(Not sure if this is worldwide or only in some countries)

Updating to iOS 26.4DB2 will put your phone into a parental-restricted mode with adult websites blocked on all browsers, warning prompts every time you try to send or receive an explicit image on a messaging app, and all social media apps blocked on the App Store (in Australia)

The settings to disable this mode are locked off until you verify your age either with a credit card, photo ID, or though information Apple already has (like the age of your account).

I've been an apple user my entire adult life but this might finally be the thing that forces me off the platform. Do any other long term apple users have some tips about migrating? I've heard Ashai Linux is pretty good on mac hardware these days and I've been thinking about GrapheneOS for a while.

A Florida handyman who was sentenced on Thursday to life in prison for molesting two children had been convicted of storming the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, but was pardoned by President Donald Trump.

Andrew Paul Johnson, 45, is among several Jan. 6 defendants who have been charged with new crimes since Trump’s sweeping act of clemency for Capitol rioters. On his first day back in the White House last year, Trump pardoned, commuted prison sentences or ordered the dismissal of cases for all 1,500-plus people charged in the attack.

Johnson was convicted last month of two counts of lewd or lascivious molestation of a child and one count of electronically transmitting material harmful to a minor, according to prosecutors in Hernando County, Florida. County Circuit Judge Judge Stephen Toner handed down Johnson’s life sentence.

Sheriff’s deputies began investigating the child molestation allegations against Johnson in July 2025. One of his victims told investigators that the abuse started around April 2024, several months before Johnson was sentenced for his Capitol riot conviction.

Johnson told one of his victims that he expected to be compensated for being a pardoned Jan. 6 defendant and would be putting the child in his will to inherit any leftover money, according a sheriff’s office report.

“This tactic was believed to be used to keep (the child) from exposing what Andrew had done,” the report said. Investigators found sexually explicit messages that Johnson exchanged with one of his victims on the Discord messaging app, according to Fifth Judicial Circuit State Attorney Bill Gladson’s office.

“In the messages, Johnson attempted to have the victim download another application for a more private conversation and encouraged the victim to delete their messages afterwards,” Gladson’s office said in a news release.

More at link

Ukraine's F-16 fighter jets didn't have enough missiles to shoot down Russian drones and missiles for more than 3 weeks after supplies from Kyiv's partners dried up just as Moscow was preparing a massive winter air campaign, three sources said.

The acute shortage from late November to mid-December, which has not been previously reported, lays bare the vulnerability of Ukraine's air defences which ​rely heavily on Western allies for missiles and defence systems to repel frequent Russian strikes.

Kyiv has often complained about a lack of weapons since the full-scale war began more than four years ago, sounding the alarm over critical shortages in recent months ‌while seeking not to anger Donald Trump's administration.

Snip:

The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Navy has successfully targeted the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier using advanced domestically-produced drones, forcing the strike group into a rapid retreat near Iranian territorial waters.

A spokesperson for the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters confirmed the operation on Wednesday, stating that the carrier was intercepted approximately 340 kilometers from Iran’s maritime borders in the Sea of Oman.

[...]

Following the impact, the USS Abraham Lincoln and its accompanying destroyers were observed fleeing the engagement zone at high speed.

"The carrier group has since retreated more than 1,000 kilometers away from the region," the spokesperson noted, emphasizing that the US military presence failed to achieve its objective of intimidation.

Noem decided the contracts instead of allowing a competitive bidding process for the jobs, according to three administration officials and internal communications reviewed by NBC News

Kristi Noem handpicked contractors to lead a $100 million campaign to recruit Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers instead of allowing competitive bidding for the jobs, according to three administration officials and internal communications reviewed by NBC News.

Typically, multiple companies are allowed to bid on a contract and officials who handle government procurement — not the leaders of departments — decide based on who can do the best job for the lowest price.

Donald Trump announced in a social media post Thursday that Noem would leave office effective March 31. Her place in the administration became increasingly unstable following the killing of U.S. citizens during immigration operations in Minneapolis; her fraying relationship with the U.S. Coast Guard, the only branch of the military under her command; and her comments this week in a Congress hearing that rankled Trump.

Continuing to enjoy the new brush I made to paint.

Timelapse: https://mastodon.social/@BallShapedMan/116179224295335956

The Israeli military has ordered the entire population of Beirut’s southern suburbs to evacuate, as it continued to bomb Lebanon and Iran, while Tehran launched retaliatory strikes against Israel and US bases across the region.

