AI Capability Races Ahead of the Business Payoff | American Enterprise Institute– www.aei.org News Source
EXCERPT:
The state of the AI revolution can be confusing. At times, it can seem as if the latest artificial intelligence models are showing huge capability increases. One example is when two OpenAI models broke out of the lab, accessed the internet, and broke into another AI company. Or, as a Wall Street Journal headline put it, “The Day the Bots Broke Loose.”
The push to expand head count, at least modestly, is a reversal from the prevailing corporate messaging during much of the AI era. Major employers largely held back on adding people due to economic uncertainties or a belief that artificial intelligence could shoulder more tasks on the job. But some executives say the costs and limitations of AI now demand that more people be added; others want to hire people back following layoffs.
Iran releases sick video on ‘where and how’ to kill Melania Trump | World | News– www.express.co.uk News Source
EXCERPT:
A horrifying video released in Iran has sparked outrage after the clip detailed “how and where” to kill First Lady Melania Trump. In the footage, a narrator speaking Farsi discusses “plots” while images show Mr and Mrs Trump on a map, detailing their code names and the precautions the Secret Service takes to secure the streets along their motorcades.
The narrator claims that “the documents used in this video are the result of extracting information from several anonymous security networks and satellite images”. They also propose a potential poisoning plot that could be executed by “freedom fighters” with access to locations the First Lady frequently attends.
The footage implies that Mrs Trump’s “love of fashion” reflects her vulnerability, even suggesting potential bribery schemes tied to her shopping patterns.
Billboards have also appeared on bridges and structures throughout Tehran, Iran, calling for the deaths of Mr Trump and his family members. One featured images of his children, Ivanka and Barron, alongside his wife.
All three were shown with their eyes closed, with the word “KILLED” in red across the top. It added: “Hey, Terrorist! Get ready to die.”
It’s been just over a month since the June 24 earthquakes devastated Venezuela. The death toll is now above 5,500 as teams removing debris continue to find bodies.
The government is estimating the total damage at $19.6 billion so far. That includes $9 billion in destroyed or severely damaged homes.
More than 23,000 people are living in temporary locations. CBN’s Operation Blessing is on hand to help those who’ve lost their homes.
Theiris Dellimore was living on the street after the quake. Authorities told her the home was too dangerous to live in, that parts of it could collapse.
The Operation Blessing team provided Theiris and her family with a tent, mattresses, food, and hygiene supplies. Now, she says, they’re safe from the rain and the cold at night.
“Gracias. First of all, thank you. May God continue to bless you so that you can continue to bless Venezuela so that you can continue to help us. We’re just getting started. We still have a long way to go. Don’t forget about us,” she said.
Firefighters in France hold back vast wildfire as heat returns to test their grip– abcnews.com News Source
EXCERPT:
Firefighters have kept a vast wildfire in southwest France from advancing overnight, extinguishing flare-ups near Atlantic coast dunes before returning heat and drier air threatens to test their hold on the blaze
LEGE-CAP FERRET, France — Firefighters kept a vast wildfire in southwest France from advancing overnight Tuesday, extinguishing flare-ups near Atlantic coast dunes before returning heat and drier air threatened to test their hold on the blaze.
The fire remained stabilized at 6 a.m. after a calm night and the burned area was unchanged at 420 square kilometers (162 square miles), the Gironde prefecture said.
Several flare-ups were detected overnight north of Le Porge and in dune land north of Cap Ferret but were brought under control by firefighters, authorities said.
The areas lie along the Atlantic coast west of Bordeaux, where crews have battled the blaze since it erupted near Saumos last week.
Graphics card prices jump by up to 20% in China as shops stockpile Nvidia and AMD GPUs– www.techspot.com News Source
EXCERPT:
Ripple effect: Just when it seemed like graphics card prices couldn’t get much worse, the memory crisis has delivered another unpleasant surprise. Nvidia and AMD GPU prices have surged in China, with some models rising by as much as 20% in a single week and premium cards now selling for almost 60% above their official MSRPs.
Distributor lists from MSI and Colorful reveal the increases. MSI raised the RTX 5080 Shadow 3X OC and Ventus from 9,999 yuan ($1,477) to 11,999 yuan ($1,773), a 20% jump in seven days. Its RTX 5070 Ti Shadow 3X OC rose 19.5%, while the RTX 5090D V2 increased 13%. What’s worse is that these cards were already well above their suggested prices before the latest adjustment.
