Students and faculty at Brown University are worried generative AI could harm learning after an economics professor's take-home exam produced results he said pointed to widespread misuse of the technology. In a report [PDF] published by Brown's Generative AI in Teaching and Learning (GAITL) committee, teaching staff say they fear AI could weaken students' cognitive skills and encourage cheating. The committee's report comes days after Brown's Roberto Serrano warned that society "cannot choose to become idiots" – comments made after he all but proved his economics class was cheating on their midterms. Serrano allowed his students to complete their spring midterms outside class, while keeping it closed-book. After the December 2025 shootings at the university, which killed two and injured nine, the professor gave the nod to a home-based exam – the first in his almost 20 years at the university, he told Inside Higher Ed. For students, this meant effectively unlimited time to complete the test, and for Serrano, an opportunity to ramp up the difficulty. He said scores for these exams typically sit in the 65-80 percent range, but students on this test scored an average of 96 percent. Suspecting AI-assisted cheating had played a role, Serrano did not immediately call for a redo, in the hope that he simply had an especially talented cohort, but promised to void the results if students' scores on the final, which was taken under controlled conditions, did not meet similar standards. The average final score was 48.6 percent, a record low. Three students scored zero. Serrano told students that because of the discrepancy in scores, he was increasing the weighting of the final exam to 80 percent from 50 percent, and voiding the midterm results. "We cannot afford to have a society in which a significant fraction of our best young minds think that cheating is OK," he said. "That leads to a declining society, to a failed society… We cannot choose to become idiots." Brown's GAITL committee found that 56 percent of undergrads use AI tools daily or weekly, rising to 67 percent for graduate and medical students, and 85 percent for master's students. Students most often used AI for tasks that help build advanced cognition, such as explaining solutions to complex problems and debugging code. The committee also cited previous research on the topic in both US and UK higher education, finding that around 25 percent of students were submitting assignments completed with the help of AI tools, and the rate is increasing sharply each year. Students appear willing to adopt AI tools, despite many fearing the technology is making them dimmer. Eighty-eight percent of Brown students and 73 percent of graduate/medical students said they were concerned AI could have negative effects on their cognitive capacities. The same concerns were shared by teaching staff, 95 percent of whom feared for students' long-term learning, while four in five expected cognitive capabilities to decline. Pointing to wider research on AI tools' impact on student cognition, the GAITL committee noted a strong body of evidence to support the view that over-reliance could decrease higher-order thinking and metacognition. The research on the matter is still relatively sparse, but it supports the possibility of AI supplementing student cognition, provided it is used with specific guidance from teachers. Brown has since committed to enacting a range of the committee's recommendations, which cover near, medium, and long-term goals. The first steps will involve publishing university guidelines for using AI, and individual departments and faculties will establish their own standards. Further down the line, Brown will invest in improving AI literacy among teaching staff, which it hopes will improve the way in which AI is used – not abused – across the university, and place informed restrictions on how students can use it without compromising their development. ®

