A Toothless Iran? Missile and Drone Strikes Show It Can Still Inflict Pain.

NY Times - Sun, 03/29/2026 - 00:01
A wave of strikes across the Middle East in recent days shows that Iran has not lost the capacity to retaliate.

The Slum in Gangnam, the Richest Part of Seoul

NY Times - Sun, 03/29/2026 - 00:00
The city wants to redevelop a shantytown in Gangnam district, where hundreds are defying eviction, fighting for a right to own a home in an area notorious for the exorbitant cost of housing.

Do Emergency Microsoft, Oracle Patches Point to Wider Issues?

SlashDot - Sat, 03/28/2026 - 23:34
"Emergency out-of-band fixes issued by enterprise IT giants Microsoft and Oracle have shone a spotlight on issues around both update cycles and patching," reports Computer Weekly: Microsoft's emergency update, KB5085516, addresses an issue that arose after installing the mandatory cumulative updates pushed live on Patch Tuesday earlier this month. According to Microsoft, it has since emerged that many users experienced problems signing into applications with a Microsoft account, seeing a "no internet" error message even though the device had a working connection. This had the effect of preventing access to multiple services and applications. It should be noted that organisations using Entra ID did not experience the issue. But Microsoft's emergency patch comes just days after it doubled down on a commitment to software quality, reliability and stability. In a blog post published just 24 hours prior to the latest update, Pavan Davuluri of Microsoft's Windows Insider Program Team said updates should be "predictable and easy to plan around". Michael Bell, founder/CEO of Suzu Labs tells Computer Weekly that Microsoft's patch for the sign-in bug follows "separate hotpatches for RRAS remote code execution flaws and a Bluetooth visibility bug. Three emergency fixes in eight days does not shout reliability era." Oracle's patch, meanwhile, addresses CVE-2026-21992, a remote code execution flaw in the REST:WebServices component of Oracle Identity Manager and the Web Services Security component of Oracle Web Services Manager in Oracle Fusion Middleware. It carries a CVSS score of 9.8 and can be exploited by an unauthenticated attacker with network access over HTTP.

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A Challenge for ‘No Kings’ Protests, the Third Time Around

NY Times - Sat, 03/28/2026 - 23:29
Organizers want this to be the largest protest yet. But is hitting a number enough to deliver an effective political movement?

Record Number of T.S.A. Employees Called Out on Friday

NY Times - Sat, 03/28/2026 - 21:58
President Trump signed a memo late Friday ordering the Department of Homeland Security to restore pay to airport screeners.

MacOS 26.4 Adds Warnings For ClickFix Attacks to Its Terminal App

SlashDot - Sat, 03/28/2026 - 21:34
An anonymous Slashdot reader writes: ClickFix attacks are ramping up. These attacks have users copy and paste a string to something that can execute a command line — like the Windows Run dialog, or a shell prompt. But MacRumors reports that macOS 26.4 Tahoe (updated earlier this week) introduces a new feature to its Terminal app where it will detect ClickFix attempts and stop them by prompting the user if they really wanted to run those commands. According to MacRumors, the warning readers "Possible malware, Paste blocked." "Your Mac has not been harmed. Scammers often encourage pasting text into Terminal to try and harm your Mac or compromise your privacy...." There is also a "Paste Anyway" option if users still wish to proceed.

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‘No Kings’ Protests Decry Trump and His Agenda

NY Times - Sat, 03/28/2026 - 20:40
Thousands of organized demonstrations stretched across the country. Minnesota was a focal point of the protests after a tumultuous immigration crackdown.

Astronaut’s Condition That Led to Space Station Evacuation Remains a Mystery

NY Times - Sat, 03/28/2026 - 18:39
The astronaut, Michael Fincke, experienced a medical emergency in January that rendered him unable to speak, he said.

SystemD Contributor Harassed Over Optional Age Verification Field, Suggests Installer-Level Disabling

