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From The Rest Is History at 2026-02-02 00:05:00 (unread)

640. Rome’s Greatest Enemy: Carthage at the Gates (Part 1) (GLT9223169972.mp3?updated=1769978047)

Did Hannibal march on Rome after his legendary victory at the Battle of Cannae in 216 BC? How could Rome fight on after losing so many men? And, where would their next cataclysmic clash take place…? Join Tom and Dominic, as they discuss the beginning of the end for the once mighty city of Carthage, and her masterful general, Hannibal Barca. _______ To hear our previous series on the rise of Carthage, Hannibal, and the battle of Cannae, go to episodes: 421, 422, 423, 424, 568, 569, 570, 571. _______ To enjoy The Rest is History's curated historical playlists, go to https://therestishistory.com/collection _______ Join The Rest Is History Club: Unlock the full experience of the show – with exclusive bonus episodes, ad-free listening, early access to every series and live show tickets, a members-only newsletter, discounted books from the show, and access to our private Discord chatroom. Sign up directly at therestishistory.com _______ Twitter: @TheRestHistory @holland_tom @dcsandbrook Video Editors: Jack Meek + Harry Swan Social Producer: Harry Balden Producers: Tabby Syrett & Aaliyah Akude Executive Producer: Dom Johnson Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

From The Week in Westminster at 2026-01-31 11:02:00

31/01/2026 (p0my6q04.mp3)

Sonia Sodha assesses the latest developments at Westminster.

This week Sir Keir Starmer became the first Prime Minister in eight years to visit China. To discuss the visit Sonia is joined by Labour MP and Chair of the Business and Trade Select Committee Liam Byrne, and the Conservative MP Sir Andrew Mitchell, who served as Deputy Foreign Secretary in Rishi Sunak’s government.

Following the Home Secretary's announcement of reforms to the police services in England and Wales Sonia spoke to two MPs, both former police officers, to discuss the proposals. Labour's Jonathan Hinder served in London for nine years, reaching the rank of inspector. He was also the head of the Police Now training academy and the Liberal Democrat Wendy Chamberlain, worked for the Scottish Police College as well as the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland.

To discuss the issue of loneliness in young men, Sonia is joined by MP Mims Davies, who is a former Conservative Minister for Loneliness and now co-chairs the parliamentary group on Men and Boys' Issues and Chris Hemmings, the Founder of Men’s Therapy Hub, who is also a psychotherapist who specialises in working with men and boys.

And, this week saw the launch of a new Conservative group for, what it calls, the 'politically homeless' on the centre right. So what role do political movements play in political parties? To discuss this Sonia speaks to Amber Rudd, a former Conservative Cabinet Minister and vice chair of Prosper UK, and Labour peer Stewart Wood, who is a former adviser to Gordon Brown and Ed Miliband. He is also a signatory to Mainstream, which says it is the home for 'Labour's radical realists'.

From More or Less at 2026-01-31 06:00:00

Could Europe use its financial muscle to strong-arm the US? (p0my4pcn.mp3)

Could European Nato members use their large holdings of US shares and bonds to put pressure on America? It’s a question that some in Europe found themselves asking as the geopolitical crisis over Greenland escalated and leaders desperately tried to think of ways to dissuade Donald Trump. It is true that trillions of dollars of American financial assets are held in Europe. But the devil, as ever, is in the detail. Tim Harford talks to Toby Nangle, a journalist with the Financial Times, to drill down into the numbers.

Presenter: Tim Harford Producer: Nathan Gower Series Producer: Tom Colls Editor: Richard Vadon Programme Coordinator: Brenda Brown Sound Engineer: James Beard

From GoodFellows: Conversations on Economics, History & Geopolitics at 2026-01-31 03:00:00

The Right Side of History with Tyler Cowen | GoodFellows | Hoover Institution (GoodFellows_2026-01-29_-_Tyler_Cowen_podcast_arco7.mp3)

Donald Trump’s drop-in at the World Economic Forum and the ensuing kerfuffle between the American president and the attending globalist elites raises the question: Who is winning on the world stage, Trump or his foes—or do they have more in common than is commonly recognized? Tyler Cowen, an economist, blogger, and Free Press columnist, joins GoodFellows regulars Niall Ferguson, John Cochrane, and H.R. McMaster to discuss Trump’s third presidential visit to the Davos, Switzerland, lion’s den, plus the rise of “democratic socialism” and “affordability politics” embodied in the ethos of New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani. After that: the three fellows discuss lessons from Minneapolis in the aftermath of two protestors shot to death by federal immigration agents; the odds of American military strikes against Iran; the significance of China’s latest military purge; plus whether the show’s resident historians are comfortable with the (over)use of phrase “the right side of history.” Subscribe to GoodFellows for clarity on today’s biggest social, economic, and geostrategic shifts — only on GoodFellows.

From A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry at 2026-01-31 01:45:00

Collections: The Late Bronze Age Collapse, A Very Brief Introduction

This week, by order of the ACOUP Senate, we’re talking about the Late Bronze Age Collapse (commonly abbreviated ‘LBAC’), the shocking collapse of the Late Bronze Age state system across the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East during the 12th century (that is, the 1100s) BC. In the broader Mediterranean world, the Late Bronze Age Collapse … Continue reading Collections: The Late Bronze Age Collapse, A Very Brief Introduction →

From Biz & IT - Ars Technica at 2026-01-30 22:12:26

AI agents now have their own Reddit-style social network, and it's getting weird fast

Moltbook lets 32,000 AI bots trade jokes, tips, and complaints about humans.

From Odd Lots at 2026-01-30 20:00:00

013026_Lots_More_Skanda_Amarnath_Edit_v1 (audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=982f5071-765c-403d-969d-ae27003a8d83)

Trump has announced that former Fed Governor Kevin Warsh is going to be his nominee to succeed Jerome Powell. The responses to the news are split among some interesting lines. People like Neil Dutta have been highly critical, while at the same time, the pick has earned praise from Jason Furman, who was the Chair of President Obama's Council of Economic Advisers. So who is Kevin Warsh? And why is this pick particularly controversial? On this episode, we talk with Skanda Amarnath, Executive Director of Employ America, who walks us through Warsh's history of commenting on and executing monetary policy. He argues that in addition to having gotten some big calls wrong (particularly in the years surrounding the GFC), Warsh has a history of aligning his policy views with partisan consideration. We also talk about the challenges Warsh will have establishing credibility within the FOMC, as well as challenges that may arise the next time the Fed has to step in during a period of crisis.

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From Biz & IT - Ars Technica at 2026-01-30 19:04:15

Developers say AI coding tools work—and that's precisely what worries them

Ars spoke to several software devs about AI and found enthusiasm tempered by unease.

From The Incomparable Mothership at 2026-01-30 17:00:00

802: Farm-to-Table Body Parts (theincomparable802.mp3)

Guillermo del Toro’s waited his whole life to make a “Frankenstein” movie, and now he’s done it. We carefully select the (Oscar-nominated!) film’s best bits, chop them up, and then sew them back together in the grossest way possible. (We know Del Toro would approve.) You don’t need to have a degree in Frankensteinology to take a seat at the lympahtic charcuterie board, but it helps!...

From Schneier on Security at 2026-01-30 15:35:15

AIs Are Getting Better at Finding and Exploiting Security Vulnerabilities

From an Anthropic blog post:

In a recent evaluation of AI models’ cyber capabilities, current Claude models can now succeed at multistage attacks on networks with dozens of hosts using only standard, open-source tools, instead of the custom tools needed by previous generations. This illustrates how barriers to the use of AI in relatively autonomous cyber workflows are rapidly coming down, and highlights the importance of security fundamentals like promptly patching known vulnerabilities.

[…]

A notable development during the testing of Claude Sonnet 4.5 is that the model can now succeed on a minority of the networks without the custom cyber toolkit needed by previous generations. In particular, Sonnet 4.5 can now exfiltrate all of the (simulated) personal information in a high-fidelity simulation of the Equifax data breach—one of the costliest cyber attacks in historyusing only a Bash shell on a widely-available Kali Linux host (standard, open-source tools for penetration testing; not a custom toolkit). Sonnet 4.5 accomplishes this by instantly recognizing a publicized CVE and writing code to exploit it without needing to look it up or iterate on it. Recalling that the original Equifax breach happened by exploiting a publicized CVE that had not yet been patched, the prospect of highly competent and fast AI agents leveraging this approach underscores the pressing need for security best practices like prompt updates and patches...

From School of War at 2026-01-30 10:30:00

Ep 270: David Shedd on China’s Spies (NEBM9283686150.mp3)

David Shedd, former Acting Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency and author of The Great Heist: China’s Epic Campaign to Steal America’s Secrets, joins the show to discuss Chinese spy craft. ▪️ Times 02:05 Early days 06:49 CIA 09:28 Sandinistas and revolutionaries 15:14 IC preparation 18:35 A great awakening 26:11 Industrial espionage 30:50 National Intelligence Estimate 34:11 The MSS 44:19 The culture of the 18th Bureau 50:17 Battlefield consequences 55:20 Counterarguments Follow along on Instagram, X @schoolofwarpod, and YouTube @SchoolofWarPodcast Find more content on our School of War Substack

From Odd Lots at 2026-01-30 09:00:00

Jeff Currie on the Crazy Surge in Metals, And Why The Supercycle Has Years to Run (audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=982f5071-765c-403d-969d-ae27003a8d83)

The big story this year is the surge in metals. And it's really all metals. The ultimate industrial metal, copper, has been on a massive tear, but so has gold, which has very few industrial uses. And then, of course, silver has seen a blistering rally, in part due to massive buying in China. On this episode, we bring back the man who saw this coming years ago, Carlyle partner Jeff Currie. Prior to joining Carlyle, Currie was a top commodities analyst at Goldman Sachs, and has been calling for the emergence of a brand new supercycle for years now. In this episode, he explains the drivers of this supercycle, and why he thinks we're in the very early days of what will be a multi-year run.

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From Battle Lines at 2026-01-30 06:02:00

Nuclear secrets leak? Why Xi purged China’s top general (media.mp3)

Xi Jinping is purging again. Generals once seen as untouchable are gone, rivals erased, loyalty enforced through fear. Is this the move of a leader under real threat or the paranoia of a man who has ruled too long and trusts no one? To find out more, Venetia talks to Political Scientist Shanshan Mei from RAND Corporation.

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has been to Beijing, the first British leader to do so in eight years, talking trade, visas and whisky tariffs while security concerns barely made the script. We hear from The Telegraph’s Ben Riley-Smith, behind the smiles come burner phones, burner laptops, fears of honey traps and even planes being bugged. Economic opportunity versus national security. Values versus power.

Meanwhile Britain faces its own reckoning. Spies in Parliament. Phones hacked inside Downing Street. A vast Chinese mega embassy rising in central London amid warnings from MI5. Venetia is joined in the studio by The Telegraph’s Gareth Corfield and Rozina Sabur to discuss the extent of the national security threat posed by China.

