If you've had trouble using ChatGPT today, you aren't alone. The AI chatbot is experiencing a partial outage for many users this afternoon. Down Detector reports of issues with the service leapt from almost nothing to more than 12,000 around 3PM ET. 

OpenAI issued a status update noting that "elevated error rates" are occurring for ChatGPT and Platform users. All 13 components of ChatGPT are marked as having "degraded performance" on the OpenAI status page. "We are working on implementing a mitigation," the company said, although it didn't provide an anticipated timeline for when the issue might be resolved.

The story is developing…

What if this is our last chance we have at actual change before ABSOLUTE CHECKMATE,

Founder of the National Union of Professional Foster Carers, Robin Findlay, has called out private equity ownership of foster care services in the UK.

According to the Observer, Findlay said:

Private equity is looking at this as a goldmine that should be tapped into and it's bleeding the sector of money… on the back of vulnerable children.

Stirling Square Capital Partners, Cap10 Partners, and CapVest own the largest share of the provision of foster care for children in England. They are all private equity companies and the bosses, who extract profit from children needing care, generate £13m in annual profits.

A privatised foster placements can cost around double the amount than a local authority place — with prices hitting approximately £50,000. As the state is not providing for vulnerable children, councils are left with no choice but to pay higher fees for private providers.

Privatisation is branded as 'efficiency', yet it's costing councils double. In the process, children are treated like commodities by large asset management firms concerned with wealth accumulation. In fact, the Competition and Markets Authority said in 2022 that private equity firms profits, averaging 19 percent, are too high.

Foster care should ultimately be brought in-house. At the moment, it's publicly funded while the private sector continues to profit. The lack of planning also means that lots of children are sent 100 miles or more away from their hometown.

With such issues in mind, Wales has moved to ban profiteering companies from providing foster care.

The top three firms generated a combined profit of £40m from foster care in 2023.

Stirling Square Capital, which owns National Fostering Group, made a profit of £23.4 million for the year to August 2023. CapVest, which owns Polaris Community, which turned a profit of £14.1m. Then there's Cap10 partners, owner of Compass Community, which profiteered at £3m.

Taking resources from children certainly chimes with the community spirit. Private agencies profit from homes for around one in three children in foster care. And the public purse is footing the bill.

This has to stop.

Featured image via the Canary

By James Wright

GitHub, the Microsoft code-hosting shop that popularized AI-assisted software development, is having some regrets about its Copilot infatuation.…

DAYTONA BEACH, FL - In March 1976, the "unassuming" image of BMW was shattered forever when a pair of flamboyant R90S superbikes thundered across the finish line at Daytona International Speedway, securing a historic 1-2 finish in the inaugural AMA Superbike race. On March 5-7, 2026, the world of motorcycling will gather at the Daytona International Speedway during the MotoAmerica weekend to celebrate the 50th anniversary of that monumental achievement.

For the first time in half a century, all three original Butler & Smith BMW R90S factory race machines will be reunited on the high banks of Daytona. These machines, famously nicknamed "The Ultimate Stone Axes" by Cycle World for their surprising dominance over more modern multi-cylinder rivals, represent the pinnacle of 1970s engineering and audacity.

• The Machines and The Icons

The celebration will feature the meticulously preserved motorcycles ridden by the legends of the 1976 season:

• The #83 Machine: Ridden by Steve McLaughlin, the man who claimed the first-ever Superbike win at Daytona in a photo finish.

• The #163 Machine: Ridden by Reg Pridmore, who finished second that day and went on to become the first-ever AMA Superbike Champion.

• The #24 Machine: Ridden by the late Gary Fisher, whose riding on a previous BMW prototype helped prove the BMW's racing possibilities.

In a rare gathering of racing royalty, both Steve McLaughlin and Reg Pridmore will be in attendance to share memories of the drafting battle that defined an era. Joining them is Udo Gietl, the visionary lead builder and "mad scientist" behind the Butler & Smith program. Gietl's engineering marvels—including titanium rods, hollow lifters, and a custom mono-shock rear suspension hidden behind the "stock" aesthetic—transformed the 60-hp R90S into a 100-hp racing titan. Representing the legacy of the late Gary Fisher, his daughter Heidi will also be on hand to honor her father's contribution to the team's success.

• Engineering a Miracle

The story of these bikes is one of extreme ingenuity. To achieve 150 mph on the banking, Gietl and fabricator Todd Schuster utilized aerospace materials and "borrowed" parts, such as McCullough chainsaw reed valves and Chrysler Hemi oil separators, to solve the unique challenges of the Boxer engine. "In 1976, we didn't see anyone as a threat," Gietl recalls. The results proved him right.

• A Community Celebration

This golden anniversary is made possible through the support of the motorcycling community, including key sponsors OrangeCat Racing of Chicago and Tytlers Cycle of Wisconsin.

Fans will have the opportunity to see these iconic machines up close throughout the MotoAmerica weekend. The festivities will culminate in a Celebrity Dinner on March 7, where Gietl, McLaughlin, Pridmore and more will recount the "metal chips and midnight oil" that fueled their journey to the top of the podium.

• Registration and Accommodations

Registration for this landmark event is now open through the BMW MOA at: https://bmwmoaf.regfox.com/50th-anniversary-daytona-event

On-site camping is available. For booking details, please contact Rob McIsaac at triangle.bmwcca.activities@gmail.com.

