An anonymous reader quotes a report from KrebsOnSecurity: An elusive hacker who went by the handle "UNKN" and ran the early Russian ransomware groups GandCrab and REvil now has a name and a face. Authorities in Germany say 31-year-old Russian Daniil Maksimovich Shchukin headed both cybercrime gangs and helped carry out at least 130 acts of computer sabotage and extortion against victims across the country between 2019 and 2021. Shchukin was named as UNKN (a.k.a. UNKNOWN) in an advisory published by the German Federal Criminal Police (the "Bundeskriminalamt" or BKA for short). The BKA said Shchukin and another Russian -- 43-year-old Anatoly Sergeevitsch Kravchuk -- extorted nearly $2 million euros across two dozen cyberattacks that caused more than 35 million euros in total economic damage.

Germany's BKA said Shchukin acted as the head of one of the largest worldwide operating ransomware groups GandCrab and REvil, which pioneered the practice of double extortion -- charging victims once for a key needed to unlock hacked systems, and a separate payment in exchange for a promise not to publish stolen data. Shchukin's name appeared in a Feb. 2023 filing (PDF) from the U.S. Justice Department seeking the seizure of various cryptocurrency accounts associated with proceeds from the REvil ransomware gang's activities. The government said the digital wallet tied to Shchukin contained more than $317,000 in ill-gotten cryptocurrency. The BKA believes Shchukin resides in Krasnodar, Russia, where he is from. "Based on the investigations so far, it is assumed that the wanted person is abroad, presumably in Russia," the BKA advised. "Travel behavior cannot be ruled out."

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More Americans have moved into upper-middle-class incomes over the past several decades (source paywalled; alternative source), with new research suggesting that group has grown sharply while the lower and core middle class have shrunk. The Wall Street Journal reports: In 2024, about 31% of Americans were part of the upper middle class, up from about 10% in 1979, according to a report released this year by the right-leaning American Enterprise Institute. There is no single, standard definition of middle class, or upper middle class, and what counts as a hefty income in one city can feel paltry in another. The AEI report, by Stephen Rose and Scott Winship, classified a family of three earning $133,000 to $400,000 in 2024 dollars as upper middle class. Households earning more were categorized as rich. The analysis looked just at incomes, not assets such as stocks or real estate.

[...] The gains span generations. Many baby boomers, born to parents who grew up in the Great Depression, are living well on their savings, aided by steady Social Security checks and decades of stock-portfolio gains that they can now tap. Millennials, who everyone worried would be permanently set back by the 2008-09 financial crisis, are earning solid incomes, buying homes and surpassing their parents. Many families are surprised to find that they have moved into this new economic tier, and see themselves as comfortable, not rich. They tend to have jobs that are white collar but not flashy -- think accountants, not tech founders.

This doesn't mean that all Americans are climbing the ladder. Entrenched inflation and higher prices on major necessities have pushed many families closer to the financial edge, or locked them out of homeownership. Those costs weigh on high-earning families too, and for many are the reason they don't feel wealthy. The AEI report divided families into five different groups by income. Three groups were in the middle: lower middle class, core middle class and upper middle class. The authors found that more families now fall into the two highest-earning groups -- upper middle class and rich -- and fewer fall into the three lower-earning categories.

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Halter, a New Zealand agtech startup now valued at $2 billion, has raised $220 million to expand its AI-powered cattle management system. "Halter is now valued at $2 billion following the Series E, which was led by Peter Thiel's Founders Fund with participation from Blackbird, DCVC, Bond, Bessemer, and several others," reports Inc. From the report: alter plans to use the funding to expand its existing footprint in the U.S., Australia, and New Zealand, as well as to grow into new markets such as Ireland, the U.K., and parts of North and South America. The round is one of the biggest to-date in the industry, and comes amid growing adoption of the technology among U.S. ranchers. According to Halter, U.S. ranchers have erected some 60,000 miles of virtual fencing since the company's launch in 2024.

Halter's technology works through a system of solar-powered collars and in-pasture towers that collect data -- some 6,000 data points per collar per minute -- from grazing cattle and feed it into a cloud-based platform and app for farmers. The collars are ergonomically designed to be comfortable for the cattle wearing them, and leverage AI to play audio cues or vibrate when it is time to move to a different grazing location or if they step outside of a predetermined zone. The collars can also deliver an electric pulse if an animal does not respond.