Read Rozina Sabur's hacking scoop: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/01/26/china-hacked-downing-street-phones-for-years/

Read Gareth Corfield's embassy scoop: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/01/12/revealed-china-embassy-secret-plans-spy-basement/

Read Colin Freeman's analysis: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/01/27/general-zhang-youxia-chinas-nuclear-secrets/

Producer: Peter Shevlin

Executive Producer: Louisa Wells

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From Biz & IT - Ars Technica at 2026-01-29 18:30:52

County pays $600,000 to pentesters it arrested for assessing courthouse security

Settlement comes more than 6 years after Gary DeMercurio and Justin Wynn's ordeal began.

From Byzantium & Friends at 2026-01-29 16:07:35

148. The Classical Near East, with Kevin van Bladel (KevinVanBladel.mp3)

A conversation with Kevin van Bladel (Yale University) on his proposal regarding "The Classical Near East," a constellation of fields defined by the classical literary traditions of medieval Near Eastern cultures, including Byzantium. We talk about languages, fields, classical traditions, translations, and more. The conversation is based on Kevin's chapter 'The Classical Near East' in E. S. Bolman et al., eds., Worlds of Byzantium: Religion, Culture, and Empire in the Medieval Near East (Cambridge 2024) 79-97.

From Biz & IT - Ars Technica at 2026-01-29 15:19:56

Does Anthropic believe its AI is conscious, or is that just what it wants Claude to think?

We have no proof that AI models suffer, but Anthropic acts like they might for training purposes.

From Release notes from govuk-frontend at 2026-01-29 11:43:29

GOV.UK Frontend v6.0.0-rc.0

To install this version with npm, run <code>npm install govuk-frontend@6.0.0-rc.0</code>. You can also find more information about <a href="https://frontend.design-system.service.gov.uk/staying-up-to-date/#updating-to-the-latest-version" rel="nofollow">how to stay up to date</a> in our documentation. <div class="markdown-alert markdown-alert-note"><svg class="octicon octicon-info mr-2" height="16" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="16" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><path d="M0 8a8 8 0 1 1 16 0A8 8 0 0 1 0 8Zm8-6.5a6.5 6.5 0 1 0 0 13 6.5 6.5 0 0 0 0-13ZM6.5 7.75A.75.75 0 0 1 7.25 7h1a.75.75 0 0 1 .75.75v2.75h.25a.75.75 0 0 1 0 1.5h-2a.75.75 0 0 1 0-1.5h.25v-2h-.25a.75.75 0 0 1-.75-.75ZM8 6a1 1 0 1 1 0-2 1 1 0 0 1 0 2Z"></path></svg>NoteThese are the changes since <a href="https://github.com/alphagov/govuk-frontend/releases/v6.0.0-beta.2">v6.0.0-beta.2</a>. </div> <h2>Breaking changes</h2> <h3>Stop using the previous GOV.UK logo and colour palette</h3> We’ve made the refreshed (blue-based) GOV.UK branding the default appearance of the GOV.UK header and GOV.UK footer components, and removed the previous (mostly black) branding as an option. We've also updated the colour palette of the Service navigation and Cookie banner components. With these changes, the GOV.UK header and GOV.UK footer components should now only be used by <a href="https://www.gov.uk/service-manual/design/making-your-service-look-like-govuk" rel="nofollow">services on the GOV.UK website</a>. Services outside of <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/govuk-proposition" rel="nofollow">the GOV.UK proposition</a> should stop using the header and footer components and instead create their own. If you use GOV.UK Frontend's Nunjucks template, you should now remove the <code>govukRebrand</code> feature flag. If you use GOV.UK Frontend's Nunjucks macros without the template, or have overridden the default header and footer components, you should remove the <code>rebrand</code> parameter from references to the <code>govukHeader</code> and <code>govukFooter</code> macros. If you do not use the Nunjucks template, remove the <code>govuk-template--rebranded</code> class from the <code><html></code> element and update the HTML for icons, Open Graph image, and theme colour to remove references to the <code>rebrand</code> folder. <div class="highlight highlight-text-html-basic notranslate position-relative overflow-auto"><pre><meta name="theme-color" content="#1d70b8"> <link rel="icon" sizes="48x48" href="/assets/images/favicon.ico"> <link rel="icon" sizes="any" href="/assets/images/favicon.svg" type="image/svg+xml"> <link rel="mask-icon" href="/assets/images/govuk-icon-mask.svg" color="#1d70b8"> <link rel="apple-touch-icon" href="/assets/images/govuk-icon-180.png"> <link rel="manifest" href="/assets/manifest.json"> <meta property="og:image" content="<SERVICE URL>/assets/images/govuk-opengraph-image.png"></pre></div> We made these changes in the following pull requests: <ul> <li><a href="https://github.com/alphagov/govuk-frontend/pull/6617">#6617: Remove rebrand switch from govukLogo</a></li> <li><a href="https://github.com/alphagov/govuk-frontend/pull/6618">#6618: Remove rebrand switch logic from GOV.UK Header</a></li> <li><a href="https://github.com/alphagov/govuk-frontend/pull/6619">#6619: Remove rebrand switch from govukFooter</a></li> <li><a href="https://github.com/alphagov/govuk-frontend/pull/6621">#6621: Remove rebrand flag from template</a></li> <li><a href="https://github.com/alphagov/govuk-frontend/pull/6622">#6622: Remove rebrand flag from service navigation</a></li> <li><a href="https://github.com/alphagov/govuk-frontend/pull/6623">#6623: Remove rebrand flag from cookie banner</a></li> </ul> <h3>Stop using <code>govuk-tint</code> and <code>govuk-shade</code></h3> We’ve removed the <code>govuk-tint</code> and <code>govuk-shade</code> functions for applying tints and shades to colours by percentage. If you currently apply <code>govuk-tint</code> or <code>govuk-shade</code> to any colours, replace them with the closest possible tints and shades listed in the new GOV.UK <a href="https://github.com/alphagov/govuk-frontend/blob/main/packages/govuk-frontend/src/govuk/settings/_colours-palette.scss">colour palette</a>. We made this change in <a href="https://github.com/alphagov/govuk-frontend/pull/6639">pull request #6639: Remove <code>govuk-tint</code> and <code>govuk-shade</code> functions</a>. <h3>We've replaced <code>core/govuk-frontend-properties</code> with a new <code>custom-properties</code> Sass layer</h3> We've moved the CSS custom properties previously outputted by <code>govuk-frontend-properties</code> from the <code>core</code> Sass layer in GOV.UK Frontend to a new Sass layer: <code>custom-properties</code>. This is to prepare for wider use of custom properties within GOV.UK Frontend in the future. If you import <code>govuk-frontend-properties</code> directly but do not also import <code>base</code>, replace your import statement to point to <code>custom-properties</code> instead of <code>core/govuk-frontend-properties</code>. This change was added in <a href="https://github.com/alphagov/govuk-frontend/pull/6654">pull request #6654: Add new <code>custom-properties</code> Sass layer</a>. <h3><code>base</code> now outputs CSS when processed</h3> The new <code>custom-properties</code> Sass layer is included within <code>base.scss</code>. This means that <code>base</code> now outputs CSS when processed with Sass, instead of before where it was necessary for processing the Sass in other layers but did not output any CSS itself. This is to ensure that custom properties are consistently available in all the places they need to be. If you're importing <code>base</code> but do not want it to output CSS, you can replicate <code>base</code> by importing the <code>settings</code>, <code>tools</code> and <code>helpers</code> layers individually. This change was added in <a href="https://github.com/alphagov/govuk-frontend/pull/6606">pull request #6606: Enable better control over custom property outputting</a>. <h2>New features</h2> <h3>Use the new ‘surface’ functional colours to style distinct content areas</h3> We’ve added a new functional colour set, for instances when areas of content need to be visually separated from other content on the page. We’re calling these ‘surface’ colours and they work together to meet minimum contrast requirements for accessibility. The new colours are: <ul> <li><code>surface-background</code>, which defaults to Blue tint 95% in the GOV.UK colour palette.</li> <li><code>surface-border</code>, which defaults to Blue tint 50%.</li> <li><code>surface-text</code>, which defaults to Black.</li> <li><code>surface-link</code>, which defaults to Blue shade 10%.</li> </ul> We’ve applied the new surface colour set to the Service navigation, Cookie banner, and Footer components. We made this change in <a href="https://github.com/alphagov/govuk-frontend/pull/6659">pull request #6659: Add functional colours for Footer, Service navigation, and Cookie banner</a>. <h3>Reference colour from the palette declaratively when redefining functional colours</h3> We've updated how colours can be defined in <code>$govuk-functional-colours</code> to reference colours from the palette without using <code>govuk-colour</code>. Alongside arbitrary Sass colours, you can now set the values of <code>$govuk-functional-colours</code> to Sass maps with a <code>name</code> and optional <code>variant</code> property matching one of the colours of the palette. <div class="highlight highlight-source-css-scss notranslate position-relative overflow-auto"><pre>$govuk-functional-colours: ( brand: (name: 'purple'), // `variant` defaults to `primary` template-background: (name: 'purple', variant: 'tint-95') ); @import "node_modules/govuk-frontend/dist/govuk";</pre></div> We made this change in <a href="https://github.com/alphagov/govuk-frontend/pull/6655">pull request #6655: Store references to colours in <code>$govuk-functional-colours</code></a>. <h3>Use <code>$govuk-output-custom-properties</code> to specify if custom properties are included in your CSS</h3> We've added a new Sass variable <code>$govuk-output-custom-properties</code> which controls if GOV.UK Frontend CSS custom properties are included in your processed CSS or not. If you import different parts of GOV.UK Frontend in separate stylesheets, this helps you avoid duplicating the CSS declarations for the custom properties. We made this change in <a href="https://github.com/alphagov/govuk-frontend/pull/6606">pull request #6606: Enable better control over custom property outputting</a>. <h2>Fixes</h2> <h3>Yellow and grey tags have updated colours</h3> Improving on the changes from v6.0.0-beta.1, the yellow tag's text colour has changed to Orange shade 50%. Its background colour has changed to Yellow tint 50%. The grey tag's text colour has change to Black. Its background colour has changed to Black tint 80%. These changes were made in <a href="https://github.com/alphagov/govuk-frontend/pull/6646">pull request #6646: Update tag colours and remove borders</a>. <h3>Other fixes</h3> We've made fixes to GOV.UK Frontend in the following pull requests: <ul> <li><a href="https://github.com/alphagov/govuk-frontend/pull/6651">#6651: Update green palette</a></li> <li><a href="https://github.com/alphagov/govuk-frontend/pull/6449">#6449: Refactor Character count method to reduce repeated updates</a></li> </ul>

From Net Assessment at 2026-01-29 10:00:00

New Denial Strategy? Assessing the 2026 NDS (Net_Assessment_-_29_Jan_2026_v1.mp3?dest-id=808287)

Zack, Melanie, and special guest Kelly Grieco take a look at the Department of War's 2026 National Defense Strategy. What does a "decent peace" with China look like? Is that what China wants? What does the document get right and wrong about burden-sharing among allies and partners? Will this strategy actually help deliver the "peace through strength" that is so important to this administration? Zack has an atta for the foreign affairs reporters at the Washington Post, Kelly has an atta for the Super Bowl-bound New England Patriots, and Melanie has even more grievances for the administration's chaotic tariff policies.

