I miti dell’invisibilità e dell’anonimato online erano morti da tempo, ma non tutti lo avevano capito. I fatti recenti hanno confermato l’avvenuta sepoltura di certi sogni che per anni avevano accompagnato gli utenti di Internet, rasserenandoli nella perigliosa navigazione in Rete e distraendoli dalle insidie dei protocolli di comunicazione.

Lasciamo tracce in ogni istante della nostra vita digitale e chiunque è capace di raccogliere i sassolini che – come Pollicino – lasciamo cadere al nostro passaggio nell’intricata foresta del web, dei social e della messaggistica istantanea. A catturare le informazioni, che convergono su un determinato soggetto o che permettono di dare un nome o almeno un numero di telefono a Tizio o a Caio, non sono soltanto le realtà istituzionali preposte a garantirci la sicurezza e la democrazia.

I primi che mietono e incrociano quei dati sono i signori delle diverse piattaforme digitali di uso quotidiano, quelle che offrono ammalianti servizi gratuiti ripagandosi con la profilazione e la schedatura degli incauti utilizzatori. A ruota vengono le organizzazioni criminali che vogliono assicurarsi il controllo parallelo di qualunque contesto, così da trarne vantaggio per i più diversi obiettivi. Nella sequela di coltivatori diretti di piantagioni di dati ci sono anche gruppetti di curioso volontariato e anche singoli appassionati che si cimentano in una ginnastica da impiccioni che li porta a mostrare quanto sono bravi.

La liceità di certe iniziative è francamente discutibile, ma recentemente una esperienza di quel tipo si è rivelata di una certa utilità per l’identificazione di chi ha organizzato i raid che hanno messo a ferro e fuoco le nostre città.

A dare trasparenza alla composizione della presunta cabina di regia del Movimento 17 Ottobre è stata una operazione di doxxing messa in atto da un team di giovani tedeschi con evidenti simpatie viscerali di estrema destra. La circostanza ha mortificato la tradizione secondo la quale hacker e smanettoni fossero una delle colonne portanti dei centri sociali, ma i tempi cambiano e non c’è da stupirsi. Il doxxing, o doxing che scriver si voglia, è una tecnica che viene utilizzata per smascherare una persona, rendendola vulnerabile o ricattabile. Niente di nuovo, è naturale, ma in questo momento qualcosa di evidente attualità.

La filiale italiana del gruppo Der Einzige ha mostrato grande abilità nell’applicazione di questa metodologia di azione e da quel che si è visto ha saputo giocare tutte le carte che il contesto permette di sfruttare raccogliendo informazioni personali che risultano accessibili pubblicamente o che sono state protette con eccessiva superficialità.

Gli strumenti sono il banale monitoraggio dei nomi e dei nickname degli utenti presi di mira, il riscontro della loro presenza sui social, l’analisi di tutto quel che ruota attorno ad un determinato profilo (foto, geolocalizzazioni, relazioni…), l’utilizzo di software di scraping che automatizzano la raccolta di dati online, l’aggregazione e il riordino del materiale eterogeneo collezionato, l’eventuale uso di tecniche di phishing e in ultimo il ricorso a chi – broker di dati – può aver già dossierato questo o quel soggetto.

L’insieme di queste iniziative ha portato i baldanzosi giovanotti in virtuale camicia bruna a pubblicare su Telegram una serie di liste di soggetti che a diverso titolo avevano animato la chat di “17 Ottobre”. I numeri telefonici riportati in quegli elenchi hanno senza dubbio accelerato le operazioni di polizia. E tutto il resto è cronaca.

L'articolo Il ruolo del doxxing nello scovare la presunta cabina di regia del ‘Movimento 17 ottobre’ proviene da Il Fatto Quotidiano.

Antonella Elia, dopo i giorni di convalescenza in ospedale in seguito all’intervento per rimuovere un tumore, è tornata a casa ed è da lì che ha voluto condividere un messaggio sui propri canali social indirizzato ai suoi follower.

“Questa esperienza di malattia mi ha fatto sentire così vicina a tutti voi – amici che conosco fisicamente e amici virtuali – perché mi avete comunicato così tanto amore, tanto sostegno, tanta comprensione, tanto affetto che la mia esperienza di malattia mi ha allargato il cuore. Ammetto: ho bisogno di sentirmi amata. Voi direte: ‘Ce l’avrai qualcuno che ti ama’. Sicuramente, ma questo amore gigantesco di cui mi avete rimpito mi ha fatto sentire protetta e accudita” ha spiegato Elia nel suo videomessaggio.

“Spero di riuscire a comunicare qualcosa di vero, profondo e utile, non soltanto a me che ho goduto del privilegio del vostro amore, ma anche alle persone malate che stanno affrontando una situazione brutta, dolorosa, grave, l’esperienza della fragilità umana” ha poi proseguito la showgirl. “La fragilità umana è bellissima, è la cosa in cui io più credo: mostrare se stessi e la propria umiltà, la propria miseria, la propria precarietà perché proprio questo porta alla solidarietà all’empatia e all’amore” ha spiegato Elia.

L'articolo “La mia esperienza di malattia mi ha allargato il cuore. Ora sto meglio”: Antonella Elia torna a casa dopo l’intervento di rimozione del tumore proviene da Il Fatto Quotidiano.

• As a personal stylist for corporate clients, I've noticed more industries embracing jeans at work.
• I recommend selecting a dark-wash, wide-leg pair that closely resembles trousers.
• To elevate denim even further, I love pairing it with a pointed-toe heel and a simple belt.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the workplace has changed a lot, and so has what we wear to the office. As a personal stylist who works with corporate clients, I've noticed that many industries — though not all — have become more casual, with some embracing jeans as workwear.

Still, there's a fine line between looking casually professional and overly relaxed, even when jeans are part of the dress code.

Here are five easy ways to wear denim at work while still looking polished.

Choose a dark wash with a wide leg that closely resembles trousers.

When it comes to wearing jeans at a 9-to-5, I think a darker wash is always the best place to start, since it closely matches the color of a classic pair of dark trousers. Although black jeans can look professional, I prefer a dark-blue shade, as it still clearly reads as denim.

As for the fit, I love a wide-leg pair rather than a slimmer one because it gives the illusion of trousers while still maintaining a casual feel. This way, the look is still laid-back and comfortable, but the shape and color are more polished and professional.

Regarding the waist, I think individuals with shorter torsos should opt for a mid-to-low-rise jean, whereas those with longer torsos should reach for a higher-waisted alternative.

A textured top instantly elevates jeans.

I love a cozy sweater, but pairing one with jeans can make an entire outfit feel too casual.

To avoid this, I like to pair denim with a top that has some interest. Think texture, beautiful buttons, an interesting collar, or an actual blouse.

