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Yesterday — 1 June 2024Main stream

Ticketmaster confirms customer data breach

1 June 2024 at 16:09

Live Nation Entertainment has confirmed what everyone has been speculating on for the last week: Ticketmaster has suffered a data breach.

In a filing with the SEC, Live Nation said on May 20th it identified “unauthorized activity within a third-party cloud database environment containing Company data (primarily from its Ticketmaster L.L.C. subsidiary)” and launched an investigation.

The third party it refers to is likely Snowflake, a cloud company used by thousands of companies to store, manage, and analyze large volumes of data. Yesterday, May 31st, Snowflake said it had “recently observed and are investigating an increase in cyber threat activity” targeting some of its customers’ accounts. It didn’t mention which customers.

In the SEC filing, Live Nation also said:

On May 27, 2024, a criminal threat actor offered what it alleged to be Company user data for sale via the dark web. We are working to mitigate risk to our users and the Company, and have notified and are cooperating with law enforcement. As appropriate, we are also notifying regulatory authorities and users with respect to unauthorized access to personal information.

The user data likely refers to the sales ad for 560 million customers’ data that was posted online earlier this week by a group calling themselves ShinyHunters. The data was advertised for $500,000 and says it includes customer names, addresses, emails, credit card details, order information, and more.

ShinyHunter offering Live Nation / TciketMaster data for sale
Post on BreachForums by ShinyHunters

Bleeping Computer says it spoke to ShinyHunters who said they already had interested buyers, and believed one of the buyers that approached them was Ticketmaster itself.

Ticketmaster says it has begun notifying its users of the breach. We are likely to hear more in the coming days, and will update you as we do.

For now, Ticketmaster users should keep an eye on their credit and bank accounts for an unauthorized transactions and follow our general data breach tips below.

Protecting yourself after a data breach

There are some actions you can take if you are, or suspect you may have been, the victim of a data breach.

  • Check the vendor’s advice. Every breach is different, so check with the vendor to find out what’s happened, and follow any specific advice they offer.
  • Change your password. You can make a stolen password useless to thieves by changing it. Choose a strong password that you don’t use for anything else. Better yet, let a password manager choose one for you.
  • Enable two-factor authentication (2FA). If you can, use a FIDO2-compliant hardware key, laptop or phone as your second factor. Some forms of two-factor authentication (2FA) can be phished just as easily as a password. 2FA that relies on a FIDO2 device can’t be phished.
  • Watch out for fake vendors. The thieves may contact you posing as the vendor. Check the vendor website to see if they are contacting victims, and verify the identity of anyone who contacts you using a different communication channel.
  • Take your time. Phishing attacks often impersonate people or brands you know, and use themes that require urgent attention, such as missed deliveries, account suspensions, and security alerts.
  • Consider not storing your card details. It’s definitely more convenient to get sites to remember your card details for you, but we highly recommend not storing that information on websites.
  • Set up identity monitoring. Identity monitoring alerts you if your personal information is found being traded illegally online, and helps you recover after.

Scan for your exposed personal data

While the Ticketmaster data is yet to be published in full, it’s likely you’ve had other personal information exposed online in previous data breaches. You can check what personal information of yours has been exposed with our Digital Footprint portal. Just enter your email address (it’s best to submit the one you most frequently use) to our free Digital Footprint scan and we’ll give you a report.

Toby Jones praises ‘extraordinary dignity’ of Post Office accused

1 June 2024 at 15:58

Actor, who played campaigner Alan Bates in TV drama, calls Horizon scandal a ‘Hitchcockian nightmare’ at Hay festival

The post office operators prosecuted in the Post Office Horizon scandal have “extraordinary dignity” after living 20 years in a “Hitchcockian nightmare”, according to actor Toby Jones.

Jones played Alan Bates, a former post office operator and leading campaigner for justice for staff wrongly blamed for accounting shortfalls caused by faulty software, in the ITV drama that put the scandal back in the spotlight.

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© Photograph: ITV/REX/Shutterstock

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© Photograph: ITV/REX/Shutterstock

Julia Gillard says progress on gender equality is ‘really glacial’

1 June 2024 at 15:03

Former Australian prime minister issues warning that young men’s thinking on the issue is going backward

Former Australian prime minister Julia Gillard has said global progress on gender equality is “really glacial and slow” as she warned that it is going backwards among young people.

Gillard cited recent polling by King’s College London’s Global Institute for Women’s Leadership, which showed that 51% of respondents believe that men are doing too much to support gender equality, while 46% think that men are now discriminated against.

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© Photograph: Labor Party

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© Photograph: Labor Party

Filthy lucre is everywhere, but book festivals are an easy target for protesters’ fury | Martha Gill

1 June 2024 at 13:00

Hay and Edinburgh forgo pragmatism in turning their backs on the Baillie Gifford fund

How gratifying to chuck dirty money back in the face of a would-be benefactor. Such moments mark literature. Pip refusing funds from Magwitch, a convict. Will Ladislaw disdaining the charity of George Eliot’s corrupted Bulstrode. The statement is this: scruples do not belong only to the rich. There is a price at which I, too, cannot be bought.

And yet. In these great works of fiction, tensions are drawn out, questions raised. Ladislaw accepts support from another flawed man, Casaubon, of whom he disapproves. Hypocrisy? Or the observation that in a hard world pragmatism has its place – that beggars can be choosers only on occasion? And is Pip right to cast away the reformed and grateful Magwitch? Are all paths to atonement thus to be closed?

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© Photograph: Steven May/Alamy

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© Photograph: Steven May/Alamy

Being a politician was ‘very yucky’, ex-MP Rory Stewart tells Hay audience

1 June 2024 at 12:17

Former Tory minister admits at festival that he felt a fraud due to need to give the impression he was in three places at once

Former Conservative MP Rory Stewart found being a politician “very yucky” and felt like a fraud, he told an audience at Hay festival on Saturday.

Asked whether he would consider going back into politics, he said that he found being a politician “personally very, very unpleasant” and “didn’t like it”, adding: “I feel like a fraud all the time, in a whole series of ways.”

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© Photograph: Steven May/Alamy Live News/Alamy Live News.

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© Photograph: Steven May/Alamy Live News/Alamy Live News.

‘I miss my solitude’: Booker winner Paul Lynch says he is a ‘social introvert’

1 June 2024 at 11:14

Author of novel Prophet Song about an imagined fascist Ireland tells Hay audience he is not a political writer

“I miss my solitude,” last year’s Booker prize winner Paul Lynch told an audience at Hay festival on Saturday.

“In many ways I didn’t sign up for this. I’m an introvert who’s learned how to be social, a social introvert,” he said. “I signed up to sit in a room on my own for three or four years and write a book,” he said.