Comparing the new figures with Nvidia’s Chinese MSRPs makes the situation look even worse. MSI’s RTX 5070 Ti Gaming Trio OC is now 54% above the base MSRP, while the RTX 5080 Gaming Trio models are around 57% higher. Colorful’s RTX 5080 Vulcan W OC is priced at 13,199 yuan ($1,949), 59% above MSRP, and its RTX 5070 Ti Vulcan W OC carries a similar 58.7% premium.
The increases aren’t just limited to Nvidia. A market snapshot showed Radeon cards climbing across Chinese retailers, with some RX 9000 models seeing double-digit increases. AMD reportedly warned Asus, XFX, Sapphire, and other partners earlier this month that its GPU-and-memory bundles would become 10% more expensive.
The culprit is, of course, the continuing rise in GDDR6 and GDDR7 costs, combined with more expensive PCBs, coolers, and packaging. Nvidia supplies board partners with GPU and memory kits, so higher VRAM costs are passed directly to manufacturers. Reports claim the latest adjustment adds around 600 yuan ($89) to 8GB cards, 900 yuan ($133) to 12GB models, and 1,200 yuan ($177) to 16GB products.
Flawed Appellate Decision Upholding an Online Parental-Consent Mandate Merits Reversal | American Enterprise Institute– www.aei.org News Source
EXCERPT:
A federal appellate court recently rejectedFirst Amendment and vagueness challenges to an Ohio parental-consent statute that limits minors’ access to social media platforms “reasonably anticipated to be accessed by children.” The Sixth Circuit’s divided decision in NetChoice v. Yost is an unusual setback for NetChoice, an internet trade association that won a similar battle in June. The appellate court’s ruling vacates a 2025 lower court opinion blocking enforcement of the statute, which forbids Ohioans under age 16 from creating accounts on regulated platforms unless they obtain verifiable parental or guardian consent.
Yost, in which the two judges who sided with Ohio didn’t always agree with each other, is troubling for several reasons. One is its exceedingly deferential interpretation—in Ohio’s favor—of the evidence about harms platforms supposedly cause minors. As Techdirt’s Mike Masnick explained, “The first few pages of the decision are nothing but cherry-picked, out-of-context horror stories about what social media does to kids—with no mention of the substantial corresponding evidence that the picture is far more complicated than that.”
Another problem is how Judge Eric Clay determined Ohio’s statute survived the typically fatal strict scrutiny standard of judicial review. He did so by arguably misinterpreting and dubiously distinguishing the US Supreme Court’s formidable Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association decision. I’ve previouslyexplained that the Court in Brown applied strict scrutiny to invalidate a California parental-consent statute restricting minors’ access to violent video games.
Donald Trump earns more in last two years ‘than previous 60 combined’ | World | News– www.express.co.uk News Source
EXCERPT:
Donald Trump’s personal wealth has ballooned, reportedly earning more in the last two years than the previous 60 combined. The US president has seen his net worth go from £1.73 billion in 2024 to £4.81 billion in 2026.
Roughly 26% of Trump’s wealth comes from “pre-existing real estate and golf” ventures. But the overwhelming majority comes from cryptocurrency, with the total going up by a staggering 183% in two years.
Trump launched his “Official Trump” ($TRUMP) meme coin in January 2025, days before his inauguration. It went onto the market with a valuation of £11.26 billion, it is now worth £339 million, a 97% drop.
But this didn’t hurt Trump, who never directly invested in the coin. Instead, he was paid a 1% to 5% transfer fee every time a $TRUMP meme coin was bought or sold.
Steven Ratner, a former Obama staffer and journalist, called the increase “unprecedented in scale and source”. He said: “Obama’s wealth grew from royalties on books written before office — and Bush’s mostly from a sports‑team stake from over a decade prior. Most of Trump’s new billions are from deals made in office.”
‘Intimidation’: French Warship Accused of Opening Fire to Threaten MP– www.breitbart.com News Source
EXCERPT:
A senior British politician accused the French government of attempted intimidation after a warship made a close pass and commenced a live firing exercise unannounced while he was observing migrant boat crossings in the English Channel.
