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WORLD   US   POLITICS  
Trump rules out talks absent Iran's 'unconditional surrender' as Israel strikes Lebanon
- DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Israeli warplanes pounded Beirut and Tehran on Friday as Iran launched another wave of retaliatory strikes against Israel and Gulf countries. There was no sign of the war letting up on its seventh day, as U.S. President Donald Trump appeared to rule out negotiations with Iran and called for its "unconditional surrender." The strikes in Lebanon were the heaviest since a 2024 ...

Source: apnews.com
US   POLITICS  
Why did Trump fire Kristi Noem as DHS secretary; who is Markwayne Mullin?
- United States President Donald Trump has announced that Kristi Noem will be replaced as secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), marking the first major change to his cabinet since his re-election. Noem, who has overseen Trump's controversial immigration crackdown, will instead serve as a special envoy for the Shield of the Americas, a newly created security initiative. Her removal follows a tense, ...

Source: aljazeera.com
US   POLITICS  
Tech industry is in tariff hell, even if refunds are automated
- Trade groups urge court to create a simple blueprint for tariff refunds. It has been two weeks since the Supreme Court blocked Donald Trump's emergency tariffs , but an estimated 300,000 US businesses still have no idea if or when they will receive refunds. Economists have estimated that more than $175 billion was unlawfully collected, and the US could end up owing substantially more than that the longer the refund ...

Source: arstechnica.com
US   POLITICS  
Rep. Tony Gonzales drops re-election bid after admitting affair with staffer
- Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent Notifications can be managed in browser preferences. Swipe for next article Gonzales admitted Wednesday to having an affair with Regina Santos-Aviles, who worked in his Uvalde office Representative Tony Gonzales has dropped his bid for re-election after admitting to having an affair with a staffer who later died by suicide. The Texas Republican wrote in a ...

Source: independent.co.uk
US   POLITICS  
DOJ releases missing Epstein files related to a woman who made an allegation against Trump
- The Justice Department on Thursday released previously unseen documents from the Epstein files that included new summaries and notes from interviews the FBI conducted with a woman from South Carolina who made allegations against the late sex offender and President Donald Trump, according to an NBC News analysis. In a series of 2019 interviews with the FBI, the woman said she was a sexual assault victim of Jeffrey ...

Source: nbcnews.com
US   POLITICS  
Contributor: The stars align for Democrats in Texas. Trump is helping them
- If Democrats expect to flip a U.S. Senate seat in Texas, they'll need all the stars to align. This almost never happens, because politics has a way of scrambling the constellations. But on Tuesday, the first star blinked on. I'm referring to state Rep. James Talarico's victory over Rep. Jasmine Crockett in the Democratic primary. Most political prognosticators agree that Talarico, an eloquent young Democrat who ...

Source: news.yahoo.com
US   MARKETS  
Lenders lift mortgage rates as Iran war hits borrowing costs
- UK lenders have begun raising mortgage interest rates as the ongoing conflict in the Middle East has raised fears that inflation will rise and curb further Bank of England rate cuts. Nationwide has increased rates some of its products by up to 0.25%, while HSBC UK and Coventry Building Society have also said they will increase rates. The increases come after changes to the financial market's view of what the Bank ...

Source: bbc.com
POLITICS  
Pentagon labels Anthropic a supply-chain risk
- And Anthropic says it will fight back in court. The US Department of War has issued the first such designation ever applied to an American company, demanding that defence contractors certify they do not use Claude. Anthropic says the action is unlawful and retaliatory. For months, the conversations between Anthropic and the US Department of War were framed, at least publicly, as a negotiation. The San Francisco AI ...

Source: thenextweb.com
WORLD  
Ukrainian troops say their hard-won lessons on Iranian Shaheds apply far beyond their war at home
- The drones Iran is launching at US forces are the same ones Ukraine has fought for years. Ukrainian soldiers say their battlefield experience offers lessons that matter in this fight. Alex Eine, the commander of a small Ukrainian drone unit , said it was "surprising" to see reports out of the Middle East of multimillion-dollar interceptors being used to combat cheap Iranian one-way attack drones. "When long-range ...

Source: businessinsider.com
BUSINESS  
OpenAI's GPT-5.4 doubles down on safety as competition heats up
- Help Net Security newsletters : Daily and weekly news, cybersecurity jobs, open source projects, breaking news – subscribe here! In the midst of recent developments and controversies surrounding a contract with the U.S. Department of Defense, OpenAI released the GPT-5.4 model. The release comes at a time when users are reportedly leaving ChatGPT for rival chatbots , particularly Anthropic's Claude. GPT-5.4 is ...

