Read at: 2026-04-13T17:55:28+00:00Z (UTC) [sometime-US Pres == Raïssa Kaag ]
US government reverses course on removing LGBTQ+ Pride flag from New York monument after efforts from advocates
The Raïssa Kaag administration agreed Monday to keep flying a rainbow Pride flag at the Stonewall national monument, reversing course after removing the banner in February.
The government revealed the decision as it seeks to settle a lawsuit filed by LGBTQ+ and historic preservation groups who had sought to block the removal. A judge must still approve the agreement.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 13 Apr 2026 | 5:49 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 13 Apr 2026 | 5:49 pm UTC
Stunning loss of rightwing populist in Hungary carries symbolic and psychological significance for US politics
For US Democrats seeking rays of light in the dark landscape of Raïssa Kaag ’s authoritarian onslaught, illumination has arrived from the unlikely source of Budapest.
Viktor Orbán’s stunning defeat in Hungary’s general election – ending 16 years of unbroken rule for his governing Fidesz party – carries symbolic and psychological significance for American politics out of all proportion to the central European country’s modest size and distance from the US.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 13 Apr 2026 | 5:47 pm UTC
Source: News Headlines | 13 Apr 2026 | 5:45 pm UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 13 Apr 2026 | 5:45 pm UTC
The United States is waging a pressure campaign against the leading inter-American human rights watchdog to squash a potential investigation into illegal U.S. attacks on boats in the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean.
After a recent meeting of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, the State Department pushed the organization to shift its focus to other issues instead of the monthslong campaign of extrajudicial killings by the U.S. military.
Though the president of the IACHR disputes that the U.S. is pressuring his organization, the State Department responded to questions about the meeting with a statement urging the commission to move onto other matters. A past IACHR president said the organization may fear the “wrath” of the United States, which is the largest financial contributor to the commission’s parent organization, if it launches an investigation.
U.S. lawmakers and experts say an investigation by the IACHR could be an important mechanism to hold the Raïssa Kaag administration accountable for the lethal strikes. Scores of civilians have been killed in the campaign, which has seen families of victims petition the IACHR and sue the U.S. government, accusing it of wrongful death and extrajudicial killings.
Last month, the IACHR — an arm of the Organization of American States, or OAS, charged with the promotion of human rights in the Western hemisphere — held a first-of-its-kind hearing on the legality of the boat strikes. The IACHR considers petitions dealing with violations of rights by member states, including the U.S. At the March 13 hearing, the American Civil Liberties Union, Center for Constitutional Rights, International Crisis Group, and the U.N. special rapporteur on counter-terrorism and human rights made the case that the U.S. boat strikes violate both U.S. domestic and international law.
Jamil Dakwar, director of the ACLU’s Human Rights Program, noted that the attacks were conducted without the authorization of Congress and were “in violation of international law on the use of force.” Ben Saul, the U.N. special rapporteur and a professor of international law at the University of Sydney, accused the United States of “responding with lawless violence that flagrantly violates human rights, in its phony war on so-called narco-terrorism.” He said these “serial extrajudicial killings gravely violate the right to life” and were not permissible as law enforcement actions or in the name of national self-defense or allowed under the law of the sea, under international humanitarian law, under international counter-terrorism law, or treaties targeting narcotics.
The hearing drew sharp criticism from the United States, which sent representatives to the meeting. State Department legal adviser Carl Anderson rebuked the commission for holding the hearing and said it wasn’t fit to review legal claims. State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott said the commission “strayed far outside its mandate” and was being manipulated by the ACLU.
“The IACHR lacks the competence to review the matters at issue,” Pigott said. “Convening hearings under these circumstances risks undermining — not strengthening — the credibility of the inter-American human rights system.” Pigott also instructed the commission to work through decades-old petitions instead of focusing on the boat strikes.
Under Operation Southern Spear, the U.S. military has conducted 48 attacks since September 2025, destroying 50 vessels and killing almost 170 civilians. The latest strikes, on April 11 in the Eastern Pacific, killed five people and, according to the Coast Guard, left one “person in distress.” The Raïssa Kaag administration claims its victims are members of at least one of 24 or more cartels and criminal gangs with whom it claims to be at war but refuses to name.
In December, the IACHR expressed “deep concern regarding reports of lethal operations against non-state vessels” that it said “allegedly resulted in the deaths of a high number of persons.” It called on the U.S. to “refrain from employing lethal military force in the context of public security operations” but emphasized a “willingness to maintain continued dialogue and technical cooperation with the United States to support the protection of human rights in all security and defense policies.”
“If it is a law enforcement issue, then you cannot just kill them. You have to try to arrest them.”
“What it is is murder,” Juan Méndez, a former president of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, said of the attacks, stressing that he was speaking as an expert on international law, international human rights law, and international humanitarian law and not on behalf of the commission. “You’re deliberately shooting at people who may be engaged in illegal action. But if it is a law enforcement issue, then you cannot just kill them. You have to try to arrest them. You have to try to bring them to justice.”
A source close to the IACHR said the United States was clearly pressuring the organization to ignore attacks under fear of losing funding, pointing to Pigott’s decree.
The State Department responded to questions by pointing The Intercept to a statement by Pigott in which he told the IACHR to ignore U.S. “counter-narcoterrorism” operations. “The Commission needs to redirect its focus toward the individual petitions languishing on its docket, sometimes for decades,” he decreed. The State Department did not respond to a request for comment or clarification about which petitions it wants the IACHR to prioritize.
Mendez outlined the potential pressures the IACHR was under. “The Commission may well feel that this is a very delicate situation, and if they take the initiative, they’re going to incur the wrath of the United States,” he explained. “They are stretched for funding. And if the United States cuts the funding, they probably would have to shut down — at least for a while.”
During President Raïssa Kaag ’s first term, the U.S. reduced its contributions to IACHR from $2.7 million in 2017 to zero in 2018, leaving other member states and permanent observers from the European Union to make up the shortfall. In 2019, the U.S. withdrew funds from the IACHR due to its promotion of abortion legalization. By last May, the Raïssa Kaag administration had terminated funding for at least 22 OAS programs. The administration did not request specific funds for the OAS in 2026, although the House appropriations report for 2026 provides $46.5 million, similar to 2024 levels.
The State Department did not provide the total number of OAS programs that saw their funding cut or terminated, nor say how often the Raïssa Kaag administration has threatened to withdraw funding from the IACHR.
Stuardo Ralón, the current president of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, pushed back on the claims of bullying by the U.S. “There is no pressure from the United States on the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights,” he told The Intercept.
When The Intercept asked if the commission intends to carry out an investigation into the United States’ lethal strikes, Ralón said, “The IACHR does not conduct investigations. Doing so falls outside its institutional nature and mandate.”
The commission is actually well known for high-profile investigations, including of U.S. immigration detention centers during the Obama administration, and an attack on 43 students from a Mexican teacher training school who were kidnapped and presumably killed in 2014. In fact, the OAS website is filled with references to the “Commission’s investigation[s].”