Halter's app also creates a digital twin of a ranch, which essentially means a digital replica that leverages real-time data to accurately reflect conditions. Farmers can consult the app to check on their herd, or fence, and move cattle with just a few clicks. Halter also has a proprietary algorithm that it calls a "Cowgorithm" trained on seven billion hours of animal behavior. Altogether, this technology is meant to make ranchers' lives easier when herding cattle, help them save money on building physical fencing, and provide insights about pasture management to improve soil health and pasture productivity. Halter says some 2,000 farmers and ranchers currently use its tech worldwide.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: AI skeptics aren't the only ones warning users not to unthinkingly trust models' outputs -- that's what the AI companies say themselves in their terms of service. Take Microsoft, which is currently focused on getting corporate customers to pay for Copilot. But it's also been getting dinged on social media over Copilot's terms of use, which appear to have been last updated on October 24, 2025. "Copilot is for entertainment purposes only," the company warned. "It can make mistakes, and it may not work as intended. Don't rely on Copilot for important advice. Use Copilot at your own risk." Microsoft described the terms of service as "legacy language," saying it will be updated.

Tom's Hardware notes that similar AI warnings remain common across the industry, with companies like OpenAI and xAI also cautioning users not to treat chatbot output as "the truth" or as "a sole service of truth or factual information."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

A visual history of exploring the far side of the Moon. “The Moon is tidally locked, meaning that only one side of the Moon ever faces the Earth. [For millenia,] there was an entire half of our natural satellite that no human had ever seen before.”

Livestream: Artemis II is about to fly around the Moon. At around 1:56pm ET, they’ll surpass the Apollo 13 distance record. And: “At their closest point, they’ll pass roughly 4,000 miles above the lunar surface.”

New vocabulary word: “RAM harvester”. RAM chips are so expensive right now that RAM harvesters are stealing them out of demo computers at electronics stores.

De dieselprijs is in Duitsland in het paasweekend gestegen naar een recordhoogte van gemiddeld 2,44 euro per liter, maakte de autovereniging ADAC bekend. Nederlandse automobilisten betalen echter nog altijd fors meer. Zij moeten gemiddeld 2,80 euro neertellen, 36 cent meer dan in Duitsland.

Voor een liter Euro95 betalen de Duitsers nu 2,19 euro. In Nederland is de adviesprijs voor Euro95 vorige week gestegen tot 2,595 euro per liter, ruim 40 cent meer dan in Duitsland.

Vorige week nam de Duitse regering een wet aan die tankstations beperkt tot één prijsaanpassing per dag, vanwege de stijgende olieprijzen door de oorlog in het Midden-Oosten. Desondanks blijven de prijzen aan de pomp records breken.

Diesel werd in Nederland afgelopen vrijdag in een klap 10 cent duurder. Zaterdag steeg de prijs opnieuw. Nederlandse ondernemers- en transportorganisaties dringen al langer aan op snelle overheidsmaatregelen om de impact van de torenhoge brandstofprijzen op het bedrijfsleven te beperken.

BEIROET (ANP/DPA) - Bij de jongste aanvallen van Israël op het buurland Libanon zijn in maart en april al rond de 1500 doden en meer dan 4600 gewonden gevallen volgens het ministerie van Gezondheid. Onder de doden waren volgens het Libanese ministerie 57 mensen die medische hulp boden.

Het ministerie spreekt van 1497 doden tussen 2 maart en 6 april, maar maandag zijn er opnieuw slachtoffers gevallen bij de Israëlische aanvallen.

Israël zegt in de tegenaanval te zijn, nadat de sjiitische Libanese beweging Hezbollah 2 maart weer was begonnen met raketbeschietingen op Israël. Er zijn al 6000 projectielen afgeschoten volgens Israël en de helft vanuit het zuiden van Libanon onder de rivier de Litani. Israël wil het gebied tussen de rivier en de Israëlische noordgrens innemen. Een aantal Israëlische politici wil de rivier voortaan als noordgrens en de Libanese bevolking verdrijven.

WASHINGTON (ANP/RTR) - Met de twee bemanningsleden die boven Iran in een gevechtsvliegtuig vrijdag werden neergehaald gaat het volgens president Donald Trump goed. Ze zijn allebei gewond, maar herstellen goed, aldus de president.

Een bemanningslid werd volgens de VS kort na het neerschieten getraceerd en opgepikt door Amerikaanse eenheden in Iran en de ander later na een grote operatie door Amerikaanse strijdkrachten.

Iran weerspreekt 'de redding' in de zuidwestelijke provincie Kohgiluyeh en Boyer-Ahmad. Iraanse media maken melding van gevechten van milities met Amerikaanse militairen, waarbij vijf Iraniërs om het leven zouden zijn gekomen. Maar de vliegers zouden niet zijn gevonden.

Het Iraanse ministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken suggereert dat de grote 'reddingsactie' mogelijk een ander doel had. Die was volgens Teheran honderden kilometers van de provincie Kohgiluyeh en Boyer-Ahmad verwijderd in het zuiden van de provincie Isfahan. Daar zou een Amerikaans transportvliegtuig van het type C-130 zijn neergehaald.

De verkiezingscampagne zit erop, maar het echte werk moet nog beginnen. Voor deze nieuwgekozen raadsleden is straks alles nieuw: van hun eerste debat tot aan een eerste motie indienen. Wie zijn de raadsleden en wat hopen ze te bereiken voor hun gemeente?