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© Photograph: Tristan Hutchinson/The Observer

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© Photograph: Tristan Hutchinson/The Observer

‘It doesn’t make any sense’: new twist in mystery of Mount Everest and the British explorers’ missing bodies

1 June 2024 at 04:59

A hundred years ago, George Mallory and Andrew Irvine set off to conquer the summit. Mallory’s body was later discovered, but now the remains of both are nowhere to be found. Who moved them?

“It will be a great adventure,” George Mallory wrote to his mother before leaving for the summit of Everest a century ago this week.

His disappearance, along with his climbing partner Andrew Irvine, has become one of the most alluring mysteries in the history of exploration. A final, tantalising glimpse of the pair through mist not far from the summit has inspired successive generations of historians, authors and film-makers with competing theories on a single question: did they reach the top?

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© Photograph: Feng Wei Photography/Getty Images

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© Photograph: Feng Wei Photography/Getty Images

Carolina Bianchi was drugged and assaulted a decade ago. Now she drugs herself on stage, night after night

31 May 2024 at 20:00

The Brazilian artist’s show The Bride and the Goodnight Cinderella provokes debate – but, she insists, it doesn’t take a toll on her

The audience responses to Carolina Bianchi’s startling new stage show have varied. Some have walked out mid-performance. Others, among those who stayed, have broken down in sobs by the end. But the Brazilian artist has also had people send messages of how her performance touched them, how they spent all night discussing it. Normally, she says, “the reactions come slowly”. This is a piece you need time to sit with.

“I know it’s not an easy piece,” Bianchi says. “I think it provokes a lot of debate and conversation … and also I’m not making work that is about being ‘good’ or ‘bad’.”

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© Photograph: Clement Mahoudeau/AFP/Getty Images

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© Photograph: Clement Mahoudeau/AFP/Getty Images

Before yesterdayMain stream

FDA’s review of MDMA for PTSD highlights study bias and safety concerns

By: Beth Mole
31 May 2024 at 19:46
MDMA is now in the FDA's hands.

Enlarge / MDMA is now in the FDA's hands. (credit: Getty | PYMCA/Avalon)

The safety and efficacy data on the use of MDMA (aka ecstasy) for post-traumatic stress disorder therapy is "challenging to interpret," the Food and Drug Administration said in a briefing document posted Friday. The agency noted significant flaws in the design of the underlying clinical trials as well as safety concerns for the drug, particularly cardiovascular harms.

On Tuesday, June 4, the FDA will convene an advisory committee that will review the evidence and vote on MDMA's efficacy and whether its benefits outweigh its risks. The FDA does not have to follow the committee's recommendations, but it often does. If the FDA subsequently approves MDMA as part of treatment for PTSD, it would mark a significant shift in the federal government's stance on MDMA, as well as psychedelics, generally. Currently, the US Drug Enforcement Administration considers MDMA a Schedule I drug, defined as one with "no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse." It would also offer a new treatment option for patients with PTSD, a disabling psychiatric condition with few treatment options currently.

As Ars has reported previously, the submission of MDMA for approval is based on two clinical trials. The first trial, published in Nature Medicine in 2021, involved 90 participants with moderate PTSD and found that MDMA-assisted psychotherapy significantly improved Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale for DSM-5 (CAPS-5) scores compared with participants who were given psychotherapy along with a placebo. In the second study, published in September in Nature Medicine, the finding held up among 104 participants with moderate or severe PTSD (73 percent had severe PTSD).

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Hong Kong rejects western criticism of democracy activists’ convictions

31 May 2024 at 12:49

US says 14 protesters have been jailed for ‘peacefully participating in political activities’ that should have been allowed

The Hong Kong government has rejected western criticism of the conviction of 14 pro-democracy activists for subversion, calling it “untruthful, slandering and smearing”.

The US said on Friday it was “deeply concerned” about the guilty verdicts announced in the national security law trial of the activists in Hong Kong. The state department said the 14 activists had been subjected to “politically motivated prosecution and jailed simply for peacefully participating in political activities” that should have been protected under the basic law, which was supposed to guarantee a degree of autonomy for Hong Kong when it came under Beijing’s rule in 1997.

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© Photograph: Alexander Mak/NurPhoto/Rex/Shutterstock

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© Photograph: Alexander Mak/NurPhoto/Rex/Shutterstock

Men and other mammals live longer if they are castrated, says researcher

31 May 2024 at 11:06

Cat Bohannon tells Hay festival audience it is not known why men go through life ‘smuggling two little death nuggets’

Whether it is the fountain of youth or the elixir of life, men have travelled the world looking for the key to increasing their longevity.

They should be looking a bit closer to home, according to one leading researcher – although after they do, they might end up taking the years God intended for them.

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© Photograph: Annabel Clark/The Guardian

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© Photograph: Annabel Clark/The Guardian

Micah Richards ‘grappled’ with man accused of Keane assault, court told

By: PA Media
31 May 2024 at 09:41
  • Defence says Richards is Keane’s ‘puppy’ and did not see assault
  • Scott Law has pleaded not guilty to headbutting pundit

The former Manchester City defender Micah Richards told a court he “grappled” with a man accused of head-butting his punditry partner Roy Keane inside Arsenal’s football stadium.

Scott Law, 43, has pleaded not guilty to a charge of common assault against Keane relating to an incident on 3 September last year after Arsenal’s 3-1 victory over Manchester United. The former Manchester United midfielder, who was working as a pundit for Sky Sports, was allegedly head-butted through doors at the Emirates Stadium by Law, of Waltham Abbey, Essex.

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© Photograph: Edward Fail Bradshaw & Waterson/PA

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© Photograph: Edward Fail Bradshaw & Waterson/PA

David Baddiel: trauma passed on from Holocaust is why I do comedy

31 May 2024 at 08:05

Promoting his book at Hay festival, comedian says his mother and grandparents’ flight from Nazi Germany affected later generations

David Baddiel has said he makes comedy to process the intergenerational trauma passed on through the experiences of his mother and grandparents of fleeing the Holocaust.

Baddiel’s mother was born in Nazi Germany and arrived in the UK as a baby in 1939 after her father was persecuted during the 1938 Kristallnacht pogrom against Jews.