Conservative Party home affairs spokesman Chris Philp was joined by government-adjacent news outlets on a hired boat in the English Channel on Wednesday morning to record interview pieces about the boat migrant crisis, but was interrupted by a small French warship engaging in what was said to be a live firing exercise. Philip called the shooting an apparent attempt at intimidation by the French, given the sea was otherwise clear of craft, the firing only took place as the French warship was at its closest point of approach to the British boat, and there was no warnings broadcast by radio beforehand.
British state media the BBC, which was interviewing Philp at sea as the firing commenced, caught in their footage the French patrol boat P676 Flamant passing approximately 300 meters to starboard while the Conservative politician delivered a piece to camera, and as the firing began. Coastal patrol boats of the Flamant type, which are mainly for coastal constabulary duties, carry no fixed naval weapons systems but can embark machine guns, and in this case the firing exercise was reported to be a French officer discharging a handgun at a towed target.
Philip told the BBC that the shooting in close proximity to his boat where there was plenty of sea room to exercise elsewhere “felt to me like an attempted intimidation to stop us covering migrant crossings”. He told the broadcaster:
It is extraordinary that the French Navy will fire live rounds to defend their waters against a visiting British politician but cannot bear to do anything about stopping illegal Channel crossings.
If France showed people smugglers half the seriousness they showed me, the boats would stop.
Instead, the French wave them through and pass them off to the British coastguard so it’s our problem.
Trump revives old tropes as he pushes warnings of ‘communist menace’ | Donald Trump– www.theguardian.com News Source
EXCERPT:
Perhaps above all else, Donald Trump is a child of the cold war.
Three months before the US president was born, Winston Churchill delivered a historic speech in Fulton, Missouri, that ushered in a generations-long existential struggle between western capitalism and Soviet communism.
Lamenting the spread of Soviet communism across eastern Europe following the allied victory in the second world war, Churchill – by then no longer British prime minister – warned his audience on 5 March 1946 that “an iron curtain has descended across the continent”.
It was the prelude to a nuclear-armed standoff between Washington and Moscow that triggered a hysteria-driven “red scare” in the US – leading to the execution of convicted spies and exemplified by witch-hunts instigated by the Republican senator Joe McCarthy, who claimed he had obtained lists of communist agents working in the state department and other key areas of American life.
The hunt for communists would have been a ubiquitous theme of Trump’s early childhood.
Trump’s ‘anti-weaponization’ fund has become a roadblock for his attorney general nominee– www.washingtontimes.com News Source
EXCERPT:
President Trump’s “anti-weaponization” fund has become the chief stumbling block to Todd Blanche’s confirmation as attorney general, with key Republicans saying they cannot let him be approved until the $1.776 billion idea is fully eradicated.
Mr. Blanche has told lawmakers that the fund is dead and he will not release any of the money.
Still, senators said the language of the deal, which Mr. Blanche signed off on as acting attorney general, could leave wiggle room for Mr. Trump to ask a court to enforce it.
One of those Republicans, Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, said he would hold up any action until either Mr. Blanche renegotiates the settlement to make clear that the fund is expunged or Congress passes legislation to firmly nullify the fund.
“We need to have a fork stuck in the 1776 fund,” Mr. Tillis told reporters. “I want a renegotiated agreement that ends this forever. That is final.”
The senator said the Justice Department is negotiating on the matter.
Berlin Pride suspect shot dead by police after man ‘rams van into crowd with 1 killed and 16 injured’– www.mirror.co.uk News Source
EXCERPT:
German police have shot dead the man suspected of driving a van into a crowd near Berlin’s Pride festival, killing a woman and injuring at least 29 people.
Alleged terrorist Abdul Ballout, 21, rushed at police with a weapon before being shot by cops, officials said. The suspect was tracked down to an allotment garden in Spandau, West Berlin.
Authorities had previously issued a wanted notice and warned people against approaching Ballout, a German citizen with Lebanese roots, saying he may be armed and dangerous.
Polizei Berlin said last night: “At around 6pm, the suspect in yesterday’s attack in the Grosser Tiergarten was located in an allotment garden in Spandau.
“He is said to have rushed toward our emergency forces with a stabbing weapon, after which police firearms were used.
Burnham to Host Zelenskyy in Signal of Continued UK Support– financialpost.com News Source
EXCERPT:
In his first week in office, Burnham has focused on domestic issues, announcing a raft of cost-of-living measures, from capping bus fares to helping households with energy bills. His relationship with Zelenskyy will be a test of how decisively he is prepared to step onto the international stage.