If you really want to wear a sweater, I recommend layering it with a cardigan in the same color. Having those two distinct elements instantly makes the denim feel more put-together and gives the outfit more intention.

When it comes to wearing jeans in the workplace, a belt is crucial.

One of the easiest ways to instantly make jeans feel more polished for the office is to add a belt.

I like to think of a belt as the jewelry for your pants. Similar to how a necklace, earrings, or a bracelet can complete an outfit, a belt adds the extra detail that shows careful thought went into the look.

Whether it's a classic leather version with a simple buckle or something with a little more personality, a belt is a great addition that can immediately transform a casual look into corporate attire.

Subtle texture adds a twist to classic denim.

Not all denim worn in the workplace needs to be a traditional solid wash. For example, I think jeans with painted designs, tonal patterns, and interesting finishes and textures — like stitching — add so much more interest to the look.

However, be careful with the styling of textured denim. I recommend keeping the rest of the outfit simple and letting the patterned jeans serve as the focal point.

Footwear can make or break the whole look.

When it comes to selecting the right shoes to wear with jeans, there's a careful balance between looking professional and too casual.

I always recommend wearing a ballet flat, a pointed-toe heel, or a bootie.

If you do want to wear a sneaker, I suggest a low-profile, less bulky option — so it still looks put together with the denim.

• Rick Nott has used AI to save himself a lot of tedious work as a wealth advisor.
• He said new AI products may help other advisors save time too, but they won't replace humans.
• Nott spoke to Business Insider about how he uses the technology to save him time now.

Rick Nott is a senior managing director and private wealth advisor at Santa Monica, California-based Angeles Wealth Management. He spoke to Business Insider about how he uses AI, and why he's excited and afraid when looking at AI-native financial planning platforms. The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

When Claude first rolled out its solution for financial advisors, I felt fear and excitement. How complicated will it be? How will it work?

I'm not a software developer, but I have some basic tech skills. LLMs have allowed me to dig into coding, which I'd been avoiding learning because it's a lot of work. I know enough to know what I want, how it should look, and how to check the outputs, and now I can automate more of my process. AI has become the glue between the various systems we use and the different workflows we have.

I've shown some colleagues how I operate. One told me that I basically have another full-time employee's worth of output through the technology, by automating data collection processes and making it easier to analyze my clients' portfolios.

What AI unlocks

I started my career while still in college in the late 2000s doing data reporting work for a wealth firm. Between all of the software advisors use, there's a lot of manual work, typically done in Excel, to connect it together.

Previously, I could only provide balance sheet reporting for clients with more than $100 million because it took so much manual work. Now I can do it with someone with significantly less.

As a family's net worth grows, so does complexity. For many, understanding their overall financial system is their biggest pain point.

Banks and brokerage accounts are the easy part, but trusts, business ownership structures, and private investments, which all report differently and require cash on hand to make capital calls, can take huge amounts of manual work to analyze.

Imagine a wealth advisory business serving 30 families, each holding about 10 private investments. Each investment generates about 10 documents a year, including quarterly reports, capital calls, distribution notices, and tax documents. Each of these 3,000 documents takes a skilled analyst 15 to 30 minutes to analyze and distill into our reports.

That's 750 to 1,500 hours a year, most of it crammed into the few weeks after each quarter closes. With AI, that data is extracted and mapped as it arrives, and one analyst reviews the work instead of a team racing against a deadline.

Our goal is to create a one-page document or report on their phone that's as close to real-time as possible.

There's a lot you can do with all of your data in one place. For example, a two- or three-sentence prompt could expand into a full email to a client, with all relevant and accurate information already populated. You can then personalize that to fit the right tone for your client.

How AI changes the job

AI tools like Claude for financial advisors will be disruptive, and others will gain access to the same connectivity I've built.

I think of it as part of a dynamic that's been going on for years in my industry. Vanguard, ETFs, lower costs, and robo-advisors have all put a squeeze on financial advisors.

But if you believe a lawyer's only job is writing contracts, or a financial advisor's only job is putting together a portfolio, there's a fundamental kind of misunderstanding of what the actual job is.

As long as investing involves human judgment, financial advisors will have a job. AI doesn't improve investment decisions or results.

I tell my clients that my role is to be the architect of their financial operating system, and, as with an actual operating system, a centralized source of data is essential.

When you have a big-picture view of what your family's mission is, you can avoid getting distracted by market noise and news. From there, you can go a layer down to make strategic plans and ask if we're moving in the right direction, and what opportunities we may have. Another layer down, we work with a CPA to save money on taxes.

A full picture of a balance sheet makes it possible to actually know what liquidity you have available. Now I can spend more time developing relationships, the thing that runs our business. I get to know anything and everything about the clients I'm working with and those I'd like to work with.

The future of financial advisors and AI

I have a natural excitement around tech, and watching the Anthropic webinar was incredible. My main concern is that it's not a subscription-based plan; it's token-based, which could lead to surprise bills for users who don't yet know how to manage their token usage.

At small RIAs without the expertise, people will be uploading 100-page PDF documents just to ask basic questions, like the ages of kids in a trust. That will rip through tokens.

We priced it out internally, and we would have to pay significantly more for a token-based plan instead of the subscription-based licenses we have now. Maybe eventually everyone will have to pay for tokens that way, and the cost of tokens is going down.

We learn to do things faster and at lower cost, but in this industry, we do that for a particular reason: to spend more time with the people we serve.

The primary way that our clients give us information is still by talking. There's a significant amount of nuance. You may be able to understand something and infer what's really being said. But note-taking software is still wrong all the time. You have to review it.

Money is emotional, and I seriously question whether AI can replace our need to connect with another human being.

Do I see someone sitting across the table from AI on a speakerphone? Probably not.

• In his 40s, Jonathan Yang decided he wanted to get hot — and stopped feeling ashamed to say it.
• His paycheck funded hair transplants, a nose job, and GLP-1s, which he continued post-layoff.
• As his body changed, he said he felt more confident and also noticed that people treated him better.

This is an as-told-to essay based on a conversation with Jonathan Yang, who was laid off from Meta in late 2024 after more than three years on the office design team. The 43-year-old shares how his job, cosmetic procedures, and weight loss shaped his confidence. The following has been edited for brevity and clarity.

At Meta, I worked really hard. I had golden handcuffs. I did not prioritize my health. You go to Meta, and they call it the "Facebook 15." Well, it was probably more than 15 pounds because of all the food that's available and all the stress. So, I just really let myself go. I put in everything I could to keep the job.

One upside was that having a bigger paycheck allowed me to start exploring things that I'd always wanted to do — emotionally, physically, aesthetically. I could finally afford a $10,000 hair transplant.

I also got a nose job. I've also had another hair transplant. Looking good and feeling good, to me, are fundamentally tied together. That's for me, and not everybody needs that. A lot of people out there are very successful being their own person and not letting that get to them. I'm not that strong.