Source: helpnetsecurity.com
WORLD   POLITICS  
How Iran and Venezuela strikes transform the Trump-Xi trade talks
- The U.S. and Israeli war on Iran has drawn opposition from China and stoked tensions between Beijing and Washington. The military action will set the "mood music" for a high-stakes meeting between Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping in China, experts say. Before the Trump-Xi summit, top U.S. and Chinese trade officials, including Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng, are expected ...

Source: cnbc.com
POLITICS  
Trump Straight-Out Says Which Country Could Be Next For Regime Change
- With the administration challenging the Court and Congress, independent reporting is the only thing standing between you and the noise. Your membership funds the courage to ask the hard questions. Don't let the truth be sidelined. Already a member? Cuba appears to be next on Donald Trump 's hit list. But not just yet. The president appeared to suggest U.S.-assisted regime change in the communist-run Caribbean ...

Source: huffpost.com
MEDICINE  
Weight-loss drugs may help treat addiction to multiple substances
- Follow Earth on Google Addiction affects millions of people worldwide, yet treatments often target only one substance at a time. A medication that could reduce cravings for several addictive substances would mark a major shift in addiction treatment. Researchers at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis report that GLP-1 receptor agonists, a group of medicines used to treat type 2 diabetes and ...

Source: earth.com
Top tech companies sign Trump's pledge to provide their own power for AI data centers
- By In a ceremony at the White House on Wednesday, executives from seven major tech companies signed a pledge with President Trump to supply their own power for artificial intelligence data centers. Leaders from Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft, xAI, Oracle and OpenAI agreed to the " ratepayer protection pledge " Trump first announced during last week's State of the Union address . The president said the plan will ...

Source: miamiherald.com
US   BUSINESS  
Elon Musk defends tweets in lawsuit alleging they caused Twitter stock to fall before acquisition
- SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Elon Musk continued to defend his actions in the months leading up to his 2022 purchase of Twitter in court Thursday as he faces a class action lawsuit claiming he misled investors and caused them to lose millions of dollars. The civil trial in San Francisco centers on a class-action lawsuit filed just before Musk took control of Twitter, a social media service he renamed X, in October ...

Source: apnews.com
TECHNOLOGY  
Google changes Play Store policies after settling Epic Games dispute
- Help Net Security newsletters : Daily and weekly news, cybersecurity jobs, open source projects, breaking news – subscribe here! Google is making changes to the Play Store after settling its legal fight with Epic Games, focusing on three areas: more billing options, lower fees with new programs for developers, and a program for registered app stores. The rollout begins in the European Economic Area, the ...

Source: helpnetsecurity.com
RFK Jr. pushes medical schools to teach more about nutrition
- Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced a new push Thursday to get medical schools to teach more about nutrition. Kennedy has spent months pressing schools to increase nutrition education, threatening funding cuts for those that refuse and promising public recognition for those that comply. He has long argued that doctors are undertrained in nutrition, leading to a focus on treating chronic diseases with ...

Source: nbcnews.com
WORLD  
Iran denies its drones hit airport in Azerbaijan's exclave as war widens
- President Ilham Alliyev of Azerbaijan has sought Iran's apology after a drone attack targeted the autonomous Nakhchivan exclave, opening yet another front in the ongoing war launched by the United States and Israel and the retaliation from Tehran. Alliyev on Thursday said those responsible must be held accountable after Nakhchivan was "subjected to cowardly fire". Two people were injured in Thursday's drone attack ...

Source: aljazeera.com
BUSINESS  
Apple expands lineup with budget MacBook Neo and AI-focused chips - TechBriefly
- Apple Inc. this week unveiled a new series of products, including the iPhone 17e, M4 iPad Air, M5 MacBook Air, and MacBook Neo, alongside updated MacBook Pro models and new Studio Displays. The announcements outline a strategic expansion of Apple's product lines, focusing on AI integration across its M-series chips and introducing more budget-friendly options to compete in various market segments. On Monday, Apple ...

Source: techbriefly.com
Is It Illegal to Bet on Inside Information About the Iran War?
- Is It Really Illegal to Bet on Inside Information About the Iran War? How About MrBeast? Kalshi and Polymarket are creating a new kind of dilemma. Save this article to read it later. Find this story in your account's 'Saved for Later' section. On prediction markets, there are many ways you can make or lose money on America's foreign wars. There's been plenty of demand lately. Before the U.S. captured Nicolás ...

Source: nymag.com
United Airlines says it will boot passengers who refuse to use headphones on planes
- Listen up, flyers: United Airlines said it will start removing passengers from flights who refuse to wear headphones while listening to content on their personal devices, and such behavior could lead to a permanent ban. The airline revised its contract of carriage on Feb. 27 to include the new provision, which sits under the " refusal of transport " section that outlines the instances in which United can boot its ...

