The emerald ash borer, which has devastated ash forests in North America, has been detected in the European Union for the first time.

The state government condemned the murder of Josue Martinez, and called on prosecutors to launch a probe in order to find those responsible.

The widespread introduction of AI-powered coding tools has led to some dramatic splits between those integrating those tools into their workflows and anti-AI absolutists who don't want large language model-generated code anywhere near their projects. When it comes to the Linux kernel, though, creator and top-level maintainer Linus Torvalds said he is "willing to absolutely put my foot down" in support of using AI tools to improve the long-standing open source project. Writing in a lengthy post on the Linux kernel mailing list this week, Torvalds said that "Linux is not one of those anti-AI projects, and if somebody has issues with that, they can do the open-source thing and fork it. Or just walk away." The statement came amid a lengthy thread arguing about the use of Sashiko , an "agentic Linux kernel code review system" that its creators claim can, in tests, independently find 53.6 percent of the bugs that would end up being fixed by human coders in later commits. But the tool can also waste maintainers' time by sending "false positive" reports of bugs that don't exist, at a rate Sashiko's maintainers estimate is "well within [the] 20% range." Read full article Comments

The City Attorney’s Office sent the tech giants cease-and-desist letters this week telling them to stop profiting from 13 “face-swap” apps that are overwhelmingly used to target women and girls.

After detecting suspicious activity on the teleprompter operator's account, Kalshi investigated and then referred the case to federal regulators.

One of the Russian government’s most elite hacking groups has adopted an attack, known as Clickfix, to compromise devices belonging to sensitive organizations in Ukraine, the latter country’s CERT center is warning. Clickfix has emerged as an effective attack technique that attackers, primarily financially motivated criminals, began using in the last year or so. Websites under the control of the attackers display a CAPTCHA that requires the visitor to copy a jumble of text and paste it into the terminal. The text contains scripts that, once entered, perform malicious actions, typically by installing malware or exfiltrating sensitive data. Ukraine’s CERT said Wednesday that Sandworm , an advanced hacking unit inside the GRU, Russia’s military intelligence arm, is now using the technique. "GhettoVibe," "ScoutCurl," and many more The Clickfix attacks began in the spring and have continued through the summer. The campaign has resulted in the network compromise of at least one organization when a connected device was found to be infected by FreakyPoll, the name of one of Sandworm’s custom malware packages. Ukrainian authorities discovered 10 compromised websites that displayed a PowerShell command as part of a fake CAPTCHA that said it had to be passed to ensure a real human was behind the visiting device’s keyboard. Read full article Comments

One of the Russian government’s most elite hacking groups has adopted an attack, known as Clickfix, to compromise devices belonging to sensitive organizations in Ukraine, the latter country’s CERT center is warning.

The CEO of Foundation Future Industries, which counts the president’s son as its chief strategy adviser, tells WIRED it’s exploring some “kinetic things.”

The State Department is cracking down on universities accepting funding from foreign entities on U S. government watch lists.

For year after year, more Americans have bought Toyota RAV4s than anything that isn't a pickup truck. The brand's reputation for solid reliability has kept it ahead of SUVs from other automakers, and the nation's embrace of SUVs and crossovers relegated the poor old Camry to near-bottom of the top 10. For the latest generation—the sixth since 1994—all RAV4s are electrified. Most will use a mix of internal combustion engine and brakes to recharge their hybrid powertrains' traction batteries, like the millions of Priuses out there on the roads. But there's also a plug-in hybrid EV option, with an all-new powertrain with some noticeable improvements compared to the outgoing PHEV. Just as Toyota's designers and engineers have tried to improve on the previous RAV4 with each successive generation, their counterparts in the powertrain department have similarly been iterating and improving the combination of electric motors and piston engine. Under the hood there's a naturally aspirated 2.5 L four-cylinder engine that operates on the Atkinson-cycle, aided by variable valve timing on both intake and exhaust sides. The engine, which on its own generates 186 hp (139 kW) and 172 lb-ft (233 Nm), is connected to one of two electric motors under the RAV4's hood, as well as to Toyota's electronically controlled variable ratio transmission. Read full article Comments

As overnight temperatures climb across Canada, fires that once spread more slowly after dark are burning around the clock, straining fire crews.

Dozens of beluga whales are set to be relocated from the shuttered Canadian theme park to aquariums across the United States through an international emergency rescue effort, officials said.