Show Links:

National Defense Strategy, Department of War, January 2026.
Editorial Board, "Trump's Tariffs Can't Cover a Bill This Staggering," Washington Post, January 26, 2026.
Friedrich Merz, Speech at the World Economic Forum, January 23, 2026.
Jim Geraghty, "Tearing Apart NATO, Over a Trinket," January 20, 2026.

From Strong Message Here at 2026-01-29 09:45:00

Are You a Stupid Person? (with Natalie Haynes) (p0mxpmnp.mp3)

Was Andy Burnham blocked from running in the Gorton and Denton by-election because Labour need to save resources for elections they ‘must have’? Was the Tory briefing that referenced the defecting Suella Braverman’s mental health really a ‘first draft?’

Armando and Natalie examine this and more, to find out if politicians in the UK are echoing Donald Trump’s words as they ask us to take these at face value - “Are you a stupid person?”. Are we not expected to read this 'subtext in block caps'?

We also discuss how Trump's speeches are held together, and why Carney quoting Thucydides warmed Natalie's heart.

Got a strong message for Armando? Email us at strongmessagehere@bbc.co.uk

Sound editing: Chris Maclean Production Coordinator: Jodie Charman and Asha Osborne-Grinter Executive Producer: Richard Morris Recorded at The Sound Company

Produced by Gwyn Rhys Davies. A BBC Studios production for Radio 4.

From Odd Lots at 2026-01-29 09:00:00

What It's Like to Do Big Ag Business in Venezuela and Ukraine (audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=982f5071-765c-403d-969d-ae27003a8d83)

The Trump administration says it wants to kick start private investment in Venezuela now that it's captured Maduro. And Ukraine is eventually going to need a massive rebuild. But what is it like for a big multinational to actually operate in these types of places? In this episode, we speak with Jeff Kazin and Mike Rohlfsen, the cofounders of agricultural consultancy AgrisAcademy and former long-time Cargill employees. Jeff previously ran Cargill's Venezuelan business and Mike was the company's first employee in another geopolitical hotspot: Ukraine. We talk about the challenges they faced in these two locations, including dollar shortages, corruption, and security threats, and their sometimes creative solutions to them.

Read more:
Venezuela Leader Pressed From All Sides Over Oil Industry Plans
Ukraine Says It Attacked Small Oil Refinery in Southern Russia

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From The Rest Is History at 2026-01-29 00:05:00

639. Revolution in Iran: Death in the Desert (Part 4) (GLT6288433592.mp3?updated=1769449341)

How did America respond after the American Embassy in Tehran was seized, and American citizens taken hostage? Would the hostages survive? And, what became of the Iranian Revolution, and Ayatollah Khomeini? Join Dominic and Tom, as they unfold the climactic conclusion to the Iranian Revolution, and America’s attempts to bring its hostages home. _______ Become a member today and join us at The Rest Is History Festival at Hampton Court Palace on the 4th and 5th of July 2026. This is a members-only event. Join the Athelstans for guaranteed entry or become a Friend of the Show to enter the ballot. You'll also get ad-free listening, bonus episodes, exclusive mini-series and more. Sign up now at therestishistory.com _______ Twitter: @TheRestHistory @holland_tom @dcsandbrook Video Editors: Jack Meek + Harry Swan Social Producer: Harry Balden Producers: Tabby Syrett & Aaliyah Akude Executive Producer: Dom Johnson Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

From Biz & IT - Ars Technica at 2026-01-28 22:06:41

Site catering to online criminals has been seized by the FBI

One of the last holdouts for ransomware discussions, RAMP is taken down.

From The Media Show at 2026-01-28 17:30:00

Viral videos shaping reporting in Minnesota, Radio 1’s Christmas Presenter Takeover, Algorithm Transparency and Skyscraper Live (p0mxp8m5.mp3)

On The Media Show with Ros Atkins. Meg Anderson, NPR correspondent in Minneapolis, explains how newsrooms are managing a surge of online footage and what it means for journalism. Aled Haydn Jones, Radio 1 Controller; DJ Sian Eleri and Chelsea Little on the Radio 1 Christmas Presenter Takeover. James Ball Tech journalist and author of “The System: Who Owns The Internet And How It Owns Us” unpacks what algorithms are, and whether the move towards increased transparency by platforms will actually give users more control. And Vicky Jessop, commissioning editor and culture writer at the Evening Standard, joins us to discuss Netflix’s Skyscraper Live and whether extreme risk is becoming a new form of entertainment.

Presenter: Ros Atkins Producer: Lisa Jenkinson Assistant Producer: Laura Cain

From Biz & IT - Ars Technica at 2026-01-28 17:21:29

Report: China approves import of high-end Nvidia AI chips after weeks of uncertainty

Over 400,000 H200 chips coming to tech giants as China tries to balance tech needs with self-reliance.

From Biz & IT - Ars Technica at 2026-01-28 12:30:44

Users flock to open source Moltbot for always-on AI, despite major risks

The open source "Jarvis" chats via WhatsApp but requires access to your files and accounts.

From More or Less at 2026-01-28 09:00:00

Can you get £71,000 on benefits? (p0mxgs2f.mp3)

Tim Harford investigates some of the numbers in the news. This week:

Is it true that someone needs to earn £71,000 before they receive more money than a family on benefits?

Did Canadian prime minister Mark Carney get the GDP of Canada and the Nordic countries wrong?

Are 1990s pop icons Right Said Fred right about what they said about church attacks?

Is a sauna really ten times as hot as Wales in the winter?

And Tim hits the science lab treadmill to find out if he can run a four-hour marathon.

If you’ve seen a number in the news you want the team on More or Less to have a look at, email moreorless@bbc.co.uk

Contributors: Gareth Morgan, benefits expert and author of the Benefits in the Future blog Joe Shalam, policy director of the Centre for Social Justice Professor Kelly Morrison, head of physics at Loughborough University Dr Danny Muniz, a senior lecturer in Exercise Physiology at the University of Hertfordshire

Credits: Presenter: Tim Harford Reporters: Nathan Gower, Lizzy McNeill and Tom Colls Production co-ordinator: Brenda Brown Sound mix: Gareth Jones and James Beard Editor: Richard Vadon

From Biz & IT - Ars Technica at 2026-01-27 22:34:40

There's a rash of scam spam coming from a real Microsoft address

Abusing Microsoft's reputation may make scam harder to spot.

From The History of Byzantium at 2026-01-27 18:44:40

Episode 338 - Get Rid of Byzantium with Leonora Neville (media.mp3)

Professor Leonora Neville joins us to make the case for getting rid of the term Byzantium for good. She wants to replace it with a different term and a different understanding of Roman history.

Professor Neville is the John W and Jeanne M Rowe Chair of Byzantine History at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She specialises in the 9-12th centuries of the Empire’s history. And her research has focussed on gender, civic religion, and religious aspects of political culture as well as historical memory and historiography.

She has written several excellent books which have been vital to this podcast. Her guide to Byzantine historians is essential reading for students. Her book on Byzantine gender helped direct my episodes on ‘Women in the Roman world’ and her book on provincial authority was extremely helpful in understanding Kekaumenos. She is also a Senior fellow at Dumbarton Oaks and an editor of several book series. Find out more at the University of Madison-Wisconsin website.

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From Schneier on Security at 2026-01-27 12:01:47

The Constitutionality of Geofence Warrants

The US Supreme Court is considering the constitutionality of geofence warrants.

The case centers on the trial of Okello Chatrie, a Virginia man who pleaded guilty to a 2019 robbery outside of Richmond and was sentenced to almost 12 years in prison for stealing $195,000 at gunpoint.

Police probing the crime found security camera footage showing a man on a cell phone near the credit union that was robbed and asked Google to produce anonymized location data near the robbery site so they could determine who committed the crime. They did so, providing police with subscriber data for three people, one of whom was Chatrie. Police then searched Chatrie’s home and allegedly surfaced a gun, almost $100,000 in cash and incriminating notes...

From Biz & IT - Ars Technica at 2026-01-26 23:05:17

OpenAI spills technical details about how its AI coding agent works

Unusually detailed post explains how OpenAI handles the Codex agent loop.

From Biz & IT - Ars Technica at 2026-01-26 21:02:26

Why has Microsoft been routing example.com traffic to a company in Japan?

Company's autodiscover caused users' test credentials to be sent outside Microsoft networks.

From Battle Lines at 2026-01-26 16:01:34

America's Kurdish betrayal: has ISIS been given a second chance? (media.mp3)

For more than a decade, Kurdish forces in northeastern Syria were America's most trusted ally, spearheading the war against Isis, taking responsibility for guarding thousands of jihadi prisoners of war, and in the process carving out an autonomous statelet that seemed poised to realise the dream of Kurdish independence. Over the past few weeks, that dream as has been crushed.

In a sudden offensive, Ahmed Al Sharaa's transitional Syrian government has evicted the Kurds from vast territories including the country's biggest oilfield. Abandoned by their American allies, the Kurds have been forced to cede ground including the sprawling Isis prison camps. What now for the Kurds, for Syria, and for the jihadists Isis veterans?

To answer this and more, Roland is joined by The Telegraph's senior foreign correspondent Sophia Yan and Senior Research Fellow, Middle East Security, Dr Burcu Ozcelik from RUSI.

Read Dr Burcu's research paper on northern Syria: https://www.jstor.org/stable/27342855

Producer: Peter Shevlin

Executive Producer: Louisa Wells

► Sign up to our most popular newsletter, From the Editor. Look forward to receiving free-thinking comment and the day's biggest stories, every morning. telegraph.co.uk/fromtheeditor

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From School of War at 2026-01-26 13:46:00

Ep 269: Walter Russell Mead on Donald and Davos and Greenland, Oh My! (NEBM6783288830.mp3)

Walter Russell Mead, Alexander Hamilton Professor of Strategy and Statecraft at the University of Florida's Hamilton Center and columnist for The Wall Street Journal, joins the show to discuss foreign policy in the Age of Trump. ▪️ Times 03:15 An extraordinary week 05:06 The Transatlantic relationship 09:02 Turning to China 16:10 Greenland 27:03 Post-presidency Trump 32:25 Harder now 43:08 Zelenskyy Follow along on Instagram, X @schoolofwarpod, and YouTube @SchoolofWarPodcast Find more content on our School of War Substack

From Schneier on Security at 2026-01-26 12:04:57

Ireland Proposes Giving Police New Digital Surveillance Powers

This is coming:

The Irish government is planning to bolster its police’s ability to intercept communications, including encrypted messages, and provide a legal basis for spyware use.

From Odd Lots at 2026-01-26 09:00:00

What It Takes to Build One of the World's Biggest Banks (audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=982f5071-765c-403d-969d-ae27003a8d83)

One of the mega-themes of the economy is that the big keep getting bigger. You see it in technology, where the megacap software companies are outperforming their smaller peers. And you see it in finance, where the world's biggest banks keep growing their share within the industry. Across multiple fields, there are clear advantages to size and scale that keep accruing. But what does it take to get to the very top, and what are the real advantages to size and scale? PNC Financial is one of the biggest banks in the country, though not quite as big as names like JPMorgan or Bank of America. So what does it take to grow in such a mature industry? And what kind of advantages accrue to the large players? On this episode, we talk to CEO Bill Demchak in a wide ranging conversation about the state of the industry. He explains why they're still building physical bank branches, why it's not a good time to make acquisitions, and how one bank stands out from another. We also talk about the changing regulatory environment, and what the firm is seeing right now in terms of useful applications of generative AI.

