Ransomware Attacks Have Swept Japan. A.I. May Be Making Them Easier.

Saudi man charged with planting 'sophisticated' recording device in OpenAI office

Prosecutors say the device, wrapped in toilet paper, was found inserted in a USB port on the back of a TV in an executive conference room.

Pope diagnosed with lung cancer but had successful surgery, Vatican says

Pope Leo had successful surgery to remove a lower lobe of his right lung, the Vatican said.

ICC judge chides Duterte’s counsel for refusing to join in trial data reduction

MANILA, Philippines—Trial Chamber (TC) III Judge Joanna Korner of the International Criminal Court chided the defense team of former President Rodrigo Duterte for its purported refusal to cooperate with the prosecution. This pertains to the prosecution panel’s active proposals to reduce evidentiary clutter and volume of legal documents. The proposeals were presented during the fourth

New rule for H-1B again? Visa extensions will be treated as fresh cases; asylum seekers and H-4 visa holders will also be affected

$2 photo of Billy the Kid valued at $5M

Randy Guijarro discovered an old photograph believed to include Billy the Kid in 2010, purchased for just $2. This photograph has been appraised at $5 million and may confirm its authenticity. After extensive research, experts linked the image to Billy the Kid’s social life during the late summer of 1878. The image also represents a more human side of the infamous outlaw.

Koos Bekker’s company controls 2,700 acres in Somerset, employs 650 locals as expansion sparks debate

In 2013, Koos Bekker's acquisition of Hadspen House sparked a transformative expansion into The Newt in Somerset, encompassing over 2,700 acres. This growth has generated local employment and attracted visitors, yet opinions remain divided. Many residents welcome the job opportunities, while others voice concerns about the estate's impact on community identity, land stewardship, and environmental sustainability, illustrating the complexity of fostering development without compromising local values.

Cyberattack targeting refrigeration systems hits 700 supermarkets, French gov't says

PARIS — Cyberattacks have disrupted European supermarket chains, causing refrigeration systems to overheat at hundreds of stores in France and forcing a major grocer to shut down websites serving customers in Europe and the United States. French Finance Minister Roland Lescure told Parliament on Tuesday that about 700 of the country’s 10,000 supermarkets were affected. He said there was no risk to France’s food supplies but acknowledged that the attack “touches the heart of our food security.” ″It was a wake-up call for everyone,” he said. The Paris prosecutor’s office said Tuesday that its cybercrime unit was investigating the large-scale attack, including the extent of damage caused by spoiled food and possible fires. Dominique Schelcher, CEO of French grocery chain Cooperative U, said 80 of the company’s 2,000 stores were affected. Most managed to prevent disruptions to refrigeration, but some had to discard food, he said in a post on X. “Targeting equipment essential to the preservation of fresh products is an attack on the French food supply chain. It is unprecede

Russia detains Japanese journalist on suspicion of spying

MOSCOW — Russia's Federal Security Service said it detained a Japanese journalist accused of gathering information on Russia's defence capabilities, news agencies reported on Tuesday. FSB said the journalist for the Hokkaido Shimbun newspaper had been detained in the far eastern Sakhalin region before he planned to leave Russia, and was subsequently transferred to custody in Moscow, Interfax reported. Russian state TV showed a man lying on a floor and handcuffed by three masked men in black uniform. A voice behind the scene tells him he is suspected of spying. TV also showed him boarding a plane accompanied by two FSB servicemen, then in a cage on trial in a Moscow court, which authorised his custody for nearly two months. Russia regards Japan as an "unfriendly" country as it has joined Western sanctions against Moscow over the war in Ukraine. Japan's embassy in Moscow did not answer phone calls out of business hours. Russia and Japan never signed a formal World War Two peace treaty, with the main obstacle being an unresolved territorial dispute over the Kuril Islands, known in Japan as

AI models may soon self-replicate across smart-home devices, Anthropic warns

Anthropic said on Monday that small AI models could be months away from self-replicating across internet-connected devices, raising the possibility of AI botnets spreading quickly, fighting takedown attempts and even breaking into data centers to turbocharge their growth. Last month, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei first floated the idea that within the next year or even sooner, AI might be able to hijack "the entire internet" with "a persistent botnet," a warning that raised eyebrows in the cybersecurity community. Botnets — vast networks of devices controlled by malicious operators — have been around since the early days of the internet, and are still around. The network typically includes poorly secured Internet of Things (IoT) devices, such as Android TV boxes, smart appliances and security cameras, and is used by hackers to send spam, seed malware, or sabotage target companies using floods of bogus traffic. Anthropic's Monday blog post appeared to be the first attempt to articulate how that might happen. The company said that its experiments showed that a malicious AI agent could stit

New White House spokeswoman heavy on Trump praise, light on questions in debut

WASHINGTON — New White House Press Secretary Katie Zacharia made her briefing room debut Tuesday by taking remarkably few questions from journalists while leaving no doubt who she believes has all the answers — Donald Trump. "I get to do what I was doing on the outside already, which was hoping to amplify, multiply and expand upon President Trump's incredible agenda for the American people," she said, describing her vision for the job. Zacharia, a 41-year-old devotee of Trump's hard-right MAGA movement, is taking over the White House communications role just as Republicans face warnings of heavy defeat in upcoming midterm elections. She's also replacing the combative but skilled former press secretary Karoline Leavitt at a time when polls show the 80-year-old president becoming ever more unpopular. Little known to the general public, Zacharia opened her first session at the famous briefing room podium by reading — at a notably slow pace — a lengthy list of what she said were achievements under the "energetic" leader. These types of initial roundups, dubbed "toppers" in White House

Investigators hunt French supermarket fridge hackers, no claim of responsibility

PARIS — French investigators on Tuesday were hunting the hackers who seized control of cooling units at hundreds of supermarkets in a cyberattack that underlined the vulnerabilities of connected systems, with no group publicly claiming responsibility. The investigation comes as Dutch supermarket company Ahold Delhaize grapples with a separate cybersecurity incident that disrupted online services, although Dutch authorities said they saw no connection between the two events. The absence of a claim of responsibility by hacktivists or a ransom demand by cybercriminals has puzzled French investigators, according to a source with knowledge of the probe. Typically, such groups tend to quickly seek to monetise their hacks or claim credit for them for political ends. The cyberattack, which manually overrode the temperatures at fridges in supermarket groups including Carrefour, Monoprix, Intermarche and Cooperative U, appears to have been easy to pull off, three cyber experts told Reuters. Staff at some Paris supermarkets threw boxes full of perished meat and frozen goods into giant trash conta

Man killed after being thrown from Six Flags roller coaster, striking patrons: police

AUSTELL, Ga. — A man killed on a roller coaster at Six Flags over Georgia was thrown from the ride and struck other patrons, police say. Visitors at Six Flags near Atlanta described watching a man being tossed from a roller coaster and falling to his death, causing the theme park operator to temporarily close nine similar roller coasters nationwide. Several others were injured in the incident Monday at Six Flags Over Georgia. Officials have not released any information about the man who died or the conditions of the others. Authorities and Six Flags did not identify the ride associated with the man's death, but local TV stations showed video of passengers being evacuated from the Goliath roller coaster. The park already was scheduled to be closed Tuesday. One of Goliath's trains remained on its track Tuesday, seemingly where it stopped as it was climbing the ride's first hill. Witnesses describe seeing a man fly out of the roller coaster Logan Conner said he was on Goliath with his fiancée when he saw the man come out of his seat. “The man started levitating in the air sideways,” he