I just wanted to get hot

Doing these things started to change how I felt about myself. It started to take away some of the shame that I had around getting aesthetic treatments. Because, as a man, it's seen as superfluous, and it's frowned upon. Before that, I had done a lot of soul-searching, therapy, and all kinds of things.

I hired a trainer, and I felt good, but the change wasn't happening fast enough. Then GLP-1s came out. I'd been waiting for something like that. I finally got on them, and then the weight started to come off, and I just started to blossom.

Once I started seeing the results, I just wanted to get hot. I wanted, at 43, to finally feel confident enough to say that out loud without having any kind of qualms about it. I think working out is a segue for people to think about improving their lives emotionally — to talk about those things — and fitness is an acceptable way for men to kind of go into that.

At work, I would get up onstage and be much more confident. Before that, it wasn't a conscious thing where I knew why I was so meek. When I look back, I would be nervous. I wouldn't smile. On GLP-1s, I started to really change and show up differently at work, and I was getting promotions. I just felt like I had more command because I lost the weight. My coworkers and managers all treated me better.

Now I'm on a lower dose of GLP-1s. I have to pay for it myself now that I'm self-employed. That's not something I'm going to stop.

People look at me differently

After my layoff, my weight was something I could control. I had to build a new routine. My body needed it, too. I had sciatica, and I had all this nerve pain. It really was like my body broke. I had never felt something like that.

I became hyper-focused on wellness, keeping fit, and eating well. Losing weight gave me the confidence to share my story. It allowed me to shed any insecurity or cringe. We say that a lot, but it was like I'm at this point now where I've only got one life to live. I know what it tastes like now.

After all the changes I made, people looked at me differently. A thing that people don't really talk about is how, on the surface, it really is about looks. I would walk into a situation with this naive sense of, "Oh, they're not looking at my weight."

As soon as I started looking more conventionally attractive, I noticed that was the first thing people would comment on. I would meet people, and they would say, "Well, you obviously go to the gym a lot," or "Oh, look at those arms!" I was like, "Wow! We live in this world where we're told, 'Aesthetics don't really matter. People look at your character.' Unfortunately, it's not true. I wish it were.

Do you have a story about how your appearance has affected your work or career? Contact this reporter at tparadis@businessinsider.com.

• Danielle Fewings, founder of Get Clear Beauty, has invested in cosmetic treatments since she was 27.
• Fewings' journey with aesthetic procedures began with a breast reduction and includes Botox and filler.
• Her $150,000 investment in herself has supported both personal confidence and professional success.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Danielle Fewings, a 40-year-old entrepreneur from New York City. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

I started my career in digital marketing and ran my own agency from 2020 until 2025, when I sold it. I'm now the founder of Get Clear Beauty, an aesthetic treatment marketplace, which I started in 2026.

I've always felt like there was something missing from my appearance, as if someone much more confident was buried beneath it all. I got my first procedure done in 2013 and have had many since.

I don't regret any of them.

I'm the most treatment‑forward person in almost every room I'm in

In my broader New York circle, routine maintenance is completely normal. People are getting Botox and lip filler, and a few have had breast augmentations. Most are dipping in rather than going all in.

I'm honestly the most treatment-forward person in almost every room I'm in. In any given conversation, I'm the one who's had the most work done, which is a little wild when I think about it.

For most of the people I know, the max is Botox. Routine maintenance is common around me, but no one I'm close to has done anywhere near as much as I have.

My first major decision was my breast reduction at 27

I wore a 32G and desperately wanted them smaller. I call this my gateway surgery because it was honestly a very easy recovery, so I had this ease as the template, which gave me the confidence to keep pursuing additional treatments.

It made me more willing to put myself out there, both in dating and especially in showing up online to create content for my business, which matters enormously when you're building something. It shifted how I approach relationships, too, both friendships and romantic ones.

When you feel confident inside and out, you see yourself as more valuable, recognize your worth, and become more selective about who you let into your life. As I've felt better about myself, I've been more intentional about the relationships I keep close, and I see a direct correlation between the two.

I've never made decisions due to outside pressure

My choices have always been personal. I've never done any of this for another person or because of outside pressure. It has always been about putting my best self forward, and if that takes some tweaks and some money, I'm willing to do it.

I'm a very confident person — I just haven't accepted every imperfection. My upper blepharoplasty is a good example: most people would say I didn't need it, and they would be right, because no one needs any of these things. I wanted it. My eyelids felt heavy, and I chose to change that.

I'm fully committed to antiaging and the maintenance it requires. I go to my quarterly Botox appointments and my annual lip filler appointments, and I'll be ready for a facelift when that time comes. The idea that aging gracefully means avoiding treatments is absurd; aging gracefully is doing whatever feels good to you as an individual.

The cost breakdown

Because my first breast surgery was a reduction, I paid $6,000 out of pocket, and my insurance covered the rest. I had a full-body makeover in the Dominican Republic, which included a tummy tuck, skin tightening, and two further breast surgeries after major weight loss, costing around $12,000. I've also had liposuction, scar revision, an upper blepharoplasty, Sculptra and filler, a Morpheus8 treatment on my legs, tattoo removal, lip blushing, microblading and shading, Invisalign, and teeth whitening. These procedures have cost about $50,000 in total.

The maintenance I keep up with regularly includes manicures and pedicures, which I have gotten every two weeks for the past 10 years; lash extensions, which I have gotten every three weeks for about 15 years; Botox; more filler; peels and lasers; tanning; and haircuts. The recurring maintenance has cost about $105,000 over time.

What struck me is that the one-time procedures come to about $50,000, but the quiet, recurring maintenance is over $100,000. The costs nobody tracks are the ones that add up the most. That is exactly why I built Get Clear Beauty.

Each procedure served a purpose

My whole philosophy has been doing high-maintenance things to stay low-maintenance. The lashes, manicures and pedicures, lip blushing, and microblading are all upkeep that let me feel put-together with minimal effort, and because of them, I barely wear makeup, so some of that cost is a trade-off.

The bigger procedures came from real changes in my body. My weight has gone up and down for years, and that has driven a lot of it. The Morpheus8 on my legs was for skin laxity, because I'm not ready for a leg lift and probably don't need one. I've had three breast surgeries total.

I'd never do CoolSculpting, and I'd never have a nose job. I don't think CoolSculpting is cost-effective, and I've grown to love my nose.

My appearance impacts confidence, and confidence impacts business

When you're on 15 Zooms a week and constantly recording content to win business, looking and feeling your best matters.

Appearance affects business outcomes, but for me, it works through confidence. When I feel good about how I'm showing up, I represent my company more powerfully and carry my knowledge into the room in a way that lands.

I love how I look. 10 years ago, I never thought looking this way was achievable, and it's the result of a GLP-1 medication, surgeries, and really taking my appearance by the horns. I'm in a genuinely happy place with it.

