Formula 1 has announced a landmark 10-year agreement to bring the sport back to the African continent, with the Formula 1 African Grand Prix, presented by Visit Rwanda, set to join the calendar in the early 2030s.

While U.S. President Donald Trump made the surprise announcement Sunday, the Kremlin has said that talks are ongoing.

Researchers have created a strengthened "BioPykrete" by combining ice with cellulose nanocrystals and a custom protein that binds the plant-based crystals to the ice structure. In small-scale tests, the material was about 10 times stronger than regular ice and absorbed 70 times more energy before breaking. ScienceAlert reports: Instead of wood pulp's larger, disordered fibers, the researchers used cellulose nanocrystals here. Cellulose is the main structural material in plants, and in nanocrystal form, it can act as a microscopic strengthening agent for other materials, including ice -- essentially stopping cracks from spreading easily. The protein used here was called CBM3a-AFPIII, a combination of an antifreeze protein (AFP) and a carbohydrate-binding module (CBM). Its job was to act like glue, keeping the cellulose nanocrystals and ice bonded together.

It's a clever approach, and the researchers think that by tweaking their ingredients and methods, they might be able to improve their 'super ice' even further. "Optimizing solidification kinetics and freezing protocols, alongside developing diverse AFP-CBM variants, could yield even higher-strength composites," write the researchers. Besides further tests of the durability of the material, the researchers are also keen to take a closer look at how cracks propagate through BioPykrete, to confirm that the underlying strengthening mechanisms are what they think they are.

Further down the line, this approach could open up a whole new landscape for materials used in packaging, construction, and more: Using a custom protein to bring two unlikely compounds (ice and cellulose) together. "By bridging the gap between recombinant protein design and structural engineering, we have developed a high-performance material specifically engineered for the rigors of the world's most extreme environments," write the researchers. The findings have been published in the journal Colloids and Surfaces B: Biointerfaces.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

The owner of Hobbs, Phase Eight, and Whistles is the latest fashion retailer to suffer a cyberattack, leaving several IT systems offline and customers facing order delays. South African retail giant The Foschini Group (TFG) confirmed on Tuesday that its UK business, TFG London, discovered a cybersecurity incident on October 11 that affected all three brands. Two days later, several systems remain unavailable, and the company is still trying to establish whether any personal or sensitive information has been compromised. The incident hasn’t forced stores to close, but TFG said some website functions may be unavailable. Customers have also been warned that orders placed on or after Sunday could be delayed, according to an email seen by The Telegraph. "Stores are open as normal but some of our brand's website capabilities may not be available as the investigation continues," the company said. "We apologize for any disruption and will provide additional updates to our customers as appropriate." TFG said it immediately activated its incident response and business continuity plans, brought in external cybersecurity specialists, and notified the relevant UK authorities. The Register contacted the ICO to confirm, but did not receive a response. There is at least some good news for shoppers worried about their payment details. In an email to customers, TFG London said a third-party provider handles payment processing and that, based on its investigation so far, it has no reason to believe payment information is at risk. Whether other customer data has escaped into the wild is another matter. TFG said it is still investigating that possibility and will notify affected individuals or organizations if it finds evidence of a compromise. The company has yet to disclose how attackers gained access, whether ransomware was involved, or when it expects to have its systems fully restored, and did not respond to The Register’s questions. The disruption appears to be confined to the three fashion brands. TFG said its White Stuff and Inside Story businesses are unaffected, as are its operations in Africa and Australia, which run on separate IT systems. The attack comes during a particularly miserable spell for fashion retailers, which seem to be attracting cybercriminals almost as enthusiastically as shoppers chasing a sale. Last week, ASOS customers received an unexpected notification informing them that the online fashion retailer had been hacked. ASOS subsequently confirmed that an attacker had gained access to an employee account by impersonating a trusted contact and obtaining login credentials. Armed with those credentials, the attacker got into third-party platforms holding customer names and contact details. Meanwhile, H&M is reportedly investigating claims that it was targeted by the notorious ShinyHunters cybercrime group. According to The Times, the Swedish fashion giant is examining allegations involving a limited amount of company data, although it stressed that it had found no indication its systems had been compromised. No evidence currently links the incidents at TFG London, ASOS, and H&M, and the latter has not confirmed a breach. Still, with three major fashion businesses linked with cyber trouble in little more than a week, October's hottest retail trend appears to be incident response.®

Nederlanders zijn al zeker twintig jaar klaar met de prestatiemaatschappij, blijkt uit onderzoek. Toch doen bestuurders maar weinig met dat signaal. Econoom Rens van Tilburg dompelde zich onder in de geschiedenis van het samenwerken. „Het goede nieuws is dat er voor bijna iedereen iets te winnen valt.”

