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London Nurseries Hit by Hackers, Data on 8,000 Children Stolen

The Britain's national flag flies next to the Elizabeth Tower, commonly known as Big Ben, in London, Britain, March 23, 2022. REUTERS/Peter Cziborra/ File Photo
The Britain's national flag flies next to the Elizabeth Tower, commonly known as Big Ben, in London, Britain, March 23, 2022. REUTERS/Peter Cziborra/ File Photo
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London Nurseries Hit by Hackers, Data on 8,000 Children Stolen

The Britain's national flag flies next to the Elizabeth Tower, commonly known as Big Ben, in London, Britain, March 23, 2022. REUTERS/Peter Cziborra/ File Photo
The Britain's national flag flies next to the Elizabeth Tower, commonly known as Big Ben, in London, Britain, March 23, 2022. REUTERS/Peter Cziborra/ File Photo

Cybercriminals have stolen data on over 8,000 children attending nurseries in London operated by childcare provider Kido International, the hackers said on their dark web portal.

The gang, which calls itself Radiant, evidenced its claim by publishing the names, photos, home addresses, and family contact information of 10 children it said attended one of Kido's 18 nurseries in Greater London.

The hack, which raises serious concerns about child safeguarding and data privacy, was the latest in a string of serious ransomware incidents in Britain that have rocked businesses in Britain this year, Reuters reported.

"Next steps for us will be to release 30 more 'profiles' of each child and 100 employees," the post on Radiant's leak website said.

Kido International did not respond to an emailed request from Reuters for comment.

Speaking over an encrypted messaging service, the nursery hackers said they had been inside Kido's networks for weeks.

Asked where they were based, the hackers said they were in Russia, though they did not provide evidence to support that statement.

Ransomware is malicious software used by cybercriminals to encrypt a company’s data and demand payment for its release. The hackers declined to say how much money they were asking Kido International to pay.

"Cybercriminals will target anyone if they think there is money to be made, and going after those who look after children is a particularly egregious act," Jonathon Ellison of the National Cyber Security Centre, part of Britain's GCHQ spy agency, said in a statement.

A government source said on Thursday that the British government was considering providing financial support for carmaker Jaguar Land Rover's suppliers after a shutdown caused by a cyberattack was extended until October.

A day earlier, police said they had arrested a man as part of an investigation into a ransomware attack against Collins Aerospace, owned by RTX. The attack crippled automated check-in systems at London Heathrow, Britain's busiest airport, and caused travel chaos at other airports across Europe.

In April, a group of hackers dubbed Scattered Spider was widely reported to be behind an attack that crippled British retailer Marks & Spencer, preventing one of Britain's best-known retailers from taking online orders for weeks.

The company forecast in May that the hack would cost it about 300 million pounds ($405 million) in lost operating profit in its 2025/26 financial year.

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Varieties

Jurassic Art: Fossils Transformed Into Artwork at Amsterdam Museum

Typical Amsterdam houses sit next to a canal in Amsterdam, Netherlands, March 19, 2026. (Reuters)
Typical Amsterdam houses sit next to a canal in Amsterdam, Netherlands, March 19, 2026. (Reuters)
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Jurassic Art: Fossils Transformed Into Artwork at Amsterdam Museum

Typical Amsterdam houses sit next to a canal in Amsterdam, Netherlands, March 19, 2026. (Reuters)
Typical Amsterdam houses sit next to a canal in Amsterdam, Netherlands, March 19, 2026. (Reuters)

Hanging by a thin metal strap, a 67-million-year-old triceratops skull twirls above a coral sculpture, the centerpiece of a new exhibition aiming to make art out of prehistoric fossils.

The "Relics" show at Amsterdam's Art Zoo will display nine works by creative duo Jaap Sinke and Ferry van Tongeren that combine science and art.

The aim was to highlight the aesthetic side of the fossils, usually presented in an educational way in natural history museums, van Tongeren told AFP.

The artists tried to give the fossils "a more monumental form" with "more stature," the 59-year-old told AFP in an interview.

The exhibition also features the bones of a basilosaurus, which roamed the seas up to 40 million years ago, but arranged as a sculpture rather than a traditional skeleton reconstruction.

Natural history museums have a valuable scientific and educational value "but lack a captivating element," said van Tongeren. "And that was the starting point for everything we did."

The artists worked with Zoic, an Italian palaeontology company that processes fossils and reconstructs dinosaur skeletons.

Creating the exhibits required "an extraordinary combination of knowledge and different processes," Iacopo Briano, 42, curator of the exhibition and palaeontology expert at Zoic, told AFP.

First comes the "puzzle" of unearthing and reconstructing the bones from a fossil discovery.

Then the fragile bones need to be transported so the artists could start their own work -- a 10-year process in the case of this exhibit.

This prehistoric show, whose oldest exhibit is a dinosaur vertebra about 150 million years old, opens to the public on Friday and runs until November 2026.

Varieties

Greenpeace Warns of Potential ‘Catastrophic’ Chernobyl Collapse

Representatives of Greenpeace and media stand in front of the sarcophagus covering the destroyed fourth reactor under the New Safe Confinement (NSC), at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant on April 9, 2026. (AFP)
Representatives of Greenpeace and media stand in front of the sarcophagus covering the destroyed fourth reactor under the New Safe Confinement (NSC), at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant on April 9, 2026. (AFP)
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Greenpeace Warns of Potential ‘Catastrophic’ Chernobyl Collapse

Representatives of Greenpeace and media stand in front of the sarcophagus covering the destroyed fourth reactor under the New Safe Confinement (NSC), at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant on April 9, 2026. (AFP)
Representatives of Greenpeace and media stand in front of the sarcophagus covering the destroyed fourth reactor under the New Safe Confinement (NSC), at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant on April 9, 2026. (AFP)

An uncontrolled collapse of the internal radiation shell at the defunct Chernobyl nuclear power station in Ukraine could increase the risk of radioactivity release in the environment, Greenpeace warned on Tuesday.

