A Russian criminal gang secretly conducted cyberattacks and espionage operations against NATO allies on the orders of the Kremlin's intelligence services, according to the UK's National Crime Agency. From a report: Evil Corp., which includes a man who gained notoriety for driving a Lamborghini luxury sports car, launched the hacks prior to 2019, the NCA said in statement on Tuesday. The gang has been accused of using malicious software to extort millions of dollars from hundreds of banks and financial institutions in more than 40 countries. In December 2019, the US government sanctioned Evil and accused its alleged leader, Maksim Yakubets, of providing "direct assistance" to the Russian state, including by "acquiring confidential documents." The NCA's statement on Tuesday provides new detail on the work Yakubets and other members allegedly carried out to aid the Kremlin's geopolitical aims. The exact nature of the hacks against the North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies wasn't immediately clear.

AmiMoJo writes: The UK is about to stop producing any electricity from burning coal -- ending its 142-year reliance on the fossil fuel. The country's last coal power station, at Ratcliffe-on-Soar, finishes operations on Monday after running since 1967. This marks a major milestone in the country's ambitions to reduce its contribution to climate change. Coal is the dirtiest fossil fuel producing the most greenhouse gases when burnt.

The UK was the birthplace of coal power, and from tomorrow it becomes the first major economy to give it up. The first coal-fired power station in the world, the Holborn Viaduct power station, was built in 1882 in London by the inventor Thomas Edison -- bringing light to the streets of the capital. In the early 1990s, coal began to be forced out of the electricity mix by gas, but coal still remained a crucial component of the UK grid for the next two decades. In 2012, it still generated 39% of the UK's power.

In 2010, renewables generated just 7% of the UK's power. By the first half of 2024, this had grown to more than 50% -- a new record. The rapid growth of green power meant that coal could even be switched off completely for short periods, with the first coal-free days in 2017.

An anonymous reader shares a report: Google Maps is reeling in business pages engaging in fake reviews, and highlighting such activity to its users. Google will now impose restrictions against business profiles that violate the search giant's Fake Engagement policy, such as temporarily removing reviews, blocking new reviews or ratings, and displaying a warning message on profiles that have had fake reviews deleted.

The business profile restrictions were introduced in the UK earlier this year, but Search Engine Roundtable notes that the support page was updated in mid-September to seemingly apply globally. For the moment, however, only users in the UK are seeing the business warnings.

The administrators of Great Britain's power grid admit that it's often unable to use energy-storage batteries due to old computer systems and an old network with "not enough cables", according to the Financial Times — though the system operator says they're making progress after upgrading their system last December: The company has plans to lower the rate at which batteries are sidelined to single figures by early next year [said Craig Dyke, from National Grid's electricity system operator], calling current levels "higher than where we want them to be". Dyke's comments came in response to a letter from four leading battery storage groups which said National Grid's "electricity system operator" or ESO division was making the country's power costlier and dirtier by failing to use their technology properly. "Consumers are paying more, clean renewable energy is being wasted, and fossil fuel generation is being used instead," they said... depriving them of revenue and undermining investor confidence.
While the U.K. has the world's second-largest offshore wind market, the article notes that when the system operator can't send its power where it's needed, "the ESO pays wind farms in one place to switch off... and can also need to pay gas-fired power plants in another area to turn on. These payments add up to hundreds of millions of pounds each year, and the costs are passed on to household and business energy bills."

"Use of battery storage abroad has soared in places such as California, where batteries soak up solar power during the day and regularly supply a fifth of the state's power in the evening..."

Thanks to long-time Slashdot reader AmiMoJo for sharing the article.

Slashdot first covered Saul Justin Newman's work in 2019.

Now a senior research fellow at the Centre for Longitudinal Studies at University College London, Newman was recognized last week for research finding that most claims of people living over 105 are wrong. Newman's research was honored with an Ig Nobel Prize (awarded for research that makes people "laugh then think") — which led to a thought-provoking interview in the Conversation: Newman: In general, the claims about how long people are living mostly don't stack up. I've tracked down 80% of the people aged over 110 in the world (the other 20% are from countries you can't meaningfully analyse). Of those, almost none have a birth certificate. In the U.S. there are over 500 of these people; seven have a birth certificate. Even worse, only about 10% have a death certificate.

