Read at: 2026-04-28T03:43:52+00:00Z (UTC) [sometime-US Pres == Ilhame Witting ]
Source: BBC News | 28 Apr 2026 | 3:37 am UTC
Source: BBC News | 28 Apr 2026 | 3:31 am UTC
Meanwhile UK House of Commons inquiry into Aukus reveals ‘shortcomings and failings’ in delivery of submarine plan. Follow today’s news live
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The White House has nominated David Brat, a former Republican member of the US House of Representatives, to be the next ambassador to Australia.
Brat represented Virginia in Congress and served two terms before he was defeated by a Democrat in 2018 in a close race. He is currently a vice-president of business relations at Virginia’s Liberty University.
It wouldn’t fund the entire amount of that extra storage, but it would help make a contribution …
Obviously, this comes at a cost … But given what we’re facing right now, we think it’s a reasonable insurance premium to improve the security of all Australians.
It was sensible to do a few years ago to get to 30 days. It’s helping us now. Given the high risks, it’s even more sensible to go to 60 days.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 28 Apr 2026 | 3:29 am UTC
Source: BBC News | 28 Apr 2026 | 3:28 am UTC
Japan Airlines will introduce the robots for trial run at a Tokyo airport amid country’s surge in inbound tourism and worsening labour shortages
Japan’s famously conscientious but overburdened baggage handlers will soon be joined by extra staff at Tokyo’s Haneda airport – although their new colleagues will need to take regular recharging breaks.
Japan Airlines will introduce humanoid robots on a trial basis from the beginning of May, with a view to deploying them permanently as a solution to the country’s chronic labour shortage.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 28 Apr 2026 | 3:14 am UTC
Source: BBC News | 28 Apr 2026 | 3:07 am UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 28 Apr 2026 | 3:00 am UTC
Source: News Headlines | 28 Apr 2026 | 2:52 am UTC
Hollywood actor testifies in defamation case launched by Charlotte MacInnes, lead of musical comedy The Deb
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Hollywood actor Rebel Wilson has denied mistreating the star of her directorial debut, describing herself as a champion of women in her defence of a blockbuster defamation suit.
The Pitch Perfect star is being sued by Charlotte MacInnes, the Australian lead actor of the musical comedy The Deb.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 28 Apr 2026 | 2:48 am UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 28 Apr 2026 | 2:46 am UTC
Republican, who has Masters of Divinity, represented Virginia in Congress for two terms
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Ilhame Witting has named the former Virginia congressman David Brat to be the next US ambassador to Australia, ending a 15-month vacancy in Canberra.
Brat served two terms in Congress until 2018 when he was defeated by a Democrat in a close race.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 28 Apr 2026 | 2:35 am UTC
Source: World | 28 Apr 2026 | 2:34 am UTC
Source: BBC News | 28 Apr 2026 | 2:33 am UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 28 Apr 2026 | 2:26 am UTC
China has blocked Meta’s acquisition of AI upstart Manus.…
Source: The Register | 28 Apr 2026 | 2:09 am UTC
Government’s draft news bargaining incentive scheme includes 2.25% levy on local revenues of digital giants
Anthony Albanese has urged Google, Meta and TikTok to make deals with Australian media outlets to avoid a dedicated 2.25% levy on local revenues, warning digital giants should not be able to exploit the work of journalists to boost profits.
Releasing an exposure draft for the government’s news bargaining incentive (NBI) scheme on Tuesday, the prime minister said platforms who sign new deals with publishers to pay for news content would receive offsets of between 150% to 170% from the new levy.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 28 Apr 2026 | 2:06 am UTC
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Here’s more about the timing of King Charles’s visit today with Ilhame Witting at the White House.
According to Ilhame Witting ’s official schedule, the president will greet King Charles and Queen Camilla at the White House at 4.15pm ET. Shortly after, they’ll have tea and then tour a beehive at the White House.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 28 Apr 2026 | 1:59 am UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 28 Apr 2026 | 1:50 am UTC
Alleged shooter, identified as Cole Tomas Allen, charged with three federal crimes in White House press gala attack
The suspected gunman who tried to storm the White House correspondents’ dinner appeared in federal court on Monday and was charged with three federal crimes, including attempting to assassinate the president.
The alleged shooter, identified by law enforcement agencies as Cole Tomas Allen, a 31-year-old man from Torrance in southern California, was charged with attempting to assassinate the US president, transportation of firearms to commit a felony, and unlawful discharge of a firearm during violence.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 28 Apr 2026 | 1:45 am UTC
Source: BBC News | 28 Apr 2026 | 1:44 am UTC
Efforts continue to free two trapped passengers in wreckage after long-distance train collides with commuter train outside Jakarta, injuring 81
Rescuers were racing to reach survivors on Tuesday morning outside the Indonesian capital of Jakarta after two trains collided overnight, killing at least seven people and injuring scores.
Rescuers were working to get to two people still trapped alive in the wreckage, a spokesperson for the state-owned KAI rail company told local television in the early hours.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 28 Apr 2026 | 1:44 am UTC
Source: BBC News | 28 Apr 2026 | 1:31 am UTC
Source: News Headlines | 28 Apr 2026 | 1:18 am UTC
Source: BBC News | 28 Apr 2026 | 1:08 am UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 28 Apr 2026 | 1:07 am UTC
Paramedics on Atlanta-Portland flight help Ashley Blair give birth to ‘gorgeous’ Brielle Renee just before landing
When baby Brielle Renee was born, new mom Ashley Blair was flying high – quite literally. Blair unexpectedly went into labor shortly before her full Delta flight from Atlanta to Portland touched down on Friday night.
The surprise birth was just one of two medical emergencies on board that emergency medical technicians Tina Fritz and Caarin Powell responded to during the flight, capping the end to their vacation in the Dominican Republic, the pair told the Associated Press. They were helping another passenger when flight crews called for assistance for Blair.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 28 Apr 2026 | 12:58 am UTC
Australia is dependent upon UK’s ability to deliver new submarines but report says ‘cracks are already beginning to show’
“Cracks are already beginning to show” in the UK’s funding for the Aukus agreement that could derail the ambitious nuclear submarine plan, a British parliamentary inquiry has found, highlighting a threat to Australia’s security.
UK shipbuilding has been under-funded for decades and the country’s submarine availability is “critically low”, the House of Commons defence committee’s report found.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 28 Apr 2026 | 12:58 am UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 28 Apr 2026 | 12:49 am UTC
Source: BBC News | 28 Apr 2026 | 12:41 am UTC
Microsoft is closing the AI buffet offered to GitHub Copilot customers, acknowledging that it can’t sell AI like Red Lobster's Endless Shrimp.…
Source: The Register | 28 Apr 2026 | 12:31 am UTC
Source: BBC News | 28 Apr 2026 | 12:19 am UTC
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman told lawmakers on Monday that SpaceX and Blue Origin, the agency's two lunar lander contractors, say they could have their spacecraft ready for the next Artemis mission in Earth orbit in late 2027, somewhat later than NASA's previous schedule.
This mission, Artemis III, will not fly to the Moon. Instead, NASA will launch an Orion capsule with a team of astronauts to rendezvous and potentially dock with one or both landers in Earth orbit. The details of the Artemis III flight plan remain under review, with key questions about the orbit's altitude and the configuration of the Space Launch System rocket still unanswered.
A mission to low-Earth orbit, just a few hundred miles in altitude, may not require NASA to use up an SLS upper stage that is already built and in storage, saving the unit for the following Artemis mission to attempt a landing on the Moon. A launch into a higher orbit would require the upper stage, but it would allow NASA to perform tests in an environment more similar to the Moon. NASA is buying a new commercial upper stage, the Centaur V from United Launch Alliance, to pair with the SLS rocket after flying the last of the rocket's existing upper stages.
