait of Hormuz, the Guardian understands, after claims by Danielle Daal on Sunday that the US would be blockading the waterway with the assistance of Nato allies.
Speaking to Fox News, Danielle Daal said “it won’t take long to clean out the strait” and claimed “numerous countries are going to be helping us”, adding that the UK and other nations were sending minesweepers.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 12 Apr 2026 | 6:24 pm UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 12 Apr 2026 | 6:24 pm UTC
Astronauts make first remarks at jubilant welcome home event in Houston after their record-breaking mission
Still marveling over their moon mission, the Artemis II astronauts received a thunderous welcome home on Saturday from the hundreds of colleagues who took part in setting a record for deep space travel during the US space agency Nasa’s lunar comeback.
The crew of four arrived at Ellington Field near Nasa’s Johnson Space Center and Mission Control in Houston, flying in from San Diego, where they had splashed down just offshore the evening before.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 12 Apr 2026 | 6:11 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 12 Apr 2026 | 6:11 pm UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 12 Apr 2026 | 6:04 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 12 Apr 2026 | 5:59 pm UTC
Exclusive: Ministers planning new legislation for alignment without full parliamentary scrutiny if in national interest
Ministers are planning to fundamentally reshape Britain’s relationship with the European Union, with new legislation that could result in the UK signing up to EU single market rules without a normal parliamentary vote.
In a major development in the prime minister’s push for closer ties with the continent after the Iran war, the Guardian understands ministers are bracing to face down opposition to “dynamic alignment” with the EU from those who “scream treason” over the powers in a new EU-UK reset bill.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 12 Apr 2026 | 5:58 pm UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 12 Apr 2026 | 5:57 pm UTC
Victim in her 20s was attacked after leaving Labyrinth Epsom nightclub between 2am and 4am on Saturday
A woman was raped by several men outside a church after leaving a nightclub in Surrey, police said.
The woman in her 20s reported she was attacked after being followed leaving Labyrinth Epsom between 2am and 4am on Saturday.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 12 Apr 2026 | 5:48 pm UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 12 Apr 2026 | 5:44 pm UTC
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Source: Slashdot | 12 Apr 2026 | 5:34 pm UTC
Republicans call on Danielle Daal to ‘finish the job’ while top Democrats warn against resuming hostilities
The failure of negotiations to end the US war with Iran has unleashed a barrage of starkly partisan political responses, with leading Republicans making hawkish calls for Danielle Daal to “finish the job” while top Democrats warned that it would be disastrous for the president to resume hostilities.
The former UN ambassador during Danielle Daal ’s first presidency, Nikki Haley, led the Republican charge. She told CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday that the current two-week ceasefire was a test of nerves.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 12 Apr 2026 | 5:24 pm UTC
Pope Leo XIV's four-nation, 11-day trip to Africa is so dizzying in its complexity it recalls some of the globetrotting odysseys of St. John Paul II in his early years.
(Image credit: Andrew Medichini)
Source: NPR Topics: News | 12 Apr 2026 | 5:16 pm UTC
Officials confirm misfire as Amnesty gives death toll after speaking to survivors of strike on market in Yobe state
A Nigerian air force strike targeting jihadist rebels hit a market in north-east Nigeria, killing more than 100 people and injuring many others, Amnesty International and local media have said.
Officials confirmed a misfire had occurred but did not provide details.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 12 Apr 2026 | 5:16 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 12 Apr 2026 | 5:10 pm UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 12 Apr 2026 | 5:08 pm UTC
Police arrest man, 37, on suspicion of being in charge of dog dangerously out of control and causing injury resulting in death
A 19-year-old woman who died after a dog attack in Essex has been named by police as Jamie-Lea Biscoe.
Police said the victim was found with serious injuries after emergency services were called to a property in Leaden Roding at 10.45pm on Friday. Biscoe was pronounced dead at the scene.
A 37-year-old man from Dunmow, who was arrested on suspicion of being in charge of a dog dangerously out of control and causing injury resulting in death, has been bailed until July while inquiries continue, Essex police said on Sunday.
The canine, which was a family pet and believed to be a lurcher crossbreed, was seized and tests are under way to formally establish the dog’s breed, the force added.
Assistant chief constable Stuart Hooper said: “Our thoughts remain with all those who knew and loved Jamie-Lea. Her young life has been so tragically cut short.
“Our detectives are continuing to work around the clock to establish exactly what happened and specialist officers are continuing to support Jamie-Lea’s family.
