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      ‘From liabilities to goldmines’: refineries eye record profits from diesel shortage

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      Firms turning crude oil into the ‘workhorse’ fuel stand to gain most despite economic fallout from record pricesDays after Donald Trump announced a deal to import Russian diesel into the US in an effort to lower soaring pump prices, the world’s energy watchdog has warned that the global fuel shortage will drag into 2027.Trump’s temporary sanctions reprieve was criticised for offering “too little, too late” to temper the sky high pump prices triggered by the shutdown of war-damaged refineries in the Middle East and Russia – once the world’s second-largest diesel exporter behind the US. Continue reading… More

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      Why are so many Americans forced to work standing up – unlike their president? | Arwa Mahdawi

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      Airports’ TSA staff have been stripped of their chairs in the name of ‘professionalism’. Most supermarket staff have never had them. Meanwhile, Donald Trump is seated at his desk – and apparently snoozingGreat news for everyone who is soon to fly via a US airport: the Trump administration has just elevated the travel experience. You still risk getting arrested by immigration agents and thrown into a detention centre, but never mind that! Instead, luxuriate in the fact that none of the poorly paid Transportation Security Administration (TSA) staff with whom you interact will be sitting down. The government recently got rid of all the chairs at travel document checking stations, arguing that “maintaining a standing posture helps reinforce professionalism” and strengthens “our security posture and … commitment to hospitality”. Funnily enough, border patrol and customs officers have not adopted the same policy. Perhaps because their job tends to involve being as inhospitable as possible.TSA agents aren’t the only US workers getting sore calf muscles during their shifts. Unlike their European and British counterparts, cashiers at US supermarkets have traditionally been forced to stand while working. The US’s upright obsession seems to be down to a Protestant work ethic and a lack of labour laws. Sitting apparently conveys laziness to the discerning American consumer. Over the years there have been numerous right-to-sit lawsuits pushing back on mandatory standing but, while things are shifting slightly, seated supermarket cashiers are still unusual. One exception is Aldi, which has been expanding aggressively in the US. Cashiers get chairs at Aldi because (surprise) it’s more efficient when your workers’ feet aren’t aching all the time. Continue reading… More

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      ‘Like being in a vortex’: US report details extent of ‘devastating’ dating-app scams

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      Congress calls for Match Group and others to do more to help victims like Mary, who lost $100,000 to app scammerMary met a man on the dating app Plenty of Fish in 2024. She told the Guardian she had been looking for a connection, but instead became the victim of a romance scam that cost her almost $100,000.“There was a lot of conversation, and then it started with the constant contact, pressure and repeated asks for money,” Mary, who asked that her last name be withheld, said in an interview on Tuesday. “It just escalated really, really quickly.” Continue reading… More

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      Enter the Zachbot: Trump’s new press secretary malfunctions on podium debut

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      Katie Zacharia’s maiden briefing was excruciating – at least her predecessor had delivered her propaganda hotWell, that was weird. Katie Zacharia, the new White House press secretary, made her debut on the podium on Tuesday with all the warmth, wisdom and political dexterity of an AI avatar.Zacharia was all stilted delivery, nervous tics and lack of eye contact. With an eerie lack of emotion, she served up pro-Trump talking points, took only three questions and vanished after 14 minutes. It was like the West Wing had turned into uncanny valley. Continue reading… More

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      US transport secretary’s war on ‘woke’ could make roads even deadlier, experts warn

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      Sean Duffy targets bike lanes and immigrant truck drivers while steering funds away from addressing lethal US roadsBarbara McCann may have been the first person to notice that the Federal Highway Administration had removed several safety policies from public view.McCann worked on road safety policy at the US Department of Transportation (USDOT) for more than a decade across multiple administrations, retiring in January 2025 just before Donald Trump’s second term started. After Sean Duffy, the president’s ally and former Fox news host, took the wheel at USDOT, she became increasingly worried as the secretary appeared unmotivated to address pedestrian safety and regularly bashed bike infrastructure. Continue reading… More

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      ‘No one’s here, no one knows’: north-east Ohio is ground zero for ICE flights

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      Away from the public eye, deportation planes at Youngstown-Warren and Akron-Canton airports carry hundreds of immigrants daily amid Trump’s ICE crackdownJust after 10.30am on a recent weekday morning, a Bombardier CRJ200 Air Wisconsin aircraft landed at Youngstown-Warren regional airport.Having made the 75-minute flight from Milwaukee, the 50-seater came to a halt and its twin engines fired down next to another Air Wisconsin plane and a larger Eastern Air Express Boeing 737, planes that flew in the evening before from Alexandria, Louisiana. Continue reading… More

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      AI godfather Geoffrey Hinton: ‘We’re creating alien beings. I’m willing to be selfish and choose humans’

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      The pioneering computer scientist on why Trump is using ‘superintelligence’ wrong, whether AI could wipe out humanity – and how our biggest challenge will be accepting we’re not the only intelligent beingsDonald Trump is a “corrupt, senile felon” whose fixation on the term superintelligence proves he knows nothing about AI, said Geoffrey Hinton, “godfather” of the technology, in a wide-ranging interview where he doubled down on recent warnings that AI models pose an existential threat to humanity and scoffed at claims the industry could regulate itself.The pioneering computer scientist, whose work helped lay the foundations of modern AI, has since become one of the technology’s most vocal critics. His latest remarks come after a tumultuous month during which a growing list of senior AI scientists and researchers have joined Hinton in ringing the alarm about how the technology he helped create could ultimately escape human control, sparking an industry crisis, the hasty assembly of congressional meetings and a rare global consensus that something must be done. Continue reading… More

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      Democrats rebuke federal raid of Ilhan Omar’s home: ‘rogue abuse of power’

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      Top House Democrats question the ‘corrupt weaponization’ of federal government against Trump’s adversariesIlhan Omar’s Democratic colleagues have condemned federal agents’ search of the Minnesota congresswoman’s home on Monday morning, describing it as “deeply disturbing” and emblematic of the Trump administration’s “corrupt weaponization” of the US government.House Democratic leaders, including minority leader Hakeem Jeffries, party whip Katherine Clark and caucus chair Pete Aguilar, issued a joint statement excoriating the president for the search. Continue reading… More