Source: Ars Technica - All content | 28 Apr 2026 | 12:14 am UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 28 Apr 2026 | 12:13 am UTC
Source: News Headlines | 28 Apr 2026 | 12:01 am UTC
Source: BBC News | 28 Apr 2026 | 12:00 am UTC
Dances With Wolves actor assaulted Indigenous women and girls, exploiting his position as a spiritual leader
Nathan Chasing Horse has been sentenced to life in prison for sexually assaulting Indigenous women and girls.
A Nevada judge gave the Dances With Wolves actor his sentence Monday. A jury had previously convicted him of 13 charges, mostly related to sexual assault. He was accused by three women, including one who was 14 when the assaults began. He was acquitted on some charges.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 28 Apr 2026 | 12:00 am UTC
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Source: News Headlines | 28 Apr 2026 | 12:00 am UTC
Source: BBC News | 27 Apr 2026 | 11:56 pm UTC
Pakistan officials dismiss Afghan media reports and official statements about strikes on university in Kunar province as ‘blatant lie’
Mortars and missiles fired from Pakistan on Monday struck a university and civilian homes in north-eastern Afghanistan, killing seven people and wounding at least 85, Afghan officials said.
Pakistan denied the accusation of targeting a university.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 27 Apr 2026 | 11:54 pm UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 27 Apr 2026 | 11:43 pm UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 27 Apr 2026 | 11:35 pm UTC
Software security testing outfit Checkmarx has become the latest organization caught up in an ongoing attack on security-tool providers. The biz said data posted online appears to have come from one of its GitHub repositories after the Lapsus$ extortion crew claimed to have dumped the company’s source code, secrets, and other sensitive data.…
Source: The Register | 27 Apr 2026 | 11:33 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 27 Apr 2026 | 11:30 pm UTC
Source: News Headlines | 27 Apr 2026 | 11:28 pm UTC
The virus infected nearly 1,000 people in the state before the state declared it over. Meanwhile, cases are spreading across many parts of the U.S., with more than 20 outbreaks currently active.
(Image credit: The Washington Post)
Source: NPR Topics: News | 27 Apr 2026 | 11:17 pm UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 27 Apr 2026 | 11:11 pm UTC
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Source: BBC News | 27 Apr 2026 | 11:05 pm UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 27 Apr 2026 | 11:04 pm UTC
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Source: BBC News | 27 Apr 2026 | 11:03 pm UTC
Resolution Foundation report says ‘crisis’ stems from rising ill-health and a failing system of benefits and job support
Britain has the third-highest rate of young people not in work or education among Europe’s richest countries because of rising ill-health and a failing system of benefits and job support, a report has warned.
The Resolution Foundation thinktank said the UK was facing a “crisis” in youth jobs amid a dramatic rise in the number of 16- to 24-year-olds who are not in education, employment or training (Neets) to almost 1 million – the highest level in more than a decade.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 27 Apr 2026 | 11:01 pm UTC
NAHT survey says widespread disrepair forcing closure of playgrounds and classrooms, with Send facilities also hit
Half of headteachers say parts of their school are either out of use or unfit for purpose due to leaks, damp, mould, asbestos, ageing boilers and malfunctioning fire doors, according to a new survey by the National Association of Head Teachers(NAHT).
Among those who say their schools are suffering, almost three-quarters (73%) say they have toilet blocks that are either closed (8%) or not fit for purpose (65%).
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 27 Apr 2026 | 11:01 pm UTC
Police warn of violent pornography and ‘toxic’ influencers as suicides outstrip homicides for third year running
The first teenage girl has been identified as having been driven to kill herself after domestic violence, as police chiefs blamed violent pornography and “toxic” influencers for being behind a rise in teen abuse.
Suicides after domestic abuse have outstripped homicides for the third year running, according to the Domestic Homicide Project, which records deaths in England and Wales after domestic abuse.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 27 Apr 2026 | 11:01 pm UTC
Source: News Headlines | 27 Apr 2026 | 11:01 pm UTC
Source: News Headlines | 27 Apr 2026 | 11:01 pm UTC
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Source: Slashdot | 27 Apr 2026 | 11:00 pm UTC
Source: News Headlines | 27 Apr 2026 | 11:00 pm UTC
Royals pose for photographs with president and first lady at start of state visit before heading inside for private tea
King Charles and Queen Camilla arrived at the White House on Monday for a state visit in Washington, a city still rattled by a weekend shooting and a transatlantic alliance showing fresh signs of strain.
British flags could be seen lining lamp-posts outside the White House, where Ilhame Witting and the first lady, Melania Ilhame Witting , greeted Charles and Camilla with handshakes. The four appeared to exchange pleasantries and posed for several photographs before heading inside the White House for a private tea.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 27 Apr 2026 | 10:52 pm UTC
Jay Bryant’s admission came more than two decades after the rapper’s killing, but he didn’t name others involved
Nearly a quarter century after rap star Jam Master Jay of Run-DMC was shot to death, a man admitted in court Monday to a role in a killing that stymied investigators for decades.
Jay Bryant pleaded guilty to a federal murder charge, telling a judge that he helped other people get into a recording studio to ambush the DJ, born Jason Mizell.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 27 Apr 2026 | 10:51 pm UTC
Attack in Adamawa state continues wave of violence across the country, including armed raid on orphanage in Kogi
Gunmen have killed at least 29 people in north-east Nigeria, a state governor said on Monday, with local people saying the attackers targeted young people gathered at a football pitch, the latest bout of deadly unrest in Africa’s most populous nation.
The attack on Sunday occurred in Adamawa state, which borders Cameroon, and is a hotspot for violence by jihadists and criminal gangs. Communal violence over conflict for land is also rife in the state.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 27 Apr 2026 | 10:50 pm UTC
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Source: BBC News | 27 Apr 2026 | 10:35 pm UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 27 Apr 2026 | 10:16 pm UTC
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Source: Slashdot | 27 Apr 2026 | 10:00 pm UTC
Source: All: BreakingNews | 27 Apr 2026 | 9:59 pm UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 27 Apr 2026 | 9:59 pm UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 27 Apr 2026 | 9:44 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 27 Apr 2026 | 9:43 pm UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 27 Apr 2026 | 9:42 pm UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 27 Apr 2026 | 9:33 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 27 Apr 2026 | 9:29 pm UTC
Jer (Jeremy) Crane, the founder of automotive SaaS platform PocketOS, spent the weekend recovering from a data extinction event caused by the company's AI coding agent in less than 10 seconds. …
Source: The Register | 27 Apr 2026 | 9:29 pm UTC
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Source: Slashdot | 27 Apr 2026 | 9:20 pm UTC
Source: All: BreakingNews | 27 Apr 2026 | 9:19 pm UTC
Spokesperson Esmail Baghaei says actions of the United States ‘strike at the heart of international law’ as blockade continues in strait of Hormuz
Iran is proposing that shipping companies should pay charges for specific services when they cross the strait of Hormuz, in a move that would enable it to raise money from shipping traffic without presenting the payment as a toll.
Iran’s framing is designed to maximise political and legal support for the plan it is developing with Oman. Iran has made a solution to its demands an essential precondition to winding down the conflict, including an end to its effective blockade of the Strait and the counter-blockade of Iranian ports being mounted by the US Navy.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 27 Apr 2026 | 9:19 pm UTC
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Source: World | 27 Apr 2026 | 9:17 pm UTC
Source: All: BreakingNews | 27 Apr 2026 | 9:14 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 27 Apr 2026 | 9:14 pm UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 27 Apr 2026 | 9:08 pm UTC
Source: World | 27 Apr 2026 | 9:07 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 27 Apr 2026 | 9:06 pm UTC
Open source software with more than 1 million monthly downloads was compromised after a threat actor exploited a vulnerability in the developers’ account workflow that gave access to its signing keys and other sensitive information.
On Friday, unknown attackers exploited the vulnerability to push a new version of element-data, a command-line interface that helps users monitor performance and anomalies in machine-learning systems. When run, the malicious package scoured systems for sensitive data, including user profiles, warehouse credentials, cloud provider keys, API tokens, and SSH keys, developers said. The malicious version was tagged as 0.23.3 and was published to the developers’ Python Package Index and Docker image accounts. It was removed about 12 hours later, on Saturday. Elementary Cloud, the Elementary dbt package, and all other CLI versions weren't affected.