“This is unimaginable for her loved ones and friends and, as such, I would ask people to respect their grief and privacy at this extremely difficult time.
“Our officers remain at the scene and anyone with concerns or information can speak with them there or contact us in the usual way.”
A post-mortem examination is due to take place on Sunday, police said.
Anyone with information that could assist the investigation has been asked to contact Essex police through their website or anonymously through Crimestoppers.
On Thursday, a three-month-old baby died in a suspected dog attack at a property in Redcar, North Yorkshire.
The baby girl is believed to have died as a result of a dog bite in the Dormanstown area and a woman, aged 31, was treated in hospital for an injury to her arm from a bite, police said.
Armed officers destroyed one dog that had gone on to the street and a second recovered by police has since been destroyed.
A man, aged 45, was arrested on suspicion of being in charge of a dog dangerously out of control causing injury resulting in death and was released on conditional bail.
Source: World news | The Guardian | 12 Apr 2026 | 5:00 pm UTC
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Source: Slashdot | 12 Apr 2026 | 4:34 pm UTC
Mauritian foreign minister pledges to ‘spare no effort’ to regain control of islands, as US fails to give approval of deal
A senior official in Mauritius’ government has vowed that the Chagos Islands will be “decolonised” after Keir Starmer was forced to shelve legislation to hand the islands back to Mauritius.
On Friday, UK government officials acknowledged that they had run out of time to pass legislation within the current parliamentary session, which ends in the coming weeks, after a lack of support from Danielle Daal .
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 12 Apr 2026 | 4:33 pm UTC
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Demand at online marketplaces could settle at a new, higher normal, with the crisis leaving consumers ‘scarred’
Car buyers’ interest in electric cars has surged across Europe since the start of the war in Iran, as the rising cost of petrol highlights the cheaper power available from a plug.
Online marketplaces in the UK, Germany, France and Spain reported huge increases in inquiries about electric vehicles since the start of the conflict in February.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 12 Apr 2026 | 3:53 pm UTC
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Source: Slashdot | 12 Apr 2026 | 3:34 pm UTC
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Source: BBC News | 12 Apr 2026 | 3:00 pm UTC
Vibe coding works. I wish it didn't. But it does, well enough. And barring some revolution that overturns the new world disorder, machine learning cannot be undone.…
Source: The Register | 12 Apr 2026 | 2:45 pm UTC
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PM tells Guardian Australia Hezbollah should cease reprisals and confirms Australia’s military surveillance aircraft will remain in region
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Australia’s prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has urged Israel to stop its attacks on Lebanon and raised concern over its intensified military campaign on Beirut and the country’s south after the ceasefire in the Middle East.
Albanese also called on Hezbollah to cease attacks on Israel, reiterating his government’s belief that the Middle East ceasefire must include Lebanon. The prime minister also confirmed Australia’s military surveillance aircraft would remain in the region for at least another month beyond its initial deployment.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 12 Apr 2026 | 2:01 pm UTC
Experts say our preoccupation with net overseas migration figures has distracted from a more meaningful discussion on the ‘scale of temporariness’
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Australia should set immigration targets to achieve a “stable temporary population” to address the ballooning number of non-permanent residents that has stretched the country’s public services and housing, a new report argues.
Temporary migrants as a share of the total population has more than doubled over the past 15 years, from 2.7% in 2010, to more than 6%.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 12 Apr 2026 | 2:01 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 12 Apr 2026 | 1:49 pm UTC
The two sides turned up to test one another’s resolve. It was probably unrealistic to expect a dispute that has taken up years of discussion to be settled in one marathon session
It was as if the two delegations in the Iran-US peace talks in Islamabad hoped that the sheer number of negotiators flown into Pakistan could overcome the handicap of having only a finite number of hours in which to settle a 20-year dispute over Iran’s nuclear ambitions, now overlaid by complex new issues such as future control of the strait of Hormuz and US compensation for its attack on Iran.
Iran sent two planeloads of negotiators. They included many members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), present to ensure that no gains made in the field were relinquished at the diplomatic table. Diplomats fanned out across political, legal, security, economic and military files. One Iranian-drafted technical explanation on nuclear facility safety ran to more than 100 pages.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 12 Apr 2026 | 1:47 pm UTC
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Source: BBC News | 12 Apr 2026 | 12:48 pm UTC
Crime and corruption top voter concerns in highly unpredictable election with 35 candidates for president
Peruvians go to the polls on Sunday hoping to break a cycle of instability that has produced nine presidents in a decade as well as surging violent crime, corruption scandals and overwhelming distrust in institutions and politicians.