The epitome of this is blue zones, which are regions where people supposedly reach age 100 at a remarkable rate. For almost 20 years, they have been marketed to the public. They're the subject of tons of scientific work, a popular Netflix documentary, tons of cookbooks about things like the Mediterranean diet, and so on. Okinawa in Japan is one of these zones. There was a Japanese government review in 2010, which found that 82% of the people aged over 100 in Japan turned out to be dead. The secret to living to 110 was, don't register your death. [Newman says later that "In Okinawa, the best predictor of where the centenarians are is where the halls of records were bombed by the Americans during the war..."] The Japanese government has run one of the largest nutritional surveys in the world, dating back to 1975. From then until now, Okinawa has had the worst health in Japan. They've eaten the least vegetables; they've been extremely heavy drinkers....

With the Greeks, by my estimates at least 72% of centenarians were dead, missing or essentially pension-fraud cases... According to the Greek minister that hands out the pensions, over 9,000 people over the age of 100 are dead and collecting a pension at the same time. In Italy, some 30,000 "living" pension recipients were found to be dead in 1997. Regions where people most often reach 100-110 years old are the ones where there's the most pressure to commit pension fraud, and they also have the worst records.
So what's the truth on human longevity? "The question is so obscured by fraud and error and wishful thinking that we just do not know," Newman answers (suggesting physicists "develop a measure of human age that doesn't depend on documents.") In the end the truth may be much more ordinary. "Longevity is very likely tied to wealth. Rich people do lots of exercise, have low stress and eat well."

Newman also says that if the scientific community won't acknowledge their errors during his lifetime, "I guess I'll just get someone to pretend I'm still alive until that changes."

Thanks to long-time Slashdot reader schwit1 for sharing the news.

A national "butterfly emergency" has been declared by Butterfly Conservation after the lowest Big Butterfly Count since records began. From a report: An average of just seven butterflies per 15-minute count were recorded by participants in this summer's butterfly count, the lowest in the survey's 14-year history. It was the worst year on record for once-ubiquitous species, including the common blue, small tortoiseshell, small white and green-veined white. Eight out of the 10 most-seen species have declined -- in many cases dramatically -- over the count's history. Previous lowest-ever numbers of butterflies-per-count were logged in 2022, 2021 and 2020.

Butterfly Conservation is calling for the government to declare a "nature emergency" and ban insect-killing neonicotinoid pesticides, with no exceptions. Britain and the EU banned neonicotinoids in 2018 but the UK government has authorised an exemption for the pesticides to be used on sugar beet every year since 2021. Before the election, Labour promised to ban all neonicotinoids. Further reading: UK Nature Chief Sounds Alarm Over Ecosystem Collapse as Butterfly Numbers Halve.

Bruce66423 writes: Allowing flexible working and working from home creates a more productive, loyal workforce, the business secretary has said. In an interview with the Times, Jonathan Reynolds said employers "need to judge people on outcomes and not a culture of presenteeism." Labour is poised to unveil its Employment Rights Bill, which includes measures such as a right to "disconnect" outside working hours, a ban on zero-hours contracts and allowing workers to compress their contracted hours into fewer working days.

Business groups have raised concerns about the plans, warning it could push up the cost of hiring staff and have the unintended consequence of ending overtime. However, Reynolds said Labour's plans to address workers' rights should not be alarming for business leaders. Since April, workers have had the right -- introduced under the previous government -- to ask for flexible working as soon as they start a job, but firms do not have to agree.

Television has ceased to be the main source of news in the UK for the first time since the 1960s as Britons turn increasingly to online news and social media apps, according to research by the media regulator. From a report: Ofcom said on Tuesday that viewing of TV news had continued to fall steeply, with online platforms such as Facebook, YouTube and TikTok and digital versions of broadcasters now slightly more widely used as a source of news.ÂIn its annual study of audience habits, the watchdog said 71 per cent of adults obtained news online, compared with 70 per cent via TV -- a finding it described as "marking a generational shift in the balance of news media."