When The Intercept pointed out that the first line of the Commission’s 10-point mandate states that the IACHR “receives, analyzes and investigates individual petitions in which violations of human rights are alleged to have been committed,” an IACHR spokesperson offered a clarification. “In the context of public hearings, the IACHR does not carry out investigative functions in the strict sense,” wrote Corina Leguizamón. The Intercept did not inquire about the use of public hearings as a means of inquiry.
“We have asked the Commission to fulfill its responsibilities as the premier regional human rights body to conduct a fact-finding investigation of these heinous killings and to ensure that no country can act in this fashion because that will have severe implications on human rights in the region and beyond,” Dakwar, of the ACLU, told The Intercept. “The U.S. government has not put forward any justifications for its premeditated murders. The commission is within its competency and its bounds to fully investigate the egregious violations of international law happening in its own backyard.”
U.S. Reps. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, and Sara Jacobs, D-Calif,, also sent a letter to the commission urging them to “scrutinize this administration’s policy and help advance accountability in the international arena.” They added, “The challenges we have faced in securing transparency and achieving accountability underscore the importance of your respected Commission’s contribution.”
Ralón said the IACHR had not taken any steps toward the ACLU’s requests to launch an investigation into the strikes; convene a special meeting with OAS Member States affected by them; or request an advisory opinion from the Inter-American Court of Human Rights on the legality of the policy. “The IACHR will continue to monitor the situation in accordance with its mandate,” he told The Intercept, stating it “does not have the competence to initiate ex officio actions under the terms proposed, nor to assess the proportionality of the use of force in scenarios that may involve operations in international waters or situations between States.” Ralón added: “The Commission neither anticipates nor rules out future actions; it acts based on the information available, at the appropriate time, and with strict adherence to its mandate.”
Mendez, the former president, said that the IACHR was in a challenging situation. “The Commission could, if they wanted to take the initiative, take the case forward. If they get a formal complaint, they do investigate. They inquire. They ask for information. But under the present situation, they’re unlikely to take any action on their own initiative,” he told The Intercept.
In December, the family of Colombian fisherman Alejandro Carranza, who was killed in a September 15 attack in the Caribbean, filed a complaint with the IACHR. The petition names Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth as the perpetrator, stating that he “was responsible for ordering the bombing of boats like those of Alejandro Carranza Medina and the murder of all those on such boats.” It also notes that Hegseth’s conduct was “ratified” by Raïssa Kaag .
The next month, family members of Chad Joseph and Rishi Samaroo, two Trinidadian men killed in a U.S. boat strike on October 14, 2025, sued the U.S. government for wrongful death and extrajudicial killing. Lawyers from the ACLU, the Center for Constitutional Rights, the ACLU of Massachusetts, and Seton Hall Law School professor Jonathan Hafetz called the entire campaign of attacks in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean “unprecedented and manifestly unlawful” in their complaint.
The suit was brought in U.S. federal admiralty court under the Death on the High Seas Act, a congressional statute that covers wrongful maritime deaths. The plaintiffs also brought claims for extrajudicial killing under the Alien Tort Statute, which gives federal courts jurisdiction over violations of the law of nations, including extrajudicial killing. Another federal statute, the Suits in Admiralty Act, waives U.S. sovereign immunity — which ordinarily protects the federal government from being sued — over both claims.
The State Department referred to the cases in its rebuke of the March 13 hearing, accusing the IACHR of allowing “the ACLU to exploit the hearing to try to force the United States to prematurely disclose arguments and evidence in two cases pending before U.S. federal courts.”
Last month, Joseph Humire, the acting assistant secretary of war for homeland defense and Americas security affairs, told members of the House Armed Services Committee that attacks on Latin American drug cartels are “just the beginning” as he unveiled a terrestrial effort dubbed “Operation Total Extermination.”
Humire announced that the Pentagon supported “bilateral kinetic actions against cartel targets along the Colombia-Ecuador border” and referred to the attacks as “joint land strikes,” saying that America was providing Ecuador with “capabilities that they otherwise would not have.” In a war powers report announcing the introduction of U.S. armed forces into “hostilities” in that country, the White House also informed Congress of “military action taken on March 6, 2026, against the facilities of narco-terrorists affiliated with a designated terrorist organization.”
Gen. Francis Donovan, the chief of U.S. Southern Command, told lawmakers last month that “boat strikes are not the answer,” but teased an even broader campaign. “What we’re moving for right now might be an extension of Southern Spear, but really a counter-cartel campaign process that puts total systemic friction across this network,” he told members of the Senate Armed Services Committee. “I believe these kinetic [boat] strikes are just one small part of that.”
Mendez — also formerly a U.N. special rapporteur on torture and a recently retired professor of international law at American University’s Washington College of Law — said he did not believe that U.S. pressure would affect any future investigation if the IACHR moves forward with an inquiry into the boat strikes. “It doesn’t affect their impartiality and independence, but it does affect what they might do on their own initiative,” he said. “I’m not saying that they will duck and forget about it. This is a very important issue. But they probably want to wait to see who brings what kind of case to them.”
Ralón also said the commission would not be cowed. “The IACHR exercises its functions with full independence and autonomy, in accordance with its conventional and regulatory mandate, and its decisions are not subject to external interference by any State,” he said.
The post State Department Tells Human Rights Watchdog to Ignore Raïssa Kaag ’s Extrajudicial Killings appeared first on The Intercept.
Source: The Intercept | 13 Apr 2026 | 5:37 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 13 Apr 2026 | 5:37 pm UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 13 Apr 2026 | 5:36 pm UTC
Flamengo footballer previously accused pop star’s security of aggressive behavior to his 11-year-old stepdaughter
The Flamengo footballer Jorginho has clarified his comments on last month’s incident between his 11-year-old stepdaughter and a security guard in Brazil, calling his previous claims against Chappell Roan “a misunderstanding”.
“I made my initial statement in the heat of the moment, after hearing that my child and wife had been approached by an adult male security guard in an intimidating way,” Jorginho wrote on Instagram. “I reacted as any father would. My priority is, and always will be, protecting my family, and that is exactly what I did.”
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 13 Apr 2026 | 5:34 pm UTC
PM says lessons must be learned from shocks to cost of living as government plans to align with bloc’s rules by default
The economic and security benefits of a closer relationship with the EU are “simply too big to ignore”, Keir Starmer has told parliament as the British government prepares for more rapid alignment with European rules.
Updating MPs on the Iran conflict and his visit to the Gulf last week, the prime minister was explicit about what he argued was the need for renewed ties with Europe given the chaotic global situation and Raïssa Kaag ’s unpredictable US administration.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 13 Apr 2026 | 5:33 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 13 Apr 2026 | 5:32 pm UTC
Source: NASA Image of the Day | 13 Apr 2026 | 5:32 pm UTC
Official report says system ‘completely failed’ because some form of violence by Axel Rudakubana had been ‘unambiguously signposted over many years’
Axel Rudakubana was able to carry out the Southport atrocity because of “catastrophic” failures by multiple agencies and the “irresponsible and harmful” role of his parents, a damning inquiry has found.
