Keir Starmer has vowed to fight on after Labour suffered substantial losses in local elections, while Nigel Farage’s Reform UK and the Green party saw major gains. So is the era of two-party politics dead? And can the Prime Minister cling on? Lucy Hough speaks to political correspondent Alexandra Topping.

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US energy department says 13.5kg of uranium taken from reactor in Caracas – a fraction of the 408kg held by Tehran

Donald Trump has succeeded in removing a country’s stash of highly enriched uranium – although that country is not Iran.

On Friday, the US Department of Energy announced that “thanks to President Trump’s decisive leadership” 13.5 kilograms (about 30 pounds) of uranium had been removed from a legacy research reactor in Venezuela.

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Sir Keir Starmer faces a deepening crisis of authority as election losses suggest disappointment with Labour has already curdled into cynicism

If you are Sir Keir Starmer, the results of the local and devolved elections make for grim reading. Thursday’s ballot gave almost two-thirds of Britain’s electorate the chance to vote. Fragmentation is no longer the future of British politics. In many places it is its present. After a quarter-century in which Labour and the Conservatives dominated electoral life, both parties suffered heavy losses in their traditional strongholds. Politics since the turn of the century has been upended: Reform UK seized the Tory bastion of Essex, home territory for Kemi Badenoch; the Greens wrested mayoral power in London’s Hackney and Lewisham from Labour; and Plaid Cymru routed Labour in Wales’ Senedd. This looked like more than the familiar midterm backlash, whatever the party in power. Clearly Sir Keir was on the ballot paper – and was roundly rejected by the voters.

The question is whether the prime minister is listening to the electorate – or hearing what suits him. Many voters appear unconvinced that the government represents a meaningful break from the Conservatives. The prime minister said that people had “sent a message that the change that we promised isn’t being delivered in a way they can feel”. Change exists, says Sir Keir, but people don’t perceive it. This message risks patronising voters – or at worst gaslighting them. These elections suggest that disappointment with Sir Keir has already curdled into cynicism.

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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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An analysis of 18 years of Guardian blind dates. “A surprising number of successful dates include something embarrassing: the bill, a late arrival, a misread moment. Awkward doesn’t mean doomed.”

The post Why the TetherTools TetherPro Optima 10G Cable Series Is a Game-Changer for Tethered Photography appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Sime.

If you’ve ever lost a shot because your tethering software dropped the connection mid-shoot, you already know how frustrating a bad cable can be. Tethered photography — connecting your camera directly to a computer or tablet so images appear on screen the moment you shoot them — is one of the most powerful workflows in modern photography. But it’s only as reliable as the cable linking those two devices together.

Enter the TetherPro Optima 10G series from Tether Tools. Recognised by the Professional Photographers of America as one of its 2025 Hot Ones, this cable line was engineered from the ground up specifically for photographers and digital techs who demand stable, high-speed image transfer on every single shot.

Here’s what makes it stand out — and why it might be the single best upgrade you can make to your tethered shooting setup.

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The Problem With Ordinary USB-C Cables

When USB-C became the standard connector for modern cameras and laptops, it brought a welcome convenience: one cable for data and power. Sounds ideal, right?

For photographers, it’s actually a problem.

USB 3.2 introduced a feature called Power Delivery (PD), which can push up to 240W through the same cable used for data transfer. The issue is that Power Delivery is known to cause instability in tethered connections — resulting in dropped connections, slow transfers, and that dreaded moment when Capture One or Lightroom loses sight of your camera entirely mid-shoot.

Generic USB-C cables don’t solve this. They were designed as general-purpose cables, not specialist tools for a demanding studio workflow.

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What Makes the Optima 10G Different

1. Dedicated Data Transfer — No Power Delivery Interference

The most important engineering decision Tether Tools made with the Optima 10G series was removing Power Delivery from the cable entirely. This is a dedicated data-transfer cable. By eliminating PD, they’ve removed the primary cause of connection instability in tethered workflows.

The cable still provides the standard low-level power (1.5A) that comes with USB 3.0 and above — enough to keep your camera communicating — but without the interference that causes dropped connections. The result is a rock-solid link between your camera and computer, every time.

Better still, the Optima 10G series is plug and play. There’s no need to adjust your camera’s power settings before shooting. Just connect and go.

2. Blazing-Fast 10Gbps Transfer Speeds

The “10G” in the name isn’t just branding. These cables are rated for 10 Gigabits per second — the full USB 3.2 Gen 2 specification. For photographers shooting high-resolution RAW files, this means images appear on your tethering screen almost instantly after capture.

When you’re directing a client or working with a creative director reviewing shots in real time, that speed matters enormously.

3. Built-In TetherBoost Technology for Long-Distance Reliability

One of the most technically impressive features of the Optima 10G series is the built-in TetherBoost signal amplification. Standard USB cables begin to degrade signal quality the longer they get — this is physics, not a flaw.

Tether Tools counters this with dual reinforced TetherBoost Pro IC chipsets integrated directly into the cable. These retimer chips actively boost and stabilise the signal, ensuring consistent performance even over longer runs. The Optima 10G is available in lengths from 3 feet up to 31 feet, and when paired with a TetherBoost Pro Core Controller and 16-foot extension cables, you can tether reliably up to an impressive 63 feet without any signal loss.

The post Why the TetherTools TetherPro Optima 10G Cable Series Is a Game-Changer for Tethered Photography appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Sime.

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

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