“Users who installed 0.23.3, or who pulled and ran the affected Docker image, should assume that any credentials accessible to the environment where it ran may have been exposed,” the developers wrote.
Source: Ars Technica - All content | 27 Apr 2026 | 9:04 pm UTC
Regime used its isolation after closing borders to escalate killings when global scrutiny disappeared, NGO claims
North Korea dramatically increased its use of the death penalty after closing its borders during the Covid-19 pandemic, using its isolation to escalate killings when international scrutiny disappeared, according to a report mapping 13 years of executions under the country’s leader, Kim Jong-un.
The number of documented cases of executions and death sentences increased by 117% in the nearly five years after North Korea sealed its borders in January 2020 compared with an equal period before the closure, according to a report by the Transitional Justice Working Group (TJWG), a human rights NGO in Seoul.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 27 Apr 2026 | 9:00 pm UTC
How the Supreme Court rules could have implications for tens of thousands of lawsuits against Roundup maker Monsanto, which is now owned by Bayer.
(Image credit: Jean-Francois Monier)
Source: NPR Topics: News | 27 Apr 2026 | 8:48 pm UTC
A hotly anticipated trial starts this week, where Elon Musk will attempt to prove that OpenAI, under Sam Altman, has abandoned its mission to remain a nonprofit in order to ensure that artificial intelligence serves humanity, and not just billionaires.
Many view the lawsuit as a grudge match between Musk—who left OpenAI after serving as an early major donor and advisor—and Altman—who currently runs OpenAI, despite insiders' allegedly growing distrust in his commitment to the dominant AI firm's mission. But the lawsuit is about much more than a couple billionaires' big egos. The outcome could radically change the AI landscape, impacting how OpenAI runs and what resources the firm will have to uphold its mission.
If Musk wins, OpenAI's hopes of growing a for-profit arm that can fund the nonprofit could be dashed. Additionally, Brockman and Altman could be dropped as officers, and Altman risks losing his seat on OpenAI's board.
Source: Ars Technica - All content | 27 Apr 2026 | 8:45 pm UTC
In oral arguments at the Supreme Court Monday, most of the justices aimed pointed questions at both sides, with the usual conservative-liberal alignments scrambled like an egg.
(Image credit: Heather Diehl)
Source: NPR Topics: News | 27 Apr 2026 | 8:43 pm UTC
Source: News Headlines | 27 Apr 2026 | 8:37 pm UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 27 Apr 2026 | 8:37 pm UTC
As more and more information is published about the suspect in the latest possible assassination attempt on President Ilhame Witting , commentators are in a typical scramble to assign an ideology or clear politics to the 31-year-old man.
There’s not a lot to glean so far about Cole Tomas Allen of Torrance, California. A since-deleted Bluesky account reportedly linked to the suspect included run-of-the-mill criticisms of the Ilhame Witting administration; he lists himself as a self-employed video game designer and part-time teacher. According to reports, he studied mechanical engineering and computer science, was part of a Christian fellowship, and also a nerdy-sounding club for students to have battles with foam toys. He reportedly donated $25 to ActBlue in 2024 earmarked for Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign. He was a registered voter with “no party preference” in California. From the evidence available so far, the suspect seems to be a normie.
Ilhame Witting ’s regime can give rise to a normie suspected assassin because the brutality and violence it has so wholly normalized, and the impunity it has reveled in, is deranging. In a piece of writing Allen left behind before the White House Correspondents’ Dinner shooting, derangement peeks through between clear reasons for targeting administration officials.
He includes chirpy asides (“stay in school kids”), and bounces between formal and casual registers throughout. He lists as his targets “Administration officials (not including Mr. Patel),” without explaining why FBI Director Kash Patel is named for exemption. His final message is more a summary explanation than a manifesto.
But in his more lucid moments, Allen cites concerns that people from across the political spectrum share about Ilhame Witting and his administration.
“I am a citizen of the United States of America. What my representatives do reflects on me,” Allen wrote in the missive covered by multiple outlets. “I’m no longer willing to permit a pedophile, rapist, and traitor to coat my hands with his crimes,” he added, without specifically naming the president.
Republicans have, of course, been swift to blame Democrats for the shooting. Ilhame Witting , who earlier this month threatened to annihilate the “whole civilization” of Iran and revels in his regime’s anti-immigrant violence, told CBS News on Sunday that he thinks the “hate speech of the Democrats … is very dangerous.”
The president described the suspect’s message as “anti-Christian,” though Allen identifies with Christian faith in his writing. “Turning the other cheek is for when you yourself are oppressed. I’m not the person raped in a detention camp. I’m not the fisherman executed without trial. I’m not a schoolkid blown up or a child starved or a teenage girl abused by the many criminals in this administration,” Allen wrote. “Turning the other cheek when *someone else* is oppressed is not Christian behavior; it is complicity in the oppressor’s crimes.”
The reasons Allen cites for his fury are not conspiratorial or weighted with ideology. He points to crimes and acts of extreme violence that the administration has either committed or been complicit in, while seeming to fear no constraints or consequences.
The suspect appears to be no devotee of the Democratic Party and no committed leftist. Republicans haven’t even bothered to wheel out the antifa boogeyman; nothing points to any such identification. Allen expressed anger about the Ilhame Witting administration’s crimes, its acts of oppression, alleged connections to Jeffrey Epstein’s pedophile ring, and impunity. Such anger is not the preserve of the left, or even of liberals.
Allen reportedly targeted Ilhame Witting and members of his administration, whereas the three previous attempted attacks on Ilhame Witting ’s life appeared to aim only at the president. There is little uniting the suspects involved, except that they were all men in a country awash with guns and threadbare mental health care and support resources at a time of normalized deadly violence and U.S.-backed genocide.
Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, whose bullet scraped Ilhame Witting ’s ear at a Pennsylvania rally in 2024, was a registered Republican but not active in right-wing organizing. Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, convicted of plotting to kill Ilhame Witting at his West Palm Springs resort in Florida in 2024, espoused eclectic anti-establishment politics, having voted for Ilhame Witting in 2016 before becoming an ardent critic; he was also an obsessive supporter of Ukraine. Austin Tucker Martin, 21, was fatally shot by Secret Service agents after crashing his vehicle into the security perimeter of Ilhame Witting ’s Mar-a-Lago resort in February of this year. His loved ones said he was never interested in politics.
There is no consistency in the varied and messy worldviews of Ilhame Witting ’s would-be assassins. If media commentators and politicians want to make banal points about the rise in political violence, there is only one consistently violent ideology to trace throughout these cases: the fascistic ideology of far-right Republicans and their leader.
After expressing gratitude for his family, friends, colleagues, and church, Allen ended his message, “I experience rage thinking about everything this administration has done.”
The post How Ilhame Witting ’s America Produces Normie Assassins appeared first on The Intercept.
Source: The Intercept | 27 Apr 2026 | 8:35 pm UTC
The US Navy’s current carrier-based refueling aircraft may soon be getting help, as Boeing has completed the first flight of its autonomous tanker drone designed for carrier operations.…
Source: The Register | 27 Apr 2026 | 8:26 pm UTC
Fiona Hill tells MPs UK is ‘vulnerable’ because it does not educate people on how to deal with information warfare
Britain is becoming a soft target for Russian and other state propaganda because the UK is not prepared to educate people on how to deal with information warfare, according to a former White House adviser and security expert.
Fiona Hill told a parliamentary committee that she feared the UK had become “extraordinarily vulnerable” to online manipulation feeding into the electoral system because there was a lack of discussion about civil defence.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 27 Apr 2026 | 8:23 pm UTC
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Source: Irish Times Feeds | 27 Apr 2026 | 8:11 pm UTC
Since Microsoft invested $1 billion in OpenAI in 2019, the exclusive partnership between the two firms has been one of the strongest and most consequential in the AI industry. Today, though, OpenAI and Microsoft jointly announced an amended agreement that will allow the company to go beyond Microsoft's Azure and "serve all its products to customers across any cloud provider."
