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Submission + - China's Top Spy Chief Warns AI Is a Threat to Party Rule (gvwire.com)

fjo3 writes: China’s top spy chief has warned that artificial intelligence could pose a direct threat to the Chinese Communist Party’s hold on power, in what is the highest-level and most detailed articulation yet of how Beijing sees the technology’s security risks.

The unusually blunt assessment by Chen Yixin, the head of China’s Ministry of State Security, is in contrast to the warnings dominating the AI debate in the United States, which have focused on the possibility that AI could slip out of human control or pose a threat to humanity itself.

In an article published Sunday in the state-run magazine China Cyberspace, Chen called for more party control over AI and stricter government oversight. This, he said, was necessary to protect political stability at home; to defend against increasingly sophisticated cyberattacks and misinformation campaigns from “hostile forces”; and to compete militarily with countries like the United States.

Submission + - Windows update corrupts BIOS on HP systems

An anonymous reader writes: Windows 11 KB5121003 allegedly corrupts BIOS leading to installation fails on HP systems

“The thread, on Microsoft's official support forum, got upvoted by many who were likely facing the same issue. One of the users on the thread, KP, commented that they too were facing a similar problem on their Omnibook X 14-KC0013DX, a 14 inch model HP device. The user adds that HP support confirmed to them that Microsoft's update apparently corrupted the BIOS, and as such, they had to reset the BIOS settings to default to fix the issue.”

Submission + - Ongoing Ebola disease outbreak in the Congo

An anonymous reader writes: Ebola disease outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

“On 13 September 2026, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) published a situation update reporting a total of 7 200 confirmed cases, including 3 475 related deaths (from data up until 12 September). A total of 923 patients are hospitalised in isolation. This represents an increase of 258 new confirmed cases and 126 deaths since the previous ECDC report on 11 September (reporting data up until 10 September). In total, 88% of identified case contacts are under follow-up in the affected provinces. Overall, 62 of 167 health zones are currently affected across the seven provinces.”

Submission + - European Cars Are Spying on Their Drivers. The Same Tech Could Be Coming to USA (reason.com) 3

fjo3 writes: As of July 7, all new passenger vehicles sold in the E.U. had to come equipped with "advanced driver distraction warning" systems that watch for signs of "distraction" and, upon detecting them, issue a visual and an audio or tactile warning. Cars will warn drivers whose gaze drifts for more than three to six seconds, depending on their speed.

To comply with this mandate, cars will have to fix cameras on drivers' faces at all times, turning private motor vehicles into efficient surveillance systems. The equipment is supposed to operate as a "closed-loop system," meaning it "shall only continuously record and retain data necessary for the system to function and operate." But it is not clear how that rule will be enforced.

Beyond privacy concerns, some critics worry that the system itself will become a dangerous distraction, issuing warnings every time a driver changes the radio station or glances at a passenger. Others have complained that the requirement will increase auto costs.

Submission + - Physicists canâ(TM)t agree on how the Universe works (sciencedaily.com)

alternative_right writes: A massive worldwide survey of physicists has revealed surprisingly little agreement about some of the universeâ(TM)s biggest mysteries. No majority backed the standard cosmological model, a leading explanation for dark matter, or any single theory of quantum gravity. One area of stronger agreement stood out: 68% said the Big Bang does not necessarily represent the beginning of time. Researchers say the divisions show just how alive and unsettled the frontiers of physics remain.

Submission + - Can Machines Improve the Systems That Created Them? (linkedin.com)

gethotelreviews writes: Today's AI can already help engineers build software and develop AI systems. Follow that trajectory far enough and an intriguing possibility appears: machines increasingly participating in the development of their successors. The question then becomes not whether AI can program, but where human control and machine contribution will eventually meet.

