Subway rider who survived being pushed onto tracks breaks his silence on NYE attack
Joseph Lynskey, a 45-year-old who miraculously survived after being abruptly shoved into the path of a speeding southbound train in Manhattan, has broken his silence.
'Bleak outlook' for Essex town after plan for 1,100 homes on greenbelt land
Large number of resident turn up to 'desperately urge' the council to throw out the controversial plans
WordPress.org Accounts Deactivated for Contributors Said to Be Planning a Fork - by Automattic CEO
WordPress co-creator (and Automattic CEO) Matt Mullenweg "has deactivated the accounts of several WordPress.org community members," reports TechCrunch, "some of whom have been spearheading a push to create a new fork of the open source WordPress project."
Joost de Valk — creator of WordPress-focused SEO tool Yoast (and former marketing and communications' lead for the WordPress Foundation) — last month published his "vision for a new WordPress era," alluding to a potential fork in the form of "federated and independent repositories." Karim Marucchi, CEO of enterprise web consulting firm Crowd Favorite, echoed these thoughts in a separate blog post. WP Engine indicated it was on standby to lend a corporate hand. Mullenweg, for his part, has publicly supported the notion of a new WordPress fork.
But when Automattic slashed its contributions to Wordpress.org, things heated up:
This spurred de Valk to take to X.com on Friday to indicate that he was willing to lead on the next release of WordPress, with Marucchi adding that his "team stands ready." Collectively, de Valk and Marucchi contribute around 10 hours per week to various aspects of the WordPress open source project. However, in a sarcasm-laden blog post published this morning, Mullenweg said that to give their independent effort the "push it needs to get off the ground," he was deactivating their WordPress.org accounts. "I strongly encourage anyone who wants to try different leadership models or align with WP Engine to join up with their new effort," Mullenweg wrote.
At the same time, Mullenweg also revealed he was deactivating the accounts of three other people, with little explanation given: Sé Reed, Heather Burns, and Morten Rand-Hendriksen. Reed, it's worth noting, is president and CEO of a newly established non-profit called the WP Community Collective, which is setting out to serve as a "neutral home for collaboration, contribution, and resources" around WordPress and the broader open source ecosystem. Burns, a former contributor to the WordPress project, took to X this morning to express surprise at her deactivation, noting that she hadn't been involved in the project since 2020...
It's worth noting that deactivating a WordPress.org account prevents affected users from contributing through that channel, be it to the core project or any other plugins or themes they may be involved with.
Rand-Hendriksen posted on BlueSky:
So why is he targeting Heather and me? Because we started talking about the need for proper governance, accountability, conflict of interest policies, and other things back in 2017. We both left the project in 2019, and apparently he still holds a grudge.
And while Mullenweg headlined his blog post "Joost/Karim Fork," Rand-Hendriksen wrote on BlueSky "there is no fork in the works as far as I know. He made that up, as he has done before. Heather and I have no involvement with any of this so I don't know why he grouped the five of us together like this. It smells like attempted harassment."
Later Rand-Hendriksen claimed "this is not the first time he's accused critics of forking WordPress" and that he's "convinced any fork will fail... I think he thinks saying someone is forking WordPress is an epic burn that discredits them in the eyes of the community."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Greenland leaders say they WILL enter negotiations with Trump as Denmark's private messages come to light
Greenland's leader, Múte Egede, expressed his willingness to engage in negotiations with President-elect Trump.
Irish woman, 21, dies after falling 500 feet while male friend grabs onto bush-covered rock to save himself in popular Malaga rock climbing spot
The victim died after falling from the infamous Caminito del Rey pathway, close to El Chorro village in Malaga, where another person also fell to their death less than a month ago.
Dennis Quaid grows emotional after being evacuated amid LA fires and reveals his agent lost both his homes
Beginning this Tuesday, the area was struck by its worst windstorms in over a decade, fueling fires that have destroyed thousands of structures and claimed at least 11 lives over the course of the week.
'I tried a tasty kebab takeaway opposite a popular nightclub that punters and daytime eaters will love'
It's perfect for a bite to eat after a night out in the Essex town
Khloe Kardashian says 'brighter days will come' as she prays for LA amid devastating fires
'Through every challenge, we find new strength. Stay safe, help each other, and remember that brighter days will come. I'm praying for us all,' she posted to her Instagram Stories.
Welwyn Hatfield council tax set to rise by highest amount allowed
The planned increase comes as part of the Hertfordshire authority's budget proposals
Parties clash over Three Rivers green belt housebuilding
Work on the district's Local Plan has been ongoing for eight years
Should In-Game Currency Receive Federal Government Banking Protections?
Friday America's consumer watchdog agency "proposed a rule to give virtual video game currencies protections similar to those of real-world bank accounts..." reports the Washington Post, "so players can receive refunds or compensation for unauthorized transactions, similar to how banks are required to respond to claims of fraudulent activity."
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is seeking public input on a rule interpretation to clarify which rights are protected and available to video game consumers under the Electronic Fund Transfer Act. It would hold video game companies subject to violations of federal consumer financial law if they fail to address financial issues reported by customers. The public comment period lasts from Friday through March 31. In particular, the independent federal agency wants to hear from gamers about the types of transactions they make, any issues with in-game currencies, and stories about how companies helped or denied help.
The effort is in response to complaints to the bureau and the Federal Trade Commission about unauthorized transactions, scams, hacking attempts and account theft, outlined in an April bureau report that covered banking in video games and virtual worlds. The complaints said consumers "received limited recourse from gaming companies." Companies may ban or lock accounts or shut down a service, according to the report, but they don't generally guarantee refunds to people who lost property... The April report says the bureau and FTC received numerous complaints from players who contacted their banks regarding unauthorized charges on Roblox. "These complaints note that while they received refunds through their financial institutions, Roblox then terminated or locked their account," the report says.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Gatwick Airport CCTV image is released after family have luggage stolen containing house keys, bank cards, Apple gadgets and scuba gear
A family were preparing to depart on a long haul flight when the theft happened at the check-in area A in the South Terminal at London Gatwick.