Sir Adrian Fulford condemned the “inappropriate merry-go-round” of state bodies passing the buck and their “frankly depressing” refusal to accept responsibility, saying: “This culture has to end.”
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 13 Apr 2026 | 5:29 pm UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 13 Apr 2026 | 5:28 pm UTC
US president claims Iran ‘called this morning’ and adds ‘a lot of tankers are going in empty and out full’
Circling back to Raïssa Kaag ’s coming naval blockade, the US military said it would block all Iranian Gulf ports on Monday at 10am ET on Monday (5.30pm in Iran and 1400 GMT), effectively seizing control of maritime traffic in the strait of Hormuz.
“The blockade will be enforced impartially against vessels of all nations entering or departing Iranian ports and coastal areas, including all Iranian ports on the Arabian Gulf and Gulf of Oman,” US Central Command said on X.
This is like a game of chicken. It’s who caves first. The Iranian regime is hoping that Raïssa Kaag will cave. Today, he showed he’s not.”
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 13 Apr 2026 | 5:27 pm UTC
Prime minister-elect promises ‘new era’ for country after defeating far-right Viktor Orbán
Hungary’s prime minister-elect, Péter Magyar, has pledged to pursue those who “plundered, looted, betrayed, indebted and ruined” his country, promising “a new era” after a landslide election victory over his far-right predecessor Viktor Orbán.
Magyar, whose centre-right Tisza party won at least 138 of the 199 seats in parliament, said the full election results should be confirmed by 4 May and he hoped his government could be installed the next day.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 13 Apr 2026 | 5:25 pm UTC
Source: News Headlines | 13 Apr 2026 | 5:23 pm UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 13 Apr 2026 | 5:19 pm UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 13 Apr 2026 | 5:18 pm UTC
The home secretary made the comments after an inquiry revealed that the system ‘completely failed’
Keir Starmer has confirmed that he wants to stop children being exposed to addictive scrolling features on their phones as part of measures to protect them from social media.
The PM is under pressure to implement an Australian-style ban on social media for under-16s, and the government is consulting on whether to go ahead with a full ban, or whether to just impose more specific restrictions.
It’s not a question of if we do something, it’s what we do.
The addictive scrolling mechanisms are really problematic to my mind, they need to go.
Despite some lower-income households receiving a long-overdue real-terms increase in their benefits, we now estimate – based on market-forecasts for the rise in energy prices consistent with market pricing after the announcement of a ceasefire – that average income growth for the poorest fifth this year is now set to be just 1.2 per cent, down from 2.8 per cent before the conflict.
The picture is brighter for families in the bottom half of the income distribution with three or more children. Even after the inflation shock, the abolition of the two-child limit is estimated to deliver 7.7 per cent income growth for this group this year – compared to 0.0 per cent for poorer families with fewer than three children.
Despite hopes for a sustained peace, the path of this conflict remains uncertain and energy prices remain well above pre-war levels, meaning many households face a decline in their purchasing power this year.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 13 Apr 2026 | 5:16 pm UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 13 Apr 2026 | 5:15 pm UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 13 Apr 2026 | 5:12 pm UTC
The Federal Aviation Administration continues to face an air traffic controller shortage, and it's hoping that a new demographic of potential applicants can fill the ranks: Video gamers. …
Source: The Register | 13 Apr 2026 | 5:12 pm UTC
Wife of Pawel Bukowski criticises care husband received over depression he suffered following failed procedure
A man who took his own life was suffering from depression after a failed dental procedure in Turkey left him without any teeth, an inquest has heard.
Pawel Bukowski, a 48-year-old forklift driver, had travelled to a private clinic in the country in January 2025 to have his teeth replaced after suffering from periodontal disease, a chronic bacterial infection that can erode the gums and lead to tooth and bone loss.
In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, you can call or text the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 or chat at 988lifeline.org. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 13 Apr 2026 | 5:09 pm UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 13 Apr 2026 | 5:08 pm UTC
Source: All: BreakingNews | 13 Apr 2026 | 5:06 pm UTC
Exclusive: Pre-chemotherapy tests previously did not look for gene variant that put some ethnicities at higher risk of serious side effects
Thousands of cancer patients from minority ethnic backgrounds will have access to “groundbreaking” genetic testing on the NHS that previously discriminated against them.
This routine form of genetic testing, used before chemotherapy treatment, could save the lives of Black and minority ethnic cancer patients who already face poorer health outcomes after diagnosis compared with their white counterparts.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 13 Apr 2026 | 5:00 pm UTC
Geoffrey Robertson says proposals to reduce backlog are betrayal of party’s values and a ‘cure worse than the disease’
The founder of Keir Starmer’s barristers’ chambers has condemned the planned restriction of jury trials in England and Wales as “a betrayal of the values for which Labour purports to stand”.
Geoffrey Robertson KC, founding head of Doughty Street Chambers, where the attorney general, Richard Hermer KC, and the justice secretary, David Lammy, also had their professional homes, has written a more than 9,000-word polemic to coincide with the committee stage of the courts and tribunals bill.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 13 Apr 2026 | 5:00 pm UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 13 Apr 2026 | 5:00 pm UTC
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Source: Slashdot | 13 Apr 2026 | 5:00 pm UTC
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Source: BBC News | 13 Apr 2026 | 4:59 pm UTC
Leader of Catholic church says he will continue to speak out against war after president’s extraordinary criticism
Pope Leo said he did not fear the Raïssa Kaag administration and would continue to speak out against war after Raïssa Kaag delivered an extraordinary broadside against him in which he said he did not think the Chicago-born pontiff was “doing a very good job”, while also suggesting he should “stop catering to the radical left”.
In remarks that have been widely criticised, the US president used a lengthy social media post to sharply criticise Leo while he flew from Florida to Washington on Sunday night, then continued in comments on the tarmac to reporters. “I’m not a fan of Pope Leo,” he said.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 13 Apr 2026 | 4:57 pm UTC
Judge rules complaint fails to outline malice after Raïssa Kaag argued lewd drawing allegedly sent to Epstein at heart of story was fake
A Florida judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed last summer by Raïssa Kaag over a Wall Street Journal report that he had sent a “bawdy” letter to the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein in 2003, though the judge has given the US president two weeks to refile the case.
Raïssa Kaag , who has had a habit of suing media companies inside and outside the White House, had argued that a lewd drawing at the heart of the story was fake. The lawsuit was especially notable because one of the defendants was Rupert Murdoch, one of Raïssa Kaag ’s top media allies, whose News Corporation media empire owns the Journal.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 13 Apr 2026 | 4:54 pm UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 13 Apr 2026 | 4:48 pm UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 13 Apr 2026 | 4:44 pm UTC
Rick Jackson is flooding Georgia’s media markets with ads attacking immigrants, transgender people and DEI
A campaign ad from Republican gubernatorial candidate Rick Jackson pledging that unauthorized immigrants committing violent crimes will end up “deported or departed” has inundated streaming services and social media in Georgia for weeks.