• Bill Gates says AI will bring about an age of abundance in 20 years, but it'll be a rocky road.
• He predicted robots will displace human workers and "build houses, grow food, do surgery."
• Some jobs might be reserved for people, and work limits could preserve employment, Gates said.

Bill Gates says AI will create "true abundance," but the next two decades before it arrives will be "as tumultuous a period as there's been in human history."

"My big concern is this 20-year transition period, where they'll have winners and losers and a lot of disruption," the Microsoft cofounder and billionaire philanthropist said on the latest episode of the "Decoder" podcast.

Gates echoed widespread concerns about white-collar jobs, saying that telesales, telesupport, and accounting will disappear as AI will be able to do those "radically cheaper, radically faster, and even more accurately." As for blue-collar jobs, humanoid robots will take over those, he said.

"If we don't choose to massively slow down or stop, then we will have robots that can build houses, grow food, do surgery," Gates said. "And none of the things that human labor provides to the economy will be necessary for most goods and services."

He also underscored how jarring it will be for someone like him, whose vast resources have allowed him to lead the charge toward eliminating malaria and tackling other humanitarian crises.

"And when the AI says to me, 'No, I'm better than you, you go play pickleball and I'll get back to you, I'm gonna take care of this' — I mean, it's kind of humorous, but it's not humorous," he said.

Gates shared his long-held view that work is vital to giving people a sense of purpose, a way to earn an income, a reason to show up every day, an avenue to build relationships with colleagues, and a path to build things and solve problems.

He suggested that certain activities such as art, sports, cooking, and childcare could one day be reserved for humans, "even though the AI could do those things better."

Gates also highlighted that measures such as early retirement and caps on working hours could help maintain some level of human employment.

He envisioned some people saying, "Let's be like the Amish and let's only use AI for certain things," so they won't have to give up "helping each other or coming up with unique ideas."

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon have both proposed a shorter workweek as a less painful alternative to AI-driven unemployment.

Gates is one of several tech leaders to warn of job disruption on the road to an age of abundance.

Elon Musk has predicted a "bumpy" transition and proposed government checks for all as the best solution to AI-driven job losses. He's said that technology will drive production costs so low that everyone can have "whatever stuff they want," work will become "optional," and it's not worth saving for retirement in 10 or 20 years as money won't matter.

Similarly, Anthropic's Dario Amodei has said that AI promises to "raise the quality of life for everyone," but the "short-term shock will be unprecedented in size."

However, OpenAI's Sam Altman said in May that AI hasn't eliminated as many white-collar jobs as he expected, and he no longer anticipates a "jobs apocalypse."

Despite widespread worry about AI taking corporate jobs, and high-profile layoffs at major companies such as Amazon and Meta, national unemployment hasn't increased materially during the AI boom.

• All hell broke loose this week after a security flaw in 70% of the world's websites was made public.
• It was supposed to be kept under wraps as a fix was deployed, but one researcher jumped the gun.
• Chainguard CEO Dan Lorenc told POLITICO why he decided to go public.

The exposure was immense, with AI multiplying the risks — and yet time-tested global cybersecurity procedures appeared to be functioning. Then suddenly, it all broke down.

The decision by a cybersecurity company on Wednesday to prematurely release information about a flaw in the popular PHP computer programming language left much of the web exposed to hackers, triggering a panic that brought to life months of warnings of how the AI-powered era could cause widespread damage.

The flaws in PHP, discovered using AI tools through a monthslong process coordinated by OpenAI, caused cyber agencies across Europe, the US, the UK, Australia and Canada to post urgent warnings Wednesday. Numerous governments took websites offline as a precaution.

While no major hacking damage was immediately apparent, the way the incident unfolded over 72 hours showed how easily cybersecurity processes can break down and the outsized consequences of cyber risks in the AI era.

The man who set off the chain reaction with the early release — Chainguard's CEO Dan Lorenc — quickly apologized in a LinkedIn post. But on Thursday, in an interview with POLITICO, Lorenc said he'd shared the information ahead of time because the flaw was already being exploited. Though others disputed that, Lorenc said he believed he'd seen enough evidence to invalidate an embargo set up to allow time to find a fix for the flaws.

While he disputed that his actions would have caused problems for other defenders, Lorenc said that the evidential threshold in these coordinated cyber defense systems is a "grey area."

The revelation of the PHP flaw brings out into the open what cyber officials have been bracing for since the arrival of the most powerful tools of artificial intelligence, which not only can be used to discover vulnerabilities but also to exploit them at scale.

The cybersecurity world's long-established protocols helped prevent disaster scenarios in which hackers would have successfully exploited the vulnerabilities to take control of numerous websites and access their data. But the scale and end-of-days potential of AI-driven cyber risks are now visible for the world to see.

This "is what happens when AI turns up a flaw that's been hiding for years," said Eylam Milner, cofounder and chief technology officer at cybersecurity startup Echo. The vulnerabilities, he added, are "about as serious as it gets for the web."

Origin story

Understanding how this week's emergency unfolded offers a glimpse at how companies and authorities are working to stave off attacks — and how much risk they face going forward.

The origins of the incident can be traced back as far as April, when leading frontier AI firm Anthropic unveiled Mythos, leading some in the cybersecurity world to worry that systems would quickly be overrun by advanced artificial intelligence, with potential for catastrophic events to ensue.

But while researchers did find more flaws in computer systems in the months after Anthropic and other AI firms like OpenAI released those models, they had little impact in the real world. Even the Hugging Face incident, a widely discussed hack that saw OpenAI's autonomous AI agents go rogue during an internal security evaluation, related more to the level of control AI companies exert over their models than their power to break into systems worldwide.

That changed this week after researchers unveiled the vulnerability in PHP, a coding language estimated to be integrated into some 70% of the web.

The process by which information about flaws is released among cybersecurity officials and affiliated companies is crucial. Through a long-standing practice known as coordinated disclosure, researchers and companies that identify flaws can find a fix and share it confidentially with agencies and others before releasing it to the public, meaning they don't hand malicious hackers the gift of a hole without a fix.

In the case of the PHP flaw, that process worked well, but not perfectly. Information about the bugs started to circulate ahead of the planned release time. Then, according to the PHP Foundation, Chainguard "unilaterally broke the embargo," which "disregarded weeks of work by many parties toward a coordinated disclosure." PHP Foundation executive director Elizabeth Barron told POLITICO by email that while it was "disappointed" with Chainguard, it hopes to "rebuild trust with them in the future to ensure we can continue to collaborate effectively."

After the leak — which meant information about the bugs was in the open before the fix was ready — confusion quickly ensued, with government bodies and private companies choosing to temporarily shut down their websites rather than risk potentially damaging breaches to their data and the sites themselves.