The UK government has withheld £10 million in payments to tech and business process outsourcing biz Capita following the disastrous takeover of the Civil Service pensions scheme (CSPS). The penalties (£9.9 million) in the £239 million contract relate to the transition from the earlier scheme provider to the Capita service. Since the service went live in December last year, Capita has continued to miss the majority of its KPIs and is locked in a dispute with the government over further penalties, MPs heard yesterday. The outsourcing giant apologized for its performance to MPs in the meeting, which can be viewed here. Capita had promised to use AI to help automate the administration of the 1.7-million member pensions scheme. But after The Register revealed its troubled launch in December last year, the performance has continued to hit the lives of civil servants waiting for their pensions, some of whom have been “left struggling to make ends meet at a pivotable point in their life, causing them significant distress and anxiety,” according to the chair of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown. Speaking to a joint meeting of the PAC and the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee, Andrew Forzani, government chief commercial officer, said £9.9 million would be withheld from Capita for failing the transition. Forzani said the government had hired an auditor to settle a claim for further penalties. “In addition to that, we have been deducting monies every single month for failed service delivery. We haven't declared those numbers because we are in dispute with Capita about the numbers each month, because of some lack of agreement on some of the data, which is why we've brought in the independent auditor,” he told MPs. Cat Little, civil services chief operating officer, told the joint committee that Capita was on track to fail 16 of its 21 headline KPIs this month. “They are not at the pace they need to move through the processing of the work, the backlog is just getting higher and higher, so my expectation is that this trend worsens and worsens, unless something radically shifts in their ability to tackle the most important, urgent, high-priority work.” As it transitioned to take over the service last year, Capita gave no indication its contract win would lead to this kind of performance on what is developing into a national scandal. Cabinet Office minister Nick Thomas-Symonds said he felt personally let down by the Capita chief executive over assurances given before it took over running the scheme. “I was being told by the chief executive, on 25th of November last year — before the go-live date on the first of December — that the UK government would be presiding over the largest AI-enabled pension in the UK, and I would therefore have — and I quote — ‘a flagship use case’.” Capita won the seven-year, £239 million contract to oversee the CSPS in November 2023, taking over from MyCSP, which ran the scheme on behalf of the Cabinet Office under a £238 million contract that was first agreed in 2012. MyCSP was a mutual joint partnership between employee partners, who owned 25 percent of the company, and a private sector partner, Equiniti. Also addressing MPs, Adolfo Hernandez, Capita group chief executive officer apologized to all the pension scheme members “who have been receiving a very poor service at a very difficult and challenging time in their lives.” He said Capita inherited a case backlog that was much higher than anyone expected, and also more complex. The provider was dealing with cases up to four years old, some of which related to government departments which no-longer existed. “The service record is incomplete and the sheer scale of the data that was missing upon transfer is huge. We're talking about 20 million records,” he said. In a trading update, Capita said the financial impact of its work on the CSPS would be between £25 million and £40 million in operating profit in 2026, and between £35 million and £50 million in free cash flow. ®

gnsk has added a photo to the pool:

DEN HAAG (ANP) - Luchtvaartmaatschappijen moeten boetes kunnen opleggen aan passagiers die zich misdragen, vindt het kabinet. Het is een van de plannen die minister Vincent Karremans (Infrastructuur, VVD) in een Kamerbrief voorstelt om wangedrag in vliegtuigen tegen te gaan. Als de boetes er komen naast strafrechtelijke vervolging, zou dat als "extra afschrikking" kunnen werken.

De VVD-minister ziet een "zorgwekkende stijging" van verstoringen in vliegtuigen, zoals schelden, bedreigen en fysieke agressie. "Helaas betreft dit een wereldwijde trend." In Nederland zou het dagelijks om twee à drie incidenten gaan. Vaak is er alcohol bij betrokken.

Karremans wil ook dat Europese luchtvaartmaatschappijen hun zwarte lijsten kunnen delen om verstorende passagiers te weren, vindt het kabinet. De bedrijven en vakbonden gaan met hulp van zijn ministerie kijken of het mogelijk is om meer informatie uit te wisselen. Als het plan slaagt, zouden passagiers die zich bij de ene luchtvaartmaatschappij misdragen dus ook niet meer welkom zijn bij de andere maatschappij.

KLM en Transavia delen hun zwarte lijsten al enkele jaren, aldus Karremans. Hij heeft recent in een Europees overleg al gepleit voor de gedeelde lijsten van verstorende passagiers, en zegt daarbij gesteund te zijn door zes andere lidstaten.

JINJIANG (ANP/AFP) - Bij een grote brand in een schoenenfabriek in de Chinese stad Jinjiang zijn zeker 28 doden gevallen, melden staatsmedia. De brand is uitgebroken in een vestiging van de Huiteng Shoes Company in het district Chendai.

De Chinese president Xi Jinping zei donderdag "een zwaar verlies aan mensenlevens" te vrezen. Hij gelastte de slachtoffers te vinden en een grondig onderzoek naar de oorzaak in te stellen.

Volgens Chinese media is de industrie in het voormalige vissersdorp Chendai enorm groot. In de plaats worden volgens de People's Daily Online jaarlijks een miljard paar sneakers gefabriceerd. De schoenenindustrie zou er goed zijn voor meer dan 6 miljard euro aan inkomsten.

UTRECHT (ANP) - Het treinverkeer tussen Alphen aan den Rijn en Bodegraven ligt vanaf oktober negen maanden stil vanwege de vervanging van de spoorbrug over de Gouwe. Die is op zich veilig, maar er is "beweging geconstateerd in de landhoofden en middenpijler van de spoorbrug", aldus de NS.

De NS raadt reizigers tussen Leiden Centraal en Utrecht Centraal aan om te reizen via Amsterdam Zuid. Tussen Alphen aan den Rijn en Bodegraven zet de vervoerder bussen in. Ook zullen er extra treinen rijden tussen Alphen aan den Rijn en Leiden Centraal.