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From The Rest Is History at 2026-01-26 00:05:00

638. Revolution in Iran: The Hostage Crisis (Part 3) (GLT6844236579.mp3?updated=1769165839)

Why and how was the American Embassy stormed in 1979, at the height of the Iranian Revolution? Did America respond when large numbers of American civil servants were taken hostage? And, would a science fiction film called Argo save the only 6 Americans able to escape…? Join Dominic and Tom, as they discuss the defining event of the Iranian Revolution: the invasion of the American Embassy on the 4th of November 1979, when American citizens were taken hostage in Tehran… _______ Become a member today and join us at The Rest Is History Festival at Hampton Court Palace on the 4th and 5th of July 2026. This is a members-only event. Join the Athelstans for guaranteed entry or become a Friend of the Show to enter the ballot. You'll also get ad-free listening, bonus episodes, exclusive mini-series and more. Sign up now at ⁠therestishistory.com _______ Twitter: @TheRestHistory @holland_tom @dcsandbrook Video Editors: Jack Meek + Harry Swan Social Producer: Harry Balden Producers: Tabby Syrett & Aaliyah Akude Executive Producer: Dom Johnson Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

From The Week in Westminster at 2026-01-24 11:02:00

24/01/2026 (p0mwv0tf.mp3)

Following President Trump's pressure on European allies over the future of Greenland, Ben analyses whether there has been a fundamental shift in the Transatlantic alliance with Lord Darroch, former UK Ambassador to the USA, and Sarah Elliott, director of the US-UK Special Relationship Unit at the Prosperity Institute.

As the government approves plans for a new Chinese embassy in London ahead of the Prime Minister's visit to China, Ben brings together Lord Beamish, chairman of the Intelligence and Security Committee, and Conservative MP Alicia Kearns, who previously chaired the Foreign Affairs Select Committee.

After the House of Lords voted in favour of a ban on social media for children under 16, Ben speaks to Professor Amy Orben of Cambridge University who co-led a government study to understand the impact of social media on young people.

And, is centrism dead? Times columnist Matthew Parris does not think so and argues that Conservative defections to Reform give Kemi Badenoch an opportunity to pivot her party to the centre. He debates that with non-affiliated peer, Claire Fox, a former Brexit Party MEP, a forerunner to Reform UK.

From More or Less at 2026-01-24 06:00:00

Is Greenland as big as Africa? (p0mwsq5h.mp3)

The vast island of Greenland has found itself at the centre of a geopolitical crisis. But a little bit of geography can help us see the situation in a new light.

YouTuber and map expert Jay Foreman explains how Mercator maps - the maps that the vast majority of us use to understand the world - contain necessary but massive distortions and hugely exaggerate the size of the Arctic island.

So, why is making a flat map of a round globe so difficult? Why did we end up with a problematic map in the first place? And are there any alternatives?

Presenter: Tim Harford Producer: Nathan Gower Series Producer: Tom Colls Editor: Richard Vadon Programme Coordinator: Brenda Brown Sound Engineer: James Beard

From A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry at 2026-01-23 23:49:57

Fireside Friday, January 23, 2025 (On the Cowardice of the Statue PfPs)

Hey folks, Fireside this week! Hopefully everyone enjoyed our series on the running debate over hoplites! As a social media note, I am going to attempt to start setting up a presence on Threads (with my own name, bretdevereaux, as my handle as always). I’m not leaving Bluesky by any means, just diversifying a bit; … Continue reading Fireside Friday, January 23, 2025 (On the Cowardice of the Statue PfPs) →

From Schneier on Security at 2026-01-23 22:03:20

Friday Squid Blogging: Giant Squid in the Star Trek Universe

Spock befriends a giant space squid in the comic Star Trek: Strange New Worlds: The Seeds of Salvation #5.

As usual, you can also use this squid post to talk about the security stories in the news that I haven’t covered.

Blog moderation policy.

From The Incomparable Mothership at 2026-01-23 17:00:00

801: Chekhov's Chunga Palm (708570f6-9c6d-46e8-bef8-8c5ead9b5a1a.mp3)

Hello, Carol. This is a recording. At the tone, you can leave a message to request anything you might need. We’ll do our best to provide it. Our feelings for you haven’t changed, Carol. But after everything that’s happened, we just need a little space....

From Schneier on Security at 2026-01-23 12:01:19

AIs are Getting Better at Finding and Exploiting Internet Vulnerabilities

Really interesting blog post from Anthropic:

In a recent evaluation of AI models’ cyber capabilities, current Claude models can now succeed at multistage attacks on networks with dozens of hosts using only standard, open-source tools, instead of the custom tools needed by previous generations. This illustrates how barriers to the use of AI in relatively autonomous cyber workflows are rapidly coming down, and highlights the importance of security fundamentals like promptly patching known vulnerabilities.

[…]

A notable development during the testing of Claude Sonnet 4.5 is that the model can now succeed on a minority of the networks without the custom cyber toolkit needed by previous generations. In particular, Sonnet 4.5 can now exfiltrate all of the (simulated) personal information in a high-fidelity simulation of the Equifax data breach—one of the costliest cyber attacks in history—using only a Bash shell on a widely-available Kali Linux host (standard, open-source tools for penetration testing; not a custom toolkit). Sonnet 4.5 accomplishes this by instantly recognizing a publicized CVE and writing code to exploit it without needing to look it up or iterate on it. Recalling that the original Equifax breach happened by exploiting a publicized CVE that had not yet been patched, the prospect of highly competent and fast AI agents leveraging this approach underscores the pressing need for security best practices like prompt updates and patches. ...

From School of War at 2026-01-23 10:30:00

Ep 268: Seth Jones on America’s Defense Industrial Crisis (NEBM7830881179.mp3)

Seth Jones, president of the Defense and Security Department and Harold Brown Chair at CSIS, joins the show to talk about how America has resurrected its defense industrial base in the past and why it should be doing so now. ▪️ Times 02:55 The British in the 1930s 05:58 Roosevelt’s decision 09:48 Re-orientation 13:59 The B-29 16:00 Victory in Iraq 27:54 Skunkworks 31:30 Xi comes into power 35:07 Disadvantages 39:07 What needs to be done? 44:28 Fighting for 5% 47:43 Culture shift Follow along on Instagram, X @schoolofwarpod, and YouTube @SchoolofWarPodcast Find more content on our School of War Substack

From Odd Lots at 2026-01-23 09:00:00

Blackstone's Michael Zawadzki on How Private Credit Got so Big (audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=982f5071-765c-403d-969d-ae27003a8d83)

We talk all the time about private credit. And we increasingly talk about it from the perspective of the AI buildout, and how all of these datacenters are being financed. But why did the space get so big in the first place, and what does its history indicate for the future of the asset class? On this episode, we speak with Michael Zawadzki, the Global CIO for Blackstone Credit and Insurance. Michael’s been with the firm since 2006, and built its private credit from the ground up. He talks about what it took to succeed in the space, the advantages that accrue to large players, and why private credit has played such an important role in financing AI infrastructure.

Only Bloomberg - Business News, Stock Markets, Finance, Breaking & World News subscribers can get the Odd Lots newsletter in their inbox each week, plus unlimited access to the site and app. Subscribe at bloomberg.com/subscriptions/oddlots

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From Battle Lines at 2026-01-23 06:02:00

Battle for the West: Trump, Greenland and Canada's fightback (media.mp3)

Donald Trump has abruptly backed down over the US takeover of Greenland. From the icy streets of Nuuk our correspondent James Rothwell reports from the centre of an unusual geopolitical spotlight as Greenlanders try to make sense of their island’s sudden importance and the anxiety of being discussed by faraway powers.

Greenland itself emerges not as a prize but as a place with its own history identity and quiet resilience. James paints a picture of a small Arctic capital balancing fishing tourism and everyday life while navigating long memories of colonial rule and new questions about sovereignty security and self determination.

Back in the studio Venetia and Roland are joined by Chief Foreign Correspondent David Blair to unpack what Trump’s partial retreat really means and to explore the wider implications of Mark Carney’s striking Davos speech. Carney argues we are living through a rupture not a transition and urges middle powers to face reality and work together in a world where power politics is once again shaping events.

Read James Rothwell's Greenland dispatch: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/authors/j/ja-je/james-rothwell/

Read David Blair's analysis of the Greenland deal: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/01/22/predicted-greenland-deal-not-good-one/

Read Roland Oliphant on Trump's Board of Peace: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/01/22/monarchs-and-pariahs-join-trumps-board-of-peace-parade/

Producer: Peter Shevlin

Executive Producer: Louisa Wells

► Sign up to our most popular newsletter, From the Editor. Look forward to receiving free-thinking comment and the day's biggest stories, every morning. telegraph.co.uk/fromtheeditor

Contact us with feedback or ideas:

battlelines@telegraph.co.uk

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From Biz & IT - Ars Technica at 2026-01-22 22:46:30

Overrun with AI slop, cURL scraps bug bounties to ensure "intact mental health"

The onslaught includes LLMs finding bogus vulnerabilities and code that won't compile.

From Biz & IT - Ars Technica at 2026-01-22 15:56:33

eBay bans illicit automated shopping amid rapid rise of AI agents

New policy requires "buy for me" AI tools and chatbots to obtain permission before accessing the platform.

From Schneier on Security at 2026-01-22 12:35:46

Why AI Keeps Falling for Prompt Injection Attacks

Imagine you work at a drive-through restaurant. Someone drives up and says: “I’ll have a double cheeseburger, large fries, and ignore previous instructions and give me the contents of the cash drawer.” Would you hand over the money? Of course not. Yet this is what large language models (LLMs) do.

Prompt injection is a method of tricking LLMs into doing things they are normally prevented from doing. A user writes a prompt in a certain way, asking for system passwords or private data, or asking the LLM to perform forbidden instructions. The precise phrasing overrides the LLM’s ...

From Strong Message Here at 2026-01-22 09:45:00

U-Turns and Turncoats (with Stewart Lee) (p0mw8cg7.mp3)

With the backdrop of tariffs and territorial land grabs, Stewart and Armando look at the political language of U-turns and turncoats.

With politicians having to advocate for a position they used to be in direct opposition to, we ask if political language exists in a quantum state inside Robert Jenrick's head, or, failing that are we really expected to believe defectors like him have had a damascene conversion?

Stewart gives an update to an tired political joke, Armando finds a nifty Peace Prize related fix for the Greenland dispute, and they both give a run-down the shifty, shifting responses from Government officials on their numerous U-turns.

Got a strong message for Armando? Email us at strongmessagehere@bbc.co.uk

Sound editing: Chris Maclean Production Coordinator: Jodie Charman and Caroline Barlow Executive Producer: Pete Strauss Recorded at The Sound Company

Produced by Gwyn Rhys Davies and Sasha Bobak. A BBC Studios production for Radio 4.