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© Photograph: Graeme Robertson/The Guardian

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© Photograph: Graeme Robertson/The Guardian

TikTok Preparing a US Copy of the App's Core Algorithm

By: BeauHD
30 May 2024 at 19:20
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Reuters: TikTok is working on a clone of its recommendation algorithm for its 170 million U.S. users that may result in a version that operates independently of its Chinese parent and be more palatable to American lawmakers who want to ban it, according to sources with direct knowledge of the efforts. The work on splitting the source code ordered by TikTok's Chinese parent ByteDance late last year predated a bill to force a sale of TikTok's U.S. operations that began gaining steam in Congress this year. The bill was signed into law in April. The sources, who were granted anonymity because they are not authorized to speak publicly about the short-form video sharing app, said that once the code is split, it could lay the groundwork for a divestiture of the U.S. assets, although there are no current plans to do so. The company has previously said it had no plans to sell the U.S. assets and such a move would be impossible. [...] In the past few months, hundreds of ByteDance and TikTok engineers in both the U.S. and China were ordered to begin separating millions of lines of code, sifting through the company's algorithm that pairs users with videos to their liking. The engineers' mission is to create a separate code base that is independent of systems used by ByteDance's Chinese version of TikTok, Douyin, while eliminating any information linking to Chinese users, two sources with direct knowledge of the project told Reuters. [...] The complexity of the task that the sources described to Reuters as tedious "dirty work" underscores the difficulty of splitting the underlying code that binds TikTok's U.S. operations to its Chinese parent. The work is expected to take over a year to complete, these sources said. [...] At one point, TikTok executives considered open sourcing some of TikTok's algorithm, or making it available to others to access and modify, to demonstrate technological transparency, the sources said. Executives have communicated plans and provided updates on the code-splitting project during a team all-hands, in internal planning documents and on its internal communications system, called Lark, according to one of the sources who attended the meeting and another source who has viewed the messages. Compliance and legal issues involved with determining what parts of the code can be carried over to TikTok are complicating the work, according to one source. Each line of code has to be reviewed to determine if it can go into the separate code base, the sources added. The goal is to create a new source code repository for a recommendation algorithm serving only TikTok U.S. Once completed, TikTok U.S. will run and maintain its recommendation algorithm independent of TikTok apps in other regions and its Chinese version Douyin. That move would cut it off from the massive engineering development power of its parent company in Beijing, the sources said. If TikTok completes the work to split the recommendation engine from its Chinese counterpart, TikTok management is aware of the risk that TikTok U.S. may not be able to deliver the same level of performance as the existing TikTok because it is heavily reliant on ByteDance's engineers in China to update and maintain the code base to maximize user engagement, sources added.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Edinburgh international book festival ends Baillie Gifford partnership

30 May 2024 at 14:49

Festival bows to pressure from authors and activists over investment firm’s links to Israel and fossil fuel companies

The Edinburgh international book festival (EIBF) has announced the end of its 20-year partnership with Baillie Gifford. Last week the Hay literary festival also dropped its sponsorship from the investment management firm after a series of last-minute drop-outs.

The singer Charlotte Church, the comedian Nish Kumar and the politician Dawn Butler were among those due to appear at Hay who decided to boycott the festival because of Baillie Gifford’s links to Israel and fossil fuel companies. By the end of the festival’s second day, Hay’s organisers announced the sponsorship has been “suspended” for 2024.

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© Photograph: Roberto Ricciuti/Getty Images

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© Photograph: Roberto Ricciuti/Getty Images

disquieting images that just feel 'off'

By: Rhaomi
30 May 2024 at 16:30
If you're not careful and you noclip out of reality in the wrong areas, you'll end up in the Backrooms, where it's nothing but the stink of old moist carpet, the madness of mono-yellow, the endless background noise of fluorescent lights at maximum hum-buzz, and approximately six hundred million square miles of randomly segmented empty rooms to be trapped in. God save you if you hear something wandering around nearby, because it sure as hell has heard you.
So stated an anonymous 2019 thread on 4chan's /x/ imageboard -- a potent encapsulation of liminal-space horror that gave rise to a complex mythos, exploratory video games, and an acclaimed web series (previously; soon to become a major motion picture from A24!). In the five years since, the evolving "Backrooms" fandom has canonized a number of other dreamlike settings, from CGI creations like The Poolrooms and a darkened suburb with wrong stars to real places like the interior atrium of Heathrow's Terminal 4 Holliday Inn and a shuttered Borders bookstore. But the image that inspired the founding text -- an anonymous photo of a vaguely unnerving yellow room -- remained a mystery... until now.

...turns out it's from a 2003 blog post about renovating for an RC car race track in Oshkosh! Not quite as fun a reveal as for certain other longstanding internet mysteries, but still satisfying, especially since it includes another equally-unsettling photo (and serendipitously refers to a "back room"). Also, due credit to Black August, the SomethingAwful goon who quietly claims to have written the original Backrooms text. Liminal spaces previously on MeFi:
Discussing the Kane Pixels production (plus an inspired-by series, A-Sync Research). Note that as the Backrooms movie takes shape, Kane is continuing work on an intriguing spiritual successor: The Oldest View The Eerie Comfort of Liminal Spaces A Twitter thread on being lost in a real-life Backrooms space Inside the world's largest underground shopping complex A 2010 post about Hondo, an enigmatic Half-Life map designer who incorporated "enormous hidden areas that in some cases dwarfed the actual level" MyHouse.WAD, a sprawling, reality-warping Doom mod that went viral last year AskMe: Seeking fiction books with labyrinths and other interminable buildings
My personal favorite liminal space: the unnervingly cheerful indoor playground KidsFun from '90s-era Tampa -- if only because I've actually been there as a kid (and talked about its eeriness on the blue before). Do you have any liminal spaces that have left an impression on you?

WeWork eliminates $4bn in debt after judge approves bankruptcy plan

30 May 2024 at 12:46

Days after co-founder dropped buying bid, the company claims it is set for ‘sustainable, profitable growth’ and to re-emerge next month

A US bankruptcy judge approved WeWork’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy plan, enabling the struggling shared office space provider to eliminate $4bn of debt and handing control over to a group of lenders and real estate tech firm Yardi Systems.

Days after Adam Neumann, co-founder and ex-CEO, confirmed he had shelved a bid to buy the business, WeWork said it expected to emerge from bankruptcy next month.

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© Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty Images

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© Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty Images

My Spirit Animal is White Guilt

By: bq
30 May 2024 at 13:47
(2014) WaPo (archive) article about Gregg Deal's performance art piece in which he dresses up in stereotypical costume in public. Last spring, Deal came up with his own performance concept in which he'd dress up in a brash getup to physically embody what he believes many non-indigenous people envision when they think of a Native American. The mostly prefabricated outfit is a costume, not authentic regalia; is intentionally over-the-top; and holds no personal significance for Deal. (...) Suspicion is (...) displayed by a security officer at Potomac Mills mall who demands to know what Deal is doing (Deal's response of "Shopping" irking the officer all the more).