Op de stations Alphen aan den Rijn en Bodegraven komen meer ov-fietsen beschikbaar. Reizigers die tussen de twee stations fietsen, hoeven geen extra kosten te betalen voor het inleveren van de fiets op een andere locatie.

PARIJS (ANP) - Frankrijk zet zeker 20.000 politiemensen in voor de WK-voetbalwedstrijd Frankrijk-Marokko, deze donderdagavond. Zo'n 8000 van hen worden ingezet in Parijs, heeft het ministerie van Binnenlandse Zaken bekendgemaakt, melden Franse media.

De autoriteiten houden er rekening mee dat rond de wedstrijd ongeregeldheden uitbreken, melden onder meer Europe 1 en Le Journal du Dimanche op basis van een instructie van het ministerie. Dat zou vooral een risico zijn als Marokko wint, gezien de "neiging van de fans om op een zichtbare en onrustige manier te vieren", aldus het document.

Le Figaro schrijft dat rekening wordt gehouden met geweld in fanzones waar de wedstrijd gekeken wordt, op andere openbare plekken in de steden en ook buiten de hoofdstad. De autoriteiten houden rekening met onder meer autobranden en plunderingen.

De Iran-deal van vorige maand wordt op grote schaal geschonden, met gevechtshandelingen over en weer. Dat wekt weinig verbazing: de overeenkomst loste in feite geen enkele kwestie op.

De nummer 114 van de wereld staat vrijdag tot verrassing van iedereen in de halve finale van Wimbledon. „Hij wil altijd weten waaróm we bepaalde dingen doen.”

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

Wednesday, John Deere agreed to give farmers broader access to repair their tractors and farm equipment under an antitrust settlement agreement with the Federal Trade Commission, one of the biggest wins in the long right to repair battle. The settlement is the latest and by far the most important development in several recent lawsuits against John Deere, and is finally an agreement that isn’t full of half measures and doesn’t have massive, obvious loopholes.

The FTC settlement is far better than a recent, highly controversial settlement in a separate class action lawsuit against Deere brought by farmers in Illinois, and it’s worth breaking down the differences. Two years ago, I wrote an article called “The Walls Are Closing in on John Deere’s Tractor Repair Monopoly,” which followed that Illinois case, in which several farmers brought a complex, class action antitrust lawsuit against Deere. The judge in that case, Iain Johnson, wrote several scathing opinions about Deere’s anti-repair practices that indicated that he was seemingly inclined to hit Deere with stiff penalties. 

But after years of litigation, the plaintiffs in that case decided to settle with Deere in April, earning a $99 million payout for farmers who paid for repairs over the last decade, and several right-to-repair protections that did not have much in the way of legal teeth.

This $99 million payout was roughly $79 million after legal fees and to be divided among more than 200,000 farmers; this means each farmer will receive roughly $395, or “less than the cost of a single authorized dealer service call for a typical 500-acre farm,” according to an analysis by Willie Cade, a longtime farm right to repair advocate.

“Bottom line is that farmers are getting $0.79 per acre for the eight years of Deere abuse,” Cade told me. “Bad settlement. The settlement is insufficient … the money is a small fraction of what the class could recover at trial, the claims process depends on labor-hour data only Deere holds, and the repair "fixes" are riddled with loopholes that leave Deere's monopoly intact.” 

Demand Is Booming for New No Tech, Repairable Tractor

“There is consumer pressure to back away from technology that is unnecessary to perform everyday tasks.”

The Illinois settlement would prohibit farmers covered by it from filing any future repair-related litigation against Deere, and only required Deere to provide parts and repair guides to farmers under poorly defined “fair and reasonable” terms, a loophole that other manufacturers have used to claim that their parts and tools are constantly out of stock or cost astronomic prices. 

“The ‘fair and reasonable terms’ standard is not price equality with dealers, nor is it a guaranteed price ceiling,” Cade wrote in his analysis. “Disputes about whether Deere’s pricing meets this standard are subject to Court oversight, but individual farmers may have limited practical ability to challenge pricing that does not obviously cross the line.”

The settlement in the Illinois case was so bad that one of the plaintiffs in the case, Wilson Farms, filed a 53 page formal objection to it two weeks ago, in part because it claims that there are many “unlitigated and uncompensated” cases in which farmers suffered under Deere’s monopoly. Under the settlement, farmers would no longer be able to sue Deere by “terminat[ing] Class members’ ability to collectively challenge Deere’s repair aftermarket monopolization for a generation.”