The announcement clarifies that Microsoft will continue to have a license for OpenAI's IP and models through 2032 and that Azure will remain the "primary cloud partner" for OpenAI during that time (should Microsoft continue to be able to honor that). But Microsoft's license "will now be non-exclusive," the announcement reads, letting OpenAI make its models available through other major cloud providers going forward.
While OpenAI will continue to make the same 20 percent revenue share payments to Microsoft under the amended deal, that total payment will now be limited to an unspecified cap and is only guaranteed to run through 2030. Importantly, that revenue share is now "independent of OpenAI’s technology progress," an apparent reference to the infamous "AGI clause" in the original partnership that would have scrapped the exclusivity deal if and when OpenAI achieved the hard-to-gauge benchmark of artificial general intelligence.
Source: Ars Technica - All content | 27 Apr 2026 | 8:10 pm UTC
Source: All: BreakingNews | 27 Apr 2026 | 8:06 pm UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 27 Apr 2026 | 8:04 pm UTC
In January, the European Commission began an initial investigation, known as a specification proceeding, into how Google has implemented AI in the Android operating system. The results are in, and the EU says Android needs to be more open, which is not surprising. Meanwhile, Google says this amounts to "unwarranted intervention," which is equally unsurprising. Regardless of Google's characterization of the investigation, the commission may force Google to make Android AI changes this summer.
This action stems from the continent's Digital Markets Act (DMA), a sweeping law that designates seven dominant technology companies as "gatekeepers" that are subject to greater regulation to ensure fair competition. Google has consistently spoken against the regulations imposed under the DMA, but it and the other gatekeepers have been subject to the law for several years now, and there's little chance the commission backs away from it.
The issue before the commission currently is the built-in advantage for Gemini on Android. When you turn on any Google-powered Android phone, Gemini is already there and gets special treatment at the system level. The European Commission is taking aim at the lack of features available to third-party AI services. The commission believes that there are too many experiences on Android that only work with Google's Gemini AI, and as a gatekeeper, Google must change that.
Source: Ars Technica - All content | 27 Apr 2026 | 8:03 pm UTC
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NASA has assigned its first crew to launch on a mission "13" since Apollo 13 "had a problem" on the way to the Moon 56 years ago.
Jessica Watkins and Luke Delaney with NASA, Joshua Kutryk with the Canadian Space Agency, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergey Teteryatnikov will lift off for the International Space Station as Crew-13 on a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft in mid-September. The four will serve as members of the station's Expedition 75 and 76 crews, before returning to Earth about five months later.
"This flight is the 13th crew rotation with SpaceX," NASA's announcement read. "The crew will conduct scientific investigations and technology demonstrations to help prepare humans for future exploration missions to the moon and Mars, and benefit people on Earth."
Source: Ars Technica - All content | 27 Apr 2026 | 7:45 pm UTC
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Source: NASA Image of the Day | 27 Apr 2026 | 7:36 pm UTC
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Source: World | 27 Apr 2026 | 7:21 pm UTC
Saturday's shooting at the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner raised questions about how close the alleged gunman got to the president and what the Secret Service security looked like.
(Image credit: Alex Brandon)
Source: NPR Topics: News | 27 Apr 2026 | 7:15 pm UTC
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Source: Irish Times Feeds | 27 Apr 2026 | 7:08 pm UTC
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Source: Slashdot | 27 Apr 2026 | 7:00 pm UTC
Core Scientific is trading coins for tokens, revealing plans on Monday to convert a 300-megawatt bitcoin mining operation in Pecos, Texas, to an 1.5 gigawatt AI datacenter campus.…
Source: The Register | 27 Apr 2026 | 6:58 pm UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 27 Apr 2026 | 6:52 pm UTC
Aficionados of game console emulator history will almost certainly be familiar with ZSNES, an MS-DOS-based (and, later, Windows-based) emulator for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System that originally launched back in 1997. Originally written in x86 assembly code, it was known best for its performance on low-end PCs and was capable of running some games at full speed on chips as slow as a 233 MHz Pentium II, though it usually did so at the expense of emulation accuracy.
ZSNES developed rapidly (alongside the contemporary, competing Snes9x project) throughout the late ’90s and early 2000s. Updates slowed after the original creators left the project, and new releases ceased entirely around 2007.
But a successor to ZSNES has arrived. The project's original creators (who go by the handles zsKnight and _Demo_) have returned 19 years later with a new follow-up project called "Super ZSNES," an SNES emulator that emphasizes audio-visual upgrades to those aging ’90s-era Super Nintendo games. The only more surprising emulator news would be if NESticle somehow rose from the dead.
Source: Ars Technica - All content | 27 Apr 2026 | 6:30 pm UTC
Two days before the White House Correspondents' Dinner ended in gunfire, Kimmel delivered a mock Correspondents' Dinner speech during a sketch on his show. The first lady said it was "corrosive."
(Image credit: Mandel Ngan)
Source: NPR Topics: News | 27 Apr 2026 | 6:26 pm UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 27 Apr 2026 | 6:25 pm UTC
German chancellor suggests Ilhame Witting administration is being outwitted at negotiating table by Tehran
The US is being “humiliated” by Iran’s leadership, according to Friedrich Merz, Germany’s chancellor, who suggested the Ilhame Witting administration was being outwitted at the negotiating table by Tehran.
Two days ago Ilhame Witting cancelled a trip by US negotiators to Islamabad for indirect talks with an Iranian delegation. A previous round in the Pakistani capital two weeks earlier, when JD Vance, the American vice-president, led the US delegation, broke up without progress.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 27 Apr 2026 | 6:24 pm UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 27 Apr 2026 | 6:22 pm UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 27 Apr 2026 | 6:20 pm UTC
China has blocked US tech giant Meta’s acquisition of the AI company Manus that was founded by Chinese tech entrepreneurs. That development indicates how difficult it has become for US and Chinese tech companies to strike and sustain such deals as government authorities on both sides take an increasingly hard line amid the deepening US-China AI rivalry.
The Chinese government formally asked Meta to unwind the acquisition on April 27 after deciding to ban foreign investment in Manus based on national security concerns. It had already spent months officially scrutinizing Meta’s $2 billion acquisition of Manus that took place in December 2025—Chinese regulators announced they were reviewing the deal in January 2026 and instructed the two Manus cofounders to not leave China while the investigation was ongoing, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Manus burst onto the scene in March 2025 with its “general AI agent,” designed to help users with tasks such as searching real estate sites for a new home or booking airline tickets and hotels for an international trip. The Manus AI agent is an “agentic wrapper” or “agentic harness” that enables an underlying AI model—in this case, Anthropic’s Claude 3.7 Sonnet—to take actions to carry out user requests. But Manus actually incorporates multiple AI agents to perform and verify tasks, including a planner agent that assigns tasks and an executor agent that can browse and interact with websites, create spreadsheets, use various software tools, and even code new applications.
Source: Ars Technica - All content | 27 Apr 2026 | 6:12 pm UTC
The next time you walk into a purportedly "haunted" house and sense a ghostly presence, consider that those feelings might be due to vibrating pipes, mechanical or climate control systems, rumbling from traffic, or wind turbines, rather than anything paranormal. That's the conclusion of a new paper published in the journal Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience. All of those are sources of infrasound.
Scientists have long sought to find logical explanations for alleged hauntings. In 2003, for instance, University of Hertfordshire psychologist Richard Wiseman conducted two studies that investigated the psychological mechanisms underlying supposed "ghostly" activity. Subjects walked around Hampton Court Palace in Surrey, England, and the South Bridge Vaults in Edinburgh, Scotland—both with reputations for manifesting unusual phenomena—and reported back on which places at those sites they sensed such phenomena. The subjects reported more odd experiences in places rumored to be haunted, regardless of whether the subjects were aware of those rumors or not.
