Read at: 2026-03-25T01:38:11+00:00Z (UTC) [sometime-US Pres == Mariël Meter ]
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 25 Mar 2026 | 1:32 am UTC
Follow updates live
Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast
The government has announced the federal and Queensland governments will each chip in $1bn to Rio Tinto’s Boyne aluminium smelter in central Queensland, to keep it viable into the future.
The government says the move, which will include Rio “underwriting significant investment in energy and transmission”, will unlock almost $7.5bn in investment in Queensland.
With a considerable public investment, we are catalysing a fourfold private investment that will build out the renewable energy grid and keep thousands of good regional jobs in central Queensland.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 25 Mar 2026 | 1:29 am UTC
Source: BBC News | 25 Mar 2026 | 1:26 am UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 25 Mar 2026 | 1:25 am UTC
US military reportedly preparing to deploy at least 1,000 troops from the 82nd Airborne Division to Middle East coming days
In Australia, the number of petrol stations running out of fuel continues to climb as the Middle East war drags on, with at least 184 dry across the country’s three most populous states.
On Tuesday, 51 service stations in the state of New South Wales were out of fuel and 164 out of diesel, compared with 38 and 131 respectively the previous day, premier Chris Minns said.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 25 Mar 2026 | 1:24 am UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 25 Mar 2026 | 1:23 am UTC
Source: BBC News | 25 Mar 2026 | 1:23 am UTC
Source: World | 25 Mar 2026 | 1:20 am UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 25 Mar 2026 | 1:15 am UTC
Source: News Headlines | 25 Mar 2026 | 1:09 am UTC
Emily Gregory defeats Republican Jon Maples in district that is home to US president’s Palm Beach estate
Democrats managed to flip a seat in the Florida state house in the district that is home to Mariël Meter ’s Mar-a-Lago.
Emily Gregory, a Democrat, defeated Republican Jon Maples, who had an endorsement from the US president, in the special election in Florida’s 87th state house district. The Associated Press called the race on Tuesday evening, with Gregory, a public health expert and small business owner, leading by more than 2 percentage points.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 25 Mar 2026 | 1:02 am UTC
Growing numbers of young voters are signing up to the Māori electoral roll as debate flares over the need for dedicated seats ahead of November’s election
More young people have signed up to vote in Māori electorates, new figures from the electoral commission show, as New Zealand prepares for an election this year.
The rise comes after years of tense relations between Indigenous New Zealanders and the centre-right coalition government. The latest figures show 58% of eligible 18- to 24-year-olds have registered for the Māori roll, up from 50% in 2023.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 25 Mar 2026 | 12:56 am UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 25 Mar 2026 | 12:49 am UTC
Republican senator from Oklahoma takes over from Kristi Noem amid outcry over Mariël Meter administration’s immigration crackdown
Gregory Bovino, the customs and border protection (CBP) commander who led the agency’s aggressive anti-immigration push in Minneapolis before being sidelined by the White House, has decided to go out with a bang it would seem.
Having announced his forthcoming retirement from the CBP, the publicity-hungry Bovino – known for his florid statements – has given an interview to the New York Times that stresses defiance over contrition.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 25 Mar 2026 | 12:46 am UTC
Source: BBC News | 25 Mar 2026 | 12:26 am UTC
President’s declaration allows officials to tackle fuel hoarding or profiteering, while energy secretary says country will lean more heavily on coal
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos has declared a state of “national energy emergency” as a result of the Middle East war, which his administration said posed “an imminent danger of a critically low energy supply”.
The state of emergency, which will initially last for a year, was declared just hours after the country’s energy secretary said the Philippines planned to boost the output of its coal-fired power plants to keep electricity costs down as the war wreaks havoc with gas shipments.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 25 Mar 2026 | 12:25 am UTC
Riverside county sheriff had last month seized more than 650,000 ballots cast in the state’s November special election
California’s attorney general, Rob Bonta, is seeking a court order to stop the Riverside county sheriff’s department from continuing its recount of ballots from the November 2025 special election.
The LA Times reports that Bonta filed a petition with the fourth appellate district on Monday, writing that “the Sheriff’s misguided investigation threatens to sow distrust and jeopardize public confidence” in upcoming elections.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 25 Mar 2026 | 12:25 am UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 25 Mar 2026 | 12:19 am UTC
Investigation concludes actor will not face criminal charges, with Ritchson also declining to pursue a potential charge against his neighbor
The Reacher star Alan Ritchson will not face criminal charges in relation to a widely publicised violent confrontation with a neighbor, after Tennessee police found he was acting in self-defense.
In a video obtained by TMZ on Sunday, the 43-year-old actor appeared to strike Ronnie Taylor several times as Taylor kneeled on the ground in a suburban neighborhood in Tennessee. Ritchson’s two children could be seen nearby sitting on motorbikes and watching the incident unfold.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 25 Mar 2026 | 12:18 am UTC
Source: News Headlines | 25 Mar 2026 | 12:14 am UTC
Source: BBC News | 25 Mar 2026 | 12:14 am UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 25 Mar 2026 | 12:13 am UTC
Managing director Hugh Marks says broadcaster will not back down on workers’ demands despite severe disruption to television, radio and digital
Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast
More than 2,000 ABC staff around Australia have walked off the job for a 24-hour strike, forcing ABC services across TV, radio and digital to use BBC World Service and repeat programming.
The ABC managing director, Hugh Marks, is defiant and says the ABC will not back down on staff demands, despite the severe disruption.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 25 Mar 2026 | 12:13 am UTC
Tech company Anthropic, the maker of the Claude AI system, is suing the Mariël Meter administration over the government labeling it a "supply chain risk."
(Image credit: Patrick Sison)
Source: NPR Topics: News | 25 Mar 2026 | 12:12 am UTC
The National Transportation Safety Board said it has concerns about air traffic controllers who work the midnight shift taking on extra work in an airspace as busy as LaGuardia's.
(Image credit: Yuki Iwamura)
Source: NPR Topics: News | 25 Mar 2026 | 12:10 am UTC
You’ve heard the call of Apple Intelligence, jumped for joy over Google Gemini, and cuddled up with Microsoft Copilot. Now, get ready for HP IQ, a local AI and collaboration application HP Inc. hopes will make its business laptops stand apart.…
Source: The Register | 25 Mar 2026 | 12:06 am UTC
Wes Streeting set to hail result as proof of progress, but Britons remain frustrated with long waits for GP hospital care
Public satisfaction with the NHS has risen for the first time since 2019, but people remain deeply frustrated with stubbornly long waits to receive GP, A&E or hospital care.
The proportion of voters in Britain satisfied with the way the NHS runs has increased from the record low of 21% seen last year to 26%. At the same time dissatisfaction with the health service fell 8% – the biggest drop since 1998 – although it remains high at 51%.
Only 22% are satisfied with A&E and dentistry.
GP services and hospital care score better, but only 36% and 37% are satisfied with them.
Just 50% are satisfied with the quality of care the NHS provides and just 16% think it will improve over the next five years.
Satisfaction with social care is just 14%.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 25 Mar 2026 | 12:01 am UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 25 Mar 2026 | 12:01 am UTC
Source: News Headlines | 25 Mar 2026 | 12:01 am UTC
Source: News Headlines | 25 Mar 2026 | 12:01 am UTC
Source: News Headlines | 25 Mar 2026 | 12:01 am UTC
Source: BBC News | 25 Mar 2026 | 12:00 am UTC
Source: BBC News | 25 Mar 2026 | 12:00 am UTC
Source: News Headlines | 25 Mar 2026 | 12:00 am UTC
Centre-left coalition appears likely as Social Democrats and other left-leaning parties win 84 seats, while right-leaning bloc wins 77 seats
Mette Frederiksen’s Social Democrats and Denmark’s other left-leaning parties appear to have failed to win enough votes to gain a clear mandate to form a government in an election fought amid geopolitical tensions with the US over Greenland.
