Michael Frayn and Julian Barnes have announced that they won’t be writing any more books. It is a hard habit to kick

“Retirement is the ugliest word in the language,” Ernest Hemingway said. Writers, like artists in general, aren’t the retiring sort. And what does it actually mean? As the playwright, novelist and former Guardian journalist Michael Frayn quipped 20 years ago, “Nobody comes in and gives you a clock.”

Frayn was 72 at the time. Since then, he has added a further novel (Skios), a play (Afterlife) and two memoirs to a backlist that includes the hugely successful plays Noises Off and Copenhagen (a revival of which has just finished at the Hampstead theatre in London). Now, at 92, that clock has caught up with him. “Sadly it’s over,” he told Radio 4 this week. “Writing has been my life.”

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Alex Jenkinson, 39, from Suffolk is expected to stand trial in July, with the former duke of York to give evidence

A man has denied threatening Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor after reports the former prince was accosted near his Sandringham home earlier this week.

Alex Jenkinson, 39, pleaded not guilty at Westminster magistrates court on Friday to using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour with intent to cause fear or provoke unlawful violence against the former duke of York.

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There’s a mysterious framework worming its way through exposed cloud instances removing all traces of TeamPCP infections, but it’s not benevolent by a long shot: Whoever is behind this bit of malware may be cleaning up who came before, but only so they can take their place. Discovered by security outfit SentinelOne’s SentinelLabs researchers and dubbed PCPJack for its habit of stealing previously compromised systems from TeamPCP, the worm was first spotted in late April hiding among a Kubernetes-focused VirusTotal hunting rule. It stood out from known cloud hacktools, said SentinelLabs, because the first action it always takes is to eliminate tools associated with TeamPCP attacks. The script didn’t stop there, though. “We initially considered that this toolset could be a researcher removing TeamPCP’s infections,” SentielLabs said. “Analysis of the later-stage payloads indicates otherwise.” “Analyzing this script led us to discover a full framework dedicated to cloud credential harvesting and propagating onto other systems, both internal and external to the victim’s environment,” SentinelLabs continued. In other words, this thing will harvest credentials from everywhere it can get its hands on, and then find new, unsecured cloud environment targets to spread itself to. TeamPCP came onto the scene late last year, and since then has made a name for itself primarily by undertaking a successful compromise of the Trivy vulnerability scanner. That act spread credential-harvesting malware which attackers then used to pivot to more valuable targets, and became one of the most notable supply chain attacks in recent memory. Unlike TeamPCP’s campaign, which relied on the spread of compromised software by human actors, this one spreads on its own accord. Infections start when already-infected systems look for exposed services, including Docker, Kubernetes, Redis, MongoDB, and RayML, as well as exposed web applications. Once it finds a vulnerable environment, it runs a shell script on the target system that sets up an environment to download additional payloads and searches for TeamPCP processes and artifacts to kill. That part of the infection downloads the worm itself, along with modules to enable lateral movement, parse credentials and encrypt them for exfiltration, and for scanning the web for new environments to infect. From there, the worm goes to work with the second module in its kit that conducts the actual credential thefts. This portion of the infection targets environment variables, config files, SSH keys, Docker secrets, Kubernetes tokens, and credentials from a list of finance, enterprise, messaging, and cloud service targets so long that we recommend taking a look at it here, or just assuming whatever you’re using is probably being targeted. SentinelLabs noted that the lack of a cryptominer in the malware package is unusual, and said the particular services it targeted suggests its goal is either conduct its own spam campaigns and financial fraud with the stolen data, or to make the data it harvests available to those planning similar crimes. The worm's practice of removing TeamPCP files could be opportunistic, or could mean there’s drama going on in the cybercrime world. “We have no evidence to suggest whether this toolset represents someone associated with the group or familiar with their activities,” SentinelLabs noted. “However, the first toolset’s focus on disabling and replacing TeamPCP’s services implies a direct focus on the threat actor’s activities rather than pure cloud attack opportunism.” Because this is a worm relying on unsecured cloud and web app instances ripe for targeting, mitigation recommendations are pretty simple: Keep your cloud platforms secure, and ensure authentication is required even for instances of things like Docker and Kubernetes that aren’t exposed to the internet. ®