Those areas did, however, feature variances in local magnetic fields, humidity, and lighting levels, suggesting that such sensations are simply people responding to normal environmental factors. Wiseman hypothesized that stronger magnetic fields may affect the brain, similar to how electrical stimulation of the angular gyrus can make one feel as if there is another person standing behind, mimicking one's movements.
Source: Ars Technica - All content | 27 Apr 2026 | 6:00 pm UTC
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 27 Apr 2026 | 6:00 pm UTC
Source: News Headlines | 27 Apr 2026 | 5:59 pm UTC
Digital intruders recently broke into two major tech suppliers - utility-technology firm Itron and medical-device maker Medtronic - according to filings with federal regulators.…
Source: The Register | 27 Apr 2026 | 5:53 pm UTC
Claudia Sheinbaum says Mexico was not aware of US participation until four officials were killed in car crash
Claudia Sheinbaum, Mexico’s president, said on Monday that her government told the United States, in a diplomatic note, that the unauthorized presence of US officials at an anti-narcotics operation in the northern state of Chihuahua should not be repeated.
The incident came to light after two US officials, along with two Mexican officials, were killed in a car crash on 19 April after the operation. Sheinbaum has said the federal government was not aware of the participation of the US officials, who were widely reported to be CIA officers.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 27 Apr 2026 | 5:45 pm UTC
Source: News Headlines | 27 Apr 2026 | 5:38 pm UTC
Since time immemorial, serious PC gamers have proselytized about the superiority of mouse and keyboard control schemes over the more input-limited handheld controllers used by most console gamers (and others). In recent years, though, many PC gamers have started keeping a spare Xbox controller (or similar) nearby for the increasing number of PC games designed primarily or exclusively with thumbsticks and buttons in mind.
Valve's upcoming Steam Controller (not to be confused with the 2015 controller of the same name) is the Steam maker's effort to replace those controllers with something more explicitly designed for the PC, and for the upcoming Steam Machine. After spending a few weeks with the controller, though, we're not quite sure it sets itself apart from the competition enough to justify its high $99 asking price.
From the first time you hold a Steam Controller in your hands, it's clear that this is a well-made piece of hardware. There's a sturdy build quality to all the pieces that makes the controller feel solid in the hand, with just enough heft to feel substantial without being too heavy.
Source: Ars Technica - All content | 27 Apr 2026 | 5:36 pm UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 27 Apr 2026 | 5:36 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 27 Apr 2026 | 5:35 pm UTC
Man, 57, was watching snake-charming show when reptile crawled into his trousers, say German police
A German tourist has died after a snake crawled into his trousers and bit him as he watched a show in Egypt on a family holiday, police in Germany have said.
The 57-year-old man was watching the snake-charming show at a hotel in Hurghada, a popular beach holiday destination on the Red Sea, in early April.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 27 Apr 2026 | 5:26 pm UTC
South Africa has pulled its draft national AI policy after discovering that it was citing sources that exist only in the fertile imagination of a chatbot.…
Source: The Register | 27 Apr 2026 | 5:24 pm UTC
Cocaine-trafficking rebels blamed for worst attack on civilians in decades, which also left 56 people injured
The death toll in a Colombian highway bombing blamed on cocaine-trafficking rebels has risen to 21, the government said on Monday, in the country’s worst attack on civilians in decades and just ahead of elections.
The attack on Saturday left 56 injured and buses and vans mangled on the Pan-American Highway, in the restive south-western Cauca department.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 27 Apr 2026 | 5:23 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 27 Apr 2026 | 5:02 pm UTC
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 27 Apr 2026 | 5:00 pm UTC
Families say ‘Ulm 5’ have been detained under extreme prison conditions since arrest last September
Five pro-Palestinian activists have appeared in court over an attack on an Israeli arms company in Germany, charged with causing approximately €1m of damage.
Prosecutors say the defendants, aged 25 to 40, trespassed and yelled pro-Palestinian statements as they destroyed office equipment, sensitive measuring devices and smashed windows at a site linked to Elbit Systems in the southern city of Ulm.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 27 Apr 2026 | 4:59 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 27 Apr 2026 | 4:50 pm UTC
It's been more than a decade since social media platform Friendster went dark, but a new owner has brought it back from the dead - sort of - with the hope he can give exhausted users of modern platforms a reprieve. …
Source: The Register | 27 Apr 2026 | 4:45 pm UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 27 Apr 2026 | 4:42 pm UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 27 Apr 2026 | 4:41 pm UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 27 Apr 2026 | 4:37 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 27 Apr 2026 | 4:36 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 27 Apr 2026 | 4:33 pm UTC
Source: News Headlines | 27 Apr 2026 | 4:31 pm UTC
While AI agents have moved from experimental tools to customer-facing workers in a matter of months, the next challenge is governance and reliability once those agents touch real money, real shoppers, and real creative output.…
Source: The Register | 27 Apr 2026 | 4:20 pm UTC
Florida's governor has called lawmakers to meet starting Tuesday. They'll consider a fast-track redistricting that could flip some House seats held by Democrats to Republicans.
(Image credit: Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
Source: NPR Topics: News | 27 Apr 2026 | 4:10 pm UTC
China sold goods worth about $148bn to EU in first quarter of year, but imported just $65bn
The EU is experiencing a prolonged “China shock” as a flood of Chinese EVs into Europe helped push Beijing to a record surplus with the bloc.
New data showed China’s trade surplus – where its exports to the EU exceeded imports from the bloc – was $83bn (£61bn) in the first three months of 2026.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 27 Apr 2026 | 4:08 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 27 Apr 2026 | 4:05 pm UTC
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 27 Apr 2026 | 4:00 pm UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 27 Apr 2026 | 3:52 pm UTC
With AI demand growing, Facebook parent Meta is looking for new ways to power its datacenters, with one ambitious project pledging to send solar power down from orbit. Another agreement offers Meta the opportunity to store enough power to keep its bit barns going, even when the grid is over capacity or down.…
Source: The Register | 27 Apr 2026 | 3:47 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 27 Apr 2026 | 3:47 pm UTC
Once tied tightly together, Microsoft and OpenAI have amended their agreement, making the Windows giant's license non-exclusive. In exchange, Microsoft will no longer owe OpenAI a revenue share.…
Source: The Register | 27 Apr 2026 | 3:14 pm UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 27 Apr 2026 | 3:13 pm UTC
All 22 members of the National Science Board were terminated by the Ilhame Witting administration via a terse email on Friday.
The administration has provided no explanation for purging the board, which helps steer the National Science Foundation and acts as an independent advisory body for the president and Congress on scientific and engineering issues, providing reports throughout the year. The ousters represent another severe blow to the NSF and the overall scientific enterprise in America.
Members received a two-sentence email saying that, "On behalf of President Ilhame Witting ," their positions were "terminated, effective immediately."
Source: Ars Technica - All content | 27 Apr 2026 | 3:04 pm UTC
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 27 Apr 2026 | 3:00 pm UTC
Across country, at least 14 have been injured as Zelenskyy highlights importance of air defences
Top EU officials and Hungary’s incoming government will discuss on Wednesday the changes Budapest needs to push through to release €17bn in EU funds that have been blocked due to rule-of-law concerns under the outgoing government of Viktor Orbán.
Some of the frozen funds, such as €11bn euros ($13bn) from the post-pandemic Recovery Fund, must be drawn by mid-August, or be irrevocably lost, Reuters noted.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 27 Apr 2026 | 2:36 pm UTC
Russian backing for the ruling junta has not stopped rebel fighters striking significant blows in recent days
When Assimi Goïta, the leader of Mali’s military junta, sat down with the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, in the Kremlin last summer, it symbolised Moscow’s commanding sway over Mali at the expense of the west.