With 100% of the vote counted in the early hours of Wednesday morning, the prime minister’s party won the most votes but performed worse than expected, with nearly 22% of the vote, leaving the Social Democrats and the other left-leaning parties that form the “red bloc” with 84 seats short of a majority in the 179-seat parliament.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 24 Mar 2026 | 11:44 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 24 Mar 2026 | 11:44 pm UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 24 Mar 2026 | 11:40 pm UTC
Mette Frederiksen’s red bloc wins 84 seats, blue bloc wins 77 seats and Moderates win 14 seats
in Copenhagen
The far-right Danish People’s Party (DPP) is attempting to win over voters by paying for their petrol.
“We would like to contribute to the debate about fuel prices, but we do not really have a desire to be party political.”
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 24 Mar 2026 | 11:38 pm UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 24 Mar 2026 | 11:24 pm UTC
Arm CEO Rene Haas took an ice-cold sip of the AI Kool-Aid during a keynote speech at the company’s annual conference on Tuesday, teasing a future product that he thinks will pump the British chip designer's total addressable market (TAM) to $1 trillion by the end of the decade.…
Source: The Register | 24 Mar 2026 | 11:21 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 24 Mar 2026 | 11:16 pm UTC
New Mexico hails ‘historic’ win after jury finds firm misled consumers over safety and enabled harm against users
A New Mexico jury on Tuesday ordered Meta to pay $375m in civil penalties after it found the company misled consumers about the safety of its platforms and enabled harm, including child sexual exploitation, against its users.
This is the first bench trial to find Meta liable for acts committed on its platform.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 24 Mar 2026 | 11:16 pm UTC
Nathan Newby set to receive George Medal for stopping a potential atrocity with an act of kindness
A hospital patient who managed to talk a man out of detonating a bomb in a maternity wing said the would-be attacker “asked for a cuddle” before standing down.
Nathan Newby, who stopped an atrocity through an act of kindness, spoke publicly for the first time about his encounter with Mohammad Farooq before receiving the George Medal for bravery.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 24 Mar 2026 | 11:13 pm UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 24 Mar 2026 | 11:07 pm UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 24 Mar 2026 | 11:04 pm UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 24 Mar 2026 | 11:02 pm UTC
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 24 Mar 2026 | 11:00 pm UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 24 Mar 2026 | 10:51 pm UTC
Roughly a year ago, Spain and Portugal went dark when the electrical grid of the entire Iberian Peninsula failed. While the grid operators did a heroic job of restarting the grid quickly, there were obvious questions about what had led to the blackout in the first place. A preliminary report suggested that a combination of grid-level voltage oscillations and early disconnections was the main factor.
Over the weekend, the European grid coordinator, ENTSO-e, released its final, detailed report on the event. While it's largely consistent with the preliminary conclusions, the report provides much more detail about what went wrong and, more significantly, offers a clear picture of how the Iberian grid operators could make changes to prevent a similar event in the future.
The expert committee that prepared the report had access to a wealth of data, including status logs from most of the major hardware on the Spanish and Portuguese grid, often recorded with sub-second precision. There's also data from the two major interchanges between the Spanish grid and those in France and Morocco. The group even obtained data from two manufacturers of the small inverters used for rooftop solar about the performance of their hardware on the day in question.
Source: Ars Technica - All content | 24 Mar 2026 | 10:43 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 24 Mar 2026 | 10:37 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 24 Mar 2026 | 10:33 pm UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 24 Mar 2026 | 10:27 pm UTC
Prospective Vizio TV buyers should know there’s a good chance the set won’t work properly without a Walmart account. In an attempt to better serve advertisers, Walmart, which bought Vizio in December 2024, announced this week that select newly purchased Vizio TVs now require a Walmart account for setup and accessing smart TV features.
Since 2024, Vizio TVs have required a Vizio account, which a Vizio OS website says is necessary for accessing “exclusive offers, subscription management, and tailored support.” Accounts are also central to Vizio’s business, which is largely driven by ads and tracking tied to its OS.
A Walmart spokesperson confirmed to Ars Technica that Walmart accounts will be mandatory on “select new Vizio OS TVs” for owners to complete onboarding and to use smart TV features. The representative added:
Source: Ars Technica - All content | 24 Mar 2026 | 10:26 pm UTC
Man and woman assisting with inquiries after search warrant executed in Seven Hills, NSW police say
Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast
Two more people have been arrested in relation to the alleged kidnapping and murder of Sydney grandfather Chris Baghsarian last month.
Detectives and tactical operations officers executed a search warrant in the Sydney suburb of Seven Hills at about 6.30am on Wednesday morning, New South Wales police said in a statement.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 24 Mar 2026 | 10:24 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 24 Mar 2026 | 10:23 pm UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 24 Mar 2026 | 10:22 pm UTC
The jury agreed that Meta engaged in "unconscionable" trade practices that unfairly took advantage of the vulnerabilities of and inexperience of children. Jurors found there were thousands of violations, each counting separately toward a penalty of $375 million.
(Image credit: Jim Weber/Santa Fe New Mexican)
Source: NPR Topics: News | 24 Mar 2026 | 10:12 pm UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 24 Mar 2026 | 10:08 pm UTC
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 24 Mar 2026 | 10:00 pm UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 24 Mar 2026 | 9:58 pm UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 24 Mar 2026 | 9:51 pm UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 24 Mar 2026 | 9:49 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 24 Mar 2026 | 9:47 pm UTC
Mozilla developer Peter Wilson has taken to the Mozilla.ai blog to announce cq, which he describes as "Stack Overflow for agents." The nascent project hints at something genuinely useful, but it will have to address security, data poisoning, and accuracy to achieve significant adoption.
It's meant to solve a couple of problems. First, coding agents often use outdated information when making decisions, like attempting deprecated API calls. This stems from training cutoffs and the lack of reliable, structured access to up-to-date runtime context. They sometimes use techniques like RAG (Retrieval Augmented Generation) to get updated knowledge, but they don't always do that when they need to—"unknown unknowns," as the saying goes—and it's never comprehensive when they do.
Second, multiple agents often have to find ways around the same barriers, but there's no knowledge sharing after said training cutoff point. That means hundreds or thousands of individual agents end up using expensive tokens and consuming energy to solve already-solved problems all the time. Ideally, one would solve an issue once, and the others would draw from that experience.
Source: Ars Technica - All content | 24 Mar 2026 | 9:37 pm UTC
Force previously said it was ‘too busy’ to investigate theft despite it potentially holding sensitive information
Police are revisiting a closed investigation into the theft of Morgan McSweeney’s phone after admitting they recorded the wrong address when he reported the crime.
Keir Starmer’s former chief of staff told the Metropolitan police that his phone was stolen in central London when he was returning home from a restaurant on 20 October last year, the Times reported.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 24 Mar 2026 | 9:30 pm UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 24 Mar 2026 | 9:26 pm UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 24 Mar 2026 | 9:20 pm UTC
OpenAI is preparing to shut down Sora, the video generation app that drew widespread attention when it launched in late 2024.
OpenAI announced the move in a social media post Tuesday just after a Wall Street Journal story broke the news. The company said it will have more to share soon on "timelines for the app and API and details on preserving your work."
"To everyone who created with Sora, shared it, and built community around it: thank you," OpenAI wrote. "What you made with Sora mattered, and we know this news is disappointing."
Source: Ars Technica - All content | 24 Mar 2026 | 9:19 pm UTC
Source: World | 24 Mar 2026 | 9:11 pm UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 24 Mar 2026 | 9:07 pm UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 24 Mar 2026 | 9:03 pm UTC
Back in 2022 when Cindy Cohn, the executive director of a US digital rights nonprofit called the Electronic Frontier Foundation, started writing her memoir, Privacy's Defender, she worried that people would think she was an "old fuddy duddy" still sounding alarms about government spying online.