Join us in Daytona to celebrate 50 years of speed, innovation, and the spirit of the Boxer.

The post Return of the Legends: BMW's Iconic Daytona Superbikes appeared first on Roadracing World Magazine | Motorcycle Riding, Racing & Tech News.

Representative Ted Lieu (D-CA) pointed out that the latest tranche of released Epstein files raises serious questions about Donald Trump, and that Republican fascination with Bill and Hillary Clinton is just a distraction.

"Why are Republicans are so interested in the Bill and Hillary Clinton it's because they're trying to distract from the fact that Donald Trump is in the Epstein files thousands & thousands of times. — Read the rest

The post "Highly disturbing allegations of Donald Trump raping children" appeared first on Boing Boing.

For years, we watched Silicon Valley executives perform elaborate corporate theater about "values" and "belonging" and "bringing your whole self to work." If you were skeptical that any of that was real, well, congrats.

Aaron Zamost, a longtime tech communications exec, has a piece in the NY Times that should be required reading for anyone trying to understand the tech industry's sudden, conspicuous rightward lurch. His argument is refreshingly blunt: this isn't about ideology. It never was. It's about leverage.

There are many theories about Silicon Valley's swift, and very conspicuous, rightward turn. Tech leaders course-corrected from an overly permissive era. The Trump administration demands fealty in exchange for critical regulatory favors. Mr. Trump's re-election reshaped the national climate and reoriented the values of tech leadership.

Each of these explanations is convenient, but none are correct. I've worked in tech for 20 years, across both Big Tech and venture-backed start-ups, and I can tell you the truth is much more mundane. Silicon Valley's chief executives have always been driven by economics, not ideology. As Michael Corleone put it: It's not personal — it's strictly business.

This tracks with everything we've observed about how these companies actually operate. The notion that tech CEOs underwent some kind of ideological awakening—either leftward in 2020 or rightward in 2024—always gave them way too much credit for having coherent beliefs about anything other than what would help them with Wall Street in the long run.

What actually happened? This is where my undergrad degree in labor relations actually comes in handy: because, as Aaron notes: labor economics happened. When you're in a vicious war for talent and engineers have infinite options, you do whatever it takes to keep them happy. And if that means mental health stipends and letting employees "bring their whole selves to work," then that's what you do. Not because you believe in it. Because replacing a top engineer costs a fortune.

Big tech companies and growing start-ups are in constant, vicious competition with one another to hire and retain the best employees, especially in product and engineering roles. When these companies are in hypergrowth mode, and particularly when the job market is tight, hiring top talent can be nothing short of a matter of survival. And they are fishing in a largely progressive pond: Political donation data shows tech employees are predominantly Democratic-leaning.

The late 2010s and early 2020s were a particularly intense period in the industry's war for talent. Hiring exploded. Meta nearly doubled to 86,000 employees in 2022 from approximately 45,000 three years earlier. Amazon added over 400,000 employees in 2020 alone. As Silicon Valley recruiting teams relentlessly poached one another's people, tech labor had infinite choices and all the leverage.

So what did companies do when a generous compensation package was no longer enough to win over candidates? They instead sold a sense of belonging. Amid fierce competition, many companies realized that encouraging workers to bring their perspectives and passions to the office could increase their loyalty and their willingness to work hard. That, in turn, served the real financial objective: higher job acceptance rates, lower employee attrition and faster growth.

So when tech companies said all those nice things about diversity and belonging and employee voice, it was merely a calculated business decision to attract and retain workers in a brutally competitive labor market. The "whole self" culture wasn't a political movement. It was, as Zamost puts it, "a labor-market artifact where talent war conditions made employee empowerment economically rational."

And then the market shifted.

Growth slowed. Interest rates rose. Suddenly companies didn't need to compete for labor at any cost. And the moment that leverage flipped back to management, all those "values" evaporated faster than you can say "return to office mandate."

It's worth asking whether many tech companies' professed values were ever real. We've seen leaders who built their reputations on defying authority become foot soldiers for the administration. The same elasticity informs their rollback of the culture they once championed.

Four years ago, Marc Benioff, the Salesforce boss, said, "Office mandates are never going to work." He now works from home in Hawaii much of the time while most of his employees are required to be in-office three to five days a week. In 2020, Mark Zuckerberg announced that Facebook would donate $10 million to groups working on racial justice. Last year he rolled back Meta's D.E.I. programs. Did his values change? Or did the power dynamics?

The answer, obviously, is the power dynamics. And this isn't a particularly controversial thing to say. The thing that gets lost in all the discourse about tech's "MAGA turn" is how utterly banal the explanation actually is. It's got nothing to do with ideology. These are business actors responding to incentives. When employees had leverage, executives catered to them. When executives got leverage back, they stopped.

Zamost makes an important point that may get buried by the rest of the article though: the response to all this from tech workers hasn't been outrage. It's been detachment. And that's going to boomerang back on these tech leaders.

This about-face will prove counterproductive over the long term. In my conversations with tech employees, the result hasn't been anger at hypocrisy so much as detachment — a loss of tribal loyalty (fewer T-shirts emblazoned with tech company logos), and a clearer understanding of the limits of corporate idealism.