Submission + - India Falls Short of Its China Plus One Promise (indiadispatch.com)

An anonymous reader writes: For the better part of a decade, some of the world's biggest companies have been trying to cut reliance on China. India was widely expected to be a big winner. Five years on, and after billions in government subsidies, its gains are real but narrow. Between 2016 and 2025, China's share of U.S. goods imports fell to 9% from 12%, and most of what it lost went to Taiwan, Vietnam and Mexico.

India assembles 28% of the world's iPhones and exports almost 80%, mostly to the U.S. The more valuable components are still made abroad, and manufacturing's share of India's economy has barely moved in a decade.

Submission + - Half of Internet-facing FortiGate firewalls have leaked

An anonymous reader writes: FortiBleed: Half of Internet-Facing FortiGate Firewalls Have Leaked, Working Credentials

“A credential-exposure campaign now known as FortiBleed has compromised working login credentials for tens of thousands of FortiGate firewalls and VPN gateways worldwide, with independent researchers estimating that roughly half of all internet-facing FortiGate devices are represented in the leaked data. CISA says the exposure is tied to “approximately 74,000 Fortinet devices, including firewalls and virtual private network (VPN) gateways,” a figure that has since grown as new analysis has come in CISA.”

Submission + - Florida confirms DMV database breached

An anonymous reader writes: Florida confirms DMV database breached via stolen police account

The Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles (FLHSMV) has confirmed that its DAVID driver database suffered a data breach after the ShinyHunters extortion gang claimed to have compromised the system.

The disclosure comes after the ShinyHunters extortion group claimed it breached the DAVID database and stole more than 200,000 driver records.

Submission + - Scientists Discover Mysterious New X-Ray Objects 'Unlike Any They Have Seen' (space.com)

An anonymous reader writes: NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory has found a brand new type of an otherwise familiar object – compact binary systems that steal gas from other stars, but which do so while emitting very low-energy X-rays but copious amounts of ultraviolet. Chandra spotted 84 suspicious object emitting very low-energy X-rays in six galaxies – four evolved ellipticals and two spirals, namely our near-neighbor the Andromeda Galaxy (M31) and the Pinwheel Galaxy (M101). "We've never encountered a group of objects that act like this," said Mustafa Muhibullah of the University of Alabama in a statement.

Compact objects, in the form of black holes, neutron stars and white dwarfs, are the remains of stars that have died. Their small size and powerful gravity means that they're adept at getting close to orbiting companion stars and ripping the stars' outer layers of gas away. The gas swirls around the compact object, falling onto its surface, and this accretionary process usually produces torrents of high-energy X-rays because the stolen gas becomes superheated by the compact object's gravitational vice-like grip.

Because of their weak X-rays, Muhibullah's team refer to them as 'hypersoft X-ray sources'. Since low-energy X-rays and ultraviolet light are next to each other on the electromagnetic spectrum, Muhibullah and his team suspect that the low-energy X-rays are spillover from objects emitting prodigious amounts of ultraviolet. Moreover, they think that these objects are lower-level compact binaries. They're hard to find though, because the interstellar medium of hydrogen and helium gas between the stars absorbs ultraviolet light. This could be why we have yet to find any hypersoft X-ray sources in our own galaxy, because we have to look through the interstellar medium through the plane of the Milky Way. Consequently, there could be a large population of hypersoft X-ray sources that remain undiscovered and they could have an important effect on the universe around them.

Submission + - Linux Mint needs to stop making apps and focus on Linux (nerds.xyz) 3

BrianFagioli writes: Linux Mint is expanding its collection of homegrown software with Xepub, a new EPUB reader, and Clockenstein, a new calendar application supporting Google Calendar and CalDAV. The projects were revealed in the Linux Mint August monthly update, which was published on September 11.

NERDS.xyz argues that this growing collection of apps raises a bigger question about Linux Mint priorities. With Mint already based on Ubuntu, which itself is based on Debian, should its developers spend resources creating more applications that duplicate existing Linux software, or concentrate on Cinnamon, Wayland, hardware compatibility, upgrades, and the operating system experience itself?

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