Flesh-Eating Pest Confirmed in U.S. Cattle
The New World screwworm was found in a calf in South Texas, the Agriculture Department said, the first case in the country since the 1960s.
Why Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass Has to Fight for Her Job
Ms. Bass, a Democrat, has had a roller-coaster first term. She now faces the first runoff since 2005 for an incumbent mayor in the city.
Republicans Begin to Test the Limits of Trump’s Power by Flexing Their Own
The president’s unilateral and retributive style of governing is starting to hit a wall in both chambers of Congress.
House Advances New Sanctions on Russia and Aid to Ukraine
After G.O.P. leaders blocked additional aid to Ukraine, six Republicans and an independent joined Democrats to force the measure to the floor against the wishes of the speaker.
Massie, 3 Other House Republicans Broke From Trump on Iran War Powers Vote
Four Republicans from different ideological factions crossed party lines to vote with Democrats in favor of reining in the president’s power to wage war unilaterally.
Ebola Shows Why Humanitarian Aid Matters
The fecklessness of Washington leaders contrasts with the courage of doctors, nurses and aid workers in places like Congo.
Louisiana ICE Facility Mistreated Immigrants, Federal Investigators Say
A report by the Department of Homeland Security’s internal watchdog described officers putting one man in a chokehold and stabbing another with a pen.
House Passes Iran War Powers Resolution in Bipartisan Rebuke to Trump
A measure to direct an end to U.S. engagement in Iran was adopted with a handful of Republicans in support, sending a signal of opposition to the president’s handling of the war.
Fedora Linux 43 Exposes 20-Year-Old Microsoft Outlook Security Failure
BrianFagioli writes: Fedora Linux 43 users upgrading to the latest Dovecot mail server discovered something rather unsettling: some older Microsoft Outlook configurations may have been silently ignoring SSL/TLS settings for POP3 email connections for years. According to a Fedora community blog post, affected Outlook clients reportedly continued using insecure port 110 connections even when encryption was enabled in the application settings. The issue surfaced after Dovecot 2.4 disabled plaintext authentication on non secure connections by default, causing Outlook users to suddenly lose mailbox access after the Fedora 43 upgrade.
The report suggests the behavior may date back as far as Outlook 2007, although modern Outlook builds were not fully tested. Fedora admins stress that the problem could be limited to legacy account configurations rather than current versions of Outlook itself. Still, the discovery has sparked discussion among Linux admins and security folks because many users likely assumed their email traffic was encrypted simply because Outlook claimed SSL/TLS was enabled. The incident also highlights how stricter defaults in modern open source infrastructure can expose ancient assumptions and questionable behaviors that quietly survived for decades.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
‘I Love It’: Trump Is Still in Favor of $1.8 Billion Payout Fund
Todd Blanche, the acting attorney general, said on Tuesday that the administration was “not moving forward with the fund, period,” after the plan drew bipartisan backlash.
In Alabama Ruling, Supreme Court Signals Limited Role for Federal Courts in Redistricting Fights
In an emergency ruling on Tuesday night, the court’s conservative majority gave a first glimpse into congressional district battles under a weakened Voting Rights Act.
SpaceX IPO to Be Largest Ever at $135 Share Price
The $135 share price means Elon Musk’s rocket maker is poised to exceed the 2019 initial public offering of Saudi Aramco in both valuation and money raised.
EU Plots To Abandon US Tech
Ancient Slashdot reader whitroth shares a report from Politico, with the caption: "shutting down Microsoft Office for the International Criminal Court (ICC) was clearly a wake-up call." From the report: The EU is moving to counter American dominance in technology by reaching for one of the oldest tools in its arsenal: industrial strategy. As the European Commission unveiled a plan Wednesday to reduce Europe's reliance on the foreign technology providers that underpin the modern economy, it was careful to stress that it was not picking a fight with U.S. digital giants. Instead, the tech sovereignty package -- motivated in no small part by U.S. President Donald Trump's weaponization of Europe's dependence on American firms -- takes a longer-term view: boost the continent's players so they can eventually challenge their U.S. rivals.
[...] If adopted, the package will direct public money toward products that contribute to Europe's economy and independence from foreign firms; cut red tape for data centers; beef up research and innovation through "leadership initiatives"; incentivize countries to share digital capacities in a new "Eurocloud" forum; and require EU governments to come up with national strategies to boost the adoption of cutting-edge tech, including AI. The package will also seek to ramp up the bloc's demand for advanced chips -- a response to criticism by the industry -- with a series of industrial initiatives to revise a 2023 chips law.