In 1986, while Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union, a reactor at Chernobyl exploded, sending clouds of radiation across much of Europe and forcing tens of thousands of people to evacuate.

The remnants of the plant are covered by an inner steel-and-concrete radiation shell -- known as the sarcophagus and built hastily after the disaster -- and a modern, high-tech outer shell, called the New Safe Confinement (NSC) structure.

Kyiv has accused Russia of repeatedly targeting the site since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion in 2022, including of a strike last year that pierced the outer shell.

In a report released Tuesday, days before the 40th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster, Greenpeace warned that despite some repair works, the confinement function of the NSC "could not be fully restored".

"This increases the risk of radioactivity release in the environment, especially in the case of a collapse" of the internal shelter, Greenpeace said.

"That would be catastrophic because... there's four tons of dust, highly radioactive dust, fuel pellets, enormous amounts of radioactivity inside the sarcophagus," Shaun Burnie, a senior nuclear specialist for Greenpeace Ukraine, told AFP earlier this month.

"And because the New Safe Confinement cannot be repaired at the moment, it cannot function as it was designed, there's a possibility of radioactive releases," Burnie added.

Greenpeace said deconstruction of unstable elements of the internal shell was necessary to prevent their uncontrolled collapse.

But any works at the site were impeded by the war raging on as "there's missiles from the Russians still being fired across Chernobyl," Burnie said.

"Here we are 40 years on, and Russia is still conducting effectively a nuclear war against the people of Ukraine and Europe."

Plant director Sergiy Tarakanov said the situation around the site was "very dangerous".

"If a rocket will drop, not directly into the safe confinement, but just in 200 meters, it will create an external impact like an earthquake," increasing the risk of the inner shell collapsing.

"And what actually 1986 accident showed to us... that the radioactive particles, they do not recognize borders," Tarakanov added.

Last month, France said that the Chernobyl protective dome would require almost 500 million euros of repairs after the Russian strike in 2025.

Varieties

Prince Harry and Meghan Arrive in Australia to a Muted Welcome

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, arrive at the Australian National Veterans Arts Museum (Anvam) in Southbank, Melbourne, Australia, Tuesday, April 14, 2026. (Jonathan Brady/Pool Photo via AP)
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, arrive at the Australian National Veterans Arts Museum (Anvam) in Southbank, Melbourne, Australia, Tuesday, April 14, 2026. (Jonathan Brady/Pool Photo via AP)
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Prince Harry and Meghan Arrive in Australia to a Muted Welcome

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, arrive at the Australian National Veterans Arts Museum (Anvam) in Southbank, Melbourne, Australia, Tuesday, April 14, 2026. (Jonathan Brady/Pool Photo via AP)
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, arrive at the Australian National Veterans Arts Museum (Anvam) in Southbank, Melbourne, Australia, Tuesday, April 14, 2026. (Jonathan Brady/Pool Photo via AP)

Britain's Prince Harry and wife Meghan landed in Australia on Tuesday for a four-day visit with engagements covering sport, mental health and veterans' affairs.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex began their trip at the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne, where they took part in an activity in the hospital's therapeutic garden spaces.

"It was a genuinely meaningful visit for our staff and for the young people receiving care," said Dr. Peter Steer, the hospital's CEO.

Harry, ‌wearing a navy ‌suit and white shirt, spoke to children and posed ‌for ⁠photographs with patients ⁠in the foyer of the hospital, calling one of the handmade signs welcoming the couple "beautiful".

Meghan, who wore a matching A$1,250 ($885) navy dress by Sydney-based designer Karen Gee, later helped serve food at a women's domestic violence shelter in the city.

The Sussexes stepped down as working members of the British royal family and moved to the US in 2020, citing a desire to be financially independent and ⁠to escape what they characterized as media intrusion into ‌their private lives.

They last visited Australia in ‌2018 while still working royals, announcing Meghan's first pregnancy hours after arriving in Sydney.

Their latest visit has captured public attention in Australia, where ‌Britain's King Charles is the head of state, though a sizeable minority supports becoming a republic. But there was little sign of the ecstatic reception that greeted them on the 2018 trip. Television networks aired footage that they said showed the couple arriving ‌in Melbourne on a commercial flight from Los Angeles, before being taken from the tarmac in a vehicle convoy.

The ⁠couple's travel is ⁠being privately funded, though local media reported some policing costs associated with the visit would be paid by Australian taxpayers, sparking a protest petition signed by more than 45,000 people.

The couple will travel to the capital, Canberra, on Wednesday to meet military veterans, attend a mental health summit in Melbourne on Thursday and round off the joint leg of their trip with sailing and rugby events in Sydney on Friday.

In contrast to their previous visit, the Sussexes will also undertake commercial activities while in Australia, with Meghan remaining in the country to host a wellness retreat at a luxury beachside hotel in Sydney over the weekend.

Tickets for the event, which includes yoga, manifestation and sound healing, start at A$2,699 ($1,912) per person.