An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Guardian: A ban on mobile phones in schools in England is to be introduced by the government to ensure that "critical safeguarding legislation" is passed. The government will table an amendment to the children's wellbeing and schools bill in the House of Lords after the bill was held up by peers on opposition benches. It will make existing guidance on mobile phone bans in schools statutory, a move that ministers have resisted until now.

The government had consistently argued that the vast majority of schools had already banned mobile phones, and that there was no need to add a legal requirement. They finally capitulated, however, describing it as "a pragmatic measure" to get the bill through. [...] The bill is regarded by many as the biggest piece of child protection legislation in decades and includes proposals for a compulsory register for children who are not in school, a crackdown on profiteering in children's social care, and a "single unique identifier" to help agencies track a child's welfare.

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Apple announced that Tim Cook will step down as CEO in September after 15 years in the role, handing the job to hardware chief John Ternus. Longtime Slashdot reader sinij shares the news from MarketWatch: Cook leaves an impressive legacy after growing the company to a $4 trillion market capitalization from just $300 billion 15 years ago. Over Cook's 15-year tenure as CEO, Apple's stock has risen 1,932%, beating the S&P 500's 504% increase, according to Dow Jones Market Data. That places Apple's stock as the 38th best-performing member of the index over that period of time.

Cook had big shoes to fill, replacing Apple's iconic founder, Steve Jobs, as CEO. Cook's successor, John Ternus, Apple's senior vice president of hardware engineering, will need to guide Apple's through uncharted waters as the company navigates its artificial-intelligence transition and supply-chain constraints. Cook will remain at Apple as executive chairman. "It has been the greatest privilege of my life to be the CEO of Apple and to have been trusted to lead such an extraordinary company. I love Apple with all of my being, and I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to work with a team of such ingenious, innovative, creative, and deeply caring people who have been unwavering in their dedication to enriching the lives of our customers and creating the best products and services in the world," said Cook.

"John Ternus has the mind of an engineer, the soul of an innovator, and the heart to lead with integrity and with honor. He is a visionary whose contributions to Apple over 25 years are already too numerous to count, and he is without question the right person to lead Apple into the future. I could not be more confident in his abilities and his character, and I look forward to working closely with him on this transition and in my new role as executive chairman."

As for Ternus' replacement, the role of Chief Hardware Officer will be awarded to Apple executive Johny Srouji. "Srouji, who most recently served as senior vice president of Hardware Technologies, will assume an expanded role leading Hardware Engineering, which John Ternus most recently oversaw, as well as the hardware technologies organization," said Apple in a press release.

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Cook exported the smartphone revolution from the US to the world and turned Apple into one of the most powerful and profitable companies on Earth

After 15 years, Tim Cook is stepping down as Apple’s top executive. At age 65, he leaves behind a hardware juggernaut that, under his leadership, brought about a global smartphone revolution and transformed Apple into one of the most profitable publicly traded companies in history.

With a reputation for logistical management, Cook first joined Apple in 1998, overseeing its worldwide sales and operations. In 2009, he temporarily began running day-to-day operations when the company’s legendary co-founder, Steve Jobs, took medical leave due to complications from pancreatic cancer. In 2011, just a few months before Jobs’ death, Cook took over as CEO.

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Labor secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer exits, while Patel sues over story citing sources that allege ‘conspicuous inebriation and unexplained absences’ by FBI director

Donald Trump’s labor secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer is stepping down, the administration announced on Monday, after a series of misconduct allegations, including claims of an affair with a subordinate and allegedly drinking on the job.

Chavez-DeRemer is the third cabinet member – all women – to depart during the president’s second term, following homeland security secretary Kristi Noem and attorney general Pam Bondi.

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Macron says ‘reasonably optimistic’ loan with go through after election defeat of pro-Russian Hungarian PM. What we know on day 1,518

European Union countries will on Wednesday move to unlock a €90bn loan for Ukraine as the defeated Viktor Orbán exits power in Hungary. The now-caretaker Hungarian prime minister, friendly to Vladimir Putin, had been blocking the loan but will soon be replaced by Peter Magyar, who won a sweeping electoral mandate. Magyar has promised smoother relations with Brussels and criticised Orbán for bowing to Russian influence.