SlashDot - Sat, 03/28/2026 - 18:34
It's FOSS interviewed a software engineer whose long-running open source contributions include Python code for the Arch Linux installer and maintaining packages for NixOS. But "a recent change he made to systemd has pushed him into the spotlight" after he'd added the optional birthDate field for systemd's user database. Critics saw it not merely as a technical addition, but as a symbolic capitulation to government overreach. A crack in the philosophical foundation of freedom that Linux is built on. What followed went far beyond civil disagreement. Dylan revealed that he faced harassment, doxxing, death threats, and a flood of hate mail. He was forced to disable issues and pull request tabs across his GitHub repositories... Q: Should FOSS projects adapt to laws they fundamentally disagree with? Because these kinds of laws are certainly in conflict with what a lot of Linux users believe in. A. Unfortunately, in a lot of cases, the answer is yes — at least for any distribution with corporate backing. The small independent distributions are much more flexible to refuse as a protest. If we ignore regulations entirely, we risk Linux being something that companies are not willing to contribute to, and Linux may be shipped on less hardware. I'm talking about things like Valve and System76 (despite them very vocally hating these laws). That does not help us; it just lowers the quality of software contributions due to less investment in the platform and makes Linux less accessible to the average person. We need Linux and other free operating systems to remain a viable alternative to closed systems. Q. Do you think regulations like these will reshape desktop Linux in the next 5-10 years where we might have "compliant Linux" and "Freedom-first Linux"? A. Unfortunately, yes, to some degree this is likely. I imagine the split will be mostly along the lines of independent distributions and those with corporate backing. We're already seeing it as far as which distributions plan on implementing some sort of age verification and which ones are not, and that sucks. I'd rather nobody have to deal with this mess at all, but this is the reality of things now. As I said in the previous response, the corporate-backed distributions really have no choice in the matter. Companies are notoriously risk-adverse, but something like Artix or Devuan? Those are small and independent enough where the individual maintainers may be willing to take on more risk. I was actually thinking about what this would look like if we added it to [Linux system installer] Calamares and chatting about that with the maintainers before that thread got brigaded by bad actors posting personal information and throwing around insults. I completely support the freedom for the distro maintainers to choose their risk tolerance. If the distribution is based out of Ireland or something (like Linux Mint) without these silly laws in the jurisdiction the developer operates in, I think that we should leave it up to them to make a choice here. They think the installer should have a date picker with a flag to disable it, and "We can even default it to off, and corporate distributions using Calamares or those not willing to take the risk could flip it on if they need to. That way if maintainers of the distributions do not wish to collect the birth date, they won't have to, and no forking is required to patch it out."

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Vance Wins CPAC Straw Poll, but Rubio Gains Steam Among MAGA Faithful

NY Times - Sat, 03/28/2026 - 17:50
Conference organizers presented the poll results as a rebuttal to narratives that Republicans were split over the Iran war and support for Israel.

G.O.P. Rift Leaves Congress With No Clear Path to End the Shutdown

NY Times - Sat, 03/28/2026 - 17:40
The deadlock that left the Department of Homeland Security shuttered highlighted Republican divisions that are flaring ahead of the midterm elections.

IBM Quantum Computer Simulates Real Magnetic Materials and Matches Lab Data

SlashDot - Sat, 03/28/2026 - 17:34
"IBM says its quantum computer can now simulate real magnetic materials and match actual lab experiment results," writes Slashdot reader BrianFagioli, "which is something people have been waiting years to see." Instead of just theoretical output, the system reproduced neutron scattering data from a known material, meaning it lines up with real world physics. It still relies on a mix of quantum and classical computing and this is a narrow use case for now, but it is one of the first times quantum hardware has produced results that scientists can directly validate against experiments, which makes it a lot more interesting than the usual hype. Classical computers "are not great at modeling quantum systems," according to this article at Nerds.xyz. "The math gets messy fast, and scientists end up relying on approximations... Quantum computers are supposed to solve that problem..." If this direction continues, it could start to matter in areas like superconductors, battery tech, and even drug development. Those are the kinds of problems where better simulations can actually lead to better outcomes, not just nicer charts in a research paper. "I am extremely excited about what this means for science," said study co-author Allen Scheie from the Los Alamos National Laboratory. In an announcement from IBM, Scheie calls this "the most impressive match I've seen between experimental data and qubit simulation, and it definitely raises the bar for what can be expected from quantum computers."

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Sony is Raising PlayStation 5 Prices Again, Between $100 and $150

SlashDot - Sat, 03/28/2026 - 16:34
Memory and storage shortages and price hikes have "steadily rippled outward across all kinds of consumer tech," reports Ars Technica. "Today's bad news comes from Sony, which is raising prices for PlayStation 5 consoles in the US just eight months after their last price hike." The drive-less Digital Edition will increase from $500 to $600; the base PS5 with an optical drive will increase from $550 to $650; and the PS5 Pro is going up from $750 to a whopping $900. At the beginning of 2025, these consoles cost $450, $500, and $700, respectively... RAM and flash memory chips are in short supply primarily because of demand from AI data centers — memory manufacturers have shifted more production toward making the kind of memory found in AI accelerators like Nvidia's H200, leaving less for the consumer market. And the situation is unlikely to improve any time soon, barring a major shift in demand from the AI industry.