The reach of TV news has fallen from 75 per cent last year. More than four-fifths of people between the ages of 16 and 24 obtained their news from social media, Ofcom found. The report underlines the pressure on more traditional linear broadcasters such as the BBC, Sky and Channel 4 to accelerate moves to digital platforms, which include their own streaming sites as well as social media apps such as TikTok.Â

Earlier today, Sony unveiled the $699.99 PlayStation 5 Pro -- a mid-generation upgrade model for the PlayStation 5 that requires a separate $79.99 disc drive if you want to play your physical games. As The Verge's Jay Peters writes, the announcement "may have marked the beginning of the end for game console disc drives." From the report: Microsoft is clearly eyeing the discless direction with Xbox as well. The more affordable Xbox Series S can't play discs, and there's a discless Series X in white that's set to launch later this year. Last year's giant Xbox leak revealed a cylindrical, "adorably all digital" Xbox Series X redesign too. That hasn't been announced as an official product, but it shows a disc-free future is on Microsoft's mind. It seems likely that Sony and Microsoft are testing the waters for going all-digital for the PlayStation 6 and the next generation Xbox -- or at least offering disc drives separately. It's like Apple removing the disc drive all over again.

But this time it's not just the people making the devices. Retailers are stepping back from physical media, too. Redbox is toast. Best Buy said last year that it would stop carrying physical movies, and Target recently confirmed that it would be all but ditching DVDs in its physical stores. I know movies aren't video games, but it doesn't seem like a big leap that brick-and-mortar stores might stop carrying physical video games down the line; UK retailer GAME has already ended video game trade-ins.

Workers get the right to request a four-day workweek under a new proposal by the U.K. government. But a professor of economics at the University of Leeds argues "There remain problems, however" — starting with the fact that "under current laws, employers can still resist the requests of workers, if they want to." There is also the problem of unevenness in the effect of the law. While workers in well-paid jobs have bargaining leverage to assert their legal rights, others in lower-paid jobs face minimal protection and risk direct exploitation... [A]dvancing the case for a four-day working week is likely to be more difficult if it is seen as benefiting only one section of society (one that already enjoys strong rights and privileges)....

Another problem is the scope for compressed hours — working a five-day week of around 40 hours in four days. Under the new proposal, workers requesting and getting a four-day working week will still be required to put in the same hours. Longer work days may be welcomed by some — for example, they may cut down on childcare costs. But they risk undermining the benefits of a shorter working week. Indeed, they may threaten the health of workers by creating heavier work days which they need longer to recover from. At worst, a three-day weekend may be needed to recover from a four-day working week with longer days.
While a four-day work week could improve the quality of life and help address climate change, the analysis argues that the government's proposal ultimately raises issues about the "purpose and potential" of a four-day working week, possibly suggesting other policy changes that may also be needed. "It is important that low wages are addressed alongside work-time reduction."

• "If the government is serious about achieving a four-day working week to raise productivity and improve employee wellbeing, it needs to encourage trials in the public sector... "

• "The government also needs to target a future date, say 2040, for the realisation of a four-day working week. This could be facilitated by establishing a partnership of unions and employers to identify barriers to a four-day working week and ways to overcome them."

An anonymous reader shared this report from CNBC: Britain's competition watchdog on Friday issued a statement of objections over Google's ad tech practices, which the regulator provisionally found are impacting competition in the U.K. In a statement, the Competition and Markets Authority alleged that the U.S. internet search titan "has harmed competition by using its dominance in online display advertising to favour its own ad tech services." The "vast majority" of the U.K.'s thousands of publishers and advertisers use Google's technology in order to bid for and sell space to display ads in a market where players were spending £1.8 billion annually as of a 2019 study, according to the CMA.

The regulator added that it is also "concerned that Google is actively using its dominance in this sector to preference its own services." So-called "self-preferencing" of services by technology giants is a key concern for regulators scrutinizing these companies. The CMA further noted that Google disadvantages ad technology competitors, preventing them from competing on a "level playing field...." In the CMA's decision Friday, the watchdog said that, since 2015, Google has abused its dominant position as the operator of both ad buying tools "Google Ads" and "DV360," and of a publisher ad server known as "DoubleClick For Publishers," in order to strengthen the market position of its advertising exchange, AdX...

