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BrianFagioli writes: Fedora Linux 43 users upgrading to the latest Dovecot mail server discovered something rather unsettling: some older Microsoft Outlook configurations may have been silently ignoring SSL/TLS settings for POP3 email connections for years. According to a Fedora community blog post, affected Outlook clients reportedly continued using insecure port 110 connections even when encryption was enabled in the application settings. The issue surfaced after Dovecot 2.4 disabled plaintext authentication on non secure connections by default, causing Outlook users to suddenly lose mailbox access after the Fedora 43 upgrade.
The report suggests the behavior may date back as far as Outlook 2007, although modern Outlook builds were not fully tested. Fedora admins stress that the problem could be limited to legacy account configurations rather than current versions of Outlook itself. Still, the discovery has sparked discussion among Linux admins and security folks because many users likely assumed their email traffic was encrypted simply because Outlook claimed SSL/TLS was enabled. The incident also highlights how stricter defaults in modern open source infrastructure can expose ancient assumptions and questionable behaviors that quietly survived for decades.
The report suggests the behavior may date back as far as Outlook 2007, although modern Outlook builds were not fully tested. Fedora admins stress that the problem could be limited to legacy account configurations rather than current versions of Outlook itself. Still, the discovery has sparked discussion among Linux admins and security folks because many users likely assumed their email traffic was encrypted simply because Outlook claimed SSL/TLS was enabled. The incident also highlights how stricter defaults in modern open source infrastructure can expose ancient assumptions and questionable behaviors that quietly survived for decades.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Ancient Slashdot reader whitroth shares a report from Politico, with the caption: "shutting down Microsoft Office for the International Criminal Court (ICC) was clearly a wake-up call." From the report: The EU is moving to counter American dominance in technology by reaching for one of the oldest tools in its arsenal: industrial strategy. As the European Commission unveiled a plan Wednesday to reduce Europe's reliance on the foreign technology providers that underpin the modern economy, it was careful to stress that it was not picking a fight with U.S. digital giants. Instead, the tech sovereignty package -- motivated in no small part by U.S. President Donald Trump's weaponization of Europe's dependence on American firms -- takes a longer-term view: boost the continent's players so they can eventually challenge their U.S. rivals.
[...] If adopted, the package will direct public money toward products that contribute to Europe's economy and independence from foreign firms; cut red tape for data centers; beef up research and innovation through "leadership initiatives"; incentivize countries to share digital capacities in a new "Eurocloud" forum; and require EU governments to come up with national strategies to boost the adoption of cutting-edge tech, including AI. The package will also seek to ramp up the bloc's demand for advanced chips -- a response to criticism by the industry -- with a series of industrial initiatives to revise a 2023 chips law.
[...] As part of its proposal to keep a list of trustworthy countries, the Commission would require EU governments to run a so-called "sovereignty risk assessment" for every digital service they rely on, measuring foreign control, potential access to sensitive data and the risk of operational disruption. Within a year, they would have to determine the appropriate level of protection for each public sector and procure digital services accordingly -- unless they can prove doing so would come at a "disproportionate cost," the proposal reads. However, the Commission reserves the right to overrule their assessment in future legislation if it believes they downplayed the risks. The Commission estimated that just one percent of Europe's public services are so sensitive that they would be required under the proposed certification scheme to rely on the strict level that totally excludes foreign technology. "We cannot afford to depend on others for the technologies that keep our hospitals running, our energy grids stable and our services secure," Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a statement. "This is about protecting our citizens, defending our interests and making our own choices."
[...] If adopted, the package will direct public money toward products that contribute to Europe's economy and independence from foreign firms; cut red tape for data centers; beef up research and innovation through "leadership initiatives"; incentivize countries to share digital capacities in a new "Eurocloud" forum; and require EU governments to come up with national strategies to boost the adoption of cutting-edge tech, including AI. The package will also seek to ramp up the bloc's demand for advanced chips -- a response to criticism by the industry -- with a series of industrial initiatives to revise a 2023 chips law.
[...] As part of its proposal to keep a list of trustworthy countries, the Commission would require EU governments to run a so-called "sovereignty risk assessment" for every digital service they rely on, measuring foreign control, potential access to sensitive data and the risk of operational disruption. Within a year, they would have to determine the appropriate level of protection for each public sector and procure digital services accordingly -- unless they can prove doing so would come at a "disproportionate cost," the proposal reads. However, the Commission reserves the right to overrule their assessment in future legislation if it believes they downplayed the risks. The Commission estimated that just one percent of Europe's public services are so sensitive that they would be required under the proposed certification scheme to rely on the strict level that totally excludes foreign technology. "We cannot afford to depend on others for the technologies that keep our hospitals running, our energy grids stable and our services secure," Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a statement. "This is about protecting our citizens, defending our interests and making our own choices."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Attack brings death toll to at least 207 since administration began targeting people it calls ‘narcoterrorists’
The US military attacked a boat accused of smuggling drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean on Wednesday, killing two men, as the Trump administration wages a months-long campaign against alleged traffickers in Latin America.