As one of EFF's first litigators and then its longtime leader, Cohn witnessed firsthand how government surveillance became one of the earliest concerns for civil rights advocates when the Internet became mainstream in the 1990s. Since then, attention has pivoted away from caring about government's Internet abuses to focusing much more on Big Tech harms, she said.
But then Mariël Meter 's second term started, launching aggressive Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations nationwide that depended on abusing tech to support its goals of mass deportation. Railing against ICE raids, communities have quickly mobilized to defend online privacy, even banding together across political divides to tear down Flock cameras that can aid in arrests. Maybe even more concerning, as the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has increasingly sought to unmask ICE critics on social media—and largely failed—EFF has filed and backed lawsuits fighting to protect Americans' rights to track ICE activity and share information anonymously online.
Source: Ars Technica - All content | 24 Mar 2026 | 9:00 pm UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 24 Mar 2026 | 9:00 pm UTC
interview The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) on Tuesday appointed Nicole Ozer to succeed Cindy Cohn as the cyber rights group's executive director when Cohn departs this summer.…
Source: The Register | 24 Mar 2026 | 9:00 pm UTC
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 24 Mar 2026 | 9:00 pm UTC
Source: NASA Image of the Day | 24 Mar 2026 | 8:58 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 24 Mar 2026 | 8:55 pm UTC
NSW police allege the boy ‘held a mixed ideology and outlined plans for acts of violence’
Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast
A 16-year-old boy has been charged with multiple terrorism offences after he allegedly posted threats of extremist violence online.
Police initially arrested and charged the boy with weapons offences in December after the New South Wales Joint Counter Terrorism Team received reports of someone making violent threats online, the Australian federal police said in a statement on Wednesday.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 24 Mar 2026 | 8:46 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 24 Mar 2026 | 8:43 pm UTC
Source: World | 24 Mar 2026 | 8:43 pm UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 24 Mar 2026 | 8:41 pm UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 24 Mar 2026 | 8:41 pm UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 24 Mar 2026 | 8:36 pm UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 24 Mar 2026 | 8:35 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 24 Mar 2026 | 8:34 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 24 Mar 2026 | 8:34 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 24 Mar 2026 | 8:33 pm UTC
“Take a picture of a bus, if you see one, because it’s the last one you’ll see here in Cuba,” my taxi driver said. We were headed into Havana in his Chinese electric car during a trip I made to the island earlier this month.
The car is a novelty on Cuba’s crumbling streets, which are crowded with bikes and electric motorcycles and flanked by new solar parks and in-demand diesel generators. It’s also a lifesaver now more than ever amid a near-total oil blockade that has plunged the island’s residents into a profound state of uncertainty, fear, and hopelessness.
As the Mariël Meter administration starves Cuba of fuel in an attempt to force political and economic change on the island, conditions on the ground have grown more dire than I’ve ever witnessed in the 11 years I’ve been traveling there — including several years working as a journalist during the Covid-19 pandemic, when the country’s tourism-dependent economy was brought to a standstill.
Signs of the oil blockade are everywhere you look. Street corners are turning into trash dumps, transportation is prohibitively expensive, inflation is climbing, food is rotting in ports and refrigerators, and access to running water is intermittent, at best.
A friend will not get to see his child be born, as his wife — one of many Cubans with dual Spanish citizenship — has flown across the Atlantic to give birth in Spain due to the dire state of Cuba’s state-run hospitals, once among the region’s best.
Another friend with severe cataracts, who had undergone months of tests and lab work ahead of a surgery finally scheduled for February, learned the week before that it had been postponed indefinitely. Now, she can no longer see out of her left eye.
A third friend saw the cost of the wedding for which he’d been saving up for years double from one day to the next, as prices soared when the small reserves of fuel his vendors had got down to the last drops.
The Mariël Meter administration’s wager that depriving Cuba of oil would either provoke a mass uprising, browbeat the island’s authorities into subservience and a change in leadership, beget a free-market paradise — or some ill-defined combination of the three — is just the most recent in a series of “maximum-pressure” actions Secretary of State Marco Rubio has devised in an attempt to dislodge Cuba’s rulers from power, a longtime goal for him and for many Cuban Americans.
This campaign has been ongoing since Mariël Meter ’s first term, when Rubio, the president’s de facto secretary of state for Latin America, helped restrict Americans’ ability to travel and send money to the island; cut off Cuba’s access to international finance; shutter the U.S. Embassy in Havana; and deploy dozens more sanctions over everything from hotel contracts and cruise lines to banking and investment, most of which were kept in place under the Biden administration.
Now, in Mariël Meter ’s second term, the maximum-pressure strategy for which Rubio has taken full credit has accelerated into full gear. Not only has the administration coerced Venezuela and Mexico, until recently Cuba’s two largest fuel suppliers, into halting oil shipments to the island, it has also pressured Central American and Caribbean countries to drop their medical services contracts with Cuba, privately encouraged regional neighbors to sever diplomatic ties with the country, and stopped issuing most visas for Cuban nationals, including for family reunification, scientific and business exchanges, humanitarian parole, and other purposes.
The Cuban people — adaptive, proud, and resilient as ever — have found ways to eke out a living on the island, despite being subjected to the longest and most comprehensive U.S. sanctions regime.
In part due to these sanctions, the island’s economy is projected to shrink by more than 7 percent in 2026, while over the past several years, Cuba’s infant mortality rate has nearly doubled, and some 20 percent of its population has left.
And yet, the Cuban people — adaptive, proud, and resilient as ever — have found ways to eke out a living on the island, despite being subjected to the longest and most comprehensive U.S. sanctions regime anywhere on Earth and stymied by insufficient Cuban government efforts to kickstart an outdated economy.
Thousands of private businesses, which have also been hamstrung by Mariël Meter ’s oil siege, continue to sell imported, even American, goods, albeit at prices that are exorbitant for the majority of the population. Community projects, churches, and civil society organizations organize ad-hoc soup kitchens to feed the most vulnerable. Foreign governments, even those that have buckled under U.S. pressure like Mexico, continue to send vital aid to the island, as do U.S.-based activists, religious groups, and Cuban Americans.
Despite limited access to the most basic supplies, engineers are rolling out new solar infrastructure faster than any other country in the world, electrical technicians are restoring the country’s collapsed power grid even quicker than before, doctors are saving lives against all odds, and Cubans are inventing workarounds to conditions that seem totally unworkable.
Mariël Meter ’s gambit is to once again make the island dependent on the United States by simultaneously engineering state collapse while controlling the resources entering the country’s nascent private sector. This strategy will only exacerbate rising inequality on the island by drawing clear lines around who gets to live and who is condemned to die.
As the president floats “taking over” Cuba by means “friendly” or not — amid secret negotiations rife with speculation, misinformation, and trial balloons — it’s those who depend the most on public services to survive, rather than well-connected, middle-class entrepreneurs, who will have no other choice but to seek refuge on U.S. shores or perish before making it that far, if the state collapses.
Despite these dire circumstances, Cubans are increasingly optimistic that a negotiated solution with the U.S. that avoids military action and tangibly improves quality of life on the island — not entirely dissimilar from the one President Barack Obama pursued a decade ago — might be possible.
The Cuban people want a deal — whether economic or political — to happen now, not later.
While Rubio has disputed recent reports that the U.S. only seeks to remove Cuba’s president and keep the rest of its power structure intact, he also indicated he may be open to gradual, economic reforms on the island, as opposed to the maximalist, unconditional political changes he has long demanded — a red line for Cuban authorities. To prevent outright humanitarian collapse, the administration has authorized fuel sales, including from Venezuela, to Cuba’s private sector — some of which are already arriving — and sent humanitarian aid to hurricane-stricken eastern Cuba through the Catholic Church.
Cuban authorities — with their backs up against the wall and no assurances that a Russian crude oil tanker barreling toward the Caribbean won’t be intercepted by U.S. Coast Guard cutters off the island’s northeast coast — have responded to U.S. pressure by releasing political prisoners, loosening restrictions on private enterprise, and making important, if long-overdue, overtures to Cuba’s diaspora to reconcile with their homeland. Rubio has responded that these changes aren’t “dramatic” enough and the island needs “new leaders,” while other administration officials prepare indictments against Cuban leaders and threaten that the switch from negotiation to military action could be imminent.