This is the part that should worry these executives. They've revealed the game. They've shown that all the talk about values and culture and belonging was contingent on market conditions. And employees noticed. They're not mad—they're just not going to forget.

And, yes, the cynical among you will say "come on, no one ever believed these companies were serious" and perhaps that's true. But there was a time when Silicon Valley employees really liked where they were working and really felt like, as a team, they were achieving stuff.

That's gone.

Labor markets are cyclical. At some point, these companies will need to compete for talent again. And when they do, they're going to discover that the employees they're trying to recruit remember what happened. They remember that the "values" disappeared the moment they became inconvenient. They remember which executives lined up behind Trump. They remember the layoffs and the return-to-office mandates and the sudden silence when it actually mattered.

The recent reassertion of managerial prerogative was only possible in an economic environment where top executives could flex their muscles like a boss. It won't last forever. When labor is scarce again, many of these companies will rediscover the values they abandoned. The question is whether employees will forget just as quickly.

The optimistic read is that employees won't forget. That this period will serve as a permanent reminder that corporate values are, at best, marketing. That the next generation of tech workers will enter these companies with clear eyes about what the relationship actually is: transactional.

The pessimistic read is that Zamost is right to pose it as a question. Because companies have been pulling this bait-and-switch for decades, and workers keep falling for it. Maybe the cycle just repeats.

Either way, the lesson isn't really about politics. It's about understanding what these companies actually are. They're not movements. They're not communities. They're not families. They're businesses that will say whatever they need to say to achieve their business objectives. And right now, the (somewhat short-sighted) business objective is staying in the good graces of an administration that has made clear it rewards loyalty and punishes dissent.

So no, they didn't really want you to bring your whole self to work. They wanted you to bring the parts that were useful to them, for exactly as long as it was useful to them. The "whole self" thing was just the price of admission in a seller's market. Now that it's a buyer's market, they'd prefer you just shut up and (use AI to write) code.

The irony is that employees who actually believe in what they're building tend to build better things. These executives may have just taught an entire generation of workers that the relationship is purely transactional. When the labor market tightens again—and it will—they might find that lesson stuck.

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No doubt this will be spun as some form of Minnesota-specific obstruction, but until that happens, let's just appreciate the fact that not all cops are willing to be appendages of the Trump administration's bigoted migrant purge. Here are the details, courtesy of Minnesota Public Radio:

MPR News has learned that the police chief in the small southern Minnesota city of St. Peter intervened Thursday to prevent federal immigration agents from taking a local resident into detention, although the city of St. Peter denied the intervention in a statement Saturday.

It's believed to be the first time a local police department in Minnesota intervened in a federal law enforcement action since the surge in immigration enforcement began two months ago.

It won't be the last. But it's sure to anger the administration, which has already made it clear it thinks local officials are to blame for the two people federal officers have murdered in Minneapolis over the past three weeks.

The person federal officers ran off the road, threatened at gun point, dragged out of the car, and arrested was someone who was merely observing what they were doing. It was one woman in one car and yet federal officers felt compelled to box her in and approach her with weapons drawn. They treated this like a felony stop, as though they were in the process of apprehending a known violent criminal, rather than one person armed with a dash cam and a cellphone.

She wasn't doing anything illegal. She was doing what anyone could have done: recorded law enforcement officers performing their public duties. Just because ICE et al would prefer to go about their business unobserved (hence the rented cars, dummy license plates, and face masks) doesn't make being seen by others an illegal act.

Fortunately, she had the presence of mind to tell others to call 911 on her behalf. Federal officers arrested her and drove her towards the Whipple Federal Building, presumably in hopes of getting her on the next plane to wherever the fuck before she had a chance to contact anyone.

But her 911 call derailed this:

"I couldn't hear what was being said, but within 30 seconds after they hung up, they exited on, an exit that goes into Le Sueur… and then turned around, didn't say anything to me, and started heading back towards St. Peter."

The husband told MPR News that after his wife was taken into custody, he called his attorney, and soon after, he got a call from St. Peter Chief of Police Matt Grochow, whom he said he has known for years.

Shortly after that, Chief Grochow drove her home from the St. Peter police station, where the federal officers had left her.

This is frightening stuff. If her husband hadn't managed to talk to an attorney and if that attorney hadn't reached out to the police chief, this US citizen might still be sitting in an ICE detention center.

And if that's not frightening enough, there's this coda, which makes it clear this administration is willing to punish anyone who won't immediately try to lick the boots pressed to their necks:

MPR News reached out to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security about the incident.  A spokesperson responded by asking for the woman's name, date of birth and "A-number," or alien number, which DHS uses to track non-citizens who are living in the United States. The woman is a U.S. citizen. To protect the woman from retaliation, MPR News did not provide that information to them. 

What the fuck. This isn't normal. This is a rogue administration that answers to no one and has made it clear to the federal officers who serve it (rather than the public they're supposed to be serving) that they'll never be punished for behaving like violent, lawless thugs. Many more people are going to be brutalized, if not actually killed, by this government simply because they refuse to ignore what ICE, etc. are doing.

Amazon Web Services' European expansion has hit the buffers as the American cloud provider grapples with aging grid infrastructure and lengthy interconnect delays.…

I'm posting this here because centralized power and passive participation seem to be recurring structural features of systemic fragility and collapse.