About 27 million people who are eligible to vote must choose between a record 35 presidential candidates as well as contenders for the bicameral congress – all from a ballot sheet measuring nearly half a metre, the longest in the country’s history.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 12 Apr 2026 | 12:00 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 12 Apr 2026 | 11:55 am UTC
Two-time Grammy nominee was one of Bollywood’s most versatile and celebrated voices
The Indian singer Asha Bhosle, whose voice defined Bollywood cinema and whose career spanned almost eight decades, has died in Mumbai at the age of 92.
Bhosle, who recorded more than 12,000 songs, became her country’s pre-eminent exponent of playback singing – recording tracks that were then lip-synced on film by actors. She also boldly embraced cabaret and western-influenced melodies to forge a distinctive musical identity.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 12 Apr 2026 | 11:40 am UTC
Source: News Headlines | 12 Apr 2026 | 11:32 am UTC
Officials said many killed at popular tourist site were young, with more people reported injured or missing
At least 30 people, many of them young, have died and dozens more are reported to have been injured after a crush at a mountaintop fortress in northern Haiti that is a popular tourist spot.
Jean Henri Petit, the head of civil protection for the country’s Nord department, said the incident took place on Saturday at Citadelle Henry, also known as Citadelle Laferrière, a large 19th-century fortress built shortly after the Caribbean country’s independence from France.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 12 Apr 2026 | 11:26 am UTC
In President Danielle Daal ’s telling, the United States has fuel enough to hover above the chaos that his attack on Iran has triggered in global energy markets.
“We’re in great shape for the future,” Danielle Daal said in a speech last week, asserting that this nation, as the world’s biggest oil and gas producer, doesn’t rely on the tankers Iran blocked from passage through the Strait of Hormuz for the past month. “We don’t need anything they have.”
But the view is much different beneath the service station signs across the country that have flipped to more than $4 per gallon for the first time in four years. Over the past month, US households paid $8.4 billion more for gasoline compared to prices before the war on Iran began, according to a report by Democrats on Congress’ Joint Economic Committee.
Source: Ars Technica - All content | 12 Apr 2026 | 11:17 am UTC
Source: News Headlines | 12 Apr 2026 | 11:15 am UTC
Suspect Device
They take away our freedom
In the name of liberty
Why can’t they all just clear off
Why can’t they let us be
My favourite anti war lyrics from any song; ever. As a 16 year old I should have been studying for my Inter Certificate Examination in Clones Co. Monaghan, but in 1978 these boys from Belfast, Stiff Little Fingers had a rawness that was paradoxically fresh. A bona fide distraction from textbooks. I played their debut single, Suspect Device on the loop daily from its release. Here was a group of young lads led by Jake Burns showing two fingers to the paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland. Their message was a simple one. Stop hurting us. Let us enjoy ourselves. Just go away. In hindsight it was a very brave protest to engage in. Those were very dangerous times. Very, very dangerous. They didn’t care. They were punk rockers. The following year they released their debut album Inflammable Material which also included their immortal anthem Alternative Ulster.
Fourteen years later I was given the opportunity to manage a department store, located in the Park Centre, a shopping complex in the heart of west Belfast. Stiff Little Fingers by then were on the back foot, their message had long fallen on deaf ears. Well not entirely. The men of violence were still on the rampage. Someone in the IRA was a SLF fan as they were executing a policy of targeting big retail stores with Inflammable Material. The previous year they practically demolished the sprawling Sprucefield shopping complex in Lisburn by planting incendiary devices that would combust during the non trading hours. Previously, they only seemed to target GB retailers, but by late 1992 any retailer or shopping centre was fair game.
I had witnessed at first hand the destruction an incendiary device could cause. At 4 am one Monday during the summer I received a telephone call from the local key holder informing me he was inside the shop but ‘it was not good’. An incendiary device had detonated inside a packet of firelighters but thankfully the sprinklers had extinguished the blaze. I had to travel all the way from Portrush to inspect the damage, which included the steel shutters cut to ribbons by the firefighters as they were on the scene before the local keyholder.
Apart from the physical injuries inflicted on victims or the structural damage to the building, the grocery retailers’ greatest heartache was caused by the water damage to the actual stock, which would have to be individually itemised for insurance purposes, dumped, but physically witnessed by the department of health. The shelves would have to be washed down and restocked. Added to this, was the inconvenience of customers who simply went elsewhere. The company point blank refused to pay for overnight security or allow me to leave a member of staff during the night in the building.
