Author: NCIJ NETWNCIJ NETWORK

President Donald Trump has threatened to bomb Oman if it “gets in the way” of the US’s own talks with Iran, Fox News reports.A reporter for the network said the US president made the comment during a phone call on Monday, during which he also said the US had a direct backchannel with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).The IRGC later denied it was involved in talks with the US. But Iranian officials said on Monday they were close to finalising with Iran a deal on shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.Meanwhile, the 60-day Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) ends on…

Uber also said it was making a strategic investment in Zipline, a California-based company that has been orchestrating drone deliveries in Texas since 2025. The news comes as Uber’s delivery rivals begin to step up their own drone deliveries, thanks to easing government regulations that allow companies to fly farther and cheaper.The Uber Eats deliveries will start in Zipline’s existing market of Dallas-Fort Worth, before eventually expanding to dozens of additional cities. Zipline, which has made two million deliveries so far, also operates overseas, including Rwanda, Ghana, Japan, Nigeria, Côte d’Ivoire, and Kenya. The company first started operations in Rwanda…

Ravie LakshmananAug 17, 2026Cybersecurity / Hacking The expensive attacks are not always the clever ones. This week had plenty of proof. Exposed services got hit, old bugs found fresh use, browser sessions became attack paths, and supply-chain problems kept spreading farther than the original compromise. A lot of it came down to access that was already there and defenses that assumed nobody would look too closely. So, nothing magical. Just a lot of small openings turning into bigger problems. Here’s what stood out. ⚡ Threat of the Week Suspected China APT Behind Exploitation of New VMware Flaw — A suspected…

Bitstamp’s new deposit rule will automatically reject crypto deposits exceeding €1,000 from third-party self-custody wallets starting Aug. 18.The notice targets wallets owned by someone other than the Bitstamp account holder. It says deposits from other exchanges will not be affected, and it does not describe a blanket block on customers moving assets from their own self-custody wallets.One customer reproduced the Bitstamp-branded notice, while a commenter on r/BitstampOfficial said they also received an email about the change. Bitstamp has not publicly authenticated the notice, and the user reports don’t identify the affected legal entities, jurisdictions or account types, nor an exact…

A low-fat vegan diet can reduce the energy density of the foods people eat by about 30%, helping them consume fewer calories while still eating satisfying amounts of food. The approach was also associated with weight loss, even though participants were not instructed to restrict calories, according to new research published in JAMA Network Open. In a randomized clinical trial involving adults with overweight, participants who followed an ad libitum low-fat vegan diet substantially reduced the number of calories per gram of food they consumed. Researchers found that greater reductions in energy density were tied to lower calorie intake and…

The jaguarundi needs more attention, researchers say. This small cat, ranging from Mexico to Argentina, was recently recategorized from least concern to near threatened on the IUCN Red List.Despite the species’ large territory, monitoring data suggests it’s rare, now among the least abundant felids across its range. Conservationists also warn some populations are in decline due to human-wildlife conflict, dangerous roadways, attacks by dogs and infectious disease.With relatively little field study or funding for research, there are huge gaps in researchers’ understanding of this cat, but conservationists hope this change in conservation status will spark greater attention.See All Key…

Since 2020, China has steadily expanded its economic security toolkit to counter Western trade and financial restrictions. What began as a largely defensive framework has evolved into a more assertive Chinese legal architecture designed to penalize companies and individuals for complying with foreign sanctions and export controls. Beijing has been especially eager to undercut Western policies of extraterritoriality, whereby various governments, most notably the United States, extend sanctions to foreign firms and individuals doing business with the primary sanctions target. Beijing’s countermeasures now include the Export Control Law (2020), the Unreliable Entity List (2020), the Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law (2021), the Blocking…

“The only Spanish thing about me is my identity card.” That is one of the first things Pau told us. We met the former Catalan independence activist in Celra, a village near Girona in Catalonia, where he grew up. Catalan independence has been a point of contention for centuries. As soon as you set foot in this region of northern Spain, it’s easy to understand why its inhabitants see Catalonia as a nation in its own right, with a distinct language, flag, culture, architecture and customs. After numerous political attempts to establish Catalonia as an independent territory, young Catalans have…

Compare Top 7 Budget LaptopsOther Budget Laptops to ConsiderHere at WIRED, we never recommend products we haven’t tested ourselves—and I’ve tried hundreds of laptops over the years. I left many laptops off this list due to price, quality, or both. While I stand by my top-pick recommendations above, there are a few additional laptops I’ve tested that are still worth buying for a particular use case.Photograph: Luke LarsenLenovo LOQ 15 for $1,400: This fantastic gaming laptop used to sell for $900, despite coming with an RTX 5060. And unlike so many other affordable gaming laptops, this one comes with a…

OpenAI has entered into an agreement to secure approximately 8 gigawatts-IT at the PORTS-Pike Technology Campus in Pike County, Ohio, working with SB Energy, NVIDIA, and the U.S. Department of Energy. We want to develop this project as a partner to Pike County—paying its project-specific energy and infrastructure costs, using water responsibly, creating opportunities for local workers and businesses, and making long-term investments shaped by the community.The project is expected to create 35,000 construction jobs during its six-year buildout through 2032 and 2,500 long-term operating jobs. We will also invest $40 million in a community grant fund supporting priorities identified…