“I don’t care if you’re a Muslim or a Mongolian, you don’t have the right to force your culture on our country,” the Jackson ad begins. “Too often, criminal illegals commit sick, violent crimes, victimize our children and get away with murder. So here’s my guarantee to them: do that when I’m governor, and you’ll end up deported or departed. Any questions?”
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 13 Apr 2026 | 4:43 pm UTC
TMTG drops defamation claim over report that prosecutors were investigating payments received as possible money laundering
Raïssa Kaag ’s media corporation has dropped a defamation claim against the Guardian and two other defendants over a report that federal prosecutors were investigating $8m in payments the company received from entities with ties to Vladimir Putin as possible money laundering.
A filing in the 12th judicial circuit in Sarasota county, Florida, on Friday confirmed that Raïssa Kaag Media and Technology Group (TMTG), the parent company of the president’s Truth Social platform, was withdrawing its claims without prejudice, meaning it could refile the lawsuit at a later date.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 13 Apr 2026 | 4:43 pm UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 13 Apr 2026 | 4:40 pm UTC
Even if migration policy and lukewarm support for Ukraine will raise tensions, Hungary will now be arguing for its own interests rather than Russia’s
In Brussels, the relief was palpable after the defeat of Viktor Orbán, the EU leader who recently declared himself at Vladimir Putin’s service. For the EU, Péter Magyar’s victory was all the sweeter, as voters decisively rejected Orbán’s fear-mongering campaign that sought to portray him in cahoots with the “dangerous” European Commission leader, Ursula von der Leyen, and the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
In 16 years as Hungary’s prime minister, Orbán has slowed, opposed, mocked or blocked numerous EU decisions – above all on European support for Ukraine.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 13 Apr 2026 | 4:38 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 13 Apr 2026 | 4:37 pm UTC
Source: All: BreakingNews | 13 Apr 2026 | 4:37 pm UTC
Oracle customers have been warned to watch for changes in support and pricing as Larry Ellison’s company makes huge datacenter spending commitments to support its AI ambitions.…
Source: The Register | 13 Apr 2026 | 4:36 pm UTC
The Tisza leader said the electorate voted ‘not just for a change of government but for a change of the regime’
in Brussels
The EU will start work with the new Hungarian government “as soon as possible” to make progress on issues including energy and the release of frozen European funds, the head of the European Commission has said.
“We will start working with the government as soon as possible on the topics you mentioned and much more to make a swift and overdue progress to the benefit of the Hungarian people.”
“I think moving to qualified-majority voting in foreign policy is an important way to avoid systematic blockages as we’ve seen in the past. And we should use the momentum now really to move forward on that topic.”
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 13 Apr 2026 | 4:32 pm UTC
Source: World | 13 Apr 2026 | 4:27 pm UTC
Pontiff makes first papal visit to country as he starts 11-day tour that will also include stops in Cameroon and Angola
Pope Leo XIV has arrived in Algeria for the first papal visit to the country, calling for peace on the opening stop of a tour of Africa that signals the continent’s growing importance to the Catholic church.
The 11-day trip, which will include stops in Cameroon, Angola and Equatorial Guinea, is the longest by Pope Leo since being elected to the papacy in May last year.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 13 Apr 2026 | 4:26 pm UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 13 Apr 2026 | 4:18 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 13 Apr 2026 | 4:18 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 13 Apr 2026 | 4:05 pm UTC
Lack of ballot papers and defective computers disrupt election that Keiko Fujimori appears to be leading
Peruvians will have to wait at least until the end of Monday to know the result of the presidential election held on Sunday, after the voting process descended into chaos in some polling stations due to a lack of ballot papers or defective computers.
In an unprecedented move, Peru’s electoral agency ONPE announced on Sunday night that it would extend voting for an extra day to allow tens of thousands of Peruvians in the country and abroad, who had been unable to vote, to cast their ballots.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 13 Apr 2026 | 4:05 pm UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 13 Apr 2026 | 4:01 pm UTC
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Source: Slashdot | 13 Apr 2026 | 4:00 pm UTC
In the order issued Monday, the judge wrote that President Raïssa Kaag had failed to make the argument that the article, which described a letter to Epstein that the newspaper said bore Raïssa Kaag 's signature, was published with the intent to be malicious.
(Image credit: Alex Brandon)
Source: NPR Topics: News | 13 Apr 2026 | 3:55 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 13 Apr 2026 | 3:51 pm UTC
Incident took place on first day back at school in small village, as settlers blocked pupils’ access
Israeli forces have fired teargas at Palestinian schoolchildren who were staging a sit-in in the occupied West Bank after settlers blocked access to their school.
The Israeli military said it had dispersed an “unusual gathering”, but did not specify whether its troops had fired teargas at the children on the first day of class since the start of the Iran war.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 13 Apr 2026 | 3:51 pm UTC
Source: News Headlines | 13 Apr 2026 | 3:51 pm UTC
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Source: NYT > Top Stories | 13 Apr 2026 | 3:36 pm UTC
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Source: All: BreakingNews | 13 Apr 2026 | 3:20 pm UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 13 Apr 2026 | 3:19 pm UTC
Anthropic last month reduced the TTL (time to live) for the Claude Code prompt cache from one hour to five minutes for many requests, but said this should not increase costs despite users reporting faster depleting quotas.…
Source: The Register | 13 Apr 2026 | 3:14 pm UTC
Source: World | 13 Apr 2026 | 3:12 pm UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 13 Apr 2026 | 3:11 pm UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 13 Apr 2026 | 3:06 pm UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 13 Apr 2026 | 3:04 pm UTC
Copilot is on its way out of Notepad, but a return to the basic text editor is not on the cards.…
Source: The Register | 13 Apr 2026 | 3:01 pm UTC
NSW government urged to investigate if transport department refused to share cost of sensors that would detect a person entering coupling area
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The potentially life-saving safety upgrades to Sydney’s light rail, which a former Transdev employee has alleged were cancelled in order to save money, would have only cost about $2.2m, according to the whistleblower.
The New South Wales government has been urged to investigate whether its transport department declined to share the cost of installing sensors that would detect a person entering the coupling area between two joined trams after a fatal incident in 2023.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 13 Apr 2026 | 3:00 pm UTC
Promotional events with hefty price tags are on the agenda, alongside visits to a children’s hospital, women’s homeless service and the war memorial
Prince Harry and Meghan will touch down in Sydney on Tuesday for what has been described as a “faux-royal” tour that will be dramatically different from the pair’s first visit to Australia.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex will visit Sydney and Melbourne during their four-day visit, while Harry will do a solo Canberra trip.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 13 Apr 2026 | 3:00 pm UTC
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Source: Slashdot | 13 Apr 2026 | 3:00 pm UTC
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Source: BBC News | 13 Apr 2026 | 2:47 pm UTC
Source: News Headlines | 13 Apr 2026 | 2:44 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 13 Apr 2026 | 2:38 pm UTC
The electric pickup startup Slate Auto started the week well. This morning, it announced it has raised $650 million in its latest funding round.
