The Supreme Court is about to run out of money, and federal courts across the country are expected to run out by early next week because of the government shutdown.

The nation’s top court “expects to run out of funding on October 18,” Patricia McCabe, Supreme Court public information officer, told The Hill.

“As a result, the Supreme Court Building will be closed to the public until further notice. The Building will remain open for official business,” McCabe continued.

Supreme Court to run out of funding due to shutdown

^{Ryan Mancini (The Hill)}

https://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2025/10/14/the-shutdown-continues-rate-cut-likely-employment--housing-weaken/

The European Commission has revised the Ecodesign requirements for external power supplies (EPS). The new rules aim to increase consumer convenience, resource efficiency, and energy efficiency. Manufacturers have three years to prepare for the changes.

The new regulations apply to external power supplies that charge or power devices such as laptops, smartphones, Wi-Fi routers, and computer monitors. Starting in 2028, these products must meet higher energy efficiency standards and become more interoperable. Specifically, USB chargers on the EU market must have at least one USB Type-C port and function with detachable cables.

With the regulation, the EU is also establishing minimum requirements for the efficiency of power supplies with an output power of up to 240 watts that charge via USB Power Delivery (USB-PD), among other things, under other things, minimum requirements. Power supplies with an output power exceeding 10 watts will also have to meet minimum energy efficiency values in partial load operation (10 percent of rated power) in the future, which is intended to reduce unnecessary energy losses.

Interestingly,

This article was originally published in German. It was translated with technical assistance and editorially reviewed before publication.

I was rather surprised to see a Heise story linked off Slashdot, but this is a great use of technology to broaden the audience. Way less friction than every user needing a browser plugin for translation.

Historically, the charger situation has been, well, a shitshow. I've had more than a few devices over the years where the proprietary cable died, and getting a replacement was so cost prohibitive that just buying a replacement device that came with one was the more logical move.

USB-PD kinda seems like the silver bullet here. Though I'm not sure that's true unless further regulations require all USB-C cables to be able to provide 240W, and even then, there will be a long tail on older cables still being in use.

But this could be game changing in like a decade. Imagine charging with any cable and any DC converter. We'll look back on this mess as though different devices required proprietary wall outlets!

Meanwhile, here in the states, regulators are much more concerned about inflatable frog suits than any lurch toward sustainability.

From 2028: EU expands USB-C mandate to chargers

The EU Commission is expanding requirements for external chargers: power supplies must become more efficient from 2028 and have USB-C ports.

^{Andreas Floemer (heise online)}

https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/trump-government-shutdown-updates-zelensky-meeting-10-17-25?post-id=cmgvhtd5s00003b6pfkswvgx1

Japanese cosplayers, in support of Gaza and Palestine, have gone viral for dressing up as members of Hamas’ military wing al-Qassam Brigades.

Several pictures and videos were shared online of Japanese citizens wearing fully decked-out military camouflage gear in addition to the famous green headband worn by Hamas fighters.

One of them showed a cosplayer surrounded by police, with one reporter from Tokyo saying the man was arrested, without providing further details.

The pictures come amid massive protests in Japan in support of Gaza against the ‘Israeli’ aggression on the Gaza Strip, with one noticeable protest outside the ‘Israeli’ embassy on the second anniversary of October 7, where there were clashes with the police as demonstrators tried to pass the barrier to get closer to the embassy.

New documents and court records obtained by EFF show that Texas deputies queried Flock Safety's surveillance data in an abortion investigation, contradicting the narrative promoted by the company and the Johnson County Sheriff that she was “being searched for as a missing person,” and that “it was about her safety.”

The new information shows that deputies had initiated a "death investigation" of a "non-viable fetus," logged evidence of a woman’s self-managed abortion, and consulted prosecutors about possibly charging her.