Kalshi is a high-tech prediction market that allows people to "forecast the future" (their term). It is about contracts and information, the company says, making its offerings more like a soybean futures contract than a round of blackjack or a pull on the one-armed bandit . Still, prediction markets look a lot like betting if you squint, which is why states like New York have tried to regulate them under gambling laws. To head this off, Kalshi has sought federal protection under the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). Yes, this means regulation for Kalshi, but it also means the CFTC will sue states like Kentucky, Minnesota, Illinois, and Rhode Island , trying to pre-empt their laws in favor of a single national standard that the CFTC controls. While this battle plays out, government insiders continue to generate insider trading stories after using their work knowledge to place bets "forecast the future" and make huge sums of money. The classic example, of course, was Gannon Ken Van Dyke, a US soldier who participated in planning the capture of Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro and then made $410,000 from that knowledge on the prediction site Polymarket. Van Dyke was arrested in April. Read full article Comments

Kalshi is a high-tech prediction market that allows people to "forecast the future" (their term). It is about contracts and information, the company says, making its offerings more like a soybean futures contract than a round of blackjack or a pull on the one-armed bandit .

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche met with accusers of Jeffrey Epstein following a demand to do so by a Republican senator whose support is crucial to advancing his nomination to lead the Justice Department.

Thousands of unionized Hyundai auto workers began walking off the job early after negotiations with the South Korean automaker broke down over plans to deploy humanoid robots—the most significant pushback from organized labor so far over the latest wave of robotic automation. The partial strike at Hyundai’s automotive production complex in the city of Ulsan in South Korea represents “the car industry’s first factory stoppage addressing humanoid robots,” according to The Wall Street Journal . Workers have already ended their day and night shifts two hours early at the world’s largest automotive plant from July 13 through July 15, and plan to start staging four-hour strikes from July 20 to 22 after 15 rounds of negotiations failed to reach an agreement, The Korea Times reported. Union pushback began as soon as Hyundai Motor Group unveiled the latest version of the Atlas humanoid robot , a two-legged robot that stands at more than 6 feet tall and can lift more than 100 pounds, at the start of this year. Atlas is made by Boston Dynamics, the US robotics company that is about to become a wholly owned subsidiary of Hyundai. Read full article Comments

Thousands of unionized Hyundai auto workers began walking off the job early after negotiations with the South Korean automaker broke down over plans to deploy humanoid robots—the most significant pushback from organized labor so far over the latest wave of robotic automation.

In a primetime address, President Trump alleged the U.S. election system falls "catastrophically short," revisiting a topic that has drawn his attention for years — and making claims that election experts have heavily disputed.

Facing mounting pressure to acknowledge that Grok can still be used to generate non-consensual sexualized images of adults and minors, xAI filed a lawsuit Tuesday, suing the first user that Elon Musk’s firm has accused of using its chatbot to create illegal content. The complaint targets Terry Wayne Harwood, who was arrested earlier this year for possession and distribution of child sexual abuse materials (CSAM), the South Carolina attorney’s office announced . As xAI alleged, the company assisted in that arrest after discovering that Harwood had been using two xAI accounts for months to undress or “nudify” non-sexual images of multiple victims, including a young girl who appeared to be as young as 10. Read full article Comments

Facing mounting pressure to acknowledge that Grok can still be used to generate non-consensual sexualized images of adults and minors, xAI filed a lawsuit Tuesday, suing the first user that Elon Musk’s firm has accused of using its chatbot to create illegal content.

The complaint targets Terry Wayne Harwood, who was arrested earlier this year for possession and distribution of child sexual abuse materials (CSAM), the South Carolina attorney’s office announced .

President Trump alleged voting machines and ballot-counting systems are "extremely exposed to attack" — but experts say voting machines are subject to intense controls.

SpaceX called off a test flight of its powerful Starship rocket and Super Heavy booster as the countdown clock reached zero Thursday at the company's spaceport in South Texas. The launch team at Starbase, Texas, just north of the US-Mexico border, aimed to launch the more than 400-foot-tall rocket at 5:45 pm local time (6:45 pm EDT; 22:45 UTC). The countdown proceeded smoothly throughout the day, culminating in the loading of more than 11.5 million pounds of liquid methane and liquid oxygen into the two-stage rocket. But the computers controlling the countdown called an abort during the Super Heavy booster's engine startup sequence. SpaceX scrubbed the launch attempt, and engineers began preparations to drain the rocket's propellant tanks. Officials did not immediately announce when they plan to try to launch again. Read full article Comments

SpaceX called off a test flight of its powerful Starship rocket and Super Heavy booster as the countdown clock reached zero Thursday at the company's spaceport in South Texas.

The launch team at Starbase, Texas, just north of the US-Mexico border, aimed to launch the more than 400-foot-tall rocket at 5:45 pm local time (6:45 pm EDT; 22:45 UTC). The countdown proceeded smoothly throughout the day, culminating in the loading of more than 11.5 million pounds of liquid methane and liquid oxygen into the two-stage rocket.

