Trump’s Politics Are Not America First. They’re Me First.
Donald Trump is the most un-American president in our history. And in his second term, there is no one to constrain his un-American impulses.
Europe Has a Bazooka. Time to Use It.
For now, Europe’s anti-coercion instrument is less a bazooka than a waterlogged firecracker.
Cuban Immigrant Was Killed in ICE Custody, Family Says in Legal Filing
The family of Geraldo Lunas Campos said a witness saw him choked by guards in an El Paso detention facility this month. Federal officials said he died by suicide.
Trump Heads to Davos Amid Deep Worries About U.S.-European Alliance
The gathering of the global elite is set to serve as an all-hands effort to de-escalate tensions between President Trump and America’s allies over his insistence on acquiring Greenland.
Taiwan’s $40 Billion Military Spending Plan Stalled by Political Impasse
Taiwan’s domestic gridlock is revealing a deep-seated fracture over how the island should defend itself and how much it can depend on the United States.
Another Train Crash in Spain Kills 1 and Hurts 37, Officials Say
Train service in the Catalonia region will be suspended until it is safe to resume rail traffic, the local operator said.
In Court Record, Official Describes Assault Before ICE Agent Shot Man in Minneapolis
The agent told an investigator that he was assaulted with a broom and a shovel before he fired a single shot that wounded a Venezuelan man.
Era of 'Global Water Bankruptcy' Is Here, UN Report Says
An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Guardian: The world has entered an era of "global water bankruptcy" that is harming billions of people, a UN report has declared. The overuse and pollution of water must be tackled urgently, the report's lead author said, because no one knew when the whole system could collapse, with implications for peace and social cohesion. All life depends on water but the report found many societies had long been using water faster than it could be replenished annually in rivers and soils, as well as over-exploiting or destroying long-term stores of water in aquifers and wetlands. This had led to water bankruptcy, the report said, with many human water systems past the point at which they could be restored to former levels. The climate crisis was exacerbating the problem by melting glaciers, which store water, and causing whiplashes between extremely dry and wet weather.
Prof Kaveh Madani, who led the report, said while not every basin and country was water bankrupt, the world was interconnected by trade and migration, and enough critical systems had crossed this threshold to fundamentally alter global water risk. The result was a world in which 75% of people lived in countries classified as water-insecure or critically water-insecure and 2 billion people lived on ground that is sinking as groundwater aquifers collapse. Conflicts over water had risen sharply since 2010, the report said, while major rivers, such as the Colorado, in the US, and the Murray-Darling system, in Australia, were failing to reach the sea, and "day zero" emergencies -- when cities run out of water, such as in Chennai, India -- were escalating. Half of the world's large lakes had shrunk since the early 1990s, the report noted. Even damp nations, such as the UK, were at risk because of reliance on imports of water-dependent food and other products. "This report tells an uncomfortable truth: many critical water systems are already bankrupt," said Madani, of the UN University's Institute for Water, Environment and Health. "It's extremely urgent [because] no one knows exactly when the whole system would collapse."
About 70% of fresh water taken by human withdrawals was used for agriculture, but Madani said: "Millions of farmers are trying to grow more food from shrinking, polluted or disappearing water sources. Water bankruptcy in India or Pakistan, for example, also means an impact on rice exports to a lot of places around the world." More than half of global food was grown in areas where water storage was declining or unstable, the report said. Madani said action to deal with water bankruptcy offered a chance to bring countries together in an increasingly fragmented world. "Water is a strategic, untapped opportunity to the world to create unity within and between nations. It is one of the very rare topics that left and right and north and south all agree on its importance." The UN report, which is based on a forthcoming paper in the peer-reviewed journal Water Resources Management, sets out how population growth, urbanization and economic growth have increased water demand for agriculture, industry, energy and cities. "These pressures have produced a global pattern that is now unmistakable," it said.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
‘God Is Very Proud’: Trump Marks Anniversary With a Victory Lap
For roughly one hour 45 minutes, President Trump meandered through his accomplishments and grievances, attacked perceived enemies and threatened allies.
