'By the grace of jihad, Allah defeated them': As Afghanistan celebrates 'Freedom Day' five years on from the fall of Kabul, DAVID PATRIKARAKOS takes to the streets where the Taliban brandish (American-made) spoils of war in triumph
After twenty years of war, the vast Western coalition assembled to fight them fled ignominiously, leaving behind billions of dollars' worth of infrastructure and military hardware.
Mystery of the Emperor with no Empire: Crowned at two and deposed at six... this is the amazing story of China's last imperial ruler and his gilded life in the Forbidden City with 600 eunuch servants
After the first world war monarchies and empires were falling away and a new era was beginning... in China things were no different and one boy was about to face a reckoning.
Rita Ora shows off her incredible figure in a mismatched bikini before enjoying a spot of snorkelling during sun-soaked yacht trip with pals in Ibiza
Rita Ora looked nothing short of incredible as she showed off her toned figure in a mismatched bikini while soaking up the sun on a yacht in Ibiza earlier this week.
8 gorgeous Dogs Trust pooches looking for their forever homes this August
There's big friendly giants and little couch potatoes!
Europe's Record Heatwave Kills 25,000, Dries Rivers, Shuts Nuclear Plant, Exposes Submerged Warships
"The European Union's Copernicus climate monitoring service confirmed Monday that June and July were the hottest on record in western Europe," .according to a report from the CBC. "The period saw an estimated 25,000 heat-related deaths."
CNN has before-and-after photos of Europe's dried rivers, calling it "a crisis so dire it can be seen from space"
River levels are so low that commercial ships have had to reduce their loads by as much as 80% to avoid running aground. It's disrupting supply chains and making shipping more expensive.
Other effects of Europe's drying rivers
The BBC reports that Romania has "shut down its only nuclear power station because of extremely low water levels in the Danube river."
A bridge built in the year 39 AD by the Roman emperor Caligula "is usually entirely underwater," reports CNN, but this year full blocks of the ancient structure are visible, giving archaeologists a rare opportunity to study it." The reports adds that drying Tiber has also now also revealed formerly submerged e-bikes, scooters, refrigerators and a car."
The CBC reports a dozen Nazi warships scuttled in a river during the Second World War are now resurfacing as water levels plunge. "Elsewhere, the drying Danube has revealed a German military motorcycle in Hungary, an unexploded 700-kilogram British bomb in Slovakia, and what are believed to be the ancient remains of a mammoth in Bulgaria."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Met Police apologises after the email addresses of Mohamed Al Fayed's victims were shared in data breach
The contact details of around 140 women who had accused the former Harrods owner of sexual abuse were accidentally disclosed in a monthly email update for victims.
Body is found in search for British teen who went missing in mountains near Dracula's castle during solo hiking trip nine months ago
George Smyth (pictured) vanished in November while on a solo hiking trip in the Bucegi Mountains, in central Romania.
Keeley Hawes cosies up to husband Matthew Macfadyen in rare snaps as they enjoy a five-star holiday in Istanbul
The couple enjoyed a stay at the five-star hotel The Peninsula in Istanbul, with the actress, 50, sharing highlights from her trip on Instagram.
'A tragedy on so many levels': Politicians react to sudden death of Jason Arday as Prime Minister calls for a 'moment of reflection'
Politicians and academics have called the sudden death of former Cambridge professor Jason Arday a tragedy as Prime Minister Andy Burnham said there should be a 'moment for reflection'.
'I tested out a spooky road where your car mysteriously rolls uphill'
"The stubborn road quietly laughed at me as it dragged me upwards"
Why Are Big Tech CEOs Writing Long Manifestos About AI?
This week Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg published a 6,500 word open letter titled "The Future is for Everyone".
But the BBC is more interested in why big tech executives keep writing manifestos about AI:
[Zuckerberg's] vision echoes what AI leaders have expressed in various forms: the product they are building is among the "most important technologies in history." Marc Andreessen, co-founder of early web titan Netscape, perhaps started this trend in 2023 with a 5,000-word essay he called "The Techno-Optimist Manifesto", which argued innovation was the way to solve life's problems...
As the International Monetary Fund warns AI could affect nearly 40% of jobs and worsen global financial inequality, Zuckerberg says he believes there will be an abundance of jobs in the future. "I do not understand why anyone who believes that AI will eliminate most jobs and much of humanity's relevance would rush to build that future." Never mind that Zuckerberg's Meta has cut 10% of its global workforce — about 8,000 jobs — as the company reorganizes to focus on AI.
Zuckerberg's manifesto is the latest to land in our social media feeds in an effort to put a positive spin on AI. In 2024, ChatGPT-maker OpenAI boss Sam Altman released a manifesto called "The Intelligence Age", a sweeping expression of optimism about the tech's potential... That same year, in a manifesto titled "Machines of Loving Grace", Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei touted the potential of AI to transform everything from healthcare to politics.