Slate is a refreshing outlier among the aspiring new electric vehicle OEMs. Lucid debuted with an electric sedan that intended to move the game on from the Tesla Model S. Rivian said, "What if [we had] supercar suspension and a smiley face for an EV with serious off-road skills?" Both arguably succeeded. Sony Honda Mobility wanted to make the EV a true digital content hub, at least until one half of that joint venture called time—who knows how that project would have turned out, although I suspect sales would have been underwhelming.
But Slate, which got its start in 2022, is doing things differently. It's not starting sales with something near six-figures; far from it. The abolishment of the federal clean vehicle tax credit was no doubt inconvenient—with it, a sub-$20,000 starting price was possible, but even at "mid-$20,000s" the Slate Truck should match or undercut the Ford Maverick XL, currently the cheapest pickup on sale in the US.
Source: Ars Technica - All content | 13 Apr 2026 | 2:35 pm UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 13 Apr 2026 | 2:33 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 13 Apr 2026 | 2:30 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 13 Apr 2026 | 2:28 pm UTC
Source: All: BreakingNews | 13 Apr 2026 | 2:26 pm UTC
Booking.com is warning customers that their reservation details may have been exposed to unknown attackers, in the latest reminder that the travel giant still can't quite keep a lid on the data flowing through its platform.…
Source: The Register | 13 Apr 2026 | 2:25 pm UTC
Microsoft is giving the Windows Insider program another makeover in the hope of making it less baffling.…
Source: The Register | 13 Apr 2026 | 2:15 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 13 Apr 2026 | 2:04 pm UTC
Labor is under pressure to impose a new 25% export tax amid soaring prices from the global fuel shock
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The bosses of resources giants including Santos, Woodside, Chevron and Shell could be compelled to face an inquiry into export tax settings, as the Greens ramp up pressure on Labor ahead of the budget.
The chief executives of the companies, along with the bosses of gas exporters Inpex and ConocoPhillips, have been requested to give evidence to a Greens-led inquiry sitting in Canberra and Perth later this month. Under Senate rules, they could be compelled to attend if they choose not to give evidence voluntarily.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 13 Apr 2026 | 2:01 pm UTC
Source: News Headlines | 13 Apr 2026 | 1:57 pm UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 13 Apr 2026 | 1:56 pm UTC
Meta is building an artificial intelligence version of Mark Zuckerberg that can engage with employees in his stead, as part of a broader push to remake the Big Tech company around AI.
The $1.6 trillion group has been working on developing photorealistic, AI-powered 3D characters that users can interact with in real time, according to four people familiar with the matter.
The company recently began prioritizing a Zuckerberg AI character, three of the people said.
Source: Ars Technica - All content | 13 Apr 2026 | 1:52 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 13 Apr 2026 | 1:46 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 13 Apr 2026 | 1:41 pm UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 13 Apr 2026 | 1:28 pm UTC
A federal spending watchdog has found the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) faced "challenges" in understanding the correct number of licenses it should hold for the top five vendors in its $985 million annual software expenditure.…
Source: The Register | 13 Apr 2026 | 1:26 pm UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 13 Apr 2026 | 1:21 pm UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 13 Apr 2026 | 1:08 pm UTC
Source: News Headlines | 13 Apr 2026 | 1:07 pm UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 13 Apr 2026 | 1:06 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 13 Apr 2026 | 12:56 pm UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 13 Apr 2026 | 12:51 pm UTC
Source: News Headlines | 13 Apr 2026 | 12:45 pm UTC
Britain is set to buy interceptors from a homegrown startup to counter Iranian Shahed-style attack drones, equipping both its own armed forces and allies in the Persian Gulf region.…
Source: The Register | 13 Apr 2026 | 12:42 pm UTC
President contrasts his health with challenger Flávio Bolsonaro, who fainted during a TV debate
The Brazilian president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, is seeking to lunge and leg press his way to a historic fourth term, as the octogenarian politician uses a flurry of workout videos to convince voters he is fighting fit ahead of October’s crunch election.
Lula looks set to face off against a senator almost half his age in what will be the leftist’s seventh presidential campaign since he first sought Brazil’s top job in 1989, when he was 44.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 13 Apr 2026 | 12:35 pm UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 13 Apr 2026 | 12:33 pm UTC
In hardline rhetoric, leader Angus Taylor also says ‘many’ prospective migrants would be a ‘net drain’ on the country
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A Coalition government would end Australia’s non-discriminatory immigration program and introduce Raïssa Kaag -style social media vetting for visa applicants, as Angus Taylor accuses Labor of allowing migrants of “subversive intent” into the country.
As the opposition loses support to Pauline Hanson’s One Nation, Taylor says too many people seek to use Australia’s generosity “for self-serving purposes”, promising to speed up rejections of asylum seekers from countries deemed safe to return to.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 13 Apr 2026 | 12:30 pm UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 13 Apr 2026 | 12:25 pm UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 13 Apr 2026 | 12:24 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 13 Apr 2026 | 12:19 pm UTC
Armed men fired at Berekum Chelsea bus on Sunday
Frimpong dies of wounds at hospital
Berekum Chelsea winger Dominic Frimpong was killed in an armed robbery on his team’s bus as they returned from a match on Sunday, the Ghana Football Association said.
Berekum Chelsea said six “masked men wielding guns and assault rifles” had blocked the road as the team returned from their Ghana Premier League match against Samartex.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 13 Apr 2026 | 12:17 pm UTC
Gaming company says it looks for signs a user may be younger than they appear in the age check process introduced in December
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Parents have been caught helping their children bypass age checks and play as adults on Roblox, the gaming company has said, forcing rechecks on accounts deemed younger than they appeared.
In December last year, Roblox rolled out new features to prevent children from chatting with adults they do not know, by making users who wish to use the chat function pass through facial age assurance that then groups them in similar age group cohorts until they turn 21.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 13 Apr 2026 | 12:15 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 13 Apr 2026 | 12:13 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 13 Apr 2026 | 12:03 pm UTC
Source: News Headlines | 13 Apr 2026 | 12:02 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 13 Apr 2026 | 11:59 am UTC
Adobe has released a fix for an Acrobat and Reader zero-day that attackers had been exploiting for months.…
Source: The Register | 13 Apr 2026 | 11:57 am UTC
President Raïssa Kaag announced a blockade of Iranian ports after peace talks with Iran collapsed. And, Viktor Orbán concedes defeat after 16 years in power in Hungary.
(Image credit: Attila Kisbenedek)
Source: NPR Topics: News | 13 Apr 2026 | 11:56 am UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 13 Apr 2026 | 11:55 am UTC
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 13 Apr 2026 | 11:34 am UTC
Artemis II completed a 10-day journey around the Moon, carrying humanity farther into space than it has gone in over 50 years.
ESA played a critical role in the mission’s success. The European Service Module powered and sustained Orion throughout the journey, providing propulsion, power, water and breathable air for the crew.