2020: Colorado Spring mural honoring missing Indigenous 2021 Exhibit: Gregg Deal's Paintings Challenge Stereotypes And Champion Visibility Of Indigenous People 2022: Biking the Tahoe-Pyramid Trail in Bicycling Magazine. 2023: Exhibit guest curated by Deal at Longmont Museum. "I accidentally started a band": Dead Pioneers.

French PM says voters for far right may end up like Britons ‘who cry over Brexit’

Gabriel Attal cautions against backing Marine Le Pen’s National Rally, which leads solidly in polls for European elections

The French prime minister, Gabriel Attal, has said voters choosing the far right in the European elections next week risk becoming like British people who regret backing Brexit.

“Don’t be like the British who cried after Brexit,” he told RTL radio on Thursday. “A large majority of British people regret Brexit and sometimes regret not turning out to vote, or voting for something that was negative for their country.

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© Photograph: Thomas Padilla/AP

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© Photograph: Thomas Padilla/AP

Johnson & Johnson Reports Data Breach Potentially Linked to Massive Cencora Breach

By: Alan J
30 May 2024 at 10:40

Johnson & Johnson Data Breach Cencora

Pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson recently announced a data breach that may stem from a larger data breach affecting Lash Group, a division of Cencora. In February, Cencora reported a data breach incident to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) after learning that data had been exfiltrated from its information systems, some of which contained personal information. The breach may have compromised some sensitive information of patients registered with Johnson & Johnson Patient Assistance Foundation, Inc.

Johnson & Johnson Data Breach Notice

On May 29, Johnson & Johnson filed a notice of data breach with the Attorney General of Texas, indicating that an unauthorized party accessed confidential patient information. The breach affected approximately 175,000 Texans, but the total number of victims nationwide could be much higher. The breach affects two Johnson & Johnson entities: Johnson & Johnson Patient Assistance Foundation, Inc., and Johnson & Johnson Services, Inc. The following data was compromised in the attack: Name of individual, Address, Medical Information, and Date of Birth. Data breach notification letters have been sent to all the affected individuals, while limited information is available on the Texas Attorney General's data breach reports page. The incident is potentially linked to a much larger breach involving Cencora, which has affected over a dozen major pharmaceutical companies so far.

Link to Cencora Data Breach

The Johnson & Johnson data breach bears several similarities to other large third-party pharmaceutical company data breaches affected by the Cencora/Lash Group data breach, which was first discovered on February 21. Cencora’s Lash Group division aids pharmaceutical companies in running patient support programs that try to ensure that costly medication is available to disadvantaged patients, regardless of their ability to pay for them. At least 15 clients of Cencora/Lash Group have notified state authorities of data breach incidents, with databreaches.net listing the following victims:
  • AbbVie: 54,344 Texans affected
  • Acadia Pharmaceuticals: 753 Texans affected
  • Bayer: 8,822 Texans affected
  • Bristol Myers Squibb and/or the Bristol Myers Squibb Patient Assistance Foundation: 256,237 Texans and 11,503 New Hampshire residents affected
  • Dendreon: 2,923 Texans affected
  • Endo: no numbers provided
  • Genentech: 5,805 Texans affected
  • GlaxoSmithKline Group of Companies and/or the GlaxoSmithKline Patient Access Programs Foundation: no numbers provided
  • Incyte Corporation: 2,592 Texans affected
  • Marathon Pharmaceuticals, LLC/PTC Therapeutics, Inc.: 466 Texans and 27 New Hampshire residents affected
  • Novartis Pharmaceuticals: 12,134 Texans affected
  • Pharming Healthcare, Inc.: 314 Texans and 9 New Hampshire residents affected
  • Regeneron Pharmaceuticals: 91,514 Texans affected
  • Sumitomo Pharma America, Inc.: 24,102 Texans affected
  • Tolmar: 1 New Hampshire resident
Data breach notices have also been filed with California officials too. While the full extent of the damage has yet to be determined, it has affected over 540,000 patients so far. Cencora stated in its notification to the Securities and Exchange Commission that it had not yet been able to determine if the incident had a material impact on its operations. In in a notice on its website, the Leash Group indicated that personal information as well as personal health information had been potentially affected, including first name, last name, date of birth, health diagnosis, and/or medications and prescriptions. The Leash Group said in a statement that no personal data appears to have been exposed because of the incident:
“There is no evidence that any of this information has been or will be publicly disclosed, or that any information was or will be misused for fraudulent purposes as a result of this incident, but we are communicating this so that affected individuals can take the steps outlined below to protect yourself.”
The Leash Group is offering free credit monitoring and remediation services to affected individuals, and additional guidance on dealing with suspected breaches of personal information. No perpetrator has been identified or named as being responsible for the attack, and the potential impact of the breach is still being assessed. Media Disclaimer: This report is based on internal and external research obtained through various means. The information provided is for reference purposes only, and users bear full responsibility for their reliance on it. The Cyber Express assumes no liability for the accuracy or consequences of using this information.

Roy Keane and Arsenal fan’s ‘banter turned more aggressive’, court told

By: PA Media
30 May 2024 at 09:50
  • Scott Law’s defence team alleges Sky pundit Keane elbowed him
  • Law, 43, and Keane clashed at Emirates Stadium last September

The former Manchester United midfielder Roy Keane gestured towards an Arsenal fan during a football match to “meet him outside” after “banter turned more aggressive”, a court has heard.

Scott Law, 43, has pleaded not guilty to a charge of common assault against Keane relating to an incident on 3 September last year after Arsenal’s 3-1 victory over Manchester United.

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© Photograph: James Manning/PA

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© Photograph: James Manning/PA

The Deliberation

By: mittens
30 May 2024 at 08:15
After days of testimony and a marathon closing argument from the prosecution, the jury for the Trump hush-money trial begins its second day of deliberations. They have requested a replay of not only some of the crucial testimony, but at least a portion of the hour-long instructions Justice Merchan provided. The specific crime Trump is charged with turns out to be fairly complex, and Lawfare has an explainer.

Climate and health benefits of wind and solar dwarf all subsidies

29 May 2024 at 16:18
Wind turbines in front of a sunrise, with their blades blurred due to their motion.

Enlarge (credit: Ashley Cooper)

When used to generate power or move vehicles, fossil fuels kill people. Particulates and ozone resulting from fossil fuel burning cause direct health impacts, while climate change will act indirectly. Regardless of the immediacy, premature deaths and illness prior to death are felt through lost productivity and the cost of treatments.