Early Thursday, Matthew Prince, the CEO of Cloudflare, an internet services company widely used by websites to block cyberattacks, which gives it a high level of visibility into what hackers are doing, said in a post on X that it had seen "millions" of attempts to exploit the flaw.

Cloudflare saw thousands in the 10 hours before the flaw was publicly announced, then tens of thousands in the 45 minutes after the announcement, hundreds of thousands within two hours, and now millions, Prince said.

Amazon's cloud division also said the flaw is "now being broadly exploited in the wild."

One senior US government cyber official said that federal authorities have been overwhelmed — and not just by PHP. The same day the world was racing to address PHP, they were also dealing with bugs in node.js, a widely used JavaScript framework, Fortinet, GitHub and Oracle.

"The fire department is fighting multiple fires at once," the official said, adding: "The good news is they're all one-story structures on fire, which the fire department deals with all day, every day."

More to come

Dauntingly, OpenAI said there's more on the way. "These bugs are among several significant vulnerabilities we've already found and are working to fix, and we expect similar findings to increase sharply in the coming months," the company said Wednesday in a statement.

Matthijs van Amelsfort, head of the Dutch cybersecurity agency, said in an interview that the job of keeping computer systems safe has been transformed by the advancement of AI. "As soon as the frontier models came out, that's exactly what we said: This will be the trend," he said. "And actually that's happening now."

Thomas Caspers, vice president of Germany's cyber agency BSI, concurred: "We expect that [to be] happening more and more during the coming months."

AI also ramps up the risks once the flaws are out in the open. Cyber agencies' recommendation that organizations take their websites offline was "really a drastic measure," Caspers said. "We wouldn't have done that a few years ago or so." But because AI has made it quicker and easier to exploit flaws, "we had to do that," he said.

At the same time, the use of advanced AI to detect the flaws may create a new level of protection against malicious hackers looking to take advantage of them. Caspers said that though his German agency has also seen attacks, it has not seen any successful use of the flaw by hackers.

"It seems a little bit more complicated than expected to exploit," he said.

Despite the fact that AI offers a new way to discover flaws, the work involved in keeping systems protected is more quotidian, with cyber agencies urging organizations to install the fix shared by the PHP Foundation, in a process known as patching.

"There are three things that you have to do right now," said van Amelsfort from the Dutch agency. "And that's patch, patch, and patch."

John Sakellariadis contributed to this report.

The Axel Springer Global Reporters Network harnesses the resources of the company's newsrooms to publish ambitious scoops, investigations, interviews, opinion pieces and analysis. It allows journalists — including those from POLITICO, The Telegraph, Business Insider, WELT, BILD, Onet and Fakt — to collaborate on major stories for an international audience of hundreds of millions across platforms: online, print, TV and audio.

• Being a mom can be challenging and expensive.
• Some have turned to apps like Uber and Lyft to make extra money — or as their main source of income.
• Fill out our survey if you're a mom who does gig work.

Uber and Lyft often talk about the flexibility of working as a driver on their apps.

That aspect of the gig has attracted moms, among other people who often want to earn money outside a 9-to-5 schedule. The job can be appealing to mothers who need to juggle school drop-offs, childcare, and other obligations of parenting.

Others, including single moms, say they feel stuck in ride-hailing work and end up having to drive for Uber or Lyft at set times anyway, depending on when the most passengers need rides.

With costs like childcare and college rising, Uber and Lyft offer some moms a way to make extra money — if they can earn enough on the apps and keep costs like gas and car maintenance under control.

Business Insider wants to speak with moms who drive for Uber, Lyft, or other ride-hailing apps. We want to hear about how you combine the gig with taking care of your kids, including both what's working and what isn't. Please fill out the survey below.

• For decades, Accutane has been a drug of last resort for persistent acne.
• A founder who designed a new platform to streamline regulatory red tape is changing access.
• People are microdosing Accutane and reporting fewer side effects. Dermatologists have mixed views.

In the dermatology world, Accutane has a reputation as the nuclear option for bad acne.

It's the only drug that can shrink oil glands, potentially clearing pimples for good. But it comes with serious risks — primarily: a high rate of birth defects if you take it and become pregnant. Other side effects include sun sensitivity, high cholesterol, mood changes, and joint pain.

Parents are scared to put their teens on it. Dermatologists often reserve it for stubborn acne, after other creams, cleansers, antibiotics, and pills have been exhausted. And strict pregnancy-prevention rules mean monthly check-ins, tests, and blood work.

But in recent years, some of the stigma around the retinoid drug, generically called isotretinoin, has started to fade, as people have gravitated to a smaller, more strategic "Hollywood dose" of Accutane. By taking small amounts of the drug, maybe just a few days per week, many patients find they can maintain a dewy, glass-like complexion on camera while avoiding painful side effects like ultra dry skin, and the initial acne breakout purge that comes with heftier prescriptions.

"I love the Accutane glow-up," Honeydew dermatology founder David Futoran, 29, said. For him, it includes hair that's less oily, and baby-soft cheeks.

Futoran is partly responsible for turning Accutane from a maligned prescription of last resort into a buzzy internet sensation. He's found new ways to streamline and digitize paperwork, turning most of the required monthly doctor's office visits and testing for the drug into something people can do at home. Honeydew is now growing 3x year over year, Futoran said, and interest in low-dose prescriptions is increasing.

Dermatologists are divided on the trend of microdosed Accutane. Yes, it is a very effective drug, and it can clear up most breakouts. But there are tradeoffs to taking an intermittent or low-dose approach, and some doctors say why bother dancing around side effects when you could get on and off the potent drug in months, and have clear skin for life?

Founder mode for skin

Futoran founded Honeydew in 2022 after spending years on various antibiotics and multi-step cleansing and cream routines, with his acne constantly coming back.

His vision was to make prescription acne care faster and more accessible. He partnered with his longtime dermatologist, Dr. Joel Spitz, to build a telemedicine platform connecting patients with providers and treatments for acne, rosacea, eczema, and psoriasis.

Yet Futoran was still hesitant to take Accutane himself, partly because of the logistical headaches.

One morning, he said, he woke up with a large, painful cyst in the middle of his forehead. That was it, he said — he decided he was finally going on the low-dose form of Accutane his company had been prescribing.

"I should have done that from the start," he said. "My skin is way less irritated than it ever was on any of the topicals, and I just have peace because I know it works."

Accutane works because it shrinks oil glands by turning down sebum production. It triggers the death of some stem cells, which is great for clearing up overactive oil-producing glands, but very bad for developing fetuses.

In addition to making regulatory compliance digital, Honeydew offers specially formulated lip balms, cleansers, antihistamines and supplements like Omega-3 designed to replace lost oil.

Bringing a celebrity skin trick to the masses

Celebrities including Chris Pine, Pete Davidson, Emma Stone, and Kendall Jenner have all been open about using this powerful oral retinoid to help clear up persistent acne. The shadow business of microdosing Accutane, though, using it as a glow up drug even for minor, isolated breakouts, happens more through a whisper system between doctors and patients.