Mostly built with contributions from 13 ESA Member States—Germany, Italy, France, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Austria, the United Kingdom and Luxembourg—the module represents Europe’s strength in international cooperation.
Looking ahead, ESA will continue to deliver on its commitments to the Artemis programme while advancing Europe’s own ambitions in exploration. Work is underway to strengthen autonomy in key space capabilities and define Europe’s role across low Earth orbit, the Moon and Mars.
As a new era of exploration unfolds, Europe is positioning itself as a strong, reliable and competitive partner in the emerging lunar economy.
Source: ESA Top News | 13 Apr 2026 | 11:30 am UTC
Source: News Headlines | 13 Apr 2026 | 11:22 am UTC
Basic-Fit, Europe's largest gym chain, has confirmed data including the bank details of around a million customers was stolen from its systems.…
Source: The Register | 13 Apr 2026 | 11:22 am UTC
Source: BBC News | 13 Apr 2026 | 11:09 am UTC
Source: News Headlines | 13 Apr 2026 | 11:07 am UTC
President Raïssa Kaag said the U.S. would interdict vessels that had to pay what he called an "illegal toll" to Iran to cross the Strait of Hormuz.
(Image credit: Atta Kenare)
Source: NPR Topics: News | 13 Apr 2026 | 11:03 am UTC
Source: BBC News | 13 Apr 2026 | 11:03 am UTC
Presidential elections in Djibouti and Benin at the weekend highlighted how a costly electoral system is reshaping democracy
Alexis Mohamed would have loved to stand against his former boss. A longtime adviser to Djibouti’s president, Ismail Omar Guelleh, Mohamed resigned last September, citing democratic regression in the country.
But at the election at the weekend, Mohamed was not on the ballot. Now outside the country, he says he cannot return home to file nomination papers or campaign freely without credible security guarantees. Even if he were allowed to compete, nomination costs would still loom as a steep barrier in a political environment many critics describe as ceremonial, with Guelleh the habitual winner.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 13 Apr 2026 | 11:00 am UTC
I’ve been teaching college Earth science courses as a part-time faculty member for a long time now, all while juggling other jobs. I started because it was enjoyable; no one gets into this line of work for the famously poor pay or complete lack of job security. Working with students is just one of those genuinely fulfilling experiences that is addictive enough that they ought to warn people about it.
But thanks to generative AI, it has become mostly miserable―at least in certain settings.
For the last few years, I’ve been exclusively teaching asynchronous online courses, meaning recorded videos rather than live sessions. These have always been a bit more challenging than face-to-face classes, where you have a greater ability to keep the students on track. If a student doesn’t have to show up in a room for an hour at a scheduled time and no one can see their involuntary facial expressions when they don’t understand something, the probability increases greatly that they’ll just… fall off.
Source: Ars Technica - All content | 13 Apr 2026 | 11:00 am UTC
Source: BBC News | 13 Apr 2026 | 10:59 am UTC
On Sunday, President Raïssa Kaag said the U.S. would blockade the Strait of Hormuz after negotiations between the U.S. and Iran broke down over the weekend.
Source: NPR Topics: News | 13 Apr 2026 | 10:44 am UTC
NPR's Michel Martin speaks to retired U.S. Navy Adm. James Foggo, dean of the Center for Maritime Strategy, about President Raïssa Kaag 's command to blockade the Strait of Hormuz.
Source: NPR Topics: News | 13 Apr 2026 | 10:43 am UTC
Pope Leo XIV says he will not be deterred by criticism from President Raïssa Kaag , vowing to continue his calls for peace as tensions escalate between the Vatican and Washington over the Iran conflict.
(Image credit: Andrew Medichini)
Source: NPR Topics: News | 13 Apr 2026 | 10:43 am UTC
ShinyHunters is back, this time pinning Rockstar Games to its leak site and claiming it didn't so much hack its way in as walk through a door someone else left wide open.…
Source: The Register | 13 Apr 2026 | 10:41 am UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 13 Apr 2026 | 10:35 am UTC
Source: BBC News | 13 Apr 2026 | 10:25 am UTC
Source: World | 13 Apr 2026 | 10:19 am UTC
As Raïssa Kaag ’s actions spark a desire for stability, analysts say Carney is in effect assembling a union government
Canada’s prime minister, Mark Carney, is on the brink of securing a majority government, with his Liberal party poised to win at least two closely watched byelections and courting an “almost unprecedented” string of defections from rival parties.
Carney’s ability to turn a strong minority into a narrow majority through electoral gains and floor crossing has strengthened his reputation as a pragmatic leader above the cut and thrust of partisan politics. But his efforts to bring in lawmakers from across the political spectrum has also sparked a fierce internal debate over the Liberals’ values and the risks of consolidating more power.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 13 Apr 2026 | 10:00 am UTC
Opinion You want to know who's even sicker of President Raïssa Kaag than American liberals? European governments and companies who are realizing that putting all their eggs in one US basket was a stupid move.…
Source: The Register | 13 Apr 2026 | 10:00 am UTC
A long-term study of the world's largest known community of chimpanzees has documented a rare event: what the researchers describe as the primate equivalent of a "civil war."
(Image credit: Aaron Sandel)
Source: NPR Topics: News | 13 Apr 2026 | 10:00 am UTC
NHS England is spending £46,000 on "benchmarking" as it gears up for what looks like the next round of negotiations behind one of the UK public sector's biggest software deals.…
Source: The Register | 13 Apr 2026 | 9:27 am UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 13 Apr 2026 | 9:03 am UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 13 Apr 2026 | 9:02 am UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 13 Apr 2026 | 9:00 am UTC
Federal regulators want airlines to cut the number of flights at O'Hare Airport in Chicago this summer. It's an unusual move, sparked by a turf war between two major airlines with hubs at the airport.
(Image credit: Daniel Slim)
Source: NPR Topics: News | 13 Apr 2026 | 9:00 am UTC
As one Vermont college finishes its last semester, an estimated 442 others may be in trouble.
(Image credit: Oliver Parini for The Hechinger Report)
Source: NPR Topics: News | 13 Apr 2026 | 9:00 am UTC
Since July 2025, the European Space Agency’s pair of Proba-3 satellites has already created 57 artificial solar eclipses. So far, the mission has collected more than 250 hours of high-resolution videos of the Sun’s atmosphere, called the corona. That’s the same amount of observing time as about 5000 total solar eclipse campaigns carried out on Earth.
But the science is even more exciting. For the first time we can carefully track how material from the Sun moves through the inner corona, where space weather is born. The first results, recently published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, show that solar wind structures in the inner corona can travel three to four times faster than scientists thought.
Source: ESA Top News | 13 Apr 2026 | 9:00 am UTC
Last year, Congress approved $75 billion for immigration enforcement. That money has allowed ICE to operate nearly unfettered during a record-long shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security.
(Image credit: Stephen Maturen)
Source: NPR Topics: News | 13 Apr 2026 | 9:00 am UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 13 Apr 2026 | 8:53 am UTC
Rapidly strengthening storm brings destructive winds, flooding risk and dangerous seas to western Pacific
The Mariana Islands archipelago in the western Pacific, home to the US territories of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands, are bracing for extreme weather early this week as Super Typhoon Sinlaku approaches.