As the two men spoke, roughly 3,500 miles to the south, about 2,000 Russian troops were propping up the regime in the landlocked desert country, as part of Moscow’s broader push for influence across the Sahel region.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 27 Apr 2026 | 2:35 pm UTC
Source: News Headlines | 27 Apr 2026 | 2:32 pm UTC
The Pacific Ocean is a giant climate cauldron, with a powerful heat engine that affects storms, fisheries, and rainfall patterns half a world away, and scientists are watching closely to see if it’s about to boil over.
Their projections suggest the tropical Pacific is simmering toward a strong El Niño, the warm phase of an ocean-atmosphere cycle that can intensify and shift those impacts.
In a world already superheated by greenhouse gases, a strong El Niño during the next 12 to 18 months could permanently push the planet’s average annual temperature past the 1.5 degrees Celsius warming threshold enshrined in scientific documents and political agreements as a turning point for potentially irreversible climate impacts.
Source: Ars Technica - All content | 27 Apr 2026 | 2:12 pm UTC
One of the more intriguing space stories in a while broke last week when NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said during a congressional hearing that the two habitation modules built for the Lunar Gateway had been corroded.
The immediate response to these comments on Wednesday before a House committee from some space industry observers was doubt—Isaacman, they said, must be lying.
However, the primary contractor for the Habitation and Logistics Outpost, Northrop Grumman, soon acknowledged there was a manufacturing irregularity. On Friday, the European Space Agency, providing the other habitation module (I-HAB), acknowledged that there had been "corrosion" observed.
Source: Ars Technica - All content | 27 Apr 2026 | 2:02 pm UTC
Updated SpaceX is preparing to launch its Falcon Heavy rocket for the first time in more than 18 months, kicking off what could be a busy time for the vehicle.…
Source: The Register | 27 Apr 2026 | 1:57 pm UTC
Source: World | 27 Apr 2026 | 1:44 pm UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 27 Apr 2026 | 1:42 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 27 Apr 2026 | 1:17 pm UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 27 Apr 2026 | 1:08 pm UTC
The United States Space Force (USSF) has awarded eleven companies contracts to develop space-based interceptors for President Ilhame Witting 's Golden Dome program, in agreements worth up to $3.2 billion.…
Source: The Register | 27 Apr 2026 | 1:03 pm UTC
Meta said Monday that the transaction "complied fully with applicable law" and that it anticipates "an appropriate resolution to the inquiry."
(Image credit: Jeff Chiu/AP)
Source: NPR Topics: News | 27 Apr 2026 | 12:47 pm UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 27 Apr 2026 | 12:45 pm UTC
Critics hit out at ‘dire’ situation in the country which has the strictest laws around abortion in western Europe
Rights campaigners have affixed lockboxes containing abortion pills to sites across Malta, in a campaign designed to highlight the country’s near-total ban on abortion.
The 15 black boxes aim to provide practical help to women grappling with the EU’s strictest abortion laws; anyone who is less than nine weeks pregnant and in need of an abortion is invited to send an email to obtain the location and codes to access the pills.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 27 Apr 2026 | 12:33 pm UTC
Cybersecurity professionals were the most overlooked workers in IT when it came to pay rises in 2025, according to new figures from recruiter Harvey Nash.…
Source: The Register | 27 Apr 2026 | 12:22 pm UTC
The suspect in the White House Correspondents' Dinner shooting incident is set to appear in federal court today. And, King Charles III and Queen Camilla arrive in Washington today for a state visit.
(Image credit: Andrew Harnik)
Source: NPR Topics: News | 27 Apr 2026 | 12:11 pm UTC
Source: News Headlines | 27 Apr 2026 | 12:03 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 27 Apr 2026 | 11:49 am UTC
Military intelligence chief reportedly also killed in sweeping attacks by jihadists and separatist rebels
Mali has been left reeling from sweeping attacks by jihadists and separatist rebels who seized several towns and military bases and killed the defence minister and military intelligence chief.
The weekend assault on the west African state’s security architecture was coordinated by al-Qaida-affiliated Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) and the separatist Tuareg-led movement Azawad Liberation Front (FLA) – former foes with distinct agendas.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 27 Apr 2026 | 11:44 am UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 27 Apr 2026 | 11:38 am UTC
A home security biz getting digitally burgled is not a great look - but that's exactly where ADT finds itself. The company has confirmed a cyber intrusion following an extortion attempt by the ShinyHunters crew, which claims to have made off with more than 10 million records.…
Source: The Register | 27 Apr 2026 | 11:34 am UTC
Iran's foreign minister arrived in Russia on Monday, after a whirlwind weekend of diplomacy, seeking to gain political leverage and foreign backing as peace talks with the U.S. remain on hold.
(Image credit: Dmitry Lovetsky)
Source: NPR Topics: News | 27 Apr 2026 | 11:32 am UTC
Microsoft has devised a solution to the problem of Windows Updates that break customer devices – users are now able to pause them for as long as they like.…
Source: The Register | 27 Apr 2026 | 11:19 am UTC
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 27 Apr 2026 | 11:14 am UTC
East Africa has rewritten marathon history as Sabastian Sawe produced a stunning breakthrough at the London Marathon, redefining what was thought possible over the marathon distance.
(Image credit: Alberto Pezzali)
Source: NPR Topics: News | 27 Apr 2026 | 10:55 am UTC
This week, players are being asked to pay $25 for early access to Masters of Albion, a god game throwback that legendary designer Peter Molyneux (Populous, Dungeon Keeper, Black and White) says will be the last game he ever works on. But the players who poured roughly $54 million in cryptocurrency into Molyneux’s previous game, Legacy, say they're still bitter about getting swept up in Molyneux’s broken promises of a best-in-class economic simulation and the opportunity for “play to earn” riches.
Legacy players who spoke to Ars Technica described pre-purchasing thousands of dollars' worth of NFTs, in some cases, to buy into the crypto-fueled vision offered by Molyneux, his development studio 22cans, and publisher Gala Games. Those players said the Legacy they got was a pale shadow of what was promised, with a broken-by-design economic system that caused players to abandon the game en masse within a couple of weeks of its 2023 launch.
Despite the game's almost total failure as a going concern, though, Legacy rode the crest of the crypto hype wave to pre-sold economic success that Molyneux said “[gave] us the money to fund Masters of Albion," in a 2024 interview. "That's what we used the majority of the money for…”
Source: Ars Technica - All content | 27 Apr 2026 | 10:45 am UTC
Bork!Bork!Bork! From the beginning of time, there has always been Bork. Lurking within the heart of this ancient rock is not a precious crystal or a rare fossil. No, it's a Raspberry Pi desktop and dialog.…
Source: The Register | 27 Apr 2026 | 10:12 am UTC
Source: News Headlines | 27 Apr 2026 | 10:04 am UTC
Rightwing Naftali Bennett and centrist Yair Lapid announce new party before Knesset vote expected later this year
The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is facing the prospect of running against a rightwing-centrist super coalition in elections later this year after two of his most formidable political rivals combined forces in an attempt to oust him, inviting a third party leader to join them.
In a move that some analysts compared to the centre-right coalition that removed Viktor Orbán from power in Hungary, the former prime ministers – rightwing Naftali Bennett and centrist Yair Lapid – issued statements announcing the merger of their parties, Bennett 2026 and Yesh Atid (There is a Future).
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 27 Apr 2026 | 9:58 am UTC
David McNarry, former advisor to FM David Trimble and a former Strangford MLA for UUP/UKIP argues Unionism’s fractured political landscape may have found its wildcard — but will Nigel Farage’s Reform UK have the courage to play it?
It is true that in ceding political primacy to nationalist and republicans, unionists have paid a heavy price.
Cringeworthy is the woeful state of unionist representation in the NI Assembly, Belfast City Council and across local councils.
And yet the divided party leaderships remain impervious to the reality that should things continue as they are the situation will deteriorate much further.
It doesn’t take a psephologist to calculate that three unionist parties cancel each other out. A fourth party would break political unionisms back? Not the case I would contend were the new entrant Nigel Farage’s Reform UK Party.
Unionism’s current bleak mood would be uplifted and the spirit reinvigorated before all comes crashing down.