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Castro Heirs Emerge Across Cuba’s Political Scene Amid Energy Crisis and Trump Threats

NY Times - Sat, 03/28/2026 - 16:21
As Trump officials demand changes, Castro family members are suddenly popping up across Cuba’s political scene. Some even ask: Could one be the “Cuban Delcy?”

F.B.I. Said to Dig Up Old Investigative Files on Democratic Lawmaker

NY Times - Sat, 03/28/2026 - 16:15
The urgent instructions at the Trump administration’s behest to gather and relay the files on Representative Eric Swalwell have alarmed some career law enforcement officials.

James Tolkan, a Tough-Talking Actor in ‘Back to the Future’ and ‘Top Gun,’ Dies at 94

NY Times - Sat, 03/28/2026 - 15:57
Mr. Tolkan’s career spanned decades but his breakout roles came as an authority figure in two popular films of the mid-1980s.

Thousands of Americans Treated With Psilocybin in 2025

SlashDot - Sat, 03/28/2026 - 15:34
In a new 4,000-word article, CNN tells the story of a retired appellate paralegal and grandmother in her early 70s who was treated for depression with psilocybin. CNN notes there's now retreats featuring psilocybin in a few countries — and while psilocybin is illegal under United States federal law, "In Oregon, 5,935 clients received psilocybin services through Oregon's state-regulated program in 2025." High doses of psilocybin are effective in treating depression, a growing body of research suggests, with promise for other conditions, like PTSD and addiction, said Dr. Albert Garcia-Romeu, associate director of the Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research at Johns Hopkins University... Some researchers suggest it disrupts entrenched traffic patterns in the brain or grows new neuron connections to change thinking. Others say the results from psilocybin could have to do with its anti-inflammatory effect, Garcia-Romeu said... Colorado became the second state to make psilocybin legal with a 2023 law and issued its first healing center" last year. A law adopted in New Mexico last year established that state's Medical Psilocybin Program, now in development... Psilocybin seems to be "knocking on the door of FDA approval," said Dr. Lynn Marie Morski, president of the Psychedelic Medicine Association, which educates health care providers on the therapeutic use of psychedelics so they can answer patients' questions through the lenses of clinical evidence and harm reduction. Psilocybin therapy first received a "breakthrough therapy" designation for treatment-resistant depression from the US Food and Drug Administration in 2018, and now psilocybin drug products are on track to be submitted to the FDA for possible approval in the not-too-distant future. While psilocybin is illegal under United States federal law, more states are creating their own paths for legal use under state laws.

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Is Iran a Political Problem for Trump? Tell Me How Long the War Lasts.

NY Times - Sat, 03/28/2026 - 15:05
Historically, quagmire abroad and high prices at home are the ingredients of a failed presidency.

A Downturn in Las Vegas Could Signal Tough Times for the Nation

NY Times - Sat, 03/28/2026 - 14:58
The high rollers may still be crowding the tables, but high prices and pinched discretionary incomes are driving a sharp drop-off in visitors to Las Vegas as Nevada’s governor runs for re-election.

Linux Maintainer Greg Kroah-Hartman Says AI Tools Now Useful, Finding Real Bugs

SlashDot - Sat, 03/28/2026 - 14:34
Linux kernel maintainer Greg Kroah-Hartman tells The Register that AI-driven code review has "really jumped" for Linux. "There must have been some inflection point somewhere with the tools..." "Something happened a month ago, and the world switched. Now we have real reports." It's not just Linux, he continued. "All open source projects have real reports that are made with AI, but they're good, and they're real." Security teams across major open source projects talk informally and frequently, he noted, and everyone is seeing the same shift. "All open source security teams are hitting this right now...." For now, AI is showing up more as a reviewer and assistant than as a full author of Linux kernel code, but that line is starting to blur. Kroah-Hartman has already done his own experiments with AI-generated patches. "I did a really stupid prompt," he recounted. "I said, 'Give me this,' and it spit out 60: 'Here's 60 problems I found, and here's the fixes for them.' About one-third were wrong, but they still pointed out a relatively real problem, and two-thirds of the patches were right." Mind you, those working patches still needed human cleanup, better changelogs, and integration work, but they were far from useless. "The tools are good," he said. "We can't ignore this stuff. It's coming up, and it's getting better...." [H]e said that for "simple little error conditions, properly detecting error conditions," AI could already generate dozens of usable patches today. The sudden increase in AI-generated reports and AI-assisted work has also spurred a parallel push to build AI into the kernel's own review infrastructure. A key piece of that is Sashiko, a tool originally developed at Google and now donated to the Linux Foundation. Kroah-Hartman said some patches are being generated with AI now. "You have a little co-develop tag for that now. We're seeing some things for some new features, but we're seeing AI mostly being used in the review."

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