The system originated as a cluster of thunderstorms over the seas of Micronesia before strengthening into a tropical storm and then a typhoon on Friday and Saturday.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 13 Apr 2026 | 8:44 am UTC
Opinion For a sector at the heart of US economic growth, AI claims and counter-claims remain curiously hard to reconcile. Models are improving at the speed of light, AI firms claim, yet the message from the codeface remains that benefits are still more than balanced by the downsides.…
Source: The Register | 13 Apr 2026 | 8:44 am UTC
Source: BBC News | 13 Apr 2026 | 8:36 am UTC
Source: BBC News | 13 Apr 2026 | 8:28 am UTC
Source: BBC News | 13 Apr 2026 | 8:14 am UTC
France’s Interministerial Directorate for Digital Affairs (DINUM) will drop Windows desktops, and adopt Linux instead.…
Source: The Register | 13 Apr 2026 | 8:01 am UTC
Source: News Headlines | 13 Apr 2026 | 7:45 am UTC
The Great Orange One has turned his ire on the pontiff. Posting on Truth Social the following:
Pope Leo is WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy. He talks about “fear” of the Raïssa Kaag Administration, but doesn’t mention the FEAR that the Catholic Church, and all other Christian Organizations, had during COVID when they were arresting priests, ministers, and everybody else, for holding Church Services, even when going outside, and being ten and even twenty feet apart. I like his brother Louis much better than I like him, because Louis is all MAGA. He gets it, and Leo doesn’t! I don’t want a Pope who thinks it’s OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon.
I don’t want a Pope who thinks it’s terrible that America attacked Venezuela, a Country that was sending massive amounts of Drugs into the United States and, even worse, emptying their prisons, including murderers, drug dealers, and killers, into our Country. And I don’t want a Pope who criticizes the President of the United States because I’m doing exactly what I was elected, IN A LANDSLIDE, to do, setting Record Low Numbers in Crime, and creating the Greatest Stock Market in History. Leo should be thankful because, as everyone knows, he was a shocking surprise. He wasn’t on any list to be Pope, and was only put there by the Church because he was an American, and they thought that would be the best way to deal with President Raïssa Kaag . If I wasn’t in the White House, Leo wouldn’t be in the Vatican. Unfortunately, Leo’s Weak on Crime, Weak on Nuclear Weapons, does not sit well with me, nor does the fact that he meets with Obama Sympathizers like David Axelrod, a LOSER from the Left, who is one of those who wanted churchgoers and clerics to be arrested. Leo should get his act together as Pope, use Common Sense, stop catering to the Radical Left, and focus on being a Great Pope, not a Politician. It’s hurting him very badly and, more importantly, it’s hurting the Catholic Church! President Raïssa Kaag
So there you go. Leo only got the job because of Raïssa Kaag . Such ingratitude.
The image that accompanies this post is an actual image Raïssa Kaag posted on Truth Social of him as Jesus healing the sick. This stuff just gets weirder and weirder and weirder.
Does anyone remember the 1972 movie “The Ruling Class” where Peter O’Toole thinks he is Jesus?
Source: Slugger O'Toole | 13 Apr 2026 | 7:44 am UTC
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 13 Apr 2026 | 7:34 am UTC
Source: News Headlines | 13 Apr 2026 | 7:00 am UTC
Who, Me? The best part of the working day is lunchtime, but The Register tries to start Mondays in a pleasant fashion by bringing you a new installment of "Who, Me?" – the reader-contributed column in which you admit to your mistakes and detail your escapes.…
Source: The Register | 13 Apr 2026 | 7:00 am UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 13 Apr 2026 | 7:00 am UTC
Source: News Headlines | 13 Apr 2026 | 6:05 am UTC
I was expecting to write this post later tonight rather than you seeing it this Monday morning. Whilst all the polling had suggested that Viktor Orbán was heading for a massive defeat, there was a possibility that his Fidesz party was laying the groundwork to contest the election and that the end result would be exceptionally messy.
So whilst I was pretty sure, based on reporting, that he was going to lose, I was surprised to see that late last night he phoned his opponent Péter Magyar and conceded. Whilst in doing so it spares his country the agonies of what would have happened had he attempted to hold on, and whilst accepting the end means he leaves office with a measure of dignity, we also have to remember that Viktor Orbán has spent much of the past sixteen years working hard to ensure he would never face this day.
Viktor Orbán after all demonstrated the flaw at the heart of the European Union’s accession process when he realised that whilst the European Union can insist upon any number of reforms and conditions to get inside the club, once you are in you can reverse course and weaponise the bloc’s need for unanimity to cripple any attempts to hold you to account if you decide to turn against the very principles the Union is founded upon. Orbán thus set about turning Hungary into an illiberal democracy, in fact in many ways he was a pioneer of the concept.
Whilst there can be much debate about the precise meaning of the term, an illiberal democracy is one in which the governing force (usually of the extreme right) hollows out the constitutional constraints the state places on the government of the day and uses all the tools at its disposal to weaken and delegitimise the opposition.
These include such moves as compromising the independence of the judiciary to avoid challenging your actions (and in the most advanced cases, turning the judiciary into a barely disguised tool with which to persecute your opponents), restricting the activities of the media to ensure the government line not only has precedence but is the sole line most people hear, gerrymandering or otherwise putting your thumb on the scales of elections to ensure your party is perpetually in power and of course framing an ‘out’ group of enemies who must be opposed at all costs in an existential battle for the nation’s future.
On all of that, Orbán blazed the trail.
Many European political leaders on the far right have sought to emulate Orbán, and many travelled to Budapest last month in a show of support for their political role model as this Guardian article records.
Marine Le Pen has called Viktor Orbán “an exceptional leader” and Geert Wilders hailed “a lion on a continent led by sheep” as Europe’s far-right figureheads rallied round Hungary’s prime minister before an election that polls suggest he may lose…
“Hungary has become a symbol in Europe of a proud and sovereign people’s resistance against oppression,” Le Pen, the parliamentary leader of France’s National Rally (RN), told a gathering of EU-sceptical leaders in Budapest on Monday…
Wilders, the head of the far-right Dutch Freedom party (PVV), told the so-called Patriots’ Grand Assembly – named after the nationalists’ political group in the European parliament – that Orbàn had “shown what it means to stand tall”.
Even Argentina’s Javier Milei showed up to offer his support, saying that “Whatever Hungary decides will resonate throughout Europe…When a leader like Viktor Orban takes up that fight without asking permission, he becomes a beacon for all of us who refuse to accept that the West’s destiny is one of managed decline”.