Looking at most systems throughout history, it becomes clear that despite their ideological differences, sometimes even opposing principles, they tend to produce very similar outcomes in practice. Almost all of them centralize power and decision-making within a relatively small group of people. As a result, the majority of those participating in these systems are left with a largely passive role in sustaining them.

This passivity creates the conditions for power to remain unchecked, and it allows centralized authority to further consolidate itself. This consolidation can happen through association with other forms of power, such as wealth or influence, or through mechanisms specific to each system's principles and structure. Regardless of the path, the outcome tends to be the same: power concentrates, while participation diminishes.

Over time, the general population learns this passivity so deeply that it begins to feel inevitable. It's not even that people consciously decide against having a more active role: rather, the possibility itself often stops being imagined. Active participation in shaping the system becomes almost inconceivable.

At least at a conceptual level, a system that involves its participants in a more active role in power and decision-making would represent a fundamentally different structure: one where power is decentralized, and where decisions more closely reflect the interests and needs of the people affected by them. If organized carefully, such a system could address many issues that existing systems routinely neglect or handle poorly.

However, this kind of system would also require a different mentality, and likely a shift in how individuals relate to society itself. It cannot be imposed or enforced, because it depends on active participation and individual involvement, expressed in different degrees and forms.

At its core, this system relies on a shared realization: that society and its structures are created and sustained by individuals collectively. This realization cannot be forced. It requires willingness. Without that willingness, the system cannot be created, maintained, or allowed to develop.

Because people are not homogeneous in their attitudes, capacities, or motivations, this system cannot rely on coercion or centralized enforcement. It can only exist through the voluntary coming together of people who choose to take responsibility for the society they participate in.

The jungle producer's second album for the label is out in March

Screenshot

Xylitol, the production moniker of Catherine Backhouse, has a new album on the way for Planet Mu.

Spanning 10 tracks, Blumenfantasie builds on the melodic jungle sounds of Backhouse's previous LP for the label, 2024's Anemones. Sarajevo-born minimal synth composer Miaux, whom the producer has described as "a kindred spirit in terms of her directness and melancholy, as well as her lightness of touch", is listed as an influence on the album.

Expanding further, Backhouse said Miaux was the "single biggest inspiration in the shift between Anemones and Blumenfantasie and I think the shift of mood and palette is quite apparent, even if our music is very different in how it presents"....

The post Xylitol Reveals New Album, 'Blumenfantasie', for Planet Mu appeared first on The Quietus.

Arca, photo by Bryan Berrios

Arca has remixed Robyn's recent single 'Sexistential'.

Pushing the original cut further into club music territory, the Venezuelan artist's take on the song features her own vocals. You can listen to it below.

In a statement, Arca said: "I've loved Robyn's music for years, and am psyched to offer my support and encouragement to her. I want her sense of humour - bold vision and sense of melody is so important! And this track I've remixed, 'Sexistential', deconstructs pleasure, play and motherhood in such a refreshing way. Purr!"

'Sexistential' is the title track from Robyn's forthcoming album, which is her first in eight years. Announced last month, it will be released via the Swedish artist's new label home of...

The post Arca Shares Remix of Robyn's 'Sexistential' appeared first on The Quietus.

Apple has just released Xcode 26.3, and it's a big step forward in terms of the company's support of coding agents. The new release expands on the AI features the company introduced with Xcode 26 at WWDC 2025 to give systems like Claude and ChatGPT more robust access to its in-house IDE. 

With the update, Apple says Claude and OpenAI's Codex "can search documentation, explore file structures, update project settings, and verify their work visually by capturing Xcode Previews and iterating through builds and fixes." This is in contrast to earlier releases of Xcode 26 where those same agents were limited in what they could see of a developer's Xcode environment, restricting their utility. According to Apple, the change will give users tools they can use to streamline their processes and work more efficiently than before.

Developers can add Claude and Codex to their Xcode terminal from the Intelligence section of the app's setting menu. Once a provider is selected, the interface allows users to also pick their preferred model. So if you like the outputs of say GPT 5.1 over GPT 5.2, you can use the older system. 

The tighter integration with Claude and Codex was made possible by Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers Apple has deployed. MCP is a technology Anthropic debuted in fall 2024 to make it easier for large language models like Claude to share data with third-party tools and systems. Since its introduction, MCP has become an industry standard — with OpenAI, for instance, adopting the protocol last year to facilitate its own set of connections. 

Apple says it worked directly with Anthropic and OpenAI to optimize token usage through Xcode, but the company's adoption of MCP means developers will be able to add any coding agent that supports the protocol to their terminal in the future. Xcode 26.3 is available to download for all members of the Apple Developer Program starting today, with the Mac Store availability "coming soon."

