America's National Science Board (NSB) "was established in 1950 to guide the governance of the National Science Foundation," writes the Washington Post, "in an unusual structure within the federal government that echoes the setup of a company board in the private sector. It helps guide an agency that operates Antarctic research stations, telescopes, a fleet of research vessels and supports basic science research in laboratories across the United States." (NSF research has helped evolve the technology used in MRIs, cellphones and LASIK eye surgery.)

But yesterday President Trump fired all 24 members of the National Science Board (NSB), the body that oversees the National Science Foundation (NSF), reports Science magazine:


In addition to advising the administration and Congress on national science policy, it has statutory authority to oversee the actions of the $9-billion NSF, setting policy and approving large expenditures.
Its presidentially appointed members, typically prominent academics and industry leaders, serve 6-year terms, with eight members chosen every 2 years....

Keivan Stassun, one of the dismissed board members, says the mass firing is the latest indication that the White House is ignoring the board's authority and dictating policies at NSF, which has been without a permanent director since Sethuraman Panchanathan resigned exactly one year ago. Stassun, an astrophysicist at Vanderbilt University who was appointed to the board in 2022, thinks the board's public criticism in May 2025 of Trump's proposed 55% cut to NSF's current budget — which Congress ultimately ignored — antagonized the administration. "Maybe one way to say it from the administration's perspective," Stassun says, "is that this group of presidential appointees was advising the Congress to not follow the president's wishes."



The Washington Post adds that "The White House did not immediately respond to inquiries about why the members were terminated."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

After Australia banned social media for users younger than 16, teenagers "immediately worked to circumvent the restrictions," reports Fortune:

14-year-old in New South Wales, told
The Washington Post in December 2025, just
before the implementation of the ban, she planned to use her mother's
face ID to log in to Snapchat
and .
In a Reddit thread on ways to bypass the ban, one user suggested
using a printed mesh face mask from Temu to outsmart apps'
facial recognition tools. Others still have tried VPNs that obscure
their locations.

A new report
suggests these efforts are working. In a survey of 1,050 Australians ages 12 to 15 conducted last month, the
UK-based suicide prevention organization the Molly Rose Foundation
found more than 60% of teens who had social media accounts before the
ban still had access to at least one of those platforms. Social media
sites including TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram, have retained more than half of their users under 16.
About two-thirds of young users say these platforms have taken "no
action" to remove or reactive accounts that existed before the
restrictions.


The survey comes at the heels of the Australian internet regulator
calling
for an investigation into the five largest social media platforms
over potential breaches of the ban.



The article points out that "Greece, France, Indonesia, Austria, Spain, and the UK have or are considering similar action, and eight U.S. states are weighing legislation that would put guardrails or ban social media use for minors.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

De wedstrijd tussen FC Twente en NEC ging, tegen de verwachtingen begin dit seizoen in, om een Champions League-ticket. Dat Twente daar kans op maakt, is mede te danken aan trainer John van den Brom.

The event was interrupted by loud bangs and immediate commotion as the president and first lady were escorted out

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The White House correspondents’ dinner was interrupted by loud bangs on Saturday evening and Donald Trump and Melania Trump were evacuated immediately as many journalists and their guests ducked under tables in the Washington Hilton ballroom.

There were reports that the US Secret Service had guns drawn as White House pool reporters were rushed out of the room and Secret Service agents yelled “shots fired”.

Continue reading...

Ukrainian leader said agreement related to military-industrial co-operation; Russia pounds city of Dnipro with missiles and drones. What we know on day 1,523

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed deals on security and energy cooperation with his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev in Baku on Saturday, he said, as Kyiv seeks to leverage its experience in defending its airspace from Russia. After the latest wave of conflict in the Middle East that began with US-Israeli airstrikes on Iran in late February, multiple nations have sought Ukraine’s assistance and expertise in downing Iran’s long-range drones. Zelenskyy said the two countries had signed an agreement relating to military-industrial cooperation.

Aliyev said military-industrial partnerships between the two countries had “wide-ranging perspectives” and that the two leaders had discussed joint defence production. He did not specify that he had signed any deals.

