Instagram’s Threads has made an important change – and it could help explain why social media feels different

The Independent - Oct 14, 2026

Meta-owned platform says that it is trying to show more posts that users will actually be interested in

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Cyberattack targeting refrigeration systems hits 700 supermarkets, French gov't says
Oct 14, 2026
Cyberattack targeting refrigeration systems hits 700 supermarkets, French gov't says

PARIS — Cyberattacks have disrupted European supermarket chains, causing refrigeration systems to overheat at hundreds of stores in France and forcing a major grocer to shut down websites serving customers in Europe and the United States. French Finance Minister Roland Lescure told Parliament on Tuesday that about 700 of the country’s 10,000 supermarkets were affected. He said there was no risk to France’s food supplies but acknowledged that the attack “touches the heart of our food security.” ″It was a wake-up call for everyone,” he said. The Paris prosecutor’s office said Tuesday that its cybercrime unit was investigating the large-scale attack, including the extent of damage caused by spoiled food and possible fires. Dominique Schelcher, CEO of French grocery chain Cooperative U, said 80 of the company’s 2,000 stores were affected. Most managed to prevent disruptions to refrigeration, but some had to discard food, he said in a post on X. “Targeting equipment essential to the preservation of fresh products is an attack on the French food supply chain. It is unprecede

Russia detains Japanese journalist on suspicion of spying
Oct 14, 2026
Russia detains Japanese journalist on suspicion of spying

MOSCOW — Russia's Federal Security Service said it detained a Japanese journalist accused of gathering information on Russia's defence capabilities, news agencies reported on Tuesday. FSB said the journalist for the Hokkaido Shimbun newspaper had been detained in the far eastern Sakhalin region before he planned to leave Russia, and was subsequently transferred to custody in Moscow, Interfax reported. Russian state TV showed a man lying on a floor and handcuffed by three masked men in black uniform. A voice behind the scene tells him he is suspected of spying. TV also showed him boarding a plane accompanied by two FSB servicemen, then in a cage on trial in a Moscow court, which authorised his custody for nearly two months. Russia regards Japan as an "unfriendly" country as it has joined Western sanctions against Moscow over the war in Ukraine. Japan's embassy in Moscow did not answer phone calls out of business hours. Russia and Japan never signed a formal World War Two peace treaty, with the main obstacle being an unresolved territorial dispute over the Kuril Islands, known in Japan as

AI models may soon self-replicate across smart-home devices, Anthropic warns
Oct 14, 2026
AI models may soon self-replicate across smart-home devices, Anthropic warns

Anthropic said on Monday that small AI models could be months away from self-replicating across internet-connected devices, raising the possibility of AI botnets spreading quickly, fighting takedown attempts and even breaking into data centers to turbocharge their growth. Last month, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei first floated the idea that within the next year or even sooner, AI might be able to hijack "the entire internet" with "a persistent botnet," a warning that raised eyebrows in the cybersecurity community. Botnets — vast networks of devices controlled by malicious operators — have been around since the early days of the internet, and are still around. The network typically includes poorly secured Internet of Things (IoT) devices, such as Android TV boxes, smart appliances and security cameras, and is used by hackers to send spam, seed malware, or sabotage target companies using floods of bogus traffic. Anthropic's Monday blog post appeared to be the first attempt to articulate how that might happen. The company said that its experiments showed that a malicious AI agent could stit

New White House spokeswoman heavy on Trump praise, light on questions in debut
Oct 14, 2026
New White House spokeswoman heavy on Trump praise, light on questions in debut

WASHINGTON — New White House Press Secretary Katie Zacharia made her briefing room debut Tuesday by taking remarkably few questions from journalists while leaving no doubt who she believes has all the answers — Donald Trump. "I get to do what I was doing on the outside already, which was hoping to amplify, multiply and expand upon President Trump's incredible agenda for the American people," she said, describing her vision for the job. Zacharia, a 41-year-old devotee of Trump's hard-right MAGA movement, is taking over the White House communications role just as Republicans face warnings of heavy defeat in upcoming midterm elections. She's also replacing the combative but skilled former press secretary Karoline Leavitt at a time when polls show the 80-year-old president becoming ever more unpopular. Little known to the general public, Zacharia opened her first session at the famous briefing room podium by reading — at a notably slow pace — a lengthy list of what she said were achievements under the "energetic" leader. These types of initial roundups, dubbed "toppers" in White House

