📌 Swift, Musk, More

A man has confessed to a plan to “kill as many people as possible” outside the concert venue of Taylor Swift shows in Vienna.

Officials said today they found ties to the Islamic State group. When the 19-year-old began working on his attack plans in July, he quit his regular job and “conspicuously changed his appearance and adapted to IS propaganda.”

The 19-year-old wanted to use knives or self-made explosives outside the Ernst Happel Stadium to kill as many people as possible, officials said.

During a raid of his home in Ternitz, south of Vienna, investigators found chemical substances and technical devices that indicated “concrete preparatory acts.”

Authorities also found Islamic State group and al-Qaida material at the home of the second suspect, a 17-year-old Austrian. He was employed only a few days ago by a company providing services at the venue.

The Vienna stadium had been sold out for the planned concerts, with an estimated 170,000 fans expected for the concerts in Austria.

Elon Musk is accused of amplifying tensions in the UK after far-right rioting sparked calls to expedite harmful online content laws.

Misinformation and calls to violence have spread on social media after far-right and anti-Muslim groups seized on the fatal stabbing of three young girls in the English town of Southport.

As rioters clashed with police in some towns and cities, Musk joined the debate on his X platform, posting that civil war was “inevitable" in Britain. Prime Minister Keir Starmer's spokesperson said there was "no justification" for such comments.

Separately, Starmer warned social media companies that violent disorder whipped up online was a crime "on your premises,” adding there was a "balance to be struck" in handling the firms.

An Online Safety Bill passed into law in October permits media regulator Ofcom to fine social media companies up to 10% of global turnover if breaching the law, such as failing to police content inciting violence or terrorism.

But Ofcom is still drawing up implementation guidelines, with enforcement not expected until early next year. Many are calling for the rules to be rolled out sooner.

Abortions rose in the first quarter of this year compared to before the Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade in 2022.

A major reason is that some Democratic-controlled states enacted laws to protect doctors who use telemedicine to see patients in places that have abortion bans, reported the Society of Family Planning, which supports abortion access.

Its report comes ahead of the November elections when some states will see voters continuing or rejecting state-level abortion protections.

The survey found that abortions fell to nearly zero in states that ban abortion in all stages of pregnancy and declined by about half in places that ban it after six weeks before many women know they are pregnant.

Fourteen states enforce bans on abortion at all stages of pregnancy, with some exceptions, and four others bar it after about six weeks of pregnancy.

Numbers went up in places where abortion remains legal until further into pregnancy—and especially in states such as Illinois, Kansas and New Mexico, which border states with bans.

A water-powered, disposable electric bandage can heal serious wounds quicker than conventional dressings, a study finds.

In its tests on diabetic mice, the researchers found electrical stimulation sped up the chronic wound closure rate, promoting blood vessel formation and reducing inflammation. The bandages healed wounds 30% faster.

Chronic wounds are defined as open wounds, such as diabetic sores that heal slowly, if at all. They often recur after treatment and significantly increase the risk of amputation.

The bandage has electrodes on one side and a biocompatible battery on the other. It is applied with the electrodes contacting the wound. A drop of water activates the battery, producing an electric field for several hours.

The researchers say fine-tuning and adjusting the electric field will get them closer to clinical trials and to practical use that can help people.

Existing treatment options are expensive, creating additional problems for patients. But the electric bandages can be produced to cost around $2 per dressing, the study’s co-author said.

Australia’s Great Barrier Reef faces critical danger with ocean heat in the Coral Sea at its highest in four centuries, researchers say.

Researchers drilled into coral skeletons to analyze their chemical makeup to reconstruct sea surface temperatures from 1618–1995 alongside sea surface measurements spanning 1900–2024.

Before 1900, ocean temperatures in the region were relatively stable. But from 1960–2024, they climbed relentlessly, which was found to be linked to humans’ greenhouse gas emissions.

Five of the six hottest years were 2016, 2017, 2020, 2022 and 2024, with temperatures as much as 1º Celsius higher. Each year had a mass bleaching event from January to March.

Global warming threatens up to 90% of global coral reefs, a researcher said. “The more [emissions] we cut now, the better off not just the Great Barrier Reef will be, but society is going to be.”

A crocodile expert has been jailed for 10 years and five months in Australia after admitting to sexually abusing dozens of dogs.

Adam Britton, a leading zoologist who has worked on BBC and National Geographic productions, pleaded guilty to 56 charges relating to bestiality and animal cruelty.

He also admitted to four counts of accessing child abuse material. The Northern Territory Supreme Court heard the 53-year-old filmed himself torturing the animals until almost all died and then shared the videos online under pseudonyms.

His abuse went unnoticed for years until a clue was found in one of his videos. Britton was arrested in April 2022 after a search of his rural Darwin property, which also uncovered child abuse material on his laptop.

With a PhD in zoology, he had built a global reputation for his expertise, even hosting Sir David Attenborough while the veteran broadcaster filmed part of the Life in Cold Blood docuseries on his property.

A handyman in Cambridgeshire, England, has taken on some unusual building projects after retiring.

Initially, Steve Wainwright, 61, a former electrician, said he felt “a bit lost,” but inspiration hit him when a prolonged bout of rain stopped him from ‘working on a building project in his garden.

“I looked at my tape measure, and I thought: ‘I wonder if I can build this 10 times its size?’” Within a short time, Steve fashioned a table-sized tape measure with retractable giant tape.

Since then, Steve has gone on to build more giant objects, including pencils and pencil sharpeners definitely too large for standard pencil cases.

While people’s reactions are generally positive, Steve has noticed a distinct difference in the response from men and women. “Men say: ‘Wow! That’s out of this world!’ And women go: ‘What on earth are you going to do with that?’”