Palantir is shaping the "under-the-hood" practices of the US Defense Department as demand for its software grows across warfighting, shipbuilding, and weapons procurement, CEO Alex Karp said during the company's fourth-quarter earnings call on Monday.…

I'm literally losing hair about this topic like I just want to injoy my life or live up to 30 normally and have a wife and kids but I just don't see myself even growing up in the future because of how the world is going though I turn 16 in a week I wanna be happy about it because I can get a job or a driver license but I'm not because I'm telling myself what's the point of doing that if the world is going to go to shit and I'm using suicide as a coping mechanism saying like when the world collapses im going to off myself so i dont have to live through it but i just can't beacuse im Muslim like i dont know what to do like i just im trying to gaslight myself into thinking everything is going to be ok but its not like i just want to live up until 30 with the world being semi-ok not where ice is killing everyone they see and trump is a fucking dumbass and where we will own nothing and we will be eating Soylent because there will be no fucking food left cause of government. Like I just wanna feel good about the world Everytime I think about my future I think that it's going to be shit and please don't bring up getting closer to god everyone always says that to me and there is so much fucking hate is the world why can't we live in peace no wars just peace. Please tell me you guys coping mechanism

Francesca Lombardo returns to the studio lens with a feature centred around the tech tools that shape her productions, her previous catalogue of work spans outings on Poker Flat, Ovum, and Bedrock, with a workflow that leans on hands-on, hardware-driven methods. Her picks include Roland's iconic SH-101 and Moog's flagship Minimoog Voyager XL, alongside an […]

Studio Essentials: Francesca Lombardo

Developer Obsidian recently announced that it currently has no plans to make The Outer Worlds 3, according to a report by Bloomberg. Company head Fergus Urquhart didn't give a reason as to why Obsidian won't be working on a sequel, but he did note that the performance of The Outer Worlds 2 was "disappointing" and that it needs to "think a lot about how much we put into the games, how much we spend on them and how long they take."

Urquhart also said that Avowed was something of a miss for the company, but that it remains committed to the franchise. Obsidian plans to "keep making games in the Avowed universe," but that doesn't necessarily mean a legitimate sequel. Avowed is, after all, set in the same world as Pillars of Eternity.

Obsidian is still working on DLC for The Outer Worlds 2, so fans have that to look forward to. Urquhart also confirmed the company is making some DLC for Grounded 2, which was actually a hit. It released three games last year, which Urquhart said was a bad move for support teams.

"Spacing those releases helps the company manage its resources and not burn everybody out. It's not good to release three games in the same year. It's the result of things going wrong," he said.

The developer is also making some entirely new games, of which we know nothing about. As for Avowed, it's coming to PS5 on February 17. All versions are getting an anniversary update that includes a New Game Plus mode, new races, new weapon types and more. It's a good game and well worth the time of PlayStation fans, especially those who have dabbled with The Elder Scrolls franchise.

Zarah Sultana has announced her endorsement for the new Grassroots Left slate, naming Bristol-based community activist Candi Williams as her female South West candidate for the up-and-coming Your Party Central Executive Committee (CEC) elections this February.

Following the member decision at the inaugural conference in Liverpool last November for Your Party to be led by the collective leadership of 18 members from across each national region, Sultana and Jeremy Corbyn have both announced a slate of endorsed candidates: a man and a woman from each region.

Williams, who has played an active role in building the Bristol Your Party branch from 40 to 400, impressed Sultana with her commitment to anti-fascism, anti-imperialism, and liberation politics at a local event. And she will stand alongside Mark Gage as the Grassroots Left slate's South West candidates.

Williams commented:

For more than a decade, I've worked alongside people struggling. I have supported refugees, worked with vulnerable young people, and mobilised against fascists locally. The core problem is often the same: it comes from the top. I'm standing with people of colour, women, trans and queer people, disabled people, refugees, and all those facing oppression.

I'm looking to represent youth groups, community organisations, and charities that feel unheard and unsupported. If you represent a community group that fits this description and you feel disillusioned by the current political climate, please do get in touch.

When announcing her slate, Sultana shared on X:

I'm backing the Grassroots Left slate in the Your Party CEC elections: A member-led slate fighting for real democracy, empowering branches and members, ensuring transparency and accountability, and standing for socialist, anti-imperialist politics from the grassroots up.

All verified members of Your Party will have the opportunity to vote for their preferred regional candidates for the CEC from 9-23 February. Local hustings are expected to take place on Wednesday 4 February. The party is currently offering membership for £1.50 via its website, and anyone who joins and verifies before 5 February will be eligible to vote.

Unrepresented community groups and charities can get in touch with Williams directly regarding their policy asks via the Grassroots Left email address: contact@grassrootsleft.org

Grassroots Left says it is campaigning for maximum member democracy at every level:

• A Central Executive Committee fully accountable to members.
• Immediate recognition of local branches with full access to data and resources.
• Transparent decision-making that treats members as the driving force of the party.

The group has committed to ensuring that elected representatives remain accountable to the membership. It promises that all elected members of the slate will meet regularly with organised sections, caucuses, and affiliated groups to report on their work, receive feedback, and collectively discuss the way forward. Find out more on the website.

Featured image supplied

By The Canary

Asbestos exposure is often treated as a problem of the past, or something tied to outdated construction practices or old industrial jobs. In reality, asbestos-related illnesses continue to surface today, long after the material stopped being widely used. The delayed nature of these diseases makes them a quiet but persistent public health concern, one that still affects thousands of people every year.

One of the most challenging aspects of asbestos-related illness is its long latency period. Diseases such as mesothelioma can take 20 to 50 years to develop after initial exposure. This means someone exposed in early adulthood may not experience symptoms until later in life, often long after the exposure event has been forgotten or dismissed. 