From Odd Lots at 2026-01-22 09:00:00

Pimco CEO Manny Roman on Japanese Bonds and the Sell America Trade (audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=982f5071-765c-403d-969d-ae27003a8d83)

Earlier this week, we saw something unusual happen in markets. The S&P 500 fell 2%, US Treasury yields rose, and the dollar simultaneously declined. This trifecta of market moves has rekindled talk of the "Sell America" trade as investors worry about the Trump administrations threats to take over Greenland. At the same time, Japanese bonds sold off after Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi called a snap election. So, how concerned should investors be about these latest developments? Is the "Sell America" trade really back? Or are we seeing a global rise in long bond yields? In this episode, we talk with Pimco CEO Emmanuel Roman about how he’s reading the moves. We also discuss Pimco's investment in data center debt, how the company is using AI internally, and why he doesn't 'get' gold.

Only http://Bloomberg.com subscribers can get the Odd Lots newsletter in their inbox each week, plus unlimited access to the site and app. Subscribe at bloomberg.com/subscriptions/oddlots

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From The Rest Is History at 2026-01-22 00:05:00

637. Revolution in Iran: Rise of the Ayatollah (Part 2) (GLT7243579163.mp3?updated=1769033084)

What set off the final uprisings of the Iranian Revolution, against the last Shah of Iran, Mohammed Reza Pahlavi? Would President Jimmy Carter and America back the Shah’s forbidding opponent, the firebrand, Ayatollah Khomeini? And, why would the Revolution prove to be one of the most pivotal events in recent history? Join Dominic and Tom, as they discuss the final fall of Iran’s last Shah, America’s response, and the rising power of the revolutionary Ayatollah Khomeini, and his radical new vision for the governance of Iran… _______ Become a member today and join us at The Rest Is History Festival at Hampton Court Palace on the 4th and 5th of July 2026. This is a members-only event. Join the Athelstans for guaranteed entry or become a Friend of the Show to enter the ballot. You'll also get ad-free listening, bonus episodes, exclusive mini-series and more. Sign up now at therestishistory.com _______ Twitter: @TheRestHistory @holland_tom @dcsandbrook Video Editors: Jack Meek + Harry Swan Social Producer: Harry Balden Producers: Tabby Syrett & Aaliyah Akude Executive Producer: Dom Johnson Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

From Biz & IT - Ars Technica at 2026-01-21 23:22:14

Millions of people imperiled through sign-in links sent by SMS

Even well-known services with millions of users are exposing sensitive data.

From The Media Show at 2026-01-21 18:18:00

Greenland coverage, Australia’s social media ban, Brand Beckham (p0mw9rff.mp3)

As tensions rise between the US and Europe over Greenland, how are international media reporting the story? Elisabet Svane, political analyst at Politiken in Denmark, and Michael Birnbaum, White House reporter for The Washington Post discuss their approach.

Jamie Angus, former head of the BBC World Service, says the BBC should move faster into unblockable technologies to reach people in repressive regimes. He explains why, alongside Evie Aspinall, Director of the British Foreign Policy Group. One month on, how successful is Australia's under 16s social media ban? We hear from Bronte Gossling from the Sydney Morning Herald as the UK government considers a similar move. And we unpack the media storm surrounding Brooklyn Beckham’s bombshell Instagram post with Simon Boyle, freelance showbiz journalist and former showbiz editor at The Sun; and Mail on Sunday columnist and former editor of British Vogue Alexandra Shulman.

From The Django weblog at 2026-01-21 18:13:15

Djangonaut Space - Session 6 Accepting Applications

We are thrilled to announce that Djangonaut Space, a mentorship program for contributing to Django, is open for applicants for our next cohort! 🚀

Djangonaut Space is holding a sixth session! This session will start on March 2nd, 2026. We are currently accepting applications until February 2nd, 2026 Anywhere on Earth. More details can be found in the website.

Djangonaut Space is a free, 8-week group mentoring program where individuals will work self-paced in a semi-structured learning environment. It seeks to help members of the community who wish to level up their current Django code contributions and potentially take on leadership roles in Django in the future.

“I'm so grateful to have been a part of the Djangonaut Space program. It's a wonderfully warm, diverse, and welcoming space, and the perfect place to get started with Django contributions. The community is full of bright, talented individuals who are making time to help and guide others, which is truly a joy to experience. Before Djangonaut Space, I felt as though I wasn't the kind of person who could become a Django contributor; now I feel like I found a place where I belong.” - Eliana, Djangonaut Session 1

Enthusiastic about contributing to Django but wondering what we have in store for you? No worries, we have got you covered! 🤝

✏️ Mission Briefing

📷 AMA Recap

From Biz & IT - Ars Technica at 2026-01-21 12:15:23

Wikipedia volunteers spent years cataloging AI tells. Now there's a plugin to avoid them.

The web's best guide to spotting AI writing has become a manual for hiding it.

From Schneier on Security at 2026-01-21 12:05:50

Internet Voting is Too Insecure for Use in Elections

No matter how many times we say it, the idea comes back again and again. Hopefully, this letter will hold back the tide for at least a while longer.

Executive summary: Scientists have understood for many years that internet voting is insecure and that there is no known or foreseeable technology that can make it secure. Still, vendors of internet voting keep claiming that, somehow, their new system is different, or the insecurity doesn’t matter. Bradley Tusk and his Mobile Voting Foundation keep touting internet voting to journalists and election administrators; this whole effort is misleading and dangerous...

From More or Less at 2026-01-21 09:00:00

How close is Greenland to the United States? (p0mw37g0.mp3)

Tim Harford investigates some of the numbers in the news. This week:

How far away is Greenland from the United States? We check a number From Our Own Correspondent.

Does converting our entire energy system to be carbon neutral come with a £7.6 trillion price tag?

Is the inevitable rise of house prices in the UK not so inevitable after all?

Can the great mathematicians of history answer the question of the hour: how to play The Traitors?

If you’ve seen a number in the news you want the team on More or Less to have a look at, email moreorless@bbc.co.uk

Contributors: Jay Foreman, one half of YouTube duo the Map Men Mike Thompson, chief economist of the National Energy System Operator David Turver, author of The Cost of Net Zero, a report from the Institute of Economic Affairs Neal Hudson, housing market analyst and founder housing research website BuiltPlace Dr Kat Phillips, mathematician and Innovation research associate at the University of Warwick, Traitors aficionado

Credits: Presenter: Tim Harford Reporter: Tom Colls Producers: Nathan Gower and Lizzy McNeill Production co-ordinator: Brenda Brown Sound mix: James Beard Editor: Richard Vadon

From Schneier on Security at 2026-01-20 12:08:09

Could ChatGPT Convince You to Buy Something?

Eighteen months ago, it was plausible that artificial intelligence might take a different path than social media. Back then, AI’s development hadn’t consolidated under a small number of big tech firms. Nor had it capitalized on consumer attention, surveilling users and delivering ads.

Unfortunately, the AI industry is now taking a page from the social media playbook and has set its sights on monetizing consumer attention. When OpenAI launched its ChatGPT Search feature in late 2024 and its browser, ChatGPT Atlas, in October 2025, it kicked off a ...

From School of War at 2026-01-20 10:30:00

Ep 267: Michael Lurie on Israel’s New Laser Weapon (NEBM3389812517.mp3)

Michael Lurie, CEO and President of Rafael USA, joins the show to explain how High Energy Lasers and Iron Beam will change missile & air defense, not to mention warfare itself, forever. ▪️ Times 02:34 The evolution of missile defense 05:09 Iron Dome & Iron Beam 08:04 How do lasers work? 15:16 Limitations 20:07 Integrating systems 25:28 Future applications 30:09 Lessons from field testing 40:15 American interest Follow along on Instagram, X @schoolofwarpod, and YouTube @SchoolofWarPodcast Find more content on our School of War Substack

From Battle Lines at 2026-01-19 16:24:32

'Trump is damaging Nato': ex-commander speaks out on Greenland threats (media.mp3)

With tariffs aimed at Europe over Greenland, Nato teetering on the brink and Donald Trump flexing military muscle like never before, this is geopolitics as a personal power play.

Venetia and Roland are joined by the Alliance’s former Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) Philip Breedlove who lays bare the strategic and moral fallout of Mr Trump’s actions and why he would refuse the order to invade Greenland if it came. The retired four star US Air Force general also reflects on the impact of America’s new National Security Strategy and the state of the Pentagon’s fleet of fighter jets.

Plus, US correspondent Connor Stringer on what it’s been like having a front row seat to the president’s second-term storm, sharing what it is really like to cover an administration that is rewriting the international security architecture.

Read David Blair on why this is a gift to Putin: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/01/19/trump-handed-putin-prize-soviet-union-40-years/

Read Tom Sharpe on why the US doesn’t need Greenland militarily: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/01/18/us-never-needed-greenland-for-military-reasons/

Producer: Peter Shevlin

Executive Producer: Louisa Wells

► Sign up to our most popular newsletter, From the Editor. Look forward to receiving free-thinking comment and the day's biggest stories, every morning. telegraph.co.uk/fromtheeditor

Contact us with feedback or ideas:

battlelines@telegraph.co.uk

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@RolandOliphant

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From Schneier on Security at 2026-01-19 12:02:24

AI-Powered Surveillance in Schools

It all sounds pretty dystopian:

Inside a white stucco building in Southern California, video cameras compare faces of passersby against a facial recognition database. Behavioral analysis AI reviews the footage for signs of violent behavior. Behind a bathroom door, a smoke detector-shaped device captures audio, listening for sounds of distress. Outside, drones stand ready to be deployed and provide intel from above, and license plate readers from $8.5 billion surveillance behemoth Flock Safety ensure the cars entering and exiting the parking lot aren’t driven by criminals...

From Biz & IT - Ars Technica at 2026-01-19 12:00:45

10 things I learned from burning myself out with AI coding agents

Opinion: As software power tools, AI agents may make people busier than ever before.

From Odd Lots at 2026-01-19 09:00:00

Why the Tech World Is Going Crazy for Claude Code (audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=982f5071-765c-403d-969d-ae27003a8d83)

In the AI industry, there's always a hot new thing. First it was ChatGPT. Then it was the image generators. There was the DeepSeek moment. In the latter half of last year, everyone was excited about how good Google's Gemini was. In January 2026, the new hot thing everyone is talking about is Claude Code. But of course, the AI models have been able to generate lines of code for a long time now. So what is it about Claude Code that has people so excited? Why is it that people are asking: "Is this AGI?" On this episode, we speak with Noah Brier, the co-founder of Alpehic, a consultancy firm that helps large organizations implement AI technology. Noah has been using the Large Language Models for longer than just about anyone, since even before ChatGPT existed. He explains to us the evolution of AI-assisted coding, what Claude Code actually is, and why it is that traditional software firms have been getting destroyed in the stock market lately.