A Virginia man, Sohaib Akhter, faces decades in prison after a jury convicted him of being involved in a scheme to delete approximately 96 databases containing US government data. The events of the case transpired around two weeks before the twin brothers allegedly involved were fired from their jobs at a software supplier to the US government. Sohaib and Muneeb Akhter, both 34, allegedly worked together on February 1, 2025, to access the account of an unnamed individual who submitted a complaint through the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s public portal. According to the Justice Department, Muneeb asked Sohaib for the individual’s plaintext password. Prosecutors say Sohaib provided the credential, which Muneeb then used to gain unauthorized access to the account. Court documents do not say why the brothers wanted access to the account, but the pair were both fired on February 18, 2025, after the company, which provided software to at least 45 government agencies, learned that Sohaib had a prior felony conviction. The superseding indictment [PDF] goes on to describe the timeline of events leading up to the database manipulation. Within five minutes of being fired via remote meeting, the twins sought to inflict damage on their employer. At approximately 16:55, Sohaib tried to access the software supplier’s network but couldn’t because his VPN connection was severed and his Windows account was deactivated while he was sitting in the firing meeting. However, Muneeb allegedly still had access and told his brother the same. A minute later, at approximately 16:56, officials say Muneeb issued commands preventing other users from reading or writing to the database, before issuing a command to delete it. Over the following 56 minutes, Muneeb allegedly deleted approximately 96 databases, the indictment states, which contained data related to Freedom of Information Act matters and sensitive investigative files belonging to federal departments and agencies. One of the 96 was also described as “a DHS production database containing US government information,” hosted in the Eastern District of Virginia. After the deletions, Muneeb allegedly set about covering his tracks. According to the indictment, Muneeb queried an AI tool: “How do I clear system logs from SQL servers after deleting databases,” and later: “How do you clear all event and application logs from Microsoft Windows Server 2012.” The twins then discussed how to proceed. Sohaib allegedly stated aloud: “They’re gonna probably raid this place,” to which Muneeb replied, “I’ll clean this shit up.” Sohaib added: “We also gotta clean stuff up from the other house, man.” Per the timeline of events heard in court, Muneeb then set about copying EEOC files to a USB stick, around 1,805 of them per court documents, all while using a laptop issued by his former employer. Muneeb allegedly also stole IRS documents stored on virtual machines, including tax information and personally identifiable information belonging to at least 450 individuals. Over the following week, Muneeb unsuccessfully attempted to gain access to a DHS-owned laptop, and the twins sought the help of another unnamed individual to wipe their company-issued devices by reinstalling Windows. Finally, the court heard that Muneeb drove to Texas, transporting his personal laptop, mobile device, and a Personal Identity Verification card issued by a US government agency. They were both arrested on December 3, 2025. Muneeb Akhter has not yet been convicted. Further firearms charges Sohaib was in double trouble for not only computer fraud and password trafficking, but for possessing seven firearms, which police found in March 2025, roughly a month after his brother allegedly deleted the databases. After a search warrant was authorized, police found roughly 378 .30 caliber rounds of ammunition, as well as a selection of firearms, including M1 and M1A rifles, a Glenfield Model 60, a Ruger .22 automatic pistol, and a Colt Police .38 Special revolver, among others. Officials said Sohaib took steps to sell the guns after the search warrant was executed, which involved threatening and intimidating his domestic partner to sign transaction documents since he, a convicted felon who served prison time in 2015 for over a year, was not legally allowed to own any firearms. Sohaib, then 23, was sentenced to two years in prison and three years of supervised release after pleading guilty to accessing sensitive data, including that belonging to co-workers, acquaintances, and a former employer, held on State Department systems while he was working as a contractor. The court heard at the time that he also devised a scheme, along with Muneeb and others, to maintain perpetual access to these systems by installing “an electronic collection device inside a State Department building.” This plan failed, however, as he broke the device while trying to install it behind a wall at a State Department facility in Washington, DC. Muneeb got 39 months in prison and three years of supervised release as a result of his role in the scheme. Sohaib’s sentencing is scheduled for September 9. Muneeb’s additional charges Muneeb, who is yet to be convicted, allegedly downloaded approximately 5,400 username and password combinations from the EEOC’s servers, storing them on multiple devices and in the cloud. In hundreds of cases, according to the indictment, Muneeb successfully accessed the corresponding email accounts without authorization, and created Python scripts to determine which combinations were valid when testing against the servers of an unidentified US hotel chain. During this time, Muneeb allegedly tested the stolen username-password combinations against various companies, including other hotel chains, airlines, and financial services companies. In multiple cases where Muneeb successfully logged into these accounts, court documents state that he changed the email address associated with the account to one he controlled, keeping the victim’s name in the address. The typical format was [victim name]@wardensys.com or [victim name]@wardensystems.com. The domain belongs to a small, Virginia-based company called Warden Systems, which describes itself as an embedded systems and cybersecurity research company. The company’s Crunchbase profile lists Sohaib as vice president, and an X account bearing the name Muneeb Akhter lists itself as CEO at Warden Systems. Its website is no longer reachable, and it stopped posting to social media around 2014, a year before the pair were convicted of earlier felonies. Neither Sohaib nor Muneeb is explicitly connected to “Warden Systems” in court documents, although Muneeb is said to control both the wardensys.com and wardensystems.com domains. In at least one case involving the alleged stolen username-password combinations, prosecutors say Muneeb used one victim’s air miles balance to successfully book a flight. Muneeb faces a maximum prison sentence of 45 years, if convicted. ®

