Booking.com says hackers accessed customer reservation data in a breach that may have exposed booking details, names, email addresses, phone numbers, addresses, and messages shared with accommodations. PCMag reports: On Sunday, users reported receiving emails from Booking.com, warning them that "unauthorized third parties may have been able to access certain booking information associated with your reservation." The email suggests the hackers have already exploited customer information. "We recently noticed suspicious activity affecting a number of reservations, and we immediately took action to contain the issue," Booking.com wrote. "Based on the findings of our investigation to date, accessed information could include booking details and name(s), emails, addresses, phone numbers associated with the booking, and anything that you may have shared with the accommodation." Amsterdam-based Booking.com has now generated new PINs for customer reservations to prevent hackers from accessing them. Still, the incident risks exposing affected customers to potential phishing scams. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation and several Reddit users say they received scam messages from accounts posing as Booking.com.
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Stunning loss of rightwing populist in Hungary carries symbolic and psychological significance for US politics
For US Democrats seeking rays of light in the dark landscape of Donald Trump’s authoritarian onslaught, illumination has arrived from the unlikely source of Budapest.
Viktor Orbán’s stunning defeat in Hungary’s general election – ending 16 years of unbroken rule for his governing Fidesz party – carries symbolic and psychological significance for American politics out of all proportion to the central European country’s modest size and distance from the US.
Continue reading...US government reverses course on removing LGBTQ+ Pride flag from New York monument after efforts from advocates
The Trump administration agreed Monday to keep flying a rainbow Pride flag at the Stonewall national monument, reversing course after removing the banner in February.
The government revealed the decision as it seeks to settle a lawsuit filed by LGBTQ+ and historic preservation groups who had sought to block the removal. A judge must still approve the agreement.
Continue reading...The military approach has backfired, with Iran’s position only strengthened. But the door is still open to a deal
Donald Trump was quick to declare victory over Iran, but this weekend’s negotiations suggest that Tehran has the upper hand. His war of choice has backfired. His military solution has emboldened rather than weakened Iran. Diplomacy is his only reasonable option.
Trump may have hoped that the marathon 16-hour talks in Pakistan would extract him from his self-created quagmire, but the issues that have long divided Washington and Tehran are complex. When it turned out that Iran wanted to negotiate rather than capitulate, JD Vance, who led the US diplomatic team, packed his bags and went home.
Kenneth Roth is a Guardian US columnist, visiting professor at Princeton’s School of Public and International Affairs, and former executive director of Human Rights Watch. He is the author of Righting Wrongs: Three Decades on the Front Lines Battling Abusive Governments
Continue reading...House speaker under pressure over Senate proposal hardline Republicans claim is a win for Democrats; Senate to debate Save America act that would require new voters to prove US citizenship
Donald Trump appears to have deleted an AI-generated image of himself that he posted to Truth Social on Sunday, depicting him as a Jesus Christ-like figure, with divine light emanating from his hands as he heals a stricken man in a hospital bed with a demon from hell floating in the background.
The removal of the post on social media come after some of the president’s most high-profile and loyal Christian supporters, many of whom have stood by the president through multiple other indiscretions, are unable to contain their righteous fury.
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Exclusive: Pre-chemotherapy tests previously did not look for gene variant that put some ethnicities at higher risk of serious side effects
Thousands of cancer patients from minority ethnic backgrounds will have access to “groundbreaking” genetic testing on the NHS that previously discriminated against them.
This routine form of genetic testing, used before chemotherapy treatment, could save the lives of Black and minority ethnic cancer patients who already face poorer health outcomes after diagnosis compared with their white counterparts.
Continue reading...The looming shortage of medicines and fertiliser is only going to get worse with the latest US blockade. Europe and the UK need to step up diplomatically
Not our war, not our problem.
For weeks now, that has been Europe’s increasingly confident position on the conflict in Iran: that it didn’t ask for this ill-judged fight, can hardly be expected to join in when it has no idea what war crimes Donald Trump might be contemplating next, and certainly isn’t obliged to extricate him from his own wilfully deep hole. For Keir Starmer in particular, staying out of the war and letting slip his exasperation has been that rarest of prizes: a chance to do what the Labour party desperately wants to do, but which also happens to be both the right thing and the popular one. However, the trouble with “not our war, not our problem” is that, as of this weekend, only half of it remains true.
Continue reading...Northern Irishman moves the needle like no one else in his sport, even more so after his thrilling Masters defence
Levels of greatness need not always be defined by numbers. Nick Faldo’s six majors to Rory McIlroy’s five prior to events at Augusta National on Sunday gave the Englishman the edge in the eyes of many in respect of Europe’s finest ever golfer. That McIlroy had already won the career grand slam of majors, therefore passing every test his sport has to offer, meant he was more worthy of the crown. Those who want to add Harry Vardon and a bygone age to the conversation should check the Jersey man’s scoring for his septet of major wins.
It is the nature of McIlroy’s achievement that sets him apart. Retaining the Masters for major No 6 places McIlroy in lofty company – Faldo, Phil Mickelson and Lee Trevino. He is suddenly one shy of Arnold Palmer. Gary Player and the non-US record of nine is a legitimate goal. Yet watching McIlroy right until the final hole at Augusta National served as a reminder that it is the addictive, thrilling style of his output that is worthy of the highest praise. The Northern Irishman was half a hole from Masters glory, shunting galleries back 50 yards so he could visualise a recovery shot from a forest. Love or loathe McIlroy, you simply cannot take eyes off him.
Continue reading...According to the Financial Times, Meta is developing an AI avatar of Mark Zuckerberg that could interact with employees using his voice, image, mannerisms, and public statements, "so that employees might feel more connected to the founder through interactions with it." The Verge reports: Meta may start allowing creators to make AI avatars of themselves if the experiment with Zuckerberg succeeds, according to the Financial Times. [...] Zuckerberg is involved in training the AI avatar, the Financial Times reports, and has also started spending five to 10 hours per week coding on Meta's other AI projects and participating in technical reviews.
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TMTG drops defamation claim over report that prosecutors were investigating payments received as possible money laundering
Donald Trump’s media corporation has dropped a defamation claim against the Guardian and two other defendants over a report that federal prosecutors were investigating $8m in payments the company received from entities with ties to Vladimir Putin as possible money laundering.
A filing in the 12th judicial circuit in Sarasota county, Florida, on Friday confirms that Trump Media and Technology Group (TMTG), the parent company of the president’s Truth Social platform, was withdrawing its claims without prejudice, meaning it could refile the lawsuit at a later date.
Continue reading...Rick Jackson is flooding Georgia’s media markets with ads attacking immigrants, transgender people and DEI
A campaign ad from Republican gubernatorial candidate Rick Jackson pledging that unauthorized immigrants committing violent crimes will end up “deported or departed” has inundated streaming services and social media in Georgia for weeks.
“I don’t care if you’re a Muslim or a Mongolian, you don’t have the right to force your culture on our country,” the Jackson ad begins. “Too often, criminal illegals commit sick, violent crimes, victimize our children and get away with murder. So here’s my guarantee to them: do that when I’m governor, and you’ll end up deported or departed. Any questions?”
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