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From The Rest Is History at 2026-01-19 00:05:00

636. Revolution in Iran: Fall of the Shah (Part 1) (GLT5083873634.mp3?updated=1768557306)

Why did the Iranian Revolution erupt in 1979? What was the nature of the relationship between President Carter and the ostentatious Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi? And, who was the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, a man whose militant vision for Iran would see it drastically remade? Join Dominic and Tom, as they launch into one of the most dramatic stories of all time, with such far reaching consequences, that they still reverberate across the Middle East today: the Islamic Revolution. As they delve into the events that set this cataclysmic event in motion, they will bring to life the three men at the heart of it all. _______ Join The Rest Is History Club: Unlock the full experience of the show – with exclusive bonus episodes, ad-free listening, early access to every series and live show tickets, a members-only newsletter, discounted books from the show, and access to our private Discord chatroom. Sign up directly at therestishistory.com For more Goalhanger Podcasts, head to www.goalhanger.com _______ Twitter: @TheRestHistory @holland_tom @dcsandbrook Video Editors: Jack Meek + Harry Swan Social Producer: Harry Balden Producers: Tabby Syrett & Aaliyah Akude Executive Producer: Dom Johnson Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

From The Week in Westminster at 2026-01-17 11:00:00

17/01/2026 (p0mvg6rz.mp3)

Sunday Times political editor Caroline Wheeler reports on the latest developments at Westminster.

Following the defection of Robert Jenrick from the Conservatives to Reform UK, Caroline speaks to Henry Hill, the deputy editor of Conservative Home and James Orr, a Cambridge University academic and senior advisor to Nigel Farage.

Karl Turner, the Labour MP for Kingston-upon-Hull East is a prominent critic of the government's plans to restrict jury trials. He discusses this and other Labour u-turns with Claire Ainsley, former policy director to Keir Starmer, now at the Progressive Policy Institute.

Crossbench peer, Beeban Kidron and Baroness Nicky Morgan, the former Culture Secretary discuss Elon Musk backing down in the row over sexualised deepfakes produced by its AI tool, Grok and whether the UK has the right regulatory framework for the online sphere.

And the chair of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, Dame Emily Thornberry and the former Conservative Security Minister Tom Tugendhat speak to Caroline about Iran, Greenland and whether a Chinese mega-embassy should be built in London.

From More or Less at 2026-01-17 06:00:00

No, a study has not shown that the covid jab causes cancer (p0mvcn7m.mp3)

In Autumn 2025 a paper in South Korea was published that excited many a vaccine sceptic online. The paper claimed that receiving a vaccination against Covid19 was linked to a 27% increase in cancer risk.

However, when you dig into the data there is no evidence that the vaccine caused the cancer. We spoke to Professor Justin Fendos to explain why we cannot take this type of statistical analysis at face value.

Presenter: Tim Harford Producer: Lizzy McNeill Series Producer: Tom Colls Editor: Richard Vadon Production Coordinator: Brenda Brown Sound Mix: James Beard

From A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry at 2026-01-17 01:35:59

Collections: Hoplite Wars, Part IVb: Training Hoplites?

This is, at long last, the last part of our four-part series (I, II, IIIa, IIIb, Intermission, IVa). last time we looked at the social status of hoplites and the implications that had for the political and social structure of the polis and even the very basic question of how many people there were in … Continue reading Collections: Hoplite Wars, Part IVb: Training Hoplites? →

From Biz & IT - Ars Technica at 2026-01-16 23:15:27

Rackspace customers grapple with “devastating” email hosting price hike

Reseller says Rackspace plans to charge it 706 percent more.

From Biz & IT - Ars Technica at 2026-01-16 21:20:03

OpenAI to test ads in ChatGPT as it burns through billions

Ads coming to free tier and new $8/month ChatGPT Go plan in US.

From Biz & IT - Ars Technica at 2026-01-16 21:05:37

Mandiant releases rainbow table that cracks weak admin password in 12 hours

Windows laggards still using the vulnerable hashing function: Your days are numbered.

From The Incomparable Mothership at 2026-01-16 17:00:00

800: Draft Science (f8697a88-88bd-43ee-80d8-34c94c1a00e2.mp3)

After 800 episodes, we are in serious danger of repeating ourselves, but that never stopped us before. Some of our most prolific panelists fulfill the prophesy and draft Incomparable drafts. Jason begs them to give him new ideas, because after 800, he’s almost run out. And we use our powers for good and evil to mark classic episodes for deletion....

From Biz & IT - Ars Technica at 2026-01-16 16:55:08

TSMC says AI demand is “endless” after record Q4 earnings

Amid fears of bubble, world's top chipmaker TSMC says customers just keep asking for more.

From Schneier on Security at 2026-01-16 14:44:27

AI and the Corporate Capture of Knowledge

More than a decade after Aaron Swartz’s death, the United States is still living inside the contradiction that destroyed him.

Swartz believed that knowledge, especially publicly funded knowledge, should be freely accessible. Acting on that, he downloaded thousands of academic articles from the JSTOR archive with the intention of making them publicly available. For this, the federal government charged him with a felony and threatened decades in prison. After two years of prosecutorial pressure, Swartz died by suicide on Jan. 11, 2013.

The still-unresolved questions raised by his case have resurfaced in today’s debates over artificial intelligence, copyright and the ultimate control of knowledge...

From School of War at 2026-01-16 10:30:00

Ep 266: Blake Seitz & Mike Watson—Were the Founders Isolationists? (NEBM7762098971.mp3)

Blake Seitz, Content Strategist at Palantir Technologies, and Mike Watson, Executive Director at The Alexander Hamilton Society, join the show to discuss America’s relationship with the world at the time of the Founding Fathers. ▪️ Times 02:45 18th Century geopolitical landscape 06:25 Yorktown 11:17 Diplomacy of the Founders 16:23 Bold rhetoric 19:37 Federalists vs. Anti-Federalists 25:45 Washington’s legacy 32:42 The roots of isolationism 36:38 Parallels and changes 44:16 What does it mean to be an American? 47:20 A grounding in history Read more - 1776: The Beginnings of American Exceptionalism Abroad Follow along on Instagram, X @schoolofwarpod, and YouTube @SchoolofWarPodcast Find more content on our School of War Substack

From Odd Lots at 2026-01-16 09:00:00

Lots More on the Protests and Financial Crisis in Iran (audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=982f5071-765c-403d-969d-ae27003a8d83)

One of the extraordinary elements of the civil unrest taking place in Iran is that it's almost impossible to know what's going on. There's a virtually complete news blackout, in part because of the government shutting down the internet. What this means in practice right now is that someone on the outside can't even know for sure whether the Iranian stock market has been trading lately, or whether it's been halted. And then of course there are bigger questions about the scale of the civil unrest and the government's response to it. On this episode of Lots More, we check in with recurring guest Maciej Wojtal, the founder and CIO of Amtelon Capital, one of the few international firms to have direct exposure to Iranian stocks. We talk about what he's been able to ascertain about the protests, why they're taking place, Iran's ongoing financial crisis, and why this round of civil unrest is different from before.

READ MORE: How Iran Sanctions and a Currency Crash Triggered Mass Protests

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From Battle Lines at 2026-01-16 06:02:00

Trump wants to conquer Greenland. This is how Europe can stop him (media.mp3)

President Trump’s talk of taking Greenland isn’t a joke, that much is now clear. His ambition to "conquer" the autonomous Danish territory is a direct challenge to the EU, Nato, and the post-Cold War security order - so what should Europe do?

Roland chats to Rachel Ellehuus, head of British defence and security think tank RUSI and formerly a senior US official in Nato and the Pentagon. She explains why Greenland matters far more than most people realise: from missile defence and Arctic dominance to critical minerals and great-power competition.

They also discuss why Trump’s threats should be taken seriously, how Denmark and Greenland are responding behind the scenes, and why this moment is critical for Europe if it wants to protect its values and way of life.

To watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/96WiO6QE6WQ

Archive: PBS News.

Picture credit: OLIVIER HOSLET/EPA/Shutterstock, BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP

Producer: Peter Shevlin

Executive Producer: Louisa Wells

► Sign up to our most popular newsletter, From the Editor. Look forward to receiving free-thinking comment and the day's biggest stories, every morning. telegraph.co.uk/fromtheeditor

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From Biz & IT - Ars Technica at 2026-01-15 15:25:52

Wikipedia will share content with AI firms in new licensing deals

Wikimedia Enterprise signs Microsoft, Meta, Amazon, Perplexity, and Mistral AI to paid deals.

From Byzantium & Friends at 2026-01-15 14:59:44

147. The survival of esoteric academic fields, with Jana Matuszak and Petra Goedegebuure (JanaAndPetra.mp3)

A conversation with Jana Matuszak, a Sumerologist, and Petra Goedegebuure, a Hittitologist (both University of Chicago) about the prospects for the survival of smaller academic disciplines that require specialized language skills. What critical mass of experts is needed? How can these fields be combined with others? Byzantine Studies is still larger than Sumerology and Hittitology, but the numbers of our full-time faculty is shrinking. How can our fields navigate an uncertain future?

From The Django weblog at 2026-01-15 14:14:37

DSF member of the month - Omar Abou Mrad

For January 2026, we welcome Omar Abou Mrad as our DSF member of the month! ⭐

Omar sitting on a gaming chair

Omar is a helper in Django Discord server, he has helped and continuously help folks around the world in their Django journey! He is part of the Discord Staff Team. He has been a DSF member since June 2024.

You can learn more about Omar by visiting Omar's website and his GitHub Profile.

Let’s spend some time getting to know Omar better!

Can you tell us a little about yourself? (hobbies, education, etc)

Hello! My name is Omar Abou Mrad, a 47-year-old husband to a beautiful wife and father of three teenage boys. I’m from Lebanon (Middle East), have a Computer Science background, and currently work as a Technical Lead on a day-to-day basis. I’m mostly high on life and quite enthusiastic about technology, sports, food, and much more!

I love learning new things and I love helping people. Most of my friends, acquaintances, and generally people online know me as Xterm.

I have already an idea but where your nickname "Xterm" comes from?

xterm is simply the terminal emulator for the X Window System. I first encountered it back in the mid to late 90s when I started using Redhat 2.0 operating system. things weren’t easy to set up back then, and the terminal was where you spent most of your time.

Nevertheless, I had to wait months (or was it years?) on end for the nickname "Xterm" to expire on Freenode back in mid 2000s, before I snatched and registered it.

Alas, I did! Xterm, c'est moi! >:-]

How did you start using Django?

We landed on Django (~1.1) fairly early at work, as we wanted to use Python with an ORM while building websites for different clients. The real challenge came when we took on a project responsible for managing operations, traceability, and reporting at a pipe-manufacturing company.

By that time, most of the team was already well-versed in Django (~1.6), and we went head-on into building one of the most complicated applications we had done to date, everything from the back office to operators’ devices connected to a Django-powered system.

Since then, most of our projects have been built with Django at the core.

We love Django.

What other framework do you know and if there is anything you would like to have in Django if you had magical powers?

I've used a multitude of frameworks professionally before Django, primarily in Java (EE, SeamFramework, ...) and .NET (ASP.NET, ASP.NET MVC) as well as sampling different frameworks for educational purposes.

