A whistleblower complaint alleges John Solly claimed to have stored highly sensitive Social Security data on a thumb drive. Solly and Leidos, his current employer, strongly deny the allegations. John Solly, a software engineer and former member of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), is the DOGE operative reportedly accused in a whistleblower complaint of telling colleagues that he stored sensitive Social Security Administration (SSA) data on a thumb drive and wanted to share the information with his new employer, multiple sources tell WIRED. Since October, according to a copy of his résumé, Solly has worked as the chief technology officer for the health IT division of a government contractor called Leidos, which has already received millions in SSA contracts and could receive up to $1.5 billion in contracts with SSA based on a five-year deal it signed in 2023. Solly's personal website and LinkedIn have been taken offline as of this week.

French prosecutors carried out a search on the offices of Elon Musk's social media platform X on Tuesday morning and summoned the billionaire owner to attend a hearing in April. Conducted by the cybercrime unit of the Paris prosecutor's office, along with the French national cyber unit and European Union police agency Europol, the search marks an escalation of the ongoing investigation into X over suspected abuse of algorithms, plus allegations related to deepfake images and wider concerns over posts generated by the platform's AI chatbot, Grok. The office said the search was carried out with "the objective of ultimately ensuring the compliance of the X platform with French law" and in particular, a focus on X's Grok, designed by xAI, which chief prosecutor Laure Beccuau says has led "to the dissemination of Holocaust denial content and sexually explicit deepfakes." Europol spokesperson Jan Op Gen Oorth is quoted as telling Associated Press that the police agency "is supporting the French authorities in this." Musk and former CEO of X, Linda Yaccarino, have both been summoned for "voluntary interviews" with French prosecutors on April 20.

EU's top diplomat rejects Russian claims of Ukrainian attack on government sites The EU's top diplomat has called Moscow's claims that Ukraine targeted Russian government sites a deliberate distraction and an attempt to derail the peace process. Kaja Kallas' comments on social media appear to be a reference to the Kremlin's allegation that Ukraine attempted a drone strike on one of Vladimir Putin's residences. No one should accept unfounded claims from the aggressor who has indiscriminately targeted Ukraine's infrastructure and civilians, Kallas wrote on social media. Earlier this week Moscow accused Ukraine of targeting Putin's private home on Lake Valdai in north-west Russia. Russia would review its position in the ongoing peace negotiations as a result, the Kremlin said.

Instacart settles Federal Trade Commission's claim it deceived US shoppers Instacart has agreed to pay $60m in refunds to settle allegations brought by the United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC) that the online grocery delivery platform deceived consumers about its membership programme and free delivery offers. According to court documents filed in San Francisco on Thursday, Instacart's offer of "free delivery" for first orders was illusory because shoppers were charged other fees, the FTC alleged. "The FTC is focused on monitoring online delivery services to ensure that competitors are transparently competing on price and delivery terms," said Christopher Mufarrige, who leads the FTC's consumer protection work. An Instacart spokesperson said the company flatly denies any allegations of wrongdoing, but that the settlement allows the company to focus on shoppers and retailers. "We provide straightforward marketing, transparent pricing and fees, clear terms, easy cancellation, and generous refund policies -- all in full compliance with the law and exceeding industry norms," the spokesperson said.

Can Pakistan join the Gaza stabilisation force? Revenues from sales of weapons and military services by the 100 largest global arms-producing companies reached a record $679bn in 2024, according to new data released by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). The Gaza and Ukraine wars, as well as global and regional geopolitical tensions and ever-higher military expenditures, increased revenues generated by the companies from sales of military goods and services to customers domestic and abroad by 5.9 percent compared to the year before, the organisation said in a report published on Monday. Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and General Dynamics led the pack in the US, where the combined arms revenues of arms companies in the top 100 grew by 3.8 percent in 2024 to reach $334bn, with 30 out of the 39 US companies in the ranking increasing their revenues. However, SIPRI said widespread delays and budget overruns continue to plague key projects such as the F-35 fighter jet, the Columbia and Virginia-class submarines, and the Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile.

