Trump Targets Major Trading Partners With New Investigation
A trade investigation focuses on the European Union, China, India and other countries and will likely lead to tariffs to replace those struck down by the Supreme Court.
U.S. at Fault in Strike on School in Iran, Preliminary Inquiry Says
Outdated targeting data may have resulted in a mistaken missile strike, according to the ongoing military investigation, which undercuts President Trump’s assertion that Iran could be to blame.
Noma Faces Los Angeles Protest Over Allegations of Past Abuse by Its Founder
At the vaunted restaurant’s pop-up in the Silver Lake neighborhood, fallout from recent reports continued.
Israel Bombards Lebanese Capital in Latest Round of Strikes
Lebanon’s health ministry said at least seven people were killed in the Beirut attacks early Thursday.
ICE Lawyer Who Told Judge She Was Overwhelmed Is Running for Congress
Julie T. Le, a former government lawyer, described in stark terms how overstretched the legal system had become during the administration’s immigration crackdown in Minnesota. Now, she said, she hopes to fix the “system’s failures” by running for Congress.
Two People Die After Paid Plasma Donation at Clinics in Canada
Grifols, a Spanish health care company, operates clinics in Canada that collect blood plasma from donors in exchange for an honorarium.
Researchers Discover 14,000 Routers Wrangled Into Never-Before-Seen Botnet
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Researchers say they have uncovered a takedown-resistant botnet of 14,000 routers and other network devices -- primarily made by Asus -- that have been conscripted into a proxy network that anonymously carries traffic used for cybercrime. The malware -- dubbed KadNap -- takes hold by exploiting vulnerabilities that have gone unpatched by their owners, Chris Formosa, a researcher at security firm Lumen's Black Lotus Labs, told Ars. The high concentration of Asus routers is likely due to botnet operators acquiring a reliable exploit for vulnerabilities affecting those models. He said it's unlikely that the attackers are using any zero-days in the operation.
The number of infected routers averages about 14,000 per day, up from 10,000 last August, when Black Lotus discovered the botnet. Compromised devices are overwhelmingly located in the US, with smaller populations in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Russia. One of the most salient features of KadNap is a sophisticated peer-to-peer design based on Kademlia (PDF), a network structure that uses distributed hash tables to conceal the IP addresses of command-and-control servers. The design makes the botnet resistant to detection and takedowns through traditional methods.
[...] Despite the resistance to normal takedown methods, Black Lotus says it has devised a means to block all network traffic to or from the control infrastructure." The lab is also distributing the indicators of compromise to public feeds to help other parties block access. [...] People who are concerned their devices are infected can check this page for IP addresses and a file hash found in device logs. To disinfect devices, they must be factory reset. Because KadNap stores a shell script that runs when an infected router reboots, simply restarting the device will result in it being compromised all over again. Device owners should also ensure all available firmware updates have been installed, that administrative passwords are strong, and that remote access has been disabled unless needed.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Slavery Photos of Renty Get a ‘Final Resting Place,’ Ending a Fight With Harvard
The images of a father known as Renty and his daughter Delia were honored today in a ceremony by their new steward, a museum in South Carolina.
Starmer Was Warned of Mandelson’s Ties to Epstein Ahead of Ambassador Pick
Documents released by the U.K. government on Wednesday showed that Prime Minister Keir Starmer was told of Peter Mandelson’s ties to the sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Strong or Weak? How Trump Picks His Battles.
Despite his tough talk, President Trump has consistently made allowances for countries he sees as powerful or dominant.
Ex-Officer Who Took Nude Images From Phones in Traffic Stops Is Sentenced
The former Missouri police officer, Julian Alcala, was sentenced to two years in prison and now faces civil lawsuits from several of the 20 victims the authorities identified.
Trump and Netanyahu Are No Longer on the Same Page
American goals are starting to conflict with Israel’s.
How Trump Is Using the Paxton-Cornyn Race to Squeeze the Senate Over the SAVE Act
The president has yet to make an endorsement in the contest between John Cornyn and Ken Paxton as he tries to push the Senate to pass a bill requiring voters to show identification at the polls.