Johnson County Sheriff Adam King repeatedly denied the automated license plate reader (ALPR) search was related to enforcing Texas's abortion ban, and Flock Safety called media accounts "false," "misleading" and "clickbait." However, according to a sworn affidavit by the lead detective, the case was in fact a death investigation in response to a report of an abortion, and deputies collected documentation of the abortion from the "reporting person," her alleged romantic partner. The death investigation remained open for weeks, with detectives interviewing the woman and reviewing her text messages about the abortion.

The documents show that the Johnson County District Attorney's Office informed deputies that "the State could not statutorily charge [her] for taking the pill to cause the abortion or miscarriage of the non-viable fetus."

You tax dollars at work. Let's spend a month investigating something the DA immediately shuts down.

But, hey: Good on the DA.

Flock Safety and Texas Sheriff Claimed License Plate Search Was for a Missing Person. It Was an Abortion Investigation.

New documents and court records obtained by EFF show that Texas deputies queried Flock Safety's surveillance data in an abortion investigation, contradicting the narrative promoted by the company and the Johnson County Sheriff that she was “being sea…

^{Electronic Frontier Foundation}

cross-posted from: ibbit.at/post/85705

The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday 18 October that he had decided to keep the Rafah crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt closed until further notice, despite the Palestinian embassy in Cairo’s earlier announcement that the crossing would open on Monday.

Rafah Crossing remains closed by Israel

Netanyahu’s office said in a statement that the opening of the crossing would be linked to ‘Hamas’s commitment to its role’ in handing over the bodies of Israeli detainees in Gaza, as well as ‘the implementation of the agreed framework,’ without providing further details. As the Canary previously reported, Hamas handing over Israeli bodies was not part of the ceasefire agreement. Meanwhile, Israel has so-far violated this 47 times itself.

For its part, the government media office in Gaza accused Israel of obstructing the implementation of the terms of the ceasefire agreement, continuing to close the crossings and preventing the entry of food and humanitarian aid, calling on the international guarantors of the agreement to intervene immediately to ensure that the commitments are implemented.

Adnan Abu Hasna, spokesperson for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), pointed out that thousands of trucks loaded with humanitarian aid are still waiting for permission to enter the Gaza Strip, saying:

There are about 6,000 trucks carrying food and basic supplies stuck at the crossings, in addition to large quantities of medicines and medical supplies waiting to be brought in to meet the emergency needs of the population.

Abu Hasna added that the delay in opening the crossings is exacerbating the humanitarian situation in the Strip and threatening the lives of thousands of civilians, especially the sick and injured who need urgent care.

The Palestinian Embassy in Cairo announced that the Rafah crossing would be opened on Monday to allow Palestinians residing in Egypt who wish to return to Gaza to register via a dedicated electronic application, and that they would be notified later of the times and places to gather to move towards the crossing.

Breaching the ceasefire

It is noteworthy that on 9 October, Israel and Hamas reached an agreement on a ceasefire and prisoner exchange in accordance with US President Donald Trump’s plan, and the first phase of the agreement was activated the following day. The agreement stipulates that all Gaza Strip crossings, especially Rafah, will be opened to the movement of individuals and humanitarian aid, with the participation of Qatar, Turkey and Egypt, and under US supervision.

This comes after two years of genocide waged by Israel on the Gaza Strip since 7 October 2023, with US support, resulting in the martyrdom of 68,116 Palestinians, the injury of 170,200 others, and the destruction of more than 90% of the infrastructure in the Strip.

Featured image via the Canary

By Alaa Shamali

---

From Canary via this RSS feed

Alaa Shamali, Author at Canary

Articles by Alaa Shamali for Canary

^{Alaa Shamali (The Canary)}

cross-posted from: lemmy.blahaj.zone/post/3324140…

Pirulecy

Where do I go to find resellers/providers who won't rip me off? I had one that was fine for a year plus, but it's gone under. I found it in a random forum.

American sports and general shows/movies. Adult wouldn't be bad either. lol.

Don't give me direct links to any actual providers, unless I misread the rules. DM is fine though ;)

Since last I checked, every IPTV sub on Reddit was banned. The ones that are left are mostly bots.