Typically, you see the financial impacts quantified when the EPA issues new regulations, as the health benefits of limiting pollution typically dwarf the costs of meeting new standards. But some researchers from Lawrence Berkeley National Lab have now done similar calculations—but focusing on the impact of renewable energy. Wind and solar, by displacing fossil fuel use, are acting as a form of pollution control and so should produce similar economic benefits.

Do they ever. The researchers find that, in the US, wind and solar have health and climate benefits of over $100 for every Megawatt-hour produced, for a total of a quarter-trillion dollars in just the last four years. This dwarfs the cost of the electricity they generate and the total of the subsidies they received.

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"We're going to need a bigger beaker"

By: Wordshore
29 May 2024 at 14:04
[CW: So much penis] The Cut: As Bustamante injects five vials first into the sides of the shaft, then six more around the glans (if you're picturing a mushroom as the head of a penis, that's the glans, and he is injecting around the base rim of the dome), he sweeps the needle slightly from side to side, then uses his thumbs to massage out any filler lumps, sculpting through what he calls "transitional zones" like a potter smoothing an edge of clay. "It goes beyond just filling up a penis," Bustamante says. "I really do think that there is an artistry to it, to making it look good: aesthetically pleasing, no lumps, smooth, consistent, looks natural, feels natural - all those things." [Previously: post title]

As he finishes up on Tommy's penis, Bustamante injects a little extra filler into the left side to help correct its slight curve. And he makes sure not to put any filler on the top of the penis, only the sides, so as to ensure it doesn't end up resembling a "sausage" when erect. He also wants to avoid "the baseball-bat effect," so he tries to work toward a thicker base that tapers slightly up, rather than the reverse. If anyone isn't happy with the result, Bustamante can inject Hylenex to dissolve the filler, but he says he's never had to do this on penises he's worked on, just ones on which other providers haven't done their best work. Before he leaves, Tommy also has some injections of Botox into his anus ("Holetox"), which can make bottoming easier by relaxing the anal sphincter muscles, but which for Tommy, a top, is more to help with anal fissures. It's just one of a number of below-the-belt services that Bustamante offers, including chemical peels to clear up skin on the butt, an "instant" Brazilian butt lift that makes use of fillers, Botox for the penis to make it look larger when flaccid, Botox for the scrotum to help it hang lower and prevent sweating, and shockwave therapy to help with erections.

Gary Lineker says he regrets his tweet led to row with BBC instead of Mail

29 May 2024 at 14:08

Presenter says BBC should have fallen out with Daily Mail over its ‘distortion’ of his criticism of government’s migration messaging

Gary Lineker has said he regrets that a tweet he posted led to a fallout with the BBC, when it should have been a row between the broadcaster and the Daily Mail.

The Match of the Day presenter was taken off air by the BBC in March 2023 after writing on X that the language used by the government to launch a policy on small boat crossings was “not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the 30s”.

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© Photograph: Marc Atkins/Getty Images

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© Photograph: Marc Atkins/Getty Images

Geri Halliwell-Horner reveals writing advice she was given by top authors

29 May 2024 at 14:05

Ex-Spice Girl tells Hay festival about tips from William Boyd and Jacqueline Wilson for children’s book

Geri Halliwell-Horner has revealed she took writing advice from the twice Booker prize-nominated novelist William Boyd and the bestselling children’s author Jacqueline Wilson when working on her latest children’s book.

The former Spice Girl said Boyd, the author of Any Human Heart, told her to think more about structure – “it’s like a spine to a body”, he said.

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© Photograph: Kristy Sparow/Getty Images

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© Photograph: Kristy Sparow/Getty Images

Trans actor Karla Sofía Gascón sues French far-right politician after ‘sexist insult’

By: AFP
29 May 2024 at 11:59

The actor, who became the first transgender woman to win the best actress prize at Cannes, had earlier dedicated her award to ‘all the trans people who are suffering’

The first transgender woman to be awarded the best actress prize at the Cannes film festival filed a legal complaint on Wednesday over a “sexist insult” from a far-right politician after her win.

Karla Sofía Gascón and co-stars jointly received the accolade on Saturday for their performances in French auteur Jacques Audiard’s Mexico-set narco musical Emilia Perez.

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© Photograph: Valéry Hache/AFP/Getty Images

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© Photograph: Valéry Hache/AFP/Getty Images

Nadal’s mind has not reached the end, but will his body let him go on? | Tumaini Carayol

Despite his physical ailments the Spaniard, 38 in June, feels he is making progress and is pushing for an Olympic appearance in Paris

Shortly after his first opening‑round defeat on Court-Philippe Chatrier, Rafael Nadal arrived at the press conference room for his postmortem in a jovial mood. After a career of dominance at Roland Garros, where he has so often been untouchable even against some of the sport’s greatest players, he would have been forgiven for feeling a sense of injustice and frustration with a straight‑sets defeat in the first round against Alexander Zverev. Instead, he felt progress. “I was not that far,” Nadal said. “That’s my feeling.”

His demeanour further underlined what has been increasingly clear over the past few weeks. If this really is the end and retirement is imminent it will be because his body made the decision, not his mind. It seems clear that the player who turns 38 next week would love to further elongate his career and he is determined to do everything possible to try.

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© Photograph: Christian Liewig/Corbis/Getty Images

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© Photograph: Christian Liewig/Corbis/Getty Images

News of the World paid women to sleep with celebrities, James Blunt says

Tabloid had women on payroll to get stories about people’s sexual performance, singer tells Hay festival

James Blunt claims the News of the World paid women to sleep with celebrities in order to get stories about their sexual performance.

The singer, who settled his legal action against News International in 2012, said the police had sent him emails from the News of the World, which showed that two “beautiful” women were on the payroll of the now closed tabloid “to go out and shag celebrities”.