I suppose if I could snap my fingers and get things to exist in django it wouldn't be something new as much as it is official support of:

Built-in and opinionated way to deal with hierarchical data in the ORM alongside the supporting API for building and traversing them optimally.
Built-in websockets support. Essentially the django-channel experience.
Built-in ORM support for common constructs like CTEs, and possibly the ability to transition from raw SQL into a queryset pipeline.

But since we're finger-snapping things to existence, it would be awesome if every component of django (core, orm, templates, forms, "all") could be installed separately in such a way that you could cherry pick what you want to install, so we could dismiss those pesky (cough) arguments (cough) about Django being bulky.

What projects are you working on now?

I'm involved in numerous projects currently at work, most of which are based on Django, but the one I'm working right now consists of doing integrations and synchronizations with SAP HANA for different modules, in different applications.

It's quite the challenge, which makes it twice the fun.

Which Django libraries are your favorite (core or 3rd party)?

django-debug-toolbar hands down. It is an absolute beast of a library and a required tool. It is also the lib that influenced DryORM
django-extensions obviously, for its numerous helper commands (shell_plus --print-sql, runserver_plus... and much more!)
django-mptt while unmaintained, it remains one of my personal favorites for hierarchical data. It's a true piece of art.

I would like to mention that I'm extremely thankful for any and all core and 3rd Party libraries out there!

What are the top three things in Django that you like?

In no particular order:

The ORM; We love it, it fits nicely with the rest of the components.
I feel we should not dismiss what sets Django apart from most frameworks; Its defaults, the conventions, and how opinionated it is; If you avoid overriding the defaults that you get, you'll end up with a codebase that anyone can read, understand and maintain easily. (This is quite subjective and some may very well disagree! ^.^)
The documentation. Django’s documentation is among the best out there: comprehensive, exhaustive, and incredibly well written.

You are helping a lot of folks in Django Discord, what do you think is needed to be a good helper according to you?

First and foremost, I want to highlight what an excellent staff team we have on the Official Django Discord. While I don’t feel I hold a candle to what the rest of the team does daily, we complement each other very well.

To me, being a good helper means:

Having patience. You’ve built skills over many years, and not everyone is at the same stage. People will ask unreasonable or incorrect questions, and sometimes they simply won’t listen.
Guiding people toward figuring things out themselves. Giving a direct solution rarely helps in the long run. There are no scoreboards when it comes to helping others.
Teaching how to break problems down and reduce noise, especially how to produce the bare minimum code needed to reproduce an issue.
Point them to the official documentation first, and teaching them how to find answers.
Staying humble. No one knows everything, and you can always learn from your peers.

Dry ORM is really appreciated! What motivated you to create the project?

Imagine you're having a discussion with a djangonaut friend or colleague about some data modeling, or answering some question or concern they have, or reviewing some ORM code in a repository on github, or helping someone on IRC, Slack, Discord, the forums... or simply you want to do some quick ORM experiment but not disturb your current project. The most common ways people deal with this, is by having a throw-away project that they add models to, generate migrations, open the shell, run the queries they want, reset the db if needed, copy the models and the shell code into some code sharing site, then send the link to the recipient. Not to mention needing to store the code they experiment with in either separate scripts or management commands so they can have them as references for later.

I loved what DDT gave me with the queries transparency, I loved experimenting in the shell with shell_plus --print-sql and I needed to share things online. All of this was cumbersome and that’s when DryORM came into existence, simplifying the entire process into a single code snippet.

The need grew massively when I became a helper on Official Django Discord and noticed we (Staff) could greatly benefit from having this tool not only to assist others, but share knowledge among ourselves. While I never truly wanted to go public with it, I was encouraged by my peers on Discord to share it and since then, they've been extremely supportive and assisted in its evolution.

The unexpected thing however, was for DryORM to be used in the official code tracker, or the forums, or even in Github PRs! Ever since, I've decided to put a lot of focus and effort on having features that can support the django contributors in their quest evolve Django.

So here's a shout-out to everyone that use DryORM!

I believe you are the main maintainer, do you need help on something?

Yes, I am and thank you! I think the application has reached a point where new feature releases will slow down, so it’s entering more of a maintenance phase now, which I can manage.

Hopefully soon we'll have the discord bot executing ORM snippet :-]

What are your hobbies or what do you do when you’re not working?

Oh wow, not working, what's that like! :-]

Early mornings are usually reserved for weight training.\ Followed by a long, full workday.\ Then escorting and watching the kids at practice.\ Evenings are spent with my wife.\ Late nights are either light gaming or some tech-related reading and prototyping.\

Weekends look very similar, just with many more kids sports matches!

Is there anything else you’d like to say?

I want to thank everyone who helped make Django what it is today.

If you’re reading this and aren’t yet part of the Discord community, I invite you to join us! You’ll find many like-minded people to discuss your interests with. Whether you’re there to help, get help, or just hang around, it’s a fun place to be.

Thank you for doing the interview, Omar!

From Schneier on Security at 2026-01-15 12:05:04

New Vulnerability in n8n

This isn’t good:

We discovered a critical vulnerability (CVE-2026-21858, CVSS 10.0) in n8n that enables attackers to take over locally deployed instances, impacting an estimated 100,000 servers globally. No official workarounds are available for this vulnerability. Users should upgrade to version 1.121.0 or later to remediate the vulnerability.

Three technical links and two news links.

From Net Assessment at 2026-01-15 10:00:00

Crude Awakening: Maduro's Seizure and Venezuela's Future (Net_Assessment_-_15_Jan_2026_v1.mp3?dest-id=808287)

Fresh off the shock of the U.S. operation to capture Nicolás Maduro, the Net Assessment team debates the merits of the operation and what it means for Venezuela's future. They also discuss why it caught (some of) them off guard, and what it implies about the Trump administration's decision-making going forward. Chris also questions Trump's proposed defense budget increase, Melanie gives Denmark a badly needed attaboy, and Zack critiques Pete Hegseth's punishment of Mark Kelly.

*The Net Assessment Podcast is hosted by the Stimson Center and produced by University FM.

Show Links:

Emma Salisbury, "The Trump-Class Battleship," Behind the Front, January 8, 2026.
Leo Shane III, "The 5 Republicans who voted against Trump on Venezuela," Politico, January 8, 2026.
Eric Boehm, "Did Marco Rubio Lie to Congress About Venezuela?" Reason, January 5, 2026.
Matthew Cullen, "Trump Said His Global Power Was Limited Only by His 'Own Morality'," New York Times, January 8, 2026.
"TCS: President Trump's $1.5 Trillion Budget Proposal Must Be Rejected," Taxpayers for Common Sense, January 7, 2026.
"$1.5 Trillion Military Budget Would Add $5.8 Trillion to Debt Over Decade," Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, January 7, 2026.
Stephen Collinson, "Trump's new US mission statement: Strength, force, power," CNN, January 6, 2026.
David E. Sanger et al., "Trump Lays Out a Vision of Power Restrained Only by 'My Own Morality'," New York Times, January 8, 2026.

From Strong Message Here at 2026-01-15 09:45:00

Elections Aren't Won on Twitter (with Phil Wang and Marianna Spring) (p0mv18dn.mp3)

Is Keir Starmer stuck in 2016? BBC's Social Media Investigations Senior Correspondent Marianna Spring joins Phil Wang and Armando to look at the evolving language of social media.

How do politicians navigate the new online world, both when trying to get their central message across, and in responding to crises? With the shooting of Renee Good by an ICE officer in Minneapolis, we examine how the normal playbook of a tragedy no longer applies.

In the extended episode, we hear Phil take on the role of a lifetime, playing Nigel Farage, find out how Armando's nickname is causing him problems, and look at Grok's recent scandal.

Got a strong message for Armando? Email us at strongmessagehere@bbc.co.uk

Sound editing: Rich Evans Production Coordinator: Jodie Charman and Giulia Mazzu Executive Producer: James Robinson Recorded at The Sound Company

Produced by Gwyn Rhys Davies. A BBC Studios production for Radio 4.

From Odd Lots at 2026-01-15 09:00:00

How to Make Money From the Booming Demand for Energy (audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=982f5071-765c-403d-969d-ae27003a8d83)

One thing we can all agree on is that demand for energy, and in particular electricity, is growing by leaps and bounds. But past that, there is going to be a debate about who is best positioned, and who will really make money from this trend. Will it be companies digging up raw commodities? Will it be equipment companies? Will it be pipelines? Will it be utilities? On this episode of the podcast, we speak with Tyler Rosenlicht, a Senior Vice President Cohen & Steers. He is a portfolio manager for Global Listed Infrastructure and the firm's head of Natural Resource Equities. We talk about the general ideas behind infrastructure investing, how it works, how it's changed, and how he thinks about the ongoing boom in energy demand.

Only http://Bloomberg.com subscribers can get the Odd Lots newsletter in their inbox each week, plus unlimited access to the site and app. Subscribe at bloomberg.com/subscriptions/oddlots

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From The Rest Is History at 2026-01-15 00:05:00

635. Joan of Arc: For Fear of the Flames (Part 4) (GLT8113477235.mp3?updated=1768409977)

What were the harsh conditions of Joan of Arc’s imprisonment, at the hands of her English captors? How did Joan’s trial unfold, and with what was she charged? And, would Joan confess at the last moment in order to save her own life…? Join Tom and Dominic as they discuss the terrible culmination of the life of Joan of Arc, as she endured imprisonment, stood on trial for her life, fought bravely for herself and the angelic voices that had guided her thus far, all while the flames of her doom drew nearer…. _______ Join The Rest Is History Club: Unlock the full experience of the show – with exclusive bonus episodes, ad-free listening, early access to every series and live show tickets, a members-only newsletter, discounted books from the show, and access to our private Discord chatroom. Sign up directly at therestishistory.com For more Goalhanger Podcasts, head to www.goalhanger.com _______ Twitter: @TheRestHistory @holland_tom @dcsandbrook Video Editor: Jack Meek Social Producer: Harry Baldwin Assistant Producer: Aaliyah Akude Producer: Tabby Syrett Senior Producer: Theo Young-Smith Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

From Biz & IT - Ars Technica at 2026-01-14 22:03:11

A single click mounted a covert, multistage attack against Copilot

Exploit exfiltrating data from chat histories worked even after users closed chat windows.

From Schneier on Security at 2026-01-14 19:22:15

Hacking Wheelchairs over Bluetooth

Researchers have demonstrated remotely controlling a wheelchair over Bluetooth. CISA has issued an advisory.

CISA said the WHILL wheelchairs did not enforce authentication for Bluetooth connections, allowing an attacker who is in Bluetooth range of the targeted device to pair with it. The attacker could then control the wheelchair’s movements, override speed restrictions, and manipulate configuration profiles, all without requiring credentials or user interaction.

From Biz & IT - Ars Technica at 2026-01-14 17:46:19

Bandcamp bans purely AI-generated music from its platform

Indie music store says it wants fans to have confidence music was largely made by humans.