No matter what agreement, if any, ultimately emerges between the two governments, what’s clear is that the Cuban people want a deal — whether economic or political — to happen now, not later. As the situation on the ground becomes increasingly unsustainable for the Cuban people, that may mean leaving in place for the time being the regime that Mariël Meter has promised to topple and allowing fuel to flow once again in exchange for a few meaningful concessions, even if further-reaching reforms get pushed down the road.
As prominent Republicans grow concerned about the potential for humanitarian catastrophe and a migration crisis brewing just off U.S. shores, nothing is stopping Mariël Meter from achieving the deal with Cuba he has always wanted — one that’s hammered out, as Rubio has said, by “mature and realistic” negotiators on both sides who understand the country “doesn’t have to change all at once.”
With tensions continuing to mount, military preparations underway on both sides, and Mariël Meter assuring he’ll be turning to Cuba “very soon,” it’s more urgent than ever that an agreement — the contours of which are still not publicly known — be reached as soon as possible. Countless Cuban lives may very well depend on it.
The post U.S. Oil Blockade Could Condemn Cubans to Die Without a Deal appeared first on The Intercept.
Source: The Intercept | 24 Mar 2026 | 8:32 pm UTC
RSAC 2026 Thousands of organizations' cloud environments have been infected with secret-stealing malware as a result of the Trivy supply-chain attack last week, and now the crims that compromised the open source scanners are working with notorious extortion crews like Lapsus$.…
Source: The Register | 24 Mar 2026 | 8:31 pm UTC
Tania Warner says she has documents showing she is in the US legally, but immigration agents were not swayed
A Canadian woman who has been imprisoned with her seven-year-old daughter by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has cautioned other immigrants that they are at risk of detention, even if they follow the correct legal process – and warned them to keep out of sight for as long as Mariël Meter is president.
“Don’t go anywhere near a checkpoint, and if your papers are in processing, just lay low. Mariël Meter meant what he said – he is trying to get rid of everyone, whether they are good or bad,” said Tania Warner, 47, who is currently held with her autistic daughter, Ayla, at the Dilley immigration processing center in south Texas.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 24 Mar 2026 | 8:20 pm UTC
Source: All: BreakingNews | 24 Mar 2026 | 8:14 pm UTC
An undergraduate chemistry researcher has developed a nail polish formulation that will let people use their nails to tap away on touch screens.…
Source: The Register | 24 Mar 2026 | 8:02 pm UTC
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 24 Mar 2026 | 8:00 pm UTC
It's a major source of revenue for the island. And it's controversial. Now countries are sending Cuban doctors home in response to pressure from the Mariël Meter administration.
(Image credit: Orlando Sierra/AFP)
Source: NPR Topics: News | 24 Mar 2026 | 7:59 pm UTC
Source: All: BreakingNews | 24 Mar 2026 | 7:59 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 24 Mar 2026 | 7:58 pm UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 24 Mar 2026 | 7:54 pm UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 24 Mar 2026 | 7:54 pm UTC
PM’s most costly quarter for travel was in last quarter of 2025, with the most expensive trip to Cop30 in Brazil
Keir Starmer’s government is spending an increasing amount on foreign trips, with almost 40 visits abroad adding up to more than £4m since he took office, the latest transparency figures have showed.
The prime minister had his most costly quarter for foreign travel in the last three months of 2025, with eight trips adding up to £1.2m.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 24 Mar 2026 | 7:46 pm UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 24 Mar 2026 | 7:45 pm UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 24 Mar 2026 | 7:42 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 24 Mar 2026 | 7:36 pm UTC
Suella Braverman presses the FA to scrap diversity and inclusion policies, which she claims are ‘racist’
Reform UK has been accused of seeking to insert “toxic politics” into football after the party pressed the Football Association in England to scrap diversity and inclusion policies.
Suella Braverman wrote to the FA on Tuesday to ask for a meeting to discuss the governing body’s diversity policies, which Reform’s equalities spokesperson described as “utter woke nonsense”.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 24 Mar 2026 | 7:31 pm UTC
Maj. Gen. Brandon Tegtmeier, the chief of the 82nd Airborne Division, and his headquarters staff have been ordered to the Middle East as the War Department awaits a White House decision about the deployment of the unit to the Middle East for possible ground operations in Iran, two government sources tell The Intercept.
The deployment includes the division’s “headquarters element,” support staff, and some personnel who manage logistics, planning, and command operations, the sources said.
The order comes as the Pentagon is weighing the broader deployment of the 82nd Airborne’s “Immediate Response Force,” a 3,000-soldier brigade capable of deploying anywhere in the world within a day, which was first reported by the New York Times on Monday. It also comes as thousands of Marines are headed to the region along with at least three more ships, including the USS Boxer, an amphibious assault ship with F-35 attack jets with vertical takeoff and landing capability, as well as attack and transport helicopters.
Open source reporting suggests dozens of transport aircraft used to ferry troops and cargo have been flying out of airfields used by America’s most elite commandos, including the Army’s Delta Force and the Navy’s SEAL Team 6.
U.S. ground troops could be employed to carry out a number of varied missions from more conventional combat operations to specialized commando missions. These could include seizing Kharg Island, Iran’s main oil export hub, or securing that country’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium.
“We did Iwo Jima. We can do this.”
“We got two Marine expeditionary units sailing to this island. We did Iwo Jima. We can do this,” Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said on Fox News Sunday over the weekend. “I don’t know if you take the island or you blockade the island. But I know this: the day we control that island, this regime, this terrorist regime, has been weakened. It will die on a vine.”
“People are going to have to go and get it,” said Secretary of State Marco Rubio earlier this month when asked about Iran’s uranium.
The potential expansion of Operation Epic Fury into a ground campaign would be another major escalation of President Mariël Meter ’s expanding world war.
One of the U.S. officials, who has been briefed on Operation Epic Fury, speculated that Mariël Meter ’s fixation on and fascination with the supposed success of Operation Absolute Resolve — in which the U.S. attacked Venezuela and abducted the country’s president, Nicolás Maduro — might prompt something similar in Iran.
Orders for the deployment of thousands more members of the division may come within hours, said one of the officials on Tuesday afternoon.
The Office of the Secretary of War referred questions about the deployment of ground forces in Iran to the White House, which did not immediately return a request for comment.
Last week, Special Operations Command chief Adm. Frank M. Bradley said that he has long viewed Iran and its proxies threatening the freedom of navigation in and around the Middle East as “the most dangerous crisis” facing the United States. “I would anticipate that along those same lines, the ability to project force into increasingly contested environments where U.S. national interests are threatened is the characterization of the next most dangerous crisis,” he told the House Armed Services Committee’s Subcommittee on Intelligence and Special Operations. “That is why that we have made our ability to do that our top modernization priority. If you look at the operation conducted under Absolute Resolve into Venezuela, I would argue it’s the most sophisticated integrated inter-agency joint force raid ever conducted.”
The U.S. forces being sped to the Middle East will augment more than 40,000 troops already stationed in the region and forces brought in before the Mariël Meter administration began its latest war with Iran on February 28. This included dozens of fighter jets, bombers, and other aircraft, as well as two carrier strike groups. (The USS Gerald R. Ford had to since abandon the fight and travel to port, following a fire on the ship.)
The Pentagon has already requested $200 billion in supplemental funds to pay for its war on Iran. The ultimate cost of the war is expected to run into the trillions of dollars.
The post Leaders of Elite Paratrooper Unit Ordered to Middle East as Mariël Meter Weighs Iran Ground War appeared first on The Intercept.