Weer voor Rotterdam ☀️ - 08-05-2026 19:15 CEST

In één oogopslag:
• 18.9°C · Zonnig ☀️ | Min 10.2°C / Max 19.8°C | Kans op neerslag 4%

Verwachting voor vandaag:
• Min 10.2°C, Max 19.8°C (Bewolkt) ☁️, Kans op neerslag 4%, 🧭 1018.3 hPa ↗️ +0.9 hPa/24h, Windsnelheid: 13.7 km/u (3.8 m/s), richting: ← 81°

Uurlijkse voorspelling voor de komende 12 uur:

• 20:00: 17.8°C (Zonnig) ☀️, 🧭 1017.4 hPa ➡️ 0.0 hPa/1h, Windsnelheid: 13.7 km/u (3.8 m/s), richting: ↓ 9°
• 21:00: 16.9°C (Zonnig) ☀️, 🧭 1017.9 hPa ↗️ +0.5 hPa/1h, Windsnelheid: 11.9 km/u (3.3 m/s), richting: ↓ 15°
• 22:00: 16.0°C (Helder) 🌕, 🧭 1018.8 hPa ↗️ +0.9 hPa/1h, Windsnelheid: 11.5 km/u (3.2 m/s), richting: ↙ 27°
• 23:00: 15.4°C (Helder) 🌕, 🧭 1019.0 hPa ➡️ 0.0 hPa/1h, Windsnelheid: 9.0 km/u (2.5 m/s), richting: ↙ 32°
• 00:00: 14.9°C (Helder) 🌕, 🧭 1019.1 hPa ➡️ 0.0 hPa/1h, Windsnelheid: 9.7 km/u (2.7 m/s), richting: ↙ 66°
• 01:00: 14.1°C (Helder) 🌕, 🧭 1019.3 hPa ➡️ 0.0 hPa/1h, Windsnelheid: 13.0 km/u (3.6 m/s), richting: ← 111°
• 02:00: 13.4°C (Helder) 🌕, 🧭 1019.1 hPa ➡️ 0.0 hPa/1h, Windsnelheid: 11.5 km/u (3.2 m/s), richting: ← 106°
• 03:00: 12.6°C (Helder) 🌕, 🧭 1018.9 hPa ➡️ 0.0 hPa/1h, Windsnelheid: 10.8 km/u (3.0 m/s), richting: ← 104°
• 04:00: 12.2°C (Helder) 🌕, 🧭 1018.9 hPa ➡️ 0.0 hPa/1h, Windsnelheid: 9.7 km/u (2.7 m/s), richting: ← 102°
• 05:00: 11.7°C (Licht bewolkt) 🌕, 🧭 1018.8 hPa ➡️ 0.0 hPa/1h, Windsnelheid: 8.6 km/u (2.4 m/s), richting: ← 88°
• 06:00: 11.1°C (Zonnig) ☀️, 🧭 1018.9 hPa ➡️ 0.0 hPa/1h, Windsnelheid: 8.3 km/u (2.3 m/s), richting: ← 100°
• 07:00: 11.1°C (Zonnig) ☀️, 🧭 1019.1 hPa ➡️ 0.0 hPa/1h, Windsnelheid: 7.6 km/u (2.1 m/s), richting: ← 80°