An Israel Defense Forces spokesperson told all residents of Beirut’s southern suburbs – more than 500,000 people – to “save your lives and evacuate your homes immediately”, before Israel launched airstrikes on what he described as Hezbollah targets. The area covered by the order included several hospitals and government ministries.
...
The evacuation order was issued just a day after the Israeli military ordered all residents to flee the area south of the Litani River, which compromises about 10% of the country.

Emphasis mine. It's strange to me that very little of the conversation overall is about Lebanon, when Israel is pretty clearly invading it. Even most of this guardian report on the Beirut evacuation is about Iran.

Update: Israeli military begins strikes on Beirut suburbs

A handful of Democrats joined Republicans to defeat an effort to force President Trump to go to Congress for approval to continue using force against Iran, while two G.O.P. lawmakers backed it.

cross-posted from: https://ibbit.at/post/194010

From Common Dreams via this RSS feed

Privacy-focused email provider Proton Mail provided Swiss authorities with payment data that the FBI then used to determine who was allegedly behind an anonymous account affiliated with the Stop Cop City movement in Atlanta, according to a court record reviewed by 404 Media.

The records provide insight into the sort of data that Proton Mail, which prides itself both on its end-to-end encryption and that it is only governed by Swiss privacy law, can and does provide to third parties. In this case, the Proton Mail account was affiliated with the Defend the Atlanta Forest (DTAF) group and Stop Cop City movement in Atlanta, which authorities were investigating for their connection to arson, vandalism and doxing. Broadly, members were protesting the building of a large police training center next to the Intrenchment Creek Park in Atlanta, and actions also included camping in the forest and lawsuits. Charges against more than 60 people have since been dropped.

Information the FBI received showed a specific person as the payment source for a particular Proton Mail account, the record shows. “On January 25, 2024, subscriber information received from the Swiss Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty Unit, revealed [full name] (SUBJECT) as the payment source for the Proton e-mail address defendtheatlantaforest@protonmail.com,” it reads. 404 Media is not publishing the person’s name because they don’t appear to have been charged with a crime, according to searches of court databases.

The record, written by an FBI Special Agent from the Domestic Terrorism squad, is an affidavit in support of a search warrant. It says the defendtheatlantaforest@protonmail.com email address is publicly listed as the primary email address on the DTAF Facebook page. The email was also listed as the point of contact on a blog that regularly shared details about actions taken against the planned training center, including spray painting a related building with a message for executives “You will drop this contract eventually, why wait to see how far we will go?” and setting another on fire. “DTAF uses the Scenes Blog and other social media platforms to encourage followers to participate in their events, and to take independent action in furtherance of DTAF objectives, to include criminal activity,” the document says.

The document says the FBI believes that whoever manages the Proton Mail account likely has administrative access to the blog. The FBI received details about that Proton Mail account from the Swiss authorities via a Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty, or MLAT. An MLAT is when authorities in one country agree to provide information to an agency in another country. These are often used when the company or entity holding the information may only respond to local law enforcement demands for data.

Edward Shone, head of communications for Proton AG, the company behind Proton Mail, told 404 Media in an email: “We want to first clarify that Proton did not provide any information to the FBI, the information was obtained from the Swiss justice department via MLAT. Proton only provides the limited information that we have when issued with a legally binding order from Swiss authorities, which can only happen after all Swiss legal checks are passed. This is an important distinction because Proton operates exclusively under Swiss law.” Functionally, though, the material was provided to the FBI.

“Proton accepts payments via cryptocurrency, cash, and also credit card. If you use a credit card, we do have access to the payment identifier which can be used to identify the credit card holder from the card issuer. We check all legal orders received from Swiss authorities and we understood that a law enforcement officer was shot and explosive devices were involved, and we verified that Swiss legal requirements were met,” he added. The FBI search warrant affidavit does not mention a shooting. Police killed Manuel Paez Terán in January 2023 at a forest protest after he fired a gun at police from inside a tent injuring an officer, records reviewed by The Guardian showed. Before the shooting, police fired pepper balls into his tent, the records showed.

The document says DeKalb Police Department arrested the person believed to be behind the Proton Mail account for alleged trespass at one of the first DTAF protests in January 2022. The document also shows the authorities obtained the person’s travel plans, and planned to execute the search warrant at the Atlanta airport.

Prosecutors in Georgia previously charged 61 people allegedly connected to Stop Cop City activity under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act. The RICO Act is usually reserved for prosecuting mob bosses or for arguing that an organization is entirely criminal in nature. In December, a judge threw out all of those RICO charges, but five defendants still faced domestic terrorism charges. Proton Mail previously provided authorities with the recovery email address of someone allegedly connected to the Democratic Tsunami movement, which pushes for Catalonian independence.