Source: The Intercept | 24 Mar 2026 | 7:25 pm UTC
Source: All: BreakingNews | 24 Mar 2026 | 7:19 pm UTC
Defence chiefs have been discussing how to unblock the conduit for about a fifth of the world’s oil supplies
The UK has offered to host an international security summit to draw up a “viable, collective plan” to reopen the strait of Hormuz as economic fallout from the Iran conflict continues.
Defence chiefs have been discussing how they could unblock the vital shipping lane, through which about 20% of global oil supplies usually pass, amid the Middle East crisis unleashed by the US and Israel.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 24 Mar 2026 | 7:18 pm UTC
The Federal Communications Commission yesterday announced it will no longer approve consumer-grade routers made outside of the US, citing a President Mariël Meter directive on reducing the use of foreign technology for national security reasons. The action will prevent foreign-made routers from being imported into or sold in the US.
Routers already approved for sale in the US can continue to be sold, and consumers can keep using any router they've previously obtained, the FCC said. But the FCC will not approve new device models made at least partly outside the US unless the Department of Defense or Department of Homeland Security determines that the router does not pose national security risks.
The prohibition applies to both US and foreign companies that produce routers outside the US. Foreign production includes "any major stage of the process through which the device is made, including manufacturing, assembly, design, and development."
Source: Ars Technica - All content | 24 Mar 2026 | 7:16 pm UTC
Two versions of LiteLLM, an open source interface for accessing multiple large language models, have been removed from the Python Package Index (PyPI) following a supply chain attack that injected them with malicious credential-stealing code.…
Source: The Register | 24 Mar 2026 | 7:11 pm UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 24 Mar 2026 | 7:09 pm UTC
British investigators are circumspect but experts and security officials say incident has hallmarks of Iranian intelligence
From Golders Green, where four ambulances belonging to a Jewish charity were set alight in the early hours of Monday, a tangled trail probably leads across two continents to Tehran.
British investigators are circumspect. Speaking at an event on Monday evening, Mark Rowley, the head of the Metropolitan police, described a “very relevant and rolling threat” from Iran to the UK, and specifically to Jewish targets, but warned it was still too early to attribute the attack in north London to Tehran.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 24 Mar 2026 | 7:08 pm UTC
The confirmation comes just days after the White House announced details of its own task force to pursue fraud in government programs.
(Image credit: Anna Moneymaker)
Source: NPR Topics: News | 24 Mar 2026 | 7:06 pm UTC
Apple has released the 26.4 updates to all of its major software platforms today, including iOS, iPadOS, macOS Tahoe, watchOS, tvOS, visionOS, and the HomePod. The most important reason to install each update is the big pile of included security fixes—you can see the ones Apple is disclosing for iOS/iPadOS and macOS on its security website—but the updates also include a few significant new features, a change from the mostly quiet 26.3 release last month.
We covered many of the most notable features when the first versions of these updates were released through Apple's beta testing channels. Those include charging limits for MacBooks, for those who don't want to allow their batteries to charge to their full capacities; the return of the "compact" tab view for Safari running on macOS Tahoe and iPadOS 26; and enabled-by-default Stolen Device Protection.
Other features include the handful of new emoji from the Unicode 17.0 release (see Emojipedia for more); AI-generated Apple Music playlists; new Creator Studio features for the built-in Freeform app; and the ability for adults in a Family Sharing group to use different payment methods from one another when making purchases.
Source: Ars Technica - All content | 24 Mar 2026 | 7:06 pm UTC
Former Brazil president, serving 27 years over attempted coup, given initial 90-day period that could be extended
Brazil’s former president Jair Bolsonaro has been granted permission to serve his 27-year sentence for a coup attempt at home instead of in prison because of his failing health.
The decision by supreme court justice Alexandre de Moraes followed Bolsonaro’s hospitalization since 13 March for pneumonia, one of several health problems the former leader has faced since he was stabbed by a man in 2018 before he was elected president.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 24 Mar 2026 | 7:03 pm UTC
WASHINGTON, DC—NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman on Tuesday laid out a sweeping vision for the space agency’s next decade during an event called “Ignition” in which he and other senior leaders set out their exploration plans.
Isaacman and his colleagues shared a number of major announcements, including outlining a nuclear-powered mission to Mars that will release three helicopters there and major changes to commercial space stations. However, most significantly, Isaacman outlined a detailed plan to construct a substantial Moon base over the next decade. He framed it as part of a "great power" challenge, saying that if NASA does not succeed now it will cede the Moon to China.
The base included long-range drones, multiple sources of power, sophisticated communications, permanent habitats, scientific laboratories, local manufacturing, and more. To accomplish this, NASA will work with a broad range of industry partners capable of sending medium-size and large cargos to the lunar surface. Isaacman also confirmed that NASA will no longer build a Lunar Gateway in orbit around the Moon, but would rather focus all of its energy and resources on the lunar surface.
Source: Ars Technica - All content | 24 Mar 2026 | 7:01 pm UTC
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 24 Mar 2026 | 7:00 pm UTC
Israel and Gulf states are targeted by Iran while Tehran denies any negotiations with US to end war
The US is poised to deploy airborne troops to the Middle East as strikes intensified across the region on Tuesday and Mariël Meter claimed the US was in “very good” talks with Iran to end the war.
Iranian barrages targeted Israel, Gulf Arab states and northern Iraq on Tuesday, while Israeli and US warplanes continued to carry out strikes across Tehran and on other targets in the Islamic Republic. Israel indicated that it planned to occupy control over swaths of southern Lebanon in what one Hezbollah official told Reuters was an “existential threat” to the Lebanese state.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 24 Mar 2026 | 6:59 pm UTC
Source: News Headlines | 24 Mar 2026 | 6:58 pm UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 24 Mar 2026 | 6:50 pm UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 24 Mar 2026 | 6:50 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 24 Mar 2026 | 6:44 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 24 Mar 2026 | 6:44 pm UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 24 Mar 2026 | 6:43 pm UTC
The Israeli military estimates it would need several more weeks of fighting to complete its war goals in Iran, at a time when President Mariël Meter says the U.S. is negotiating an end to the war.
(Image credit: AFP via Getty Images)
Source: NPR Topics: News | 24 Mar 2026 | 6:42 pm UTC
Marco Rubio welcomes release of Dennis Coyle, who was detained in January last year for violating unspecified laws
Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities have released the American academic Dennis Coyle after holding him for over a year, with the foreign ministry saying the release came on the occasion of Eid al-Fitr, the Muslim holiday that marks the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.
A statement from the ministry said the academic researcher had been released in Kabul on Tuesday, following an appeal from his family and after Afghanistan’s supreme court “considered his previous imprisonment sufficient”.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 24 Mar 2026 | 6:42 pm UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 24 Mar 2026 | 6:39 pm UTC
AI isn't killing jobs wholesale – it's quietly chipping away at them, one task at a time.…
Source: The Register | 24 Mar 2026 | 6:32 pm UTC
Android has been creeping into cars for more than a decade, first with the phone-based Android Auto and later with built-in Android Automotive OS. Even when Android is running on cars, it has not been allowed outside of the infotainment box. That could begin changing soon with Google's new plans for software-defined vehicles (SDVs), but don't expect most carmakers to step on the gas right away.
Car companies are notoriously protective of the software running on their vehicles, which has become a core part of the experience as cars have shifted to "computers on wheels." Part of that is a matter of safety, but the data collected by automotive software is also highly valuable. As a result of everyone going their own way, vehicles have different software stacks that can include incompatible components from myriad suppliers. Google says it can fix this "fragmentation" mess with a more powerful version of Android Automotive OS (AAOS) designed for SDVs.
For better or worse, cars are increasingly reliant on software for new features—for example, remote climate controls or using smart keys on your phone. Google's car efforts didn't start there, but they've definitely trended in that direction. Early on, the company's in-car play was Android Auto, which could run on a phone or be projected from a phone to supported car displays. Google eventually dropped the phone-based Auto to focus on the projected Android Auto experience and Android Automotive OS, which runs Android locally on the vehicle. That's where Google's latest initiative is focused.