Because symptoms tend to appear gradually, early signs are frequently mistaken for more common respiratory conditions. Shortness of breath, chest pain, and persistent coughing are often attributed to aging, infections, or other lung diseases. This delay complicates diagnosis and reduces the window for early treatment. 

According to global health estimates, tens of thousands of deaths each year are still linked to asbestos exposure. These numbers reflect past contact rather than current use, underscoring how long-lasting the health impact can be. Despite stricter regulations and reduced use of asbestos in many parts of the world, cases continue to emerge for several reasons:

• Legacy exposure from older buildings, insulation, and materials still in use
• Renovation and demolition work that disturbs asbestos-containing materials
• Secondary exposure, where family members inhaled fibers brought home on clothing

Asbestos-related illnesses place a significant burden on both healthcare systems and families. Late diagnoses often mean more aggressive disease progression and fewer treatment options. Patients may require specialized care, multiple consultations, and long-term symptom management, all while coping with uncertainty and emotional strain.

In many cases, victims' families also feel the brunt of these conditions. Many people diagnosed later in life struggle to trace where exposure occurred, making it harder to understand the condition or plan next steps. This lack of clarity can add to stress and delay access to appropriate support.

Although asbestos-related illnesses progress slowly, early recognition can still influence outcome. People who worked in construction, manufacturing, shipyards, or older public buildings may not realize that brief or indirect exposure can still be medically relevant.  

Identifying symptoms sooner allows patients to access specialist care earlier, explore treatment options, and have a better quality of life. Even when a cure is not possible, early intervention can help control symptoms and reduce complications.

Healthcare professionals continue to emphasize the importance of exposure history when evaluating unexplained respiratory symptoms. Access to reliable, medically grounded information plays an important role in addressing asbestos-related health risks. 

Many people turn to established health-focused platforms, such as mesotheliomahope, to better understand asbestos-related conditions and navigate available support options. Clear, accessible information can make a meaningful difference, especially for those facing a rare or unfamiliar diagnosis.

Asbestos-related illnesses remain a present-day health issue because of their long latency and often subtle early symptoms. Awareness, accurate information, and early medical attention continue to matter, even decades after exposure occurred. Recognizing these risks helps individuals, families, and healthcare systems respond more effectively to conditions that are still emerging today.

By Nathan Spears

Baddies are exploiting a critical bug in React Native's Metro development server to deliver malware to both Windows and Linux machines, and yet the in-the-wild attacks still haven't received the "broad public acknowledgement" that they should, according to security researchers.…

The scientific literature was wrong. The school textbooks will have to be replaced. Entire careers were built on falsehoods. New measurements overturn almost 50 years of consensus about the size and shape of the planet Jupiter, the largest in our solar system, which we now know is smaller than previously believed. — Read the rest

The post Jupiter smaller than thought appeared first on Boing Boing.

In a new interview with the Times, Peter Mandelson has spoken about his decision to resign from the Labour Party. It's apparent from his latest comments, that the disgraced lord gives no shits about anything besides his own feelings:

EXCLUSIVE

Lord Mandelson interview with @katyballs, who spoke to him both before and after the release of thousands of new Epstein emails

* On resigning from Labour. 'The decision wasn't easy but I feel better for it as I need to reset. I am a New Labour person and always…

— Steven Swinford (@Steven_Swinford) February 2, 2026

Mandelson is currently floundering after the latest instalment of the Epstein Files exposes more details about his relationship to the deceased paedophile.

Bank statements, released in the files, show three unexplained payments totalling $75,000 from Epstein's JP Morgan accounts to Mandelson in 2003 and 2004.

During his tenure as business secretary in 2009, Mandelson allegedly forwarded confidential UK government documents to Epstein. The documents detailed £20bn in potential asset sales. Owing to these revelations, Mandelson is currently under investigation by the London Metropolitan Police for misconduct while in office.

Now, Mandelson has spoken about the latest Epstein Files, as summarised by the Times' political editor, Steven Swinford.

Lord Mandelson interview with [Katy Balls], who spoke to him both before and after the release of thousands of new Epstein emails

* On resigning from Labour. 'The decision wasn't easy but I feel better for it as I need to reset. I am a New Labour person and always will be wherever the current party situates itself. But I think I want a sea change. I want to be more an outsider looking in than the other way round. I want to contribute ideas that enable Britain to strengthen and to work for all, in every part of the country'

* On being sacked: 'It felt like being killed without actually dying. It's a unique experience. I mean, I'm navigating the experience because I have really good friends who are helping me do so, starting with Reinaldo more than anyone else'

* Says Epstein is 'muck that you can't get off your shoe… Like dog muck, the smell never goes away'

* On the $10,000 his partner accepted for an osteopathy course while he was business secretary. 'In retrospect, it was clearly a lapse in our collective judgment for Reinaldo to accept this offer. At the time it was not a consequential decision
'The idea that giving Reinaldo an osteopath bursary is going to sway mine or anyone else's views about banking policy is risible.