The latest attack brings the number of people who have been killed in boat strikes by the US military to at least 207 since the administration began targeting people it calls “narcoterrorists” in early September.
Continue reading...Minimal gains on battlefield as Kyiv largely halts Moscow’s spring-summer offensive; Ukraine missile maker tests homegrown Patriot alternative. What we know on day 1,562
Russia’s failure to advance on the battlefield is why it is escalating its air raids on major Ukrainian cities, analysts say. The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) thinktank said the strikes were also aimed at distracting from the impact of Ukrainian long-range attacks into Russia. The Finnish Black Bird Group’s latest data shows, according to Reuters, that Russian monthly territorial gains have fallen sharply compared with the same period last year. Ukrainian open-source group DeepState this week said Russian troops in May saw their smallest monthly gains since October 2023 – 14 sq km – despite a 37.5% spike in assaults by Russian forces.
“Ukrainian forces have largely halted the Russian spring-summer 2026 offensive so far, and Russian forces in May 2026 have gained a presence in only a fraction of the territory they did in May 2025,” said an ISW assessment. This year, Ukrainian forces have also recaptured territory. John Helin, Black Bird Group analyst, said: “If the Russians can’t find ways to pick up momentum significantly, the goal of capturing Donbas this year is slipping out of their reach fast.”
Mathieu Boulègue of the US-based Center for European Policy Analysis said Moscow’s war machine was also grappling with shrinking industrial capacity due to western sanctions, as well as dwindling stocks of nearly all weaponry. “They are really slowly, I think, changing the cost-benefit calculus of the Kremlin,” he said of Russia’s appetite for continuing the war.
Ukraine’s Fire Point, a missile and drone maker, said it had test-flown a ballistic missile meant for air defence as Kyiv wrangles with a dearth of ammunition for foreign-supplied missile shield systems such as Patriot. The Fire Point CEO, Iryna Terekh, said “a fully controlled manoeuvring flight of the FP-7.X missile” took place and it would form the basis of the future Freyja anti-ballistic interceptor.
A Ukrainian attack on “non-residential buildings in Simferopol” in occupied Crimea killed at least three people and wounded seven others, the region’s head Russian official, Sergey Aksyonov, said early on Thursday. Separately, Moscow-installed authorities in the Donetsk region said a drone strike hit a bus, killing seven people and wounding 11. Officials said the bus was hit at Yenakiyevo as it travelled from Moscow to Simferopol in Crimea.
Russian shelling killed at least three civilians in Ukraine’s frontline city of Kramatorsk in the east and Moscow’s forces attacked areas near the south-eastern city of Dnipro with drones and missiles, officials said on Wednesday. Vadym Filashkin, governor of the Donetsk region, said 11 people were injured in the daytime Russian attack on residential buildings in Kramatorsk.
In the southern city of Kherson, one person was killed in a drone attack that destroyed 36 apartments in a residential building, said Oleksandr Prokudin, the regional governor. The governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region, Oleksandr Hanzha, said there had been three Russian strikes near the region’s largest city, Dnipro, injuring eight people and triggering a large fire. Three people were in hospital in serious condition. Ukraine’s president. Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said in his nightly video address that Russian forces struck food storage areas and a postal depot with drones and missiles.
Ukrainian drones hit energy and military sites in St Petersburg early on Wednesday, hours before international guests gathered for an economic forum, in a deep embarrassment for Vladimir Putin, Luke Harding and Pjotr Sauer write. Guests arrived for Wednesday’s opening ceremony under a pall of thick smoke. Ukraine also struck the nearby Kronstadt naval base and shipyard in Leningrad oblast, home to Russia’s Baltic fleet, setting fire to the Russian guided-missile corvette Boikiy.
Continue reading...Stunning rebuke to president as lawmakers vote 215-208 for measure forcing him to seek congressional approval
The US House of Representatives delivered a stunning rebuke to Donald Trump over his war on Iran on Wednesday, as representatives backed a move to force him to seek approval from Congress or withdraw US forces.
The House voted 215 to 208 in favor of the war powers resolution, as four Republicans voted with Democrats. The dissident Republicans were Thomas Massie of Kentucky, Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, Warren Davidson of Ohio and Tom Barrett of Michigan.
Continue reading...Measure expected to succeed next week represents major rebuke to big tech as local disquiet over AI boom grows
Seattle’s city government is on the verge of passing a year-long ban on the construction of new datacenters, the largest city yet in the US to consider such a moratorium as nationwide backlash grows.
Four companies sought to build five large datacenters in areas serviced by Seattle’s public utility; if approved, they would have consumed approximately a third of the city’s current daily demand for electricity.
Continue reading...
This project presents illustrations from my authorial picture book The King and the Elephant. The visual language is built around quiet compositions, symbolic imagery, and a restrained color palette that helps create a melancholic and atmospheric mood. Through a simple metaphorical narrative, the project explores themes of inner emptiness, the search for meaning, and the inability to appreciate what truly matters until it is gone.
iain.davidson100 has added a photo to the pool:
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