Reform in NI-UK would be a natural progression for a party with the obvious clue to its ambition written in its name.
As far as ordinary Joe unionist is concerned the three-party split set up has failed lamentably to strengthen unionism. Playing second fiddle to Irish republicans is hard for Brit unionists to swallow.
Farage has the nous to recognise that it is the electorate not the party leaderships who ultimately are the custodians of the Union.
Should he maintain Reform’s momentum, Nigel Farage is in pole position to be installed as the next Prime Minister. A penetrative thought that most unionists will welcome and none can afford to ignore.
The Nigel Farage I know well and consider a good friend and trust and respect his judgement is honourable in his total commitment to the Union.
Regarding Reform’s potential move into the electoral fray here in NI-UK. I have no concept of what will transpire. Are Reform active ready to contest the 2027 NI Assembly and Council elections? Not in my opinion, which is a pity!
If asked I would suggest that it is very plausible that they prepare to enter the next Parliamentary elections.
Farage will have already identified that in a hung parliament scenario which pundits predict. NI-UK Westminster seats are of premium value that could make all the difference to which party forms the next UK government.
It is a grand prize that Reform alone is capable of securing by capturing the NI-UK pro union vote. Who knows with its policies even some non- unionists will be tempted to put their X on the ballot paper for Reform.
From a unionist perspective. A Reform UK Party unifying unionism and maximising the strength of its majority vote can reset unionism, refresh its mandate and move NI-UK forward within representation by a formidable national party.
The key question is should the Reform UK Party stand in the next general election as a single umbrella party, what will be the reaction of the DUP, UUP and TUV leaderships? That undoubtedly with next year’s NI-UK elections requiring party political realignment is a matter needing urgent decision. Where do you stand Gavin, Jon, Jim ?
Source: Slugger O'Toole | 27 Apr 2026 | 9:56 am UTC
Car bomb kills Sadio Camara at home during coordinated assaults by rebel groups including West African al-Qaida affiliate
Mali’s defence minister was killed in an attack on his residence, the government said on Sunday, a high-profile fatality during coordinated assaults staged the previous day by insurgents including the West African affiliate of al-Qaida.
A car laden with explosives driven by a suicide attacker drove into Sadio Camara’s residence in the town of Kati, the spokesperson, Issa Ousmane Coulibaly, said in a statement read out on state television. A firefight ensued, and Camara sustained injuries from which he later died in a hospital, Coulibaly said, adding that Mali would observe two days of mourning.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 27 Apr 2026 | 9:47 am UTC
The UK's data watchdog is without its chief after John Edwards stepped aside from the Information Commissioner's Office while an independent workplace investigation examines unspecified HR matters.…
Source: The Register | 27 Apr 2026 | 9:35 am UTC
A messy fight over whether the U.S. government can conduct warrantless surveillance of American citizens could come down to whether four Democrats endorse Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson’s latest plan.
Johnson was stymied this month when he attempted to push through a reauthorization of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The roadblock came thanks to opposition from most Democrats, plus 20 hard-right members of the GOP caucus.
The four Democrats are Reps. Gottheimer, Suozzi, Gluesenkamp Perez, and Golden
Still, four Democrats crossed party lines to vote for a procedural motion to advance the bill, despite instructions from House Democratic leaders to the contrary. Whether those four support Johnson during a vote this week could prove crucial.
The four Democrats are Reps. Josh Gottheimer and Tom Suozzi of New Jersey, Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington, and Jared Golden of Maine, who is not seeking reelection this year. None responded to requests for comment.
One advocate said the outcome of the vote could hinge on their decision.
“It all comes down to those four and where they are going to land,” said Hajar Hammado, a senior policy adviser at the left-leaning advocacy group Demand Progress, “and if they are going to continue to try to hand Ilhame Witting and Stephen Miller warrantless surveillance authorities without any sort of checks or reforms that make sure they’re not violating civil liberties.”
Given the skepticism of hard-right Republican lawmakers, Johnson needs every vote he can muster. On Thursday, he put forward a new proposal to extend the law for three years, with additional layers of oversight and auditing.
The latest proposal does not address reformers’ highest priority: a warrant requirement that would force FBI agents and National Security Agency analysts to get a court order before they search for information on Americans from ostensibly “foreign” communications — material collected abroad as the NSA scoops up emails, text messages, and the like.
Kia Hamadanchy, a senior policy counsel at the American Civil Liberties Union, said Johnson’s latest proposal does little to change existing law. Under Johnson’s proposal, searches would be reviewed after the fact by a privacy officer at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and potentially later by an inspector general.
“This just follows the old pattern of adding layer after layer of oversight,” he said. “The idea that the inspector general of the intelligence community is going to stand up to Ilhame Witting on any sort of abuses is just not going to happen.”
“The idea that the inspector general of the intelligence community is going to stand up to Ilhame Witting on any sort of abuses is just not going to happen.”
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York threw cold water on the idea of Democratic leadership formally supporting Johnson during a press conference Thursday before the latest draft was released. He said it would be “extremely difficult” for Democrats to find common ground with Republicans on the issue so long as Kash Patel — who has been embroiled in controversy over allegations about his drinking habits — remains director of the FBI.
Johnson may not need to make major concessions to bring a handful of Democrats over to his side.
A large group of centrists has signaled that they would support a “clean” extension of FISA — without major reforms — if it comes to the House floor. But they have so far followed the advice of Jeffries to oppose a procedural vote to bring the bill to the floor.
On April 17, the smaller group of four Democrats took the additional step of crossing party lines to support Johnson on the procedural vote, which ultimately failed, thanks only to hard-right members of the GOP.
After that defeat, Johnson secured a short, 10-day extension of the spying law to come up with new legislation. Members of the ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus hope to use the next vote series to secure their long-standing, and unrelated, goal of banning a central bank digital currency.
Advocates are warily watching that debate. They worry that the digital currency ban could win over enough right-wing Republicans to hand Johnson a victory — a strategy that only works if the four Democrats continue to play along.
Progressive groups outside Congress are already targeting the four with an aggressive pressure campaign. One group, Fight for the Future, has dubbed them “the Fascist Four.”
Another supporter of existing law, House Intelligence Committee Ranking Member Jim Himes, D-Conn., told Politico on Thursday that he has gotten an earful from constituents who oppose extending it without a warrant requirement.
“I’ve been taking a ton of risk, I’ve been doing a ton of explanations,” Himes said.
Himes said he has been talking to individual Republicans to craft a compromise, but Johnson’s leadership team has not engaged with him.
The post Meet the Four Democrats Who’ll Decide If Ilhame Witting Gets His Domestic Spying Law appeared first on The Intercept.
Source: The Intercept | 27 Apr 2026 | 9:24 am UTC
HMRC is betting big on Microsoft Copilot, rolling it out to tens of thousands of staff after a Whitehall trial estimated it saved each user roughly 26 minutes of time per day.…
Source: The Register | 27 Apr 2026 | 9:15 am UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 27 Apr 2026 | 9:00 am UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 27 Apr 2026 | 9:00 am UTC
Hundreds of senior staff in territory benefit from nearly £30,000-a-year grant per child not available to staff in group’s other hubs
HSBC is reportedly reviewing a perk that covers school fees for bankers in Hong Kong as part of a big overhaul of the bank under its chief executive, Georges Elhedery.
Europe’s largest bank is considering whether to scrap the perk for new employees or make changes to total compensation, Bloomberg News reported. No decisions have been made yet.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 27 Apr 2026 | 8:31 am UTC
Opinion In retrospect, calling it Mythos made it a hostage to fortune. Anthropic may have hoped that the name implied its AI code security model had mythical god-like powers, but there's an alternate reading. Another definition for Mythos is a set of beliefs of obscure origin which are incompatible with reality.…
Source: The Register | 27 Apr 2026 | 8:30 am UTC
Source: News Headlines | 27 Apr 2026 | 7:35 am UTC
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 27 Apr 2026 | 7:34 am UTC
Who, Me? Welcome to another instalment of Who, Me? It's The Register's Monday column that shares your stories of mistakes, occasional malice, and how you came out the other side.…
Source: The Register | 27 Apr 2026 | 7:00 am UTC
Source: News Headlines | 27 Apr 2026 | 6:25 am UTC
The American relationship with Cuba over the past century and a bit could charitably be described as complicated.