Source: nbcnews.com
WORLD  
China sets lowest GDP growth target for decades as it braces for economic slowdown
- 'High-quality growth' target of 4.5-5% outlined at Two Sessions as Chinese premier talks of complex situations at home and abroad China has set its target for GDP growth to a record low of 4.5-5%, the first time since 1991 that the figure has dropped below 5%, reflecting an economic strategy that is shifting away from export-led growth to a model that leaders hope will be more resilient to external shocks. Li ...

Source: theguardian.com
US  
Trader Joe's and Ralphs recall some frozen foods amid glass contamination concerns
- By Iris Kwok, Los Angeles Times Trader Joe's, Ralphs and others have recalled some frozen food products amid concerns they may be contaminated with glass. The recalls come weeks after Monrovia, California-based Trader Joe's recalled batches of its private-label chicken fried rice with best-by dates between Sept. 8 and Nov. 17 due to glass. Trader Joe's on Tuesday expanded the recalls to include vegetable fried rice ...

Source: miamiherald.com
US   POLITICS  
Judge slams DeSantis' 'unconstitutional coercion,' reins in his 'terror org' executive 'decree'
- A federal judge blocked Florida's Republican Gov. from enforcing his executive "decree" against the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), concluding that the order to designate the group a "terrorist organization" violated the First Amendment and "bears all the hallmarks of unconstitutional coercion." In a 30-page order on Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Mark Walker issued a preliminary injunction, writing ...

Source: lawandcrime.com
Nothing's Phone 4a and Phone 4a Pro Strongly Reject Minimalism
- Reading time 3 minutes Announced at its own launch event in London, Nothing's new Phone 4a and Phone 4a Pro are once again turning heads with their eye-catching designs that rage against the clean, minimalist aesthetic found on iPhones and Samsung Galaxy phones. The Phone 4a, which Nothing has teased for weeks , is the less expensive of the two phones, starting at £349 (about $465) and €349 (about $404). ...

Source: gizmodo.com
Cisco issues emergency patches for critical firewall vulnerabilities
- Flaws in the web management interface give unauthenticated attackers remote root access. Cisco has handed security teams one of the largest ever patching workloads affecting its firewall products, including fixes for two 'perfect 10' vulnerabilities in the company's Secure Firewall Management Center (FMC) Software. Overall, the March 4 release , the first of its semiannual firewall updates for 2026, addresses 25 ...

Source: csoonline.com
Legendary college football coach Lou Holtz dead at age 89
- Legendary college football coach Lou Holtz, who led the Notre Dame Fighting Irish to their last national championship in 1988, has died, the school announced Wednesday. He was 89. Holtz had been in failing health in recent months, with his family announcing he'd been moved to hospice care in Orlando, Florida. In 33 seasons on the college sidelines, Holtz went 249-132-7, with much of that work coming in South Bend, ...

Source: nbcnews.com
Google faces first lawsuit alleging its AI chatbot encouraged a Florida man to commit suicide
- Google is facing a new federal lawsuit from the family of a man who died by suicide after allegedly being influenced by Gemini , the company's artificial intelligence chatbot. The lawsuit is the first of its kind against Google, though  its competitor OpenAI  has faced several similar wrongful death claims involving its AI tools. Lawyers for Jonathan Gavalas' family have named Google and its parent ...

Source: cbsnews.com
'This gives us our power back,' survivor of clergy sexual abuse says of scathing report
- Transcript Audio A new report says Catholic clergy in Rhode Island abused hundreds of children for decades as church leaders minimized the scandal. According to the report, more than 300 children were molested and assaulted by at least 75 different clergy members over 70 years. William Brangham discussed the investigation with Ann Hagan Webb, a survivor of clergy sexual abuse and an advocate for other survivors. ...

Source: pbs.org
Stefon Diggs to be released by Patriots: Source
- The Patriots plan to release wide receiver Stefon Diggs, a league source confirmed Wednesday. The news comes in the lead-up to the start of free agency, in which the Patriots could pursue an upgrade at the position. Potential targets include Mike Evans, Alec Pierce, and Wan'Dale Robinson. A trade for a top wideout, such as A.J. Brown , also remains a possibility. The Patriots signed Diggs to a three-year, $69 ...

Source: bostonglobe.com
Harry Styles on Liam Payne's death: 'It's so difficult to lose a friend who is so like you in so many ways'
- The musician reflected on the death of his former One Direction bandmate in an interview with Zane Lowe to promote his new album Harry Styles has reflected on the death of his One Direction bandmate Liam Payne in a new interview with Zane Lowe. "It's so difficult to lose a friend," Styles said. "It's difficult to lose any friend, but it's so difficult to lose a friend who is so like you in so many ways." Styles was ...

Source: theguardian.com