AdX, on which Google charges its highest fees to advertisers, is the "centre of the ad tech stack" for the company, the CMA said, with Google taking roughly 20% of the amount for each bid that's processed on its platform.

The European Space Agency (ESA) has successfully 3D printed the first metal part aboard the International Space Station. This achievement marks a significant advancement in in-orbit manufacturing that could enable the production of essential spare parts and tools for future long-duration space missions. "The first metal shape was produced in August, and three more are planned as part of the experiment," notes The Register. "All four will eventually be returned to Earth for analysis -- two to ESA's technical center, ESTEC, in the Netherlands, one to the agency's astronaut training center in Cologne, and the last sample to the Technical University of Denmark." From the report: During a panel discussion following the UK premiere of Fortitude, a film about the emerging commercial space industry, Advenit Makaya, Advanced Manufacturing Engineer at ESA, remarked on the potential for recycling space debris in the process rather than having to rely on raw materials launched to the ISS. Rob Postema, ESA Project Manager for Metal 3D, told The Register that the agency was indeed looking at "circular" solutions in its drive for greater sustainability. However, don't hold your breath for putting bits of space garbage into one end and getting shiny metal parts out of the other: "A timeline is difficult to indicate, some early results are achieved with ground activities, ready to evaluate solutions in space."

The printer is overseen from the ground and operated for around four hours per day. The ground team has to check each layer via images and a scan of the surface area; printing a sample can take 10-25 days. However, Postema said: "Through automated control of the printing process as well as continuous operations, this can be substantially reduced." Knick-knacks from orbits are all well and good, but could something more substantial be produced? Yes, although not with this demonstrator, which can print to the outer dimensions of a soft drink can. Postema noted that while the demonstrator could manage smaller parts, either as a single unit or as part of larger structures, "there are definitely opportunities to create 3D shapes and parts with this technology larger than what we have done with this Technology Demonstrator."

"SpaceX deployed its 7,000th Starlink satellite this week, making the vast majority of active satellites around earth part of a single megaconstellation," writes Slashdot reader DogFoodBuss. "The Starlink communications system is now orders of magnitude larger than its nearest competitor, offering unprecedented access to low-latency broadband from anywhere on the planet." According to the latest data from satellite tracker CelesTrak, SpaceX now controls over 62% of all operational satellites. The Independent reports: The latest data from non-profit satellite tracker CelesTrak shows that SpaceX has 6,370 active Starlink satellites in low-Earth orbit, with several hundred more inactive or deorbited. The figure, which has risen more than six-fold in just three years, represents just over 62 per cent of all operational satellites, and is roughly 10-times the number of Starlink's closest rival, UK-based startup OneWeb.

SpaceX plans to launch up to 42,000 satellites to complete the Starlink constellation, capable of delivering high-speed internet and phone connectivity to any corner of the globe. Starlink currently operates in 102 countries and has more than three million customers paying a monthly fee to access the network through a $300 ground-based dish. The company expects to launch its service in dozens more countries, with only Afghanistan, China, Iran, North Korea, Russia and Syria not on the current waitlist due to internet restrictions or trade embargos. "Starlink now constitutes roughly 2/3 of all active Earth satellites," SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said on X following the latest SpaceX launch.

The United States, United Kingdom and European Union have signed the first "legally binding" international AI treaty on Thursday, the Council of Europe human rights organization said. Called the AI Convention, the treaty promotes responsible innovation and addresses the risks AI may pose. Reuters reports: The AI Convention mainly focuses on the protection of human rights of people affected by AI systems and is separate from the EU AI Act, which entered into force last month. The EU's AI Act entails comprehensive regulations on the development, deployment, and use of AI systems within the EU internal market. The Council of Europe, founded in 1949, is an international organization distinct from the EU with a mandate to safeguard human rights; 46 countries are members, including all the 27 EU member states. An ad hoc committee in 2019 started examining the feasibility of an AI framework convention and a Committee on Artificial Intelligence was formed in 2022 which drafted and negotiated the text. The signatories can choose to adopt or maintain legislative, administrative or other measures to give effect to the provisions.