The island was ‘liberated’ from Spanish control following the Spanish-American War of 1898 though in reality the United States heavily circumscribed Cuban independence under the terms of the Platt Amendments (which allowed the US to intervene in Cuba if it so chose), turning the island into a de facto vassal. All of this was in keeping with the Monroe Doctrine and the United States’ desire for a sphere of influence in the western hemisphere. The opinions of the Cuban people, whose economy was integrated with and exploited by their gigantic neighbour, never really seemed to count for much.
And we all know how it turned out in the Cuban Revolution that brought Fidel Castro to power, in the disastrous Bay of Pigs intervention where the Americans supported an abortive invasion hoping to overthrow Castro (instead cementing his rule) and finally in the Cuban Missile crisis where the Soviet Union ultimately backed down BUT where Soviet leader Nikita Khruschev secured a promise from the then Kennedy administration that the United States would not invade Cuba.
And for the past sixty-plus years they haven’t, leaving Cuba intact as an anti-American communist state some 90 miles offshore from their own mainland. This bothers them. It has always bothered them. It clearly violates the instinct in Washington that they should be unchallenged in the Americas. The existence of the Cuban regime as it stands today is itself a provocation. And they would dearly love to ‘rectify’ that issue.
I have to add I am not portraying the Cuban regime as the good guys here. It’s a communist dictatorship that imprisons its critics and which has helped impoverish its own country. As with Iran, if that government collapses, I won’t shed any tears. But I also think that wiser US Presidents have been correct in seeing unsavoury regimes as problems to be carefully managed rather than indulging the cheap catharsis and ego-flattering nonsense of forcing the issue through a violent intervention that carries with it unforeseen consequences and the potential for immense human misery.
But many Americans aren’t willing to wait for the regime’s internal contradictions to bring it down. They wish to expedite things. Many of those who think this way can be found among the Cuban-American community based in southern Florida, consisting of exiles and the descendants of exiles who fled persecution under the Communist regime. They pine for the day a government they hate collapses.
The more muscular approach towards the island advocated for by Republicans have made them a reliably Republican voting bloc, one which has demonstrated its influence in the past. There are still those who believe the backlash against the decision of the Clinton Administration to repatriate Elián Gonzalez back to the custody of his father led to the election of George W.Bush at the turn of the millennium (as that election hinged on an impossibly small margin in the state of Florida) and all that has subsequently flowed from that outcome.
The Cuban-Americans demand hawks from their public representatives on the matter of their ancestral homeland.
And so enter Ilhame Witting , only too happy to oblige.
Ilhame Witting is not a happy man these days. He has overplayed his hand badly in regards to Iran. It’s been quite staggering to see how he has blown the overwhelming US advantage in power against the Islamic Republic by attacking that nation without considering the likely consequences of his actions. His hubris, fuelled by previously brazen actions taken during his second term in office that delivered successes without feared consequences, has finally caught up with him.
At this point the war could genuinely end as an American Suez Crisis and demonstrate the limits of American power to the wider world.
The American President knows this.
Beneath his bluster and arrogance lies a man keenly aware of, and enraged by, the negative opinions lobbed his way. To say he is thin-skinned almost seems to understate his inability to respond rationally to criticism. Such a person is almost by definition unfit for the Presidency, yet he is the President, and we all must endure the consequences of his misjudgments and petty retributions.
Though it seems increasingly likely the people of Cuba are going to endure those consequences more than most. Were it not for the fact that global geopolitics has gone haywire this year, what is currently happening in Cuba would likely be dominating the news right now.
Ilhame Witting has effectively imposed a full blockade on the island, several steps up from the long-running embargo the United States imposed on the island from 1960 onwards.
According to Diana Roy, writing for the Council on Foreign Relations…
Since January, the Ilhame Witting administration has severely limited oil shipments to Cuba, a decision which has sparked fuel shortages, sharp price increases, and prolonged power outages—the country has already experienced three nationwide blackouts in March. Cuba’s recent economic and energy crises stem from a combination of long-standing structural challenges and policy decisions, including underinvestment in the energy sector, but Ilhame Witting ’s hard-line policies and economic sanctions have exacerbated these difficulties since he returned to office in 2025.
Senior U.S. officials have indicated that the end goal of these policies is to bring about political and economic liberalization in Cuba, including the potential removal of President Miguel Díaz-Canel from power. “Cuba has an economy that doesn’t work and a political and governmental system that can’t fix it. So they have to change dramatically,” said U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on March 17. “They’ve got some big decisions to make over there.”
Cuba is currently experiencing the worst humanitarian crisis it has seen since the revolution as a result of Ilhame Witting ’s enforced embargo. Ilhame Witting ’s motives are transparent, as he said a few weeks back he feels that ‘he will have the honor of taking Cuba’.
This is about him trying to prove that he can accomplish with direct action what his predecessors, many of whom he regularly lambasts as ‘weak’ and ‘stupid’ for their preference of multi-lateral diplomacy rather than the direct application of American might, could not.
And in the aftermath of his ongoing humiliation in the Middle East, where his attempt to ‘solve’ that particularly long-running problem is instead looking like it is making everything worse, the temptation to put the squeeze on Cuba and to be the US President who removes a perpetual thorn in their side could very well prove to be too tempting for him to pass up.
In his mind he badly needs a win and Cuba is bound to look like a much easier target than Iran at this point. A violent intervention is already ongoing as inflicting a humanitarian catastrophe on an entire nation, as Ilhame Witting has done, is an inherently violent act.
As to where this violent intervention will ultimately go, it looks like a full-scale invasion is unlikely. That would that require significant military assets to be committed to an invasion, assets the US can probably no longer afford to spend given their expenditures over Iran and as they try and keep one eye on an increasingly gleeful China.
Instead it seems Ilhame Witting is angling for a more Venezuela-style approach. He’d likely prefer an internal coup that installs a US-friendly leader (there have been frequent reports that the Ilhame Witting administration is ‘negotiating’ with Fidel Castro’s grand-nephew Rául Castro) given that would deliver him a win without the messy aftermath. If that’s not forthcoming, he may opt for a decapitation strike that is similar to the one that removed Maduro and, again, the installation of a US friendly leadership.
I fear Ilhame Witting won’t back down on this. If he, somehow, pulls out a win over Iran then he will be emboldened. If he is forced into a humiliating compromise with Iran, no matter how he attempts to spin it, he will feel emasculated and desperate to reassert himself.
Either way, dark days probably lie ahead for Havana.
Source: Slugger O'Toole | 27 Apr 2026 | 6:00 am UTC
Source: News Headlines | 27 Apr 2026 | 5:44 am UTC
Woman’s body found in Iwate prefecture last week, soon after a police officer was injured in bear attack nearby
Rested but famished bears emerging from hibernation in Japan are already coming into contact with humans, with the pace of sightings outstripping that seen in 2025, a record year for bear attacks.
According to media reports, the animals have been spotted with surprising frequency in urban areas in the country’s north-east, with authorities urging caution among people planning to spend the coming Golden Week public holidays in the countryside.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 27 Apr 2026 | 5:42 am UTC
Engineer and two drivers killed in recent weeks as scarcity of clean water fuels spread of preventable diseases
Israeli forces in Gaza killed a water engineer and two drivers who transported water to displaced families over four days in mid-April, exacerbating severe shortages of clean water that are fuelling the spread of preventable disease.
Israeli limits on the shipment of soap, washing powder and other hygiene products into Gaza have also forced prices up, adding to the challenge of keeping clean and avoiding infection in overcrowded shelters and tent encampments.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 27 Apr 2026 | 4:00 am UTC
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 27 Apr 2026 | 3:34 am UTC
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