Def Minister Katz instructed the IDF "to build outposts as if we were staying there 50 years." He boasted of destroying 24 Shiite villages. "We destroyed all the buildings, not house by house, 15-20 thousand homes" Here: Bint Jbeil www.haaretz.com/israel-news/...
Several companies connected to the solar industry in China were today added to the US sanctions list for their use of forced labour. I reported on the deep ties between China's solar industry and Xinjiang forced labour late last year: youtu.be/IcjaaYm2M6I?...
Solar brands used in Ireland tied to forced labour in China | RTÉ Investigates
YouTube video by RTÉ News
youtu.be
A memo obtained by WIRED, issued by the water utilities information sharing group WaterISAC, links dozens of cyberattacks against Minnesota water utilities to Tehran. www.wired.com/story/a-leak...
A Leaked Memo Ties Cyberattacks on Minnesota Water Utilities to Iran
A memo obtained by WIRED, issued by the water utilities information sharing group WaterISAC, links dozens of cyberattacks against Minnesota water utilities to Tehran.
wired.com
Am told sentiment from Concacaf meeting was that vast majority of members have lost confidence or are losing confidence in Infantino as Fifa president
Strongest possible statement from UEFA as they threaten boycott if Infantino presses ahead with his plan
Good explainer for people like me. Important point: this wasn't a "rogue AI." It was a machine following orders. An additional point: from what I understand, OpenAI could and should have anticipated that the agent would look at its test environment for flaws. So human error (or hubris) was key.
Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai@lorenzofb.bsky.social · last wk.This is a great explainer of the OpenAI hack against Hugging Face, particularly of the report that the latter published earlier this week. If you had trouble parsing the highly technical report, this article can walk you through it.
A week in is obviously the ideal time to answer this question comprehensively.
POLITICO Europe@politico.eu · last wk.PM Andy Burnham came into office promising the biggest change in Britain in 40 years. But one week into his premiership, is the U.K. seeing real transformation — or just a different style of politics? 🎙️ Anne McElvoy and Sam Coates discuss on #PASAA 👇
Europeans should pay attention to how US commercial media succumbed to political pressure. This reinforces importance of well-financed, independent public service media alternative. Handing complete control over a national media system to companies driven entirely by profits is democratic suicide.
At the best of times, the White House Correspondents' Dinner was an affront to journalism. These are not the best of times.
Has the behaviour of EU-sanctioned ships - mostly Russian shadow tankers - changed in the last year? Using Global Fishing Watch, I looked at data for the first half of 2025 and the first half of 2026, and it shows a 46% increase of activity in Irish waters, from 3,819 hours to 5,559 hours.
BREAKING: Justice Department agrees to withdraw subpoenas issued to New York Times reporters in leak investigation related to new Air Force One jet. Withdrawal of subpoenas follows hearing before NY federal judge, who indicated he was inclined to quash the subpoenas.
This incident will increase the valuation of OpenAI. And that makes me instantly suspicious of the claims the company is making.
Sam Gad Jones@samgadjones.bsky.social · 2w agoOne particularly crazy thing about this story - which I think says a lot - is that everyone in AI, including the people at the company which was hacked, are just kind of like ‘oops… this is cool!’
Authorities in Europe and the United States are hyper-alert to threats of political interference from China, Iran, and Russia. Meanwhile, political interference by Israel, through disinformation, spyware, and other cyber activities, has become routine. www.haaretz.com/israel-news/...
Israeli firm BlackCore suspected of meddling in NYC, Scotland elections
Last month, a Haaretz-Libération investigation uncovered systems for building an army of avatars, developed by Israeli company BlackCore, including a smear campaign of a left-wing French candidate
haaretz.com
"In its latest earnings call, the company's CEO Avik Dey predicted a 'return to higher pricing' telling analysts that he couldn't rule out prices of '$80 or $90' per MWh of electricity by early 2028." Meanwhile, Irish prices are averaging around €130 per MWh this year.
Mél Hogan / The Data Fix@melhogan.bsky.social · 2w agoAlberta electricity industry expects tripling of power prices from data centres www.nationalobserver.com/2026/07/20/a...
NATO's arms race relies on drones, computing power - and cotton. And it doesn't have enough. My latest story on guncotton, a key chemical material in virtually all modern ammunition systems. Europe has for centuries relied on China for it, and that's now a problem. www.wsj.com/world/europe...
Wanted for Rearming Against Russia and China: More Cotton
To fire big ammunition, militaries need explosive chemicals derived from natural fibers that suddenly are in short supply.
wsj.com
After the World Cup ends the priority must be to get Infantino out.
Untangling what Trump said about China, which does not match what the newly declassified documents say about China. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/16/u...