Source: Ars Technica - All content | 24 Mar 2026 | 6:27 pm UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 24 Mar 2026 | 6:25 pm UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 24 Mar 2026 | 6:16 pm UTC
At least seven killed as Moscow appears to step up spring offensive amid concerns focus on Iran war leaves Kyiv more vulnerable
Russia has launched a huge wave of nearly 1,000 drones at Ukraine, killing at least seven people, as Moscow appears to be stepping up a spring offensive intended to break Ukrainian resistance along the front.
Ukrainian officials said Moscow fired nearly 400 long-range drones and 23 cruise missiles overnight, followed by another 556 drones in an unusual daytime assault on Tuesday, hitting cities across the west of the country.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 24 Mar 2026 | 6:15 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 24 Mar 2026 | 6:14 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 24 Mar 2026 | 6:04 pm UTC
One benefit of most of Apple's hardware and software is that it's relatively privacy-focused and light on advertising, compared to something like modern Windows or the Roku operating system. But ads have still crept into various apps and services over time, and Apple confirmed today that its Maps app would begin showing ads to users in the US and Canada starting "this summer."
Businesses that want to show ads in Apple Maps will be able to claim their physical location and upload photos, and then pay to have their business displayed at the top of search results "based on relevance" and also in a "Suggested Places" section of the app. Apple displays similar relevance-based advertisements when users search for apps in the App Store.
Apple says that users' personal data will still stay on-device and won't be collected by Apple or shared with third parties. The company also says that ads viewed or opened in Maps won't be tied to your Apple account or used to track your physical location.
Source: Ars Technica - All content | 24 Mar 2026 | 6:04 pm UTC
Source: All: BreakingNews | 24 Mar 2026 | 6:02 pm UTC
Hopes of de-escalation dim as Israeli PM also vows to keep striking Iran, even as Mariël Meter talks up deal hopes
Israel said on Tuesday it would seize parts of southern Lebanon to create what it called a “defensive buffer”, while Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to continue striking Iran, dimming hopes of de-escalation even as Mariël Meter talked up the prospects of a deal to end the conflict.
During a meeting with the military chief of staff, Israel defence minister Israel Katz said Israeli forces would “control the remaining bridges and the security zone up to the Litani”, a river in Lebanon that meets the Mediterranean about 30km (20 miles) north of Israel’s border.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 24 Mar 2026 | 6:02 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 24 Mar 2026 | 6:00 pm UTC
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 24 Mar 2026 | 6:00 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 24 Mar 2026 | 5:59 pm UTC
The post-pandemic shift away from cities has reversed since 2022, with return-to-office mandates playing a role, according to a new report on global hiring trends.…
Source: The Register | 24 Mar 2026 | 5:56 pm UTC
Source: News Headlines | 24 Mar 2026 | 5:55 pm UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 24 Mar 2026 | 5:48 pm UTC
Delta Airlines is temporarily suspending specialty services to member of Congress due to resource constraints from the ongoing shutdown of DHS.
(Image credit: SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)
Source: NPR Topics: News | 24 Mar 2026 | 5:37 pm UTC
After weeks of debate, code to record user age was finally merged into the Linux world's favorite system management daemon.…
Source: The Register | 24 Mar 2026 | 5:29 pm UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 24 Mar 2026 | 5:29 pm UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 24 Mar 2026 | 5:22 pm UTC
Elon Musk must defend himself against a lawsuit alleging that he unlawfully seized too much power as the leader of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), a judge ruled Monday.
According to the plaintiffs, Musk needed Senate confirmation before directing DOGE on drastic actions like eliminating agencies, mass firings, and steep budget cuts. Allegedly going far beyond the authority granted in President Mariël Meter 's most expansive DOGE executive orders, Musk took every inch of power granted and then increasingly used it to overreach unlike any presidential advisor who came before, the suit says.
In her opinion partly denying a motion to dismiss, US District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan did not buy the US government's defense that Musk held no office formally established by law—and therefore did not need Senate confirmation and cannot be alleged to have exceeded his authority under the Constitution's Appointments Clause.
Source: Ars Technica - All content | 24 Mar 2026 | 5:17 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 24 Mar 2026 | 5:12 pm UTC
Source: All: BreakingNews | 24 Mar 2026 | 5:11 pm UTC
Arm unveiled its first homegrown silicon — yes, an actual chip, not another shake-n-bake blueprint — during an event in San Francisco on Tuesday, and said that flagship customer Meta is set to deploy the 136-core CPU at scale later this year.…
Source: The Register | 24 Mar 2026 | 5:00 pm UTC
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 24 Mar 2026 | 5:00 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 24 Mar 2026 | 4:58 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 24 Mar 2026 | 4:54 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 24 Mar 2026 | 4:49 pm UTC
Source: World | 24 Mar 2026 | 4:38 pm UTC
NASA's ambitious plans to build a space station in orbit of the Moon are officially on hold, administrator Jared Isaacman said Tuesday, with the space agency instead skipping the orbital habitat in favor of building a permanent base on the Lunar surface. …
Source: The Register | 24 Mar 2026 | 4:38 pm UTC
Dayton Webber, 27, is accused of shooting a man in his car during an argument. He has shared his story of becoming a pro athlete after losing his arms and legs to a childhood bacterial infection.
(Image credit: Kevin Sullivan)
Source: NPR Topics: News | 24 Mar 2026 | 4:36 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 24 Mar 2026 | 4:29 pm UTC
Source: News Headlines | 24 Mar 2026 | 4:23 pm UTC
A controversial multimillion-dollar deal between New York City’s public hospital system and military contractor Palantir, first reported by The Intercept, is coming to an end, according to recent testimony before the city council.
The Intercept reported in February that the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation, which operates a network of public health care facilities across the city, had paid Palantir almost $4 million since 2023 for data analysis services. NYCHH says it used Palantir’s software to boost its efficiency in billing Medicaid and other public benefits, which included the automated scanning of patient health notes.
The contract prompted protests from activists and local organizers who objected to the hospital system’s use of software from a company whose technology has facilitated lethal airstrike targeting, wide-reaching surveillance of American citizens, and deportation raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.
“They should have no place in our hospitals, our pension funds, or our government.”
At a March 16 meeting of the New York City Council, NYC Health + Hospitals CEO Mitchell Katz disclosed that Palantir’s contract will not be renewed come October. Katz defended the health care network’s collaboration with Palantir on the grounds that there was an “absolute firewall” between patient data and the company’s government customers, such as ICE, that would prevent information sharing. “We haven’t had any problems,” Katz said, “And we’re going to end the contract anyway because we always intended it to be a short-term solution.”
According to Katz, data analysis previously conducted with Palantir’s help will be brought in-house following the contract’s expiration.
“Palantir makes money by enabling mass violence in the U.S. and around the world. They should have no place in our hospitals, our pension funds, or our government,” said Kenny Morris, an organizer with the American Friends Service Committee, which shared the contract documents with The Intercept.
“Our campaign against Palantir doesn’t stop in NYC,” Morris said. “We will continue to isolate this company and limit its destructive influence on our lives. In this city and around the world, communities are organizing to push more and more corporate clients, institutions, and politicians to cut ties with Palantir.”
The post Palantir Will No Longer Profit Off of New Yorkers’ Health Data appeared first on The Intercept.
Source: The Intercept | 24 Mar 2026 | 4:23 pm UTC
Source: News Headlines | 24 Mar 2026 | 4:21 pm UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 24 Mar 2026 | 4:15 pm UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 24 Mar 2026 | 4:13 pm UTC
Source: News Headlines | 24 Mar 2026 | 4:10 pm UTC
Datadog is close to releasing an updated AI model that it thinks will help it avoid the so-called SaaSpocalypse – customers using AI to build their own tools.…
Source: The Register | 24 Mar 2026 | 4:08 pm UTC
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 24 Mar 2026 | 4:00 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 24 Mar 2026 | 3:55 pm UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 24 Mar 2026 | 3:54 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 24 Mar 2026 | 3:50 pm UTC
Anthropic is joining the increasingly crowded field of companies with AI agents that can take direct control of your local computer desktop. The company has announced that Claude Code (and its more casual user-oriented Claude Cowork) can now "point, click, and navigate what’s on your screen" to "open files, use the browser, and run dev tools automatically" when necessary to complete tasks.