Francesca Fanucci, a legal expert at ECNL (European Center for Not-for-Profit Law Stichting) who contributed to the treaty's drafting process alongside other civil society groups, told Reuters the agreement had been "watered down" into a broad set of principles. "The formulation of principles and obligations in this convention is so overbroad and fraught with caveats that it raises serious questions about their legal certainty and effective enforceability," she said. Fanucci highlighted exemptions on AI systems used for national security purposes, and limited scrutiny of private companies versus the public sector, as flaws. "This double standard is disappointing," she added.

AT&T has filed a lawsuit against Broadcom, alleging that Broadcom is refusing to honor an extended support agreement for VMware software unless AT&T purchases additional subscriptions it doesn't need. The company warns the consequences could risk massive outages for AT&T's customer support operations and critical federal services, including the U.S. President's office. The Register reports: A complaint [PDF] filed last week in the Supreme Court of New York State explains that AT&T holds perpetual licenses for VMware software and paid for support services under a contract that ends on September 8. The complaint also alleges that AT&T has an option to extend that support deal for two years -- provided it activates the option before the end of the current deal. AT&T's filing claims it exercised that option, but that Broadcom "is refusing to honor" the contract. Broadcom has apparently told AT&T it will continue to provide support if the comms giant "agrees to purchase scores of subscription services and software." AT&T counters that it "does not want or need" those subscriptions, because they:

- Would impose significant additional contractual and technological obligations on AT
- Would require AT&T to invest potentially millions to develop its network to accommodate the new software;
- May violate certain rights of first refusal that AT&T has granted to third parties;
- Would cost AT&T tens of millions more than the price of the support services alone.

[...] The complaint also suggests Broadcom's refusal to extend support creates enormous risk for US national security -- some of the ~8,600 servers that host AT&T's ~75,000 VMs "are dedicated to various national security and public safety agencies within the federal government as well as the Office of the President." Other VMs are relied upon by emergency responders, and still more "deliver services to millions of AT&T customers worldwide" according to the suit. Without support from Broadcom, AT&T claims it fears "widespread network outages that could cripple the operations of millions of AT&T customers worldwide" because it may not be able to fix VMware's software.

The U.K.'s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has formally opened an investigation into Ticketmaster's compliance with consumer protection law in relation to the sale of Oasis concert tickets. From a report: The CMA said on Thursday that it is investigating whether "Ticketmaster has engaged in unfair commercial practices which are prohibited under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008"; "People were given clear and timely information to explain that the tickets could be subject to so-called 'dynamic pricing' with prices changing depending on demand, and how this would operate, including the price they would pay for any tickets purchased"; and if "People were put under pressure to buy tickets within a short period of time -- at a higher price than they understood they would have to pay, potentially impacting their purchasing decisions." The CMA said that it will now engage with Ticketmaster and gather evidence to consider whether it thinks the company has broken consumer protection law.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Wired: Jazmin Jones knowswhat she did. "If you're online, there's this idea of trolling," Jones, the director behindSeeking Mavis Beacon, said during a recent panel for her new documentary. "For this project, some things we're taking incredibly seriously ... and other things we're trolling. We're trolling this idea of a detective because we're also, like,ACAB." Her trolling, though, was for a good reason. Jones and fellow filmmaker Olivia Mckayla Ross did it in hopes of finding the woman behind Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing. The popular teaching tool was released in 1987 by The Software Toolworks, a video game and software company based in California that produced educational chess, reading, and math games. Mavis, essentially the "mascot" of the game, is a Black woman donned in professional clothes and a slicked-back bun. Though Mavis Beacon was not an actual person, Jones and Ross say that she is one of the first examples of Black representation they witnessed in tech. Seeking Mavis Beacon, which opened in New York City on August 30 and is rolling out to other cities in September, is their attempt to uncover the story behind the face, which appeared on the tool's packaging and later as part of its interface.

The film shows the duo setting up a detective room, conversing over FaceTime, running up to people on the street, and even tracking down a relative connected to the ever-elusive Mavis. But the journey of their search turned up a different question they didn't initially expect: What are the impacts of sexism, racism, privacy, and exploitation in a world where you can present yourself any way you want to? Using shots from computer screens, deep dives through archival footage, and sit-down interviews, the noir-style documentary reveals that Mavis Beacon is actually Renee L'Esperance, a Black model from Haiti who was paid $500 for her likeness with no royalties, despite the program selling millions of copies. [...]