Supermarkten zouden een grotere hoeveelheid eten in huis moeten hebben dan nu het geval is. Dat maakte de overheid deze week bekend. Sommige producten blijken nu al na één dag op te zijn, maar volgens de overheid zouden supermarkten voor acht dagen voorraad moeten hebben. Het advies is gebaseerd op de resultaten van een onderzoek van Instituut Clingendael en de Erasmus Universiteit naar de voedselzekerheid. “Veel Nederlanders willen grotere voorraden voedsel inslaan in dit soort situaties, dus die moeten de supermarkten dan ook in huis hebben", zegt een van de onderzoekers. Albert Heijn spreekt van een bestelincident.

Buiten is het 's nachts ronduit onveilig voor vrouwen, en geen gesnoeid bosje, geen vrouwelijke stadsarchitect, geen artikel over de manosfeer, geen nieuwe fietsroute, geen mannenmars en zelfs geen campagne die daar wat aan verandert. Het moge duidelijk zijn: het opeisen van de nacht is (nog) niet gelukt. Maar ook binnen, achter de voordeur, valt nog genoeg op te eisen. Veilig Thuis meldt vandaag dat er zó veel meldingen binnenkomen dat 'de grens is bereikt'. Tussen 2020 en 2025 groeide het aantal meldingen van 127.415 naar 136.325, en daarom was het tijd voor de noodklok. Want ook achter de voordeur helpt geen gesnoeid bosje, geen vrouwelijke stadsarchitect, geen artikel over de manosfeer, geen nieuwe fietsroute, geen mannenmars en zelfs geen campagne tegen huiselijk geweld waar vrouwen mee te maken krijgen. En niet alleen vrouwen, ook kinderen. In Stadskanaal zagen we eerder dit jaar al waar overvolle wachtlijsten toe kunnen leiden. Twitter als politicus anders nog een keer dat het allemaal ONACCEPTABEL is. Misschien helpt dat.

BOEDAPEST (ANP/AFP) - Het Hongaarse parlement heeft een aantal omstreden anti-lhbtiq+-maatregelen uit een wet van oud-premier Viktor Orbán teruggedraaid. Daardoor is het niet langer verboden om bijvoorbeeld stellen van gelijk geslacht te tonen in films, televisieseries en boeken als die ook beschikbaar zijn voor kinderen.

Dat soort beperkingen werd in 2021 ingesteld als deel van de "kinderbeschermingswet". Die zou bedoeld zijn om pedofilie tegen te gaan, maar volgens tegenstanders ging het om homofobe en transfobe maatregelen. Zo werd de "promotie" van homoseksualiteit en gendertransities voor minderjarigen verboden. Vorig jaar werd de wetgeving uitgebreid, zodat ook Pride-marsen verboden konden worden.

Het leidde tot grootschalige internationale kritiek, met name vanuit de Europese Unie. Het Europees Hof van Justitie oordeelde in april dat de wet in strijd was met de "kernwaarden" van de EU, waar Hongarije lid van is.

Magyar

De huidige premier Péter Magyar boekte in diezelfde maand een grote verkiezingsoverwinning en heeft dus de macht overgenomen van Orbán. Magyar had het tijdens zijn campagne nauwelijks over lhbtiq+-rechten, maar heeft zich daarna uitgesproken voor het terugdraaien van de wet. Op die manier zou Hongarije volgens hem beter aansluiten bij de regels van de EU. Orbáns partij Fidesz stelt dat Magyar gezwicht zou zijn voor Europese druk.

139 parlementariërs stemden voor het terugdraaien van de beperkingen, 51 waren tegen. Hongaarse mensenrechtenorganisaties hebben de wijzigingen toegejuicht, maar benadrukken dat er nog veel ruimte is voor de verbetering van lhbtiq+-rechten. Zo is adoptie nog niet mogelijk voor stellen van gelijk geslacht en worden gendertransities nog niet officieel erkend.

ZAANDAM (ANP) - Het is nog onduidelijk wat de mogelijke gevolgen van het cyberincident bij Ahold Delhaize op de financiële prestaties van het Belgisch-Nederlandse supermarktconcern zullen zijn, stellen analisten van ING. Volgens hen is het nog te vroeg om een inschatting te maken van de schade door de IT-problemen bij Albert Heijn en zusterketens als Etos, het Belgische Delhaize en het Amerikaanse Stop&Shop.