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© Photograph: Martin Godwin/The Guardian

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© Photograph: Martin Godwin/The Guardian

"Music and humor are for the healing of the nations"

By: Rhaomi
28 May 2024 at 12:16
This post started as a single video of veteran musicmaker Leonard Solomon performing Skrillex's "Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites" on a homemade "Squijeeblion." That led to discovering his YouTube channel @Bellowphone, full of similarly whimsical covers on a collection of bespoke instruments hand-built in his Wimmelbildian workshop, from the Emphatic Chromatic Callioforte to the Oomphalapompatronium to the original Majestic Bellowphone. Searching for more videos led to his performance in the Lonesome Pine One-Man Band Extravaganza special from 1991, where he co-starred with whizbang vaudevillians like Hokum W. Jeebs and Professor Gizmo. But what was Lonesome Pine? Just an extraordinary, award-winning concert series by the Kentucky Center for the Arts that ran for 16 years on public radio and television -- an "all things considered" showcase for "new artists, underappreciated veterans and those with unique new voices" featuring such luminaries as Buddy Guy, Emmylou Harris, Lyle Lovett, k.d. lang, Koko Taylor, and hundreds more. You can get a broad overview of this televisual marvel from this excellent half-hour retrospective, see a supercut of director Clark Santee's favorite moments, browse the program directory from the Smithsonian exhibit, or watch select shows in their entirety: Lonesome Pine Blues - All-star Bluegrass Band - Nashville All-stars - Bass Instincts - Zydeco Rockers - Walter "Wolfman" Washington - Mark O'Connor - Alison Krauss & Union Station - Sam Bush & John Cowan - Maura O'Connell - Nanci Griffith - A Musical Visit from Africa

Also, I had a hard time fitting this in, but the strangest episode (and one of the best examples of the eclectic and creative spirit of this series) was a whole-ass wrestling match live-orchestrated by the "Masters of Percussion":
It's as weird as it sounds: a young Jeff Jarrett and Dirty Dutch Mantell battle it out in the ring while in the background Walter Mays conducts a live orchestra performing his original composition, "War Games for Ten Percussionists and Two Wrestlers, " for broadcast on PBS of all channels. The actual match is pretty basic with a standard "heel dominates, babyface gets some hope spots, and finally makes a comeback" format - at one point Mantell attacks a plant in the orchestra after trying to take a drum; otherwise it's pretty by-the-numbers - which was probably a wise choice to give an audience likely largely composed of non-wrestling fans something easy to follow. (In a then-rare kayfabe-breaking moment, the extra Mantell attacks - played by Memphis wrestler Marc "The Beast" Guleen - is listed as a third wrestler in the program's end credits.) It's interesting to see this sort of high-concept wrestling content as early as 1989, as this seems more like something you'd see tried nowadays - and maybe somebody should try doing it again. While the in-ring action is simply adequate, the idea behind it gets it an extra point for creativity in my book.
You can watch a clip of it in the retrospective here! [This post barely scratches the surface, and it's all so good. Some DC MeFite with a VHS digitizer needs to pay a visit to the National Museum of American History, stat.]

Cencora Data Breach Far More Widespread than Earlier Thought

Cencora data breach

The impact of the Cencora data breach is far more widespread than earlier thought as more than a dozen pharmaceutical giants including Novartis and GlaxoSmithKline disclose personal and health information data leaks stemming from the February breach incident. Cencora Inc., formerly recognized as AmerisourceBergen, and its Lash Group affiliate announced in a February filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that the company faced a cybersecurity incident where “data from its information systems had been exfiltrated.” Cencora is a major pharmacy company with over 46,000 employees and approximately $262.2 billion in revenue in 2023. Based in Pennsylvania, it operates in around 50 countries globally. The popular American drug wholesaler did not disclose the extent of the data breach in its February SEC filing but did confirm at the time that some of the data exfiltrated in the attack could contain personal information. Last week, however, Cencora and The Lash Group clients began notifying state Attorneys General about a data breach that stemmed from the February cybersecurity incident at Cencora. At least 15 pharmaceutical companies reported that the personal data of hundreds of thousands of individuals were compromised. Notifications identified the following affected companies:
  • AbbVie Inc.
  • Acadia Pharmaceuticals Inc.
  • Bayer Corporation
  • Bristol Myers Squibb Company and Bristol Myers Squibb Patient Assistance Foundation
  • Dendreon Pharmaceuticals LLC
  • Endo Pharmaceuticals Inc.
  • Genentech, Inc.
  • GlaxoSmithKline Group of Companies and the GlaxoSmithKline Patient Access Programs Foundation
  • Incyte Corporation
  • Marathon Pharmaceuticals, LLC/PTC Therapeutics, Inc.
  • Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation
  • Pharming Healthcare, Inc.
  • Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
  • Sumitomo Pharma America, Inc. / Sunovion Pharmaceuticals Inc.
  • Tolmar
State Attorneys General often announce data breaches without specifying the number of affected people but AG’s office in Texas does disclose the number impacting the state residents. Based on these partial numbers, at least 542,000 individuals seem to be impacted from the Cencora data breach, till date. The Cyber Express reached out to Cencora for confirming the total number of individuals impacted to understand the full extent of the data breach but did not receive any communication till the time of publishing the article.

Cyber Forensic Findings from the Cencora Data Breach

Cencora detected the cyberattack on February 21, and took immediate action to contain and prevent further unauthorized access. Based on the investigation that likely concluded in April, Cencora said personal information including first name, last name, address, date of birth, health diagnosis, and medications and prescriptions was compromised in the attack. AmerisourceBergen Specialty Group (ABSG), a unit of Cencora, said Friday the breach involved data of a prescription supply program run by the now defunct subsidiary, Medical Initiatives Inc. Further details on how the supply program was exploited remain unclear. U.S. has been rocked by a host of cybersecurity breaches linked to the healthcare industry in recent days. While Change Healthcare cyberattack was one of the most notable ones, the Medstar and Ascension breaches have displayed the vulnerability of the healthcare sector to cyberattacks. The latest in the list of healthcare data breaches is the Sav-Rx data breach that compromised the health data of more than 2.8 million people. Cencora’s investigation, however, found no connection with other major healthcare cyberattacks and, in its notifications, said they were unaware of any actual or attempted misuse of the stolen data. The company said it has not seen any public disclosure of the stolen data, till date. The affected individuals have been offered 24 months of credit monitoring and identity theft remediation services at no cost and steps have also been taken to harden defenses to prevent such security breaches in the future. Media Disclaimer: This report is based on internal and external research obtained through various means. The information provided is for reference purposes only, and users bear full responsibility for their reliance on it. The Cyber Express assumes no liability for the accuracy or consequences of using this information.

Greek PDPA Fines Ministry of Interior and MEP Asimakopoulou in ‘Email-Gate’ Scandal

By: Alan J
28 May 2024 at 05:08

Greek Ministry of Interior email-gate

The Greek Personal Data Protection Authority (PDPA) has imposed significant fines on the Greek Ministry of Interior and New Democracy MEP Anna-Michelle Asimakopoulou for their roles in violating data protection regulations in the 'email-gate' scandal. The fines come after an investigation into the "email-gate" scandal, in which Asimakopoulou was accused of sending unsolicited emails to Greeks living abroad ahead of the European Parliament elections in June.