Zelenskyy has also sought to reinvigorate peace talks with Russia, which were being mediated by the US until it became more focused on its campaign against Iran. The Ukrainian leader said he had discussed with Aliyev the possibility of having a meeting between Ukraine and Russia in Azerbaijan.“We are ready for the next talks [to be] in Azerbaijan if Russia will be ready for diplomacy,” he said.

Ten people have been killed in Russian attacks on the south-eastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro and other regions. Regional governor Oleksandr Hanzha said eight people were killed and 49 injured in Dnipro, a repeated target in more than four years of war with Russia. “For more than 20 frightening hours, the Russians attacked Dnipro in waves,” Hanzha wrote on Telegram. “They hit with missiles and drones. They hit deliberately. They hit residential areas.” Two more were killed in northern Ukraine.

A Ukrainian drone attack on Sevastopol in Russian-annexed Crimea killed one man and wounded three other people, the city’s Moscow-installed governor said on Sunday. “43 UAVs (drones) were shot down in total. Unfortunately, there are fatalities,” Mikhail Razvozhayev wrote on Telegram. He said a man born in 1983 was killed while inside a vehicle, and three people were hospitalised.

The speaker of Russia’s parliament, a close ally of President Vladimir Putin, arrived in North Korea on Saturday to attend an event to commemorate Pyongyang’s deployment of troops to help Moscow in the Ukraine conflict, the Tass news agency reported. Vyacheslav Volodin, speaker of Russia’s Duma, was welcomed by Jo Yong-won. North Korea has sent an estimated 14,000 troops to fight with Russian forces against Ukraine. More than 6,000 of them have been killed, according to South Korean, Ukrainian and western officials.

A drone crashed in Romania on Saturday after Russian strikes in neighbouring Ukraine near a river separating the two countries, authorities said, adding that more than 200 people had been evacuated. Romania, a Nato member, has repeatedly seen its airspace violated and drone fragments fall on its territory since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. But this was the first time that debris from Russian drones has caused material damage on its territory, according to local media.

“A drone crashed in a populated area,” with a “possible explosive charge,” emergency services said in a statement. No casualties were reported, but an electricity pole and an outbuilding of a house were damaged, authorities said, adding that gas supplies in the area had been cut as a precautionary measure.

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Even genoeg nachtrust, het is totale mayhem in Washington. Tijdens het Correspondents' Dinner, de allereerste die Trump als president zelf bijwoont, werd Trump ineens haastig (en bukkend) geëvacueerd door de Secret Service. In de zaal zouden beveiligers 'shots fired' hebben geroepen en vermoedelijk zou er zelfs een schutter zijn gedood. Trump is in ieder geval ongedeerd, maar lijkt dus een derde keer zijn ontsnapt aan een kogel. Op beelden is tot nu toe vooral veel paniek te zien bij de aanwezigen.

UPDATE - Trump meldt via TruthSocial dat er een schutter is opgepakt, dus NIET gedood, er geen gewonden zijn en wil 'de show' door laten gaan. Onzeker of dat ook daadwerkelijk gebeurt.
UPDATE - Correspondents' Dinner afgeblazen, wordt mogelijk over 30 dagen ingehaald. Trump houdt dadelijk persconferentie.

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Trump zojuist

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Keith Midson has added a photo to the pool:

A kookaburra in my backyard.

iain.davidson100 has added a photo to the pool:

iain.davidson100 has added a photo to the pool:

iain.davidson100 has added a photo to the pool:

Echoes of Hockney's pool

ajpscs has added a photo to the pool:

the SQUARE
YOU CAUGHT ME
© ajpscs

C.H Lam Photography has added a photo to the pool:

ajpscs posted a photo:

the SQUARE
YOU CAUGHT ME
© ajpscs

A series of illustrations created in collaboration with Amnesty International for their magazine Bref. Titled 'Sport: Double Jeu' (Double Game), the issue deciphers the complex link between sports and human rights. The project explores how states use major sporting events to polish their international image, while also highlighting the persistent discrimination that continues to plague the world of sports.