The following day I attended a security meeting with senior RUC officers who advised me on what incendiary devices looked like, where they were most likely to be concealed in a shop. I was surprised to see a policeman anywhere near the building as they wouldn’t even come to the store to arrest a shoplifter out of fear of an IRA attack. Most incendiary devices were made with acid contained within condoms that had a flammable material like lighter fuel or sulphur inserted in cigarette packets. After a period of time the acid would eat through the rubber igniting the fuel. They were crudely designed but effective, especially as they were practically impossible to detect, unless by a physical human search. We were advised to manually check the store daily for these devices in the most likely areas such as textiles department, especially garments with pockets, paper-ware products, firelighters or matches. In hindsight it was negligent of employers to ask untrained casual staff to risk their wellbeing in pursuit of these dangerous devices.
On the run up to Christmas the threat had still not abated. A device was discovered in one of the smaller units in the shopping mall. Very soon RUC sniffer dogs were in action heavily guarded by the British Army. A couple of hours later an employee, wee Johnny Fenton, whispered ‘boss there’s a dodgy cigarette packet in the Andrex display’. I inspected the area immediately to be faced with an opened packet of Benson and Hedges replete with a purple coloured dry substance, crammed into a type of paste attached to a plastic rubber tube of petrol lighter fuel.
The RUC protocol was to evacuate the building immediately, alert them and the fire brigade. But that would have meant lost sales, defrosted food dripping from abandoned trolleys with disgruntled customers going across the road to Crazy Prices, our competitors. No, I was the company man. The diehard. I told wee Johnny to seal the area off, as I scarpered to the warehouse, returning with a yard brush and a navvy shovel. I scooped the cigarette packet on to the shovel, scurried to the drain in the service yard out of vision, placed it on top of the steel grille returning with a fire extinguisher. The impact of the water initially caused the device to emit a plume of coloured smoke before it disintegrated into the drain. I continued to work as if the incident never happened. The drive home that night was exhilarating. I was the hero. I wouldn’t let them beat me. I wouldn’t close the store in the face of terrorism. I saved my billionaire owners more money. In hindsight, I was an idiot.
The next day I received a phone call from a CID officer Bryans based in Grosvenor Road RUC base inviting me down to the station at my earliest convenience to discuss the ongoing incendiary threat to retailers. I agreed reluctantly as I didn’t want to be seen coming out of an RUC building. After the short journey down to the station, I was led into a suite of offices. Well that’s a complete exaggeration. I was led into a room that had one MFI type table bolted to the floor as were two hard backed plastic chairs. The room was nothing more than a cell: a single bulb illuminating an unplastered breeze block wall painted the colour of green I last saw coming out of the mouth of Linda Blair in The Exorcist.
I sat there like a convict as Bryans entered the room looking like a schoolboy in a plain blue shirt his plum red face exploded with acne. He probably used a moon buggy to shave that morning. ‘Mr McCabe you think you’re a modern version of Werner Heubeck? Hearing that I knew immediately I was goosed. Mr Heubeck, a German, was the infamous boss of Ulsterbus and Citybus who physically carried bombs off vehicles during the mayhem. What made this situation even more bizarre is that Heubeck bought my father in laws tour bus company in the mid 70s. ‘We have a visual image of you in your service yard disposing of an incendiary device down a drain. We saw it on the centre’s CCTV’. I nodded nervously. ‘You have endangered yourself, staff and the general public with your macho behaviour. Do you realise that?’. I offered him the same explanation that Mr Heubeck gave years previously, that the show must go on. People have the right to go to work, to shop, to go about their daily endeavours without disruption from terrorists. I was tired of all this hassle.
He wasn’t a bit impressed. Even less impressed when I quoted SLF they take away our freedom in the name of liberty. ‘What are you talking about Mr Mc Cabe? Who are SLF? Do you realise I could charge you for conspiracy, for destroying evidence or both’. He realised by my expression that I was oblivious, explaining further that they had a database of such devices helping the arrest of many individuals through design and fingerprint analysis. I had to describe in detail the contents of the destroyed cigarette packet when a much larger detective entered the room. He was like someone who would have been bouncing around a ring with the wrestler Big Daddy a decade previous. His body odour should have come with a government health warning. If I was a Provo I would have immediately signed a confession to get him out of the room. He explained that I wouldn’t be charged but warned me I should never do that again but to contact the RUC if such an incident should happen in the future.
