More from the article ...

... The Reuters calculation is some of the first concrete evidence of a windfall for Russia, the world's second-largest oil exporter, from the Iran war, which oil traders say has triggered the most serious energy crisis in recent history.

Iran effectively shut the Strait of Hormuz -- a route for about a fifth of global oil and LNG flows -- after U.S. and Israeli airstrikes on Iran at the end of February, sending Brent futures shooting well past $100 per barrel.

Russia's main revenue from its vast oil and gas industry is based on production. Export duty on crude oil has been nullified from the start of 2024 as part of the so-called wider tax manoeuvre, a years-long tax reform of the industry.

According to Reuters calculations based on preliminary production data and oil prices, Russia's mineral extraction tax on oil output will increase in April to around 700 billion roubles ($9 billion) from 327 billion roubles in March. The revenue is up by some 10% from April last year. ...

Related...

More from the article ...

... Here's the thing. This isn't a research curiosity. Claude Mythos achieved a 72.4% exploit success rate, compared to near-zero for prior models. It chained 3 to 5 vulnerabilities together for privilege escalation and lateral movement. It reverse-engineered closed-source binaries. And it did all of this as what Anthropic calls "a downstream consequence of general improvements in code, reasoning, and autonomy," not because anyone trained it to hack.

For those of us responsible for securing networks full of devices that will never receive a patch, this is what AI vulnerability discovery looks like at machine speed, and it changes the math entirely. ...

@#3 ... This was done on the original series Star Trek to find whoever was hiding on the Enterprise. ...

Operative point (even in that sci-fi citation) within a starship, not across many miles.

:)

... all male US citizens and immigrants ...

I have two comments ...

1) why only males? Why not females?

2) immigrants? If immigrants are OK for the military, then why is Pres Trump putting them in concentration camps?

Pres Trump says a lot of things.

One thing in particular, however, is not to be taken lightly.

When he threatened all the citizens of Iran with annihilation.

That level of derangement is not to be taken lightly.

More from the poll/article ...

... Though Americans overwhelmingly turn to their doctors and nurses for health information " viewing them as far more accurate than any other source " many also get advice from other individuals facing similar problems, major health websites and increasingly from social media and artificial intelligence chatbots.

That's according to the Pew Research Center in a report released Tuesday, based on a survey of 5,111 U.S. adults, conducted in October 2025.

The findings come at a time when health information is everywhere -- from TikTok videos to chatbot answers -- yet Americans still place the highest confidence in trained professionals. Pew notes that 73% of adults pull information from at least three different sources, making the ability to sort good advice from bad more important than ever.

"Health care providers were seen as the most common source of health information and also the source that most Americans say is highly accurate," Pew Research Associate Giancarlo Pasquini said in a phone interview Tuesday.

Health care providers still top the list how people navigate today's crowded health information world: 85% of Americans say they get health news from doctors or other medical professionals at least sometimes, including 51% who do so often or extremely often. A strong majority of 65% of those who use this source rate the information as extremely or very accurate. Only 4% call it inaccurate. ...

As I noted in an earlier comment ...

When the GOP accuses someone of a behavior, they just seem to be admitting their own behavior.

If the assertions of the cited article are correct, it would just go further to substantiate my prior comment.

More from the article ...

... That nearly 40% rise is squeezing consumers seven months before key midterm elections, when political control of the House, especially, is up for grabs. A surge in gas prices alone might not sway elections. But coupled with the unpopular war in Iran and a sluggish economy, it is making Republicans nervous.

All this puts Mr. Trump, whose energy dominance strategy aims to maximize oil, gas, coal, and nuclear output to drive growth and national security, between a rock and a hard place. ...

@#7

🤮

@#191 ... Acts or threats of violence the primary purpose of which is to spread terror among the civilian population are prohibited. ...

So, Pres Trump's threat to obliterate the people of Iran is Not A Good Thing?

Have the toilets been fixed?

@#44 ... That's odd. Not answering a direct question? ...

My guess would be that before Pres Trump launched his unprovoked war against Iran, the Strait of Hormuz was open to all shipping traffic.

Unimpeded traffic.

But now, as a result of Pres Trump's unprovoked war on Iran, said traffic is now impeded.

So, Press Secretary Leavitt now seems to be trying to justify how the current situation of Iran's apparent full control of the transits through the Strait of Hormuz is somehow better than the free transits prior to Pres Trump's unprovoked war with Iran.

... Pete Hegseth 'Not Speaking Truth To The President' ...

Have you watched the live broadcasts of the Cabinet meetings?

Pres Trump's Cabinet seems to be focused upon the goal of unfettered adulation and praise of their Leader.

Pres Trump's Cabinet, in their own words, appear to be focused upon serving their Leader, and not the Constitution or the people of the United States.

@#39 ... Stated differently if government taxes you more how is that not adding value to your life? ...

Yeah, I would have taken a different approach to the topic at hand, but that is just me.

Do try harder to be relevant.

@#38 ... He meant added value for the user. ...

I cannot read that current trolling alias' mind, so I just go by what it posts.

... Are you still confused? ...

Am I the one confused here?

At least I admit that i am not a mind reader.

What say you?

@#34 ... I would just say RCade is a greedy capitalist as over time the ads become more and more intrusive, without him adding any new value to the site.. ...

If that is the case here, then your comment seems to be self-contradictory.

Stated differently, if the ads are bringing RCade more revenue, how is that not adding value to this site?

As usual, the comments of your trolling current alias are non-sensical.

But, do try harder to be rational.

OK, this begs the question ...

The router you have in your home network ...

How do you know the software on it has been updated to protect you against the latest intrusion attempts?

It's a simple question.

But I suspect it will be greeted with a question along the lines of, ~what's a router,~ and blank stares ...

More from the article ...

... This is the latest tactic by the long-running Russian hacking group known as Fancy Bear, or APT 28, known for its high-profile hacks and spying operations, including the breach of the Democratic National Committee in 2016 and the destructive hack that hit satellite provider Viasat in 2022. Fancy Bear is widely believed to be part of Russia's intelligence agency GRU.

The hacking group targeted unpatched routers made by MikroTik and TP-Link using previously disclosed vulnerabilities according to the U.K. government's cybersecurity unit NCSC and Lumen's research arm Black Lotus Labs, which released new details of the campaign Tuesday.

According to the researchers, the hackers were able to spy on large numbers of people over the course of several years by compromising their routers, many of which run outdated software, leaving them vulnerable to remote attacks without their owners' knowledge. ...

... Donald Trump is seemingly done taking cues from his Israeli counterpart. ...

Nah.

Another visit of PM Netanyahu to the Oval Office, with the usual accompanying press conference, and Pres Trump likely will be once again on board with Israel's apparent goal of destroying Iran.

@#27 ... Streaming services did a similar thing. ...

OK, having said that, and as a former message-discussion website ~provider.~ ...

I have to ask, if RCade needs to show more ads to cover the costs of running this most august site, then, so be it. He is running it. If you don't like it, start your own website.

But, and this is a serious but ...

In my actual experience of running a website, back in the day, that fostered the discussion of controversial issues, I will say that RCade is likely quite within his balance of providing this website as compared to compensating for the costs (and aggravation!) of providing this website.

So, allow me to ask of those who seem to be complaining ...

How many websites have you run? How many trolls have you had to deal with?