26-year-old marketing manager and social media influencer Kennedy Faris started microdosing Accutane with Honeydew in the spring. About a decade ago, she watched her little brother suffer some of the rarer mental health side effects of Accutane, and she was worried about the possibility the drug could lead to depression.

"My brother's a very happy person, so it was really scary," Faris told Business Insider. "I was really hesitant about starting."

After struggling to get a prescription from an in-person dermatologist, Faris heard about Honeydew from a follower and partnered with the brand. She started on a low dose of 10 milligrams, working her way up to a standard 40 mg dose over the course of a few months.

After years of trying different skincare products, antibiotics, and medications, she feels like she's finally found a more permanent solution to cystic acne. There are drawbacks to being on the drug, she said, including sensitivity to alcohol, sunlight, and some nightmares. But the real benefit has been her renewed confidence, optimism, and joy, with friends noticing she's "more bubbly and happy," she said. "I was like, 'wow, I was kind of depressed.'"

Because the drug shrinks pores, Faris has also noticed her face and nose appear slimmer.

"Everyone talks about the fake nose job," she said.

Some patients recovering from real nose jobs even use the drug to lower surgery-related inflammation and shrink pores on the nose while their face heals. As testosterone therapy booms, more men are taking Accutane to deal with oilier skin. And increasingly, patients are lining up for low-dose Accutane for minor breakouts, just to be in the clear. People are gravitating to skin treatments that will give them the edge at work and on screen, Spitz said.

"Everyone's on Zoom or Google Meets or they're on TikTok or they're on Insta, and they want to look good," he added.

The potential drawbacks of microdosing

Some doctors worry that microdosing Accutane could lead to more health complications if people stay on the medication for years at a time.

"In my practice, I just basically put people on the standard dose and then they're done at five months, and then they feel much better, Dr. Ariel Ostad, a dermatologist in Manhattan who is not affiliated with Honeydew, said. "Patients, once they go on it, their skin clears up really quickly, and they're happy, and they realize it's not as bad as they thought."

A shorter treatment course means less time worrying about drug interactions, liver or heart health, pregnancy, sun sensitivity, or bone issues.

Futoran said traditional dosing can be "absolutely the right answer for some patients," and roughly 40% of Honeydew prescriptions are at standard dosages. Still, he cites studies showing patient satisfaction is higher with low-dose Accutane, and said Honeydew patients on smaller dosages have "materially better retention."

"The best clinical outcome is when patients complete their course, but faster is not always better," he said.

“Mai vista una tecnologia così sofisticata per organizzare le proteste”, dice Lorenzo Alvisi, dottorando del Programma Nazionale in Cybersecurity presso Scuola Imt Alti Studi Lucca. È tra gli autori di un’analisi preliminare sul ruolo svolto dalle piattaforme digitali nell’organizzazione delle proteste esplose il 17 ottobre. Uno studio in attesa di pubblicazione, ma ilfattoquotidiano.it può già anticiparne i dettagli. Spicca un dato: “Cinque admin e un fondatore che controllano tutto”, dice l’esperto, illustrando un messaggio in chat. Appare in automatico, ogni volta che un utente porge domande sulla struttura di comando.

Il report traccia la mappa della galassia online marchiata “Italia in piazza”, tra i detonatori delle iniziative di protesta: un sito web e circa 40 gruppi, tra pagine TikTok e 19 chat Telegram. Instagram, secondo Alvisi, è solo la copertina e la costola meno importante. “Telegram ha compiti di coordinamento, ma il motore è TikTok”, dice il ricercatore. “È il social network della generazione Alfa, ragazzini delle superiori nati dopo il 2010”, aggiunge. Dunque minorenni intorno ai 16 anni. Mentre un piccolo nucleo di sei admin controlla la rete di 19 gruppi Telegram, sorti il 7 ottobre. Il motivo? La chat WhatsApp, battezzata Italia in piazza 17 ottobre all’inizio dello stesso mese, era frenata dal tetto per gli iscritti: massimo mille. Dunque, stando al report, l’8 ottobre chiude i battenti e trasloca su Telegram, senza vincoli al numero dei partecipanti. La chat nazionale copia il nome da WhatsApp: Italia in piazza, togliendo la data. Le 18 edizioni locali si distinguono adottando nomi di città e regioni.

“Sul gruppo nazionale, al 19 ottobre, si contavano 4.073 utenti”, dice Alvisi. In totale “saliamo a 9.010, ma la stragrande maggioranza degli utenti locali partecipa anche alla pagina nazionale”, prosegue il dottorando. Le 19 chat Telegram condividono lo stesso stemma: un megafono nero. E rimandano l’una all’altra: quando un utente chiede lumi sui vari gruppi, risponde un bot offrendo l’intera lista dei link. Quando si invocano informazioni sui capi, il bot firma un messaggio automatizzato con i nomi dei profili al comando delle chat: “Fondatore: Andrea, web developer. Vice-fondatore: Ludo, staff. Amministratore: Ily, staff. @Marco, staff. @nonbannato. @ssoqquadro, moderatrice”. Sei nomi inventati, nessun indizio sulle persone reali. Non sappiamo se il profilo Andrea sia il creatore delle 19 chat Telegram. “Ora il profilo è chiuso, ma nei messaggi appare come il fondatore”, dice Alvisi. Il nickname Andrea nasce contestualmente alla chat nazionale. Suo è il primo post, il 7 ottobre. Lui è il creatore dei topic, gli argomenti discussi dagli utenti. Il mare è l’immagine del suo emblema, “iltuoprefe2” come tag per essere trovato dagli altri utenti.

Alvisi delinea la struttura al comando della galassia Telegram: “Sei admin detengono il nucleo del potere, Andrea è tra gli amministratori di tutte le chat tranne due, dove non c’è lui è presente Marco”. Gli admin tengono le redini: escludono gli utenti con un ban, decidono chi accogliere, restringono o ampliano i poteri di centinaia di moderatori, mettono in evidenza i messaggi in chat orientando il dibattito. Poche persone, una struttura decentrata, per depistare l’identificazione. Se cade una delle 19 gambe Telegram, il corpo resta in piedi. Una pianeta in grado di calamitare infinite orbite delle proteste: “Se voglio organizzare una contestazione in una scuola, conviene spedire un link in quella rete, già ricca di migliaia di nodi”, dice Alvisi. L’esperto tira le somme della ricerca preliminare: “Mai prima d’ora le proteste avevano poggiato su un’infrastruttura tecnologica così complessa e coordinata”. Sito web con link a decine di gruppi, chat e comunità, bot automatici per gestire i collegamenti, sfuggendo a ogni radar, perché “nessuno aveva idea di cosa stava succedendo”. Sabato 24 ottobre si annunciano proteste nelle più importanti città d’Italia. Sarà il banco di prova, per capire se dalle chat si scende in piazza.