“Rather than provide any meaningful benefit to the Class, it appears that the proposed Settlement’s most important effect will be to give Deere its most powerful tool yet in its decades-long effort to block farmers from repairing their own equipment,” the objection says. “Extinguishment of farmers’ rights under the law.”

Other farmers called the Illinois settlement “disingenuous” and “unfair.”

The good news is that the wildly disappointing and seemingly unnecessary selling out of farmers’ rights in the Illinois case that Deere appeared to be losing very badly is greatly mitigated by the FTC’s settlement from this week. The FTC case was brought by Lina Khan under the Biden administration; to its credit, the Trump administration decided to continue litigating.

The FTC settlement does not have monetary damages for farmers, but it has far better right to repair protections for John Deere customers moving forward. In the FTC deal, the “fair and reasonable terms” are better defined and are based on the price that John Deere dealers actually pay for repair parts and tools. Deere and its dealers are not allowed to “discriminate or retaliate” against farmers who repair their own equipment (manufacturers have been known to brick devices that consumers fix themselves). The FTC settlement also includes access to farmers for “future repair resources,” meaning repair tools, guides, software, and parts that Deere creates in the future. 

Deere must also file “compliance reports” with the FTC, and the FTC will have oversight of the compliance. Crucially, the FTC settlement also does not affect farmers’ private grievances against Deere, meaning it is possible for farmers to sue Deere if the company’s repair practices have affected them. 

The FTC settlement is one that has actual legal teeth and enforcement mechanisms that Deere should at least theoretically have to comply with. Earlier agreements and right to repair “wins” for farmers were often half measures (though it’s worth mentioning that Colorado passed a good agriculture right to repair law in 2023 after years of struggle from farmers and advocates). Deere and various farmers’ public interest groups had previously agreed to right to repair “memorandums of understanding” in which Deere promised to make repair parts and tools available to farmers. In practice, however, these tools and parts were often not available, were not as good as what dealers and authorized service providers had access to, or were unreasonably expensive. These memorandums of understanding also had few or no enforcement mechanisms. 

Cade told 404 Media in an email that this settlement order “gives farmers real hope.” 

Nathan Proctor, senior right to repair campaign director for consumer rights group U.S. PIRG, said in a statement that the FTC settlement “is much better than the deal secured in [the Illinois] class action lawsuit.”

“Deere has now agreed to make available all materials needed to conduct repairs, including some which it has previously withheld,” Proctor said. “I want to thank the FTC for its work on this case. Our goal from the start of our campaign was to ensure that farmers and independent mechanics get everything they need to fix equipment. We will continue to monitor the situation and advocate to ensure that goal is a reality.” 

In other words, farmers finally have an actual, major win in the right to repair fight that goes far beyond earlier piecemeal and moral victories.

De rechtbank heeft twee Colombianen veroordeeld tot twee jaar cel voor een goudroof in het centrum van Rotterdam. Ze gingen er vandoor met een tas vol sieraden. Waarde: 850 duizend euro.

On the back of our editors’ choices of the year’s finest, we asked you to share your magical movie moments from the first half of 2026

The film that had me gripped right from its ridiculous and bizarre first scene at a Brazilian country road petrol station was The Secret Agent by Kleber Mendonça Filho. The gorgeous Armando is on the run from a corrupt private company official, who wants to steal his academic expertise for his own financial gain. It’s a deal that Armando knows will sully his academic reputation but by refusing to do so, he ends up with a target on his back from the resentful Ghirotti, who sent chills up my spine. This is a stunning movie. Liz, London

Continue reading...

Exclusive: Questions grow over George Cottrell’s role as party says he has never held an official position

• UK politics live – latest updates

• Why is Farage quitting as an MP, only to stand again?

George Cottrell was routinely introduced as Nigel Farage’s chief of staff before the 2024 election despite denials that he had any official role, according to a Reform UK candidate who stood aside for the party leader.

Others who have been closely involved in the party have also claimed Cottrell arranged the Land Rovers that ferried Reform’s newly elected MPs to parliament, and that he covered the cost of a fundraising lunch with potential donors before the national vote.

Continue reading...

A host of familiar faces will be driving some iconic cars at the 2026 Goodwood Festival of Speed this weekend.