So what's going on with these tech executives' manifestos? Economics blogger Noah Smith suggested to the BBC "they all feel like it's such an important moment that it's incumbent upon them to do whatever they can to shape the direction that this technology is going." Although he does see some value in their engagement with important issues. "Should we open-source something that has the ability to kill humanity? If you don't take that seriously, you're just a fool."
But Rob Lalka, a business professor at Tulane University, had a different explanation for the BBC:
Lalka said the timing of Zuckerberg's manifesto coincides with rising anger over AI's impact on everything from jobs to the environment.
And while tech journalists and academics might pore over them trying to glean nuggets of meaning, these executive manifestos are not necessarily landing with the general public. "They're trying to make the case that the positives will far outweigh some of those negatives that the public backlash is pointing out," he said. "But I think a lot of the reasons for optimism are still yet to be seen."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
ALEXANDRA SHULMAN: My brilliant new trick to hide my greys - the top of my head looked like a snowscape, but I've discovered a stylish and cheap solution
As a brunette determined not to become a 'gronde' - greying blonde - keeping up with colour is essential. But I recently had to stretch the gap between appointments, leading to the return of my roots.
Iranian woman went viral after stripping off to protest her treatment at the hands of morality police. Now a friend reveals the horrific price she paid
In November 2024, Iranian student Ahoo Daryaei's hijab momentarily slipped from her head as she walked up the steps of her university.
Hair-raising moment woman hangs from 11th floor of burning building before making daring jump to safety
The fire broke out at around 6.30am local time on Friday in Berlin's Friedrichshain neighbourhood, German news outlet dga reported.
Horrifying pictures emerge in aftermath of Finlay Tarling's fatal crash as report suggests car was travelling on the correct side of the road despite previous claims
Fresh questions have emerged over the death of British cyclist Finlay Tarling after a Portuguese journalist disputed initial reports that the car involved was travelling on the wrong side of the road.
Heiress sues HSBC and Barclays for $15billion saying they helped her late father plunder her $650m trust fund after she found 350,000 document treasure trove in Jersey manor house
At her fairytale wedding at a magnificent 400-year-old manor house on Jersey, heiress Tanya Dick-Stock appeared to possess everything money could buy.
Doctor who sexually assaulted women while examining their car crash injuries is jailed
Dr Mohammad Iqbal, 64, carried out examinations at clinics in Newcastle and Sunderland for assessments of damages arising from car accidents.
Autopsy reveals chilling new details in mysterious death of missing scientist found skeletonized in the woods
Shocking details about the final moments of a missing nuclear lab worker have been revealed, which one expert believes points to a murder and not a suicide.
Concerns as dust and debris from home construction site swamping Maldon neighbours
Locals living near to a construction site have reported high levels of dust, noise and debris
Vulnerability Giving Attackers Full Control of Macs Is Under Active Exploitation
joshuark shares a report from Ars Technica: Dutch officials have warned that a high-severity macOS vulnerability that allows attackers to execute malicious code is under active exploitation. "The NCSC has received a notification indicating that active abuse of this vulnerability has been observed on multiple systems on which port 5900 was accessible from the Internet," the Netherlands National Cyber Security Centrum warned earlier this week. "In all these cases, root had been accessed on the affected system and a Monero crypto miner had been placed."
The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2026-65400, received a patch from Apple last week for macOS Tahoe, Sequoia, and Sonoma. The vulnerability, with a severity rating of 7.1 out of 10, stems from a bug in the macOS screen sharing capability, which allows a remote party to view the screen and control the keyboard and mouse while a machine is turned on. A flaw in the "state management," which keeps track of preceding events, user interactions, variables, and other system states, is the underlying cause. A video of the exploit in action can be found here. Details of CVE-2026-65400 became public at last week's Black Hat security conference. Apple said last week that CVE-2026-65400 "may" allow an attacker without credentials to gain access to a Mac. It's unclear why Apple hedged, but softening language is common among most tech developers when disclosing vulnerabilities.
As noted by the NCSC, the vulnerability is being exploited when port 5900 is exposed to the Internet. When screen sharing is turned on, the macOS firewall opens the port. Routers and dedicated firewalls generally block the port unless configured to override that setting. Security practitioners generally advise Mac users to keep the port closed even when using screen sharing and to instead connect over a VPN or through SSH tunneling. The alternatives require actions that aren't within the capabilities of most users. The safest practice is to block screen sharing, enable it only when screen sharing is needed, and to turn the feature off once a session has ended. Screen sharing can be turned on or off by accessing System Settings > General > Sharing and toggling the switch for Screen Sharing. Of course, installing last week's security update is also a must. Sharing is not caring.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.