Leaked recording reveals Campbell's exec's sickening remarks about iconic soup's ingredients How Lauren Sanchez would REALLY look if she'd never had rumored plastic surgery Trump's losing control... MAGA's imploding... and White House insiders tell me why they're REALLY worried: ANDREW NEIL Billionaire family posts VERY unusual obituary after heir, 40, met violent end at $2.8m hunting lodge following marriage scandal These women have lost as much as nine stone WITHOUT jabs: Now they reveal secret to their stunning success, the extraordinary event that brought them together and how it's changed their lives... Judge throws out Comey and James cases as Trump's beauty queen prosecutor is humiliated Her moving videos about the handsome boyfriend who ghosted her went viral and catapulted her to overnight fame. Kate Gosselin's ex Jon is seen at his splashy wedding for the first time as son Collin weighs in on his siblings not attending Fugitive'Slender Man' stabber Morgan Geyser snapped'just Google me' when asked for ID by cops who found her with MUCH older lover It all seems to be falling apart now! Pete Hegseth drops hammer on Democrat senator in'sedition' storm as court martial looms after Trump's execution threat Sabrina Carpenter looks unrecognisable in throwback snap from seven years ago as fans call her rebranding'wild' Neuralink's'Patient 4' feared missing months after getting revolutionary brain chip... now his wife tells the REAL heartbreaking story NFL's first transgender cheerleader makes explosive allegation against Carolina Panthers Slash your cholesterol by a third in just a month... hundreds of thousands are on a new diet that's transforming lives. Neuralink's'Patient 4' feared missing months after getting revolutionary brain chip... now his wife tells the REAL heartbreaking story Rumors are swirling that one of Elon Musk's brain chip patients has vanished under mysterious circumstances. Whispers about the disappearance of Mike Melgarejo, known as'Patient 4,' began after his social media accounts went dark and a GoFundMe appeared claiming he was'not in a good place.'

'No one will support it': Ukraine's soldiers react to US peace plan Ukraine's frontline soldiers have reacted to draft US peace proposals with a mixture of defiance, anger and resignation. The BBC spoke to half a dozen who sent us their views via social media and email in response to the original US plan - details of which were leaked last week. Since then, American and Ukrainian negotiators have been working on changes to the proposals - and are set to continue talks about the peace framework. Of the original US plan, Yaroslav, in eastern Ukraine, says it sucks no one will support it while an army medic with the call sign Shtutser dismissed it as an absolutely disgraceful draft of a peace plan, unworthy of our attention. But one soldier with the call sign Snake told us it's time to agree at least on something.

Loud explosions have been heard in Sudan's army-held capital Khartoum, shortly after the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) said it was ready for a truce after fighting the government-aligned Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) for more than two years of brutal civil war. The attacks took place early Friday, targeting Omdruman, part of the greater Khartoum area, and army-held Atbara to the north of the capital, and were intercepted by the army's air defence systems, according to Al Jazeera's Hiba Morgan. SAF has yet to give an official response to the proposal, which would see a three-month humanitarian pause followed by a permanent ceasefire that would ostensibly pave the way for an eventual political transition to civilian rule. A Sudanese military official told the news agency The Associated Press on Thursday that the army welcomed the proposal, but would only agree to a truce when the RSF completely withdraws from civilian areas and gives up weapons. Reporting from Khartoum, Al Jazeera's Morgan said that it seemed the army would continue fighting until the RSF met its conditions.

This study provides an empirical assessment of whether current large language models (LLMs) can pass the official qualifying examination for membership in Poland's National Appeal Chamber (Krajowa Izba Odwoławcza). The authors examine two related ideas: using LLM as actual exam candidates and applying the 'LLM-as-a-judge' approach, in which model-generated answers are automatically evaluated by other models. The paper describes the structure of the exam, which includes a multiple-choice knowledge test on public procurement law and a written judgment, and presents the hybrid information recovery and extraction pipeline built to support the models. Several LLMs (including GPT-4.1, Claude 4 Sonnet and Bielik-11B-v2.6) were tested in closed-book and various Retrieval-Augmented Generation settings. The results show that although the models achieved satisfactory scores in the knowledge test, none met the passing threshold in the practical written part, and the evaluations of the 'LLM-as-a-judge' often diverged from the judgments of the official examining committee. The authors highlight key limitations: susceptibility to hallucinations, incorrect citation of legal provisions, weaknesses in logical argumentation, and the need for close collaboration between legal experts and technical teams. The findings indicate that, despite rapid technological progress, current LLMs cannot yet replace human judges or independent examiners in Polish public procurement adjudication.

Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., accused Google's AI Gemma of generating false sexual assault allegations against her and other conservatives in a letter to CEO Sundar Pichai.