* What drew him to Epstein? 'He was a classic sociopath. Outwardly, completely charming and engaging. He was very clever'

* Mandelson also says Epstein threw good dinner parties. 'I remember one of the two dinner parties of his I went to. I sat next to someone in charge of brain research at Harvard. I was sitting opposite the founders of Google. At the other end of the table was Bill Gates. I think I also brushed past Noam Chomsky on a later date'

* On giving evidence to Congress: 'There is nothing I can tell Congress about Epstein they don't already know. I had no exposure to the criminal aspects of his life'

The public reaction to the article has not been positive, to put it mildly:

The sheer fact Mandelson is still being treated softly enough to do chummy at home interviews is a sign of how untouchable he apparently remains. Guy's under investigation by the Met but gets a magazine profile like he's a game show host https://t.co/pXlU0YbxhP pic.twitter.com/aGnxJgR9yl

— Ross McCafferty (@RossMcCaff) February 2, 2026

Let us no forget that this morning Labour sent out its people to argue there was no need for any kind of investigation into Mandelson and to bat away suggestions he lose his peerage.
Neither line last through lunch!!

— Andrew Neil (@afneil) February 2, 2026

And, worryingly, Mandelson appears keen to continue working in the public sphere:

NEW: Mandelson still wanted to come back to civic life as recently as LAST NIGHT.
Iv with @katyballs - this is from their call after he resigned his membership https://t.co/WSViSzJoF1 pic.twitter.com/uZBuXsCKlR

— Sam Coates Sky (@SamCoatesSky) February 2, 2026

Given his repeated refusals to apologise, it's clear the disgraced Lord doesn't give a shit about his past with Epstein — beyond the damage it's done to his reputation. Leaving the Labour party appears to be little more than a symbolic gesture — a temporary retreat from the public spotlight, in other words.

Mandelson must now be stripped of his lordship and face criminal scrutiny for what his actions.

Featured image via Epstein Files

By Antifabot

Evidence quoted in an opening position statement released on 2 February by the Undercover Policing Inquiry shows that multiple undercover police officers spied on anti-arms trade campaigners, including Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT), because of the financial importance of the industry to the British state.

There are also allegations that risks from protests against Defence and Security Equipment International (DSEI), one of the world's largest arms fairs, were deliberately exaggerated to ensure a repressive police response designed to stifle protest. In fact the biggest risk facing undercover police officers came from uniformed officers. Or, as they euphemistically say, "over-enthusiastic policing".

One report, a 2003 review of HN3 'Jason Bishop' who targeted DSEI protests states that:

Source has been targeted at environmentalist groups who engage in direct action
and/or protest action and a wide range of environmental and political issues. Some of these issues concern or could influence the financial well being of the State, i.e. DSEI.

Another, an interview with HN18 Robert Hastings in 2007, states that police targeted DSEI organising:

because of the high profile nature of the event and the amount of money involved and the embarrassment that would be caused to the government etc.

Additional reporting from HN18 describes the "worst disorder" at DSEI protests as:

free flowing [marches with] street party gatherings accompanied by a samba band and a sound system.

During the course of the inquiry, CAAT applied for core participant status twice. Once, when the inquiry initially began in 2015, when the inquiry argued there was not substantive proof that CAAT had been spied on.

The second application, made in 2024, was rejected on the grounds that reports were collateral damage due to reporting on another core participant, Emily Apple, who is also currently CAAT's media coordinator, and a CAAT volunteer for some of the period covered by this tranche.

However, as Apple's position statement for Tranche 3, Phase 2 of the inquiry sets out, CAAT was the target of frequent reporting by numerous undercover police officers, some of which pre-dates any reporting on her by undercover officers. Tranche 3 of the inquiry covers police spying from 1993-2008 when the Special Demonstration Squad/Special Duties Squad (SDS) closed.

Apple, who was also a very close friend of Martin Hogbin, the corporate spy who infiltrated CAAT from 1997-2003, is additionally asking the inquiry to investigate the relationship between the policing units and arms trade spies, and whether any of the information reported by Hogbin to BAE Systems ended up with the SDS.

Apple's statement also details the extensive harassment she received from the police, often directed by the SDS, and the intrusive interference in her private life by undercover officers, including buying her then two-week old son a giant polar bear.

Apple, CAAT's media coordinator and core participant, stated:

It is very clear that CAAT and other anti-arms trade campaigns I was involved in were deliberately and intrusively targeted by undercover officers to protect the arms trade, and its value to the state. Street party gatherings were described as 'serious disorder' while little or no investigations were carried out against the arms companies marketing illegal weapons at DSEI.

While some of the events the inquiry is investigating are over 20 years old, this is not a historical issue. We saw yet again at DSEI in September 2025 the lengths the police are willing to go to protect arms dealers, deploying extreme violence - the very picture of 'over-enthusiastic' policing described in the documents - to police our protests. This resulted in the police breaking the wrist of a legal observer, breaking the ankle of another protester, and knocking a third unconscious.

Anti-arms trade campaigners are currently facing unprecedented levels of repression, in particular with the proscription of Palestine Action. There are striking similarities between the exaggerated threats outlined in these documents with the justifications relied upon by this government to target protesters today.

There are serious questions that need answering about the complicity between successive governments, the police and the arms companies to repress our right to protest to protect a trade that is complicit in multiple genocides and human rights abuses.

The inquiry will hear further detailed evidence relating to these allegations on the following dates:

• 23 February - HN3 'Jason Bishop' giving evidence
• 23 March - Emily Apple giving evidence
• 24-26 March - HN18 Robert Hastings giving evidence

You can follow events on the inquiry's YouTube page.