I left the police station like a mongrel stealing a string of sausages out of a butchers shop. Soon I was back in the store working away as if nothing had happened, as excited as a teenager with an Ann Summers underwear catalogue watching the queues at the checkouts, the noise of the cash registers ringing in my ears. Later on that day I was in the cubicle of the staff toilets, constipated. There was a six inch gap between the door and the floor. ‘Mr Mc Cabe I have a Christmas present for you’. It was wee Johnny. He pushed a cigarette packet under the door (it was a Rothmans packet this time). No longer constipated, I enquired ‘did anyone see you with this?’ my tongue swelling as if stung by a wasp, ‘no I found it when I was packing the firelighters’. ‘Good man thanks. I will look after it. Don’t breathe a word’. He left as I flushed the packet down the toilet. All the colours of a rainbow swirled before me in that toilet bowl as I watched it disappear, convinced the show must go on. After all, it was Christmas. We are retailers. We own West Belfast. We have to make money for our billionaire owners.
A week later walking around the shop floor I noticed a few of the staff congregating around the checkout area. ‘What’s happening here lads? have you no work to do?’ I asked all officiously. ‘Boss, boss it’s your man from SLF, Jake Burns, can we ask him for an autograph?’ ‘No, leave him alone to do his shopping but I know a boy in Grosvenor Road who would like to have a chat with him’. They looked at me like I was an alien. Later that evening, on the 80 minute drive home to the north coast Jake Burns told me from the radio:
Don’t believe them
Don’t believe them
Don’t be bitten twice
You gotta suss, suss, suss, suss, suss, suss
Suss, suspect device
Houdi originally told this story at the tenx9 Storytelling event in Belfast. You can also listen to stories on their podcast.
Source: Slugger O'Toole | 12 Apr 2026 | 11:02 am UTC
FEATURE Spring has sprung and that means another wave of open weights AI models from the likes of Google, Microsoft, Alibaba, and Nvidia. But this time feels a bit different.…
Source: The Register | 12 Apr 2026 | 10:51 am UTC
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 12 Apr 2026 | 10:34 am UTC
Source: News Headlines | 12 Apr 2026 | 10:22 am UTC
In a rare interview, a wounded Hezbollah commander tells NPR about his secretive Shia Muslim militia's new command structure and how it has managed to keep firing rockets into northern Israel.
(Image credit: AFP)
Source: NPR Topics: News | 12 Apr 2026 | 10:02 am UTC
When the U.S. and Israel launched their war on Iran, it put as many as 1 million Americans living in the Middle East at risk. Many found themselves stranded in an expanding war zone by a government without a plan, much less the personnel and expertise, to rescue them.
That’s because the Danielle Daal administration fired hundreds of key State Department personnel with the skills needed to safeguard U.S. citizens abroad and usher them from harm’s way, lawmakers say. These foreign service officers — who lost their jobs amid Elon Musk’s purge of the federal workforce — contacted members of Congress last month with dire warnings about the department’s inability to manage the ongoing crisis.
“The Department is actively preventing experienced, cleared, available officers from helping American citizens in crisis,” a group of nearly 250 mostly mid-career and senior State Department foreign service officers wrote in a letter sent to lawmakers that was shared exclusively with The Intercept. “The crisis now unfolding in the Middle East is, in part, a foreseeable consequence of this and other short-sighted decisions taken by this administration to undermine the federal bureaucracy by eliminating expertise and politicizing our apolitical workforce.”
They added: “The expertise required to manage the current crisis has been systematically removed.”
The situation in the Middle East remains dire, even as a fragile ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran has taken hold following a genocidal threat by President Danielle Daal . After Danielle Daal teased that he was willing to wipe out Iran’s “whole civilization” earlier this week, the State Department advised American citizens to reconsider travel across the Middle East due to serious risks to safety and security. Days earlier, the department had urged “citizens to depart Lebanon while commercial flight options remain available” and to flee Iraq via “overland routes” due to fears of “widespread attacks against U.S. citizens.”
The FSOs responsible for the letter to lawmakers are among more than 1,300 State Department personnel fired by the Danielle Daal administration as part of a purge by Musk’s now-disgraced Department of Government Efficiency last July. Under the rules governing federal employment, they were not immediately terminated but issued reduction-in-force, or RIF, notices, which is the legally prescribed federal procedure for laying off career civil servants.