[...] As part of its proposal to keep a list of trustworthy countries, the Commission would require EU governments to run a so-called "sovereignty risk assessment" for every digital service they rely on, measuring foreign control, potential access to sensitive data and the risk of operational disruption. Within a year, they would have to determine the appropriate level of protection for each public sector and procure digital services accordingly -- unless they can prove doing so would come at a "disproportionate cost," the proposal reads. However, the Commission reserves the right to overrule their assessment in future legislation if it believes they downplayed the risks. The Commission estimated that just one percent of Europe's public services are so sensitive that they would be required under the proposed certification scheme to rely on the strict level that totally excludes foreign technology. "We cannot afford to depend on others for the technologies that keep our hospitals running, our energy grids stable and our services secure," Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a statement. "This is about protecting our citizens, defending our interests and making our own choices."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Park Service Awards No-Bid Contract to Cover Bridge Statues in Gold
Originally estimated to cost $2.4 million, the government will now spend $5 million to restore the bronzes in time for Independence Day.
MacBook Neo is So Popular That Apple Reportedly Doubled Production
According to supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, Apple has reportedly doubled 2026 MacBook Neo production from 5 million to 10 million units after stronger-than-expected demand for its $599 budget laptop. MacRumors reports: On an earnings call in late April, Apple's CEO Tim Cook said that customer response to the MacBook Neo was "off the charts," and the popularity of the laptop has reportedly led the company to significantly boost production. [...] Apple was very optimistic about the MacBook Neo before announcing it, but the company still "undercalled" the level of enthusiasm that the laptop would generate, according to Cook. He said that MacBook Neo demand exceeded Apple's expectations and helped to drive a record number of first-time Mac buyers last quarter.
New figures from market research firm IDC support Apple's claim that the MacBook Neo is selling well, and the Windows PC industry has taken notice. For example, Dell recently introduced a redesigned XPS 13 laptop from $699 and said it has features "you won't find on a MacBook Neo," such as a touch screen and a backlit keyboard. "Apple's MacBook Neo is a capable machine, and its arrival confirms that there's real appetite for premium quality at accessible prices," admitted Dell.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Four Immigrant Workers Burned to Death in Italy
The immigrants had been working as fruit pickers in southern Italy, the authorities said, apparently as part of a system of criminal labor trafficking.
‘Infuriated’ Former Judges Take on Trump
Critics say it is unseemly for retired judges to trade on the prestige of their former positions.
Google Launches 'Gemma 4 12B' AI Model That Can Run On Your Laptop
Google has launched Gemma 4 12B, a 12-billion-parameter open AI model designed to run locally on your laptop without depending entirely on cloud infrastructure. WION reports: According to Google, the new model delivers performance close to much larger AI systems while requiring significantly less memory. The company says Gemma 4 12B can run locally on devices equipped with just 16GB of VRAM, making advanced AI more accessible to developers, researchers and businesses. The launch highlights a growing trend across the AI industry: bringing powerful AI models directly to personal computers instead of relying solely on remote data centers.
Gemma is Google's family of open AI models built using technology and research from its Gemini program. The new Gemma 4 12B model contains 12 billion parameters and has been designed to handle multiple types of information, including text, images and audio. Unlike traditional AI systems that focus only on text, Gemma 4 12B can understand visual content, process audio inputs and perform advanced reasoning tasks. This makes it suitable for a wider range of applications, from software development and content creation to research and automation. Google says the model is available under the Apache 2.0 licence, allowing developers and organizations to use, modify and deploy it with relatively few restrictions.
[...] One of the most significant technical changes in Gemma 4 12B is its new unified architecture. Traditionally, multimodal AI systems use separate components known as encoders to process images, audio and text before combining the information. Google says Gemma 4 12B removes the need for separate multimodal encoders. Instead, the model processes different types of information through a unified architecture. According to the company, this helps improve efficiency while reducing memory requirements and computational overhead. The result is a model that can deliver advanced multimodal capabilities while remaining small enough to run locally on modern hardware.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Google Shares Fitbit Air Blueprints So Anyone Can 3D-Print Accessories
Google has released (PDF) technical specs and 2D CAD drawings for the Fitbit Air to encourage users to make their own accessories. "These CAD drawings include crucial mating dimensions, tolerances, and mating force specifications -- including attach and detach force -- to help you build a high-quality accessory band," Google says on a store page listing. 9to5Google reports: Noting how the "community has already come up with innovative and creative new ideas to make the Fitbit Air [their] own" since launch last month, Google is "officially releasing the hardware specifications and accessory design guidelines for the Fitbit Air tracker to the public." For example, owners have already found their own bicep band solutions. This information would typically just be available for third-party accessory companies, but Google wants to open things up to "independent designers and artisan makers." The Google Store page also lists other things developers should keep in mind, such as sensor clearance, sensor pressure, secure retention, and skin-friendly materials.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Bari Weiss Speaks on Scott Pelley’s ’60 Minutes’ Firing: ‘That’s the Path That He Chose’
In her first public comments on the firing, Ms. Weiss, the CBS News editor in chief, said that the longtime correspondent had “broken” the trust in the newsroom.