Orbán said that Hungary would lift its objections to the loan as it had “received an indication from Ukraine” via Brussels that Kyiv was ready to restore oil deliveries to Hungary via the damaged Druzhba pipeline that passes through Ukraine from Russia.

“Once oil deliveries are restored, we will no longer stand in the way of approving the loan,” said Orbán – who claimed to be blocking the loan because of the pipeline, but had repeatedly impeded European support for Ukraine well before the pipeline became an issue. Emmanuel Macron, the French president, said on Monday that with Orbán’s departure, “we can be reasonably optimistic about the sound progress and implementation” of the EU loan.

Berlin summoned the Russian ambassador on Monday over “direct threats from Russia” against “targets in Germany”. The threats “are an attempt to undermine our support for Ukraine and test our unity”, Germany’s foreign ministry said. “Our response is clear: we will not be intimidated. Such threats and all forms of espionage in Germany are completely unacceptable.” The Russian embassy declined to comment to Agence France Presse, which reported the news.

Russia’s defence ministry last week made a veiled threat as it published a list naming at least three German firms as supplying unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for Ukraine, carrying the suggestion they could be targeted. “The European public should not only clearly understand the underlying causes of the threats to their safety, but also know the addresses, as well as the location of ‘Ukrainian’ and ‘joint’ companies producing UAVs and their components for Ukraine in their countries.” It was part of a broader list of 21 companies that Moscow considers either subsidiaries of Ukrainian defence companies or suppliers of key components.

On Monday morning, Russian authorities said they had arrested a German woman accused of being part of an alleged Ukrainian-backed plot to blow up a services facility. Russia’s FSB security agency said the woman was arrested in the Caucasus city of Pyatigorsk with an explosive device in her backpack. The German foreign ministry said it was aware of press reports but would not comment further out of privacy concerns.

The death toll rose to seven on Monday from a mass shooting in Kyiv as a wounded man died in hospital. A Russian-born man opened fire on passersby with an automatic rifle on Saturday before barricading himself in a supermarket with hostages, where he was shot dead by police.

A Europol “hackathon” traced 45 Ukrainian children forcibly deported to Russia, the EU’s law enforcement agency Europol said on Monday. Kyiv says at least 20,000 Ukrainian children have been stolen. The Europol effort saw 40 investigators from 18 countries gather in The Hague for two days last week to use publicly-available information known as Osint (open-source intelligence) to locate some of the children.

“In total, information about 45 children was uncovered and shared with Ukrainian authorities to assist their ongoing investigations,” Europol said. “Some of these children have been adopted by Russian nationals, while others are being held in re-education camps or psychiatric hospitals.” The international criminal court (ICC) has issued war crime arrest warrants for Vladimir Putin and his “children’s commissioner” Maria Lvova-Belova over the kidnappings.

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GAZA (ANP) - De wederopbouw van Gaza zal de komende tien jaar 71,4 miljard dollar (circa 60,6 miljard euro) kosten. Dat is de conclusie van een definitieve "schade- en behoeftenanalyse" die de Verenigde Naties maandag publiceerden in samenwerking met de Europese Unie. Voor de eerste achttien maanden is al 26,3 miljard dollar nodig om essentiële diensten te herstellen, kritieke infrastructuur te heropbouwen en de economie op gang te brengen.

De materiële schade aan infrastructuur na 24 maanden oorlog bedraagt volgens de VN 35,2 miljard dollar. De economische en sociale verliezen komen daar nog eens bovenop: 22,7 miljard dollar. De zwaarst getroffen sectoren zijn huisvesting, zorg, onderwijs, handel en landbouw. Meer dan 371.000 woningen zijn verwoest of beschadigd, meer dan de helft van de ziekenhuizen is buiten gebruik en vrijwel alle scholen zijn vernield of zwaar beschadigd. De economie van Gaza kromp met 84 procent.

De menselijke tol is navenant. De oorlog heeft de menselijke ontwikkeling in Gaza met 77 jaar teruggeworpen, aldus het rapport. Ongeveer 1,9 miljoen mensen zijn ontheemd, veelal meerdere keren, en meer dan 60 procent van de bevolking heeft zijn huis verloren. Vrouwen, kinderen en mensen met een beperking dragen de zwaarste last.