Very much on my mind too is where we can talk about this shit now if it's not Reddit or Lemmy.

Like many researchers, Gerlich believes that, used in the right way, AI can make us cleverer and more creative – but the way most people use it produces bland, unimaginative, factually questionable work. One concern is the so-called “anchoring effect”. If you post a question to generative AI, the answer it gives you sets your brain on a certain mental path and makes you less likely to consider alternative approaches. “I always use the example: imagine a candle. Now, AI can help you improve the candle. It will be the brightest ever, burn the longest, be very cheap and amazing looking, but it will never develop to the lightbulb,” he says.

To get from the candle to a lightbulb you need a human who is good at critical thinking, someone who might take a chaotic, unstructured, unpredictable approach to problem solving. When, as has happened in many workplaces, companies roll out tools such as the chatbot Copilot without offering decent AI training, they risk producing teams of passable candle-makers in a world that demands high-efficiency lightbulbs.

There is also the bigger issue that adults who use AI as a shortcut have at least benefited from going through the education system in the years before it was possible to get a computer to write your homework for you. One recent British survey found that 92% of university students use AI, and about 20% have used AI to write all or part of an assignment for them.

Under these circumstances, how much are they learning? Are schools and universities still equipped to produce creative, original thinkers who will build better, more intelligent societies – or is the education system going to churn out mindless, gullible, AI essay-writing drones?

Are we living in a golden age of stupidity?

From brain-rotting videos to AI creep, every technological advance seems to make it harder to work, remember, think and function independently …

^{Sophie McBain (The Guardian)}

Public documents show the Department of Homeland Security has contracted to purchase a pair of top-of-the-line Gulfstream jets for the secretary and other top officials.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/18/us/politics/kristi-noem-dhs-gulfstream.html?unlocked_article_code=1.uU8.CX6d.T7gqWj6eH3_X

Trump has succeeded where Biden failed in bringing some measure of peace to the region. The risk to Democrats is not so much that Trump will woo more Democratic constituents to the Republican Party — Trump’s authoritarian tendencies at home and his vile persecution of all perceived political enemies largely foreclose that possibility. The risk, rather, is that Americans who care about peacemaking abroad will find themselves increasingly alienated from both parties. Trump’s successful diplomatic efforts have put the lie to the idea that there was nothing Biden and the Democrats could have done to end the massacre in Gaza, seriously undermining any claim that Democrats might make as the party of peace.

Some Democrats seem to understand what a dire bind the party has put itself in. Representative Ro Khanna, for example, recently sounded the alarm about Democrats ceding the “anti-war” mantle to Republicans and Trump. Others, like Representative Delia Ramirez, have put this opposition to war-making into legislation, authoring the aforementioned Block the Bombs Act.

But, for the Democrats to truly turn the ship around, many more elected representatives will have to follow in the footsteps of Khanna and Ramirez. If the party cannot quickly change its tune on war and peace, it may risk ceding this policy terrain to the Republican Party well into the future.

https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/democrats-have-let-republicans-become-the-peace-party/

Most of the bodies of the more than 100 dead Palestinians Israel released remain unidentified.

They were sent back to Gaza with numbers instead of their names, leaving family members of missing Palestinians to pore desperately through pictures of the bodies, hoping to spot their loved ones.

One thing is clear from the marks left on these bodies, and the blindfolds and handcuffs still on some of them: They had been tortured before their deaths, possibly executed.

What we know about the torture, abuse of Palestinian prisoners by Israel

Testimonies from released Palestinian prisoners, as well as the bodies handed over, highlight alleged Israeli abuse.

^{Abubakr Al-Shamahi (Al Jazeera)}

The Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza announced on Saturday that it had received 15 remains from the Red Cross that had been held in Israeli custody.

This brings the total number of Palestinian bodies handed over by Israel to the besieged enclave to 135.

As with previous batches, some of the bodies show signs of torture.

So far, seven have been identified by their families.

Gaza receives total of 135 Palestinian bodies held in Israeli custody

^{Middle East Eye}