Investigators hunt French supermarket fridge hackers, no claim of responsibility
Oct 14, 2026
Investigators hunt French supermarket fridge hackers, no claim of responsibility

PARIS — French investigators on Tuesday were hunting the hackers who seized control of cooling units at hundreds of supermarkets in a cyberattack that underlined the vulnerabilities of connected systems, with no group publicly claiming responsibility. The investigation comes as Dutch supermarket company Ahold Delhaize grapples with a separate cybersecurity incident that disrupted online services, although Dutch authorities said they saw no connection between the two events. The absence of a claim of responsibility by hacktivists or a ransom demand by cybercriminals has puzzled French investigators, according to a source with knowledge of the probe. Typically, such groups tend to quickly seek to monetise their hacks or claim credit for them for political ends. The cyberattack, which manually overrode the temperatures at fridges in supermarket groups including Carrefour, Monoprix, Intermarche and Cooperative U, appears to have been easy to pull off, three cyber experts told Reuters. Staff at some Paris supermarkets threw boxes full of perished meat and frozen goods into giant trash conta

Man killed after being thrown from Six Flags roller coaster, striking patrons: police
Oct 14, 2026
Man killed after being thrown from Six Flags roller coaster, striking patrons: police

AUSTELL, Ga. — A man killed on a roller coaster at Six Flags over Georgia was thrown from the ride and struck other patrons, police say. Visitors at Six Flags near Atlanta described watching a man being tossed from a roller coaster and falling to his death, causing the theme park operator to temporarily close nine similar roller coasters nationwide. Several others were injured in the incident Monday at Six Flags Over Georgia. Officials have not released any information about the man who died or the conditions of the others. Authorities and Six Flags did not identify the ride associated with the man's death, but local TV stations showed video of passengers being evacuated from the Goliath roller coaster. The park already was scheduled to be closed Tuesday. One of Goliath's trains remained on its track Tuesday, seemingly where it stopped as it was climbing the ride's first hill. Witnesses describe seeing a man fly out of the roller coaster Logan Conner said he was on Goliath with his fiancée when he saw the man come out of his seat. “The man started levitating in the air sideways,” he

Cornell suspends fraternity social events after alleged gang rape
Oct 14, 2026
Cornell suspends fraternity social events after alleged gang rape

NEW YORK — Cornell University has suspended fraternity social events for the academic year, its president said Tuesday, following outcry over an alleged gang rape at one of the all-male clubs. "All parties and social events in Interfraternity Council (IFC) houses at Cornell will be suspended for the remainder of the 2026-2027 academic year," Cornell President Michael Kotlikoff said in a statement. "These measures will provide time for a thorough review of fraternity life at Cornell to determine whether and how it can safely continue." The 2024 incident, as alleged in a graphic lawsuit filed last month, has drawn accusations that the Ivy League institution in New York state failed to properly punish the men involved. The accuser claimed in a civil lawsuit that she was pressured to take ketamine, assaulted and raped by seven members of the Chi Phi fraternity -- one of several "Greek life" organizations common across U.S. colleges. Following her initial allegations in 2024, Cornell shut down the fraternity and temporarily suspended the accused male students, two of whom were later expelled

Why Saudi Arabia has struggled to defend itself against Houthis' recent attacks
Oct 14, 2026
Why Saudi Arabia has struggled to defend itself against Houthis' recent attacks

Saudi Arabia has one of the world’s most expensive and sophisticated arsenals, filled with American warplanes, missile defenses and other cutting-edge technology. But in recent days it has appeared helpless in the face of barrages of missiles and drones fired by the Houthi rebel group from neighboring Yemen. The attacks have struck Saudi airports, killed at least 14 people and forced schoolchildren and businesspeople to stay indoors and work from home. The Iran-backed Houthis, once seen as little more than a ragtag militia, have grown into a formidable fighting force. They have inflicted damage on the region’s top oil producer, threatened critical supply routes in the Red Sea and now risk reigniting a full-scale war on the Arabian Peninsula that displaced millions and killed tens of thousands. The Houthis are attacking Saudi Arabia because it supports government forces in Yemen the rebels seek to overthrow. As Saudi Arabia investigates how its air defenses failed to stop the Houthis' attacks, it must also consider how to respond and what the rebels might do next. Here’s what we kno