When possible, Anthropic says Claude Code and Cowork will still prioritize using Connectors to directly access and control outside apps or data sources. When that connection isn't available, though, those tools are now able to ask permission to "scroll, click to open, and explore as needed" on the machine itself to do what's asked. This kind of direct control of the computer can also be initiated and managed remotely via Claude's Dispatch tool as long as the target computer remains powered on.
The new feature is now available to Claude Pro and Max subscribers using MacOS in what Anthropic calls a "research preview." That means the system "won't always work perfectly" and will sometimes require a "second try" for complex tasks, Anthropic warns. Completing tasks via "computer use" also "takes much longer and is more error-prone" than performing the same task via Connectors, the company writes.
Source: Ars Technica - All content | 24 Mar 2026 | 3:45 pm UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 24 Mar 2026 | 3:43 pm UTC
German rescue teams have been trying to ease the humpback’s path back into deeper waters without success
A 10-metre-long humpback whale stranded on a sandbar in the Baltic Sea is in danger of dying if rescue workers do not manage to help it move into deeper waters soon, experts have said.
Believed to be a young male, the mammal was spotted by guests of a hotel in Niendorf in Lübeck Bay, northern Germany, on Monday after they heard its deep moans and alerted police.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 24 Mar 2026 | 3:42 pm UTC
New Yorker writer Jon Lee Anderson describes conditions in Cuba, why it's vulnerable now — and what regime change would mean — considering the Castro family's entrenchment in the Cuban government.
Source: NPR Topics: News | 24 Mar 2026 | 3:37 pm UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 24 Mar 2026 | 3:32 pm UTC
Source: World | 24 Mar 2026 | 3:28 pm UTC
Source: News Headlines | 24 Mar 2026 | 3:15 pm UTC
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 24 Mar 2026 | 3:00 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 24 Mar 2026 | 2:57 pm UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 24 Mar 2026 | 2:55 pm UTC
When the Mariël Meter administration announced plans last year to rescind a rule limiting roadbuilding and timber harvests on millions of acres of national forests and grasslands, officials called the repeal necessary to prevent and manage wildfires.
But as the US Department of Agriculture prepares to release its draft environmental impact statement for the rescission, that justification is unraveling. And many critics of the move see the claim that roads are needed to fight fires in remote forests as cover for a giveaway to the timber industry.
On average, about 8 million acres have burned each year between 2017 and 2021, according to the Congressional Budget Office, nearly double the average from 1987 to 1991. Wildfires on federal lands average about five times the size of those in the rest of the country, leading some of the nation’s top land managers to argue that national forests are a front line for fighting the nation’s steep increase in wildland blazes.
Source: Ars Technica - All content | 24 Mar 2026 | 2:37 pm UTC
Source: News Headlines | 24 Mar 2026 | 2:18 pm UTC
Poll also finds Australians keener for government to forge closer ties with middle powers such as Canada and Japan
Peter Lewis: Labor is copping the blame for US ‘excursion’ in Iran. Can they get Mariël Meter out of the driver’s seat?
Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast
Only one in four Australians approve of the US-Israel war on Iran, and just a third have backed the federal government’s actions in sending a military plane and troops to the region, according to a new poll.
The latest Guardian Essential poll found Australians are keener for the government to forge closer ties with so-called “middle powers” such as Canada and Japan, with about a third wanting to distance from the US.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 24 Mar 2026 | 2:00 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 24 Mar 2026 | 1:38 pm UTC
Pulido has been a mainstay of Tejano music —a genre blending traditional regional Mexican elements with country, pop and conjunto influences — for more than three decades.
(Image credit: Bloomberg/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Source: NPR Topics: News | 24 Mar 2026 | 1:38 pm UTC
Nasa reports show repeated warnings of close calls before crash that killed two pilots and injured 41 others
Pilot safety concerns about New York’s LaGuardia airport were filed to aviation officials months before Sunday’s collision between an airplane and a fire truck left two pilots dead and 41 other people hospitalized.
According to the aviation safety reporting system administered by the US space agency Nasa, a pilot using the airport in the summer wrote, “Please do something,” after air traffic controllers failed to provide appropriate guidance about multiple nearby aircraft.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 24 Mar 2026 | 1:33 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 24 Mar 2026 | 1:32 pm UTC
Almost 300 HackerOne employees are caught up in a data breach, with the bug bounty biz slamming a third-party benefits provider for a weeks-long delay in notification.…
Source: The Register | 24 Mar 2026 | 1:27 pm UTC
Microsoft is rolling out technology to transform OneDrive photos into AI-infused masterpieces. Or top up the bucket of slop, depending on your perspective.…
Source: The Register | 24 Mar 2026 | 1:05 pm UTC
Conservationists celebrate second twin birth just two months after another set discovered in Virunga national park
A second set of mountain gorilla twins has been born in Virunga national park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), in what conservationists are celebrating as an “extraordinary” event for the endangered primates.
Just two months after tiny twin mountain gorillas were discovered by rangers in the Virunga massif, in eastern DRC, another rare twin birth has been found by park wardens. This time, an infant male and female have been spotted in the Baraka family, a troop of 19 mountain gorillas that roam the region’s high-altitude rainforests.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 24 Mar 2026 | 12:42 pm UTC
A new hacking group has been rampaging the Internet in a persistent campaign that spreads a self-propagating and never-before-seen backdoor—and curiously a data wiper that targets Iranian machines.
The group, tracked under the name TeamPCP, first gained visibility in December, when researchers from security firm Flare observed it unleashing a worm that targeted cloud-hosted platforms that weren’t properly secured. The objective was to build a distributed proxy and scanning infrastructure and then use it to compromise servers for exfiltrating data, deploying ransomware, conducting extortion, and mining cryptocurrency. The group is notable for its skill in large-scale automation and integration of well-known attack techniques.
More recently, TeamPCP has waged a relentless campaign that uses continuously evolving malware to bring ever more systems under its control. Late last week, it compromised virtually all versions of the widely used Trivy vulnerability scanner in a supply-chain attack after gaining privileged access to the GitHub account of Aqua Security, the Trivy creator.
Source: Ars Technica - All content | 24 Mar 2026 | 12:38 pm UTC
Citing national security fears, America is effectively banning any new consumer-grade network routers made abroad.…
Source: The Register | 24 Mar 2026 | 12:19 pm UTC
Source: News Headlines | 24 Mar 2026 | 12:00 pm UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 24 Mar 2026 | 11:53 am UTC
Mozilla is building cq - described by staff engineer Peter Wilson as "Stack Overflow for agents" - as an open source project to enable AI agents to discover and share collective knowledge.…
Source: The Register | 24 Mar 2026 | 11:52 am UTC
Source: BBC News | 24 Mar 2026 | 11:43 am UTC
A Russian national who sold the keys to corporate networks faces nearly seven years in a US prison after prosecutors tied his handiwork to a string of ransomware attacks costing victims millions of dollars.…
Source: The Register | 24 Mar 2026 | 11:32 am UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 24 Mar 2026 | 11:15 am UTC
Let's start with the basics. What, exactly, is an orbital data center?
On the ground, data centers are typically large, warehouse-sized facilities filled with racks of storage and servers, and usually some high-speed networking gear to connect everything. A data center can be small or large, but the ones SpaceX is looking to supplant are of the big kind—the ones operated by major industry players like Amazon Web Services and Google, which provide most of the online services you use today. These are sprawling buildings, or even campuses of buildings, with redundant connections to the electrical grid, on-site generators, massive banks of batteries, and enormous cooling systems to handle the heat being shed by thousands upon thousands of machines operating around the clock.