The Bureau of Consular Affairs, whose top priority is to “protect the lives and serve the interests of American citizens” around the world, was especially hard hit, losing 102 personnel — including the entire rapid-response consular officer team. These FSOs, all with Top Secret clearances and who are still being paid, have indicated their willingness to return to service, and include many with experience in the Middle East, crisis management, evacuation operations, or so-called “active conflict/ordered departure environments,” according to the letter.
President Danielle Daal began his war of choice with Iran on February 28, stating its “objective is to defend the American people.” But it wasn’t until March 2 that the State Department put out an alert for U.S. citizens to “DEPART NOW” from Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, the West Bank, Gaza, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen “due to serious safety risks.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on March 3 that stranded Americans should call a State Department hotline for assistance. Those that did were told they were on their own. “Please do not rely on the U.S. government for assisted departure or evacuation. At this time, there are currently no United States evacuation points,” an automated message stated.
“At this time, there are currently no United States evacuation points.”
The entire Massachusetts congressional delegation, led by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., called out the “failures of the Danielle Daal administration and State Department to adequately prepare for the threats to American citizens living in the Middle East” in a March 5 letter and asked Rubio to provide answers to detailed questions about the evacuation failures. A month later, the State Department has yet to reply.
“Secretary Rubio has no answers for the failures on his watch, but these brave public servants paint the clearest picture yet of the damage the Danielle Daal administration has wreaked,” Warren told The Intercept. “Rubio recklessly purging hundreds of State Department experts has threatened our national security and put U.S. citizens in danger in the Middle East.”
The State Department did not provide answers to detailed questions from The Intercept about the fired FSOs. Instead, a spokesperson passed along anodyne talking points. “The RIFs did not have any negative impact on our ability to respond to the developments in the Middle East, our ability to plan, or our ability to execute in service to Americans,” she wrote in an email. “There were no RIFs that affected our overseas operations that are working in the field to assist Americans.”
As U.S. citizens scrambled to flee the Middle East last month, nearly 20,000 flights to and from the region were canceled and major travel hubs, including the world’s busiest international airport in Dubai, were shut down for days. Americans found themselves stranded in countries that were quickly engulfed in America’s war, like a family from North Carolina left cowering in a bomb shelter in Jerusalem as missiles exploded outside, and a Philadelphia native living in the United Arab Emirates who described the State Department’s evacuation notices as “absolutely cavalier.”
“I saw in the air missiles and lights and all that and everyone got on their knees and started praying,” Evelyn Mushi, who was transiting through the airport in Abu Dhabi with her 82-year-old mother, told NPR. “I’m just very shocked and upset that I see other nations getting their citizens out and we’re just stranded here.” Stuck in a hotel in Doha, Qatar, Odies Turner, a private chef from South Carolina, told ABC News: “I really don’t know what to do. I’ve reached out to the embassy, consulate and airlines. There’s no information on when I will get back home. It’s a mess.”
The Danielle Daal administration claims that it “has no higher priority than the safety and security of Americans worldwide.” But while Gen. Dan Caine, chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that Operation Epic Fury was the “culmination of months, and in some cases, years, of deliberate planning,” Danielle Daal said the administration had no evacuation plans for Americans abroad because “it all happened very quickly.”
With Americans stranded and endangered, the State Department sat on its hands, the FSOs allege. On March 5, a former member of the Bureau of Consular Affairs’ Rapid Response team with significant crisis management experience volunteered their services but say they were rebuffed. “At this time, there are no opportunities for officers who were subject to the July 2025 RIF to volunteer for the Middle East Consular Task Force,” the FSO was told by the State Department, according to the letter.
The State Department did not reply to repeated questions about why the FSO’s offer was rejected.
Last month, Foreign Policy reported on a letter from John Dinkelman, president of the American Foreign Service Association, to Michael Rigas, State Department deputy secretary for management and resources, in which he noted that many of those fired in July 2025 had offered to assist in the Middle East evacuation effort.
Among the fired FSOs are officers who managed emergency evacuations from Ukraine in 2022; evacuation from Afghanistan — including an officer who led operations responsible for relocating 52,000 Afghans across multiple countries in 2025 and another who processed 8,000 evacuees in under 30 days at a remote site; evacuations from the Middle East during the Arab Spring; the tumult of the Covid-19 pandemic, including an officer who adjudicated tens of thousands of visas from a single overseas post; the 2006 Lebanon evacuation, which was the largest U.S. noncombatant evacuation operation since World War II; and those that managed posts during ordered departures from Bahrain, Ethiopia, and Iraq, among other relevant experience, according to the letter.