With the help of four Democrats, against the effort of four Republicans, the U.S. House passed a continuing resolution for funding the government through September 30. That resolution also includes the SAVE Act. The final vote was 214-208.
With the House expected to recess soon until September, this is the last chance for the Republicans to neutralize the vulnerabilities in our election system that make it easy for America’s enemies, which includes the Democratic Party and its GOP operatives, to deliver the result they wanted as opposed to what American voters want.
House Passes Continuing Resolution to Fund Government Through Midterms, but There’s a Catch– townhall.com News Source
EXCERPT:
Speaker Mike Johnson said he has the votes to pass the rules on the spending bill to keep the government funded through the midterms. It also includes the SAVE America Act in the legislation, which could cause issues since enough Republicans in the Senate might block the bill (via Politico):
The House passed a government funding bill Tuesday night that would extend funding for all federal operations through the midterm elections — a move made months ahead of the Sept. 30 deadline to avoid a shutdown.
The 220-205 vote was largely along party lines, with Speaker Mike Johnson managing to keep his extremely narrow majority mostly together to advance legislation that would fund the government through Dec. 4.
Top House Republicans hope moving the funding measure so early in the process will put Democrats on defense in the impending government spending fight, before voters head to the polls this fall. Republicans plan to highlight Democrats’ votes against federal funding in the midterm campaigns.
The bill also does not include unrelated policy provisions, a key selling point for GOP leaders who argue there’s no reason Democrats should oppose a “clean” product. The measure does include traditional payments to the families of lawmakers who have died while serving in Congress, including late-Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and late-Rep. David Scott (D-Ga.), which is not politically controversial.
President Donald Trump appears prepared to utilize tariffs as a geopolitical tool once again. He announced a 50% tariff on Canada that came without warning. He followed up this announcement with more tariffs targeting multiple nations he accuses of practicing “forced labor.” This could indicate the administration believes it has a legal path to apply tariffs that doesn’t conflict with SCOTUS’ recent ruling on tariffs.
US imposes tariffs on dozens of trade partners over ‘forced labour’ imports– www.bbc.co.uk News Source
EXCERPT:
The US is imposing new tariffs on around 60 trading partners accounting for the vast majority of its imports over claims they failed to properly stop forced labour.
The duties, ranging from 10% to 12.5%, target key economic partners – including the UK, China, EU, Canada, Japan and India. They come in on Friday,as a temporary 10% tax on foreign goods introduced earlier this year expires.
The move is the latest escalation in the global trade war reignited by US President Donald Trump when he returned to office last year.
The US Supreme Court ruled earlier this year that many of the tariffs imposed globally under emergency powers were illegally enacted.
So the president has since sought other legal avenues to pursue his flagship trade policy.
It was last month that the White House first proposed a series of 10-12.5% duties on goods arriving to American shores from dozens of countries over concerns they were not doing enough to tackle forced labour.
Iran’s IRGC issues chilling warning to British monarchy as it threatens UK RAF base | World | News– www.express.co.uk News Source
EXCERPT:
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has issued a direct warning to the British monarchy in a message shared via its news channel on the social messaging platform Telegram. The chilling threat, which is likely aimed at Britain’s leadership, warns against “further burdening its record” in the Middle East.
The statement came after the IRGC claimed US B-1 bombers flew from RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire during recent strikes against Iran. In the message, the group named the airbase, suggesting it could become a target, threatening “any base used to invade Iranian territory is our legitimate target”. The IRGC went on to falsely accuse the British monarchy of being “the main cause of the misfortunes of the people of our region” and having “a dark record” of dividing Islamic countries before warning it “not to burden its case any further”.
It also falsely claimed Britain had participated in recent US and Israeli military action against Iran.
Another heavyweight CCP member found himself purged from power by Chairman Xi. Former Politburo member Ma Xingrui was the latest high-profile leader removed under Xi’s anti-corruption operation. The move shows Xi has still not consolidated power after the attempted coup from within last year.
China expels Ma Xingrui in fresh politburo purge as Xi Jinping tightens grip amid mounting internal challenges – organiser.org News Source
EXCERPT:
The expulsion of former Politburo member Ma Xingrui from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has become the latest chapter in President Xi Jinping’s sweeping anti-corruption campaign, but the significan…
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