L'articolo “19 chat Telegram controllate da sei admin”: chi c’è dietro “Italia in piazza”, la galassia social che organizza le proteste proviene da Il Fatto Quotidiano.

Gli inquirenti indagano sulla possibile saldatura tra due anime delle contestazioni che hanno scosso Milano e l’Italia, con violente guerriglie urbane, tra il 17 e il 20 ottobre. Da una parte i movimenti anarchici e antagonisti. Dall’altra, i giovanissimi che si radunano nelle piazze virtuali, nella galassia digitale di chat e social network. Ilfattoquotidiano.it ha ricostruito una cronologia dettagliata dell’incontro tra i diversi gruppi delle contestazioni milanesi, attraverso colloqui con due fonti. Riscontri giungono anche da un’analisi preliminare sul ruolo delle piattaforme online nell’organizzazione delle proteste, firmata da Lorenzo Alvisi, dottorando del Programma nazionale in cybersecurity presso la Scuola Imt Alti Studi Lucca. È tra gli autori di uno studio in attesa di pubblicazione, ma i dettagli si possono già anticipare. Ai primi di ottobre, una community WhatsApp radunava mille iscritti desiderosi di scendere in piazza il 17 ottobre. Centri sociali e collettivi studenteschi milanesi hanno provato a guidarli in piazza. Ma l’alchimia è fallita e le strade si sono separate.

La chat WhatsApp: il terreno comune tra antagonisti e nuovi “capi” online

Una data e un luogo: 8 ottobre 2026, Giardini in transito di Milano. Quel giorno, in quella piazza, si è svolta un’assemblea tra esponenti dei centri sociali, collettivi studenteschi (universitari e delle scuole superiori) e leader meneghini della chat WhatsApp Italia in piazza 17 ottobre. Nella ridda delle sigle digitali, facciamo chiarezza: la pagina Instagram Movimento 17 ottobre, tra i detonatori delle proteste, è nata ai primi di ottobre con due antecedenti. La pagina Instagram e la community WhatsApp battezzate con lo stesso nome: Italia in piazza 17 ottobre. Alle cronache era nota la pagina Instagram, molto meno la chat WhatsApp. La comunità virtuale desta lo stupore di una studentessa campana. Il 3 o 4 ottobre, la ragazza avvisa un’attivista lombardo aderente ad un’organizzazione universitaria: qualcosa di grosso bolle in pentola, la nuova community raduna folle di arrabbiati. Lo studente meneghino alza il sopracciglio, è la conferma di un sentore vago: su TikTok, già a settembre spuntavano profili social che esortavano a protestare il 17 ottobre.

Pochi giorni dopo la segnalazione giunta in Lombardia dalla Campania, ai Giardini in transito di Milano arrivano i “leader” milanesi della community WhatsApp Italia in piazza 17 ottobre. Incontrano gli studenti e i centri sociali. I diversi gruppi condividono lo scopo: organizzare la piazza contro il carovita. Chi ha invitato all’appuntamento i “capi” milanesi della community? Secondo quanto risulta a ilfattoquotidiano.it, esponenti dei centri sociali milanesi. Anche loro partecipavano alla “comunità” virtuale. In chat, su WhatsApp, hanno scovato i numeri di telefono e contattato personalmente i leader emersi durante le discussioni online. La community nazionale era divisa in gruppi locali distinti per città. Nella sezione milanese è nato l’incontro tra gli attivisti dei centri sociali e i nuovi leader della protesta digitale. Ecco la genesi dell’incontro tra le anime, molto differenti, delle proteste contro il carovita a Milano. Ma l’unione non è andata a buon fine.

La frattura sui neofascisti

Centri sociali e collettivi studenteschi volevano guidare la contestazione riempiendo le piazze con gli arrabbiati in chat e sui social network. Ma i dubbi sono emersi subito, all’assemblea dell’8 ottobre. Gli studenti temono “la possibile presenza di realtà neofasciste all’interno del corteo, la mancanza di una linea politica chiara, l’eccessiva vaghezza del messaggio della manifestazione”. Ecco il punto di frizione: “Da una parte, chi ritiene fondamentale portare in piazza più persone possibile”, senza escludere l’estrema destra; “dall’altra, chi sostiene la necessità di stabilire dei paletti e definire meglio la linea politica”. Dunque, “il corteo del 17 si prospetta molto imprevedibile”. Così, studenti ed esponenti dei centri sociali scendono piazza come scelta individuale, senza i loghi delle organizzazioni. Temono atti violenti e vogliono prenderne le distanze.

La nuova chat Telegram Movimento 17 ottobre: “Via dal gruppo Italia in piazza”

Il 17 ottobre, nelle vie milanesi, esplode la paventata guerriglia. Il giorno dopo nasce la chat Telegram Movimento 17 ottobre. Il primo messaggio, alle 20,33 del 18 ottobre, dice: “Abbiamo creato questo gruppo come spazio per discutere e parlare insieme. Alcuni di noi erano nel gruppo di Italia in piazza, quelli che hanno chiamato ieri. Ma hanno un’impostazione liberale che tollera razzismo e fascismo e toglie spazio ai partecipanti per decidere insieme come organizzarci. Dobbiamo fare come in Francia. Li sono ben organizzati e, soprattutto, attivi”. Il secondo messaggio è una clip video in onore dello storico centro sociale milanese sgomberato. Inizia così: “È passato un anno dallo sciopero del Leoncavallo…”.

Il report illustrato da Lorenzo Alvisi arricchisce la ricostruzione de ilfattoquotidiano.it. Partiamo dalle date. L’8 ottobre (lo stesso giorno dell’assemblea ai Giardini in transito) chiude i battenti la community WhatsApp Italia in piazza 17 ottobre, stando al messaggio di un utente, perché il tetto ai mille iscritti soffoca la partecipazione. Ventiquattro ore prima erano spuntati 19 gruppi Telegram battezzati con lo stesso nome, Italia in piazza, con un vantaggio: nessun limite agli iscritti. Condividono la stessa immagine di profilo: un megafono nero.

L'articolo Rivolte a Milano: com’è nata (e poi fallita) l’alleanza tra studenti, centri sociali e galassia social proviene da Il Fatto Quotidiano.

Lo ha detto e ripetuto più volte, Noemi Bocchi: a Ballando con le Stelle non vuole essere considerata soltanto la compagna di Francesco Totti. “Voglio ritrovarmi un po’. Voglio far capire a chi mi guarda che tutto quello che hanno letto su di me non è vero”, aveva spiegato la flower designer nelle prime puntate.