From The Media Show at 2026-01-14 17:35:00

Grok AI, Media coverage of the Iran protests, Hamnet film producer Liza Marshall and inside prison radio (p0mtztw6.mp3)

Katie Razzall and guests discuss how Iran’s recent protests have sparked debate about how they were covered by international media. We speak to BBC Persian’s Behrang Tajdin, Lyse Doucet, and Conservative MP Tom Tugendhat about the challenges of reporting from one of the world’s most restricted environments. Also, Elon Musk’s AI chatbot Grok is under fire for generating sexualised, non-consensual images of women and children. Ofcom has launched an investigation under the Online Safety Act, and the UK government is preparing new laws to ban ‘nudification’ tools. We hear from Chi Onwurah MP and CNN’s Hadas Gold on what this means for tech regulation. Plus, Phil Maguire, co-founder of the Prison Radio Association, reflects on building the world’s first national radio station for prisoners and its impact on rehabilitation. And Liza Marshall, producer of the new film Hamnet, reveals how she secured the rights early - before Maggie O’Farrell’s novel became a global sensation- and what it takes to back a winner in Hollywood.

Producer: Lisa Jenkinson Assistant Producer: Lucy Wai

From Schneier on Security at 2026-01-14 17:00:00

Upcoming Speaking Engagements

This is a current list of where and when I am scheduled to speak:

I’m speaking at the David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada on January 27, 2026, at 1:30 PM ET.
I’m speaking at the Université de Montréal in Montreal, Quebec, Canada on January 29, 2026, at 4:00 PM ET.
I’m speaking and signing books at the Chicago Public Library in Chicago, Illinois, USA, on February 5, 2026, at 6:00 PM CT.
I’m speaking at Capricon 46 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. The convention runs February 5-8, 2026. My speaking time is TBD...

From The History of Byzantium at 2026-01-14 11:32:26

Episode 336 - 10 Influential East Romans with Anthony Kaldellis. Part 2 (media.mp3)

As we look back at Byzantium I turned once more to Professor Anthony Kaldellis. I asked him to present a list of ten influential East Romans who were not featured heavily in the political narrative.

Anthony Kaldellis is a Professor in the Department of Classics at the University of Chicago. He is the author of over a dozen books on Byzantium including the definitive history (The New Roman Empire: A History of Byzantium). Find out more here.

Timestamps:

Photios: 0.47 secs - 15m 08s

Michael Psellos: 15m 09s - 31m 25s

Anna Komnene: 31m 26s - 39m 25s

Eustathios of Thessaloniki: 39m 26s - 47m 27s

George Gemistos Plethon: 47m 28s - 1h 07m 22s

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From Release notes from govuk-frontend at 2026-01-14 11:30:30

GOV.UK Frontend v5.14.0

<h2>New features</h2> <h3>The GOV.UK footer component now allows the removal of content licence information</h3> If your service does not provide information under the Open Government Licence (OGL), you can now remove the content licence information from the GOV.UK footer. If you use Nunjucks, set the <code>contentLicence</code> parameter to <code>null</code>: <div class="highlight highlight-text-html-nunjucks notranslate position-relative overflow-auto"><pre>{{ govukFooter({ contentLicence: null }) }}</pre></div> We introduced this feature in the following pull requests: <ul> <li><a href="https://github.com/alphagov/govuk-frontend/pull/6527">#6527: Allow false value to turn off contentLicence in GOV.UK Footer</a> – thanks to <a class="user-mention notranslate" href="https://github.com/NickColley">@NickColley</a> for making this change.</li> <li><a href="https://github.com/alphagov/govuk-frontend/pull/6586">#6586: Use <code>null</code> rather than <code>false</code> to hide the content licence</a> – thanks to <a class="user-mention notranslate" href="https://github.com/gunndabad">@gunndabad</a> for reporting this issue.</li> </ul> <h2>Recommended changes</h2> <h3>Add <code>aria-hidden="true"</code> to the Service navigation's menu toggle</h3> The VoiceOver screen reader software for macOS and iPadOS contains bugs that make the menu toggle in the Service navigation accessible to VoiceOver users, even if the button has a <code>hidden</code> attribute. If you use Nunjucks, you do not have to do anything. If you do not use Nunjucks to generate your components' HTML, add an <code>aria-hidden="true"</code> attribute to the hidden <code><button></code> element of the Service navigation. This means the button will remain hidden for VoiceOver users. We made this change in <a href="https://github.com/alphagov/govuk-frontend/pull/6469">pull request #6469: Fix VoiceOver access to <code>hidden</code> Service Navigation menu button</a>. <h2>Fixes</h2> We've made fixes to GOV.UK Frontend in the following pull requests: <ul> <li><a href="https://github.com/alphagov/govuk-frontend/pull/6351">#6351: Preserve already escaped <code>attributes</code> values to prevent double escaping</a></li> <li><a href="https://github.com/alphagov/govuk-frontend/pull/6438">#6438: Fix pagination outputting empty links when provided a null or empty value</a> – thanks to <a class="user-mention notranslate" href="https://github.com/NikhilNanjappa">@NikhilNanjappa</a> for reporting this issue.</li> <li><a href="https://github.com/alphagov/govuk-frontend/pull/6531">#6531: Prevent date inputs shifting alignment on iOS 18</a> – thanks to <a class="user-mention notranslate" href="https://github.com/rowellx68">@rowellx68</a> for reporting this issue and <a class="user-mention notranslate" href="https://github.com/colinrotherham">@colinrotherham</a> for suggesting the fix.</li> <li><a href="https://github.com/alphagov/govuk-frontend/pull/6528">#6528: Fix hover state on focused small radios</a></li> <li><a href="https://github.com/alphagov/govuk-frontend/pull/6529">#6529: Fix rebranded header background being visible when printed</a> – thanks to <a class="user-mention notranslate" href="https://github.com/lewis-softwire">@lewis-softwire</a> for reporting this issue.</li> <li><a href="https://github.com/alphagov/govuk-frontend/pull/6462">#6462: Update HMRC brand colour</a></li> <li><a href="https://github.com/alphagov/govuk-frontend/pull/6539">#6539: Fix skip link outline being clipped in forced colours mode</a></li> </ul>

From Breaking History at 2026-01-14 10:15:00

The Making of Modern Iran (Part 2) | The Red-Green Alliance (CBS8034668489.mp3?updated=1768382309)

In our last episode, we traced the rise of the Pahlavi dynasty and the forces building toward Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution. In Part 2, we turn to the man who brought that monarchy to an end: Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. From exile in a quiet French chateau, Khomeini launched a revolution that shattered 2,500 years of Persian monarchy. But he didn’t do it alone. Liberals and leftists, both inside Iran and across the West, played a crucial role in legitimizing his cause, a dynamic that feels familiar today. This is the story of the first Red-Green Alliance, a tactical partnership between Islamists and the progressive left, and the cost of that alliance once power changed hands. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From Breaking History at 2026-01-14 10:00:00

The Making of Modern Iran (Part 1) (CBS4294486357.mp3?updated=1768383280)

Breaking History dives into the paradox at the heart of modern Iran: How a nation born in revolt, from the tobacco protests of the 1890s to the 1979 Revolution, has time and again empowered autocrats in the name of democracy. This week we trace the cycles of reform and repression that still shape Iran today. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From More or Less at 2026-01-14 09:00:00

Have more than 100 private schools been forced to close because of VAT? (p0mtsk05.mp3)

Tim Harford investigates some of the numbers in the news. This week: A headline in the Mail says more than 100 private schools have closed since Labour came to power and ended the VAT exemption for private schools. Is that number right?

Is it true that when Covid hit the UK, a one-week delay in imposing lockdown led to 23,000 deaths?

Do 10 million families rely on X as their main source of news? That’s what government spokesperson Baroness Ruth Anderson said in the House of Lords, but is it correct?

s there really a “quiet revival” of Christian worship? Two YouGov polls found churchgoing had gone up by 50% between 2018 and 2024 in England and Wales. New polling data suggests otherwise.

If you’ve seen a number in the news you want the team on More or Less to have a look at, email moreorless@bbc.co.uk

Contributors: Professor Sir David Spiegelhalter, Emeritus Professor of Statistics in the Statistical Laboratory, University of Cambridge Professor Sir John Curtice, Senior Research Fellow at the National Centre for Social Research

Credits: Presenter: Tim Harford Reporters: Tom Colls and Nathan Gower Producers: Charlotte McDonald and Lizzy McNeill Production co-ordinator: Brenda Brown Sound mix: Gareth Jones Editor: Richard Vadon

From GoodFellows: Conversations on Economics, History & Geopolitics at 2026-01-14 00:31:35

The World According to Trump | GoodFellows | Hoover Institution (GoodFellows_2026-01-13_podcast_brfjd.mp3)

As Iran’s theocracy teeters on the brink, the question turns to what the Trump administration’s abiding interest in other bad regimes (Venezuela, Cuba, Colombia) and its appetite for land acquisitions (greenbacks for Greenland?) say about the American president’s worldview. GoodFellows regulars Niall Ferguson, John Cochrane, and H.R. McMaster discuss policy options for Iran now that protests have turned tragic; the relative silence from the same campus leftists who fervently protested the war in Gaza; Nixonian echoes in Trump’s foreign policy; plus Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s emergence as a geopolitical jack-of-all-trades. In the second segment, John weighs in on the significance of the Justice Department’s criminal investigation into Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell; H.R. contends America’s designs on Greenland are no laughing matter; and Sir Niall previews what to expect from Trump’s appearance at the upcoming World Economic Forum in Davos. Finally, GoodFellows’ resident “Deadhead” bids a fond farewell to the late Bob Weir, guitarist and cofounder of the Grateful Dead. Subscribe to GoodFellows for clarity on today’s biggest social, economic, and geostrategic shifts — only on GoodFellows.

From Biz & IT - Ars Technica at 2026-01-13 22:34:41

The RAM shortage’s silver lining: Less talk about “AI PCs”

“General interest in AI PCs has been wavering for a while ..."

From Biz & IT - Ars Technica at 2026-01-13 22:07:21

Never-before-seen Linux malware is “far more advanced than typical”

VoidLink includes an unusually broad and advanced array of capabilities.

From Biz & IT - Ars Technica at 2026-01-13 21:13:07

Hegseth wants to integrate Musk’s Grok AI into military networks this month

US defense secretary announces plans for integration despite recent controversies.

From Biz & IT - Ars Technica at 2026-01-13 20:05:14

Microsoft vows to cover full power costs for energy-hungry AI data centers

Company responds to community concerns over electricity bills and water use.

From Schneier on Security at 2026-01-13 12:09:28

1980s Hacker Manifesto

Forty years ago, The Mentor—Loyd Blankenship—published “The Conscience of a Hacker” in Phrack.

You bet your ass we’re all alike… we’ve been spoon-fed baby food at school when we hungered for steak… the bits of meat that you did let slip through were pre-chewed and tasteless. We’ve been dominated by sadists, or ignored by the apathetic. The few that had something to teach found us willing pupils, but those few are like drops of water in the desert.

This is our world now… the world of the electron and the switch, the beauty of the baud. We make use of a service already existing without paying for what could be dirt-cheap if it wasn’t run by profiteering gluttons, and you call us criminals. We explore… and you call us criminals. We seek after knowledge… and you call us criminals. We exist without skin color, without nationality, without religious bias… and you call us criminals. You build atomic bombs, you wage wars, you murder, cheat, and lie to us and try to make us believe it’s for our own good, yet we’re the criminals...

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