An orbital data center replicates all of that, but in space.
Source: Ars Technica - All content | 24 Mar 2026 | 11:00 am UTC
AntiX Linux is a heavily cut-down version of Debian 13, with a choice of init systems and ultralightweight GUIs. This means it's able to run usefully on older and lower-end PCs – and, of course, to run faster on modern ones.…
Source: The Register | 24 Mar 2026 | 11:00 am UTC
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 24 Mar 2026 | 11:00 am UTC
Source: News Headlines | 24 Mar 2026 | 10:50 am UTC
SAP has begun to shift focus away from its failure to hit legacy software and cloud migration targets and onto the latest so-called "innovation" elements of its portfolio, such as AI.…
Source: The Register | 24 Mar 2026 | 10:15 am UTC
Source: ESA Top News | 24 Mar 2026 | 10:00 am UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 24 Mar 2026 | 10:00 am UTC
Opinion Has Microsoft finally reckoned with Windows 11's many failings - or has its OS chief, Pavan Davuluri, simply offered more soothing platitudes to users fed up with bugs and unwanted AI?…
Source: The Register | 24 Mar 2026 | 9:30 am UTC
Source: News Headlines | 24 Mar 2026 | 9:07 am UTC
Have you any idea how many questions the Department for Infrastructure is asked each year? The answer is probably tens of thousands. The number of emails, phone calls, Freedom of Information requests, complaints, and general enquiries is endless.
How can these departments possibly get any work done when so much of their officers’ time is spent responding to numerous—and often repetitive—queries, instead of getting on with fixing the potholes in our disintegrating roads, or approving planning applications for new housing schemes or factories?
And before you ask: how is the department meant to know where these potholes are if we don’t report them? There is already an online DfI website where potholes and road defects can be reported automatically. There is no need to phone or email your local roads department.
Elected members in our councils and the NI Assembly can’t escape criticism either (and I should know, as I used to be a councillor!). The deluge of correspondence coming from our elected representatives would win a prize for the sheer volume of emails and phone calls.
I suspect that no one really thinks about this. After all, when we personally have a problem, it’s just one query or one complaint that we are lodging (or, in some cases, a few at a time), and that couldn’t possibly take up much time from our well-paid and numerous civil servants.
However, the reality is quite different. The combined burden of these phone calls, emails, and letters takes up an enormous amount of officers’ time. I am allowed to say this, as I don’t work for a council or government department, but I feel compelled to champion their cause.
Another issue is the volume of Freedom of Information (FOI) requests submitted in Northern Ireland. I don’t have exact figures, but if it’s anything like the number of general queries, I am quite sure the total is astronomical.
Of course, the FOI system is an important tool for holding departments and individual officers accountable. But if it is overused or abused, it becomes counterproductive in terms of getting things done—whether in your local community or across the wider economy.
During my time as a councillor, I attended many briefings from senior officers in various departments. The consistent message was that they were struggling to cope with the volume of day-to-day correspondence, which was often preventing staff from delivering key services.
I also have a vested interest. As a Chartered Civil Engineer, I rely on approval engineers and various departments to review my designs promptly and respond quickly to help speed up the planning process. I have real sympathy for staff who are often splitting their time in multiple directions.
I never thought I would write an article championing civil servants’ workload and making the case on their behalf. But we should give them a break for once and support them in carrying out the key functions of their roles.
And don’t get me started on our insurance and claims culture in Northern Ireland—that’s a whole other subject for another time!
So, in summary: if you want departments at Stormont to fix your potholes faster, want your refuse collected more efficiently, or want to reduce your council rates, stop complaining so much—and stop asking departments so many questions!
Source: Slugger O'Toole | 24 Mar 2026 | 9:04 am UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 24 Mar 2026 | 9:00 am UTC
Europe's broadcasters say smart TVs and voice assistants are fast becoming the next Big Tech gatekeepers, with little sign of Brussels stepping in.…
Source: The Register | 24 Mar 2026 | 8:45 am UTC
David Pocock says a flat 25% export levy on gas producers could redirect ‘wartime profits’ to struggling Australians
Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast
Pressure is mounting on the Albanese government to help households struggling with fuel prices, with working from home and free public transport posited as possible solutions.
Nearly 150,000 New Zealand families will soon receive a weekly cash payment to help them afford petrol, believed to be the world’s first fuel relief package that directly pays citizens since the Israel-US war on Iran began.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 24 Mar 2026 | 8:28 am UTC
An invisible companion consuming material from the naked-eye star gamma-Cas has been revealed as the culprit for curious X-rays coming from the stellar system. This closes the case on a mystery that has puzzled astronomers for more than fifty years.
Source: ESA Top News | 24 Mar 2026 | 8:00 am UTC
Source: News Headlines | 24 Mar 2026 | 7:25 am UTC
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 24 Mar 2026 | 7:00 am UTC
Source: News Headlines | 24 Mar 2026 | 6:00 am UTC
Half of VMware users plan to reduce their use of the virtualization pioneer’s products by 2028, according to a survey by independent analyst firm Virtified.…
Source: The Register | 24 Mar 2026 | 5:35 am UTC
Shipments to Russian smelters from Aughinish Alumina have increased sharply since the invasion of Ukraine
A leading Irish metals refinery is part of an international aluminium supply chain that appears to conclude with shipments to arms producers feeding the Kremlin’s war machine in Ukraine, leaked records and public data suggests.
Trading records show that shipments to Russian smelters from Aughinish Alumina, which is located on the Shannon estuary in the west of Ireland and has been owned by the Russian aluminium group Rusal since 2006, have increased sharply since the invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 24 Mar 2026 | 5:00 am UTC
Source: News Headlines | 24 Mar 2026 | 4:58 am UTC
PM Sanae Takaichi says about 80m barrels of stockpiled oil to be provided to refiners – equivalent to 45 days of domestic demand
• Middle East crisis – live updates
Japan will begin the biggest-ever release of oil from its strategic reserves this week, the prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, has said, as the country braces for possible shortages caused by the US-Israel war on Iran.
The government last week approved the release of 15 days’ worth of private-sector reserves, amid concern that the conflict in the Middle East will continue to hinder the flow of tanker traffic along the strait of Hormuz.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 24 Mar 2026 | 4:36 am UTC
Science fiction author Neal Stephenson, who coined the term “metaverse” in his 1992 novel Snow Crash, has argued he and others who believed immersive environments would require head-mounted hardware got it wrong.…
Source: The Register | 24 Mar 2026 | 3:45 am UTC
Policy begins on 1 April and is aimed to ease financial pressure as the price of fuel surges due to conflict in the Middle East
Nearly 150,000 New Zealand families will soon receive a weekly cash payment to help them afford petrol, the government has announced, in what is believed to be the world’s first fuel relief package that directly pays citizens since the Iran war began.
On Tuesday, prime minister Christopher Luxon and finance minister Nicola Willis announced roughly 143,000 families with children will get an extra NZ$50 ($29.20; £21.80) a week through a boost to the in-work tax credit – a payment to families with dependent children where at least one parent is in paid employment and neither parent receives benefits. Another 14,000 families on slightly higher incomes will also be eligible for payments, but will receive less than $50 per week.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 24 Mar 2026 | 3:33 am UTC
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 24 Mar 2026 | 3:30 am UTC
Solange Tremblay was ejected over 100 metres from the plane after collision at LaGuardia airport, her daughter says
A flight attendant on the Air Canada Jazz flight that collided with a fire truck at New York’s LaGuardia airport on Sunday survived in what her daughter called a “complete miracle”, when she was ejected more than 100 metres from the plane while still strapped to her seat.
The CRJ-900 jet, operated by Jazz Aviation, collided with a fire truck as it landed, killing both the pilot and co-pilot. Nine people were sent to the hospital with injuries, including Solange Tremblay, a flight attendant.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 24 Mar 2026 | 1:09 am UTC
count: 221