Ora, durante l’appuntamento con Ballando Segreto, Bocchi ha raccontato di alcune insicurezze arrivate proprio insieme alla storia d’amore con l’ex Capitano della Roma. Quando Milly Carlucci le ha chiesto se, guardandosi allo specchio, si renda conto di essere una donna bella e sexy, la risposta è stata netta: “Ora no, ma questa è la scia di questi anni. Mi sentivo bella, sexy, camminavo a tre metri da terra prima dello tsunami di commenti. Immaginate di credere in voi stessi e poi il giorno dopo tutti che ti trovano difetti, tutti i giorni. Anche se sei la persona più sicura del mondo ti colpisce”.

I commenti social, l’astio dei leoni da tastiera, i pareri non richiesti lasciati sotto i post dei personaggi noti: è da lì, racconta, che sono nate nuove insicurezze. Ma Bocchi dice di avere trovato proprio a Ballando una strada per tornare a stare meglio con sé stessa: “Questa esperienza mi sta aiutando a tornare a essere quella che ero. Tutto quello che c’era prima ora sta pian piano tornando”.

L'articolo “Mi sentivo bella, sexy, camminavo a tre metri da terra prima dello tsunami dei commenti sui social. Ora non più”: Noemi Bocchi racconta proviene da Il Fatto Quotidiano.

There is virtually no way I could have resisted Sylvie McNamara’s dispatch from her journey to a disreputable McDonald’s in Stafford, Virginia. I’ve listened to my share of the Doughboys podcast, and regularly debate burger rankings with my son. What’s more, I went to high school just two miles down the road from this particular location, whose aggregated Google reviews won it dubious distinction in a nation of interchangeable fast-food franchises. Thankfully, McNamara’s lighthearted investigation, which invites readers to consider Robert Caro and teenage commitments to the social contract, will satisfy you no matter your relationship with the Golden Arches. It reminded me of tongue-in-cheek alt-weekly features, a few pleasurable Paris Review web essays, and that episode of Mystery Show where Starlee Kine goes deep with a Ticketmaster employee. Ba-da-ba-ba-ba, I loved it.

I asked the employee for an explanation. “I think I can give you real insight,” he said. “It be the certain workers we got.” He himself is a high schooler, but he said that “we’re starting to get more younger managers. As soon as they turn 18, they’re getting a manager spot. I think my general manager’s 20. It’s a lot of kids getting these manager titles and positions, but they’re not really managers.”

I told him that to be honest, that environment sounded kind of fun.

Europe wants cheaper energy, stronger industries, secure borders and the capacity to sustain Ukraine. Its budget negotiations are exposing the difficulty of paying for those ambitions while protecting established spending programmes and containing national contributions.

Wednesday’s European Parliament debate on the October EU summit brought that contradiction into focus. The dispute over the 2028–2034 Multiannual Financial Framework is becoming a test of whether Europe can translate geopolitical urgency into durable financial commitments.

According to Parliament’s account of the debate, European Council President António Costa wants agreement before the year’s end. He advocated an ambitious budget while keeping national contributions reasonable, alongside progress on new EU revenue sources.

Those objectives are politically attractive. Reconciling them will require difficult choices over spending, taxation and the distribution of authority.

MEPs challenged the assumption that the Union can keep expanding its responsibilities without providing additional resources. Speakers identified support for Ukraine, industrial competitiveness, agriculture, regional development and household living costs among competing priorities.

Their argument has force. A budget negotiated around yesterday’s compromises risks leaving Europe poorly equipped for tomorrow’s threats. Yet calls for ambition become less persuasive when they avoid specifying which programmes deliver measurable European benefits.

The emerging distribution of cuts illustrates the problem. As EU Today previously reported, the Irish presidency’s compromise proposed reducing the Commission’s plans by approximately €141 billion, with competitiveness and security facing proportionately deeper reductions than agriculture and cohesion spending.

That creates an uncomfortable possibility: the policies most closely associated with Europe’s strategic renewal could become bargaining chips in negotiations dominated by established beneficiaries.

Protecting farmers and poorer regions has clear economic and political justification. Nevertheless, preserving familiar allocations while squeezing newer priorities would undermine leaders’ repeated promises to strengthen European independence.

Energy offers perhaps the clearest example of why spending decisions and structural reform must advance together.

Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told MEPs that dependence on imported fossil fuels and the absence of a genuine European energy union were weakening Europe. Costa emphasised affordable production and modernised electricity grids.

The implication is significant. Industrial subsidies cannot indefinitely compensate for an energy system that leaves European manufacturers facing persistently high costs. Cross-border connections, infrastructure investment and better market integration therefore belong at the centre of competitiveness policy.

Von der Leyen also pressed governments to complete the single market and avoid making European rules more complicated through national implementation. Her argument highlights a limitation of the budget debate: additional money cannot, by itself, remove regulatory fragmentation.

The same distinction applies to China. The Commission president described heavily subsidised Chinese competitors and promised action on dependencies, supply chains and market access. Such measures require coherent enforcement and political resolve alongside investment.

Ukraine adds a security imperative that cannot readily be postponed. Costa linked Ukrainian and European security, while MEPs warned about the consequences of weakening support. Long-term commitments require predictable financing rather than recurring emergency bargains.

But the budget dispute also concerns who controls the money.

As EU Today’s reporting on regional concerns explained, local leaders fear that restructuring could concentrate investment decisions in national capitals, weakening regional influence and potentially widening disparities.

That warning deserves attention. A larger European budget would not automatically produce more balanced development. Allocation rules, accountability and local participation will help determine whether spending strengthens cohesion or reinforces existing advantages.

New revenue sources could ease pressure on national contributions, but they cannot make financing politically painless. Costs ultimately fall somewhere, and governments must explain the distribution honestly.

The central challenge is therefore broader than securing agreement on a headline figure. Europe needs a settlement that protects essential commitments, finances credible common priorities and demonstrates results.

MEPs are right to demand resources consistent with Europe’s responsibilities. Governments are entitled to demand discipline. The failure would be a compromise that satisfies neither requirement: expensive enough to provoke domestic opposition, yet too fragmented to provide the strategic capacity Europe’s leaders insist is indispensable.

Main Image: Denis LOMME: © European Union 2025 – Source : EP

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrived in Samarkand on October 19 with nearly 300 American business leaders, seeking to deepen US commercial ties with Central Asia. Washington’s renewed interest will matter less for how many agreements it produces than for whether American investment helps the region move beyond being merely a supplier of raw […]

The post Rubio’s Central Asia pitch is about more than minerals appeared first on Asia Times.

In the first round of Brazil’s elections on Oct. 4, 2026, Flávio Bolsonaro, of the right wing Liberal Party (PL), came in first with 47.03% of the valid votes, compared with 45.16% for the current leftist president and Workers’ Party (PT) candidate, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. The margin was just over 2.2 million votes, […]

The post JD Vance-founded, Korea-tied firm now influencing Brazil election appeared first on Asia Times.