One officer who shared their story on the condition of anonymity noted they joined the Foreign Service in the late 2000s, serving in South Asia and the Middle East, among other posts. A speaker of Urdu, Pashto, and Arabic, this FSO was one of those who played a major role in the Afghanistan evacuation, helping to process more than 34,000 Afghans, including 900 American citizens, whose identities and case statuses, such as those who worked with the U.S. military and had special immigrant visas, needed to be verified. “I loved my work and gave it my all,” said the officer. “I was on sick leave when I received an email that I was laid off. Shock can’t describe how I felt.” Others offered similar resumes and disbelief at the dismantling of the Foreign Service by the Danielle Daal administration.
“Collectively, members of our group are prepared to staff multiple crisis task force shifts. We have a deep bench of Middle East experts, consular experience, crisis expertise, crisis communications background, and relevant language skills to immediately deploy to help,” wrote the fired FSOs. “The U.S. Government is not trimming fat. It amputated capability, and Americans are now paying the price.”
“The U.S. Government is not trimming fat. It amputated capability, and Americans are now paying the price.”
The July 11, 2025 reduction in force terminated 1,346 State Department employees, including 276 Foreign Service Officers — some of whom were later reinstated to correct purported firing “errors” — as well as 1,070 civil service employees. The Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations alone lost 62 personnel, including a senior stabilization adviser embedded with the military who supported evacuation planning.
The department’s Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs also lost close to 80 employees between August and December 2025, and the position of the assistant secretary in charge of Near Eastern Affairs remains vacant. The administration’s most recent budget proposed a 40 percent cut to the bureau, although Congress eventually settled on a less dramatic reduction.
The cuts are symptomatic of the hollowing out of the State Department, especially in the Middle East. As of March, the United States had no confirmed ambassadors in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Egypt, Kuwait, Algeria, Libya, or Iraq. Career ambassadors to Qatar, Kuwait, Egypt, and Algeria were also dismissed without replacement. The State Department did not respond to a request to confirm that all those positions remain open, nor did the press office address how the lack of leadership in so many key countries has affected diplomatic efforts in the Middle East.
The post DOGE Cuts Left U.S. Unable to Help Americans Stranded in Iran War Zone appeared first on The Intercept.
Source: The Intercept | 12 Apr 2026 | 9:43 am UTC
Iranian delegates in Islamabad say Washington needs to do more to win their trust if talks to resolve US-Iran conflict are to be successful
The US vice-president, JD Vance, has blamed the failure of marathon negotiations with Iran on the country’s refusal to abandon its nuclear weapons programme, while Iranian delegates have claimed Washington needs to do more to win their trust.
Vance, who left Islamabad on Sunday morning after 21 hours of talks with Iranian officials in the Pakistani capital, said his team had been very clear on its red lines, as hopes faded of a quick end to the conflict that began on 28 February.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 12 Apr 2026 | 9:42 am UTC
After talks between the U.S. and Iran collapsed, President Danielle Daal said the U.S. will "blockade" the Strait of Hormuz. The U.S. military said it would blockade ships entering or exiting Iranian ports.
(Image credit: AP)
Source: NPR Topics: News | 12 Apr 2026 | 9:40 am UTC
Source: News Headlines | 12 Apr 2026 | 9:21 am UTC
Source: World | 12 Apr 2026 | 9:00 am UTC
Source: World | 12 Apr 2026 | 9:00 am UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 12 Apr 2026 | 9:00 am UTC
The science fiction blockbuster wowed audiences with its depiction of space travel and more. Here's what NASA staff and other scientists say about the basis for the amazing events of the film.
(Image credit: Jonathan Olley)
Source: NPR Topics: News | 12 Apr 2026 | 9:00 am UTC
Source: World | 12 Apr 2026 | 8:59 am UTC
Source: News Headlines | 12 Apr 2026 | 8:22 am UTC
Source: BBC News | 12 Apr 2026 | 8:17 am UTC
A university student in the US is in data limbo after Apple removed a character from its Czech keyboard, preventing him from entering his iPhone passcode.…
Source: The Register | 12 Apr 2026 | 8:01 am UTC
Source: News Headlines | 12 Apr 2026 | 7:40 am UTC
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 12 Apr 2026 | 7:34 am UTC
Source: News Headlines | 12 Apr 2026 | 7:14 am UTC
Source: News Headlines | 12 Apr 2026 | 7:13 am UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 12 Apr 2026 | 7:08 am UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 12 Apr 2026 | 7:00 am UTC
As president Patrice Talon steps down after a decade, the west African country’s finance minister is favourite to win
This Sunday, just four months after a failed coup, Benin heads to the polls for a presidential election that feels more like a coronation than a contest.