Voorspelling voor de komende dagen:

• zaterdag 09 mei: Min 11.1°C, Max 20.5°C (Bewolkt) ☁️, 🧭 1018.2 hPa ➡️ 0.0 hPa/24h, Windsnelheid: 16.2 km/u (4.5 m/s), richting: ↙ 51°
• zondag 10 mei: Min 9.6°C, Max 18.9°C (Bewolkt) ☁️, 🧭 1014.2 hPa ↘️ -4.0 hPa/24h, Windsnelheid: 26.6 km/u (7.4 m/s), richting: ↙ 28°
• maandag 11 mei: Min 6.4°C, Max 13.5°C (Lichte motregen) 🌦️, Neerslag 0.4 mm, Kans op neerslag 4%, 🧭 1012.0 hPa ↘️ -2.2 hPa/24h, Windsnelheid: 18.6 km/u (5.2 m/s), richting: ↓ 355°
• dinsdag 12 mei: Min 7.4°C, Max 13.4°C (Bewolkt) ☁️, Kans op neerslag 4%, 🧭 1016.8 hPa ↗️ +4.8 hPa/24h, Windsnelheid: 16.3 km/u (4.5 m/s), richting: → 259°
• woensdag 13 mei: Min 9.2°C, Max 14.6°C (Matige motregen) 🌦️, Neerslag 2.7 mm, Kans op neerslag 30%, 🧭 1005.6 hPa ↘️ -11.2 hPa/24h, Windsnelheid: 17.5 km/u (4.9 m/s), richting: → 257°
• donderdag 14 mei: Min 8.1°C, Max 11.7°C (Matige motregen) 🌦️, Neerslag 4.2 mm, Kans op neerslag 51%, 🧭 999.4 hPa ↘️ -6.2 hPa/24h, Windsnelheid: 16.8 km/u (4.7 m/s), richting: → 271°

Details:
• 🌡️ Huidige temperatuur (om 19:15): 18.9°C (Zonnig)
• 🤚 Gevoelstemperatuur: 14.0°C (-4.9°C)
• 💨 Windsnelheid: 11.5 km/u (3.2 m/s), richting: ↓ 17°
• 🌬️ Windstoten: 29.2 km/h (8.1 m/s)
• 💧 Luchtvochtigheid: 34%
• 🧭 Luchtdruk: 1017.4 hPa ↗️ +1.4 hPa/3h
• 👁️ Zichtbaarheid: 50.0 km
• ☀️ UV-index: 0.5
• 🌅 Zonsopgang: 05:59 · 🌇 Zonsondergang: 21:17

Luchtkwaliteit:
• AQI: 51 🟡 (Matig)
• PM2.5: 6.8 μg/m³
• PM10: 11.0 μg/m³

Gegevens geleverd door Open-Meteo

#Rotterdam #Meteo #MeteoBot #MeteoNetherlands #OpenMeteo #FediMeteo

De eerste regel bij memes: BRONVERMELDING anders komt een EU-copyright-rechter je halen. Dus dat doet de Europese Commissie dan ook netjes in de vervolgtweet: "Content idea and inspiration: @francediplo", oftewel het Franse EU-promokanaal France Diplomatie. Tweede regel: de grap in de afbeelding zelf met heel veel tekst nadrukkelijk uitleggen. Dus daarom in het vlak rechtsonder op de boorden: "Once great now ignored", "Closed, out of business", "No growth", "High taxes", "Too many regulations", "No innovation", "Brain drain", "Culture faded". En ja kijk weet je die teksten zouden de 'grap' nog kunnen dienen als ze niet, ja kijk weet je, overwegend waar waren.

Dan in ander nieuws: het Europees Parlement wil na een nieuwe definitie van verkrachting ook een nieuwe definitie van privacy, want het richt nu zijn vizier op VPN's. Net als die hele Europese Digital Services Act natuurlijk onder het voorwendsel van het beschermen van kinderen. Gelukkig toont o.a. die studie in de Community Note onder de tweet bijvoorbeeld aan dat 82% van de VPN-gebruikers dit middel inzet om zichzelf te beschermen, en er zijn geen studies die aanwijzen dat VPN's door kinderen gebruikt worden om leeftijdsbarrières te omzeilen. En zo wel, dan wordt die Brusselse privacy-vernietigende app voor de leeftijdscheck er dit jaar nog doorheen gedrukt. Afijn, de wereld het internet van gisteren.