Halligan Leaves as U.S. Attorney After Mounting Pressure From Judges
For weeks, judges have pressed Ms. Halligan to explain why she continues to identify herself in court filings as the U.S. attorney, despite a ruling in November that she was unlawfully appointed to the job.
cURL Removes Bug Bounties
Ancient Slashdot reader jantangring shares a report from Swedish electronics industry news site Elektroniktidningen (translated to English), writing: "Open source code library cURL is removing the possibility to earn money by reporting bugs, hoping that this will reduce the volume of AI slop reports," reports etn.se. "Joshua Rogers -- AI wielding bug hunter of fame -- thinks it's a great idea." cURL maintainer Daniel Stenberg famously reported on the flood AI-generated bad bug reports last year -- "Death by a thousand slops." Now, cURL is removing the bounty payouts as of the end of January.
"We have to try to brake the flood in order not to drown," says cURL maintainer Daniel Stenberg [...]. "Despite being an AI wielding bug hunter himself, Joshua Rogers -- slasher of a hundred bugs -- thinks removing the bounty money is an excellent idea. [...] I think it's a good move and worth a bigger consideration by others. It's ridiculous that it went on for so long to be honest, and I personally would have pulled the plug long ago," he says to etn.se.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
House Foreign Affairs Members Call for Machado to Govern Venezuela
The Venezuelan opposition leader stressed the need for free elections in her latest bipartisan meeting with lawmakers.
OpenAI and ServiceNow Strike Deal to Put AI Agents in Business Software
According to the Wall Street Journal, OpenAI and ServiceNow signed a three-year deal to embed AI agents directly into ServiceNow's enterprise workflows. CNBC reports: As part of the deal, ServiceNow will integrate GPT-5.2 into its enterprise workflow platform and create AI voice technology harnessing these models. "Bringing together our engineering teams and our respective technologies will drive faster value for customers and more intuitive ways of working with AI," said Amit Zavery, president, chief operating officer, and chief product officer at ServiceNow.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Developer Rescues Stadia Bluetooth Tool That Google Killed
This week, Google finally shut down the official Stadia Bluetooth conversion tool... but there's no need to panic! Developer Christopher Klay preserved a copy on his personal GitHub and is hosting a fully working version of the tool on a dedicated website to make it even easier to find. The Verge's Sean Hollister reports: I haven't tried Klay's mirror, as both of my gamepads are already converted, but here's my video on how easy the process is. It's worth doing now that the pads work relatively well with Steam! I maintain that while Google made a lot of mistakes, it's an amazing example of shutting down a service the right way.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Trump Calls Renee Good Killing a ‘Tragedy’ and Says ICE Agents Will Make Mistakes
The change in tone was stark for the president, who said he had been told that Ms. Good’s father was a strong Trump supporter.
Mississippi Temple Says There Is More to Its Story Than Facing Hate
An arson attack at a synagogue in Mississippi was a reminder of the threat Jews face, but also of the strength of a small community forged over generations.
ChongLy Scott Thao, Hmong Immigrant and U.S. Citizen, Arrested by ICE
A Hmong immigrant, who is a U.S. citizen, was released after being questioned for an hour. Federal officials said they had been seeking sex offenders.
Carney Speech on U.S. ‘Rupture’ and Canada’s Survival Draws Standing Ovation at Davos
Prime Minister Mark Carney got a standing ovation in Davos for starkly describing the end of Pax Americana. He is looking for new allies to help his country survive it.
HHS Announces New Study of Cellphone Radiation and Health
An anonymous reader quotes a report from U.S. News & World Report: U.S. health officials plan a new study investigating whether radiation from cellphones may affect human health. A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said the research will examine electromagnetic radiation and possible gaps in current science. The initiative stems from numerous concerns raised by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has linked cellphone use to neurological damage and cancer.
"The [U.S. Food and Drug Administration] removed webpages with old conclusions about cell phone radiation while HHS undertakes a study on electromagnetic radiation and health research to identify gaps in knowledge, including on new technologies, to ensure safety and efficacy," HHS spokesman Andrew Nixon said. He added that the study was directed in a strategy report from the president's Make America Healthy Again Commission.
Some webpages from the FDA and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say current research does not show clear harm from cellphone radiation. The National Cancer Institute, which is part of the National Institutes of Health, says that "evidence to date suggests that cellphone use does not cause brain or other kinds of cancer in humans.".
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Georges Borchardt, 97, Dies; Literary Agent Championed Wiesel’s ‘Night’
Renowned in his field, he counted among his clients five Nobel laureates, including Elie Wiesel, and eight Pulitzer winners as well as the estates of Tennessee Williams and Aldous Huxley.