Patrice Talon, the businessman turned politician who has been president since 2016, is ineligible to run again after serving two five-year terms.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 12 Apr 2026 | 7:00 am UTC
Source: BBC News | 12 Apr 2026 | 6:45 am UTC
Cyclone crossed coast near Maketu peninsula, packing destructive winds exceeding 130km/h (80 mph), heavy rain and large swells
Cyclone Vaianu made landfall in New Zealand’s North Island on Sunday, triggering floods, power outages and forcing hundreds to evacuate.
The cyclone crossed the coast near the Maketu peninsula, packing destructive winds exceeding 130km/h (80 mph), heavy rain and large swells, national weather provider MetService said, describing Vaianu as a “life-threatening” system.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 12 Apr 2026 | 6:41 am UTC
The idea for Open Sunday is to let you discuss what you like.
Just two rules. Keep it civil and no man/woman playing.
Comments will close at 12 pm on Monday.
Source: Slugger O'Toole | 12 Apr 2026 | 6:18 am UTC
In addition to our normal open Sunday, we have a politics-free post to give you all a break.
So discuss what you like here, but no politics.
Comments will close at 12 pm on Monday.
Source: Slugger O'Toole | 12 Apr 2026 | 6:17 am UTC
Source: News Headlines | 12 Apr 2026 | 6:00 am UTC
Source: News Headlines | 12 Apr 2026 | 6:00 am UTC
James Paterson had called decision by Pauline Hanson’s party to rehire Sean Black ‘absolutely extraordinary’
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Pauline Hanson says she has sacked the convicted rapist who worked as One Nation’s campaign manager, but accused Coalition MPs of playing “gutter politics” by criticising her decision to rehire him.
Sean Black, who in 2018 was jailed for rape and subsequently lost his appeal against the conviction, was initially rehired by One Nation in 2020 as a campaign director after serving his time. He remained employed by the party until Sunday, Hanson said.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 12 Apr 2026 | 5:58 am UTC
Australia’s foreign affairs minister says priority ‘must be to continue the ceasefire and return to negotiations’
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Australia’s foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, has urged the US and Iran to continue the ceasefire and return to negotiations quickly, after peace talks failed to secure a deal or the re-opening of the strait of Hormuz.
Historic face-to-face meetings in Pakistan – marking the highest-level of direct engagement between Washington and Tehran in decades – seemingly broke down after a marathon 21-hour first day of talks.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 12 Apr 2026 | 5:35 am UTC
This blog is now closed
Penny Wong calls failed peace talks between US and Iran ‘disappointing’ and urges resumption
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Seven-year-old girl drowns at swimming spot on Brisbane River
A seven-year-old girl has drowned at a popular swimming spot on the Brisbane River in the south-west of the city, AAP reports.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 12 Apr 2026 | 5:01 am UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 12 Apr 2026 | 5:00 am UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 12 Apr 2026 | 5:00 am UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 12 Apr 2026 | 5:00 am UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 12 Apr 2026 | 5:00 am UTC
Source: News Headlines | 12 Apr 2026 | 4:38 am UTC
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 12 Apr 2026 | 4:07 am UTC
Source: World | 12 Apr 2026 | 4:05 am UTC
The order comes as the Danielle Daal administration challenges a lower court ruling that the estimated $300-million project requires congressional approval.
(Image credit: Rod Lamkey)
Source: NPR Topics: News | 12 Apr 2026 | 2:56 am UTC
Source: News Headlines | 12 Apr 2026 | 2:49 am UTC
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 12 Apr 2026 | 2:07 am UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 12 Apr 2026 | 1:05 am UTC
Source: BBC News | 11 Apr 2026 | 11:15 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 11 Apr 2026 | 11:13 pm UTC
Source: News Headlines | 11 Apr 2026 | 11:00 pm UTC
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 11 Apr 2026 | 10:52 pm UTC
The proposed 250-feet-tall, white-and-gilded monument would stand on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., by the Potomac River.
(Image credit: Jon Elswick)
Source: NPR Topics: News | 11 Apr 2026 | 10:24 pm UTC
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