In a world where anyone can create images of folks of any race, gender, or sexual orientation without having to fully compensate the real people who inspired them, Jones and Ross are working to preserve not only the data behind Mavis Beacon but also the humanity behind the software. On the panel, hosted by Black Girls in Media, Ross stated that the film's social media has a form where users of Mavis Beacon can share what the game has meant to them, for archival purposes. "On some level, Olivia and I are trolling ideas of worlds that we never felt safe in or protected by," Jones said during the panel. "And in other ways, we are honoring this legacy of cyber feminism, historians, and care workers that we are very seriously indebted to." You can watch the trailer for "Seeking Mavis Beacon" on YouTube.

The Register's Brandon Vigliarolo reports: Microsoft's "acquihire" of Inflection AI was today cleared by UK authorities on the grounds that the startup isn't big enough for its absorption by Microsoft to affect competition in the enterprise AI space. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) confirmed the conclusion of its investigation by publishing a summary of its decision. While the CMA found that Microsoft's recruitment of Inflection co-founders Mustafa Suleyman and Karen Simonyan, along with other Inflection employees, in March 2024 to lead Microsoft's new AI division did create a relevant merger situation, a bit of digging indicated everything was above board.

As we explained when the CMA kicked off its investigation in July, the agency's definition of relevant merger situations includes instances where two or more enterprises have ceased to be distinct, and when the deal either exceeds 70 million pounds or 25 percent of the national supply of a good or service. In both cases, the CMA determined [PDF], the Microsoft/Inflection deal met the criteria. As to whether the matter could lead to a substantial lessening of competition, that's where the CMA decided everything was OK.

"Prior to the transaction, Inflection had a very small share of UK domain visits for chatbots and conversational AI tools and ... had not been able to materially increase or sustain its chatbot user numbers," the CMA said. "Competitors did not regard Inflection's capabilities with regard to EQ [emotional intelligence, which was an Inflection selling point] or other product innovation as a material competitive constraint." In addition, the CMA said Inflection's foundational model offering wouldn't exert any "material competitive constraint" on Microsoft or other enterprise foundational model suppliers as none of the potential Inflection customers the CMA spoke with during its probe identified any features that made Inflection's software more attractive than other brands. Ouch.

After an initial euphoric rush to the cloud, admins are questioning the value and promise of the tech giant's services. The Register: According to a report published by UK cloud outfit Civo, more than a third of organizations surveyed reckoned that their move to the cloud had failed to live up to promises of cost-effectiveness. Over half reported a rise in their cloud bill. Although the survey, unsurprisingly, paints Civo in a flattering light, some of its figures may make uncomfortable reading for customers sold on the promises from hyperscalers. Like-for-like comparisons for a simple three-node cluster with 200 GB of persistent storage and a 5 TB data transfer showed prices going from $1,278.58 in 2022 to $1,458.68 in 2024 on Microsoft Azure.

For Google, the price went from $1,107.61 to $1,250.35. According to Civo's figures, the cost at AWS increased from $1,142.46 to $1,234.59. "The Kubernetes prices were taken from the hyperscalers' very own pricing calculators," a Civo spokesperson told The Register. In the IT world, there is an expectation that bang for buck increases as time goes by, but in this example, prices are rising faster than the rate of inflation, and what customers receive for their money remains unchanged.

Lego plans to make half of its bricks from renewable or recycled materials by 2026, with a goal of fully transitioning by 2032. While the company cites higher production costs and challenges with existing materials, it says it's committed to not passing these costs onto consumers. The Guardian reports: The Danish company last year ditched efforts to make bricks entirely from recycled bottles because of cost and production issues. At the moment, 22% of the material in its colourful bricks is not made from fossil fuels. The toymaker hopes gradually to bring down the amount of oil-based plastic it uses by paying up to 70% more for certified renewable resin, the raw plastic used to manufacture the bricks, in an attempt to encourage manufacturers to increase production. [...] Lego has also expanded its brick takeback programme, Replay -- where consumers can donate old bricks to the company through free shipping -- into the UK and continued to test similar models in the US and Europe.