Ministry of Interior Violations and Consequences

The authority found that a file of 25,000 voters registered for the June 2023 elections had been leaked between June 8 and 23, 2023. The list, which included voter emails, was sent to New Democracy's then Secretary for Diaspora Affairs, Nikos Theodoropoulos, by an unknown individual. Theodoropoulos forwarded the file to MEP Asimakopoulou, who used it to send mass campaign emails in violation of data protection laws and basic principles of legality. [caption id="attachment_71501" align="alignnone" width="1000"]MEP Asimakopoulou Greek Ministry of Interior Source: Shutterstock (MEP Anna-Michelle Asimakopoulou)[/caption] On receiving the unsolicited emails to their private accounts, several Greek diaspora voters living abroad expressed their surprise on social media and accused the New Democracy MEP of violating the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The expats questioned how the addresses were obtained by the MEP for use in the email campaigns. Asimakopoulou earlier attempted to refute allegations of violating these data protection laws but was found to provide contradictory explanations regarding the source from which these addresses were obtained for usage in the mass email campaign. As a result, the Ministry of Interior faces a 400,000-euro fine, while Asimakopoulou faces a 40,000-euro fine. The authority also postponed its verdict on Theodoropoulos and the New Democracy party  to examine new claims related to the investigation. The PDPA stated in its investigation that the use of the emails, “was in violation of the basic principle of legality, objectivity and transparency of processing, as it was in violation of a series of provisions of the electoral legislation and furthermore could not reasonably be expected.” The ministry said it will "thoroughly study" the authority's decision to consider further legal actions. The "email-gate" scandal has led to significant consequences, including the resignation of the general secretary of the Interior Ministry, Michalis Stavrianoudakis, and the dismissal of Theodoropoulos by New Democracy. Asimakopoulou has announced she will not run in the European Parliament elections. Asimakopoulou is also facing 75 lawsuits by citizens and over 200 lawsuits from the Interior Ministry, over the scandal.

Reaction of Opposition Parties to the Investigation Results

Opposition parties are now demanding the resignation of Interior Minister Niki Kerameos following the outcome of the investigation into the unsolicited emails. [caption id="attachment_71241" align="alignnone" width="1000"]Ministry of Interior greek greece Personal Data Protection Authority Source: Shuttertock (Interior Minister Niki Kerameos)[/caption] The main opposition party SYRIZA released a statement asserting that “private data were being passed around for months among the Interior Ministry, ND, and at least one election candidate,” questioning whether the email list had been leaked to other New Democracy candidates by the Interior Ministry. While the Interior Minister might not have been directly involved, SYRIZA claimed that “Kerameos did not have the guts to show up at the Committee on Institutions and Transparency.” The Socialist PASOK Party also demanded Kerameos’ resignation, adding that the violation demonstrates the government as “incapable of fulfilling the self-evident, as proven by the high fines.” Media Disclaimer: This report is based on internal and external research obtained through various means. The information provided is for reference purposes only, and users bear full responsibility for their reliance on it. The Cyber Express assumes no liability for the accuracy or consequences of using this information.

Climate Change Added a Month’s Worth of Extra-Hot Days in Past Year

28 May 2024 at 04:30
Since last May, the average person experienced 26 more days of abnormal warmth than they would have without global warming, a new analysis found.

© Fareed Khan/Associated Press

Receiving treatment for heatstroke in a hospital in Karachi, Pakistan, on Thursday.

Critical Bug Allows DoS, RCE, Data Leaks in All Major Cloud Platforms – Source: www.darkreading.com

critical-bug-allows-dos,-rce,-data-leaks-in-all-major-cloud-platforms-–-source:-wwwdarkreading.com

Source: www.darkreading.com – Author: Nate Nelson, Contributing Writer Source: George Ostertag via Alamy Stock Photo Researchers have discovered a severe memory corruption vulnerability inside of a cloud logging utility used across major cloud platforms. The service, Fluent Bit, is an open source tool for collecting, processing, and forwarding logs and other types of application data. […]

La entrada Critical Bug Allows DoS, RCE, Data Leaks in All Major Cloud Platforms – Source: www.darkreading.com se publicó primero en CISO2CISO.COM & CYBER SECURITY GROUP.

Rafael Nadal loses to Alexander Zverev in what may be his French Open farewell

  • Dominance ends with three-set defeat to 4th seed
  • Spaniard says ‘big percentage’ he will not be back

On the 115 occasions that Rafael Nadal had previously stepped out to compete on the courts of Roland Garros, he had lost just three times. Across two decades, he had orchestrated one of the greatest eras of dominance in sporting history, pushing the art of clay court tennis to unimaginable heights. For so long, his success in Paris seemed so inevitable.

Now it may be over. As Nadal returned this year unseeded, days away from his 38th birthday and desperately searching for form of old, his brutal first-round draw against Alexander Zverev pitted his ­muscle memory of greatness against a top contender with ideal form and preparation.

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© Photograph: Emmanuel Dunand/AFP/Getty Images

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© Photograph: Emmanuel Dunand/AFP/Getty Images

Social media bosses are ‘the largest dictators’, says Nobel peace prize winner

27 May 2024 at 11:11

Journalist Maria Ressa named Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk in speech at Hay literary festival in Powys

“Tech bros” such as Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk are “the largest dictators”, Maria Ressa, who won the Nobel peace prize in 2021 for her defence of media freedom, has said.

The American-Filipina journalist has spent a number of years fighting charges filed during then president of the Philippines Rodrigo Duterte’s administration, but said Duterte “is a far smaller dictator compared to Mark Zuckerberg, and now let me throw in Elon Musk”.

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© Photograph: Aaron Favila/AP

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© Photograph: Aaron Favila/AP

Post Office scandal: Police to deploy 80 detectives for criminal inquiry

Exclusive: Investigation will dig into potential perjury offences and perverting the course of justice by senior leaders and Fujitsu

Police are planning to deploy 80 detectives for their criminal inquiry into the Post Office scandal, the Guardian has learned, but victims will face a long wait to discover if charges will follow.

The investigation will examine potential offences of perjury, and perverting the course of justice by Post Office senior leaders as well as the tech company Fujitsu.

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© Photograph: Hollie Adams/Reuters

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© Photograph: Hollie Adams/Reuters

Elon Musk’s xAI Raises $6 Billion

27 May 2024 at 14:11
Elon Musk, who founded xAI last year, has said the business “still has a lot of catching up to do” as it looks to compete with well-funded companies like OpenAI.

© Nina Westervelt for The New York Times

Elon Musk in New York last month.

Keir Starmer says Sunak’s claim UK has ‘turned the corner’ is ‘form of disrespect’ – UK politics live

27 May 2024 at 08:21

Labour leader says prime minister’s claims about UK are ‘form of disrespect’ due to high taxes and commitment to abolishing national insurance

Starmer is now running through his six first step promises.

Starmer says he is fed up with hearing Rishi Sunak says the UK has “turned the corner”.