Featured image via the Canary

By The Canary

The Conservative Party has announced its pick for the upcoming Gorton and Denton by-election, choosing to stand former police officer and member of the LGB Alliance Charlotte Cadden.

The controversial charity Sex Matters, part of the LGB Alliance, has long drawn criticism for the hate group which works to normalise political attacks against trans people.

As a member of that group, this pick likely signals that the Tories are intending on using trans people as a scapegoat in a culture war.

- Charlotte served for 30 years as a Police Officer, both for Greater Manchester Police and the Metropolitan Police

- Charlotte is a trustee of the charity Sex Matters, a member of the LGB Alliance Business Forum. She coordinates the Women's Rights Network in Greater Manchester…

— Politics UK (@PolitlcsUK) February 1, 2026

Cadden arguably represents more of the same out-of-touch politics that Gorton and Denton residents have likely had more than enough of. Backed by a party long disconnected from the everyday struggles of working families, Cadden's right-wing campaign likely relies on glossy slogans rather than real solutions. Constituents should watch closely how Cadden plans to tackle rising living costs, crumbling public services, and declining community wellbeing.

In a northern "worker bee" constituency, austerity and underinvestment have hit residents hardest. Manchester voters need leaders who put people above party politics. However, Cadden's connections to Sex Matters and LGB Alliance raise serious questions about whether she delivers for the communities she seeks to represent.

In 2022, Consortium, a coalition of LGBT organisations, told a court that LGB Alliance was set up to:

promote transphobic activity rather than pro-LGB activities.

As usual, the Tories have no ideas beyond peddling hatred against minorities. What they do have is the commitment to making life even more unsafe for trans people.

And, the Epstein scandal only underscores how safety is threatened. Yet again, recent reports show how men are all too capable of orchestrating the rape and abuse of women and girls for their own gain. Even, at times, with the aid of women themselves. Therefore, it's clear that the real threat comes from those who abuse power, men or women, not from trans people, like mainstream media headlines would have us believe.

Rape/sexual assault is about CONTROL & POWER. Arguments about how it is "biological" make no sense. It has zero to do with sex— it is about having control and power over someone in the most heinous and humiliating way someone could think of, which is by violating their body.

— Lexï

Egypt is running a secretive military intervention in Sudan. Drones are being flown out of an airbase in the Sahara. Egypt is striking Rapid Support Forces (RSF) targets in support of the Sudanese government. The New York Times (NYT) acquired satellite images of the base, which sits close to the Sudanese border, hidden amid a vast agricultural project:

The airstrip sits next to giant crop circles at the edge of the Sahara. Military drones take off over enormous fields of wheat, leaving their covert base for one of the world's biggest drone wars.

The war in Sudan is theoretically between the Arab supremacist RSF and the Sudanese government. But foreign states pursuing their own interests are backing the combatants. The United Arab Emirates (UAE), for example, backs the RSF with arms and equipment. Egypt backs the government, alongside Russia, Turkey, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar. Israel has backed both sides at different times.

RSF has killed Sudanese civilians in vast numbers. And some estimates say 150,000 people have died and over 10mn have been displaced by fighting.

The NYT reported on 3 January that:

for at least six months, advanced military drones based at the Egyptian airstrip have been carrying out strikes in Sudan.

The paper said:

Egypt, until recently, was mostly a diplomatic player in Sudan. But the drone activity suggests it has entered the fight alongside Sudan's military, adding yet another layer to a war bursting with foreign powers on either side.

Egypt's weapon of choice reflects a trend in warfare globally. Drones are the order of the day. The NYT said:

The clandestine drone operation offers new evidence of how the civil war in Sudan — racked by famine, atrocities and tens of thousands of deaths — is morphing into a sprawling theater for high-tech drone warfare driven by the interests of rival foreign powers.

Egyptian operations have been impactful enough that RSF has even threatened retribution. But RSF is also using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Theirs are Chinese-made, but supplied by the UAE. The UAE denies involvement.

The Sudanese military uses drones too. Their UAVs are of Turkish manufacture. US officials said Sudanese drones made by Turkish firm Baykar were being flown from Egypt.

The fall of the southern Sudanese city of El Fasher in October 2025 reportedly sparked Egypt into action. The Egyptian government fears an RSF-controlled Sudan.

Egypt is in a precarious position. The country is a recipient of massive investment by UAE, RSF's most important backer:

Egypt's economy is highly dependent on the Emirates, which in 2024 invested $35 billion in a development project on Egypt's Mediterranean coast — the country's largest ever foreign investment.

Since 2018 Egypt has been expanding its airfield 40 miles from the Sudanese border. Turkish drones have been operating from the strip for several years:

But the arrival of Akinci drones last year provided vastly greater capabilities. With a range of more than 4,500 miles, the Akinci can carry at least three times more bombs than the TB2, according to experts. It also costs at least four times more.

By December [2025], at least two Akinci drones were operating from the base and striking targets inside Sudan.

Featured image via the Canary

By Joe Glenton

The Department of Energy says advanced nuclear reactor designs - many of which have so far existed mainly at the experimental, testing, or demonstration stage - generally pose limited environmental risk and can qualify for a streamlined environmental review for future projects.…

Bimota are back for their second season since returning to WorldSBK!