Trump Released Documents on China and the 2020 Election. Here’s What We Know.
President Trump claimed that China had tried to acquire American voter data. Possessing such information would not allow votes to be manipulated.
nytimes.com
Proud of this piece I produced/edited for @financialtimes.com (via FT Schools) with @johnreedwrites.ft.com explaining his explainer series. The way people consume news is changing, and John has the right idea to change with it! If you're a #journalism student, be sure to watch, great insight here.
Cognyte, which sells technology to snoop on phone locations largely in Israel and Europe, is making inroads in 🇺🇸America by tricking out trucks with spy tech, writes @thomasbrewster.bsky.social. www.forbes.com/sites/thomas...
Israel’s Palantir Rival Is Selling $1 Million Spy Vans To U.S. Cops
Cognyte, which sells technology to snoop on phone locations largely in Israel and Europe, is making inroads in America by tricking out trucks with spy tech.
forbes.com
Further evidence that it is really Beijing that calls the shots, and could likely end the war in Ukraine if it so chose.
Sarah Kirchberger@sarahkirchberger.bsky.social · 4w ago🇨🇳🇷🇺🇺🇦☢️ “China has, for the first time, issued a firm and ultimatum-like warning to Russia against any consideration of using nuclear weapons, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told reporters.“ newsukraine.rbc.ua/news/beijing...
🇨🇳🇷🇺🇺🇦☢️ “China has, for the first time, issued a firm and ultimatum-like warning to Russia against any consideration of using nuclear weapons, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told reporters.“ newsukraine.rbc.ua/news/beijing...
Beijing warns Russia against nuclear escalation in Ukraine, Zelenskyy says
Read more
newsukraine.rbc.ua
For $7 an hour, virtual assistants in the Philippines are using AI to write LinkedIn posts and comments on behalf of Western executives, fueling a "thought leadership" content mill https://restofworld.org/2026/virtual-assistant-linkedin-engagement/?utm_campaign=row-social
The Filipino virtual assistants behind LinkedIn’s “thought leadership” content mill
For $7 an hour, virtual assistants use AI tools to write LinkedIn posts and comments on behalf of Western executives.
restofworld.org
Big Tech is funding its data center binge with debt. www.bloomberg.com/news/article... “The nature of these businesses is changing very dramatically, and it’s changing abruptly."
Big Tech Doubles Debt Load to $350 Billion in AI Spending Spree
The largest builders of artificial intelligence data centers have doubled their debt load in the last five years, turning to borrowing to finance an unprecedented spending spree they claim is needed t...
bloomberg.com
EU 🇪🇺 urged to act after Pegasus infects phone of spyware inquiry MEP Good overview our latest @citizenlab.ca report and its growing impact 👇 www.theregister.com/security/202...
EU urged to act after Pegasus infects phone of spyware inquiry MEP
Campaigners demand investigation and long-delayed action on PEGA Committee recommendations
theregister.com
Taiwanese authorities charge executives who helped China’s cyber spies target ICIJ network The probe corroborates @icij.org & @citizenlab.ca findings that attacks against journalists were part of a coordinated espionage campaign sponsored by Beijing. www.icij.org/investigatio...
Taiwanese authorities charge executives who helped China’s cyber spies target ICIJ network - ICIJ
The Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau probe corroborates ICIJ and Citizen Lab’s findings that attacks against journalists were part of a coordinated espionage campaign sponsored by Beijing.
icij.org
Predatorgate lawsuit against Intellexa SA filed in Greece. Love to see it. www.reuters.com/legal/govern...
Greek wiretapping victims sue spyware firm Intellexa for damages
Eight victims of a Greek wiretapping scandal have sued the Athens-based surveillance firm Intellexa SA and individuals believed to be linked to it, seeking €1 million ($1.1 million) each for moral ha...
reuters.com
First they came for people who had secretly taken millions of pounds in cash and gifts from a crypto-billionaire and a convicted criminals then been really twattish about it, but I did not speak up because it sounded like they kind of had it coming.
China built a 40-story tower that banks wind power by hoisting giant concrete blocks, then dropping them when the grid needs juice. A skyscraper-sized battery with no lithium in it.
China built a 40-story tower that stores wind power by stacking concrete
The Swiss company Energy Vault spent years pitching a novel idea: store surplus electricity by using it to stack heavy blocks, then recover the power by letting them fall. Boing…
boingboing.net
“After it ended, the Belgian team’s social media account had a message to the U.S. on Twitter: “Overturn this.” Perfect. #WellPlayed #Belgium
Belgium beats, then trolls, U.S. team on Monday night
Even though it was tied, 1-1, after Malik Tillman scored another goal on a free kick just outside the penalty area, it never felt close.
nbcsports.com