Vijf duels voor het einde van de competitie staat Excelsior op een plek waarmee het zich via de play-offs moet zien te handhaven. De voorsprong op NAC Breda, dat op een directe degradatieplek staat, is slechts drie punten. Moeten de Kralingers vrezen dat het eredivisieavontuur klaar is na dit seizoen?

Aan de Kringdans in Capelle aan den IJssel is maandagavond een man in zijn woning overvallen. De man is daarbij lichtgewond geraakt.

Aan de Kringdans in Capelle aan den IJssel is maandagavond een man in zijn woning overvallen. De man is daarbij vermoedelijk gewond geraakt.

And now around the moon. Today Artemis II is circling the moon, taking its crew farther from Earth than any prior mission, before looping back towards home.

The itinerary today includes: 1:30 p.m.: The science officer in the Mission Control Center at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston will brief the crew on their science goals for the upcoming flyby.
1:56 p.m.: The Artemis II crew is expected to surpass the record previously set by the Apollo 13 crew in 1970 for the farthest humans have ever traveled from Earth. 
2:45 p.m.: Lunar observations begin.
6:44 p.m.: Mission control expects to temporarily lose communication with the crew as the Orion spacecraft passes behind the Moon. 
6:45 p.m.: During "Earthset," Earth will glide behind the Moon from Orion's perspective.
7:02 p.m.: Orion reaches its closest approach to the Moon at 4,070 miles above the surface.
7:07 p.m.: Crew reach their maximum distance from Earth during the mission (252,706 miles).
7:25 p.m.: "Earthrise" marks Earth coming back into view on the opposite edge of the Moon.
7:25 p.m.: Mission control will re-acquire communication with the astronauts.  
8:35-9:32 p.m.: During a solar eclipse, the Sun will pass behind the Moon from the crew's perspective.
9:20 p.m.: Lunar observations conclude. You can follow on the AROW visualization or by NASA's livestream. Another NASA YouTube broadcast. Artemis is transmitting video, low-res, alas. Space.com live coverage plus their timeline. Recent Artemis II previously.

Sydney brick pit becomes arena in fight to save iconic frog. Chytrid fungus has been linked to the extinction of 90 frog species around the world. In a long-abandoned Sydney brick pit, a new front has opened in the fight to save an iconic species.

New interviews and closely guarded documents shed light on the persistent doubts about the head of OpenAI. (archive.org) The New Yorker profiles Sam Altman in an extensive article that once again proves Betteridge's Law.

Archaeologists have long known that the ancient peoples of North America—not unlike us—played a lot of games. Going back millennia, cultures around the world developed myriad ways to keep entertained, and for a long time, it was thought that the first dice ever used could be traced to the ancient Eastern European and Near East cultures of Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley, and the Caucasus. But according to a new paper by Robert Madden, published by Cambridge University Press, games of chance developed much, much earlier than originally thought—halfway around the world.

Researchers previously believed that the earliest dice originated about 5,500 years ago, but Madden shares that examples excavated in North America date back as far as the Late Pleistocene—the Ice Age. Among the oldest reported examples are a few found in modern-day Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico. The rich archaeological sites in these places are associated with the Folsom Culture, representing a dispersed hunter-gatherer lifeway that extended across the North American West, Southwest, and Great Plains around 12,000 years ago.

“The dice tend to show up in liminal spaces where you have a lot of high mobility,” Madden told Live Science. “It might have something to do with how separated these people are and the need to relate to people you don’t see very often.”

In the report, Madden also says that “the making and using of dice represent humans’ first known efforts to intentionally generate, observe, and record streams of controlled, random events…” He adds that, possibly for the first time, people were comprehending patterns or regularities in probability—a kind of precursor to understanding what we now call the law of large numbers. Anthropologists consider this to be “a crucial early step in humanity’s evolving discovery and understanding of randomness and the probabilistic nature of the universe.”

Madden compared hundreds of examples found across the American West with a comprehensive, several-hundred-page publication called Games of the North American Indians, published in 1907 as part of an annual report by the Bureau of American Ethnology. It’s currently available in a two-volume edition from Bison Books.

You might also enjoy seeing what may be the world’s oldest crayon.

Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $7 per month. The article 12,000 Years Ago, Native Americans Were Playing Games of Chance with Handmade Dice appeared first on Colossal.

Deels op basis van uiterlijke kenmerken en gedrag probeert Nederland de leeftijd van asielzoekers vast te stellen. Of ze vervolgens minder- dan wel meerjarig worden bevonden, heeft grote gevolgen. Maar hoe betrouwbaar is zo’n ‘schouw’?

Valtteri Bottas said he was “really proud” of Kimi Antonelli in the wake of the teenager’s maiden F1 win in Shanghai, which he followed up a week later with another victory in Suzuka.