Ahold Delhaize meldde maandag dat veel van zijn systemen offline waren gehaald na een cyberincident. Om de IT-systemen te beschermen, werden websites, apps en klantenservices van de winkels uitgeschakeld. Ook worden er geen online bestelde boodschappen bezorgd.

De winkels van Ahold Delhaize aan beide zijden van de Atlantische Oceaan zijn gewoon open, maar het cyberincident kan volgens de ING-analisten gevolgen hebben voor de onlineverkoop van de groep in het vierde kwartaal. De onlineverkoop is goed voor ongeveer 12 procent van de totale groepsomzet.

Kopers van Ledger-hardwarewallets in Zuidoost-Azië zijn voor naar schatting 102 miljoen dollar aan cryptomunten bestolen. Hun apparaatjes bleken vooraf te zijn aangepast. Dat bevestigt het Franse bedrijf zelf.

Een Ledger is een soort digitale kluis voor crypto. Het apparaatje, dat op een usb-stick lijkt, bewaart de sleutel tot je cryptomunten offline, zodat hackers er via internet niet bij kunnen. Bij de eerste installatie krijg je een herstelcode van 24 woorden, voor het geval je het ding kwijtraakt. Wie die code heeft, heeft je crypto.

Spionagemodule

En daar ging het mis. De Zuidoost-Aziatische verkoper CryptoBilis verkocht Ledgers waarin volgens het bedrijf een “ongeautoriseerd hardware-implantaat” zat. Dat extra onderdeeltje kon de herstelcode uitlezen. Daarmee kon een derde partij er later met de crypto vandoor gaan.

Hoeveel apparaten zijn getroffen, is niet bekend. Ledger spreekt van een “beperkt” aantal. Onderzoeksbureau Bitquery schat dat er in totaal 102 miljoen dollar is gestolen, verdeeld over 324 wallets.

Ook bij MediaMarkt?

CryptoBilis is alleen actief in Indonesië, Maleisië en de Filipijnen, en levert de apparaten inmiddels niet meer. Ledger zegt dat zijn eigen systemen niet zijn gehackt. Het bedrijf zoekt nog uit hoe groot het probleem precies is, en vraagt winkels om teruggestuurde apparaten niet opnieuw te verkopen.

Heb je onlangs nog een Ledger gekocht bij MediaMarkt of een andere reseller, gebruik hem niet. Een gebruiker op X legt uit dat hij bij MediaMarkt tot tweemaal toe een Ledger met spionagehardware heeft gekocht. Hij heeft het gecompromiteerde apparaat naar het bedrijf gestuurd voor onderzoek. Ledger heeft nog niet bevestigd dat in Europa ook foute Ledgers in omloop zijn.

Former Labour leader says he believes the prime minister has an ‘authentic commitment’ to taking the UK back into the EU

• Andy Burnham promises ‘serious dialogue’ over UK’s relationship with EU

Andy Burnham has been warned that progress on beefing up ethical standards in public life is “stalling”.

The comment came in the first annual report to the PM from the Ethics and Integrity Commission, the body set up last year to replace the Committee on Standards in Public Life.

A number of positive steps have been taken since the July 2024 general election towards strengthening England’s standards system, but progress is at risk of stalling. Your personal leadership is needed to accelerate standards reform and to ensure that the core values and standards expressed in the principles of public life remain at the heart of government and our public services.

The longstanding debate around the merits of a universal annual cap on permissible donations is receiving increased attention from parliamentarians and the media in light of the trend for large donations to originate from a small number of donors.

Political parties play a vital role in our democracy and need significant sums of money to function, yet the reliance on large donations from a limited number of sources creates the risk that donors may exert undue influence, or may be perceived to do so, which is damaging for trust in politics.

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Though Democrats have a strong edge heading into the midterms, some races have openings for Republicans

While marquee races from Maine to Michigan get all the attention, and draw in a ton of money, a significant batch of lower-profile contests across the US could result in upsets.

Democrats have a strong edge heading into November’s US midterm elections, polls show. In recent days, election prognosticators have shifted even more races in favor of Democrats.

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You want to garden sustainably but don’t want to transfer pests to new plants. Here’s how to decide whether to refill or recycle

The problem
Most plant people end up with a never-ending supply of plastic nursery pots, stuffed in cupboards or bags. Throwing them away feels wasteful, but reusing can transfer pests, fungus spores or disease to new plants.

The hack
Reuse them, but clean thoroughly first. Nursery pots are brilliant for houseplants because the drainage holes stop root rot. Water thoroughly and let the excess run out, then slip the pot into something decorative.