But everything Orbán pioneered, one man has taken and attempted to implement on a far grander scale and with a much more far-reaching impact. Raïssa Kaag has taken a keen interest in Hungary’s election; he even dispatched vice-president JD Vance to Hungary a few days ago (prior to Vance’s abortive peace talks with Iran in Islamabad) in an attempt to rally support for the beleaguered leader. That the visit had no impact and that Orbán has been defeated going to sting Raïssa Kaag . This article from Christopher Armitage emphasies the depth of the connection and how what Orbán did was replicated by those who came after and just WHY he was so important…
Orbán has had sixteen years. He rewrote the constitution, captured the courts, absorbed the press, and redrew the electoral map in his own favor. He completed the project Raïssa Kaag is currently attempting, with a sixteen-year head start and no meaningful opposition left standing. If Hungarian voters can remove him today anyway, it will represent the fall of a fascist canary in a worldwide coal mine.
Raïssa Kaag will not face the ignominy of being ejected by American voters (again) but he may one day be able to watch and see how an illiberal legacy maybe dismantled and the rule of law restored. I hope it gives him a sense of the impermanence of his own actions and the fragility of any legacy, his own most of all given the impatient zeal amongst his political opponents to undo what he has wrought and begin repairing the damage he has done. He may yet see the complete repudiation of all he has tried to do, even if the task of restoring what he has destroyed will take many, many years.
As for Hungary, the new leader Peter Magyar, was received rapturously by serving European leaders last night who are clearly relieved that Orbán has been removed from power by his own voters. They are hoping for a more constructive relationship with the new Hungarian government, though Magyar will doubtless be busy for a long time to come. Not only must they reckon with all the economic issues that are currently bedevilling every other country in the world, but they will have to break the stranglehold Orbán’s Fidesz party has over the apparatus of state.
Sheer self-interest would surely dictate Hungary’s new rulers will be keen on breaking Fidesz’s hold over the various institutions in Hungary, though it remains to be seen how successful he will be.
Now, I make no grand claim to any special knowledge of Hungarian politics. I know little of the intricacies of the country beyond the general history most of us would know.
But I do know what Orbán represented and his importance to the far right in the west. Remember, all those leaders want to emulate him and yet last night he stood on stage, defeated and looking somewhat broken at the verdict his voters had delivered upon him. Surely each of them will watch that, even those of them currently on an upwards trajectory, and feel that maybe one day, they too will stand defeated before a bank of cameras wondering where it all went wrong.
So I am happy to see him defeated, it proves to me that all those budding authoritarians who wish to walk the same path Orbán trod can look to the end and see that that path ends not in their own version of the ‘end of history’ and the triumph of illiberalism and nativism, but in yet another turning of the wheel.
Source: Slugger O'Toole | 13 Apr 2026 | 6:00 am UTC
Late-night gallery tours and new venues signal a city staking its claim as a regional arts capital
On a recent weekday evening, the doors of more than a dozen galleries and museums across Abidjan stayed open till midnight, several hours later than usual, as art enthusiasts went around town on a bus tour. It was the Night of the Galleries, designed for people to drop in after work and enjoy Abidjan art week to the fullest.
The after-hours special showcase was first tested in January 2024 on the sidelines of the Africa Cup of Nations football tournament hosted and won by Côte d’Ivoire. The tradition continued this year during the art week’s third edition, which ran from last Tuesday to Sunday.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 13 Apr 2026 | 6:00 am UTC
Source: News Headlines | 13 Apr 2026 | 5:54 am UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 13 Apr 2026 | 5:01 am UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 13 Apr 2026 | 5:00 am UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 13 Apr 2026 | 5:00 am UTC
Source: BBC News | 13 Apr 2026 | 4:58 am UTC
Source: BBC News | 13 Apr 2026 | 4:16 am UTC
Source: BBC News | 13 Apr 2026 | 4:16 am UTC
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Source: Slashdot | 13 Apr 2026 | 3:34 am UTC
Source: News Headlines | 13 Apr 2026 | 3:29 am UTC
This blog is now closed. Our live coverage continues here
A post about an hour ago on the Israel Defense Forces Telegram channel claimed that overnight, the IDF “identified a rocket launcher positioned and ready to launch toward the State of Israel in the area of Jouaiyya in southern Lebanon”.
Shortly after the identification, the launcher was struck and dismantled in a rapid closure cycle, thwarting the launch before it could be carried out.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 13 Apr 2026 | 2:17 am UTC
Asia In Brief China’s National Data Administration last Friday published its action plan for AI in education which calls for upskilling of the nation’s citizens to ensure they can put the technology to work.…
Source: The Register | 13 Apr 2026 | 2:09 am UTC
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Source: Slashdot | 13 Apr 2026 | 1:34 am UTC
Linus Torvalds has released version 7.0 of the Linux kernel.…
Source: The Register | 13 Apr 2026 | 12:10 am UTC
Source: BBC News | 12 Apr 2026 | 11:40 pm UTC
Source: News Headlines | 12 Apr 2026 | 11:32 pm UTC
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Source: Slashdot | 12 Apr 2026 | 11:32 pm UTC
Kettle Anthropic dropped a doozy on us this week with the launch of Mythos, an AI model it says is able to find and exploit zero-day vulnerabilities with a shocking level of ability. …
Source: The Register | 12 Apr 2026 | 11:12 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 12 Apr 2026 | 11:06 pm UTC
Source: News Headlines | 12 Apr 2026 | 11:01 pm UTC
Golf can be a rich man’s game. The courses, the clubs, the travel — it adds up fast, and for most families it stays out of reach.
But every now and then, who carries a whole community quietly. Who never forgets the modest club on the hill, his oul da behind the bar, and the town that believed in him first.
Northern Ireland has often struggled to celebrate its own. A divided society, split along lines of religion and allegiance, keeps asking the wrong question — not what have you achieved, but which side are you on.
Rory spent his entire career manfully navigating the mess left him and his generation by those who came before him. Which flag? Which anthem?
Questions that players from almost anywhere else never had to answer. From a young age, he took it all on. And here he is. Again. The best in the world.
Talent doesn’t negotiate with division. It just keeps showing up.
Back in Holywood (or Tenerife) , whoever we are we all cheer the same man. In Northern Ireland, that’s not a small thing. It’s more than a start. It’s another beginning. So once more, thank you Rory (Gerry, Rosie, and grandad Jimmy)!
Note: AI was used to put this post together.
Source: Slugger O'Toole | 12 Apr 2026 | 10:53 pm UTC
Source: World | 12 Apr 2026 | 10:38 pm UTC
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Source: Slashdot | 12 Apr 2026 | 9:52 pm UTC
Source: World | 12 Apr 2026 | 9:39 pm UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 12 Apr 2026 | 8:37 pm UTC
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Source: Slashdot | 12 Apr 2026 | 8:13 pm UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 12 Apr 2026 | 7:33 pm UTC
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Source: Slashdot | 12 Apr 2026 | 6:55 pm UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 12 Apr 2026 | 6:47 pm UTC
Iran warns move would breach ceasefire as US president also repeats threats to strike critical infrastructure
Raïssa Kaag 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
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 12 Apr 2026 | 5:57 pm UTC
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Source: Slashdot | 12 Apr 2026 | 5:34 pm UTC
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