Where 26,000 homes will be built across Chelmsford including major city centre redevelopment and new Essex village
A new village is also planned for the area and the council wants to hear residents thoughts on the plans
Meghan and Prince Harry comfort LA fire victims and first responders as Fox is slammed for saying 'Princess Markle' is 'hanging out with the commoners' while city continues to burn
The couple were seen handing out food parcels to those affected by the devastating fires at the World Central Kitchen in Pasadena on Friday.
When Michelle Keegan will REALLY give birth to her first child and why it is such a special milestone for her and husband Mark Wright
The actress and her TV presenter husband, both 37, are set to become parents for the first time.
Essex dad says he owes his life to 27 strangers after mystery illness nearly killed him
One Southend dad had to have emergency treatment after suffering with a mystery illness
Revealed: Colchester Zoo zebra 'was disembowelled and distressed' after fatal rhino attack as visitors claims they 'heard gunshots' following assault as dramatic pictures emerge showing animals catastrophic injuries
EXCLUSIVE: (WARNING GRAPHIC CONTENT) A zebra was 'disembowelled and distressed' after it was fatally gored by a rhino at Colchester Zoo yesterday, visitor Tim Miller, 44, has claimed.
California's Wildfires: Livestreams from Burning Homes and Dire Text Messages - Sometimes Erroneous
As the ecological disaster continues, CNN reports the Palisades Fire near Malibu, California has burned at least 22,660 acres, left 100,000 peope under evacuation orders, left at least 11 people dead and "destroyed thousands of homes and other structures." From the last reports it was only 11% contained, and "flames are now spreading east in the Mandeville Canyon area, approaching Interstate 405, one of LA's busiest freeways."
But the Atlantic's assistant editor wrote Friday that "I have received 11 alerts. As far as I can tell, they were all sent in error."
My home is not in a mandatory evacuation zone or even a warning zone. It is, or is supposed to be, safe. Yet my family's phones keep blaring with evacuation notices, as they move in and out of service....
Earlier today, Kevin McGowan, the director of Los Angeles County's emergency-management office, acknowledged at a press conference that officials knew alerts like these had gone out, acknowledged some of them were wrong, and still had no idea why, or how to keep it from happening again. The office did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but shortly after this article was published, the office released a statement offering a preliminary assessment that the false alerts were sent "due to issues with telecommunications systems, likely due to the fires' impacts on cellular towers" and announcing that the county's emergency notifications would switch to being managed through California's state alert system...
The fifth, sixth, and seventh evacuation warnings came through at around 6 a.m. — on my phone.
At the same time a Los Angeles-area couple "spent two hours watching a live stream of flames closing in on their home," reports the Washington Post, and at one point "saw firefighters come through the house and extinguish flames in the backyard."
At around 4:30 p.m. Eastern time on Tuesday, the camera feeds gave out and the updates from their security system stopped. About four hours later, [Zibby] Owens's husband got an alert on his cellphone that the indoor sprinkler system had gone off and the fire alarm had been activated. They do not know the current status of their home, Owens said on Tuesday.
Real estate agent Shana Tavangarian Soboroff said in a phone interview Thursday that one set of clients had followed their Pacific Palisades home's ordeal this week in a foreboding play-by-play of text alerts from an ADT security system. The system first detected smoke, then motion, next that doors had been opened, and finally fire alerts before the system lost communication. Their home's destruction was later confirmed when someone returned to the neighborhood and recorded video, Tavangarian Soboroff said.
Soboroff also lost her home in the fire, the article adds. Burned to the ground are "the places where people raised their kids," Zibby Owens wrote in this update posted Friday. But "even if my one home, or 'structure' as newscasters call it, happens to be mostly OK, I've still lost something I loved more than anything. We've all lost it... [M]y heart and soul are aching across the country as I sit alone in my office and try to make sense of the devastation."
[I]t isn't about our house.
It's about our life.
Our feelings. Our community. Our memories. Our beloved stores, restaurants, streets, sidewalks, neighbors. It's about the homes where we sat at friends' kitchen tables and played Uno, celebrated their birthdays, and truly connected.
It's all gone... [E]very single person I know and so many I don't who live in the Palisades have lost everything. Not just one or two friends. Everyone.
And then I saw video footage of our beloved village. The yogurt shop and Beach Street? Gone. Paliskates, our kids' favorite store? Gone. Burned to the ground.
Gelson's grocery store, where we just recently picked up the New York Post and groceries for the break? Gone...
The. Whole. Town.
How? How is it possible?
How could everyone have lost everything? Schools, homes, power, cell service, cars, everything. All their belongings...
All the schools, gone. It's unthinkable....
I've worked in the local library and watched the July 4 parade from streets that are now smoldering embers...
It is an unspeakable loss.
"Everyone I know in the Palisades has lost all of their possessions," the author writes, publishing what appear to be text messages from friends.
"It's gone."
"We lost everything."
"Nothing left."
"We lost it."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
'I went to Jaywick Sands and I think it's the most beautiful beach in England'
I was absolutely gobsmacked at how gorgeous it is
Our dog was run through with a five-foot metal pole - but after an amazing rescue operation involving a vet school friend's car, a mate's angle grinder and some top-level surgery, he's right as rain
The adorable pooch Murphy was taken out for a quick walk by his owner Richard on a normal Saturday afternoon.