Ze willen VPNs verbieden, voor de democratie natuurlijk!

Social

Het personeel van vakantiepark EuroParcs De Biesbosch voelt zich steeds onveiliger. De medewerkers hebben al geruime tijd te maken met agressie door arbeidsmigranten en vaste bewoners. Ook de politie is er kind aan huis. De gemeente Dordrecht wil nu een einde aan maken aan de onrust.

The University of Michigan has sent a legal threat over a yearlong pause that would prevent water hookup to a proposed nuclear weapons research and AI data center. Los Alamos National Laboratory and the University of Michigan are looking to build a $1.2 billion, 220,000 square foot data center in Ypsitlanti Township. On April 22, the Ypsilanti Community Utility Authority (YCUA) passed a 365-day moratorium on the delivery of water to hyperscale data centers in the area while it conducted environmental sustainability and long-term water use studies.

As first reported by MLive, the University hand delivered and emailed a legal threat to the YCUA on April 21, the day before it was to vote on the proposed water moratorium. According to a copy of the letter obtained by 404 Media, the university feels the moratorium is “unlawfully discriminatory” against data centers and it promised to pursue “all rights and claims for relief” if its demands weren’t met.

Luther Blackburn, YCUA’s executive director, told 404 Media that the organization had no comment on potential or pending litigation, but did confirm that he’d received a legal communication from the university.  “YCUA staff are working on a Request for Proposal to complete the investigations and studies outlined in the moratorium,” he said. “I believe YCUA has acted lawfully and in accordance with industry best practices by issuing the moratorium.”

The university disagreed. “The University objects to any such sector-specific moratorium which would be legally invalid because, among other defects, it would be unrelated to any documented utility or public health needs,” the letter said, according to a copy obtained by 404 Media. “As a threshold matter, a moratorium on utility service is permissible only when linked to legitimate utility considerations such as documented capacity constraints, public health issues, or genuine financing challenges.”

The University argued, citing various legal precedents, that the courts will not be on Ypsilanti’s  side and claimed that the area has plenty of water. “The record contains no evidence supporting any such YCUA capacity constraint,” the letter said. “To the contrary, YCUA’s leadership has publicly stated that serving the University’s proposed facility would not affect the authority’s ability to provide or treat water.”

The letter quoted Blackburn as saying he had confirmed in 2025 that the data center’s proposed use of 200,000 gallons a day were within YCUA’s 8-10 million gallon per day capacity. “In addition, YCUA leadership has stated that serving the University's project would likely help mitigate overall utility costs by improving efficiency and cost distribution,” the letter said.

Sean Knapp, the YCUA’s director of service operations, told Planet Detroit last year that the YCUA is operating below capacity at the moment. “Adding the data center as a customer would help mitigate overall costs by improving efficiency and cost distribution,” he said at the time.

After saying it was illegal for the Ypsilanti community to not give it water, the University claimed the moratorium discriminated against data centers. “Beyond the above legal deficiencies, the proposed moratorium is pretextual and unlawfully discriminatory because it singles out ‘data centers’ by label rather than by utility impact,” the letter said. “It is discriminatory to permit other users to connect and consume currently available capacity while the utility conducts undefined studies to determine whether there is sufficient capacity for the University’s proposed facility.”

The University then asked the YCUA not to pass a moratorium and promised to “pursue” the matter. “The University respectfully requests that YCUA refuse to issue any sector-specific moratorium, instead basing any service decisions on documented utility factors, applied evenhandedly through existing permitting and technical review processes,” the letter said. “If these legal requirements are not followed by YCUA, the University reserves the right to pursue all rights and claims for necessary relief.”

The University of Michigan did not return 404 Media’s request for comment.

Ypsilanti Township has been fighting the proposed datacenter for more than a year now. Data centers are wildly unpopular in the United States. They often cause noise pollution, affect water quality, and drive up utility bills for their neighbors. Local opposition to the Ypsilanti Township data center has been compounded by its connection to America’s nuclear weapons industry.