A study said church attendance had soared among British young people, a trend reversal that excited religious conservatives around the world. Turns out it wasn’t true.

The fertility rate has been falling since 2007, in large part because of a plunge among teenagers.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Drive: Farmers have been fighting John Deere for years over the right to repair their equipment, and this week, they finally reached a landmark settlement. While the agricultural manufacturing giant pointed out in a statement that this is no admission of wrongdoing, it agreed to pay $99 million into a fund for farms and individuals who participated in a class action lawsuit. Specifically, that money is available to those involved who paid John Deere's authorized dealers for large equipment repairs from January 2018. This means that plaintiffs will recover somewhere between 26% and 53% of overcharge damages, according to one of the court documents (PDF) -- far beyond the typical amount, which lands between 5% and 15%. The settlement also includes an agreement by Deere to provide "the digital tools required for the maintenance, diagnosis, and repair" of tractors, combines, and other machinery for 10 years. That part is crucial, as farmers previously resorted to hacking their own equipment's software just to get it up and running again. John Deere signed a memorandum of understanding in 2023 that partially addressed those concerns, providing third parties with the technology to diagnose and repair, as long as its intellectual property was safeguarded. Monday's settlement seems to represent a much stronger (and legally binding) step forward. The report notes that a judge's approval of the settlement is still required but likely to happen. John Deere also faces another lawsuit by the U.S. FTC, accusing the company of forcing farmers to use its authorized dealer network and driving up their costs for parts and repairs.

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A special prosecutor said a review of the incident found there was not sufficient evidence to charge Doug Diny, the mayor of Wausau.

Gerhardt Konig, 47, an anesthesiologist from Maui, attacked his wife, Arielle Konig, on a hiking trail near Honolulu, prosecutors said. He claimed it was self-defense.

After careening from one diplomatic extreme to another, President Trump finds himself with a fragile deal that is already showing signs of fraying.

Mr. Gugino, 81, had filed a lawsuit in 2021 against the city of Buffalo and members of its police force after officers fractured his skull at a Black Lives Matter protest.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani is focused on economic justice. Some budget watchdogs and business leaders want him to concentrate on economic development.

Fractures were already emerging in the limited cease-fire. Vice President JD Vance will lead a U.S. delegation in talks this weekend.

Rex Heuermann agreed to talk to behavioral analysts at the F.B.I. when he pleaded guilty. The unit has interviewed Ted Bundy, John Wayne Gacy and Richard Speck.

The ruling was a setback for the artificial intelligence start-up in its battle with the Defense Department over the use of A.I. in warfare.

Even if this cease-fire holds, the war’s shocks may last for years.

The progressive and popular Twitch streamer, who is controversial with some Democrats, tests his political influence on the 2026 campaign trail.

As an executive with the outdoor-supply retailer REI and an experienced climber, he conquered Mount Everest in 1963, when fewer than 10 people were known to have done so.

A $500,000 "Survivor"-style corporate retreat for 120 Plex employees in Honduras "turned into a week-long disaster involving illness, wild animals, armed guards, and employees stranded on a remote island," reports the Daily Beast. The CEO was bedridden by E. coli, staff were collapsing in brutal heat during Navy SEAL-led drills, there were fire ant attacks, uncooked food, and failing utilities. At one point, a porcupine even crashed through the ceiling of a guest's room. Here's an excerpt from the report: Tech media company Plex flew its 120 employees to a Honduran resort in 2017 for what was billed as a Survivor-style getaway. They called it "Plexcon." The first harbinger of trouble was an email that arrived before the group departed, informing them that the hotel manager and chef had both quit within days of each other. Things went sharply downhill from there. CEO Keith Valory, 54, had flown out a day early, intending to channel his inner Jeff Probst and welcome his staff off the buses like a game show host. Instead, he spent the arrival morning flat on his back. "I got E. coli, which is maybe the worst thing you could get, possibly, ever," Valory told the Wall Street Journal this week. "Just as people were arriving on the buses, I was like, 'Uh oh.' I lost 8 or 10 pounds. They had a doctor come to me, which apparently is pretty standard. They nailed an IV bag to the bedpost." With the CEO incapacitated, chief product officer and co-founder Scott Olechowski, 52, stepped in to run proceedings -- beginning with a forced eating challenge in which one employee had to consume a dead tarantula. [...] Sean Hoff, 42, founder of Moniker Partners, the independent retreat agency that planned the trip, was running himself ragged attempting damage control -- the showers, water, and electricity kept cutting out. [...] Meanwhile, senior software engineer Rick Phillips, 53, was trying to sleep when he heard a crash in his room. He ignored it until morning. "I got up and went over to get in the shower, and there was a porcupine," he said. "It must have climbed a tree and fallen through the ceiling."

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Hours after a tenuous pause to a nearly six-week war, Iranians expressed relief and trepidation about the future. Some fear the government will crack down on its domestic critics.

A lot of the money flowing into the political system is ultimately untraceable.

The FBI says (PDF) Iran-linked hackers disrupted internet-connected systems used by U.S. oil, gas, and water companies. Even with the recent two-week ceasefire between Iran and the United States and Israel, hackers backing Tehran say they won't end their retaliatory cyberattacks. The Hill reports: The report warned that similar companies across the country should be aware of an increased push by hackers to take over programmable logic controller (PLC) systems, which can be used to digitally control physical machinery from remote locations. Secure internet access for PLCs from one company, Rockwell Automation, were removed by Iran-linked coders who then "maliciously interacted with project files and altered data," according to the report. Hackers first gained access to some of the platforms in January of last year. All access to compromised platforms ended in March, the report said. The FBI said the move resulted in "operational disruption" and "financial loss." [...] Rockwell Automation wasn't the only company to recently face cyberattacks from Iran-linked hackers. Stryker, a major U.S. medical device maker, was targeted by Iran-affiliated coders in mid-March. It was unclear if physical operations were affected by the security breach. FBI Director Kash Patel was personally impacted by hackers who leaked his emails and records related to his personal travels and business from more than 10 years ago. [...] The FBI urged companies to adopt network defenders and multifactor authentication to prevent future attacks. Tuesday's report was published alongside the National Security Agency, the Department of Energy, and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. "Government and experts have been warning about internet connected systems for years, and how vulnerable they are," one source familiar with the federal investigation into the hacks told CNN. Many companies have "ealready removed those systems and followed the guidance," the person added.

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Last month was one of the wettest Marches on record for the state, leading to widespread flooding and evacuations. More rain is hitting this week.

As he pleaded guilty on Wednesday, Rex Heuermann gave the same one-word answer each time he was asked how he killed one of his victims.