Saudi Arabia strikes Yemen capital as Houthis vow to retaliate
Oct 14, 2026
Saudi Arabia strikes Yemen capital as Houthis vow to retaliate

RIYADH — Yemen's Iran-allied Houthis said Saudi Arabia was attacking the Yemeni capital Sanaa on Tuesday after a Saudi-led coalition warned civilians to stay away from an oil depot on the city outskirts, part of a rapidly escalating war between the sides. The Houthis have for a week been targeting Saudi airports, including a strike on Riyadh on Saturday that killed 13 people, in retaliation for the kingdom's backing of government forces against the Houthis in Yemen's reignited civil war. Houthi-run Al-Masirah television reported that the Saudi-led coalition had targeted the Yemen Petroleum Company's Sabah central station, a fuel depot on the outskirts of Sanaa. YPC said the facility did not currently hold any stocks of petroleum products and that targeting it did not affect oil reserves or supply chains. However, the Houthis had earlier threatened a "harsh and painful" response to any strikes on Sanaa, with spokesperson Yahya Saree saying targets could include the Saudi Aramco headquarters in Dhahran and an oil refinery in Riyadh. The group renewed earlier warnings it had issued to oil

Wyoming grad student who allegedly poisoned colleague arrested before fleeing to China
Oct 14, 2026
Wyoming grad student who allegedly poisoned colleague arrested before fleeing to China

CHEYENNE, Wyo. — A Wyoming microbiology graduate student from China has been arrested on accusations she poisoned the tea of a fellow student who had pending patents and with whom she didn’t get along, then tried to flee the country after police questioned her. Aili Wang, 32, was arrested Oct. 6 at Los Angeles International Airport, where prosecutors allege she sought to return to China. With her were laptops, electronic storage devices and documents now in the possession of police, who allege Wang was seen on surveillance video rummaging through the desk of the victim who specialized in research similar to what she once did in China. Wang remained jailed without bail Tuesday in Los Angeles. She allegedly bought a chemical, acrylamide, over eBay, and it was first detected when the alleged victim’s wife and others tested water from the coffee maker he used to brew tea. U.S. officials for years have accused China of stealing intellectual property from American universities. Wang had no attorney listed in court documents. The AP tried to reach her via email and LinkedIn messages.

Trump administration cuts refugees' deadline to contest status termination, raising fears
Oct 14, 2026
Trump administration cuts refugees' deadline to contest status termination, raising fears

MIAMI — The Trump administration is cutting the time refugees have to contest the termination of their status, a move critics say could put tens of thousands of people who fled persecution and wars in their home countries on a path to deportation. The new policy, which goes into effect Wednesday, reduces from 30 to 10 the number of days refugees have to challenge the revocation of their status. It is part of a broader effort by the Trump administration to restrict and transform a program that has served for decades as a pathway for refugees. The goal of the new policy, according to the document, is to “mitigate potential risks” associated with people who were admitted as refugees but were not eligible for refugee status. The policy does not say exactly how many people could be affected, but it specifically refers to refugees admitted during President Joe Biden’s administration , when it says there was an “alarming erosion of the integrity” of the refugee program. Refugee advocates dispute that claim. The Trump administration is already reviewing the cases of at least 185,000

Human rights groups criticize uncontested election of 15 countries to top UN human rights body
Oct 14, 2026
Human rights groups criticize uncontested election of 15 countries to top UN human rights body

UNITED NATIONS — Human rights groups sharply criticized Tuesday's uncontested election of 15 members of the United Nations’ premier human rights body, saying it resulted in countries with poor rights records winning seats. Positions on the 47-nation Human Rights Council are allocated to the U.N.’s regional groups to ensure geographical representation. And for the second year in a row, all regional groups put forward the exact number of candidates for available seats for the three-year term. This meant that in Tuesday’s election in the 193-member General Assembly there were no competitive races. “This uncompetitive vote makes a mockery of the word ‘election,’” said Louis Charbonneau, U.N. director at Human Rights Watch. “No one should have a seat on this crucial body handed to them on a silver platter.” He called on U.N. member nations to “insist on competitive slates so they can reject candidates with poor human rights records.” In Tuesday’s vote, the Africa group’s Zambia, Ghana, Nigeria and Burundi were elected. The Asia-Pacific group’s Kuwait, Nepal, Jord

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