Author: aliakhan00901

Decentralized open source social network Mastodon is rolling out its latest release, version 4.5, which brings support for Quote Posts to all server operators, along with other features for admins, conversation improvements, and more. The addition of quote posts is one of the bigger changes to how Mastodon’s social network operates, as the social network attempts to compete against larger rivals, like X and Threads. Quoting can be a conversation driver and is considered a baseline feature for text-first social networks. But Mastodon wanted to ensure the feature launched with more user protections so as not to change the culture…

The BBC has upheld 20 impartiality complaints over the way presenter Martine Croxall altered a script she was reading live on the BBC News Channel, which referred to “pregnant people” earlier this year.Croxall was introducing an interview about research on groups most at risk during UK heatwaves, which quoted a release from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM).The presenter changed her script to instead say “women”, and the BBC’s Executive Complaints Unit (ECU) said it considered her facial expression as she said this gave the “strong impression of expressing a personal view on a controversial matter.”The presenter…

It is the latest move in a growing international effort to put guardrails around a burgeoning frontier – technologies that harness data from the brain and nervous system.Unesco has adopted a set of global standards on the ethics of neurotechnology, a field that has been described as “a bit of a wild west”.“There is no control,” said Unesco’s chief of bioethics, Dafna Feinholz. “We have to inform the people about the risks, the potential benefits, the alternatives, so that people have the possibility to say ‘I accept, or I don’t accept’.”She said the new standards were driven by two recent…

The COP30 global climate summit is opening on November 10, but the world’s top polluters will not be attending – including the US, with Trump calling climate change a “socialist hoax”. But while he would have been laughed at a few years ago, the narrative that too much is being made of climate change “is increasingly gaining ground”, says FRANCE 24’s Angela Diffley.

STADIO OLIMPICO, ROME, ITALY – 2025/10/26: Dusan Vlahovic and Teun Koopmeiners of Juventus FC during the Serie A 2025/2026 football match between SS Laziio and Juventus FC. Lazio won 1-0 over Juventus. (Photo by Andrea Staccioli/Insidefoto/LightRocket via Getty Images)Insidefoto/LightRocket via Getty ImagesIt only took Luciano Spalletti two games, but perhaps the Teun Koopmeiners conundrum has been solved.The Dutchman has looked incredibly, and also frustratingly, out of place since arriving in a big-money move from Atalanta two summers’ ago.Both Thiago Motta and Igor Tudor tried to get the best out of him, but to no avail.Spalletti, meanwhile, has been in charge…

Spotify has introduced a new “listening stats” feature that gives you a weekly overview of your recent music streaming habits. It essentially acts like a mini version of Spotify’s annual Wrapped review, showing you which artists and songs you’ve listened to the most each week, and making curated playlists inspired by those results. Listening stats will be available to revisit for four weeks.Like Wrapped, the feature allows users to share their results to platforms like Instagram and WhatsApp, and also provides a “special highlight that captures what makes your listening unique,” according to Spotify, such as new artist discoveries, fan…

The Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) is hereby transmitting the report of the fifth meeting of the International Health Regulations (2005) (IHR) Emergency Committee (Committee) regarding the upsurge of mpox 2024, held on Thursday, 4 September 2025, from 12:00 to 17:00 CEST.Concurring with the advice and considerations expressed by the Committee during the meeting, the WHO Director-General, on 5 September 2025, determined that the upsurge of mpox 2024 no longer constitutes a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC). The WHO Director-General, following further thorough consideration of the advice by the Committee to issue temporary recommendations, considers that…

Faced with a surfeit of submissions, a documentary development grant inspired by the “Stay in L.A.” production movement has selected three films for financial support. The Stay in L.A. Documentary Development Grant committee announced on Thursday that an untitled true crime film from Adam Saltzberg, Mobolaji Olambiwonnu’s The Village on My Block and Mackenzie Rohan’s Stepping Out of the Background will split the $30,000 award, which was originally intended for just one project. Each film will receive $10,000 to aid in their development and production as part of the grant’s goal to uplift L.A.-area stories. The local documentary company All…

Zhao Xintong ended Mark Selby’s title hopes and Wu Yize extended a remarkable streak of form at the International Championship in Nanjing – where John Higgins and Stephen Maguire set up an all-Scottish semi-final.World champion Zhao came from 4-2 down, after breaks of 118 and 107 by Selby, to win their quarter-final 6-5 with a run of 63 in the decider.Victory means the 28-year-old is through to the last four of a ranking event for the first time since his world title win at the Crucible in May.”That was unbelievable. It was my first time beating Mark Selby and I…

Malcolm PriorBBC News rural affairs producerPA MediaBird flu outbreaks across UK farms has led to a mandatory housing order being brought inThe bird flu virus infecting farm flocks across the UK could be the most infectious yet, the government’s former top expert in avian virology has warned.The Pirbright Institute’s Professor Ian Brown, formerly director of science at the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA), said farmers should be “prepared for the worst”.With a national mandatory housing order brought into force in England on Thursday, one free-range egg producer in Wiltshire told the BBC she felt “terrible” bringing her 32,000 hens…