Microsoft's 'Xbox Mode' Is Coming To Every Windows 11 PC
In April, Microsoft will be rolling out a full-screen "Xbox mode" to all Windows 11 PCs, including laptops, desktops, and tablets. The move follows last week's confirmation of its next-generation Xbox console, known internally as Project Helix, which will be capable of running both Xbox titles and PC games. The Verge reports: Technically, you've been able to try the Xbox Full Screen Experience (FSE) in preview since November 2025, if you were part of both the Windows Insider and Xbox Insider Programs. But it needed work, as well as a better name. When Microsoft originally shipped it on the Asus-designed Xbox Ally and Xbox Ally X handhelds, we were clear: it didn't meaningfully turn a PC experience into an easy-to-use Xbox one. But if Microsoft is putting its full weight behind PC as the future of Xbox gaming, perhaps that will change change.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
At Least 2 Killed as Tornadoes Hit Illinois and Indiana
At least two people were killed and several were injured in the severe storm on Tuesday that heavily damaged areas of Illinois and Indiana.
Charlie Kirk’s Group Expands Into High Schools. G.O.P. States Are Signing On.
Turning Point USA, the right-wing campus group, is partnering with Arkansas and Indiana, the latest of several states to have similar arrangements.
Grammarly Disables Tool Offering Generative-AI Feedback Credited To Real Writers
Grammarly has disabled its Expert Review feature after backlash from writers whose names were used to present AI-generated feedback without their permission. Superhuman (formerly Grammarly) CEO Shishir Mehrotra wrote in a LinkedIn post that the company will disable Expert Review while they "reimagine" the feature: Back in August, we launched a Grammarly agent called Expert Review. The agent draws on publicly available information from third-party LLMs to surface writing suggestions inspired by the published work of influential voices.
Over the past week, we received valid critical feedback from experts who are concerned that the agent misrepresented their voices. This kind of scrutiny improves our products, and we take it seriously. As context, the agent was designed to help users discover influential perspectives and scholarship relevant to their work, while also providing meaningful ways for experts to build deeper relationships with their fans. We hear the feedback and recognize we fell short on this. I want to apologize and acknowledge that we'll rethink our approach going forward.
After careful consideration, we have decided to disable Expert Review while we reimagine the feature to make it more useful for users, while giving experts real control over how they want to be represented -- or not represented at all.
We deeply believe in our mission to solve the "last mile of AI" by bringing AI directly to where people work, and we see this as a significant opportunity for experts. For millions of users, Grammarly is a trusted writing sidekick -- ever-present in every application, ready to help. We're opening up this platform so anyone can build agents that work like Grammarly -- expanding from one sidekick to a whole team. Imagine your professor sharpening your essay, your sales leader reshaping a customer pitch, a thoughtful critic challenging your arguments, or a leading expert elevating your proposal. For experts, this is a chance to build that same ubiquitous bond with users, much like Grammarly has. But in this world, experts choose to participate, shape how their knowledge is represented, and control their business model. That future excites me, and I hope to build it with experts who want to develop it alongside us.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Republicans Concede They Need to Pivot on Immigration Before Midterms
In public comments and private meetings at a House G.O.P. retreat, top officials allowed that President Trump’s immigration crackdown had hurt the party and that they needed a course correction on the issue.
Swiss E-Voting Pilot Can't Count 2,048 Ballots After USB Keys Fail To Decrypt Them
A Swiss e-voting pilot was suspended after officials couldn't decrypt 2,048 ballots because the USB keys needed to unlock them failed. "Three USB sticks were used, all with the correct code, but none of them worked," spokesperson Marco Greiner told the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation's Swissinfo service. The canton government says it "deeply regrets" the incident and has launched an investigation with authorities. The Register reports: Basel-Stadt announced the problem with its e-voting pilot, open to about 10,300 locals living abroad and 30 people with disabilities, last Friday afternoon. It encouraged participants to deliver a paper vote to the town hall or use a polling station but admitted this would not be possible for many. By the close of polling on Sunday, its e-voting system had collected 2,048 votes, but Basel-Stadt officials were not able to decrypt them with the hardware provided, despite the involvement of IT experts. [...]
The votes made up less than 4 percent of those cast in Basel-Stadt and would not have changed any results, but the canton is delaying confirmation of voting figures until March 21 and suspending its e-voting pilot until the end of December, while its public prosecutor's office has started criminal proceedings. The country's Federal Chancellery said e-voting in three other cantons -- Thurgau, Graubunden, and St Gallen -- along with the nationally used Swiss Post e-voting system, had not been affected.
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Why Falling Cats Always Seem to Land on Their Feet
It takes backbone to solve an enigma like the “falling cat” problem.