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Aaron Sorkin’s attempt to return to the success of The Social Network is a strangely dated and incomplete look at a world that needs a sharper eye

In retrospect, David Fincher’s 2010 film The Social Network was a landmark for a quiet, even counterintuitive reason. Before the film was released, some questioned whether Aaron Sorkin, a writer not exactly known for his mastery of, nevermind obsession with, the technical sphere, was the right man to tell the origin story of Facebook. And while Sorkin may well have converted Mark Zuckerberg into terms he could better understand – namely, a motormouthed wiseass who deep down wants to impress a smart, serious-minded girl – he and Fincher also made one of the first internet-centric movies to treat online life as a natural extension of IRL dynamics, rather than the otherworldly tech portal seen in so many 90s internet movies.

Granted, that’s the whole deal with Facebook: its viral spread of social networking, something so simple and addictive that aunts, grandpas and coworkers everywhere could understand it. Yet understanding its simultaneous extension and distortion of the real world wasn’t a given; four years later, for example, 2014’s Men, Women and Children was widely derided for taking an alarmist approach to the internet as a haven for adults seeking an affair, teenagers nursing porn addictions and fame-hungry strivers of all ages. The Social Network, on the other hand, is remarkably nonjudgmental about the basic mechanics of Facebook, rooting its nascent flaws in the human weaknesses that birthed it. In retrospect, the movie only feels outdated to the extent that it underestimates Zuckerberg’s grasping for power and the potential for grim carelessness that his online kingdom was built on.

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Pioneering computer scientist on why Trump is using ‘superintelligence’ wrong, whether AI could wipe out humanity – and how our biggest challenge will be accepting we’re not the only intelligent beings

Donald Trump is a “corrupt, senile felon” whose fixation on the term superintelligence proves he knows nothing about AI, said Geoffrey Hinton, “godfather” of the technology, in a wide-ranging interview where he doubled down on recent warnings that AI models pose an existential threat to humanity and scoffed at claims the industry could regulate itself.

The pioneering computer scientist, whose work helped lay the foundations of modern AI, has since become one of the technology’s most vocal critics. His latest remarks come after a tumultuous month during which a growing list of senior AI scientists and researchers have joined Hinton in ringing the alarm about how the technology he helped create could ultimately escape human control, sparking an industry crisis, the hasty assembly of congressional meetings and a rare global consensus that something must be done.

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Evil Empire/Konami; PC, PS5, Switch, Xbox
There are buzzsaws and blood pits, bats burst into blood and demons burn to cinders. The series’ new emphasis on twitch-based action may annoy purists but you can’t call it dull

A gorgeously gothic Paris swarming with demons should be a perfect setting for Konami’s long-running vampiric adventure series. Unfortunately, while the sights and sounds of this vivid and haunting world leave a bold impression, developer Evil Empire doesn’t always provide an enjoyable experience to go with them. It takes far too long for the most imaginative elements of the game to be revealed.

Players take the role of Rose Belmont, daughter of vampire hunter (and Castlevania regular) Trevor Belmont and the witch Sypha Belnades, and her quest is to free Paris from demonic occupation. This murderous noctural journey feels best when you’re fighting monsters; combat is frenetic, sometimes to the point of being overwhelming, while boss fights require considerable focus and skill. Combat is the game’s strongest component and what sets it apart from previous entries. Minimising the series’ role-playing elements (levelling up has never felt more perfunctory) in favour of twitch-based action will annoy purists, but they’d be hard pressed to call battles dull.

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When populations fall, fledglings can struggle to learn the right notes to attract mates. But research on how birds communicate offers hope for species’ survival

Listening to birdsong is one of life’s great joys, but when researchers heard a particular tune emerging from a tree in a Buenos Aires park, they were especially jubilant. This arrangement was among those chirped by the local rufous-collared sparrows in the 1960s, but had since disappeared from the area.

That was until scientists created a computer-generated rendition, curious to find out if birds might consider it realistic enough to imitate. Less than three months later, a local avian resident began to copy parts of the song.

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What happens when a forest loses its birdsong? Following clues hidden in the sounds birds make while asleep, Argentinian physicist Gabriel Mindlin uncovers a hidden extinction – not of species, but of memory – and sets out to revive vanished melodies before they disappear forever. Part detective story, part cutting-edge science, Mindlin’s mission leads him to the dusty 1960s archives of Buenos Aires naturalist, confirming that some songs no longer echo in the biosphere. So he deploys “robot tutors” to see whether young birds can learn and spread the old songs once again.

Read more on this topic: Trill seekers: can scientists use AI and tutors to help birds remember lost songs?

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