President Trump is delivering a speech on election security Thursday night at the White House.

The Indian government has fined HP India and its partners a total of 1.4 billion rupees (about $14.4 million) for working with reseller partners in the “cartelization” of computers, ink cartridges, and toner. The Competition Commission of India (CCI) said this week that it found HP India had colluded with some channel partners to drive up the cost of bids for government contracts for computers, as well as for selling ink cartridges, toner, and other printing supplies, including graphic and digital manufacturing supplies. It said that HP was aiming to outcompete other OEMs and discourage resellers from selling “counterfeit” ink and toner. Read full article Comments

The Indian government has fined HP India and its partners a total of 1.4 billion rupees (about $14.4 million) for working with reseller partners in the “cartelization” of computers, ink cartridges, and toner.

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) said this week that it found HP India had colluded with some channel partners to drive up the cost of bids for government contracts for computers, as well as for selling ink cartridges, toner, and other printing supplies, including graphic and digital manufacturing supplies.

How does it compare to statins? Should you take it? And how much does it cost?

Since the beginning of his second administration, the government has cut thousands of workers who were tasked with ensuring secure elections in the U.S.

Two nominees for high-profile health roles in the Trump administration faced scrutiny from the Senate health committee Wednesday—and both crashed and burned in their own special ways. The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) scrutinized Erica Schwartz, the nominee for director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Sean Kaufman, up for the role of Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response. Schwartz's assignment Public health experts were " cautiously optimistic " about Schwartz's nomination. She is well respected and holds views in line with evidence-based medicine, including being supportive of vaccinations—in contrast to anti-vaccine Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., whom she will serve under. She is also highly qualified for the role, with a medical degree, a master's degree in public health, and a law degree. She's had a long career as a Navy Officer, and previously held the roles of Chief Medical Officer for the US Coast Guard and deputy surgeon general in the first Trump administration. Read full article Comments

Two nominees for high-profile health roles in the Trump administration faced scrutiny from the Senate health committee Wednesday—and both crashed and burned in their own special ways.

The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) scrutinized Erica Schwartz, the nominee for director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Sean Kaufman, up for the role of Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response.

President Trump is giving a primetime address on elections tonight, as he remains focused on the 2020 race.

Europe wasted no time using its landmark Digital Markets Act (DMA) to try and rein in Big Tech. Companies like Apple, Meta, and Google have faced steep fines and orders to modify their business practices since the law came into force in 2024. And the hits keep on coming for Big Tech in Europe. After several months of consideration, the European Commission has announced new DMA measures that will force Google to support interoperability and competition in the European Union, and Google is not happy about it. The new "specification measures" cover two elements of Google's business: Android phones and search. Both changes could theoretically increase competition and give users more choices, but Google claims they will undermine privacy and security. But as a "gatekeeper" under the DMA, Google has no choice but to comply. As the European Commission points out in its announcement, these decisions are legally binding. On Android, Google will have to open up access to competing AI platforms. Currently, Google's Gemini gets preferential access to the system. Gemini is preloaded on all Google-certified Android phones and can wake up in response to the "Hey Google" hot word. Google's AI also includes system and app automation features, screen content access, and more. Read full article Comments

On today’s Uncanny Valley, we unpack OpenAI’s ongoing drama, both legal and reputational, and whether these developments could further hurt the company—particularly in its fight against Anthropic.

A lettuce supplier to fast-food giant Taco Bell is being investigated as a possible source for a nationwide cyclosporiasis outbreak that has sickened thousands of people.

T-Mobile canceled some longtime subscribers' free-line promotions as part of a forced migration to new rate plans, spurring complaints from customers yesterday. T-Mobile admitted the problem and blamed it on technical errors that it is trying to fix. The forced plan changes were controversial to begin with, particularly as many longtime users are being hit with price hikes of $6 per line. The unexpected loss of free lines for some of those users could raise prices by a much higher amount if the change isn't reversed. There is good news, though. T-Mobile told Ars today that it was a mistake and that the company is working to fix the problem. Of course, it's not always easy for telecom customers to get the proper resolution even after a company admits to an error publicly. But given T-Mobile's statement today, we hope the firm will fix the problem for all impacted customers with as little hassle as possible. Read full article Comments

T-Mobile canceled some longtime subscribers' free-line promotions as part of a forced migration to new rate plans, spurring complaints from customers yesterday. T-Mobile admitted the problem and blamed it on technical errors that it is trying to fix.

The forced plan changes were controversial to begin with, particularly as many longtime users are being hit with price hikes of $6 per line. The unexpected loss of free lines for some of those users could raise prices by a much higher amount if the change isn't reversed.