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© Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA

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© Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA

Nudging not Budging

26 May 2024 at 22:03
The Problem with Behavioral Nudges. "When we gave participants one website as a default—in other words, we nudged them to choose it—70% opted for it, compared with 48% who chose the same one when it wasn't preselected. That's typically how default nudges work: People are much more inclined to pick the default, which presumably will be the one that is best for them or society. Next came the important part. We waited..."

"...We tracked how often the study participants visited their website membership over eight months. Those who were nudged to choose the default plan visited the site 42% less often than people who chose an identical plan without nudging."

The Post Office Horizon IT scandal is rooted in class prejudice | Letters

26 May 2024 at 12:06

Readers respond to the testimony of Paula Vennells, former managing director of Post Office Limited, at the inquiry into the failings of its Horizon IT system

Re your editorial on Paula Vennells (24 May), one of the main themes of the Post Office Horizon IT inquiry has been the complete lack of evidence of competence, curiosity or compassion in the leadership team; it is a theme that has often been seen in public inquiries in recent years. It is clear that the UK is infected with leadership teams staffed by people who are there not due to any sort of competence or merit, but because that’s just what their sort of people do.

The overriding characteristics of these privately educated, overpaid and arrogant groups of people are their indifference to the real-life consequences of their actions for ordinary hard-working people, their intrinsic belief that their sort are trustworthy and credible, unlike the little people, and their bewilderment at the idea that they should be held accountable.

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© Photograph: Vuk Valcic/ZUMA Press Wire/REX/Shutterstock

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© Photograph: Vuk Valcic/ZUMA Press Wire/REX/Shutterstock

Hundreds of victims in infected blood scandal to sue UK health secretary

Group of about 500 people to reinstate 2017 lawsuit against government due to ‘holes and gaps’ in compensation framework

Hundreds of people in the UK infected with contaminated blood and relatives of those infected are going ahead with plans to sue the health secretary for damages, having been left dissatisfied with the government’s announcement on compensation.

A group claim by about 500 people against the government alleging it breached a duty to take reasonable care to prevent personal injury or loss, amounting to misfeasance in public office, began in 2017 but was paused pending the inquiry into the scandal, which published its final report on Monday.

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© Photograph: Leon Neal/Getty Images

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© Photograph: Leon Neal/Getty Images

‘It helped me through dark moments’: the male comedians turning their trauma into TV

26 May 2024 at 07:00

After the runaway success of Richard Gadd’s Baby Reindeer, fellow standup Mark O’Sullivan has a new sitcom about personal pain

Comedian Mark O’Sullivan was sexually assaulted by a member of his extended family when he was 12 years old. In his 30s, he reported the abuse to the police and, following a court case, the perpetrator was convicted and jailed.

Now 47, O’Sullivan is addressing this painful part of his past through his comedy. A documentary My Sexual Abuse: The Sitcom, will be screened on Channel 4, with the accompanying sitcom streaming online.

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© Photograph: Channel 4 / Jack Barnes

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© Photograph: Channel 4 / Jack Barnes

Infected blood scandal: call for drug firms to pay part of £10bn compensation

26 May 2024 at 02:00

‘Outrageous’ that payouts to victims in other countries are not being matched in UK, say campaigners

Global pharmaceutical firms that supplied products involved in the contaminated blood scandal face calls this weekend to foot part of the estimated £10bn compensation bill.

MPs and campaigners want the government to pursue action against drug firms that to date have not paid any compensation in the UK. Their products were contaminated with viruses, including HIV and hepatitis C.

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© Photograph: Leon Neal/Getty

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© Photograph: Leon Neal/Getty

Australia: Solar for First Nations communities? Where?

By: gusset
26 May 2024 at 00:03
10,000 Aboriginal households in the Northern Territory go without power. Prepaid meters leaving households disconnected For around 10,000 Aboriginal households in the Northern Territory, mostly in remote areas, getting power and keeping it on can be a difficult task.

Because power is run through a prepaid smart meter, power cards need to be purchased from the local store or online and swiped on to the meter. If you don't have money on your meter, it simply cuts out. This means consumers don't have the same regulated protections against energy disconnection as those living in urban areas or on post-paid billing systems. 10,000 First Nations households. "The government's Remote Power System Strategy is aiming to achieve an average of 70% of the energy in the 72 Indigenous Essential Services (IES) communities coming from renewables by 2030." That's 6 years. Meanwhile, Gina Rinehart & friends doubled their fortunes in 3 years during the pandemic.

David Nicholls warns readers against trying to visit novel’s locations

25 May 2024 at 15:16

Bestselling writer says Lake District sites in new book You Are Here are ‘genuinely all made up’

David Nicholls has warned his fans not to attempt to visit the locations in his new novel. While those who loved the hit Netflix adaptation of Nicholls’ novel One Day have been able to visit locations from the series, such as the Lewisham pizza joint Bella Roma or Charlton Lido, the locations in You Are Here “are genuinely all made up”, the author said.

The novel, which was published last month and follows a midlife couple as they hike through the Lake District, contain a disclaimer from the author explaining that while he has “tried to describe the landscape as accurately as possible, the pubs, hotels and restaurants along the way are all entirely fictional”, and he has also “taken a few small liberties with the route”.

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© Photograph: David Levenson/Getty Images

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© Photograph: David Levenson/Getty Images

British climber and Nepali guide feared dead after reaching Everest summit

25 May 2024 at 14:54

Dan Paterson and Pastenji Sherpa went missing during descent after landslide of snow and ice on mountain

A British man and his Nepali guide are believed to be dead after reaching the summit of Mount Everest on Tuesday, a guiding company said.

Dan Paterson, 40, and Pastenji Sherpa, 23, reached the peak just before 5am on Tuesday but have not been heard from since, according to Paterson’s partner, Becks Woodhead.

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© Photograph: @DANPATWCF

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© Photograph: @DANPATWCF

‘Knight in spiny armor’: could lobsters help save Florida’s dying corals?

25 May 2024 at 09:00

A three-year study found that the spiny lobsters’ urine scared off predatory worms and snails who snack on the delicate organisms

An unexpected champion has emerged in the increasingly grave battle to save Florida’s imperiled coral reefs: spiny lobsters that urinate in the water and scare off predatory worms and snails seeking to feast on the delicate organisms.

The finding is one of the more bizarre conclusions of a three-year study by scientists from the Florida fish and wildlife conservation commission (FWC), who are also warning it may already be too late for some species of coral to survive without significant human assistance.

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© Photograph: Azoor Wildlife Photo/Alamy

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© Photograph: Azoor Wildlife Photo/Alamy

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