Adjusting to permanent daylight saving time would cause significant disruptions to schedules and operations, an airline trade group said.

On Wednesday, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) released preliminary findings verifying Elon Musk’s and Tesla’s claims that a driver involved in a fatal Texas crash that killed a grandmother overrode Full Self Driving in the moments ahead of impact. Last month, 44-year-old Michael Butler told police that the autopilot feature was engaged at the time of the crash. On X, Musk disputed the claim, writing that Butler must have overridden the feature because “FSD drives slowly through neighborhood streets, and this was a high-speed crash!” Moving to back Musk’s claim, Tesla’s vice president of AI software, Ashok Elluswamy, said that internal data showed “the driver manually overrode self-driving by pressing the accelerator all the way to 100 percent of the accel pedal in this residential area.” NTSB’s preliminary report, which does not yet determine what caused the crash, confirmed Tesla’s claims. Its probe found that FSD was engaged at the time of the crash, but electronic data showed “the driver manually overrode FSD (Supervised) by pressing the accelerator pedal to 100 percent.” Read full article Comments

On Wednesday, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) released preliminary findings verifying Elon Musk’s and Tesla’s claims that a driver involved in a fatal Texas crash that killed a grandmother overrode Full Self Driving in the moments ahead of impact.

Doctors raised a range of concerns about a testosterone screening policy announced by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, which is likely to be costly to implement.

Energy companies are raising money at IPO at their fastest pace this century, taking advantage of investors’ hunt for new ways to bet on the boom in power-intensive AI data centers. Initial public offerings for energy firms raised $12.6 billion in the first half of this year, according to data firm Dealogic. That marks the highest half-year level since the peak of the dotcom bubble in late 1999 and the highest first-half figure on record. It is well above 2025’s full-year total of $4.3 billion. The surge in fundraising comes as access to the vast amounts of energy needed to run data centers emerges as a bottleneck in a multi-trillion-dollar AI investment boom. Read full article Comments

Energy companies are raising money at IPO at their fastest pace this century, taking advantage of investors’ hunt for new ways to bet on the boom in power-intensive AI data centers.

Initial public offerings for energy firms raised $12.6 billion in the first half of this year, according to data firm Dealogic. That marks the highest half-year level since the peak of the dotcom bubble in late 1999 and the highest first-half figure on record. It is well above 2025’s full-year total of $4.3 billion.

"Markets already move on Truth Social posts," the company's chief executive said in the Truth API announcement.

Most of the gas in the Universe is a mixture of hydrogen and helium. It's thought that the initial atmospheres of most planets also start out that way. However, over billions of years, as planets evolve, the composition of their atmospheres may shift. Hydrogen can react with other chemicals, and both it and helium can be lost to space. Venus, Earth, and Mars are thought to have second atmospheres, with their original hydrogen/helium envelopes having been lost and/or transformed. The dynamics of loss are complicated. Lighter elements are lost more easily, but hydrogen can be protected by being incorporated into molecules like methane and ammonia. The gravity of the body can help retain some molecules, and a magnetic field can limit radiation's ability to blast material out of the atmosphere. Proximity to a star will matter too, both because of the radiation it produces and because it can heat the atmosphere and expand it to where gravity's influence is less substantial. Given all these complications, it can be difficult to know what to expect to find on exoplanets. But a study in Wednesday's issue of Nature describes observations of helium being lost from the atmosphere of an exoplanet orbiting the star LHS 1140, about 50 light-years away. Based on the rate at which the helium is being lost, we can infer something about the remaining atmosphere. Read full article Comments

The company endorsed landmark AI transparency laws in California and New York last year, but its head of US state and local policy says they may already be outdated.

Our correspondent talked about the challenges of covering major news while under surveillance and filing his work without reliable internet access.

A family of five from Spain, including three children, and the pilot died in the April 2025 crash.

One week ago, three widely respected European news outlets published the results of an investigation into what they described as a "joint plan" by China and Russia to "defeat Elon Musk's Starlink." The story was the product of a long-running inquiry by The Insider, Der Spiegel, and Le Monde . Reporters at those publications said they reviewed a cache of documents detailing growing military cooperation between China and Russia. The documents covered discussions between the nuclear powers on integrated air and missile defense systems, autonomous "swarm" loitering munitions, next-generation armored vehicles, and military aviation, the report said. According to the papers, the investigation found evidence of a partnership between China and Russia in the field of space weapons far deeper than either country has acknowledged. One particular focus for China and Russia has been developing strategies to counter SpaceX's Starlink satellite broadband network. Read full article Comments

One week ago, three widely respected European news outlets published the results of an investigation into what they described as a "joint plan" by China and Russia to "defeat Elon Musk's Starlink."